Bridal Shower & Father's Day

It was my gf's bridal shower a few weekends back and her mom held it at Oliver & Bonacini at Bayview Village. They recently did a renovation so they have this perfect sized room for events. It was such a treat to see Denise and her mom together hosting a shower for her mom's friends and family. Above is a photo of Denise and the bridesmaids. I'm so excited for Denise's wedding in August!

That same night was father's day so we took my dad to Lee's Garden in Chinatown, a restaurant my dad has been going to since he was a teenager, living down the street and going to high school at Harbord. It's crazy how the same waiter still recognises my dad! The queue is pretty ridiculous for a chinese restaurant but still really tasty; I recommend a visit if you're in the Toronto area!

My sister and I. I was wearing a Pucci dress all day. Perfect breathable dress for a hot day and air conditioning!

The Palm Atlantis

We stayed at The Palm, Atlantis whilst in Dubai. We chose this hotel based on our stay in the Bahamas if you remember from this post. There we were lucky enough to stay in The Cove, which had a separate adults only area and beach. This time, however, it was definitely not the same.

It's not to say that I don't like children, because I do - especially the ones of my loved ones, but when they are everywhere at any time of day / night running loose without parental guidance / supervision, I get a little miffed. Atlantis was the main resort for children and families so no meal was eaten without kids, no beach was relaxed on without kids, and no pool was swam in without, you guessed it, kids.

The next time I return, I will have children in tow.

Mass had to leave to London a few days early from our trip, leaving me to explore Dubai alone / with my trusty gf (which, thank goodness for her or else I would still be wandering around the gold souk!). The night before he left we had dinner at our hotel, which admittedly boasts some of Dubai's best restaurants. We had heard about the romantic setting of Ossiano and decided to give it a whirl.

Patiently waiting for our table. Just a warning to future tourists of Dubai: service is not their best quality.

They say your meal is inside the aquarium, but in reality it is just situated beside it. The meal was altogether decent. Similar par to the rest of the restaurants we tried. A few quirks were cute, i.e. if its your birthday a guy will swim in the tank with a birthday sign. However, it was not cheap and if we're comparing strictly value for money, it definitely is worth a miss.

Just a quick shot of the shoes...the new shoes to be exact!

The aquarium is worth a visit, especially if you're into that stuff.

Altogether, had a great time in the Emirates and would return to the Middle East. I find their culture, religious appreciation, and operations, absolutely fascinating.

I'm in Toronto for the weekend so won't be back in London until Tuesday...ta ta until then!

Erdem dress, Topshop purse, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes

Wasabi in Al Diar Mina

That same evening we went to Wasabi for Japanese. I had heard great things about the Emirates having fresh fish and since London doesn't provide any stimulation in this area, we absolutely had to get our fix.


Starved of any good fish in London, as you can see.

Eat up, shall we?

Mega-concentration, guvn'a

No-shoe policy restaurant, my fav!

All in all, it was decent. Decent enough for these tampered taste buds. That said, probably the best sushi I had the whole trip...but then again, I only went to Nobu in Dubai otherwise and their service could not have made my experience any worse.

Gucci shoes, APC trousers

Dinner by Heston

A couple weeks ago we had dinner at Dinner by Heston. Largely known for bringing a taste of Fat Duck to London, I must admit that he did not disappoint. London is a revolving door of restaurants, always changing and adopting/creating new trends. That said, there are a lot of repeat restaurants in the city who copy the style and palates of others. Dinner, however, was definitely not just another. No white table cloths, just simple ambiance with plenty of tables (unlike pretentious restaurants who need at least 10 feet between each 'elite' table). Apparently you can even take your chances on a walk in as they reserve tables for their hotel patrons anyway; conduct unheard of in a michelin star meal.

Everything was quite savoury, but especially delectable is the Tipsy Cake for dessert. You absolutely must try this. It requires advance ordering but well worth it.

I highly recommend Dinner by Heston and should you heed my advice, here are their details:
Dinner by Heston
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA
+44(0)20 7201 3833

And to end, I leave you with a few more photos from that evening. I know, I have a face of a model...what can I say.




Have a great weekend!

Better times...

@ Yauatcha

Literally floundering in exams right now so not much time to update. Reminding myself of less stressful times: a fantastic day with good food and even better company.

Be back soon!

SATURDAY

I bought this scarf Saturday and have been wearing it everyday since. It is the softest cashmere I have ever worn. I wish I could just wrap my body in this all day everyday. Johnstons has been a coveted favourite brand of mine for awhile but I haven't had a chance to purchase one of their luxurious but totally worth it wraps until now. Be sure to expect this on me everyday until winter ends.

Photos taken at dinner at Dorsia. We seem to have done one better than Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Food was average (well slightly below average after I found a piece of plastic in my fish) but my guess is they're still fine tuning the kitchen and focusing more on the night club aspect.

Johnstons scarf, Burberry trench, Zara trousers, Rupert Sanderson shoes, Alexander Wang purse

favourite blazer

It poured when we were in Paris a couple weekends ago. Stupid me forgot my jacket so while walking through Le Marais, we stopped in Kooples to gain some shelter and I found this ahhhhmazing blazer. I wore it immediately and couldn't take it off for dinner at night.



When I first went to Paris I used to love trying the most gastronomical meals but now I prefer eating the way the locals eat. We tried Le Verre Vole, a new concept in Parisian cuisine. Throw some tables and chairs into a wine shop and you've got this popular local joint. We loved it so much, we had two bottles of red that evening.

Milano pt 1

It was my first time in Milan a couple weekends ago! I was very excited to go given all the great things I constantly hear about it. It definitely did not let me down. I don't think it's my favourite Italian city/village but I do think it has a lot to offer. We spent our first evening eating at Cracco. It was a traditional Michelin star meal - very creative and many many courses.

And if you know Mass, you know he loves perusing the wine lists. You can imagine how long this one took:

WOWZA.


I guess we eventually chose one.



10 hours later...


We left....to have another drink. :)

Have a pleasant Tuesday evening!

waterside inn

ASOS BLACK dress, KURT GEIGER shoes, BCBG necklace, VINTAGE ROLEX watch

As mentioned, this past Friday we stayed at the Waterside Inn and ate at Michel Roux's restaurant. I think it is the added personal touches that make it a repeat visit for us. Needless to say, we were quite satisfied.

It also gave me a chance to wear the above dress (no need to step outside means I didn't need to wear tights - thank goodness). Got this dress from Asos for £39 (sale!). For the quality, it was definitely good value. I think it is still available!

Hope you had a great valentine's day.

Bohmer

FOREVER 21 shirt (stolen from sis), GUESS trousers (my first GUESS item in years and I must admit I was slightly apprehensive about buying them, but for $30 CAD, it was worth the risk), ASOS belt, ELIZABETH AND JAMES booties (unseen), VINTAGE ROLEX and VINTAGE JADE ring (both given to me by my loving mom for graduation and Christmas), SNAKE bracelet (gifted by a best friend), FILIPPO CATARZI hat (best hat ever to travel with; it never creases no matter what position it is held in)

A few weeks ago my exceptionally talented foodie friend, Scott chose a restaurant in Toronto for me to taste while I was back home (well, he chose one, then was overruled by other exceptionally creative friend Ivy, and we ended up at Bohmer).

Bohmer Restaurant was opened by Paul Bohmer (formerly accredited with Rosewater and Scaramouche to name a few) and I think one word sums it up: local. Organic and homegrown, most of the produce comes from our backyard in Ontario. I don't know if Canadian cuisine has a real identity yet, but if it doesn't, Bohmer might just be creating the definition.

Above are some of the pics we flooded the place with while we were there. I especially love the one of us three.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Piedmont... in photos

Now for some photos from the trip...

Insalata 31, 41, 51.... (51 ingredients in this insalata! Followed by drinking the dressing by removing the bowl)

Test tube concoctions...a bit too fancy shmancy for my taste.

The hunt with the hunter sans his dog


Cleaned, shaved and served...delicious.

BURBERRY PRORSUM shearling coat, HOBBS dress, MENDOCINO shirt, NINE WEST otk boots, MIU MIU bag

Similar to the runway demonstration of this coat, I was inspired to pair a knee length fitted dress with my shearling. I bought and altered this dress a few months ago for work but found that it had exactly what I was looking for to match the coat. Versatility is one of the many highlighting characteristics to this beautiful piece.

Beyond that are images from our weekend trip to Piedmonte to go truffle hunting. We found one tartufo bianco and two tartufo (tartufi?) neri. As you can see I still didn't give up the coat even in the forest (worn with my trusty Hunter wellies and Oxford University cricket sweater).

Alba has some of the best restaurants in the country, including the gastronomic one we ate at that had milk in a test tube for dessert. Best part of the trip: the truffle and barolo (both located in the Piedmonte region). If you love either, I highly recommend a trip.

Apologies...

LISA: QUEENS WARDROBE jacket, AA plaid shirt, CURRENT ELLIOT jeans, BURBERRY bag, CUSTOM frames, HK scarf, ASOS shoes

MASS: NICO DIDONNA trousers/jacket, PAUL SMITH beanie, DUCHAMP pocket square, JOHN VARVATOS leather vest

I feel really guilty for neglecting this blog for over a week...consistently for the past few weeks. Huge apologies. I guess I feel so bad I had to post on a Saturday night at 12am (in reality I don't go out as often as I should and dinner just ended half hr ago).

Some photos from last Sunday when Mass told me he had booked roast at the Duke and silly me wore the most comfy clothes I had in closet. Oops. At least they didn't make me wear a men's suit jacket on top. Recommend their Sunday roast - especially now where they have a toptable deal on. For £24 per person you can have the roast with starter and champers. Always a fan of champers for Sunday brunch.

I know its a week later...but I love lazy Sundays. Hopefully tomorrow will be much of the same. (And I promise to kick this bad blogging habit in the butt....starting now.)