Christmas: Hong Kong vs America

Christmas is a lot different in America than in Hong Kong.

香港跟美國的聖誕節很不同！

In Hong Kong, I never cooked on Christmas Day. We would go out to have Christmas buffet or a nice Christmas dinner. Then we shop (of course!) and go see Christmas lights. Everywhere is packed during Christmas time. On the following day, known as Boxing Day, we open Christmas presents.

在香港，我從來都不會在聖誔當天煮菜，只會外出吃聖誕大餐，然後當然是shopping (哈哈），之後看燈飾，街上周圍都是人！我們會在Boxing Day拆禮物。

In America, everything is closed on Christmas Day. People ordinarily cook Christmas Dinner and stay home with their family. There is no Boxing Day in America. They open Christmas presents first thing Christmas morning. My husband said when they were little, his brother would wake everybody up at 4am so he could open his Christmas presents. 

在美國，聖誕當天大部份餐廳商舖都會關門。美國人會跟家人留在家中煮聖誔大餐。美國是沒有Boxing Day，他們會在聖誕當天早上拆聖誔禮物。我老公跟我說，他的哥哥試過朝早四點就叫醒所有人，因為他想拆禮物！

As an "American", I had an American Christmas this year. I started to bake on Christmas Eve. I was so busy that I had no time to eat. I was actually eating cup noodle while cooking my apples. Then on Christmas Day, I cooked for about five hours.

After two days of baking and cooking, this is what our Christmas Dinner menu looked like:
Beef Wellington
(with homemade steak sauce)
Cauliflower and pumpkin goat cheese casserole
Baked potatoes
Mashed sweet potatoes
Honey wholewheat dinner rolls
Rose apple pie

身為"美國人"，我今年也過了一個美國聖誔節。平安夜便開始預備大餐。忙得吃都沒時間，只可以邊吃杯麵邊煮。聖誕日再煮多五小時，終於可以吃了！

經過兩天的烤焗，這是我們今年的聖誕大餐：
Beef Wellington
（配自家製牛扒汁）
焗羊芝士椰菜花南瓜
焗薯
蕃薯蓉
蜜糖全麥餐包
玫瑰蘋果批

Beef Wellington in the making....

Our Christmas Dinner

Ta-da~ Beef Wellington

Medium rare! 😋

Rose apple pie

(Somehow I was still in my pajamas.....🙈 ) 

原來我還是穿睡衣⋯⋯

Merry Christmas everybody 

各位聖誕快樂

😎 

Autumn in Seoul

Best time of the year to visit Seoul if you're in love with the colorful autumn leaves. It's at its peak right now. Located at Chuncheon (around 2 hours away from Seoul), Nami Island is one of the best place to see foliage. 

Every picture can be a masterpiece. 

Cutest looking animal - Alpaca

I always thought Alpacas are the silliest, dumbest, weirdest but cutest and funniest looking animal. It looks like a combination of a horse, donkey and camel. My sister is all about it, she's got almost 20 alpaca stuffed dolls in her room. This is just part of her collection. 

Because my sister is crazy about them, so we decided to visit them in person. You would think Alpacas can't move fast, because they don't look like they could. But we were all wrong, we had our jaws dropped, laughed so hard as we saw around 15 chubby Alpacas ran towards us in super high speed from the top of the hill, responding to their owner's whistle. They probably knew it was time for lunch, so whoever came first could get the biggest meal.

                           

 

Okay, lunch time. Who's first? 

The Brighton Bathing Boxes, Melbourne Australia

Located on Dendy Street Beach, this is one of the must-go tourist attractions in Melbourne. There are 82 Bathing Boxes on the beach, each has their own unique artistic and color variations, provided visitors with a great spot for photo shooting. I was told that owners of these Bathing Boxes use them to store their surf boards and beach stuff for the summer. What a good idea !

Korean Traditional Dresses

I've always had the impression that Korean traditional dresses are kind of old fashion. Clearly, I was wrong. It can actually look quite stylish and elegant, or cute. Depending on your style and taste. 

So my sister and I found this studio called Go Guan in Insa-dong. What's so good about this place? 

Variety of choices

They have more than 300 dresses for you to choose from. It was really hard to choose cause all of them looked so pretty. Just in case you wonder, this studio is not just for girls, they also have costumes for men and children. So couple photos, family photos...... no problem.  

Price

We went for the cheapest menu. One dress + hairstyle + unlimited selfie time in the studio for just 25,000 won (approximately USD25). If you want to have a professional makeup artist to do your makeup or a professional photographer for studio quality pictures, they have that too. 

After we got dressed and had our hair done, the fun part came. We didn't want to look too serious and traditional, so we kind of just took the pictures in our usual style. The studio is not too big with 8 themed spots where you can take pictures with your own camera or smart phone. And don't worry about the time, cause there's no time limit. 

Me in the year 1014 versus 2014 

hahaha

Go Guan Korean Traditional Dress Studio (고관) 

http://goguan11.cafe24.com/

2F, 143 Insadong, Jongno-gu, 

Seoul, South Korea

Cafes in Seoul, South Korea

Seoul has become the top of my getaway list recently. I know it's on the other side of the world from the United States. But other than that, it's an affordable place for a vacation. 

If you love hanging out at cafes, Seoul is definitely the best place for you. Cafes can be found at almost every corner of the city, just like McDonald's here in the States. No matter if you want to grab and go or spend the whole afternoon there, you can always find somewhere that will suit your mood of the day. 

A coffee shop near Bukchon Hanok Village.

Another one.

If you want to try out a traditional Korean tea house, here's a recommendation for you. 

Mock Hyang (목향)

http://mockhyang.com/

32 Gwanhun-dong (42-8 Insadong-gil)

Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Korean herbal tea is well-known for its health benefits. 

Gingseng, ginger, green tea, Jujube tea, Citron tea...... all are powerful, soothing and helps preventing illness.

Miss Lee Cafe

http://www.missleecafe.com/ 

144 Gwanhun-dong

Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

While enjoying the delicious food and coffee

Make a wish~*

Hang it up on the wishing tree in the middle of the cafe

Your wish will then come true

I just can't wait to stuff everything in my stomach. haha...

Fall in West Virginia

We drove up to West Virginia last week. It was beautiful. Leaves were starting to turn yellow and red while some were still green, which made the perfect composition of a picture.

Such a romantic place to be at with the love of my life :)