I NEED A DERM!

Came back from a meeting with my manager this afternoon and she's really happy with the progress I made with the company. One thing she probably doesn't know is I haven't been home for a long time since I left for Dubai and that makes me pretty upset :-(
Tons of things to do if and when I get to go home.

The top on my list of tasks to do:

***1) See a dermatologist - my skin is rotting day by day, damn!

2) Color roots and trim ends
3) Sing K with my girls

I took a picture of myself with full makeup on today before I went to work but had to smooth out the rough edges (bumps n scars) prior to posting.
If only I could have smooth skin like that, uh-huh, that will save me a lot of hassle when I put on make up. Life is so unfair when I see my fellow peers with blardy good and tamed skin *whines out loud* I think even JS has better skin than I do. T_T

Being in Dubai can really a B*tch when I urgently need something done!

Then again, I get jitters when I think about me going home. I've heard a lot of people crying on their first flight back, or worst, not wanting to come back to Dubai after going home. That'll be quite a nightmare to me. I don't wanna drag my feet to work thinking about home. I think it's not going to be THAT bad right???

Bleah... blogging makes me feel like I'm having one-way conversations with myself..

P.S. Any good dermatologists/GPs to recommend? (besides Niks and Dr. Chan)
- please leave me a comment or a fs, much appreciated! :>

formspring.me/stephgracetan

living the dubai dream

I thought I'll be really free during July, but my workload's pretty much the same as the past few months.   I've also been coming out to play quite often, trying to do less shopping and more eating! Getting friends out for meals seems really easy - and I've been trying to visit the restaurants listed in Timeout.

Dressed up to head to Kisaku restaurant, a renown restaurant also featured in TimeoutDubai

 love the details of the keyhole top i bought from Seoul.

Situated at the top floor of Al Khaleej Palace, Deira, this restaurant serves up very good and fresh sashimi.

raw meat delights.

Brought my italian friends to the meal: meet Vittoria and Curry (Karim), whom I've also blogged on the Shangri-la's entry.

Curry's favorite California Maki (with crab meat and fish roe)

 

This chap really loves his asian food :)

Curry's fried salmon set meal;

My katsu cutlet set;

These breaded fillets make me wanna come back for more :)

Breaded prawns - otherwise known as ebi tempura

Thumbs up for the good service and the good quality Japanese meal - it has to be one of the best places to have authentic Japanese food here in Dubai :)

 *   *   *

On the first day of Ramadan (yesterday), Erika and I went to meet our ex-housemate and friend, Shimi-chan for a meal. As it's Ramadan period, before the sunsets, to respect the Islamic culture in Dubai, no one eats or drinks in "public's view". I would say Dubai's not as strict as its Saudi counterparts due to the big foreign expat community here, so some restaurants are still open before Iftar (the meal after dawn, after breaking fast).
Restaurants will pull their curtains close though they do stay open for lunch and early dinner. It is after Iftar when they can keep the curtains open.

This picture is a good example of Royal China having their curtains closed before dawn.

Erika and I are looking forward to dine at Royal China when it's here in Dubai!

The other franchises are in London and Hong Kong, China.

Its oriental interior and fine dining plating and intricate draws attention, even to Asians like us.

Its glorious wine cellar.

The restaurant does very good tea and all of them practice the true art of making chinese teas.

The imported Oolong Tie Guan Yin tea, for instance, cost S$30 for the 3 of us, which is inexpensive for such fine tea.

Having met Chef Wong, who did work in China and Raffles Hotel before coming over in Dubai, did the honor of doing us the Turnip cake with XO sauce. Dim Sum items are usually not served at night and only for lunch, (with the exception of a simple dimsum platter), but he did make it an exception for us to have the fried turnip cake :)

The dimsum platter (S$30) consisting of selected steamed dimsum and we chose:
- 3 x har gow
- 3 x siew mai with prawns and chicken
- 2 x parsley chicken crystal buns
Pretty good stuff, but I really like the last item because it's very well made - the parsley is fragrant. You know how dimsum is usually made with pork - and Royal China, as well as Da Shi Dai (entry), does chicken like how it would taste as pork, the right moisture to steamed dimsum.

The best duck crepe rolls I've had.

And for main courses, we had garlic kai-lun and yang chow fried rice.
Everything was well-plated for us so we didn't really have to move an inch besides to eat our share. Hahaha, fine dining is indeed for lazy people.

I would say the quality of food is akin like Da Shi Dai in Jumeirah but the service is excellent. If I were to compare to the Royal China in Singapore, I would say the prices are of a big difference, and we indeed do pay more for asian fare here. However, the service, the ambience RC does for this Dubai outlet, has to supersede what they have in SG.

lastly, dessert at S$10 a bowl - sago with rice pudding and coconut milk on the right,
grapefruit and pomelo in mango sago
 
the extremely satisfied people :>

Met up with Michael and he brought us to the Burj Khalifa residence to take a look. Up to date, Burj Khalifa is still the tallest building in the world, standing at 829.84m. While the observation deck is at level 124, we went up to the residence lounge at level 123.

What an experience I must say...

Looking at Dubai at the tallest view and marveling over how Dubai was once just an empty dessert - to how much construction and work done over just 30 years, pushing the limits of architecture arts world.

Took some pictures while we visited the washroom, even the ladies is crazily pretty :)


Having a cuppa coffee and chilling out @ the residence lounge.


Went on to level 43, where the pool is.
There is also a outdoor pool that looks quite like the infinity pool we have in MBS.

The MI4 scene, where Tom Cruise was depicted climbing the glass panels of Burj Khalifa.


And we had a sneak peek at the residence bedroom of the Burj - a master bedroom overlooking the scene of The Address hotel - one of my favorite structures in Dubai.


Ending our little private tour of the Burj - thanks Michael for the experience! :>


xx

München - my other favorite city

Good morning world! I woke up early today, (5am) just to make sure that I get my sleep hours right. Slept at 7pm , woke up at 5am. Bagus!

With extra time in hand, I'm touching on Munich today!

Absolutely love this place because I'm a groce-holic (grocery) and Munich has such lovely chocolates, fresh veg and fruits that I could bring home to Dubai.

Here's my room at the Westin, and I have always loved this chain of hotels ever since I started traveling.

To the supermarket! This is widest selection of Maggie products I've ever since, everything from pasta sauces, to 3 minute meals, to seasonings.

Everyone loves Giotto ^^
Like Ferror Rocher, but better than that. Made from the same parent company, it has a chocolate cream center, covered by a crispy wafer sphere and it's coated with hazelnuts. Sounds yum?

Ritter Sport bigger than my face. #forthewin

They have too many types of Ritter Sports and it's for 0.99 euros! Sport some special ones like Expresso, Marzipan (ground almond and sugar, and berry yogurt!)

Haribo!!!!!
Bought a pack for myself and my bestie jess. I'm incredibly in love with gummy bears since I was young. I'm not an adult, I'm a child with wrinkles :p


Presenting to you my groce-holic bad habits.
25 euros flew by, and I bought amazing things!
Manner (Vienna) wafers are really good, the chocolate centers are thick and the wafer's crispy TTM!
I also bought german sausages - the garlic one taste good!
Giotto x 4 (those are giveaways, I'm not crashing my diet for that)


Grabbed a ticket and went on exploring Munich alone. I didn't consider that it was my first time, but with a map in my hand, and hoping that some good Samaritans will be of my help if I'm lost.

If you ask me why I like to be walk alone when I could have chosen to go with my friends - i like this feeling of exploring a new place alone (okay, i leave Paris out of that league because it's not too safe).
I take my own time to in and out of a store without having to have someone wait, walk along the streets  and have local food at my own ease.
I really like that feeling of knowing a place with a map and without any guided directions, and that might allow me to get to know a place more than I thought I already knew.


Set my way to Odeonplatz - 15 minutes walk away from Marienplatz, the central area of Munich.
Read history here: link

Feldherrnhalle - the structure that gives Odeonplatz an Italian Square appearance.

There are some celebrations that day - I heard it was a holiday that Friday, so everyone was merry in spirits. They party, drink and have their german snacks while they listen in to the live band. 

BAHHHH!!! Look at this!!
Even now when I look at the picture, it gives me hunger pangs.
This is the thing man - Bratwurst with bun.
Initially I thought the bun will not be too good- but it ended up really well.
Bratwurst is cooked to perfection - after one bite, the juiciness of the sausage is revealed. I was in love that moment, I know it sounds exaggerating, but this is defo the best sausage I had.
Bun was good - it was slightly hard when you first eat it, but the center of the bun was soft. Goes really well with the slightly salty bratwurst.


I've no idea what this is really, tried googling many times but to no avail.
I would say this is a german pizza/dough (alike to Flammkuchen) with sour cream, onions and bacon.
I love this too - the dough is really soft, and that's the best part of the whole thing.
Leaves you wanting more, really.

The next 10-15 minutes, I spent it walking and taking pictures of random structures I see.

On the streets of Odeonplatz, you could see lots of little bars selling drinks/beer/cocktails.
I particularly like this one which is shaped like a cottage and decorated with sunflowers, looks chirpy is it?

Munich city center has this feel of a twist between modern and ancient - they preserved their historical architectures well.

Locals in their costumes. I wished I had the courage to take a picture with them :p

Interior of Rathaus, which is more famous for its name Glockenspiel.

The Glockenspiel is a mechanical center located on the front of the Rathaus on Marienplatz in Munich, Germany. Everyday at 11am and 12pm in the winter months and 11am, 12pm and 5pm in the summer months the Glockenspiel starts to chime.

The life-sized statues rotate around each other in a mock dance. It consists of 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures. Munich is world famous for its Glockenspiel. It is featured in all the guide books to the city. And when it starts to play you'll see tourists stood on Marienplatz gazing up with their video cameras at the ready.
(source: ToytownGermany)


Yves Rocher skincare - i particularly like its handcream for its price and quality.

Cola x Orange is the mezzo mix. Tried it since I saw a few locals drinking it. I like my coke better, in my very honest opinion, but this drink is refreshing nonetheless!


The Hirmer building

A stretch of business stores in this pretty building with floral exhibits -
A variety of labels, from Armani to Zegna: Hirmer stands for an exceptionally wide variety of prestige labels ranging from trendy to classical. In the following you will find only a fraction of the tremendous selection of labels offered by Hirmer:
Armani, Baldessarini, Barbour, Bogner, Boss, Boss Selection, Brax, Bugatti, Camel Active, Church's, Daniel Hechter, Dockers, Eduard Dressler, Eterna, Faconnable, Gaastra, Gant, Hetrego, Herno, Hiltl, Incotex, Jacques Britt, Joker, Joop, Kaiser Design, Lacoste, Latini, Levi’s, Mabrun, März, Magnanni, Marc O’Polo, Manuel Ritz, Napapijri, Olymp, Peuterey, Pierre Cardin, Quarvif, Santoni, Schöffel, Schneiders, Sebago, Stenströms, Strellson, Tommy Hilfiger, Van Laack, Victorinox, Windsor, Zegna Sport, Zzegna.
O.o!!!

By 6pm, everyone seated down for a beer and dinner.

While I'm still strolling past the streets to see street musicians do their thing :)
Amazing is life.

The doors of the Theatinerkirche/Theatiner Church were open for the public.
An Italian baroque style church.

Spent some time on reflecting, gave my prayers and lighted a candle.
My heart feels a little lighter after this visit.

Went on to Hofgarten - a renaissance court garden created in the 1610s.

I could see people standing on the benches having small chats, while others chose to have picnics with mats on the green. It's a really nice feeling isn't it?


And on the next day, I decided not to head out, but have beer with my friends.
Paulaner 1 keg (5 litres) and we did order 2. Weisber taste light and good for me.

and the "little girl" they call me, ended up finishing everything on this plate.
Potato dumplings and my half pork kunckle accompanied by brocolli - love it!