relaxing sunday - ピンキーわくわく旅ストロ
this is a very lovely and pretty comic of a pink monkey. the monkey is travelling to a new city and has some funny incidents:
this pinky monkey in fact is a commercial character for a candy brand in Japan, the character is fancy and coulourful, very pleasant and welcoming!
The New Stormhoek Back Label
Being a wine lover, I can’t help but falling in love with the new Stormhoek wine series.
It so happened when I browsed the net today, I found out from gapingvoid that the Stormhoek wine series have developed new label designs for their wines. It is so obvious that the back label has caught my eyes and my attention, with the following inspiring tags:
Be Passionate
Love
Dream Big
Be Spontaneous
Celebrate
Change the World or Go Home (tag line for “microsoft”)
The tags immediately take me over, for they all align with my own believes and values, as well as the core values of a newly set up company of me and shine (for a glance of our new company, please read my business partner, shine’s another article: a possible dream).
The Stormhoek is a South African winery and since mid 2006, this winery has engaged Hugh MacLeod: the professional blogger, cartoonist and author of gapingvoid for marketing (through web 2.0) and design matters and the “sales have gone up fivefold since then”.
The new design of the front label of the wine is also stylish and eye catching.
Here is another bottle design created by Hugh for the 2008 Valentine special, lovely and pretty! I would really love to buy some as our company gifts to our most valuable business partners and clients.
To gapingvoid: really thanks for your creative work! I love it so much!
To shine: you should know what I am thinking of! Haha!
(wine photos and comic adopted from gapingvoid and stormhoek)
Filed under enjoyment, wine & beverages, hip & stylish, design | Comments (2)relaxing sunday - Nouvelle Vague
Nouvelle Vague is a French band with the source of their songs from new wave and punk music and the use of ’60s Bossa nova-style arrangements (bossa nova meaning “new wave” or “new beat” in Portuguese) .
I love listening to their songs, especially in a relaxing Sunday afternoon.
Would like to have a taste of their style and song? Watch the following video:
If you want to know more about this band, do visit the following website:
relaxing sunday: short cartoon from Yannick Puig
Yannick, a young Spanish CG Artist, has created this lovely and imaginative cartoon piece in 2005. I wish you enjoy it too.
Filed under enjoyment, fun, art | Comment (0)relaxing sunday - love animals cartoon
this Sunday, i have discovered an interesting video to share with you. the song is pretty.
the happiness so presented in the cartoon, however, seems a bit unreal and absurb.
Filed under enjoyment, happy, fun, humour | Comments (6)Interview with Chez Patrick
“My dream and mission is to make good thing!“ - Chez Patrick.
Meeting new friends with passion and high energy level is always a pleasurable and refreshing experience. My interview with Chez Patrick last Saturday should be one of those.
After I have posted my article about the restaurants of Chez Patrick in Hong Kong, the article received good responses and many readers like that post very much. I then have told Patrick about this and he has kindly replied my mail. I then suggested an interview with him in one of his lovely restaurants and he just simply accepted my proposal.
I met with Patrick last Saturday in his Peel Street shop. For I would like to mention a bit more about Peel Street. Peel Street is a small street located in the finance and business centre of Hong Kong, the Central District. But the Peel Street is one of the old streets in the Central District, near the SoHo Area (famous for numerous gorgeous restaurants). There are many local “old” Hong Kong shops along the Peel Street. The combination of Patrick’s fine French restaurant in this small and old Hong Kong street is very extra-ordinary and makes his restaurant outstand in the vicinity.
Our interview took place in last Satruday’s afternoon, where Patrick’s restaurant was quite full. I dated my friends to have lunch there and then Patrick came over to our table to have some chats with us.
Chatting with Patrick was inspiring. He shared his passions towards Hong Kong, his home land Lyon, his restaurants, his family and his believes with us most spontaneously.
Patrick’s dreams and believes
His dream is to make a restaurant, which is relax, homely and comfortable, not a place for showing off, for his clients. Of course, making very good food for the enjoyment of his clients is his most important believe.
He also reminded us that good food should be something like an art and music, the taste and smell and the experiences are all conected to our emotions and memories.
Patrick’s root and the effects on his career
His wish to become a good chef takes its root back in his family in Lyon. For his mother and his grandmother both make very good food, he enjoys cooking since he was small. In his family, dinner is an important function for family members to gather and share. The cooking style of his home land places emphasis on the real favour of the ingredients. He even keeps some recipes from his grand mother. It is this tradition of his family and the authenticity of his cooking style, that forms the building stone of his career as a chef and his restaurants.
Patrick’s keywords
“To make good food and good things” should be the key words of Patrick. For him, the real value of life is to creat good things and good food.
He emphasised to me that: “if you want to make good thing, you should get as close to the origin as possible.” His respect to his root and tradition is very admirable. Family links and supports are very important to him.
Last but not least, “to do the work you like!” For Patrick, his restaurant and his good food are actually his life!
Chez Patrick Peel Street
G/F., 26 Peel Street Central
Hong Kong
Tel) 2541 1401
Chez Patrick Sun Street
G/F., 8-9 Sun Street Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel) 2527 1408
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Related posts:
- Cenacolo Steak & Pasta - So Italian!
- Enoteca on Elgrin - good wine, good food, good time
- Chez Patrick: a night in Paris
- TOTT: a sparkling afternoon
- my beloved southern france cuisine
Stumble it!relaxing sunday - Kanye West
Let’s hip-hop this weekend!
Kanye West’s new album, The Stronger, is my favourite hip hop music these few weeks, can’t hold but to share with you all.
Filed under enjoyment, hip hop, music | Comments (2)Cenacolo Steak & Pasta - So Italian!
I can’t resist the drive but to introduce this lovely and tasteful Italian restaurant in Hong Kong to you.
Shortly after it’s opening since a few months ago, I tried this restaurant and fell into it at once. I have brought lots of friends to this restaurant and they all love the food and wine there.
In fact, this restaurant is another shop of a famous restaurant in the SoHo area in Hong Kong, the Al Dente(for information of SoHo, please refer to my earlier post: Enoteca on Elgin). Both restaurants are famous for good quality of food and wine, reasonable prices and very cozy and comfortable dinning environment.
The restaurant has a good collection of Italian wine to match with their dishes. All the wine selections are of high quality and very reasonable prices. I especially love those coming from the Chianti region.
My number 1 favourite dish in the restaurant is their Prosciutto e Brie (Parma Ham & Cheese). The Parma Ham goes prefect with the Brie cheese: salty, creamy and delicious. This appetiser is a perfect match with the Italian red wine. The other appetisers like Antipasto (Parma Ham, smoke salma and grilled vegetable), Carpacciao (Italian raw beef) are very nice choices.
Being an Italian restaurant, their pasta and risotto are the signature dishes. I love their Seafood Cafafu (lobster and seafood risotto) most. Don’t miss this dish when you visit this shop.
Another must try item in the restaurant is their rib-eye steak. The steak is very nicely done, very juicy and tender. I would say that not many restaurants could compare with the quality.
Some other dishes worth recommending to you include their very crispy pizzas, mussels, lamp chop and smoke salmon salad. Their freshly baked onion bread is also delicious.
Their desert, the chocolate pudding, is awesome! This desert is a piece of hot chocolate cake filled with melted hot chocolate cream. Beside the pudding, there is a scone of vanilla ice-cream. The contrasting black and white, hot and cold, chocolate and vanilla, all sum up to a great tasting experience. Other than the chocolate pudding, the Panna Cotta and Cream Brulee are also my favourites.
The prices of the restaurant are very reasonable. For a full course dinner, from appetisers down to deserts, with a bottle of sparkling wine and a bottle of good quality red wine, the total expenditure for 2 persons would be around US$120. This restaurant also serves weekend lunch sets, with 3 courses at USD$16 - 18 per person only.
My favourite: Prosciutto e Brie (Parma Ham & Cheese)
Cenacolo Steak Pasta
No. 45-53 Gramham Street, Soho, Central
tel) 852 25252430
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Related posts:
- Enoteca on Elgrin - good wine, good food, good time
- Chez Patrick: a night in Paris
- TOTT: a sparkling afternoon
- my beloved southern france cuisine
relaxing sunday - Gente da Minha Terra
I once talked about Peter KAM in one of my gallery’s posts earlier.
To recap, Peter Kam, 金培達, is a renouned Hong Kong film scoring musician. He is the award winner of the Silver Bear For Best Film Music kudos at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival by the Hong Kong film “Isabella” in 2006.
The film Isalbella is one of my favourite movies last year. The film takes place in Macau (I have introduced this little town next to Hong Kong in these two weeks’ travelling posts here: Macau - the good old days and Las Vegas of the East - Macau). It gives us a very artisitc account of the change of governance of Macau from Protugal to China in 1999, through a story of a local Macau Police.
Today, I am not going to go deep into the movie, Isabella, but I would like sharing with you a beautiful music piece chosen by Peter Kam for the movie, the Gente da Minha Terra.
The song, Gente da Minha Terra, is originally performed by the Portugual Fado singer, Mariza Reis Nunes and included in Mariza’s album Fado em Mim in 2001.
Fado (translated as destiny or fate) is a music genre which can be traced from the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. It is characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor. The music is usually linked to the Portuguese word saudade, … (Home-sickness has an approximate meaning. It is a kind of longing, and conveys a complex mixture of mainly nostalgia, but also sadness, pain, happiness and love). - Wikipedia
This beautiful Portugual Fado song, Gente da Minha Terra, is full of nostalgic emotions with a sense of sadness. No wonder that Peter Kam has won the Best Film Music kudos, this song matches with the film Isabella perfectly, for its nostalgic feelings, the sadness and its origin in the Portugual.
Let’s also appreciate the original version performed by the Portugual Fado singer, Mariza.
O Gente da minha Terra
Lyrics by Amalia Rodrigues
Music by Tiago Machado
| O Gente da minha Terra Agora e que eu percebi Esta tristeza que trago Foi de vos que recebi E meu e vosso este fado Sempre que se ouve um gemido E pareceria ternura |
Oh people of my land It’s only now that I perceive This sadness which I carry Was from you received This ballad is both yours and mine Whenever we hear a lament It would seem a kindness |
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Related post:
Filed under enjoyment, CDs, music | Comments (2)relaxing sunday - la vie en rose
Lyrics by Edith Piaf
Music by Louiguy
enr. 9 octobre 1946
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“La vie en rose” (French for “Life in Pink”) was the signature song of the French chanteuse, Édith Piaf (1915-1963). The song is a classique and has been performed by numerous artists all over the world.
Edith Piaf, was one of the greatest and famous chanteuses. She was called the “little sparrow” (”Piaf”, French coloquial) due to her heartbreaking voice. Her audience commented that “you made me cry, …… you are the voice of paris. ”
Her song, la Vie en Rose, means “the life in pink”. However, the life of Edith was not that “rosy” and she died young in the age of 48. The director, Oliver Dahan, has protraited the tragic life of Edith in the new film, La Môme (Eng name: la Vie en Rose), which has just been released.
The film is now on in Hong Kong and I would definitely watch this film. If you are interested in this film, you may also wish to read:
- The official website of La Vie En Rose
- Interview with the director, Oliver Dahan
- Interview with the main actress, Marion Cotillard
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