Category Archives: General 文章

Piccolino Restaurant

Posted on by
Reply

Piccolino Restaurant is a Italian chain restaurant, and you can see them everywhere. We hadn’t tried it in London, but there is one in Leeds city centre and they have highly reviews. I have been there twice. One was with John’s family and we ordered some pizza, and pasta. I ordered the spicy sausage risotto, and they were all really tasty.

My colleagues decided to have the dinner party in there last few weeks ago. We ordered starters, main courts and desserts – they were all so lovely and tasty. Personally I ordered a king prawn starter like the cover picture, seafood grill and chocolate trifle, and they were absolutely gorgeous. I wish the portion could be a little bit bigger, but it was acceptable. Piccolino is a high-end posh restaurant, so the price is quite pricy too. However, the food did deserve the price. John told me that their pizza was one of the best he had tried. He is a pizza expert and food critic too.

Who doesn’t love good simple and tasty Italian food, and Piccolino is one of them – simple, elegant, and most importantly very tasty. The red passionate interior and a fancy lavatory room with good food and service. 4.5 of 5 for sure. Cover pictures from their office website.

Plushgun – Pins & Panzers

Posted on by
Reply

Knowing Plushgun from a radio called The Sixtyone and listened their ‘Just Impolite’. They are from New York, and music style like Postal Service. I always feel so happy when I listen their songs.

PIns & Panzers (2009) was a professional album, including electronic and alternative-rock elements. I can’t help listening it over and over again – especially ‘The Dark In You, and ‘Let Me Kiss You Now‘ such perfect songs. I always fall in love again when I listen ‘Let Me Kiss You Now‘; what a happy cheerful song! I really like their music and hope they continuously produce more good music. Highly recommended.

You can hear their songs in their Myspace and Spotify.

Kendell’s Bistro French Restaurant

Posted on by
Reply

As a food lover, discovering good food is always my favourite part of a week. We saw Kendell’s Bistro French restaurant in Leeds city centre through the Internet, and it always has the best reviews. John’s Mum’s birthday is coming, so we took her there for special occasion.

We love French food and the best one we tried was my 27th birthday and our wedding day called Savoir Faire in Holborn London. It was really delicious, good service, and home-made French food. So I can’t wait to try another home-made French food in Leeds.

When we arrived, I was expected that it would be a tiny cozy restaurant, but it wasn’t. It was a big and open restaurant with many artistic pictures on the wall. It was fairly dark with candles everywhere. The interior decoration style was really French – elegant and romantic with French Jazz music. The atmosphere was just perfect and so my taste.

All the menu was written on the blackboard because it changes all the time, depends on the Seasons. You can see the main Chef Steve Kendell was so busy cooking through an open kitchen. We all ordered a three-courses-meal and some red wine: I ordered a French Onion Soup, Roast Pork Belly along with some roast potato and vegetables, and Lemon Tart. It was beautiful and gorgeous with right amount portion. The starter was right amount and tasty. The pork was tender, juicy and the cracker was perfect. The tart was fresh. The service was excellent and friendly. We did enjoy the food so much and felt like we instantly fell into the heaven.

The owner knew it was John’s Mum’s birthday, and gave her a rose champagne to treat her special. It was very thoughtful. All the little details made the restaurant different and we did have a good time. I certainly will return in the future. Price is very reasonable, good quality food, excellent service and good atmosphere. It deserves a 4.5 stars of 5. Highly recommended.

The cover picture was from I Know Yorkshire. It will be so perfect to read this article and listening Editch Piaf. I felt like I am already in France.


Manchester Shopping + Dimsum

Posted on by
Reply

After John went to Manchester for his conference meeting, he said I would love to go shopping and experience Manchester. We decided to drive to Manchester at this weekend and see whether I like it or not.

It was very easy road to drive from Leeds to Manchester. After 40 minutes, we parked in central of Manchester and started to explore the area. It got Selfridges and a lot of big departments, high street, and a lot more choices than Leeds. I always think Leeds city centre is too small. I did enjoy to go shopping in London, but could be quite tired, because it is huge. I could easily spend one day only walking in Oxford Street. However, Manchester is the perfect size for going shopping. You don’t need to take tubes to go to different area, but it got so many designers shops and brands everywhere.

Manchester is famous for a huge number of Chinese population, and it means there is a lot of Chinese restaurants in town, so we went to Tai Wu restaurant, which we had been to the same one in Guangzhou and it is a big Chain dimsum restaurant in China. It was great dimsum – very cheap. Price was from £1.7-£3 per dish. However, like in China, Tai Wu didn’t have much of vegetarian choices because John likes vegetarian dimsum. I think we ordered 8-10 dishes and came out only £16 for the bill.

Interestingly there was Jazz Festival promoting in Manchester city centre, and pity that we didn’t stay long to attend the event. I can feel more music cultural happening in Manchester than Leeds.

Manchester always has the reputation that it is a rough and scary city and I felt it when I was there, not because I followed the stereotype, but it was true.  Even though living in London for 2 years, I didn’t feel London is particular a rough or dangerous city. It has some rough area for sure, but I never felt uncomfortable living there. I think I might feel quite dangerous living in Manchester, but it was my personal opinion and it is properly not fully true if you are living there rather than as a visitor.

I do like Manchester, and bigger than Leeds and  love about the shopping and many choices of food. I will definitely go shopping there again and return often. It makes me miss London a lot.

Kent (2010 album – En Plats I Solen)

Posted on by
Reply

Swedish band Kent released En Plats I Solen for few weeks now, and I bought them in itune last night. After listening to them, I love every single song. Every song is different style.  The previous album Rod was a new revolution for them. It was more electronic rather than alternative or rock. However, En Plats I Solen is combined electronic and rock and it is absolutely one of Kent’s best albums. Apparently, this album is few weeks No. 1 album in Sweden and the whole Scandinavia. They deserve to be the No. 1.

Knowing Kent since 2005, and ever since, they always surprise fans – innovative but still keep their own style. Even though I don’t know Swedish, it doesn’t matter – there is no language boundaries when it comes to good music. Kent’s style is like Mew, and it is same style music I always like. I don’t like all the rock, but I do like Kent, Mew, Muse, Miike Snow, Metric a lot. (looks like any bands with the M)

Some people said Rock is too rock or violent, but sometimes I always listen rock /alternative music, there  are so many complicated feeling inside you – melancholy, rebellious, freedom, love and hate and live in the dream. It’s such a complex feeling when you listen to this album. I make me want to cry, want to dance, want to have a holiday or want to scream, but it makes me happy.

You can listen their album in their Myspace, or Spotify (only UK) but it definitely worths to buy it. Love Kent’s every single album. It deserves a 5 stars. John and I really want to go to Sweden and see Kent’s concert in our life time!

瑞典乐队Kent 2010年推出了新专集 － En Plats I Solen，昨晚才在 itune 买了他们的新专集, 这几天反复听着这张新专集，实在爱不释手。这张专集里面的每首歌曲都是不同风格。前张专集 Rod 完全是个创新，整张是电子摇滚居多，他们尝试了不同类型的音乐。 Rod 那张专集我也喜欢，Kent 永远不令歌迷失望，永远敢于创新，不限制自己的风格，但又不失去自己的特色。En Plats I Solen 是alternative, indie 摇滚和电子的2体合一。这张专集这几个星期都是在瑞典和北欧居排名第1 。

从2005听过Kent的所有专集之后，一向都是他们忠诚的歌迷，每张专集都没有令我失望过。虽然我基本听不懂瑞典歌词，但好音乐是没有语言障碍，你随着音乐而起舞，你整个人陶醉在音乐世界里，语言只是符号，旋律才是好音乐的根。我喜欢Mew的原因很多都是Mew和Kent是蛮相似的音乐类型风格。不是所有的摇滚我都喜欢，我要看什么样的摇滚 － Kent, Mew, Muse, Miike Snow和Metric我都超级喜欢。听着他们的歌，有时候摇滚给我是种复杂说不出的感觉 － 忧郁的，反叛的，追求自由，爱与恨和活在自己的音乐空间，有时候，听着听着他们的歌曲，会让你想哭，会想你跳起舞，会让你度假的假期更加完美，不过好音乐都让你感到开心…这就是我爱他们音乐的原因。我和john一定要去瑞典看他们的音乐会，这是我的梦想！

你可以在他们Myspace试听他们的歌曲，或Spotify 英国IP才可免费无限试听。但这张专集我绝对推荐。看看你们喜欢不？我给5星，绝对是我最爱之一！

Brand New Hair Cut

Posted on by
2

John always said short hair suits me well, however, I never had a gut to try something new. I had my long hair for more than 20 years, and could not imagine how do I look when I have my hair cut short. Finally I decided to try one of the best salons in the UK Vidal Sassoon in Leeds City Centre, and had an appointment on Saturday last week, then after one hour, I had a brand new hair cut.

I love it and a lot of my friends love it too. I think even though my hair is thick and have a lot, shoulder hair or short hair indeed suits me. One thing I am sure is I will change my hair style often in the future and not scared of changing.

Do you like it?

Best Friend Shine in the UK

Posted on by
Reply

I got two best friends who are Caro and Shine, both we have been together for more than 20 years. One thing I always feel blessing is that you have a best friend in your life and that’s all you need.

Shine and I are very close and she knows everything of me, and she is the one who will always be there for me. Since John and I moved to the UK, I miss her so much, and so excited to hear that she was coming to have a holiday here.

We drove to the Ilkey moors and Bolton Abbey, then back home to have Sunday Roast. It’s shame that Shine didn’t stay long in Leeds, but we had a good time together. Sometimes I hate growing up, because you can not spend as much time as we used to be in the University, and talked about our future and silly dreams. Life is going on, and we are getting old together.

I am a lucky woman who has such a best friend supports me in every way. When Shine is not here, John replaces her place and keep me warm and give me strength on the road.  A song to Shine and me…

Keane – The Night Sky
One day I will be back in our old street
Safe from the noise that’s falling around me…

Summer Beach Holiday

Posted on by
Reply

The best way to enjoy the summer is to go to beach and enjoy the sun. UK actually has a lot of beaches and sea-side towns, because it is a big island surrounding the sea. Since we are living in Yorkshire, Scarborough in North Yorkshire is the best holiday beach destination.

We drove 2 hours to reach Scarborough. My first impression of it was ” wow, my god, it was so stunning pretty”. We walked alone the beach, and saw that people were sunbathing, kids were making castles in the beach. It was an amazing to relax and be with your family.

You can easily buy any sea food such as lobster or big crabs for under £5. I forgot to buy one when we were back home. We ate really fresh cod fish and chip for lunch. The fish meat was so tasty and fresh, and I who was grown up by the coastal city girl, could tell the difference from sea fish and normal fish.

John said while we were in Scarborough, we could also visit Robin Hood Bay and Whitby. Robin Hood Bay is even smaller than Scarborough, just a small coastal village. Luckily we saw some dance performances of old village tradition. It was amazing and fun to experience.

Whitby like Scarborough is so pretty and felt like you were living in fairy Tale story. All the houses and colourful roofs, boats and yachts  did look like Scandinavia style, don’t you think? I did feel like I was in another country rather than in the UK. It was very different of architectures and atmosphere. I did enjoy North Yorkshire so much – peaceful, quite, good quality of life.  However, it properly might be a little bit bored for young people.

We drove back home from Whitby through North Yorkshire Moors, and it was so pretty inside the moors. It felt like we were in some forests and so stunning beautiful. The weather was hot with blue sky all day long, that’s why we got some amazing pictures.

You should see all the pictures we took in Scarborough beach and Whitby, and I am sure you will fall in love with them.

Summer Cocktail

Posted on by
Reply

It is getting hotter in July, and it feels like the proper Summer now. It is sunny all the time, and the temperature is around 18-25 degrees – perfect summer temperature for me, not that sweaty, but nice with cool breeze. We decided to do a home-made cocktail at the weekend, so we tried the Pimm’s with a lot ice, lemonade, strawberries, few orange and little mint. It tasted gorgeous and nice pretty red colour for summer drink.

It is the perfect fruity drink in Summer time. I was sitting my lounge chair in our balcony and sun bathing at the weekend, drinking the Pimm’s and listening to some chill out music.

What a wonderful weekend. We will try Gin and Tonic next week. Happy life.

Home-made gorgeous bread

Posted on by
Reply

John ordered a recipes book how to make bread from River Cottage because we always eat a lot of bread at home, so we thought, why don’t we make our own bread with nice organic flower and no any artificial ingredient.

As we are always focus on healthy and tasty food, so we try to home-baked and cook for every thing possible. At the weekend, we made our hands dirty and tried to kneed our own bread. First weekend, we tried to make the basic white bread – it turned out so great, and tasted even unbelievable as well. You can see it from the picture above.

Second weekend we made the brown bread with pumpkin seeds inside and outside. It looked very nice as well, but it was a heavy bread to eat. I am so happy the bread turned out so great and tasty. I think we will continually make our own bread and eat healthy.

We also will make our pasta sauce this weekend, because we cook Italian food so often, why not? Our next step for our life is to buy our own house and grow our own vegetable and herbs.