Back to London / Sally visited us

Sally from Guangzhou came to visit us for a week, and stayed with us in Leeds. Unfornately I had to work most of the time. We drove together to visit York in a morning, and Sally seems like York quite a lot. I took a friday off and we returned to London for three days to show Sally London.

I do miss London so much, and it’s so excited to return back to London. Everything seemed the same, and I felt like I have never left it. I know people living in North or outside London, they don’t really like London’s busy, the tubes, the tourists, and the rush. For me personally, London makes me feel alive. I absolutely love the vibrate movement, the cool trendy people, the arts, the varieties choices, and multicultural environment, thousands of shops, cafés, restaurants. It has too many to offer, that’s why I love about London, except one thing I don’t want to admit about London that living costs are very expensive.

It’s good experience to live in a different city rather and meet new people. I enjoy our life in Leeds, and certainly, we love living in London very much as well. Someday we shall retune to the most exciting city again!

Miwa Visiting Me


Miwa was so kindly to come to Leeds to keep me accompanied because she knew that John will be away to Florida for a week, and she was afraid that I will be lonely. Miwa arrived Saturday afternoon, then we went to town to have a walk with Melanie, and done some shopping. I took her to the restaurant called Thai Edge. It was absolutely delicious, authentic with reasonable price. I got my favourite curry crab. I missed it so much. It was 4.5 out of 5 definitely.

We decided to go to Manchester on Sunday, and just chilled out and ate food. Miwa and I didn’t do much research, and just booked the ticket to Manchester. Two little girls were in the big strange city, but we managed well. We went to Tai Hu Dimsum restaurant we went before with John, and we ordered 10 dishes dimsum and finished them all. The time when we finished lunch, all the shops were almost closed.

It’s nice of Miwa spending time with me because she will be back to Japan permanently and I won’t see her easily like she is in London now. I am so glad that I got Eileen, Miwa and Vicky as good friends in London.

Friends forever, no matter where they are!

Ho’s Best Dimsum in Leeds

I love Ho’s Chinese Restaurant in Leeds city centre. We have been there many times, and feel like that it is our regular dimsum place. I took all my friends there and they all said Ho’s dimsum is one of the best, even better in Guangzhou. Ho’s dimsum is certainly home-made Chinese with fresh ingredients and big portions as well. Most importantly, it is cheap and you will be satisfied when you walk out the restaurant.

My colleagues and I went there for dinner as well. The quality of the normal Chinese food was really authentic and I felt like I was in Guangzhou or Hong Kong. I will never feel home sick if we have good dimsum in Leeds. I gave 4.5 out of 5. If you like good quality of Chinese food in Leeds, go and try some.

My home-cooked Asparagus with Cod Fish

Normally we eat a lot of home-made good food at home. In the past few weekends, we bought fish and cooked them with simple recipes. Last night, I pan-fried cod fish with garlic asparagus, and mash sweet potato, add one roast big mushroom. It was so simple, but extremely tasty. Do you like it when you see the picture? It was so delicious.

Piccolino Restaurant

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.

Kendell’s Bistro French Restaurant

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.


Brand New Hair Cut

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

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…

Our New Car to explore the Yorkshire

After a long discussion, we finally decided to pick Italian car  – Alfa Romeo 147 model with 5 doors and 1.9 engines. It is a great car and we really enjoy driving and travelling around Leeds and Yorkshire. The weather is quite unpredictable at the moment. It comes rains and comes shine all the time. Hopefully hot summer will be arrived soon even though we are in June.

Having a car is having the freedom to discover all the places we wanted to visit. I am currently on my 11 driving lessons, and it needs 40 lessons to pass. It might take sometimes because I only can get 2 lessons per week because the coach is so busy. I am doing quite well on learning how to drive, and I really enjoy driving, although it might be a lot of practising ahead for me to do.

I really can wait to drive our own car and practice by myself.

Our New House in Leeds

We have moved in to Leeds for two and half months now, and always add some new furnitures or decoration in the house. It feels like a proper cozy and warm home now. Compared with London, we got a lot of spaces of the house in Leeds, and it is a nice modern stylish flat with open kitchen, 2 rooms and 2 bathrooms (one for John’s office and also be a guest room and one for us with a massive wardrobe to put my shoes and clothes, which is the highlight of the flat).

We do really enjoy the location of city centre and so easy to go shopping and eat out just by walking 5 minutes. I will imagine that the house will be full of good memories for us, and we do enjoy living in Leeds so far. However, I do miss London from time to time, missing its busy,  metropolitan and my friends, and the most importantly so many choices of shopping which that Leeds can not compared with.