If you’ve noticed, i’ve got into the habit of compiling all my food pictures into a folder, then blogging them when i have the time to. I like it much better this way… it gives me a clearer idea of what i’ve been putting into my mouth. The only thing is, after uploading all the pictures here, i realize how MUCH i eat and am a little bit disgusted slash surprised slash embarrassed! I know i’m VERY LUCKY that my metabolic rate is considered pretty awesome compared to other women my age, although i do force myself to go for Powerplate twice a week so that things don’t get too jiggly everywhere.
But besides that, i have thought to myself before that: “As long as i have enough money to buy myself whatever food i fancy, i think i’ll be happy for the rest of my life.” Traveling to countries like Myanmar have rearranged my perspective that living in a city like KL has its beautiful blessings that we easily get our hands on whatever food we desire like Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Korean, etc .
I’ve started dining in Yeast (Telawi, Bangsar) more often. Went there for dinner with Aps where we both ordered the same dish of salmon and it was truly sublime. We didn’t even talk while enjoying the first half of it. It sat on creamed spinach and three types of sauces. The kitchen team are all French, as is the general atmosphere and interior. I made friends with Francois (the head waiter?) there cos i have general respect for the French who choose to live in Asia – they are the French who are more adventurous and honestly love South East Asia.
Seeing it’s French and a good restaurant at that, i brought Clem back to have a weekend brunch one day. We had the croque madame which was SO good, and a decent spinach quiche. Clem said it reminds him of simple French food he misses back home.
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Also in Telawi area, is Bait, where i sometimes go for meetings. During a lunch with Aishah one day, i decided to go for their oysters and a glass of white. Sometimes you just gotta give in to your desires even tho you feel a tad guilty about having wine in the afternoon.
I tried their lunch set of vongole. Aishah had fish and chips.
I went for the launch of Caudalie’s latest skincare line weeks ago, though i’ve put off its writing cos there is so much information involved and i didn’t want to rush it. Caudalie (pronounced ‘coh-dah-lee’) is a French beauty company from Bordeaux and is currently imported by Ken’s Apothecary – who also brings in amazing brands like Aesop, Laura Mercier and Diptyque. So you can guess the quality of Caudalie even if you’ve never heard of it before.
I got my first taste of Caudalie when Clem’s mum gave me a bottle of the brand’s Beauty Elixir Mist which I later found out is a cult product often raved about by celebrities and make up artists.
But i’m not here to tell you about their cult products and whatnot. I really wanted to start off with THE MAIN REASON why i found Caudalie so exciting. You know how we tend to memorize particular ingredients imperative in products to be the best for our skin? There was (and still is) the whole Vitamin C deal, then the collagen thing to the point people started drinking it (i never bothered with that consumption trend), and hyaluronic acid.
There’s a new ingredient that begs to be remembered. It’s a mouthful but i say it deserves its extra effort: Resveratrol.
Resveratrol originates from the grapevine and is currently known as a world-famous anti-ageing molecule. It was first discovered by Caudalie and their Professor Vercauteren in 1997; before they successfully isolated, stabilized, and patented it in 1999. Since then, Grapevine Resveratrol has been a flagship active ingredient for cell regeneration and in cancer research, and is recognized by Harvard’s Department of Medicine as being among the best anti-ageing molecules.
So that’s Resveratrol that was patented in 1999. In 2012, Caudalie and Professor Vercauteren patented a better version of their original findings, and called it Resveratrol-Oleyl. This arose when the Professor discovered that carbonyl stress was a big bad boy in causing more ageing, so he modified the new generation Resveratrol-Oleyl that’s stabilized by oleic acid and increased in efficacy against carbonyl stress.
(i thought it might be a bit nerdy to put this molecular chart of the Resveratrol but i want to!)
It was explained to us that carbonyl stress causes the sugars in our skin’s molecular build to ‘caramelize’ and become more hard/less flexible. When this happens, our skin’s support fibers rupture, causing the skin’s surface to ‘fall in’ and wrinkles to appear as how we know it. This whole process is referred to as glycation and plays a significant role in tissue damage, and loss of skin elasticity.
What makes carbonyl stress more of a bitch is that it generates extra-cellular oxidative stress, which in turn activates carbonyl stress’ harmful effects. Chicken and egg situation.
Back to the new Resveratrol-Oleyl. It acts on two fundamental levels:
Intra-cellular level > it stimulates collagen fiber production and increases epidermal thickness.
Extra-cellular level > it inhibits that dratted carbonyl stress to prevent glycation, while encouraging the production of superior quality collagen and elastin.
Also, thanks to the oleic acid (that’s used to stabilize it, remember?), the skin is provided with fatty acids omega 3,6 and 9 which protect it from aggression, regenerate and deeply nourish it.
Phooew, okay so now you know the main ingredient behind Caudalie’s latest skincare line and WHY it was so important for me to explain it… i didn’t just want to list the benefits of the products down and expect you to believe them, i wanted to share what i learnt that day too!
All of Caudalie’s new Vinexpert products of course have Resveratrol-Oleyl as its key active ingredient.
Vinexpert Eye & Lip Serum – finely targeted formula to smoothen crow’s feet wrinkles, lip contour, lift the eyelids and act against puffiness. Also includes ingredients Matrixyl-synthe 6 (one of the most high performance anti-wrinkle molecules), peptides to fight skin slackening, argan protein for tightening and hyaluronic acid. (15ml; app. RM220) Vinexpert Firming Serum – this has the highest concentration of Resveratrol-Oleyl and fills in the areas most subject to aging, acting on density and firmness – cheekbones, facial contour, neck, décolleté. (30ml; app. RM264) CLICK TO READ MORE
CosmoBox by Box Culture, a new shopping trend available in Malaysia since last year, follows a concept that has already proved successful in Europe and the US. How this works is that women who subscribe to CosmoBox get a mystery box filled with beauty products sent to their doorstep every month!
CosmoBox was started by my old school friend Sze Yoong (whom some of you may know as the person behind Sze Accessories) and her business partner Lee Yen.
“Designed with the urban woman in mind, who wants to keep in-the-know, all while managing a hectic life, CosmoBox is a refreshing getaway, an escape almost, from daily stress and strife.
The whole idea is for us to treat you busy ladies to an exciting and surprising selection of beauty and lifestyle products from both well-known and emerging brands in each and every monthly box for you to try before you buy.
With every box, you’ll get a chance to sample and savour top products, get expert advice and give yourself some much-needed TLC all at a go. Perfectly designed around your hectic schedule!”
For RM33/month, you get a CosmoBox filled with considerably substantial, deluxe-size, luxury beauty products ranging from skincare, makeup, fragrances, hair, nails and body care delivered to your doorsteps after careful personalized curation. That doesn’t mean the box is actually worth RM33 tho, month of January’s CosmoBox included Organix Hair Shampoo and Conditioner, Fullsize OPI Nail Polish, The Body Shop Strawberry Bodywash, Yadah’s Anti-Trouble Spot and Mariah Carey’s Lollipop Fragrances. That’s obviously worth a lot more than RM33..!
Very recently, i learnt something new that i wanted to share. Okay maybe some of you know this already, but i didn’t, or if i did, i didn’t practice it properly and with my whole heart.
In the past, if someone had wronged a close friend of mine badly, i would mentally keep note of said person so i would stay away from them. Not get too close, you know. One of these ‘blacklisted’ people in my mind, recently approached me to have a chat. Usually i’d be polite for one minute then make an excuse to leave. But this time, i thought… what is my problem? True, she did something terrible before… but that was years ago. I’m sure she’s changed by now… i should give her a chance instead of never getting to know her.
Thing is, you NEVER know. I know of friends who changed from being good people to being great people. I have changed too… i can think of many past sins that i’m ashamed of.
So i spoke to her. And… i really liked what i gleaned. She is very different from the person i briefly knew previously, and i could feel how positive she is these days. It felt good talking to her. And i felt a bit ‘duh’ that i only realised this now.
Ironically, just after it happened my mum posted this on Facebook:
Different seasons of Life
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree’s life.
He told them not to judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.
Don’t let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don’t judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches
and better times are sure to come some time or later.
Fifteen of us threw Cammy a surprise baby shower last Sunday! She’s gonna pop in mid-April (maybe Cameron will be born on my birthday if i’m lucky) and she knew she’d have a baby shower… just not WHEN and WHERE. When Jean, Mabel, Steph and i met up to discuss when we’d throw it, Jean mentioned she’d be away first half of March, so we’d have to do it either before or after.
“March 16th is Future Music Fest… so definitely NOT that weekend,” i piped up, flipping my moleskine pages to end Feb. The other girls laughed and Mabel said she liked my priorities. Sorry Cammy, but i’m not the one who’s pregnant so i’d like to layan the baby shower AND festival!
We were going to have it in Jan’s house at first, but then she too got pregnant (baby fever is going around man…) so it would be too much for her. Then Steph had a great idea to have it in Cammy’s mom’s house so she’d be involved in the entire shindig too!
Tina tying the notes to the balloons. She and Elicia did an impressive job with the streamers… i was going to be a deco nazi and do it myself but i had other stuff to do, so i let them handle it. I’m glad i’m trying not to be such a control freak and trust people cos it was nicer than what i’d have done!
Cammy loves the F1 driver Alonso, so we thought it’d be different to have a Ferrari-themed baby shower instead of the typical baby blue ladida. Fondant Ferrari cake with baby is by Liez Cakes.
My old college friend Aishah of That Last Slice single-handedly prepared the entire dessert table of fruit tarts, eclairs, creme brûlées, tiramisus, cupcakes and traffic light biscuits. She outsourced someone else to customize the racing car theme deco that went on the fondant cake and her desserts, she picked them up, came over to the house and set everything up for the party! She does weddings too if you’re interested in hiring her (you have to book weeks in advance ya).
I got the chicken curry puffs from Australian Confectionary in Seapark (thanks for the contact Chris! I first ate them at her shopping parties and thought them the BEST curry puffs eva.)
Racing track coasters are from Kwerkee, and the toys are obviously mine… which i took back after, haha. Cammy was allowed to keep the racing track for her own zoo at home.
