A Weekend in Charleston

Late last month on a whim, S and I took advantage of cheap flights and flew down to Charleston for the weekend. It was our first trip to the South and it was just as I imagined:  palmettos, churches, humidity, biscuits, alligators, torrential rain, magnolias, piazzas, and that wonderful Southern hospitality. 

Our M.O. in any new city is to check out the free walking tour offerings. Here, we went on the historic district tour and the architecture tour - both gave us a colourful introduction to the well-preserved heart of Charleston. We also spent an afternoon at the very pretty Magnolia Plantation, where we sighted many of the aforementioned alligators (and peacocks, so many peacocks!). 

Like most weekend trips, our visit didn't feel long enough. I could have spent many days wandering the charming town. Each house was envy-inducing - from the ironwork gates to the lush gardens and piazzas (Charleston talk for verandahs). Even the hot, sticky air was comforting. 

Charleston is also doing excellent things on the restaurant front, and can frankly give NYC a run for her money. A list of where we wined and dined is at the end of the post if you are interested. But first, a few photos: 

Double piazzas AND palmettos

London Travel Diary

I was in London last month on business. My last trip was over 3 years ago and I was thrilled to be back.   

Much of my week there, when not at in the office, was spent wandering the city. I forgot how beautiful London is - my neck was sore from all that looking up! NYC skyscrapers may be impressive, but its architecture has got nothing on Europe. There was a teeny bit of shopping (Reiss and COS, natch), but mostly a lot of eating, and as you will soon see, a little Sherlock too! Here is a photologue, comprised of a mix of DSLR and Iphone images:

Gastronomica's piadina at Borough Market

Los Angeles Travel Diary - Day Three

Our final day in Los Angeles was spent at Universal Studios. My inner movie geek loved all of it, but the thrill-seeker in me was a little disappointed at the lack of scream-inducing rides. We had a fun day in the sunshine, but it felt a little bittersweet knowing that we were hours away from boarding our flight back to sub-zero NYC weather. In any case, the best decision of the day - springing for "fast-passes", allowing us to skip lines everywhere like a boss.  

London Calling

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Greetings from across the pond! 

I'm in town for work this week and arrived on Saturday morning to a sunshine-filled city (who would have thought?!)

It isn't my first trip to London so I've been skipping the usual touristy suspects in favour of wandering, eating my weight and indulging in retail therapy. 

Highlights from the weekend include: coffee I'm still thinking about at Monmouth, the chorizo sandwich from Brindisa, dinner in the beautiful dining room of Berners Tavern, everything (EVERYTHING) off the menu at Duck Soup,  ransacking the sale racks at COS, and indulging in melt-in-your-mouth rose macarons from accidentally stumbling upon my all-time favourite, Pierre Herme. And it's only been two days.

I'll be posting on Instagram frequently so come find me there this week. 

Cheerio!

Happy Memorial Day

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Happy Memorial Day weekend!

We are off to the nation's capital tomorrow morning so date night tonight involves the "fun-filled" activities of laundry and packing for our weekend getaway.

It's the fiancé's first visit while I haven't been back since I last (and initially) did back in 2009. Even though we've both been busy of late, it won't be an "Usha" trip without a decent amount of planning. Here are what's on the cards:

Sunshine in Bali

My parents turned 60 within 6 months of each other. To celebrate, my brother and I flew them out to Bali when I was back in Asia last November.

Apart from my dad who came to this island on a quick business trip a decade ago, none of us had visited before. (Side note: if you are travelling around Asia, please do something right and fly Air Asia).  

Our trip was for barely a handful of days so we chose to stay in the tourist-centric Legian, in a villa booked via AirBnb. While it needed a good repainting and the garden could have done with some tending to, the villa was spacious for our family of four, and serene as it was set a few streets away from the main strip. 

Goa Gajah - The Elephant Cave Temple

Besides the beach, Bali's main draw cards are the beautiful temples found everywhere on the predominantly Hindu island. 

As one can expect, the real Bali is beyond the touristy Kuta/Seminyak/Legian area. So we hired a car with a tour guide/driver to explore the rest of the island. 

Our travels coincided with the full moon, a significant day under the Buddhist and Hindu calendar (amongst others). Balinese are very pious - it's hard to miss shrines and altars everywhere you go. On extra auspicious days, the devout take the day off to pray and give offerings at the temple, as well as stay in traditional dress all day. So colourful and festive! 

Pura Tirta Empul - temple with 12 purification fountains

  

Tanah Lot temple - only accessible when the tide is low

Culture and architecture aside, I was beside myself to be able to swap the cold NYC winter behind for some beach and ocean time. 

Legian beach gate

Anthropologie Cuilin Dress, Nine West zebra sandals (sim), Marc by Marc Jacobs Petal to the Metal, Ray Ban Aviators, Club Monaco necklace

Anthropologie Stamp Art Dress

Bali is gorgeous and there is an immense amount of culture and heritage quite unlike the rest of Indonesia.  Our trip was short but Bali's close proximity to my family home means I will be back in no time. Tell me if you've ever been?  

Miami Getaway

When the boy suggested heading south to escape the winter for the long weekend I couldn't say yes quickly enough. 

Unplanned by us, our trip to Miami coincided with the annual Art Deco weekend - which is a celebration of art deco architecture unique to Miami Beach. The main strip, Ocean Drive turned into a pedestrian-only street fair - with stalls on either side selling a variety of vintage/ art deco items and small eats and $5 mojitos - the latter I had plenty of! 

There was also a parade of classic cars including a DMC Delorean complete with a young Marty McFly.

Art Deco architecture is the only other main draw of South Beach besides the beach itself. We took advantage of the festive weekend by taking a walking tour run by the Miami Design Preservation League.

We discovered that Art Deco became popular after the Paris Exposition in the 1920s and is identified by the presence of ziggurat (stepped) rooflines, overall symmetry, decorative sculptural panels, concrete "eyebrow" panels over windows, round porthole windows, terrazzo floors, curved edges and corners. 

Since Miami planning rules required buildings over three-floors install elevators, Art Deco built in that heyday rarely went above that limit. 

No new Art Deco buildings can be built in Miami so what you see is what was erected decades ago. Also any expansion to existing buildings can not alter any design elements of the original facade - add-ons can only take inspiration from the original but is forbidden from being identical to it entirely! 

These arrows are in the Essex - which was a not-so-discreet way to direct guests back in the day to the clandestine gambling den in the hotel

Not Art Deco but worthy of inclusion since Gianni Versace took his last breath at this entryway

We stayed at Prime, a boutique hotel in the southern end of Miami Beach known as SoFi (short for south of fifth). The location was perfect, we were a block from the ocean and a 15 minute walk from the main art deco strip - a great way to build up our appetite or burn off the indulging we partook those four days. There was also a roofdeck with a pool - a great spot to laze and take outfit photos - when we weren't on the beach that is!

H&M Dress (sim), Zara stretch belt (sim and sim), Vincci Malaysia sandals (sim)

Lastly, here are my dining notes from the weekend - all of which are located on the island. Skip the mediocre offerings on Ocean Drive and head to these instead:

Prime 112 - scene-y Miami steakhouse which was part of our hotel. This place seemed to be the hottest place in town. The people-watching was priceless, so were the gratis smoked bacon served at the bar while waiting for a table. It's not cheap but the gigantic portions make up for it. Order the sesame-crusted tuna if you don't eat steak like me. 

Yardbird - hearty, casual southern food. Must orders: the chicken and friend green tomatoes. The cocktails here skew towards rye-based liqours that even a gin-drinker like me had great appreciation for. Very excited for their potential expansion into New York!

Khong River House - part of the Yardbird empire. We dined at brunch and had their to-die-for coconut pancakes served with an unusual but tasty thai-style syrup.

My Ceviche - hole-in-wall place that serves tacos and really fresh ceviche. There is a singular bench to sit on so we took it away to eat on the balcony attached to our hotel room. 

Florida Cookery - I chose this based on the desire to have local Floridian dishes. While I couldn't tell how authentic the food was, I really liked how fresh and light most of the dishes were. Plus it is housed in the swanky James Hotel and has a lush view of the Atlantic. 

Las Olas - a local Cuban cafe. The Cuban coffee was so yum, albeit heavy-handed on the sugar. Skip the cuban sandwiches for the empanadas instead - and don't leave without some sugarcane juice to-go.

I had a great time in Miami and look forward to coming back! 

13 Hours in Hong Kong

Happy 2013 everyone!

We are having a extra-relaxing first weekend of the year since the boy is under the weather.  I haven't left the apartment but to see Les Miserable (I bawled like a baby throughout. So good) and Django Unchained (hilarious at times, predictably violent at others. Overall enjoyable). 

A quiet weekend is also a great time to get back to posting about my time away in Asia. So after my short time in Taipei, I landed in Hong Kong for a quickie trip. I completely miscalculated the time I would have in the Fragrant Harbour and ended up with only 13 hours before my flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Upon getting to my friend, Sandy's at 8pm, we MAD DASHED it to COS. You all know of my love for the store  (previously professed here) and Hong Kong is fortunate to be the location of their ONLY store outside of Europe. In and out in half an hour, I picked up a few winter staples below:

This pretty purple-trim jumper with a neck-tie at the back

A chunky wool jumper that woud look good with a leather mini

My favourite thumb key-hole cashmere in yet another colour

After speed-shopping and a quick outfit change, I was brought to a private kitchen for some of the best szechuan food I've tasted in a long time.

Private kitchens, if you are not familiar, are speakeasy restaurants, generally located in private apartments behind unmarked doors. They  became popular in Hong Kong during the economic downturn in the late '90s to avoid operational costs associated with the usual restaurant business. These days, private kitchens are badly-kept secrets and to my relief, not entirely illegal due to restricted licences offered by the government. 

I was told Yellow Door was one of the original private kitchens. For around 300HKD (<40USD) these were the 16 (!!) dishes that were served:

The food was fantastic (the stewed pork ribs were my favourite) and the service exemplary. It was such a great experience and I can't wait to try another private kitchen on my next visit.

We then moved on to lots of dancing (and some amazing shots called "snowballs") at Lan Kwai Fong. I admit the area is a notorious expat hangout,  but it's always festive and fail-safe option for a fabulous night about town. 

The next morning, I had an early flight to catch but Sandy and I still managed to squeeze in some quality time at Din Tai Fung - and with each bite of xiao long bao, I wished both Sandy and the restaurant chain would come over to New York already. 

24 hours in Taipei

Y'all must all be used to these travel-related absences by now but I would like to announce I am now back in the fine city of New York after a wonderful time in Asia. Cue the fireworks, huzzah!

This trip wrapped up my travel for 2012 and boy, it sure ended with a bang, otherwise known as continous high fever that knocked me off my feet followed by jetlag that didn't let up for over a week. A WEEK! I am clearly no longer the spring chicken I think I am. 

Anyway, here's the first of a list of write ups about the trip. My first stop was a quick 24 hours in Taipei (if you think that was short, wait till you hear about Hong Kong.. )

Taipei reminded me very much of Seoul with one clear advantage - I don't get to bust out the Mandarin much in New York and it was great to travel to a non-English-speaking country and be able to read and speak the language. 

I left the itinerary to my dearest friend and current TPE local, HW, whom I most recently traveled with to Biarritz and San Sebastian. Girlfriend knows me to a tee - so it came as no surprise that everything she planned for me involved some form of eating. 

Besides having dumplings at Din Tai Fung and plenty of bubble tea, I couldn't visit Taipei and not go to a night market. We hit two that evening - Ning Xia (寧夏夜市) and Shi Da (師大路夜市) - the former for food, the latter for sartorial delights. Here are some pictures I took when I wasn't stuffing my face:

Think of the guac you could make with these GIANT avocadoes! 

Oysters everything

Egg-shell filled egg custard tarts

Stinky tofu - not the faint-hearted. I managed 3 pieces so I call that a VICTORY!

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The next day started with more chow. I now believe there is only one place and one place alone to have breakfast in Taipei: at Fu Hang Dou Jiang 阜杭豆漿. Located on the second floor, the lines (all locals no less) went down the stairs and snaked around the block. This was one time I thanked my NYC training of waiting forever for food - if there is a line, it must be good!  

You Tiao twice has long as I the ones in Malaysia/ New York!

Fu Hang, which I am told has been around since the 1950s, is famous for traditional Taiwanese breakfast eats. Since most dishes were on the smaller side, we ordered practically everything on the menu - from sweet and savoury soy milk dishes to Taiwanese bread rolls - and promptly licked our plates clean. You would think we had starved ourselves the night before.

Fueled up, we squeezed in a visit to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial before my flight. 

J Crew Lucille Dress, Uniqlo cardigan, My Ferragamo ballerina flats, Hermes belt, Marc by Marc Jacobs crossbody

He had great taste in cars. Not shown, his other Cadillac!

This was a memorial hall, hence set up to portray CKS in nothing but a positive light. Naturally, there wasn't much on his dictatorial-like rule of Taiwan, apart from pictures of various diplomatic visitors and displays of his affinity for the finer things in life. 

Luckily my disappointment was satiated by plenty of pictures of the perfectly put-together Mrs. CKS aka Soong May-Ling. I remember watching The Soong Sisters growing up - set in pre-modern China, the movie dramatised the lives of three sisters who, as the plot set out, married influential men in the then-burgeoning nation, either for "love of country, love of power or love of money". Great movie. Maggie Cheung was in it too. Must rewatch. 

So there you have it - my 24 hours in Taiwan. Next up, the Fragrant Harbour!

Paris Recap

The final leg of my trip was a few days in Paris - a city that competes with New York for the #1 spot in my heart. I had a few days all to myself in the City of Light before a dear friend from London joined me in rounding out the holiday.

I couldn't have had a better time. Not my first trip, I had the luxury of skipping the usual suspects in favour of wandering through neighbourhoods with nary a purpose but to find some new shop to see or some nice thing to taste. 

Paying respects to legends at Pere Lachaise

Locking up my declaration of love on the Pont Des Arts

Twinsies!

Strolling through Jardin du Luxembourg 

Morning walk through the 7th

RTT appears everywhere

A "little" souvenir

Coffee, croissants and company

Pretty buildings here...

...here

...and here

Thanks to David Leibovitz and Chowhound, I ate really well, including but not limited to the following: 

• Ispahans and macarons from Pierre Herme (6th)
• More macarons from Laduree (multiple locations) and Hugo & Victor (6th) (though neither were as wonderful as those in PH)
• Marshmallows from Pierre Marcolini (6th)
• Chocolates from Patrick Roger (6th) and Jean Paul Hevin (1st)  
• Berthillon ice cream (4th)
• Gelato at Amorino (4th - multiple locations)
• Top-notch espresso from Cafe Coutume (7th) and Terres De Cafe (3rd)
• Chocolate chaud from Angelina (1st)
• Croissants and baguettes from Poilane (6th), Maison Kayser (multiple locations) and Pain De Sucre (3rd)
• Gourmet groceries at Le Grand Epicerie de Paris (7th) 
• Cheese from Fromagerie Quartrehomme (down the street from Le Grand Epicerie) (7th)
• Tea from Mariage Freres (4th)
• L'as du Falafels for its namesakes (4th)
• Chez L'ami Jean for an unforgettable lunch (the rice pudding! the charming chef!) (7th); and
• Agape Substance for the best meal one can have in Paris (6th)

Did I mention I was there for less than a week? Eeep!