Maze by Gordan Ramsay

Another long overdue post as W and I had a lunch date back in the beginning of January and it's almost the end of the month! We went to Maze by Gordon Ramsay and here are the dish we had:

warm delicious bread sticks

Starter - arctic king crab, octopus carpaccio

Main - Dumpling of lobster, tiger prawns and salmon in lemongrass broth

Dessert - can't remember what it was!!! 

Initially we were disappointed with the portion of the food and the waitress did recommend us ordering three courses each. Surprisingly, we both felt we had 'just right' amount of food when we finished our mains so we shared a dessert. We thoroughly enjoyed our starter and main (we had the exactly same dish) but wasn't so sure about the dessert hence I can't even remember what we had!

Post lunch tipples - watermellonllini, and royale mojito

After sharing a bottle of bubbles at lunch, we decided to go to Claridge's for one more cocktail!

It was such a pleasant afternoon Wan! Thank you!

Apsleys - Mao's birthday bash

This year we celebrated Doc's birthday at Apsley's at The Lansborough.

We wore the same coats but in different colours

Love the chandeliers

Simple yet elegant decor

Amuse buche - roast pigeon with parsnip puree - simply delicious

Starter No. 1 - Spaghetti with lime marinated langoustine

Starter No. 2 - Risotto with tuna, smoked aubergine and pickled ginger

Starter No. 3 - Lobster Salad

Starter No.4 - Tempura prawns with red peppers couscous and courgettes

After few glasses of bubbles and food in us, it was pressie time!!!

Baby cashmere jumper

A set of lever corkscrew, spiral and 'primary wine aromas' for a keen wine enthusiast

Spa treatment

Perfume

Last but not least - a limited edition H bangle!

Main courses:

This is what I had - Veal, sage and artichoke puree

Fillet of beef in red wine

Pigeon with crispy polenta, figs and cauliflower

Sea bass in salt crust with saffron potatoes

Dover sole and vegetables

We all enjoyed the food and the service was impeccable but I thought the portion was on the small side and the fact that we had to order some sides as there were none on the menu was a bit unusual. 

We all HAD to have desserts as a result of small portions! lol

Chef's special - lime cheesecake with banana sorbet

Tao's very impressive five arrays milk-based dessert

Orange jelly with bergamot ice cream - it was the best one in my opinion

My Mochaccino Magnum - a bit of a let-down to be honest

Birthday cake! I have to say, it was soooo tasty!!!

My kind of heaven

I should have stuck to my first instinct i.e. cheese board!

All in all, friendly staff, impeccable service, impressive ambiance, lovely food bar a few desserts. I really enjoyed that day and I hope my dearest Mao did too!!!

Christmas 2012

This is obviously a long due post but better late than never!!! This Christmas is very special for us as Rayray is just over a year old and we are celebrating it back home in London!!! Something we hadn't done in 3 years! This time last year, we just left confinement centre and were panicking how we would celebrate Christmas with a month old baby!

So we bought our very first Christmas tree and da-da!!!

All the lovely pressies

We had our Christmas lunch at Mao's and look at the spread of the dessert/cheese table!

I was so hungry I couldn't wait to tuck into the cheeses!

The most delicious Truffle cheese (the one of the left), thanks to Nee and Wan!

Prawns, roast lamb, roast chicken, pasta salad, honey glazed parsnips and starters

Rayray picking the 'fruit Christmas tree' I made

We went to The Connaught that evening to have drinks and some nibbles! Their bar was absolutely heaving!!! I would have taken some photos had it not be so dim in there!

Gorgeous tree at the hotel's lobby

Here is a family portrait of Christmas 2012

One very happy daddy with his little princess

I hope everyone all had a smashing Christmas and New Year!

The 13th month

Loooooves snuggling up with me!

Rayray caught her very first cold this month...from me! Poor baby, she coughed and coughed and had runny nose, temperature, sore throat etc, all the things you would expect from a cold and it was so heartbreaking to see her suffer!

Falling asleep right after breakfast on my bed!!! She hadn't done so since she was six months old! She was completely zonked out from the cold!

Height - 82cm

Weight - 10.5kg (lost a bit of weight due to the cold)

Eating - I have weaned her off breast milk! OMG! I never thought I would be able to this as I had been breastfeeding her exclusively for a year!!!!! Though it wasn't as hard as I imagined. In fact, she took it rather well and I am very very proud of her. So she now has goats milk twice a day - first thing in the morning and before bed. She has almond milk with her cereals or porridge or as a drink at breakfast. She doesn't eat as much as she used to but I think it is a phase all babies go through so I am not worried especially my little dumpling has enough reserve on her! lol

Sleeping - Rayray is back to her old herself! Sleeping through from 7pm to 7am. In fact, she now sleeps till 7.30am or 8am sometimes and I am soooo not complaining!!!

Development - 

• Tiptoeing when cruising around and it is just the cutest thing to see!

• Learnt to 'give' people things and loves doing that!

Taken right before she got ill. She still loves lunching with mummy!

• On the emotional front, Rayray has started showing her affectionate side i.e. she loooves hugging people and I have to say I can't get enough hugs from her, either! lol She has also started to squeal! Whether it is out of delight or frustration, she squeals or makes funny noises.

• She is also one stubborn baby, if she has her eyes fixed on something she does not give up till she gets it!

• Loves 'putting things in' and 'taking them out'! She can do this for a good 10 minutes!!!

Rayray' very first ride on horse carousel!

• She picks up small foods and I mean really small i.e. bread crumbs from the table or her bib and put it in her mouth! 

• Her favourite game is emptying cupboards or bags! Sometimes I let her crawl into the kitchen when I am preparing meals and she would be quite happily emptying all the cupboards and would insist on doing so till ALL the contents are out on the floor!

• She now really enjoys story time before going to bed. She always chooses her favourite books (The Tiger who came to tea, Hungry caterpillar and Where is baby's birthday cake) and passes them onto me so I read them to her. 

I love this shot!

I have also taken Rayray swimming a couple of times this month and she still loves being in the water!

Half an hour in the pool absolutely tired her out!

It's only 4 days away from Christmas and I can still remember this time last year vividly! I was out of the confinement centre and was panicking how I'd cope with a one month old at a restaurant whilst following a routine! This year, I am looking forward to seeing Rayray unwrapping all the pressies as she now loves tearing things and just spends her very first Christmas back in London!!!

11-12 months

10-11 months

9-10 months

8-9 months

7-8 months

6-7 months

5-6 months

4-5 months

3-4 months

2-3 months

1-2 months

0-1 month

Rayray's first hair cut

Rayray 'finally' had her first hair cut two days after her first birthday. I say 'finally' because traditionally, babies in Taiwan have ALL their hair and eyes brows shaved off, lashes cut short when they are a month old! WHY? I have no idea but apparently it stimulates the hair growth. Obviously I didn't do that to Rayray and the only reason I decided it was time to trim her hair was that the back of hair was becoming rather shaggy.

Back of her hair

We went to Tantrum on Kings Road. It is a lovely friendly hair salon designed for children.

A very happy bunny in their 'special' car chair

BEFORE

Engrossed by a little telly in front of her!

Jumping up and down

Hair cut in action

I have to say that I was very impressed with Rayray! She was just fascinated by it all and she even got her very first blow dry!!! The hair dresser was certainly very impressed too as she said that most children could not bear having a hair dryer near them!!

Ta da....AFTER

What do you think?

A very proud daddy

It turned out to be a bob and somehow makes her round facer rounder! lol They have put her hair in a little cute heart-shaped box and I shall keep it and treasure it so I will always remember how soft her hair is!