Element Fresh

Element fresh has been my canteen for the past 2 years. Or at least whenever i'm in shanghai. It's an upmarket eatery targeted at health-conscious expats.

Food in china is generally oily, salty and mostly unhealthy, so Element Fresh really satisfies a strong needstate for people who want to eat better and healthier. I love it also because it has very good service in-store. You can see passion in the restaurant managers in delivering the correct orders, and screw ups are always dealt with prompt solutions. I mean there is no perfect service in China, but their effort is commendable.

One key reason why i can keep going back to EF is also because they have a very wide selection of food- salads, sandwiches (warm and cold), asian sets, smoothies and juices. Not only that, they also constantly update their menu by season- they "feed" us with constant new news so we don't get bored.

My favourite item on the menu was Spicy Tilapia Fish, but they've recently updated it to Spicy Citrus Tilapia Fish... Yummm...



They've also recently launched a loyalty programme allowing redemption not only on Element Fresh outlets, but also across brands and activities that contribute to a complete healthy lifestyle. For example, accumulate 6000 points and redeem a free biotherm moisturiser.

Basically, this is what i call great marketing.

FAT and FREAKING OUT

I sorta knew i was putting on weight after coming here. I've been avoiding the scales, i'm in denial.

An hour ago, i tried on my work pants for this upcoming meeting i'm having in Shanghai and DARN i have problems zipping up! when i eventually did, there were these crinkles around my thighs... GASP! to ensure that it wasn't the pants tht shrank, i tried on my wedding cheongsam and jialat! it really is very tight around the tummy area. Boo..... I really need to go on diet.

serves me right for having a 5 hr brunch today at St Regis. it was great through... Mumm champagne and lots and lots of caviar. Snow crab, king crab, abalone, sashimi, and then more caviar. thinking about it makes me wanna go back there and eat more of those yummy things. *tahan tahan*

celebs update

i haven't done my celeb updates for a while...

First up.

Did u know that julio iglesias has 9 kids? Oldest is 37, youngest 18 months. This little oggiewoggieboochie over here is his youngest- his name is Guillermo. With handsome genes like his, he's doing the world a favour by contributing to the handsome population in this world. Go Julio!

Note to mountain man: he is 67 years old. we got time. hehe...

Next up.

Move over George and Johnny... Hugh Jackman has been crowned the sexiest man alive by PEOPLE magazine. Aye!

Hehllo *gives hugh the sultry pouty lips look*

my love

& my obsession for handbags continue...

Proenza Schouler PS21 shoulder bag...
Mary-Kate olsen has been spotted carrying a new baby. I love croc skin. I am adding to my list of Holy Grails...

This has been on my list for a while. Rebecca Minkoff's Morning After Bag (Mini) in Tangerine. And it's available on taobao. i don't have to pay an arm and leg for it. It's the right size. a fabulour colour...

Name necklace continued

for those who are interested to make a name necklace, go to www.mynamenecklace.com. It's free shipping if u can wait...i waited about 20 days for mine.

Or u can just google carrie name necklace... it's all over the web. =)

Look what came in the mail...

To reciprocate Mountain Man inking my name on him, i made myself a name necklace! i was so afraid tht it'd get lost in the chinese post office, but phew i finally got it just now. It's super corny i know, don't roll ur eyes at me (mountain man, i know u're pursing ur lips and going "hmmm" as u read this). It's quite BIG, and the gold is quite yellow, not the matte rosy kind... but i still like it. i modelled it and PSed the photo it to make it look cool. *squeal*

lunchtime humour

After numerous rounds of 'We don't even know if Osama bin Laden is still alive', Osama himself decided to send George Bush a letter in his own hand writing to let him know he was still in the game.
Bush opened the letter and it contained a single line of coded message:

370H-SSV-0773H

Bush was baffled, so he e-mailed it to Condoleezza Rice. Condi and her aides had not a clue either, so they sent it to the FBI.
No one could solve it at the FBI so it went to the CIA, and then to MI6.

Eventually they asked the Mossad (Israeli intelligence) for help.
Within a minute the Mossad emailed the White House with this reply:
'Tell the President he's holding the note upside down.

Leaves no more...

Now u see it....


Now you don't...

The Happening

Mark Wahlberg is always a pleasure to watch. He picks good scripts, or rather he acts in the kinds of movies tht i like watching. i put him in the league of actors i'd blindly watch a movie for... the likes of him are Kevin Spacey, Johnny Depp, John Travolta, and Steve Carrell. Each of these actors are good with different genres of films of course.

I recommend the Happening. it's not Shyamalan's best, but it's creepy enough.

Spoiler alert!

Weird things started happening in NYC. People spoke funny, they lost their sense of direction, and then they started committing suicide. They fell off buildings like a bricks, shot themselves in the head, lie underneath a tractor, banged their heads against walls... it was all gruesome.

Turns out that it was caused by the plants, they released some sort of toxins which screws up the brain. THey were taking revenge on humankind for all the harm we've done to the environment...

After watching the show... i saw this in the morning, just outside my house, right smack in the middle of CBD, is this even allowed? i'm gonna say goodbye to blue skies pretty soon.

Burger and Drinks

I love a good burger. But I've stopped (or rather cut down) on fast food after i watched Fast Food Nation. So now i only eat expensive burgers. Expensive= meat with no ecoli=i am not eating animal shit.

So I was very eager to try this new burger chain down at Sanlitun called Let's Burger. I ordered cheeseburger...



And this is blue mountain chicken burger...



To be honest, the burger is not bad despite the reviews claiming tht it's not value for money. The bread is not too heavy, the meat patty is tasty although it's a little small. It's about 58RMB (no fries) per burger. But the place is super smoky cos of the poor ventilation. It's ideal for takeout, not dine-in.

So after dinner, Mountain man and i went to Element Fresh for this open bar (read FREE DRINKS) thing with "work associates"... Our friends came by to join us later in the evening. it was all fun... especially when it's free.


Left to Right: Me, Cami, Joyce the Alcoholic


left to right: Hanwei the lucky scratch-it man, Michael and Les.

all i want for christmas is...

a pink DSLR...

CANON DID U HEAR THAT?

i was catching up with AAA last night. I was so happy she came to visit! i brought along my camera all, but then i realise i didn't insert memory card. kwa kwa... lucky she brought along her pink Sony...

then we got onto the topic of pink colour DSLRs, now i really want one. but i just googled and there isn't any pink DSLRs!!!

The ideal camera would be primarily black body, and some parts can be fuschia pink. Not fully pink cos it'll be very kiddy. Oh oh and then the buttons are made of diamante. tee hee!!

more muffins!

A while ago i saw Karen Cheng's recipe for white chocolate raspberry muffins... It sounded damn delicious...I've been dreaming about it for a while but i had been so busy with work. So yesterday i finally found time to bake.

Unfortunately it wasn't one of those very smooth kitchen days...

I somehow had the impression tht toblorone is white chocolate. When i opened the pack i was shocked to see milk chocolate. Have i not eaten toblorone for that long!??

But n'mind... small issue. THEN... i bang my head against the cupboard door cos it was ajar, ON THE SAME SPOT where i hit myself 2 days ago. See, this is why i i dun have car licen. i'll be putting pple's live in danger. I swear i saw birdies flying around me for a moment...

Anyway this was the outcome. it's ok la. edible. but i won't say it's very nice.

Lovely trees...

the trees are the most charming this season... The leaves will turn yellow, and with a gust of wind they'll dance gracefully till they land on the ground. Beautiful...

**************************

On a separate note. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAF!!! i think i'm a day early but early better than late right?

i know it's winter....

but heck i love my new summerish nail colour!

China has officially declared winter 4 days ago. i'm sitting here bundled in my jacket and thermal cos central heating hasn't kicked in yet. it's about 7 degrees during the day, and 0-2 at night. (AAA u better bring more warm clothing)...

But Beijing winter is alot more bearable than shanghai's. It's dry so the cold doesn't seep into ur bones. SH is like a giant refrigerator... u defrost on the outside but the bones are still frozen.

This weekend the company is taking us to the great wall for a fun team building session. It's supposed to snow. Yipee! can't wait.

Killers having fun

I'm a fan of covers, and i'm a fan of the Killers...

1984

My mom-in-law sent me these pictures...

She likes to reminisce the past, tell me cute stories about mountain man and his brother . The most memorable one was of how the younger brother was born premature. Apparently Mountain man was quite an active child, mom-in-law had to chase him up and down macRitchie untill she went into pre-mature labour.

Maybe mountain man couldn't wait to meet his brother. He must have wanted a playmate as soon as possible!

Of course the brothers soon became each other's nemesis...
u can clearly tell who ate up all the food. Yo, ahbui!

Anyway, here's my mom and dad-in-law. Mountain man is a carbon copy of mom!

Try your what?

Was in Shanghai for a day trip yesterday. First flight out, last flight in... i was damn tired by the time i got to Hongqiao airport.

Then i saw this and i was like WHAT??!!!

Ok maybe u are not as dirty minded as i am. but i saw a very slanted "t" and it becomes a different word altogether.

6 years old guitar whiz

April showed me this today. SUPER CUTE!!!! Les u'll love it. If i get pregnant i'll watch this everyday so our kid will be musically inclined. can play drums with you! Must watch until the end, when Ellen gives him a gift, his facial expression is just PRICELESS!!

It's OK to...

.... wish it's friday when it's only monday.
.... feel excited about the elections even though you don't know the difference between a republican and a democrat, as long as Obama wins.
.... feel peckish every 2 hours cos u're stress free.
.... not have done real work cos u're blogging at 1130am.
.... sleep in till 130pm and feel sleepy again by 1030pm.
.... surf too much facebook until you know how many weeks your friend's babies are. (plural, not singular)
.... waste time thinking what else is OK to do

Weekend in a flash

Warning: THIS POST HAS VERY WEIRD LAYOUT! I have given up fixing it.

Friday....

I always look forward to Halloween. I normally start brainstorming costumes like a month beforehand. 2 years ago i was the IPOD ad- I wore an afro and stood behind a cellophane sheet with an ipod drawn on it, AAA drew it on for me, but nobody got it. Last year we were the flintstones, this year we came as ... OURSELVES! no time! But nonetheless, there were good food and good company. that's all that matters.

Veron (2nd from left) very kindly organised dinner and drinks with pallies at MED.

The girlies...

This is Kia and Peter... See the little ghost on Kia's hand. She drew it on herself. Apparently she's a freelance face painter! how cool.

Saturday...

Date night!! Went to Mostos, same owner/chef as SALT. I ordered the slow-braised ribs- it comes with this wine sauce and crispy shredded potato. The flavour is quite over-powering, so i got sick of it after a while, had to swop with Mountain Man who had the snapper.

Sunday...

Wanted to do brunch outside but we got so lazy we decided to stay home and eat instant Prima Laksa. It wasn't too bad! We've also tried the prawn noodles and meesiam. Very authentic, but don't eat too much cos it's too processed and full of MSG.

Anyway, see my cute heart-shaped steel sauce plate from japan! so kawaii right!!