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It is so good having friends who know where to eat.

We ate at The Pasar in Wanchai on Friday, clever James’ selection.   We were devastated to hear they had run out of chili crab, but more than made up for it will all the other dishes.  After having spent the day at Ocean Park, Michael and I felt a little guilty eating the grilled sambal stingray… but enjoyed it anyway.

Michael and I spent Saturday afternoon in Stanley, eating fish and chips by the shore, and pathetically haggling for items from the market.  It seems neither of us are cut out for bargaining, but the fish and chips were just our scene.

Saturday evening, Wincy took us to Knutsford Terrace in Tsim Sha Tsui for Italian at Pappa Razzi, where we sat outside and felt just a little like we were home in Melbourne. How nice to once again eat Italian food that tastes like Italian food.

Sunday lunch was Vietnamese in Rice Paper at the world trade centre in Causeway Bay.   The food was beautiful to look at and to eat and the view of the harbour and the decor were lovely, easily making up for the fact that service was a little slow.   The soft shell crab is well worth going back for.

I really should have taken more photos…

We went to dinner at the hotel yesterday evening and both stuffed ourselves silly.

I was a little spoilt when we stayed at the beautiful hotel in Suzhou, as they had beetroot in their salad buffet. Now the beetrootless salad at our hotel is just not quite as satisfying as it was once before.

Ahhh, beetroot, I miss such a pretty coloured addition to my meals.

The sashimi was so good I wished I hadn’t eaten anything before hand and they had all my favourites for dessert, so I quickly forgot about my initial disappointment.

The best part of all, was that after dinner I got to choose another treat from the bakery, so today has been Rye Bread Day.   Poached eggs on rye for breakfast, salad on rye for lunch and a peanut butter on rye sandwich while contemplating what to cook for dinner.

That seriously is very, very exciting.

It is getting quite cold in Hefei now, I had looked forward to winter for ages, but am now finding myself missing the warm days we have been having recently.  Very unusual for me.

Yesterday was only 11 degrees or so, so clever Patrick thought up some good cold day activities to keep me from getting grumpy.

We went to Yum Cha for brunch, in a lovely old 1920s tea house hidden between the trees on the lake.  Patrick had already had breakfast, so we didn’t get to order much, but the few dumplings we had inspired us to go back hungry next time.

After our tea, Patrick took me for a facial and massage, where Patrick snored away happily for 90 minutes as I tried not to fall asleep and miss the pampering.

I’m hoping to convince him that Korean BBQ is a good way to enjoy the cold this evening.

We went to a different Carrefour supermarket that turned out to be far better than our usual one.  It had a whole four shelves of foreign foods, including Japanese and Korean goods. Yay!

They even had the French mustard and all the Masterfoods herbs I like, so no more need to travel to Shanghai to stock up.

Ahh, happiness…I think I have also finally worked out how to use my convection microwave oven, so as soon as I find somewhere that stocks oven proof dishes, I’ll be able to use it.

Things are looking up.

Oh, AND I found a real ironing board, one that isn’t so small and ridiculous that people want to take photos of it.

Patrick and I happily set off to our newly found tea house this morning for coffee.  We were a little disappointed to find the coffee tasted awful today.  We shouldn’t have been so quick to get excited about the place.

Luckily the staff were very sweet, so came over to ask Patrick how to make the coffee better and after thanking him for his lesson dashed off to prepare us another cup.  The lattes were much improved the second time around so hopefully after Patrick’s wise teachings we have a nice coffee to look forward to on weekends.

Our complaining about the quality of the coffee and acting like know-it-alls must have impressed the owner, who promptly cornered Patrick to ask him if I would like to manage their cafe for them.  What a way to get a job!

Patrick politely (I hope) declined, so  I might just have to go and hang about impressive companies complaining until I get a really good job offer.