High Tea at Sir Stamford Hotel, Circular Quay

My lord this post has been on a backlog for 5 weeks now (oops)

Reuniting with my high tea gang (backstory: the four of us have been going to high tea together on a quarterly basis since late Year 11/early Year 12), we finally made it to the Sir Stamford Hotel at Circular Quay for an absolutely delicious and lazy Sunday afternoon.

Quietly led through the hotel reception and into The Dining Room, we were allowed to sink into two couches and peruse the menu for a while. Ordering the Traditional High Tea (54 pp) we were accidentally treated to a glass of Moet & Chandon, before being offered our glasses of sparkling wine.
Carefully advised to eat from bottom to top (common sense I suppose, but its testament to the service and detail that the staff were incredibly knowledgeable on exactly what sandwiches were on offer). Unfortunately I can't remember exactly what was what, but the curry chicken sandwich in the middle was absolutely delicious.
Given on many an occasion of high tea, I've ended up not eating half the sweets on the middle tier purely because they just didn't suit my taste; this was far from it. The desserts were absolutely delicious, freshly made (none of that stale taste you sometimes get when desserts have been refrigerated) and not too sweet. 
And oh my lord the scones the scones. They're not much to look at, and it's not the usual savoury kind that I prefer, but my lord these were delicious. Soft and fluffy, buttery and light; fresh cream and jam. What more can I say?

The ambience here is absolutely enchanting (pardon the use of the somewhat archaic term). It's quiet and sophisticated, yet warm and homely. Usually these high tea reunions are a one hour, two hour affair; but we were here for a solid four hours just catching up and sipping on wine. What a classy affair, non?

Will definitely be back one day (after we thoroughly explore all the other high tea venues Sydney has to offer), but lord knows we won't be going back to The Victoria Room Tea Salon in Westfield again (except for their chips, but that's a story for another time)

Beijing

A quickie but a goodie

Exchange Registration: Paid
Paperwork: Complete

Done diggity, someone's going to be in Beijing for some time this year!

Cultural Awakenings

It's quite bizarre to think that I had to turn eighteen to become so interested in my culture. Growing up with memories of wanting to have been born a different colour, of thinking that in order to be 'cool' I should try to associate myself with Anglo-Saxon caucasians as much as possible is a somewhat embarrassing recall. 

I've always thought it was petty and useless to try and direct yourself towards a certain specific end-goal; so all I can really say is right here right now all I really want is reconnect with my heritage. I used to barely speak any coherent Chinese at home, but now it's all I try to do. My watch list is full of Chinese serials (hello Voice of China) and movies, I find myself enjoying my brutally accelerated Chinese course at uni... 

Don't get me wrong, plunging myself into things like this is somewhat cruel (cue self-pity), but I think au bout du compte it's been a long time coming.

PS. I had to snitch the above photo of maybe my second-favourite place in the world, check out the photographer's flickr feed though (living vicariously through photos is probably the only thing I can manage right now)

Elie Saab

Sorry for the lack of anything new here - there are a couple of things on Joe and a couple of drafts to be finished but Sem 2 is killing me slowly.

In other news, Elie Saab, oh my god.