Eating out Moscow : SkyView Chinese Restaurant

The other day, my friends and I had a gathering to celebrate my friend's birthday and also chinese new year.
One of my friend booked a Chinese restaurant that I have never tried before.
Sky View Chinese Restaurant. It is located at  the 33th floor Arstrus hotel,  Leninskiy Ave.

Despite being located at the highest floor of the hotel, we don't get a pretty sky view from this restaurant. Maybe it is just located too far from the city center to have a beautiful city skyline view. All you get is a Moscow suburban view.
The restaurant is located slightly away from the center, the nearest metro stations are Yugo Zapadnaya, Belyaevo and you still need to take a bus to get to there.
It is located very near the student hostel and fairly near to my apartment.

The interior of the restaurant made us feel at home with the Chinese lanterns deco in conjunction with Chinese New Year and round table.
For us Chinese, it is a tradition to eat in a round table with a group, it makes it much easier to communicate and share the dishes.

Spicy stir fried lamb

I did not enjoy this dish at all. You could taste that the lamb was not that fresh despite many spices were used.

Chicken "Geng" (Thick soup)

Thickening agent such as starch is added to the soup to make it thick. This soup is just okay, it taste like every normal chicken soup. Nothing spectacular.

Chinese pork dumplings.

I enjoyed this dish, the meat inside is nicely flavoured. It reminded of me of the pork dumplings we used to have at home. This taste very homely.

Stir-fried cabbage with pork.

Sweet and sour fish

Seafood mix

Overall, the food in this restaurant is decent, it is not bad.Just that, I have tasted many better Chinese food.
Price wise, is quite pricey but the portion is big. It is great to go in a large group so you can work out with the portion and food selection.
One thing I would praise is the service, the waiter was really attentive. He knows what he is doing and he does what he is suppose to do without us telling him. I considered that really good from what I have experienced with waiters and waitresses in restaurants in Moscow. 

Around Moscow : Christmas squares hopping

This is one Christmas square hopping day. We probably visited 3-4 squares in a day and also visited some malls nearby the square.

First stop is Bolshoi Theater.
The front of the theater is decorated as of like a  colourful lighted cage with walls of light decoration surrounding the square. The design is stunning, it looks better in real life compared photographed.
It is so much more beautiful if you enjoy the view from the middle of the square.

Pardon me, I am probably so bad at explaining the decoration but I will put some photos so you will get the general idea.

From the middle of the square. The mini foundation is also decorated with lights and baubles.

The Square right opposite of Bolshoi theater is also decorated with lights with many Christmas Kiosk.
There's even a "mail to Father Frost" booth. I find it pretty cute and sweet.
Children are flocking to the booth writing their Christmas wish to Father Frost.

Ulitsa Bolshaya Dmitrovka.

I have almost no tolerance towards the cold. So, a stop at Starbucks is a must before heading to more Christmas markets.
The weather that night is pretty cold, it is around -5 to -9 degree Celcius.

I do not always go to Starbucks but when I do, I usually go during the Christmas season when they have their Christmas blend limited flavours.
This time I got their toffee nut flavoured Christmas special blend.
It is a yearly routine for me to go to Starbucks during the Christmas week and call for their Christmas blend.

The light decorations of the street where Starbucks is located.
It is a part of the Bolshaya Dmitrovka street.

More lights at the end of the street.

Tverskaya Ploshad.

There are many themed kiosk in this square.
This is the Gingerbread kiosk. It is so cute. Fully decorated with gingerbread motives.

The square behind TSUM.

Kuznetsky most.

From Kuznetsky most, we head to the Central Children Departmental Store in Lubyanka.

Also beautifully decorated with Christmas and New Year decorations.

The snowman family

Tetralni Proezd.

Our last stop was GUM.
Every year we will definitely head to GUM to catch their Christmas and New Year decorations.
This year they stepped up on their game with the decorations. It is more grand and lavish compared to the previous years.

I really like the postcard decorations and also the hanging Russian confectioneries.

All the hanging giant models of famous Russian confectioneries.

This sums up the adventure. It definitely has been a great adventure going from one Christmas market to another.
This year Moscow has definitely step up on her game on the decorations. Definitely one of prettiest Christmas market in the world this year. 

Chinese new year gathering

Yesterday is the 15th on the Lunar calender which also marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebration.

We had a Chinese New Year open house a few days ago.
Finally we were free enough to hold a celebration after all the hectic university schedule. 

Homemade yee sang. 

We had cucumbers, carrots, red onions, iceberg lettuce, potato chips, pomegrate, nuts and salmon. 

Chinese style white cut chicken or poached chicken.

Dark soy sauce pork belly. 

Sauteed vegetables 

Ku lo yoke (Sweet and sour pork)

Broccoli and mushroom dish. 

Steamed fish in soy sauce

We had a great celebration with lots of food and fun especially with the guys enjoying playing poker. What is Chinese New Year without all the gambling and card game. 

Around Moscow : Christmas lights in Tverskaya

On Christmas day, we visited Tverskaya Ploshad in Moscow for the Christmas market for some Christmas feeling. Unfortunately, it rained. So, not so Christmas feeling.

We just had a quick photosession because it started raining.

The light tunnel.

The decoration is just stunning. So many lights. It just brightens up the city.

Wish upon a star.

Even the surrounding trees are all glam up in festive lights.

The infamous 2016 light.
The city is basically surrounded with this "2016 light" to welcome the new year.

It is really hard to get a decent photo for the "2016 light" because there were just too many people flocking around this light and the light is too glaring for my camera. My camera freaked out and it just losses its focus.

The huge Christmas tree.

Rain started to get heavier and raindrops falling on my camera lens and wind blowing everything away.

The decorated kiosks at the Christmas market square.

Look at the ground, such a wet wet Christmas.
Mother Nature, where is the white christmas promised?

Pushkin cafe is glitz and glam up like a light bomb.

On the way home, snow storm appeared. We are granted with a white christmas afterall. 

Haul : OPI & Rimmel

I went to the beauty store with the purpose to replace my Maybelline Master Precise Eyeliner which is drying up.
Ofcourse, I didn't just pick up an eyeliner. We girls just have to go into the beauty store and buy everything not needed, if better, the whole shop along too.

I came out from the beauty store with two extra OPI nail polishes. They were on sale, for 299 rubles each which is about USD4 at the time of purchase. They were trying to clear out past collections.
I always have wanted to try OPI nail polishes but could never justify myself to buy them because of the price. With the sales, the price is just too good to be true. Ofcourse, I have to pick them up since I have been wanting them for quite some time.


I picked up two shades. Put it in Neutral and This Color's making Waves.

For eyeliner, I picked up the Rimmel Scandaleyes Percision Micro Eyeliner because it was on sale. I hope it works well on me. 

FOTD : Valentines special

This is a soft feminine dewy look that I have put on during Valentine's day. Every shade used is soft and neutral with a touch of soft pink on the lips.

Face : Nivea's Men Post Shave Balm, Dr. G BB Cream, Catrice Liquid Camouflage High Coverage Concealer, MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural, Topshop Glowstick, Catrice Lip & Cheek Colour from their limited edition Neo Geisha collection in Pickled Cherry Blossom, Flomar Terracotta Powder in Dual Gold, Etude House Nymph Aura Glow Mist
Eyes : Art Deco Single Eyeshadow in 373, Catrice Absolute Nude Palette, Essence I love nude eyeshadow in Coffee Bean, Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeliner, Maybelline Big Eyes Mascara, Catrice eyebrow pencil, Kiss Me Eyebrow Mascara
Lips : NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Istanbul

It turns out that I do not like the Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeliner. Despite the tip being really fine, I find that it is really hard to control the tip, it sort of like bends everywhere causing my eyeliner line to be unclean. Not gonna repurchase this eyeliner ever again.

Art Deco Single Eyeshadow in 373 looks beautiful in the pan, a light beige with gold glitters but upon application the glitters don't stay put and explodes all over with some fallouts which is pretty disappointing. Essence I Love Nude Eyeshadow in Coffee Bean, so far, I have been liking this eyeshadow, it's velvety and pigmented. Definitely a bang for the buck.

I definitely love the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream, They are one of my favourite lip product. I really like the texture, it is very soft and powdery like cotton puff on the lips.
Istanbul has been one of my favourite shade from the line. It is a soft pink. 

Tiny events #13

Since I just came back from a good 2 weeks MIA. I thought I would give some updates on my life.

I arrived at the airport last Saturday , Sunday is Chinese New Year Eve and my semester reopens on Monday. We basically did not have any time to prepare for Chinese New Year so we just randomly tried to put up a reunion dinner in the spirits of Chinese New Year.
We picked the simplest thing to do which is hot pot, a fuss free comfort food. All we did is get all the ingredients from the market and supermarket and boil a pot of Tom Yam soup and we were good to go.

There will more Chinese New Year celebrations to come though.

This is my last Chinese New Year celebration in Moscow and next year, I will actually be back to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family. I am just so excited for that. I haven't been celebrating Chinese New Year with my family for 6 years. It is such an achievement to have gone through 6 years without celebrating with them.

Redyed my hair.
The Garnier Olia Intense Dye just does not give any colour to my hair. I do not know is it my hair being stubborn or this dye just works bad. I had to dye my hair twice to achieve this shade. First I used the some honey brown shade and it came out dark brown which got me so frustrated. I had to get a blonde shade to redye my hair to achieve my desired colour which is a light brown.
I dyed my hair twice in a week's time which is quite damaging to the hair and scalp. My scalp is really sensitive but thank goodness my hair did not fall as much this time.

I havent did much since I came back from the holidays because I have been really busy with classes. My schedule is pretty much wake up, class, back home, exercise, dinner, study + internet, sleep and repeat. With some grocery shopping during the weekends. 

Class has been so tiring. It has been like draining my soul from me and I cant believe this cycle lasts for 5 weeks. 

On the beauty topic,
There has been lots of new products releases in the beauty market of late. I do not know if this is good news. My wallet is going to break and cry.
It is just so hard to keep up with the enormous amount of releases.
Is there any items that you all have been looking forward trying?
So far, I have been eyeing on the Jeffree Star Skin Frost ,Colour Pop Ultra Satin Lip, Colour Pop UML in Lumiere 2, Dose of Colors Desert Suede. Trying to keep it minimal.

Also, I can't wait till Jeffree Star restocks Doll Parts. I am so happy that he decided to make this shade permanent because it is such a beautiful shade.
Looks like I am going to have a beauty long wishlist.

This semester is going to be a busy semester for me. It is my final semester. So nervous yet excited for graduation. I will be busy with lots of tests and presentations that I might slack a little with my blog but I will try my best to keep posting atleast twice a week. 

Haircare products haul

Rive Gauche had a 40% off storewide. I took advantage and stocked up my shampoos.
I had switched to professional hair care product eversince I found myself experiencing hair fall. I was advised to switch to professional hair care since they are said to contain less chemicals that are damaging to hair roots causing hair to fall.

Since the switch, my hair has been better than ever, Hair fall is minimal and my hair is more voluminous.

The brand I have been religiously using is the Schwarzkopf professional. I swear by this shampoo.

I picked 4 tubes of the shampoo. Probably enough to last me half a year.

Londa is another brand I really love using. I was introduced to this brand by my friend, she kept talking on how great their hair mask are and how I should try it since my hair is dry.

I got myself their conditioner not too long ago and basically it is my staple conditioner right now. She was so right how good this brand is. My hair just feels so smooth and silky.

Because of how much I like the conditioner, I thought why not try their hair oil. Might work wonders on my dry hair.

I have yet to try this hair oil, I am trying to finish up my other hair oil before I start with this one. 

I am back and Happy Chinese New Year

I am back and also, Happy Chinese New Year!

My semester starts tomorrow so I won't be able to fully enjoy my Chinese New Year but always say to myself that I am left with one more semester to go before I am able to return home and celebrate with my family.

Anyway, I wish those who will celebrating Chinese New Year, a very Happy Chinese New Year and may the year of the monkey bring you happiness, wealth and health.

I just came back from my Euro trip, it will take me awhile to settle down and get accustomed to my usual routine. The blog will be active again once I regain my momentum.

stay tune!