Tag Archives: Shangri-la

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

Abundance

The Chinese New Year has been flitting in and out of the edge of my culture and consciousness as kaleidoscopic images of round red lanterns, tikoy, dragon dances and loud firecrackers.

I remember tikoy (Chinese New Year’s cake made of glutinous rice) and my dad dipping it in just-beaten egg yolks and egg whites, frying it on the pan until it gets golden brown all throughout.  We would gather round the table and get it from the plate while it is still hot, our hands getting sticky and oily and sticky again, while our tongues seek and taste the gooey center where the goodness is until there is no more.

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You Get What You Pay For

Flow Like Water

I remember some years ago, in one of her yearly visits to our homeland, my mother dragged me and my husband to the premiere destination for cheap finds.

We call it Divisoria.

Now, Divisoria is a shopping mecca, comparable maybe to the night markets of Thailand or the street-side shops of Hongkong, that is, equal in color, in confusion, in aroma, in the cacophony of sounds that makes it almost the modern Babylon – of people speaking in different tongues and gesturing wildly to alter the balance of power between the seller and the sellee.  It is scary and alluring at the same time.

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Eating In Style – At Half the Price

The Psychology of Hunger

The Psychology of Hunger

A sea of gastronomic fare set amidst gleaming cutlery, lit with chandeliers dripping from adorned ceilings, while strings serenade the night – it was a sight to behold and I tried to hold back the moan gurgling from my chest.  I look over at my husband and I know he feels the same.  I can see the same desire in his eyes.

A buffet spread in all its glory.

And we are paying for all of this gastronomic, marvelous, excellent (I could go on) – food – at half the price.

Half the price.

Oh, and did I mention, the setting is a five star hotel.

Sofitel and Shangri-la, Spiral versus Heat

Allow me to usher you to the world of the truly rich, where USD$50 dinners can be had for – yes – half the price.  But – there is a but – (and here it is again) but only if you are a member of the privileged set.

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