Things We Love

Merry Christmas

This is a quick message to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. This will be our last post for 2013, so we wanted to thank you for your wonderful feedback and messages over the last six months. We hope you have enjoyed reading our stories as much as we have enjoyed writing, styling and photographing them for you. Thank you all for your support and for coming back post after post. We will be back on Monday the 6th of January 2014 with lots more stories, places, recipes and people to meet.

Belinda & Ingrid

Boards

Wooden cutting boards are so great for styling and a can’t-live-without kitchen aid ( the ease of a well-crafted one is a relief when chopping vegetables). A great shop in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon Woodwork Professor, G/F 335-339 Shanghai Street. Tel: +852 2332 2443 specialises in all kinds: square shaped, pizza tray ones to large circular styles. They also have a large stack of camphor boards out the front of the shop. No good for cooking but a lifesaver, when hung in the wardrobe, from moth attacks on precious clothes. Just across the road is Man Kee Chopping Board, G/F 340-342 Shanghai Street, Yau Ma Tei. Tel:+852 2332 2784 they also have a good selection of wooden boards.

Rubbing a little sunflower oil or coconut oil all over the board around 3- 4 tablespoons with cloth gloves every few months will keep your board glossed and in prime condition.

Christmas is a go-go

Christmas is nearly here, so if you are looking for live trees and beautiful wreaths, head to Chung Hing Gardening & Landscaping, Chun Hing Garden, Wong Nai Chung Road, Happy Valley. Tel: +852 2573 5408. This incredible urban nursery is located in between Happy Valley racecourse and the historical cemeteries of Hong Kong which are a story in themselves. If you are Sai Kung side, talk to Pedro at KK Horituculture – this family run establishment always has lovely Christmas trees, wreaths and candle settings for the table. Tau Chung Hau Road, Sai Kung, Tel: +(852) 2792 7440.

Once you have a tree you will need some decorations. I recently supplied the lifestyle store Mirth in Hong Kong a bunch of my own – I add a touch of Liberty fabric to vintage bells and glass spheres – which will lend some seasonal dazzle to any home or apartment.

Re-loving our handbags

Over the years, I’ve acquired quite a collection of designer handbags and as I like to look after them I tracked down an expert repair man in Tsim Sha Tsui, his name is Peter Tsang and he owns SmithShop, Room 605/6/F Rise Commercial Building, 5-11 Granville Circuit, Kowloon. Tel: +852 3483 4243. Peter is great at making stressed bags look adored again. Anyone can appreciate the quick cheap bag fix readily available here but there’s a lot of beauty to be found in a sophisticated designer bag. And they can last the distance, often resulting in a chic worn look I really like plus our bags hold a lot of stories and eventually history, too when they are passed on to new carers. Hope you agree and see what good re-polishing/lining/ handling Peter can do at his little hole-in-the-wall workshop. If you are looking for a vintage bag check out Love Tata.

Time for Tea

The handcrafted Chinese tea and tea wares at Vivian Mak’s Ming Cha, Shipyard Lane, Taikoo, is definitely having it’s hot-right-now moment. After studying fine arts at Chicago School of Art Institute in the late 80’s, Ms Mak set out to build her knowledge of tea. She has imbued her steeped specialities with gorgeously fragrant and delicate aromas that hint at history and conjure up sensory intrigue. You need to participate in a private tea tasting class or workshop at her studio and store in Taikoo, Hong Kong Island where you can savour several varieties of tea, from Red, Green, White and Black to Oolong – flavours include Mandarin Orchid and Red Plum Classic. Vivian will take you through the history of tea and help figure out the right blend for you. Her current fave is Red tea – Tanyang Golden Rim. Watching Vivian prepare and pour the tea tasting is a lesson in how to be seamlessly elegant. I love Silver Needle Supreme which is apparently good for reducing inflammation, and boasts anti-ageing properties such as antioxidants. The brand’s rosebud teabags, which I stumbled upon in Great some years ago, are said to aid digestion and circulation, and I love this tea in particular – I drink it slightly warm. Ming Cha has everything you need to spice up Christmas gifts, too. Their white and blue tea bowls are dreamy, as are the bamboo spatulas and vintage teacups. Add a pot of Vivan’s rose honey to your bag of goodies on your way out. Vivian suggests using it in salad dressings or on ice-cream. We’ve baked a batch of biscuits with it. Check out the pictures below and don’t forget to click on the recipe card for baking instructions.

If you are wandering near the Jade Market in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, visit Ch’ang tea shop, G/F 122 Temple Street, Kowloon. Tel: +852 2384 2197, it’s been running for years and is well known for its pottery tea wares and fine teas. The owner pours tea for you in a traditional setting. Every flavour of tea is available here – our pick is the floral and fruity tasting Autumn Showers which is actually the osmanthus flower. Osmanthus tea is apparently good for moisturising your skin and enhancing your eye-sight. Choose Christmas gifts from a colorful array of delicate teapots and teacups. The owner will happily let you road test, too.

We decided to bake some biscuits with our favourite teas, pure rose petals, jasmine and osmanthus plus a few pots of Vivian’s Ming Cha Rose Honey. Belinda came up with three flavours for the biscuits – Rose Honey, Jasmine with Vanilla and Osmanthus with Palm Sugar. Check them out on our recipe cards.

Race day attraction

With Melbourne Cup around the corner, we thought it’s time to talk pretty hats. Melever, G/F 1-2 Nam Cheong Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. Tel: +852 2708 8899 has a winning way with fascinators and cocktail hats, and if time permits and personal accessorizing is your thing they really step up with colourful feathers, hand-sewn silk flowers and other dazzling bits and pieces crafted from leather and netting. For specific designs you may have in mind, Louie is the man to talk to – he works in costume for film but will bring your dream hat to life. His shop is P3 Fashion Accessories, Shop 10 Yan Nam Mansion, 97 Nam Cheong Street, Kowloon. Tel: +852 2360 2600. If you want to create your own hat from scratch try Kwong Yiu Fashion Accessories, G/F Shop 7, 97 Nam Cheong Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. Tel: +852 2304 3988 or Trademark East, G/F 94 A-B Pei Ho Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. Tel: +852 2398 9293.

Exquisite high-end designs can be found at Hat Woman in Central. They stock the genius Philip Treacy and the beautiful Ward & Wylie hats.

A cutting kind of story…

Scissors on-duty: doing ‘craft’ makes us appreciate a great pair of scissors and I find the look of vintage ones really appealing, but nothing beats a new pair. They cut, change and shape so much the perfect pair is always sharp and ready to work. Pinking shears are handy, too for going around paper, felt and seams if you don’t want to overlock or zig-zag. Distinct looking ones can be found at a little hole-in-the-wall store at 1/F Wong Chuk Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. If you think of it take along some old ones – the owner is very obliging and will sharpen them while you wait. If you’re on the lookout for haberdashery items head to Hop Shing Hong, G/F 260, Tai Nan Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. Tel: +852 2729 1035. It’s great for beautiful scissors and much, much more.

Sau Wa Fong Street

Sau Wa Fong Street is a street with style and spirit and there’s always some new store or restaurant opening up and creating a buzz. There are some people who just have an eye. Susan Man of Manks, was brillant when she opened the original Manks on Elgin Street, Central, in the late-80s. It had a kind of dreamy, relaxing atmosphere – I used to wander from floor to floor just looking at all these incredible things: light fixtures sourced from Sweden and Finland from the 1960s, unusual tables, Bedarmeier style hall chairs from Sweden, works of art and antiques that were never seen in Hong Kong before. Her beloved Shih Tzu’s dogs, Dumpling and Noodle were pretty cute too, staying put on her lap most times. Now there are two Manks stores run by Susan and her husband Paul Fung, the Sau Wa Fong Street store is housed in a 1960s old building and the second one is at The Factory in Wong Chuk Hang, Aberdeen. Here you will find Scandinavian modern design furniture, art and decorative pieces – think Panton and Hans Jakobsen – plus European antiques circa 1880 -1970. Man and Fung pick up extra special antiques and source anything beautiful style-wise, and they are always happy to work on bridal registries too.

G/F 36 Sau Wa Fong Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2522 5115

Sau Wa Fong St Read More…

Celadon

We love… celadon. The term celadon describes the pot and its glaze. Its history is long; celadon shards were found as early as 25-220AD in an Eastern Han Dynasty tomb in Zhejiang. The first time this pottery arrived in Europe they were grouped together and named celadons. The name is thought to have come from the shepherd character Céladon who appears in a 17^th century play called L’Astrée dressed in grey-green ribbons and cloak.

Celadon ware has subtle variations in the soft cloudy blue, blue-green and grey shades. The colour – and this is where things get scientific – comes from the small percentage of iron in the glaze (0.5 to 3 percent) which is applied fairly thickly to the entire pot and fired to about 1300˚ centigrade in a reducing atmosphere (removing the oxygen from the glaze). The result is these really dreamy translucent blues and greens.

Potters will always try for the perfect celadon glaze, but it’s all in the firing – the results can be either exciting or disheartening. Every time my mother opened her kiln after a 12-hour firing and 12 hours plus of cooling, I couldn’t wait to see the result. The first time she experimented with a celadon glaze I was amazed – there in front of me were these beautiful pots in almost otherworldly hues just waiting for loving homes.

For beautiful celadon pieces head to Units 1-3, 3/F, Kowloon Bay Industrial Centre, 15 Wang Hoi Road, Kowloon Bay. Tel: +852 2796 1125.

Lanterns

It’s that September-moving-into-slightly-cooler-October feeling in Hong Kong and you don’t have to look too far to see Mid-Autumn Festival beauty. It’s everywhere. During this festival the lanterns in Victoria Park make dusk even more spectacular. If you don’t like crowds too much arrive earlier to secure a place. The organisers plan the event around a different theme every year.

When it comes to lanterns, which make great gifts for friends, take a stroll to Kweilin Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon and check out Loong Kee Stationary & Paper Store and while you are there pop over to Fuk Wing Street. It’s a lot of looking up up up, but the mild neck strain is worth it. I like to buy a new lantern every year and doing this has given me a much-admired collection. We have used them on shoots for magazines, too. Staying around Central? Check out the collection at 9 Peel Street. There’s quite a range – oversized bright pink, orange goldfish-shaped, elegant red and gold coloured silk ones, and dusty pink paper ones, just to name a few of our favourites.

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