Europe Trip- Paris | Japanese Cuisines @ Higuma Japanese Restaurant (Palais Royal/Louvre Museum)

19th November 2014

We strolled along the road from Louvre Museum for lunch. The weather of the day was unexpectedly cold and all of us would like to indulge in some warm Asian food. Higuma Japanese Restaurant was our choice of dining place as the menu showing that the food was in reasonable price (around 8 euro).
I shall say it's a coincidence that we stumbled upon Higuma Japanese Restaurant which was having a high ranking of restaurants in Paris. It was just right across the road from Louvre Museum which was convenient for us to return later.

A cup of warm green tea was served in time to warm our hands and body.

Higuma Japanese Restaurant was crowded and we had to wait for about 5 minutes to be seated. My dad ordered fried noodles while the rest of us ordered ramen.I supposed he waitresses and waiters were Asians as they spoke Mandarin. In other words, this shall be not authentic Japanese cuisines. In the beginning, foods were served fast. It was a total of  15 of us and they had forgotten to three meals. It sounded like reasonable, but of course it wasn't as we had requested the waitress to repeat our order yet she mentioned that she had remembered all. They did rectify immediately after we informed that three ordered meals were not served, however they missed out one order. Well, till the foods were served, no apology was heard. 

Fried noodles were unexpectedly delicious and flavorful. The name of the dish is yokisoba yet it's more like fried noodles that we could have in any Chinese restaurant. 

yakisoba

Syoyu Ramen

My bowl of ramen was served after more than 40 minutes of waiting. 

The requisite slice of smoked pork and fresh steaming ramen had mollify me as I was hungry. All I did was finishing it at the least time as we needed to head back to Louvre Museum.

Speaking of the food, I would say that the food are okay. The food are in large portion, served hot and reasonable priced. A good place for fulfilling your stomach's need but do not expect for authentic Japanese cuisine. Service is much to be improved as most patrons were visibly looking for waiters and having their orders missed out or mixed up.

My Memory Makers- Samsung NX1000 & HTC ONE S

Sometimes, I do have lucks in winning some GREAT prizes by participating online contests. However, apart from luck, I did put efforts in writing good slogan and comments to win them. There were few prizes that had spiced up my life especially the lovely memories makers which are Samsung NX1000 and HTC One S phone. The memories makers had been my loyal companions for traveling and moments-capturing.

Samsung Smart NX1000 is an interchangeable-lens camera which is available in black, white and pink colour. The contributor in memories making process had arrived my hugs in year 2012. Unpacking the box revealing my stylish white Samsung Smart NX1000 which comes along with :

♥ 20-50mm F/3.5-5.6 ED Lens (White)
♥ SEF-8A Hot Shoe Mount Flash Unit
♥ BP1030 Lithium-ion Battery
♥ BC1030 Battery Charger & AC Cable
♥ Body Cap
♥ Camera Strap
♥ Micro USB Cable

#1   Smart settings
I was very impressed with Samsung NX1000 which takes great shots whether in all-auto (SMART) or various less-auto/manual modes. Before owning this stylish baby, I wasn't confident in Samsung branded camera. The effective automatic controls and manual settings is suitable for me whom is not an expertise in photography.

One of the night scenery that I had captured using Samsung NX1000

# 2   20.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor
The 20.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor made Samsung Smart NX1000 becoming the great competitor for DSLR.The high-speed capture and fast auto-focus enable the precious moments been captured unmistakably.

# 3  Smart Filters
I had lots of fun with its Smart filters which encompassed of Miniature, Soft Focus, Old Film1, Old Film2,, Halftone Dots, Sketch, Fish-Eye, De-fog and etcetera. Filters are just like bonus add-on to NX1000 as it eased us who love to share photographs with Instagram-filter effects. Hmmm, I hadn't tried to capture human using these filters, perhaps I shall try in future.

# 4  i-Function

The i-Function allows activation of menu controls to select ISO,filters by rotating the ring easily instead of clicking buttons, creating seamless experience in shooting.

# 5  Mobile link and WiFi Mode
The built-in features of mobile link and Wifi Mode are definitely attracted me who like to connect to WiFi hot spot and upload photos to social media sites like Facebook, Youtube, blog, and Photobucket. The capabilities of linking photos to offsite storage websites like dropbox makes me feel more secured as the photos are backed up safely.

Overall, I am very satisfied with my stylish camera's features and the quality of photos it had helped me to capture. The drawback would be the white colour design which needs extra care as it gets dirty easily. I have the headache of having yellowish looked camera straps and it has to be washed often.

HTC ONE S

The loyal companion which had been together with me for almost 1 year and a half. HTC One S may not be as good as its rivals like Samsung Note, iPhone, but it is definitely one of the stunning smartphones which able to take vivid and nice photos. Most of the photos in the blog ranged from 2013 onward are mostly taken by HTC One S.

Source: http://www.htc.com/au/smartphones/htc-one-s/

HTC ONE S features :

3G, 4.3″ Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 8 MP camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth.

Moments. Memory

Tame Your Furious Skin with Luxola De-stressing Kit

Have you ever noticed that you tend to have more breakouts when overloaded with stress?According to most health articles, stress causes our body to produce cortisol and other hormones that stimulate our sebaceous glands to produce more oil. Subsequently, the oily skin is more prone to skin problems creation.

Okay, now let's see what drives me nuts about my furious skin...

As you can see, when our skins are furious,

 there are a lot of skin problems that could be caused by stress included:

• seborrhea (scaly red skin) or dead surface cells and scars
• dark circles under eyes
• breakouts i.e. pimples (I dislike the most)
• freckles, dual-color (skin has different tone color i.e. uneven skin tone)
• comedones (blackheads and whiteheads)

The saying goes, 'Never trouble till troubles trouble you.', but what if stress becomes part and parcel of our lives?Well, it is impossible to avoid stress completely, there are approaches to handle stress better, and subsequently improve our skin problems.

。

。

。

That's the doubt keeps haunting me all this while...

Showing you the best solution brought by Tammy & Luxola Malaysia!

This beauty/skin solution kit differentiates itself from others by having a facial product which has recently won Harper’s Bazaar Beauty Hot 100 2012 Award matching with the exquisite Emporium Candle housed in a luxurious glass topped with 24 carat gold decorations. The Alpha-H Liquid Gold Smoothing and Perfecting Mask (suitable for all skin types) consists of 15% Glycolic Acid to exfoliates dead surface cells. The Manuka Honey, Lavender and Vitamin E are also consisted in Alpha-H, the award winning face mask able to hydrate skin, providing fresh and smooth skin. From most reviews about this face mask, light tingling sensation can be felt when you apply the mask. It sounds good as it seems like can make my round face slimmer! LOL

When you look at the Luxola de-stressing kit, did you wonder of what can MOR Emporium Candle Lychee Flower help in de-stress？ A brief description about the quintessences of this MOR Emporium Candle Lychee Flower is enlisted below:

The MOR Emporium Candle Lychee Flower emits a nice floral and fruity scent produced by the ingredients such as lychee flower, ripe berries, soft powdery florals and a slight hint of forest wood.

1st thing came to my mind... Anyone thinks of lighting up this candle during wedding ceremony? Let's add a touch of romance to your living space with this great MOR Emporium Candle Lychee Flower. Couples can have facial skin care together with MOR Emporium Candle Lychee Flower. So, could you resist this perfect de-stressing kit?

Next, what are the reasons boil down to my decision for joining this giveaway?

• I wish to improve my skin problems especially dead surface cells or scars left after acne production. I am searching for a good skin solutions to remove dead skin cells, sebum, dirt that can cause any breakouts. With a healthy skin, I can boast up my self-confidence. Now Luxola Malaysia is providing a good avenue to heal with the dehydration of skin and other signs of aging, pimples and skin problems that are literally led by stress hormone cortisol.  Let's me to get rid of all the following problems with Luxola Malaysia Alpha-H Liquid Gold Smoothing and Perfecting Mask!

Succinctly stated, the smooth skin without freckles, acne and scar is what am I wishing for.

• I hope to pamper myself during weekends or after a long walk or jogging). After the drudgery of work, I just hope that I can rest myself in a very comfortable environment. What would be better that I am like siding in the lychee flower farm?!

Great Prizes Won!

Undoubtedly, I am now a contest freak who like to join contests to win sweepstakes and prizes! At first, I was worried that personal identity could be stolen by just keying in personal details in order to join the contests apart from some contests require hours or weeks for playing ( game contests) to qualify as the winner. It could cause deterioration in exam results. I also worried of I am not lucky as others and I scared of being cheated too! However, seeing my friends around who had won many big prizes through contests, thus I joined the group as well! Few reasons that I am one of the contest freaks including I wish to win the things I wish to own for free, and of course peer influence.

There are various types of contests organized by different parties such as voting contests, slogan creation contests, game contests and etcetera. As much as we might despise voting contests, yet we often can't resist participating them as great prizes are offered. Voting contests require friends to help voting, unless the prizes won are meaningful otherwise I find it is bad to request others to vote in order to let you win the prize. Well, that's just my inkling. =) I prefer joining contests that do not need high votes such as create an interesting comment or slogan as these contests are easier and more challenging. 


Here are some fabulous prizes that I won from contests during year 2011 and 2012, mainly through social networking site i.e. Facebook.


1. Poh Kong Shining Moms Contest ( Apr.- May '11) - It was THE MOST MEANINGFUL prize I ever (first) won from online contest. It requires contestants to create a comment with a jewellery which can represent their mom with a photo with mom. I used pearl to describe my mom and had successfully won a nice pearl necklace for her. She likes it very much!  =)

2. Maybank MyDeepavali Contest ( Nov. '11) - I still remembered how Kiwi, Weilin, Sue Fern, Ser Pei, Maxloon Pui and I logged in Facebook for playing this game contest during that period. We need to visit each other's home and cook curry dishes, muruku and etc.

3. Sakae Sushi Malaysia New Year Treats Contest (Dec'11) - Won with the calendar 2012 which has monthly coupons inside. Uh.. I only used once as there's no Sakae Sushi outlets in BP. Huh! Wasted many coupons of it T.T

4. TheMalaysiaStreet (Feb'12 )- A bonus prize that was given by TMS i.e. RM100 Nando's Voucher which I used to spend Mother's Day with my family. 

5. TheMalaysiaStreet (May'12 ) - A bonus prize that was given by TMS i.e. Yahoo Eco Journalbook which is said to be worth around $16. It was the 2nd time I won bonus prize from TMS for giving good comment on featured topics after winning RM100 Nando's Voucher in February'12.

Some short descriptions about Yahoo Eco Journalbook :   

Draw and doodle on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. 

Each journal has a unique past, present, and future. 

• 100% post-consumer recycled paper 

• 100% made in the USA

6. - Peopalove Father's Day Brandcontest (June'12) - Successfully won a RM50 T.G.I Fridays voucher in this contest with one of the best comments. I was intended to give my dad this voucher as the gift of Father's Day, but he doesn't keen to eat any western foods now. Hence, the gift will be given to Si En as her birthday gift XD.

7. Says.my (June'12) - A pair of Nando's Meal Vouchers had been won from Says 4th Anniversary Birthday Giveaway. Haha.. I am yet to receive the gifts.

8. Beautyarea2u's Who Wants Contest (July'12) - The prize was won out of my expectance as the contest was randomly picking the winner from the list of participants. Surprisingly, I was chosen ( I just participated on the day before it announced results) and the prize is a bracelet. 

9. Nando's I feel Awesome Today Contest (July'12) - It's Nando's Malaysia's 100, 000 Awesome Facebook Peri-Peri lovers celebration and I am lucky to be one of 430 winners to get one full chicken voucher. I just received the voucher last week. Anyone wish to eat with me?! I don't think I can finish up a whole chicken myself!


By the way, I think Nando's Malaysia is great in doing promotion via social networking sites. I could see Nando's Malaysia team keeps updating status and having promotion or contests @ Facebook! Good one!


I just realized from the Facebook page that Peri-Peri ( in the Nando's Chicken) is high in anti-oxidants and contains capsaicin – commonly found in chillies,which helps enhance metabolism and increase calorie burn.

10. Mr Bean Malaysia (July'12) - Found this contest at Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/mr.bean.com.my) and I was attracted by the cute plush toys! The contest has two categories which are Most Creative and Most "likes" Comments categories with two grand prize winners and two consolation prize winners will be selected with the results being determined based on most creative and most 'likes' comments deemed appropriate. 

I was surprised that I had been selected as one of the grand prize winners in which my prize will be Mr Bean Malaysia plush toy along with a Mr Bean Gift Bag courtesy from Mr Bean® Malaysia. Hmm.. I guessed I won it under most creative comment category as another grand prize winner has a handful of votes.

The MrBean plush toy is definitely a cute Mr Bean Malaysia merchandise! I am going to redeem it this weekend! =) Wondering what's inside the Mr Bean Gift Bag~~

Is there anyone wondering what's Mr Bean Malaysia about?

Please visit the page link that I mentioned above or

 check Mr Bean Malaysia menu to find out what nutritious food are offered there.

11.  A sponsored blog post contest (July'12)- I came across this blog website Nicole Chang's sponsored blog post during June when I randomly visited few blogs in order to get some ideas to create new layouts. The blog posts of this lady are interesting!

Hehe, then I spotted out the blog owner organized a contest in which she is generously giving aways three sets of jewellery to the winners. The contest is interesting as contestants have to answer 'Why you love accessories?' and tweet that, 'Im joining @nicccchang 's accessories giveaway!'  A simple contest with fantastic prizes! Haha, I love jewellery and I think this topic is easier for girls to answer. =)

And of course, I have to thank her profoundly for selecting me as winner out of 30++ contestants there.

Hehe.. my answer for the question. Is it long enough? Does it sound creative? =)

She announced me as the winner and I could opt for my favourite set of jewellery! 

 YIPPY!!! I choose the set 3 as I love the tiffany color celebrity bracelet!

 The blog owner has creatively showed ways of utilizing it in which it can be used as bracelet and hair-band. Cool right?!

Set 3: Red Wine Moisturizing & Rejuvenating Mask; Celebrity Bracelet (tiffany colour);
Mustache ring, Dove ring; Topshop Rose earring

12.  HTC Malaysia (July'12) - Before the month of July ends, I had won another big prize which I was totally unexpected of winning it! Thanks to Maxloon Pui for introducing me to participate in this contest (http://bit.ly/LSxoD5) in which I needed to write a comment that why I want to win a HTC One S! I remembered I participated in the contest few hours before the contest ended. I felt lucky to be selected as the grand prize winner.

My dear prize, I am going to hug you back in August, please wait patiently for me!


Then, I checked out from Amazon about its price, guess what! Best price is offered! 

Totally in love with the white color HTC One S! Its sleek design is attractive to me! Amazon seems to offer cheaper price when I check it at mobile phone store, it could save up $50.00 !!

Wow, scrolling back the post upwards, I only noticed I had won 5 prizes during this July! July is a lucky month for many friends of mine too. 

• Lucas had emerged as the Legendary European Manager winner in the recently concluded Stadiumastro Fantasy – Euro Edition and won with a massive 60-inch Sharp LED television alongside two grand stand tickets to the Malaysia XI vs Manchester City match. (refer: Astro news ).
• Maxloon Pui has been the most talented contest freak! Haha, he joined most of the contests and he had won RM100 T.G.I Friday vouchers this month.
• Ser Pei and her relatives won cash prizes from Ambank this month too.
• Weilin had won many great prizes including cash prizes from Ambank, 4x RM10 Starbucks Voucher from AmBank-Madagascar 3 eCampaign and LG Optimus L7 this month. Not forgetting that she once won herself an ipad II from Says.my! 

The next post you may be interested in: Great Prizes Won (Part II)

Mother's day contest

I finally back to KL after the hectic exam weeks and malacca trip. Today, went to Selayang Mall's Poh Kong to redeem the prize that I won for Mother's Day Contest "Shining Mums". The terms to join this contest was to share out with a short story and choose gold/diamond/jade or pearl to describe our mothers to win for the best slogan award or best shining smiles. I was one of the winner for the best shining slogan in the contest. The slogan I wrote was as the followings:

'Pearl ‘best represents my mom, because this symbol of unblemished perfection emanates the enchanting beauty and uniquesness of my mom.

Mom, profusely thank you for:

Path of glory that you directed me when I was lost,

Enduring words of encouragement when I faced difficulties,

Aspirations of life you guided me in astonishing proportion,

Rhythm of confidence you built in me to embrace the challenges in life,

Love that you showered me since the day you gave birth to me.

Well, the feeling for winning a prize for mom instead of myself is indescribable using words. I would like to thank Poh Kong profusely for this meaningful contest as I never give my mom the pressie she desires the most, kiss or words that said ' I love u,mom'.. This contest had given me the chance to write some sincere words about my mom, and thank her publicly.

Poh Kong Online Contest

Mom was delighted when she opened the gorgeous present box. She was actually surprised that I won in the contest instead of buying it myself. =P Haha.. it was really great when seeing my mom trying to wear the pearl necklace and she commented that she loves the pearl necklace! Yeah! Nothing is more precious than looking your own parents proud and happy because of you done just a little thing for them.

Here's the necklace given by Poh Kong.. * I love it too..* I am looking forward for the upcoming events from Poh Kong and do hope that Poh Kong will continue organizing such meaningful contests.