Haider Ackermann Dress // Yutaka Sushi Bistro

Haider Ackermann

The weather in Dallas is moody in fall/winter. One day is cold, the next day is warm and it could reach to 80 F , sometimes. Lately, it has been 75 F degree -beautiful fall day and I have no complaint here. Taking advantage of that, I brought out my Haider Ackermann black silk dress for going out with my sweet hubby. I felt comfortable, elegant and feminine in this dress...Love it!! I styled it with Christian Louboutine lace-leopard boots.

Yutaka Sushi Bistro

As I mention in "The New Restaurant Weeks" post that I posted it sometime long ago, Yutaka becomes one of my favorite restaurants. Yutaka is owned by head chef Yutaka Yamato that serves both authentic Japanese cuisine and his own creations with blending of traditional Asian and Western influence at his namesake uptown Dallas, 2633 McKinney Ave.
A couple of nights ago, we had a chance to come back there with my parents and no surprises!! the food is excellent. This time, they have a special dish called Lobster Three Ways as shown in pictures below: First way is lobster tail sashimi. Second way is lobster head broth miso soup, I love the sweetness and freshness of this soup. Third way is lobster claws tempura ( I was simply busy eating and forgot to take a picture of this one, sorry). These are awesomely delicious that mades me really attempt to cook these dishes at home in the near future.

We never forget to order Heirloom tomato salad with miso paste, one of our favorite dishes that I love to taste the sweetness of tomatoes and melting creamy miso paste.
Wishing you all a wonderful day!!!! Thank you for visiting!!!
Big hugs...Hanh ;-)

Through The Woods in Fall

Just past Saturday, my daddy, my big girl and I wanted to follow the trail through the woods that's near my neighborhood. We didn't have much to do, since my hubby and my little girl were camping with her school. My big girl decided to go through the woods on her moped, my dad by bike, and I walked. We absolutely enjoyed our time with the beautiful fall day. It was truly great and perfect for me captured the natural color of the fall foliage during the walk. I love fall. It's so romantic and has a poetic feel. Its color gives me a cozy, calm, peaceful feeling. It's also an exciting season, to me.., when we bring out jackets, sweaters, gloves, boots, hat, scarf... My lovely daddy.

My big girl with her moped.
Looking at her playing reminds me of my childhood-I also loved to play by the creek. Kids are very innocent and sweet!
My pictures below were taken sometime last week. I was day dreaming during the shoot-the yellow of fall foliage distracted my mind from reality for a second. I was wishing I was somewhere up north, like Central Park, NY, enjoying the fall colors...

I wore Marni fur vest, Forever 21 yellow tank, Prada pants.
Alaia clutch.
Christian Louboutine Nitoinimoi suede/Nappa boots.
Thank you to you all for stopping by my site and your kind comments. Wishing everyone a wonderful day!!!!kisses...Hanh ;-)

Christopher Kane for Topshop, again!

Yes, yes,..I go bananas about the Chirstopher Kane collection for Topshop. I always wanted to add some pieces from his own line into my closet, but it's pricey to do that. I'm excited about his collection for Topshop, and it's a great chance for me to own more of his pieces.

I was anxious to show this crocodile dress to my kids to see how they would react to it. Surprise!!! they said "cool!!mommy! it's not scary"...yeah, good for me.

Eyelet clutch by Christopher Kane for Topshop. As you see, I have many eyelet pieces from this collection. Eyelet is a fun trend for me now.

Rick Owens jacket and Sam Edelman boots.

Home Cooking.

Chao Tom (Vietnamese shrimp paste sugarcane)

Chao Tom is an appetiser dish that could serve as a main course. I absolutely love it. I always order it at restaurants and I recently attempted to make it at home. What is great about making this at home is that you can wrap as much shrimp paste around the sugarcane as possible, so every bite is a mouthful of sweet delicious shrimp paste. Yum!

Ingredients: 1 1/2 pound raw smaller shrimp, 3 clove garlic, 2 dashes white or black pepper powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 3 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon fish sauce, 3 teaspoon cooking oil, sugarcane stick (I buy them in skin-pre-peeled at Asian market or Wholefood at frozen area).

Method: Rinse and peel shrimp's shell and pat try the shrimp throughly with paper towels. Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend well to form a smooth paste. Transfer the paste into a bowl. Oil both hand and wrap the shrimp paste around the sugarcane stick, shape them nicely like you see in the picture. Put them on a pan with oil on top, bake for 10 minutes with 365 F. Serve them immediately with lettuce, mint, delicate rice paper, sweet-sour fish sauce.

I hope you all enjoy this post and have a joyful weekend with your family and friends!!!!

Thank you everyone for reading!

Big hugs...Hanh;-)

Kyoto, Japan // Black modern Kimono

Black Modern Kimono

Every time I wear this Ann Demeulemeester belt, I need help from my hubby to buckle them for me. He also tells me every time that I look like a mental patient in a fancy straight jacket!!! To me, I feel like I'm going back into the old days when women wore their corset underneath their dresses for tightening the waist as small as they could. For this look, the Ann D belt and wide-flare sleeves Jean Paul Gaultier dress from last year- It felt like a modern kimono. I enjoy wearing this belt very much.

Tights from Nordstrom. Steve Madden shoes.

And this is how I wore the Ann D belt last time-click here to view.

KYOTO, JAPAN

Talk about Japan, Kyoto is a town I love to visit and must visit if I'm in Japan. It has such a great character that you don't see it in Tokyo ; charming-calm scenery, poetic-traditional sight. It has interesting culture and architecture, and in many ways is the cradle of Japanese culture. Kyoto was Japan's capital and the Emperor's residence for centuries, until 1868. You will see hundreds of temples and shrines surrounding the town. We went to this trip right before we had a plan for having kids and we got tons of pictures. I couldn't show them all in my blog, but I would like to share with you four places that we love.

Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine is about 20 minutes south of Kyoto. You easily spend hours walking up the hillside and taking beautiful pictures of Kyoto. Its made famous in countless photographs and movies, including Memoir of a Geisha, for the thousands of vermilion torii lining the paths to the shrine.

The Golden Pavilion is the best known temple in Kyoto, and one that you don't want to miss. It's north west of town. A tour guide is recommended.

Heian Jingu shrine is famous for having the largest torii in Japan. It also features a wonderful Japanese garden.
Heian Jingu garden.
Kyoto Imperial Palace built in 794. It was destroyed by fire and rebuilt eight times over of its long history. There is usually a pond in front of the shrines for you to clean and purify before entering them.
We were in Japan in the

spring. There were many people going to the shrines to make a wish, and this is how it's done: tighten paper on a string and make a wish, as I remember...
Wishing you all a wonderful, blessed day with joy!!!!

Kisses...Hanh;-)

Passing through Generation

This handmade handbag was my mom's bag when she was just 15 years old. It's a gift from her mom to her. I remember when I was a little girl I often asked my mom to take it out from her armoir for me to have a look at it. I adore its weaving details and its work. 60 years later, I'm very honored that she gave it to me, and I promised her to take care good at it and pass it to my children. What a priceless gift!!! Thank you mom for this!!!

Prada shoes-fall 06. 7 for all mankind jeans.

BCBG faux fur jacket. Oliver People sunglasses.

Antique Vases

When it comes to home decorating, my husband and I love anything antique. He especially adores Oriental antiques. Some of you have been requesting posts about our house. To be honest, I'm not ready for it yet. Instead, I would like to share with you some Oriental antique vases that we own.

The picture below is a solid bronze Japanese urn that we display at the entrance. It was made around the year 1800, and weighs about 60 pounds. We love its hand carved details.

The other side is different carving of animals, and on the sides are lion face handles.This is how the lion face looks.
We have a pair of this copper 19th century vase inlaid with colorful ceramic details that we display at formal living room. I love the two cow heads on the sides adding interest to the vase.
These Yingqing pottery vases are circa 960-1279 A.D, Song dynasty that we display at formal dining room. They're very fragile and they're getting thinner, the details are fading. The side that shows here is better condition.
This teapot is also Yingqing ware-Song dynasty, circa 960-1279 A.D. I love its shape.
The color of all vases and urn are more dull looking in person. When I took a picture of them, the lighting brings out their color.

Now time to announce the winner of this contest. Congratulations to...God Make Me Funky... the winner. I normally random pick a winner, but this time my big girl was the one draw the winner. I wore down all name tags. She closed her eyes, turned around 3 times and pick one name tag. She enjoys doing it, I'll do this way from now on.

Thank you everyone for continuing to support my site. Your comments mean a lot to me. I appreciate it as always.

Have a great day to you all!!!...Kisses...Hanh ;-)

Eyelet Body Suit by Christopher Kane

Hi everyone,
How are you all doing? I hope you're doing great. Thank you very much to you all for comforting comments and continuing support my blog. Your sweet-honest comments mean a lot to me. I'd like thank you Julia from Moxsie give us another give-away gift. Please, you make sure to visit and support Moxsie website as much as I do!! As you know, Moxsie launched in January for independent fashion designers that are affordable and pretty hard to find. Also, they donate a portion of their proceeds to a charity that you get to choose during check out.
This time, the give-away gift is Matt Bernson grey peep toe/side-cut-outs ankle boots, click here to see more details. Everyone can enter this contest by simply submit a comment and it will randomly pick a winner. The winner will be announced on the next post. Make sure to leave your name, and GOOD LUCK to you all!!!

Eyelet Boby Suit by Christopher Kane for Topshop

My husband fells in love with this bodysuit and I did too!! I styled it with Comme des Garsons mesh skirt, F21 legging, YsL boots from last year season.

Tortoiseshell sunglasses by Oliver Peoples-limited edition, Madewell scarf.

Wishing you all a great fabulous day!!!!

Thank you for reading!!!

Kisses...Hanh ;-)

Just Sharing

These pictures are from The Sartorialist Book that I think these looks are interesting of color, pattern and textures combo.

I understand that everyone has their own style, taste and different sense for fashion. Maybe this outfit doesn't look great to someone, but it looks super great to other people. I like to play with my clothing, take a risk of how I pair them and I have fun, enjoy doing it. Fashion is all about choices-the choice for our style with our own fashion sense. Also in life-our choice of manners, our attitude, and our words make us who we are. I appreciate your support and honest comment. We also have freedom of opinion with graceful or ungraceful words. Here and there, I received couple comments from anonymous with not-pretty words. I normally don't moderate them and I don't keep them in mind. Today, with my feeling, I feel like to share this with my graceful readers.

Last week, I went to see Scott Schuman-The Sartorialist, for his book signing when he was in Dallas. It was crowded but worth the wait. I have been learning many things from his book "It's all about self-expression. I rarely shoot a look where I love all the elements. I don't need to love the whole look: I just need to identify the one or two elements that mean something to me, and capture it in the romantic way I see it"......" Let's just say it's a positive and less judgemental way to look at the world". In the first introduction he continues, "I hope that, as you look at the images...rather than giving a look a 'thumbs up' or a 'thumbs down', you will focus on the elements that could inspire you. Maybe you'll find inspiration in a colour combination, or maybe in a play on textures or a mix of genres"

English is not my first language, as many of you already know, but hopefully what I write is pretty enough for you to understand. I don't get to visit all the blogs as often as I used to, simply because I have a house full of family! My parents are here from Vietnam for 6 months, and I want to spend as much time with them as I can. And let's don't forget the two new puppies! They are a handful. Thank you all very much for reading my blog. I'll do my best to keep you interested and coming back.

Have a great day to you all!!!

Big hugs...Hanh;-)