This Week the Mice Have Mostly Been...

The first week back at work after a holiday is always the hardest. You're faced with piles of things that you put off until after your holiday not to mention all the stuff that you tried to ignore on your Blackberry while you were away, your tan's rapidly fading and the lunchtime cocktail habit you've developed isn't really acceptable when you're eating lunch al desko...

Believe me though, it's even harder when you've just spent the last week in Burma where you've had zero internet connection and zero blackberry signal which all adds up to complete uncontactable, blissed-out relaxation. Back to earth with a bump and 895 unread emails this week though...

So aside from 'accidentally' block deleting emails (if its that important they'll email again, right?!), this week the Mice have mostly been....

Witnessing an Epic Franco-Italian Culinary Clash at Hullett House. Nothing quells the holiday blues more effectively than several courses of delicious food and a few glasses of wine. So rather than unpacking, on Tuesday evening I headed off to St George, an elegant, fine dining restaurant nestled in the heart of one of Hong Kong's most beautiful colonial buildings to try out a menu intriguingly titled 'Two Peas in a Pod'. 

Image via: www.forbes.com

Prior to heading to London to open up the newest Aqua Group outpost in the Shard, Chef Anthony Garlando decided to pitch up in Hong Kong, draw his chopping knife and challenge St George's resident chef, Chef Phillipe Orrico, to a battle. It's Garlando versus Orrico; the Italians versus the French and it's guaranteed to be an extremely tasty fight. Each chef has devised a menu using the same set of central ingredients and all you have to do is sit back and make the tricky decision between French Haute Cuisine and Italian Alta Cucina...

I was lucky enough to try a couple of dishes from each menu the highlights of which for me were the French foie gras terrine with sesame seed fatty tuna and the Italian roasted veal fillet with spinach and Gorgonzola cream.

The Two Peas in a Pod Menu is only available until Saturday night, so we suggest you give St George a call to reserve you table right now and get fasting immediately in preparation for the feast of all feasts.

Diners can choose either the French or Italian menu; both are priced at HK$988 per person (with an additional HK$888 if you opt for the wine pairing) plus a 10% service charge. Reservations are required.

St. George, Hullett House, 
G/F, Main Building, 
2A Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, 
Hong Kong.
+852 3988 0220 
stgeorge@hulletthouse.com  

Making post-holiday resolutions. January aside, I find there's no better time than just after a couple of weeks away from normal life to reassess a few things and try to get your life in order. As with all good resolutions, post-holiday changes have to be manageable tweaks rather than insurmountable life alterations otherwise they're just too hard to stick to. So my two post-holiday tweaks are...

1. A wardrobe detox. You know you have issues when you can never find anything to wear, yet have so many clothes stuffed into your wardrobe that the doors don't shut. I'm going to finally set aside a Sunday to follow the simple six step wardrobe rehab plan created by the uber-stylish Geneva of A Pair and A Spare. Fingers crossed I'll emerge with a capsule wardrobe and mornings will be much less stressful. Plus streamlining your wardrobe gives you the perfect excuse for a little top-up shopping... 
2. At least 45 minutes of exercise at least five days a week. When there are 168 hours in a week, I really should be able to fit in what works out as less than four hours of exercise. Figuring that much of the issue is being bored of the same routine and exercising alone (and therefore having too easy a get-out if I don't feel like hitting the gym), I've decided to sign-up for a brand new girls only daily Bootcamp, Bikini Fit. Founder and Head Trainer, Alex de Fina, guarantees to get you in the best shape of your life with his eight week fitness and nutrition programme. The first round of Bootcamp starts on 22 October - so Hong Kong girls, you've got ten days to get involved too! Help me stick to it by signing up with me! 

Image via: www.bikinifit.com.hk

Bookworming it up and devouring some seriously great reads. A week without Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter or BBM - you may well be wondering what on earth I did while I was away. Well luckily I'd planned ahead and loaded up my Kindle with plenty of books. This summer I've been so busy that I've barely had a moment to do anything more than crack the spine of Fifty Shades of Grey... As much as I enjoy reading about Christian Grey's long fingers and Ana Steele's Inner Goddess, I was craving something with a little more substance to keep me entertained when I wasn't temple hopping in Burma. Step up three very different but equally brilliant page turners that I've been raving about this week to anyone who'll listen.


The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce
A book about a recently retired man who gets a letter one day, sets out to post his reply, but ends up deciding to hand deliver it instead... It doesn't exactly sound like a thrilling read but trust me, it's great. A little bit like the literary equivalent of Up!, it will make you cry but its ultimately very sweet and uplifting. 

Image via: www.themanbookerprize.com

Tigers in Red Weather - Liza Klaussman
Set in post-war America across three decades and told from the perspective of five different characters, this book had me gripped from the start. A sort of Great Gatsby meets Desperate Housewives with a bit of murder mystery chucked in for good measure - read it before its made into a film which will inevitably be nowhere near as good as the book.

Image via: www.picador.com

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

I'm still reading this one, but will definitely have raced through it by the end of the weekend. One day Amy disappears leaving her husband, Nick, looking very much like he's murdered her, but everything's not quite as it seems... Another one with Hollywood blockbuster written all over it, apparently Reese Witherspoon has already snapped the rights up. A definite stay-up-all-night-to-finish-it pageturner...

Image via: www.barnesandnoble.com

And that's it for this week! Have a great weekend!
x
The Mice