Environmentally Green Christmas Trees at Grand Hyatt Macau

The Xmas Trees at Grand Hyatt Macau are truly green Christmas trees because they are made with used items around the hotel.

You will find seven different Christmas trees made from the following recycled materials: 13,000 glass vases; 3,000 recycled wine bottles collected from banquets and events; 600 party hats; 500 stainless steel kitchen utensils; 300 pastry boxes; 300 soft sheep toys made for Chinese new year; and 200 floating glass bowls.

Guests staying at the hotel for Christmas will be given a tote bag and colour me in postcards with the Christmas tree designs.





















Estrada do Istmo City of Dreams
+853 88681234
www.macau.grand.hyatt.com
www.cityofdreamsmacau.com

Sino Hotels Create “A Patchwork of Caring Hearts” this Christmas

In support of the Operation Santa Claus, Sino Group of Hotels launched its “A Patchwork of Caring Hearts” campaign, complemented with a Christmas patchwork blanket decoration workshop to spread the joy and warmth to the community during the festive time of the year.

I was really lucky to be invited to attend this event where over 20 guests, including journalists, influential lifestyle bloggers and Chocolate Rain’s founder, Ms. Prudence Mak, joined hands with Sino Hotels’ Executive Management Team to add a festive touch to the colourful patchwork blankets together with 21 children from Liu Ming Choi Kindergarten.

A total of 50 patchwork blankets were created by the award-winning local design house Chocolate Rain and each was made from donated clothing and upcycled fabric. They will be donated to the beneficiaries of Operation Santa Claus such as elderly centres, through a series of outreach programmes conducted by Sino Hotels in December.
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Sino Hotels’ Management Team, Chocolate Rain’s founder, Ms. Prudence Mak and 21 children from Lui Ming Choi Kindergarten worked hands in hands to add a festive touch to the Christmas patchwork blankets. The blankets were made from donated clothing and upcycled fabrics by Chocolate Rain and will be handed out to the community sharing the festive warmth and joy.

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Kick-starting the festivities and outreach program with Christmas cake cutting from Sino Hotels’ Management Team, Chocolate Rain founder Ms. Prudence Mak and the children from Lui Ming Choi Kindergarten gather around Santa Claus.

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Christmas arrived early – Santa Claus arrived as the special guest and offered gifts and Christmas party glasses to the participating children.

Christmas charity sales of the party glasses starts on 3 December and will be available until 28 December with all proceeds going to Operation Santa Claus.

Children showcasing the Operation Santa Claus Christmas party glasses which will be on charity sales from 3 to 28 December at The Royal Pacific Hotel & Towers, City Garden Hotel, Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel, Island Pacific Hotel, The Pottinger Hong Kong and Gold Coast Yacht and Country Club.

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Joyeux noel avec mes copains dans Agnes B

There are not many decent French places on the Kowloon side so I retreated to Agnes B that has other branches in Hong Kong.
It is well hidden in Festival walk because it is camouflaged behind their clothes store.
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Started off with the assorted platter which had:
Duck foie gras terrine on truffle farm bread, shrimp with truffle caviar, Quail egg wrapped in parma ham, green asparagus, escargot with fries.

It was a nice savoury assortment and the foie gras terrine was silky and thick.
The escargot was a surprise because it looked like a real escargot shell but the shell was made of crispy wafer so the whole thing was edible and really nice with strong herbs.

Finished with the asparagus, which was crisp and sweet.
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Then we had the Black truffle cheese fondue which is what you would expect because it was real cheese mixed with wine. To go with the fondue were cubes of ham, chicken, asparagus, bread and quail eggs.

My favourites were the cubes of ham, asparagus and bread because it goes well with the cheese.
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For the mains we had Braised beef cheek in port wine truffle sauce which looked really similar to Beef bourguignon.

It was just as nice as Beef bourguignon because the sauce was rich and tasty packed with carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms and leek.
The beef cheek was soft and gelatinous while the sauce just matched in heaven with the bread.
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We also had a Galette filled with smoked chicken and smoked duck with cherry sauce.

As well as the visible cherry sauce, there were more delicious sweet cherries in the galette which made the chicken even more appetizing.
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For desserts we had the Panna cotta with blood orange sauce and truffle icecream.

The panna cotta was presented in a cute copper saucepan and I liked the way the tartness of the blood orange sauce balanced the sweetness of the panna cotta.

On the other side of the plate, there was truffle icecream on a bed of truffle jelly cubes.
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To finish off we had the sparkling Christmas cakes.
Let it snow (ginger chocolate mousse, ginger apricot and cocoa streusel).

With Love (chestnut mousse, blueberry mousse, almond bread and chocolate chiffon cake).

Stay together (Chocolate ganache and cocoa crumble).

My favourite was WITH LOVE because there were lots of different textures and tastes going on.

A cup of Earl grey was needed to go with the cakes and the was imported from France.

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agnès b. LE PAIN GRILLÉ
Shop 33, UG, Festival Walk, 80 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong

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The famous 3D foam cap drinks

Allegretto is located on the terrace of China Hong Kong City building with beautiful views of the sea and sunset if you are there at the right time.

Tried to come here two years ago when the cute 3D animal foam cap craze started but they don’t serve it after 4pm so I didn’t get to try it.

Getting here was easier than expected because I cut through Kowloon Park which takes me to a footbridge that connects there and you go through some glass doors where Allegretto is opposite a Thai restaurant and near this dimsum place.

Anyway, came here again with a friend two years later because the café is spacious with a good environment to chat as the place is pretty laid back.

I liked the traffic lights from Germany and pictures that they have on exhibition because lots of people have seminars and exhibitions here.

The menu has improved since my last visit because there is more to offer and they serve filling dishes that are affordable.

Ordered the drinks first because they take some time when they are busy.

The star of the show finally arrived and it was so cute!!
I loved the bear and the cat.

The elephant looked a bit sad though.

As for the taste, the chocolate was really good because it was not too sweet while the coffee was just right according to my friend.
We also had a rose latte as well which had a fragrant rose flavour that was not too sweet.

For food we had:
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German sausage with chips:

The sausages were surprisingly good but as I have not been to Germany before I don’t know what the real ones tastes like.
I liked the sausage texture because it was soft and slightly similar to luncheon meat paired with this curry sauce that had a very fruity taste with a hint of spiciness.
The curry sauce taste reminded me of Coronation chicken because it tasted like dry raisins but the consistency of the sauce was thin.
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Eggs benedict with Salmon:

The eggs Benedict was quite different because I found it quite garlicky with a garlic buttered muffin and the Hollandaise sauce tasted like creamy garlic sauce.
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Chocolate Fondant:

The chocolate fondant was rich and not too sweet paired with icecream that was light.
The centre was molten as the name suggests.
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