Posts tagged ‘style’
Makan Caviar di Bandara Heathrow
Kami tiba di Bandara Heathrow lebih dari tiga jam terlalu cepat, maklum penginapan terakhir jaraknya 2½ jam dari bandara. Setelah melakukan wisata lokal ke Salisbury, kami memutuskan untuk membuang waktu di Bandara saja. Dan karena kami menggunakan Emirates Airline, terminal yang digunakan di Heathrow adalah terminal 3, khusus untuk maskapai penerbangan lain selain British Airways dan dengan tujuan arah barat dari Inggris. Terminal ini tidak besar, dan dengan banyaknya maskapai asing yang menggunakan terminal ini, menjadikan terminal ini penuh dengan calon penumpang yang menunggu. Pesawat kami baru akan berangkat pukul 8.40 malam sementara itu kami sudah tiba di bandara sekitar jam 5 sore. Menghabiskan waktu di bandara dengan melakukan window shopping di duty free area yang sangat kecil dibandingkan dengan pengalaman belanja di Dubai Mall seminggu sebelumnya, duty free shopping ini sama sekali tidak berarti. Menunggu makan malam yang diberikan di pesawat akan terlalu lama. Akhirnya kami memutuskan untuk makan di restauran yang bukan fast food, sekalian mengakhiri liburan ini dengan gaya.
macam-macam seafood
Karena suami saya menyukai makanan laut, dan tertarik dengan seafood yang di pajang di etalase dari seafood bar yang berlokasi ditengah ruang tunggu terminal, kami lalu memutuskan untuk makan malam ringan di ‘seafood bar’ ini: ‘Caviar House & Prunier” Melihat dari lokasi dari seafood bar ini, sama sekali tidak eksotis, mirip tempat makan cepat saji (fast food) tapi cara menyajikannya sangat menarik. Saya lalu memutuskan untuk memesan makanan yang ‘agak’ eksotik : ”signature menu” mereka: “Pourqoui Pas?”. Agak mahal memang, tapi kan kami mengakhirinya adengan GAYA.
‘Sgnature Menu’ mereka: ‘Pourqouis Pas’
Tidak lupa kami juga memesan wine – white wine (anggur putih) sebagai minuman pelengkap untuk makan makanan laut.
3 tier tray, menyajikan caviar paling atas, ikan salmon mentah di tengah dan fish pate paling bawah
Biasanya saya tidak begitu suka makan caviar – telur ikan, karena ini sangat amis, tapi ternyata cara makan caviar adalah dengan roti toast, bersama sejumput putih telur dan sejumput irisan bawang merah sebagai penyedap dan mengurangi rasa amis… hmmm rasanya bukan main, sedaap….
Salmon mentah yang disajikan bersama irisan lemon, untuk mengurangi rasa amis
Pengujung seafood bar yang lain melengkapi gaya makan mereka dengan champagne
Yang membedakan seafood bar ini tidak seperti tempat makan cepat saji atau restauran biasa adalah setelah makan kami di berikan coklat pencuci mulut sebagai komplemen dari seafood bar ini.
Coklat pencuci mulut
Yang kami tidak tau adalah bahwa di ‘darat’ restaurant ini adalah ‘speciality restaurant’ khusus makanan laut yang punya cabang di seluruh Eropa: “Caviar House & Prunier” memiliki seafood bar di banyak bandara di Eropa, Asia dan Australia, termasuk di Dubai dan Hongkong.
Ini alamat persisnya untuk Seafood Bar yang kami kunjungi:
Seafood Bar - London Heathrow – Terminal 3 LHR
Terminal 3 Airside London Heathrow AirportTW6 1EB Hounslow, Middlesex Phone: +44 (0)208 897 1332
info@caviarhouse-prunier.com
Jam buka: 6.30 – 21.30
Silahkan mencoba
Packing List
Passport, wallet, ticket, etc.
Unlike most women, I used to travel light whenever I go on trip, either day trip, overnight business trip or backpacking with friends/sister. Here is my packing list for those travels:
- ESSENTIAL: passport, tickets, address book, mobile phone (in the old days, we don’t use mobile, but we rely on public telephone booth), credit card, and international ATM card, in exchange to cash.
- CLOTHING: one pair of trousers that I use and an extra pair if I travel more than 3 nights. Disposable underwear, that will reduce space along the way, and I don’t need to do any washing for this things.
- CLOTHING ACCESSORIES: none. I don’t need any hat or scarf or anything alike.
- ACCESSORIES/JEWELRIES: none. As I am a messy person, I tent to loose things, this is only to reduce to probability of loosing my accessories.
- COSMETICS AND TOILETRIES: only the basic one… nothing very special and I don’t really wear makeup. Bear in mind that most of my destinations were not in the middle of a jungle where I could not find any daily supplies.
- OTHER THINGS: pocket camera, map (just to prepare myself not to get lost), travel alarm clock, a pair of very comfortable shoes which I wore it day in, day out.
As I am not a fussy person, and I don’t need a special treatment nor health problem, thus I don’t really need much. One tote bag was enough for a 3 night business trip or a dirty weekend abroad.
Now things changed, as an expat, my home is away from my home country. Whenever I go back to my home country, I could not stay at my Mom’s place, as she has no room for me anymore, and I still need to pack my cloth and other things, which means going ‘home’ is similar to going for holiday, and this could last not only a few days but a fortnights or maybe a month by itself. Another thing that add to my travel preparation is the fact that I am not traveling solo anymore. I have to pack for two persons, my husband and I, and yet, I still like to travel light…. thus, what I did is try to pack for the both of us in one medium suitcase…. yes, only one
However, as we live on the funny part of the world from our loved ones, I need to consider:
- Local climate/weather, as out here (that is in Doha) 9 months of the year the temperature is HOT, HOT and HOT. Clothing wise maybe not so different from Indonesia, but it’s totally different from UK (where Keith got his relatives) or Australia (where our kids currently resides).
- The occasion of the trip, such as attending business trip, family wedding, normal holidaying/sight seeing or attending traditional/religious activity or even a combination of all of them.
- Activities of the trip, whether we will just visiting family and stay low keys, or involving different activities together.
- The length of the trip, whether 2 or 3 days, or a months or more.
As much as the excitement of going for holiday, this time this is what i ends up packing for only a 5 days trip back to UK, attending my husband’s relative:
- ESSENTIALS: passports, tickets (and other paper works in a folder, mobile phone, and travel wallet, where I will put all other cards, (International ATM, Credit Cards, and maybe cash.
- CLOTHING: a couple pairs of trousers/jeans (in case one is soak wet of British weather), a couple of cocktail dress, (as we are attending a couple of formal parties), sets of undies as no disposable panties available in the place I live.
- CLOTHING ACCESSORIES: I need to pack all these things, hat, belts to go with each attires, and scarfs to match with the shirts
- ACCESSORIES/JEWELRIES: it’s a must now, to go with all the pretty dresses that I will wear to different parties. Being a wife of a Brit’s expat I need to look fashionable, trendy and all that jazz.
cosmetics & toiletries
- COSMETIC & TOILETRIES: also required now, just to make sure that inside the nice dress is also equally as nice. Because I am not use to wear make up, I ends up taking my whole collection of cosmetics, regardless, as i don’t really know what to do.
camera gear
- CAMERA: what was a pocket camera now has grown into a proper photography gear, which each time I travel, I got confuse which lens I should take and which camera bag should I carry. Not to mention other external stuff: charger, memory cards, tripod, filters, etc.
shoes and sandals
- SHOES: now this is a new excess that I have to carry in my suitcase: I need to take a few pair off shoes apart of the pair that I will wear during the trip: party shoes, comfortable shoe for walking as well as trainers for other sporty activity.
- OTHER STUFF: the good news, maybe I don’t need to take map, nor I need to take alarm clock. But I do need the modern gadget: Sat Nav and iPad to have us navigate around and do other things.
Now, can I still travel light? are those 8 items a necessity for a just 5 days holiday? I think the answer is yes and no. Yes if you
Beautiful Hat
Horse Racing is not common in Indonesia, but as Arabian Horses are very famous, and living in the Arabian region, it’s hard not to miss that the Arabs are very proud of their horses, and one of the most famous competitions is the Endurance Race, when the organizer invites people to watch this spectacular event. Along with this competition there is another event involving horses which is the Qatar International Invitational Cup for Thoroughbreds at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (REC). A week before this race meeting there is
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Little Black Book
I’ve always in love with little note books, not too big, and not too small. Ideally should be the shape and size should be only A6 size. I don’t really care of what brand and make it is, as long as it’s around 4 x 6 inches size. I believe a lot of manufacturer make this kind of book but to match what I want, I don’t think there are many of them. I found IKEA produce one before, but I am not sure whether they still make it now
I’ve use that note books extensively, but more than a year later, I need to buy another one. The problem with me is that I am a bit particular on this little note book, I cannot be satisfied to buy this book at any stationary shop. Normally I don’t like the colour, the packaging, the lines inside, as well as how it’s bind together. Thus when Keith went to UK by himself, I asked him to buy me this kind of note book, with all its specification. I knew won’t be easy to find something with that specification. But to my surprise, his replied was: ”… I knew a shop that sells exactly what you want, and it’s near my Mom’s place.”
The brand behind the little black book
I was really impressed when he came home with exactly what I want. He said there’s this shop in Guildford that sells stationary stuff, and he said that shop was just right for me. When I saw the label of that black note book, then I remembered it’s a Swedish brand, ORDNING&REDA, that I used to pop in or doing window shopping only in that shop in Stockholm when I used to live there around 11 years ago. I also remembered that it has another branch shop in Singapore; however, I don’t think it still has a shop in Singapore now.
image from ordning website
Thus a year later, when we went to UK again, Keith showed me the shop. It’s on a little alleyway from the high street of Guildford. It was a lovely stationary shop not like any other. It only sells its own product with bright colours shade but only even colour, not flowery, not with pattern, but yes, it use different fabric for different models. To me it’s just typical Scandinavian design.
We managed to buy several other stationary stuff, not only that little black note book, but also very slim black pencil case and black leather wrap book. And later that year, I plan to go back to that shop again to stock my supply, but unfortunately, it has closed down…. They said that in the UK there are 2 shops only, one in Guildford, and the other one in London. I wonder if London’s shop still open. And the sad bit is that with current technology and the internet is already part of our lifestyle, ORGNING still has no web address or website, as a result, I could not shop online for this brand.
one of kikki.k store in Sydney
However, recently I visited Australia, and I found another shop similar to ORDNING&REDA and they claim to be a Swedish brand, called kikki.K, which I never seen that elsewhere before except in Australia. Nevertheless, I’ve got my new little black book now!
Colour me Mauve
mauve, maroon, violet and pink...
Winter season in the Middle East is very mild, not that cold but enough for me to explore with more colourful and stylish fashion, either to go to work or maybe evening function.
This season, somehow I’ve got a lot of mauve colour for my wardrobe collection. From top to tights, I tried to mixed match it with other colour I’ve got, and the outcome is as you can see below. Read more…
New Year Resolution for 2011
Part of the idea of blogging is to collect and sort of archiving all the things that happens to me as well as that caught my eyes. Starting 2011 I will start posting new category on Style. That will be of anything that comes across my eyes, and could be recorded with my camera and also my musing on those things.
My lifestyle as a working expat really is the key factor why is it difficult for me to become a home making person. Frequently we move places, not to mention move countries. Thus the only thing I can do to be stylist is through clothing, but living in the other part of the world does not necessarily get along with my taste. Thus this is my adjustment to the situation.
Dress Code 2
Selama ini saya selalu berpikir bahwa iklim negara-negara Arab itu adalah panas, dan tak pernah dapat saya bayangkan suhu udara dengan panas mencapai 50d C. Yang saya ketahui adalah berjemur di Jakarta dengan suhu maksumum 33 sampai 34d C di Jakarta, rasanya kulit ini sudah terbakar….
Ketika saya tiba di Doha pertama kali adalah pertengahan bulan Agustus 2005, kata orang ini adalah bulan terpanas di Doha. Dan memang, suhu mencapai 50d C siang bolong, dan pada malam hari tidak seperti di Jakarta yang agak lembab, dan angin masih sepoi-sepoi…. di Doha ini…. wah malam haripun udara masih terasa hangat. Tak heran mobil-mobil dibiarkan menyala dengan AC yang menyembur kencang, meskipun penumpangnya berada di dalam gedung.
Dengan pemikiran udara panas yang ekstrim ini, maka persiapan perlengkapan pakaian yang saya bawa dari Jakarta adalah baju-baju berlengan panjang. Maklum pengalaman di Jakarta, mengatakan kulit telanjang yang terkena matahari langsung rasanya sakit terbakar matahari…. Apalagi jenis pekerjaan saya tidak seperti perempuan lainnya yang bekerja di balik meja di dalam kantor. Sesekali saya juga memerlukan untuk keluar meninjau proyek saya.
OK, untuk bagian hidup yang ini saya cukup siap. Yaitu dengan membeli pakaian-pakaian berlengan panjang. Terus terang disini saya mulai mengerti mengapa pakaian orang-orang arab itu seperti ini -dish dash- begitu istilahnya dalam bahasa inggris, dan juga arbayanya untuk para perempuan arab.
Yang diluar dugaan saya waktu mengepak pakaian adalah perlahan-lahan cuaca berubah,rupanya ditanah arab ini mengenal musim dingin, yang walaupun tidak begitu dingin seperti di eropa, tapidinginnya bisa mencapai 11d C. Atau dengan kata lain baju tipis berlengan panjang yang nyaman dipakai pada musim panas, jadi tak cukup hangat untuk musim dingin. Jadilah saya harus membeli baju-baju baru. Sialnya, di Doha sulit mencari ukuran badan saya. Ukuran “small” yang biasa saya beli di Jakarta, di Doha ini sangat sulit di dapat. Maklum ukuran penduduk setempat kebanyakan adalah “large”, disamping itu struktur badan yang berbeda menyebabkan baju-baju yang ukurannya small pun tetap aneh jatuhnya di Badan
Dress Code 1
Ketika saya beres-beres dan menyiapkan kopor saya untuk pindahan ke Doha, salah satu yang menjadi pemikiran saya adalah bagaimana saya harus berpakaian di Doha sana…. Saya banyak mendengar cerita-cerita tentang bagaimana perempuan harus berpakaian di “arab” yang maksudnya lebih tepatnya di “Saudi Arabia”. Lalu bagaimana dengan negara-negara sekitarnya? Apakah ini sama?
Setelah bertanya-tanya kepada beberapa orang yang pernah tinggal di Arabia – dalam arti negara sekitar Saudi Arabia, tidak termasuk Saudi – ternyata kita tidak perlu kuatir dengan cara berpakaian yang harus memakai jilbab dan tertutup semuanya seperti harus memakai baju kurung yang sehingga tak terlihat “aurat” sama sekali. Saya merasa lega ketika saya bisa berpakaian seperti layaknya perempuan Indonesia yang kebanyakan, yaitu sering kali memakai celana panjang, ber baju lengan pendek, tanpa harus mengenakan jilbab. Walaupun demikian saya membeli juga beberapa selendang, sekedar persiapan kalau-kalau saya harus memakai kerudung (jilbab).
Pertanyaan berikut adalah baju seperti apa yang saya harus pakai untuk kekantor… karena di kantor baru ini saya bekerja di lapangan, tidak seperti waktu di Jakarta, saya bekerja di belakang meja, di dalam kantor. Di Jakarta, apabila saya berjemur dibawah terik matahari yang 34dC saja sudah terasa sakit di kulit. Artinya dengan suhu yang mencapai 40dC di Qatar, saya harus pakai baju yang seperti apa?
Sesampainya saya di Doha pada bulan Agustus…. suhu udara bukan cuma 40dC saja tapi malah mencapai 50dC, termasuk periode terpanas. Walaupun kami lebih lama berada di ruang AC, tapi di luar ruangan… tentunya tidak begitu nyaman dengan pakaian minimum. Saya pikir celana panjang yang ringan dan tipis serta kemeja longgar dengan bahan katun yang tipis dengan lengan panjang adalah paling ideal…. Bahan ini menyerap keringat kita dan model lengan panjang melindungi dari terik matahari….
Yang diatas itu mungkin bisa berlaku pada musim panas…. Tapi jangan salah, di Arabia sini mereka mengenal musim Dingin (kalau di Indonesia mungkin musim penghujan), dan suhunya bisa turun hingga mencapai 13dC. yang mana kemeja tipis lengan panjang dan celana katun ringan tidak cukup. Meskipun salju tidak turun, tapi di Qatar ini kami harus siap dengan baju hangat juga. berarti bulan November ini saya juga harus siap dengan jas sebagai pakaian lapisan kedua diatas baju-baju musim panas.
Terus terang bagian terakhir tersebut diatas tak pernah terlintas dalam pikiran saya. Alhasil saya jadi harus membeli set pakaian2 baru disamping “baju musim panas” yang bisa dibeli di mana-mana di Indonesia. Dan janga salah ini semua juga berlaku untuk sepatunya… Musim panas memakai “sepatu sandal” musim dingin harus pake sepatu tertutup dan kalau bisa pakai kaus kaki sekalian….
