The Laziest, Most Delicious Healthy (well, relatively) Dinner I've Ever Made


This was a 100% inspired by Disneyland Paris' Planet Hollywood's teriyaki salmon, so credit goes to them.

Warning: this is NOT the actual recipe. Of course not.


You will like this meal if you're a big salmon fan (like Shah and i) and have no problem with the taste of teriyaki sauce and can eat non-flavoured veggies without gagging.


I won't say it's super duper healthy as the sauce does contain colourants and acidifiers, but in terms of lazy and healthy, this beats mac 'n cheese any day, doesn't it?


How to make this lazy yet delicious meal:



Deborah Milano: Milano Red Lipstick 9

First of all, i find the gold tube quite attractive for a pharmacy/pharmacie/drugstore product.

At the base of the tube is written 'Roseto Milano Red 9 Ipoallergenico SPF 15';being hypoallergenic and containing SPF are always a big plus in makeup.


Now let's move on the the colour. How …

Halal French Cuisine at La Palmeraie

After visiting England, i made the vow to try more halal restaurants in Paris. It makes perfect sense to start this quest with French food, non?

It's easy to find halal restaurants in Paris online; just turn to Google. Good thing Shah decided to call our first choice of restaurant to ask if they indeed serve halal food, and it turned out, no, they don't. So either they were halal then changed their mind or they were never halal to begin with and someone mistakenly listed them down in the list of halal restaurants. So yes, save energy and time by calling any restaurant beforehand.

It was to La Palmaraie we went instead.




Whom we did call and got the halal status confirmation, bien sûr.


How To Store Makeup Products When Away From Home

I came to Paris with one little bag full of products, plus my brushes kit and three separate palettes of eyeshadows (i simply couldn't bear leaving my glorious The Balm palettes!); click on What Makeup To Bring To Paris and you can see what i came to Paris with.

After about five months here (minus the one month i went back to Malaysia in December) and a trip to England (you know, where Sleek is available), my makeup collection has understandably and expectedly expand. But not having a space or bags to store them in was driving me nuts. Our apartment here consist of a floor-to-ceiling closet in the bedroom with huge shelves and absolutely no drawer. The top shelf is too high up and the bottom of the bottom shelf is the carpeted floor and is way too high to store anything practically other than our luggage. The remaining shelves in between have enough space for our clothes and things like perfumes, lotions and space to store my little makeup bags.

In Malaysia, i store all my makeup stuff in one of those professional-sized makeup bag. I got mine from Stage, and since i am so obviously not a professional makeup artist but would love to own a bag like that, i use it for storage instead. But lugging that bag all the way to Paris would be impractical, not to mention a little pretentious.

So i came to the decision that storing products in little bags is the best way for me for now. I don't know what to call these bags—the best term i can think of is toiletry bags, but i'm sure there is a more flattering name for them.

Little Bag #1: Paris gift bag



How I Long For That Chinese Seafood Restaurant in London...

I could just kick myself for not noting the name of the Chinese seafood restaurant Shah and i visited on our first night in London...

When we studied in Christchurch, i loved this one Chinese restaurant called Asha. They had loads of tasty dishes, plus these amazing chillied scallops, which i dreadfully miss and can't seem to find anywhere else. But i'm sure it's because i haven't looked hard enough, that's all. (note: any delish scallops tip in Malaysia/Paris would be MUCH appreciated!)

And yes, i realised that Malaysia is full of Chinese seafood restaurants. Malaysia is like crowded with it. Maybe i just have a thing for overseas Chinese seafood restaurants. Hmmm. I must rethink some things when i go home. Then plan visits to various Chinese restaurants offering delicious seafood dishes.

We stayed somewhere near Queensway tube station in London. When we were lugging our bags around to reach our apartment/hotel, i noticed the word "seafood" almost the moment i exited the station, on a restaurant opposite of the station. I turned to Shah and immediately claimed, "Nak makan seafoodddddddddd!".

Clever me didn't even take photos of the front of the restaurant. Must have been the hunger and lusting after seafood thing.

Anyway, i have a feeling that i will find my way to this restaurant when i visit London again. The food was pretty much finger-lickin' and the service was fantasticour waitress was very, very friendly. If anyone knows the name of this delightful restaurant, please, leave a comment!

A feast for the eyes (sadly not for the tummies anymore...but we really did enjoy our dinner that night!):

Scallops as appetiser 
(note: no chillied scallops on the menu, but honestly, i'd love scallops in any way really)


Making Regular Pasta More Fun With Eiffel Tower Shaped Pasta

Doesn't this look beautiful? I've never been more attracted to any other pasta, i must say!



La Torre Eiffel is Italian for Eiffel Tower, of course!




Part III, London Version: Shopping Load from England Trip!

Overall, i didn't have much time dedicated to shopping on my England trip, which is of course a good thing. I got everything i wanted and more really!

As much as i love Paris, i do think London is a more fun place to be in. Paris is definitely for the romantic, whereas London is the place to get crazy in. I could never appreciate French cuisine, so in terms of food, London wins it for me. Shah and i stayed near Malaysian Hall without us not knowing it when we booked our tiny teeny apartment (we didn't know it was tiny teeny either), and the area around there is supposedly known for its many restaurants. We definitely indulged in food during dinner, taking in as much Chinese, Thai and Malaysian food as we could.

I visited Selfridges on the very first night. The one in Oxford Street beautifully stood out among the many stores there; it looks very Parisian chic, i think! I would've liked to have gotten something, any little something even, from Selfridges (like that's big news) but ah well. Next time maybe?

Shah and i had booked places for Matilda the Muscial, but i very conveniently forgot to pack anything nice to wear to it (teehee), so we made a pit stop in H&M and i got myself a red top. I only had my big bad Timberlands with me on this trip so i thought it would be nice to get proper girly shoes to go with the red top.   To my delight, a pair of orange-red heels twinkled at me, hanging at the very top of the shoe section.


How cute are these? Seriously?


Part II, Manchester Version: Shopping Load From England Trip!

The shops that i was most excited to visit in England were Boots, Superdrug (both for makeup stuff), Primark (for their ridiculously cheap clothes and accessories) and Selfridges (because Sophie Kinsella mentioned them in the Shopaholic series).

I had a list of makeup products to get from here that are not available in Paris and Malaysia, and they're mainly Sleek stuff. Sleek is known for their eyeshadows, so i had to get a Sleek palette. Since my 2013 Beauty Resolution is to wear more colours, the i-Divine original palette seems to be the perfect choice.




Shopping Load From England Trip!

I had a WONDERFUL trip to Manchester and London recently! And of course, no trip for me is complete without me buying things i want but don't really ever need. I mean, i can convince myself as much as i can that, yes, i do indeed need another neutral eyeshadow palette, but we all know it's not true.

I've taken photos of some of the things i bought, just to share with you.

The first two products i got where actually not bought in England itself, but in the duty-free shop in Terminal 2 of Charles De Gaulle Airport. Shah and i were waiting to board our plane to Manchester when he got bored and wandered into the shop. Honest, i initially refused to follow him, i was still sleepy and just slumped in one of the cold chairs in the waiting area. Shah came back and said the shop was having sales on After Eight, which i absolutely adore. So i followed him back into the shop and picked out the largest box of After Eights i've ever seen. Then i saw a L'oreal booth, and naturally got distracted. I don't think i've seen a drugstore brand in duty-free stores. Maybe because L'oreal is a Paris brand?

I didn't see anything i wanted from L'oreal, but i did see Elizabeth Arden Green Tea perfume on sale on the aisle next to L'oreal!

It was priced at 19.90 EUR, roughly about RM 80. I had loved the scent ever since my friend Che Pah wore it when we were in late teen/early 20's (she also introduced me to Salvatore Ferragamo scents back then!). I bought myself a bottle years ago for RM 90 and finished the whole bottle, so i was stoked to own this again.


Makeover With Deborah Milano Products!

Hello there!
I just got back from a 10-day trip to the UK, and i didn't have the time (nor the internet!) to even check up on my blog. Now that i'm back and well-rested, i'm happy to continue updating my blog again.
Before i left for Manchester, i went out with this look, using mainly …

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Hi, I'm Liyana

I'm a style & lifestyle blogger based in sunny (and ever humid) Malaysia. On The Good Weekender, you can find typed journals of my evolving modest personal style, travel adventures, skincare/beauty updates, home decor things, and stories of other bits and pieces of my everyday life. I hope you'll enjoy flipping through these pages of my virtual book!