KekiDoll – Foodie ♥ Beauty ♠ Collector ♣ Designer ♦ Blogger

Happy New Year! A review of 2015

January 7, 2016 Keki 5 Comments

Happy New Year all you cuties! I hope you all had a wonderful time with friends and family!

For my Christmas break, I ended up spending time with family and friends. It was a lovely time off and great to catch up with everyone, but I felt that tired hosting so many parties! I think I’ll have to have a rest for a while before hosting another event…

So looking back at 2015, what were my highlights from each month?

January
New year, new beginnings, exciting times! I ate my way through the first month hehe. Visited a LEGO art exhibition and went to Winter Wonderland.

February
Spent Valentine’s dinner as a 3rd wheel but had the weekend with my other half :P Also attended a couple birthday parties :D My Chinese New Year was spent running around Chinatown looking for a place to eat and locating this man with golden balloons with Sue…

At Moni's birthday in Sway Bar — At Moni’s birthday in Sway Bar

March
Attended the BSTF nationals with my TKD group (as a cheerleader) and my friend’s brother’s wedding. Also held a bake sale competition at work – I won best presentation :D

Pete & Mary's Wedding — Pete & Mary’s Wedding

April
Attended Hyper Japan at Earl’s Court. Sadly this place is to be demolished and turned into a hotel :(

May
Went to the May MCM Expo.

June
I participated in the annual Kaichi event where Kaichi High School from Japan comes to London to practice their English and learn about the culture. It’s such a great experience where you get to meet new people and learn about the Japanese culture too. I attended my first free gaming event and got some freebies. Also managed to get my red belt in TKD! Nathan invited us to play crazy golf for his birthday and Manni had a meat-filled birthday at Bodeans :D

HoTS Posing in the photobooth — Posing in the photobooth

July
Visited friends in Ireland! We’ve never met but it was such a warm welcome and the distance didn’t make anything awkward at all! Friends will always be friends <3

August
Moved away from London and into my new flat! Had a lovely evening out bowling with colleagues for our team event. Also helped create a teaser video for our TKD group.

September
Visited Japan! YAY! Was so happy, really want to go back and visit again.

October
I attended MCM Expo in London for Kekiko and spent Halloween in Amsterdam.

At the Amsterdam Science Museum — Having fun at the science musuem

Inside the optical illusion — In the funny, small/tall room

My first segway experience — First time on a segway

November
My birthday month! Basically had a lovely meal with friends in Soho. I also decided it was time to stop TKD as I was living too far out from London to justify travel costs and travel times.

Birthday girl — I loved my cake! There was so much fruit on/in it!

December
Spent Christmas chilling with family, playing mahjong and filling my belly with lots of yummy food. Also made my first ever gingerbread house with my little cousin! We had so much fun and I didn’t realise that the packet didn’t come with sweets to decorate (fail!) and thus we rummaged through the cupboards for sprinkles and sweets. My friends also came round for Christmas and New Years for some karaoke and video games. My team in the office also converted our area into Narnia! Crazy but it was such an amazing environment to work in and felt like we were working outdoors! I also had to help plan and organise the company Christmas party and ended up throwing a Great Gatsby themed prohibition event. We kitted out the bar venue with DIY props, a personalised video and personalised posters so everyone was involved.

Narnia in character — We dressed up on Friday :D

Spending New Years with friends. Yes those plushies all belong to me…

Wishing you all a prosperous 2016 and a very happy, fun-filled year!

Best wishes,

Kekidoll xoxo

Travel Diary: Harajuku, Shibuya & Ikebukuro

December 12, 2015December 9, 2015 Keki 6 Comments

In the morning we met my friend, Takahiro, at Harajuku station and headed to the park. We paid our respects and I wanted to hang up a wish plaque but couldn’t think of anything specific to write… Ended up just taking a touristy photo instead :D

Afterwards we went to Shibuya for some sushi! OMG, sushi was really inexpensive and the choice was vast. Takahiro took us to one which was self operated using an iPad. You select up to 3 dishes you’d like per order and when ready, the chef will ‘ship it’ to you via an automatic conveyor belt. It was so cool! There was even an option to play Jan Ken Pon (rock, paper, scissors) with the computer after spending over ¥1080, winning allows you the choice of a 10% off voucher on your next visit or a free go at their gashapon. I opted for the gashapon and got myself a cute sushi keyring which I gave my little cousin!

Oh on another occasion, Stefan and I ordered a kids meal as we didn’t want to spend nor eat a lot that day and thought it would suffice. However what we didn’t realise is that we seriously confused the waitress because when the chef pinged for her to collect the food for me, she turned around instantly to confirm the table number. When she looks back at table 1, she sees me sitting there and replies to the chef that there’s no child at the table. The chef shoos her off and she warily walks over and asks me if this children’s meal was mine. Shyly, I replied yes and felt super bad for ordering a non-adult meal D: The others thought it was funny and laughed about it throughout our trip. Oh Japan, how you amused us so. Nevertheless, the kids meal was super yummy with fries, fried chicken, mini sushi pieces and a cake!

Harajuku is a small place with a huge sense of fashion. The world famous Takeashita Street is renowned for the hoards of people who gather to show off their fashion on the weekend. The times I went weren’t very busy and we were able to browse the stores casually. I was very tempted to buy a maid outfit for my next expo as they were having a sale, but couldn’t decide on the colour or design at the time. My friend, Emi took us to her favourite shops, many which were lolita stalls and some quirky ones such as Doki Doki 6%. There was a really nice retro toy shop which we all ended up buying something each as souvenirs or for ourselves.

Immi and I kept coming back here to try out the crepes! We found out the hard way that cheese in Japan isn’t the same as cheese in England… Thus their cheesecake isn’t great and tastes really odd. Brownies are rather yummy on the other hand! Nevertheless we enjoyed our pretty crepes.

When you visit Harajuku you definitely must see the Dawson store here. It is huge! The selection is great and you’re bound to find a few souvenirs to bring home. I stocked up on some cute washi tapes and DIY keyring kits for my little cousins!

After a long day of shopping and eating, Emi took us to the purikura shop. Purikura is famous in Japan where you can take sticker photos with beauty x100 (exaggeration) plus enlarge dolly-like eyes. You’re also able to dress up for free and decorate your photos at the booth afterwards. I had a lot of fun and the photos came out great! (although we seriously don’t look like ourselves… Heh )

With love,
Kekidoll xoxo

Birthday Shinanigans 2015

December 8, 2015December 8, 2015 Keki 5 Comments

For my birthday this year I spent a whole week celebrating. I literally had cake starting from Monday through to Sunday… Unbelievable! My birthday landed on hump day (25th Nov) and thus I invited a few people to dinner for some yummy soupy noodles 😁

I wanted to go try out a new place in Chinatown called Viet Food but they had a large booking already and couldn’t accommodate us. I was their recommend Cay Tre in soho who had space. Most of us ordered Pho and others Bun. I had the Hanoi Garlicky Beef Pho which was spey yummy and actually had more flavour in the base than other pho I had in the past. The stock wasn’t oily at all and was bold. I really enjoyed it! The beef was tender and not so chewy. The noodles were delicious! Small thin straps that broke apart as you chew. Mmmmmm!

My friend also ordered Ox cheek which melted in you mouth. The meat was so soft! I guess it’s similar to a fish’s cheek which is the softest part of the meat.

Afterwards there was cake! (thank you Dee & Gen 💕) I could not believe the size of it! There was so much fruit covering the beautiful sponge. I love Chinese cream cakes, they da best!

Once food was chowed down, some of us headed to the arcade and others went home, tired from a long days work. We played the usual Pump It Up machine and Taiko Drums. I haven’t been in so long I feel rusty… I’m able to play level 10 songs on PIP ok so I may stay challenging myself to level 12/13s next 😁 For taiko, I didn’t know to many of the songs but I remember playing it on the wii(?). The arcade version is rather hard drive you had to almost smash the drum, causing my hands to cramp up after playing. It huuuurt! But was fun 😆

Would you recommend any songs to pay on Taiko, Pump or DJ Max Technika?

Until next time!
Kekidoll xoxo

Breakfast Club Review: London Bridge

November 25, 2015November 15, 2015 Keki 6 Comments

I headed to the Breakfast Club in London Bridge with a few colleagues during lunch. The place was packed and we ended up queuing for around 15-20 minutes, which wasn’t so bad. The service was very fast and the staff were super friendly too! We even chatted about having different flavoured milkshakes and that they needed to include a signature Oreo milkshake! mmm…*drools*

Deciding on which dish to choose — Outside waiting for our table. What to choose, what to choose!

We were all super hungry but I always find it hard to order due to the fact that at I want to eat everything available on the menu… I ended up picking Eggs Royale which Krystal has last time, plus a breakfast tea to help me warm up as I’d been ill earlier in the week.

The Full Monty: bacon, sausage, black pudding, eggs, home-style fried potatoes, mushrooms, beans, grilled tomato and toasted multigrain bloomer

The food was delicious! Eggs Royale comes with a poached egg on a muffin, smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce on top. I added an extra helping of potatoes on the side since I was super hungry. I thought the smoked salmon was very smokey which made it a lot more salty. However the hollandaise sauce countered it and accompanied the dish really well.

The English Tea came with a mini milk glass which was so cute! I was told to steal it… I didn’t. Maybe next time… (lol).

Breakfast Tea — My breakfast tea with a cute mini milk bottle

So that was my second time visiting the Breakfast Club and I’m sure I’ll be going again in the near future. It’s so tasty!

Have you been to the breakfast club? Which meal should I try out next?

All my love,
Kekidoll xoxo

Travel Diary: Tokyo, Japan

November 18, 2015December 9, 2015 Keki 10 Comments

So I finally managed to save up enough to go visit Japan. SO EXCITING! The boyf and I decided to stay in Tokyo for the duration of our stay. We ended up booking an apartment from Air BnB rather than a hotel since we wanted a place to ourselves where we could relax and cook if we wanted to.

The city of lights below — Up in the sky

The apartment wasn’t big but was a decent size for two people. The downsize to it was that the kitchen was tiny and thus we had to use the space wisely when preparing and cooking food.

The bathroom was small as well but came with a small bathtub. Which I believe is standard with most Japanese apartments. The area was in Gotanda which is in central Tokyo and literally on the JR Yamanote line, so all the main areas and attractions were within easy reach.

I quite liked our little space as it had a small sitting room for us to wind down after a long day and have our TV dinners.

Watching One Piece from episode 1 with cheap eats from Family Mart :)

We spent most of our time visiting shrines, Shopping (a lot) and going to cultural attractions. I’m planning to write about each day or attraction separately so stay tuned for these posts! I’ll be sure to link them all here as well 😁

For those interested we ended up visiting:

Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Skytree
Character Street
Harajuku
Shijuku
Akihabara
Asakusa
Kamakura
Tsukikoji Fish Market

and many more… I’ll be posting up about it in the next few weeks so be sure to come back to check them out :)

we found Shibuya 109 — Visitng Shibuya 109

It was an amazing experience and I would definitely visit again! Maybe to Osaka, Kyoto or Hokkaido.

All my love,
Kekidoll xoxo

WIN a Cute Sheep Plush from Kekiko!

November 14, 2015November 14, 2015 Keki Leave a comment

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve been on the blogosphere, I’m going to try to get back into blogging once a week. Lots have been happening but something exciting it’s happening on my Facebook shop page! Iiiiiiit’s a giveaway!

The Kekiko store is giving away two cute little sheep plushies for free! Head over to the Facebook page now to check on details how to win these cuties! CLICK HERE or see the embedded post below :)

Kawaii Sheep Plush — Head to the Facebook page to enter the giveaway!

Good luck!

Kekidoll xoxo

Enigma Escape: The immersive experience game

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015 Keki 5 Comments

Enigma Escape recently opened up in London this month. They offer immersive escape games for groups of 2-5 people. Your group has 60 minutes to escape the locked room or forever be locked in there. Filled with lots of mind boggling puzzles, you’ll really find time fly by trying to decipher the clues.

The business was missing a sum of money to startup. Thus they opened it to the members of the public to donate funds towards their Kickstarter campaign. I thought it’d be a good opportunity to gather a group of friends to challenge our minds together! So I booked a 5-player package that came with a backers medal and name on a brick for the Founders Wall.

My friends and I managed to agree to the date of 19th July (it was so hard to get everyone together!) and we wandered to their place 3 minutes from Holloway Road station. As you enter you’re greeted by a friendly host, ours was Sam (one of the founders), who explained to us about the escape game in the comfort of their briefing room, equipped with snacks and comfy beanbags.

Next we knew we were locked inside a cage room and had to find our way out in under 60 minutes! We were stumped on a lot of the puzzles which made some of us worried that we weren’t gonna make it! Luckily we managed to escape with 7 minutes to spare and left with a collectors medal and holding our heads high. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and can’t wait to attend more!

I would totally recommended it to those who love puzzles and a challenge! We all want to find more to play now.

Would you try something like this?

With love,
Kekidoll xoxo

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Update: Sorry that I haven’t been posting. My phone has been stolen and thus I’ve lost all my photos, most which I wanted to use for blog posts. I’m therefore resorting to normal blogging without images for the time being until I can get back on track!

Kannada-Ya: Ramen Restaurant in London

July 23, 2015July 22, 2015 Keki 11 Comments

Kannada-Ya is a small Japanese ramen bar that has branches in Japan, London, UK and Hong Kong.

The one I visited was 8 minutes walk from Tottenham Court Road Station in London and was very easy to find; although Google Map was very helpful due to all the road works happening in the area.

The restaurant has a similar take to other no-booking restaurants where the seating is limited and revolves around a fast-food like service. However, they don’t force you to leave even though there’s a queue formed outside. The patrons waiting outside will just be staring at you through the window though…

The menu is very limited and isn’t vegetarian friendly as everything is made with pork. The original ramen is thinly sliced pieces of Cha siu (bbq flavoured pork), some mu shu (fungus), nori (seaweed sheet) and spring onions (standard). Then there are three other options of adding beanshoots, making it spicy or changing the pork belly to the pork collar meat (less fatty).

I picked the original to try and the cha siu melted in my mouth. It was very succulent and not rough at all! However you only get a few slices which wasn’t enough for my appetite. The pork bone broth was delicious and very flavoursome but the starch from the noodles made the broth murky and started to get thick, adding a milky flavour to the soup.

There are also other sides and extra ramen if you have extra broth left over and still feeling hungry!

Website: www.kanada-ya.com

I want to try out more! Would you recommend any restaurants in London?

With love,
Kekidoll xoxo