My Best 25 Year Old Self

I recently turned a ripe 25 and was on a bit of a 'treat yo'self' spree (I'm a real adult now folks!) *ahem* so met up with a couple of frilly friends to eat out in York!

After April's meet I was left wanting more from Ipukku Tea House so this was a great excuse to go back and try more of the menu!

I wanted to get new things but I couldn't resist and had to have the matcha white hot chocolate with ALL the toppings again. I regret nothing. Still a firm 10/10 - would drink again!

Have you really had Japanese food if you haven't had omurice??? I love omurice, as soon as I saw it on the menu I knew I needed it! Overall, a very solid omurice! The sauce was really nice as was the dressing on the salad. 8/10 - would eat again!

Just some cute sakura cookies for a light dessert. I was tempted by the melon Ramune but resisted since I'd had it before. These guys were yummy as ever, a great snack at 60p for 2! I only got 4, Persie put some of hers with mine for aesthetic reasons!

So that's it for the foodie aspect of the day! Rosie then showed us to some boba shops which I was SUPER happy about! I've not been able to get bubble tea in York since I was in 6th form (you do the maths!) so this really pleases me and I know I'll be back!

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A super mini meet but a meet still and what is a meet without outfity bits, right? 

Since this was a really last minute thing, I opted for a really comfy, casual and pink look! 

I didn't take an outfit shot so here's a 'bedinate'! 

(Like a floordinate but on your bed!)

JSK - ETC

Cardigan - ETC

Socks - Primark

Bag - Samantha Vega (this bag doesn't get to go out enough!)

Necklace - Angelic Pretty

Cake brooches - hadmade

And some close ups of my felt brooches! I wanted them to match the dress :)

I am a victim of mismatching pinks but that's ok! I will still keep trying to be my best kawaii 25 year old self! ^__~

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Does anyone else keep going back to restaurants in hope of someday trying everything from the menu?

 - Part Time 小姐

Love From the North - Food Report!

For a bit of background info, 'Love From the North' aka 'The Great Northern Tea Party' was a Lolita event in Manchester on 10th March. This is about the food I ate over the weekend rather than the event itself but I know y'all more interested in what I ate than what I wore so let's crack on! ^__~

In order to not suffer on Saturday morning, I went to Manchester on Friday and met up with Sophie and Hana before hitting up China Town - it's just the thing to do in Manchester! I've been to Wasabi  for dessert but we were really hungry so decided to check out their food menu first. 

I ordered a cream soda bubble tea (I really needed the sugar) and after much debate over the various things I wanted to eat, I ordered the unagi fried rice and Sophie got us some Takoyaki to share <3 

First things first, how radioactive does this bubble tea look??? I feel like I should come back in Whipped Magic and order it again because it would 200% go with my coord xD

Can confirm you can definitely taste the sugar!

They also crammed a LOT of rice into that bowl - it was really filling but I was determined to finish the whole thing! Rice is life after all and while growing up I was told that you've got to make sure you eat all your rice if not your significant other will be ugly - doing my best to keep you pretty Mr Rachel! ^___~

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Verdict

Cream Soda Bubble Tea (£3) - 8/10 would drink again!

V sweet but also V mesmerizing to look at! It's a bit more than I'd usually pay for bubble tea though so I'd only drink it again if I'm wearing Whipped Magic. 

Unagi Fried Rice (£9.95) - 8.5/10 would eat again!

A little bit salty in parts but rice is life (especially fried rice!) and I really like eel so I would definitely get this again but maybe ask for the salt to be toned down a little? The diced up veggies were a nice touch and made it look V colourful!

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SATURDAY 

I will do a proper blog post about the event and the food there at a slightly later date!

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On the Sunday we went on a lunch date for three at Dazzling Cafe, a Taiwanese chain, and I was V dazzled alright! In fact, I was so dazzled and excited that I forgot to take pictures of the actual place (oops) so here are some from their Instagram!

The menu

 

Everything looks SO good! The food photography here really is on point and I really do want to eat/ drink everything! Maybe I'll come back and make my way through the menu xD

I decided to get the Rose Lychee Soda, Truffle Mushroom Spaghetti and then we got the Hazelnut and Choco Honey Toast between us!

Look at how pretty this drink is! The lychee was pretty potent in this, we reckoned it might be from concentrate mixed with syrup. 

This spaghetti was SO good and creamy! The truffle was subtle, the mushroom was very fragrant and there were lovely notes of garlic and onion. I would definitely eat this again and again!

And this was the star of the show!!! We were undecided for a while but I helped us pick this one because not only was it the one I wanted to eat the most, it was also the one I wanted to photograph the most because aesthetics!

Once deconstructed a little, it was revealed that it was in three layers which made it easy to split between the three of us. This was really yummy and I didn't find it sickly. I  think I could definitely take down the whole myself - maybe I'll find out next time!

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Verdict 

Rose Lychee Soda (£4) - 10/10 would drink again!

While it's kind of expensive, it was super pretty and the flavour was great. If there is a percentage of lychee juice from concentrate, I would definitely get it again!

Truffle Mushroom Spaghetti  (£9.50) - 10/10 would eat again and again!

The flavours were great and it was just so beautifully creamy and fragrant without being sickly or too heavy. If I was only allowed one main from this place from now on I would definitely be more than happy to eat this one!

Hazelnut Chocolate Honey Toast (£10) - 10/10 would eat again and again and again!

I feel you had to see my face, I don't think words can even express how I felt and continue to feel about this dessert. I look forward to taking down the whole thing on my next visit!

Final Thoughts

Decor: 10/10 - I'm so dazzled!!!

Atmosphere: 10/10 - Bright and lively. Makes me think of dessert cafes in HK.

Food & Drink: 10/10 - I think I've made it pretty clear how I feel about the food ^^'

Service: 10/10 - very sweet and attentive waitress.

Price: 7.5/10 - not going to lie, it's a bit on the expensive side for me but fine for a treat!

Verdict: 9.5/10 - I would 200% go back and eat / drink more things!!! Would you like to go with me?

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So here we go! These are the things I ate on the Friday and Sunday of  my Love From the North weekend! I enjoyed all the things I ate (as you can tell!) and look forward to eating more things from both places, if only I had a sponsor hahahaha! 

- Part Time 小姐

Like a Circus, Like a Circus

This is a very late post but on 17th February I went to a meet to see a circus exhibition and eat crepes! Unfortunately, there was a double booking at the library (there was a convention on instead) so the exhibition wasn't on which was a bit disappointing but fortunately, the art gallery was right next door. I still had a great day out with lovely friends, met some new frilly faces and had an A Grade crepe at Crepe Affair!

I forget what this was called but it was V peanut buttery and V chocolatey - 10/10 would eat again!

So let's talk a little about my co-ord and aesthetics for this meet!

Since we were going to see a circus exhibition, I decided it was time to take one of my dream dresses out for a spin! 

It's not a circus print but I felt Venice Cat's (AATP Starlight Carnevale) fit the mood!

Here come my take on Venice Carnival aesthetics! I really, really love this print! It's so fabulous! On the bottom right are carnival cats! I need to find a way to wear this more!

A bit of self plugging with my Plague Doctor necklace there and I decided to wear BJD tights because I thought it went with the aesthetic? Well, regardless, I do know that they kept sliding so it looking like my knees were in a funny place haha! 

Fun Fact: it's because of these guys I call this dress Venice Cats.

JSK - Alice and the Pirates 

Blouse - Pumpkin Cat

BLD Tights - Lockshop

Socks - Primark

Shoes - Ebay

Accessories -  AATP( Headbow), Taobao (Black bow) & After Midnight (Necklace) 

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This is totally one of my dream dresses so i want to wear it a lot more. I wonder if I can find a really casual way of wearing it...

- Part Time 小姐

Winter ILD

Our Comm had a lovely afternoon tea with quiz and raffle for ILD!

The quiz featured 4 fab sections - anagrams (which I was rubbish at!!), true or false (I tried) Rachel vs Hannah (a print guessing game where Hannah and I happily let our cluelessness be exploited) and true or false #2 - Lolita Fuckery edition!

Our team came last as predicted (it did feature the two MOST clueless members of the comm, we WERE team failure) but it was all in good fun! 

Cute bunny ears won in the raffle and a fantastic penguin glass - a gift for letting my cluelessness be abused xD 

I feel like I reached my final form and I would like to do a quick show and tell of my Penguin Princess coord.

Dreamy Penguin by Haenuli was the star of the show! Seriously, this dress is the prettiest and most comfy thing and comes with three detachable bows.

Instead of a blouse, I decided to go with a wintery vibe with a fluffy bolero! This was made using a pattern from Otome no Sewing 2! It took my about 3 evenings on/off and two needles were broken in the process. Thanks sequins!

Accessories - The brooch is Mum's, the pom pom headband and penguin were handmade ( the navy bows came from the dress) as was the necklace and shoe clips!

Happy International Lolita Day all! 

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Bonus needle felted penguin pic! What did you get up to for ILD? 

Part Time 小姐

Dim Sum Meet

It's what it says on the tin - today I hosted Dim Sum Meet at Crown Buffet!

(Sorry Kathryn, it's not a dim sum buffet)

Though there was a bit of chaos with things coming out late and a couple of mix ups, they were extremely on the ball and we got to witness the thing where a hug stack of steamers were brought out.

(I've been going to *yum cha for YEARS and my family have NEVER ordered so much **dim sum that they had to bring it out on a tray!)

We also discovered that the beef balls and salted egg custard buns would make great weapons!

*Yum cha literally means 'drink tea' and refers to the meal as a whole. If we're going out to get dim sum, we would say we're going to yum cha. **Dim sum literally means 'to touch the heart' and refers to the small dishes which are usually shared. 

Things I ordered (some to share): steamed char siu buns, pan fried pork & veg buns, cheung fan with deep fried bread rolls (I describe it as a doughnut rice roll), triple roast with rice and egg custard tarts

We finished at the grand total of £128.20 - well done Leeds Comm!

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There's only one thing for a food-centric meet - a V comfy coord! I decided to go with empire waist instead of full shirring for maximum comfort.

JSK - Emily Temple Cute

Cutsew - Taobao

Shoes - Yesstyle.com

Necklace - Angelic Pretty

All other accessories - Handmade

Bonus Accessories pic!
I'm really pleased with myself! For someone who makes accessories, I'm usually rubbish.

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Food meets are my FAVOURITE kind of meet! 

What's yours? Exhibitions? Crafting? Or like me, Food?

- Part Time 小姐

Top Spoop

Though I only wear Lolita once or twice a month, I really enjoy the fashion and the meets with the Leeds community!

LEEDS! LEEDS! LEEDS!

Yesterday I went to Gothica Halloween meet where we went to see the Leeds Festival of Gothica exhibition at Leeds City Museum followed by food, drinks and games at Dry Dock.

Great times were had with the set and props from West Yorkshire Playhouse's Costume Department!

This set was way too good and too on theme to pass on and my various shades of red look like they almost match under this lighting xD
In my co-ord photo at the end of the post, you will find that they certainly do not!

A photographer from the exhibition kindly took a comm photo for us

(the settings on my camera may have needed adjusting)

As you can see, there is a perfectly good coffin and some of us decided to get in it for photo purposes - I did not, no thank you!!!

Some of my discoveries...

Some nice skull decor from one of the stalls

A piece of jewellery I rather liked

Following that, we went upstairs and explored an exhibition on skeletons! #topspoop

This turned out to be an extremely on theme meet and in some parts, quite educational!

After the museum we ventured onwards to Dry Dock which from my personal experience NEVER disappoints! I got ribs and wings which came with sweet potato fries (sweet potato fries are life!) and onion rings. I regret nothing!

Games included a race to see which team could draw the most extras from a list on their haunted house which we won (ours featured an extension lol) and consequences which seems to be a Leeds classic! The key themes seemed to be skeletons and Mr Yan. 

JSK - Sweet Addiction

Blouse - Magic Tea Party

Bats - After Midnight

Everything else - offbrand

Bonus bat pic!

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While planning this coord I KNEW spoopy wasn't my forte but there you go, I tried my best to spoop! If you wear Lolita, is your comm doing a Halloween themed meet? 

Are you a #topspoop?

- Part Time 小姐