My Kitchen and Gym Diary

Long time no blog

2010-10-12T23:09:00.001+11:00

It has been a rather long time since I last posted an entry. I still have my gormand Vue de Monde post saved as draft. I don't think I'd ever go around to posting it despite offered a tour at Bennett's kitchen :-)

Anyway, on to training. I am still lazy and not terribly motivated to go to the gym these days. I've stopped doing cardio on my own and only rely on cardio classes like Attack and Combat. Having said that, I try to get away from cardio if I can even if it means to sneak into second half of an Attack class :-)

It would be about 10 days now that I have not lifted a single ounce of weights... except if you'd consider walking a form of lifting my own body weight... bah! So I did the following tonight;

1. Half an aerobics/ Attack class;

2. Pull ups 9, 8, 7 - disappointing I know!

3. Hence 2 sets of latpull 50kgs 10 reps each!

4. Tricep push ups on medicine ball and dumbbells 5 x 12

5. Modified hi-rows - Hammer strength - only 20kgs - 3 x 10

6. Shoulder rotatory cuff thingymagee.

The weather is reminding me that summer is just around the corner, hold that thought! It's actually a rather wet week this week, bah! Ahh I can't see myself going to the gym much later in the week but I shall try............ It's at least not upsetting of late as my strength has not deteriorate and I can still lift my body weight though I wish I was doing a bit more cardio.

I shall refrain from 'ranting' on my blog... but I really find it disturbing when my dead bird gets mistreated/ mishandled by people... anyone generally except for myself and people I'm close with/ people whom I vest some trust in ha ha... Beautiful dead bird. I need a beautiful reptile.... now on to daydreaming at work :-)

Max Brenner

2010-09-25T15:51:00.000+10:00

'Souffle' and the Dome

I'm not sure if it was technically a souffle, it seemed more like a chocolate fondant. I love Max Brenner only because they have a wider variety of chocolate desserts if compared to Koko Black. The Dome was pretty good though I had quite a hard time trying to figure out what was the dessert I like best at Max Brenner. I ended up not remembering it, not even till this day. I have not had my favourite for months! Nevertheless, the 2 chocolate desserts were still satisfying, a bit rich for some but it's so easy for me to swallow rich and sweet treats ha ha.

I shall miss my lazy days strolling at Melbourne Central during the week ha ha.

Koko Black, Nando's, Ramen Ya

2010-09-25T15:45:00.001+10:00

Blood orange sorbet

Koko Black is always a frequent stop for me, wherever I go, whether Bourke Street Mall or Chadstone. I would always order a take-away before I start strolling/ shopping ha ha. I love blood orange, and it's always an ultra treat to see it on dessert menus. This particular sorbet was amazing! It had the bang of citrus'y flavour which I find is always quenching.

Paella extra-hot

I love eating Nando's chicken paella as opposed to the roast these days especially when I've been eating loads of carbs for the past few months. Eating lots and lots of carbs sure work for me. I used to end up binging on snacks/ junkfood before when I restricted my carbohydrate intake too much. I would happily eat at least 2-3 bowls of rice for dinner these days. A serve of paella is an example of how much rice I would eat during dinner ha ha.

This paella, obviously is not how the Spanish cooked traditionally. Having said that, I wouldn't have a clue what a traditional Portuguese paella is if it is even one of their cuisine dishes... On another note, I always enjoy eating this dish, with more drizzles of Tabasco.

Char shu ramen at Ramen Ya

Thanh told me that this ramen place does one of the better ramens in Melbourne. It was yum indeed and fortunately the char shu was really lean on the day I went for lunch. It truly was yum though the sight of the lard on soup surface was quite disturbing... ha ha.

Disgruntled Diet Diary - Bad D's

2010-09-03T10:33:00.000+10:00

An extremely bad thing has happened to me since the day I bought ONE kilogram of brownies from Dello Mano. Not only have I eaten about 9 blocks (50g each) of those brownies in merely 6 days, I have also been eating so much other junk. I too have just finished half a pack of Cadbury Favourites ... The brownies were not cheap, as I did end up spending $85 (with 15% discount) for chocolate brownies. They were great though!

Cadbury Favourites - easily accessible and just this week, half price at Coles!

I finished all of the Time out and Cadbury Milk in a go, a couple of Boost, Caramello, Picnic pieces each. I also did eat a piece of Koko Black for Florentino, saffron just before. I've been meaning to take a picture of those chocolates but obviously did not get to snap pictures before my gluttony calls. Glutton Lingy.

Home-made scones

It has been quite a while that I have had breakfast in the morning. I had scrambled eggs and Huon's smoked salmon (bought from Taste with a few dollars discount) just yesterday. It was even better today, to have woken up to scones hot off the oven. My godmom made these, she even made strawberry jam and whipped some cream to dollop on the scones.

I am now officially a fatty. My diet diary of today consisted of;

Scones with jam and cream;
Dello Mano gluten free Belgian chocolate brownie;
Thai chicken curry with LOTS of rice;
A piece of Koko Black chocolate for Florentino - saffron;
14 pieces of Cadbury Favourites.
Half of a huge Laurent brioche; and
Rice + Nando's chicken with lots of freshly cut chillis (etc).

Bad bad bad!

Taste of Melbourne 2010 (Take 1 and 2)

2010-09-02T17:21:00.004+10:00

This is my second Taste event in two consecutive years. I think I enjoyed trying out foods from last year's exhibits compared to this year's. However, it was nonetheless still enjoyable as there were more produce stands this year.

Haha I couldn't have done it more excessively, I went to this year's Event twice over two consecutive days. I managed to eat quite a lot during my first day, though only one bite off each plate, and was so full from about 1'ish pm until 10'ish pm. Gluttony was written all over my face as I only wanted more and more, perhaps I couldn't have eaten more after my very last dish, the Bombe and I actually had to force myself eating it as it got to the point whereby I was extremely full haha. Mind you, the Bombe was indeed the Bomb that everyone or many foodies have raved about at this year's Taste.

Entrance to the Event and Stokehouse restaurant stand.

Stokehouse Restaurant - Wagyu beef cigars, artichoke tapenade and horseradish

If anyone questions about mass-produced food, this is the time and place to confirm with your doubts. I've heard of things like, chefs do not have much kitchen space to work on their food during this Event and that they are all pre-made and possibly reheated just before serving. Hence, one cannot possibly judge the quality of food in detail but could somewhat just express likes/ dislikes very roughly.

Anyway, the wagyu cigars I had on the first day I found a bit dry. It was another story on the second day I went, the wagyu cigar was not dry and it was indeed very flavoursome. It was definitely one of the dishes not to be missed from this Event. I loved it! I would go to Stokehouse Restaurant just for this dish and its dessert, the Bombe!

Mezzo Bar and Grill - Organic slow braised pork cheek, white polenta, raisins and marsala sauce

Maze Restaurant and Maze Grill - Seared Hopkins River Beef, shitake and aged soy dressing

I wasn't a big fan of the pork cheek and I found that it was a bit tough and dry though I have read otherwise from another food blogger who went on Thursday night. I didn't like the beef dish from Maze too.

The European - Duck tortelloni with pea puree and truffle oil

I honestly belief (and can only hope) that the Restaurant would have been able to execute this dish perfectly at their Restaurant. I had it on the Friday, I found that the pasta was undercooked, though I didn't mind how the duck tasted it still was a let down for me. I love pastas especially if drizzled/ seasoned with some truffle oil.

The Palace by Luke Mangan - The Palace wagyu burger

This was another dish that everyone raved about. I had a small bite on Friday, and got a whole burger for myself on Saturday haha. It was good though come to think of it now, I wouldn't want to pay $10/ 10 crowns for this dish even at a gourmet cafe. Jones the Grocer sells their wagyu burger for only $15 (lesser, can't remember how much exactly) and I'm pretty sure same goes with Cafe Vue. You'd think that it is not difficult to execute this dish especially at an event like this one, but I still thought that it was a bit dry and a sauce was missing. Perhaps also, they did not lightly grill the buns with some butter :-b Having said some of the negatives, I found that the beetroot was indeed refreshing and it did break out some of the richness which you would have otherwise found in many other types of beef burgers. At the end of the day, I still liked this dish :-)

The Palace by Luke Mangan - Eye fillet (Hopkins River), potato mash, sauce Bordelaise

I would have to say that this was one of the very few winning dishes for me, at the Event. This was the reason why we were convinced to buy a whole Hopkins River beef pack for $135! It was also meant to have come with the recipe for this dish, but we were instead given Maze's recipe, which I forcefully took just in case if the recipe for The Palace did not come through! PFFT! Besides that I also need to prove to myself that I could make a better beef wellington compared to the one I made previously. Hence the huge log of eye fillet... *rolling eyes* It has been frozen by the way ha ha!

Comida Bebe -Baby chorizo (glazed in cider, served on a skewer with candied and fresh apple and topped with an apple toffee sauce)

Comida Bebe - Paella Fiesta (traditional rustic chicken and squid ink/ calamari)

I love the paella even though I hardly found any chicken in it, there were still a few pieces of prawns if you looked hard enough. It was not bad but I wouldn't say it's the best I've ever had. I love the chorizo and especially the candied apple that went with it.

Taste ground floor - Taste; Gallery level - Longrain restaurant

Longrain - Yellow curry of wagyu beef with cucumber relish

I personally love Longrain though quietly wish that the Restaurant is not as busy and Noisy! TI thought that the dish was OK but I've had better dishes at his Restaurant in Melbourne. Thanh has recently had the privilege to speak to the Chef behind the masterworks of Longrain.

I also shared the roasted pork bun roll with Thanh, which you can find on Thanh's Blog. It was actually not bad, the pork was tender and there was crackle.

Toby's Estate coffee

So... I love the beans of this coffee and went to get free seconds and thirds! Eventually, I could not kid them no more, I bought a Keep-A-Cup so I'd get a free coffee refill and also a bag of their ground coffees.

Sarti - Pistachio pannacotta and caramel salted popcorn

This was so yum! It was a bit creamier the second time I had it but I still loved it! I believe that they used real vanilla beans, it was just flavoursome! Of course, there were hints of pistachio too. The toffee popcorn was quite the carnival, I dropped it the first time I bought it and they were kind enough to give me another cluster of popcorn :-) The waitstaff at the stand however, did not think it was funny that the pannacotta is that good that I went for seconds on the next day. I did not even get a smile off him :-b

Stokehouse - The Bombe - strawberry sorbet, white chocolate parfait and toasted meringue

This was really yum. I had it on my first day, the very last dish I saved for had to be the Bombe though I was quite over it by the time I got to this dish. I was so full despite having only small bites (did take a few sporkfull of paella however) off every dish. The parfait, was amazing, it was SO light! I love the toasted meringue but I'm still contemplating in getting a blow torch, I'm afraid I may just torch up the home. The strawberry coulis was yum, I'm sure it did contain quite a bit of sugar!!! Come to think of it, I can't remember if there was any sorbet in the dish?! Definitely a winner dish!

The European - Wild rabbit sausage roll with tomato kassundi

Sausage roll is my comfort food like how Australians love their beef pies? This roll with rabbit gives it a way better spin, a gourmet spin. I loved it, whether with or without the tomato kassundi which I found was quite similar to a salsa. Oh yes the off-white couch at the VIP lounge.

Sandwich ice-cream - The Classic

Charcoal Lane - Wallaby tataki, ginger soy, horseradish

I've heard of quirky food that flows out of Charcoal Lane kitchen, salmon with licorice. Don't ask me, it wasn't me who had it. Anyway, this wallaby tataki was amazingly delicious! It was tender though it tasted a bit over-seasoned for me. Still loved it at the end of the day.

I think the wallaby was one of the last dishes I had. It was nearing 4pm on the Saturday and Thanh went to get some Ben and Jerry's, chocolate fudge and something else for only 2 crowns! There were 2 massive scoops in a tiny cup, it was good but I had too much and only ate a few spoonfuls of it.

I bought some tea from Tea Blossoms. I paid $28 for a dozen tea packs in a beautiful packaged box. I wasn't impressed with the first tea I popped into my teapot as it did not appear to be as pretty as the one I saw at the Event :-b ha ha. It still tasted pretty good, and I do love tea.

Della Mano chocolate brownies!

Hah, this would have to be the highlight of my whole experience at Taste in both consecutive years. I only bought a pack of 6 blocks (50g each) for $30 last year but I spent about $85 on these babies this year. $85 bought me ONE kilogram (with approx. 15% discount for being a loyal customer) of brownies with flavours; gluten free Belgian choc, lime and coconut, espresso and walnut, honey caramelised macadamia, the classic and ginger! I only gave two pieces away, kept 18 all for my greedy self :-) In just 6 days, I have also eaten 9 blocks of it! Ahhh my name also spells GLUTTON.

My favourites would have to be the espresso and walnut, honey macadamia, gluten free, the classic. Personally, I don't like ginger, but this ginger brownie is not that bad and I'd still eat it. I'm growing to like the lime/ coconut which I find quite refreshing.

Other buys included - the big lamb pack feast, some smoked salmon, Movenpick ice cream, Careme rolled out pastries, Nando sauces, about 200ml of truffle oil (for only $20), etc! Dang, the only thing that I did not buy was chocolates! Oh a sin!

ps - I realise that I have been using love/ loved interchangeably and that I can't even tell at this point of time whether if I still love, or just loved those dishes. ha ha.

Cutler & Co (Take 2)

2010-09-01T17:37:00.001+10:00

This was another birthday treat which I was fortunate enough to go to without having to pay a cent (wahurhurhur). Just as well, I made reservations for a table 3 months in advanced which meant that I was lucky to have been able to secure a table for the whole night. Again, it was extremely busy similarly to the last time (my previous post) I went with Thanh (I Eat Blog post). Alternatively, you could make reservations closer to the preferred date but you risk a chance of not having the table for the whole evening, like what I encountered before in my previous visit.

We always have issues with deciding on what to eat. Again, I feel like I was spoilt for choice. It was however slightly different on this occasion. I was going to go for either the full degustation menu or ala carte (with selection of shared entrees). Both the menus contained a dish I did not want and wanted to substituted with something else. It appeared to be more difficult to vary the full degustation menu and hence we went with the second option BUT with an additional course, being the crab/ abalone/ ginger soup (which was to die for as I had it previously). Again, I have to stress that, I do NOT like ginger. Having said that, I've grown to accept the slight hints/ notes of ginger in food for example chocolate brownie (of Dello Mano), a dish I had a Vue de Monde recently and obviously, this lovely broth at Cutler & Co.

Pumpkin seeds and cheese crackers.

The pumpkin seeds were good and looked like a rather healthy alternative snack if compared to other tidbits. The cheese crackers were not bad though I preferred the calamari crackers (from previous visit) because it was more flavoursome. I did grow up eating fish crackers as a kid before and have had a liking for flavoured crackers, including prawn flavoured ones.

The Rusty Wire and Claire de Lune

So we ordered the selection of entrees with an additional course. It wasn't until two minutes later that it got me thinking that 'hey does it come with oysters?!'. I didn't remember seeing it on the menu. Hence I spent the next few (many) minutes trying to catch a waitstaff's attention. Ordered it then, and it took them quite a while to shuck half a dozen oysters. Just as well I ordered only two types each. The Claire de Lune was smoother though quite rustic I found. Comparing it to the Rusty Wire (I think that was what it was called), I preferred the Rusty Wire. The Rusty Wire had more rustic end-notes, which I love about oysters.

Cured kingfish with some avruga caviar

I am not sure, whether to be pleased that the day cheaper caviar was made more available to everyone or whether it has been quite a cliche to see it on dishes so often. It's quite the toss up but I still enjoy seeing some caviar, whether avruga or Sevruga. I enjoyed eating this dish as much as I did during the very first time I had it. I believe that there was a balance of flavours and textures in this dish. It was light and refreshing.

Spanner crab and abalone soup

Even though I could see tiny slices of ginger swimming in the broth, I still kept an open mind thinking to myself 'surely, Andrew McConnell would know not to over-use ginger in a soup dish'. I cringe at the sight of ginger, whether at the market or in my dishes. Chinese home-cooking does use a lot of ginger and it is often 'over-powering' (so I find because I dislike it), but I've grown to quite like it especially if the taste of ginger does not over-power or not used excessively. Again, there were a couple pieces of baby abalone, cooked to perfection, tender and not dry. The spanner crab was beautiful and the frozen corn was interesting even after the second time I had it. It was interesting as a combination and quite eventful to have enjoyed the dish for the second time :-)

Carrot salad

Notwithstanding the first time I had this dish, I was very fond of it. It was somewhat a bit different this time, as the serving was bigger (as shared by a few people) and the carrots were cut pretty chunky! Chunky is not appealing especially in finer dishes, the mind sees and responses to the sight of the chunkiness... However, having kept an objective mind on this dish, especially I've had a good version of it, I found that there still was something missing in this dish. The very first time I had it, the balance of the dish was perfect especially with the flavours. I found that the sour notes were stronger this time around and would have preferred if there was a balance with the sweet and slight bitter notes. Basically, the sourness was over-powering and could have been better. I understand it is not easy to maintain consistencies at restaurants though surely being named the Restaurant of the Year meant something?

Mandarin Duck (crisped leg and smoked fillet) with some Black thingy (duck liver pate) and beautifully cooked octopus and chorizo on crisp bread

The Mandarin Duck was beautiful even for the second time around. The element I call the 'Black thingy' was a pate of something, mixed with perhaps little foie gras. I had it in a cigar form previously. I love the crisp bread and the lot, I can't recall the last time I've had octopus that was so tender and delicious.

I'm not sure if the crisp bread was served to us as they were finding it hard to coordinate the cooking time for our mains as we did wait for 40'ish minutes though our waitstaff corrected us and said 35 minutes.

The wagyu (?) and ocean trout dishes

I've had the wagyu dish before and it was beautiful though I thought that it needed a bit of tang to break its richness. It's funny that we found some hidden bones in the trout, we understand that there can be hidden bones in ocean trouts like salmon (it wasn't until the very end of the last 2 bites). The Restaurant did gracefully deduct the price of the fish dish off our bill.

The suckling pig

I have to admit that the suckling pig was delicious, it was tender and the skin did crackle! Somehow I have better memories (in terms of quality) of this dish I had at Cutler & Co rather than at Cumulus Inc late last year. I loved the minced pork on the top left though I wished that there was more apple sauce on the dish. It felt like it needed more tang to break the richness of the dish. The pearled barleys were good, but I felt like it would have been a better experience for me if I had more apple sauce to go with it. By this stage, I couldn't be bothered to have asked for more apple sauce seeing how busy the Restaurant was.

The violet ice cream

What can I say? Still yum, the second time around :-)

Petit fours that went with our coffees. I think it was a dark chocolate ganache and passionfruit flavoured piece of chocolate and a fruity poached rhubarb with some sorbet.

The food was still very good the second time I went, in about a month. I doubt its consistency though I have to admit quality control is especially not easy at busy restaurants. The food was still very good and I only have a couple of slight criticisms. However, waiting for about 35-40 minutes for our mains was quite long. The staff was apologetic. I still love the food though rather go somewhere else with equally good food and less busier/ less hustle and bustle.

Macarons - First Order

2010-09-01T15:35:00.000+10:00

I have never dreamt of the day when I'd be taking my ever first order for MY macarons. The day did come, and the order came in from James. One of my friends whom have tasted MOST of my flavoured macarons (yes James you have been pretty lucky).

Anyway, I wanted to try something new though have been advised to be more conventional and perfect the flavours I have already experimented with. Ummm nope, too stubborn and also curious to see what this flavour would turn out to be.

So, I made the following;

Bubblegum! and
Toasted coconut.

I wanted to make toasted coconut and coffee but ran out of time to make coffee filling, and still had enough of aromatic toasted coconut left from the meringues. I only hope that the guests enjoy eating my macarons.

It must be somewhat good that James also left me with a big $20 tip ha ha :-b

I suspect that I shall bake again either late this week or mid next week!

Lingy Rants

2010-08-29T15:38:00.000+10:00

I have not gone to the gym for the past 4 days until today, and boy they decided to shuffle the equipments around to make space for the 'express area'. DANG! So this meant that there was NO mirror at the Smith machine and squat rack because they took the divider with the mirrors out. BAH!

Ha ha that is all! Yes, I do feel guilty for not doing any cardio this week and only did a few pull ups/ chin ups today. ha ha. So that's Life.

On another note, I have been indulging in some food and shopping at Taste of Melbourne two days in a row :-b A post shall come soon. One of my favourite buys was DELLO MANO's chocolate brownies, I bought 2 big boxes which is equivalent to 20 small pieces of chocolate brownies (of various blend flavours) haha!

Why did they have to shuffle the equipments especially during the time when I don't go in. It just means, I have to familiarise myself again with the equipments and space haha.

Ezard

2010-08-27T06:19:00.004+10:00

Ezard named after the owner and executive chef, Teage Ezard, is a restaurant located on Flinders Lane in the city. Its cuisine, Modern Australian with Asian notes, and food have been raved by many who only have many good things to talk about. So we took this opportunity to dine there to celebrate a birthday. It has been a common practice even at hatted restaurants to have two sittings, quite a pity I say and it was too late for me to make a dinner reservation elsewhere for a Saturday evening. Also I secretly, did, wanted to try out Ezard to see what the rave was about hehe.

Condiments and olive oil to go with our bread. From upper left there were; Szechuan pepper, sugar and chilli, and seaweed. On the right, that was Amuse Bouche for the evening, if only I remember what it was.

I preferred the powdered sugar/ chilli condiment rather than the others as I found that they were a bit too intense to go with sourdough. I honestly can't remember what the Amuse Bouche was but it was quite refreshing and appetising.

open wagyu beef burger with quail egg, onion jam, cresses, smoked tomato and truffle oil mayonnaise

I heard that this was great. I sure was impressed with the open burger concept and the elements that went with the burger.

Japanese-inspired oyster shooter

I love eating oysters but didn't know that this was a signature until Thanh mentioned. I don't usually read/ follow many food blogs or food reviews prior to dining at restaurants. I think it's due to the fact that I like to experience the dining moments first-hand. Anyway, I love the oysters prepared this way. If only I could remember what it was 'marinated' with :-b My memory fell short on me after a fabulous lunch at Vue de Monde the day before ha ha.

roast duck with green chilli and shallot sauce, stir fried garlic shoots, silkmelon and coconut rice

Thanh had this for his main and he said that he absolutely love it. It's apparently another signature dish of Ezard.

pan fried local john dory with seared scallop, roasted jerusalem artichoke, broad beans, caviar and chive oil

I thought the foam looked pretty good, the scallop showed the right browning colour and the fish looked good. I didn't get to taste any of the other mains and hence I couldn't tell what they were exactly like.

roasted coral trout with moreton bay bug ravioli and spicy coconut laksa

Ta-da! This was my main of the night. I believe that it would have been my very first roasted coral trout? I've had coral trout grilled and steamed/ poached but never roasted. The fish did have a bit of a firmer texture. The laksa won me over, smooth and creamy broth. I love ravioli but never eaten enough of it. I love crustaceans except for prawn and I do too, love coral trout for its firmer flesh, so much as I love cod fish too.

caramel parfait, salted popcorn, confit apple and passionfruit sauce

Thanh ordered the parfait in an instance after scanning through the menu, being curious to compare Ezard's popcorn caramel parfait to The Point's (which he had about 1 week'ish ago), he prefers The Point's.

ezard dessert tasting plate

I felt particularly full that evening and wasn't very keen in dessert. Having said that, I cannot not possibly ever, not order dessert at restaurants! Even a red bean pancake would suffice, but it would have to be great like David's (on Cecil Place in Prahran). I couldn't make up my mind on what to order, and hence went for the tasting plate. It is quite the joy to be able to taste different petite desserts on one single plate. I love the variety and more importantly it must be friendlier for my waistline. Perhaps not, after a full meal :-b

Personally, the dinner was pretty good. The first few pictures I took without flash, turned out horrible and hence I decided to use flash (on my mobile camera) from the oysters' dish onwards. It was strange that I did take quite a few flashed photos throughout the whole night but we were asked to not take flash photography towards the end of our meal (or was it during the time when mains were served). That was the reason why I ended up not taking photos of the desserts, besides Thanh's a better food photographer now that he holds a techy camera. I've heard Thanh and Sarah exchanging views on flash photography at restaurants and it's usually a no-no and frowned upon by restaurants. I guess that the weirdest part of it being, WAS that, a PATRON actually offered to take a group photo of us, and it was that particular time we were requested to not take flash photography. Quite the irony.

Anyhow, I shall put up the dessert photos, courtesy of Thanh soon'ish.

Ezard was good but my expectations may have skewered slightly as I did have a fabulous lunch at Vue de Monde the day before. Nothing else seem to have wow'ed me since. Though I did get a comment that Ezard seemed a bit snooty compared to Vue de Monde, the European and Cutler & Co. Just an observation the past week of dining out. I'd definitely have to go on a diet this second onwards he he.

Other write-ups on Ezard's:

Sarah Cooks (Sarah loves Ezard massively and if not for her, I wouldn't had been curious to try out Ezard); and

Thanh - link soon to come once he posts it up on his blog.

The European

2010-08-24T22:46:00.002+10:00

This is one of the other big birthday treats in the weekend. A brunch at the European. I never planned in going to the European, never did, until my aunt mentioned it. So I thought I'd drop in for breakfast or brunch. Mind you, I went to Vue de Monde the day before and I found that the dish I ordered at the European was actually tasty. You'd think my expectations of a dish would have sky-rocketed after having a massive meal at Vue de Monde but this was actually really good.

I drive past by Princess Theater on Spring Street very frequently and I have always wondered what restaurant was located a few doors from it. Little did I know that it was the European. The European has a setting quite similar to France Soir on Toorak Road, a few tables set up on the pathway on Spring Street and warm on the inside with warm wooden features.

I could not help but notice a bunch of Asians sitting on a long table... they left with quite a few cameras, not just only cameras but SLRs haha.

The Menu

I was partly disappointed that I didn't have the opportunity to have lunch there. We couldn't order from the lunch menu until the clock ticked 12pm :-( The other dish that I had in mind, from the dinner menu, is its beef wellington with foie gras! Yes foie gras! I wanted to make beef wellington with foie gras previously, but I ended up using venison as an alternative. I must buy some foie gras to cook and experiment with.

So we asked how far in advanced that we would have to book for dinner (despite hearing that reservations are full for the next 3 months) and was told that was true but worth calling the last minute should anyone cancel their reservations. Umm as much as I love the sound of the dish, I think I will wait and watch my poor waistline instead.

Eggs Benedict

This would have to be the best Eggs Benedict I've ever had, as far as I can recall. The hollandaise sauce was beautiful, silky with tangy hints. The eggs were poached right and everything else came together a unison as how Eggs Benedict should be. Love it!

Perhaps I would try my luck one day but I shall try to rest my waistline for a bit for now.

Snickers Cake

2010-08-24T22:18:00.002+10:00

First thing's first, I never wanted to outdo Philippa Sibley and I never did haha. I tried to recreate the Snickers using her recipe but built it as a gateau instead. Obviously I tried making chocolate chantilly cream quenelles but failed miserably. I made this cake for a birthday, and the birthday girl was quite happy with it (luckily).

I could not risk failing to make a birthday cake and thought that this birthday needed an extra cake to celebrate. Hence, I bought another cake, where better to buy a cake but Le Petit Gateau. It was an orange flourless cake. The flourless cake was yum, light and moist on the inside. I couldn't complain about the cake though it did cost me a whopping $45!

I was quite happy with how the Snickers turned out though not so happy with some of the elements I made.

My chocolate chantilly cream quenelles failed. I probably did not whip the cream enough to achieve the right consistency.
I would have preferred it with more peanut cream.
My caramel mousse melted like CRAZY during the time I tried to release it out of the mould (square cake tin). About 1/3rd melted/ liquefied! haha. I frowned at this stage haha.
The biscuit base/ jaconde could have been better.
Chocolate plates could have been thinner.
Perhaps, I am just not happy with the form of the cake :-b

I may not be 100% happy with the form and looks of the cake but I'm quite happy with the taste. I'm partly glad that 1/3rd of the caramel mousse melted as it tasted less sweeter, and I also added less sugar into the cake overall. Perhaps I would have another go if I feel adventurous again!

Il Fornaio

2010-08-20T21:58:00.000+10:00

I have always wanted to dine at Il Fonaio, especially for dinner so I'd get to have more of Philippa Sibley's famous Snickers slice. Oh well, I didn't get around to going there in the evening but I did go on a Sunday morning with Nick and Kee Hung. I couldn't complain about the coffee especially it's a St Ali's roast/ brew.

Eggs Benedict

I always feel like I am spoiled for choice when it comes to food and I have moments. I scanned the entire menu several times trying to decide what I wanted and I ended up ordering the usual eggs I would order at any other cafes. The Eggs Benedict was not bad though the charred bread was a bit hard. The hollandaise sauce was pretty good though I've had better.

Corn fritters with poached eggs

Nick ordered this dish. I thought the corn fritters were pretty good though tossing between this and Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder, I think I prefer the one at RHCL. RHCL's fritters comes with a yummy salsa type sauce, smoked salmon slices, poached eggs and some spinach.

Pancakes and bacon with sunny side up...

Kee Hung ordered this. Honestly, I can't remember much about this dish but from the looks of the sunny side up, the egg was cooked perfectly.

We also ordered donut, mandarin cheesecake and a brownie after finishing our savoury dishes. Kee Hung preferred the chocolate brownie than the other two. Nick didn't think it was extraordinary as there are some other good cafes in Launceston too. I, particularly love Sibley's mandarin cheesecake and the Snickers' slice.

My Try-hard 'Crossfit'?

2010-08-15T15:05:00.001+10:00

Again, I am bored with my static free weights exercises. I tried varying my training on two consecutive days, which also means doing the same few exercises and my muscles did not get enough rest ha ha.

1. Rear delt pulls 10 kgs 3 x 10

2. Tricep d-handle pulldowns 2.5kgs/ 5kgs 2 x 20

3. Push ups (feet on exercise ball and arms on barbell) 5 x 12-15 superset with

4. Tricep press downs 12.5kgs/ 25kgs 5 x 17-20

5. Cable flyes 5kgs/ 10kgs 5 x 17-20 superset with

6. Tricep dips on bench and exercise ball 5 x 10

7. Vertical dip 8 (too tired after lol)

8. Good morning 10kgs 5 x 10 superset with

9. Hammer strength deadlifts 60kgs 5 x 8

10. Chins x 2 and push ups x 2 - 6-7 reps and about 4-5 sets

11. Chins 8 and plyo lunges 10 - 5 sets

12. Barbell curl 10kgs 3 x 21

I did quite a similar routine on the next consecutive day and I have been feeling the soreness ever since. Today, I sneaked halfway into Body Attack again then moved onto some core training exercises. Still feeling sore all over from 2 days ago, and many chins/ pull ups I did for the past 3 days, I was crazy enough to even 'attempt' 1 arm/ 1 hand chin. Apparently 1 arm and 1 hand chins are different, 1 arm being 1 hand chin with the assistance of the other hand gripping the working hand (which helps to lift the body) and 1 hand merely means just with the use of the hand alone. Both my attempts failed, I couldn't even hang on to the bar with just 1 hand alone, let alone to think I wanted to do 1 hand/ arm chin haha.

All-time movie I love watching is Elektra, how amazing is Jenn Garner to do 1 arm chins with attached rope (similar to like a lifting strap)... hmm I'd have to try it out one day when no one is around haha. Yes I'd still love to have sunken cheeks (only dream about it, whilst stuffing myself with more sugars and cakes). Another move I tried was working with the rings, placed both my hands on the rings, with feet still on the ground. As my body lowered (horizontally), it felt like I was falling. I tried it a few times, gave up as I was so scared that I'd fall flat on my face haha. I shall try to do it with hands together next time rather than placing them apart which makes it rather harder for me.

So I did push ups, feet placed on junior size exercise ball and hands on barbell the past 2 days. Today, I tried another variation, feet placed on 2kg medicine ball and hands on dumbbells. Just doing the plank alone, I could feel my core working hard to stabilise the whole body to avoid falling.

It is brilliant that I feel more hyped to train harder. I've been slacking for the past few months, winter plays a good deterrence role in my training. Hence today, I have a new goal which is going to take me quite a while to achieve it I believe :-( Nevertheless, it's a goal that I hope will keep me motivated in the gym :-)

I've also been talking about Krav Maga/ boxing training/ Wing Chun with a few friends, have yet to walk the walk haha. I'm dying for variation in my training, it has been boring. Hopefully I manage to figure out more of these on the spot at the gym, yeh you could say that I'm too lazy to research exercises...

A friend of mine who lifts about 1.5-2times more than I do;

Joyce. Other friends who love to train, Wani (yet to continue writing) and Alicia (don't think she writes hehe).

Le Petit Gateau

2010-08-10T00:47:00.028+10:00

The man behind the creative works of Le Petit Gateau is Pierrick Boyer. I just can't have enough of his cakes. My favourite would have to be the chocoate/ passionfruit gateau amongst others.

Hazelnut Millefeuille and Black Forest Gateau

I told Thanh that I'd treat him some 'petite' gateau from LPG, since a long long time ago and the day came that I finally bought him a couple of slices. He said that the millefeuille was very good but the black forest was just average. Personally, they both look amazing to me and it has inspired me to learn and improve my skills in making gateau cakes.

Summer Opera and the Black Beauty

The Opera was made with pistachio instead of almond jaconde, and white chocolate was used instead of dark/ milk chocolate ganache. It was refreshing and definitely a perfect slice of delectable during the warmer months. I thought that it was rather creative, the refreshing new look and that it doesn't taste as heavy as the classic Opera.

Green tea macaron and the Black Beauty

Personally, I am not a fan of the macaron as I found it a bit chewy and I honestly don't remember tasting any matcha/ green tea for that matter. On the contrary, the Black Beauty was indeed a beauty especially it came with elegant gold leaves :-b

Under the sheeny chocolate ganache there was a case of chocolate mousse in which had layers of mascarpone?, chestnut cream, griottine and something else. I appologise that my memory has again failed me. This would have to be my favourite of the lot of two I got for myself then. The chocolate mousse was smooth and light, the cherry, chestnut cream and other elements went really well together. This indeed was a beauty!

Le Petit Gateau? Does have some of the marvelous gateau cakes in Melbourne.

Opera Gateau

2010-08-02T13:07:00.002+10:00

The Opera gateau is one of my favourite all-time cakes and I couldn't resist the temptation of trying out Gary Mehigan's recipe I obtained from the Master Chef website. I have to admit that it is a good recipe, nearly fool-proof though I ended up making too much ganache and buttercream which I chose to store rather than throwing them out.

It was my first time making a jaconde (almond sponge cake), and I had a bit of an issue with it. The instructions say to bake it between 5 and 8 minutes but I ended up baking for about 18 minutes (forgetting about the jaconde whilst preparing for other things). I checked the jaconde about 6 minutes into baking but it was still not cooked, it was too late by the time I checked it later on :-( Hence, the jaconde was OVER-baked :-(

The buttercream was easy to make however another issue with ganache... The last time I made good ganache was for macarons during Thanh's birthday period. Somehow, I've lost the mojo for making a good ganache. The ganache I made for this cake, hardened again :-( LOL I had the same problem with my Black Forest cake last month :-( Maybe I'll get Thanh (chocolate mud cake recipe) to make all the ganaches for whatever I bake in future... Either that or winter surely hates me.

Overall, being a glutton, I still manage to eat most of the gateau and was happily enjoyed by my aunt's colleagues haha. I only have a tiny slice left and I can't figure out, whether to finish off my cake before indulging in Le Petit Gateau's cakes or just dive into LPG's. I just bought 4 pieces to take-away today, and as much as I would like to finish them all I really should share especially Thanh hasn't had anything from LPG before hehe. I shall put up photos later on.

A couple of my favourites

2010-08-01T04:59:00.000+10:00

Alicia Marie (Picture adopted from www.aliciamarie.com/ Oxygen magazine)

Nicole Wilkins Lee (Picture adopted from Flex Mag)

It has been a few months now that I've stopped training according to a programme. I have to admit that I have lost quite a bit of the motivation to train hard, nevertheless I still try to maintain by not putting on too much weight during the colder seasons. Alicia Marie and Nicole Wilkins Lee are 2 of my favourite IFBB Figure Pros today. I don't think that they look ultra-ripped unless if they are pumped during their workout/ posing. I have only these two to turn to to inspire me from time to time and to remind me that I should be doing cardio more than anything else LOL. At the end of the day, I still have not found love in solo-cardio and I could only survive on some cardio workout from group fitness classes, Body Combat and Body Attack. Same old, I know. I can't wait for Body Attack right now as I speak, only 5 more hours to go till aerobics! Love it :-D

Indya Bistro - Six Dishes Six Wines

2010-07-30T00:00:00.006+10:00

This Modern Indian restaurant is located in North Carlton on Rathdowne Street.

They say it's impossible to match wine with Indian dishes, but Indya Bistro has attempted to show foodies otherwise. Sommelier Patrick Walsh has hand picked some of his favourites to go with 6 of Chef Wilson Gomes' Indian dishes. I couldn't have been more curious to see the works of both the Sommelier and the Chef and I'm glad that Thanh and Sarah both got invited by Fiona (of Harvey Publicity) to this wonderful Modern Indian degustation dinner.

Spinach paneer delight was paired with NV Stefano Lubiana Brut, Granton, Tasmania.

I loved how soft and fluffy the naan bread was and the spinach paneer was simply delicious. I could have easily eaten two of this without any hesitation!!!

Menu as prepared by the Restaurant

Spicy stir-fried prawns was paired with 2008 Dr Loosen Blueslate Riesling, Mosel, Germany.

It wasn't spicy to my palate and I'm sure the Restaurant cooked it to the liking of an average Australian. Nevertheless, I loved this dish.

Chicken chettinad was paired with 2009 Hunky Dory Tangle, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Riesling Malborough, New Zealand.

Beautiful buttered chicken curry, can't go wrong in winter now can it?

Honey garlic gobi florettes paired with 2009 Pittnauer Blaufrankisch Rose, Burgenland, Austria.

This would have to be the highlight of the night. Beautifully battered cauliflower marinated with honey and garlic. The batter was light and crisp, it made the vegetables taste delicious.

Pondicherry fish curry paired with 2008 Villa Wolf Gewurztraminer, Pfaiz, Germany.

The curry tasted pretty good though I wish that the fish was not overly seasoned with salt and not as dry as it was the time when I had it on that night. It's very fundamental amongst Mediterranean and Chinese cuisines that fresh seafood is used to cook with but I find it otherwise in Indian cuisine. I've never had a fresh fish dish in any Indian dishes ever, even in Malaysia. Sandra (who went with Sarah) said how she doesn't eat seafood because she never grew up eating it, as seafood was never fresh in Germany and that she dislikes the fishy smell and flavours of it. I'm not sure if it's a similar case to the cultural reason behind Indian cuisine or if they can get away by not using the freshest stock as it would be heavily covered/ influenced by the beautiful spices anyway. Perhaps even, it is just a reflection of its original recipe and I do know for a fact that there are many types of Indian cuisine originating from different regions in India. A simple example is, food in Northern India is less spicy/ heaty compared to Southern India. It is rather interesting, and perhaps I am in no position to question about a cuisine that I am not familiar with hehe. Just another thought and if provocative, I do not mean any harm/ offence and that it is just an honest question I have in mind.

Marinated lamb paired with 2008 Delta Pinot Noir, Malborough, New Zealand.

This dish was just as delicious as the other chicken curry dish. The lamb was tender and flavoursome.

Not being big on drinks and the fact that I'm always driving, I gave up on drinking after the third course onwards, I thought that the pairing of the dishes with the wines were quite a good effort as it is not commonly found in many Indian restaurants. Do check out Thanh and Sarah's blogs for further insights of the wines. Overall, it was a beautiful meal and it's worth another trip back sometime especially for someone who lives in the area.

I have to say that one thing I love about Indian food, is its spices and chilli. I'd usually ask for my dishes to be hotter and spicier if I was dining from an ala carte menu. Curry Club and Bombay Beat are my 2 other favourite local Indian restaurants.

Again, many thanks to wonderful Fiona from Harvey Publicity to have invited Thanh to this dinner as a guest. Lucky enough for me I went as a plus one guest. Haha.

Worthwhile links/ posts to check out; with better quality photos haha:

Sarah Cooks

I Eat Therefore I Am

Cardio? NAHHHHH

2010-07-29T17:41:00.002+10:00

The only expression I have that associates myself with cardio (on the air walkers) is HATE. Not a strong hatred feeling, but somewhere in between dislike and hate hehe. Lately, the only cardio I'd do on my own, is just about 10 minutes on the air-walkers/ cross-trainers (whatever you call them) and I'd move on to either light free weights, or just cables. Come to think of it, I have not been doing any machine exercises, and this includes using the Hammer Strength machines LOL (except for the hi-rows which I do use about once fortnightly).

Training of the night as follows:

Cardio on the air-walker thingymagee for about 10 minutes;
Rotator cuff exercises
Dumbbell rows (bent-over) 18kgs 2 x 10; 30kgs 2 x 9; 18kgs 2 x 10
Chins 10, 7
Barbell curls 20kgs 9, 7
Rear delts pulls 10kgs 2 x 11
Cable lateral raises 10kgs 3 x 10
Tricep pressdowns - D handles 10kgs 2 x 10
Barbell curls 10kgs 4 x 11
Tricep dips; bench/ exercise ball 3 x 12

That was all. I ran into a friend tonight and he told me that the gym he goes to for MMA does Fitness Kickboxing which basically is kickboxing without contact; using sandbags and punch pads. It sounds really good, may check it out one day. I miss those sandbags at Doherty's, especially because they have so many sandbags at the city gym. The only time I get to kick a sandbag even, is when I sneak into the 'Personal Trainers' space' at my gym on Sunday mornings :-( It's totally unfair, my gym used to have sandbags at the express area and they took it away :-(

If only my gym has more Body Combat classes!!! PFFT!

Not forgetting, my gym also has one of the oldest and most ancient cardio machines. Genesis, so I heard from Sarah, has TV screens on their cardio machines! Pretty darn cool hey! Well I am not sure just how much tv I would be watching whilst doing cardio, perhaps it wouldn't be as boring and I would be more tuned to today's news and sports :-)

Music I listen to at the gym today: Kylie Minogue's new album, Aphrodite. I <3 her. Including Beyonce too!

Cutler & Co

2010-07-29T16:25:00.001+10:00

Natural Moonlight oysters

Cutting-edge, my 10mp camera phone can be at times, but its orientation somehow gets messed up by Blogger's auto-rotate hehe. Loved how fresh the oysters were. This brings me back memories of how I first tasted various types of oysters served at the Botanical. There were all sorts from many different rivers in NSW, SA and Tasmania. One of my particular favourites was one of which was rustic (can't remember the origin).

Calamari crackers

I loved the savouriness of the crackers, reminds me of fish crackers I used to eat when I grew up as a child.

Bacon (?) with aioli

The Aioli was soft and delicate yet not dry and the condiments that went with it was beautiful.

Fried anchovies stick with carpaccio/ (or was it prosciotto)

The fried anchovies stick was very different in my opinion, it was a great concept for an appetiser.

Cured kingfish, smoked onion, seaweed vinegar, beetroot and rye with Avruga caviar

I loved everything on this dish, nice and clean tasting kingfish with its various accompaniments especially the Avruga caviar.

Spanner crab, abalone and sweet corn soup.

I am not a fan of ginger at all but it went really well with everything else on this dish. I found it quite easy to drink the soup despite not appreciating ginger much. The abalone was poached beautifully so was the crab. Overall, it was clean with distinctive flavours.

Carrot salad - raw, cooked, pickled carrot salad, walnut cream and shanklish

This was Thanh's favourite dish of the night. It means a lot coming from someone who does not like vegetables. I particularly don't like vegetables very much myself, only eat them just for the sake of getting some fibre into my system. Anyway, at first glance I thought 'oh no rabbit food'. Not until I started eating them, I learnt to appreciate it more. Believe it or not, we found that the dish tasted, sweet, sour, bitter all at the same time when you mix it all up.

It had texture and robust flavours to it. It's amazing how they kept the integrity of the produce by not changing its natural texture much, crunchy and crisp yet cooked, if you know what I mean. Furthermore, the natural flavours of the vegetables were maintained but lifted and enhanced ten-folds which made the vegetables tasted ultra-g000000d. I am starting to appreciate produce more, and respecting its natural depths of flavours. I never knew what my Ma was talking about. We usually just stir in chicken stock with our vegetables, very healthy and it maintains its flavours though it does not lifts up the true potential of other flavours of the vegetables. It's something for us, each and everyone, at home to think about.

Seeing how much Thanh liked it, it must be a brilliant dish and hence I asked how this dish was prepared. Apparently it was prepared 2 ways. Firstly it was pickled with water, sugar and vinegar. Then they are cooked/ poached in a vacuum bag with some acid like orange in simmering pan... Personally, I have not tried the method yet. I remember reading somewhere that Chef Ben Shewry is another chef who maintains the flavours/ textures of the food by cooking it in his special vacuum machine. One of which is some of his vegetables which he likes to cook at a temperature under 5 degrees Celsius, and the method apparently maintains the original texture of the vegetable but you end up having a cooked and edible one on your dish. Just food for thought, or shall I say vegetable for thought. Chefs today are more keen in exploring molecular gastronomy, just with the use of syringes and other laboratory equipments seem to bring in a whole new level of cooking today. I wouldn't think it would be that easy except that they wouldn't have to do endless calculations on atoms and molecules, but precision/ accuracy is fundamental in what they do in the kitchen these days. I used to do lots of laboratory work in Biology, Physics and Chemistry ... the older days when I got to play with some of those instruments was pretty cool come to think of it.

Mandarin duck - crisp leg, smoked fillet, foie gras cigar.

As the courses progressed, the dishes felt richer and richer. However, I truly loved this dish too, beautifully cooked duck and I wish I actually had more of it. I said, 'bring on the foie gras'. I can't say I've had foie gras many times to be able to tell what a true foie gras is, I do know that this is a blend of foie gras with something else, but this tasted more liver'ish than the one I've had before (which was a block of fatty liver but I believe that it also composed of other ingredients). Apparently it's not common that restaurants serve plain foie gras on their dishes. Anyway, this was a beautiful dish!

slow cooked Wagyu oyster blade, potato, parsley root and nettle

We liked this dish too, but thought it could have been better if some acidity was introduced to this dish. It was good, the beef definitely was cooked to its perfection, it was so tender that it melted in my mouth. However, it was on the other hand a rather rich dish and we just preferred if it was a little less richer if some acid notes were found in the dish.

Sheep's milk yogurt, mandarin and carrot granita

I'm not a fan of sheep or goat's milk neither is Thanh. We thought that this was interesting! We didn't particularly like it but I understand that there was a concept behind it. It was fresh and the use of carrot granita, was new to me in desserts. It must have been a Mediterranean thing to use sheep/ goat's milk in desserts hehe, not too kind on my Asian/ Chinese palate.

Violet ice cream, chocolate ganache and sour cherry

I loved this dish so much! The Restaurant uses a special violet essence bought from France. I can't say that my Monin syrup tasted any different from the essence but I am definitely not getting my amounts/ proportions right. I remember just how much syrup I poured into my creme patissiere before and all I could taste for the next few hours was something overpoweringly sour for a good next 6 hours. Even with a hint of essence in the ice cream, the 'after-taste' remained in my mouth for the next hour. It was beautiful, don't get me wrong, all I'm saying is that the sour-end notes seem to remain in my palate for some strange reason. It's probably just me hehe.

Anyway, I loved the ganache and dried cherry pieces, everything else on this dessert was just simply luscious and I could have had 2 of this on that night.

My experience at Cutler and Co is very different from Andrew McConnell's 312 before. 312 was way more Mediterranean, the food was flavoursome but very rich. I believe that because Australia is positioned so far away from Europe, our palates have taken akin to something lighter and such influence does come from Asia/ South East Asia. Surely, something flown from Europe to Australia can't be that good especially if the shelf-life has exceeded at least 6 months. Hence what we have today we call Modern Australian is influenced by some Asian flavours and techniques. I think the only thing Thanh regretted that night was not having any crisp crackling/ pork belly as one of the courses hehe.

Links:

I Eat Therefore I Am - Thanh made an excellent point; that Chef McConnell spent some time exploring foods from different cultures which he brought back to Melbourne to show us some of his experiences as translated onto his dishes.

Cutler & Co

The Old Times

2010-07-29T02:51:00.002+10:00

I remember something old (not quite that old)... !!! An event tonight brought back one of my old and fond memories, namely about 4 years ago when I got my friend, Bryan who was a Sous-chef, to help me cater my birthday barbecue. I knew he worked at the Botanical then but little did I know he was working in Chef Paul Wilson's kitchen.

I remember how much I loved going to the Botanical and how amazing the Caesar salad was (which I believe was drizzled with some truffle oil). The next few times I went back to the Botanical, I just could not stop ordering the tuna sashimi, surely I couldn't have thought that there was a lot of work behind the dish (I think I paid about $45) as it looked clean and sophisticated with hardly any effort. Till this day, I have no clue to what was in the dish besides the mirin, soy, ring of thinly sliced tuna and beautiful dollop of non-hot wasabi cream in the centre. My favourite dessert would have to be its chocolate dessert which had a few components to it. I can't quite remember what it was but I'm quite sure the Restaurant used Valrhona chocolate in its dish. Additionally, that was also when I learnt about 'sparkling/ distilled water' which I only learnt at the time when the bill came and that we had to pay ~$10 for a bottle of San Pellegrino water. Since then, I've always asked for tap water, I figured it's less processed anyway.

I can't remember what Bryan used the watermelons for. Basically, he scooped them out nicely for something... Leaving the case of the melon all squeaky clean and white'ish in which he used it to contain some other food... haha. I was terrible before as I wasn't keen in taking food photos at all despite loving food so much since then. Then, I was easily impressed by the tastiness of food but did not pay enough attention on everything else. I thought it was so cool then, to have seen Bryan's briefcase filled with knives and other kitchen utilities I never usually saw at home.

I may not have photos of the beautiful canapés Bryan made for the picnic/ barbecue but I sure did take a photo of the fully-filled refrigerator :-b Bryan, with the help of Kee Hung, made a few canapés of which I particularly remember, a beautiful terrine (chicken?) and a mayonnaise dollop on lavoche. It wasn't just any mayonnaise, if I remember correctly it had Chinese spring onions. Anyway, the bottom line is that, they were amazingly delicious and pretty to look at!

I attempted the robot undeniably my friend couldn't bear watching it LOL. That would be Bryan on the far right and Kee Hung in between us both. Kee Hung was a big help to Bryan in the kitchen. I remember them prepping for the brilliant canapés about 1/ 2 days before the picnic for 30 people haha. All I did was basically, 'supervised' them for about 2 hours the night before and tried sourcing out a venue to hold the picnic. Thanks to Hui Fen/ Jerson for going to the premises early enough to secure it for us haha.

I managed to get hold of Bryan's contact just tonight - texted him straight away, and yes, he was a Sous-chef under Chef Paul Wilson (Chef Wilson leads the kitchen at Albert Park Hotel and Middle Park Hotel today) a long time ago. Unfortunately, Bryan hasn't been able to return to work as a chef due to his back problem which occurred from an accident :-( I can't wait for my next picnic!!!

Tropical Macaron

2010-07-27T15:26:00.001+10:00

Pictured above are two types of macarons. One, which I've made before and the other is new.

1. Strawberry meringues with wasabi cream and griottine; and

2. Meringues with PINEAPPLE cream!

Personally, I've had a few of too many, the strawberry/ wasabi macaron and only a couple of the pineapple macarons. The pineapple was not too bad and was not as bursting sweet as my usuals. I'm going to have to concentrate on my flavourings from now on, though still not (super) happy with their form as of late. I've only used the French meringue method so far and have not tried the Italian meringue method (hehe), perhaps I'd give the Italian meringue (uses liquid sugar during egg white beating) method a go some time.

Plenty more to experiment with! :-)

Adriano Zumbo on MasterChef Finals Week

2010-07-23T10:44:00.001+10:00

Above - V8 (photo adopted from Master Chef)

Adriano Zumbo has again appeared on the reality tv show, Master Chef, in the Finals Week. It has come down from about 20 cooks to the final 6 being Adam, Alvin, Callum, Claire, Courtney and Jimmy.

As I am doing something else online, I get distracted quite easily especially with cooking shows. Chef Zumbo appeared last Monday and I have not had the chance to watch the episode until now. After a brief discussion last night, on chefs charisma behind the television screen, I never noticed that Chef Zumbo may have become a bit more accustomed to appearing on television until this episode. I just love the expression he made *ZOMG expression with hands slapped on his (shaved) head* when Jimmy layered his cake on a BIGGER cake tin and he tried patching it up by piping in some cream in between the gaps. HAHA. I thought that was hilarious!!!

As so far (still watching the video), the episode looks brilliant. Another showcase of Chef Zumbo's out-of-the-world pastry creations. I love the idea of 8 different textured vanilla layers, the sheeny glazed surface and most importantly I believe that it would taste amazing. I love vanilla so much but I have only been using the 'cheap' paste I bought from Coles, and not real vanilla beans :-b even though I still have a couple of pods left (but saving it for a 'special occasion') lol. Ummm what an irony, Jimmy actually won the challenge!

Aside from that, I would also have to comment on Callum's upside down Adriano Zumbo V8 cake. FUNNY! On the contrary, it is quite sad to hear that Alvin left on that night.

A day, I think I may attempt it. I actually have Gary Mehigan's Opera Gateau on my mind for this weekend. I love a coffee cake, and have always loved the Opera. I have grown to appreciate baking a cake per weekly to satisfy my cravings and for its convenience that I wouldn't have to drive out to have cakes hehe. I feel what Mary said before however I'm not as good a baker and I don't think I'd be putting any less sugar than what is stated down in the recipes. Bah. Ooo Opera... COFFEE

Ahh back to watching the Show now.

Link to the video:

Master Chef V8 Challenge

The Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal

2010-07-22T14:13:00.001+10:00

It was a gloomy Wednesday afternoon, but my mood lightened up immediately when told that there is a book posted to me from the UK :-) It couldn't had been anything else but, the Fat Duck Cookbook which I've been longing for, for the past month :-)

I have told Trish that I would write a post about it once I've finished reading it. Well I haven't read the whole Book yet but I have skimmed through some of the pages and what can I say about the Book, it's quite a story behind his career. The passion he has for produce, livestock and food is just amazingly unbelievable. The graphics illustrated in the Book were mesmerising, descriptive and they came to life as each word I scanned.

The only thing that I am not comfortable with the Book was seeing a real snail photographed with his snail dish :-( I still find it disturbing since the first time I looked at it, from the Big Fa Duck Cookbook. I love eating escargots but I may hold back a bit having this photo stuck at the back of my head lol.

Mr Blumenthal is a genius, whether in his traditional culinary skills or molecular gastronomy. I am amazed with his accomplishments, it can be compared to every other professionals who have made it to the very top of the pinnacle.

About the first half of the Book basically entails his story from when he was a child who had his first Michelin star meal with his family to the time he opened his restaurant, the Fat Duck. He talks about his inspirations and the new tricks he learns along the way. I found it very touching to 'read' some of his stories.

What can I say about some of his dishes at the Restaurant? Brilliance! He not only present delicious food, but he showcases his concept. We all know how abstract concept can be, but he brings his concept to life, three dimensional and he doesn't underestimate the importance of the 5 senses. He strives to present his food meeting our 5 senses, sight, hearing, feel, smell and taste.

I applaud him for putting such finesse into his food. A main dish consisting of about an average of 7/ 8 intricate elements seems too much for an ordinary person. Clearly he's not ordinary and only puts his perfection on the plate. Not a half-a$$ job like some of us *ding ding, ME*.

Now, to read the book more carefully instead of just skimming through the pages. I just have to post this, to tell my friends how wonderful this book is. The Big Fat Duck Cookbook makes a beautiful table top book, to entertain your friends, but so is this one if you don't want to spend $350 on a cookbook though reminding you, it's no ordinary cookbook. It tells a beautiful story along with amazing photography and his invaluable Restaurant recipes.

Oh, he is just sophisticatedly wonderful. I know I wouldn't do him enough justice writing up a 'review' but I was so excited and had to post something up anyway!!! HAHA

To Deadlift or Not to Deadlift?

2010-07-22T13:38:00.000+10:00

I'd hate to miss Body Combat classes as there are only 2 classes per week at the gym I go to. I've grown to love Combat more than Body Attack for the past year and have been curious to what MMA/ Krav Maga is like.

Anyway, on to training ... I have this constant conflict in my head, wanting to lift heavy but know that I should not and not train as hard in the colder seasons. The conflict is slowly dying out on me, as I'm getting lazier to lift weights these days and I'm not doing any cardio on my own too. Hence I rely solely and heavily on group cardio classes :-(

So I felt like only doing light weights, and perhaps squeeze in a heavy exercise like the deadlift. I've stopped doing some other heavy free weights exercises to avoid growth (or do some on rare occasions) and I've been trying to concentrate more on light weights with high repetitions. Even though I can do bicep curls of 20kgs, it's not unusual to find me curling 10kgs every other day at the gym :-b

1. Combat class; sneaks out just before they start doing sit ups :=b

2. Barbell curls 20kgs 3 x 8

3. Good mornings 20kgs 4 x 15

4. Deadlifts 60kgs 3 x 9

There you go. Too easy. It gets really boring but I cannot give up not fitting into my clothes! Maintenance is the hardest thing to do in the gym. I just have to remind myself not to consume too much then I would not have to kill myself doing cardio pfft. I have to admit, it's quite hard to resist the temptation especially being surrounded with delicious food/ or even commercially available Arnotts biscuits and chips ... I secretly hope that those food launch invites keep coming hehe. After all it's all about learning and striking the balance.

PS: I was just going to post an entry on training, shut up Aaron. I don't see you training TOO :-b haha!

Risotto

2010-07-21T02:41:00.001+10:00

This is one of my winter favourites, mushroom risotto which I've been ordering at many cafes lately. I had a similar dish at Jones the Grocer at Chadstone before, though a pity that I found that the rice was undercooked. Seeing how frequent I crave for a warm risotto lately, I bought some of the ingredients to cook at home.

Basically, I bought Italian risotto rice, sold at my local IGA and at the Essential Ingredients, and dried porcini mushrooms. I was so happy when I first discovered porcini mushrooms selling for about $180/kg at my local IGA. I'm not sure if it's a porcini mix with other mushrooms but the aroma was definitely spot on. Greedy me, bought a whole tub of it on somebody else's tab :-b It takes quite a while for me to cook this dish, I'd leave my Ma's chicken stock on simmer on a small saucepan whilst starting to cook my rice on the pan. It's a really simple dish to make at home though a bit time-consuming if one's after a quick meal.

I'm a huge meat-eater and knowing that I'd be deprived of meat, I cooked some prawn dumplings with the chicken stock I boiled earlier on. Oh not forgetting after cooking this dish, I usually drizzle some truffle oil.... Yumssss.

Screams Macarons!

2010-07-21T01:43:00.003+10:00

Even at my capability of making macarons after 9 months, I still strongly depend on 'luck'. I thought nothing could ever go wrong. I'm still a sloppy baker till today, I take little notes and very little attention to mistakes I make. I seem to have taken akin to repeating the same baking mistake twice before I learn anything?

Anyway I presented 3 types of macarons for Ange's birthday (along with the cake).

Black sesame meringue with peanut cream (resembling Mochi);
Almond meringue with passion fruit cream; and
Strawberry meringue with wasabi cream and piece of cherry.

As I've mentioned previously in my post 'Black Forest Take II', the third combination I made was an inspiration I got from Pierre Herme. Truly a marvelous world-renowned pastry chef, I love his works so much and I can't wait till that ONE day I dream about constantly. I can only think how orgasmic it would be, my classification of food-porn! Hehe.

One of the many boxes I've made for friends. This I made for Auntie Mary.

Pandan/ screw pine leaf meringues with orange cream (inspiration I got from Ma who makes amazing orange and pandan chiffon cakes, separately of course);
Pineapple; and
Strawberry meringues with wasabi cream and griottine.

You'd think after baking macarons for so many times, I would have paid more attention to details, but NO. The same thing happened to me previously when I baked the 30 Flavours. The last few batches I made, the meringues exploded and I dislike the fact that there wasn't enough macaronage/ foot (as I'd prefer this instead). Until the fifth batch I made, I realised, I was actually using almond meal I bought from a month ago!!! There is nothing nutritionally wrong with using almond meal from a month ago, I did kept it in air tight containers but they give one of the worst results ever!!! I could say I was lucky enough that I managed to save a few meringues to take pictures with, but I was disappointed!!!

Nevertheless, I still enjoy eating them despite the looks of them from this 5 batches I made just recently. I'm happy that I've at least given half (of the more presentable ones) away and eaten about a third of them at home :-b I also figured that I could be a little more generous with the amount of filling in the past few batches that I've made. Furthermore, I'm still trying to figure out the proportion of flavourings to avoid the extremely sweet/ sugary tastes to my biscuits or to even avoid adding in too little that all that is tasted is just almond. LOL. I'd have to say, my bad, that I'm not measuring the amount of flavouring I add into them. It's not easy as I do not follow any published recipes for most of the flavours/ combinations I've made and that they are flavours/ combinations that I merely come across to in reading or merely a dream I have in mind.

Till next time, I hope that luck will be on my side :-b *secretly hopes to bake again as I have just recently bought a new bag of almond meal haha* Good riddens to the bad batch of old almond meal!!! PFFT!

Oh macarons <3

Ramen at Don Too

2010-07-21T01:24:00.001+10:00

I love having soupy dishes during the colder seasons. I'd pass anything for a good hot bowl of soup even, well almost anything besides delicieux desserts haha. So, I thought it would be great to finally try this Don Don Ramen Thanh was raving on and on about (he was raving for at least a good one month). Thanh ordered the Charshu ramen and I ordered the Miso ramen, he also ordered some gyozas.

Above - Charshu ramen.

Below - Miso ramen.

Above - Gyozas.

The ramen I had was so delicious, I loved the broth so much that I finished it but the noodles. The Restaurant was generous enough to offer either 250g or 300g serve of noodles, Thanh said he ordered the 300g serve for me (doubt it as he said otherwise on his blog) and there was way too much noodles for anyone!! Come to think of it, even a 250g serve of noodles would count towards the 1000 calorie-mark even!!! Perhaps not literally, but there was still lots of noodles. I love the ramen and would definitely order 'extra charshu' next time. That was the only excusable 'mistake', but I'd definitely remember, 'extra charshu'. I love how tender and LEAN the charshu/ pork was, the semi-salted soft boiled egg and the gyozas. Moreover, I love the hot chilli ball (right top corner) with my broth as I just can't get enough of chilli and I eat it almost everyday.

What a pity that this place closes at 9 in the night. Oh I crave for it again, after writing this post. *droolssssss*

My order for the next trip:

- Extra charshu with my ramen and 3 hot chilli balls for MYSELF thanks!

Oh can't wait, I now know where to go to meet up with the rest of my law school friends!!! We went there on the Friday night and I loved how quiet it was and it would be a great place to catch up with some of my friends.

Link to similar post:

I Eat Therefore I Am

Vitasoy v St Ali

2010-07-21T00:57:00.001+10:00

I love a good coffee and it's always a treat to be drinking a St Ali's coffee just before the clock ticks 9 in the morning. I used to go to Leo Cussen Institute and there it was conveniently sitting just across the street is Brother Baba Budan, a brother cafe to St Ali's. Nothing was more refreshing than a nice aromatic cup of coffee early in the mornings especially in colder seasons. The coffee was so good that lawyers from 4 blocks away (DLA Phillips Fox building on Bourke Street) were taking away coffee from Brother Baba Budan.

This is another event of Harvey Publicity which I went to with Thanh. My friends who know me well, know that I wouldn't pass this up for anything else hehe.

Oh wow, machines they use to roast coffee beans. They even set up a cool 'dance floor' with colour-changing lights. It almost resembled a cross between a gym warehouse/ coffee roasting warehouse and a disco. I spotted a latpull machine and a barbell rack just next to the small kitchen bench at the corner.

Matthew Rees and his colleague of Der Raum were serving this beautiful cocktail throughout the night. The cocktail was made of (obviously) VitaSoy, white chocolate, pineapple juice and rum. The Der Raum version of a pinacolada. I haven't drunk much cocktails in my life, but this was by far the best. If anyone wants to kick off their weekend, or even their week, Der Raum is the answer to your problems. I'm truly convinced by just a cocktail, an amazing one!!!

Two picture snaps of Paul from OutPost (above and below) working hard at the kitchen bench serving us all. There was a tremendous flow of canape throughout the whole night, how generous of them to be offering us second, third, forth and countless rounds of the canapes. I truly enjoyed and loved them all. The oysters were served with just soy and mirin, they were extremely fresh and delicious. Next I had pork belly served on a lavoche, it was really good and I remember tasting the sweet tender pork. The chicken and mushroom puff was yum, the miso soup was a savior (from the cold night), the chicken wing was a delicacy and finally the passionfruit donut was the last thing I waited for the whole night. Another of Philippa Sibley's dessert which I can't get enough of. I unashamedly helped myself with 3 of her donuts on that night haha.

The showcase of Philippa Sibley's donuts!~ I've heard some good feedback on St Ali's dinner menu and I'd have to make the effort to go one night. It's a pity that I've only been to St Ali's for brunch and coffee but I have good memories of it, the service was excellent and so was the food.

Links to similar post:

I Eat Therefore I Am

Sarah Cooks

Duck Duck Goose Launch at QV

2010-07-21T00:29:00.000+10:00

Thanh was more than kind enough to bring me along to Duck Duck Goose launch. I was pretty excited when I heard about the launch and little did I know, we scored some gift bags on the way out. Each guests were given a Semillon (I think), a couple of petit fours (cake and biscuit), tea sample and a business card.

Duck Duck Goose is an establishment of the Kam Food group and is very popular in Sydney. Upon red carpet arrival, we were greeted by Eugiena of Harvey Publicity. Just as I took my first step into the restaurant, I was impressed with the arched hallway. I've seen a similar impressive entrance at Gonbei (Japanese restaurant in Kuala Lumpur).

Gonbei at Star Hill in Kuala Lumpur. I had the pleasure in meeting the head chef hehe! (picture not related to the post)

I managed to take a snap of one of the senior chefs (on the left) at the Restaurant. Unfortunately, I do not know much about Duck Duck Goose.

Our dining table which we ended up not using hehe.

I loved the flower arrangements on the table.

The Restaurant has quite a view which I adore. It must be a view of at least 270 degrees, overlooking the alleyway at QV off Russell Street to around Lonsdale Street.

Another snapshot of the hardworking kitchen which tried their best to serve canapes to a crowd of hundreds of people. I ate some of the canapes served that night; shark fin dumpling, crab meat ball, sweet and sour pork skewer, vegetarian skewer, risotto, roast beef etc.

Highlight of the night was meeting Chef Paul Wilson for the second time. I saw Ed and Elizabeth Chong from Good Morning Australia. I managed to exchange a few words with Fiona from Harvey Publicity, who has been kind enough to be inviting Thanh to go to these wonderful functions.

I know that I haven't provided you with descriptive events of the night (as I was too busily looking for food and pouncing on them lol), but do check out I Eat Therefore I Am for more information and beautiful pictures or alternatively Duck Duck Goose.

Lemon Tart

2010-07-20T23:55:00.001+10:00

Above - the second tart with filling.

Lemon tart is one of my favourite desserts and I've always wanted to attempt baking it. As I am keen in learning how to bake and cook, I thought it was a good idea in attempting to make everything from scratch and make the shortcrust pastry. Oh boy, no, it was not a good idea :-b During the midst of hard work, I was so tempted to drive down the road and buy a Creme's ready-rolled short crust pastry instead :=b I withheld myself, and made about 4 doughs in that one day.

My first dough - I chucked it out :-b I have never cooked from the LaRousse Gastronomique book before and thought there's always a first time. Grr seeing how many trials I went through, I'm not sure if it was the recipe or my 'technique' (as I wouldn't have any skill haha). The first 2 pate brisee shortcrust I made, I followed LaRousse's recipe word for word and they turned out pretty horrible. Even till the last one, I couldn't get my shortcrust to cook properly. The instructions said to blind bake it for about 10 minutes, then a further 5 minutes, all of which I did and even left them to cook for about 30 minutes (my 3rd and 4th pastries) but they still would NOT cook :-b

The lemon curd however, was a bit easier though undoubtedly I made mistakes too :-b I whisked my curd, yes I whisked it. I was meant to just mix it gently. I followed the idea of Tartelette's lemon tart 's which she used lemon basil though I substituted it for lemon thyme instead because I couldn't find lemon basil. I loved the aroma of the thyme on its own. I melted the butter with lemon thyme, then sifted it and mixed with the rest of the ingredients.

Above - the third tart with filling.

Above - the fourth tart with filling.

On to the fourth tart, the filling I made for this was a tad better though still did not have the sheeny smooth surface. It tasted alright though very tangy. I read Matt Moran's lemon tart recipe (from the Master Chef magazine) that he uses some orange juice to balance the the tangy flavour from the lemon. Again, the pastry did not cook. Another problem to my pastry was that, I didn't roll out the pastry evenly, the pastry obviously couldn't cook evenly and certain parts shrunk more than the others. LOL.

Just as well Thanh made a yummy dessert, Matcha Slice (a recipe for Vanilla Slice) for dinner. I'm saved though he did warn me 2 weeks before to at least try making it the week before to see how I go haha.

Boy it was stressful in the kitchen. I finally made a fifth one (no photos) on the next day, just to have another go at making the pastry. It finally got a bit better, and I made sure that the whole (bl00dy) pastry was cooked before I poured in the lemon curd. It wasn't too bad and I still ended up eating it all (did share small portion of it).

To conclude it all, I did learn something new though profess to say it would be one of the worst lemon tarts I've ever had in terms of its texture haha. In my opinion, Philippa Sibley still does the best lemon tart, but a price of $6 to pay for a slice at Il Fornaio. It's not very expensive to make a whole tart at home and probably cost less than $5 for a whole 10inch tart. It would have been worth it to bake it at home if I could pull out a magic wand and wave it at my tart so it would resemble a whole Sibley's lemon tart hehe.

Oh lemon tart... I blame Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal for saying that it's one of the easiest thing to make! Oh Lingy, I only have myself to blame~!

Black Forest Cake Take II

2010-07-20T22:49:00.001+10:00

One of my girl friend's favourite cake is the Black Forest. It couldn't have been a better time to attempt it for the second time and I made one just about two months ago. It's a recipe I adopted from Gary Mehigan, Master Chef. So I suggested to Mel that I'd make the Black Forest and split the cost between both of us. It costs about $40'ish to make a cake.

I made two cakes this time around. Even though both of the cakes were done about the same time (consecutively one after), the consistency actually varied by quite a bit. The first cake, which I finished just on time to bring to Ange's, was actually disappointing. The sponge was a bit dry and hard, and the ganache hardened immediately after I poured onto the cake. Thanh and I discussed about it, and we concluded that it may have been due to the fact that I put it straight away into the fridge right after I poured the ganache onto the cake. Hence, there were some white bits on the chocolate too, evidently the vast temperature change contributed to the (unprecedented and) unwanted outcome.

I also made some macarons for Ange. A mini tower of 3 types:

Black sesame meringue and chunky peanut cream;
Almond meringue and passionfruit; and
Strawberry meringues with wasabi cream and a piece of cherry.

The strawberry/ wasabi/ cherry is an inspiration I got from one of Pierre Herme's popular and outstanding combinations though PH's original combination was almond meringues, wasabi cream and strawberry compote (so I think). I wouldn't say the one I made is amazing, but I thought it was quite good and I immediately ate two whilst putting them together; and have eaten at least 5/6 since then. Considering that I only make about a dozen macarons each batch, it must say something or I was just desperate to have more of Pierre Herme's, reminding myself how amazing the flavours were. Ange's sister Vannie thought that the combination was 'interesting'. Personally, I could have put less wasabi in the buttercream filling hehe.

I pictured myself biting into PH's original strawberry/ wasabi macaron from about 2 months ago. I can remember clearly the time I had PH's strawberry/ wasabi macaron, I found it so intriguing and my palate enjoyed every thorough robust flavours of it. If only the texture was maintained all the way from the PH shop in Selfridges. One day, Paris here I come, the day I have the pleasure to bite into a PH macaron I'd be needing a chair to sit, perhaps an oxygen tank and some tissues hahaha.

Mel, Ange and I were busily taking some photos. I love Mel's new shiny kitchen hehe and I can't wait for her to hold a dinner party! Whee-hoo! <3

The second cake I made. Funny story, I forgot to include BAKING POWDER into the sponge cakes. FORTUNATELY it turned out alright, just that it was about 1-2cm shorter than the first one I made. The sponge cake was not as dry and dense as the one before. I thought this one tasted better and felt ashamed for not giving the better cake of the two. Comparing 3 cakes next to each other, it's fair to say that my third cake turned out the best (despite no baking powder). My First Black Forest cake looked SHOCKING (refer below). Oh well, I do learn along the way ...

Above - First cake from 2 months ago.

Above - Third cake during my second attempt.

Above is my third cake during my second attempt.

What I learnt from baking this cake, especially the third cake, was that the processes seemed so much easier and the time I spent on the third cake was actually so much less than compared to the first and second cakes. Funnily enough, I made the third cake late in the night when I was so exhausted that I didn't think I could be on my feet for the whole night and I didn't refer to the recipe as much LOL.

Ahhh so much for my venture in baking the Black Forest. I only hope it only improves hereon!!!

Above (2) - All over the shop chocolates shaves I made at home. LOL.

Tuesday Training Notes

2010-07-14T23:30:00.002+10:00

It was still a cold winter Tuesday's night and I thought I should sneak in an aerobics class for the sake of doing some cardio. I used to love doing Body Attack on Tuesdays and Sundays, but not as of late, not especially since mid-autumn.

Anyhow, so I did aerobics last night and the following:

1. Chins 2 x 8

2. Barbell curls 10kgs 5 x 15 superset with

3. Barbell upright rows 10kgs 5 x 10

4. Deadlifts (hammer strength lol) 60kgs 5 x 8

Hmm I think that was about it. Bah, I need to work harder in the gym. Can't believe I missed my favourite Body Combat class of the week! Richmond needs to have more Combat classes and get rid of those ridiculous Zumba/ Zamba/ Zomba, Step and Jam classes lol. Just lately, my mind loses its focus and wanders, I have crazy thoughts of getting on stage but only if the Panel appreciates Nicole Wilkins-Lee's figure more than the traditional hard/ dry look. It's one thing to prove the established theory wrong, by not having to follow a strict diet and still eat all the desserts I want, but totally a whole new level of stupidity to stand up in front of the crowd looking fat (plump) and SMOOTH lol.

Moortangi Estate Wine Tasting Event

2010-07-12T22:09:00.001+10:00

Note: Pictures above and below are adopted from Moortangi Estate.

I've had the privilege of attending another food event, not as a plus one this time :-) Firstly, thanks to both Sandra and Nina who are part of the Moortangi Estate company for sending me the invite. Even though I don't know much about wine, I thought that this was a terrific opportunity to learn a bit more about wine.

As this was my first wine tasting event, I was impressed with some of the presentation that Moortangi Estate had put up. Each person was given; Tasting Notes, Aroma Chart, pen and notepad to scribble on. Just a few words of background, the company is family run and the name Moortangi, comes from an Aboriginal word meaning 'shelter'. The picture below, as adopted from the company, is a view of their vineyard currently.

The first wine we were asked to taste was the Cambrian Shiraz 2005. The shiraz originates from the Northern part of Heathcote. I learnt that the clarity of a red can be seen as reflected against white-coloured background. We were asked to swirl the wine against a piece of white paper, and this shiraz had a bright cherry colour to it. This was particularly quite a sweet shiraz, with slight hints of spiciness.

The second wine we tasted was the Heathcote Old Vine Shiraz 2005. This shiraz originates from the east of the Heathcote Township and is one of the oldest in Australia. The company has exclusive rights to this part of the vineyard. The colour of this wine was a darker shade of cherry. I, particularly, smelled more fruit in this one as compared to the Cambrian. However, it tasted very different as it was not as fruity as I thought, and as compared to the Cambrian. This shiraz was earthy with stronger hints of spices. Personally, I prefer the Old Vine.

These shiraz are sold by the glass at several top restaurants. Diners can find the Cambrian at Attica, Lamaro, Cutler and Co etc. The Old Vine can be found at Ezard, Sapore and Stokehouse.

The company also served 4 types of cheese. My favourites were the English cheddar and Rocquefort (blue cheese).

We were each given some cupcakes at the end of the event. It was no ordinary cupcake as it was made with Moortangi Estate's Cambrian bottle *winks* I was lucky enough in managing to sneak home 2 cupcakes in my ramekins LOL. Sandra, who made this cupcakes, said that it was quite a traditional recipe (to use red wine in cupcakes) and that it was passed down by her grandmother/ mother (can't correctly remember who). On our way out, we were each given a bottle of the Cambrian Shiraz. Lots of thanks to Moortangi Estate for their hospitality and their generosity on the night of the Event. We were given free refills to our wine, I being good did not ask for seconds though thought that they were generous to give us a bottle each to bring home with us, ohhh and the cupcakes too!

Related posts:
I Eat Therefore I Am
Sarah Cooks

House Warming at Jacky's

2010-07-12T18:03:00.000+10:00

It was a cold Saturday night and I was invited to go to Jacky's housewarming. I am known to bring macarons everywhere I go, so I thought I'd whipped up a couple of biscuits to go with the other dish I brought. I made 2 macarons; one was durian meringues with durian cream and the other was hazelnut meringues with pandan/ screwpine leaf cream. I noted that I should not have put that much durian essence :-b I can never tell and still fail at measuring how much essence I should put into my macarons :-b

This was the other dish that I brought. I followed Jason Atherton's (of Maze) recipe. It was an apple/ rhubarb crumble. The original recipe was for an apple crumble. Making this for the first time, silly me cooked the apple and rhubarb at the same time and for the same period of time. MISTAKE and I then found my fruits to be mushy :-( something a crumble should not be. I know better now. I didn't peel off the skins of hazelnuts (of the crumble) properly and hence it appeared to be burnt at some spots. I could have cooked the crumble for a bit longer. Oh well, we all have our bad days. At least I brought some macarons to compensate for the mushy crumble LOL.

Jones the Grocer at Chadstone

2010-07-12T17:54:00.000+10:00

Since I had a beautiful mushroom risotto at Vue de Monde last year, I've always kept an eye out for another everywhere I go. This was a porcini risotto infused with some truffle oil. It was unfortunately undercooked, had it been cooked to perfection, it would have melt in my mouth. I still loved the flavours of it, and I have just bought some risotto and porcini mushrooms of my own to cook it whenever I feel like having some at home. I crave for pasta and risotta dishes especially during these cold seasons.

Afternoon Tea at Sarah's

2010-07-12T17:35:00.000+10:00

It was on a late Friday afternoon, that I was told about Sarah's afternoon tea and that she was making scones for the next day. Obviously I could not decline the tempting offer! I was told that I could bring something, little did I know, I made some rhubarb and blueberry souffle to free up some space in the fridge. Therefore, I brought some of my souffle to Sarah's.

Sarah and Sandra set up the lovely table for a few of us for the afternoon. Even though they weren't matching cups, saucers and plates, I loved the setting of the table. It was inviting, warm and nevertheless Pretty especially with the lilies on the table :-)

Sarah just had her cards printed, I thought it looked lovely with my Devonshire tea (with a twist, I drank matcha instead haha).

From the far right, we have Sarah's wholemeal scones, some cream, some rose biscuits (Sarah received it all the way from France) and a lovely glass of sparkling/ green tea cocktail popped with a couple of vibrant rose tea flowers.

I haven't tasted too many scones in my life but I love the fact that Sarah used some wholemeal flour to make her scones, which she followed Belinda Jeffrey's recipe. We commented on how the scones did not have a smooth surface and that it was probably due to the use of wholemeal flour. I thought it was a brilliant effort, the use of skinny milk and some wholemeal flour totally spell healthy for me :-)

Everybody else thought it was fun to plate up a scone on a plate. It not only looked appetising but rather pretty at sight. Good effort folks!

The above would be the souffles I made topped with some crumble (made from oats, flour, butter and roasted hazelnuts). I didn't manage to take a photo of my souffles hence I adopted this photo from I Eat Therefore I Am. It was my first time making souffles and boy I was quite happy with the turned out form. It was extremely tangy and had to be served with some cream or ice cream. At least I freed up the space in the refrigerator by using the rhubarb I had left from the week before. The souffles were made following Gary Mehigan 's recipe in which I substituted black berries with blue berries instead (as that was what I had in the freezer at that moment).

Overall, I enjoyed every minute of the Devonshire tea arvo with everyone. I thank Sarah and Sandra for having us :-)

Do check out related posts:

Sarah Cook's tea party ; and

I Eat Therefore I Am's afternoon teaT

Gym diary notes ...

2010-06-22T12:43:00.001+10:00

After about 5 years of training, I still have not got my head around a programme. The programme I stuck to last year, resulted in me gaining 8-9kgs. Also I did consume a lot more food, including chocolates late in the nights etc. I remember lifting way heavier last year and was doing at least 60kgs on latpulls though I could never do chins when I got so heavy!!! (like 5 reps and that was about it).

It's winter again, and oh boy, I've found it so much colder than for the past 5-6 years. It is difficult to have a well balanced diet as I always end up consuming so much sweets. Having said that, I have managed my diet and training way better than I have before. My trick is to not lift 90% my maximum capacity, to avoid consuming food excessively. I'm lifting about 75-80% of my maximum today, doing more reps and I don't push myself as much as I used to.

I eat more carbs today than I ever have before, it keeps me off the excessive sugar consumption later in the nights. Only few sweets I have daily is perhaps the macarons I bake at home, and the occasional tasty pastry treats I buy from pastry cafes.

A typical easy day at the gym is as follows:

1. Cardio class - combat/ attack

2. Latpulls 40kg warm ups; 50kgs 3 x 8

3. Dumbbell rows 2.5kgs 3 x 8

4. Tricep presses 30kg warm ups; 40kgs 3x9

5. Rear delts cable pulls (Standing) 10kgs 3 x 10

Somehow, I feel that my vision in the gym is still blur but at least it's clearer as compared to before. I strive to achieve the balance between training and enjoying the food I love to eat, there has been unfortunate consequences like putting on 8-9 kilos during autumn and winter seasons last year, but at least I'm learning along the way :-) Still love weight training and still love majestic-looking and luscious-tasting food.

Longrain

2010-06-22T11:56:00.001+10:00

The people I know who have dined at Longrain, only had good things to tell me about it. The Restaurant does not open for lunch except for Fridays (I think it's the only day), though it never occurred to me as I have tried going there for lunch a couple of times HEHE. Yes, it still didn't occur to me the second time I went HAHA. Anyway, Longrain does modern Thai cuisine. I found that, from the dishes I ordered, the flavours were there and of what I'd expect from Thai food but with a modern edge to it.

Unfortunately, Longrain does not take reservations unless if you want a table reserved for a bigger number of diners (>6-8?). We were asked to sit at the lounge area, which had a beautiful tank next to it.

I am always impressed with elegant long-stem flowers at restaurants, or anywhere really.

I think this mango salad was somewhat a replica of 'kerabu' which I've had when I was growing up. My family never fails to order it when we dine out and I never appreciated it until just last year when I visited Thailand. This salad was exceptionally spicy and we thought they must have preserved some chilli in the fish sauce. I have grown to love extra hot and spicy food for the past few years, and this was definitely something my taste buds could not disagree with.

One of the specials of the night was a sher wagyu stir-fry. This was DELICIOUS. This was the only non-spicy dish of the night, besides dessert of course hehe. I can't remember too much of it besides it being delicious, but it felt like all of the savoury dishes have similar base sauce, which is the fish sauce (very commonly used in Thai cooking).

Fish curry, was the only dish I thought which was not quite Thai. This was the hottest dish of the night (I do tend to order hot dishes but didn't know everything else we ordered were hot) and I found that the heat and taste from chilli was too overpowering for this dish. Again, I tasted quite a bit of the fish sauce in this curry. I don't know anything about Thai cooking, but do they normally also use fish sauce in their curry? Perhaps a hint of it, but it was quite prominent in this dish, besides the chilli. Despite not finding the curry too attractive to my palate, I thought the fish was well cooked.

We had to order suckling pig. I have only grown to like this dish since late last year and previously, I have always thought of it as a fatty dish (always avoiding it to make room for desserts). Suckling pig has been such a popular dish at restaurants for the past 1.5 years that every restaurant was doing it. I believe that my first suckling pig dish at a fine dine restaurant, was at Taxi Dining Room, where I had it for 2-3 times in some of my many visits. Being an ignorant diner previously, I didn't bother to ask for variations as you'd think that I would especially that I didn't like it the first time round. The meat was dry and the crackle never did crackle!

Back to Longrain's dish. The meat was succulent, sweet and tender. The crackle did crackle. Overall, I enjoyed the dish very much and I thought it perhaps didn't need too much salad on the top. I'm quite a meat-dish lover, and I only eat vegetables just for the sake of its fibre content and to have a balanced diet. The sauce to this dish was beautiful too, I can't remember what sauce it was though if my memory serves me right, all of the savoury dishes did have fish sauce as their main essence. Beautiful pork dish, I say!

We saw a group of girls ordering this a few seats away on the long table. How could I give this a miss, after seeing the showcase (though boring colours)! It speaks gluttony for itself, and I can nickname myself a huge glutton. I knew I just had to have it the moment I laid my eyes on it. The dessert platter had 6 mini-dishes to it.

Firstly there was coconut pannacotta (bottom right and moving clockwise), which was creamy and beautiful. Secondly, there was coconut sorbet with litchee/ lychee and pineapple pieces which I found truly refreshing. Thirdly, we had the banana ice cream with sesame and sticky rice. I have still not grown to like sticky rice(!!!), but the combination I found personally, was a rather very good effort. On the top left, it was coconut caramel with sesame praline on the top. This was so so delicious, the combination of flavours reminded of what I've had as a child (can't remember where from exactly). I loved the luscious and creamy rich coconut folded in caramel, oh yums! Not forgetting, it was extremely sweet, almost like eating palm sugar haha. Top right, was salted peanut ice cream with coconut pieces laid on bed of taro. The combination was marvelous (certainly a combination I'm thinking for macaron) and I loved how the flavours came together as unison. In the middle, last but not least, a coconut sago served with dashes of espresso.

I loved all of the desserts, except the banana ice cream (not a big fan of banana in desserts), and they have given me some thoughts on how to recreate Asian flavours and incorporate them in my macaron spreadsheet! My Asian/ Chinese friends love some of my macarons with Asian flavours in them, black sesame and peanut (Mochi), pandan (screwpine leaf/ Asian vanilla essence) and King of Fruit (Durian). I'd definitely be experimenting with yam/ taro (once get my hands on the essence) and more of coconut. All this while, I thought that combination of coconut and other flavours is quite limited, it never occurred to me how much I can explore with it until I rekindled with some of the flavours I grew up eating as a child, at Longrain. I love the modern twists in modern food, and it is quite a shame that I have forgotten some of the foods I grew up eating. I have now learnt to appreciate them a bit more, and would definitely eat more of them :-D

Overall, Longrain definitely lives up to its image in Melbourne and Sydney. Traditional Thai flavours with modern twists in modern days. Isthmus of Kra is my other Thai favourie in Melbourne, more traditional and totally worth dining at if you dislike the hustle and bustle in darn poor-acoustic restaurants. It was so noisy that I felt like I was going to go deaf!! During my visit, I think I saw Philippe Mouchel's maitre d dining next to use on the next long table haha. I'll miss the brasserie at Crown, byebye to convenience of parking, I'm still not used to parking in the city as I hate having to pay for parking after hours. A bigger hate, should they implement parking system like the one in St Kilda where you have to pay from early morning to 12midnight. How ridiculous!!! Oh, I like Longrain!

Weekend baking

2010-06-22T11:01:00.000+10:00

I made 2 combinations in the weekend. One, coffee and pistachio meringues with toasted coconut cream and two, apricot (with saffron garnish) and vanilla meringues with saffron cream. I received mixed feedback about them, family and some friends love the saffron/ vanilla and one didn't get what the flavours were.

The saffron/ vanilla/ apricot was inspired by one of Pierre Herme's combinations though I made vanilla meringue in replace of peach pieces. Personally, I love the saffron/ vanilla and refused to give away too many of them.

The coconut/ pistachio/ coffee was inspired by one of the desserts I had at Longrain (I'd have to write up how delicious the food was). The original dessert I had at Longrain was a coconut sago dish topped with a few dashes of espresso. I simply love the desserts at Longrain for its wonderful traditional flavours and combinations. All of which were created with modern constructive flair, how delicious those flavours were and how harmonious the combinations were. I remember growing up eating some of those flavours but never appreciated my Asian/ Chinese background and I've neglected some of those wonderful experiences until just the past few months. My take on this macaron however, is that the coconut came in a bit too prominent and could have been a bit less, so it wouldn't overpower the coffee and pistachio too much. The reason why I added the pistachio meringue was basically because I ran out of almond meal LOL. I think the combination was pretty good.

My spreadsheet is already underway, finally but have yet to fill everything in. I love eating biscuits and sweets. It's quite rewarding to be snacking on sweets I make, rather than buying Arnotts off the shelves at Coles/ Safeway. Having said that, I do love eating some of those cream biscuits from time to time and if I do, I can finish the whole Assorted Creams in 2days :-( PFFT!

Ahh what else should I make this weekend. I've been feeling like eclairs for the past 2 weeks, have not gone around even looking at the recipe, and there's way too many other foods I want to cook/ bake.

I heart Macarons

2010-06-17T07:28:00.000+10:00

My friends would know how obsessed I am with macarons. So I'm writing more of it, just be grateful that I don't speak too much of it as compared to someone I've heard of from Renald. Thanh brought me some of Pierre Herme love all the way from Selfridges in London. Oh the joy and the excitement I felt my heart beating the moment my eyes laid on the pretty pastel-coloured box. My thoughts immediately jumped, and surely there must be macarons contained in this box haha, of course it did. Umm if there was something else in it, whether a Hermes coin pouch or whatever I'd be DEVASTATED!!! I'm glad that he didn't take a bite too during his long trip home, and sneaked in some cheap lollies instead LOL.

As much as I love Blogspots auto-rotates, but they do stink other times when it decides to upload it upside-down.

Better view of the 7 combinations/ flavours. Starting from the top, chocolate, apricot/ peach/ saffron, strawberry/ wasabi/ cherry compote, jasmine, salted caramel, griottines (sour cherries)/pistachio/ cinnamon and passionfruit.

I've had all but the chocolate, griottines and passionfruit. They were amazing in flavour combinations. The texture, I hope, was not precise because I did leave them in the fridge and even after leaving it out to stand for a while, they still did not melt in my mouth. The texture was not what I thought it was perhaps due to the fact that it was hand-carried all the way from London hehe. I can't wait for the day I actually bite into my first macaron at a Pierre Herme outlet in Paris, ahhh it will be the DAY. Oh and perhaps pick up a bag too hehe. So, even though the texture was not what I expected it to be, the flavours and combination was divine, interesting and they are definitely food for thought. The moment I bit into them, I was already thinking, hmmmm is this doable, I think I can make them as long as I have some of the flavourings at hand. I'll have to attempt saffron and something as I bought a few threads just recently. Yes I still am obsessed with macarons even after 8 months learning about them, the girl who learnt about them from Gossip Girl Season 2 finale haha!

Just as much as I love to eat them, I also enjoy making them :-) So I've made the black forest, Mochi (black sesame and peanut cream) and I've replicate other combinations from which I've read from My Tartelette. There are so many combinations to try out and I believe that they are countless. I've got my spreadsheet going, yet to be updated but it's definitely 31 and counting excluding Tartelette's, Pierre Herme's oustanding combinations.

I <3 pretty little meringue biscuits. Oh Macarons Oh!

Il Fornaio

2010-06-17T06:41:00.004+10:00

This was my very first food blogging event, and no I was not invited by the host, but Thanh brought me (after successfully asked if he could squeeze in another guest). I have to say it was surreal to see these hardworking and dynamic chefs working at the kitchen, despite having a few of us in the way half the time they were trying to plate up the desserts on the marble bench.

The event took place at Il Fornaio in St Kilda. The bakery has existed for quite a while now, even since my very first visit to the Prince about 5 years ago. Just recently, St Ali bought the cafe and Philippa Sibley is now its head chef. As someone who loves her coffee, St Ali is quite the pioneer in making coffee, whether roasting them or serving it on a cup with amazing rosette.

Chocolate mousse cake with hint of licorice and fresh raspberry. It was a rich mouthful, and I'm sure all chocolate-lovers would appreciate this rich and silky mouthful.

Philippa Sibley and her son who knows his way around the kitchen by being able to tell what a cake tin is (for a what, 10 year old?) and being able to showcase his mother's amazing pastries to the guests.

The team behind Il Fornaio. It must have been quite the amazing effort in preparing the delights for the night to accommodate to up to 200 guests. So Fiona, the main publicist (I believe), said "I only invited the media". Little did she know, I was a food blogger plus one, who also ran into my lawyerly neighbour.

Plating up the chocolate dessert, and not to forget the luscious lemon tart. I used to go to Bistro Guillaume just for its lemon tart, never learnt it was Philippa Sibley behind it all, and have always loved the restaurant's dessert. From its pistachio flavoured creme brulee to its outstanding lemon tart. I have to say, the tart I had from the event was amazingly delicious, loved the burst of zing and bang of lemon in the curd and the pastry was soft yet not crumbly. The last lemon tart I had at the bar of Bistro Guillaume late Nov 2009, was delicious though they over baked the pastry. I went back again in December 2009, oh sadly to learn from Adam (maitre d), that they took the tart off the menu. I was quite sad to learn later this year, that Guillaume closed his Melbourne restaurant, oh well now I have another reason why I should go to Sydney. Umm sadder news I heard on the night of the event was that, the staff of Bistro Guillaume only learnt of the news quite late. I wonder where Adam works at now, where Michael/ Russo of Richmond Hill Cafe and Ladder are.

The tray of candied rose petals was one of the first things that caught my eye in the kitchen. Ahh, so this is where rosewater flavour comes from. PFFT, I can't believe that I missed my chance to ask a professional, where she sources her rose petals from, whether they were organic or not; and whether non-organic flowers share the similar concept as other non-organic produce/ perishables.

So, the son knows quite a bit about plating up or dusting the dishes with some crushed candied roses.

Now, to Philippa Sibley's most popular creation in the eyes of Australian television, from the Master Chef celebrity challenge, the SNICKERS dessert; caramel parfait glace with salted peanut caramel and milk chocolate mousse. This was an amazing piece of pastry, the art and idea behind it; oh ever so priceless. It tasted exactly like how a Snickers bar would taste like, though I personally thought there was more chocolate behind the widely available commercial Snickers bar but what do I know. It contains all the elements a dessert can have, the texture, the flavours, the presentation etc.

One of my other memories of having a similar type of dessert was the Mars bar. I'm not one who eats a lot of chocolate snack bars, I probably only eat one or two a year, so I wouldn't know too much about them. Anyway, the Mars bar, I had before was at Circa. I remember meeting Matt Wilkinson in the past and commented on how outstanding that piece of Mars dessert was and he claimed that it was his idea, rather than another head chef (Botanical previously). It has just lately crossed my mind that Philippa Sibley did work at Circa before.

Speaking of Botanical, I drove past it 2 days ago, and found that it's closed for renovations. About time they fix the acoustics of the place, despite a good tuna main, the place needs a revamp, love the sun roofs and voids, but I think they had to go :-b I haven't been in the glass room/ private room before, I doubt it's any different from the acoustics at the restaurant itself. Botanical, was the first place I had my first ever truffle dish. A salad entree sprinkled with truffle oil :-b I honestly cannot remember if the dish contained shaved truffles (I highly doubt it), but it was a nice, the day I learnt of truffles. It was only recently that truffles are made available and more accessible to consumers, even cheaper for restaurants as Australia has started farming them in just the past few years. Then, it was so expensive and it would cost at least a few thousands for 1 kg of truffle, perhaps even $5-10g for 1 kg of white truffle flown from Italy (as opposed to a Hermes bag, Hermes ANY DAY doh).

I didn't take photos of the final product of the ice cream. It was beautiful rhubarb ice cream served with candied rose petal. The ice cream had a citrus burst in it, followed by cooked rhubarb and the crispy biscuit cone. It was a clever match-making idea, the rose, rhubarb and the cone.

I had to take the photo of the last bites of the pastry goodies I BOUGHT the day before the event (didn't have a working camera phone the day before). I sent my phone in for service near the area, and thought 'Hey it would be a great afternoon of waiting, if I could just drop in at the cafe', so I did. I had a coffee and took away lemon custard donut, croissant and mandarin cheesecake. Oh coffee was so good, it was not any of my favourite dark roast beans, but they were good and it sure carries the image of St Ali's, never fail at making good coffees. I have to go to St Ali's more, I've had it at 3 different outlets, they are all consistent and they seem to get their serving temperature right'ish all the time. I could just swallow it down wholesomely in one go. It's probably not the best place to catch up with my girl friends, as I'd constantly be drinking cups of coffee without realising just how much caffeine I'm actually drinking LOL.

Anyway back to Il Fornaio. The interior did not change much, since the last time I went about a year ago. The service was quite good though I looked a bit out of place, sipping on my coffee with 3 take away bags. I loved the croissant and the cheesecake, not quite sure about the donut. I prefer my donuts to be softer, but the donut I had definitely did have the flavour to it. The silky mandarin cheesecake was DELICOUS and it's definitely one of the things I'd go for the next time I go back. I can't wait to try out more of the pastries at the Cafe. I wish St Kilda isn't as busy as it is and parking isn't an issue.

In summarising my first ever 'food-blogging' event experience, I survived it. Having being able to take it easy for all my life, I've grown to the ease of intimate company rather than huge crowds. Overwhelming as I found it was, to top it with meeting a few passionate food-bloggers/ foodies, was rather interesting to see some of the interaction and just how passionate they are in taking photographs and writing their experiences. I've never been big on blogs, I don't know what my purpose is in writing but to just share some of my experiences with my friends and people I know. It was definitely refreshing to learn why these food bloggers are so passionate in what they do, and great in meeting some of them. Sarah from Sarah Cooks was another I've met just a month ago (she does amazing home-cook dishes), and not forgetting Thanh's I Eat Therefore I Am is another worth visiting if you're looking for some foodie adventures.

More of macarons :-b

2010-06-07T08:11:00.002+10:00

Some combination I made last week. Raspberry and mango meringue with hazelnut praline white chocolate ganache. I also made it with vanilla meringue. I'm making a couple more of flavours this week; one namely Oreo just simply because it was on special at Coles last week and undoubtedly I finished a whole pack of it in one day, and another pack of Tim Tams in a few days. Ummm... and an Asian flavour, whether screwpine/ pandan or durian/ the King of fruit, because Mel couldn't get enough of it and Kee Hung wants to try some of it. Till then...

Weekend Training is the Best!

2010-06-06T09:37:00.001+10:00

Somehow, I just love training during the weekends, just simply because there is less annoying traffic, whether on the roads or at the gym :-b Weekends are the time when I lift heavier weights without having to worry too much about other people's turn to use machines which I use.

cardio for 5 minutes on cross/air-walkers
Smith machine lunges 30kgs 4 x 12
Superset with plyometric lunges 2 x 15
Smith squats 40kgs 2 x 10, 60kgs 2 x 8, 40kgs 1 x 10
Leg extensions 37.5kgs 1 x 12, 42.5kgs 1 x 10, 47.5kgs 1 x 9
Superset with plyometric lunges 1 x 15
Leg press 80kgs 2x10, 120kgs 3 x 10

The morning came when I'm meant to do a whole Body Attack class, ahhh and it never fails to hit me, just how insanely busy Brandon's class is - it just puts me off and I can't be bothered half the time. So this time, I dragged myself to the gym, only to find that I'm late as per usual, so I did my own mini warm up on the cross-walkers then join in during the second half of the class. The songs were not too bad, but I'm no fan of the seventh track as it was just hah, strange. I think the better things of this release is the last 2 songs, which I used to play over and over again during my long-extended holiday a few months back.

Chins 10, 9, 6, 3 and 4 bench assisted haha
Latpulls 45kgs 1 x 10, 50kgs 1 x 5 then 40kgs 1 x 5 haha (yeh, only 2 sets)
Dumbbell rows 30kgs (pfft weak!) 5 x 8
Cable rows - upper and lower pulleys - about 10/20kgs 3 x 10
Rear delt pulls (for the sake of some lat movement) 10kgs 3 x 10
Hammer strength (upper rows) redefined - 20kgs 3 x 12. I read about this move from, yes, one of the IFBB Pro figure's training diary before. This is the only back exercise she does to avoid growing bigger wings haha. I do this exercise weekly, just so that I get to cheat and it's feather-light!

My commitment in the gym has almost plateaued and motivation is declining. I am consistent but I don't work as hard as I did this time last year as I found myself consuming too much food to compensate for energy used in lifting really (really) heavy weights. Despite that, I am still eating a lot of junkfood (can never learn) and cardio seems to slip away as the cold days go by. Having said that I do get bored of gym 80% of the time, I am still not one who'd train with someone else or even have small talks during my training bahhh. My ipod is my only training partner, oh the joy!

Attica

2010-06-02T01:48:00.001+10:00

The night when I finally dined at Attica, 73rd of the World's Best Restaurants as voted by San Pellegrino. The moment I finished the last sip of my coffee, it hit my palate that, I'm definitely going back! OK so I confess, I was won during my 4th course.

I had to take this photo from the outside.

The Restaurant won me over; as we got there punctually at 6.30pm, it was quiet and peaceful. The place was warm, comfortable and it felt rather homely. Hmm I think I'll most likely dine at the quietest time ever now, restaurants are so busy these days and I really (really) dislike the hustle and bustle. People, chit chattering ever so loudly and laugh like they cannot care less about the surrounding people and just (bloody) ruining the experience and atmosphere for everybody else. OK, don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly all that uptight, a laugh or two is perfectly fine, but seriously does one's chattery mood have to last during their entire meal pfft!

Home-made butter and olive oil emulsion. Oh to-die-for; the olive oil emulsion! We couldn't get enough of it and asked for seconds haha! The texture, is very meringue-like and perhaps beaten with egg whites. It was lovely especially with the warm seeded-bread, which we also asked for seconds ha ha.

Tuesday nights are Ben Shewry's invention nights and the Restaurant only offers a standard 5 course menu. He creates these dishes over the weekend and preps them on Tuesday mornings with his team. It can be a little bit risky for a reputable restaurant like his to be experimenting his dishes with his clienteles, but evidently, he is quite the genius in the kitchen as we had nothing to complain about, almost nothing (read below).

The Restaurant serves multigrain and sourdough, but we asked for multigrain on both counts. The bread was warm, moist (as opposed to dry) and I just could not get enough of it, especially spreading with the olive oil emulsion.

I was pretty excited and I was expecting beautiful quality dishes since being surprised with the olive oil emulsion. This was our first course, core of lettuce with marron and egg, drizzled with umm prosciutto (?) oil. I loved how crisp and fresh the lettuce was, it definitely felt like I was eating it hand-picked just ten minutes before the course was served on my plate (haha).

Ta-dah, a surprise of marron waiting on the inside. The smooth texture of the egg yolk was quite similar to mayonnaise and it went beautifully with the marron. For those who wonder what marron is, it is, I believe, a South Australian type crayfish but only found in freshwater. I honestly don't know if I can tell the difference between the two because I've only had cooked crayfish with sauces drizzled over/ cooked with all these while but it would be interesting to taste these different types of crayfish myself without sauces one day :-)

Poached chicken with deep fried abalone, CHICKEN CRACKLE, mussel butter, egg and parsley as garnish. This dish was beautiful, it was rich and bold. The chicken was poached to perfection, the abalone was wonderfully blanched then deep fried (I believe) and I love just how the mussel butter just melts in my mouth. The crackle was the highlight of this dish, as I have not had a chicken crackle before. The crackle really did CRACKLE! The bits of egg and parsley texture felt a bit like the texture of cous cous. It was really interesting and it did accompany with the rest of the elements of the dish very well. I love parsley!

Oh yum, the leg of lamb with sheep's milk yogurt, broccoli and spices. The lamb was baked with hay and pumpkin. To be honest with you, I couldn't taste much of the pumpkin and I certainly don't know what hay is like, whether natural or cooked :-b I am usually not particularly keen in goat cheese/ milk and avoid ordering that at restaurants, but I loved this sheep's milk yogurt. The yogurt added some zing to the other elements of the dish and the wonderful spices balance the richness of the sheep's milk. The lamb was beautifully cooked as you can see in the picture above even with a mobile phone camera :-b

I'd like to take this opportunity to commend on the wait staff's effort for folding my napkin whilst I take a stroll (which I got lost) to the ladies. So I further explored the rest of the Restaurant (we sat in the very front), I walked half way down (though informed to walk all the way down) and found myself at a very cold courtyard and a chef staring at me from the kitchen window almost flabbergasted at what I was doing. Ummmm, I thought oh, this mansion must be old and that the toilets are detached from the building haha! A friendly wait staff came to my rescue, I asked 'so I was looking for the red door to the ladies', and she directed me the right way. Umm, it felt a bit like a maze, there was a corner almost every other few steps and I couldn't tell which was the way to the bar, the kitchen, and the toilets. LOL.

On my way out of the ladies, I saw this fancy machine (which the wait staff told me about earlier on during our first course) which cooked our lettuce. Apparently the lettuce was left in the fancy schmancy machine to 'cook' at a very low temperature which keeps the flavours and texture of the lettuce to remain as its original and hence it's almost like 'uncooked'. I only took a quick glimpse of the machine and two chefs working in it through glass windows. I wish I had a camera to snap a picture!

Note: I've seen others who went to the toilets; and the waitresses did fold the napkins immediately as they saw it. I honestly can't remember the last time, someone actually folded my napkins, when I excuse myself from the table.

OH YUMMILICIOUS~ This beef rib was heavenly smoked with something, I wish I had asked! It was served on a bed of spiced cabbage and two types of mustard seeds; garnished with cabbage flowers. This dish was brilliant! This was about the only thing I had to inform the Restaurant about, the cabbage flowers. It was unfortunate that I found a couple of insects crawling from the flowers. You can only tell something is fresh and organic, I suppose, if you see some crawlies lol. The Restaurant was so apologetic about it, Ainslee apologised on behalf of Ben too, so did the waitress who served us. We were told that we've been too gracious about it and I couldn't even call it a complaint. We thought it was a gesture to at least notify them about it so they'd do something and not have everybody else talked about it. Hence, I was given a similar dish but without the beautiful cabbage flower. It was just unfortunate, nevertheless the dish was BEAUTIFUL! Despite this (really) minor incident, I thoroughly enjoyed every savour of this dish. The beef was so tender, I could taste the smokiness, I can only imagine how this slice of beef fell off the bone after being cooked. There must have been some satisfaction to it, to 'carve'/ slice a wonderful piece of meat off the bone with zilch (energy) effort. Ahh and the smokiness, oh so ever wonderful. It almost felt like having yummy pork spareribs in USA, but it couldn't have beaten this true gourmet creation of Ben Shewry's. The texture and flavour of the beef worked really well with the cabbage and mustard. The dish was packed with heaven-made textures and excellent combinations. Despite the incident, I actually thought this was one of the highlight dishes of the night :-)

This was our dessert; butterscotch custard with apples, rhubarb, and woodsorrell juice. So I googled what exactly wood sorrell is, it is a type of edible weed. How brilliant it is, to be experimenting with flavours, textures and combinations with every possible ingredient he finds in the garden, or even gully. As we'd all know how sweet butterscotch is, the sweetness was balanced by introducing wood sorrell and clovers as they were sour and bitter of flavours. When I heard Ainslee mentioned clovers lastly as being one of the many elements/ ingredients of this dish, I immediately enthusiastically asked, 'Where do you get your clovers from?'. She said she was glad that I asked, and that Ben Shewry actually picked them himself just this morning from a nearby gully. Don't you just adore chefs who actually pick the ingredients themselves from every possible source, whether his garden patch, by the gully, or even from the markets. The rhubarb and apple were compressed in syrup.

Anyway, back to the dish, it was unique and interesting to taste so many flavours on just that one dish. It was not overwhelming in a negative way, as I do have an adventurous palate and taste, but it actually tasted quite 'clean' to me despite how busy it was on the dish. I do prefer my dishes to be clean and refreshing, and I found that this was one of them even though there was so much going on in that few spoonfuls of yummy dessert. Besides that, I don't think I have ever had an open-dessert/ deconstructed-type dessert. I've always had something of a cake or tart in nature, and this was very new to me. I still enjoyed it and give the Restaurant two thumbs up for this amazing creation.

Whee the complimentary stuff! Not just any stuff mind you, they were chocolate fudge with black salt garnish. Oh yum, and the salt definitely added bang to the rich and bold chocolate.

In conclusion, the Restaurant lives up to the standard of being the 73rd Best in the World. The wait staff and host were humble and friendly without having to forcibly fake it. Have I mentioned; we need not wait for more than 30 seconds to get our water refilled. I may have exaggerated 30 seconds, but our glasses were never empty :-) The atmosphere was beautiful at the start when there were less patrons. The food was amazing and NEW, I certainly recognise and appreciate Chef Shewry and the team in the kitchen's efforts. There was just nothing to winge about, but only to winge oh when oh when can I go back. I have to admit that it was not easy to book for this Restaurant, though I did book it about 2 weeks in advanced, I couldn't get a table for the normal dining nights even for the next few weeks. This Restaurant is by no means in comparison with other Melbourne restaurants, this is One of a Kind and definitely at a league which many other Melbourne restaurants can't even compare with. Vue de Monde was brilliant but I felt that the atmosphere was a bit too commercialised.

Attica is the Best I've had the pleasure to dine in in Melbourne for years. I wonder what Cutler and Co will be like, ohhh next month!

I truly love Attica :-) <3 <3 <3

ps: The Chef insisted to charge us just for 2 pax instead of 3 because of the (excusable minor) incident. I hope he and the Restaurant doesn't take it too hard to heart, I still found it an enjoyable experience which is not to be forgotten and definitely to be enjoyed again in near future :-)

Black Forest Macaron Part 2

2010-06-01T14:08:00.004+10:00

I made more Black Forest macarons in the weekend. Again, it would have tasted more of a Black Forest if I used two chocolate meringues instead of just one. If Pierre Herme created the Ispahan with rose, litchee and raspberry, oh why not someone else innovate and make a Black Forest instead. I also garnished the top meringue with a cherry, chocolate flakes, hazelnut praline and mini deconstructed raspberry meringue. I marinated the cherries with brandy overnight; and cooked them in the oven like previously. I also made another combination the last weekend but have yet to take photos and shall upload them later on.

More of Training

2010-06-01T12:08:00.000+10:00

From a few days ago.

Legs
1. Barbell lunges 30kgs - 5 x 12
2. Superset with plyometric lunges 3 x 15
3. Leg extensions 40kgs 1 x 10 - 45kgs 1 x 9 - 47.5kgs 1 x 8
4. Plyometric lunges 2 x 12
5. Leg presses 120kgs 5 x 10

Back
1. Chins 10, 9, 7, 5
2. Latpull 45kgs 1 x 10 - 50kgs 2 x 8
3. Barbell rows both underhand and overhand grips 30kgs - 5 x 10/ 9 of each
4. Bicep curls 20kgs 1 x 9 - 1 x 6
5. Bicep curls 10kgs 3 x 15
6. Seated cable rows 45kgs 3 x 10

The new Body Combat was not too bad and maybe I'll grow into liking it though I wish that there was some rear knee jumps in the Muay Thai track. I have not down the new Body Attack release yet however, I couldn't be bothered doing it in a super busy Sunday class :-b I saw some of the Attack routines from the outside; and boy they swim in the 6th track.... Ummmm, I have no clue to what the move was and just what the purpose is; I believe it's unnecessary as it wouldn't work out the upper body as the only resistance the muscles work against is, air, and we all know that air is (almost) weightless.... LOL. Hence I call it the swim move. Perhaps, I'll attempt the class in the weekend...

May's Baking Challenge

2010-05-28T22:43:00.000+10:00

I have just visited The Daring Kitchen website and decided to sign myself up at the site. I made the croquembouche a while ago, 1st May and I'm not sure if the regulations require us to make it on/ after 27th of the month...

Anyhow this would be my first post. I am entirely unsure if I'd be baking/ cooking the dishes announced on the website monthly. It has been a coincidence, in October 2009 when I started to get obsessed with macarons though I never visited The Daring Kitchen website. Now that I've visited it again in May 2010; the challenge of the month was to make a PIECE MONTÉE (Croquembouche). I thought I'd upload the cake I made before; otherwise I may very well make a MINI within the next few weeks.

The profiteroles I made were filled with vanilla, coffee and violet; in which you can also find my comments from my post The Macaron and Croquembouche Craze!

Black Forest macaron and Sushi macaron

2010-05-28T17:33:00.001+10:00

I don't suppose you could see an-unintentionally balsamic-vinegar-made SMILEY on the paper roll?

You must be able to see it now :-b with a vanilla meringue.

Sushi macarons which I prepared two ways. One with SPICY chilli tuna and another with avocado and smoked salmon. I couldn't have thought of a better use for the Bohemia crystal glasses I won from MasterChef Night at Thanh's Kitchen ; in which I won the 'best original dish' though I didn't see how 'original' it was as I actually made a chicken rendang with laced pancakes from Poh's recipe. The 'judges' must have received some of my 'bribery' in durian-macaron-moolah! LOL.

My version of open sushi macarons. I have to be honest with you (not that I am not at other times), it was fully packed with flavours. It can be overwhelming especially for those who do not appreciate their sushi. Furthermore, I have to admit that I couldn't eat more than 3 of those open macarons at one go. Well, I can't eat many of the macarons I make at home instantaneously, I'd usually just have a bite; then come back to it an hour later :-b They really are sweet, but I still love eating and making them.

My Black Forest macaron. It clearly needs more improvement and I couldn't decide whether to make cherry buttercream or just vanilla buttercream with a candied-cherry in the middle. Clearly I chose the latter. I cooked the Brandy-marinated cherries in the oven for about 40 minutes; just to get rid of some of the moisture. The 'mistake' I made today when making the buttercream was that, I didn't beat the mixture enough. I couldn't have possibly done it with the right texture just simply because I used a hand mixer today, and I halved the recipe. It was rather challenging beating it... Ahhh, buttercream is best made in full batches; I could have done so, and freeze the remaining half but I chose not to.

I actually ate a whole macaron but wasn't too happy with it. For one, it did not taste as sweet and rich as I anticipated, what is a Black Forest without the sweetness and richness from the chocolate; ahh more cocoa next time. There is always room for improvement, I believe and I can't tell in future what my next Black Forest will look like. I seriously need to start writing down my flavours, combinations, colours, garnish etc on a spreadsheet, my brain cannot function like chefs. Ahh I've just figured what was missing; some chocolate flakes as garnish to go around the buttercream! Ooooh yeah!

That's all for this week, I believe...

Anterior delts and chest

2010-05-27T23:33:00.000+10:00

My mind is boggled from continuously thinking of the same thing over and over again, how am I going to make my black forest macaron. I managed to get my sifter replaced at Myer today, HAPPY :-) Would you believe it, that such stainless steel material could ever snap? It did snap for me.

At the gym today:

1. Cardio on air-walkers for just 10 minutes

2. Rotatory cuff warm ups

3. Seated dumbbell presses 10kgs: 3 x 10

3. Dumbbell lateral raises 7kgs: 3 x 12

4. Barbell front raises 10kgs: 3 x 12

5. Cable flyes 5kgs: 5 x 17

6. Pec deck/ Machine flyes 30kgs: 3 x 10

Ahh my latest satisfying buys of this week would be; LAROUSSE GASTRONOMIQUE and another macaron book (by Alison Thompson). I'm not very impressed with the macaron book; but I'm simply just obsessed with it and may very well end up collecting books on macarons in my life time. I love the colours illustrated in photographs and books, the only book I'd really love to get is Pierre Herme's macaron book, though in French, I figure I could still figure out some words and that all I need really is just to know what amount is appropriate for different combinations and flavours. I have been thinking of making black forest macaron which I'm putting on hold until tomorrow. A combination inspired by the Black Forest cake I made last weekend, which I could not get enough of and have been rather tempted to make another soon again! There are so many other recipes to try out from the Larousse book, it's God-sent. I can conclude from tonight that, my macaron flavour combinations are inspired from FOOD I love love love to eat.

Keep an eye out for my black forest and SUSHI macarons! :-)

Lazy Sunday

2010-05-23T16:48:00.000+10:00

Again, I missed Body Attack 2 Sundays in a row :-(

1. Cardio on the walkers for about 15 minutes

2. Chins 11; 7; 6

3. Smith lunges: 30kgs 4 x 10 each leg

4. Plyometric lunges in between 2 sets; 2 x 15

5. Latpulls 45kgs 1 x 10; 50kgs 2 x 9

6. Dumbbell rows 32.5kgs 3 x 8

7. Barbell rows (underhand and overhand grips superset) 40kgs 3 x 8; 3 x 6

8. Plyometric lunges in between 2 sets; 2 x 15

9. Leg extensions - single leg - 12.5kgs 3 x 10

Good luck in attending Attack next week! :-b In the meanwhile, I'm anticipating amazing sales this financial year end!!!! Fu-yoh!!!

Maze Restaurant - Take Number 2

2010-05-22T01:07:00.151+10:00

Maze Restaurant in Melbourne - Take TWO :-)

I was impressed the first time I went; but particularly even more the second time! We were half an hour late this time because I didn't anticipate heavy traffic from a footy match (Geelong Cats v Collingwood Magpies). One of the hosts, was not happy that we were late by half an hour and she wasn't too shy in expressing that at all. It takes no longer than 15 minutes for me to get to Crown usually but evidently not on footy nights. We gave our reason; for what did I feel obliged for? but it was not accepted gracefully by one of the hosts :-b She said that the Restaurant only holds a reserved table for half an hour and the hosts affirmed that this was written in the confirmation reservation e-mail. The hostess also told us that we have up and until 8.30pm to dine on that night in which come to think of it; I don't remember agreeing to that during the time of making the reservation. I have just checked my inbox, and there was no such information and not even the slightest indication. I find that too many hosts and wait staff today not being in good terms with clienteles; and that they should know better, being in the food/ berverage services industry, to not argue with their customers :-) Afterall, we are paying to dine.

I have to admit that I can be quite indecisive when it comes to picking my dishes, it gets even trickier if I'm presented with tasting-style dishes. The Restaurant only serves small portion dishes, it's something like making up your own degustation meal but they don't require you to pick a number of dishes and it's entirely up to the individual how many dishes/ courses he/ she wishes to have. There are only 2 pages of savoury dishes, 1 page on smaller (entree type) dishes, and 1 page on slightly bigger dishes which are surf and turf dishes. Without hesitating too much we thought we'd go for the standard degustation menu but I asked for a variation, just because I have a good home-baked cake at home and after being sugar-free (not eating chocolates, cakes and biscuits) for the past 12 days I actually felt a bit sick from sweets on that day. I asked for a replace of one of the two sweets with a savoury dish. Our lovely waitress was helpful and friendly (told us to ignore the hostess' 8.30pm time request towards the end during dessert); had second thoughts suggesting I go for the savoury dish on page 2 (though hesitated lol) but it was fine, as I was curious to how they prepare the mud crab dish (I wasn't too impressed; read below).

Marinated beet root and goat's cheese with cabernet savignon coulis/ puree (can't remember which). It was beautiful though I was glad that it didn't come more than 2 pieces!

One of my first of many seafood dishes at Maze on the night; beautiful! I remember my first tuna dish at the Botanical (natural; but amazing!) and this one shall not be forgotten too. I prefer simple and clean seafood dishes.

Kingfish with Persian fairy floss (I think...). Ahh another fish dish which was perfectly cooked!

Another amazing seafood course; love how beautifully the scallops and mussels were cooked! It would be about my first mussels I've ever had which was perfectly cooked.

Seared leg of rabbit. I was not impressed with this dish as I didn't find the meat to be tender and the sauces/ seasoning did not bring up the potential flavouring of the meat. In other words, it didn't feel like I was eating rabbit at all. One of my memorable meals of rabbit dishes, would have to be Circa about 5 years ago. I can't exactly remember how it was prepared and cooked, but it certainly remains in my mind today.

Barramundi, another beautifully cooked seafood course!!! The skin was crisp (though I found a part fin on my dish but excusable for 'my standards'); the flesh itself was so tender with the right texture. It reminds me how brilliant Asians cook their fish. I've always had beautifully cooked fish dishes by Thai and Chinese chefs overseas; they seem to know how to cook them so well. This chef particularly reminds me of fish I've had overseas. I've never come to realise that most of the restaurants I've been to in Melbourne; tend to overcook their seafood. With an exception for Guillaume; who does a beautiful plate of fish and chips.

So I told a waistaff (who we weren't particularly keen in as the lovely one was busy); that the fish dishes have been cooked spot-on! It wasn't only me, but we all felt that he wasn't too happy with the comment; especially he went on saying; the Head Cheff (Josh Emmett) himself is in charge of the fish station tonight and he's cooking them all and continued on to say; the Restaurant's kitchen is filled with English cooks. I have heard a similar story whereby a Korean company bought mining rights on King Islands and only employed Korean workers :-b Anyhow, my point is; the fish dishes were beautiful!!!

For my next course, I opted for mud crab on a slice of watermelon with melon sorbet. It also came with some salads and avocado. Well, I would have preferred this cold dish to be given before my tuna :-b I believe that the mud crab was poached quickly, which I have to admit that the crab meat itself was really good but the dish just felt so cold for me. The watermelon slice was cold, and obviously so was the melon sorbet. I would have preferred a liquid palate cleanser than to chew and swallow down a cold dish in between my courses. Putting that aside, this dish was rather interesting and the combination of melon and crab did work. Unfortunately, placing it in between my warmer savoury courses was not what I was hoping for :-b

Coral trout wrapped with chicken skin. This was nevertheless another outstanding fish dish and again, it's just like how the Asians would cook their coral trout. Till this day, I still don't know why Asians highly value their coral trout. The chicken skin was not crispy at all though I can't imagine it if it was crispy as I wouldn't think that would have complemented the beautifully cooked coral trout. Even though it was wrapped with chicken skin, it did not conflict with the flavour and texture of the fish and for that, I give it a star.

I believe this was the pigeon dish which I did not test-taste it unfortunately. I can't remember if I actually had this the last time; I think I did. So I've just checked the photos I took the last time, i DID have it before. I didn't find it to be memorable.

My next course was lamb; the meat was cooked well though unfortunately; the beautiful meat was overseasoned and I found it to be too salty. I had the same dish during my first experience at Maze; and I don't remember it to being too salty the first time round. The meat station is quite a hit and miss, the two times I went.

This was the ox tongue which I had a small bite to taste. It was tender and quite yummilicious. The mash on the side however, tasted a bit bland.

Passionfruit sorbet served with fruit platter. The sight of the meringues did not intrigue me at all; I was quite disappointed to not seeing 'foot' on the meringues. Having said that, I believe that I should try everything served on my plate; so I tried it. I bit into it; and boy there was a CRUNCH; it did not melt in my mouth nor did it excite my palate and mind. The sorbet however was a good effort, it was not grainy though just a tad of being a bit too icy.

The other dessert was a lamington with jam. Our lovely waitress told us that this is one of its signature dessert dishes. So, we tried it but we weren't in awe nor impressed with it.

Aww little table gifts left for us. There were 6 petit fours (I believe) of 3 different types in the bag for us to take home. Another star for giving a little bag of goodies, a small token of appreciation is accepted by me with big open arms LOL. Even though I did not even take a bite of any of it nor did it look too spectacular (as I couldn't find the bag the next day and that someone must have eaten it!!!), I appreciate those little tokens.

In summarising, I enjoyed the beautiful execution of the seafood dishes. I appreciate excellent basics though the dishes were quite simple and not too many ideas were put into them. The meat dishes I found were not too amazing, and so were the desserts which I actually thought that they were quite disappointing. A wonderful meal should finish with a big bang finale, of a wholesome and yummilicious dessert or two :-b It certainly adds another star to a Restaurant. All in all, I love the cooked fish dishes and it would be one of the few things I'd go back again.

Ahh Attica and Cutler and Co are next on my list :-)

PS: Matt Preston in the background from my first dining experience at Maze Melbourne. Oh and that would be gorgeous Nelly.