Melbourne.. 2011.. Day Two

Day two saw our group break into several groups to meet up with different people and do different things. A couple of the girls and I headed to Bridge Road for some shopping.

I managed to go to the Country Road Outlet store and bought back a few things for mum and myself. At Gorman outlet I got myself a cute cardigan with bunny buttons, a fox ring and a zipper bracelet. Still a little pricely the Jewellery but at least they just too fantastic to pass up!

We took a break at this little cafe called Mad Monk and I had the nicest toasted falafel wrap, along with good coffee (you can never go wrong in Melbourne, almost everywhere makes good coffee - another one of the things I massively miss about the city!). LK and KH opted for salad and a burger.

We went through the front of the little cafe to find that there were more room at the back!

KH's half eaten burger - I forgot to take it when it came because I was too busy eating my lunch!

LK's salad lunch - she was being a vegetarian for religious reasons

My falafel toasted wrap!

In the afternoon, I headed back into ole' Melbourne CBD to have dumplings in Chinatown with the rest of the group as a pre-dinner, before getting ready for another night out, filled with laughter. We saw Sammy J and Randy. Definitely an entertaining show. Music and smart humour done very well.

After the show we met up with V and I finally got to meet his gf! He's managed to book us into PM24 despite it being such a short notice and a thousand smses sent to figure out which venue was opened. Even the late dinner (at 945pm!) was definitely made up thousand folds by the pure fact that the food was excellent. I be definitely dining there again when I go to Melbourne.

I was exhausted by all day of running around and the lack of sleep so I headed back to the apartment while some of the others continued to party.

Weak I know. But then I still managed to sleep at 3am (lounging around the apartment) and was the only one to get up early the next day for Easter Sunday mass.

Melbourne.. 2011.. Day One

We touched good 'ole Melbourne town at an ungodly hour of 4am, waited half an hour at the airport for our bags before catching a maxi-taxi to uptown Collins street to unload our bags then proceed onwards to wander the streets of Melbourne (seeing as we weren't able to check in!). We saw people stumbling home from a wild night while also seeing the early wakers doing their daily exercise.

We were lucky enough to have a cafe at the Crown Casino opening up allowing us to grab some coffee, it was badly needed.

After the rising of the sun and when Melbourne woke up on a glorious Good Friday morning (nothing was really opened) so we did the touristy thing (well at least half of us did) and went to Eureka Towers (the highest skyscraper in Melbourne) and also did the Edge (which by the way was crap so don't do it! - just climb the building and admire the views).

After what seemed like enternity up in the sky, the casino was open so just lounged around in there and tried to win a Bagel winnebago on the pokie machines (mainly JC was doing that!) before thankfully being whisked off back to the apartment to check in and get some nanny naps! Being awake for over 36 hours is NOT cool.

That night we dressed up, headed out for dinner at Box on Collins Street, which was such a tragedy as I ordered the salmon (being Good Friday and a good Catholic) and it was so badly cooked I couldn't believe that this was a restaurant! It was just tragic. I could do better! Disappointed to the max.

Then we headed out to see Will Anderson - third row seats! He was brilliant as always! But, sometimes I think his veins are about to pop! I guess at least he's passionate.

waiting for Will to get on Stage. See only two rows in front of me!

We then headed out to the Croft Institute where you drink cocktails in syringes and the whole place is decked out like your old high school chemistry lab! Hey I guess mixing cocktails is a delicate science, complex chemistry knowledge is required to mix a delicious and deadly cocktail!

The night ended at the best place ever! Melbourne Supper Club having dessert - *SIGH* I had the BEST Sticky Date Pudding EVER!! No competition from anywhere!

JT's Churros - it was an absolute delight - fluffy, crunchy the way a Spanish donut should be!

JC's Creme Brulee - another fantastic dessert well done by Melbourne Supper Club

THE STICKY DATE PUDDING!

GOD I WANT SOME NOW!

My god, I regret dishing out that photo!

I really want the pudding now..

Anyway, despite the lack of sleep I think Day One went very well. ^_^

Antico Caffe

My boyfriend and I were too tired after work to really find anything remotely interesting to eat. We just wanted one that provided us with a quick and hearty meal that was close to home.

Antico Caffe sits a few blocks down from my place and after flicking through the entertainment book we came across the cafe. I decided to give the place a try after, it was close by, we can walk there and it's italian so can't be too bad.

I've also learnt not to except much from cafe like italian places in Perth, they are just there to provide a large servings of pasta, pizza and meat, with average to below average food. So without having too high an exceptation for Antico Caffe all I can say is, the waiters were friendly, the service was prompt, the meal took their time coming, the place was awkwardly lit, there wasn't any real ambience, in face I would say it was cold rather than cosy (blame the huge space and gaps between tables).

The food? It was alright. There was too many choices on the menu. The foodie in me screamed that this CANNOT be good, it was something like Siennas (another cheap italian eat with massive servings and no quality what-so-ever, you should try Catanalo it's better!). After all, if you provide a large section of choice you either have to be really good at all of it or you are just dipping in too many broths and not being a specialist of any sorts. Gordon Ramsay would have had a fun day criticising the menu.

We had an entree which was a crostini with bacon/ham, cheese and olives i was expecting something along the lines of a nice slice of ham on crostini bread topped with shredded cheese and slices of olives. When it came out I was taken completely by surprise - the dish looked like toasted cheesies I used to have in my good old primary school days. I was a little shocked that restaurants served things like this and at a rather expensive cost for what I used to pay as a child! Having said that at least it was nice and cheesy and definitely took me back to the days I had cheesies as a kid!

The mains as excepted were large. They were NOT spectacular, far from it. In fact it was a little odd to see shredded cabbage and carrots on top of our mains (and our entrees) as almost replacement for herbs you would usually see like, well parsley or basil???? It was all too strange and was most definitely out of place!

Bf's gnoochi

Veal and mushroom raviolli

Like I said at the start, I had no expectation. I just wanted to eat somewhere with a hearty filling meal which Antico supplied. It wasn't great, but it was edible and at least the food was not bland. It's a quick stomach filler and having it on the entertainment book is probably a good thing considering the prices were high compared to other places that are on the same calibre/ranking/restaurant. I wouldn't go out of my way to visit the place, but if you are in the area and are desperate for a cheaper eat (compared to others in the area) and are of a bigger serving than usual then do check it out.

hiatus again..

I have been rather bad.. but I have a perfectly resonable explanation for my absence.

It was Easter.

It was a very long weekend - 5 days to be exact, which is really ONE WEEK of work. ONE WEEK NO WORK HOLIDAY.

It was SUBLIME!

I WENT TO MELBOURNE. My annual trip.

OMG that went quick.

BUT..

it explains everything.

I will blog about it once I have organised my photos.

Tiffany & Co. - Paloma Picasso XOXO Ring

An addition to my collection!

It's a thousand times pretty in reality and hundred thousand times more delicate and cuter!

In fact there was only ONE ring left in the store in a huge size and had to be specially ordered.

That's how wanted it is.

Harvest

We decided to have breakfast on a sunny warm autumn Saturday at Harvest and after spending a good 5 minutes being confused as to which end of Harvest road I should be on I managed to find the little quaint restaurant/cafe. It wasn't that I was confused as to the numbering, it was more I couldn't find Number 1. It turns out that the road is split in two with 1-5 being on the other side of Stirling highway on the old bridge side - so I had to do a loop to get on the right side (why must the roadworks authority do something ridiculous like that??).

Anyway.. apart from the weirdness of the road, the cafe is housed in a charming heritage home, it has a whimsical, old-world, rustic charm about the place. The front yard is packed with chairs and tables all different shapes, sizes and style. We were given one of the ones inside. There were 10 of us. We had a large wooden possibly jarrah but definitely vintage design dining table. One side of the room's wall was filled up to the ceiling with a collection of red wines from around Australia. The whole room felt like a family dining room, perhaps minus the collection of wines and possibly more deco and better lighting in a family's home.

The service at the Harvest wasn't brilliant as the waiter mixed up our coffee orders, was a little flustered and the food didn't come out until at least 45 minutes after we ordered. We forgave them as they were rather busy and we were happy to keep on chatting, that was until we got really hungry.

But the food, when it came out, it was beautiful, well worth the wait (to a degree). The aroma was fantastic, the serving portion decent (if not the healthy portion you should be consuming), the presentation was as nice as possible for breakfast food.

Avocado, tomato, spinach and fetta on toasted bread

- looked deliciously fresh and healthy

 The Huevos Ranchos - a spanish breakfast

The tomatoes were refreshing start to your day. The eggs done to perfection.

Souffle cakes, poached quince, chocolate mousse

- Deliciously sweet and the perfect fluffy pancakes

 

Creamy corn, polenta hashbrown, poached eggs and silverbeet

Good mix of creamy corn, perfect eggs, cheesy hashbrown with a hit of zest.

 

B's “The Freo” scramble, mushies, spinach, tomato, breaky potatoes with extra bacon

- delicious traditional breakfast

 

Everybody was so happy with the meal and completely satisfied and with it being on the entertainment card, the food being fabulous, the problems of finding the place, parking and somewhat absent minded waiters (although he was so pleasant), it was a great start to the weekend - a hearty satisfying breakfast (and coffees/teas) with great company (the two most important things - food and company!)

Explainable Hiatus

I've been a little absent from the here mainly because I've been recovering, and having recovered and all I've been unable to blog about things because for some unexplainable reason my phone's camera is able to take photos but all the photos that gets saved on the phone are all saved in an file that is crypted and can't be seen - no idea how that happened considering that none of the settings has changed. Secondly I can't find the charger to my camera so the battery is flat. As a result, all the inspirational things I've been seeing, buying, tasting, smelling, the aromas of life has not been accounted, this has lead to me being quite uninspired to write. I guess the other main reason is I've been exhausted. Work is tiring and seems to be taking over slightly. It's only after my flu that I've been able to get back onto balancing my life. It's been toppled for a while.

I shall be writing again very soon.

immune failure

Symptoms:

Runny nose                   check
Sore throat                   check
coughing up lungs          check
fever                             check
lungs hurting                   check

OH JUST FIGHT IT ALREADY IMMUNE SYSTEM!

Han Palace

Han Palace is not the same as Hans Cafe, in fact it's the opposite of Hans Cafe. It's opposite in the sense that it's not bad asian food with bad service. The restaurant is hidden amongst other houses along Bennett street in East Perth, the only way to distinguish it the chinese style roofing and the chinese style entrance.

The restaurant is not your average Chinese restaurant, it is far from the cheap and cheerful Chinese restaurants that aspire to the same style of Chinese cooking, in fact, Han Palace is an upmarket eatery. The food is rich in flavours, an art form, the interior has  traditional and rather decadent decor and a atmosphere that is well refined for a Chinese restaurant.

The service of the place has improved dramatically, and the food is exceptionally good for Chinese food. In fact it's up there on the Chinese eatery. The best one I still reckon is Grand Palace on the esplanade. But that's another story.

We had a banquet dinner, 11 dishes or so in total, but I was too busy eating so forgot to take photos of some of them.

Sang Chow Bow - very generous portion - 

a lot larger than most of the other restuarants 

where they have a massive cabbage leaf and not enough filling

Scallops in their shell with vemicelli noodles

- nice and flavoursome

Crab

Chilli Prawns

Claypot filled with seafood and vegetables

Crispy chicken

Duck
 

Eagle's Nest

Fish - I can't remember what fish.

To finish off our dinner there was fresh fruit served - slices of rockmelon, watermelon, and oranges.

Overall, the dinner was very satisfying, everything was delicious and the service was fantastic. A new plate was given at each messy dish and of course there was also rice.

I think I will go there again for just a simple dinner. The food was just fantastic.

coughing my lung out..

argh i hate being sick.

i haven't felt this crap in ages.

my lungs hurt.

it feels like my rib cage is about to break.

and to top it all of i can't stop being anxious about work so i can't even rest properly!

ARGH.

what is wrong with me? i should be in pjs and sleeping instead of being on the computer and stressing about work.

i should be trying to get better.

FML

Diary of a Bridesmaid - Engagment party for the two families...

One of the most important things about and engagement party is of course the meeting of two families. Having it at a restaurant that's meaningful for both the parties (groom and bride) and then making sure the seating arrangements allow both sides of the families to socialise and get to know one another.

My cousin had her's at Hans Palace, it was one of the first restaurants that she and her fiance went together on a date and then subsequently met his parents there, it was full of good memories, and of course the restaurant made rather delicious chinese food.

It was a lovely dinner and getting to know D's family was kind of nice (more than just knowing his brother!). The food was great, the engagment cake was lovely and the ambience was great - our group was somewhat secluded from the rest of the restaurant and it was great to see everyone getting to know one another.

Of course the most important bit was that the bride-to-be and the groom-to-be were having fun.