Taylors Art Coffee House

One of my favorite areas of Perth is the Swan Valley. It's a bit of country romance just 30 to 45 minutes from the city. It has wineries, chocolate factory, ice creameries, nougat factory and some really quaint galleries and cafe hideaways.

One of those gallery/cafe place is Taylors Art Coffee House, a blink and you probably missed it. It has an old rustic charm, with mismatched cups and recycled wooden seats and a massive sitting area outside under big gum trees. Makes you feel like you at someone's backyard having breakfast, very Australian feel.

To top it off, the inside area has a little art gallery and shop filled with trinkets you can browse through after having a hearty brunch.

This particular sunny Sunday it was pretty busy, the line to order and pay for food was out the door. It's really a first in with the order to get served first as their as no waiter service.

The prices for The brunch is rather reasonable and the servings quiet large. They have the usual big breakfast with bacon, sausages, eggs, mushroom, tomato, smoked salmon with poached eggs and a beautiful and rather huge pancakes with fruit.

The flavours were wholesome, delicious and reminds you of something the grandparents would have made, as the presentation is very much thrown together.

Big Vegetarian Breakfast

Pancakes with fresh fruits

 

The whole shebang aka the big breakfast

 

Smoked salmon with poached eggs and toast

 

Having said that, it's a hearty meal made with love at reasonable prices but when it's busy expect to be waiting a while for food. Personally I don't think waiting for the food is such a bad thing especially when you sitting outside under the shade of old gum trees, sipping coffee and tea and doing it with good company.

I definitely be back and when I do I want to slowly make my way through the menu.

Wish list - Thermomix!

At present I wish for a thermomix. They are truly your best friend in the kitchen!

And anything that cuts down cooking time and allows you to make everything from scratch is fantastic! It even makes sorbet and ice cream in less than 2 minutes!!

If I had this I'll be throwing dinner parties more often!

Please Santa this year get me a thermomix!

Ps. Yes I have just been to a demo! They cooked 6 courses in under 2 hours.
A risotto dish, two dips, fresh bread, sorbet, lemon custard and beetroot salad... It was amazing!

I'll definitely be getting one for the kitchen when I get my own place!

The best kind of present!

Look what came in the mail on Tuesday!! All the way from the UK...

A black box nicely tied with a ribbon, covered in black tissue paper.. A
Hervé Léger dress!!

It looked so gorgeous on.. Curves in all the right places while hiding everything, except maybe that lower ab that I have that sticks out! :( nonetheless I will give it until end of march until that bump is all toned.

The fit was perfect! Although I think I could have gone down to size xs. But size s still fits wonderfully.

I can't wait to show it off! Paired with my Louboutin heels it'd be perfect!

I post photos of it on later this weekend or once i wear it out or once I reach my 5kg weight loss goal. Until then these photos of mystery will have to make do.

God I love opening presents in the mail!

Style Inspiration: Alexa Chung

Alexa Chung; effortlessly cool flawlessly stylish and preppy with an edge.

I love her effortless and almost minimalistic style. She mixes items of clothing that wouldn't be paired together (or shouldn't be) and make it look "thown" on and cool. Something I hope I can pull of one day.

And I can't go past her prep-look. So cute and adorable but has this edgey-ness to it.

Gosh I need to really learn how to throw pieces of clothing together - not just the safe options. Time to play around with my wardrobe I think.

Letter of concern

Dear self,

I'm glad you've finally come around to writing this letter/reminder.

Firstly, you must stick to the plans and lists you make everyday and stop your procrastination and enroll into that course as well as take a leap into that unknown path of study to sit that other thing you been putting off studying.

Secondly, don't forget to save. I realize you love lovely dresses, tops, skirts, belts and other accessories but you can spend it all on that again once you build your nest and future. It's only another 5 months of saving!

Thirdly, love, get your act together and clean that desk filled with piles of paper so you can then sort out your finances, read books, write eloquently again and of course study.

Muchly concerned about your sheer laziness at present,

Me

Sinabro

A couple of the boys and I headed to Northbridge on a hump day to recover from the mid-week slump and spend some time with Al who is going to be returning to Sydney soon. We were going to take him to La Cholita, but it was packed and over-flowing with people. We ended up going to a Korean restaurant on Francis street, called Sinabro.

Sinabro has two separate sections; The front (indoors and lovely looking) is a buffet of Korean marinated meats for BBQ and so forth and the back of the restaurant, in what looks like some dingy hawkers place in Hong Kong somewhere is the a la carte area, where you can get the Korean hot pots, BBQ, pancakes and anything Korean.

Despite its appearance, you know you are at an authentic place when majority of the diners are Koreans.

We opted for the Korean BBQ as the nights were still a little chilly even if we had hit summer.

We ordered the chicken BBQ and the chilli pork. The bbq came with little charcoal pieces enclosed in metal basket which you cook your meats on.

What I find annoying with the bbq-ing though is that your clothes and hair and everything really smells like the bbq. Despite all that, Sinabro marinates their meats really well that when it was bbq-ed the taste well and truly comes out. And the marinate itself is delicious. The pork was nice and tender before it was cooked, so when it was cooked it was just as tender. It didn't seem to have too much fat either.

The chicken on the other hand was a little fatty, but that was easily fixed with a bit of creative use with the scissors.

I love it how the two boys bbq-ed the whole meal for me though. It was lovely like that.

Common with many Korean restaurants, Sinabro provides side dishes that comes "free" with every meal. They had a serving of kimchi - which I found rather disappointed - it lacked the real kimchi spicy flavour and didn't seem homemade - in fact I'm pretty sure it was from one of the pre-packed because I thought I say the pre-packed bags near the area where we sat. Apart from the kimchi they gave salad (which was rather bland) and a rice vermicelli dish. I would have to say of all the Korean restaurants I've been to, Sinabro had the most disappointed side offers - it was bland and I felt as though because it was complimentary they didn't care what it tasted like. In other words, I've had better.

Apart from the bbq we shared the kimchi pancakes - which again wasn't too bad, although I felt as though they put too much batter and not enough kimchi. And the kimchi wasn't spicy and not really sour either. It was rather disappointing, although the serving was large.

Overall, I love the ambience - the feeling of being transported to the hawkers streets of Asia, the student prices as well as offering a variety of Korean dishes. The BBQ was probably one of the better ones I've had in Perth, the meats were marinated well (I'm not sure what kind of marinate it is, but it was sensational - not too salty, not too chilly, but complementing the juicyness of the meat). However, their kimchi and the pancake was disappointed and I find it particularly weird that a Korean restaurant can't make good kimchi - it makes me blow my mind!

Oh summer nights..!

How I love balmy summer nights!

It's especially wonderful because that is when there is an air of excitement, an anticipation of romance, of dreams coming true, fairy-like lanterns lightings through the trees; of whimsical times.

Open air markets starts to appear. Stalls filled with lovely foods from across the globe, the air filled with the aromas of herbs, spices and smokey flavours.

Like a big open top restaurant, the live band plays in the corner, performing cover songs with acoustic guitars, while kids dance to their tunes, couples sit on the grass sharing plates of food, families making memories all in open skies filled with hues of orange, yellow and pinks.

And amongst all that, there are also stalls from bric-and-brac, of handmade trickets, treasures to be found and happy smiles all around.

Loving summer night markets.

Food for thought

Tom Haverford's food for thought made me grin like a loony for a good 10 minutes.

Tom Haverford Food Words (Vol 2)

Leftovers = Deja Food.
Pickles = Hulk Weiners
Mashed Potatoes = Stomach Spackle
Lemonade = LL Cool Aid
Milk = Cereal sauce
Ice cream = Milk on the rocks
Ketchup = Kanye blood
Noodles = Long ass rice
Asparagus = Pee cologne
Burgers = Moo Pies
Salads = Leaf Piles
Beers = Punky Brewsters
Biscuits = Butter Boats
Muffins = Naked Cupcakes
Crackers = Lame Cookies
Shrimp = Tiny-ass Lobster
Bacon = Kevin Bacon

So did it make you grin?

Restaurant food at home

One weeknight I felt inspired to cook restaurant quality food at home and I was especially craving crispy skinned salmon fillet. So I decided to serve it for my boy and me.

After buying it fresh from the seafood section I further ensured the skin had no scales at home, coated the skin with olive oil, sprinkled a dash of salt (very small dash as seafood already has natural salt) and some freshly grounded pepper.

Heated up a non-stick pan - no oil needs to be added. Sprinkled some water - this is to test that the pan is hot enough. If it is, the water should sizzle in the pan. Once it is hot enough, put the salmon fillet SKIN side up and cook for a few minutes/until crispy then turn over the other side to cook. In total I took about 5-7 minutes - depending on the thickness of the fillet.

The salmon fillet should have crispy skin and a moist pink inside when cut. My two fillets were cooked perfectly, delicious crispy skin and moist fillet (not overcooked!). Bf was so impressed. Now he says I can't say I can't cook, because he knows it's not true.

I also made with mash potatoes - boiled potatoes mash it - add small amount of margarine, milk (quantity according to how dry the potatoes are) and lightly salt and pepper.

Also sautéed some broccolini and asparagus. As well as making a salad tossed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

It was just a delicious and balanced meal. And quiet healthy because of the use of minimal oil.

We then had scoop of ice cream just to round out our meal.

Must say it was a lovely homemade dinner for two at home.

view of my heart

This is what my heart looks like if you opened it up.

helllloooo is there anyone out there?

I was just thinking...

wow I really haven't written much at all in the past year..

Needless to say I've accumulated a bazillion photos and stories I want to share but just never had/have the time/energy to.

I've told myself I want to fill in all the missing posts from my travels, my foodie adventures, my experience of life, of growing up, my thoughts on issues etc. primarily so I can look back and go 'oh yeah! I did that! I ate that! I went there!' etc, even if they're from two years back *ambitious*

Not sure if anyone still reads

But it doesn't matter!

Cafe-styled breakfast at home with love

One bright and sunny Saturday morning bf arrived at my house early while I struggled to get out of bed due to many late nights. He came with a bag of goodies - chorizos, portobello mushrooms, baker's delight freshly baked bread and eggs. He then whipped out the knife and got to work chopping the chorizos, mushrooms before lightly pan-frying them.

Then he tried his new trick - poached some eggs. Although, he remembered what the Masterchef programme has taught him, he got a little too excited after adding the white vinegar wine to the boiling pot of water he just carefully placed the eggs in. Although, however, not very round and presentation wise the eggs weren't that great, they were definitely poached well, the yolk was still runny on the inside when cut. Alas, he has succeeded in making the perfect poached egg (minus the presentation).

Next, was the mammoth task of making the hollandaise sauce to go with the eggs. After much whisking it was done. 

The bread was then toasted, the eggs were dried on paper towels before being placed on the slices of bread, the hollandaise sauce poured on top with the chorizoand mushrooms on the side.

While he was busy in the kitchen, I was busy trying to catch some zzz in order for me to stay awake for the beautiful breakfast he made with much love.

I must say he did a fabulous job, although next time I might remind him to salt the eggs and to keep an eye on the chorizos and mushrooms and not burn them. 

Regardless, I can't believe he made me a fabulous breakfast, allowed me to attempt to go back to sleep while he cooks. Massive love.

ooo...La Cholita...

 

I have been dying to go to La Cholita, and luckily just before Christmas, I called up one of my favourite people's ever and asked them to meet me at the Mexican place on the corner of William and Aberdeen streets in Northbridge. 

Look how flashy it looks with its big huge windows overlooking the streets, the elegant cursive name simply printed at the top, nothing could spell sheek slick Mexican than that. 

The insides were the usual ecliptic pieces of recycled furniture mainly used to deco the what looks like unfinished painting in their "wait and drink" corner. However, I loved their exposed lighting's and their glassed floors/timber floor mixture. So trippy. Especially after a few tequilas and Mehhico beers! Pity I didn't get an opportunity to take a photo of the floors as the place was rather busy with people tramping on it!

The small bar-tapas has an extensive list of drinks to choose from and lots of yummy tequila based cocktails concoctions. Their food sections, if you planning to have the small serves - they really are for one person only most of the time and are pretty minimal (so if you were expecting something hearty - you've come to the wrong place). However, they do offer a couple of main-sized options and they looked pretty decent when it came out of the kitchen. 

On this particular night though, J and I decided to opt for the small plates as we had massive lunches from our work Christmas lunch functions. 

When you order, they place down four different sauces to enhance your mexican experience. And I cannot recommend strongly enough that you don't forget to use it, because it really does bring out the flavours more. And, anyway, Mehhico food is all about the sauces and the combination of flavours so try bits of your choices with all the four different sauces and see which one it goes with more!

 

We had the Ceviche. It was fresh, it was zest and with their complementary chilli-based sauce it was just perfect.

Enchiladas - Ceviche with La Cholita's homemade corn chips - 

which were crunchy and delicous - not dry and definitely not oily. 

Almost feels healthy! It helps that it looks as though it's been oven made!

 We also ordered the guacamole, which had this amazing creamy flavour and their homemade, handmade tortillia was just crunchy goodness. It did not have that oily taste or leftover oily feel about it.

Guacamole with flour tortilla - again try it with their complementary sauces and it would taste even better.

Next we opted to try some tacos and had the beef cheek and the fish. The beef was beautifully cooked; tender and juicy, however the chilli-based sauce would have heightened the taste of the dish if only we remembered to put the sauce it (it was too late when we realised!). 

Beef Cheek taco

 

The fish with the chipota sauce - I felt had a little too much batter and the fish smelt really fishy (yes I realise fish are fishy, but they don't have to smell like it and they definitely don't if cooked right!). So that was a bit of a let down. Wasn't mind blowing, in fact it was almost like bad fish from a fish and chip store.

Fish taco with Chipolta Sauce

However, the dessert - the chimichaga completely made up for the bad fish taco (who has fish tacos anyways??),. The pastry was yum and the ice cream inside it was oozing out as we cut it. This just mixed into the perfectly placed chooclate sauce under the chimichaga. The blands of the ice cream, pastry and hot chocolate sauce was just orgasmic! Definitely will be back for that!

The Chimichaga!

The thing I love about the food however, is that everything is fresh, homemade, not oily, oven baked goodness. All their tacos, toltilla, corn chips etc. so it's somewhat healthy and tt doesn't make you have that oily sick feeling afterwards. 

The two guys responsible for the making of all of La Cholita tacos, corn chips etc. 

 and boy were they busy!

 

They also seem to have plenty of staff for a busy place. The service wasn't fantastic but it wasn't tragically bad, we were looked after, to a degree. Waving down a waiter wasn't an easy task.

However, it's a fantastic place to catch up with friends, not for a date night. It's too noisy for that. But the ambience, the liveliness of the place is exactly what Perth needs. Along with an awesome cocktail/beer/drinks list. Try the Mexicana it was delicious and refresheningly good, especially on a hot summer's day/night!