Wardrobe and Pantry

I've been thinking of ways to combine my love for food and fashion so decided to gather some ideas and inspiration from the net such as those from TasteofRunway.

I'm not sure if this would be a segment considering how difficult it is for me to already keep myself updated on my reviews of places I've eaten.. (I'm sure I'm still several weeks behind!).

On the upside bf and I made a promise to ourselves and to each other not to indulge in such gluttony in 2013 and save our waistline and our backpockets. I'm so close to my goal weight too. Even with the massive indulgent 5 week holiday I managed to do some exercise on the Great Wall, on the River Cruise, in the hotel in Beijing, hiked to the Kwaik Htee Yeo pagoda and managed to contract a nasty gastro causing me to lose 2kg (which I plan to keep off once this silly season is over!). So that promise of saving our waistlines and $$$ would mean that the blog would evolve into something more than what it is now (and I've been itching to change it to just a review site.. as I'm finding it so tiresome to just write reviews of things I've eaten.. It's strifling my limited creativeness).

So anyway here's a entirely nonsensical post combining my love for food, outings and fashion. After all who wouldn't want to be dress to suit the occasion! Outfits good enough to eat? food good enough to transpire to wear?

 

Casual linen pants with a beautiful oversized boyfriend blazer for a catchup over cake and icecream with the girlfriends. Who can say no to that? Simple and yet desirable.

 



 

A child's drink of chocolate milkshake can be made so much more interesting with a touch of quality Bourbon. Just like the way a pair of boots can give that "oomph' to a "work outfit".

Bourges styled shoes gives a lovely floaty dress a bit of street cred, modern and yet so old-school. Just like the good old pink lemonade. Who wouldn't want this (or wear this) on a hot summer's day?



Blueberry and Lavender Rhubarb Jam - rich in flavours requires you to wear something rich in colour. Don't you think those colours are the must in any winter wardrobe?

 



 

Sometimes the good ole egg bacon and avocardo sandwich is all you need for breakfast, lunch or hey why not brunch. Topped with my favourite - polkadots in red and white. It seems like the perfect match for any day.

 

A good chauterie board with a beautiful bottle of wine seems like the ideal way to catch up with the girls. Just accompany it with some soothing Buble or similar and I'll say it's pretty picture perfect.

 



 

I love pastel colours on clothing and moshi balls have the perfect array of pastel colourness. Pity there isn't a moshi ball shop in Perth and the pre-packed balls from the Asian stores just don't get it.

I always find ice creams to taste so much better in winter than in summer and sorbets are so refreshing in summer. Try a blood orange sorbet or an intense strawberry/raspberry sorbet this summer and of course you can never have too much coats and you should always have at least one red coat and anything fux fur trim always gives it that touch of elegance. Pity it never gets that cold in Perth.
 

Hmm.. That was rather inspiring.

 

It makes me realise I really need to spring clean my wardrobe. I have so many clothes it's getting a little ridiculous and seeing as it's the season of giving I think it's time to donate to St. Vinnies and I haven't even worn half of what I have in my wardrobe.



Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

May the goodwill, Joy, Peace and Love of Christmas Light be with you all!

And I hope you and your family have a blessed, safe, heathy and happy holidays!

The photo below is taken after the beautiful procession that was the Christmas Midnight Mass at Saint Mary's Cathedral.

Mantra for the new year

The following is my mantra to try and follow in the new year.. Wonder how I will fair..

I should also add that I will try to be as organized as possible in my life and keep my room and life free of clutter.

What's on your list for 2013?

Birthday Pampering at the Loose Box

For my birthday a month ago bf and I booked a lovely romantic dinner for two at the Loose Box ran by Alain Fabregues. We've been meaning to try the Loose Box out for years but never managed to get around to it because 1) Booking takes a few months 2) It's about a 30-40 minutes drive from the city. The distance opposing more of a problem then the booking troubles. After all having a degustation meal means that it's at least 3 hours of eating and then having to drive all the way back. Booking the chalet that resides within the Loose Box grounds and ran by the restaurant is a huge problem because there is only 3-4 chalets and it's always booked out if you don't get in early and there isn't any accomodation nearby that really entice us to stay for the night, with high price tag and not worthy of the type of accommodation and service you get (you may disagree with me on that one). 

Anyway apart from those troubles we found ourselves looking at the rather cute cottage turned restaurant, located beneath the canopies of native Australian trees and overlooks their vegetable patch.  So quaint so cute so Australian and yet with an essence of French.

We were promptly welcomed and shown to our seats, which was once a patio/veranda with simple chairs and tables laid out with white tablecloths and an occasional wooden antique furnishings on the sides for the waitstaff to place what water and what nots. Cosy.

Loose Box is a little different in the way they set their degustation menu. It's flexible unlike other places. It's a 7 course degustation and there are three menus where you can mix and match and swap between courses. There is a vegatarian menu, their classic menu and their seasonal menu. So for courses 2-5 and the dessert you can either chose from course 2 of vegatarain or classic or seasonal etc. A great concept and allows you and your partner to try at least two of the menus if you wished! The other great thing about Loose Box is that unlike other degustation places the "servings" of the courses is decent sized (note worthy for those who have the appetite and are not used to tasting sizes of degustations!) - it's almost entree like sizings. 

Freshly baked bread was served to us with creamy butter. This was again offered after another batch of fresh bread came out of the oven! It was warm and fluffy and flaked so much that I made too much of a mess. But it was just lovely to have freshly baked yummy bread.

Fresh bread

To start off the night there was the beautiful, creamy coconut and prawn broth with decent amount of prawns in the soup and lovely smell of kaffiir limes and coconut which cut through the smell of prawns. A not too rich and yet the perfect way to awaken the appetite.

Coconut and prawn broth 

The second course was a choice of 3 (from vegetarian, from the classic and from the seasonal menu). Both bf and I decided to chose from the seasonal menu and opted for the oysters served three ways with three different sauces/seasonings and a lovely lime granita.

Oysters cooked three ways with lime granita

The oysters were very fresh and the sauces placed into each oysters complemented the taste of the ocean that occurs with oyster and removes that "slimey" texture without overpowering it that you can no longer taste the oyster itself. There was a salsa flavoured one, a lime/lemon/mint one and one which was almost kilpatrick like. The lime granita was the perfect refreshing finish between each of the oyster and to cleanse the palate afterwards.

 The next course saw bf and I part our ways with our choice. I opted for the venison carpaccio with mushrooms and he went for the crispy skin salmon. 

I'm rather surprised the venison carpaccio was so tender and the creamy nutty taste and texture of the mushrooms gave this dish the little kick it needed to make it taste not so "slightly seared/cooked meat" taste that can sometimes occur with low quailty (or badly done) carpaccio (whether it's venison or beef!).

Venison Carpaccio with mushrooms

I had a pleasure of taste-testing out bf's salmon dish - it was perfectly cooked salmon that melted in your mouth with this lovely broth sauce, which unfortunately found a little salty (you know my very senstive taste buds to salt!). But overall a very nice course indeed.

Crispy skinned salmon

The third course also saw us divided. Bf opted for the pig trotters and I on the other hand went for the duck foie gras.

I don't usually like foie gras because I find them to be really overpowering and the texture never really took to me. This however, was beautiful and the fresh fruits really complemented and sweetened the deal. It actually makes me change my mind and makes me understand and appreciate why the French likes foie gras so much! I figure if a chef can do I don't think I need to say anything else do I?

Duck foie gras with fresh fruits

Bf's pig trotters were enclosed in something we couldn't remember and it definitely wasn't presented the way we were expecting. Nonetheless, it was tender and moist mixed with mushrooms and vegetables which I couldn't figure out. It was enjoyable but I think the foie gras was better.

 

Pig trotter

 The next course also the main course. Bf opted for the crumbed lamb, while I went for my usual favourite - duck confit. Bf's crumbed lamb whilst the crumbs were delicious lacked a bit of crunch. The lamb however was very well cooked and the sauce was lovely addition to the dish. 

Crumbed lamb

The duck however, was the favourite out of the two main dishes for both of us. It was so tender it fell off the bone. The sauce was this divine broth of goodness (which I can't fathom what's in it!). It was just a perfectly well executed duck confit!

Duck confit

The palate cleanser or the sorbet is probably the best sorbet/palate cleanser I have ever had. It was this rich intense flavour of strawberries. So dense in flavour and so creamy smooth I wanted more of it and even asked the waitress if I can have some to take home! Unfortunately it was a no, but on the plus side I found out that thermomix was used! (I new I had to get the thermomix after I went to the demostration! Just a little longer until I get my own place..).

 

The palate cleanser - Strawberry Sorbet

 Then as bf puts it.. the best part of the night.. the dessert course. Bf went for the Loose Box infamous majestic swan with vanilla bean ice cream and tuille buscuit, while I went for this very creamy and extremely nutty pistachio and almond nougat. Both were amazing but the nougat ice cream was so big and jam packed with nuts I was actually surprised as to how nutty it was (as strange as that sounds - but you know how people say it's a pistachio ice cream or whatever and it barely has pistachio apart from a few flakes? well this was the opposite of that!)

The desserts - the infamous swan on the left and the very nutty nougat ice cream on the right.

I was also surprised by the restaurant and was given a little dove/bird with their yummy and very intense vanilla ice cream topped with a tuille happy birthday sign. How sweet.

After our desserts we were so stuffed that we were unable to finish or even remotely ask for our petite fours and coffee/teas so instead the lovely staff at Loose Box packed it into a clear container. The petite fours consisted of a very delicious and perfect almond macaroon in the middle, a chocolatey dark chocolate truffle topped with a macadamia nut for me and a white chocolate drop for bf and then there lovely toffee custard donut. This was a great dessert to our lunch the next day.

The Petite Fours

The waitstaff we had at Loose Box was absolutely lovely. She was warm friendly and happy who explained everything to us was accommodating and wasn't too invasive. It was a wonderful night out even if it was a trek to get there. I'm glad Loose Box was far better than my experience at Alain Le Bistro Des Artistes.

I will hopefully be back one day.

Jet Setting

I've haven't been blogging due to my jet setting habits.

Having just been to China it's been a eye-widening experience in the sense that the Chinese history is extensive and vastness of the cities and the towns are unbelievable. It's something that needs to be seen to be believed, because you just wouldn't understand how quickly China has developed over the last 20 years and how huge everything is, including their small cities (which has a population of 12 million!). And the laws with regards to the one child policy and the exceptions to that. It's just been very interesting.

I'm currently in Rangoon, Myanmar (Burma) and the city also has gotten a lot better and a lot more green than what I remembered. A stark contrast to China. I still have family here so it's been nice to see Popo and my Uncles, Aunties and cousins.

I will have to write more about this when I get a chance because I shouldn't be on the computer now. When I get back I will back post everything with photos included.

It's going to be a nightmare to sort the photos I'm on my second 8Gb memory card and have over 2200+ photos and videos.

Lido

A group of workmates and I went to have Vietnamese after work one Friday evening and decided to head to Lido, which is undecidedly not very Vietnamese. It's more Vietnamese catered for Australians and that becomes even more evident as the early evening turned into a dinner rush, and the restaurant became packed with non-Vietnamese people.

 The first time I ate there it was rather bland and the flavours just didn't work. This time around I was rather surprised by the overall taste - flavoursome, not too salty but definitely not authentic flavours of Vietnam.

 

To start  the night there was a round of drinks. Matso mango beer from a brewery in Broome and having one of my favorite smoothies; avocado!  Creamy nutty yummy goodness! 

Avocado Smoothie goodness on the left and Matso Mango Beer on the right

After the drinks there was a couple of entrees. The first was the lovely Vietnamese prawn and vegetable rice paper roll. It was refreshingly light and delicious, great appetizer and too popular that it was gone before I could take a photo! 

 

There was also the traditional vegetarian spring rolls - crispy and golden! Deep fried goodness.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Then there was the delicious golden and rather huge stuffed chicken wings! The stuffing was generous and well made - probably one of the best stuffed chicken wings in town!

Stuffed Chicken Wings

We then got a little too excited. And ordered a vast selection of mains. We ordered half a crispy chicken. This simple dish can go so badly wrong but Lido did it just right. Crispy golden skin and succulent chicken meat that was not dry. Only pity was that I wanted more.

Crispy Chicken

Crispy chicken was followed by kangpo beef (oh I may have made that up because I really can't remember what the Vietnamese name of the dish is called.. So dreadful of me!) It's just beef cubes seasoned well, sitting on top of a bed of salad well with amazing sauce that needs to be poured all over the beef. This was one of our favorite dishes. The aroma, the beef cubes were cooked well, although some were a bit chewy but the taste was a balance of salt, sweet and spices. 

Beef "kang po"

We also ordered prawns with this coconut tomato sauce (I forgot what it's called... I really need to take notes of what I eat next time)... Nonetheless it was delicious! I'm not sure if the prawns were fresh or if they were the frozen ones but the sauce was this coconut and tomato sweetness without it being too creamy.

Prawn with coconut and tomato

Then there was the tamarind squid, something I didn't get to taste due to my unusual allergy to all things squid (and its family group). But from the comments around the table the squid was well cooked, not rubbery or chewy and teh tamarind flavours added something a little special to what is otherwise a simple stir-fry-like dish.

Tamarind Squid

Having covered the seafood dishes we ordered the seasame seed coated sweet pork cutlet. This again is another dish which can turn badly if the wrong cut of pork or the quality of pork is used. However this wasn't the case for us. It was succulent and the sauce was sweet and sticky.

Seasame seed sweet pork

To even out the meat dishes we had some stir-fry vegetables. This was a colourful dish of green, red and yellow vegetables. It had a bit of tapiaco to "glue" the dish together - just a simple delicious and somewhat "healthy" option to try to offset all the other carnivorous dishes.

 

Stir-fry Vegetables

Overall, Lido dishes were flavoursome, although not authentic Vietnamese per sa, it is still delicious and offers a wide variety of choices. The thing is though the servings are a little on the small size compared to other Asian restaurants and the price dearer. However it is still cheaper than most other cuisine. One to at least try.