Eat like an Egyptian

Life is hectic when you work 6 days a week and then trying to fit in errands on the one day that you are free. Then on the weeknights you have to push yourself to go to the gym so you don't get fat from all the catch-ups breakfasts/lunches/brunches/high teas/dinners that occur. To top it off Perth's weather hasn't been the best with lots of lovely pitter patter of rain drops. So all I want to do is curl up in front of the telly and catch up on movies/tv shows and fall asleep listening to the sound of rain.

Lucky for me I have amazing bunches of friends that drag me out of my hermit cave. One of the things I love doing indoors away from the cold, the wet and the heat is checking out the museum exhibition at the Western Australia Museum in Northbridge at the Cultural Centre. 

At the moment, until 22nd of September Secrets of the Afterlife exhibition is on, which if a journey into ancient Egypt and the world of magic, mummies, and afterlife. It features over 100 objects from amulets and jewellery to coffins, painted texts and spells for the dead, as well as rituals for the perfect afterlife. 

It was amazing to see objects and artifacts from thousands of years ago (and how they survived!) and just reading about the believes of the ancient Egyptians. It's worth checking out! Oh and the duck may not be thousands of years old but it's still hella cute.

After we had our education session on obtaining that perfect afterlife, we made our way to the Muse Cafe situated behind the main museum entrance. Muse Cafe is offering Egyptian Style High Tea. 

They decked out the room into a very Egypt theme with posters, camels and ancient Egypt themed chess pieces. They offer 3 sessions for the high tea at 11am-12:30pm, 1:00pm-2:30pm, 3:00pm-4:00pm. The cost of the high tea is reasonable as it includes the tickets to the exhibition ($65 or $75 if you want a cocktail along with the high tea). 

The Muse Cafe also offered a variety of different high tea menus to suit people's dietary requirements, which I think is brilliant! I'm so glad they take allergies and food intolerance very seriously. They have a vegetarian, nut free, gluten free, and low risk pregnancy menus. 

We started of with a refreshing watermelon and coconut salad with honey mint syrup appetizer, which had the sweetness of the watermelon, coconut flakes provided the texture and the mint (couldn't really taste the honey syrup bit of it) left you refreshingly cool. 

Then the tea order was taken (they also do coffee), but their range of teas is pretty impressive, there is about 10-15 different types of teas and they come in proper "made-to-share" teapots which can be topped up or if you are sick of the tea you are trying they will just swap over the pot for you. We ended up trying cinnamon and orange tea, pomegranate green tea and rooibos tea. The teapots are ultra cute too, most likely sourced from many an antique shop or vintage markets. I love it. 

Then the high tea delights came out (fairly quickly too might I add). We started off with the sandwiches. They were in plain white bread but the filling was rather delicious, with hints of spices and herbs to keep to our Egyptian theme. There was the cumin sandwich, the Moroccan chicken, and cucumber and rocket with goat's cheese sandwich . They were all rather delicious, although I wish the cumin sandwich had more cumin in it, because it really lacked oomph. But the waitress did warn us that the amount of cumin may be a little as people have been finding it a bit strong. They might have overdone removing it.

Then the scones came out - yum! Mixed fruit scones with the best fig compote to go with it. So delicious. So fluffy and nicely warmed.

After scones comes the warm food, consisting of eggplant masaka tart and the bay and cardamon braised lamb pie. They smelt so delicious and the flavours in both the tart and the lamb pie transported you to the hot bazaar of Egypt. Perfect to eat on a rainy day. Warms your soul.

Then the best of the high tea - the dessert. This consisted of pomegranate chocolate cake, rose marshmallow, pistachio and apricot baklava. 

The pomegranate chocolate cake was this dense, rich, moist chocolate cake, an absolute indulgence. The rose marshmallow was the complete contrast to this its light airy texture, sweet rose smells and just melt in your mouth moment of sweetness. The pistachio and apricot baklava (if eaten last) didn't taste as sweet as baklavas tend to be, which is something that I really appreciated. The nuts and apricot added textural interest and it just seemed to round out the high tea very nicely.

The Muse cafe is a lovely place with a massive outdoor area. It's perfect for the warmer climates. But even in winter and with the rain the indoor area is so cosy and warm it's just the perfect place to hide away. I love how they do their teas in large pots and with such a variety of selection. The service is lovely and as attentive as possible, and I love how they cater for dietary requirements and allergies. More places in Perth needs to take that up. It's definitely one to go to especially if there is an exhibition on at the Museum and they have themed their high tea accordingly. Why not have a day out? Go see the Egyptian Exhibition (on until 22nd September) and have the high tea as well (as a lunch perhaps?). You can get tickets to the exhibition here and for the combined experience of high tea and exhibition click here.

Eating healthy with AntiOx Chocolate and Snack Bars and GIVEAWAY!

One of my biggest vices in the quest to become toned and fit is.. well can you guess?.. my love of food. I think this blog says it all. It's a miracle that I don't weight a ton.

When I'm not out dining my diet is generally good, except for this minor (ok fine it's a major problem) thing.. it's snacking. I snack on too much junk. The biggest vices being chocolate and chips.

Good thing for me that I discovered Australian made AntiOx Snack Bars and Chocolate (and just in the nick of time too, because I have been coming home this past 3 weeks eating my little heart out on cadbury chocolate blocks of milk chocolate and crunchies and feeling rather sluggish!). They are high in natural antioxidants, low in sugar and calories. Winning so far!

The chocolate bars are made with rich 70% cocoa dark chocolate (which you can really taste) and super fruits goji or acai. I really couldn't believe the low sugar content and the low calories. I could eat the whole packet and still wouldn't be as bad as eating one piece of Lindt or blocks of cadbury chocolate. Just see for yourself in this photo.

Ok, so you are probably wondering, something that healthy can't possibly taste good. But trust me they are! Surprisingly. I couldn't believe that they punch a fair bit of dark chocolate, that slightly bitter dark chocolate bitter goodness taste. The goji berries flavour is better than acai one. The goji berries have this slight chewy texture and reminded me very much of the "fruits of forrest" cadbury minus the sugar content and AntiOx Goji is dark chocolate deliciousness. I was in chocolate haven. Now I can snack and not feel guilty. And to top it off, just four blocks or even less fills you up and satisfies you so much more than any other chocolate.
WINNING.

Enjoying my block of dark chocolate and looking rather worn out from the cold and stresses

Then there are the AntiOx Snack Bars that come in three flavours (made of super foods!) - goji, acai and chia and quinoa. The snack bars are made of 70% cocoa dark chocolate coated around super fruits (goji, acai or chia and quinoa, depending on the flavour), forrest berries and wholegrains. I have been having them after work but before gymming, that in between time where you are so famished and wanting to consume everything. The snack bars were great to satisfy that craving.

The insides of the Goji snack bar

The snack bars a little higher in calories, but are still better than most snack bars on the super market shelves and they actually surprisingly taste good, even without the added sugar, just natural sugar. Again, the goji flavour came out best in terms of taste. Have a look at the calorie content.

The AntiOx chocolate and snack bars range is the way to go in terms of not giving up on the chocolate love, and keeping your waistline in check. It's an option to substitute your bad cravings, whist giving you all this antioxidant boosts. In fact for further nutritional information on the AntiOx products check out this page.

But HEY don't let me tell you about it, you should try it out yourself and let me know what you think and if you agree with me.

Better yet, I have 2 AntiOx prize packs to giveaway.
Each prize pack contains:
6 x AntiOx Snack Bars
4 x AntiOx Chocolates

All you have to do to get the prize packs is answer this very simple question in my comment section of this post...
"Why do you want to try the new AntiOx Snack Bars and Chocolate?"

Competition closes Friday 28th June 2013 and the winning entry will be the ones that have the most creative answer. Don't forget to leave your preferred contact details so I can contact you after the competition closes if you are the winner!

Some T&C:
Entry is only open to Australian residents aged 14 years and over.
The winners will be notified via their preferred contact method and will be asked to provide their email and contact phone number at that time.
To claim the prize, the winners must reply to the winner notification and accept the prize within 14 days, as well as, indicate their preferred address for the prize to be sent. If the winner does not respond within 1 days they will forfeit the prize.
Further T&C check here.

(This post has been sponsored by nuffnang)

Lunch at Gordon st Garage Coffee/Bar/Kitchen

My very last RDO was a few weeks ago, and it will be the last for a long while. This meant it's time to enjoy it the only way possible - organising for my epic holiday and of course catching up for a very late lunch with a good friend.

After practically running across the city (very fast walking pace from one end of Hay street to another - east to west) to get to Gordon St. Garage. An old warehouse turned breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night dining area. Exposed lights, air-conditioning units with lots of different areas for dining - upstairs, outside, main area. A little canteen like, for some reason reminded me of school/university and of course very much like Little Creatures in Fremantle.

Jojo and I were served by a lovely French waiter who has only been in Perth for a few months and will be travelling around Australia and New Zealand in another few months time. Sounds rather bliss. I don't think my travel bug will ever be extinguish. Anyway, he recommended us the soup of the day, but we both weren't in the mood and it just wasn't cold enough at the time. It was sunny and warm, despite it being close to the start of winter.

We started off the afternoon with a flat white for Jojo and a Zenzero, ginger beer with ginseng and apple (warning it is alcoholic) for me. Zenzero was refreshing and did not taste alcoholic at all, but the taste of ginseng, ginger and apple was all there. Delicious in a drink.

Our mains followed a while later. 

Jojo opted for the open pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw.It was served on a wooden slab, which at the moment is all the rage for serving dishes. It was most definitely open sandwich and the bread (not sure what kind because I didn't get a chance to have a proper look) was definitely well toasted and possibly grilled too. I was lucky to have a taste of the chutney and the pork. The chutney was flavoursome and so was the pork but nothing that was outstandingly amazing.

I got myself a quinoa and lamb kofta on a bed of pita bread. The lamb kofta was delicious and the quinoa (one of the super foods prounced "Keen-Wah" NOT "qui-no-a") added that bit of dimension to the chickpeas/hummus and vegetables. I felt rather healthy eating it too! However, the downside was the pita bread was a little tough and definitely was left in the oven a little too long. Like the open sandwich it was served on a wooden slab, which is all very cute, if not a little small for my dish, as I keep getting quinoa rolling out around everywhere, and didn't help that I couldn't cut into the pita bread. Nevermind, it was great lunch, just ate it like 2-year-old. 

Of course an RDO lunch is never complete without dessert. We decided to share a piece and after having a look at their cake selection and their little dessert cabinet consisting of pannacotta, mousse etc. After much deliberation, we settled for the peanut butter gateau/wafer cake thing and was also recommended by one of the waitresses.

It was most definitely peanut buttery and the wafer/biscuit thing at the bottom was chewy and crunchy all at the same time, a nice textural difference to the creamy peanut buttery taste and the dark chocolate. It was a little bit hard to crack through though and again a little messy, but hey at least it tastes great.

Gordan st. Garage is your little casual chilled place to catch up. The female toilets also have an awesome mirror to freshen up from head to toe. The service is a little slow, even at 3pm and there was hardly anyone there, or it is because it was 3pm and there was hardly anyone that caused the slow in service? The one thing I love about this place though is the desserts and you can usually get the full and fresh range in the mornings. They also open late Monday to Sunday meaning you can get your coffee and dessert fix at any time! BONUS.

The food? I don't rate it as amazing and it isn't bad. It's decent and the dessert selection is what is probably going to be bringing me back.

Getting my Sweet Fix

I've been eating out a fair bit recently so feeling rather fat (more eating less exercise - not a good combo..and anyway have to save $$$) anyway, the first Saturday of April was pretty much the last weekend of the French Film Festival, and my little cousin and I went and watched our last pre-booked tickets - Meet Me In Real Life. Lucky for us we didn't have to spend any money on dinner because mum made a traditional Burmese dish (one of my favourites) which was just fantastic!

This meant that we can get desserts! What better place than going to Sweet Fix! Located on James street downstairs from Utopia (used to be a little Utopia.. and next to Immigration offices). It has all sorts of Asian desserts, including ice kachang, tau fu fah (soya bean desserts), ice creams (home made of course) - durian, green tea, black sesame ice cream (all homemade) and of course bubble teas.

It's small place, decorated with brightly coloured stools and mismatched furnishings. The decor is nothing spectacular, perhaps a little tacky, but the area is chilled, relaxed and comfortable.

I had the green tea ice-cream and unlike other places you can actually taste the green tea powder - matcha action-packed! Finally found one that reminds me of Tokyo! and topped with red bean it was just the right sweet fix that I needed. In fact, I thought it was rather generous serving of ice-cream for about $3.50-$4.00. 2 big scoops.

Green tea ice cream with red bean paste

Little cousin got the ice kachang minus the cream corn. The ice was nice and fine and wasn't too chunky so you don't feel as though you were eating big pieces of ice - so props to that. It had this really strong banana flavoured smell through it though (do not like banana flavoured things.. just the smell and taste is so artificial.. well duh!). Not bad though, and cousin reckons sweet fix does one of the better ice kachangs.

Ice Ka-Chang

Overall, Sweet Fix provides you with a nice Asian dessert fix without a huge expense and without the massive lines seen at Meet Fresh. It's also more chilled and relaxed and you don't feel rushed, nor is it noisy. So why not get your sweet fix on?

Being merry @ Merrywell

A bottle of shiraz and cocktails can do a lot of damage sometimes. For me it makes me sleep. Once all that EtOH hits my system all I want to do is curl up and sleep.

Before that happens though I get hungry. After our lackluster dinner experience at Nobu, we ventured onto Merrywell for some desserts (it was either Merrywell or 50 cent cone at McDonalds - I didn't even realise that they have even opened one in the casino!).

I haven't been to the Merrywell since it opened (again a bad foodie misdeed) and a lot of people have raved about it (good things and bad..) and I never get a chance to go, mainly because I am not a big fan of parking at Crown Burswood - gives me a massive headache! Addicted to chaos - then this is it - finding parking at Crown.

Anyway, back to Merrywell. I like the layout, I guess. It's nice enough. The outside/courtyard area is better I think. I'm not sure if people are allowed to smoke there though. I hope not, because technically it's not "outdoors" because you have this wall around it and ventilation isn't exactly the best, especially when it's hot (as it was that night) and that with smoking is not the best combo.

The service at Merrywell - don't expect one (except you may have to get onto the waiting list to get a table at busy hours - which may be up to 2 hours or more, unless you order at the bar, in which case good luck finding a seat at the bar). After all it's like going to any pub or bar. If you want food, you go to order at the area where there is a sign that says "place order here" take your seat and get a number on a stand and just wait to get your food. It is not a restaurant. You are there to watch games, eat (a little bit more fancier things than pub food) and drink. So enjoy it. Soak up the noise. Shout across the table to your friends so you are heard. It's why you are there!

In terms of food, I've heard many a good things about their mac & cheese along with their fried wings. So we decided to get a bowl of mac & cheese (no wings though - we wanted desserts and snacks not another dinner..). And well.. hmm.. UNDERWHELMED. Despite it's golden yummy appearance, after biting into it, you release the cheese has not melted properly at all. It needed another minute or so and it would have been that gooey stringy cheese. But alas it was not to be. Disappointment and just a heart attack risk with no awesomeness. It did come with HP sauce, which was nice.

Infamous Mac & Cheese

But like I said, we were here mainly for the desserts. So we got 3 pots of dessert. One of which really surprised us. We ordered the Key Lime Cheese Cake, Strawberry Trifle and the Cookie Collection. 

The Strawberry Trifle on the left was probably one of my favourite out of the three. Creamy, strawberriliousness and not too rich and not too sweet. We were all in agreement that it was good stuff in that little jar/pot.

The cookie collection - well we didn't expect homemade cookies shoved into a little jar. We were expecting something like cookie and creme of something. Nevermind though because the cookies were DAMN GOOD. 3 different flavours. 3 types of perfect cookies. I felt like I was a little kid. All we needed was coffee or hot chocolate (but it was just as good without it). I'm obviously a cookie monster!

The last and on your right is the Key Lime Cheesecake. It was tangy, perhaps a bit too much? (or defs more so than the other two desserts), but it was refreshing. It was not very cheesecakey though because I couldn't taste the cookie base (I'm not even sure if there was one!). I did like the fact that they had shaved and baked lemon/lime things one top. Enjoyable dessert nonetheless especially for those who like tangy refreshing desserts to something sweet and rich.

Overall, Merrywell isn't a bad place to hang out. It explains why it's so packed. Perhaps a little too noisy and too busy with the music, TV screens and people. I'm not sure if the massive ravings of WOW-ness is actually accurate. For me, with what I had it wasn't exactly WOW-worthy. But from the looks of the burgers that came out and things -they were huge and the buns were between BIG patty with oozing melted cheese galore. I may have to go back to try their actual food menu. But for the mac and cheese. meh. Cheese balls things -I've had better. Oh and there are little steps everywhere! I'm not sure if that is good for those who are drunk.  So take care. 

Chocolate Delights @ Koko Black Claremont Quarter

A gf and I ventured to Claremont Quarter for a dose of chocolate delight at Koko Black. Somewhere I haven't been to in over 1.5 years. We grabbed a sit at the outside area of the cafe, it doesn't feel so congested that way, and it was the only seat available.

We wanted to try more than their drinks so settled for the chocolate affogato bliss, which comes with a choice of 2 truffles (from their chocolate display), 2 Florentine and a brownie. We also got an additional cappuccino affogato.

The cappuccino affogato was absolutely delicious and I regretted that I didn't get that. It had a beautiful shot of espresso combined with flakes of Koko Black's famous chocolate poured over their homemade vanilla ice cream. It was the perfect mix of sweet and coffee flavours.

 

I think next time because I found the chocolate affogato a little too sweet after the first few sips of heaven. Although I love how the hot chocolate is in a separate pouring jar to the ice cream.

For the truffles, it was such a hard choice, the selection was extensive. We ended up having the dark chocolate salted caramel. It was salty it was sweet with a slight hint of bitters from the dark chocolate. We also had the dark chocolate hazelnut praline. Lovely moussey dark chocolate centre covered in hazelnut crunch. The Florentine was also rather beautiful - crunchy with dried fruits covered with dark chocolate on one side. The brownie was moist, chocolatey and rich, the way it should be.

I have forgotten how good the quality of the chocolate is at Koko Black, it's rich cocoa goodness and it still has the best range of drinks. A way to increase those endorphin!

The Precinct

I've been so bad and have been neglecting this blog for a few weeks. Not so much because I have nothing to write about but more because I have too much to write about and too much going on that I haven't had much energy or time to unwind and slow down my thoughts.

So finally I have, at 1240am in the morning. So to continue with the theme of desserts we should continue onto The Precinct. I must admit The Precinct is a rather nice addition to the Albany Hwy Victoria Park area, mainly because it adds that "nice small bar" amongst all the pubs and cheap italian restaurants (not that there is anything wrong with pubs or cheap italian restaurants.. it just adds that something something).

I'm not sure if it's because it's still unknown, or whether Victoria Park hasn't been picked up as the place to go on a Saturday night (and rightly so, there still isn't that much going on but it is picking up.. there is a lovely book store a few doors down and a few boutiques I wouldn't mind checking out that sells bits and bops, along with the usual pubs and a handful of good places to eat other than pub food), but The Precinct was rather quite for a Saturday night.

The precinct has two clear divisions where there are diners and the bar (no idea why a clear partition is needed considering no one came into the bar to drink but lots of diners - unless the "partition" is actually part of ensuring structural soundness of the place?).

The place had wooden tables and chairs (and area where there is almost a canteen like dining table for "sharing table" with others). The walls on one side is exposed with a recurring theme of a dog taking a piss on a pole. Nice. Oh and a motif of the queen's face. Random. But loving it so far. The kitchen area is also exposed so guests are invited to observe and watch chefs under pressure.

The menu at The Precinct was pretty impressive when we went there with pork belly, half chicken and the likes on offer. But we had just finished eating at the Prophet and was instead more interesting in their dessert menu.

There was a few to chose from but the thing that stood out and impressed me the most was that they had a dairy free and gluten free bread and butter pudding (which in itself is an amazing concept! especially considering the name and the nature of the traditional bread and butter pudding - needless to say I was intrigued).

MR chose it considering she was severely allergic to lactose. It came warmed and smelling lovely. perfect for a chilly night. It was obviously not as creamy as the original, but nor was it runny like it was just water. To be perfectly honest considering it was guten and dairy free it was a rather enjoyable dessert. I immediately thought of taking one of the girls from work here! I think she would enjoy it!

Bf opted for the deconstructed banoffee pie. Needless to say it was sweet and rich but delicious nonetheless. I would recommend sharing because the portion is generous, but then again if you have a sweet tooth, go all out and have one yourself.

The deconstructed banoffee pie

MM and myself onthe other hand, opted to share desserts - the cheese - delice de cremiers, pear sorbet, pear tullie and the lemon meringue, lemon curd.

The lemon meringue with lemon curd was also somewhat deconstructed as the lemon curd provided that tartness that generall comes with lemon meringue but this had to be eaten with a constructed meringue that was a little too sweet to eat on it's own. I felt as though it didn't work so well, only because the lemon curd ran out too quickly versus the meringue bit and I was just left with too sweet a meringue. Unless of course that is what you are after? I've never had too much a of sweet tooth.

The lemon meringue, lemon curd

The cheese on the other hand was lovely, I would have preferred they gave us crackers or bread instead of the tuille, because the tuille was rather blah and ran out way too quickly, that you were just left with cheese. The cheese was too strong to not have with crackers. Crackers were needed. The sliced glazed pear, only four was given, little disappointing there. But I liked the cheese! (Most important part - if only there were crackers!)

Overall the Precinct is a lovely venue and one worth checking out (although I hate saying that only because then it gets too packed and I can't go back because it's too crowded and I never end up with a seat!) We did a walk in and got a table (share table nonetheless but a table) and I would hate it if we couldn't do that anymore. The only compliant I have is the "hipster" waiters, the one that served us was rather rude and condescending when we asked more questions about the menu. Like DUH we haven't been there before of course we would ask. Such attitude!

Apart from that the menu looks fantastic and I can't wait to try more than just their desserts. Perhaps ask their staff to lose the attitude of "I'm too cool for school" because clearly they are not at school.

Dessert Celebrations

Finally the time has come after slightly over a year of hard work.. The hard earned annual leave.

Seeing as you suppose to bring cake for your birthday to share at work I bought mine early as I won't be there on my day.

So I got a raspberry cheesecake from Chez Jean Claude in Subiaco - the consistency was more of a mousse. Rather light not too rich, but the berry flavours and pieces of beries was throughout the cake. The cake was enclosed in marble dark chocolate slates. Yummy light cheesecake.

 

I also got a lemon & lime brûlée tart from Lawleys bakery in Shenton Park. The pastry was a little undercooked but the lime and lemon flavour is perfectly balanced with sweetness. I'm always such a fan of good slightly tangy desserts.

Unfortunately I only got the chance to take a photo of the two after it was cut and eaten into.

Then for the family I got a bunch of the famous Chez Jean Claude in Subiaco almond croissant - beautiful, soft, flaky, almonds cream goodness.

Now I'm feeling guilty and fat and will be hitting the gym before massive feasts that is to occur over the weekend.

I.MUST.NOT.GET.FAT.BEFORE.TRAVELS