Cold Lonely Night

I'm TIRED!!!! It's starting of a new week tomorrow and I'm TIRED!!! Seriously I don't think my brain had any rest during the weekend. I don't feel fully recharge at all!!! It's COLD, I'm ALONE, my back is ACHING! I'm sort of got use to him working night(a lot of personal free time) but at this moment I HATE it! :(

I haven't being doing much either this for the past 2 days. Spend more than 2 hours sitting in front of the TV and finish knitting a scarf (2nd project, finally!!!!) last night. Sorry can't show you the final product as it's a birthday gift. Promise to post it after the birthday gal receive it ok? Yes, I started knitting again. So far knitted a scarf for mummy as mother's day present. Now considering should I try knitting a beannie or a rug.

Just finish spending 5 hours(3.5 hrs in the afternoon and rest after dinner) on work at home. Suppose to go back to the office to work but wasn't feeling well + it's so cold out there. Seriously can't bother to dress up and travel 20mins to office. Being spending a few hours on work for the past 2 weekends. It's definitly not a nice way to spend the weekend but what to do when I have a tight schedule. Hope I won't have to repeat the same thing next weekend as Eizac will be in Melbourne.

CL requested me to make some curry puffs this afternoon but I couldn't. Didn't have enough time + I'm TIRED! But I did bake a cake for him to share with his colleagues. I know I'm complaining that I'm TIRED but I still can bake! Baking to me is a form of destress. I haven't been in this stress level for at least a year. I didn't realise I'm stress till last week CL asked when he notice the toilet floor is full of my hair! Opps got side track.

The cake I baked was suppose to be a Zebra Cake as the pattern is like a zebra stripe (circular of black and white). But I TOTALLY FAIL! It turn out to be a marble cake. I spend almost 30mins alternate spooning plain and chocolate batter in the pan. TOTALLY WASTED! No idea what went wrong! Maybe I didn't let it sit and spread long enough before spooning the next batter? Or the chocolate batter is too thick?? Plus the cake explode! I spend 20mins more baking then what the receipe state. It is because of my oven??? Answer anyone?????


Sorry I didn't manage to take any picture after I sliced it as CL is running late.

Priceless Dinner

Sushi $6

A dozen Oyster $12

Sashimi $6.90

Total cost of dinner $32

Satisfying dinner PRICELESS!!!

Excursion to Prahan Market

Activity for this morning was excursion to Prahan Market! Finally CL wasn't working this weekend and suggested to go Prahan Market last night. Of course I happily agreed.

Prahan Market is a dangerous zone for me therefore CL try ways and means not to enter. You will slowly discover why as you read on.

We woke up really early! Even earlier then my normal working day. We were afraid having problem finding a parking spot.

1st priority was to fill out hungry tummy. I had scrambled eggs on sourdough toast while CL had egg benedict and with our favourite Mocha.

Breakfast wasn't very fantastic but we love their sourdough bread. They also sell fresh baked bread. In the end we bought 3 small dinner rolls for tomorrow dinner.

Next stop was The Essential Ingredient. I totally loved this place! It's my shopping paradise! They sell everything you need in the kitchen! Cook books, food (spices, all kind and types of oils, rice, flour, nuts, jams, pasta etc....you name it, they have it) cookware, bakeware, good set of knives and electrical appliances (they have a roll of KitchenAid stand mixer is all available colors!....hinted CL that I like to have a PINK 1 on my kitchen bench top when we purchase our own shelter...hehe).

Price tags in The Essential Ingredient are on the high side too. I wanted to bring the whole store home! But CL stopped me if not who knows how much less in my account when I step out of the shop. The only purchase we did was a small frying pan which will be used to fry egg (CL loved to have an fried egg with his instant noodle)
CL and the new purchase.

As we were browsing in the fresh food session, I was also looking out for Monsieur Truffe booth. I read about its chocolate truffle from a few Melbourne food blogs and wanted to try for myself what is so great about his chocolate. When we walked past, "I heard they are very famous" is what I told CL. He wasn't tempted but he knows I am therefore we stopped to check the booth out.

There were 10 different favous of truffle on display for tasting. Hazlenut was the 1st we tried and immediately we bought a box of 12. I continue tasting and went for the Mexican Chipotle Chilli. It wasn't spicy enough for me. He suggested to try Passionfruit and Lime. I was surprised when I pop the lime truffle into my mouth. I love the chocolate melting and at the same time adding a slight sour taste. I love it but we didn't buy any as CL don't really like it. But we bought a box of 6 for Passionfruit. I know CL will like it when I tasted it and insisted he tried some.

Box of Hazlenut Truffle of 12.

We also ended up buying Wagyu Beef Burger. We are going to have that for tomorrow dinner with the dinner rolls. Can't wait to taste it!

As for tonight, we going to have Sashimi with some sushi and fresh oysters. Yum!!!!!

1st Attempt in making Curry Puff

CL didn't take any order or give me any suggestion for tonight dinner when I asked him what he has in mind last night. He told me to surprise him. Great! How am I going to do that?

As I spend the night flipping thru all my cookbook wondering what I should cook for today dinner. I had a sudden urge to try making Curry Puff. But how am I going to have Curry Puff for dinner and how are we able to finish all? I'm not good at estimating how much to prepare in order not to waste food. Plus I need to deep-fried the Curry Puff. Therefore I don't really see it happening.

BUT when CL picked me up to accompany me marketing after his night shift, he gave me a small little project to occupy my time. He requested me to either cook or bake something for Club Alfred. Tonight he is working night shift again and some of his mates will be bringing in food to share. He wanted to contribute a bit.

CURRY PUFF was the 1st item that came into my mind! I can try something new + I won't have to stuff myself. That's FANTASTIC! But CL initially didn't really like the idea as we try to minimise deep-frying at home. Then I came up with an idea. Instead of frying, we stick them into the oven. All I have to do is wrapped the fillings with puff pastry instead. Since I still have some left over puff pastry in the freezer. It's one stone kill two birds. Not only I can cook something I want to try, I can even clear my freezer (those who had seem my fridge will know why). YEAH!!!

BUT halfway thru preparation, I realised I only had 2 sheets of puff pastry left. That's definitely not enough. At most, I will end with 8 Curry Puffs. I start to ponder whether should I drive to Coles and get another packet of puff pastry or should I try making my own pastry which I will end up frying.

It's too cold to leave the house + I'm extremely lazy to get dress. :) So it's DIY pastry. Lucky I tend to stock the house with everything, I hate to find missing ingredients when I cook. CL always comment we won't stave if Melbourne is in war. hehehe

Me at work. Sorry for the messy kitchen+ table(in the mid of cooking dinner too). I seriously need a bigger working area. *hint hint* Guess I will have to leave with it till I get a bigger place. Notice the pot beside me? That's the thermal pot which I mention in my previous post.

Filling with the almost finished product. Fillings include chicken mince, potatoes, onion and mixed vegetables. I didn't follow any recipe while preparing the fillings. Just follow my instinct and add any seasoning that I feel will make it taste good. Result it's actually pretty tasty. But it will need a bit more seasoning as the pastry is kinda of bland. I didn't have a round cutter which is big enough therefore I improvise using a glass.

The final product. This photo does not do any justice at all!!! It's so poorly taken but that's the only photo I have and not taken by me. I was suppose to take a photo of a tray of Curry Puff before I packed it all up for CL to bring to work. But I totally forgot till he left home.*sob sob*

After frying, the pleats are much more visible. I was worried that I did a bad job assembling and afraid it will not be presentable at all. CL actually likes it. He was even wondering whether S, the doctor from Singapore be working tonight coz he will definitely like to try some.

You will definitely not believe this. I didn't even leave any for myself! He took everything with him. I only had a small bite when CL tested the 1st batch of final product. Well at least I don't have to worry that I will gain a few kilos from eating Curry Puffs :P

Hope Club Alfred likes it. :)

Bopha Devi

Bopha Devi, Melbourne's 1st Cambodian restaurant.

I have never being adventures in food till I landed in Melbourne. I always tend to stick to the usual cuisine e.g Thai, Japanese, Chinese. But that has changed 2 years ago. That's also when I 1st tried Bopha Devi. It was Tara's birthday and we were invited for dinner at Bopha Devi 1st restaurant located at Yarraville.

Both of us enjoyed the food a lot. Serving was huge and generous in their ingredients. We return again last year during our wedding anniversary(I think....but definitely we are celebrating an event).

This year was during Mummy and Daddy visit. They were flying back the next day and we were cracking our head where to have dinner. They had being trying all kinds of cuisine since they landed. We are running out of idea by the last week of their stay. (CL even commented we should start experiencing restaurants again. If not we won't have any idea where to bring my parents for meals on their next visit...haha) On their 2nd last night, we booked a table at Dockland Bopha Devi as we couldn't get a table at Yarraville.

Table was already waiting for us when we arrived. The place was packed and the boss was the only person on the ground although on and off 1 of the chef did help to serve but we were very well taken care off. *Impress*.

In total, we had 3 little bits, 1 salad, 3 mains and 2 desserts + 1 bottle of white wine. Hubby had lemon, lime, bitter and he loves it! I had a sip and I love it too!

Little Bits

K'dom. It looks like normal spring rolls doesn't it? But it's not! It chicken and crap meat roll together with in a crispy bread.

Chicken Ribs: marinated in secret herbs & spices. It's full of smoke favour. Plus the chili sauce by the side is super spicy.

Pork Spare-Ribs: twice cooked & coated in a caramelised palm sugar sauce. OMG! This is my favourite little bits dish. The ribs is full of favour and it's not too sweet.

Salad

Dried Shrimp Salad: shredded carrot & green papaya. Although the shrimp are dried but you can actually taste it freshness.

Main

We had no idea what to order except for their curry. Therefore we ordered what the boss recommanded.

Trei Char K'nyei(recommanded): pan fried fish fillet with julienne ginger & salted soy beans. The fish is very fresh. But can't really eat the fish alone because the soy beans makes this dish a bit too salties. But together with the rice, taste is just right.

Kari Khmer: a light coconut curry with onions, carrots, beans, Asian broccoli & potatoes. Hidden by the fresh ingredients above is actually rice. All rice had soaked up all the curry gravy. We always go for this dish every visit.

Lort Char(recommanded): rice drop noodles wok tossed with Asian broccoli, bean sprouts & egg. I haven't had rice drop noodles for at least 10 years. I don't really fancy them. But this dish really blew me away! It's made up of all cheap ingredients but the turn out is delicious.

Dessert

We struggle a bit to finish all the 3 mains. But how can a dinner consider dinner with finishing with dessert??? Boss was pretty surprised when we carry on the complete the meal requesting for dessert.

There are 3 desserts available and we ordered 2 to share.

Coconut Barvois with Sticky Rice.
Don't remember what it's call and can't be found on their website menu. But it's sugar banana rolled in a mix of sticky rice & coconut, wrapped in banana leaf, perfectly chargrilled & served with vanilla ice-cream.

Both the desserts are fantastic! CL and Mummy prefer the Sticky Rice while I prefer the Banana. As for Daddy, both works for him.

I have to remind myself, next time I have to order new dishes to try. I bet all their dishes will be equally impressive.

Shira Nui Visit # 2

We had such a fantastic experience on our 1st visit to Shira Nui that we went back in 2 weeks. This time round we bought my parents along.

We kept singing praises on Shira Nui in front of my parents till they can't stand it anymore and wanted to try for themselves. hehe.

Started with some Saka with Daddy. I'm Daddy drinking buddy and Daddy is my drinking buddy. Honestly, I drunk quite a lot during their one month stay. Always with a bottle of wine during chit chatting session with my folks.

As there are 4 of us, we are able to order MORE = try MORE! Beside having the same dishes we had previously, we tried another 4 more dishes.

Salmon Sushi. It's suppose to be 8 pieces of Salmon Sushi. But Daddy can't wait for us to take a shot before helping himself. Therefore there's only 7 pieces in the photo.

Before assembling the dish, the salmon is sliced and lightly seasoned by the chef at the front counter before sparely cooked in the kitchen.

Oyster Sushi. Same for this dish. Daddy can't wait! His chopstick is faster than CL taking a shot! But this time, Daddy managed to retrieve the sushi and place it back for the shot before popping into his mouth.

The oysters are covered with chesse and grilled before assembling. I love it!

Sushi roll. We sort of run out of sushi dishes to order + most of us are feeling full except CL.

We also ordered a Fried Chicken sushi roll but I guess we must have gobbling all into our tummy before even remembering to take a shot.

Mix Tempura (Main) was our last dish.

Towards the end, mummy wasn't eating a lot. She'e leaving some space for dessert. As for dessert, we ordered 2 Japanese Fruit Salad to share.

OMG. It's making my hungry!!!

Homecook Food

I miss mum's cooking and same as CL. So when Mum came, she cook a few of our favourite dish! I did some cooking too especially during our road trip. :)


31-05-2008 Sat

Immediately after landing at Melbourne. 1st stop was to Victoria Market. Bought all the fresh ingredients needed for dinner that night. Menu for the night was homemade Pizza! Mum being telling me Dad starting to crave for Pizza therefore I decided to make him some.



Mushroom & Red Bell Pepper Ham & Pineapple



During our road trip at Great Ocean Road, I cooked
Mushroom Risotto with Roasted Chicken
Mummy and Daddy never had risotto before. I'm happy that they like it. Btw, it's a without cheese version of risotto. Mummy doesn't really like cheese + I'm not at my own kitchen. Just have to use whatever is available to me.

Huge breakfast with toast, bake beans, hotdog, bacon and eggs! Just in case we didn't have time for lunch. I know I know.....it's just an excuse. But it's a good one agree?


Chicken Thai Green Curry
OMG this is super spicy! I was so surprise! Lucky I have some wine to wash down with.

While we were at Grampians,
There is a bbq pit which is available for us but it was too damm cold to be outdoor and cooking our food. So we use the stove instead to cook our chicken wings, lamp and steak. Spend the whole night chatting after dinner + drinking the fantastic Sparkling Shiraz we bought at Seppelt. Even CL who doesn't drink felt in love with it! I'm amaze that he is able to hold the liquor on this one.

Big breakfast before climbing The Pinnacle.

Butter Chicken and what else but the Sparkling Shiraz. We even have to drop by the vineyard and grab a few more bottles before making our way back to Melbourne.

Mum's cooking for the 1st week.

p.s click on the photos and link to flickr which tells you what all the dishes are.

3 weeks too long???

I'm so tired!! Don't ask me why. I have no idea at all. We had a training session with Maea this evening and both of us couldn't even last thru 45mins session! I'm not very busy at work, only being doing programming all day long. But I just can't get myself motivated to do anything else after I knock off from work. Is 3 weeks away from work too long????

Thinking of introducing more soup dishes into our meals. I finally own a thermal pot. It costs hubby a few hundred $$ but I'm going to make sure it's $ well spend. The pot is made up of two layers. Dump all ingredients into the inner layer pot and boil in on the stove for at least an hour. Place the inner layer into the outer layer pot, close the cover and the soup will continue to cook by itself by the retain heat.

Now on my stove is a pot of soup with carrot, white radish, green radish + some pork ribs. It smell so good! I just need to transfer the pot from the stove into the outer layer and we will have a nice pot of soup for lunch and dinner tomorrow. I LOVE MY SOUP!! especially during chilly winter.