Happy Birthday, Sis gk!

See you in five months! .... then again in six! Love you heaps! Have an awesome birthday!

Before and After

I MADE THIS................................. (actually I just assisted MIL)

Before:
After:


It requires so much skill; I would be really interested to see how I'd fare on my own.....!

A Feast for Kings!

The Husband turned 28 last Friday, and despite working full-time, needing to bake around 2.5 dozen birthday cupcakes (for home and work), needing to tidy up the house before the in-laws arrived past midnight, and needing to be 50km away for a hot-air balloon ride by 4:30am the next morning, I decided to attempt being superwoman and cook a banquet for 11 people!

Menu

Entree
Freshly shucked oysters served au naturale
Oysters Mornay

Mains
Chilli Mud Crabs
Steamed Fresh Barramundi in superior soy sauce
Steamed Garlic Tiger Prawns
Emperor Chicken
Hong Kong Kai Lan
- served with a combination of Jasmine and Brown Rice

Dessert
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I would have liked my Oysters Mornay and Kai Lan to have been a bit more cooked, but everything else was almost perfect.

And I shall let the photos speak for themselves....

I'm still amazed by myself!

FOOD-OUT: Breakfasts at.......

THE EUROPEAN
161 Spring Street, Melbourne

The Husband, BIL (Brother-in-law) and I decided to try out Melbourne's supposedly best Eggs Benedict on Saturday. At $17.50, it definitely wasn't cheap, but neither was it considered exorbitant. The boys were ordering Eggs Benedict anyway, and I normally feel kind of yuck if I finish a whole plate of Eggs Benedict by myself (I tend to feel jelak halfway through), so I decided to have the Croque Madame (pronounced as crock mar-darm as I learnt on Saturday).

I was as happy with the Croque Madame as I could with bacon sandwiched between two slices of toasted white bread spreaded with bechamel sauce and mustard, topped with a fried egg.

The Eggs Benedict, admittedly, was very good. The hollandaise wasn't too overpowering or strong; and the eggs were perfectly poached. love-love-lovely. The husband wasn't particularly impressed though - but I reckon it's more to do with his lack of Eggs Benedict discernment. No photos not because it didn't look flash (it didn't); but because The Husband forbade me to ("Aiyer - don't take photos of half-eaten food lah!")!


Then, on Sunday...

(I didn't take this picture!)

MART 130
107a Canterbury Road, Middle Park

... another dear friend and I were off to the place which serves Melbourne's supposedly best corn fritters. I love love love the ambience and concept - it's actually at the TRAM stop 130 (geddit geddit? Tram - mart?). I wasn't too impressed the first time I was here though, but I can't remember what I had ordered that time.

This time, I ordered the French Toast with Berry compote, mascarpone, almond flakes and something-something-something:

French Toast with berry compote, mascarpone, almond flakes, some vanilla bean cream thing and something-something-something

She ordered the famous corn fritters, which was served with something-something, bacon and coriander:

Corn Fritters. With something-something, bacon and coriander

I really enjoyed what we ordered. I suppose the corn fritters would only be yummy if you like coriander though. But the corn kernels were really just as described on thebreakfastblog - juicy and fresh!


I suppose if I had to choose one cafe over the other; I'd generally pick to go to MART 130 because it just seems like a nicer place to catch up with friends over brekkie. But I'd definitely be returning to the European when I feel like yummy Eggs Benedict!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I give thanks for my life.
For my family - my parents, my sisters, my nephews, my niece; and even the short time I had knowing my brother.
For my friends - my friends in Malaysia; in Melbourne; and beyond.
For my husband. For my marriage. For my family.
For my community.
For being able to catch a glimpse of what God sees in people and this world.
For being able to catch just a sense of it.
For being able to start carrying the passion (in almost every sense of that word) for people and the world.
For having hope.
For having faith.
I give thanks for my life.

Lemon Cupcakes

After a busy busy period then a big big holiday then a broken arm, I finally baked!

See A Touch of Frost Cakes blog for photos and details!

I realised that I much prefer baking than cooking!
Cooking's more like a necessity and chore; baking - a hobby!

Housework Gripe

I GRIPE ABOUT:

• Never-ending housework. What's the use?! You wash a load of laundry; another basket fills. You iron a mountain-pile; there's yet another fresh load. You mop the floors and vacuum the carpets; it's still gonna get yucky the next time you cook. You wash the toilets; it instantly gets dirty with yet another skid mark (note: not my fault).

I don't know how people can work full time and have somewhat of a social life and yet manage to keep a house non-pig-sty-looking.

I'm particularly griping now, as I gave up a Friday night out of drinks to stay home and clean the house!