A Few of My Favourite Things !

We were standing at the counter of Almost French, ordering hot cross buns and almond croissants when our reveries of afternoon tea were interrupted by the entrance of the unmissable Alannah Hill. After ordering half a dozen hot cross buns, she turned her attention to another version of hot buns – you know the ones that come in a pair of cool blue jeans…

She very casually introduced herself as ‘Alannah…Alannah Hill. I’m a designer’. Then quickly moved into ‘You’re very good-looking. I think I’m going to pick you up’.

Completely distracted by the scene playing out in front of us, I could barely respond to the waitress’ question of ‘Is there anything else?’ until Alannah had left her number with the guy and driven off in her black Merc.

Almost French
138 Swan St, Richmond 3121
Ph: (03) 9429 2080
Open 7am-5pm Mon-Sat

We had to dodge puddles to get there but we did make it to the Connex Sizzle yesterday. Not great weather for a BBQ but good news for people with prams as we didn’t have to weave our way through heavy crowds and contend with dirty looks.

We purchased a $35 ticket for 4 tasting plates and I already knew which 4 dishes I wanted to try.

This was A’s selection as he had heard so many good things about Maha – the Lamb Kebab by Shane Delia. Pretty tasty but not much about this particular kebab would induce me to pick it over a roadside or cheap cafe kebab.

Mmmm, this Bebere Marinated Chicken, Smoked Tomato, Cucumber & MInt Salad in Pita Bread by Matt Wilkinson of Circa was really yummy. They could have done me a favour by using less fatty chicken. I’m not usually someone who fastidiously picks away every bit of skin but I estimate that I pulled off about 20% of each chicken piece.

By far the most disappointing of the four, I had had such high hopes for Teage Eqard’s BBQ Char Siu Pork with Plum Sauce and Marinated Beanshoots but it failed to convert. I found the pork just that side of overdone and lacking in flavour, especially since the name had my mouth watering at the thought of real char siu. A pity as there was a big push on pork products at the festival with a 2-for-1 offer that was being handed out by the lovely ladies.

Whoa!!! Dallas Cuddy of Verge‘s Miso Marinated Prawn with Salad of Soba Noodles, Spring Onions and Ponzu was the absolute pick of the bunch. I could have eaten this ten times over, no joke, and I even crunched down the tail, shell & all. Even my one year old couldn’t stop munching on the prawns and slurping down the soba.

We also managed to drag (!) ourselves down for Wicked Sunday today however I have to say that having been here twice now, this event just doesn’t excite me. I love chocolate, I love cakes, I love gelati but…y’know how it is when you just feel…well, nothing. There are heaps of coffee stalls so this is heaven for any coffee connoisseurs, but still how many cups can one person have? I guess some more than others! What I can say is that I LOVED the way St Ali set up their stall:

and also, this could get REALLY confusing…

We prayed for a beautiful day for EJ’s birthday party, and lo and behold, it went from a week of high 20C’s to a sunshiny 24C with a cool breeze. Absolutely perfect for a little teddy bear picnic!

On his last overseas trip, A. had brought a bear cake tin home from William Sonoma so there was no question of what kind of cake I should bake, just how I would dress him. After receiving an inspiring idea from my websearch on how to decorate my cupcakes, I decided that the big bear would be dressed simply in a pair of blue speedos.

Balloons, sausages, tables, falafels, cupcakes, cake all made it to Speaker’s Corner at Birrarung Marr before 50 friends and 20 or so children gathered for the celebration. We ate, talked, laughed while the kiddies ran around and got grubby in the dirt. What a day! (and what a year it has been!)

You can’t see the wording, but ‘Speedo’ is written across the back of his swimmers.

The little girls at the party couldn’t decide which cupcake to pick! My niece ended up with one of the two green mermaids. I also laughed when a friend’s little boy told his daddy that there was a boy bear on his cupcake and one with boobs!

Look at what a gorgeous day we were blessed with. I love this shot of all the little girls running after and hassling the one boy.

When an opportunity like this comes along, you HAVE to grab it with both hands!

I love living in the city, especially in summer, because you can stumble across so many festivals and events that you may otherwise be unaware of. Throughout the week, I had stopped a number of times to watch the Aerial Antics performed by The Flying Trapeze and their participants. All the sessions were completely booked out but as I walked by on Wednesday, something drew me closer and prompted me to ask about it anyway. It turned out that there was a cancellation for 11am the next morning! My wonderful parents came to the party by caring for E and my wonderful husband agreed to not seeing E for two whole days while he stayed with mum & dad.

So now that I was willing and able, I was nervous about whether I could actually perform the moves required. I didn’t know whether I should have breakfast or not, figuring that I would need the energy but not wanting to bring it up again following the upside-down time! Along with 11 other participants, I was taken through the practice bar once before we climbed the ladder and had two tries without the catcher and two with. I had joked with one of the trainers, Dylan, that the most important part was listening but once I was on that bar, hearing any of the instructions that Scott was calling out was near impossible with all the blood rushing to my head and my mind trying to make sense of the world swooshing by.

This was the BEST adrenaline high ever! I could not wipe the grin off my face for the rest of the day nor stop regaling my husband about the morning (thanks for listening, babe). I also wolfish devoured half of A’s Lords of the Fries dinner.

A huge thanks to Dylan & Scott for being so much fun, and an even bigger thanks to the other Scott for shooting the video so that I could share it with my family & friends, none of whom were there (or aware that I was attempting this).

On a (now) rare Friday night off, A & I decided to go bar hopping, kind of. We started off at La Vita Buona Cellar, part of the City Sqaure troika along with Three Below and Caboose Restaurant. We sat down with the noisy, after-work crowd to enjoy a glass of champagne and shiraz accompanied simply by french fries with aioli (just to stave off those hunger pangs). After catching each other up on our day, we took a walk down Flinders Lane towards Spring Street when I had the brilliant idea of checking out the Press Club Bar. And what a good thing too! We ordered some drinks (Shiraz & Sauvignon Blanc) and sharing plates from the bar menu and we were delighted with each offering.

It was a struggle to get photos with my camera given the lighting in the bar but these will have to do. The white taramasalata made with creme fraiche came with fried pita bread – so moreish! The dish behind the dip also appears to be served at George’s new Hellenic Republic restaurant – peppered fig on fried haloumi. I loved the peppered fig but, overall, preferred the other two.

I can’t remember how they termed this dish in the menu but it was basically an octopus & boccarone skewer coated with pistachio praline.

We then adjourned to Longrain for some after dinner cocktails (Soho La & Lychee Martini) and yet more little dishes – the son-in-law eggs and betel leaf topped with smoked trout, garlic, chilli, galangal & trout roe. If I thought the lighting at the Press Club gave me difficulties with photos, they were impossible at Longrain…so no images of the food, just memories of deliciousness.

La Vita Bouna
City Square, Melbourne
96547855

Longrain
44 Lt Bourke St, Melbourne
9671 3151

Looking for a child-friendly place for brunch, a friend recommended the Auction Rooms as a great place that had room for a pram. So, we wandered up to Victoria Market, purchasing some groceries on the way, then made our way to Errol St in North Melbourne. Not quite knowing where Errol Street was, we asked directions from three blokes chatting in from of a pub. Two of them, who appeared to have already well on their way to being sozzled, informed us to keep walking in that direction but that Errol Street was 2km away. Fortunately, their estimations were quite a way out and we were there within 15 min., stumbling upon it right after passing Fandango.

My idea of a perfect breakfast – miso soup with silken tofu, fried tofu, carrots, shimeji mushrooms, wakame, one beautifully-cooked still-runny poached egg and a riceball on the side. Ahhh, bliss on a Saturday morning…

I was browsing through the children’s books at Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookshop on the weekend when I came across this in the pop-up books section.

Upon enquiry about the suitability of this, I was told “Well, we don’t have a pornographic pop-up book section”. Hmmmmm…..

Lau’s Family kitchen is quickly becoming a firm favourite with our family. We were celebrating a belated birthday (dad’s) and my brother meeting his nephew for the first time so we made a lunch reservation so that Baby EJ could come along. The service at Lau’s is highly attentive and although I didn’t have a problem with this last time, it was a little suffocating this time. There were so few tables that our waitress (fairly new I think) only had our table to look after. On the whole though, it’s better to have this problem than not being able to attract any of the waitstaff.

The dishes were served in individual portions, again not my preference as I like being able to choose how much of each dish I have. To me, having a chinese meal is about sharing from the dishes in the middle of the table and being given predetermined portions takes away from the idea of sharing. Also, there is a practical aspect that not everyone eats the same amount of food…which is also why I rarely go for degustation menus. Well, apart from those two issues, Lau’s was well-worth the visit. This is what we had:

Oyster with black bean sauce – very tasty & we saw them shucking the oysters at the start of the lunchtime service

Steamed barramundi – just AMAZING. Completely delicate flavours and the most tender morsels of fish I have ever had. We have not gone wrong with their steamed fish yet.

Cantonese beef – tender, tasty flamed-grilled flavour

Mixed vegetables – not oily and filled with fresh vegies that were still slightly crunchy. My favourite cloud ear fungus

Scallops – my least favourite as I found them to be just a tad overcooked. Very subtle flavour

Go at lunch if you to converse with your friends or go at dinner if you’re with boring company. You can smile and nod politely, pretending you’re able to hear everything being said =)

Lau’s Family Kitchen
4 Acland Street
St Kilda
(03) 8598 9880

We checked out the renovated Westfield Shopping Centre in Doncaster on the weekend & purchased some fruit & veg from the new shop next to Coles. While browsing the aisles, we came across a fruit that resembled a large green mangosteen. Unable to identify the fruit from their price signs, A. asked one of the stockers what kind of fruit this was & the reply was “It’s a custard apple”.

A: “I don’t think this is a custard apple”
Reply: “Yes, it is”
A: “No, it’s not”
Reply: “Yes, it is”
A (slightly exasperated): “No mate, I know what a custard apple looks like”
Reply: “Where did you get it from? Over there? Okay, it’s not a custard apple”

An older lady then approached the same guy and pointed to another fruit asking what that was & the reply she received was that it was a custard apple. A. was still standing there so he said “That’s not a custard apple either”

Reply: “Yes it is”
A: “No it’s not”
Reply: “Yes it is”
A: “No it’s not, that’s a dragonfruit. THAT (pointing to the real thing) is a custard apple”
Reply: “Are you sure?”

Update: The fruit turned from green to black over several days. Very much resembled a persimmon on the inside but a very dark purple in colour. The flesh remained crunchy and didn’t turn soft.