Vietnamese

After reading a random blog's recommendation to try the 'pho' or Vietnamese beef noodle in Richmond, I pestered Keith to take me there. There's easily 20 over Vietnamese restaurants in the vicinity. We've only tried one other shop so far. I went for the traditional beef special whereas Keith was more adventurous in ordering the Vietnamese beef stew. The traditional beef was good whereas the stew was a bit oily. I don't think I'd rate this shop as my favourite so I'm still on a hunt to find the best 'pho' shop in Melbourne.

This is a sushi sponge cake with pork floss from BreadTop. It's really good. I'm a fan of it now :)

Valentines Day Dinner

We had grilled field mushrooms for dinner on Valentines. It was most delicious as I'm a big fan of mushrooms or mushbiliks like what me and Keith call them ;) One of them had a mushroom pate spread while the other had the pesto spread with breadcrumbs on top. They were grilled in the oven and then served on a bed of rocket and spinach leaves. Absolutely delicious although the photos may not do it justice :)

CNY in Melbourne Chinatown

We went to the CNY celebration held in Melbourne Chinatown this afternoon. They closed Little Bourke St and Russell St and had lots of CNY stalls set up. The food stalls were the most popular. I wanted to get some yong tau foo and satay sticks but the queue went on forever so we gave that a miss. There were also 3 lion dances and a dragon dance going on with lots of red firecrackers going off. The atmosphere was definitely lively. We bought lots of CNY junkies as well :) Here's some lame shots I took of the lion dance.

Top 100 Restaurant in Australia

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the top 100 restaurant list compiled by the Australian Gourmet Traveller.

Thank you from Brigid and Ben.

We had to return Willow to Brigid and Ben on Sunday night. *Sniff*sniff* I love that pup so much. Look at what they got us in return.

The card reads :- Dear Swee and Keith, Thank you so much for the lovely meal on Thursday night and taking great care of our little Willow while we were away. She loved being around you guys, especially the cuddles and special meals!!! From Brigid and Ben. Hi Aunty Swee and Uncle Keith, I had lots of fun at your house and hope I can come and visit again soon. Love from Willow.

Isn't that cute? Thanks so much guys! Really love it.

Willow's Blog

Ok ok, take my photos. Make sure you give me a treat though!
Hurry up!!! Are we done yet???? I'm getting bored... I think I need to wee....
*Phew* Out in the garden at last. Now, where shall i mark my territory?? *Look left*Look right* Can I pretty please have my foodddddd? Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee? *YUM*YUM* Steak and hash browns!!!
Pork chop with parsnips and cucumbers with my name on it! *Yipee*
Ahhhhhh such a yummy bone! Leave me aloneeee. I want to enjoy my bone in peace. No more photosssss.

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

I would like to wish my family and friends a very Happy Chinese New Year. It's bye bye pig year and hello rat year in two hour's time. It'll be my second time missing out on CNY celebrations with my family. Thus, I'm feeling a bit sad and lonely.

Reunion dinner on the eve of CNY is what I always look forward to with mum's delicious cooking and the whole family reunited and eating together. Today, I had a solo meal of leftover indian curry with saffron rice for dinner as Keith had to go to Melbourne. How sad is that. Well the lack of festive spirit over here makes it easier and it'll just be another working day in Australia.

There'll be a CNY celebration in Melbourne Chinatown on Sunday 10th Feb so I'm hoping to go. I bought some pineapple tarts and love letters as comfort food for the festive period. I miss eating the sweet mandarin oranges or "lo kam" as the Chinese call it. I can easily eat 3 in a day if they're really sweet and juicy. Here's wishing Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone. Love, peace and prosperity throughout the year :)

P/S: On an exciting note, we had two fire alarms going off at work today. One was in the morning and the second in the evening. That took about an hour off work just standing in the field waiting for the firemen to give us the green light to go back into the building. Turned out to be a faulty cable. Well, at least everyone's safe and we know that the fire brigades here are very efficient as they got to the office swiftly on both occasions.

Dinner at Empire Grill

We had dinner at Empire Grill in Geelong last night. Surprisingly the food was quite good. Keith had onion soup as his entree while I had king prawn with avocado flan and rice wine jelly. I forgot to take photos of them. For mains, I had wagyu steak with mashed potatos, caramelised onion, and tomato. Keith had the rib eye fillet with roast potatos and herb butter. I thought mine was better. We shared a frozen nougat with strawberry and raspberry glace as dessert. Too bad the photo turned out bad as it was overexposed. Wouldn't mind going back to sample more of what they have to offer.

Photos of my house

Here's some shots of my new house which KatKat asked me to take. Pics aren't that good as I'm using my old Olympus camera.

More photos of Willow

More shots of Willow. She's enjoying her dried pig's ear from the pet shop.