Friday night at Santa Ana, St Kilda Melbourne

This Tapas restaurant is located in St Kilda's, in Melbourne. And for me, is the best restaurant in the Acland Street lineup. After a stroll down this famous street and taking in our choices (Malaysian - definitely wouldn't be good, Australian - overpriced for the same old boring dishes, etc), Santa Ana was the only place which spoke to me. 

Masterchef Live - Royal Hall of Industries - Sydney

The Masterchef Live event, held over the course of 3 days featured cooking classes, food stalls and live demonstrations by the various Australian Masterchef celebrities. Being a fan of the Masterchef series and an admitted foodie, I bought tickets and signed up for a bread making class. Unfortunately I left the camera at home so please excuse some of the mobile phone pictures.

Bourke Street Bakery in Marrickville

I had been wanting to visit Bourke Street Bakery for a long time, ever since I saw a post about it on some blog while I was overseas. Their baked breads and pastries just looked soo enticing! I could almost smell the bakery through my screen, and so when I came back to Sydney I arranged to meet a few friends at their Marrickville store.

Ichiban Boshi at Bondi - Fresh Ramen Everyday

Ichiban Boshi is my favourite place to eat at in Bondi Junction. In fact, I travel there just to eat their super tasty ramen...I'm not interested in any of the other food in the area. Ichiban Boshi make their own ramen fresh in the shop and cook it just right!

Double Roasters in Marrickville

Double Roasters in Marrickville specializes in blending and roasting coffee in small batches. However, on top of their coffee they also serve food, and having passed by a few times it always looks full. The cafe is located in an old warehouse around the corner from Bourke Street Cafe and seems to be popular with the  hipsters. 

Sunday Dim Sum at Hung Cheung Marrickville

Dim Sum on Sundays has always been one of my family traditions ever since we lived in Hong Kong and it was one of the rare activities which I would eagerly get out of bed for!  Now that I live in Sydney, going for Dim Sum remains one of my favourite activities. 

There is a pretty decent Dim Sum restaurant in nearby Maroubra, but this time round I decided to try out Hung Cheung in Marrickville as I've heard good things about the place.

Siu Mai - Pork and shrimp dumplings

Camping by the River at Turon Gates

Turon Gates is a 2.5 hr drive from Sydney and is a country retreat where you can experience the great Australian outdoors. Encompassing over 6,000 acres and with a river flowing through it, I was immediately attracted to the place. And once I had read all the glowing online reviews, the decision had been made for me.

I had initially planned on leaving on Friday morning and staying for 2 nights till Sunday afternoon but it was raining on Friday. Unfortunate as that was, Saturday morning was bright and sunny, and so we set off to spend a night camping in the outback!

Doyles at the Sydney Fish Market - Perfectly Light and Crispy Fish and Chips

A visit to the Sydney Fish Markets for lunch has always been one of my more favoured and regular activities. However, over the past year or so, I've become very dissatisfied with the standard of seafood there. Generally, the platters are way too big, stuffed with too many fries, and the quality of the fish and oysters always lacking.

Chestnut Picking at Kookootonga Farm

The Kookootonga farm is located just to the north west of Sydney and takes about 2 and a half hours to drive there from Sydney central. After the last of the city's suburbs zoom past, you will find yourself suddenly driving in a lush and fertile countryside. The once harsh road full of pot holes, exhaust and noise now undulates in a lazy line over, under and between the folds of this mountainous region. The landscape seems to slowly unravel its secrets as you plunge into serene sections of forest and emerge into vistas of vibrant autumnal colours. Once off Bells Line of Road, which leads to Lithgow, the road narrows to a single lane and takes you over Mount Wilson, before bringing you to Mount Irvine, where the Farm lies.

Ten Time Saving Cooking Techniques

1. Defrost frozen food in a bag under running water. The running water heats up the food much faster than if you were just to leave it in a tub of still water. The water doesn't have to be gushing out of the tap, just let it drip.

image by: Robert S. Donovan

Growing on My Balcony Garden

For your food to be delicious, quality fresh ingredients are needed and there's no better way to do this than to have your own garden. I have a balcony garden where I built two planter boxes and have a handful of pots. I'm able to have quite a surprising number of herbs and plants growing in the garden and I supplement my dishes with these greens whenever I can.

I present to you some of my plants...

Lime flowers...they will give me more limes!

Top Ten Food Related Pet Peeves

This is my list of Top Ten Food related annoyances. I am constantly bewildered, perplexed and flummoxed by these situations. Don't you get annoyed by these things too?

image by: G & A Sattler 

  1.     People who don't eat their vegetables.

  2.     People who Only eat vegetables.

  3.     Westernised Asian food being passed off as the real thing.

image by: » Zitona «

Avanti Pasta Machine

The Avanti Pasta Wiz is the machine I use to make my own homemade pasta. It was bought on ebay for $5 AUD, which is the only reason why I can say that it is an OK machine. It does the basics fine. It rolls the pasta and I can choose the thickness of the pasta. With the attachment, I can cut the pasta into various widths. With this machine, I will get pasta.

However, that being said;

Why Would I Buy The Nespresso Pixie?

I used to own a basic espresso machine and after a few months of buying coffee beans, grinding them up, and packing the grinds properly into the machine, I got tired of it. Sure the coffee was delicious but I didn't always want to go through all the hassle. Call me lazy, but I suspect most people feel the same way.

image by: ashraful kadir

Eveleigh Organic Market

One of my favourite places to go to on Saturdays is the Eveleigh Organic Market, located just around the corner from the Redfern train station. I like to cycle there and get some exercise out of it (a few kilometres from home), but my problem is that I can only carry so much on a bicycle.  

Four Days of Hong Kong Food part 4

Glutinous rice, pan fried dumplings, cuttlefish balls in curry, siu mai, portugese egg tarts and more became dinner at the Brands and Products Expo in Victoria Park. So much food in one place! Saves me the trouble of travelling!

Four Days of Hong Kong Food part 3

Almost all the seafood in Hong Kong is sold live, and this was the perfect example of how the locals like it. Fishermen here display their catch of seafood from their boats in Sai Kung. After the haggling is done, a basket on a stick is thrust upwards for the customer to deposit his money in. The same basket is then loaded up with assorted sea creatures to start their journey to the dinner table.

Four Days of Hong Kong Food part 2

A visit to the local Wanchai markets was next, and what better way to introduce Hong Kong than with a display of their local roast meats. The markets are always bustling here and are located right in the middle of the urban sprawl. They really are a big part of local life.

Four Days of Hong Kong Food part 1

What better way than to start of a trip to Hong Kong than with dim sum? I ate at Sportful Gardens in Wan Chai and I have to say that Hong Kong really does beat everywhere else for the quality of their dim sum.

Fried dough sticks with honey. Delish.