Memoirs of a Chan

At the end of March, I had alot to look forward to.  Firstly, Janee came to visit over the weekend. She lives in Brisbane which is a mere 2 hour flight away. Sue Mae, Liam and I caught up for dinner and hung out in my apartment afterwards.

As usual, I kept myself entertained while we waited for her. Despite us having already eaten, Janee hadn’t eaten dinner  yet so we kept her company while she ate dumplings. We had a quiet drink at Double Happiness bar but decided to save our energy for a big night on Saturday night.

After staying up late to chat, we woke up quite late the next morning and went to Degraves Street for brunch.

Janee loved the little laneways filled with cafes and bars. She said it felt distinctly European.

After brunch, we walked to Federation square and along Southbank until we reach the Crown casino. We explored the inside of Crown before making our way back to the city and checking out Melbourne central.

At mid afternoon, we headed to Max Brenners to catch up with a friend of Janee’s from Perth. We were waiting at a table there when I heard my name called. I looked up but didn’t recognise the person calling my name so I ignored him until he called out Janee’s name.

Turns out he was there to meet Janee’s friend and had recognised me from over 12 years ago when we used to go to the same nightclubs. I don’t remember meeting him but I do know his sister so I guess my memory can’t be all THAT bad.

Janee and I headed back to my apartment for some downtime before heading to a restaurant called Aspro Ble for dinner. It’s on Hardware Lane which is one of the lanes I wanted Janee to see since it’s such a Melbourne institution.

The restaurant serves Greek food which is both tasty and reasonably priced.  It got the big thumbs up from Leesa and Craig who were visiting from Perth and Isabella, a friend from work. After dinner we headed to Soft Belly bar on Little Bourke street for a couple of drinks to kick off the evening.

Once Liam arrived, we headed to the LURRRVEEE MACHINEEEE!! A club in Prahran, just off Chapel Street. I think on most nights it is a gay club but on this particular evening, it was an Asian night.

Oh the horror! I don’t know which is worse, going to a club filled entirely with Asians, a fad I left behind a long time ago or going to a seminar attended entirely by fellow accountants. I prefer more diversity and any place that is filled with a majority of one type of people seems to be missing something.

Nevertheless, you couldn’t fault the music! It was pumping and got us in the mood to dance.

In fact, the music was so good, it got Janee in the mood to clean……

Despite the overwhelming majority of Asians, you couldn’t fault the manners there. I couldn’t see any fights, arguments, rowdy or obnoxious behaviour. Everyone was just having fun.

I’m pretty sure everyone there was about 10 years younger than us but it didn’t stop us from partying the hardest and dancing till 5am in the morning.

At 5am, Janee wanted to eat so we headed to Chinabar for some supper.

She was more than a little worse for wear so as soon as the food came out, we got takeaway containers.

Sadly, the next day we had to part again. Janee flew back to Brisbane in the late afternoon. It won’t be long before Sue Mae and I head to Brisbane to visit her.

In the meantime, I had my work team dinner night to look forward to.

I really like the people I work with and when you work in a reasonably sized team, it really makes all the difference.

The Easter long weekend finally arrived and I had my sister’s visit to look forward to. First up was dinner at the Aylesbury, which is a couple of blocks down from where I live.

Some friends recommended we try their Feasting menu, which is a selection of their dishes for $65. We started off with their Oyster in strawberry mignonette.

Since Leesa and Mae don’t eat oysters, they gave them eel croquettes. It probably would have been better NOT to tell Leesa what it was.

Next was their cold Kingfish with mandarin lime and their wagyu, bone marrow and morcilla.

Their zuchini flowers with goats cheese and honey were a big hit.

I enjoyed the Pig off cuts which basically was very thinly sliced pork with delicious bits and pieces sprinkled on top.

The next dish was their mojo mussels.  All of these dishes were to share.

Our main dish was their market fish. I should really pay more attention to the waitress next time but I do remember that it was beautifully cooked.

Their ricotta balls, also very popular and was supposedly one of our main dishes.

You can’t go wrong with potatoes roasted in duck fat accompanied with broccolini, pine nuts and caperberries.

We were disappointed to learn that was all they had planned to bring out. Being the pigs that we are, we had expected one more round of dishes. Not to be deterred, Janice decided to ask them if we were getting anymore food. While they said they hadn’t planned to bring out anymore, they offered us up one more round since the feasting menu is designed for people to feast on.

The last round was Aylesbury duck with beetroot, brussels sprouts with honey and jamon and Jerusalem artichokes and truffles.

We were much more satisfied and headed happily to the Forum, where we had tickets to see the comedian Mark Watson.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is currently on and I’m going to see 6 comedians this season.

Mark Watson is from the UK and I thought he was much funnier than Dave Gorman which was the first comedian I went to see.

As Mae says, no meal is complete without dessert so we headed to ‘Passionflower’,  an ice cream parlour on Bourke street.

They have an extensive, expensive menu but the ice cream is delicious and they do have some unusual flavours.

The next day, we caught up with Leesa for lunch at Chin Chin before Janice and her went shopping. I decided to conserve my energy for what I knew was going to be a big night out.

Tracy (Janice’s friend) was visiting from Shepparton and we decided to go clubbing and party the night away. I was up for it since I would have two full days to recover. We started off with drinks at my place before heading to….wait for it….the LOVE MACHINE!

Oh dear, not this place again! Why do I return to the scene of the crime? Because we had such a blast the last time! Even Liam, who is not into clubs where large groups of Asians gather agreed that it’s a fun place to party.

Most of us enjoyed the company of other patrons in the nightclub.

Others were not so fortunate………

Some of us put our best foot forward, hoping to appear attractive.

One thing we all had in common was a really fun night.

What night out would be complete without a trip to Chinatown for a late night porridge session?

In fact, what is a night out if Janice doesn’t end up on the ground? Mission accomplished!

Sunday was a day of recovery and relaxing. We snoozed till late morning and headed out for breakfast in Centreplace which is near Degraves street. In the evening we watched Peter Heliar’s stand up comedy show before turning in for an early night.

The weather on Monday took a cooler turn, a perfect day to visit the hot springs in Morning Peninsula.

It’s a 90 minute drive from Melbourne and we headed up there at about 11am, arriving in time for a visit to Red Hill Cheese Factory and Montalto Estate. I was really in the mood for some good red wine and lots of cheese.

While the weather wasn’t warm, the sun was shining which made the vineyards look really beautiful, particularly the ones with the rolling hills. I could see why Mornington Peninsula is such a popular area.

Janice picked up a nice Moscato from The Cups Estate and Isabella bought a Chardonnay.

I was all excited about our visit to the hot springs. It’s a natural hot springs bath house where thermal mineral water flows into the pools and private baths.

There’s over 20 different bathing experiences but one of my favourites was definitely the hilltop pool with 360 degree views.

At night time, the pools looked particularly inviting as they were low lit and more peaceful.

The Labour day long weekend was fast approaching and I was in the mood to celebrate. Ly was still over in Melbourne for work and I decided to join her, Liz and Liz’s colleagues on their pub crawl.

The pub crawl started at 6pm but unfortunately I got a little side tracked at the monthly post wrap up work drinks.

I’m sure our office wasn’t built for indoor cricket but we had a Senior Manager there and he led by example.

I finally got out of the office at 8pm after we exhausted much of the weekly office booze and went to look for Ly and co. Some of my colleagues decided to kick on with me and our first stop was Madam Brussels, a bar on Bourke street.

It was there that I decided to reveal that my drink of choice is none other than tequila shots!

We had a couple of drinks at that bar before moving onto Double Happiness which has become one of my favourite bars in Melbourne (not that I’ve been to them all). I just love their ‘Great Leap Forward’ cocktail.

Food was next on our agenda and we headed to Dumplings Plus for some dumplings.

By that point, I had consumed a respectable amount of alcohol so I didn’t realise at the time that I was repeatedly trying to order Dim Sum items in Cantonese from a Mandarin speaking waitress working in a Dumplings restaurant. Lucky we had Tim, the other token Asian who ordered in English.

Clearly I had surrounded myself with people too nice to tell me to shut up.

The next morning, I woke up craving a big breakfast, which Ly happily agreed to. We went to Affogato on Hardware Lane.

Okay I lie, the dish above isn’t mine. It’s Jo’s big breakfast however I think I could have finished it.

Jo, Sue Mae and I shared a cab with Ly to the airport. She was heading back to Perth and we were heading to Sydney. I was looking forward to this trip as I wanted to see Sydney. I thought about moving there after London but decided against it.

It’s been raining alot in Sydney recently but we were fortunate to have clear skies and sunshine for our visit (for the most part anyway).

There was a Thai festival on so we had a sneak peek. They were showcasing Muay Thai and had food stalls set up with different Thai restaurants promoting their dishes.

While I can’t remember exactly where this festival was, it was on the way to Harbour Bridge, walking through Chinatown.

While Sydney doesn’t have the more laidback, friendlier feel that Melbourne does, I was impressed by some of it’s urban design initiatives.

On the walk towards Harbour Bridge, it had fountains and a huge area for kids to play in. There were plenty of families out and about though I couldn’t tell if they were locals or tourists.

I have to admit, when it comes to appealing to tourists, Sydney wins. There’s the whole Sydney vs Melbourne debate which I’ve generally stayed out of since I don’t know much about the merits of Sydney but when it comes to the glamour stakes, Sydney does it best.

The harbour is fantastic. It has great views and there are so many people out and about, jogging, walking, sitting and dining.

We decided to join the dining crowd and ventured to Hurricane Grill in Harbourside Plaza.

They have a franchise at Bondi Beach too which is apparently even more well known than their Harbourfront restaurant. We ordered a full rack of their signature ribs to share.

We also ordered a 500gm prime rib steak which Jo ate the majority of, rounding off the meal with an octopus salad.

After dinner, we walked to the cinemas on George street and watched John Carter in 3D. It cost us a whopping $26.50 for the ticket. That is a seriously expensive movie ticket. After the movie, we seem to have digested abit so we headed into a Taiwanese dessert place.

When it comes to desserts, we let Mae lead the way. She ordered a fresh mango icey thing and a red bean/taro dish.  Neither were overly sweet which was a good thing.

The next day we headed to Sydney’s famous Fish markets, based in Pyrmont.

The Sydney Fish market is a working fishing port which incorporate both a wholesale fish market as well as a fresh seafood retail market.

They have a section outside that reminds of me Fremantle in Perth. Kailis Bros has an area outside its restaurant with tables that line the port.

We decided to try a selection of what was on offer starting with some fresh salmon sashimi and seaweed.

I had to try the lobsters even though they weren’t as cheap or as fresh as the lobsters I had in Boston and Maine.

We got some oysters, fried whitebait, scallops, soft shell crab and lobsters to share.

My favourite were the oysters.

Jo also ordered a large seafood platter to share. As you can imagine, there’s a reason why I came out of there feeling as though I was going to explode.

Jo stayed at the fish market and caught up with his friends who had arrived just as we finished. Sue Mae and I decided to take a walk around Pyrmont.

It wasn’t long before we found ourselves at the Star Casino where we ’stumbled’ across Adriano Zumbo’s patissery and dessert train.

I don’t watch Masterchef so I didn’t know who he was until Sue Mae mentioned that she wanted to visit his dessert train. Apparently he’s famous for his macarons.

We queued up to sit at the dessert train to sample some of his famous creations.

He wasn’t there making them and perhaps that had a big impact but I have to say I was disappointed in all the dishes except for one. His violet crumble dessert shown below.  That was delicious.

His macaron flavours were quite unsual too, especially the cola flavoured one.

I liked how they were presented.

After leaving there, Sue Mae and I headed back to the hotel for a nap. It probably would have been better for us to walk around for abit but there wasn’t much oxygen available for our brains at that point in time. It was being directed to our digestive system.

We woke up at 5pm and headed out for a walk along the harbour again before meeting Sue Mae’s friends for dinner at Chat Thai, an extremely popular Thai restaurant in Haymarket.

There was a huge crowd of people queuing outside for the restaurant and it is not unheard of for people to queue 2 hours for table. Sue Mae had the good sense to make a reservation.

On Monday, Sue Mae and I headed to Sydney Aquarium on the harbour. We wanted to go to Taronga Zoo but we didn’t have enough time to spend the time we wanted there as we had to be back to catch our flight back to Melbourne.

After the aquarium, we caught a water taxi across the harbour to the Sydney Opera house. That was a very enjoyable experience.

The weather wasn’t as good as the first two days we were there but beggars can’t be choosers and at least it didn’t rain.

We walked around the Sydney opera house before making our way across Circular Quay and to The Rocks.

The views were great and I loved the ‘Rocks’. We stopped at a French Patissery for tea while I debated the whole Sydney vs Melbourne debate. As far as I’m concerned, both cities have alot going for them. Sydney is glitzy and beautiful with its bays and harbour, though it’s city centre isn’t as clean. Melbourne is cool and cultured and with a more approachable beauty.

Sue Mae and I continued our eating bonanza with a visit to Mamababa’s restaurant in South Yarra, one of George Calombaris’s new restaurant. Mamababa’s is a fusion of Italian and Greek as George’s mother is Greek and his father is Italian.

We started off with some Italian bread, crumbed grilled scallops and arancini balls.

I chose a Prawn saganaki, tomato and feta tortellini dish, from his mama inspired menu.

Sue Mae chose the beef and bone barrow, beetroot and wasabi ravioli, a very unusual dish.

Naturally no meal with Sue Mae is complete without dessert so I ordered The Italian Mess, inspired by the Eton Mess.

That week, I had the nicest surprise. Rebecca, who you may recall from many of my travel blog posts has returned to Australia and came to Melbourne on a work trip.

It was so nice to catch up with her and we certainly didn’t waste any time catching up over a couple of good meals. She was staying at the hotel right next to my block of apartments which made it even easier to meet up.

The weekend after Rebecca left, I flew to Brisbane for the weekend to see my sister and a few good friends. Janee, Janice and Mark picked me up at the airport. It was surreal to see Janee, another one who was a frequent mention on my travel blogs so soon after seeing Rebecca.

We kicked off the evening with lunch at a Thai restaurant in the West End following by cocktails at the Lychee Cocktail Lounge.

Some things don’t change, even after we’ve moved back to Australia.

The next day, Janee and I walked around Brisbane city, from West End, through Southbank to the city. We saw a crowd of people following a camera crew but our non inquisitive minds didn’t think to investigate. Turns out we missed seeing K-Rudd on his Labour leadership challenge.

Janice was at a Chiro conference at the Convention Centre but we caught up with her on her lunch break and headed to the City ‘Beach’ to chill out.

The City beach is a man made beach in the centre of Southbank and is affectionately called the ‘pools’.

Janice headed back to her conference while Janee and I sat in Max Brenner’s for an afternoon treat. We queued for approximately 45 minutes just to order.

That evening I caught up with more travelling friends, Shelly & Mark. That’s what I love about travelling, you make new friends that you can reconnect with later on in life.

We went to a Japanese restaurant in Spring Hill, which came highly recommended by Janee and Mark. It’s their local Japanese restaurant.

Most of us went for the all you can eat sukiyaki while Mark had chicken katsu curry.

The next morning Janice and I had breakfast at a coffee shop in Westend before I met up with Vivian for lunch. I brought my camera but didn’t get any photos of Vivian and Ellie! Tsk Tsk!

Less than a week after I returned to Melbourne, who should come visiting? None other than Ly, affectionately known as the Running Mach.

Ly and I caught up with her friend Liz for dinner at Aspro Ble, a very good Greek restaurant on Hardware Lane.

We ordered Saganaki to share along with pan seared scallops with an almond and pomegranate glaze.

Liz recommended the traditional Greek Pork and Leek sausage and Pastrouma which was excellent.

Their slow roasted lamb with Garlic yoghurt dressing is one of their signature dishes.

Ly spent the week in Melbourne for work and stayed at a service apartment a few minutes walk from my place. She stayed with me over the weekend and she (the person who DOESN’T live in Melbourne) took me to the Richmond weekender which is a pop up market stall housed in the old Channel 9 building.

In London, she was always good at finding all these little quirky things to do.

For lunch, we went to Red Spice Road on McKillop street as part of the ‘Restaurant Express’ promotion with the Food and Wine Festival. Basically it’s 2 courses, dessert, wine and coffee/tea for $35 at lunch.

Red Spice Road is popular modern Asian restaurant in Melbourne and for their Restaurant Express promotion, they offered a sample of their signature dishes.

First up was the Betel Leaf topped with Smoked Chicken, Mint, Chilli & Coriander.

Next up was the Pork Belly with apple slaw, chilli caramel & black vinegar.

The second course was the Chicken Fried with black pepper, basil and cashews.

The prawn, coconut, pomelo, snake bean and coriander salad was a refreshing accompaniment, but by the time we got to that stage, I was too full to completely appreciate the dessert of Passionfruit cream with peanut praline, puffed rice and coconut ice cream.

The next day we went to opening of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.

We met up at the Federation Square which had some stalls but we didn’t stop to browse.

It was a beautiful day which made for a nice walk along Southbank promenade.

Since we hadn’t had breakfast yet, we stopped by a Ludlow Butchers staff and shared a selection of meat.

We reached the main event outside the Melbourne exhibition centre and paid $40 for our entry tickets. This covers all wine tasting and some food tastings but we had to pay an additional amount for most of the food inside.

I had initially set myself the goal of tasting something from every stall about once I reached the 10th wine tasting, I realised I wasn’t going to last the distance. I wasn’t the only one feeling that way!

By the time we finished, we were feeling a little worse for wear.

Thankfully, we were able to hitch a ride back most of the way to Flinders Street Station.

All we had to do was share our favourite foodie tip for a free ride.

There was certainly plenty to see along the way, much like a funfair for adults.

We posed for free photos……

and stopped to listen to the band…..

The star attraction though was the World Naked Bike Riders!

When I first told Ly that there were some naked bike riders riding towards us, I’m sure she thought it was the wine talking.

Unfortunately, my eyes did not deceive me!

Late in December, my parents decided to come and visit me over Australia Day. Their visit coincided with the Australian Open so they secured us tickets to watch the women’s semi finals and men’s semi finals.

After going to Wimbledon, I jumped at the chance to go to the Australian Open.

The area set up with the big screen wasn’t quite as buzzing as Murray Mount (formerly Henmans Hill) but there wasn’t much to complain about with with the sun shining, 24 degree day and smiles all around.

We had tickets for the centre court matches. We made our way there after eating Dim Sum at Shark Fin House and caught both women’s semi finals matches.

We watched Victoria Azarenka play Kim Clijsters followed by Maria Sharapova against Petra Kvitova.

From where we sat, the shrieking wasn’t too bad. While the women’s matches aren’t as captivating as the men’s matches, it was still quite nice to watch live.

Unfortunately I hadn’t charged my camera in time, so I was only able to take a few photos before it died.  I had it fully charged before the Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic game.

I was happy that Rafa went through to the finals so I didn’t have an opinion either way on whether I wanted Andy or Novak to win however I decided to cheer for Andy Murray since he has yet to win a major title and it would be nice to give him a chance.

Plus I thought it would be good to support a fellow British and an opponent that Rafa would find easier to beat in the finals.

On Saturday, we went to the Press Club for lunch. It is George Calombaris’s (the celebrity chef) flapship restaurant, located on 72 Flinders Street.

For lunch, we chose to have their 5 course mini symposium degustation.

We started off with some bread and olives.

The first course was a the Press Club Greek Salad composed of heirloom, ucumber puree, feta, olive and tomato.

The second course was poached chicken breast, pullet egg, jelly, sweet corn, kalaboki, marouli and popcorn.

The third course was a grilled barramundi with melitzanosalata, black venere rice, pipperia, loukaniko with a splodge of miso on the side and black rice foam on top.

The fourth course was their signature slow cooked lamb neck on a bed of quinoa, with almond and hazelnuts sprinkled throughout to give it a crunchy taste, flavoured with beetroot and topped with pea sprouts.

The fifth and final course was a strawberry, white chocolate, and lemon basil dessert.

To complement our meal, we had a bottle of 2002 Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling. Overall we enjoyed the meal and thought each of the dishes were well cooked but dad and I both agreed that we preferred Amuse in Perth.

Our last meal together was breakfast at Three Bags Full in Collingwood.

We had to queue for 20 minutes to get a table. The cafe was immensely popular.

One of the best things about having visitors is that I get to try a whole bunch of different restaurants. My last meal with Janice and Sue Mae was at Movida Next door at the corner of Flinders Street and Hosier Lane. It’s a walk in Spanish Tapas restaurant that is the smaller and simpler neighbour of the more famous MoVida.

We ordered a selection of dishes to share including mushroom and ham croquettes.  It was a hot day in Melbourne and both Janice and Sue Mae queued for an hour to get into the restaurant after spending the afternoon at the beach.

Janice’s legs were sunburnt and as red as these octopus tentacles. Unfortunately Mae was feeling dizzy from dehydration so it took her awhile to recover and dig in.

We ordered grilled gambas (prawns) to go with our pulpo (octopus). Most of the dishes we ordered were from their daily specials board.

There were several pescada dishes on offer but we settled for a grilled whiting.

The girls favourite part of the meal followed with churros and dipping chocolate as well as a baked citrus and cinnamon custard dessert. It was delicious……

The next weekend, Sue Mae, Jo and I decided to try Chin Chin, a modern Thai/Vietnamese inspired restaurant on Flinders lane.

Our first dish was the Kingfish sashimi with lime, chilli, coconut and thai basil.

Next up was the wok fried salt and pepper squid with nuoc cham and vietnamese mint.

After that, we had the caramelised sticky pork with sour herb salad and chilli vinegar.

Sue Mae’s friend recommended the crispy skinned duck, pickled cucumber and ginger salad with sesame salt and fresh lemon.

Our last main dish was a dry red curry of soft shell crab with snakebeans, thai basil and kaffir lime leaf.

No dinner is complete without dessert (as Mae likes to say) so we tried the Palm sugar ice cream sundae with salted honeycomb and lime syrup (an assault on my tastebuds) and the black sticky rice with fresh mango, sweetened coconut cream and sesame seeds.

I flew back to Perth for the weekend to help my aunt celebrate her birthday.

She chose the Atrium buffet at Burswood casino for her birthday dinner. I haven’t been there since it’s been renovated.

The renovations resulted in a classier, more elegant looking Atrium. I think they were trying to look as good as the Hyatt cafe.

It was nice to celebrate her birthday with a family affair.

The dessert selection had Janice grinning from ear to ear.

I thought the best items from the dessert selection was the ice cream, in particular, the apple sorbet.

All you have to do is let the Atrium know that you’re celebrating a birthday and they provide complimentary champagne and birthday cake.

Unsurprisingly, we walked out of there, feeling ready to burst.

Despite the heavy meal from the evening before, Dad took us to lunch at Nobu at Burswood, which has recently opened in Perth. They have chains all over the world and are considered a Japanese fusion/ Peruvian inspired fine dining restaurant.

The chef, Nobu Matsuhisa opened New York’s Nobu along with restaurant co owner Robert De Niro. It became a big hit and many restaurants were opened later.  We started off with the Yellowfin tuna sashimi.

Next were the lobster sashimi tacos and wagyu beef tacos.

My favourite dish was the seafood ceviche. Apparently Nobu worked at a restaurant in Tokyo which was frequented regularly by a Peruvian entrepreneur. He was then invited to Peru to set up a restaurant there and found he struggled to get the ingredients that he was used to in Japan so he had to improvise.

The signature dish there is the Black cod miso and we had that in the bento box which is actually made up of two boxes, not one.

It’s not everyday that we get to go to Nobu so we sampled their chocolate souffle with green tea ice cream and their banana and passionfruit spring rolls with vanilla ice cream.

The weekend went all too quickly and I found myself back in Melbourne and back at work. Two days later, Jess flew to Melbourne for work.

We went to the Oriental Spoon, which has become my regular ‘go to’ Korean restaurant.

We ordered seafood pancake, which I didn’t like as much as their kim chi pancake.

We also ordered seafood tofu hotpot and BBQ squid bulgogi.

The tastiest dish though, was their chicken BBQ bulgogi.

While Nobu isn’t the kind of restaurant that you go to everyday, lo and behold, I found myself there again less than a week later. Jess has wanted to try it and she decided to take Liam and I to the branch in Melbourne.

Nobu in Melbourne is based at the Crown Casino complex and it looked like a funkier, less sedate version of the branch in Perth.

We kicked off with some of their famous cocktails. I can tell you now that I’d go back there just to have their cocktails again.

Once again,  we order the Yellowfin tuna which came highly recommended by our waiter.

The scallop sashimi wasn’t on the menu in Perth so it appears to be a dinner only menu item. I was keen to try it and glad we did as it was my favourite dish of the evening.

One cocktail in particular is worth a mention. I can’t remember the exact name but it sounds like ‘Guyver’ and has elderflower in it.

We ordered Yellowfin tuna and salmon sashimi tacos which were a little dry and disappointing. The sauce was also quite ordinary and not as nice as the versions in Perth.

Their seafood ceviche was also not as appetitising as I remembered. It had less citrus and lime than the one in Perth and I kept comparing it to the ceviche that I had at Sushi Samba in Vegas..

We orderd the black miso cod as a main and while it was delicious, Jess agreed with me when I said that it tasted like the one that Yo Sushi, London used to make.

The soft shell crab came recommended by someone at work so we sampled that.

I had plum wine which was tasty but I spent alot of the time sipping at Liam’s ‘Guyver’ cocktail.

We followed up the evening with a drink at the Velvet bar.

I’ve been to this bar several times with Janice and was pleased to see that the cocktails hadn’t shrunk in size.

Our last meal before Jess flew back to Perth was at the Longrain Melbourne. It serves modern Thai inspired cuisine. It’s Eggnet disch filled with pork, prawns, peanuts & caramelised coconut with a cucumber relish was featured on Masterchef many years ago.

The flavours were delicious. They reduced the regular portion size of the dish since there were only two of us eating.  That didn’t stop us ordering another 2 dishes though.

Our second dish was stir fried duck breast with snake beans, Thai basil & curry paste

Our last dish was Steamed harpuka fillet with galangal, lemongrass & kaffir lime leaf which to me, was a fancy way of describing fish cooked in a tom yum like soup.

After finding $280 return flights to Perth with Tiger Airways on Friday 23rd December at 9pm, I flew to Perth the next morning at 7.10am to spend Christmas with my family.

Mum picked me up at the airport but we kept my visit a surprise from my dad. The look on my dad’s face when he saw me was priceless.It was fantastic to spend some time at home with the family, catching up with friends and generally over indulging.

I spent 4 days there before flying back to Melbourne for work. Janice flew to Melbourne two days later to celebrate New Years with me. I was excited to show her my life here.

Sue Mae picked her up at the airport and they went to Hellenic Republic for lunch the next day. I had a half day at work on the 30th December so we decided to hit the post boxing day sales.

All that shopping happens to be JUST Janice’s bargains! I didn’t do too shabbily myself.

We went to my favourite Korean restaurant for dinner.

We ordered chicken bimbimbap, tofu and seafood hot stew as well as barbeque spicy squid and bulgogi beef.

The real hit though was the kimchi jeon (pancake).

The next day was New Years eve which we also spent shopping. It was a balmy 36 degrees and we headed to Chinatown for dinner before having pre-drinks at my place.

We headed to the Emerald Peacock for drinks.

Our party of 5 grew by the hour as Sue Mae and some of Jo’s friends joined us.

Cocktails were our drink of choice since the bar wasn’t serving shots.

They were easily the weakest cocktails we’ve had. Lucky we had pre-drinks!

The Emerald Peacock was just one of many rooftop bars in Melbourne. It’s on my street, about two blocks down from where I live and it had no cover charge for entry on New Years Eve.

Just before midnight we rushed out onto Swanston street which was closed to traffic and walked towards the fireworks we could hear.

We stopped at the corner of Swanston and Bourke street where we thought we’d pose for a few group photos.

After the fireworks ended, we couldn’t decide whether to go to another bar, club or get something to eat. In the end, our stomachs won and we headed to Chinatown.

On New Years day, we had a leisurely sleep in before gearing up to go to Summerdayze.

It just so happened that it was a whopping 37 degrees that day.

I must admit, I was slightly nervous at the thought of going to an outdoor music festival in 37 degree sweltering heat however judging by the crowds,  at least I wouldn’t be suffering alone.

We went just after lunch, before any of the more popular artists were due to come on. We had to queue for about 35 mins in the sun to get into the main tent.

We were melting without any shade but patience is a virtue as we managed to get seats in the shade quite near the front.

The shade made all the difference. I don’t think I would have lasted till the evening if i had to sit under the sun for 6 to 7 hours.

Grandmaster flash was on stage DJ-ing when we arrived but finished his set shortly after. There was a 15 minute interval and then the Scissor Sisters came on.

I’m not a fan of theirs but I did recognise a couple of songs. The next to play was DJ Erick Morillo who I thought was pretty good.

He played the kind of songs I like to dance to at clubs…..not that I’ve been clubbing recently.

The big drawcards of the festival (for me) were Snoop Dogg and Calvin Harris.

Snoop was really good live and managed to engage the crowd, even those who don’t enjoy his music. Next up was Moby. I haven’t ever been a fan of his music and he didn’t play some of his more well known songs.

We sat down throughout his set and found by the end of it, our ears were ringing. We were seated near the speakers and Moby’s set had alot of bass.

The highlight of the evening was definitely Calvin Harris. From the moment he came on stage, it was clear who the majority of the crowd had come to see.

He had an amazing lightshow all the way through.

We danced all the way through but had little room to move since we were standing on our chairs and had to be careful not to knock each other off.

We left after Calvin Harris finished at 9.30pm, deciding to forego Pendulum in favour of dinner. Where else could we go for dinner at that time of night but Chinatown?

This summer is shaping up to be a busy one. On Friday I went to my work Christmas party. The theme was ‘Old Hollywood Glamour’ and I based my outfit loosely on a 1920’s flapper girl.

The girls from work came over to my place to get ready. It was nice to unwind and share a drink after all the long hours we’ve been working recently. None of us went over the top with our dresses or hair in case we partied on afterwards.

Just before 6pm, we made our way to DiMattino’s on Lygon Street, Carlton. It was a particularly warm day and I was grateful that I was wearing a lightweight dress.

We started off having drinks and finger food in the main restaurant downstairs before making our way to the upstairs area which we hired out privately. We were seated randomly and I found myself on the same table as the IT guys and my manager as well as the CFO.

The seating arrangements only applied when food was served. Most of the time we all moved around the room and mingled. Robert Walters had an open bar so I was able to choose from a range of beer, wine and a few spirits. I stuck to white wine and vodka and lemon. It turns out that is quite a deadly combination.

It was a great night though things got a little haphazard towards the end. I narrowly avoided being pushed to the ground with a heap of other people.

I spent most of the night dancing and proudly managed to stay and dance in my heels for 5.5 solid hours. It’s a big achievement.

I did pack my flats, just in case however I lost my black faux silk gloves sometime during the night.

I woke up dehydrated and tired on Saturday, with a few bruises on my arm and what felt like bruises on my toes. My calves also hurt. What a workout dancing in heels is.

Nothing less than Dim Sum would do for lunch so I met up with Jo, Mae, Lam and his cousin at Shark Fin House. I figured it was a good time for Mae & Jo to meet Lam, in case we do any interstate trips together later on in the year.

The highlight of my weekend was our surfing excursion. Jeannie, Jo, Sue Mae and I went on a road trip to Apollo Bay, along Great Ocean Road.

We figured it was a good way to see some local views as well as learn to surf. We booked ourselves into a 1.5 hr lesson at $55 including wetsuit and surfboard hire.

The wetsuits may look sexy but they stank of other people’s sweat! Before expending our energy on trying to surf, we indulged in fish and chips and a seafood platter.

Our surf instructor was exactly how we expected. Blonde windswept hair and a carefree attitude.

First he demonstrated what we needed to do on the sand and got us to practice on our boards on the sand.

Once in the water, our instructor had us lying on our boards, facing the beach and we had to ride the wave to the shore as the first step.

Our second step which we spent more of our time practicing was to surf towards the shore and while we are riding the wave, get up onto our knees.

The third step was to ride like that with one foot on the board and the other leg still on one knee.

Finally he asked us to stand up on our side. I was already struggling with the one foot on the board so I didn’t have any expectations.

Jeannie managed to stand up a couple of times and rode the board to the shore once. I merely managed a few standing star shaped attempts. It was tiring business and I was working up quite an appetite.

I drove back to Melbourne so that Sue Mae could get some rest. We decided to celebrate with a Korean dinner at the Oriental Spoon on LaTrobe Street.

A work colleague took me here to try their Bimbimbap.

For variety, we ordered a selection of dishes.

The next day, I woke up feeling a little sunswept. My chest and shoulder muscles were sore and my eyelids were red and burnt since I forgot to put sunblock on them.

I can clearly remember the night I found out Mae had decided she wanted to study veterinary science. I was in Malaysia at the time with Janice and Jess.

Sue Ann and Sue Mae had taken us to a rooftop bar with a pool and we were drinking cocktails. Janice was in her first year of Chiropractic Science and I remember feeling so optimistic about their road ahead.

5 years later and here I am, living in the same city as Sue Mae and present for her graduation. My Aunt and Uncle flew over for the graduation ceremony and I caught up for dinner with them on their first evening here.

We went to a Japanese restaurant around the corner from my place before going to Passionflower for dessert.

On Saturday, we headed to the University of Melbourne and posed for pictures with the Young Lady of the Day.

Mae’s friends turned up to show their support and to pose for photos.

The Walter Hall was full of families and friends showing their support for the new graduates.

The ceremony was for graduates of Veterinary Science, Dentisty and Oral Health science. There were a few other smaller disciplines but dentistry and veterinary made up the majority. My Aunt and Uncle were so proud and it was nice to see that since I missed my sister’s graduation.

The rest of that day included a Dim Sum lunch, an afternoon nap and dinner at Thai Taste.

We did manage a quick coffee and chocolate platter stop at Koko Black which is in a narrow arcade along Bourke Street mall.

I suppose Koko Black is Max Brenner’s main rival. I had been there to buy chocolate before but didn’t realise they had a coffee shop above the storefront.

The interior was warm and inviting, perfect for lovers of coffee and hot chocolate alike.

Unfortunately at dinner that evening, I was so excited about having dinner at Thai Taste, which has fast become my favourite restaurant in Melbourne that I forgot to take pictures of the main meals and only remembered when our dessert came out.

The next day, we met up with Mae’s cousins for lunch at Song’s Kitchen.

This was followed closely by some shopping and more dessert.

My last meal with my Aunt and Uncle was at a restaurant in Chinatown. So far, I’ve enjoyed all the places we’ve eaten at and I’m making a mental list of all the places I think my parents would like to try when they come and visit.

This weekend I caught up with a friend I hadn’t seen in over 12 years. We used to hang out back in the day and moved around in the same social circles.

We met up for a steaming bowl of Ramen from Ramen Ya in the GPO Melbourne before catching a movie. Along the way, we stopped to admire the Christmas decorations and street performers.

Since this was our first catch up in over a decade, we thought it was only appropriate to catch up on all the year with plenty of food.

After lunch, we stopped to have frozen yoghurt in the QV building.

After watching The Immortals in 3D, we had a tea and hot chocolate at Max Brenners.

Max Brenners is an Israeli chocolate shop chain. They offer a huge array of chocolate based entrees and drinks.

I was first introduced to it 7 years ago in Melbourne by my cousin Sue Ann. Since arriving in Melbourne, I have studiously managed to avoid it. Their chocolate pizza is particularly lethal.

We decided to have dinner at the Taiwan cafe on Swanston street, which Mae and I had tried only a couple of nights ago. It is a very popular place to eat and I have rarely seen it without queues.

When Mae and I ate there, we had Siew Long Bao (Dumplings) and hot and sour soup noodles which weren’t particularly hot or sour.

Upon the first visit, I couldn’t see what was so great about the food that warranted the queues and packed tables.

On my second visit there with Liam, we ordered Taiwanese spring onion and egg pancakes. Their texture was similar to Roti or Paratha.

The next day, the sun was out in full force so we ventured to St Kilda for some ice cream and a bayside jaunt.

We had a few drinks at a beachside pub where a live band was playing and enjoy the Sunday session vibe.

After parting ways, I had dinner with Sue Mae at Ying Thai, a Thai cafe on Lygon street.

I was feeling nostalgic so I thought I would blog about my family’s trip to Disneyworld and Canada more than 15 years ago.

Back when we were living in Saudi Arabia, we would spend our summers in London with Jessica, my aunty and uncle.  On one such summer, our parents took us on a family holiday to the US, where we visited New York, Boston, Maine and Orlando in Florida.

While our parents anticipated us enjoying Disneyworld, I think they were unprepared for how quickly they reverted back to children.

Jess and I queued up for the largest and scariest rides but we weren’t too impressed with the rollercoasters so we spent all our energy trying to get autographs from Main’s street’s famous residents.

We managed to catch the classic main street parade while we were there.

The parks that we visited were the Magic Kingdom, Epcot Centre and Universal Studios however my photos were mainly of Magic Kingdom.

Our holiday to Canada was part of a different trip as my dad came along for this holiday.  We visited Canada twice as his younger sister lives in Edmonton. 

Although we were very young when we visited them, I still remember West Edmonton Mall vividly.

At the time of our visit, it was the longest mall in the world.

The mall had a large ice skating rink, 20 cinemas, mini golf course, wild water park, fantasty land with a 36 story drop of doom and triple loop rollercoaster as well as a mini seaworld with pirate ships, a small acquarium and dolphin shows.

I would have happily spent everyday of summer there.

We didn’t stay in Edmonton for our whole time there though. We visited Toronto, Canada’s largest city.

We also visited the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Icefields, where I first drank from the ’Fountain of Youth’.

It was the first time I had seen such beautiful scenery.

The icy conditions didn’t phase Janice one bit.

On our second trip there two years later, we visited Toronto again but this time with my father.

From Toronto, we went to see Niagara Falls.

We went on the Niagara Falls cruise where we had to wear waterproof ponchos to keep us from getting soaked.

We went on a road trip to the beautiful town of Banff.

Lake Louise was incredibly beautiful and the town of Banff captivated me straight away.

We went to Vancouver on our first trip to Canada.  Vancouver is consistently ranked among the top ten cities in the world to live in but I didn’t know that at the time.

We hopped on a ferry to Vancouver Island to visit the Butchart Gardens.

At the time, I didn’t quite fully appreciate flowers and gardens but I thought the cottages were cute.

To keep us interested our parents took us to Bedrock City which is a Flintstones themed park and camping ground.