Can't get over durian gelato...

Durian gelato is soooo yummmyyyyy! =) Slurppppp.......

I'm stuffed

Had a wonderful meal at Amuse last night. It was a 9 course meal and every single dish was a piece of art, beautifully decorated and tasted divine. But it was more than a 9 course when you include palette cleanser & coffee to end off dinner. We dined from 7pm to close to midnight! At the end of the night, I just wanted to roll and sleep. Never been this stuffed before, but definitely was very impressed by the chef.

Quail, mushroom and chestnut
Scallops, sea urchin and caviar
Duck and foie gras parfait, orange and honeycomb
Blue-eye Trevalla, spring vegetables and Comté
Pigeon, rhubarb, liquorice and baklava
Wagyu tri-tip, pickled beetroot, gnocchi and horseradish or Pork belly, black pudding cromesqui and compressed apple
Mauri Taleggio, fig and raisons
Tonka bean ice cream, white chocolate soil and olive
Chocolate pavé and passionfruit
petit four Served with your selection of coffee/tea

Margaritas at the Mexican Kitchen

After not having dined out for the last 2 weeks, tonight was the night we went out to celebrate a few events with Margaritas and Mexican food. What could be better?

I crave for

Garrett Popcorn!

The one that Lusi sent me for my birthday lasted us 4 days. We were so unable to resist the temptation.

Banana Crunch Muffin

The bake of this week is: Banana Crunch Muffins!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bar

I was inspired to try out Ina Garten's "Peanut Butter & Jelly Bar" recipe.

Here it is before it went into the oven:

Looking good... not burnt, not too sweet, just perfect!

Slurppp...

In approximately 7 hours' time, I would be enjoying the authentic noodle soup from SG. =) But for Perth's standard, this is my favorite Hor Fun from Ipoh Garden.

The long awaited

weekend is finally here! We've tested out the new gas bbq that we bought and confirmed that it is working fine. We have about 4 hrs of gas available for tomorrow's bbq, which should be ample. There are still a couple more things I need to get tomorrow morning - more citronella candles to ward off those annoying flies as we are going to be dining outdoor tomorrow. We pushed back the start time of the bbq to 7:30pm, hopefully by then the weather would have cooled down a bit. The weather forecast for tomorrow is a low of 22 and high of 35.

Japanese fusion - K's Restaurant

Huge portion! I'm not sure if I can think about going back there again in the next month because it's just too much food for me. Don't get me wrong, the food is good but there is just no way I could eat all the food by myself, contrary to my initial thought about japanese fusion being small, pretty dishes. Also, there is no option for ordering just a main, they only serve degustation menu. It is reasonably priced though and service was excellent.

Green tea bruleeMango Mousse

There's more to life...

I've been spending a lot of my free time either appreciating nature outdoors or cooking when I'm home. I think I've come to understand that there's more to life than just shopping. Of course I still love shopping, but it doesn't have to be one of those things I must do every single day or weekend anymore. I'm loving my new life. Hee. =). Perhaps this is part of growing older.

Breakfast at Le Paris Brest

Very very delicious. All I can say is that it's definitely worth the drive up to Kalamunda, about 40 minutes away from where we live. They serve French cafe style breakfast. And the cakes, goshhh I was totally confused which ones to get because they all look so good. So we ended up with 4 different cakes to bring home. That's going to be my dessert tonight. Perth weather has gone a bit crazy. Today was surprisingly hot, it felt almost like summer already. But in any case, it sure beats rainy weather. :)

Espresso Machine

We bought a home espresso machine y/day, in a hot-red color which I thought was pretty old school. I bought some good quality coffee ground and made my first coffee last night. It was very delicious, nothing beats the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Yummm.

Junk food galore

Hot & spicy cheetos & Kettles Thai Flavored chips I brought back from the US... Yum yum.

Oyster Bar

Click here to go to restaurant.

I also went to the dentist today for half-yearly clean-up and the dentist persuaded me to get an electric toothbrush. So we went to the city for shopping mid-day and also the routine, boring grocery shopping. That's pretty much my Saturday. Still down with cold and sore throat and popping those cold tablets in a desperate attempt to get well before my upcoming travel.

Loosebox

Tonight we went to Loosebox to try out their renowned French cuisine... They are located in Mundaring, some 45 minutes drive away from where we live. They also provide bed & breakfast if anyone wants to get away from the hustle & bustle of the city over the weekend. The restaurant is pleasingly old-fashioned perched on the 2nd floor and it overlooks a massive green. We got a table by the window and enjoyed our very delicious degustation menu while the rain falls outside. It was a perfect evening of good food & champagne. These pictures trust me do not do justice to the food - they were taken using my mobile phone. This restaurant has scored 18 hats out of 20 in the Australian Good Food Guide. And it has become my favorite degustation menu thus far.

Freshly baked bread & Jingilli olive oil

Moet & Chandon Champagne

Pre appetizer: fancy looking potato/capsicum cake
Appetizer: Chick pea crepe, roasted eggplant, garlic, rosemarie and parmesan shavings.

Entree: Local marron wrapped in sugar cured salmon, with tomato, cucumber and courgette salsa. Finished with a lemon olive oil aioli.

Main: Leg and thigh of duck slow cooked, served with diced roast potatoes, wilted spinach and a light pepper sauce

Palette Cleanser: Fresh apple sorbet (I love this)

Dessert: Coffee mousse with alcoholic gelatin & coffee ice cream. Yum Yum.

To finish: Petit fours

Prawn wontons

drizzled in freshly made chilli-oil with grounded szechuan peppercorn & seasalt. I discover I really enjoy cooking, especially when the end-product turns out to be really yummy. And folding those wontons, it was more fun than I had ever expected. The inside of the wontons so soft and juicy... and the aroma of the chilli oil. Yum yum. hahaha. I'm going to cook more. This is definitely a more constructive hobby than shopping. Happiness! =)!

The recipe is from: Kylie Kwong's Cook book. Click here to get it.

My pizza

followed Jamie Oliver's basic bread recipe to make my pizza base... used parma ham, 3 different types of cheese (mozarella, cheddar, parmesan), anchovies white fillet, red onion, sundried tomatoes blended with olive oil for the topping. Here's what it looks like:

Vacation planning

Totally fun! I have booked all my upcoming flights and hotels this afternoon, for both USA & Melbourne Trip. For the Aug/Sept Melbourne Foodie trip, I have also booked the restaurants where we'll be eating at. The Australian Good Food Guide came in handy. Here are the places where we'll wine & dine at in Melbourne:

31st August
Lunch: Vue De Monde (French) - http://www.vuedemonde.com.au
- Definitely need to book 3 mths in advance at least. 18 hats out of 20. We requested for a table where you can face the open kitchen and see the chefs cook! :)!

Dinner: Rockpool (Neil Perry's) - http://www.rockpool.com.au
- His flagship restaurant is actually in Sydney. Hope this is just as good.

Drinks/Supper: Gingerboy - http://www.gingerboy.com.au

1st September
Lunch: Movida (Spanish Tapas) - http://www.movida.com.au
A friend who just came back from Melbourne last month recommended this restaurant.

Dinner: Longrain - http://www.longrain.com
Thai influence modern cooking in what seems to be a very sociable looking restaurant.

*** Note to self: Need to organize the Christmas Taipei Trip after I come back from the US.

Once again, I HEART GOOD FOOD!

Wagyu beef

that oka tried at Red Herring was very tasty. The last time we had wagyu was at IceBergs in Sydney but that wasn't cooked in the form of sirloin steak. He ordered it medium rare and it has a very creamy, melt in your mouth kind of texture. I ordered my favorite seafood crayfish. Yummm. I actually skipped dessert last night because the mango daiquiri took up whatever space left in my stomach. I was really looking forward to trying the ginger pudding. =(.

Baking disaster

Brownie was overcooked on the outside and still glooey on the inside. It was a total mess! It has once again reaffirmed the fact that I suck in the kitchen! And that I should NEVER pursue a career within the food industry. If I should ever become a "太太" miraculously, I should definitely hire a maid. Hee hee. But it was pretty fun mixing all the ingredients together. To give myself some credit, if you don't care about presentation, my brownie actually tastes quite yum. Unfortunately, dessert has to be about good presentation & good taste. Mine is errr... pretty scary looking! =).