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Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

February 17th, 2014 by Rose

Salamanca Market, Tasmania

So after I posted that last bit of 3pm coffee stream of consciousness I realised I haven’t posted since October last year. Bad Rose, no biscuit. I’ve done stuff and eaten things since then – here’s a really short one just to keep all three of you happy.

I went to Tasmania with Mr Gif in January to attend a wedding. It was a last minute invite (read: mid December) but we were like fuck it, we haven’t been in Tassie yet so we’ll do this thing. Everyone told us to go to Salamanca Market so we did.

Whisky tasting

We started the morning with a bit of whisky tasting cos we’re classy like that. On display here is the Three Capes Whisky and McHenry London Gin from the William McHenry & Sons Distillery. I’ve become a bit of whisky fan over the last year – I like this a lot, but for Tassie whiskies I prefer Nant.

Raspberry danish

“Wtf”, I hear you say. “Did you really just post a half eaten Danish on your blog?”

Well, yeah. Haters gonna hate.

(It was delicious. Look for the Summer Kitchen Bakery)

Tempura mushrooms

This was the highlight of the food there for me – tempura mushrooms. Giant plate for $7. Mr Gif doesn’t eat mushrooms so I got to eat the entire lot. Awww yisss

OK so I did feel a bit sick afterwards.

Wallaby burrito

OF COURSE I HAD TO STOP WHEN I SAW WALLABY BURRITO. This was the Pacha Mama Mexican stall.

Wallaby burrito

I was expecting something quite gamey, but the wallaby meat was tender and quite delicate. Tastes kinda like lamb. I like it. I reckon it’s a good one for people who aren’t too much into (or are new to) game meat.

I’ll eventually write more about Tasmania. Stay tuned for stories of our wild nights out in empty towns.

October 22nd, 2013 by Rose

Melbourne and stuff

I turned 32 last month. I like to think that I’ve come a long way from last year. With the help of good friends I’ve got my shit (almost) in order, I have a cute little apartment (with a particular emphasis on “little”), and I’m dating someone who’s pretty freaking great.

To congratulate myself on a job well done I booked a weekend away in Melbourne with Mr Gif in tow. We stayed at Hotel Lindrum (which I will recommend forever) where cake and flowers from friends await. The weekend was off to an awesome start, aside from the hangover from the birthday party the night before.

I didn’t take too many photos of the food but here are some I took when I’m not otherwise drunk or feeling too self-conscious.

Mamasita
1/11 Collins St, Melbourne
Chicken tostaditas

Chicken tostaditas with avocado, chipotle mayo and queso fresco. Delicious, crispy, more-ish.

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Eat ALL the food – pancita de cerdo (braised pork belly), plaintain crisps, beans and tortillas.

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A closeup of the braised pork belly cos I love youse all. The green bits are deep fried parsley, genius. It tastes as good as it looks FYI.

Mr Gif and I went to Mamasita very early on a Saturday – about 12pm – so we didn’t run into the infamous Mamasita queue. Service was great and food was even better. I don’t queue for restaurants anymore cos I hardly find any worth the wait, but I’d line up for Mamasita. Only for maybe 15 minutes, though.

Papa Goose
91-93 Flinders Ln

This was a bit of a weird one. The restaurant was completely empty when we went (admittedly it was at 12pm on the dot since we had a plane to catch), and the only other people to show up were a couple maybe an hour or so after we arrived. The food was great, so could just be a city on a weekend emptiness, idk.

This was our last meal of the trip after a LOT of eating, so we were pretty defeated at this point. Foolishly we still ordered the Sunday roast which was good value at the price of $50 p.p. for two courses (you’ll see why in a minute).

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Entree of charcuterie board with pickles and croquettes.

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MASSIVE roast lamb with Yorkshire pudding and roasted vegetables. Seriously this would’ve fed about four people it was so big. I almost wish I’d gone to the gym that morning so I’d have more space but, y’know, on holiday and all that.

We also went to MoVida on our first night and The European for my birthday dinner. Both incredible as always.

Mr Gif asked me last night if I’m happy. In short, yes. I’m still stressed out and anxious about a lot of things but really, they’re no big deal now compared to the ball of tightly wound rubber band I was a year ago. It’s amazing what difference 12 months make – here’s to another year of kicking ass.

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January 10th, 2010 by Rose

Perth 2009: Getting Down With the Italian

I was going to do another blog post earlier this week, but you know when you’ve been on holiday and your brain takes longer than a 10 year old computer to boot up? Yeah, it’s a bit like that. Plus I’ve come down with a bad case of stomach upset this week where I wasn’t really able to eat very much without being nauseated (I’m not pregnant, I checked). In any case, it wasn’t the best time to be writing entries on food.

Summary: hi, this is a new entry. Sorry it’s a bit late.

So, where were we? Oh yes. After our lunch at Little Creatures we walked around Freo town to see what else is on offer. We went past Dolce Vita on South Terrace, also known to tourists as the “Cappucino Strip” – I’ve never actually heard a local refer to it as that. A gelato sounds good on a hot day, so we went in.

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We weren’t disappointed. I got a Snickers gelato, which I think had a vanilla (or caramel? Idk, can’t remember) gelato base and has generous chunks of chocolate and peanuts.

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BusinessClass pronounced it as tasting “just like Snickers”, which I’m taking to be a good thing. She got the cappucino gelato – it was amazing, full of coffee flavour and a generous sprinkle of cocoa powder on top.

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The gelato selection. The Snickers one is second from the bottom left.

I can’t find the website or the address for Dolce Vita, unfortunately. It’s right opposite Gino’s Trattoria if that helps.

For dinner we were going to go to Ria in Leederville, but Pimento rang us and said that they’re closed. We went to Leederville anyway and decided to walk down Oxford St until we find a place that smells good. That night, the place was Giardini. The smell of the garlic bread will, to borrow a phrase from Pioneer Woman, make your skirt fly up.

We sat down and peruse the menu. Goddamn but the place is expensive. BC and I exchanged looks and contemplated going elsewhere, but the waitperson came back. Too late. Fortunately, while the mains are stupid expensive, the pasta prices are on the reasonable side of expensive. These were our choices:

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Garlic bread, of course. The lady told us that they’re small and come in threes, so we ordered two serves. Turns out they came in serves of four slices! They’re good though. Very buttery, garlicky and uh, bready. These are $6.20. I’m going by the prices on their website by the way so don’t get shitty at me if they’re wrong.

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The SO ordered the Chicken Penne. From the website: “Penne tossed with chicken pieces, onion, spinach, roasted pumpkin with a hint of garlic & chilli in a cream sauce. Topped with avocado & diced fresh tomato set on Neapolitana sauce”. There ain’t no Neapolitana sauce on that dish but whatevs. Serving was huge and it was delicious. So it should be for $23.50 though, Christ.

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Pimento ordered the Linguine alla Giardini – “pasta tossed in olive oil, garlic, prawns, mushroom, capsicum, onion, bacon and a hint of chilli”. I had a bite and it was fresh tasting, but missing a zingy chilli hit. $24.80.

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BusinessClass and I ordered the spaghetti marinara. Oh my gahd this was gooooooood. You know how sometimes you order a marinara, and it comes with a pitiful spoonful of frozen marinara mix? This dish wipes the floor with that business. The dish was very generous on fresh and succulent seafood. At the end of the meal I was just picking bits of seafood off and leaving the pasta, but there was so much fish and squid hiding in between the pasta that I ate too much anyway just from picking bits off. If I have a gripe it would be that the sauce is a bit sweet, but it was still $26.90 well spent.

Giardini
135 Oxford St, Leederville
(08) 9242 2602

January 3rd, 2010 by Rose

Perth 2009: Westward Bound

I’m back – sporting a tan and a slightly fatter belly.

For Christmas this year my partner and I decided to go on a holiday to Perth. I studied in Perth for 4 years and my bff BusinessClass (who I will refer to often in my Perth entries) still lives there. I haven’t been back for about 5 years so I was pretty excited.

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The holiday started with our traditional airport food: Hungry Jack’s. Sure, it was 7 in the morning and starting the day with a slightly suspicious cheeseburger is normally a Bad Idea but these sorts of rules don’t apply when you’re travelling. Also, a $2.50 cheeseburger > $8 cheese and tomato croissant. The burger was fucking delicious.

I was terribly restless throughout the flight – we were on one of the older planes that don’t have individual TVs on the back of seats so I resorted to poking my SO and demanding to be entertained, which earned me the title of Worst Flight Companion Ever. We did a cryptic crossword and solved two clues, then a normal crossword and solved about 6. I heard that cryptic crosswords help prevent Alzheimers, so looking at how we’re going I guess I’ll just need to save up to go to Mexico for barbiturates before it sets in.

I skipped the flight breakfast. My SO got the scrambled eggs, the fool! We landed without incident and my SO managed to get through the 5 hours without strangling me.

Read the rest of this entry »

October 28th, 2009 by Rose

Malaysia 2009: Banana Fritters

This is my last Malaysia post for this year, promise.

I miss banana fritters when I’m Sydney, because we don’t get the right sort of bananas and I can’t be arsed deep frying anything. Thankfully deep frying is a large part of any Malaysian household and is one of the easier things that my mum makes for breakfast. You read that right. DEEP FRIED BANANAS FOR BREAKFAST.

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The batter is just plain flour, a bit of rice flour, water and a pinch of salt. Sometimes my mum adds a bit of turmeric for colour.

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My mum has mad bling.

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They start out healthy and end up DELICIOUS.

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The bananas were “kelat” – there’s no exact word for this in English but it means bitter-ish… kind of – so I had it which chilli sauce. Ohhhh yeahhhh

Bonus picture:

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Malay kuih made with glutinous rice flour.

October 13th, 2009 by Rose

Malaysia 2009: Lunch in Damai

My suburb is home to some delicious eats. One Sunday, my friend and I went out in search for things get fat on.

A buzzing food court (more like a food alley). Things start getting busy at around 9 AM.

A buzzing food court (more like a food alley). Things start getting busy at around 9 AM.

How the fuck does this picture get blurry? Idgi. Anyway, we had this takoyaki...

How the fuck does this picture get blurry? Idgi. Anyway, we had delicious takoyaki…

...prepared with love by this uncle. Dodgy angle because I was trying to get a sneaky photo (too shy to ask).

…prepared with love by this uncle. Dodgy angle because I was trying to get a sneaky photo (too shy to ask). The takoyaki was pretty much perfect, crispy outside and pillowy inside. The tako piece was tiny and a bit chewy, but you can’t have everything – certainly not for the price we paid (cheap as, brah).

We also had chee cheong fun - the rice noodle is made to order! I wish I had a photo of the noodle-making process but the dude looked at me funny when I pulled out the camera. This was good, but the sambal that came with it wasn't hot and was way too sweet.

We also had chee cheong fun – the rice noodle is made to order! I wish I had a photo of the noodle-making process but the dude looked at me funny when I pulled out the camera. This was good, but the sambal that came with it wasn’t hot and was way too sweet.

October 11th, 2009 by Rose

Malaysia 2009: Various Eats

Braised chicken and rice from La Manila.

Braised chicken and rice from La Manila.

Wat tan ho, my favourite noodle dish. Also known around Malaysia as Cantonese style kuey teow and kuey teow siram.

Wat tan ho, my favourite noodle dish. Also known around Malaysia as Cantonese style kuey teow and kuey teow siram. From La Manila.

Ngiu chap mee hoon, from a little coffee house in my suburb. That day we had a different uncle that serves up the ngiu chap and he was a bit stingy with the meatballs.

Ngiu chap mee hoon, from a little coffee house in my suburb. That day we had a different uncle serving up the ngiu chap and he was a bit stingy with the meatballs.

Nasi campur ("mixed rice") from Restoran Seri Malindo. Clockwise from bottom left, kerabu mangga (green mango salad), sweet potato leaves cooked with chilli and peanuts, sambal eggplant and ikan masak lemak (fish in spicy coconut milk).

Nasi campur (“mixed rice”) from Restoran Seri Malindo. Clockwise from bottom left, kerabu mangga (green mango salad), sweet potato leaves cooked with chilli and peanuts, sambal eggplant and ikan masak lemak (fish in spicy coconut milk).

Bad photo but I mainly posted this here to show you the green stuff on the right of the plate - edible ferns or pucuk paku, my favourite vegetable ever. Here it's cooked with chillies and a bit of belacan.

Bad photo but I’m posting this here to show you the green stuff on the right of the plate – sayur manis or “Sabah vegetable”, my favourite vegetable ever. Here it’s cooked with chillies and a bit of belacan. I forget where I ate this, it was some random cafe at 1 Borneo.

October 4th, 2009 by Rose

Malaysia 2009: Eid ul-Fitr Celebrations

It’s a custom in Malaysia to have an “open house” during the Eid ul-Fitr holiday – basically you have a giant spread at home and people come over. For my family’s open house this year, my mum cooked some food for the family and everything else is catered.

Breakfast of my mum's nasi himpit, peanut sauce and chicken rendang. Damn right, it's better than yours.

Breakfast of my mum’s nasi himpit, peanut sauce and chicken rendang. Damn right, it’s better than yours.

Eid cookies, ready for guests. My favourite is the one in the bottom right - buttery pineapple tarts.

Eid cookies, ready for guests. My favourite is the one in the bottom right – buttery pineapple tarts.

Spring rolls.

Spring rolls.

Setting up the main food table. Notice the gazillion sticks of satay on the left.

Setting up the main food table. Notice the gazillion sticks of satay on the left.

Friends swooping down on the food. In this picture you can see chicken curry, roti jala, two types of achar (pickles) and the spring rolls.

Friends swooping down on the food. In this picture you can see chicken curry, roti jala, two types of achar (pickles) and the spring rolls.

My plate. From bottom left, curry chicken, achar, chicken satay, glutinous rice in banana leaf, nasi himpit, spring roll and nasi minyak.

My plate. From bottom left, curry chicken, achar, chicken satay, glutinous rice in banana leaf, nasi himpit, spring roll and nasi minyak.

October 4th, 2009 by Rose

Malaysia 2009: Iftar at Le Meridien

Holla, bitches! I am back from my food fest in Malaysia and have heaps of photos to share. We’ll start with iftar (breaking of fast at sundown) at Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu. They had a Ramadan iftar buffet throughout the fasting month and it was ridiculously huge. Seriously the floor space for the buffet is about the size of a flat.

What you can see in the picture is 1/3 the size of the actual buffet.

What you can see in the picture is 1/3 the size of the actual buffet.

Table for cold Malay-style salads.

Table for cold Malay-style salads.

Dried salted fish. I'll have to apologise for all the blurry photos - the place was kind of dark.

Dried salted fish. I’ll have to apologise for all the blurry photos – the place was kind of dark.

Roasted chicken.

Roasted chicken.

1/6 of the dessert table.

1/6 of the dessert table.

The Chinese food station.

The Chinese food station.

Roti jala and various curries.

Roti jala, roti canai and various curries.

Fresh seafood, ready to be grilled. You heard right, a grilled seafood station.

Fresh seafood, ready to be grilled. You heard right, a grilled seafood station.

Various steamed dumplings.

Various steamed dumplings.

Grilled lobster, squid and fish with chilli soy sauce.

Grilled lobster, squid and fish with chilli soy sauce.

Clockwise from left - rojak, sambal eggplant, roasted chicken, chilli kangkong and spicy okra salad.

Clockwise from left – rojak, sambal eggplant, roasted chicken, chilli kangkong and spicy okra salad.

Noodle station. The dude was a bit stressed about me taking his photo.

Noodle station. The dude was a bit stressed about me taking his photo.

Laksa condiments.

Laksa condiments.

Finished laksa.

Finished laksa.

September 16th, 2009 by Rose

Europe – September 2008

Rob and I took a trip to Switzerland, Rome and London in September last year. While the trip itself was amazing, the food leaves little to be desired. Some of the more memorable food-related stuff:

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Interior of the Giger Bar

Interior of the Giger Bar

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