Yay Yay! Time for another page outta my lil Chef at Home cookbook! 

One fine day, Verity and I decided to cook up some Asian cuisine for dinner – Black Pepper Stir Fried Beef

 

in the process! I like my meals with heaps of veggies

 

Verity helping to chop more veggies! 

 

Lots and lots of garlic paste in the already-marinaded beef chunks!

 

Okay to be honest, the original dish was supposed to be Chicken Stir Fry.

But we changed it entirely to Black Pepper Beef Stir Fry! Then again, no one follows the cookbooks

 

ESPECIALLY ME.

 

After putting everything in the wok!

 

Letting it simmer and absorb all the juices Omnomnomnom

Oh and you know what's our secret ingredient? Wine!  

 

Lots and lots of it!

 

After letting it simmer for another half an hour, I just gave it some more herbs and condiments to taste.

Used heaps of black pepper seeds too

 

Ta-da!! Almost ready!

 

Erin was on the other side of the kitchen, also busy cooking.

But since she's vegan, all her meals were strictly vegetarian – no meat of any sort!

 

*sizzle sizzle*

 

For dessert, we decided to bake a special chocolate cake. *wink*

Omnomnomnom. Ima chocolate maniac, if you didn't already know  

 

Prepare all the ingredients needed

 

Melted chocolate, butter and yummy delish stuff 

 

Pour it in with chopped walnut chunks!

 

Ooooh look at that nutty chocolatey goodness

 

As usual, this is what my friends and I do after I've finished pouring the entire cake mix into the baking tin.

Who wants to waste good chocolate?
 

NOBODY. 

 

Popped it into the oven and waited for the magic to happen.

In the meantime, our Black Pepper Stir Fry Beef was ready to be eaten with steamed rice 

 

Bon Appetit!

 

Doesn't look really appetizing in the photo   Cos I was too hungry and couldn't give two hoots about taking pictures. Just wanted to gobble it! I was delighted when my friends loved it just as much as I did!

One of them said it was spicy as! *giggle* Well, toughen up! Get used to Asian spicy food

 

 

This was Erin's vegetable dish!

 

She let me take as many photos as I wanted before she ate Yay!

After eating and got really full to the brim, it was time to bring out the special chocolate cake!

 

Walnuts ahoy!

 

Don't know why we turned the cake upside down and ate it that way instead

 

Yay everyone liked it!

 

Okay speaking of which, I'm really darn hungry as we speak.

Imma head out for dindins with the bestie now.

 

And to all my Muslim readers out there, Selamat Berbuka Puasa! 

 

To be extremely honest, I've never seen/taste/smell/ate Vegemite in my entire life.

Until I came to Australia.

 

Bardha, Cleefy and I in the kitchen on the night of the challenge

 

This is how it all began.

One fine day, Konzy and Cleefy decided to ask me a million dollar question.

 

"Have you tried Vegemite before?"

My answer was an obvious "no".

 

However, I've heard some pretty horrid stuff about it; that it tasted vile, disgusting and nasty on your tastebuds. Then again, Cleefy insisted I had some, regardless of what I've heard.

Allow me to quote him "you haven't experienced Australia if you leave without Vegemite".

 

Looks like a creepy Vegemite ad, no?

 

He proposed I eat it in front of the camera so that I could always remember the "Australian goodness of Vegemite". Fair enough. So I decided to take up the challenge of the infamous yucky Vegemite.

Let the camera roll!

 

One night before we headed out clubbing, Cleefy brought me a jar of Vegemite

& had it wrapped in a cute blue ribbon too! 

 

I was extremely hesitant after unwrapping it but my mates were pretty persistent.

Fine fine fine. I'll do it! 

 

Here's the short video I made. Enjoy it!

 

Hahaha. Hope you liked it! So there, my 1st moments with Vegemite, added with laughter, nasty facial contortions and friendship encapsulated in a 6 minute video  

Now, everytime I think of Australia or crave for Vegemite, this video will do the trick!

 

Ahoy mateys! Arrrr. Vegemite has arrived.

 

How am I ever gonna forget that? 

The next time ANY of you come to Malaysia, I'll do the exact same thing for yall -- not with Vegemite, but with Durians instead. *evil laughter*

 

Thank you Cleefy bear!

 

Now that I've finished blogging this entire post and editing the VLOG, I'm totally up for some. Only thing that's stopping me is…. I can't seem to find my Vegemite.

Who has stolen my jar from me!?  Identify yourself!!

 

After 2 years of not meeting up, Violet and I were glad to *finally* see each other again!

We were both in Melbourne at that time so it was perfect for a catch-up sesh

 

Violet and I

 

We didn't know where to go at first cos we were practically gushing when we saw each other!

I was happy to see her again! After walking around aimlessly for a bit, we went to Koko Black

 

 

What could be better than catching up over glorious, glorious chocolate?

 

The hardcore chocolate lover was simply delighted! *beams* 

 

James was there to join us as well!

 

We chatted for hours and talked about old times and what we're going and where we should go next when we meet again. So much to do together, so little time!

But unfortunately, all of us have busy schedules plus the fact that I live pretty far from the city!

 

Girls doing what we do best

 

Thanks for the photo dearie!

 

After our teatime, we went outside for some air and to do a lil shopping.

 

Also, it's sometimes really cool to have a guy who is into photography tagging along while we do girly stuff or whatever we do. So I passed James my camera to help me take a few shots!

Hence, we get to actually have candid shots while walking or talking to each other LOL

 

Thanks for helping us take candids, James

 

T'was an awesome day catching up with them but alas, something fairly tragic happened!!

I was wearing the new pair of boots which I bought yesterday, and since I've never wore boots before (we hardly ever wear boots in Malaysia) I didn't know we needed to wear socks or stockings or something similar.

So I was badly cut and bled from above my heels. A blister somehow managed to appear in less than an hour and it hurt to the max  

 

pic courtesy of Violet

Hmph. And this is why I hate wearing new shoes

 

Thankfully, they took me to the nearest footwear section and I bought a pair of flip-flops

I also had some band-aids with me (fortunately!) and poor me had to limp back home.

 

—————————————————–

 

Our next outing wasn't as tragic as the first one, though. Phew!

We met up at Pancake Parlour this time :D

 

Before our food arrived!

 

It was funny how we actually ended up choosing what to eat.

Both of us wanted to suggest Pancake Parlour, but didn't think that the other would want to eat that. But eventually, we both found out that the both of us had Pancake Parlour in mind! @__@

 

So, Pancake Parlour it is!

 

I've always been a pancake fan. If you've been a long-time reader, yall would know that if there was any pancake outlet in front of me, I'd hit it. No matter what!

 

The flooring reminded me of checkerboards!

 

I liked the interior decor as well!

 

Don't know why, but ambience plays a part in how much I'd enjoy myself in a restaurant

Perhaps I'm not exactly a minimalist, that's why. I like elaborate or even artsy decorations

 

While waiting for food!

 

Since I'm an avid fan of traditional stacks with maple syrup, I ordered that and something savory

Violet had some Pancake Spanakopita while James opted for Blueberry Pancakes!

 

In the end I was so full I couldn't finish 'em!

 

Had a great time with them, as I did the previous outing.

Cheers to more catch up sessions the next time I'm up in Melbourne!

 

Camwhoring against some pretty Pancake Parlour backgrounds

Love their pop art-ish concept!

 

Yay for good times and good food!

 

Who goes to Australia without eating their famous game animals at least once?

I certainly do not. I finally managed to eat them before I go, as Konzy brought me to eat those rare delicacies one evening. Yay!

 

Here we are at The Royal Mail hotel and pub!

 

It was along Spencer Street.

LOLOL I LOL-ed when I saw Batman Street 

 

So yup, we heard about this Roadkill Wednesday thingy for quite some time already but never got a chance to go. And since the exams were finally over, we decided to make a trip down to the city to go one fine Wednesday

 

The Royal Mail

 

When we entered, I thought we had come to the wrong place because the first thing we saw was a pub.

But the pub was just the first part of the entire outlet!

 

We took a few steps into the pub…

 

… and finally saw the restaurant!

 

Comfy couch!

 

Needless to say, I chose a table where it had a pretty background

Moments last longer when it is captured on camera, so I obviously wanted my pictures to turn out nice!

 

This was pretty enough

 

I liked how the entire restaurant was pretty classy and dimly lit. Good for romantic dates! 

The decoration were mostly pop art paintings and Andy Warhol's version of Marilyn Monroe. So classic! 

 

There was a group of businessmen clad fully in suits at the table adjacent to ours

 

We sat close to the fire. Yes.. FIRE!
A wood-fired fireplace… TO STAY WARM!! You won't see this in Malaysia

 

We placed our orders and it was a pretty easy decision because we *still* were rather full from this afternoon's Malaysian food (yes, omnomnom I recommended him all my local delicacies) and we just wanted to try/taste the wild, game meat.

 

So we ordered a  whole grazing platter and sausages to share!

 

T'was yummy!  I'm glad I finally got to taste them.

Here's what we ordered in detail -

 

 I

Royal Mail Grazing Plate of Australian Game Meats with Duck Breast, Rabbit Pie,

Braised Venison Stew, Roo Sausage and Roo Pepperoni

 

From left to right (clockwise), here's my verdict :

I wasn't too excited with the duck breast because we have heaps of them back home anyway. But upon tasting it, the soft, slimy texture made me want to puke and I just had to spit it out. I just couldn't stomach it. But on the contrary, Konzy loved it and how tender it is. I guess, to each their own  If you favour foie gras (goose liver), you might just like this dish.

The Venison Stew was my favourite amongst all. It had a salty aftertaste to it too. I wished I could have some more!

Olives? Don't ask. We both despise olives in general so we can't exactly be the best judge for this.

The Roo Pepperoni was kinda spicy, but in a good way. I'm not quite a pepperoni and salami person, but this was pretty damn good.

The Roo Sausage served with Rosella Sauce was delicious too. It is a native berry and t'was a sweet and meaty combination.

The Rabbit Pie was just delightful! Really yummy  Although it pains me to think that I'm eating my own domesticated pet – I used to rear a fluffy white bunny – I tried to just savour it without thinking of morbid stuff like animal cruelty etc etc.

 

Trio of Bush Sausages : Emu, Wallaby and Camel with Polenta,

Brussel Sprouts, Sauteed Mushrooms and Pancetta

 

Here's my verdict :

The Camel Sausage was the toughest amongst the three. It boasts barbequed-burnt flavour to it (yummy!) and the spices complimented the taste well. I liked the chewy texture to it as well.

The Emu Sausage was the softest and it had the sorta melt-in-your-mouth taste. We found this meat too tender for our liking. It even had a slight bitter aftertaste. Meh. Not something for our palate.

The Wallaby Sausage was our favourite of them all. It was a little spicy as well but the flavour was the best amongst the three. Something I would order again! 

 

Apart from the meat, the veggies, polenta and sauce that came with this dish was an absolute yum.

I ate ALL of it!

 

Photo of me with his creepy death-stare face in the background

He keeps photobombing me T___T

 

After dinner, we were really stuffed! In fact, we couldn't even finish the whole portion of our meal.

I made a trip to the ladies' after him, and I'm glad I did. You shall see why.

 

Shot these when I was in the cubicle (hey, I can multi-task)

 

It was sssssoo pretty, even the toilets had a classic and Victorian feel to it!

What I really liked was these nursery rhymes on the toilet walls - 

 

It brings back memories! Just read them and smile

 

I was pretty sure Konzy was waiting for me outside thinking why on earth am I taking so long.

Well, put me in a pretty restroom with a huge mirror and you won't see me coming out anytime soon.

 

Whee!

 

Hello!

 

I also took my time washing my hands with lukewarm water and washed them with this gentle hand wash

 

Tralalalaala~ 

 

And then I noticed there was another moisturizing handwash.

So I washed my hands again. See? I'm trying to be sanitary here

 

Apparently, the mens' restroom wasn't as awesome as the ladies'?

BWAHAAHAAHA. They don't need a pretty toilet, just give them a hole to pee in. End of story

Kidding!

 

We left soon after – it was time to hit the casinos!

Ka-Ching! $$$$ After my recent win at Star City casino in Sydney, Konzy wanted to put my luck to the test.

 

Arriving Crown casino in South Melbourne

 

We left with a happy smile

 

Needless to say, we won a couple of hundreds 

Zippadee-doo-dah! Tag-team FTW.