Christmas spread

 Here's the obligatory Christmas post - I really enjoyed this Christmas meal prepared by our friends, above with roast turkey, baked ham, roast beef and roast peri-peri chicken. I never realized how good roast turkey could be till now! [all my life i've only ever had overcooked, tough and dry turkey...] Hmmm..wouldn't mind having this all year round!

 another friend made this delicious roast pork with the best ever salty, lip-smacking crunchy crackling I've ever had... so sinful but so yummy!

a berry cloud cake - made with just 2 egg whites and some sugar and berries and a biscuit case. it really tasted like a cloud - mostly air but sweet!

Socks wanted to join in the gift giving festivities as well and brought us... a mouse! [eek!] he's never done this before. we put a bell on him so he wouldn't hunt but it didnt stop him from procuring this boxing day gift for us. wonder how to stop him doing this!

koreana in Launceston

 We found this gem of a place at 84 Elizabeth St in Launceston city - a reasonably priced Korean restaurant! i've always loved korean food. i love the little free refillable side dishes. at this place, we got 3 side dishes - above, the mandatory kimchi, simmered green beans in a sticky sauce, and fried fishcake.

 this is the "fire chicken" $14 which was the best thing we ordered. succulent chicken thigh pieces coated in a spicy chilli sauce stir fried with cabbage and onion. perfect with the steamed rice! and a very good serving size too.

 above, the kimchi hotpot $13 which was bubbling hot so the picture doesnt show what's in it - kimchi of course, [which is fermented spicy cabbage for the uninitiated] green onions, pork slices and tofu. comfort food especially in cold weather. this comes with rice too.

 and we ordered the pork mandu [dumplings] $7 which are a tasty mixture of minced pork and chopped cabbage  encased in a thin pastry and deep fried, served with a soy vinegar dipping sauce.

service was impeccable - the smiley server rushed to replace a spoon the minute he heard it dropping [hubby accidentally knocked it over with his elbow..] 

opening hours: 12-9pm daily except sundays.

i cant wait to come back and try the other dishes like the tofu hotpot, bulgogi and bibimbap.

Ashmore on Bridge St

 We decided to do a quick tour of Richmond and had lunch here. The interior was really nice and modern looking, yet cozy. Although it was past 2pm, lunch was still available. Above, the battered ling with chunky chips which was awesome - the tartare sauce being the best thing there.

I had the steak burger with onion marmalade, roast capsicum, salad and horseradish cream which was really tasty, on a fragrant toasted bun. Loved the seasoned chunky chips too! This was the best thing we enjoyed about Richmond unfortunately, as our B&B stay [hatcher's manor nearby ] was quite a fiasco with the reception losing our booking,  a room that smelled like poo, a phone ringing loudly waking us up several times, staff not knowing that we had prepaid and trying to make us checkout early the next day despite us arranging to checkout late, and not giving us what we paid for in the package until we reminded them of it.  sigh.... an experience  i'd like to forget!

matcha men

 It's nearly Christmas! I got the baking bug and made these green tea cut out cookies.

Those that browned too much didn't look as green but still tasted okay. I won't post a recipe as I merely did a google search for green tea cookies and used the easiest one I found. They tasted like...sugar cookies flavoured with green tea powder. Reminiscent of a green tea flavoured mooncake skin. Sort of doughy.

banana prawns

 these were nice sized ones we got at Coles for $14 a  kilo.

we cooked it with this sambal tumis sauce from Carrefour [which i cannot recommend unfortunately, it was too sweet, and not sour/savoury enough!] but luckily the prawn's own wonderful prawny juicy flavour made up for it.

summer

 what do you with strawberries that're just too sour to eat on its own? I couldn't think of anything more creative so your suggestions would be welcome. All I could do was blend it up with some milk, sugar and yoghurt to make a smoothie but it wasn't very satisfying. the sugar granules didn't dissolve properly so it crunched in my teeth.

 Stir fried asparagus with dried prawns, chilli, garlic and belacan.

Ayam pongteh - a nyonya stew made with bean paste, soy sauce, garlic, chicken and potatoes.

Namaskar in Kingston -Channel Court shopping strip

 This Indian place is so so good! We came here twice and really enjoyed it each time. Eating in is better than taking away because freshly cooked naan hot from the tandoor is always better. Below, the lamb briyani $11 which was really delicious with generous bits of lamb. Each grain of rice was perfectly fluffy and coated with a tasty spicy tomatoey seasoning and each piece of meat was so tender and flavourful. The yoghurt raita that came with it was the perfect tangy accompaniment.

 below, the 2 curries and rice $10, the orange one's the goat masala, and the yellow one's the vegetable kurma which was potato, cauliflower, carrot and green beans in a creamy sauce. A very generous serve, and both curries were very tasty.

I'd come here again to try the other menu items.

hello hello....

 Our friend's garden was bursting with wonderful fruit and veg last week and we were lucky enough to be given some of these freshly cut asparagus spears. They were peeking out of the soil, looking so luscious!
Now i know the usual way to cook them is to poach, boil or microwave them, but we like stir frying them with sambal belacan [a malaysian spice paste with fermented dried shrimp....]

 below, a pasta bake from the back of an ardmona tin of tomatoes. It was something like a lasagne but with eggs in it. basically it just involves mixing up some cooked pasta, tomato sauce, vegetables, cheese, eggs and meat and baking it till the cheese melts.

 it's kangkung season again! Here in Hobart, our only source of fresh kangkung is from the Hmongs at either Salamanca market or Moonah island markets [on weekends] so out comes the sambal belacan for a  kangkung stir fry.... this recipe is closest to what we do at home, using a food processor instead of a pestle and mortar.

dont try this at home if you dont have a range hood though...coz the smell permeates everything it comes into contact with!

Kangkung can also be used in a Philipine spicy sour soup called "Sinigang" or in Malaysia prawn noodles. Or you could just use them in any sort of stir fry.

tassie....in spring

 this is just an everyday scene for us Hobartians.... whether walking by, driving to work, or walking out of my office, the river derwent is never far!

 at the Royal Botanical Gardens - my favourite part is always the veggie patch! Here, some rainbow beet!

 at bellerive beach while waiting for our next inspection appointment - we'd been looking around for homes, and it's tiring! fortunately there was a shop nearby selling valhalla ice cream...

 a new japanese restaurant's just opened in North Hobart - Midori. So far i've heard good things about it though i havent actually tried it. these photos were from the hubby's lunch with his workmates. tht big fat grilled eel looks so yummy!

 above, some bonito flavoured fried chicken nuggets with salad, pickles and rice.

 of course u cant go wrong with sushi!

hubby was so adamant that this sign in Kingston is grammatically wrong because it's meant to be "reduced" rather than reduce but i wonder if the English language has evolved so that verbs or adjectives can now be used as nouns. you know, like "party" and "stress"  to name a few. alright i cant think of that many now but i reckon some of you could. just watch some saturday morning tv. so if an earlier sign says to "Reduce speed", then a later one would say "end of reduce speed" and it makes perfect sense to me!

vietnamese in melborne

 i love vietnamese food. it's sort of like chinese, but with more herbs and raw veggies that give it a refreshing character. And I just love how cheap it is in Melbourne - this big bowl of pho [beef noodles in broth] at a noodle place in Preston was just $8.50! they usually come with a big heap of raw bean sprouts but I like them cooked, so I requested for that when ordering. Also, there's a huge bunch of fresh fragrant herbs as a garnish.I know one of them is thai basil but the others I can't name.The broth's made from meat, cinnamon, star anise and some other stuff, with a squeeze of lemon juice for tang.

the rice paper rolls are delicious too but if u're going to have both in one meal, it's best to share the noodles as you wont have enough stomach space. it's very filling!

random eats - havent been organized enough to post regularly

 socks loves the sunshine. here he is, basking in its glory.

 Above, niku jaga which we had at Sakura, a japanese restaurant in subang jaya. very flavourful. it's just a simple dish really, beef, carrot and potatoes stewed with a broth. but so yummy!

 a whole soft shell crab, deep fried and stuffed into a sushi roll. the crab looks a bit like a tarantula in the pic! but it was delicious.

 home made "orchien" which is a malaysian oyster ommelette.

 homemade burgers! [pan frying burgers at home is not advisable if u're not keen on spending half an hour cleaning the floors, walls, surfaces and stove afterwards]

this isnt part of the "food" commentary but this poor thing was mauled by Socks and half of its leg got eaten too. The cat probably thought it was a tasty treat!

malaysia

 Im in Malaysia at the moment visiting family. This is a land of cheap and tasty good although not always hygienic. People don't follow safety rules here [which anyone can deduce from the way people drive] so eating street food is at your own risk! I've always had food poisoning every time I've come here after a long stint in Australia. but so far....so good....
Above is a south indian rice flour pancake with slices of onion and tomato, eaten with 2 curry sauces and a hot sambal. Yummy, freshly crisp and for just RM2 [about 70cents!]

 There're stray cats everywhere, and they hang around the tables hoping for scraps. This poor little kitty here was looking longingly at me, and compared to Socks at home, it's so so skinny! and had an infected eye too. Aussie cats don't know how lucky they are to be in the lucky country....Socks certainly doesn't always appreciate his Coles smartbuy cat food but if only he knew about these poor starving cats in Malaysia...

 compare this poor skinny fella to...

this well fed rounded one in our bed!

 Anyway, I attended a birthday party and the cake was an English trifle, complete with blue icing...

 and blue jelly!

 and blueberry pie!

here's me enjoying an iced macha [green tea] with whipped cream on top. Talk about east meeting west! it's a great combination. Who;d have thought?

it's 2 weeks to Father's day

pictures of gav's dad holding him as a baby

 how proud he looks of his new baby son!

 posing with an unsmiling baby can be fun...

 gav remembers all those 7 years together as some of the best in his life.

sadly, he passed away at age 37 in a car accident. Though I've never met him, I'm inspired by his life and how deeply he loved his family and sought that close relationship with his kids.

I know it's about 2 weeks early but I reckon all the shops would be starting their commercialist campaigns by now so....let me wish you an early Happy Father's day everyone! Spending money on gifts and meals out are nice, but relationships need time and communication as well... 2 things which may cost us more than the dollars we spend on gifts.