cooking chicken in our little clayton studio

 Clayton is such a diverse suburb because of the uni in it. I'm always interested in other cultures, especially their food. For easter last weekend, we visited an Orthodox church just to see what it was like. Anyway, there're several indian groceries in Clayton [I counted 4 so far...but there might be more] and indian restaurants. We bought this spice mix [above] because of this smiling celeb chef.  We cook chicken most often because it's the cheapest meat available.

This is the resulting curry dish that was really yummy and so easy to do. All we had to add was water, coconut milk and chicken. A curry in a hurry! Although we probably added too much water...

This above, is "curry" mash with tomato + chickpea chicken. I got a packet of Keen's curry powder as a sample so decided to dump it into some mash I was making. It turned a bright yellow and tasted pretty good with lotsa milk and some butter added.

And chicken again! this time, a roast with thyme and chorizo with roast potatoes.

veggies on the plant!

These were taken at the melbourne garden and flower show ystd at the Carlton Gardens. We had a great time there, tasting free cheese and wine and looking at all the beautiful displays. I'm especially excited whenever I see fruit or veg that are still on the plant/tree/ground because seeing it in its natural state is a whole different dimension [did i spell that right?] to seeing them wrapped in clingwrap or tied with rubber bands, or canned, on the supermarket shelves. These chillis above look quite hot! I never knew how chillis grew in plants. Now I do.

Cabbages! I didn't know that the outer leaves were so huge! they look like giant flowers. The hubby says if cabbages could decide on what to study in uni, it would probably be astrology as they spend their whole lives staring into the sky....

a sweet looking pea pod! imagine all the work it took for the plant to produce that one pod...and we can eat it in half a mouthful.

and a huge white cauliflower! seeing how they grow makes me appreciate them more and less likely to waste any by throwing them away. Just think about how much energy it took for that piece of cauliflower to reach your table...it had to grow in the garden for... [weeks?] then it had to survive pests/bad weather, then a farmer had to cut the weeds away and harvest it, and it had to be wrapped/washed/packaged..and then it had to travel to your local supermarket where it had to be loaded and arranged on the shelves. Our food does come a long way! So it would really be a sin to waste any.

my fav blogs to read

here're some foody sites i love to visit
1. http://www.amateurgourmet.com/  - based in NY
2. http://annesfood.blogspot.com/    -based in Stockholm
3. http://kokonuggetyum2.blogspot.com/ - somewhere in rural Japan

disappointing shanghai dumpling joint

I'd heard quite a bit about this restaurant in Tattersalls lane in Chinatown, so decided to try it ystd. We knew that with asian food, the worse the exterior looks, the better the food, so we weren't put off by this dingy looking facade. However, there were several things that ruined this experience for us. Firstly, the music was DEAFENINGly loud! it's impossible to have a conversation with the person you're with in here. Which was why i wanted to sit next to hubby instead of opposite him. However...., after sitting down, the waitress [rudely] told me to move and sit opposite my hubby instead of beside him like i ALWAYS like to sit. She didn't even try to explain why. She didn't even say please! When I asked her why, she just mumbled something rudely and walked off. Felt like she was talking to a dog instead of paying guests.

Later, I tried to ask her if we could sit somewhere else instead, so that we could sit beside each other instead of opposite. But she rudely and curtly said "after order no change place"
this completely ticked me off but we had already ordered , so we couldn't walk out. I mean, how hard is it to let us change places? not like there're 1000 tables in there!

the fried dumplings were really cheap, at $6.80 for 12 but the dough was slightly undercooked., they were tasty except that i noticed the meat being slightly pinkish. [2 hours later, hubby had terrible food poisoning, with stomach pains, diarrhea and nausea, probably because of bad hygiene or bacteria in the uncooked meat, as he hadn't eaten anything else after this. ]

The pork mince noodles however, were very good, just the right amount of meat sauce and crunchy but cooked vegetables. just the way I like it. When I asked a waiter if we could have another plate so we could share it, he mumbled smtg like "go take it yourself' and pointed to a stack of tiny bowls in a corner [those tiny ones meant for soy sauce]. I was really surprised at how bad the service was! so my poor hubby had to eat from a tiny bowl to share these noodles with me. we could've eaten from the same bowl except that we were forced to sit opposite each other at the same table, instead of beside, so it was impossible to stretch our necks across to the centre of the table to share it.

When we went to pay, I asked the girl behind the counter about the $12 all you can eat promotion that i saw on a card, and she said "it for big group only ". so I asked, how big is a big group? she paused for really long before saying "uh....three."

perhaps she was just bad in english, but I sensed that she really really really really wasn't in the mood for answering my questions and just wanted me out the door. So far, none of the servers were had the slightest inkling of how to treat your patron politely. They all behaved as if they really hated the customers and couldn't wait to shoo them out the door.

So, the bottom line is.. I'd never come here again. at these prices, I suppose most people could forgive the abysmal service. But, make sure you have your GP on speed dial for the food poisoning afterwards.

Mordialloc food fest

This was the first stall we saw the moment we walked in. These above are the potato tortillas which are somewhat of a spanish potato ommelette.
We got some seafood paella and sat on the grass coz all the seats were taken.
It was yummy with fresh firm shrimp and a few oysters and strips of squid in it.
Gav enjoying his red hill beer.
It looks beautiful but felt like a really hot day!

Raju's on the Princes Highway

We ordered the "banquet" dinner set, which was half price before 8pm on Mondays to Thursdays so it came out to be $45 for the 2 of us. First up was the papadums with 3 sauces. One would've been a yoghurty one, the green one's probably mint and the dark one I've no idea but it was sweetish.

then the tandoori, kefta and samosas.

Yum.

We had 3 curries with saffron rice and naan.

Beef vindaloo which I believe is from the east of India? it was really hot but gav likes it that way.
butter chicken, my all time favourite. this had a nice thick and tomato-ey sauce that was perfect with the rice and naan.
and mushroom paneer masala. this one was slightly bland.

garlic naan which was excellent

basmati rice

This place is right next to a mexican restaurant on the princess highway. I think this set was too much for 2 people though, coz we couldn't finish it despite stuffing ourselves completely, in fact I reckon this set for 2 would've been enough for 3 small eaters.

convenience food

Avocado and promite on bread. simple but rich and tasty... [I like promite better than vegemite now..I'm a convert!] Promite has a certain..savoury mushroomy taste. somewhat like what would be considered "umami" by some food experts. of course I certainly am not.
Another new thing I tried was this vanilla flavoured coffee from Gloria Jeans'. It was so soo fragrant and calming. I'd definitely want it again.
Above are the deep fried shrimp with wasabi mayo from Salamanca Inn. They were really delicious as most things deep fried are.
Leslie made us some yummy chicken schnitzel. Everything in this meal below was cooked up at a moment's notice, with no fresh ingredients at all! The chicken and vegetables were from the freezer, and rice is of course a staple. So, this is the perfect thing to have when you're out of fresh vegetables and are too lazy to go to the store. The veggies tasted just the same as if they were fresh, so I wouldn't have known they were frozen at all.