Mei Xin Seven Star Snowskin and Chi Hua baked lotus paste mooncakes.


Snowskin with mashed mung bean paste with assorted flavours including mango, lychee, coffee, black sesame, yuzu (yuck *puke*), green tea and strawberry.

Hien Vuong @ Market Square

Vietnamese restaurant in Market Square with eye catchy neon signs on the window. What's this thing about neon lights with Vietnamese restaurants? ALL the viet joints I've seen around town (like those on Hardgrave Road) are adorned with neon lights. So cheesy, eeeeee......

Four colours rice and spring rolls

Four colours refer to pork chop, fried egg, meat patty and shredded meat stir fry something. The 'four colours' were cold (must be cooked in advance) but tasted alright. Little wonder it arrived at the table within minutes of ordering.

Springrolls were good, Princess kept asking for them.

Chicken pho with crispy chicken

So this restaurant claimed to be pho specialist (noticed the big 'PHO' sign on the window), of course must try lah. The pho came with lots of herbs floating on top. Uh-oh, I saw bits of celery floating around. I hate the stuff!! I chanted to myself, celery is good for you, celery is good for you................Finally picked up courage to try. Oklah acceptable, not too smelly and didn't taste too strong. Luckily the noodles didn't soak up any of the flavour. The fried chicken oklah, could have stayed in the marinade longer maybe a day, haha.

Would I go back? Only if I am in desperate need of a springroll fix and happen to be nearby.

I have also tried the cha-chan-teng next door. No good but portion very generous. Could do better with the moolah elsewhere. Also tried the viet restaurant in Sunnybank Plaza, nothing outstanding from there, I couldn't even remember what I ate!

Princess in style

Nah Bi, I asked her to pose and she gave me some funny moves, kekeke.

[The King and I] 2007 Birthday Makan

It was my birthday yesterday.

I searched the web long and hard for some wonderful eats around here. French bistro or Japanese, arghhh, torn between the two.

In the end, Japanese food won, cos it's just round the corner where I stay. Big King is not fond of Jap food, but heck, I got say, it's my birthday meal.

It's a gamble on this neighbourhood restaurant called Sakura on Bennetts Road. It has no website, review is scarce. Aiyo, didn't even know whether it will be expensive.

Aiyah, don't care, I'm hankering for a sashimi and tempura fix. We visited last saturday without a reservation. Two vacant tables, lucky.

Top: Karaage (about A$9??) and agedashi tofu (about A$8??)
Bottom: Moreton Bay bug tempura (A$16) and assorted sashimi (A$27)

It was a busy weekend night and we waited around half an hour for our food to arrive. I thought the food delish, was it because I was starving? The sashimi and tempura were wery good. I can't wait to visit again!

Big King ordered his usual (not pictured) tonkatsu (A$18.80) served with miso soup, rice, side salad and a section of corn cob. Blah, the meat was dry.

Big King also had his birthday earlier this month. He didn't care for a 'lavish' meal. So I cincai cook for him.


Lunch: I cooked my fav English breakfast. Macam my birthday, eh, tsk tsk tsk.

I went gila when I saw Bangalow sweet pork on sale at James St market. Allegedly better than the world famous Kurobuta pork, die die must try lah. I bought the pork sausages and bacon. Oh, how beautiful and pristine they look, both raw and cooked.

One had to have the best bread and eggs to go with the rare sausages and bacon. I got a loaf of Boule from Chouquette and free range eggs from market. Aiyo, everything so delicious I must have died and gone to heaven.

Dinner: Long life yee meen with Hokkaido scallops.

Fish maw, eh no salah, it's sea cucumber with shiitake.

The scallops, eeee, not wery nice o. Better stick to our fab Harvey Bay scallops.

Sea cucumber was bought frozen. So thick and springy.

'Somebody' will snigger and say."my $280 a kilo one nicer and better."

Ok, ok (in high pitch) let you win. You are whatever world's champion lumba wan. Everybody, kowtow NOW.

I also cooked Hainanese chicken rice. Whoo, so stuffed after dinner, cannot even walk.

The cake I baked for Big King tidak jadi. Bought salah mould, aiyah, *frustration*. So tried to make a hot lava chocolate pudding. Sekali......tidak jadi also, the centre gooey gooey but refused to flow out. Aiyah, double frustration! For the first time I hate Delia....

Sunnybank Oriental

We came for lunch, still quite a few tables vacant. So unlike our last visit where we have to queue and given a number.

My craving for claypot rice is what brought us here. Quite a few varieties to choose from, I settled for garoupa fillets in black bean sauce. Everything in the pot was cooked to perfection. I was surprised to find mui choy hidden underneath the fish. Very very tasty.

Big King had Shunde fried kway teow. The kway teow was fried dry with lap cheong, egg, beansprouts and squid. Shunde style meh? Wery salty, not wery good, no no.

Spotted salt and pepper squid on the menu, couldn't resisit. Not wery good oso, came soggy and wery salty.

Will only visit again for the cheap brekkie sets and claypot rice.

Little Singapore @ Market Square

Favourite haunt when we crave food from home.



The restaurant quickly filled up as soon as it opens. There is also al-fresco dining outside.

Hainanese chicken rice A$7.80

My default order, chicken is smooth and rice is fragrant. Better than my creation. Chilli and spring onion ginger also passable.

Fried mee kway teow A$9.80

This is good stuff, full of wok hei. Prawn and squid were extremely fresh and cooked to perfection.

A cheap (by Oz standard) and cheerful restaurant.

Jan Power's Farmers Markets @ New Farm

Location: 119 Lamington Street, New Farm
(only 10 minutes from where I stay, yahoooo!!)

The market starts at crack of dawn and finishes at around midday.

An upmarket farmer's market with shoppers toting their Chanel, LV, Guccis and A$160 Grosler shopping trolley around. I have seen a lady using a medium Longchamp dumpling as her shopping 'basket' @_@


Stalls selling woven basket, petit fours, organic muesli.


Beautifully packaged brownies (tis ok but not worth the hefty price tag), pickled olives, greek yogurt (my fav!) and fresh vegetables & fruits stalls.

Fresh & frozen seafood, german sausages (my fav!), hydrophonic tomatoes and different varieties of spuds.

Organic meat stall, interesting snazzy prints, the famous Sol sourdough bread (they're really good), natural skin & bodycare products and exotic mushroom stall.

Dainty petit fours from Amore Fine Food. They are all YUM!

Himalayan Cafe @ New Farm

Saw this colourful cafe further up the road from Gerbino. Himalayan food, mmm, I am not sure........

Gerbino's Pasticceria @ New Farm

Few shops away from Re Del gelato is this authentic Italian bakery. Aiyo, dessert freak like me screamed (in the head and heart) die die must try when I spied the shop driving up and down Brunswick street looking for Re Del.

I practically 'ran' to the shop after being refreshed by my guava sorbet. Wow, look at the gelato cabinet, look at the whole cake display, look at the small goodies cabinets full of bacis, meringues, canollis, biccies, tiramisu and miniature cakes.

I was like a child in a toy store, excited, pointing here and there, running from canibet to cabinet, kanasiau. Luckily, no one bothered (there's no one in the shop except us and the owners too busy haha)

Aiyo, cincai lah, what for pack so sui?



After throwing millions of questions at the owner, I only brought home pistachio canolli and coffee semifreddo (cake not ice cream). I hope I didn't kena cursed....

Verdict:

Canolli - eee er, I don't like. The pastry tasted fried in 'thousand year' oil. The filling is sourish cheese with pistachio coated at both ends. I gali after eating.

Coffee semifreddo - now this one is nice and very addictive. I love coffee mah.

I had planned return visits, but ever since I discovered Chouquette I cannot stay away from the place. Wait lah, see when I get sian of the place.

Driscoll's - World's Best Strawberries?

Earlier last month, I scored some Driscoll's strawberries. Allegedly to be the best variety in the world, Driscoll is indeed sweet and juicy. Before, I thought English strawberries in summer is KING. Now Driscoll's is top KING, hehe.

Don't ask how strawberries are in season in the middle of winter here in Oz. Really don't ask, see them, grab them and eat them.

There's this strawberry vendor in the fortnightly Jan Power market. Ther're always there, rain or shine. Tried the sample, it's Kandara variety (whatever...). OK sweet so buy. Turns out, kena tipu. Those we brought home average sweet only. Meh. Will give them 'pigeon' eye next time I pass by the stall.

Re Del Gelato @ New Farm

Big shop, lots of flavour with minimal seatings.


Menu

After a forgetable meal at Morgan's, my stomach is crying out, 'feed me yummy food.'



So many choices, so little tummy space. After some 'heated' debate in my head, I settled for guava sorbet (for me) and nutella (for Princess).



The colours were quite subtle (a good sign). They may not look appetising (lack of colour) but the flavours pack a bunch.

Guava sorbet: it's like scoffing down real guava, only in sorbet form.
Nutella: smell and tasted like the real mccoy.


Seating at one corner

There is no lack of good gelato place in Brisbane, they are everywhere! *Big grin*

'Trendy' Stones Corner, NOT

One fine day I brought Princess jalan-jalan in the nearby factory outlet stores. The neighbouhood has been described as 'trendy', mehhhhhh......

Took us 20 minutes by foot and up and down some hills (we stay on higher grounds with stunning views). We arrived and I was breathless. Bad bad idea bringing Princess out on my own, somemore on foot.

Though tired but spirits were high. I pointed my camera everywhere and click, click, click away. There were a LOT of bemused looks. Chinese lady one hand holding a toddler, the other hand on the camera, audible but incomprehensible sound coming out of her mouth (ordering Princess to behave and don't run off on her own). I know I must be a sight :D

Had lunch at the local conveyor belt sushi shop before heading home. Bad idea...I spotted 'ju jiang' soya sauce on the cooking station/worktop. Tis a 'mutton dressed in lamb's coat' shop. I had only 4 plates and the bill came up to A$18.70. Big rip off!

Redcliffe outing & Morgan's Seafood

Bridge connecting wherever we came from and the coastline

Fine day to travel to Redcliffe/Scarborough for a bit of sightseeing and of course, fish & chips.

Turned out nothing to see at Redcliffe, not even a chippy in sight. Decided to get some advice from two old ladies (they were ancient alright) manning the tourist centre. They debated amongst themselves which one we should go for. Factors to consider surrounding the lil one, comfy seating, park to waste our time if lil one got bored, menu for lil one. The debate still going strong when we left with a map with agak-agak locations of their choices roughly marked on the map.

After several twists and turns and gotten lost on the way, we arrived at Morgan's. A restaurant which won many accolades.

We grabbed the last table on the deck. Though it was a fine sunny day, the wind is still chilly (hey, winter here). But we're happy beating the cold wind. Inside is old school and grim with flowery cushions seats and all. Urghh, ancient and not very attractive.

Menu, yes only ONE page


I spied HUGE portions on other tables so we decided to go for only mains and have desserts later.

Tick, tock, tick, tock. It was 45 minutes before our food FINALLY (scream) arrived.

I ordered 'Taste of the bay'. It came with moreton bay bug (delicious!!), mussels (tough), crumbed fish fillet (dry and tasteless), calamari rings (nice and tender) and prawns (tough and chewy).

Big King went for baby baramundi rubbed with morroccan spice served with coucous and side salad. Ewwww, don't like baramundi. Will never want to see or touch let alone eat one in future ever again. Eeee, gali, gali......

Al-fresco dining outside. Mostly catered for the fish market's customers. You can buy any seafood and have them cook to your liking. Too bad we saw the market after we took off in our car.

There's a dock at the end of the deck in the restaurant. I have seen people arrived in their yachts. Speak about grand entrance, woo.

Top Noodle @ Market Square

My favourite lunch joint in Brisbane.

Most of the ingredients are imported from Japan. Chef is Japanese. How authentic I don't know for I have never been to Japan.


Left: Shio seafood base ramen (A$11.90?)
Right: Tan tan ramen (A$9.80?)

The ramen is good, soup base is good. I prefer the shio seafood to tonkotsu which I had on previous visits. Don't be fooled by the fiery colour on the tan tan ramen bowl. The spiciness level is just mild, even Pincess can take it.

Left: Mini salmon toro bowl (A$3.90)
Right: Karaage (A$4.00)

At only A$3.90, it was hard for me to pass the mini toro bowl. I prefer the tuna belly but they sell out fast. The toro is nicely seasoned and garnished with shredded seaweed and chopped spring onions. Shove a little bit of everything into your mouth, you would truly be in seventh heaven.

Karaage is Princess favourite. The version here is very good. Crispy on the outside and juicy in the inside and they didn't even need the lemon.

Cream Patisserie Coorparoo

Shopfront


Left above: Orange poppyseed cake (gluten free) A$3.90
Left below: Sticky date and toffee pudding A$5.90
Right: Raspberry marshmallow cheesecake A$6.90


Left: White chocolate cheesecake covered in chocolate fudge A$7.90

Right: Chocolate pistachio date slice A$6.90

Best recommended: sticky date and toffee pud. Best taste sensation is the candied chocolate covered date on top of the pud.

Rest of the items are average. Pretty much a write-off shop in my must-visit-again book cos you can find them better and cheaper elsewhere.

These pictures were taken at about 18.10, less than an hour to closing time. Notice the display window? Still pretty much filled...........

Next door is an upmarket mish mash shop, Princess has her eyes set on the red rocking bee? sheep? Good thing it's closed both the time we visited.

Princess' Tam-Chia Snacks

Tibetan organic goji berries covered in dark chocolate. Nothing gets more anti-oxidant than this combination.


Princess' junk - assorted flavoured pocky.

Other less occasional contra-band goods in my house include Calbee and chocolates (kinder buenos and cadbury's crunchie). More frequent junks are Varlhona chocolates and egg-rolls from Taiwan but they get consumed rather slowly whilst the contra-bands got wolfed down FAST.

Akin - Lavender and Rose Repairing, Anti-Oxidant Night Creme

'Natural' products in Australia is a big industry.

Glancing through my local organic supermarket's skincare shelves, I counted about 5 or 6 different brands. The products range from handmade soaps to face care, body care, hair care and aromatherapy. Some even claimed to be 'vegan'??

Akin (Australian) and Trilogy (New Zealand) are two brands that caught my interest. I have tried some samples and liked them immensely.

When David Jones did a 20% off on all Akin range, I quickly grabbed the Repairing, Anti-Oxidant Night creme. It also claimed to be anti-aging and restructuring the skin's damage surface. Sounds like a miracle cream, no? How does a cream allege to do so many jobs??

On application, I can feel instant tightness to my skin. Normally that happens when a cream is too drying on my skin. But eh, I don't feel my skin drying out, just tight. No peeling on the cheek. Mmmm, anti-aging, tick. The following morning, rushed to the mirror after waking up. No peeling? Good sign. Start touching the skin, wow, smooth like Princess' bottom. Repairing, tick, restructuring, tick. Anti-oxidant, how does one test??

I am glad I found a solution for my dry and irritated cheeks. It is so bad I have to reapply calendula cream repeatedly over my usual face cream (I used Jurlique and Avene) and woke up several times during the night because of the itch on my dried and peeling like crazy cheeks. With Akin, I never need to reapply anything. Even good news is the cream is only A$35. I will be looking into the day cream next. Guess PH Advantage will have to wait....

OPI Lacquer

Miniature OPI

The Australia collection has the prettiest colours. I first bought the nude colour 'Canberra without you', a pinkish shimmery nude. I went crazy after putting it on my toenails. Oh so pretty, so pretty! Rushed to David Jones the next weekend to grab these little babies.

What's in the box?

Dark dark red - Suzi loves Sydney (so dark I feel vampire-ly)

Perfect pink - Didgeridoo Your Nails? (so pretty it makes me feel)

Elegant brown - Don't Melbourne The Toast (so elegant I want to accesorize it with my bubble quilt)

Rapidry top coat (best topcoat ever)

All for only A$25. Siao if I don't buy.

Eating mantou

Fate brought me to Brisbane. I am so in love with this city. Great weather, great food, great people, great everything!

Quite a number of Taiwanese migrated to this part of Oz so I am able to find good baos and mantou (made with fresh milk) and my beloved chinese crullers (youcharkway) quite easily.

I prefer to eat the mantou plain with a dollop of butter. But for lunch, I would eat a bit more 'luxurious'; bacon and egg and sometimes sausage (way too 'luxurious' for the waist :D) is normally my preference to eat with doughy goods. Princess will eat hers with egg only.

Eh, baobei, where are the eggs??