[Brisbane] Cleveleand Point

I have procrastinated long enough on this post.

I hadn't have much anticipation when Big King told me he wanted to do this Redlands scenic drive.

But once we got closer to the coastal region, I kept asking,'Where's the sceneries? Where??'

Oh well, maybe I am not a 'scenery' person -_-''

The day got worse when we got the worst service ever in my entire life at the Lighthouse fish & chip takeaway.

The girl behind the counter was cold and felt hesitant and disinterested to serve us. Then she lost our ticket/order. Hah, very convenient, I must say.

The lady who was behind me in the queue had the cheek to tell us she was BEFORE me when she got her food before us. Seeing that, we politlely enquired the staff. That said, she quickly fled the scene, my guess is, she left with our order too. You should have seen her, it was like she couldn't wait to leave the place quick enough.

So they said they would start cooking our food straight away after our enquiry. Still,took another 20 minutes and we had waited 40 minutes by that time.

When it came, wrong order!!

I am totally fuming by this point! Grrrrrr....

Then we ate. Frozen fish, frozen prawns, frozen scallops, frozen calamari. All previously FROZEN. So much for a seaside fish and chip takeaway. Bleh.

[Sweets] Monty's Chocolate

Monty's Chocolate
155 Latrobe Tce
Paddington

Big King got some stash of Monty's chocolates from his very generous colleagues in Oct 2008.

I got to taste most of them hehehehe and am quite impressed with the liquer ones. They were very very boozy.

We decided to call into the shop when we finished shoping in city one Jan afternoon.

Second time round, I noticed the chocolates had shrunk in size. It could be just my imagination.......

I love the strawberry filled ones the most. And Princess loved her little car.

If you love chocolates, I would suggest you give Mayfield Chocolates a try.

[Home-cooking] Baked spareribs

Somebody has been eagerly waiting for this spareribs recipe.

It makes frequent appearances on my dining table.

You will need:

A rack of babyback ribs (i normally do at least 2 at one time)

Clean the ribs and pat dry with kitchen towel. Seasoned with brown sugar, chilli powder and salt in ration of 7:2:1.

Wrap tightly in aluminium foil. Chill in fridge for at least an hour.

Prepare marinade:

8 tbsp light soy sauce, 3 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp cooking wine, 1 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp water and a clove of crushed garlic. Mix well.

Take the ribs out of the fridge. Unfold one end and pour in the marinade. Reseal.

Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 1.5 to 2 hours or till the meat is tender and separated easily from the bones.

It took several trial and error to find the optimum baking time and temperature with your oven.

I like to reserve one rack (with the gravy) and remove the meat and shred them and fry bihun with it. It tastes just like the tinned braised spareribs.

Oh, this is for second sis to see. An idea for her dinner. Its quick and easy. Try lah B.

**************

I know I have been MIA. Bitten by lazybugs.

Been having funny sensations with my gums and teeth. Felt like getting a rotten tooth soon >_<.

So I googled and found oil-pulling helped.

Mmm, so I started to oil-pull for the first time this morning using cold-pressed olive oil for about 20 minutes.

I spit the oil/emulsion *eww* into the toilet bowl and it came out off-white *gasp*horror* ewwww, full of toxins.

Then I have this slight burning sensation in the chest and felt sluggish the rest of the day and continue to do so. I guess my body is detoxying. I hope.

What is oil-pulling?

Start by feeding a tablespoon of oil into your mouth. Move the oil round the front part of your mouth with swishing action (NOT GARGLE, you might puke!). Swish for 20 minutes. Spit out. Rinse mouth with salted water.

My teeth has never felt so clean!!

Rabbit's 2008 Birthday Cakes

I just realized I forgot to po my birthday cakes/pastries.

Dropped by Chouquette after lunch at Mizu.

I like varieties, no way I am settling for a single cake.


I brought home lime and pistachio gateau, mango yogurt gateau and millefeuille.

All delicious!! As usual.

[Shopping] Breville Mixer

So, my just-under-a-year-old sunbeam mixmaster has died down on me.

Made a dash to Myer to get a replacement (still under warranty). There was no more stock and the model has not been in production for some time; I was told. Heck, I believe they found out it was a crap machine. So I got to choose between a similar price-range model or a credit note.

And so I went home with my spanking new Breville mixer.

Red, red, chilli red. But of course.

Finally, no more failures with my chiffon cake. The Chilli (OK i hereby christened my mixer) beat egg whites real well. My chiffon came out like a dream.

It retails at AUD299. Bargain. One downside, need an extra bowl!

[Brisbane] Mizu at Teneriffe

Mizu
2 Macquarie Street
Teneriffe BRISBANE
Open 7 days a week
07 3254 0488


Mizu lunch bento box AUD26

Chef’s selection of two daily special dishes, fresh sashimi, crispy tempura of prawn and vegetables in a traditional bento box. Served with dipping sauce, fresh salad, rice and miso soup.

Today's special are:

Wagyu beef (wow, holy moly)

Fish cake

I specially drove out to Teneriffe to have my special birthday lunch. Boy am I glad I did. Mizu had promptly knocked Sakura off my favourite Japanese restaurant in Brisbane. (I haven't been to Sono)

I was ecstatic when I heard wagyu beef was one of the daily specials. But was disappointed when it came slightly overcooked and became a bit chewy. Still, it tasted very good. The seasoning was subtle and everything was very agreeing with my palate.

The prawn tempura was especially good. It was proper prawn, the length of my hand (palm, stretched finger and all)! Er, but then I have smallish hand, but still....I was overjoyed when I saw the prawn. Not those curled shrimp served elsewhere! If you constantly have prawn tempura and had the real mccoy, you will know what I mean.

Sashimi consisted of kingfish, salmon and tuna. Tuna had a bit of a tendon. Perhaps need to order a la carte to get better 'part' of the fish.

All in all, a very good value lunch. Can't wait to rush back!

The outside.


The inside. Smallish, with the default al-fresco dining area.

[Brisbane] Kam Lun Thai Mooncake

I know the mid-autumn festival is way over. But like I said our internet connection last 2 weeks or so was so slow I was constantly banging me head on me wee poor keyboard. Faster way to get a macbook, ooops.....

Combo 2 (low sugar) AUD26

Inside the box: white lotus 2 yolks o.O, golden jade (spirulina flavour) 2 yolks -_- (very yucky, in my opinion), black sesame lotus 1 yolk (tis fine), durian 1 yolk. For christ's sake will they stop the yolks already!!??

The whole box is laden with cholesterol. Eat at your own risk.


Black sesame lotus 1 yolk

I hate white lotus. Its like eating lotus flavour gummy glue, eeewwww. The salted yolk was so dry it got me choked.

Love the more traditional darker (original) lotus paste and tau sar (red bean paste).

I wished I had bought mei sum or wing wah. But they are AUD$40 a pop o.O. Aiya, not that desperate lah.

[Brisbane] Big King's Birthday 2/9/2008

I have finally finished posting all my Brissie's backlog makan entries *cheers*Hawaiian dancing*fireworks*

Tomorrow I will start posting on Brunei/Singapore food. Hoorah!

So it was my household's Ta Ren/Big King's birthday yesterday.

I made a simple black sesame mousse and red bean cheesecake (adapted from the fantabulous Miss Jubie) and cooked his favourite baked pork chop rice (also from the ever so resourceful Miss Jubie) and braised sea cucumber.

There was a thickish pork chop which was undercooked. It's unlucky Big King ate some of it and had diarrhoea/tummy ache today. Oooops, sorry luv.

[Brisbane] Little Hong Kong

Little Hong Kong
Market Sq Shopping Centre
Sunnybank


Tiny space with tables jam-packed together. It will be a torture to eat there in summer!

Mixed roasts rice AUD$12.xx

The roast meat were cold and tasted nothing spectacular. The rice even arrived less than warm. Sigh......

********

Spring is officially here! But the rain came with it, orz......

So to celebrate the arrival of spring, I packed Princess into the car and off we went shopping jalan jalan.

First stop at Executive Chef in Southbank to pick up a 7" Kaiser springform cake tin and 4 flan/quiche tinplate. Early birthday gifts for meself, hehehoohoo *hyena laugh*.

Then made our way to Westfield Garden City looking for some fun (Princess not me). She went on the slide, played lego and we ate what else but Hanaichi, our all time fav.

Stopped at 'supermarket' to pick up mascarpone for some cake baking the following day.

BAD BAD choice. Should have just gone to another 'supermarket chain' across the road.

The girl with thin scarlet lips at the checkout was obviously having a bad day. It was fine when she didn't greet me (but she greeted customers before and after me). Threw my shopping around the counter and left them there, never once asked me whether I need a bag. Refused to open her mouth to me and pointed at the screen for the amount I needed to pay. As soon as I paid, didn't wait for me to gather my loose shopping or put my money away, she straight away scanned the next customer's shopping and straight they went into the plastic bags without the lady asking.

I then asked for a plastic bag, she put my stuff in the bag, hand it to me, without uttering any word.

A lovely day was officially ruined.

I felt like saying to her, 'good job, you deserve to be where you are.'

This is not the first time this kind of thing happened to me in THAT 'supermarket'. And I have seen other staff acted similarly to other Asian people.

There was one time I was at another branch and I saw a staff acted rather rudely (saying some abusive terms) to an Aboriginal family.

I never have such experiences while shopping at that other 'supermarket chain'. The staff are generally helpful and cheerful and warm. Even on sunday near to closing time.

What's up with the staff training there? This sort of things encouraged?

I am never setting my foot in any branch ever again.

If you're not European looking, I suggest you try shopping elsewhere. Unless you like the abuse and like being treated unfairly.

Next got me thinking, what will the world become if there is no 'Made in China'.

I may be of Chinese origin but I am not from China. But to most people here, if you're oriental looking, you are either Chinese or Vietnamese.

Imagine the world without, 'Made in China'.

That girl at that 'supermarket' counter might not even afford a tee shirt without saving for one. Might even have to forgo her kids' toys just to buy one plain tee-shirt.

From toothpaste to towel to sunglasses, our everyday needs intertwined with China. Unless everybody is able to afford Egyption cotton and Dior sunglasses. The cheaper options from China definitely does not burn a hole in most people's pocket and left most people with enough change to fulfil their other needs/wants like a holiday or mortgage payment.

Of course that's just a needle drop into a big ocean.

Imagine, just imagine, a world without 'Made in China'.

[Brisbane] Dessert by McDonalds

Warm chocolate pudding with ice-cream. I think it cost AUD3.50.

The pudding is supposed to have a flowing centre but it's a fastfood outlet........ Nuff said.

[Brisbane] Chocolate To Die For

Chocolate to die for
Website: http://chocolatetodiefor.com.au/

Their chocolates are sold by weight. I got the above for AUD7.XX.

All of them very nice, very moreish. Those liquor centred ones are very boozy. Take with caution! XD

Very nice to indulge once in a while.

[Brisbane] Chopstix at Brunswick Central

The visit to Chopstix happened eons ago, like earlier this year in April 2008 :p.

My photos all turned out so bad I hesitated about posting them (very dim lighting inside the resto).

But what the heck, the most important thing is sharing the experience.

Top left: Xiaolong (meat buns)

Top right: Stir fried hand pulled noodles

Bottom left: Lamb chops in chef's special sauce

Bottom right: Red bean paste encased in egg white souffle

The above first three items were all under chef's specialty/recommendations on the menu.

My take:

The xiaolong's skin is too thick but the meat filling is actually tasty.

The hand-pulled noodles is too starchy for my liking and a tad too oily.

Lamb chops were served less than warm almost cold and the chef's special sauce was cold! I prefer the cucumber on the side XD

Deep fried souffle ball was just ok, missing the key mashed banana inside the filling and the egg white batter tasted sour, weird.....

Minced meat and picked vegetables served with pastry

The stir fried minced meat was just ordinary fare. Sesame studded pastries could be found in all Chinese supermarket at AUD4 for 2 pieces. They might have risen in price, orz....

Total bill came up to AUD8X.XX after grand opening 15% discount .

Worthy visit? It's your take....

[Brisbane] Pizza Capers

Awesome Aussie Lamb, regular AUD13.95 (about 8 inches in diameter)

We had a pleasant experience with Pizza Capers' New Orleans one evening. So when I saw the limited time Awesome Aussie Lamb pizza (description: Caper's special pizza sauce, roast lamb, basil peso, fire roasted capsicum, aussie fetta, kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, garlic, herbs, garnished with mint garlic yoghurt sauce and snow pea sprout) I knew I die die must try.

To be honest, the product we received looked a lot better than the picture on the brochure. But diggin in, the tastebud complained and clouds of excitement dispersed into thin air.

I am really sorry for Big King to have to finish the thing by himself. I can only managed half a slice and poor Princess spat out the instant it entered her mouth.

[Brisbane] Hanaichi at Westfield Garden City Foodcourt

So I have been home in Brisbane for the past week. Got really sick the day before I left Brunei and slowly recuperating.


Chicken Nanban/Hanaichi

Funny this is one of the many things I missed since away. Foodcourt food? What's up with this rabbit? She shuns fastfood except KFC fried chicken and foodcourt except Hanaichi.

From the pic above you can only see salad dressed in the yummiest sweet salty sour dressing (very appetizing). Hidden underneath the salad is a layer of seasoned fried chicken pieces (Rabbit's weakness) and then rice underneath.

The portion is rather big and easily feed Princess and me (I couldn't finish the rice sometimes) and all for under AUD8, cheap, by Australian standard.

Chicken curry katsu

Now, this is Princess' favourite. 'Food' in Garden City shopping centre means 'curry' to her. The curry sauce is simply decadent, much much better than any other version I have come across. It really puts me off using those pre-packaged curry cubes. Bad.

Hanaichi foodcourt outlets can be found at Wintergarden on Queen St, Westfield Garden City, Westfield Indooroopilly and Westfield Chermside.

[Life] Ugly and stupid

I had a haircut today at a Korean salon in Sunnybank.

I arrived drab and left ugly.

The mood really hit rock bottom.

Made worse with being treated as a busybody, stupid and lazy person.

Life is officially ugly and stupid and indolent.

Why try so hard to please?

No amount of macarons is going to cheer me up. Unless they are Pierre Hermé ones......

[Brisbane] Dim Sum at Manor

The Manor Chinese Restaurant
6 Angel Street
Corner Gaskell Street & Angel Street
Eight Mile Plains, 4113

My No.1 choice for dim sum!


Located off Logan Road, behind Glen Hotel.

All dim sum offerings are above average.

Deep fried calamari could be a tad too salty.

Siew mai fresh and well-seasoned.

Ham sui kok (deep fried glutinous rice dumpling) skin is crispy yet soft and chewy and NOT dripping in oil (very important).

Seafood dumpling was alright, I detest coriander!

Rice sheet roll is nice without skin being thick and mushy (yes, they can happen together!).

Claypot spare-rib and preserved meat is the star. The spare-ribs tender and fluffy rice cooked to perfection.

Me and Princess absolute favourite, custard bun!

Custard buns are not executed well in lots of restaurant. Manor makes a kick-ass version. Fluffy skin with sweet yet savoury custard. I enter cloud nine with every bite.

[Brisbane] Nougat-ed out

My friend has requested me to buy nougat for her.

'Hard, crunchy type in individual packaging,' she said.

Holy moly, I haven't seen them anywhere. I searched high and low from supermarkets to discount shops to delis. Nada, only saw soft and chewy ones sold in bars. I almost got them online but stopped when I saw the hefty $10 shipping costs.

Then I thought I would try those Chinese 'duty-free' shops in Sunnybank.

Bingo, there they were. Packets after packets of Golden Boronia Original Crunchy Nougat. No.1 in Australia, it says on its packaging. Really, I suaku mountain tortoise never know. Aiyo, who ever shops at 'duty-free' shop, I am not a tourist!

Dang dang in all its glory

Price: 1kg/AUD25, 500g/AUD14, 250/AUD8

On my quest to search for nougat, I came across Bliss 'naked' (cut, unpackaged) nougat at Fresh on Carina and asked to take away 2, 1 original and 1 chocolate flavour.

But my jaw dropped when I heard the price. It's AUD2 each. WT# for an 1 inx1 in little little cube??!!

Anyways, I was desperate so I brought them home.

To be fair, they are quite nice. Not too sweet with a hint of almond essence and packed with macademia and almond. But at AUD2, thank you very much and hope we never see each other again.

I am so glad I found Golden Boronia! I like cappucino crunchy! I am so fighting my bro over them, heh.

[Brisbane] Oishii Sushi Bar

Oishii Sushi Bar
shop2/70 Pinelands Rd
Sunnybank Hills
Brisbane




Agedashi tofu


Omurice

I tasted before feeding Princess. Put spoon in my mouth. Stopped dead in my track.

Oishii!


Spider roll

Chicken katsu sushi wrapped in omelette.

Tasted nice but hate those salty yellow bits.


Dragon roll

As you can tell from the picture, unagi (eel) topped sushi roll. Can't remember the fillings. Orz...

Didn't jot down individual price. Total bill around AUD4x.xx.

[Shopping] Barbie and vespa

Princess' first ever barbie doll (AUD20 on sale at ToysRus)!

[Shopping] Trade Secret again!

I was on my way to Sunnybank for grocery shopping and thought I would stop by Trade Secret just to check out the $5 and $10 racks.

BIG mistake.

I ended up shopping away from the $5/$10 racks. And went away with a mini loot. Hehe.....



Blue Sass peasant dress AUD34.95
Pink Mambo tee AUD16.95
Beige Sass tee AUD19.95