Girls lunch at Ambrosia

If it wasn't for the girls lunch, Berwick remains one of the suburbs considered "out of reach" on my travel radar. Whenever Cranbourne, Berwick and Hallam is mentioned what come to mind first is always "so far away-leh". It was good go out of my comfort zone and break that "false impression" as it is really not far especially with East Link. It only takes under 35 minutes or so (we got lost on the way so it took a bit longer to get there today). Unfortunately Juliana wasn't able to join us today ... well there's always next time! In fact the next girls days out would be Warrandyte Market Day in December.

The place selected for our gathering this time is Ambrosia café-bar-foodstore at Berwick. Actually this is our second choice, the fist being Eighty One. Maybe it's meant to be, Eighty One wasn't opened for lunch on Saturday, so we ended up with Ambrosia.

This nice cafe-bar-foodstore was hidden in the residential area in Berwick. It's still probably a well kept secret - but with it's delicious food, reasonable prices, professional services and open, friendly atmosphere, it probably won't be a secret for too long =)

We started with Tapas plate with a selection of Chef's choice favourite which includes:
** little chicken meat balls with tomato concasse
** Sri Lankan spicy pan roll filled with beef mince
** lemon pepper & sea salt calamari
** delicious dips & flat bread
** chorizo sausage with roasted peppers

It was yummy ... but maybe a little less than we expected in terms of quantity...



















Choosing the main meal is a bit of time consuming exercise as there were too many choices, from light meals like pizzas, pastas, risotto, salad, burger, to main such as steak and salmon fillet etc. They all look mouth watering. Tania chose pizza with tandoori chicken, corn, mozzarella, with rocket & yoghurt raita. Suleka set her heart on for pizza with mince lamb and goat cheese and I picked fettuccini with scallop, prawn, mussels & fresh fish with tomato & garlic.
























There seems to be endless things to talk about, after all we probably haven't met up for 4 months now?? So i guess the only way is to stay on for dessert and coffee (what a perfect excuse! hehe)

There was a wide selection of desserts. We decided on Affagato: vanilla ice cream served with Baileys liqueur & espresso coffee, Toblerone Cheesecake and sticky date pudding.

Toblerone Cheesecake, Affogato and Sticky Date Pudding





















(opps sorry no photo for sticky date pudding too, the photo turned out blurr sigh*)
We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and
I particularly enjoyed the most divine toblerone cheesecake and sticky date pudding ...

"It Started With A Kiss" & Kuih Seri Muka"?? Huh ... what's the connection!??

It has been while since I last posted my cooking experiment. This doesn't seem fitting since one of the purpose of this blog was to share my cooking adventure. Well, I haven't been making anything interesting lately, and sometimes I am just too lazy to bring out my camera to shoot. And another reason behind is ..... yes .... it is .... well, blame it on the Taiwanese drama series!


















I was hooked on the "It Started With A Kiss"ISWAK (惡作劇之吻). This is series based on Japanese Manga. Just realised that the sequel "They Kissed Again"TKA (惡作劇2吻) is out so have been hooked on and watching it online .... I think I am now becoming an addict to this romance/comedy series.


















Hoping there'll be part3 but unfortunately the author Kaoru Tada has passes away and the ending of part2 "They kissed again" is also the end of the original Manga (with additional scenes in fact). Maybe they would consider using ISWAK & TKA fanatic's imaginary part 3 (恶作剧狂想) ?

Opps here I go again ... deviating from the main theme of my posting and talking about ISWAK ... where was I again? Oh yes was goign to say that I was having this craving for Nyonya Kuih last week. Found this Kuih Seri Muka recipe on Lily's Wai Sek Hong and I knew I just have to make it. The difficulty was the control of the heat in steaming, As I use electric stove at home, heat control has always been an issue - it's more difficult than gas cooking. Even after taking special care with Lily's advise to steam on very low heat to avoid "mountains and valleys" forming on the surface of the custard, I still ended up with a not-so-even surface.

Well, at least it tasted GOOD! Here is a picture of it, and for recipe please go to Lily's blog as I followed her recipe completely except I didn't have rice flour at home and replaced it with corn flour.

David's TOP GUN adventure

When David first shared with me the exciting news about winning the prize at the CA (Computer Associates) expo for an introductory jet flight experience, I was excited and worried at the same time. Me, a worrier by nature and not being an extreme sports person, immediately think of all that could possibly go wrong with such a flight. (Well the BAC StrikeMaster, nicknamed Blunty by the Royal New Zealand Airforce, was known to have problem in the main wing structure and was retired by the RNZAF in 1994 and also gounded by the Ecuador at one stage)

Well, last Saturday finally came around and with much anticipation we drove about 90 minutes to Ballarat airport. Surprisingly I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be, perhaps David's excitement was contagious! We even played the top gun CD in the car loudly!

The clouds cleared and the sun was shining when we arrived at Ballarat airport Hangar 5. The StrikeMaster just landed with a passenger as we report to the office. It is much noisier and bigger than i remember it (seen it before at the airshow). What follows afterwards was a series of preparation including briefing about safety, watching a video about emergency procedures ~ yay really helpful in bringing back all my fears and worries :(
(Just kidding hahaha)

Then it got exciting as David put on the flight suit, slim line parachute and fighter pilot helmet. Boy he did look like a Top Gun about to embark on a mission! While all that were happening, I kept myself busy with video recording, determined to capture every bit of this thrilling experience! Darren, the pilot was introduced to us, and everything was set to go - there was one last little step left .... signing the WAIVER! This is when you sign your life away!

Well one more important routine before boarding the Strike Master, that is ..... posing for photos!!


While the flight took off the runway and making the aerobatic maneuvers (barrel roll, Derry turns, Wing over and loops) in the sky above me, all i could hear was the noise and the tiny shape of what looked like a bird! The jet must be something like 10,000 feet above me!

20 minutes was up before I finished chatting with the next lucky person who was going for the adventure after David. Needless to say, David enjoyed the ride immensely. He was blown away by the experience and highly recommend it to anyone who are hesitating about taking this adventure.

To reward my hard work (yes very hard work of videoing and patiently going through the suspense with him LOL), we had a little feast at the Europa Cafe in Ballarat city centre. hmmm, yummy chicken and pumpkin risotto, freshly squeezed apple, pineapple and pear juice and earl grey tea (for me) settled my complaining tummy and refreshed us before head back to Melbourne.



Exhausted by the excitement and a busy week of overtime work and day light saving kicking in, I hit the sack before 10pm that night - contended of all we have accomplished that week.

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week

Spring is here yay! For hay fever sufferer like me this is not too good but there are consolation eg longer day and shorter night, warmer weather and of course the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. This is the fashion event of Spring, featuring all the hottest designers, labels, styles and retailers in and around Melbourne. A true showcase of all the beauty, fashion and style that is Melbourne this season. There are over 100 free and ticketed public events that celebrate the arrival of the Spring-Summer 2008-09 fashion season.












I attended one of the glamorous Official Evening Parades at the Melbourne Town Hall with a girlfriend. This is my first so was very excited. The show did not disappoint, and the goodies in the show bag is an added surprise for the ladies, from things that make us look good from the inside (TEABAH organic tea leafs, Ducle expresso ground coffee) to things making us look good from the outside (Kevin Murphy shampoo, Kayser stripe stocking, Napoleon nail polish & lipgloss, LA Clinica skin products, Shoobits designer shoe accessory and more).



Taking photos with my little Lumix at the show poses a little bit of challenge but I managed to take a few. Designers brands such as Dhini, Frisonifinetti, Gail Sorronda, James Cameron, Jessie Hill, Leopold are displayed in the pictures below.

Tassie Trip

When I shared with a friend before my trip to Tasmania, she commented "Tassie is the poor man New Zealand". I guess knowing that I have been to NZ, she just didn't want to set my expectation too high. Well, now that I've been, I think it is a richman's backyard! Why do i say that? Because many beautiful sceneries are just within half an hour drive from Hobart. It may be less touristy than Queenstown, but I trully enjoyed the trip to Hobart. Next time we will pick another season to visit Tassie like spring, it is VERY cold in Tassie in winter, especially the morning we arrived. After going back and forth with the rental car company about the existing damages on the rented car, we finally set off from Hobart airport at around 8am.


After dropping off our luggages, we head off to the famous Salamanca market. The $3.50 yummy bacon and egg roll and a cup of tea warmed us up immediately and with the sun coming out to greet us we breathed a sigh of relief that the day will get warmer. You can find heaps of stuff here at the market from locally grown organic fruit and vegetables, freshly cut flowers, fine Tasmanian arts and crafts, tasmanian leatherwood honey, hats and scarves, home made jam, chocolates and cookies, talented musicians entertaining you while you shop and an array of odds and ends.
































After lunch, we decided to go to Mount Wellington to soak up the beauty of Hobart. The weather has warmed up and the fog has cleared, promising a great view of Hobart. Oh man it was freezing up there, but it was worth it!



































Day 2
Tahune Airwalk is a place not to be missed too. The drive to the State forest was not too pleasant as I was experiencing carsick in the backseat of the rented Toyota Otis. I don't usually get car sick so this is quite a new experience .... thank God somehow I made it to the Tahune Airwalk ok, and from then it was fine. The air walk was worth the long journey, it offers a 'bird's-eye' view of wet eucalypt forest, culminating in a spectacular cantilever above the confluence of the mighty Huon and Picton Rivers.

photos below:
A common scene at the airwalk, many big trees have fallen on the path and walking on the swinging bridge.




You can experience walking among the treetops past rare species, some found only in Tasmania, such Celery Top pine, myrtle, beech, blackwood and sassafras. We decided to take an additional route which covers a pair of swinging bridges across the Huon and Picton Rivers. Definitely not for the fainted hearted :)

Our stomach was complaining loudly (with drums and all kinds of string instruments) after 1 hour plus walk. The food at the cafe exceeded our expectations (not just because we were starving), the chicken with peanut sauce was delicious, with a kick of spicyness. We enjoyed the food and the conversation over our late lunch so much we ended up missing visiting the Hasting cave!


Day 3

What a packed day on Day3 - Tessalated pavement, Blowhole, Tasman's Arch at Eaglehawk neck, Pirates Bay, Chocolate factory at Tarana (not Cadbury, but a family owned chocolate factory called "Federation Chocolate") and of course the Port Arthur Historical Site - former convict settlement.
















Photo below: Tesselated Pavement
Tessellated Pavement is an interesting natual rock formation looking very much like it was man-made, due to the very straight and parallel lines in the rock formation. I saw a picture of it before this trip and it's one of the must-see for this trip. It did not disappoint. If only we could be there for sun rise to capture the beautiful colour as the backdrop.

There are two main types of formations in the Tessellated Pavement, with the pan formations being concave (ie, pan-shaped), and the loaf formations being convex like a loaf.



The day finished with dinner at Maldini Italian Restaurant at Salamanca Place

Day 4 - Ta Ta Hobart
Our travel partners decided to sleep in on the last day at Hobart. Hee hee, can't blame them, after the full activities yesterday they deserved some rest =)
So David & I went to Rosny Hill and enjoyed a stunning view of Hobart, Sandy Bay, Mt Wellington, The Tasman Bridge and Glenorchy. We also visited the oldest Australia's brewery - Cascade Brewery before meeting our friends and tour around the city.

Photos below: view from Rosny Hill and Cascade Brewery





After a leisure walk exploring Hobart City and lunch, we headed toward Richmond, a historic town along the Coal River filled with stunning Georgian architecture and has charming cobblestone roads.



Richmond is such a charming little town, it felt like being taken back in time to another era where time passes so much slowly and there's no sense of rush. We visited the Richmond Bridge built by convicts in 1823, St John's Anglican Church and a little lolly and ice cream shop to satisfy our tastebuds before heading to the airport and wave goodbye to Hobart.

So our 4 days/3 nights Tasmania holiday was over, but we brought back with us many good memories (and of course Tasmania leatherwood honey, chocolates, craft etc) and lots of photos too. Here are small samples of others pictures I took at Hobart which I like a lot.