Food - Sydney Trip

This Sydney post also has been delayed for long time. Just to share a few delicious food that we enjoy eating during our few days stay there.

1. Sydney Fish Market
Sydney fish market is well known for it's fresh seafood product. Though some might thought this place is abit touristy, but it still worth to pay a visit to enjoy the freshness of the seafood there.

 Cheese-baked crayfish fresh from the market. Choose the way you wanna to cook it.

 Fresh Oysters

Fresh Shashimi Abalone. No regret to order this. Yummy!

The market is open daily from 7am- 4pm and to go to Sydney Fish Market, easiest way is to take Sydney Light Rail. More details about the market, you can log to the website Sydney Fish Market

Sydney Fish Marker

Bank Street & Pyrmont Bridge Road, Sydney NSW 2009

2. Chinese Yum Cha at Marigold Restaurant

Yum cha at Marigold Restaurant is a must visit for us each time we to Sydney. They served a yummy and decent Hong Kong style dim sum. The restaurant is located at near Chinatown and if you plan to go over weekend, be early or call to book table in advance to avoid disappointment.

 Clockwise: Braised chicken feet, steam rice roll, stuffed tau fu pok

 Steamed Beancurd

Must order: Siu mai

One thing I like about yum cha at Marigold is their variety of food available during the yum cha session. Above are just a few of the foods that we ordered as we are too busy enjoying our food, no time to snap more photo on the food :)

Marigold Restaurant (Marigold)

Level 4 & 5
Citymark Building
683-689 George Street Sydney 2000

 That's all for now. For those who plan to visit Sydney soon, hope you will have a pleasant trip!

McDonald's Kitchen Open Door - Registration end 13th May 2013

Just got to know that McDonald Australia is opening their kitchen doors on 25th May 2013, just ONE day for Maccas fans like us to to go behind the scene to experience how your favourite Big Mac or Double Cheese Burger being made!It will be 30minutes guided tour and best of all it is FREE! =) What a good opportunity for us to earn and learn how these amazing guys work to provide the best food for us.

All you need to do is just visit their website at https://opendoors.mcdonalds.com.au/ for registration and choose the nearest participating McD outlet and tour time. For those who are in Australia and interested to participate, be quick as the registration  close at 9am on 13 May, 2013.

One of the rules of this tour is photography is not allowed. Hopefully I could talk to the management to snap few good pictures to share on the blog. That's all for now.

Melbourne Aquarium

Although I have been staying in Melbourne for quite some time, but we never pay a visit to the famous Melbourne Aquarium which are located at the CBD. Perhaps I'm abit skeptical on the number of exhibits in the aquarium considering the size of the building. However I was wrong when me and husband finally pay a visit to the aquarium during the Anzac day off.
 

It was a long queue at the ticket counter on that day, luckily us to skip the queue as we already bought the ticket online in advance. We are greeted with friendly staff upon admission to the aquarium which a staff asking us to pose some funny position for photograph session. Little we know that the gimmick was actually for a souvenir album with our photos in it. But we end up did not buying it although it was a nice shot as the album is a little pricey for us (AUD 35 for 3 piece of photo).

The first exhibit to greet us is the famous 2nd world largest penguin, The King Penguin and the Gentoo penguins. OMG, the King Penguin were really really GIGANTIC! I never see that kind of size of penguin before to be honest.

King Penguin

King Penguin

The penguins that we used to see at Philip Island and St Kilda beach was relatively small, perhaps just one tenth of the King Penguin size. The King penguin height is almost same 4-5years old kid or above adult knee level. These guys are from Antarctica and together with them also is the Gentoo penguin which is a little smaller. Gentoo penguin reminds me about the Happy Feet cartoon with it's feet in orange color.

Happy Feet - Gentoo Penguin

Almost as tall as a Kid!

Melbourne Aquarium has large collection of the King Penguins

Apart from the Penguin explore, there are 3 main sections to explore which are the Seahorse Pier, Coral Atoll and Shark Alive. There is a part in the aquarium where visitors could have a nice view on the daily feed by the divers. Melbourne aquarium has a large collection of sea lives including a gigantic stingray which really amazing. 

Do visit the Melbourne Aquarium where you are at Melbourne. The place really worth a visit especially on the gigantic penguins and stingray. We had a wonderful day that day. For more information on the aquarium, do visit their website at www.melbourneaquarium.com.au

Glimpse of Melbourne City

City of Melbourne

Last week a friend of mine came to visit us at Melbourne and I got the chance to bring him for a 2 day tour at the Melbourne CBD. As he was a professional photographer back in Malaysia, I got a chance to learn up some "technique" from him on how to get a good nice shots. Below are some snaps of some famous landmarks in Melbourne.

Royal Arcade - View 1

Royal Arcade - View 2

Flinders Train Station - View from Southbank

Flinders Station

Southbank

City Circle - Free Tourist Tram

Government Offices near Parliament

 p/s: Tokyo Must Eat - Part 2 will come next (delayed for long time ;)  )

Seoul Soul - Nice & Cheap Korean Cuisine

Seoul Soul
Melbourne is always well known as home of various cuisines around the world. Korean cuisines is one of food that can be easily found in Melbourne and often served with authentically by Korean.

We found the Seoul Soul, a Korean tapas in Richmond after church service, hungry for lunch. I personally was impressed by it's slick interior design. Not only that, we also were attracted with their lunch set "Lucky Bucket" which looks interesting. Thus, we decided to give it a try. Let's the photos below do all the talking.

Nicely Interior Deco

Lucky Lunch Bucket - Beef Bulgogi

Bibimbap

We also notice that they serve BBQ meat in their dinner menu and we plan to drop by next visit for a try. =) Food taste at Seoul Soul was not bad and affordable. Definitely worth a try!

Seoul Soul
323 Victoria St
Abbotsford, VIC 3067
Tel: 0478 768 760
http://www.seoulsoul.com.au/

Food rating: 3.5/5 (This is based on my individual taste)

Sweet & Sour Chicken - Is it your favorite?

Sweet & Sour Chicken Recipe

I guess craving for certain food does not only apply for pregnant mummy but also to all the ladies at any time =). Sweet & sour chicken used to be our all time favorite dish when we are at Malaysia. But when I'm at Melbourne, I never cook it at home bacause I thought the cooking process will be tedious as I need to deep fry the meat and consume a lot of oil. But I was wrong, I just fry the meat within a small pot with just right amount of oil to cover the meat. It works!

I got this sudden craving which at one hot weather at Melbourne, when I was busy figuring what to cook for dinner of the day,I thought maybe I shall give it a try.  I have included 2 recipes here, one of them is using the instant sweet & sour sauce from Kantong which I found it taste perfectly nice as the homemade sauce. It is best for anyone that short of time but want to cook a delicious meal at short time.

Ingredients:
300g of pork belly / chicken thigh / chicken breast
** I found that pork belly & chicken thigh is better option in terms of meat tenderness 
1/2 onion
1/2 green pepper
1/2 tomato

Marinade:
2 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1 egg
a pinch of pepper

Sauce:
3 tbsp tomato sauce / ketchup
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp white vinegar
6 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp cornstarch

OR
1/2 bottle of Kantong Pineapple Sweet & Sour sauce (Kantong only available in Australia, I think)

Method:

1. Cut meat into small cubes and mix in all the marinade ingredients. Marinate it for at least 1 hour inside fridge.
2. Cut onion, green pepper & tomato into small pieces.
3. Heat up a amount of oil in a pot. Amount of oil to use: Enough to cover the meat is OK. Dredge meat cube with cornstarch and fry the meat till golden brown & cooked through. ** Don't use too high heat as it might cause the outer skin to turn brown but meat inside is under cooked.
4. Heat up 1tbsp of oil to fry onion, green pepper& tomato. Add in the sauce mixtures and bring to boil over high heat. Turn of the heat and quickly stir in the cooked meat.

Hong Kong Style Mango Pudding

Yum Yum Mango Pudding

I have been crazy for mango pudding since I ate it at one of the dessert shop during my trip to Hong Kong. The smoothness of the pudding, nice flavor of the mango eaten together with evaporated milk really gives a "kick"and feels like in heaven! Mango lovers must try this!

Hong Kong style mango pudding is not same like other mango pudding in the market. The texture of the pudding is more soft and normally fresh mango flesh will be used in the pudding. It can be easily found in any dessert shop in Hong Kong and is a popular dessert at Dim Sum restaurant.

Since mango is in season during summer Australia, I grab this chance to make my favourite dessert. Below is the recipe for mango pudding, do give it a try as it is really for "yum" dessert especially for mango lovers!

Ingredients:
1)  Aeroplane Mango Jelly x 2 packets or (13.5g of gelatine + 75-90g of sugar)

2) 1 cup (225ml) boiling water & 110ml cold water
3) 175ml of fresh milk
4) 85ml of evaporated milk
5) 2-3 mango pureed + mango cube (if you like more mango flavor)
6) 1 egg (optional) - to make the pudding taste more rich 

Method: 
1) Add jelly powder to 1 cup (225ml) boiling water & mix well
2) Pour 110ml cold water into the mixture and mix again
3) Pour in the fresh milk & evaporated milk (make sure the mixture the cold enough before pouring the milk in)
4) Add in whisked egg & pureed mango
5) Pour into small cup or mould and chill for about 4 hours untill the jelly set
6) Serve pudding with evaporated milk.  

Hope you like this recipe! :) 

Royal Selangor Pewter

Royal Selangor is a Malaysian pewter manufacturer and retailer, the largest of its type in the world. It is recognized as a Malaysian brand icon (wikipedia). A quick search from the internet, pewter is a mixture of 85%-99% of tin with several other minerals such as copper, antimony,silver and etc.

Royal Selangor was founded since year 1885 back in Malaysia and has been growing in the market since then over few family generations. I still remember during my year12 school (1995), I visited their learning center in Kuala Lumpur and learnt how pewter are actually made. The company still stand strong up today with its popularity of innovative design and fine piece of artwork on each pewter products.

From a traditional tankards, today this company offers various type of tableware and gifts and have appearance in worldwide market including Australia.  I have a chance to visit to one of it's retail outlet located at The Block Arcade, Melbourne. It has been quite some time since I last visited a Royal Selangor outlet especially when I moved to Melbourne. I'm delighted to see that they are having wide ranges of pewter made gifts. Being an Asian based background company, they even have the Chinese zodiac figurines for the Chinese New Year. I specially fancy on their teapots set which look awesome for me. Just share some of the products below which I personally found very unique.

Since Easter Day is one the way, perhaps you are thinking a special gift for your loved ones. Do drop by their outlet or browse for more products from their website (www.royalselangor.com). They have wide range of products range from teapots, christening gifts, gifts for children, drinkware, ornamental and many more!

Christening Mug - Teddy Bear's Picnic Collection

Limited Edition Miniature Figurine- Mini Tankard, Mini Jug, Mini Melon Teapot

Merry Go Round Music Box

CNY 2013 Reunion Dinner

This Chinese New Year 2013 will be my first year celebrating with my lovely husband. It's also the first time for me celebrating CNY at abroad. I really miss the moment when we are celebrating CNY back in Kuala Lumpur with my family and my beloved Shih Tzu, Mickey.

It's been a tradition for every Chinese family that there must be a REUNION dinner on the CNY eve. Though we are Melbourne, we still keep the tradition going on and week before I have been to the Asian wet market to stock up some fresh ingredients for the dinner. We are considered lucky staying in Melbourne, a city filled with lots of Asian. Therefore, it's not a problem for us to get the Chinese cooking stuff. Most pleasing of all is we managed to get some CNY cookies from Malaysia, at least a little relief for our homesickness to hometown CNY snacks and CNY atmosphere.

 

Reunion Dinner Menu (clockwise): Roast duck, braised beef brisket, fresh scallops with broccoli, mushroom with sea cucumber & fish paste.

CNY Cookie from Malaysia

Snake Year 2013

Happy Chinese New Year 2013 to everyone! 

This year will be my first time spending my Chinese New Year at overseas (Melbourne) with my husband. Although the celebration in Melbourne is not as merry as back in Kuala Lumpur, but still it's not that bad. There are still alot of Chinese New Year activities around the city. We still can get some our favourite Chinese New Year cookies in Melbourne and manage to catch a glimpse of Lion Dance at Crown Casino too. What a blessing! :)

During times in Melbourne, we learnt to appreciate what we had. We really miss the family gathering that we used to have during Chinese New Year, collect ang pow, eating Chinese New Year snacks (mandarins, bak kwa, cookies & yee sang) and a little gambling sessions with our cousins. Nevertheless, it always not too late. We start doing something to appreciate people around us. Wish everyone have a blessed New Year ahead. God bless you!

Nespresso U - Capsule Coffee Machine

Looks familiar to you? =)

I suppose everyone would like to maximize their time on their bed before getting up to get prepare for work. A cuppa nicely blend latte or long black definitely will give a "Boost" of the day especially on the Monday blues.

Capsule based coffee machines are getting popular in these days especially for coffee lover that would like to have a cuppa good quality coffee but do not have time for it. There are many coffee machine players in the market that have start looking in this technology. Some of the popular are like Nespresso, DeLonghi, Nescafe and etc.

I was introduced to this coffee machine by a good friend of mine which he bought a Nescafe Dolce Gusto for himself. That time i was wondering how this little capsules after plugging it into the machine and can make a great nice of coffee. I was pretty impressed with that. Later when i came to Melbourne, Nespresso is doing a great job in promoting their new capsule machines. They even have their own classy look boutique setup just to sell the capsules. REMINDER: Each capsule are proprietary to each coffee machine brand. Means that, you can't use a DeLonghi capsule in a Nespresso machine. This is how the coffee make make profit! What a great business!

 During the XMas, we saw a great deal on the Nespresso U coffee machine and we immediately get ourselves one. The coffee machine come with a separate milk frother & FREE 16 coffee capsules with different taste. We love the machine to MAX!

Adelaide Trip - Day 1

It was a long holiday during XMas and New Year, so we made a trip to Adelaide for 4 days 3 nights. I used to find travel tips epscially from blogs with itinerary whenever a trip was planned. Try to get info of "must-visit" spots, places of nice food and drinks and etc is a must for me! =)However i found that there are not much info on Adelaide. Mostly are just information provide by the tourism board or tripadvisor on the tourist spots. Therefore hopefully, the post that i prepared here will eventually useful for people who plan to visit Adelaide soon!



First impression of Adelaide?? Comfortable city with wide roads! Unlike Melbourne, congested with cars, trams and people! Haha. Adelaide was deemed as the most relax city in Australia. On the first day, we catch Jetstar from Melbourne to Adelaide and upon arrival we check in into our serviced apartment, Mantra on Frome. It was a nice serviced apartments that was situated just walking distance from the CBD street mall.


After a short rest, we headed to Adelaide Zoo with intention to have a look on their latest attractions, the Panda. Adelaide Zoo was given with 2 Pandas with name Wang Wang & Fu Ni by the Chinese government for the period of 2 years. Besides Panda, the Zoo also have vast collection of animals and worth a visit. More information about the zoo, visit their webiste at http://www.adelaidezoo.com.au/