The Cupcake Family

I've always liked cupcakes.  More importantly, I liked them before they became a food fad.  Nothing beats a moist cupcake finished off with a generous dollop of icing.  Num nums - good for the soul.

The best thing about food trends is that specialty stores devoted to selling such particular items explode all over town (e.g bubble tea cafes).  Larger and better varieties become available for consumption.  *clap clap*

The Joy Cupcakes I had recently were ok if a little inconsistent at times - some dry, some moist.  I had a hankering for some cupcakes today and had intended to sample the goods of Little Cupcakes.  However, Moo suggested The Cupcake Family after noting her friend's recommendation.  Well I guess it made more sense, we were closer to the store anyway.

I had walked past The Cupcake Family a few times but never actually tried any of their cakes.  My intention was to only buying two or three at most.  However, The Cupcake Family played to my Asian weaknesses of liking small, cute things (mini, girly decorated cupcakes) and buying in bulk as a cost saving measure.  As a result, I bought 12 mini cupcakes.  Yeah.

Ooops, one cupcake didn't have a good journey in the car.......So I moved it back in place for a nice group photo. 

The flavours pictured are:
(1st row) Almond Orange, Blueberry Cream Cheese, Coffee Crunch.
(2nd row) Choc Chip, Simple Vanilla, Red Velvet
(3rd row) Snowy Strawberry, Double Choc, Green Tea Daisy
(4th row) Strawberry Vanilla, Choc Peanut Butter, Lemony Sunshine

That's not the entire menu but most of it.  There was a durian cupcake (unavailable - poo) which I really wanted to try.  I think they also have seasonal varieties too.

Anyway, I must commend The Cupcake Family for the consistency of my selection today.  My love for buttercream icing and cream cheese icing has been cemented.  All cakes were moist and soft and while I do have my distinct favourites (blueberry cream cheese, lemony sunshine, green tea daisy and weirdly so, choc peanut butter), none of the cupcakes could be placed in the 'will not eat again' column, even the icing-less almond orange!

All in all a win-win situation for me and The Cupcake Family.  I shall be back!

Taste of Melbourne

Mooey has already posted her blog about Taste of Melbourne and by doing so, the world already knows about today's shenanigans.  Yep, I was pretty keen on checking out the Taste of Melbourne festival after having been twice to the London version and forced Moo to act as my spare stomach.  With our Crowns in hand (official Taste Festival 'currency') SEM and SEM's friend happily joined us for group eating.

I was a bit 'what?' to hear that the location would be inside Exhibition Buildings and not the gardens because the setting in Regents Park in London has quite the charming picnic-y atmosphere.  However given that it is the tail end of Winter, it makes sense to have it indoors.  For some reason, I had anticipated that there wouldn't be a huge turnout and that we were super-smart (and super-Asian) for turning up exactly when the doors were to be swung open.

Little did we know that the turnout was rather impressive and it seemed that everyone else had the smarts to turn up at opening time too!  Here we are at the Wimbledon-esque queue. 

All the stalls with goodies on offer. 

I hadn't realised that the menu was available online (duh!) and didn't manage to plan our food attack in advance.  Luckily, we Food Soldiers have forward thinking stomachs (we were farking hungry) and our first choices were easily settled.

(L-R)  Mezzo's organic slowly braised pork cheek, white polenta, raisins and marsala sauce.  

Stokehouse's seared atlantic scallops, lardo, breadcrumbs and gazpacho dressing.

The Palace's eye fillet, potato mash and sauce Bordelaise.  

Moo so happy to present the pork cheek.  Me so happy to eat the pork cheek.  Mmm so melt in the mouth, tender and full of cheeky goodness. 

The taste of Stokehouse's scallops were soured by the pink shirted, geek bespectacled, I-think-I'm-freaking-awesome-but-really-I'm-just-serving-food-today male staff member.  I wasn't even standing anywhere near the front of the line and I can't even remember exactly what happened but his attitude problem wafted over to me.

Yeah - YOU.  Rude man. 

I'm not sure how we decided on the eye fillet.  I think Moo had a hankering for mash potato which she was greatly rewarded in a most creamy, smooth manner.

The whole deal with the 'Taste' festivals is making sure you get your fill of 'taste'.  You expect the tastes to be free but I was warned by someone who attended last year that they had to exchange Crowns for tastes!  Wtf!  Luckily that really wasn't the case and I'm happy to report that all our samples were nice and free :D

Moo's arm sampling the olive oil.  

The Asian Vultures that we are, we waited for this lovely man to fry up his steak and cut it up into bite sized pieces for us.  It was yummy and melted in your mouth.  

Moo and I couldn't resist the free wine sampling... here and there.  Decent sized swishes too!

More food:

(L-R) The Palace's wagyu burger came recommended to us.  Moo really wanted the European's duck tortelloni with pea puree and truffle oil.  SEM's tuna carpaccio with goat's feta, rocket with ginger eschalot dressing courtesy of The Palace again.  

Yeah Moo had a rocking time.  Especially with her samples of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.  

(L-R) The Libertine & Le Traiteur's game consomme & truffled rabbit agnolotti.  I didn't quite like it, a bit too gamey for me.  Smoked duck, apple and walnut rillettes.  Nums!  SEM's hazelnuts and chocolate parfait, forest floor from Embrasse.  Charcoal Lane's roadkill dish - wallaby tataki, ginger, soy and horseradish.  Tastes like... beef.  The dressing was a bit too salty. 

Desserts and afterthoughts:

(L-R)  Damn you Stokehouse.  After vowing not to return, The Bombe sounded too good to pass up.  Your rude waiter remains on the blacklist though.  A few more samples to round out the day.  Mini meringues - too cute to resist.  King Island Black Label blue cheese.  I do love my moulds (except in the bathroom) and I will go out and buy this one! 

This doggie wasn't made for consumption, but I did want to take him home. 

Having expected a so-so experience, I was pretty pleased with today's eating festivities.  Food brings us happiness!

Horoki - again!

Spuey has never eaten at Horoki so I thought I should be a good humanitarian and eat there with him.  I mean, I only ate there five days ago but I was ready to return.

Good humanitarians also order sangria in a Japanese restaurant.  It was pretty average.  Spuey and his entry into the 'Who can make the smallest eyes' competition.

Repeating Monday night's effort, we had the tuna tataki, daikon salad and spicy fish roe pasta.  If I didn't know any better, you could have thought that I just recycled Monday night's photos.  

But!!!  We also had soft shell crab and panko oysters.  

We both knew that the desserts wouldn't be anything flash, but we ordered them anyway.  I had the creme brulee and Spuey had the pannacotta.  Spuey then realised he's never eaten creme brulee before.  Wtf!?

Spuey was pretty satisfied with dinner and has now given the restaurant a pretty original pet name - Horokes.

The Boathouse

I was working the West-side today and to make the most of the opportunity SEM and I had a late dinner.  Damn shopping centre hours.  Keen to show me that Westside dining isn't just all about Viet food (though I wouldn't have mind that) we made our way to the riverside restaurant,  The Boathouse.  It was a rustic atmosphere and full of Friday night trendites.  I can see how the river view pulls in the ladies-who-lunch crowd during the day.

We each had a pizzetta, mine being the calamari, prawn, pancetta, chilli and salsa verdi.  The dough was supersoft, a clear sign it was freshly made and the ingredients were tasty and nummy nums. 

SEM fiercely guarding her spiced lamb, hummus, yoghurt, coriander pizzetta.  The chips side serving was huge!

We ate up and discussed our tactics for Sunday's Taste of Melbourne festival.

West Side Story

I had my first taste of West Side Story as a 5 or 6 year old when my Ma taped a TVB special on SBS.  I didn't understand Cantonese so I had NFI what on earth they were celebrating but it involved the glitterati of 1980s Hong Kong celebs dancing and singing in unison.  The more I think about it, I realise it must've been the annual special because I definitely remember the stars singing 'Anniversary Night!!!'

One of the opening songs was 'Tonight' tinged with HK accents. Each star was filmed in their respective houses primping for 'Tonight'.  I vividly recall one of the male celebs singing in the bath because his scene was accompanied by a huge 'NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN' warning, yet here I was looking at a man covered up to his shoulders in bubbles.  There was nothing really offensive about the scene as such - no bare bottom, I don't recall a male nipple either - but maybe the concept of a grown man bathing is offensive to HK children?  Anyway, I am veering off the topic but yep, that was my first exposure to the music of West Side Story.

Over my childhood years of random TV watching I was exposed to other WSS songs and pieced together that they originated from the musical.  I have a habit of not watching movies and of course never saw the 1961 film adaptation featuring Natalie Wood.  I knew that WSS was a modern day Romeo and Juliet and especially while living in London was pretty keen on seeing it on stage.  Alas there was no long-running production at the West End, so when I heard that there was a limited run in Melbourne I decided to get me a ticket.

SuBoo had managed to watch the show a few days prior to my ticket purchase and her review was that it was .... not very good.  Oh no!  Should I still buy my ticket?  Well I did because the urge to tick it off my list was too high.  Must... complete...... tasks!!!!!

Overall, I was a bit underwhelmed with WSS.  I can't say it was 'bad' but maybe more not to my liking.  The Romeo and Juliet storyline is not a drawcard for me but it maintained my interest as I tried to work out who was the WSS-equivalent of Tybalt and Mercutio.  It was pretty easy to figure out Maria was Juliet and Tony was Romeo hehehe.  If anything, WSS reaffirmed my non-fandom of certain modern dance styles.  Latino-type dancing is ok, modern dancing sits bleah with me and I really don't like the weird inclusion of ballet-esque dancing.  Having extended dance sequences didn't help either.  I also need some razzle dazzle in my musicals and I think if there were more set changes on stage, that might have done the trick for me.

When people dance 'tough' it usually makes me laugh (with the exception of the coolness that is capoeira) and in WSS it ended up looking just pouncy.  The brightly coloured suits didn't help either.  This Scrubs video describes it perfectly!

I do have to say the two leads and the supporting actress who played Anita were all quite good.  SuBoo didn't like the trilling, operatic voice of Maria but if that's what the role calls for then I'm ok with that.  Maria also looked a bit like Katy Perry (not a good/bad thing, merely an observation).

Overall, I was a bit ho-hum about WSS.  SuBoo was a bit 'it's kinda crap' about WSS.  In that case, what is stopping WSS from disappearing into the Failed Musical Abyss?  I would say it is the key songs which include 'America', 'Somewhere' and 'Maria'.  Not everyone will think the same, but the songs do have a certain appeal to a mass audience.  I have to admit that I smiled when they sang 'Tonight'.  Hehehe and it did make me think of 1980s HK celebs dancing.  However, I quite disliked the comedic tone of 'Office Krupke' and felt it was quite inappropriate given the tragic Romeo and Julie tone.

As strong as the songs are, I personally don't think it is enough for me to watch a repeat performance whether that be in Australia, Broadway or the West End.  I'll just upload my favourite show tunes onto my iPhone instead and listen to them there.

Sushi Burger at J Cafe

Continuing on my eating mission, tonight Moo, Spu and I had dinner at J Cafe and more specifically, we ate sushi burgers.  I'm not new to the concept of sushi burgers having eaten one in the Singaporean branch of Mosburger a few years ago.  (It was so yummy and a nice alternative to the normal hamburger!)  Sushi burgers are essentially a sushi roll arranged to resemble a burger and they achieve this by molding the rice into the shape of a hamburger bun.  Quirky!

We each ordered a sushi burger bento box (about $17) and this included miso soup and a side dish.

Aloe vera and mango juice for Moo.  Lychee green tea for Spuey and I.  My spicy salmon burger.  Spicy because there was some ground chilli in my Japanese mayo.  

Let's face it, I could make the burger at home and I would say that for anyone who struggles to use a makisu mat, it would be easier to make a sushi burger than sushi rolls.  The burger itself is equivalent to the size of approximately 1.5 - 2 two sushi rolls which in my case, I would need to eat at least two to be full.

Me and my sushi burger. 

It's a good thing that the meal came with a side because we were all still peckish after wolfing down the burger.

Grilled salt and pepper chicken.  Fried squid - mmm squishy.  Gyoza.  I'm not usually impressed with gyoza but these were extra nice! 

After sharing the above between the three of us, we were in a much happier state.  I could have probably eaten some more, but you know, I really should exert some self control too.  At $17 the price tag is reasonable but for anyone who is ravenous, you would probably need something else to supplement the bento meal.  Otherwise I'll certainly return in the future to pick up another sushiburger snack.  Num nums!

Bratwurst and Churros

....not eaten together of course.  That would be a bit weird. 

Did I mention that I no longer have to eat alone?  I needed to make a trip the the Queen Vic Market and so I forced Moo to come down and eat a bratwurst hotdog with me.

Moo with our chilli bratwurst hotdogs.  Lots and lots of sauerkraut.  

How does one finish off a German bratwurst lunch?  With a Spanish churros of course!

Mooey making her way to the Europeans in the churros van.  

I was a bit surprised that they only coat the churros in icing sugar.  Where's my dipping chocolate!?!  Anyway, they were alright.  Not bad, but not 'wow' inside my mouth either.  I mean, it is just a bit of fried dough, but then again who doesn't like a bit of fried dough?!?!  Yau cha kuay, I'm looking at you.  We were lucky to have a fresh batch - crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

After the lunch, I drove home and there ends my day.

Dinner at Horoki & Drinkies at 1806

The last time I ate at Horoki was in 2006.  Time sure flies.  Well, my main excuse was that I was living overseas.  I think that's a pretty decent excuse.  Moo made me crave Horoki like no tomorrow after her recent eating adventure, so to continue my celebrations of no longer having to eat alone (and also to compensate for my food sins in Rad-City), Moo, Sem and I went there tonight.

Our teapot party.  

Moo, the wise one, suggested that as three little women we should order at least six dishes.  That might sound excessive but the dishes are small and no one should underestimate the eating prowess of three little Asian girls.  

Beef tataki, tuna carpaccio with parmesan shavings and daikon salad.  Nom, nom, noms! 

Seared salmon nigiri, spicy butter cod roe pasta and duck breast with eggplant.  Num, num, nums!!!  I'm not eating alone anymore!! 

We decided we could fit in a another dish and so we ordered the salmon croquettes.

These croquettes were shaped like takoyaki balls and served with the typical okonomiyaki sauce and Jap mayo.  It was like I was eating takoyaki (I *heart* takoyaki), but no, I was really eating a croquette!!  It was messing with my mind!

Dessert was a bit uninspiring, but SEM being a SEM ordered a green tea ice cream and we all stabbed a spoon into it.  Having started dinner quite early, there was now plenty of time for Monday night drinks.  Aaaaah, not having to work sure has it's perks.

Moo had told me about her mulled wine experience at 1806 and well, I do love my mulled wine.  For the past few weeks, I have been in Rad-City fantasising about my night with Mr. Mulled Wine and now.....my date with him had finally arrived.

Our drinkies.  Me and SEM who wasn't much of a SDM (Sneaky Drinking Machine).  

Moo had told me that Mr. Mulled Wine was a bit buttery which I thought was a bit weird.  That's not anything like the mulled wine I've had in Europe, but hey, I'll drink anything once.  The bartender brought us our drinkies and I have to say, the buttery-ness did go down a treat.  It was so much of a treat, that I requested another one.  Hehehehehehe.  Cheers to not having to eat and drink alone!

Celebratory Lunch at Mrs. Parmas

To celebrate my escape from The Bogans, Moo picked me up from the airport and we had lunch at Mrs. Parmas.  Spuey and I had tried to eat here in the past but weren't able to secure a table on the busy Friday night.  The empty restaurant which greet Moo and I today for Sunday lunch was quite the stark contrast, even prompting us to question whether the restaurant was open.  Yay for us, of course it was!

We got straight into the ordering and got the following:

I had the Mushroom Parma and Moo had the Moroccan Meatball Parma.  

I had heard that the parmas were quite big here but I have to admit when the parmas were placed in front of us, I actually kinda thought they were smaller than expected.

Moo happy to be with parma.  Me just happy to no longer eat my meals alone. 

Well it was a case of my eyes being bigger than my stomach because neither of us could finish our parmas.  I ploughed my way until the last quarter and then gave in.  My parma itself was slightly burnt on parts of the bottom which annoyed me somewhat as a $24.50 parma shouldn't be burnt!!  Depending on the parmas base, they start from $18 for eggplant, $23 for chicken and $24.50 for veal.  It's a bit on the expensive side of bar/bistro food but all parmas include a decent side of salad and chips.  The chunky chips were done to my liking - crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, dusted in chicken salt!! Num nums.

Despite the overcooked parma bits, I'll still try it again should I ever get another parma craving.  They surely can't burn it a second time.

Billy Elliot

Having recently seen the West End production, I was pretty keen to watch the Billy Elliot movie on which the musical is based.  Yes, I realise the movie was released in 2000 but you know, I was busy doing whatever it was for the past 10 years and never managed to watch it, even accidentally while channel surfing.  Anyway, I can happily report that the musical is a faithful retelling of the movie, almost scene by scene!  (That's a pretty amazing feat).  It's one of my pet peeves when new incarnations differ too much from the original, especially if the differences are of no benefit.

Despite all my recent exposure to the Geordie accent, there were times in the movie when I really did not have an effing clue.  Subtitles would have helped me at some parts.  Nevertheless, it wasn't too much of a distraction.  I'm not going to bother with a synopsis, you can just wiki that.  

You could say that Billy Elliot is nothing new and summed up, it falls into the 'Chase Your Dreams and Be Yourself' genre.  If that's the case, I much prefer this cliché over many others.  There's no better lesson than to teach people to be happy and ruv themselves. *hugs myself*  However clichéd the baseline plot may be, you can't help but become involved in Billy's struggle to become a ballet dancer.

Despite knowing EXACTLY what was going to happen in the movie, I cried like girl.  (It's a good thing I am of the fairer sex as it gives me a better excuse, but men should be allowed to cry too!)  It probably didn't help that I was watching the movie at 1am and was fairly exhausted.  The strong performances of Billy and his father only made it worse.  I cried at Billy's mother's letter, I cried at Billy's Dad crossing the picket line after realising Billy's talents and then I cried again when Billy was accepted into ballet school.  I knew all of this would happen!  It's like how I cried when Marley died in Marley and Me.  I knew the dog would die!  Ok it wasn't all crying.  There were some nice one-liners and I especially liked Billy's reaction to the plot of Swan Lake - "Sounds crap."

The final scene when we see an adult Billy (now a principal ballet dancer) perform with his family in the audience is errr kinda hot.  Like wow, check out adult Billy's athletic back!  Nevermind the Swan Lake pantaloons and emo eye make-up, he's still hot.  Oh and I cried seeing Billy's father tearing up at seeing his son on stage.  (Shout out to Mama Chua!)

Anyway, I can't believe I had not watched this film earlier.  It's definitely something I would see again and in fact, it kinda makes me want to re-watch the musical when I hit London in September.

Laundry Disaster

I'm pretty good at using a clothes washing machine.  I mean... it's a machine.  I know how to sort dark clothes from light clothes and I know how to twist a knob to select the appropriate cycle and temperature.  But today was not a good day......

I have a white scarf which was endearingly nicknamed 'Scarfy Scarf' by Spuey.  It was made of 70% viscose and 30% wool and was purchased back in my uni years in Sydney.  It has travelled around world with me to Europe and the US.  Despite it's wool component, I've thrown it in the machine many times and it has always been returned to me clean and white.  But today was not a good day.......

In Rad-City I'm using a somewhat 'foreign' front loading machine which has no words, only pictures on the dials.   I threw Scarfy Scarf into the machine, forgot to check the dials and started the cycle.  Keep in mind that Scarfy Scarf is pashmina-like in it's length, light fabric and soft feel.  When I opened the machine door, I realised.... today was not a good day....

I had turned Scarfy Scarf into a piece of felt!

I checked the dials and realised they had been left at 40 degrees rather than a cold wash.  The two hour wash cycle didn't help either.   

Unhappy. 

Oh well, I might take Scarfy Scarf home to remind me never to ruin another scarf again.

Things You Buy When You're Alone Part II

Well I bought two Totoro plushies a few weeks ago but back then, they didn't have any susuwatari available for me to continue my money throwing.

Today, I happily handed over some moolah for my little black dust creature after seeing that the shop had re-stocked.

He will join his Totoro soon. 

Malador - Can All Dogs Be Cross-Bred?

I am a dog person.  That's not to say I hate cats, more that I prefer dogs and am not likely to ever have a pet cat.  Anyway, I spotted this puppy at a pet store:

A Labrador x Malamute.  

It's somewhat contradictory situation.  Too much in-breeding for purebred dogs will lead to genetic problems.  But then, can all dogs be cross-bred?  Theoretically, yes and I guess crossing a Malamute and a Labrador is better than say crossing either one with a Chihuahua.  However, I can't help feel I'm looking at a mutant puppy - the Malamute body and grey colouring with golden floppy Labrador ears.

I'm far from an expert in dog breeding but as much as I *furrow my brow* at the deliberate in-breeding of dogs for show pony purposes, I equally *furrow my brow* at backyard breeders of which I think this dog is a product.  Hmmmm...

Another Handbag

Not much is happening in Rad-City so I shall blog about mundane stuff.  It's no secret that Cath Kidston has me under her spell.  Damn that woman and her seasonal prints!  You make me regularly stalk your website and regularly visit your store when I'm in London!

Anyway I realised that I forgot to post about my new found love - my Cath Kidston bucket bag.  I've wanted my own bucket bag for ages and yes I did buy one back here but I didn't end up using it and gave it to Ma instead.

I had trawled the website was settled on buying the Candy Flowers bucket bag but once at the store, I couldn't help but test drive other handbags in the mirror.  After to-ing and fro-ing between about five bags and 40 minutes later in the Selfridges Cath Kidston section, I decided that the Briar Rose bucket bag would be the wiser choice.  The Candy Flowers is a lovely bag but with it's bright pink detailing, I would find it difficult to pair it with much of my wardrobe.

I've already received some compliments which make me love it even more!  *hugs handbag*

I have to admit that when I look inside my bucket bag, it does look a little bit ker-razy madwoman-ish.  Like many women around the planet, I always found myself constantly rummaging through my bag searching for whatever the elusive item I was seeking.  I found that her printed zip pouches were very useful for organising my once-was "handbag full of crap".

The pink spotted pouch - lady things.  The red star pouch - make up.  (Ok I don't carry these two pouches all the time.)  The blue spot pouch  - medicinal items.  The strawberry pouch - oral hygiene items.  The blue flowery iPhone cover.  The green flowery public transport ticket holder.  

Crazy-looking?  It sure is, but I am able to locate items quickly!  Also when I change handbags, it is very easy just to throw the pouches into the new bag.  Hey presto! 

On a side note, I've noticed that David Jones has started to stock a small range of Cath Kidston bags.... at about 2.5 times the UK price!  Her products aren't overly expensive (but not exactly bargain basement either) but at 2.5 times the UK price, who on earth would pay that?!