ohhhhh, that sweet thang...

So, after a particularly grueling Body Pump class, Abby and decided to have a bagel from the shop under the gym...

I got a Rye bagel, filled with smoked salmon, cream cheese, the obligatory capers and asparagus; A resonably healthy choice. I washed this down with a fresh orange, apple, carrot and pineapple juice.

Abby opted for a bagel with cream cheese and jam.

I had spent the past two days avoiding sweet and sugary foods, as I'm trying to break my sugar addiction/habit. I had a bit of bagel left which didn't have any of my filling on it, so I grabbed a bit of Abby's jam slapped it on and ate it... ohhhhh, that sweet thang... Once it hit my taste buds I was filled with this taste sensation... Now when I've done some exercise, I usually tend to get a bit hyperactive... Combine that with this taste sensation, I turned manic... I had to have more... Now this ain't going to be pretty so if you have a weak stomach, navigate away to a different blog, but I started to scoff it, once I'd finished my bagel there was nothing left to do but chow down on straight cream cheese and jam... Abby was less than impressed!

Well, to me it was interesting how something so sweet and sugary made me feel. I'm starting a cleanse in two weeks where sugar is totally ruled out, I'll see how I go after that.

The Stir Fry - a forgotten favourite

After going to the Gym which was a killer in the heat, especially when I haven't really been exercising for ages, I was given the option of take away or doing the cooking... It had been ages since I had cooked a stir fry, actually since I lived in Sunshine and that was 7 months ago.

I dragged out the beautiful wok Jess had given me for my 30th, which was perfectly preserved due to my anal cleaning and seasoning habits.

I cooked up some chicked thigh fillets, most flavoursome part, in freshly ground ginger, oinion and bean sauce. Once just cooked I put it to the side and cooked up the vegies: fresh baby corn, red capsicum, mushrooms, bok choi, mung beans and oyster sauce (I just remembered that I forgot to use the brocolli, opps). Once they were cooked I added the chicken back in to mix it all up and make sure it was hot.

Hmmm, such an easy healthy meal, I can't belive I haven't made one of them for ages. I see more of that on the menu in the not too distant future.

Time for a new direction

There is only one word to describe my recent blogging efforts and that is SLACK...

So I think it's time for this blog to take a new direction... After a winter of eating and drinking to my hearts content, my waist line isn't looking quite how I want it to, and I only have myself to blame! Oh and this blog...

So, now I'm going to concentrate on healthy eating and exercise. To complement my new goal I'm going to use this blog as a diary of my efforts and see if they come to fruition...

This will be healthy living according to Marky Mark... ha ha ha... Theoretically I've read enough to be able to do this, I just wonder if I have the will power to stick to it?

Step one and two are to break the sugar and nicotine habbits/addictions... No more honey in my coffee and I'm going to make a concerted effort to re-read The easy way to stop smoking, By Alan Carr. May sound funny that I'm smoking again and promoting this book, but I was caught in a weak moment.

Here goes...

Quick and easy

After a few drinks at the Labour in vain after work never really helps to enthuse me to go home and cook a gourmet meal…

I had convinced Chris to join me for a few drinks and it had the same affect on him, he had planned on cooking crepes for dinner, but now like me he couldn’t be bothered!

We went through Safeway on the way home to try and find something easy to cook for dinner. The plan was to find a meat then to find some vegetable matter to have with it… After perusing the meat sections we chose Safeway branded Butter chicken. The chicken was split in half and pre marinaded… perfect.

We got a salad in a bag, added a chopped up avocado and a jar or feta…

Quick, easy, tasty and fairly healthy… Add to that the bottle of sparkling red and you have a very satisfying meal!

Gypsies....

Today the lunch mission was to get Brett de Niese a bag for his new laptop. We went down to Crumpler on the corner of Smith and Gertrude. Having a Crumpler back pack for my laptop, I was a proponent of the idea.

We went to Crumpler and tried on every colour bag which fitted Brett's laptop then went off for lunch and time for Brett to think about what he was going to do. Crumpler bags are such good quality and are built to last, so there really aren't that many alternatives.

Steve was accompanying us on the mission... we decided to eat somewhere close by so if Brett had decided after the meal that he wanted the bag, then we wouldn't have far to walk.

We ate at Gypsies, I hadn't eaten there before, but they had seating outside to suit 3, served beer and the sun was shining on their outside seating so the deal was sealed.

I was wanting something lite and tasty so I went for the tuna and corn fish cakes with salad. Very tasty, and I did like how there was an extra serve of mayo in a side bowl. I was happy to share the mayo with Bett, but was shocked when he dipped his chips into the mayo on my fish cake as he hadn't seen the side bowl...

Porterhouse

I resisted the temptation to join Oscar and Chris in fish and chips, never really a favourite of mine anyway.

I opped for Steak and Salad. I went to Safeway and got a nice piece of Porterhouse steak, a bag of Spinach and Rocket, an Avocado and some fresh Asparagus.

No dressing and no marinade. It felt like a healthy meal, but I love lots of flavours in my meal, so this is deffinitely going to be classified as a work in progress.

Shish

Okay, it's mid afternoon and it appears that half of an Avocado will not satisfy me for breakfast and lunch after I do session at the gym.

So I went next door to the Turkish take away joint and got a Shish Kebab. It was really tastey, I don' think it was too bad, shish kababed (on a skewer) meat, in a turkish roll, with some tzatziki like sauce and basic salad.

Went down just a treat.

Avocado

I've just started back at the gym today... First time there in months...

So on that note, for lunch, I had half of an Avocado, filled with the juice of half a lemon and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Yummy.

Brunswick Street Alimentari

Lunch today came to me from Brunswick Street Alimentari, or as we like to call it The Deli.

Not the cheapest place on Brunny, but definitely one of the tastiest. When I first started working of Brunswick Street it was one of my favourites. After over doing a couple of their signature dishes, I started to go off them and now my visit's there are a lot more sporadic.

Today I had the Italian meat ball wrap, this would be the first dish I ever had from The Deli. It’s this pita wrap filled with meat balls, cheese, some spinach and the sauce from the meat balls… Totally greasy and dripping with flavour.

As with most of the dishes from The Deli, the first one you ever have is always the best, from then on you strive to experience that taste sensation again. But alas, it’s never as good.

I can feel I just ate it, which isn’t the best thing. But as with most things in my life, it was good at the time!

Robbie Burns

A Spanish pub, or maybe more a pub that does Spanish. Oscar, the Spaniard, doesn’t particularly rate it, likening it to Spanish McDonalds.

Tonight was dinner with J’nel, Abby and Janine. I used to live with J’nel, J’nel used to live with Abby and Abby lives with Janine. J’nel had been there before so she had made the suggestion.

Robbie Burns is found near the corner of Johnston Street and Smith, so very convenient. I’d been there many years ago and my memories of it work just ‘Ok’. Not bad memories just a nice night out, quite pubby, so I was interested in going there again to see what it was like now.

Yes the place is pubby, but then again it was comfortable and full of people. Great atmosphere, rustic charm and self service alcohol (ie. you have to go to the bar to get it).
We got the Seafood Paella for three, we weren’t overly hungry, but knew from past experience it would be big.

The Paella came out with a generous helping of squid, mussels and prawns. The tomato base was delicious and although we weren’t that hungry, we couldn’t stop eating.

The meal and accompanying drinks were very well priced and we were all happy with the meal, and the company.

I need to dine at more Spanish restaurants to get a base for comparison. Oscar says that Spanish food cooks for days before it is eaten, so I’m looking forward to some of that! I wonder if he cooks Spanish food?

Bebida - Breakfast

I was going to spend the day at work catching up on stuff, so I thought I needed a good breakfast, and I wanted someone else to make it for me. I first thought of going to Beelzebub as I wanted to try their coffee, but I more wanted some really nice food and I have never been let down by Bebida on Smith Street, so I headed there.

Bebida is the old Zeitgeist, I used to work just down from Zeitgeist so there is some nostalgic attachment to the place. Bebida is now a Spanish based café, the front windows open right up and give the café an inside outside feel, great when the weather is good. It just so happened that the day was fantastic, so I sat there and enjoyed the newspaper over a coffee while I waited for my breakfast.

Being in a particularly extravagant mood and wanting to treat myself I opted for the breakfast special, eggs with feta and asparagus on pide. I enjoyed every last bit of the meal.

Luckily I’m one of those people who can enjoy eating out by themselves.

Is avocado a fruit?

Feeling a little hung over from the night before, I didn’t really feel like eating till noonish… I was heading out to the northern burbs to catch up with my friend Stormboy, or Warren Bloomer. I met him and his son Callum at some train station, near the park they had been riding in with friends Stuart and Tami.

By now hunger had started to kick in, I was waiting for them at a train station and noticed a fruit shop across the road, lunch today consisted of a bunch of grapes and an avocado, both of which I devoured with vigour.

Viet Rose

I ate at Viet Rose, with Abby Kelly, Janine White and Mark Dekker, I can’t really remember it, due to the drinks at the previous two establishments and the drinks we had there.

I do remember ordering way too much, another case of the eyes being larger than the stomach!

This is also one of my regular dinning establishments so the next review will be a bit more about the food.

Look after the kidneys!

I was told by my Chiro to look after the kidney’s and no coffee today. So breakfast and morning tea was Apples and Greenwood’s Bio-dynamic Pear juice, from the fruit shop on Brunswick Street.

After walking past it yesterday for lunch, the spot light was on Cavallero.

Cavallero had become an office legend, being a favourite of both mine and Melinda's, we had often talked about the food and drinks there. So it wasn’t hard to gather up a crew for lunch.

Melinda, Diana, Brett, Alex, Hamish and I made our way to Cavallero on Smith Street, it was a beautiful day, almost summer.

Arriving like usual suspects, we had to rearrange the furniture to suit our group as the booths were full, not long after ordering one had cleared out so we shuffled in.

I had the minute steak, the easiest way to describe it is as the rich cousin of the burger I had yesterday at Beelzebub. Where yesterday’s burger had iceberg lettuce, today’s had rocket and spinach. The sauce was nicer and the steak was quality and melt in the mouth.

Absolutely no order envy today, although the other dishes looked sublime.

Devil's food

I went out for lunch with Namita, Alex and Glen, we headed down to Smith Street and aimlessly wandered away from the City. They hadn't really been down that way to eat before, and due to my days working at Myretsu I had.

We wandered down, past the vegetarian places due to Alex's carnivore tendencies, down over Johnston and we were about to cross smith when I saw this sign with a devil cartoon on it. I'm not sure what it was but I suddenly had this urge to eat there. So with no objections, Cafe Beelzebub it was.

The menu on the window seem reasonable and the specials board with the $10 hamburger and drink sealed the deal. Interestingly enough we noticed a sign on the window stating that they made the best coffee on Smith Street! I felt challenge, I had always bought my coffees at Bebida Cafe, obviously what I considered to be the best coffee on Smith! We'll see.

The ambience was okay, the service was okay, the meal was good. We all ordered each of the 4 burgers types: beef, vegie, chicken and lamb. The burgers came out open and on a plate with nicely done chunky fries. The lettuce on the burgers was ice berg and when closed there appeared to be a lot of real estate on the plate.

The burgers were really good, very tasty and it was a good meal. Any concerns over size were allayed as the after meal feeling was of satisfaction, not of being over done.

Skipping Meals...

I know it’s bad, but sometimes it just happens. I got to work and due to a crisis with the mail server I didn’t have a chance to grab something to eat until lunch time. Thankfully a coffee can sometimes fill in for the odd meal. Children, don’t try this at home.

Lunch was a chicken and mushroom vol au vent from OqpO which was great, I had a pasta salad with it, which was fresh and good, but there was something that didn’t agree with my taste buds.

Dinner, well that didn’t really happen either, the crisis had decided to drag itself out all day and now it seems all night! Cripes, give me a break! Well a couple of Hoegaarden’s and I’m happy, can’t complain.

Pizza

Dinner was plain, simple and easy, I was in no state to cook or go out, so it was pizza on the couch at a friends place. From what I can remember it was a gourmet vegie pizza with anchovies and a garlic/herb pizza. I had an interesting aroma lingering around me for the rest of the evening.

Bubbles...

Well, I didn’t really have much for lunch, oh there was the hibiscus flower that had been soaked in syrup and then added to my glass of bubbles as decoration and flavouring. The flour looked a lot more appetising than the raspberries that I had bought along, oh well.

And yes, if you were wondering the bubbles went straight to my head!

I should hang my head in shame!

I was invited to a champagne cocktail party which started early. My friend Geoffrey that I was going with wasn’t finishing work until around 10:30 so we were going to be fashionably late. I was hoping everyone was going to be trashed before we got there, as bubbles can go straight to my head.

I managed to get up and out of the house by 9:30 again, this time, I headed for Smith Street to find some coffee and a bite to eat. I had a takeaway long black from Bebida, I had partaken of their coffee’s before so I knew I was safe. Finding something quick and easy to eat was going to be harder.

I popped into Safeway to grab a can of Raspberries to be added to sparkling to make it drinkable. There was nothing in there that tickled my fancy, so I kept going.

Now this is the part where I risk my credibility, I did something shameful, I ended up at McDonalds. Now if you are still here, let me explain myself. If I can… I ordered the Deli Delights (I’m sure a shite load of marketing research went into that name) bacon and eggs in a brown roll. I made sure I ordered brown as I knew I would have to explain it here and I was trying to lessen the shame. I must say that, I don’t think it was that unhealthy, well compared with what else was on the menu. Possibly if could have been better than the breakfast from yesterday, mainly due to the brown roll.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating the consumption of McD’s, but sometimes you need something convenient and I still have childhood memories of getting McDonalds on a Friday night as a treat. Aren’t we all trying to relive our childhoods?

The West

Well I used to be a resident of the West, I lived in Sunshine and in Melbourne that’s not really something that you want to bring up in conversation at a party.

For some reason, the west has a bad rap, it has a predominantly migrant population, compared to the whiter east. You can buy such a great variety of foods from markets and shops for such a reasonable price. As you would expect the shops cater to the local clientele and they might have smaller budgets, but they are also used to using such a variety of foods and often not what you would expect to be served in an ‘Australian’ meal.

Then there is Sunshine, I’m not sure why, but Sunshine has an even worse stigma, despite having such a lovely name. I moved into Sunshine temporarily as Jess had kindly offered a place to stay while I sorted my life out (see my other blog) and I ended up being there for 3 years. In that time, I feel that the stigma and reputation is unfairly earned.

It just so happens that I was in Sunshine for dinner. After spending the day moving the rest of my stuff out of Sunshine I ended up there for dinner and drinks. One of my favourite places to eat in Sunshine is New Delhi. As you might of guessed New Delhi is an Indian restaurant.

When I was living in Sunshine and riding a motorbike, I would often phone my order in as I was leaving work and pickup it up on the way through. My favourite dishes are the Dahl Maharani and the Eggplant dish that I can’t remember the name of… I just heard that the chef who opened the restaurant is from the Bombay Hilton (I’m guessing that it’s not at all like the Bangkok Hilton).

Tonight we had those dishes, but we also had the Chicken Korma. I’m not sure if it is because that was the last meal I will have in Sunshine in my old home, but it tasted fantastic, possibly the best Indian take away. The naan was even moorish, normally I get bored of it, but I couldn’t get enough.

If you find yourself in Sunshine, I wouldn’t eat anywhere else. Well actually there is Gold Leaf on Ballarat Road, I’ve heard that is quite nice. When I’m stuck for material, you’ll probably see a review of them.

Pineapples

I found myself wandering around Melbourne CBD early in the morning... See my other blog to see why... (Link to come when I've written the post).

I hadn't had a coffee yet and I was hungry...

After I'd dropped off my iPod to be repaired I was heading down Elizabeth Street toward Flinders Street Station, looking for somewhere palatable to eat.

Well I did find something and it definitely appeared more ‘loud’ than ‘palatable’. The Tropicana Juice/Food bar had thrown itself up all over the foot path as if Carmen Miranda’s hat had exploded … I must have walked past this shop a hundred times, the front is adorned with bags of Oranges and all the tables have whole Pineapples as centre pieces. The fruit all looks fresh so I’m guessing it doesn’t hang there too long.

I often wonder if this display fruit is consumed…? Do they use the shop front as a form of storage? I can imagine someone sitting at the table playing with the Pineapples or even worse poking something into them. And what’s with the oranges hanging up outside in the middle of the city, the fumes from all the cars, mixing and mingling with the fruit. Am I over analysing this? Well I hope the fruit is for display purposes only. Actually I’ll go in and ask them when I pick up my iPod. If it is display only then I’ll buy a juice, if they do use them, then I’m outta there!

What actually grabbed my attention was the sign advertising bacon and eggs on Turkish bread with a juice or coffee for $8. A reasonable priced brekky I thought and I am partial to eggs and I was dying for coffee.

The coffee was reasonable, I’ve gotten into the bad habit of sweetening my coffee so it makes bad coffee taste somewhat reasonable. But I did enjoy it.

There was a decent helping of bacon, which I know makes some people happy, I’m more interested in the eggs, they were okay, stuck together, but runny enough, thank god they weren’t hard, that wouldn’t have made me happy. The Turkish bread was toasted, I don’t think there was any butter on it, which made it a little dry but healthier and I was in that kind of mood so I think it was a successful breakfast choice.

Footy

I missed calls and texts from Stephen (he said there were many, I reckon there was only one) who was calling to see if I wanted to go to the footy tonight and see the penguins (It's actually the pies, magpies, but it's so much fun call them penguins and seeing the look on his face, one of these days he's going to go postal on me (he doesn't know what postal means)).

So I stuffed up and didn't get the message(s) till too late, I have only been to one footy game and would like to go and see another, the atmosphere is quite exciting...

So instead I got the consolation prize... Dinner with the delectable Mark and Stephen... I was collected (that ones for you Philly) from work and delivered to their place in Amy's Nissan Xtrail.

On the menu tonight was Chicken Taco's. Not just the normal Taco, they had been to the organic shop at the Tribeca appartments... Have I told you that Kylie Minogue has an appartment there... apparently Danni and Pat Rafter do too... I wonder which of them has the penthouse...

Dinner was washed down with a healthy dose of the pies on TV (cos we didn't make it to see them live) and an extra healthy dose of Squawking Magpie Sauv Blanc from Marlborough.

The Pies aren't doing so well and Stephen is getting just a little tetchy... You can count yourself lucky that you aren't here... Although the food and wine makes up for a pie's supporter with a sore tooth...

I'm taking video next time!

What a week so far...

I just want to point out what a fantastic week I've had so far and what an amazing variety of great food I've been lucky to eat. I'm trying to think if this is normal? Hmmm I think it might be...

Grill'd

Now I'm gonna slag them off and it's not really because of bad food, it's more to do with the fact that I chose the wrong burger!

I chose this thing with beef, fried egg, bacon... ick... dripping with fat and all that yuk...

Normally I have the Baa Baa Burger, a reasonably sized lamb burger.

But it's my fault I ordered this monstrosity. I got back to work and my fingers stunk of burger...

yuk yuk yuk

The Toasted Sandwich

Now, New Zealand and Australia are very similar. We are practically the same. But there are somethings that are just different!

New Zealand is tecnologically advanced and Australia is struggling with the whole EFTPOS thing... The people in Australia are grenerally better looking... Australian's say hey and Kiwi's say aye... New Zealand Cadbury chocolate is much tastier and creamier... Australia is drier... There are more homo's in Australia... Australia suffers from tall poppy syndrome...

When I ask for a toasted sandwich I expect some filling surrounded by bread and put in some kind of heated pressing device. In Australia a toasted sandwhich is a filling surrounded by bread and put under the grill... Yu get this crusty bready thing... Yuk...

If you want a toasted sandwich you have to ask for a jaffal or tell them to put it in the sandwich press...

For christ sake... jaffal is the brand of one of the machines... cripes!

The Horn - Ethiopian

Now before you say anything, I'm gonna have to say that all those Ethiopian cook book jokes that you know may as well be thrown out!

Nugget's out of town, so It's my job to take up the husbandly duties and make sure that Kat is sufficently entertained.

Kat knew these ppl who knew these ppl who had started up this Ethiopian restaurant round the corner from both our houses, so we thought it would be a great idea to go and check it out.

We organised to meet at Cavallero, because one knows that you need to lubricate the food passages before a meal and one also knows that Kat and I are a big fan of a bevvy or two... Cavallero deserves a post of it's own and I don't want to distract you so for now I'll skip over it and move onto the meal.

We made our way to The Horn and were graciously greeted by Peter and taken out back to the relaxing Jazz soaked restaurant. We decided to sit in the covered outside area as we both like to smoke while drinking... Such a bad habit, I must quit...

Blessed be the warm winters in Melbourne, out door eating is always appropriate and it makes tipping down Ethiopian beer all the more appropriate.

Kat ordered a Meat and Vege combo. The dishes came out in this four pronged candelabra type dish. We both got plates with injera, a rolled up spongey bread sort of like a fat pancake. You ate it by getting a bit of the vege or meat, putting it on the injera and then ripping it off and eating it, all using your hand.

It was soooo tasty, the atmosphere was great and the company was also great. A band started to play but we had our fill and were off...

Being the lovers of fine alcohol that were are, we couldn't help but go back to Cavallero. I was checking out the cocktail menu when the dishy bartender came up and gave me the cocktail menu that is about to be released in the next week or so... I was going to order a Mule, a drink that Sharkey had introduced me to a week earlier, but I spied a modified Mule... It was a mix between a Mule and a Mojito, my two favourite drinks! Ahhh, another summer drink... I can't wait for summer.

Roti anyone?

'Hey Namita, feel like roti?'

We roped in Glenn and were off...

We found Roundhouse Roti on Gertrude Street months ago... I was on a cleansing diet at the time and stood salivating at the window wishing I could eat roti, but having to deny myself that pleasure due to the cleanse... God knows why I do them...

Any Hoo, we used to all pile on down there at lunch, usually we are a group of 10 or more, and chow down on the rotis... yuummmmm....

I have always been happy with the rotis but todays was really nice, I had the Murtabak, it's filled with lamb and egg and has a curry dipping sauce... I think that since being open they have refined the roti's and they have definitely improved with time and practice.

A nice vibe and a tasty treat. Try them out good for vego's and meaties.

Atomica - The best coffee in Melbourne!

Now I am a self proclaimed coffee snob, well actually my friends call me that more than use it to describe myself, so who am I to argue...

In my humble (stop coughing) opinion I think that Atomica make the best coffee in Melbourne. If you think someoneelse makes better coffee let me know and I will go and check it out.

Now, I have been frequenting Atomica on and more off for the last 7 years and for the first 6 I thought that there was way too much tood going on in the shop. To be frank I don't think that I'm the only one who thinks so! Hell they have a news paper article up on the wall saying so.

But once you get over that, their self roasted beans and perfectly brewed coffee will get you addicted and back for more.

One of my many guilty pleasures is a long black with one to go and a freshly baked muffin. All their food is freshly cooked daily, on premises.

I'm always there every second thursday around 8:45... See you there!

Borsch, Vodka & Tears

Well... Melinda wandered into the area where I sit this afternoon and asked 'What are you doing tonight...?' Well it doesn't take much to get me to go out and I do love to eat and drink out, so I said 'hey... Let's do something...'

We decided that we would go somewhere we hadn't been for a while, south of the river was our destination. In Melbourne there are two distinct areas, north of the river and south of the river. The river I'm talking about is the Yarra.

On the south side of the river you have St Kilda, South Yarra and Prahran. Traditionally you might say that there is more money on the southside, the people who live there definitely like to think so. The north side is a bit more down to earth and grungier, I'd say it is a bit more artistic and hippy too. As for the money, it's Australia and all inner city suburbs are affluent.

Oh, there is the west to, but that's a different story and I'm sure I'll go into that at some later stage.

I digress and I can feel another story coming on (I'll talk about International Wednesday next time I go to Jim's Taverna in Collingwood). I had been to Borsch, Vodka & Tears a couple of times before. It's a vodka bar with over 100 European Vodka's and Polish Cuisine. I had dined there once before and enjoyed some Borsch with dumplings, which you should definitely try, but more often than not I had been there for the Absyinthe and Vodka, which you should most definitely go and try.

We started with champaign cocktails, I had a blueberry version and Melinda had lime. They were sooooo good we were going to ask for jugs to go.

The were booked out so we got to sit at the Bar and eat, this was good, we had the best veiw in the restaurant and all the drinks and cocktails were made in front of us. This did have the effect of both of us wanting everything that was on the menu.

Instead of have a main, we ordered and shared a variety of tapas like dishes. I really do need to remember what I eat or make notes at the time cos I'm lost for words. We kept eating and ordering more dishes they were that good.

We had Apple Pie's for desert, Cinnamon Vodka with Apple juice, garnished with, you guessed it, Apple and Cinnamon. Perfect way to finish a meal.

I highly reccomend Borsch, Vodka & Tears for both drinks and food. But I would book if you really want to eat there, it's not abnormal to be turned away if you don't have a booking.

Summer Lunch

The weather here at the moment is just fantastic, my shoes needed some repairs so using my lunch productively I walked down to Smith St and enjoyed the sun.

I bought two California rolls, long ones, not the sliced up versions. Usually I get different kinds but the Avocado and Prawn ones looked and sounded so appealing. How wrong was I?

Dry and taste free... A totally underwhelming experience!

Yuk!

A bowl of museli

I'm bored of this museli, I need to get some fresh fruit to add to it.

The best museli I've had I got in New Zealand. It was organic, had no perservatives and tasted fantastic. I always get it when ever I go back home. I wish I could find it here.

Ready Steady Cook!

One of my favourite cooking shows is Ready Steady Cook. I prefer the english version with Ainsley, he's great. In a pinch I'll watch the Australian one, I like the chef's but the host leaves a lot to be desired.

There comes a time when we can't be bothered going to the shop, or we are too poor to go, so I get all the food we have in the fridge and cupboards and lay it out on the bench... Then I brainstorm and come up with something. It usually works, tonight I ended up making a risotto like dish out of brown rice.

Here's what I did:
I cooked up some bacon and chicken thighs in some butter. I had stuffed up and bought thighs which still had the bone so I just cut of bits of the meat and chucked the bones in the mix, I thought it might add some flavour and could be fun to eat the rest of the meat off the bone... Sorry if you are vegan. I threw in some corriander seeds and other spices.

After the meat had cooked through in went the brown rice and some chicken stock. Probably too much stock but I thought it could end up being a soup if it all went to cactus. In went what ever vegies we had: broccoli, taters, spanish oinion (I like to use these oinions because the look prettier than the brown ones, you can blame Jess for that habit) and corn kernals. I think that was it.

Well it cooked and cooked and cooked... I was okay, definitely no where near the best thing I cooked and it tasted too corny. Eating the very tender meat off the bone was good and probably the highlight of the meal for me.

Bah!

Back to OqpO

So, I couldn't be arsed going out, so I decided to pop over to OqpO for something tasty then go back to the office and catch up on some stuff... Like this blog.

OqpO is this sandwich bar that opened up round the corner from work about a year ago. The place it's in used to be a Carribean, I'd been there about once. The food was good and the head waiter was a pisser, definitly a good place to go and get some food, but it was always empty! I don't think it ever had many people in it. So it closed down and it was no real surprise.

OqpO moved in and opened up. They had a big refridgerated display case with lots of toppings for sandwiches... Perfect for when I felt picky and wanted to specify exactly what I wanted in my sandwich. One day I was yakking with a friend outside the milk bar next to OqpO and another friend Michael (friend of Johnny's) came out of OqpO. It turns out that Danni who runs the place was friends of friends, so being the shy retiring type I went in there for lunch, introduced myself and made some new friends, I've been eating there ever since!

I picked up a trash magazine, ordered a salmon and ricotta filo pastry and bam, lunch time dissappeared.

OppS

Some times you just wanna eat out...

I skipped my morning museli and went straight to OqpO for a croissant. Out of the blue I got a call from Johnny and it turned into a bit of a social catch up and gossip over a coffee.

It's funny how you just bump into people when your out on the street. Melbourne is such a social place.

OqpO

Now I'm sure it's just because I started this blog and I'm really into writing about what I'm eating, that I'm going to talk about every meal I had today!

Morning tea comprised of a toasted Croissant with swiss cheese, tomato and french mustard. I really thing the swiss cheese and french mustard really to put the finishing touches on a delicous mid morning snack.

Dinner at Mark and Stephens.

Hmm is it Mark and Stephen or is it Stephen and Mark?

Well Mark is called Mark and Stephen shares the 14th of January for our birthday, decisions, decisions... Sorry Stephen, but I can't go past the name Mark. Hopefully he won't be too upset.

I used to live with Mark Torpy and Stephen Bennetts, I also lived with Trevor Bunny at the same time, but Mark and Stephen are together and Trevor is in New Zealand so it was a bit hard for him to be there.

Torpy messaged me in the arvo and invited me over for dinner, I jumped at the opportunity as they always put on a great spread! Although I was got the same meal two visits in a row, it was slow cooked lamb shanks which were fantastic so I didn't mind, Stephen took it a lot worse than I did. Bless his cotton socks.

Today's top temperature was 26 degrees celcius which is quite warm for winter, so I walked over to their place after work and picked up a bottle of Momo Sauvignon Blanc on the way. I've just looked it up and Momo mean 'the sibling' in Maori. One of my favourite wines, not to mention I like saying Momo for the Homo's.

Stephen broke out the BBQ and cooked some chicken thighs (my favourite part of the chicken, so moist and flavoursome), marinated in two different styles.

On the side was a lovely green salad (pity about the cucumber, but it was chunky enough to remove) and a very yummy mango and tomato salad!

We weren't allowed stick date pudding, so we had ice cream with Baileys, Milo, Honey and I slipped some almonds into Mark's as a surprise he he he...

I'll deffinitely be eating back here again, I guess I need to cook them something soon.

via Volare

Today's lunch restaurant was decided by a process of elimination...

I happened to be walking past a group of workmates at the right time and suckered into a game of elimination... Someone suggests a list of places to eat, then everyone takes turns at removing or adding a venue until we end up with one. Well we decided on a place then threw it out and decided to goto via Volare.

It was the $15 Parma and Beer lunch special that sealed the deal! In my homeland of New Zealand we didn't have the phenomina of the Parma while I was living there... So it's all a bit weird to me and I must admit that currently I'm not a fan!

A challenge... I must find a Parma that I like...

I was feeling like eggs for breakfast so I decided that I would have the 3 eggs on toast. I chose the healthy poached option over fried.

Alas... it is very hard to get nice soft runny eggs when you are out and via Volare was no different... It wasn't too dry and I didn't feel the need to throw it out so I ate it.

I'll go back there, thank god I liked the Lemon, Lime and Bitters!

It started with museli!

Well the day and I guess this blog, started with a bowl of museli!

Museli and Oat milk... None of that diary milk, we were never bought up on milk, I can stomach milk on my cereal if I have to, but the thought of drinking a glass of milk really makes me want to vomit... I used to be a fan of Soy, but I felt like I was consuming way too much soy, so I opted for Rice and Oat milk...

There is one question that does worry me, how on earth do you get milk from a soy bean, a grain of rice or an oat? I'm sure there is, but hope there isn't some dirty over processing of these items to produce something that seems impossible!

What I just ate!

Well, what's this...?

It's a blog on what I just ate... There will be reviews on great restaurants, there will be reviews on bad restaurants and there will be reviews on the bowl of museli I just ate for breakfast!

Each day I'm sure I will change my opinion on what is good for me and what is bad.

So let the fun times roll... If we're really lucky, I'll eat somewhere that gives the food poisoning and I can only imagine the fun storys that will come from that!

Hopefully I'll be able to rope some of my friends into writing a food blog too...

Eat up!