Foodventure: Sichuan, Vietnamese, Asian

Sichuan House

I love Sichuan food period. My favourite Sichuan dish by far is this Fish Fragrant Eggplant. So good! The Cumin Pork Ribs are really good as well. There's also another very popular dish, Spicy Fish, its good but I'm not crazy over it. Sichuan food is all about rich, full-bodied flavour using chili and Sichuan Pepper which gives a numbing effect, very addictive!

Dong Ba

Never been to Vietnam, never had Vietnamese food until I came to Melbourne. Some of their popular dishes are noodle soup and rice paper rolls. Their soup are always rich in flavour, noodles are springy, you usually eat it with fresh Asian herbs and bean sprouts. The rice paper rolls are eaten with dipping sauce. Packed with fresh ingredients, its very refreshing. I like how most things are eaten fresh and raw, so healthy! Dong Ba is a place owned by my classmate's relative. I tried their Spicy Beef Noodle (bún bò Huế) and it's really good! It's not chili spice-y, but more lemon grass spice-y. The broth flavour is stronger than the regular pho though.

Red Spice Road

Decided to give this place a try when Beatrice wanted to meet up while she was here for vacation. Oh my their pork belly was heavenly! The other 2 dishes were great too but nothing beats the pork belly! I would so go back just to have it. This place is quite similar to Gingerboy, serves South East Asian cuisine, but it's a lot more casual than Gingerboy (more posh and atas feeling). Guests are seated around communal tables so it's perfect for groups of 2 and above.

Kitchenventure: Flaky Pastry Egg Tarts

I remember making egg tarts years and years ago (probably in my teens) and it was a disaster. The pastry sucked, and the egg custard smelled eggy and it was quite rubbery. Since then I never attempted it again. About 2 weeks ago I came across a youtube cooking video which teaches how to make this flaky pastry egg tart, and it instantly made me want to try it once again.

The thing with flaky pastry is it's very time consuming and it sort of requires some skills when it comes to wrapping and rolling. I remember making flaky pastry once, again years ago, I made some curry puffs and I don't know how I did it, it was my first time making it and I absolutely had no idea about the basics of flaky pastry, but I managed to get the flaky pastry right that time.

For these egg tarts, I made it 3 times. You read that right, 3 freaking times because I just was not happy with the way the pastry turned out. The custard tasted perfect, and it's so easy to prepare.

Egg Tart Attempt 1

My pastry was too thick and it was raw in the middle even though I cooked it longer than what it's supposed to be. And because I wasn't aware that my pastry would shrink, I filled the custard to almost the brim and consequently, it overflowed when the pastry shrank. It was flaky, but not as flaky as I would have liked them to be. Maybe because I used an all butter recipe because I wasn't bothered to get shortening. On the right, it looks as though the pastry was flaky and cooked through but that's because with this one, I left it in the oven for a really long time just to see how long it'll take to completely cook through and achieve the flakiness I like. Approximately 20 minutes but by then, my custard was rubbery already.

Egg Tart Attempt 2

I decided to use shortening this time and because I was trying to act smart, I used a food processor to incorporate the shortening with the flour. It looked alright at the beginning but when everything came together, it was lumpy as hell. And there was no way I could get rid of the lumps. I blame it on the shortening for being a chilled, solid type, not Crisco. I wish we have Crisco here. And also, for unknown reason my pastry shrank like crazy in the oven. Once again lots of the custard overflowed. But the flakiness from using shortening is unbelievable. So flaky and crispy, just the way I have expected them to be!

Egg Tart Attempt 3

I'm still not quite happy with how much the pastry would shrink when baked but with the 3rd attempt, I'm quite satisfied already. No overflowing disasters, pastry cooked through and with this batch, I managed to yield 2 times more than the first 2 batches.

I still need to improve my pastry rolling skills especially when making flaky pastry like this. Using an all butter recipe is a lot more manageable but you won't get the same flakiness and crispiness as when using shortening. Shortening increases the difficulty because when it's chilled, it's almost rock hard and there's no way I can roll the pastry without it cracking. There might be a 4th attempt... we'll see. I am so determined to fix little things here and there so that I can make this perfect.

Hot Hombre

Time for some random pictures update ala Instagram.

Met up with Beatrice while she's here for a vacation and look what she got me! This pack of peanut butter goodness is evillll. Wk and I couldn't stop eating it for as long as it's within our reach until I decided to pack it and put it aside where it's not so visible. But as I'm typing this I'm popping one into my mouth because it's right next to the computer. Evilllll...

Tried this new drink from Starbucks, Cinnamon Dolce Latte. Mmm it was perfect for that rainy cold day.

Macarons from Cacao... yummeh.

Chillin' in my new jammies that I got from DFO. Only $20!

Random message made me cannot stop smiling :) I was smiling to myself in the lunch room when a classmate saw and called me crazy lol.

And so we did went out for dinner and watch a movie.

Had a new burger from Grilled called the Hot Hombre. Homaigaah it was so spicy.

Dessert before the movie! Had a BOGO free short stack at Pancake Parlour. I seriously prefer whipped butter over anything but decided to go with icecream because whipped butter is so fattening :( Ice cream's good but it's just not as good as butter. And after going through half the pancake I feel quite sick of it already lol.

We watched Dark Shadows. It wasn't a fantastically good movie but it was entertaining to watch, especially with Johnny Depp in it. Come on, everybody loves Johnny Depp, admit it. Eva Green was stunning, as she was in Casino Royale as Vesper. I like that name, Vesper, sounds so... venomous hahah. Ok nvm.

Kitchenventure: (almost) Asian

Mee Hoon Kueh 麵粉粿

From where I come from, we call it mee hoon kueh. Not pan mee 板麺 although I know many people (particularly from Subang and KL) call it that. Sorry, pan mee as I have known it is anchovy-based soup with broad, flat noodle (like fettuccine). Exactly the same with mee hoon kueh, except that mee hoon kueh are hand-torn, flat, irregularly shaped pieces of noodle (like pappardelle, but more irregular). I like to call this the Asian pasta. It is sooo easy to make. I remember eating this on Saturday nights when my mom didn't bother to cook. She would buy this from a place nearby and they were so good.


Cream of Mushroom Soup

After making my own cream of mushroom soup, I honestly will never buy canned mushroom soup again. Again, it is really easy to make but the taste is so awesome. I'm not bragging really, anyone can do this because it is that simple. I am suddenly reminded of the mushroom soup which comes with the meals in Malaysia's Pizza Hut. Oh gosh. How can a restaurant even serve crap like that...

Vietnamese Prawn Salad

I tried this once in a Vietnamese restaurant and I instantly loved how it's made of really simple, fresh, raw ingredients and yet it tasted so good. It's really light, refreshing and healthy. I tried making it myself but somehow the taste just didn't feel quite the same :/ This shall go to my 'revisit' list.


Three Cups Chicken 三杯鸡

I've never had this in anywhere before but a friend told me about it and I came across a recipe on the net one day, got interested and decided to try making it. 3 cups basically mean a cup each of 3 main condiments which are sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine. Of course, it is just a basic idea/concept of cooking it, you'll have to adjust the volume according to the amount of chicken. The first time I made it, I used 1 cup each of the said condiments and it was a disaster. Can you imagine 1 cup of soy sauce? The level of salty flavour is beyond any normal human's tolerance lol. Anyway, I've tried making this dish a few times and finally managed to get it right. I used chicken breast and it was really good! And this is coming from someone who doesn't even like to eat chicken breast. The key is to not overcook them.


Fish Fragrant Eggplant 鱼香茄子

I tried this once in a Sichuan restaurant here and I fell in love with it at an instant. Growing up, I never liked eating eggplant. Its mushy and I think it tastes quite disgusting. When I had this popular Sichuan dish, the eggplants were deep-fried so it's crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. And I loved that it didn't have that mushy texture and that disgusting taste? I think it's because of the type of eggplant used and also not overcooking it. And the savoury sweet sauce was very appetizing. I've searched through many recipes of this dish and to my surprise, there are so many versions of it and not many call for deep-frying the eggplant. I did deep-fry my eggplant but sadly, it didn't stay crispy :( I don't know how to maintain its crispiness... probably need to use a liquid frying batter instead of coating it with cornflour. I shall attempt this again!

Thai Green Chicken Curry

I made the curry paste from scratch. Store-bought pastes tend to contain too much preservative and additives, not to mention the MSG and often lack in real flavour. I was really really happy with the end result. It would have been perfect if I could have used freshly squeezed coconut cream but unfortunately I have yet to find a place which sells freshly grated coconut, let alone freshly squeezed coconut cream/milk. So a canned coconut cream that is. I used coconut cream in the first time cooking it and it tasted amazing. The second time cooking it with the leftover paste, I substituted it with evaporated milk (healthier option) and sadly, it was a disaster. For unknown reasons, the milk curdled in the curry. And it didn't give the curry the same consistency and fragrance as when I used coconut cream. Nevertheless, I'm really happy that I made the paste from scratch! Required some work but totally worth the effort.

Foodventure: Gingerboy Melbourne

Gingerboy is a restaurant serving modern Asian cuisine. Lenny first introduced me to it but I've never got around to trying it until Maggie decided to make a booking for yesterday, and the dinner was 4 hours before her flight home to Malaysia! Crazy, crazy girl lol.

We started off with their snacks and street food selection.

Son In Law Eggs, Chili Jam and Asian Herbs

I've never known what a Son In Law Eggs was until I saw it on Masterchef. I attempted to make this once, and it turned out to be pretty easy! The egg was pretty much the same... come on. Its just eggs. No fancy schmancy thing can go on in an egg can it? The chili jam was different. It was really mild in terms of taste compared to mine which was really tangy. It was mild but the flavour was really good nevertheless.

Tempura Oysters with Shredded Iceberg and Prik Nam Pla

This one was faultless in my opinion. I love oysters anyway, particularly the raw one. Even though this was fried, the oysters were still really succulent and tasted semi-raw. Prik Nam Pla is basically a condiment made of fish sauce and chili.

And here are the mains.

Green Chicken Curry with Okra and Fried Egg

Not the authentic type of green curry with lots of heat (in fact, I didn't sense any heat at all...) but the curry sauce itself was very flavourful. I could easily eat that with the okra and without chicken. And this is coming from a person who dislikes okra.

Crispy Singapore Noodle, Spiced Vegetables, Soy and Sesame

When we were having the curry all of a sudden a waiter put this on our table in a hurry and we heard him say its "on the house" or something along that line. Thinking it's complementary, of course we dug in.

I didn't quite like it actually. The fried noodle tasted very much, if not exactly like raw 'yee mein'. The spiced vegetables (capsicum, beans, eggplant) were so soft and mushy. The sauce was alright but that was it.

Top: Red Braised Pork, Pickled Papaya, Pineapple and Coriander Relish.
Bottom: Caramelised Ox Cheeks, Peanut Sauce, Hot & Sour Coconut Salad

Pork was a little chewy, don't know if it's meant to be like that though. The pickled papaya salad and the coriander relish was packed with so many flavours (sweet, spicy, sour), it literally gave me a punch in my mouth when I took a spoonful of it.

Ox cheeks... I don't know. I've never had ox cheeks before. The texture tasted like ordinary stewed beef, so soft it comes apart in strings. Peanut sauce was not hot nor sour to me, and I didn't even realise there was coconut. There was a whole bunch of raw beansprouts though. The whole dish was alright, wasn't mind-blowing to me.

We also did order a Steamed Silken Tofu with Asian Mushrooms and XO Sauce and for unknown reasons, it didn't make it to the table. Instead, we got the Singapore Noodle which we thought was complementary until it came out in the bill.

Of course we sorted it out with the people and managed to get the right bill. It was overall a pretty good experience, definitely worth the try.

And since I knew I was gonna go have some fancy dinner, I decided to doll up.

My smokey eyes, chiseled features and pale lips make me look so stoned haha.

For the past 2 weeks

Long time no blog! Here's a pictorial update of what I've been up to besides school:

Tried innovating and recreating a golden sweet potato dessert I absolutely loved from a Beijinger restaurant in Shah Alam. Used purple sweet potatoes instead because I think the colour's uber intriguing for a dessert. By the way do you know how outrageously overpriced purple sweet potatoes are here in Melbourne? Totally outrageous. And do you know purple sweet potatoes are white when unpeeled, yellow sweet potatoes are dark purple when unpeeled? I didn't, haha. Anyway, my dessert didn't meet my expectation. It wasn't as smooth and creamy but I will keep working on it to find out how.

Ever since I was introduced to 流沙包 lao sha bao by Maggie (the foodie, haha it rhymes!) I was hooked. Not to be mistaken with 奶黄包 nai wong bao, also called sweet custard buns, that one uses different type of custard and doesn't 'drip'.  Lao sha bao basically is a bun with melted salted egg yolk custard - SUPER GOOD! But it has to be melted completely to the point that it drips when you tear the bun in half, hence the name. I managed to find frozen packs of this in an Asian grocer and it's pretty close to the good stuff we get from the dim sum place we frequent!

Found another place which serves yummy Malaysian food - Grand Tofu! We had Fried Kuey Teow and Yong Tau Foo with curry soup which tastes exactly like laksa soup base, in a good way! And it's so near our place, only 1 train stop away!

Tried hair chalking after seeing it on Youtube. It works! Basically you take chalk pastels and rub it in your hair and tadaa! Instant washable coloured hair! But you gotta spray it with damn a lot of hairspray to hold it in place otherwise it gets everywhere, even on your fingers when you brush your hair! And it's really really drying to the hair as well. Will only recommend doing it for a special night out, and only do it to pieces of hair or the tips. It's too drying, not to mention super mafan and messy to do the whole head. 

Had barbecue on Sunday night with Maggie and Kai Mun. That pit seriously needs to be made more use of. It's literally sitting in the balcony collecting dust.

Made jap chae (first time!) as a side for barbecue. It's actually really easy to make! But uses a hell lot of sesame oil and soy sauce it's not even funny.

And finally the grand finale...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! 

Now I won't have to hog Wk's phone to take Instagram pictures or do whatever. Hopefully with a new gadget like this I'll be more diligent in blogging? Haha. Hopefully...

I can haz Instagram!

Last week was probably one of the most satisfying weeks I've had in school. Passed my final questions for manicure, got a final for body massage then passed the final questions for it, got a final for facial, and then passed the final questions for facial. Finally got a chance to work on my waxing - which I am so bad at cos I haven't done it in a while, I'm so losing touch. I need more, seriously. Will be doing makeup in the coming week, can't wait for it! I've washed all my makeup brushes, all ready for it! Hee =D

Right now, that makes me officially a semi-qualified manicure, pedicure, body massage and facial therapist! Semi-qualified because I haven't gotten my diploma yet but I'm considered competent in all that already :)

Was about to iron my black pants before I wear it to school when I discovered that it hasn't been completely dried in the dryer. So no pants for me :( Yes, I only have one pair of black pants. I have black tights, skinny jeans but those aren't allowed so I had to skip school today. I could have dried it, go to school late and clock in as half day but what's the point if I'm late and I'm not going to get the clients I need. Good time anyway cos I need to get my business plan assignment started.

Yesterday I went to this beauty expo and it was an eye-opening experience. I've never been to an event like this before. It's a trades-only event so it's not for the public, only for people in the industry. Lots of booths with different products and brands, it was a good exposure.

I just installed Instagram! Erm.. on Wk's iphone hahaha. 

Some lashes and brushes I bought at the expo.

Went to Laksa King yesterday (AGAINNnnn haha).

Instagram is like a picture sharing app. It's really easy to use. Take a picture, filter it to however you like, and share. It works like twitter, but in the form of pictures.

Ok time to be productive. Ciao.