interesting signs..

It's been ages since I've stepped into dessert house. For those unacquainted with Melbourne's chinatown, dessert house is a Hong-Kong style eatery in one of the small shopping centres, mainly patronized by overseas students. As we walked out of the shopping centre, I took a double-take as we walked past this sign posted on the door of a small phone shop.

In English: "We have moved house.

Please go to the new store.

(Same shopping centre)"

Just in case you didn't know where the new shop was... the kind owners had a map drawn out as well...

... and if that wasn't enough...

for the topographically challenged

it's been a while since I've been this amused :)

mornings at 906

  

---

views like this make waking up at 6am worth it.

too many mushrooms

fresh mushroom soup with turkish bread

what do you do when you have too many mushrooms? make mushroom soup of course! the more varieties of mushrooms the better. i used some white portabello mushrooms, swiss brown mushrooms, and a handful of fresh shitakes this time round. i wish i had some dried porcini or truffle oil to add in as well, but i couldn't find either in safeway. i probably wasn't looking hard enough...

here's a tip for bread and carbo junkies in melbourne... threshermans bakehouse (just off lygon street, near melbourne uni) has some fantastic fresh breads that go for half price after 3pm every day. i bought a massive thing of turkish bread for two bucks! i love bargains. they make me happy :) 

i don't usually like cream in my mushroom soup. i find it too rich, and you can't really appreciate the full flavour of the mushrooms. i took a hint from jamie oliver and serve each bowl with a dollop of marscapone cheese instead. the results are heavenly! absolutely recommended if you love mushrooms.

porterhouse steaks

In honour of caleb's visit, we bought up some porterhouse steaks yesterday and pan-fried them for dinner. it's on occasions like this that i absolutely LOVE vicmart. 5 huge cuts for 24 bucks. just awesome! the steaks were lightly flavoured with salt and pepper... and then panfried and served with a dollop of homemade garlic-herbed butter. mmm.... meat. haha. i also whipped up some potato mash and popped some asparagus and prosciutto in the oven.

steak & mash with baby asparagus wrapped in prosciutto

marcus came over as well, and we had great dinner conversation... talking about everything from food, to the government to singaporean films. 'twas a fun night :)

in other news, the parents are in town, and i'm graduating tomorrow. taking them to a little italian restaurant in hardware lane tonight. al fresco dining and live jazz music. crossing my fingers for good weather. excited about tomorrow! can't believe i'm finally graduating!

duck and pinot noir!

a few of us were having drinks overlooking the yarra river about a week ago, and we had the fabulous idea of having a night dedicated to the classic combination of duck and pinot noir. the boys were to buy the roast duck and the wine, which left me the arduous task of coming up with a couple of sides to go with the roast duck.

after mulling over it for a few days, i came up with two side dishes. the first was a spinach and rocket salad with caramelized oranges and a miso sesame dressing. the slight bitterness and sweetness from the oranges worked wonders with the nuttiness of the rocket, and it broke the monotony of the dressing. in my opinion, the salad was a winner :) for 

carbohydrates, we had pan-fried polenta wedges topped with a five-spice honey soy sauce to complement the roast duck. this was pretty good as well, as the crispiness of the fried polenta really added texture to the entire dish.

roast duck with an orange miso salad and polenta wedges

e-hern with multiple bottles of pinot noir

e-hern serenading us

jo not-studying

in other news, a bunch of us went up to yarra valley last sunday. the weather was beautiful, and we got the chance to taste some really gorgeous wines. i promise that i will blog about it as soon as i manage to get the photos :)

a belated congratulations

i know that this is a few days late... but congrats kenneth! you're now ready to embark on a journey into the world of WORK. which reminds me of a song....

What do you do with a BA in English (or Japanese... in Ken's case)

What is my life going to be?

Four years of college and plenty of knowledge

Has earned me this useless degree

I can't pay the bills yet

Cause I have no skills yet

The world is a big scary place

But somehow I can't shake

This feeling I might make

A difference to the human race....

- 'What do you do with a BA in English?'  Avenue Q

All the best ken!

In other news... it always helps to be on your guard when you have friends prowling around with cameras. You never know what they might capture...

caught in the moment

new year, new look

it is tradition for the chinese to wear new clothes during the new year, to symbolize new beginnings and a fresh start. so i figured that my room shouldn't feel left out. i've slowly been re-decorating since i came back to melbourne - moving furniture around; taking down old posters; putting up new ones. 

i'm trying to fill up the wall next to my bed with photos. right now it's about a quarter done. i'll probably make it one of my projects... at least for the next few months or so. i wonder how long it will take...

snapshots

 

easter beckons

it seems like the signs that easter is approaching start to appear earlier and earlier each year. suddenly there are shelves and shelves of chocolate bunnies and eggs that line the aisles at supermarkets and convenience stores. there never was this much variety when i was a kid. i've never seen so many different kinds of easter eggs. it's bizzare.

my favourite easter treat has to be the hot cross bun. particularly the chocolate ones from bakers' delight. absolute heaven when toasted up. the traditional ones are delightful as well. especially when served heated up with a knob of butter oozing off the top. totally YUM!

traditional fruit hot cross buns  from bakers' delight

incomplete

And so here we  are. back in melbourne. ready for another year of adventure and surprises. the weather has been predictably unpredictable, and i've already made about three trips to ikea in the one week that i've been back... and many more planned to come. 

team HITH is mostly back together again...

zac and his trusty mac book

debs the kitchen creature

mish chiuren the techie

but with one tiny little issue... we're incomplete. and things won't be the same till may.

hurry back davis! we miss you many many!