My Diana Mini I’ve ignored for far too long and one of my favourite buys of the year: a vintage brass ring Aaron thinks must have come straight out of the Lord of The Rings. Everyone else keeps mistaking it for a YSL. Either way, I’m not complaining.
Left: One of the small boutiques along the street sells French soaps and bubble baths. Honestly, I could care less about the fancy soap; I just want the beautiful bottles they come in. Right: The unnamed Deli (or is it just ‘Deli’? hmm..) whose lattes I have a fondness for.
Technically, this bakery isn’t on Brunswick St but on Gertrude St which is pretty close. It’s called Fatto a Mano and they sell some of the best (and cheap) organic bread. They’re famous for their sourdough and potato & olive pizza slices which always run out by mid-day :/ I LOVE their jam doughnuts as well. Unlike conventional doughnuts, their version is a simple ball of light yeasty bread. It’s sliced in half with raspberry jam slathered on one side and a heaping of cream in the other. Mmm. Creammmm.
Fatta a Mano’s pizzas I was talking about. Left: Sundried tomatoes and basil. Right: Potato and Olive. Yep I bought a slice ;p
Perseverance Hotel: love the old architecture and the turrets but would I ever consider staying there for a night? Never.
The many tiny roads leading out to Gertrude St/Brunswick St have some great graffiti. On that subject, I do consider graffiti a form of art but only when it’s on the streets and not on a property I own. Fork yeah, double standards!
And as always, I’m suckered in by any species of pretty plant/flower.
Some photos I took while meeting a friend for coffee at Brunswick St, the ‘hipster spot’ of Melbourne. It’s essentially a ten minute walk from my place and it’s one of the few things I’m going to miss about living in this crap hole apartment. It’s also where you can find my fave fish & chips shop, Hooked (which I wrote about here).
I’m trying to write shorter entries for this blog so nobody has to wait a month for another one of my super long entries. I’m not good with multitasking: when I have school work, I have finish it first which is why I can no longer read my favourite blogs as often as I’d like (forgive me, friends! 
) and any thought of updating my own blog has always been ignored and pushed to the back of my to-do list. And frankly, I also can’t afford to get an Asian F on my transcript or my parents might threaten to cut me off LOL. So here’s to a more regular posting schedule on tea noir! ;D
Fatto a Mano Organic Bakery
228 Gertrude Street
Fitzroy VIC 3065
Uni started this week and my mind still hasn’t adjusted itself to the escalation of thinking required when attending classes. The first week after spring break is customarily filled with “how was your holiday?”-type questions and I’m always happy to oblige. Against a background of my friends recollecting their adventures in Sydney/Queensland/Monaco (k the Monaco tale did make me a lil green), I was one of the few who would say unashamedly, “I did absolutely nothing and it was beautiful.”
Okay, that was a semi-lie. I spent the last two weeks getting my body back on track: I threw away all the junk food I had in my house, even my roommate’s emergency bags of crisps when she wasn’t looking. Just kidding. It took all of my powers of persuasion (“It’s not food wastage if it isn’t real food to begin with!”) and she finally relented in the end. I also ate more complex carbs and at some point, the only form of protein I was consuming was tofu so in some ways, I became a pseudo-vegetarian LOL.
This was unintentional to be honest, I couldn’t be arsed to go to the market to get fish and meat ;p But the two week meat purge did me some good: I’ve lost 3 kilos so far WHOO /o/ Anyway, my fridge is now fully-stocked again so I guess that’s the end of my stint as a vegetarian haha! It feels great to be eating healthy again though and I can’t remember why I went down the dark path of evil processed food – Oh right – school, the elitist institution responsible for nurturing, not bright minds, but weight gain.
The irony in this entry is that I’m about to share a seafood chowder recipe which isn’t exactly on top of the healthy food list since it’s loaded with one of God’s greatest gifts to female thighs: cream. But one can always make healthy adjustments to the recipe by using lite cream and skim milk, yes? I take no credit for the recipe, it’s actually my roommate’s which is why I’ve named it after her ;D Thanks Nini! <3
Nini’s Seafood Chowder
Ingredients
1 teaspoon butter
1 onion
2 gloves garlic
1 potato, boiled and grated
1 cup fresh milk
1/2 cup cream (YEAAAAHHHHH)
1.5 cups of seafood marinara mix
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped finely
A pinch of salt and black pepper
Instructions
1. Melt the butter in a heated pot and throw in the garlic and onion until fragrant.2. Add in the grated potato and stir.
3. Pour the fresh milk into the pot and let it heat up for a bit.
4. Add the marinara and cream into the mixture and make sure you stir well!
5. Season according to taste with the salt, black pepper and parsley.
6. Serve with bread or with pasta!
I actually like it enough on its own ;D Bon appétit!
And because I’ve been a proud Apple advocate since 2005:
The man whose computers and applications I have to thank for allowing me to create beautiful things like tea noir and the many other design projects I was involved in during my days as a design student and subsequently, as a working designer. Thank you Steve, and goodbye.
Image credit: Time.com
P.S about the Apple logo: It wasn’t designed by Steve Jobs or anyone under Apple for that matter. It was designed by a man named Rob Janoff who says the story of Adam and Eve had nothing to do with the bite in the famous apple. Here’s my favourite quote from an interview he did:
I’m probably the least religious person, so Adam and Eve didn’t have anything to do with it. The bite of knowledge sounds fabulous, but that’s not it. And, there is a whole lot of other lure about it.
Turing, the famous supposed father of computer science who committed suicide in the early 50’s, was British and was accused of being homosexual, which he was. He was facing a jail sentence so he committed suicide to avoid all that. So, I heard one of the legends being that the colored logo was an homage to him. People think I did the colored stripes because of the gay flag. And, that was something really thought for a long time. The other really cool part was that apparently he killed himself with a cyanide laced apple. And, then I found out Alan Turing’s favorite childhood story was Snow White where she falls asleep forever for eating a poisoned apple to be woken up by the handsome prince.
Anyway, when I explain the real reason why I did the bite it’s kind of a let down. But I’ll tell you. I designed it with a bite for scale, so people get that it was an apple not a cherry. Also it was kind of iconic about taking a bite out of an apple. Something that everyone can experience. It goes across cultures. If anybody ever had an apple he probably bitten into it and that’s what you get.
It was after I designed it, that my creative director told me: “Well you know, there is a computer term called byte”. And I was like: “You’re kidding!”
Ahh I would have gotten this entry up earlier if it hadn’t been raining so much in Melbourne! The weather’s been perfect for personal slumber parties in my room; I’ve been curling up in bed while watching fashion documentaries like Valentino: The Last Emperor. That, by the way, is an incredible film! It was pretty amazing spotting all the dresses I took photos of in my Valentino: A Retrospective entries (part 1 and part 2) and if you loved The September Issue, you’re going to love the Valentino film too ;D
I met Ana for brunch the other day at a new patisserie and boulangarie called Chez Dre in South Melbourne. Her photo’s up there, just so you know I don’t go to all these places by myself k. She’s one of my more recent readers and get this: she discovered my blog by googling for the reasons behind ridiculous, expensive Malay weddings and found herself agreeing to everything I’ve said in this particular entry (which I remember writing while under the influence of sugar) Just how cool is that lol? Anyway, since the Malay community in Melbourne is extremely small, it turns out we’ve actually met before at a mutual friend’s house for last year’s Eid! We’ve been proper friends for about a month now and it’s been beautiful.
I think Chez Dre (which I’m assuming is French) is fairly new to the Melbourne brunch scene and the place they’re located at used to be a warehouse before it was turned into this fine eating establishment. I love that breakfast is served all day in Chez Dre and you don’t have to go anywhere else for dessert because damn it, you can see they’ve got that covered. Different varieties of eclairs and strips of mousse cakes decorated with house-made macarons and gold leaf, I had trouble settling for one. I don’t know how we did it but Ana and I actually shared dessert wtf. We tried the salted caramel eclair which was filled walnuts and a buttery cream slightly reminiscent of smooth cake batter, it was SO GOOD (this coming from a person who’s indifferent to walnuts). I’m so impressed, I’m heading there again tomorrow and sry2say I am not going to share my dessert with anyone 8D
One of the best things about blogging at tea noir is meeting and getting to know, not just other bloggers, but the people who regularly put up with my sparse updates/nonsense: you. It’s wonderful hearing what people think about my blog in person, over a cup of coffee. That way, I can be sure I hear only the good stuff – anything bad and that cup of coffee is going home as a stain on someone’s top just sayin’ girllll. HAHAHAHA nah, I am completely open to -ahem- constructive criticism but so far, people seem to have the same complaint: that I should update more. I hear ya, I hear ya!
Just two days ago, I also met up with my sole stewardess friend, Hid, who was in Melbourne for a day! We regularly stalk each other’s blogs, except she hasn’t blogged in ages *cough* Honestly, I was expecting it to be a little awkward because it’s been two years since we last saw each other and like a man, I tend to get slightly nervous around exceptionally beautiful girls rofl (shut up Hid, you’re beautiful okay!) But again, I had a smashing time – we ended up talking for hours over the most random things: how horrid Ibiza really is, the Singapore education system, photography and how much she disliked Angelina Jolie and Natalie Portman (I know right, I told her she was crazy). Thank you so much for the great company, Hid! Hid also has a blogshop, Nyla, and hopefully if our schedules don’t clash, I’ll have a stint as a guest photographer for Nyla! ;D
Anyway, I am completely digressing from my main point here. I would really love to meet my readers in person because I firmly believe any girl (or guy) who enjoys reading this space would probably be great to hang out with so I’m proposing a massive tea noir meet-up in Singapore when I head back! That way I can meet you guys and you guys can meet each other! I have no idea how I’m going to organize it yet but I just wanted to get this idea out and see what you would think of it. So, who’s interested? ;p
Chez Dre
285-287 Coventry Street
Melbourne, 3205
It’s been two weeks (well, almost) since my return home and I still find myself thinking about this fish & chips joint I discovered whilst exploring the area around my apartment. Touted as Melbourne’s healthiest fish & chips eaterie by The Age, a broadsheet newspaper similar to Singapore’s The Straits Times, Hooked is definitely one of its kind. “Healthy” fish and chips? That may sound absurd but Hooked has really proven itself to be the restaurant du jour for the health-conscious in Melbourne (i.e. Me!)
A giant mural of a naked mermaid greets you when you enter the restaurant, smiling boldly despite her state of undress. Fashion magazines and the morning’s newspapers are stacked on the main table, available for perusing as you wait for your food to be served. I have a bit of a crush on the counter girl (she’s in the first pic) – she has beautiful porcelain skin and the way she does her hair and make-up reminds me of a retro pin-up girl, like a family friendly Dita von Teese!
And the food? SO FORKING GOOD. Pick your choice of seafood (their housefish is the Blue Grenedier, which happens to be one of my faves!) and have it grilled or tempura-battered. You can then choose for your mains to be served with either a side of hand-cut chips, their special Hooked salad or an Asian-inspired baby bok choy salad with rice. Plus, you get your choice of one of their homemade sauces too!
I had some grilled calamari with brown rice and baby bok choy. I think they’re really generous with the calamari – the other fish & chips joint I used to frequent only served 4 small pieces of squid ~_~ The vegetables are steamed and lightly dressed with a medley of soy sauce and kecap manis, a thick black sweetened sauce from Indonesia. Brown rice has gotten a bad rep for being the less tasty cousin of white rice but there was nothing nasty about the rice in my meal. It was fluffy and moist, just how rice should be. I picked the pesto-based Salsa Verde, a mean green sauce I am completely addicted to. I’m convinced there’s weed in the Salsa Verde – I just kept dunking everything I had on my plate into the tiny bowl of leafy basil heaven and it was gone in minutes.
The weird orange-brown pieces on top are actually shavings of fried sweet potatoes and I must confess that I really, really hate sweet potatoes but these were really yummm! So it’s true: everything tastes better fried lol! I thought they were a really nice touch too, it’s not everyday you see fried sweet potatoes (not in Singapore anyway).
My roomie ordered the standard fish & chips with sweet chilli sauce. Another outstanding meal, the batter was crisp and enhanced the fresh flavour of the fish instead of turning it into one oily mess. The hand-cut chips were also stellar, I like that they all varied in shape but at the same time, I feel sorry for the dude who has to cut the sacks of potatoes every morning. He’s my hero.
Hooked – Healthy seafood to go.
384 Brunswick St, Fitzroy
Phone: 9417 7740
I turned 22 on Sunday, another year older and perhaps none the wiser. It still hasn’t hit me that I’m an adult now, maybe that’s for the better lol. Turning 22 is scarier than turning 21 because all my fears are suddenly amplified by the passing of another year. I realised today most people reading this blog don’t actually know who I am save for my name (Ilyana is actually my middle name), my age, my incessant need for shoes/make-up and that I now live in Melbourne. So since this is my birthday entry and birthdays signify something personal to most people, I shall now reveal a couple of things about me that most of you prolly won’t know. It’s a list of “OMG EPIC FAIL” moments and hopefully you’d find this quite comical as I did when I wrote this for my creative writing module’s non-fiction piece.
Shit that has happened to me:
1. Going to the bathroom when I was 10 and forgetting the lock.
2. I’m at the doctor’s, he tells me to strip and I realise I have my bunny undies on.
3. After dropping several hints on what I want for my birthday (this beautiful bag I saw in some store), my boyfriend gives me a bag. A laptop bag. We are no longer together.
4. My mother phoning my aunts, grandma and her best friend to announce I just got my first period and therefore I am “normal”.
5. My grandmother passed away and my grandfather dies 5 days later – let’s not go there.
6. A friend gives me chocolates from Japan and hide it at the back of the fridge only to find it gone the next day. Ammar, if you’re reading this – I know it was you.
7. I spent the last couple of years thinking my bff’s blog (Aaron‘s old blog lol) was named silks on nets. It was strange and a little poetic but still strange tho I never asked him about it. I found out recently (at my own expense) it was actually silk sonnets.
Excellent milestones aren’t they? Also, if you’ve got a question to ask – ask me on my formspring! I promise I’ll be kind XD
22 and my skin has never looked worse sigh. I’m sorry you had to see this but well, everyone has pores. You just have to accept that. I hate all the break-outs I’ve been having thanks to school. Skin, can you please act your age?! Stop being a hormonal teenager, god – GET IT TOGETHER ALREADY. Eyeliner: Maybelline’s gel liner, Lipstick: NYX lipstick in B52, Blush: MAC highlight powder in Mellow Rave.
I went out with Nad for a pre-birthday brunch at The Quarter (I could actually get used to this starve-in-the-morning-eat-at-noon thing) and that vanilla milkshake you see me having is probably one of the best I’ve had. I was looking at last year’s birthday entry and I was wearing yellow in it as well lol – I love mustard yellow, it’s such a beautiful color. This mustard yellow trench is from MANGO and it is my ABSOLUTE favourite. Best investment EVER. The color of the trench looks more accurate in the first photo than this one – this one’s been tainted by the fervent use of yellow lighting in cafes.
My mexican omelette! It’s got roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, spinach and goat’s cheese with toasted rye bread. YUM.
This is Nad! We were schoolmates back in primary school and we never saw each other again for close to a decade until I moved to Melbourne. She goes to the same uni as I do…except she’s graduating in a couple of weeks, lucky duck. NAD WHO’S GOING TO BUY ME PRESENTS NOW THAT YOU’RE MOVING BACK TO SINGAPORE?!
Nad had french toast soaked in maple syrup and cinnamon sugar with bananas on top :3
And as promised, beauty stuff! I’ve been obsessing over Lancome’s L’absolu Rouge lipstick in Voile De Rose when it first appeared on Temptalia and let me tell you, finding this lipstick was not easy. It’s a US-exclusive which is ridiculous – how the governments of this earth expect to work towards world peace when we, as women, don’t get equal access to make-up collections is beyond me.
Anyway childish rants aside, last month I decided I had enough of this country-exclusive bullshit and checked out the local Lancome counter to see if there were any dupes of Voile De Rose. I was swatching every pink lipstick that had similar tones on my hand and comparing each swatch with an image of Temptalia’s Voile De Rose swatch that I saved on my iphone (See I’m so obsessed it’s almost obscene). 10 minutes in and I found my baby! This is Lancome’s L’absolu Rouge Gold Lipstick SPF 15 in 354 Rose Rhapsodie. It’s a very very close match – I won’t be surprised if it really is Voile De Rose packaged under a different name. Rose Rhapsodie is a soft shade of pink, so pretty *_*
Finally got my Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle from my mom when my family visited me last month! My first CHANEL lipstick whoo! Mademoiselle is the shade Vanessa Paradis is wearing in the ads and it’s a deep rose with beige undertones. I’m going to wear this today so I hope the formula doesn’t disappoint me.
Swatches for you! L to R: Rose Rhapsodie, Mademoiselle. Sorry Rose Rhapsodie looks like a blur of pink city lights, I thought I had a good shot of both swatches (it was my only shot) but when I got home and checked the images on my computer, it turned out to be er, otherwise. Ah well. Also, please take note Rose Rhapsodie looks darker in this shot than it actually is.
The love of my life, Nadz, called me in the wee hours of the morning – I won’t lie lol, I was up at midnight waiting for her call and I waited for over an hour before she finally did.
Me: “Bitch, you’re late.”
Nadz: “Huh, what time is it over there?”
Me: “1 am”
Nadz: “OH SHIT.”
HAHAHAHAHA FAIL NADZ FAIL. I miss you <333333
The parents called me the next morning.
Parents + brothers in the background: "HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYYY!!!"
Me: "Aww thanks guys!"
Dad: "We're going to Carousel later in your honour."
Me: "SIAPA PUNYE BIRTHDAY NI?!?!" (That's malay for "I'm sorry but whose birthday is this?!?!")
Shucks, I miss my family so much. After getting me my dream miu miu bag, you guys would think that my parents would stop with the STUDY HARD! GET GOOD GRADES! blackmail.
Well.
I don’t know how to say this but.
Clearly, they’ve taken it up a notch.
MY ALMOST CHANEL IS NO MORE! Chanel Classic Jumbo Flap in Black Caviar with gold hardware, I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU ALL MY LIFE. The catch is I have to share the bag with my mother – not that it bothers me, I’d take my chances even if I’m forced to share the bag with an orangutan LOL. Ahh this is crazy, I’m over the moon!
Thank you for all your birthday wishes on fb/twitter! I loved reading each one <33333333333
chanel photos credit: my dad’s cellphone, chanel.com
I’ve never been big on brunch – Why eat once when you can eat twice lol? I love my food too much to mash two meals together but there are times when blood sacrifices have to be made for the greater good so when a friend you’ve not seen for a long time asks you out for brunch at a place she thinks you’d love, banish the thought of grilling some sausages for breakfast from your head and mentally prepare yourself for the hunger pangs you’re most likely to get at 8am in the morning. Most people have it good – they sleep in and wake up in the late mornings/afternoon. I can’t do that, sadly. I’ve always been an early riser and while it does have its advantages (I am almost always on time for school), having no breakfast renders me a fruitcake with a little extra time on her hands….and that’s not a good idea, people. The last time I had some extra ‘me’ time, I racked up a $200 online shopping spree bill which didn’t go down well with the parents ~_~
Anywho, Shikin invited me out for brunch at MART, a quaint little breakfast place in an old refurbished tram station. They’re famous for their poached/scrambled eggs on toast and triple stack pancakes with vanilla mascarpone, berry compote and almond flakes! The food was so good, I actually went there again for brunch today with Yumi!
I have no idea what sort of soup this woman was eating but it looked yum! Shot taken by Yumi.
Okay, okay no more stalker-ish photos of people eating, I swear. Nice sneakers tho.
My hand blown glass ring dad bought for me from an art stall in St Kilda’s. It’s obnoxiously huge, has this crazy hippy psychedelic vibe to it and I frickin’ love it. I had a purple-blue-green manicure going on thar…remember what I said about having a little too much time on my hands lol? Shot taken by Yumi.
Yumi went all bright with her nails as opposed to my someone-threw-up-sparkly-vomit-on-my-nails nonsense.
What she ordered: Scrambled free range eggs on toasted rye bread with chives, wilted spinach salad, mushrooms on the side and parmesan flakes. Yumi shared some with me and I think I’ll be ordering this the next time I pop by!
What I had: Poached free range eggs on toasted rye bread with spinach, crème fraîche, slices of smoked salmon and topped with a cucumber, onion + capers salad. SO. FORKING. GOOD.
Obligatory close-up shot! To be honest, I kinda hate this shot. Nothing’s wrong with it but it’s just not so hot. (Yes I’m being anal here) I was starving so I shoved whatever I knew about photo composition into the temporary recycle bin and thought of nothing but poached eggs.
YAY きらきら☆ぴかぴか (kira kira pika pika) SPARKLY NAILS! Fine, I’ll admit looking at them gives me little bubbles of happiness. The real story behind them: Well apart from being bored this morning, I thought it would be fun to try out some of the nail polishes Cat sent me for my birthday! I’m not going to reveal what the shades are until I blog about what Cat sent me so stay tuned lol. Oh you don’t see my thumb here because I accidentally hacked some skin off with a knife when I opened the parcel so it looks naaasty. My birthday’s in 10 days and it’s feels so strange celebrating it away from home. Ah well, it’s no biggie. The cakes here are better anyway lulz.
K do me a favour guys: my bff Aaron’s flying over to Singapore for some shopping and since the only shopping area worth mentioning i.e. Orchard Road got hit by a flood yesterday, please pray to the gods of FASHIN that his shopping trip goes smoothly. Think about the amount of whining and ranting I’d have to listen to if he doesn’t get what he wants omg, I don’t think my ears would be able to take it! HAHAHA JK BB, have a wonderful trip! I wish I could be there to show you my hood (HAHA) but it’s alright, I’ll see you in December <3333~
Sorry I’ve been MIA! How’s school you might ask? Well I haven’t cried yet so I guess that’s a sign things are alright? School has made me a hermit because my god it’s intense! The amount of reading I have to do builds up each week and the articles I’ve been given to read aren’t exactly easy breezy beautiful chick lit material because dude, the language used in the articles are so complex I feel like I’m deciphering Latin half the time.
Anyway, I thought I’d just share a couple of photos I took from my first week in Melbourne. Lol I’ve been here for a month and these are the only photos I’ve taken so far, god I lead such a sad life now. I don’t even have time to bring the camera out anywhere now sigh. Ok enough sob stories, on to the photos beech!
Barely half a day in the city and I have officially raped the Lush store in Melbourne. (Pardon the language, I’m high on fizzy lemonade and cherry cupcakes so due to my sugar induced drunken stupor, I’m not responsible for all the crazy disjointed sentences I’m about to type out) I spent an entire hour in the store, touching/groping/spritzing everything I could possibly touch/grope/spritz 8D
I bought a tub of Sweetie Pie shower jelly (purely because it’s got glitter in it LOL and I was itching to spend some money ~_~) It’s supposed to be used with a bath sponge and I didn’t have one at the time so you can imagine how much fun I had attempting to use the shower jelly as a soap in the shower. It’s slippery as hell and needless to say after 10 mins of fumbling around with the jelly, the tiles in my shower were much cleaner than I was ._. Lesson of the day: If the SA tells you to get a bath sponge, get the damn sponge girl.
One of the highlights of my first week in Melbourne was dinner at the Pancake Parlour! They serve arguably the best pancakes and vanilla ice cream in the city all day long *_* We shared a banana split which came with the most decadent hot fudge everrr.
Our pancakes! I had a double stack of pancakes with organic strawberry jam, strawberries and cream – I think I must be the only person in the world who avoids maple syrup when it comes to pancakes. I think maple syrup is cloyingly sweet and overpowers that slight hint of buttermilk you can typically find in good pancakes……I can’t believe I’m actually bitching about maple syrup here, WHAT KIND OF A BLOG DO I RUN LOL?
We were walking on some random street when I saw a store front with nothing but a lift. I peered closer and DIED. ZOMG DIOR! LANVIN! OTHER LABELS I DON’T REALLY CARE FOR BUT HEYYY! I can’t remember how I managed to convince my aunts to get in the lift with me…not that anyone cares but yeah. The store’s called ASSIN which I’m hoping stands for “assassin” and not er “ass in” >_>
I took photos mainly at the men’s section because the 1) photography wasn’t allowed 2) I wanted to make Aaron jealous because they had an amazing collection of Dior and Lanvin sneakers meheh. I love the whole industrial steel minimal look they were going for.
More hot clothes Aaron can’t afford.
AND SOME ACTUAL LANVIN OMG! Lanvin makes some really good suits and I swooned looking at this one, the feel of the fabric *_* I don’t care, my future husband betta start saving because I’m not going to marry him if he wears anything less than a Lanvin on our wedding day HAHAHAH I WISH.
Thank you so much for your comments on my diet entry! I’m happy all of you feel enlightened by it, let me know if you have any questions or w/e. Anyway I am SO sorry I haven’t been reading all your entries – in fact, I haven’t been reading ANYTHING the past 2 weeks. I’ll get down to it eventually when I have the time, school’s a bit chaotic right now with all the reading, cooking and laundry I have to do. I’ll have a beauty entry up next hopefully – meanwhile, take care guys!
As you can tell from the title, this entry is mainly a jumble of food porn photos so I do not recommend reading this on an empty stomach. Run along now and get to the nearest source of food, your fridge, your momma’s stew, whatever you like. It’s nearly Christmas so there’s no need to watch the diet.
I figured I should start off this entry with fruits because it doesn’t clog up your arteries like all the other food stuff I’m about to show you baha. Don’t say I didn’t try to make this entry healthy.
We drove about half an hour away from the city to Baccus Marsh, a small town where you find vast fields of plantations, fruit farms and pretty lavender fields. We got to pick our own cherries and strawberries! You only pay after you finish filling up the plastic container they provide and it goes by weight so it’s very affordable. No funny entrance fees, yay!
Never in my life have I seen a cherry tree before! The cherries are pretty easy to pluck because they grow on low trees so the fruits are at your eye level. Fyi the “cherries” you get on ice cream sundaes are fake, I can’t remember what they’re made of but they should be banned. I hate their plastic sweetness. Give me the real deal anytime bb.
Strawberries! The ones we get in the supermarket here are usually not very sweet and more on the sourish side but oh my god, strawberries in Australia are DIVINEEEEEE. They are absolutely perfect, sweet with a bit of a tang.
LOOK MA! APRICOTS!
Muffins are EVERYWHERE. Apple muffins, chocolate, vanilla coconut (I hate coconut but this was gooood), banana, caramel, white chocolate raspberry (another winner!)…this is why my diet’s non-existent anymore.
HOLY FRICKIN’ OYSTERS! Granted they’re an acquired taste; some people like it grilled with a little sea salt, some people like it just like that, some people like it baked with a little mozzarella. I like mine raw with a lil lemon, nothing can ever beat that.
It’s sad that you can only find dips here in upperclass supermarkets and they’re not made fresh at all. Dips over there are made with care, from secret family recipes passed down from generation to generation so each store has a different set of dips for you to choose from.
Time for a water break! Finally got my hands on a bottle of vitaminwater…it was nothing special to be honest but I have been in love with the bottle and label design since forever, sorry I’m a designer – I can’t help but be drawn to good packaging and pretty things.
Cotton candy ice cream! so yummy and it makes me happy just looking at the swirl of purple and pink.
HOLY FRICKIN’ PIZZA! Soft, fluffy dough with copious amounts of my favourite toppings: salami, fresh mushrooms (holy crap they even used fresh mushrooms! not the canned shit we get here!), olives and a combination of mozzarella + edam cheese. This large pizza was only $8 EIGHT DOLLARS GUYS, where can u buy a decent large-sized pizza in Singapore for $8?!
Fish n chips which was $6. Look at the size of that fish. Would you rather have a mcdonald’s burger meal for $6 or an insanely huge and fresh battered white fish fillet cooked the minute you order? Ok so they’re both not exactly healthy but whatever, I’d take the latter.
One last flower power image to go before I end this entry :3 Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as the last one! The food in Melbourne is amazing although I have yet to try out the Asian cuisine over there ‘cept for a few sushi rolls ;P I think I’m going to have a really hard time maintaining my weight when I eventually move down under, erk.
Anyway, Christmas is just 2 days away now! What are your plans for Christmas? I’ll be traveling out of the country again, this time to the capital of Malaysia which is just a 3-4 hour drive away to visit my aunt and do a little bit of eating + shopping! I don’t celebrate Christmas but I am feeling the holiday cheer ;D I would like to wish everyone a merry christmas, spend time with your family and have a good time opening those presents!
For just one meal at end of each week, ignore the “rules” of your diet – in fact FORGET THE FACT THAT YOU’RE ON A DIET and eat something you really really want.
It could be that crumbly Oreo cheesecake that’s been staring at you everytime you order that low fat soy milk mocha latte at Starbucks, the grilled fish platter at your favourite seafood restaurant or in my case, my mom’s grilled baby lamb ribs with a side of potato salad and cherry tomatoes that she only makes once a year! Just make sure your “cheat” meal is within reason and don’t go overboard with the fast food!
Enjoy the food porn and yessss it was so fricking delicious, I was so tempted to lick the plate clean.
