Had these piks in a folder on my desktop, just waiting to be uploaded for a almost a month now. Taunting me every time I switched on my computer. Really should be getting back to work but I figured, "Heck. It's a lazy Sunday afternoon anyway." If I didn't do it now, who knows when I'll actually get to it. Peace!
(i) Si Hua's Birthday / Julian's Surprise Birthday Potluck
Have I mentioned how much I loved having potlucks with my friends in Melbourne. Every one is such a great cook and each pot luck dinner is such a surprise and treat, I never know what my friends are gonna make and they always taste so good. I'm sure all our parents would be proud =)
Leon's TeriYUMMY Chicken
Brian's Shepherd's Pie
My unset Creme Caramel sans Creme hehe. Still very glad cause I managed to make a really really good custard that I like to eat. Will share it when I can. Lessons learned from failed attempt:
(i) Make sure you have a pan with BIG surface area when making caramel
(ii) Do NOT bring cream to a boil, or your custard will split and won't set no matter how long you pop it in the fridge
Si Hua's garlic prawns
Chris's chocolate... Oops I meant, butter cake ;p
Arrow troop's Devil Curry Chicken. I LOVED it cause it was mild, tasty and slightly sweet. Exactly like how Lemak Curry Recipes is supposed to taste. To them it was fail for those reasons but maybe they didn't realised they made an uber Nyonya Curry WIN, hrmmm
Sam's stir fried udons
Kel's stir fried mee hoon
Shing's spicy calamari
Shin's kim chi fried rice and teriyaki chicken
Jul's mini pizza
Famous Pandan Chiffon Cake at Footscray
My very greedy plate. SO much good food man... You have no idea
Bday Cake 1: Chocolate cake from Browns Bakery, Carlton
Bday Cake 2: Lemon Cheesecake, also from Browns
Brian's surprise Bday Pavlova for Si Hua. Loved it. He said secret was to bake at very low temp (he used 120 deg C)
Great night with these lovely peeps
(ii) Farewell BBQ/Potluck with Eng Gang
My lovely elves hehehe...
All packed and ready to go to the BBQ at Milano
Beautiful kebabs prepared by my friends =]
Japanese Salad with toasted sesame seeds (sesame dressing from Yahweh Asian Grocery!)
YUMMY Lamb BBQ Chops! Loved the taste!
CHIKKY WINGS!!! I looooove Chicken Wings... TO THE MAX
Shin's super yummy mashed sweet potato... Literally just butter, salt and pepper... TOO EASY!
Tharindu's Indian Curry and Roti
The colourful and yummy kebabs... Diced beef with fish balls, capsicums and pineapple yummo~~~
Jeff's Masala Pasta
Calvin's sausage rolls... Bottom two says "Old Fak"... Er, 'scuse his French
Can't not have corn on a cob at a barbie
The crazy spread of food... SOOO good... Once again, nobody ever finishes the food at potluck, always too much! But that's a good problem! =D
Apple Crumble, once again. I make food that I love to eat =). Need to revise the recipe cause made some improvements
A dessert that I can never get sick of eating/making
People that make my life at uni so rich each day!
(iii) Farewell dinner at First Taste, Box Hill with KK Gang
Herbal soup with Crocodile and Papaya
EXCELLENT place for claypot! Lap Cheong
Claypot Rice
Dumplings noodle soup taste awesome too!
Chicken and Mushroom Claypot Rice
Pork Patty with Salted Fish Claypot Rice. EXCELLENT!!!
In need of more girls at our dinners lol
(iv) Lunch at the newly opened Kedai Satay, King Street
Sick of crappy try hard Satay in Melbourne? Looking for the real deal that's REALLY good and cheap? This is the place to go. I'm so happy that it's 2 min from my apartment
Huge portion of Beef Ribs with coconut rice, less than $10!
EXCELLENT Satay! Oh yummmm
Salad Bowl
Smoked Herring... Really wish to eat this in Europe one day
Fried whole trout... Meh... Needs kicap
Veal Schnitzel
3 pork shanks, sausages and roast pork. We LOVE sauerkraut!
More meat
Mushroom Soup. Actually liked this non creamy version
Last dinner together before our dear friend Calvin leaves for the States... =)
(vi) Family dinner at Pacific House, Richmond
Went to our family's favourite dinner restaurant again. But hey, I'm not complaining at all! Love that we tried more new dishes this time round. Posting new ones only
XO Clams and Fried Chinese Doughnut. Tried this dish at Ling Nam, Chinatown/Master Restaurant, Footscray/Pacific House, Richmond. The one here is still best, clams were so big and juicy. Only wished they served the doughnuts on separate plate
Chicken Crawls... YUM!!!
"Four Cup Chicken", aka "Shi Bei Ji". Gonna order these dishes again next time I go there!
My wonderful family in Melbourne... It's always so great to see them, love it!!
(vii) Zakky's Bucks Dinner at Nick's Place
Only one dietary requirement at all guys bucks: NO VEG!
The lovely display of food. You can tell from this meal that no girls were there. Domino's Pizza and Hot n Spicy Chicken from KFC!! (Pik taken with Canon IXUS sob)
(viii) Wedding of Isaac and Winnie Su at Witchmount Estate Winery
Loved the wedding. Even had a caricature silhouette of the happy couple on the jam, so cute
Appetizer A: Ravioli in Napoli Sauce and Prosciutto Chips. LOVED that they deep fried the prosciutto till it's sooo nice and crisp, great idea!
Appetizer B: Rack of lamb with rice. I loved that they served dishes that people enjoyed eating as entrees and not your usual salad... Yawn
Table centrepiece... Loved the whole wedding cause every detail was very "Zak and Winnie". Just as all weddings should be, full of character and very much about the couple
Wedding Cake
Main A: Fresh Atlantic Salmon - YUM!!!
Main B: Steak wrapped with Prosciutto
Dessert: Sticky Date Pudding. I love warm desserts!!
The wedding cake... MMMM cream...
(ix) Homecooked meals:
Made bacon fried rice on midnight one night lol yum
Alvin's Drunken Chicken. I went totally ?_? when I saw what I thought was supposed to be traditional chinese drunken chicken recipe had Xao Xing Wine with GULA MELAKA and MIRIN. Interesting... Turned out too sweet so added a bit oyster sauce and was SO yummm after that
"Lu Wei" aka "Braised Taste" with Chicken Wings. Basically dark soy sauce with cinnamon stick, star anise and sugar. A very typical chinese recipe that can be used for duck, chicken and pork
My steamed egg, once again. I love to eat it and so easy to make hence I cook it all the time
My current favourite brand of pasta. Reason is the spaghetti is JUST the thickness that I enjoy to eat. It is more naturally yellow as compared to brands like San Remo that's always so orange/brown. Cheaper too. Enough reasons for me to switch
My super yummy spaghetti bolognese once again. Yes, I'm shameless to admit. I try not to be biased and honest when I eat food that I like, even if it's made by me. I reduced my sauce to slightly half of the initial volume
Homemade Chicken Soup. Very proud cause had NO salt at all. Completely natural and tasty. Thank God for Chinese Herbs
Mighty breakfast at 5am before fasting: Leftover chicken soup + rice, very special cheeseburger (own mix and match) from work the night before and soya bean milk
My own Pi Pa Tofu. Was a very hard and long first attempt cause I didn't realise using soft silken tofu would make such a big difference. Steamed it TWICE and fried SEVEN batches afterwards cause had so much. Was so hard to coat in flour cause was still soft and very wet (from juice after steaming). Lessons learned:
(i) If use soft tofu, can't coat with flour, fry right away. Unless using normal block tofu
(ii) Add lots and lots of corn starch with soft tofu cause it has much more juice to soak up
Happy with how it turned out nonetheless. Glad I get to learn from my cooking mistakes the hard way each time
