Ichigo Shortcake

Chocolate Nutella 2 minute microwave cakes

September 5, 2012 Chocolate

I’ve always been a little hesitant about using my microwave to cook food. I mean, heating things up is one thing but cooking something from scratch in that slightly scary buzzing box of I-don’t-know-what-goes-on-in-there just seems a bit off putting. It might have been my traumatising memories of accidental burnt spoons from back in my [...]

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La Zuppa soup judging & $200 The Botanical voucher giveaway!

September 3, 2012 Bar

Winter is officially over. We were greeted by fabulous Spring sunshine and cool but refreshing breezes that felt so good against my skin and suddenly I felt all my winter blues flying away with the breeze, along with the pollen that will now haunt hay fever sufferers in the months to come. I love Spring. [...]

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Sashimi donburi – Japanese sliced salmon on rice with condiments

September 2, 2012 Japanese

The art of sashimi and sushi making has been passed down for nearly 2000 years in Japan and has gained widespread popularity, even in western countries. With a reasonable sashimi knife and a little bit of practice, any good home cook can master this technique, although you won’t be as good as real sushi chefs [...]

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Plantation Specialty Coffee, Melbourne Central

September 1, 2012 Coffee

After I quit my job, I’ve rarely needed to go into the city. As a result I’m not all that familiar with hip and popular coffee joints in the area and feel like I’m really missing out. When I saw Ms I-Hua’s posts about her recommended CBD coffees, I got very excited. It just so [...]

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Prawn curry laksa

August 30, 2012 Malaysian/Singaporean

I’ve been having so much laksas at Malaysian restaurants lately I’ve seriously lost count. Every time we go out to such restaurants, either Yuye or I (or both) use laksas as a benchmark for how good that restaurant is. The deepness of the flavours, the richness and creaminess of that soup and the toppings and [...]

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Pope Joan, Brunswick East

August 28, 2012 Breakfast/brunch

Have you ever tried copy and pasting a word 20 times into Google Translate and making the AI repeat it in different languages? If you haven’t, you might not want to try it as it drove me up the wall when Yuye did that a few weeks ago using the words ‘Pope Joan’. I found [...]

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Creamy cauliflower & potato bake

August 27, 2012 Bakes

Even though I still turn my heater on at night sometimes, there is no doubt that winter is almost over. This is evident as Yuye has already started his annual ritual of sneezing whenever he goes outside or mows the lawn. I am one of the lucky ones who doesn’t suffer from hay fever but [...]

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Universal Restaurant, Carlton

August 26, 2012 Carlton

Are there restaurants where it always becomes default if you’re too lazy or just don’t know where you want to eat? There’s a few like that for me. One of them (probably not the best out there but is quite consistent) is Universal Restaurant on Lygon Street. It’s within walking distance from a friend’s place [...]

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Har Mee – Malaysian prawn noodles recipe

August 23, 2012 Malaysian/Singaporean

Prawns and other crustaceans used to scare me as a little kid. When I walked through the fresh food markets in China with my mum, I’d squeeze her hands tightly as I walked past the prawn tanks. They scared me almost as much as centipedes and spiders. As you can imagine, since there’s no way [...]

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Tidlom Thai Antique Restaurant, Melbourne CBD – homey, authentic Thai food

August 22, 2012 Asian

Tidlom Thai Antique Restaurant is not your usual western influenced Thai fare. What we’ve been eating and calling delicious at Thai restaurants around Melbourne were often adapted to meet western tastes and toned down in terms of spiciness and the ‘unusual’ ingredients that might have been present if served in a Thai household. I don’t [...]