Melbourne Getaway 13-18 March 2009

I really didn't expect that my next overseas trip will be 1 month after my Italy & Austria honeymoon last February. I was so blessed with travels..... haha. Love travelling so much but the main factor is still whether I have enough money or not. Or my pocket will be totally drained off after the travelling. Anyway, thank God that I always have enough!!

Yeah, I finally found the time to blog bout my Melbourne trip two weeks ago. Really a last minute decision and this was actually not in mind. Last minute trip was kinda thrilling especially when you don't have to countdown for it and plan everything in a few days! I really hate counting down for trips because that will really test my patience! Check out my Melbourne travel blog at :
Melbourne Getaway

Home-made-dessert

Thanks to my mom that always taught me how to cook dessert when I was young and now, as a newly married wife, always hope to give my hubby the best food! Too bad, I'm way to lousy in western food and Mon-Fri's menu always look the same every week... Sigh, perhaps I should enroll in cooking class?? *thinking hard*

Well, this is one of the dessert that hubby loves the most, especially the floating Glutinuous Rice Ball and also longan. The rest of the ingredients are my duty to sapu them all, cause he don't like it. To cook this is pretty simple, just dump everything in water and bring it to boil. That's all!

Ingredients:
==========
Dried Longan
Barley
Red Dates
Snow Fungus (I hope the name is correct)
Brown sugar/Rock sugar
Glutinous Rice Ball
Water (duh...)

Steps:
=====
Only two steps, dump everything, except Glutinous rice ball and bring it to boil. Boil for about 2-3 hours depends on the quantity and finally, you can throw in the glutinous rice ball. Once it is float, it is ready to satisfy ur little or big tummy! Hehehe.. Pretty simple steps and now everyone can cook! *just like air asia, now everyone can fly* =)

Planet Shakers City Church @ Melbourne, Australia

I just can't believe that I can actually stepped into Planet Shakers City Church in Melbourne. Not the concert itself which held every year in Sunway Pyramid, but I was there at the church! Their own local church!!! Planetshakers City Church is a church for this generation. It is filled with vibrant, enthusiastic, passionate people with the focus to champion the cause of Christ. Founded in 2004 by Pastor Russell and Sam Evans, this church has indeed impacted the heart of Melbourne. More to come and more to be blessed as they hang on to their vision on Isaiah 61:1-3: "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor!" How I wish to be part of this ministry....win people for Christ, impact the world and shake the planet! =)

Before the worship began...


Worship time! The spirit-filled band on the stage creating an amazing worship atmosphere...


More and more of you Lord...


Audio system....


PA system...




Me, Justin and Sunny waiting for the tram after church service ended bout 1pm. Time for lunch!!

Restoran Damansara Hokkien Mee @ Damansara Uptown

After few days in Melbourne, we already missed Chinese/Hawker Food. Still asian food tastes the best!! We reached LCCT at 6.30am on 18 Mar 09 and then headed to work at 12pm. Wow, that was really a tiring day and my brain was not 100% focused especially in meeting. Unlucky enough, I reached office and my laptop's network port is not functioning. Sigh.. and it took me half an hour just to log a ticket to send my laptop for service. Then, it took me 1 more day waiting for the local IT to contact me to check on my laptop..... *sweat* and today, I just sent my laptop to the local IT, and required to wait 1-2 more days... later on, if any parts needed to be changed, I believe I will need to wait 3 more days to get everything settled!!! Total, 1 week to service a spoiled LAN Port! :(

Anyway, enough of complains and back to food.. Hubby was longing for roast DUCK, so we decided to visit Damansara Hokkien Mee. The roast duck here is really superb!!!! No.1 in Damansara Uptown I can say... too bad, I just dunno how to enjoy duck, but I enjoy the skin (without fat).. hahahaha.

This restoran located at Damansara Uptown, same row as Just Wardrobe or Satay Kajang.

Loh Mee (RM6-small) ~ my favourite....delicious and generous in giving prawns and meat.

Cantonese fried kuey teow (RM6 - small) ~ Really a good choice... well, all the dishes here are really good!!! No regrets....

Roast Duck (RM11-quarter) ~ tasty, evenly roasted and juicy! I luv the skin, and not the meat.. hahaha. Rating given by Justin was 8/10, so trust his rating because he's a meat-freak. Wahahahaha =D

Oasis Food Court & Gelato Fruity @ MidValley, Bangsar

I'm back to Oasis Food Court, Mid Valley.... again. And this time I did not eat my favourite grill fish, but I had Pan Mee. Thanks to my LOA tummy that caused me to have diarrhea and vommit aaannnndd worst case... caused everyone to think I'm pregnant @.@ Therefore, no chilli for 1 week for this Lack Of Attention tummy to recover.. I ordered pan mee and expected it to be as good like what Justin ordered last time, unfortunately, I was totally wrong!!! I still think my Cintan maggi mee taste better than that. So... rating for pan mee is 4/10 this time. Inconsistent, therefore decide whether to order or not to order next time!

Can you see the 50% sign just next to the OEA ITALIAN CUISINE? They wrote: 50% last day!! When I went to OASIS the past few weeks, I already saw this notice and it was last day.. yesterday I went, still last day!! Duh..... So, when is the last day?

Since 50%, Justin decided to give this stall a try. Maybe pity them because no business kua. Haha... This was Salmon Spaghetti, RM10.45 (original price RM20.90). Well, after this plate of spaghetti, my hubby had to hunt for the next food. Guess, what is the rating then? Taste is ok-okla... but the main issue is QUANTITY! Will you pay RM20.90 for a plate of food that after you eat, you don't actually feel like you're eating something? If without 50%, I don't think ppl will ever order your food. Come on la... RM20.90 I can get better salmon spaghetti at either Chillis or Santini or Manhattan with both quantity and quality!

Italy's gelato was still in mind, and hubby was still hungry.... so, let's have a try at this Gelato Fruity... Well, this stall was much more better than the Italian Gelato located along the way to The Gardens or opposite Cold Storage. Price is cheaper too... RM10.50 for 2 scoops with cone.

We ordered DURIAN (my favorite) and chocomint... yummy yummy. Better pay this than paying RM10.40 for the spaghetti... sigh.

Madam Kwan @ MidValley

People used to rave about how good Madam Kwan's nasi lemak is. Is this really excellent that it became something to die for? Since I've never tried the nasi lemak before, last weekend I decided to try and give a fair assessment to it. Also, recently food posts are just my passion besides making my Hanoi friend jealous bout it. Hehehe.....

Nasi Bojari (RM21.50) ~ Madam's tri-coloured rice with assam prawns, beef rendang and deep fried chicken drumstick. The rice was fragant, but the quality of rice they used was like Grade Z I can say. Even my mom-in-law said that their dogs have better quality of rice than this. The side dishes were good, especially the chicken drumstick.

Nasi Lemak (RM14.90) ~ Aromatic coconut steamed rice served with chicken curry, sambal ikan bilis, dried shrimp floss, hard boiled egg, acar and fresh cucumber. After having this dish, I felt like now I had a high cholesterol. Curry and nasi lemak with thick coconut milk are totally not my diet eventhough it taste good. The only satisfying dish is the shrimp floss.

Oasis Food Court @ MidValley, Bangsar

Finally Oasis food court is back to operation after several months of renovation. They actually shifted to another side of MidValley, the same row as Universal Traveller. Forgive me that I cant remember the exact level. *sign of oldness..sigh* Oasis food court is well known for its portuguese grill fish and also pan mee. I'm always faithful to the portuguese grill because of the home-made sambal which is really delicious, grilled together with ikan pari and sotong. Wow, awesome!!

Justin was bored with portuguese grill fish and he ordered pan mee (RM5.50) because it smells good and seeing so many ppl ordering this. Rating given by Justin was 7/10, which means he will come back again. Hahahaha....

And this was definitely mine!! If you can take spicy food, go ahead for this.. otherwise, try their pan mee. The home made sambal is the special ingredient that makes it superb! RM6.50 per plate for stingray/ikan pari. If you would like to add sotong/prawn, then it will be RM7.90. They have different types of fish too, so pay a visit to their counter and you will not regret.