foodchaser /

An easter lunch! at Pony's restaurant, The Rocks Sydney

2011-04-28T23:39:00.002+10:00

Herro lovelies!

So this tuesday, strolled into Pony's @ The Rocks for a long awaited lunch with three foodie friends

We got the ladies lunch - $55 pp, there's a gentleman's lunch too
Be warned, you need minimum two people both ordering the same lunch, cos you share each course, so you need even numbers to do the set lunch!

I'm a red wine girl really, but would you believe, White wine sangria is heavenly
hellooo summertime

I don't usually like oysters but... so fresh! rock oysters
Fresh seafood
Lip smackin good
(oysters, did you know, get you in the mood)

weird slug-like green spinach gnocci, we did a good amount of ladylike complaining about how it was impossible to take a pretty photo of haha but once you have a bite it's surprisingly tasty and soft, but not too soft it holds its own. and the smell of pine nuts mmm and a dollop of superfun cream that you swirl in with your fork

Two pretty ladies hard at work bringing our gnocci to you and the world wide web

The perfect finish to our long weekend lunch

Pony's chef's degustation dessert platter for the ladies - vanilla icecream sucks but these saucers of vanilla bean icecream were something else, gorgeous...! plus super rich deep dark chocolatey mousse brownies, crunchy pistachio biscotti, crispy-sugar-glazed creme brulee with rich eggy cream below, and raspberry fig and roasted almond flake trifle, with brandy-soaked sponge. Mmmmmmmm!

Ladies lunch @ Pony's also included:
Random mixed leaf salads, a fragrant roasted squid salad w/ pine nuts, epic flaky beetroot tart with thin blanket of goats cheese, and something else, I remember it had to do with asparagus, I forget what.

Ps. the lunch offers perfect portions for ladies! cos we left feeling perfectly full. except for betty who was obviously still hungry cos she was keen to get drunken hot cross buns, and Baroque bistro macarons and who knows what else haha

Hurrah, love holidays and long weekends

Hope you all had a good easter =)

Roti tisu, roti bom, cendol and teh tarik at mamak, Sydney

2011-04-03T00:37:00.002+11:00

Yum food

Roti tisu $9.5

Cendol $6

attack! Teh tarik in the corner $3.5

Eating roti like a pizza
So crispy, flaky, so good

Roti bom, I forget how much

Mamak: what did the critics say?
Cw: It was rotilicious
Cf: -too busy eating-

Star rating: 500 / 10, now bring over some more roti!

Yum food

Hey hey cloudy day

2011-03-19T17:15:00.009+11:00

The rain looks like it's here to stay
Gumboots on! Come out and play

sunday 20th march 9:46pm
It's sunday evening and I have that gray feeling you get when your weekend or holidays are almost over. You wonder what you did with your time, and the answer is Not Much Really.

It's the end of the holiday blues! and it's cold and grey and boring, and being stuck inside makes it doubly boring. Anyway, introducing one of my new resolutions for 2011:

spend as little time around computers as I have to

At work you need the computer. Five days a week I need the computer. Five days a week I need to be sitting down on me bum! So for the other two days and every other waking moment I'm going to be spending my time outside (if please, mr rain goes away......) (go to melbourne!) and walking around and staring into the faces of my friends and family! Gosh I am so glad for my iphone, I am in the process of teaching it to run my e-life. yep my e-life ....if you're under the age of 70 and have friends, you know you qualify

Ps. I have decided that when I'm old I want to be surrounded by my loving kids and grandkids, and I will be strong and healthy (like my crazy 80 year old grandma) so I can go travelling around the world with my grandma and grandpa friends

U got bandaided

2011-03-19T02:20:00.001+11:00

Wake up a bit earlier tomorrow...

2011-03-18T08:40:00.009+11:00

...drop into your local cafe and enjoy your own version of a lazy Sunday morning, any day of the week.

Old oak tables and chairs, dyed embroidery art on the walls, a barista who remembers you and of course good coffee and you know it's a keeper. P&R is a cafe worth checking out if you're in the area.

And speaking of local cafes... stumbled across a tweet re food blog spoon fork & chopsticks about another hidden gem of a cafe in Chatswood, goes by the name of Houlihans. Dear cafe loving friends (yes I see you sneaky londoners and melbourners) it looks like the era of the Cafe could finally be upon us. Scream and shout, wave your arms and coffee cups all about! Drink your coffee first though!

Gordon's Pablo & Rusty's espresso cafe
(loc) 1 st john's ave, gordon, sydney
just next to the train station exit, on the pacific highway side
(ph) 9499 8442
(hrs) mon-sat 6am-6pm, sun 8am-3pm

I woke up this morning...

2011-03-12T15:12:00.011+11:00

And my hair had gone bonkers!

After three years of long, low-maintenance tresses, short hair is a bit unpredictable

Short hair? Australia says yes:
- hair dries in 20 min instead of 2 hrs
- it takes less time to brush your hair

Boo to short hair:
- when you wake up you may have 80% of hair on one side of your head sticking out horizontally
- Like umbrellas, eyelash curlers and toothpicks, hairbrushes are one of those personal items that I never learned how to use, thanks to straight Asian hair genes inherited from mom n pops

Every morning I have about 10 minutes to get up and out the door and today was no different. Soo there was no time to fix my hair, and noow I'm stranded in the city with my hair still stickin up everywhere like a boy who doesn't own hair wax and this wouldn't be too bad if I wasnt going to a SDH's birthday tonight (meeting up with EN and JS later) and my beach bag from this morning was too big to take out tonight so I ditched it and picked up mum's, and although her brown leather bag is not too uncool for school, at the same time it's not really my style, it even has a little fancy gilt brooch on the front.

So now I am sitting in the new city Westfield in a cafe charging my phone cos it died and I think I can now sympathise a bit with how dogs must feel after they've had a bath and their fur sticks out fluffily everywhere. And wearing this bag, I also have that sense of wearing something you haven't quite grown into yet like when you're a kid trying on your mum's dresses and lipstick that you snuck out from her room and then you look in the mirror (and you're like hello there sexy mama you looking gooood)

These posts are getting more and more random. I blame it on this whole idea of being able to blog from your phone! Soon, nutcases with no sense of quality blogging will be able to post up anything they feel like, whenever they want, and the blogosphere will be inundated with useless random crap like rants about having bed head and photos of themselves that no one wants to see

So to conclude this post I have here a photo of my hair this morning

The day before today

2011-03-08T22:43:00.002+11:00

'This is yesterday' said the brown paper muji book
/hello, I have a drawing of a bear on my front/
no it's not Winnie the pooh
there is no honey in that tree
maybe some bees
bees that are shaped like keys
keys that fit into the holes in Swiss cheese
Maybe maybe maybe?

Catching the train home from work

2011-03-07T20:27:00.001+11:00

No no no no no no no, I can't do it, no no
Listening to the theme song from scrubs on the way home

wow :) you can't help but smile :)

Octopus r us (doodles)

2011-03-06T22:43:00.006+11:00

I started doodling a person and it changed into an octopus

It's been a lovely weekend

Thanks betty n julz for introducing me to high tea in sydney, spent a lazy afternoon in fancypants swissotel gossiping over smoked salmon sandwiches, coffee-soaked tiramisu sponge and cups cups cups of tea. We only have 1 question- where is the world is Vivienne Sandiego!

Props also to Twisted Yoghurt for opening their crazy new frozen yoghurt store very close to bondi beach. More on this froyo launch later

Stay tuned :) na na naa na

the foodchaser index in all its half naked glory

2011-03-05T01:56:00.014+11:00

Herro dear friends :)

To celebrate the 2 year anniversary of this blog, surviving through two 6-month hibernations (yep.. hasn't been updated for a while) and a semi-evolution into a travel blog, I have ~~organised a party~~ pulled together a blog index to cap off what has been happening here at foodchaser HQ

Click around to see things explode

Europe: what happened in.....
barcelona, spain
4 months of london (thanks ms secretary)
oktoberfest, munich
venice (not so nice)
la tomatina II, le chateau de versaille
valencia, spain, la tomatina I
london & the English Breakfast, hello valencia
exploring London streets, Indian cuisine
hostel breakfast in london
On the plane to europe (taipei airport)
Omg have to pack for europe list
To do List in europe
To do List in london
To eat List in sydney

Good places if you like to eat
Darling Harbour - Chinta Ria Malaysian
Haymarket - Saint Honore Bun Shop
Haymarket - Emperor's Garden Yum Cha
Haymarket - Ajisen Ramen
Haymarket - Satang Thai
Haymarket - Ramen-Kan Japanese
http://www.foodchaser.me/2009/03/poporo-level-3-market-city-sydney.html
http://www.foodchaser.me/2009/03/barbys-bakery-market-city-sydney.html
Haymarket - Cafe Joy's Iced Durian
Haymarket - KFC Tower Burger (with Hash Brown)
Capitol Square - Bangkok Thai Restaurant
Capitol Square - Passionflower Dessert Cafe I
Capitol Square - Passionflower Dessert Cafe II
Liverpool St - Norita Dessert Cafe
Pavilion - Lee's Malaysian
Town Hall - White Apple Dessert Cafe
Town Hall - Nazimi Japanese (behind QVB)
Town Hall - Ichiban Boshi I (TGV)
Town Hall - Ichiban Boshi II (TGV)
Town Hall - Ichiban Boshi III (TGV)
Town Hall - Jimmy's Recipe Malaysian (TGV)
Sussex St - Regal Yum Cha Restaurant
Sussex St - Sushi Rio Japanese Sushi Train
Sussex St - Kobow Korean BBQ Restaurant
Pitt St - Chung Jin Dong Korean Restaurant
Pitt St - Ho's Dim Sim Kitchen
The Rocks - Pancakes on the Rocks
World Square - Nonya Kueh at Miracle
Balmain - Zumbo's Macarons
Balmain - Zumbo's Macarons II
Eveleigh - Carriageworks Cafe
Bondi I - Gelato Bar Hungarian Pastries
Bondi II - Gelato Bar Hungarian Pastries
Campsie - BreadTop Asian Bun Shop
Campsie - Korean Restaurant
Burwood - Gelatissimo Italian Cakes and Biscuits
Beverly Hills - Yummy Chinese Seafood
Leichhardt - Cafe Zizi Pancake Bar
Leichhardt - Glace Icecream & Sorbet
Norah Head - Dessert Buffet
Home - Cookieman Chocolate Passionfruit Cookies
Home - Fried Rice Dinner
Home - Delicious Mango Cheesecake Recipe
Home - Making Chinese New Year Sweets
Home - Boxes of Colourful Kueh
Home - Coconut and Pineapple Chinese Buns

Do you have a sweet tooth? Oh my
Haymarket - Cafe Joy's Iced Durian
Capitol Square - Passionflower Dessert Cafe I
Capitol Square - Passionflower Dessert Cafe II
Liverpool St - Norita Dessert Cafe
Town Hall - White Apple Dessert Cafe
The Rocks - Pancakes on the Rocks
World Square - Nonya Kueh at Miracle
Balmain - Zumbo's Macarons
Balmain - Zumbo's Macarons II
Eveleigh - Carriageworks Cafe
Bondi I - Gelato Bar Hungarian Pastries
Bondi II - Gelato Bar Hungarian Pastries
Burwood - Gelatissimo Italian Cakes and Biscuits
Leichhardt - Cafe Zizi Pancake Bar
Leichhardt - Glace Icecream & Sorbet
Norah Head - Dessert Buffet
Home - Cookieman Chocolate Passionfruit Cookies
Home - Delicious Mango Cheesecake Recipe
Home - Making Chinese New Year Sweets
Home - Boxes of Colourful Kueh

Those are some mighty fine buns
Haymarket - Saint Honore Bun Shop
Haymarket - Barby's Bakery @ Market City
Haymarket - KFC Tower Burger (with Hash Brown)
Pitt St - Ho's Dim Sim Kitchen
The Rocks - Pancakes on the Rocks
World Square - Nonya Kueh at Miracle
Balmain - Zumbo's Macarons
Balmain - Zumbo's Macarons II
Bondi I - Gelato Bar Hungarian Pastries
Bondi II - Gelato Bar Hungarian Pastries
Campsie - BreadTop Asian Bun Shop
Burwood - Gelatissimo Italian Cakes and Biscuits
Home - Cookieman Chocolate Passionfruit Cookies
Home - Coconut and Pineapple Chinese Buns

Stoopid Drawings
It's the holidays! Doodles doodles doodles
It's getting hot in this meeting room
Accountant needs sleep
Fishy Philately (FISH FOR FAIL)
What is Auditing
No Face Likes Moon Cake
The Beatles (Watercolours, II and III)
Emily Wong turns 20 today drawing
The Wicked Beatles illustration
Vanora and Pikachu at Christmas
My friend Elizabeth, an illustration
Scans from Illustration Project (The Garden of Eden snake)
Scans from Illustration Project (Golden Fish/Mermaid)
Scans from Illustration Project (Patterned Apples)
Random Paint collage - digital colouring practice
Deviantart art trade - WIP I / WIP II / FINAL
My table - going back to old fashioned brushes
Photoshop doodle: I got pwned by tax law
It's Earth Hour! versus Iron Chef is on TV
Dreaming apple girl colouring practice
Gift art pikachu for my sister
gaiaonline art competition: avatar with pizza
Czeeq and the magic cupcake wand

Cool photo collections, mostly of food
Fruity Icy summery love photos
Delicious Food Photos - Cafe Bakery
Kseniya Simonova's Sand Animation
Deviantart Favourites Dump
Funny Gingerbread Men Photos
Yummy Pizza Photos
Yummy Donut Photos
Doll-sized Egg Tarts and Pastries Happy chinese new year photos

Yeah this is what happens in my life

First week of audit

Krispy Kreme + Chex + Noodles = Deliciousness

It's getting hot in this meeting room

Sushi Education - You're Eating Your Sushi All Wrong
How To Make Spaghetti when you don't got none
Merry (Peanut Butter) Christmas to All
It's Irresistably Tasty! I need my blogging mojo back
Peanut Butter and Vegemite Sandwich Day
Stress Management Classes
We got $10 Food Vouchers for Market City
500 Days of Zooey Deschanel
Volunteering with Carriageworks Children's Festival
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Movie
How to Stop Procrastinating (video)
How to really Kill Your Food Blog
How to turn your bowl of rice into a Korean Face
Omg masterchef is back on TV
Video of Japanese Girl Eats 9KG Bowl of Ramen

Lol there's something funny about this Banana Bread
The mandarins at work have gone mental this Halloween

First week of audit

2011-03-04T18:24:00.008+11:00

if i ever get the auditing blues
if i find out my interest doesn't accrue
I pull out this post-it and I know it's true
that you guys are somewhere out there too :)

it's friday of the first week of audit! freeeee!

Barcelona, 2011, random pretty illustration

2011-01-10T02:20:00.011+11:00

Hello :)

Haha big thanks to my sexy new self-appointed secretary ngface for doing such a good job summing up/introducing the last seven months of travelling in this post

in barcelona atm! so gorgeous outside but we're cooped up in the (sunny) hostel lounge, have 25.5 hours left to magic up 3150 words critically analysing the impact of globalisation on economic development and business ........aka the last essay of my university life and then i'm done. ........! FOR LIFE. I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW NIGHT, WHEN WE WILL DRINK SANGRIA, SCOFF PAELLA AND DANCE NAKED DOWN THE LA RAMBLAS

hasta luego!

ps. shout out to the coke intern, the cadet, po cheung and one sweet sweet sugarpuffi for encouraging me to blog more xx

2011 ny resolutions;
dance, love, learn, be courageous
upload photos, travel more (eventually)
remember who you are

illustration by finsbry found via mlle ghoul's fairy tales from the shadows

Snapshot of Grace's weekend trips - by the secretary, BERLIN, DEUTSCHLAND

2010-12-25T05:41:00.003+11:00

ALLO
WIE GEHTS DU ?? Wir sind in Berlin fur CHRISTMAS
:: Fröhliche Weihnachten !!!!

From the desk of grace's new secretary: Grace would like to apologise for the several-month-long hiatus from her blog, as she has been occupied with:
- settling into Westminster Uni and a new home on BAKER ST, just around the corner from Sherlock Holmes' house ....with no Internet, shoddy phone connection, and no connection to the world outside of London !

and going to:
- Wales, UK (seeing the pretty autumn leaves fall down from the trees)

- Edinburgh, Scotland (an old, cobblestoned town with huge brown buildings, the Edinburgh - pronounced Ed-in-BUR-REH - castle, and vegetarian haggus !)

- Chelsea vs. Blackburn football match in northern England (a sea of blue vs. blue)

- Glasgow, UK (starry lights, pretty glow-in-the-dark buildings and halloween costumes)

- Düsseldorf, Germany (hot showers and a gorgeous YHA hostel ! indie shops, long tram rides, and alleyways with cool cafés and chilling with a stone Buddha head)

pretty trees in a German autumn

the size of Grace's chest endowments

On the boulevard next to the river , trying to walk in a straight line, pigeons in flight, looking for the postmodernism museum, german ladies talking about facebook

- Paris, France (visiting the best girl in the world !
plus the Eiffel Tower, the Christmas markets at Champs Elysées, the discovery of marrons chauds & the good that is Pierre Hermé macarons, visiting the Christmas window displays at Galeries La Fayette, eating at a Michelin star restaurant in Paris and trying citrus-glazed foie gras for the first time ever, jazz bars and festivals, finding the Centre Pompidou, with lots of sculptures of naked ladies and men that look like women...and last, but not LEAST, my undying love for EDEN: the most beautiful, talented girl in the world !)

Yours truly

The magic of Merlin

make up special at Sephora, Champs Elysées

Red carpet glamour at the Christmas markets at La Defense

--

So my name is Eden and I am one of Grace's most gorgeous, talented friends. She and another friend, CAROLINE FROM MELBOURNE, is lucky enough to spend Christmas with meeee.

It is Christmas Eve, and we are currently in an Apartmenthaus on Potsdam Strausse, 164, in Schoenberg, Berlin, munching on bread the size of our heads.

Plans to see a nativity play in German at the Berlin Cathedral today were postponed from 4.30pm to 6pm to 8pm, as Grace's wallet was stolen at the German Christmas markets yesterday - hence the filing of a police report today.

And how did Grace lose her wallet, might you ask ?
A game of "Where's Wally" will reveal this, so let's play ! ... (with 'Wally' being a metallic silver clutch with a wrist lanyard and a star attached) :

1. Looking to buy grünkohl und champignons (kale and mushrooms) at the Christmas Markets at Potsdamer Platz from a friendly-looking street vendor - only seven eurooo !

2. With the mushroom gems ! Grace outside the Christmas stall with a bowl of steaming mushrooms and kale

...

If you haven't figured the story out by now, you should probably go out and buy yourself a couple of Where's Wally books to practise (or alternatively, ask Grace to tell you the long and lonely story herself)

In the meantime, Grace and her secretary wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year !

Auf Wiedersehen :D

oktoberfest, food, glory

2010-09-19T09:51:00.003+10:00

Allo, meine leiblinge (my darlings)!
It's 1am and we are currently in a pretty little apartment in Munich.

Just came back from Oktoberfest - germany's version of the sydney royal easter show, except that everyone is celebrating beer instead of sheep and macadamia chocolate

beer tents is where the frothy action is. it takes hours of queuing to get into one.... so when you do it's cause for celebration!

we're in! wooooooo

CHOCABLOCK - impossible to find seats inside - eventually gave up and headed outside to find seats

If you're heading to oktoberfest this year, watch out for 1L beer jugs (steins) and pretzels on steroids.... supersize me, german style?

das ist christophe und meine lovely bavarian biermaiden und her three biers

here's to nick, he's true blue, he's a piss pot through and through

giant pretzels!!

We met a german guy on the train to Munich, he gave us a crash course in essential german. This is how to order a beer: Ich hätte gerne ein Bier! bosco and swami i'm looking at you

Ich leibe bier... nicht

If you're not a major fan of beer/pretzels, Oktoberfest offers a crapload of german specialties - tried the apfelschorle (like apple cider), henkl (roast chicken), white sausage and mustard, hot honey-roasted nuts and gingerbread hearts and more

roast chicken shop

and with chicken he makes an instant recovery from pretzel-beer-OD

gingerbread fancies! the germans on our table informed us that boys give these to their ladyfriends - we saw a lot of chicas walking around the fairgrounds with these hearts around their necks. also apparently, you're not supposed to eat them. haha???

they taste so good! delicious with nutella

It took us about four hours to find a table. we leave our seats only for infrequent toilet breaks. Here we are standing on our tables to get a better look at the parades going by - can you spy the little one who is still eating.

Anyway, i'm flying to london tomorrow so gonna get a couple hours of shuteye. more photos to go on facebook, eventually, also want to catch up on reading my blog list! 5000% looking forward to awesome sandwiches at Pret-a-manger and open air fruit markets in London

oktoberfest glory!

venice... charmed, i'm sure

2010-09-13T09:27:00.004+10:00

Dear Diary,

The French Riviera was a joy, but those happy days are over!

we are in Venice, it is 1:15am, but we can't bring ourselves to go to bed... tonight, the lady and I are staying in the hostel from hell! an eight-bed dorm where the mattresses are bare (what's linen?), the pillows stained, the doorknobs fall off in our hands, there are mosquitoes and apparently bed bugs, and check out is at 10am aka in the middle of the night

We dumped our stuff and ran out the door to drown our sorrows in calzone and icecream. we just got back and are sitting on smelly sofas in the common "room" googling for new accommodation... ANYWHERE ANY PRICE! WE'LL TAKE IT , just get us out of here, if anyone wants me, I'll be sleeping inside my raincoat

until next time! xxx

Paris! and castles and food in france and wifi and la tomatina and quiche etc

2010-09-02T01:51:00.004+10:00

We are in the city of romance, Paris, and there are no internet cafes anywhere. I am freezing to death in the basement of mcdonalds leeching free wifi and trying to pay off my credit card bills in the next few moments before the internet drops out again, so I'm gonna blog some photos while I wait for the net to reconnect

These past few days, I have been exploring the streets of paris with my lover, the french king, the french god and the greek goddess who wears ed hardy - we danced our way to the Louvre and L'arc de triomphe, skivvied along to see the Eiffel tower at night (MAGICAL).....! Sadly I have few pictures to show for it because my camera got owned at la tomatina.

La Tomatina was insane. Sweat, piss, sangria, half-naked bodies crushed tightly against you, 40 degree spanish sun beating down on your head, and then the OVERWHELMING SOUR STENCH of hard, rotten tomatoes as the five trucks roll towards the centre of the mass of people, everyone's pushing forwards and back, and jets of cold water come spraying down every few moments. In about five minutes after the tomato trucks come by, you're standing in a river of tomato slush but you can hardly see it for the people, there were a billion people, apparently it was a festival of 40,000 this year - don't go if you're claustrophobic, but my god if you go it's an experience you won't forget in a hurry

Getting clean afterwards is another story. Apparently most people go down to the river to bathe, but eden and I couldn't find it so we trailed from the home of one hospitable spanish native to another to stand under their hose as they helped cleaned up off all the gross, smelly tomato bits. I don't know what was more disgusting - my hair or walking around afterwards in those red squelchy sneakers, it was like we were carrying the rotten-tomato-piss-sangria soup around with us

I have hundreds of photos and videos but most of them are blurry-awful because my camera was wrapped in layers of plastic wrap and scotch tape to keep it safe. And then my camera died anyway, rage rage rage =(

So I discovered Barcelona without my camera. Caught an exhausting fever at the same time so I took it slow for a couple of days - wandering the markets in a pleasant daze, lying on the beach receiving coconut-scented massages for 5 euros, visited the picasso museum with alice from wonderland and watched flamenco dancing (dodgy phone photos later), downing sangria and pringles instead of seeing the houses of Gaudi. Met some fab people at my hostel, travelling from all over - from netherlands to austria to france to manchester to melbourne, we went down to a beachside nightclub altogether the first night, I was totally not expecting this and had no clubbing clothes, had to turn my beach dress into a top and borrowed a skirt off sarah.

Got far too much exercise yesterday walking through the super luxurious chateau de versaille, wow the royal gardens and palace chambers

Last night the french lover took us to a dim french bar in 'Luxembourg in Paris'. It was an interesting bar. Voluptuous nude women were painted life-sized around the entrance, very inviting, inside were old park benches and stolen train seats, we sat in a corner on indian cushions and wooden planks, the toilets were dark and papered with music posters, egyptian tiles, street signs and blue graffiti.....
ze monsieur maxime was also there with his big french smile, and met some of their french friends. Tried 'sex on the beach' - malibu orange juice vodka and grenadine, was pretty sweet. Hard liquor is cheap in europe so all the drinks are very strong. Learnt lots of terribly dirty, "important" french phrases and forgot them all right after. Afterwards, went to mcdonalds to feed the frenchies their greasy double cheeseburgers and fries

tiny little boulangers (patisseries) line the streets of paris

our diet in paris can basically be summed up by a bakery window display

beautiful tarts and pastries

filled baguettes

omg tasty-looking croissants?

Found this cafe for brunch today, there were muchas personas, it was tres populaire

hoping for wifi?? but noooooo

The croissants so far have been disappointing
but the muffins and mochacinnos are utterly divine

As the french would say... Paris n'est pas si mal... Paris is not so bad!

Okay the internet keeps dropping out so i'm leaving this mcdonalds
the air-conditioning here is like malfunctioning cos it's like the arctic circle in here, or maybe they designed it this way on purpose to make sure people eat their burgers and get out

So I will leave you with this.... walking home from the chateau de versaille, I took a photo to see what was happening behind me and got the shock of my life

shock of my life

And because that is a terrible photo to end a post with, here is one of the greek goddess, also from the chateau de versaille..........

leaving the gardens of versaille

Countdown to La Tomatina!!! and day 2 in an european miami

2010-08-25T12:11:00.003+10:00

Hola from Valencia!!

It's 4am the night before the La Tomatina, the world's largest tomato throwing festival
Tomorrow morning we are going to Bunol, which is a tiny village near valencia, to pelt tomatoes at each other for two hours

Apparently everything you wear to the La Tomatina will get severely owned so it is best to buy cheap and throw away. Soo...... nos estamos preparando se la tomatina (we have been preparing for the carnage) with muchas muchas shopping!

1. Goggles

2. Cheap shoes (LOL they are tomato coloured)

3. Cheap cheap clothing (at a Zara factory outlet....!)

4. Towel
5. Scotch tape and plastic bag for your camera, and
6. All your manly courage, and se perfecto, you are READY TO GOOOO!

----

In the meantime, here are some snaps from day 2 of our vacaciones en la sunny valencia!
this is mi spanish sweetheart relaxing in our bright honeymoon suite

the view from our balcony is beautifuuul

hola from spain!

pardon, i have a photo of mi spanish sweetheart standing on our balcony too but she is wearing a wisp of a nightshirt and so it is too sexy for public consumption. Instead I have this teaser photo of what happened when we down for jamon (ham) and tomate y biscotte at midnight, to blog about laterr~

valencian streets and buildings~!

we found a shop with colourful spanish pottery

spanish jewellery is also muchas colourful! love these beautiful golden bead earrings and uwaa this necklace that says LOVE, AMOR (french), LIEBE (german), and AI (chinese) on it (sorry no korean or hindi =p) and eden found a pretty silver-blue Peace necklace + some smiley charms!

plus necklace and earrings, though you can't really see em

and love this lovely grecian-style scarf!

the shop was as hot as a sauna so we had to quickly run out before we collapsed from heat exhaustion, and head to the gelateria which I will also try to blog about later

stopped for brunch at the horchateria de siglo

we were like royalty! sitting in the royal box in the horchateria looking down over the shop!

pan tostadas con tomate! we are trying to eat as much tomato as possible BEFORE the la tomatina, after which we will probably never be able to look a tomato in the eye again

this tostados was a tomatoey, garlicky affair! you can't see it in the photo but the spanish prepare their baguettes with PLENTY of olive oil.
Las ovejas gustar la tostada (the sheep approve of the toast)

mmm tostadaaa! and fresh orange juice and five-fruit smoothie! spanish brunch es mucho delicioso!

okay lol 3 hours before i have to get up so more photos later! adios from valencia! and if you don't hear from me it means we got owned by the tomatoes

The traditional english breakfast, and The Sheep in london

2010-08-23T14:33:00.004+10:00

HOLA! (this is spanish for hello)

I'm currently lying peacefully in a four star hotel room in Valencia, Spain, and there is a snoring walrus sleeping next door to me.

We're here for the spanish tomato throwing festival, the La Tomatina, aka the BIGGEST FOOD FIGHT IN THE WORLD! which is set to happen two days from now

So we left London this morning to catch the plane down to Spain, but before that we finally visited the traditional english cafe we saw on the first day (blogged about it here) for breakfast, this kind of cafe is aka as a 'greasy spoon'. Check out the vast quantities of food you can get for 3.50 pounds each (ze senorita ordered extra hash browns)

mm omelette breakfast.....! sexy baked beans

attacking le bacon

mm baked beans

Also we went to stonehenge two days before and I brought back a black sheep for my sister
His name is Crazy Black Sheep (and he has a friend, Crazy White Sheep)
Here they are in london reading UK cosmo

and on the streets of London, Russell Square

SHEEP OVERBOARD

And here in Valencia:

Anyway it's crazy-7am so going to go to sleep
Buenos nachos! (this means goodnight in espanol!) what adventures will the morning bring

PPS. Safekeeping links for gelato in rome from wendy x x

more photos - Exploring London day 1 at generator hostel

2010-08-19T18:13:00.002+10:00

Here are some snaps from our first evening in London

London is surprisingly sunny and warm! This photo was taken at 6pm
The sun drops at 8pm, and 11pm feels like late evening. Can anyone say SUNNY.

in front of russell square station!

lesbian and gay bookshop on the street. love it

walking to the hostel

3.50 pounds for a cafe full english breakfast?!?!?!? Impressed

All my fears about starving in london have evaporated. Good food is cheap (eden is over the moon) and plentiful, from curry to hommus restaurants to australian pubs (we haven't gone in but chris reckons they sell kangaroo) 1.5 pounds for breakfast! 35 pence for our massive bottles of water cos london water is salty and recycled from the River Thames (ZE RIVER TAMES)

Indian food - the quality mainstay of london cuisine

Had indian for our first dinner in london @ a tiny shop called motijheel
had a vego curry degustation platter for 8.95 pounds
Assorted curries with basmati, crispy vegetable fritter and naan bread... delish!

Love the british accent. I was out trying to buy a phone sim the other night, instead got propositioned for dinner by the curry store owner. London guys don't ask you if you're free, they just tell you, 'I'm takin yur out fur dinner', and the accent is so dreamy it doesn't even matter who it is that's asking what, all you need to do is nod and shout 'okay!'. It'd be so easy to mug ppl if you were pommie..... ''And over yur cash!' ..... 'okay!'

Hobo sitting in front of russell square
Hobos in london don't huddle quietly with their cardboard signs, they have dogs instead and definitely aren't quiet or shy - one came straight up to us and goes 'give some money to my dog! woof woof! woof!' londoners are barking mad

BERRIES ARE SO CHEAP HERE. Box of berries for 1 pound - snapped up 2x raspberries and 1x blueberries for 3 pounds. Six australian dollars. Oh my god.

London generator hostel breakfast day 2!!!!

2010-08-18T21:09:00.001+10:00

GENERATOR HOSTEL LOUNGE, LONDON, 9:30AM WEDNESDAY

Our dorm, bunking with chris, claudio from romania, and eden below me ;)

Just had a super englishy 1.5 pound hostel breakfast
Cocopops, bran flakes and muesli, 2 slices buttered toast and hot english breakfast tea
IM SUCH A POM NOW

Awesome toast machine!!!!!

Running out to buy a london phone and view possible apartments on Baker Street now
talk to yo soon!

In transit to London at Tai pei airport!

2010-08-17T08:34:00.004+10:00

HELLO EVERYONE!!

it's 5:45am taipei time and we're at the transit terminal leeching free wifi

The 9 hour flight from sydney to tai pei was killer, I do NOT recommend the china airlines airbus 330 for long haul flights
And we have a 14 hour flight to london still to go
LOL i used to like flying on planes!! thank god eden and chris are here with me

3 minutes of battery left lol!!
miss you guys already xxx

ITaiwan - trying out the new Taiwanese restaurant on Dixon Street

2010-08-16T01:46:00.025+10:00

It might be hustle and bustle outside on Dixon, but inside the cool black interior of this hideaway Taiwanese retreat you can smooth off your feathers and chill while the food comes out (bring friends or a book cos service ain't speedy)

Sweet and sour fish dish with pineapple chunks and capsicum, for halal boy
Didn't really wow us

Pig's ears. My korean friend is weird so he likes to try weird foods
There were other weird things, like chicken tongues
Served cold and slippery, like crunchy brown jellyfish

Piping hot wintermelon and pork bone soup, this was awesome
Warm and comforting love4u!

The "set" - rice with stir-fried braised pork and mushroom, served with a boiled tea egg
Pretty good but way smaller than the picture made it seem.
Generally picture menus are great cos it means you don't get conned into ordering something lame, but in this case they needed to add a ruler for scale

Crispy bleeding taiwanese omelette
All I can say is: crispy bleeding fantastic!
I love anything with fried egg.
All foods can be improved if we were just to add a fried egg on top. Noodles, fried rice, banana sandwiches. Even birthday cake

Overall: food is not overly exciting but good place for chatty catch-ups
Would I go back? probably not cos there are better places in chinatown... mamak superbowl wagaya, but maybe for the egg/soup. It's pretty inside though! And there's a cosy upstairs with more touch screen TVs (yes that's right.. touch screen!) with more pretty seating and air-conditioning.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE
Published monthly, Fashionable Eye is the authority lifestyle guide of 'the tens', covering music, food and recreation for Sydney-siders. Foodchaser is proud to have contributed the guest post under the food section (what else!) for this month. Big thanks to Fashionable Eye for an awesome meal, you can check out the August issue here.

Boon Chocolates & Dessert, girls night out @ darlinghurst sydney!

2010-07-29T05:43:00.007+10:00

Lazy photo post! Life in a nutshell ~

had awesome dancing beaching fun at the gold coast last week, love you guys
having awesome peer network and dancing fun this week, love you guys too
currently trying to catch up facebook photo uploads before I head off to europe! up to june 2009..... 12 months to go hahaha
Liqi's birthday and farewell this saturday! s2

One sneaky day after work and a pasta place on george street

Omg THE CHOCOLATE EXPERIENCE? ZOMBIE BAAARGH

Rows and rows of chocolate

Boon tasting platter - hot milky liquid chocolate, chocolate mousse and a chocolate sampler piece

Hot waffles with vanilla icecream and a chocolate drizzler pot

Lusciously dark cold chocolate icecream with a spun milk chocolate scroll, rich bittersweet chocolate tart and caramel nougat chocolate....

In conclusion, yes boon chocolates was an awesome find courtesy of wendyba... chocolate heaven, can anyone say oh baby more

whisper me sweet sweet nothings, Would You Like Some More?
crepes and pancakes at cafe zizi
tang yuan balls at chinese new year
rum balls and florentines at gelatissimo
yoghurt with toppings at white apple dessert cafe
glace icecream shop at leichhardt

Poporo japanese fusion @ top level market city, sydney

2010-07-18T01:03:00.008+10:00

Ask anyone where to find weird and wonderfully interesting jap food in sydney and the odds are good that you'll be directed to Poporo. There is one big reason that Poporo trumps the deck - and that reason is the black squid ink spaghetti with tomato and calamari rings

Oh shudder at the blackness, have you ever seen such noodles before?
How fantastic is the deep, dark inky blackness.....

....which is only matched by the $2 Charcoal buns from Breadtop bakery (they taste like garlic bread!) The blackness of black sesame icecream is pretty fantastic too, and the dark rye sandwiches that sometimes feature at work functions deserves a mention.

Also from Poporo, try cheesy cheesy doria with tomato rice and chicken:

The doria after it was partly demolished by the chinese-speaking walrus:

In conclusion, the blacker your food, the more interesting it is! Buy a pepper shaker, notch up the temperature on that oven, and experience for yourself the wonders of black food next time you sit down to your morning eggs and toast.

Still hungry?
spaghetti & chocolate cake @ poporo
shio ramen, ebi curry, katsu curry and green tea latte @ ichiban boshi
cloudy tiramisu cake, asian lattes, fruity taro icecream and takoyaki @ norita

noodle or oodles of doodles? hold the poodles

2010-07-17T02:40:00.008+10:00

It's holidays but the time seems to speed up when you're having fun. Went takoyaki-hunting at the chinatown friday night markets last night (octopus, prawn and crab!), and then to pancakes on the rocks for margherita pizza and el cheapo mushroom salad (three dollars!) - LG.