Ms Marples, again.

The State of Victoria celebrated Labour's Day exactly a week ago (not tat it's relevant to me, but somehow i got 'affected'); so we drove hubby's ex colleague and his wife upto Mt Dandenong. It was cool being back there since our last visit, the good thing about this place is that it's only 30 mins drive from where we're staying and the scenery up there is just beautiful.

Of course, it's pure straightforward to bring "new" people who have not been to the area to try out the touristy Ms Marples; so we headed back to the little cottage for the second time in less than a month. The place was, as predicted, fully packed on a public hol and we had to wait for an hour to be seated.  

In between that hour of waiting, we visited the little tea room right next to Ms Marples, which sells various tea leaves and coffee beans. This is where i got  further inspired to make Yo Yos. They call them melting moments here in Ozzie. So, i was wrong. Yo Yo is an American term, i guess?

After an hour or so, we finally got a table, n these were wat we had.

My Iced Coffee. Good to break the rule sometimes; but the guilt is killing. ^-^. Had to work so hard to burn that calories.

A must order. The place is famous for this ok? Well, second time n i still think they're too cakey. Like eating cakes with minced fruits. Apart from that, they were ok, but still not as good as the ones i had in Sunny Ridge. Or my scones? lol.

Chicken Asparagus Fingers, ordered by Vaneet n Anshu. They were complimenting how good these were, so i believe they must be at least 4 stars up? I will make these soon. Not that hard.

Aussie chips. This is quite pricey; $6.50 for a bowl of chips?!

Hubby's cottage pie. Like baby food to me. Mash too fine n i find it a bit dry. Sigh, i miss UK's shepherd pie.



The bill. Not cheap. Which makes me wonder if i shd go back next time. No, i shd try others.



A restaurant chain called SOFIA

I am not doing anything special for dinner tonight due to the extensive amount of leftovers we had from the previous meals; and we sort of achieved a mutual agreement to have fruits only for dinner. There is a rockmelon which needs to be consumed before it stinks the whole house (it has already conquered my fridge!) n several others like the kiwis, n nectarines. Yeah, a fruitful meal tonight before the six rounds of brisk walk around the cricket ground. Oh, did i mention hub found a nearby cricket playground which has been our exercise ground then?

If no, i will tell you abt it later. Right now i am going to write about a restaurant chain which has been my favourite family dining spot ever since we first stepped in. I've heard many encouraging comments about this restaurant before i even tried it; they have a chain near my uncle's house along Burwood Highway and i used to pass by everytime i headed down that way but never dared to step in due to the 'family' term they use to define 'extra large' portions. Yeah, not even two person can fit into that category; n i didn't wan to risk over-eating or packing home some leftovers.  

For this reason, we sort of took the advantage when my in laws came to visit (in fact two!); n i remember the first time being a coincident when we were travelling down to Philip Island. My father-in-law n hub had such positive impression of Sofia that we went back to their chain near my uncle's place on the day before they flew back to BJ. We ordered three dishes on the second visit, n the portions were as massive as normal we had to 'ta-pao':

BBQ meat Italian pizza (large). We didn't even manage to finish half of this; the crust was a bit disappointing to me. Thin but not thin enough to give the crunch n crispiness. Filling wise was ok.

House special: Grilled steak (medium raw, grilled to perfection!) Juicy, n just right! Served with mushroom gravy n chips, which could be better with mashed instead. My father in law remembers this piece as one of the best he has tried so far in Melbourne.

Fristo Misto (i think), deep-fried seafood platter. Lotsa calamaris, a few fish fillets n prawns. Quite good, or rather good enough coz i don't actually expect seafood to be excellent in this part of the world where frozens are commonly used. This leaves me wondering; why frozen when it's surrounded by oceans n sea? Boy i miss KK seafood. no where beats Sabah when comes to seafood. The platter was served with 'mint' avocado lookalike dipping n fresh salad. No chips, unlike the first one (below).

Only three n more than enough to fill our tummies. And it was lunch. We brought back the leftover pizzas, n some deep-fried calamaris, n they took us (hub n me) two point five meals to finish. That is how small our stomachs are! LOL

The next two were the meal we had in a small town called Frankston when we were journeying down south to Philip Island. Franskton is a beautiful town by the seaside. Crystal clear ocean, n lovely beach. Reminds me of Sapi Island, except that they dun have as much beautiful fishes like Sapi does. The place is famous for its seaview, n sand sculptors which unfortunately was closed when we were there due to the  recent thunderstorms n rain.

We came across Sofia as we were walking along the seashore, n these were wat we had:

Steak with prawns n mashed potato. I don't quite remember this anymore, but the steak wasn't as good as the second time one. I did like the mashed potato though. n the gravy which left me licking n licking non stop.

The first seafood platter we had. With chips n a different dipping sauce which i think is sour cream n tartare.

Two only n that kept us full the whole day. We didn't even have dinner that night at the Penguin Paradise so imagine how big the portions are!

I guess we'll have to wait for visitors or get more people to join before we can visit the restaurant again. I am thinking of their homemade gelatos next. Slurrp..

Mount Dandenong

Hehe. We are enjoying the moments of being 'redundant', thus, the drive up to Mt. Dandenong to sip a cup of tea/coffee n devour the long famous Miss Marples' devonshire scones. N to enjoy the scenic view from the hill top which stands at 633m above sea level, n smell the fresh scent of forest hills. isn't it wonderful? i wish everyday is like this.

Mt Dandenong is about 35 mins drive from our place in Doncaster

the Melbourne metropolitan from the hilltop. Sky wasn't that clear today.

Miss Marples' scones with raspberry jam n clotted cream. Skinny cappucino n tea. I personally think, Sunny ridge garden's scones taste better.

I love this forest. Such a beautiful creation.

I had a great time driving up!

I continued being a lazy pig today, so for dinner, i easily steamed n roasted some Ozzie sweet potatoes (Yummy!), mixed frozen vege (leftover by in laws) with instant brown onion gravy, n a yummilicious beef pie. Not tat hard to please a man! LOL.

Strawberry picking at Sunny Ridge Farm

My uncle and auntie are away for 3 days; they left on Monday morning and i thought it was a pure 'blessing' coz then i had been planning to drive down to Mornington Peninsula (abt 75 minutes away) on either the 27th or 28th for some countryside experience but couldn't find any excuse to convince them to allow me to drive (or rather, watever excuse it may be, they will still insist that we take a tour bus). Basically i'm not even allowed to drive to the city, so forget abt the countryside, and amazingly, the whole process just took place without me having to worry to lie or anything! I know i'm naughty, lol, i have been dreading for the last whole week about telling lies n stuff. You see, my cousin wanted to join us on this trip, n having him means the secret has to be exposed beforehand. (Normally i wld just shhhh abt our plans,  sneak out of the house, come back n then pretend nth has happened).LOL. Otherwise i can't drive, n it's definitely redundant having a car, defeating my purpose of adapting to this place etc. But thank God, He sure knows how to work miraculously!

So well, back to our trip yesterday, my cousin couldn't make it due to some 'prepostrous' reasons, n that left me n Kimmie on our road trip down south. Strawberry picking was the main agenda basically, but i took a longer route to avoid the tollway, driving along the coastal line n the sight was soooooo so awesome! I even passed a rose farm, n the whole place smells so wonderful even with the car windows shut, i could smell the scent from the garden. How lovely, i wish we came in a pack, i think tat wld be more fun. (My in laws are coming!!!)

Well nevertheless, we had fun just by ourselves. The strawberries were plump, big juicy and extremely sweet. The sweetest strawberries i've ever tasted in my entire life. Even beating those from BJ or Szechuan. I guess it was just naturally refreshing n enjoyable to consume ur own handpicked fruits, don't u think so?

I love the natural side of this picture.

Picking in process. The entrance+picking +eating+500g strawberries (to bring back) cost only $7 per adult, which is fairly reasonable.

We were only allowed to fill up this box (1kg for two ppl). The box must be able to close. Extra charges will be imposed if box is too full and couldn't be covered properly.

Our product of the day

This side of the farm is closed.

Work harder guys!

This scone is tigerrific! With homemade strawberry jam n cream!

Devonshire scones with strawberry milkshake

I drove to Melbourne Zoo n dropped by at Carlton for infamous Italian cuisine!

Cool huh? i'm so proud of myself. Haha. Note this, the postcodes of these destination i drove to yesterday: 3052 and 3053. Close to 3000 a.k.a the city centre! Soon enough, i will be allowed to drive to the CDB on my own. I have been warned and dicscouraged abt how tricky it is to drive in the CBD, and totally prohibited from even stepping into the 3.0.0.0 zone with my car (not even to St Kilda road 3004), yeah, adults.... they worry too much sometimes, but well it's for your own good! ** i've been driving to these places without the knowledge of those who are supervising me, so pls shhhh for me. **

So, we went to the zoo yesterday and dropped by at Lygon street to tryout sum prominent restaurants ppl have bragging abt. A bit later this afternnon, i'm goin to drive my sister out to Ivanhoe for sum Aussie pancakes.

So here we are. It wasn't the best among all zoos, but it was good enough, i guess.

I was intrigued. They have Malay translations everywhere. Oh well, they borrowed our orang utans n elephants!

I think these are the cutest. It was feeding time, n these babies were running in the most chubbiest, gulliable n simply adorable way. Ohhhhh..

Din mean to take pics of this cute little girl, but she did us a favour in opening all the toilet lids.



Hub asked how i did it. Well, he probably forgot wat i was doing for a living!



This was the biggest Kanga i've seen. Reminds me of the kanga in winnie da pooh.

Aussie wombat was sound asleep, i nearly tot it was a wild boar. LOL, n hub tot it was a....

This Koala was shy, trying to hide itself from everyone.

So, we managed to tryout Tiamo n Tiamo 2(which is just next door)

Our Italian Pasta, which was really huge in portion. But we managed to finish. :-S

Here's one thing abt driving in Mel. You got to follow the rules! Even if it's a bit strange.

Really appreciate you guys Shhhhh -ing for me. Otherwise i can't go anywhere but Boxhill n Knox.

Christmas, a miracle and a new life.

Hello people, how's things goin on there? today i wld like to share abt my uncle's church. Yeah, for those of you who don't know, my uncle is a pastor in a chinese church in Kew (abt 5 mins from Richmond) that has about 30 people? It is a hakka congregation, so he's a hakka pastor! Yups, i am proud to have sumone in my family that works for the ministry of God, that is apart from my dear own mom!

Well, i don't actually attend his church every sunday, for certain reasons (you know, my hakka skill is nowhere to be bragged abt). but i do go on certain occasions, say a Christmas party which was just recently. So that explains the pictures below. It was a Christmas celebration service that afternoon, and they have choirs from the adults, children and young teens.

As much as i wanted to give my support and encouragement, i need to be aware that i am in search for more spiritual growth and food in this city. Language barrier n stuff, generation gap (most of them are either my aunties/granmas, or too young), and also i am at this stage of looking for certain transformation and a circle of network that can assist me to grow deeply rooted in the word of God. So, that explains why i chose to go to an English church like Crossway, even if that means i have to go alone. Sermons are important to me, so much that i have to make sure i hv been deeply engaged in the message everytime i come out from the church building.

I know Ms Chong will be goin off today, so here's an opportunity to wish her a blessed Christmas holiday, and hopefully she will enjoy every bit of the trip. :-D Hopefully she will add on a Hello Kitty here for me (just kidding hahaha.)

Another cafe I highly recommend

Ad-hoc b'day cakes.

More ad hoc b'day cakes. Ain't this beautiful?

Kim's avocado chicken sandwich.

From left to right: petite chocolate mud cake, nuttella ricotta cheesecake, n fruit strudel.

Yup, it's Brunetti. I think it's italian, they have this wide spread of desserts and pastries including macarons, but Kim din take any pics due to the reflection from the mirror. I highly recommend this particular cafe, they have a few outlets across Melbourne city, but we only managed to try the newly opened chain at MYER Level 3 Bourke Street, and it was really an eye opener for me. They even sell gelatos and chocolates. So from savoury to gelatos, from chocolates to cakes and danish pastries and hot and cold beverages, basically you can find almost everything for a special tea time treat! Or after dinner coffee? I give thumbs up, but still, i say they are a bit too commercialised for my liking. Homemade still rules!

Christmas is about LOVE

In 9 days, the world is about to celebrate the day "Christmas'. I dislike it when people address it as 'X-mas' coz it simply shows no respect for our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Just like Joyce X, or Michael X. I wouldn't be happy ,for sure, if sumone would to address me with an X instead of my proper maiden name or surname! I guess people just wan to ignore the fact that the reason for Christmas is Christ, but hey think again, without Christ would there be Christmas?

People are busy doing last minute shopping at the city and shopping malls everywhere else this particular week. Most malls extend their operating hours till midnite, traffic jams almost everywhere (i spent more than an hour in the car to DFO  Essendon today, so tat equals nearly 3 hrs for return) and i wonder if these people work?! Or maybe they're just like me. Transition period. LOL.

Here are some shots to share:



Melbourne's TAXI

 

June will scream if she sees these. But Kim just nodded her head, and said, no way i'm gonna buy this for her!

Shortbread anyone?!?!

Our new-found destination. To drive there was a challenge for me. I made many wrong turns, thanks to the stupid GPS. But Thank God, we arrived in 1.5 hours. :-S

Sales .. sales

The Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) at Essendon Fields

I'm a happy person today. I got wat i wanted but not the Heineken beer.

Hi June, these are your Chrismas pressies. I know you'd love them, but you love me more.