I took my car for a minor service today and ended up with a $900 bill and two new (who knows? I certainly don't know if they are!) car parts. There was a new technician at the dealership who served me this time, and he was very thorough.
There were some noises which had been around for some time, even at the last major service which was not picked up. But this guy, he was good. He spotted it right away and informed me that the left bearing wheel nut whatever thing is noisy and needed to be changed to stop the noise.
My car is no spring chicken in car years, but I think for all the crazy driving I do in it, it deserves to be well maintained.
Klunk no more!
Friday, May 25, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Scotch Eggs
I wonder who came up with the name Scotch Eggs for these little balls of deliciousness. I don't see no tartan, nor bagpipes, only delicious eggs wrapped in salty and spicy meat!
I made these little Scotch Eggs last week using quails eggs and minced turkey meat spiced with a dash of allspice. It was painstaking peeling the gazillions of little fresh quails eggs (canned ones are not quite the same!) but the thought of sinking my teeth into one of them made it all worthwhile.
When I was a kid, my fave food was hard boiled quails eggs. I ate so many of them my cholestorol levels are still inflated from when I was two. Due to its size, I thought it to be an exclusively children food, and was very proprietary about it.
I also made Thai Basil Chicken, another of my fave dishes. I put 3 tablespoons of fish sauce to fry this dish, and it didn't even need any sugar because of the natural sweetness of basil, capsicum and carrots.
Scotch Eggs and Thai Basil Chicken may sound like a strange combination for dinner, but they're just a collection of what I like to eat!
I made these little Scotch Eggs last week using quails eggs and minced turkey meat spiced with a dash of allspice. It was painstaking peeling the gazillions of little fresh quails eggs (canned ones are not quite the same!) but the thought of sinking my teeth into one of them made it all worthwhile.
When I was a kid, my fave food was hard boiled quails eggs. I ate so many of them my cholestorol levels are still inflated from when I was two. Due to its size, I thought it to be an exclusively children food, and was very proprietary about it.
I also made Thai Basil Chicken, another of my fave dishes. I put 3 tablespoons of fish sauce to fry this dish, and it didn't even need any sugar because of the natural sweetness of basil, capsicum and carrots.
Scotch Eggs and Thai Basil Chicken may sound like a strange combination for dinner, but they're just a collection of what I like to eat!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Butterfly Cupcakes
For Mother's Day, we bought a card with a cutout butterfly that pops up once the card is opened. I was really taken with the card so much so that I drew inspiration from it to make the accompanying gift - butterfly cupcakes packaged in a home made box.
I made different types of cupcakes starting with a basic vanilla cupcake base. From left: sultanas, plain vanilla, assorted nuts, and mandarin. To make the 'butterflies', I cut a circle from the top of the cupcakes, then cut the circle into half, pipe cream to fill the cut out part and stick the semi circles back on to make it look like butterfly wings. For the mandarin flavoured ones, I place two segments of mandarin onto the cream instead. I think they look fairly decorative, without use of artificial colouring.
Six cupcakes in a box... I think I spent more time making the box than on the cupcakes!! Once I have an idea in my head, I feel I must persevere with it till it gets done. I spent 3 hours on a Friday night hunching over the concept, drawings, measurements and execution. One would think I was designing something as big and grand as a house!!
But eventually the box did come together.... I was quite proud of my handiwork and learnt quite a number of things on the way. What to do the next time I decide to make a box... IF I made another box...
For the lid, I put in a clear plastic window. If not for the window to display the cupcakes, I would have just bought a box in a shop for the same price as the materials I needed for the box, and a lot less effort.
The cupcakes in the box did not seem like much, but don't they say it's the thought that counts?
I made different types of cupcakes starting with a basic vanilla cupcake base. From left: sultanas, plain vanilla, assorted nuts, and mandarin. To make the 'butterflies', I cut a circle from the top of the cupcakes, then cut the circle into half, pipe cream to fill the cut out part and stick the semi circles back on to make it look like butterfly wings. For the mandarin flavoured ones, I place two segments of mandarin onto the cream instead. I think they look fairly decorative, without use of artificial colouring.
Six cupcakes in a box... I think I spent more time making the box than on the cupcakes!! Once I have an idea in my head, I feel I must persevere with it till it gets done. I spent 3 hours on a Friday night hunching over the concept, drawings, measurements and execution. One would think I was designing something as big and grand as a house!!
But eventually the box did come together.... I was quite proud of my handiwork and learnt quite a number of things on the way. What to do the next time I decide to make a box... IF I made another box...
For the lid, I put in a clear plastic window. If not for the window to display the cupcakes, I would have just bought a box in a shop for the same price as the materials I needed for the box, and a lot less effort.
 |
| The finished product |
The cupcakes in the box did not seem like much, but don't they say it's the thought that counts?
Thursday, May 10, 2012
A Wanda Inn, Healesville
A Wanda Inn is an inconspicous restaurant located along the main street in Healesville town. It looked like an ordinary cafe/restaurant with basic chairs and little pots of daisies on the tables. The restaurant is run by a Japanese couple, and the menu consists of Japanese influenced western food.
Gaz ordered nori wrapped prawn tempura served with hand cut chips & mayo (with white truffle oil) and salad. The hand cut chips were rustic and crispy. The prawns were crispy and goes well with the mayo. However the salad was too salty.
I ordered a dish off the specials board - house smoked salmon with feta croquette. The dish came prettily presented on a flat square platter with 4 pieces of smoked salmon arranged atop lightly pickled cauliflower, celery and carrots in a zig zag fashion. There were also two pieces of feta croquette.
The feta croquette was delicious - it was light and fluffly, melted cheese oozed out when I bit into the croquette.
I also loved the smoked salmon. The quality of the fish was excellent. The colour was bright and the smell of smoke was not too strong. It went really well with the salad underneth the fish.
We were both very impressed by the dishes we had ordered. I felt that my dish could easily make an appearance in a fine dining restaurant both in presentation and taste yet the price we paid for both the dishes ($36 all up) was perhaps the price of an entree in a starred restaurant.
A Wanda Inn is probably one of our most unexpected finds ever. Wanda ful!
Gaz ordered nori wrapped prawn tempura served with hand cut chips & mayo (with white truffle oil) and salad. The hand cut chips were rustic and crispy. The prawns were crispy and goes well with the mayo. However the salad was too salty.
 | |||
| Prawn, Chips and Salad |
 |
| House Smoked Salmon |
I also loved the smoked salmon. The quality of the fish was excellent. The colour was bright and the smell of smoke was not too strong. It went really well with the salad underneth the fish.
We were both very impressed by the dishes we had ordered. I felt that my dish could easily make an appearance in a fine dining restaurant both in presentation and taste yet the price we paid for both the dishes ($36 all up) was perhaps the price of an entree in a starred restaurant.
A Wanda Inn is probably one of our most unexpected finds ever. Wanda ful!
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Dreaming in Healesville
It was going to be another wet and cold weekend. I could feel my happiness index fall lower on the scale.
To make the best of the weekend, Gaz and I took a drive to Healesville last Saturday. Healesville is about three quarters of an hour away in the scenic Yarra Valley. We visited the TarraWarra Museum of Art first. As we drove past the iron wrought gate onto the long driveway leading to the museum, the view took my breath away. A minimalist warm coloured building with beautiful curves against a gorgeous backdrop of sky, vineyards and grass.
Finding our way into the gallery felt like being Alice in Wonderland. Once we found the hidden entrance, we saw a large 'doorway' which framed a picturesque view of the area.
It felt really magical to walk through the doorway and see the rolling clouds in the sky blending with the wide expanse of emerald coloured grass and autumn coloured vineyards.
The sights in the museum did not disappoint. I was especially taken by the beautiful and clever pieces of furniture from Khai Liew, one of three artists on special exhibition in the gallery during our visit. Khai Liew migrated from Malaysia to Australia at 19, and is a renowed furniture maker.
After lunch in town, we went to Maroondah Reservoir Park. The park's main feature is the Maroondah Dam and its Rose Stairway. We climbed up the stairway, which is a flight of stairs flanked by a row of roses on either side to the top of the dam. Although it was autumn, there were some roses in bloom. I could only imagine how beautiful the stairway would look in spring.
The view from the top of the dam was very tranquil. It was the perfect place to let thoughts wander and dream. We spent some time doing just that.
Because it was cold and tipped to rain, there were not many people around in the park. We had the whole place mostly to ourselves to explore and discover. Thankfully it only started to rain when we were ready to leave the place. We really enjoyed dreamy Healesville!
To make the best of the weekend, Gaz and I took a drive to Healesville last Saturday. Healesville is about three quarters of an hour away in the scenic Yarra Valley. We visited the TarraWarra Museum of Art first. As we drove past the iron wrought gate onto the long driveway leading to the museum, the view took my breath away. A minimalist warm coloured building with beautiful curves against a gorgeous backdrop of sky, vineyards and grass.
Finding our way into the gallery felt like being Alice in Wonderland. Once we found the hidden entrance, we saw a large 'doorway' which framed a picturesque view of the area.
It felt really magical to walk through the doorway and see the rolling clouds in the sky blending with the wide expanse of emerald coloured grass and autumn coloured vineyards.
The sights in the museum did not disappoint. I was especially taken by the beautiful and clever pieces of furniture from Khai Liew, one of three artists on special exhibition in the gallery during our visit. Khai Liew migrated from Malaysia to Australia at 19, and is a renowed furniture maker.
After lunch in town, we went to Maroondah Reservoir Park. The park's main feature is the Maroondah Dam and its Rose Stairway. We climbed up the stairway, which is a flight of stairs flanked by a row of roses on either side to the top of the dam. Although it was autumn, there were some roses in bloom. I could only imagine how beautiful the stairway would look in spring.
The view from the top of the dam was very tranquil. It was the perfect place to let thoughts wander and dream. We spent some time doing just that.
Because it was cold and tipped to rain, there were not many people around in the park. We had the whole place mostly to ourselves to explore and discover. Thankfully it only started to rain when we were ready to leave the place. We really enjoyed dreamy Healesville!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Chilli and Basil Thai Restaurant
This week has been quite depressing for me. The bigger than expected rate cut announced by the RBA early this week indicating a weaker than thought economy, the 1000 workers left out in the cold by the collapse of freight company 1st fleet, 700 jobs to be cut from a restructure by Optus and some nasty office politics going around has been crushing the body and the soul.
So when we drove to Chilli and Basil Thai restaurant in Bayswater, I was not feeling too lively at all. We received a leaflet in our box on the restaurant and we thought we will give it a try. I had passed by the street it is located and had not noticed a Thai restaurant there so I was intrigued.
The restaurant turned out to be right opposite the train station nestled in between shops that usually closes past 5pm. No wonder I had not noticed it before. The paintings in orange, red and gold, and dark floorboards made the interior of the restaurant warm and welcoming. We were ushered to our seat by a waitperson dressed in traditional sarong and top.
We ordered a Sizzling Seafood Plate from the specials board and Beef Green Curry. When the food came shortly after, we knew we had made the right choice. The servings were of a good size, and the flavours were very good. The seafood plate had pieces of fish, mussels, prawns, calamari and bamboo shoots, celery, carrots and baby corn in a peppery oyster sauce. The seafood was fresh and the sauce was delicious on the steamed rice we had also ordered.
We also enjoyed the green curry, which had thin slices of tender beef, bamboo shoots, baby corn, carrots, capsicum. Thankfully the restaurant had gotten the beef right because I get really annoyed with chewy and rough textured beef that has not been cut properly. The curry was not too spicy so it was perfect for me.
Overall, we really enjoyed the food and the speedy service provided. Price wise, it is on par with other Thai restaurants nearby. We did note that the take away prices is lower by up to $4 on some dishes compared to the dine in menu. Having a fulfilled stomach gave me strength to live and hope for another day..
So when we drove to Chilli and Basil Thai restaurant in Bayswater, I was not feeling too lively at all. We received a leaflet in our box on the restaurant and we thought we will give it a try. I had passed by the street it is located and had not noticed a Thai restaurant there so I was intrigued.
The restaurant turned out to be right opposite the train station nestled in between shops that usually closes past 5pm. No wonder I had not noticed it before. The paintings in orange, red and gold, and dark floorboards made the interior of the restaurant warm and welcoming. We were ushered to our seat by a waitperson dressed in traditional sarong and top.
We ordered a Sizzling Seafood Plate from the specials board and Beef Green Curry. When the food came shortly after, we knew we had made the right choice. The servings were of a good size, and the flavours were very good. The seafood plate had pieces of fish, mussels, prawns, calamari and bamboo shoots, celery, carrots and baby corn in a peppery oyster sauce. The seafood was fresh and the sauce was delicious on the steamed rice we had also ordered.
We also enjoyed the green curry, which had thin slices of tender beef, bamboo shoots, baby corn, carrots, capsicum. Thankfully the restaurant had gotten the beef right because I get really annoyed with chewy and rough textured beef that has not been cut properly. The curry was not too spicy so it was perfect for me.
Overall, we really enjoyed the food and the speedy service provided. Price wise, it is on par with other Thai restaurants nearby. We did note that the take away prices is lower by up to $4 on some dishes compared to the dine in menu. Having a fulfilled stomach gave me strength to live and hope for another day..
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