Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden

Gaz was sick this weekend so we mainly stayed at home and binged on movies and dramas. A good, thought provoking but also action packed one is Death Game, a Korean drama series with 8 episodes about a man who committed suicide and was punished by Death to die and reborn 12 times before he can truly die and go to wherever he is supposed to go in the afterlife. It hits a nerve close to home since we know someone who committed suicide.

We also watched Fallout, and season 2 of Physical 100. There are some interesting personalities in the second season, like 2 plus size actors, a petite rhythmic gymnast and a porter. I wonder if they will reach the final episodes?

The weather was excellent, in comparison to what it was throughout the week. It reminds me of a few weeks ago when we went to the Botanical Gardens in Dandenong Ranges (previously called National  Rhododendron Garden) to see the new sculpture from the Chelsea Flower Show. 

There are hundreds of different plants in that section, a lake and the sculpture. The stones in the garden caught my eye with their shape and position in the garden. Some were smooth and had interesting shapes.

There is another section under construction, called the Cloud Garden which hopefully we will be able to see when we visit next time.

 

Biang Biang Noodles, Swanston St

Biang Biang Noodles restaurant used to have only 1 place on Elizabeth Street but they have since opened another one on Swanston Street. I had gone to the original shop years earlier but Gaz wanted to try as he had never been to either place. 

The last time I went to the restaurant, I was enticed by the prices, the food was average and there were an abundance of noodles in the bowl. This time, the prices are still enticing (mentioned in The Age Cheap Eats for a number of years) but the amount of noodles have decreased. Somehow it is a positive because there used to be too much noodles for the sauce.

We ordered the noodles with tomato and egg with meat sauce ($15.50) and lamb dumplings (9 for $15.80) in soup.

The noodles were delicious. They were hand pulled by a staff in a glass window but without the aplomb and performance that usually accompanies, only a poker face that betrays their annoyance of having to work on the weekend. We paid weekend surcharge by the way, and a card surcharge even though we paid by cash.

 The lamb dumplings were delicious and I didn't mind the sour and salty broth although Gaz wasn't used to it. After all the kerfuffle of asking us whether we want coriander as a topping, we didn't get any. Lamb and coriander would have gone well.

I think the hygiene in this store is a little lacking. The tables were not cleaned properly after each use so there are still food sticking to the table when we sat down. I saw a cockroach scuttling on the wall at the self service station where the water, cups and utensils are. I did not have an enjoyable experience here, thankfully we did not have diarrhoea after our meals so maybe the cockroach was lost and just passing by. I won't be finding out whether it has decided to settle and have a family anywhere in the shop!

M Pavilion, ACMI

ACMI is probably one of the most interesting gallery in Melbourne. The exhibits are interactive, modern and engaging. We bought tickets ($20) to their latest exhibition called Marshmallow Laser Fest two weekends ago. The exhibition was about air, how it is absorbed by plants and humans, fuelling their development and life. There was a meditation session so relaxing that I fell asleep on the beanbag provided. 

There were many moving art (read video installations), each pixel so vivid. The art is backed by science which is impressive. So for example, based on data collected with lidar (light and range) scanner, researchers can measure how much oxygen is being absorbed by trees in a forest which is then translated to art. 

We passed by M Pavillion on the way to ACMI. It is a new installation as it is each year. This year the pavilion was designed by a Japanese and feels very zen and minimalist. It is an enclosed pavilion that envelopes one with the calm inside the pavilion, away from the hustle and bustle of the city outside. There are concrete all around, a lake of water and lights. This is a totally new feel to the previous pavilion which was an open space for community. This one feels very like an individualistic place for inner reflection. 

Some dresses from the movie Dressmaker. I like this dress the best because it is so wearable even though it is not one of the iconic dresses of the movie. In a way, they all are iconic.

 

1000 Steps

A few weeks ago I was feeling pretty stressed out. My heart palpitations were out of control, I was in a hyper vigilant state all the time and I could literally feel the stress coursing through my veins. I had to do something to shake it all out and the best thing that came to mind was being outdoors and exercise.

I went to the 1000 steps and did 1 loop. I didn't stop to take a break, just marched onwards and upwards even when it was tough to take another breath. 

This is the view from when I was heading down, after the workout. It is very gratifying and humbling at the same time.

 

 

Top Noodle House, Mitcham

It was raining, there was some stress in the air with Gaz's car situation. So, what did we have for dinner? We passed by Top Noodle House near Mitcham train station and decided to give it a go.

Opened by a family from Myanmar, they had taken over the premises of the old Elate Kitchen to serve pan mee and other noodles.

The place was not too busy, perhaps because of the location away from the main road, and because of the general economic environment. It was clean and tidy though and there was a welcome air when we walked into the restaurant. 

We ordered the famous pan mee, dry version ($14.80) and rocking fish slice soup noodles with yee mee ($17.80).

The pan mee is authentic Malaysian hawker style. Everything was down to a pat, except the noodles which was too short (the length of a pinkie) and thick, and the sauce which was a bit bland. Otherwise, the chilli sauce was spicy and packed a punch, the soup was tasty (anchovy soup?), the fried anchovies were satisfyingly crunchy without being too oily. I enjoyed the pan mee very much.

The rockling fish fillet noodles used almost the same broth as the pan mee, but with added ginger taste. The fish was a little overcooked but the dish was a comforting one for the rainy day. 

There were generous servings of bok choy and about 7 slices of fish which is reasonable for the price.

 The star of the place is the pan mee but I recommend you try the usual width pan mee noodles instead of the wide one that I ordered, which was not the best. I also wish they have the hand torn pan mee because I love the thin silky unpredictableness of those noodles. I'm sure it's doable but you may need to pay extra for it.

A Crash

Gaz was involved in a bingle recently where someone crashed into his car from behind. The person admitted their fault and was apologetic about not keeping their eyes on the road while driving. People should not be fiddling with phones or other things while driving! Thankfully Gaz is alright and unhurt. So was the other driver. 

The process of getting the car towed for assessment was not an easy process. It took 2 days for the car to be towed and even then we kept getting mixed messages from the insurer about what to do, whose responsibility it is to arrange a tow and the next steps. What's interesting is that the towing company blatantly do not follow the law. Under the law, they must tow the car to wherever the customer wants it to go, but they will instead tow it to their holding yard so they can charge additional holding fees. They also tout rental cars as a cross sale. 

We hope there will be a smooth and speedy resolution soon. The damage is quite bad, basically half the boot is compressed to nothing. But the front half of the car still works and is a handsome specimen. 

I am thankful Gaz is safe. People who drive must be more careful and keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road! 

Red House, Scoresby

The early bird catches the worm! This came true today. It's not the most conventional story for this sating but here goes.. if we had came earlier, to be precise 1 month earlier to this restaurant, we would have been able to enjoy the lunch menu for $1 less each dish! I warned you that it wouldn't be the best story to illustrate this saying!

Nevertheless,  $12.80 for pork belly and tofu on rice and $14.80 for roast duck with noodles is cheaper than most places. It is value for money even if it was for repurposed dishes cooked with yesterday's roast meats.

Roast pork belly with tofu and veges on rice. It came with lots of sauce poured on firm rice, yes the type of rice I like. Gaz chides me to preferring hard rice to fluffy soft rice, and I tell him not to 'sek yun fan' or translated to English 'lead a sugar mommy life'. 

 Lots of roast duck pieces (back pieces and few meaty pieces) in delicious salty soy with egg noodles in soup. I love how generous they are with the veges. Other restaurants would give 2 leaves of bok choy, not even enough for a meat loving cave man.

This restaurant has it's regular clientele, most of them middle aged to elderly Canto speaking people (my gosh, that includes us!) who obviously know where to get some good food for reasonable prices. The service is friendly and efficient. 

A quirk of the restaurant is that the aquariums of live seafood is positioned in a little lockes courtyard visible from inside the restaurant. Cute, but oh so draughty and cold when one is seated close to the courtyard. There are bottles of chilli oil and soy sauce on a beam in the wall. It is above most people's eye line, but if you missed dipping your noodles into the chilli oil, then you have missed some good stuff! The chilli oil is fragrant and salty, has fermented black beans and anchovies and vitally, missing nasty copious amounts of msg.

One inconvenience is the parking and access. Turning into this restaurant's only driveway from a 80km per hour thoroughfare is a little scary. If there are no parking (and there are limited spaces), you'll have to find parking at the nearby shopping strip. So come early and beat the traffic.

Fai's Cafe, Wantirna

It had been a very stressful week for me at work. It affected my sleep, my health, and outlook of life. I couldn't sleep more than 3 hours at a time. Waking up at 2am and having to get ready for work at 5.30am wasn't the best routine. I was so sleepy most days that drinking two mugs of strong tea early in the morning was the norm as I prepared to work another 10 hour day.

Chest pains and heart palpitations became worse so much so that I was looking up Google for heart attack symptoms and panic attacks.

All the time I would be thinking how badly I had stuffed up. There was a big burden in my heart, on my body and it was exhausting.

The end of the week came and the matter was resolved. I could breathe again.

We went out for dinner that night because it was too late in the evening to cook and still have dinner by a reasonable time. So we went to Fai's Cafe in Wantirna for dinner.

They have a Chef's special where one can pick of 3 dishes with rice for $68 or 2 dishes with rice for $46. 

We ordered the 2 dish special, beef and veges in brown sauce and pipis in XO sauce with chinese donut.

Both dishes were delicious and a balm to the heart that missed hawker style zi char. Also a heart that had undergone considerable stress. The beef was tender and the brown sauce was surprisingly different from the usual oyster sauce mix. It was like a sweet sour crossed with oyster sauce.

The pipis were on the small side but still succulent and there were plenty of XO sauce to go with the Chinese donut. The sauce was so good to go with rice as well.

The service was fast and friendly. The place is very popular so there were plenty of people waiting for seats.

The dish we did not order from the set was chicken ribs in plum sauce. Ordering only 2  dishes from the chef's special set meant it was free rice because normal prices of each main dish was around $23 per dish. 

It was a relief to have gone through the week and it was made even better enjoying a tasty hot dinner of Chinese food. No matter what state I am in, I imagine I would always feel better eating hot, delicious chinese food with the ones I love. 

 

My Lost Piece, Spencer St

This little place opened up recently and I can't resist trying it out. There are many choices on the menu for a small place like this. It only has about 10 seats inside the restaurant and another 18 outside. It would pretty uncomfortable sitting outside the restaurant in the windy alley so we snapped the last table inside the restaurant.

Ordering is via the front counter. There is a 5% discount for cash payments (bring back the cash!) but 10% surcharge for public holidays. 

There are some dishes I love on the menu like popcorn chicken, oyster mee sua, and tofu with century egg. It was difficult to make a choice but we eventually settled for lu rou fan (minced pork belly on rice, a quintessential Taiwanese dish) ($14.80 upsized)and popcorn chicken bento ($15.80, /$17.80 for upsize).

The popcorn chicken bento comes with a decent serving of popcorn chicken, lu rou, soy egg and some vermicelli salad. The popcorn chicken was crispy and delicious. The rice was quite mushy which I did not like.

Lu rou fan. Gaz loved this and he would to try to replicate this at home. The addition of preserved vege gave this a different touch. 

 The serving of the rice bowls would be small without the upsoze but the bento meals are decent even without upsizing. There are many other small dishes to taste, which makes it a pleasant dining experience. 

I Hate my Haircut

I hate my new haircut.

I wanted a change from my previous haircut. A round cut at the back, no layer, and a long fringe that frames the face.

What I got was lots of layers, a V shaped back and a blunt fringe at the front. And I hate it.

My hair looks like it has been chewed by rats. The bottom left side looks like a chunk of hair was accidentally cut off. The layers are unevenly cut, looking like they slope higher from the right to lower on the left.

 Just awful.

 

 

Sulhwa, Little Collins St

How much is the little cat in the window? Meow meow.. There is a song that goes like that but I have adapted it to my needs :) the actual song refers to a dog instead of a cat. But the little wobbly pandan panna cotta below is not even a cat anyway, I think it is a bunny. It's just that bunnies make no sound..

Gaz's dream came true.. we went to Sulhwa and had the insta-famous bunny dessert. On it's own, it costs $12.80 but with sulbing and white pearls it costs $20.80. Steep price to pay.

Here are some pumpkin tang yuan I made in the shape of little pumpkins, complete with pepita seeds as the stem. Reckon I can sell a bowl of these for $20?

We also ordered hojicha cheesecake $11.90. It was an experience to tiny stools at tiny triangular table trying to juggle eating a few dishes and making sure your belongings don't fall off. Oh my, I am being negative when it was enjoyable recording how the pandan panna cotta jiggles when shaken. The taste is ok, it is subtle enough to wonder if it is pure pandan without the use of artificial extracts. The sulbing exceeded my expectation. I thought it would be like drinking milk but the ice surprisingly held for long enough to melt in my mouth. 

My reflections of the week are that it is difficult to wake up and get back to the grind after an extra long weekend. Best to go with the flow and take it easy the day after! 

Not everyone knows what to say to someone who is undergoing a tough patch in life on the other side of the world. I am not good at that, big time. What is the best thing to say? I am still reflecting on it...