What an eventful end of the year it has been! And what an eventful start of the year it has been!
I started off the annual Christmas and NY holiday period with going to the city to take in the sights and sounds of Christmas. Thank goodness we did not host the annual Christmas dinner with the family this year, otherwise I would have been stressed out by the traffic during Christmas shopping. This year, we bought most of our Christmas presents online, so only Australia Post had to worry about the crazy traffic.
Christmas dinner went by smoothly, although at one point some family argument was brought up and I thought we would not get out of the dinner on an amicable footing. We did, but the issue remains unresolved. Best let sleeping dogs lie. I literally learnt that lesson at a church fellowship meeting one night. Bored of all the talking, I made friends with the host's dog and kept stroking its soft fur while it was trying to sleep, so it snapped at me to give me a 'friendly' warning. So yes.. best to let sleeping dogs lie.
We were particularly adventurous this holiday season, trying out new restaurants. Two new places we struck off our list was Shaun's Kitchen in Mitcham and Chef Wong in Huntingdale. There are some similarities between the two - both sell dim sum and are small establishments. I liked the rice roll at Shaun's Kitchen - they are made to order, they are silky and thin and the sauce is so tasty. I wish to know what their secret blend is! Chef Wong also sells dim sum - theirs are tasty and seem to not use MSG (which is a pro point) and one can order the dim sum by piece instead of eating 3 of everything. Although the dim sum is sold per piece, it is still the same or a tad pricier (per unit price) than larger establishments that offer a more comfortable dining experience.
Directly after Christmas is MIL's birthday dinner so we can always be assured there will be a food coma every year. This year, we celebrated with a banquet at a local restaurant. For $1,288 per table, there was a cold platter for entree, shark fin soup (small fins), steamed free range chicken, steamed fish, pepper beef, spinach in broth, lobster with noodles, steamed rice and fruits. We celebrated her birthday with cousins and her friends complete with a mango cake and candles. We dressed up for the dinner - Gaz in a blue suit and myself in a Superdry qipao style dark blue sequin dress. I think we rose to the occasion! I'm not sure why a big celebration was not organised last year instead, since it was a milestone birthday. Gaz's SIL did not even attend the small dinner we had at the same restaurant due to a cold.
To recuperate from the food coma, we went to the Mornington Peninsula for New Year's eve. We had wanted to go on more walks but the weather was windy and rather cool. We did still manage to do a 1km walk (a bit more because we got lost) to Kings Falls, some picturesque but short beach strolls and a full day of hot springs bathing at Alba Thermal Springs. It was a very enjoyable way to end the year.
When we returned to Melbourne, we had another round of food gorging.. starting with a lobster noodle ala restaurant style (but not quite because the bottle of sesame oil had finished and has not been replenished). Look at that... a nice treat indeed! And we did not have to pay hundreds of dollars for the same dish (as we would have, if dining at a restaurant). The lobster is a WA rock lobster and it was big, compared to the frozen lobster tails from Chile. It was 30% off from the deli at Woolworths and costs $20.
We met up with Gaz's auntie visiting from Hong Kong for a picnic at a park. This time, I did some cooking and whipped up some fried seafood vermicelli, pani puri, pork and chive dumplings. I wanted to also make okonomiyaki - bring them around the world in food, ya know.. but ran out of time. Gaz bought a bucket of fried chicken and carved a fruit bowl out of a watermelon and filled it with watermelon pieces, sapphire grapes and ai yu jelly. The best thing about a picnic is that the kids can play at the playground while the adults can enjoy the park... who am I kidding? The best thing about a picnic is that there is no washing up to do! But the worst thing about a picnic on a sunny day is the inadvertent sunburn... my skin is peeling as we speak.
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