Pictures of Spring

It has been a tough day at work today. Many unexpected and difficult situations arose, to which I had no immediate solutions for. I wish I was not alone in the team to deal with these matters, but the fact was remains. At times like this, I just need to remind myself of the many things that I can be grateful for.

Recently during a conversation at work, someone remarked that we are still employed because we are able to solve problems and deal with difficult situations. That is how we add value and differentiate ourselves. I cannot say that I should thrive for difficult situations at work just so I can prove myself, but I cannot hide from them either.

This slogan during WW2 in Britain says it all - KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.

After all that depressing talk, I think some pictures of spring beauty are required.

Abbotsford Convent

The Slow Food Farmer's Market at Abbotsford Convent is by far the largest farmers market I have ever been, hosting about 60 farmers who sell direct to the public. It was Gaz's suggestion that we visit the market, held on the fourth Saturday of every month from 8am to 1pm. Usually entry to the convent and its grounds is free but there is a $2 per person charge for the farmers market. Parking nearby cost us another $2, but is considered cheap for full day park.

The market is plastic bag free, customers are to bring their own bag and trolleys. We forgot to bring our own bag so Gaz had to carry a bunch of spinach I bought around while we browsed the many stalls that lined the path up to the convent.

There really was more to the convent that meets the eye. The site itself is 6.8 hectares - that's a lot of land, with 11 buildings on the site. There are also gardens on the site, not to mention nearby parklands and the Yarra trail in front of the entrance to the area. Gaz and I kept walking and walking and each turn brought us to a new unexplored area. Some of the buildings are being refurbished but some are yet to be refurbished. The architecture, paint stripping off the walls and the air of tradition that hung about the area reminded me a lot of my alma mater which was also a convent prior to being utilised as a school.

The Abbotsford Convent was occupied by the Sisters of the Good Sheperd from 1863 - 1975 as a refuge for female orphans who worked, schooled and lived on the site. Since the turn of the 20th century it has been turned into a community art and cultural hub. Today, it is home to artists who rents studios at the site, cafes, and a school. Some $12M has been used so far to refurbish it back to its former glory, and some $12M more is required to complete the job. Abbotsford Convent does not receive funding from the government, as we learned from Maggie Maguire, CEO of the Abbotsford Convent Foundation.

Here are a couple of pics of the place;



Besides the majestic buildings, we were instantly attracted to the stalls which sold food. We were hungry as anything when we arrived at 11am and were hoping to find a sausage sizzle somewhere as is usually found in farmer's markets. It turns out sausage sizzles are a little too... pedestrian, for this venue. We saw stalls selling braised beef cheeks and cous cous, spanakopita, minced beef in a pastry wrap, mini pork burgers with wild leaf salad and pomegranate molasses instead.

Braised Beef Cheeks - just nice for a sunny but chilly windy day. The beef cheek was very tender while the crisp apple & celery salad complements nicely.

Besides having all the dishes mentioned above, we also had lunch at Kappaya Japanese Soul Food Cafe located on the site. I only ordered miso soup (below) for myself:

But how could I resist not picking on Gaz's order of Bento Box? From left: vege chip (similar to tempura), steamed chicken, garden salad, walnut onigiri, grilled salmon onigiri, kelp.

Gaz especially liked the steamed and was ready to down broth and chicken skin all in one go if I had not stopped him. I personally liked the vege chip, it was crispy and healthy!

Tao's, Bulleen

I've heard of Tao's in Bulleen many times before, but had never been. So when Gaz suggested we visit Tao's for a special ocassion, I was secretly delighted. At $58 per person for a 6 course dinner, it was reasonably priced.

I was also assured by a colleague beforehand that I would not need to visit KFC or the Golden Arches after dinner at Tao's. That is a relief because I am not particularly fond of the big prices, big plates and minute food portion type restaurants, no matter how well done the 'amuse bouche's are.

The set menu started with a plate of assorted starters - from right to left: bacon wrapped spring onion, oyster with ginger and cucumber and a sweet chilli mayo with bread stick.

To be honest, I only really liked the oyster, which is very surprising because I usually liked bacon, any bacon and dislike oyster, any oyster. The bacon on my plate was a tad too salty for my liking, while the oyster was really refreshing and wasn't fishy at all.

We had a list of entrees to choose from. Gaz chose the soft shell crab, deep fried. It was a little fishy, but I think it's the case with all soft shell crabs which usually comes frozen.
I chose tempura prawns for my entree. Deep fried... what can I say?

Next came this beautiful dish of meatballs. It was a ball of pork, minced till smooth, covered with a layer of glutinuous rice topped with bonito flakes which fluttered in the heat making the meatball look like an anemone in deep sea.

There was some mild curry sauce to go with this gem, but I liked it better without. The nicely seasoned meat was really tasty, and the meatball just melted in my mouth. It was very good.

For mains, Gaz chose the lamb which came with some mint sauce. We saw many people in the restaurant order the steak which was presented on a sizzling plate. The lamb was good though, very tender.

I decided to go with the healthy option by choosing the baked rockling with herbs. What herbs I don't know, but the fish was flavourful and slightly crispy, very nice.

We were also served fried rice on the side which filled us up immeasurably. No pics here because it was much too dark. It was served in a little pot, which reminded me of Pooh's honey pot.

Before dessert, we were invited to cleanse the palate with a shot of passionfruit drink served in a pot of ice with two daisies sticking out of the pot. Presentation was a bit... off, but the drink was really very good! So refreshing and indeed, very cleansing to the palate.

For dessert, Gaz chose the creme brulee. I didn't really manage to eat very much of it, and you'll see why in the next picture.


This was my dessert, panna cotta with mango mouse on top. Now, if you looked to the right of the cup of panna cotta, you'll find a stick of metal. That is the spoon. How was I supposed to eat with that?? I had no choice but to place the cup against my mouth and slurp the panna cotta noisily into my mouth. I only managed to eat half of it before I gave up and sent it to Gaz.

All in all, we tasted some nice food and the bottomline is that I was actually full after the dinner. The service was very good, the food came very quickly which is absolutely wonderful. Once we had to spend 4 hours to finish a degustation menu and only left the restaurant at 11pm. On a weekday. Not something we'll like to do again. So, quick service and good food at reasonable price. It's worth a second visit!

Update: This restaurant is permanently closed. There is a new concept vegetarian sushi restaurant Midori by Tao's in Bulleen by the same owners.

Thai Yim, Glen Waverley

It is disturbing how quickly restaurants turn over around here. One day you see it, the next day it's gone. And I'm not talking about pop up mobile restaurants. Gaz found a Malaysian restaurant at Glen Waverley to try one night. I didn't recall seeing the restaurant in that area but it had a website and someone had written a review about it online so it has to be there. Right? Well... no.

When we got there, it turns out that the restaurant has been replaced by a Thai restaurant, Thai Yim. So we decided to enter and explore the unknown anyway. We were ushered to a table close to the door by a friendly looking waiter. I asked if we could have a seat in the middle or back of the restaurant so we wouldn't feel the cold draft through the doors but were told the tables were reserved.

For entree we had pinkie in blankie. I liked eating the pastry wrapped prawns with my hands, dipping it sloppily into the sweet chilli sauce as I go. Can't go much wrong with deep fried foods, I say!

The duck curry we ordered came with big pieces of duck breasts with skin on. The curry sauce was coconuty and nice and there were lots of vegies in the curry. We do try to get our quota of greens everyday and it is not easy to have an adequate serving when eating out unless we order a purely vege dish like fried vegies etc.


The last dish was basil chicken stir fry. It was indicated as mildly spicy in the menu but we found that it was not spicy at all. Perfect for me, else I will be sniffing away while eating! Again, full of vegies which was good. We were not too fond of the abundance of bamboo shoots in the dish which overpowered whatever little basil smell it had.



I do hope that Thai Yim lasts longer than the last restaurant, and judging by the number of people who entered the restaurant while we were there, it will be staying for some time yet.

Update: This restaurant is now closed

Cafe Vue, Bulleen

On our trip to The Heide, we also had lunch at Cafe Vue. Actually, the major reason we went to the Heide was to have lunch at Cafe Vue. The cafe is an affordable offshoot of Vue de Monde by Shannon Bennett. The cafe provides a hint of the Vue for everyday dining for people like me. Read - not that extravagant to splash out on fine dining for no special ocassion.

Gaz had the $15 lunch box - a pita roll filled with beef and salsa, a mini box of pasta and assorted veges, a hummus like dip, home made potato crisps and to round off the meal, a lovely nutty chocolate muffin. We never did get the full list of items that were in the box, so I don't know what the hummus like dip is called. We asked for a clarification of the items in the box before we made up our minds about what to order but the waitress took longer than we expected so we ordered anyway.

The crisps were a bit too salty for me, but it was certainly very crispy and novel - home made potato crisps, now that's something I can't make at my home!



I just love the presentation of the food - the lunch box came in a wooden box. Utensils and napkins also came in a little wooden carry. There were potted herbs (we had no idea what our potted herb was...) on the tables. All in all it was casual and rustic mix.

I ordered a duck pie. A ... what... pie? Yes, duck. I love duck and was really keen to see how well they did the pie. The most delicious element on the plate I found was the mash potatoes. Somehow I sense that it has lots of butter mixed in, but it certainly made it very very smooth... very nice. Gaz loved the pea puree. The pie was OK, the crust was thick and I found it difficult to break down. But did I mention the mash and pea puree were heavenly?


We saw so many yummy mummies and young families having their mid day meal at the Cafe. I'm sure many of them are there only for food too, and many of them look like regulars.

As we ambled around the sculpture garden, we noticed a cube shaped room in the middle of the garden. There were about 20 people in the room, dining and drinking. It turns out the Cafe Vue also caters for private parties and this is where they would serve them. In the woods... a fantastic idea! This is not without its problems I suppose, because as we were exploring around, we heard an almighty clatter and crash of plates. Someone had dropped a whole armful of plates en route from the private room to the main kitchen. Oops!