Roti Canai for Dummies

We recently discovered this amazing frozen roti canai (for you Singaporeans, that's roti prata), available at the Indian grocery store across the street. Just the other day we brought it to someone's place for lunch, and now they're hooked too... it used to be in packs of 20, now they seem to be only in 30s! Not that that's any problem, of course. It's about the most authentic roti I've had outside Malaysia and Singapore, and all you need to do is pop it on a pan for a minute or two and Robert's your aunty's husband.

Homemade Bachang!

Behold this wondrous morsel (sorry, my shot doesn't do it much justice), something neither of us have had for a couple of years. It was made by Sam and Becks' confinement woman, who's rather multi-talented. Which is possibly why we've been showing up at their house - around mealtimes by sheer coincidence- "to see the baby." We picked up these bachang on Sunday, but for some strange reason we only took four, although eight were offered. What were we thinking? Ayuhhhh...

A bit too close to home

You may or may not have read, watched or heard about the shootings in the Melbourne CBD this morning. A 43-year-old man who came to the aid of a woman being attacked was shot dead, and two others were wounded. This tragedy happened about a block or two away from my normal route to work after dropping Babes at work. Fortunately we had an appointment in Carlton, so we were nowhere near where it happened. It's really saddening that this kind of thing can happen in my adopted country (and city), and our hearts go out to the victims and their families. There's a whole debate about access to firearms which I won't get into, but I'm glad things haven't reached American proportions yet. Plus the fact that how many of us will now think twice before going to someone else's aid?

Our Third Wedding Anniversary!

A couple of people who read the "Happy Anniversary To Us" post thought they'd missed the date. Well, the Healesville outing was actually a couple of days early to take advantage of the long weekend. June 12 is the actual date, and we ended up having a simple (but extremely yummy!) dinner at one of our favourite Vietnamese places, Thanh Phong on Victoria Street. No photos of the prawn spring rolls, beef noodle soup or vermicelli with grilled pork, unfortunately. But I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a couple of our wedding shots. That one of Babes above is one of my fave ever!

Happy Anniversary To Us

Bubs and Babes celebrated our third anniversary today, driving to Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander winery in Healesville for lunch. We were blessed with absolutely beautiful weather, and enjoyed sitting outside in the sun. After 45 minutes, however, our food still hadn't come. Turned out the order that had been keyed into the PDA hadn't quite made it to the kitchen. So we were told that our meal would be free, which is not a bad way to compensate for a delay, or to celebrate an anniversary! The two mains shown above are tomato & buffalo mozzarella pizza and lamb & gnocchi.

Nasi Goreng a la BubsnBabes

Fresh from the wok is this delicious fried rice, chock-full of ingredients, a joint effort by Bubs and Babes. This is what's left after we've both crammed platefuls and platefuls into our willing tummies, AND packed some for tomorrow's lunch. Maybe we'll sell it on ebay...

Cannelloni!

Babes just made us an absolutely delicious spinach and ricotta cannelloni. In typical Chinese fashion, I gobbled up a substantial portion in about 82 seconds flat. Then of course I went back for more. And no prices for guessing what I'm having for lunch tomorrow... well done, darling wifey! That was amazing!

Palate needed cleansing after this meal

I'm not usually critical of food and eateries mentioned in this blog. After all, people's livelihoods are at stake, and it's not like I'm John Lethlean reviewing for The Age's Epicure section. Or that guy from the other paper who deducts two points off his reviews if they don't provide linen napkins. I don't really care about napkins as long as the food's good, but hey, I digress. Babes and I recently had dinner with Mans, Nick, Ngoc and young Jordan. The venue sounded like a good idea at the time; it was in the Entertainment Book (25% off), and their website was quite slick and professional. The meal started off alright, with tasty wedges and saganaki. Not that you can really go wrong with starters like these, I suppose. Then came the mains, like my tender lamb strips wrapped in prosciutto. Sounds delish, right? WRONG. It was absolutely the worst, most 'lamby' (smelly) lamb I've had in all my 36 years. Even Nick - who usually absolutely hoovers up anything that's placed in front of him - couldn't finish it. Babes' Thai Chicken Salad was not much better. Where was this? Sorry, I really don't want to slam them in public. Suffice to say it's on Greville Street in Prahran, which narrows it down a bit... anyway, hopefully the next meal we feature in this blog will be better!

The Long Lunch

We recently took a bunch of clients out for lunch in pretty glamourous fashion. The dress code was 'Black and Bling' - don't think I should mention which client it was, suffice to say it's positioned as a tough New York brand - and the mode of transport to Cicciolina was... a massive stretch Hummer. Of course we had champagne in the limo, and of course we went cruising along the Bolte Bridge, down Chapel Street... and of course everyone stopped and stared. I think reactions were a mixture of "wow... that's cool" and "what a bunch of tossers". And think about the size of the Hummer's carbon footprint. Whatever the case may be, it was still a pretty awesome experience!

Welcome, baby Katelyn!

Congrats, Will and Joose! Their lil' cutie was born on May 15th, and will begin on-court tennis lessons on June 15th, once the'first moon' guests have left and the red hard-boiled eggs have all been distributed. She's already perfecting her toss, and is working on a combination of her dad's backhand and mum's forehand. At this rate, she'll be ready for a Wimbledon wildcard in 2018. Ladbrokes' odds of her winning the title that year are currently 2,015,689/1, but it will get better, so place your bets today...

The Day After The Wedding

This lunch you see here is a result of one man's relentless quest for babi guling. Wai Leong spent two hours on the phone in search of this dish in the Seminyak vicinity. His efforts were rewarded at Warung Sobat, which is where we congregated for lunch the day after Harris and Audra's wedding. And right outside their wedding venue too! It was quite a feast, with the precious babi guling as well as bebek betutu, ayam betutu and Balinese fern vegetables. The verdict? Well... not bad but the pork didn't quite hit the lofty heights of Ibu Oka in Ubud. But it was great catching up with everyone, especially Ray, JK, BK and Ell. See you soon, guys!

What Brought Us To Bali This Time

It used to be reaaaallly easy for us to get to Bali. Hop on a plane in Singapore, hop off a painless two hours later at Denpasar Airport. All for 15,000 Krisflyer Miles, or next to nothing. Now things are a wee bit more complicated from Melbourne lah. Regular airfares were easily into four figures, or what it used to cost us to fly to Europe or the US. So we ended up braving the no-frills delights of Jetstar. As usual, the Bubs and Babes State of Preparedness was fairly high, with sushi rolls, fruit and nuts, a blanket and a pillow etc. All this for Harris and Audra's wedding, at The Samaya and Villa Yoyo. A fun time was had by all, with everything from a romantic beachside ceremony to exotic dancing and mooning galore. Sorry, no photos of the latter two activities. Congrats to the Vertliebs, may you enjoy a glorious life together!

Suckling Pig, Bali Style

In Ubud, we've enjoyed meals at places like Mozaic and Terazo, but one of the finest offerings is still Ibu Oka's Babi Guling, a really simple warung near the Ubud Palace and Market. My apologies, that close-up shot doesn't even come close to doing it justice. Someone like Chubby Hubby would have come up with an incredibly appetising shot of the meal, but you'll just have to take my word for it. Expect no creature comforts, just squat or sit cross-legged at low tables as you partake of a stupendous combination of crispy skin, tender juicy meat and Balinese vegetables. It's hot, cramped and crowded, but worth every ounce of the discomfort. Enjoy!

Our Fave Ubud Accommodation

We stay at Tegal Sari every time we go to Ubud. It's a pretty luxurious place at a quarter of the price of the more famous resorts in the area. And service is always excellent, as is the mee goreng I usually end up choosing for breakfast (served in our balcony overlooking the padi fields). Ours is upstairs, extreme left, it's Room 24 if you're ever in Ubud and need a place to stay... no TVs in the room (be warned, TV addicts), but they brought the staff TV out to the reception area at 2.45am to watch the Man U - AC Milan UEFA Champions League semifinal first leg. So there I was watching a thrilling 3-2 win with the night shift guys...

Happy Multiple Birthdays

One of the major reasons for the Malaysian feast (not that we ever need a reason for a feast) was to celebrate the birthdays of Paul, Phanh, Babes and Mans, from left to right respectively. Two Malaysians, one married to a Malaysian, and the other engaged to a Malaysian. Happy Birthday to the four of you, hope you enjoyed yourselves! Paul and Phanh, I'm sure you'll agree that Malaysian girls are number one!

Chicken Rice a la Babes

Our contribution (OK, Babes' contribution, I was probably asleep after a late night watching soccer) to the Malaysian feast was an outstanding Chicken Rice. Here it is in close-up, as well as amongst a tableful of goodies, including Sambal Prawns, Lamb Curry and Roti Canai. Note the two bowls of Yau Char Kwei, an absolute mandatory when it comes to Bak Kut Teh. Not in the picture, or in other posts, is an Ice Kachang spread, which was a pretty cool way of finishing the meal.

Kuihs Pai Tee and Dadar

Chris and Emilynn Chio brought a wonderful Top Hat starter for the Malaysian feast, something I for one haven't had for a couple of years now. While at the other end of the night was this lovely Kuih Dadar dessert by Paul and Wei. The authenticity of these dishes was spectacular, and made me incredibly proud to be Malaysian. Thanks again to everyone (especially Paul and Wei, our hosts once again) for an amazing night.

Amanda's Masterpiece

Time for another of Wei's epic banquets, this time a Malaysian celebration. Amanda's contribution? That classic Malaysian favourite, Bak Kut Teh. Which was the ideal opportunity to test my new toy, a Nikon D40 dSLR which I had been eyeing for quite a while now. The dish was a masterpiece, and I'd like to think the picture isn't too bad either...

Japanese Women Don't Get Old Or Fat

This book by Naomi Moriyama provides useful eating advice (hot on the heels of - and one up on - 'French Women Don't Get Fat' by Mireille Guiliano), including the Japanese principle of "Hara hachi bunme," or "Eat until you are 80 percent full." Funny cos' we Malaysians usually eat until we're 115% percent full! It also features light and healthy recipes like this one; soba noodles in a warm dressing of mirin, soy sauce and dashi, garnished with spring onions, seaweed, spinach leaves, beanshoots and toasted sesame seeds which Babes whipped up to accompany panfried salmon marinated with mirin and sake. It was Ichiban, babes!

Des and Sue in Auckland

Thanks guys for your hospitality, and for bringing us with you on your relentless pursuit of authentic Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine. They found me the best doggone KL-style Hokkien Mee outside of KL, at a place called Bunga Raya. It was awesome, probably within 81.64% of the KL benchmark. The curry laksa was pretty good too... but oh, that Hokkien Mee... especially after our special request that they use pork lard to cook it, haha! See you guys in Melbourne soon, where we'll make sure the two-and-a-half of you (two-and-three-quarter by then) are well-fed!

Chocolate Fish

This Wellington cafe was one of the favourite hangouts of the Lord of the Rings cast and crew. So with an inevitable kiasuness developed after years of living in Singapore, off we went lah. It wasn't hard to find, and the drive along Scorching Bay towards and away from it is pretty awesome. We were in between meals, so we didn't try their (rather overpriced) paninis or other food, but the latte was pretty good. There was a guy sitting in the corner who looked like Peter Jackson, but... naaaah... or was it?

The Sushi Crawl

Some people go on pub crawls. In Wellington, well, we went on a bit of a sushi binge. I guess we found ourselves starved of good Japanese food in recent weeks, so this was the inevitable result. The plan was actually to have some 'starters' at one place (called Wasabi, owned and run by a Malaysian, with excellent soft shell crab hand rolls), then visit the local supermarket for some world-famous Bluff Oysters and some beautiful NZ beef or lamb for a home-cooked meal. Unfortunately said supermarket had no oysters, nor did the beef or lamb look particularly inspiring. So off we went to another sushi bar (this one was called Catch) for Part Two of our dinner. And while we're on the subject of crawling, Wellington sushi trains go exceptionally fast! If you look at a plate and hesitate, it'll already have passed you by. Suppose that's good for developing decisiveness...

Windy Weather in Wellington

I thought Chicago was the Windy City, but Wellington was just as bad! Gale force winds aside, we both loved it there, it was probably our favourite part of New Zealand. Well, fave part of North Island anyway. The host at our B&B laughed when I asked if we could borrow an umbrella. I guess she had visions of me doing the Mary Poppins thing and getting blown away across the ocean. Fortunately we had one lovely clear day to explore, and we made the most of it. We loved the Wellington vibes, and the Japanese food too. But that's another story...

Beaches and Vineyards

Napier's a pretty cool place, not just because of Bay Bach. After an earthquake destroyed the whole town in 1931, everything was rebuilt in the Art Deco style which was all the rage at that time. You'll also find lovely beaches and numerous wineries, including Black Barn, Mission Estate and Te Mata. Too bad we only scheduled one night there, one more would have been nice.

Bay Bach in Napier

We found ourselves a beautiful bed and breakfast place in a beautiful town. Jill and Iain have created a stylish, inspiring, eco-friendly residence in the Hawkes Bay area, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly there. They were really good hosts and also made the perfect dinner recommendation; Provedore in Ahuriri which was one of the best meals we had in NZ. Thanks for the wonderful stay, guys, and if we ever build our own home, we'll be thinking of Bay Bach...

Not the Tongariro Crossing

We had planned to do the Tongariro Crossing, which is reputed to be one of New Zealand's best one day walks, but didn't end up doing it. So we ended up doing Tongariro Lite instead! It was a two hour walk to Taranaki Falls and back, still within Tongariro National Park, but much less intense. And because we had prepared for the Crossing, we were really well-equipped, with trekking boots, daypacks, a Subway sandwich each for lunch, lots and lots of water, protein bars, nuts and more. Kinda like killing a fly with a shotgun... Babes even found the time to answer a couple of work-related calls from good old NAB in Melbourne.

Bubs and Babes in Rotorua

We're back! Spent 10 wonderful days in New Zealand, but now it's back to reality. I was going to start this post with a comment about how Rotorua stinks, but I guess that would be too obvious. Anyway, we spent one night there, and enjoyed the geyser and Maori thing at Te Puia. Food-wise, we tried the traditional 'hangi' meal but were decidedly underwhelmed...

Bubs and Babes are off on holiday!

We're off to New Zealand, for the first time in our lives. This trip never happened when we were living in Singapore as we were waiting for when we moved to Melbourne. And so we depart tomorrow on NZ8 at 12 noon, courtesy of Krisflyer. That means no posts for a while; it's fun and all to say we'll post something from every town we visit, but you and I both know that's not gonna happen... so until we return, Happy Easter everyone!

Matteo's, finally

We drive past Matteo's on our way to work every morning, and we've heard good things from a number of people. So we finally made our way there (with the lovely Kaz), taking advantage of The Age's Food and Wine Festival Express Lunch deals to indulge. $30 got us two courses plus wine and coffee, which is a pretty good deal for a place like this. Good deal aside, the food was pretty good, and so was the service. While it doesn't hurt that parking is not a problem at all. Simple pleasures lah. We'll be back. (Picture reproduced from www.yourrestaurants.com.au)

Eighty Minutes by Car

We enjoyed a leisurely Saturday lunch in the Mornington Peninsula, taking a pleasant drive down (and getting slightly lost on the way) to a lovely winery called Ten Minutes by Tractor. (The name comes from the fact that their three vineyards are all ten minutes apart by tractor. Likewise, our humble Thornbury townhouse will hereon be known as Ninety Seconds on Foot.) Anyway, I say "leisurely Saturday" but In hindsight, one of us (who shall remain unnamed to avoid embarassing her) took things a little too leisurely, and Bubs ended up twenty minutes late for his Mandarin class. I suppose that's probably a good measure of how good the food was, like the pork belly pictured here. And sorry you're not in either shot, Andrew, but we thoroughly enjoyed your company anyway.

Another Paternal Birthday

Not Babes' dad this time, but Bubs' dad. Mum took him to Citrus (in Ipoh) for a steak. Looks really yummy and medium rareish, just the way I like it too! Happy Birthday Dad from across the miles, here's wishing you good health and prosperity for many, many more years to come!

Bistro Vue

Not many restaurants (well, not many that we can afford anyway) request credit card details when you make a reservation. Bistro Vue does, and charges a $50 cancellation fee per head for a no-show. I find that somewhat annoying, but am willing to let it go if the food is good. And was the food at Bistro Vue good? Yes! Very good in fact, all the way from the steak tartare right down to the chocolate souffle. Although paying $8 for a paper cone of fries (even if they are delicious fries, cooked in goose fat) seems a wee bit excessive...

Hunger vs Pictures

There we were at my brother James' apartment on St Kilda Road, staring intently at a delicious spread of food. The camera was right there next to James, but none of us noticed and dug straight in. Hence the lack of photos in this post. That's right, no photographic evidence of the amazing ikan pepes, bak kut teh or any of the other goodies he prepared. I'll try and remember next time...

Dad and The Twins

Off we went on a daytrip to the Mornington Peninsula, on Day One of CNY which also happened to be Dad's birthday. This was one of the back beaches on the way back. Jack and Mars had walked off into the sunset (well, not really, but you know what I mean) while Mum was trying to decide whether to get her feet wet or not.

The Big Feast

That's right, yet ANOTHER one! But what else would you expect on Chinese New Year's Eve? Although I must say Amanda's photography here isn't of her usual high standards... she must've been dizzy with anticipation. Can't say I blame her, with a humongous spread that included Yee Sang (yup, my first in two years!), roast duck, ngoh hiang, salmon sashimi and a whole lot more! Gong Xi Fa Cai!