Beer and cheese matching

At the Taste of Melboure

King Island Dairy Cheese and James Squire Beer.

Not a fan of the moldy blue cheese

Wanted to take home the brie but sadly they were out

Who's that handsome man?

My new favorite beer, surprisingly its a dark, sweet, chocalatey one

Quest for cupcakes

While home for a 2 week stint, The sis also came over for a visit.

What to do when your pastry chef sister is in town?

Seek out the much lauded cupcake shops in the area.

First stop- Cakelove in Silver Spring. A shop I have visited before, and I was craving their strawberry cupcakes - the buttercream made with fresh strawberries. We took half a dozen home to share and were sadly disappointed that they were pretty poor quality fare. The cake part was all the same, boring yellow or chocolate cake - a bit dry and mealy - topped with a different flavor of buttercream icing. German chocolate, red velvet, coconut lime, salty caramel. Nothing really struck us as outstanding and knew that any of us could make better quality cakes any time.

Next day Amy wanted to check out Georgetown Cupcake in Bethesda after seeing their TV show. We get to Bethesda, have to battle through traffic and wander through Bethesda Avenue, Lane, Row in the new shopping centre downtown. Things have changed in just a few years. And we find that that whole side of the street has lost power. But only for the past hour, so they are still doing business with a line going out the door. But apparently the line can run out along the sidewalk, so we lucked out. I loved the preppy, chic atmosphere. Simple and elegant. the display case is classy, they do a good job making the cakes look yummy. We take home another half dozen box of cupcakes. These are pictured below. We just had to snap a few photos because they looked so nice. And the flavors were amazing, leving Cakelove in the dust. The cakes were moist and fresh, each flavor was unique and interesting (not something I would think to make at home). Chocolate ganache, cherry cheesecake (actual graham cracker crust, cheesecake, cherries, and a light cheesy buttercream icing - very decadent), berry lemon, carrot, coconut chocolate, and one more that I forget. They were all good. Each only $2.75 instead of $3.50 over at Cakelove. 

I know cupcakes are a simple concept, and I am sure I would be able to put these together, but the convenience and fancy trend are attractive. Its definitely an idea for a future money making scheme at almost $3 bucks a pop. Amy - you know you want to.

Date nights in chinatown: Hutong Dumpling Bar and Bubble Tea

Hutong Dumpling Bar                               Xiao Long Bao

Chili Wantons

These days we like to venture into the cbd to cheer ourselves up with tasty Asian treats - that I would never be able to make at home. We've found our favorite spots:

Hutong for Dumplings
a little Asian bakery on the corner of Swanston and Little Bourke St for Egg Custard Tarts (Richard's favorite)
and
InfoBooth for the best BUBBLE TEA

We finally we made it to Hutong Dumpling Bar a few weeks ago and we have since gone back a few times. It is absolutely the best for dumplings, specifically the Xiao Long Bao, which we often crave on a dreary, cold rainy day. These are steamed little dumpling sacs filled with a pork/ginger meatball and its delicious/piping hot broth. Dip it in soy + fresh ginger and it warms you to the core. Its like soup wrapped up in the delicate dumpling pastry. Its a bit tricky to eat, you need a few different utensils, chopsticks, soup spoon, dipping bowl. Take one bite, suck out a bit of the broth before eating the whole thing otherwise you'll end up with a scalded mouth as the broth explodes in your mouth all at once. And you have to eat them while they are fresh and hot. Don't eat too many or you will overdose on pork fat.

The chili wontons here are good as well. Wouldn't recommend the noodle soups though, the noodles are a bit like 50C ramen noodle packs. We've learned that we really only need the dumplings and then we make our way to the bakery for custard tarts (best when fresh out of the oven which we've only managed to get once) and then to InfoBooth for Bubble Tea. We eat our way through Chinatown in one night.




BUBBLE TEA! An amazing concept of tea with tapioca balls. It comes in many different flavors with a dollop of tapioca balls that make a warm milky tea so much more fun to drink. I like it because its Non-dairy and non-coffee. We found the best at this shop, its an Asian bookstore/coffee shop (tea shop rather) popular among the large Asian youth population that abounds in this city. I think its called InfoBooth, open late, just next door to Shanghai Village Dumpling. One step inside and you might as well be in Beijing (or hong kong as far as I can tell - Sorry). First time there, I just asked for "the good one" (milky and warm) which turns out to be oat milk fume tea with pearls. They use this cool machine to laminate a plastic film onto the top that securely seals the hot drink until it's punctured by the wide straw, wide enough to fit the tapioca pearls through. This drink is perfect in this cold miserable weather. Last Saturday, craving our cozy beverage, we were disappointed to find them out of the bubbles, so we ended up wandering around looking for another place. But InfoBooth is the best. And thats enough about Bubble tea.

Saturday morning coffee at Nineteen Squares

Actually I go for a soy chai these days and after trying out different places, I've found my favorite here.

Situated just down the street from home, this is where I come to get out of the house. And its the first choice for our weekend coffee on a lazy weekend morning. We got the recommendation from the local funky people who work at the barber shop where they give you a free beer with your hair cut.  This is confirmed by a top 3 bean rating in the Melbourne Coffee Review App, though its not found on Urbanspoon at all. Food is supposed to be good here too.

It's a tiny shop, the name signaling the total square meterage of the place, only seating available is outside. It gets pretty busy at times that the only seats available are upside down milk crates. Now that it's getting colder it's harder to enjoy a hot cup at the outside tables. But it's still worth rugging up to get out of the house and to our favorite trendy coffee spot. Always staffed by funky Baristas who make up for their surly attitudes by adding a quick "darling" or "love" to their speech, they attract a large, loyal clientele.

Today is a rainy, cold Saturday and we're here after a quick trip to the Veg Out farmers market. Autumn leaves are everywhere and it feels like Halloween time. I've been looking for big orange pumpkins to carve into jack o lanterns but can find none. So by now it's probably akin to normal thanksgiving-time weather here while everyone back home is complaining about the start of sweltering temperatures and sunburn. The change in season here has sparked the desire to update my winter wardrobe. But I just
can't follow through with the outrageous prices here.

Brother baba budan

We made a trip into the city during the week, and what better excuse to try out one of the highly rated Melbourne cafes listed on the "Melbourne Coffee Review" iPhone app. Melbourne is a town renowned for its cafe culture, giving the city a European vibe, which can probably be attributed to its high concentration of European immigrants like the Italians and Greeks, bringing with them a fondness for exquisite espressos whilst situated under the sun on a busy city sidewalk. They also bring with them superior coffee-making techniques that only enhance coffee's amalgamating flavors. 

Having the highest rating of 3 whole beans, we decided to try out Brother Baba Budan located on Little Bourke Street in the CBD. As always, I ordered a soy mocha and Richard got a soy flat white as they are called here. No drip coffee in Australia, only espressos with varying amounts of milk. Strong stuff. The coffee was amazing, though I am not so much a coffee connoisseur to note the subtle flavorings. But I can tell the difference between good coffee and bad. This was definitely good, nutty according to Richard. And as the pictures show, the edgy decor provides a quirky atmosphere for the businessmen and students who nip in for a quick sip which is all that is allowed for lack of space to stretching out and camping as can usually be the case in American Starbucks establishments. I liked it, and out exploration into the city that day which allowes us to incorporate ourselves into "normal" society for a brief moment. I made Richard sit on the sidewalk afterwards just to watch all the people coming and going to work, to the tram, a shopping excursion, tourists, all sorts of strange people are out there. 

Coffee

Happy Chinese New Year - Bringing in the year of the Tiger

It was also Chinese new year over the weekend. We needed to get out of the house on Saturday so we decided to spend our going-out fund the night before Valentines on something I've been craving for a long time. I've actually been dying to try Hu Tong Dumpling bar that everyone has been raving about, but they were only offering a $100 pp special New Years Banquet which was a little too much for us. So we settled on a more budget option just for an experience, at a recommended place on Urbanspoon. Shanghai Village Dumpling in the middle of Chinatown.

The place is nothing special, a quick chinese food causal hangout offering gobs of the same ole dumplings any way you like - steamed, fried, soupy - at cheap prices. We were definitely not complaining, I was commenting on how the simple concept is not common in the States, and it should be. Its would be so easy and so cheap. (I'm sure there are places like this in the States and I have just been too sheltered until now. Tell me where they are.) Lots of people seem to frequent the place before a night out, which is a great idea. They also have main courses of popular chinese food, but I have never had success deciphering the menu - being accustomed to American version of Chinese. Never heard of a General Tsao here. I was hoping for Spicy chicken in a brown sauce and instead got fried, crunchy dry chicken and rice - (no sauce). Still good though. And we ended up with way too much dumpling in our faces so we took the rest home. Photos are post dive-in with a fucked camera phone (I couldn't figure out how to un-zoom the touch screen til later on in the night - Its a 3 finger tap guys).

Caught the dragon blessing all the restaurants along the street and got some video that I can upload later. Firecrackers, and parade. Far from a New Orleans Mardi Gras (Which I am sorely missing by the way), but we were entertained for the night.  

Mahjong for Dim Sum

Inspired by Urbanspoon reviews of Tasty Dim Sum joints in the City, I was craving little steaming dumplings of goodness. However, I wasn't prepared to travel all the way into the CBD from St. Kilda during rush hour to wait in line at the apparently popular HuTong Dumpling place that everyone is raving about. So that place remains on my wishlist. But to satisfy my craving in the short term we attempted the well-reviewed Mahjong Dim Sum Restaurant close by on Fitzroy Street. Only since coming to Australia did I come to understand the Dim Sum concept, though I am sure this simple idea of serving steamed/fried dumplings and wanton pockets filled with delightfully light Asian flavors is popular in the States as well and am surprised I haven't found good places there yet. Its on my To-Do List. I was pleased to find the Dim Sum subcategory in the Urbanspoon search options to easily filter through the masses of eateries in this city.

Once there, we dived into one of the preselected banquets which include steamed dumplings, peking duck, fillet steak, etc (The menu appears below) along with a few extra tastes. Let me just say that I love dumplings!, the way the secret steaming contents explode in your mouth with their subtle brothy flavors, though at this restaurant I found that I could not differentiate the fillings from one kind of dumpling to another and they soon became monotonous. I have a feeling that the dumplings and wantons are all filled with the same unexciting pork mixture. The fillet steak that followed was awesome and I am a big fan of the peking duck, lots of flavor and I wanted more. My biggest complaint however for Mahjong, was the slow service which, by the end of the meal, slowed down to non-existent. I think they forgot about us and we had to fetch our own bill to get the hell out of there. Rated fairly high, I was anticipating yummy goodness at this Dim Sum Restaurant, unfortunately I think my expectations were a little too high. Though I definitely won't give up on Dim Sum and look forward to my HuTong experience which I predict will come very soon.

Alternative apparel

I'm a new fan of this eco-conscious clothing line. Looking for the perfect T-shirt? Apparently its Super comfy, yet elegant and fashionable. I'm keeping my eye on this wrap in my Amazon wishlist. 

I CARUSSI II

Pizza bar

The next stop on our foodie trail is just down the street in our St Kilda neighborhood. We've been eyeing the white tablecloths and Parisian chairs in this bustling establishment for a few months now and finally we go for a test. Lately We've been unwilling to go out and pay for pizza since Richard has been experimenting with his own pizza dough in the kitchen. But his attempts have been lackluster as of late and we were lazy after a weekend away camping (always tiring). Despite the crowd we quickly got a table outside on busy Barkly St. Not ideal but good enough. Casual setting. Limited but gourmet Italian wine list. We proceeded to gorge ourselves on the amazingly delicious artisan pizza. I went for a new flavor the Genovese while Ricardo went for a Quattro Formagio with added sorpressa. Each about 12 inches. They were gone by the time we left, which wasn't very long. We won't order our pizzas from anywhere else again and Richard got some new ideas for the homemade versions. A success just meters from our front door. A simplistic gourmet experience. Next time we know to make a reservation and will be ready to try out another new flavor until I am sure of my favorite. Though don't arrive hungry because the pizza making process can be slow, but I say its worth it.