Just another sunset in Chicago

Of all of the cities that were scheduled during America! The Road Trip (yes, I really do use the entire title every time I think about it), Chicago was the one city that I hadn’t really thought all that much about.

Somehow its architecture, food, the ridiculously nice people won me over and it turned out to be my favourite city on our entire holiday (the copious amounts of alcohol we consumed may also have something to do with this).

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Our epic journey

I have a small confession to make. I keep calling my holiday the Road Trip, but the truth is we only actually drove for half of the holiday! After realising that we didn’t actually want to visit any of the cities between Vegas and Chicago, we made the decision to simply fly from Phoenix, cheating yes, but a great decision in the end

In the end our driving route was as follows:

Los Angeles, San Francisco, Redwood Regional Park, Napa Valley, Yosemite National Park, Mammoth Lakes, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon National Park, Monument Valley, Phoenix — a whopping 1486 miles (2391.5km!).

As a point of reference, the quickest direct route from Vegas to Chicago is 1752 miles (2819.6km!!!).

On the road again...

There was a lot of staring at roads like this…

And along the way we got obsessed with the strangest songs ranging from The Book of Mormon soundtrack (mannnnn up!), the Team America soundtrack (so rooonneeery) and… the Dixie Chicks (don’t judge).

My fondest memory of driving is probably speeding through Utah at 160/km while listening to K-Pop (P.S. This is not legal! (The speeding part, not the k-pop part)).

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On the way our journey took us to Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Napa Valley, Mammoth Lakes, Las Vegas, Monument Valley, Chicago, Boston and New York.

Take this highway, now imagine staring at it for 6 hours at 160km/hr...

We didn’t drive the entire way, America is too insanely large to cover in only four weeks and as much as I wanted to drive along Route 66, I found out you actually can’t drive the entire way anymore!

I was a terrible blogger along the way, I took no notice of restaurant names, never wrote down any dishes or prices, ate at any random restaurant with a decent rating on Yelp and took photos of anything that took my fancy. It was four weeks of eating, drinking and messing around with friends and it was brilliant.

If I wrote about every restaurant and every stop on the trip I’d be writing for months, so instead I’m just showing off a few of my highlights.

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My Grandmother is a rocking 85ish year old Chinese woman who seems determined to keep dancing into her twilight years, only a few years back she left for a trip to Egypt and Greece with one of my aunties on the RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest ocean liner ever built. As for Chelsea Handler, if you’ve read her autobiography then no more words are required.

The Pacific Pearl

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I know I’ve been MIA for quite a while now, unfortunately I have no plausible excuse for this disappearance at all. To be honest, I was just lazy. Lazy to bake, lazy to clean up the mess and lazy to blog. But after a long weekend away down in the South Coast, I think I’m back. Spending 4 days away with like minded people, eating stupendous quantity of food is sure to ignite one’s love for food again.

For the Easter long weekend, a group of my friends and I booked ourselves a place down in Gerringong for 4 days, 3 nights. To ensure that we had enough food to last us for the duration of the stay, I allocated myself the task of organising all the food. So the challenge; food for 15-17 people, covering breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks over 4 days. The best way to cover everything was to separate all the meals.

First Dinner – BBQ

I didn’t want this BBQ to be your typical BBQ consisting of steak and sausages. I decided to experiment a little, and so opted for a Thai inspired BBQ. That was the original plan. In the end, it turned out to be a mix of everything. We had grilled Haloumi cheese with lemon and olive oil, grilled zuchini, BBQ portobello mushroom with parsley, garlic and butter, Nem Nuong, Mum’s famous Fried Chicken Wings with home made coleslaw, and Frank and Squishies’ Potato Salad.

The experimental dishes were Gourmet Traveller’s Muu Yang (BBQ pork), Gourmet Traveller’s Gai Yang, and Howard’s take on Ms G’s grilled corn on the cob. I marinaded the whole chicken and pork neck in their respective marinades in a zip lock bag over night. By dinner time, both the chicken and pork neck had absorbed all the flavours of the marinade. Once the BBQ was hot enough, the meat was thrown on to the grill.

Grilled corn on cob w/ lime & sriracha mayo

Half an hour later, and rested for 10 minutes, both the chicken and pork was ready to be chopped up, served with Neil Perry’s Nam Jin sauce instead of the suggested Tom Sum and Nam jiaw sauce. The fragrant nam jin sauce was the perfect accompaniment to the pieces of charcoaled meats.

We all thoroughly enjoyed Howard’s contribution to the BBQ, they were the only non-meat items on the menu that night. He quickly whipped up the Portobello mushrooms filled with garlic, butter and parsley, all lightly BBQed for a couple of minutes, until the butter melted and seep through the mushroom.

One of my favourite dishes of the night was Howard’s Ms G’s grilled corn on the cob. After the corns were grilled, he added a couple dollops of a mix of sriracha chilli sauce and sour cream to the warm cobs before topping with chopped coriander. Whilst assembling it, we realised we had missed out on one essential ingredient, the parmesan cheese, despite this little mishap, the corns were still delicious, sweet kernels with spicy sour sauce, yum! What a great way to start the long weekend and end the first night.

Breakfast

For the next three mornings, we interchanged the breakfast menus, ranging from sausages, bacon, fried eggs, crisp buttery croissants, scrambled eggs and Mee Goreng. It was such a substantial breakfast that most of the time it kept us full until dinner.

Time between each meals were filled with board games, sun baking, trying to fly a kite through a paddock, watching Max swim in the swimming pool, impromptu karaoke sessions and giving a friend a much needed haircut. All in all, quite  productive aftenroons.

Toward the evening, whilst the boys played a game of ultimate frisbees in the field, the girls were assigned the task of folding wontons and preparing the vegetables for dinner.

Second Dinner – Hot Pot

Before I knew it dinner time had arrived again.

For the second night, Minh’s favourite meal was on the menu. As usual for our hotpot soup, we made some chicken stock, added 3 tablespoon of Tom Yum paste (can be purchased at any asian grocery store), 1 stalk of lemon grass, 5 kaffir lime leaves, 2 teaspoon of tamarind powder (again at asian grocery stores), then finally added 2-3 chopped chillies, depending on your tolerance level.

Ingredients that we often have for hotpot are raw Banana or Tiger prawns, Tofu Fish Balls, Beef Balls, thinly sliced Wagyu Beef, a variety of mushrooms – Shitake, Enoki, and Oyster Mushrooms. We also had a couple of tins of Quail Eggs, which were a big hit. Our greens represented by Chinese Cabbage, a green leafy vegetable which I don’t know the name off, but typically used for hotpot. And finally about 200 Wontons. I know this sounds like alot, but because they were mini sized we polished off most of these.

The great thing about eating hotpot in a large group (at this stage, we had 17 people)  is that once all the ingredients are prepared, each person can fend for themself. They can pick and choose what they would like to eat, cook it in the simmering broth at the pace they like. After what seems like a couple of hours of eating (but was actually only 45 minutes) it was time to get the evening entertainment started. With our stomach filled with hotpot goodies, we quickly got in to our toga costumes, downed a few alcoholic beverages, and as they say, the rest is history. Sorry guys, definitely not sharing those pictures!

An event 4 months in the making had culminated in one evening of crazy eating, drinking, laughing and drawing. Looking back at photos taken of the weekend, I realised this weekend was exactly what I had needed. Some rest and relaxation, spending time with good friends, enjoying ridiculous amounts of food and soaking in a little bit of sun. After this awesome weekend, I feel somewhat revived. Thank you to all my fantastic friends for making the effort to treck down south with me, it wouldn’t have been the same without each and every one of you. Looking forward to our next trip!

Enough about me, I hope you all took the opportunity to enjoy yourselves, whether it be relaxing with families or partying it up with friends. In our every day lives, we all work long and hard enough, so when given the opportunity, take advantage of our most deserved time off.

I’ll leave you with one last glimpse of our weekend, a special rendition of ‘When You Say Nothing at All (feat. Howard)’.

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Day 8 – Where things are hot hot hot but durian is not not not

We’re in Little India this morning, perhaps spurred by our early night the day before we’re up and out of the hotel by 8. Like most of Asia, Little India isn’t truly awake until at least 10am and the famed colourful stores are all closed as we wander down the streets.

Breakfast – Kassim Mustafa

Kassim Mustafa is one of the few open restaurants, there are a few locals scattered about the various tables but it’s mostly empty as we take our seats. It’s surprising, but we haven’t had Indian food on this trip since our visit to the Cameron Highlands, I find myself craving some roti and strangely enough – Ayam on this fine morning.

Tea Tarik

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Day 7 – Where I learn we haven’t even begun to experience heat yet

The drive between Ipoh and Penang is thankfully short, after a quick breakfast stop at Old Town, a chain of cafes throughout Malaysia, we’re on our way to Penang. I’ve been looking forward to Penang, knowing that it’s closer to the ocean I’ve foolishly assumed that the weather will be cooler. I’ve never been more wrong in my life. The humidity is almost punishingly heavy and I’m sweating within seconds of leaving the car, my hand-held fan my only salvation.

Of course, none of this is going to stop me from enjoying my hot noodle soup!

Lunch – Pasar Air Itam

After experiencing Assam Laksa bliss in Cameron Highlands it’s hard to believe that Penang will deliver anything better. We’re at Pasar Air Itam for their infamous laksa, it’s quintessentially Asian with plastic tables and chairs, all scattered along a dusty road with our food arriving in moments. The stand is obviously popular with the tourists, the remaining tables are filled only moments after our arrival but I’ve forgotten about the crowds the moment our noodles arrive.

Assam Laksa 2.70MYR

The Assam Laksa is deliciously thick and hearty with Udon style noodles, I’m sweating within seconds of starting but the broth is everything as thick and flavourful as I would have hoped with the small exception, Uncle Chow’s rendition has spoilt me and I’ve been expecting a mouthful of tartly sour soup and the Laksa isn’t the same without that sour kick. Despite this, it’s easily the best Assam we’ve had since Cameron, but not quite the best overall…

That’s right I said it, Cameron Highlands Assam Laksa was better than Penang’s!

Left: Soy Milk, Right, Assam Laksa, Bottom: Pasar Air Itam stand

The A/C in the car gives me a false idea of what the temperature is like outside and somehow every time I get out I think that the heat really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Minutes after stepping out I’m sweating and our soupy lunch really isn’t helping matters. My solution is simple, Soy Milk at each and every single stop we make! The milky sweetness and generous servings of ice are perfect for the weather and the spicy food we’re eating.

Durian Stand

It’s not a meal without some kind of dessert end it all with. There’s a Durian Stand just across from our lunch stand and Helen and Billy just look at each other before heading towards it. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the biggest fan, neither are Simon or Brian but I’m keen to try it fresh knowing that the stuff in Australia we get can’t really compare.

It’s the first time I’ve tried different types of Durian, along with the usual sweet variety, Billy encourages us to try a more bitter variety which I enjoy the initial tastes of, but by the end the bitterness is a little overwhelming and I admit defeat.

Pit Stop – Kek Lok Si

Temple time! We’re driving up a mountain road so narrow and windy I have to put away my book and phone for fear of car sickness, it’s a nauseating drive but the results are worth it as we find ourselves up at Kek Lok Si, the largest Buddhist temple in South East Asia. Rather than a single temple it’s more like an entire mountain complex of temples, including a giant pagoda and 30m bronze statue.

Kek Lok Si

I’d noticed the same thing in the Ipoh, but it’s really in Penang that I take notice of the sheer amount of colour and light present in the temples. All of the temples seem to celebrate in using bright orange and gold in their decorations, combined with gorgeous stone carvings on the columns and walls it makes for a striking sight. We’ve all headed directly into the temples in an attempt to escape the heat, there’s a momentary hush as we huddle in front of the fans followed by a slow turn as look up and around at the sheer intricacy of the decorations.

It actually takes us two separate drives to actually cover the entire complex, the bronze statue of Kuan Lin is situated higher up on the mountain and height treats you to a full view of the Penang landscape, whereas the lower half of the complex is a maze of monasteries and temples, all in the shadow of the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas.

A small entry fee gets us entry into the Pagoda, what initially seems like a good idea quickly becomes a task of sheer stamina as we wind our way up the 7 floors to the top of the pagoda. It’s probably telling that we’re the only ones even trying to reach the top, and luckily so as the stairs are precariously narrow, barely wide enough for two people to squeeze past one another. The view at the top is impressive, offering a 360 birds eye view of the entire complex.

Pit Stop – Penang Road Famou Teochew Chendul

With our stomachs still full from breakfast and legs tired from temple climbing, the only other thing to do was to sit down with some icy cold Chendol and enjoy! A quick bit of research finds us at Penang Road Famouse Teochew Chendul, joining the busy queue of tourist and locals.

Chendol 2MYR

Service is quick at the stand, with the new staff members quickly taking orders and scooping out bowls of milky Chendol. As soon as our order is on the bench top we quickly pick up our bowls and retreat to the side of the street to eat quickly, seats are a luxury here, with most of us juggling cameras and bowls as we stand along the sides of the road. The chendol strands are silkily smooth and are deceptively plentiful under the milky coconut surface.

I notice that as we go on, our Chendol helpings seem to become milkier and milkier, the ice in this Chendol is practically non-existent. I’m not sure if this is simply the preferred style, or if it’s simply due to difficulties of keeping and shaving that much ice at a road side stand, but the Chendol is barely chilled through and I’m resisting the urge to order a second at the end.

Dinner – New World Park

We’re keeping things simple for dinner tonight, we’re staying at the Tune Hotel chain in Penang and luckily just next door to our hotel is New World Park, a shopping center complete with open air food court. Walking into the shopping center, we’re greeted with the bizarre sight of a public aerobic exercise class being held in the main courtyard, with what seems like every staff member participating. I’ve no idea why I have no photos of this event, my only excuse is that I was hypnotised by the synchronised movement of it all!

Top left: Curry Mee, Top right: Assam Laksa, Bottom Left: Seafood Noodles, Bottom Right: Curry Mee

I’m not sure if it’s the location or the impending thunderstorm keeping away people, but the food court is easily one of the emptiest venue’s we’ve eaten in our entire holiday. Despite the relatively early hour of 8.30pm, the stalls are on the verge of closing and there are barely 20 people present in the entire food court.

I’ve kept things easy tonight, after having Assam Laksa for lunch I decide to go for Prawn Mee tonight, another one of Penang’s famous dishes – the chilli oil and prawn based stock create a bright orange colour not dissimilar to the milky laksa’s I’m accustomed to back home. Helen’s on a mission and once again has ordered the Assam Laksa, the broth and noodles are satisfyingly thick but once again missing that final tamarind kick.

It’s a rather sedate and somewhat disappointing dinner, and so we make plans for supper at Gurney Drive Food Court, the largest and probably best known food court in Penang. Despite getting to Gurney after the rain has stopped, it looks like the weather has driven away all but the most determined and the majority of the stores have closed up due to the lack of customers. It’s an anticlimactic ending to a promising day, but it just means we’re twice as determined to make it back here tomorrow!

Check out the rest of the Malaysia Monday’s series here!

Pasar Air Itam
Pasar Road (Beside the Air Itam Market)
11500 Air Itam, Penang

Penang Road Famous Chendul
21, Keng Kwee Street (Off Penang Road)
10000 Penang

New World Park
Chinatown, Georgetown,
Penang

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It’s hard to believe we’ve been traveling for barely been a week on our Food Blogger Trip and we’ve somehow managed to hit Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and the Cameron Highlands on the way to Ipoh. It’s the first time on our trip we’ve had the luxury of staying in the same city for two nights running, we’ve been doing day trips mostly but we’ve put aside 4 days for Ipoh and Penang knowing there’s a hell of a lot of food out there to eat.

Things are feeling more relaxed this morning, it’s as though things are staring to settle into a stride. We’re off in search of breakfast again and Billy taken us to Ipoh Old Town in search of a famous coffee-house. Sadly enough the coffee-house is closed so we simply default to the coffee-house next door.

Breakfast – Thean Chun Coffee Shop

The restaurant is quintessentially Asian. The tables and chairs are all plastic, orders are shouted out across the table and despite the full tables surrounding us our food is on the table in moments. Breakfast in Ipoh is simple, bowls of noodle soup for everyone and a healthy number of sides to munch on!

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We’re in Billy’s hometown and he’s full of advice on what to eat. According to him, Ipoh is famous for their:

• Rice Noodles
• Bean Sprouts
• Rojak
• 3 in 1 coffee

The list is endless and exhaustive but you know what, in the end he’s right (just don’t tell him that!).

Once again we’re tackling the winding roads from the Cameron Highlands down towards Ipoh, it’s a place close to Billy’s heart, he’s lived here for most of his life and a lot of his family is still in the area.

Pit stop – Perak Tong Cave Temple

It’s a bit early in the day for eating (pretend I didn’t just write that) but it doesn’t stop the heat from beating down on us. Having being up in the mountains has made me utterly forget how punishing the heat is, especially for those fool enough to wander around in the middle of the day. Billy’s a little nonplussed when we ask him what there is to do in Ipoh and decides to take us to Perak Tong Cave Temple.

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It’s a somewhat quiet morning, we’re starting on the first major part of our road trip, heading up to Cameron Highlands. Stomachs are obviously still suffering from the abuse the previous day and our breakfast plates are noticeably smaller lol. After a bit of Tetris action with all our luggage in the boot we’re off!

Despite the chaos of driving in the cities, Malaysian highways are amazingly smooth and their Touch and Go system makes paying road tolls a breeze. We’re testing the limits of our van on the highways and have confirmed that any faster than 140km/hr the van threatens to shake itself apart. Billy settles into the steady speed of 130km/hr, drive safe boys and girls!

Things are going fine on the roads until we start to climb the mountains that will lead us up towards the Cameron Highlands. Poor Helen is stuck in the back seat and each swerve of the car threatens to send a stack of suitcases stumbling down onto her, in the end she ends up bracing against them in fear for her life. I’ve been reading books and playing bookworm to pass the time, but each subsequent turn starts curdling my stomach and it’s with a massive sigh of relief that our Hotel suddenly comes into sight on top of the hill.

Of course, only it’s a matter of minutes for us to recover and we’re soon on the search for lunch.

Lunch – Restoran Sri Brinchang

I’m struck by how quiet Cameron Highland seems, we’ve passed hillside after hillside of covered farms and roadside markets on our way into town, so it’s a little bit of a shock to be passing Starbucks and numerous tourist stores. I’ve no shame in admitting that the proximity of Starbucks may have influenced my restaurant choice for lunch (all Starbucks in Malaysia come equipped with free Wi-Fi!), it’s also the first time on the trip we’ve had a chance to eat something other than Chinese Malaysian style food.

Clockwise from top left: Chicken Thali 7MYR (2.50AU), Paper Dosai 2MYR (0.73AU), Chicken Tikka 7MYR (2.50AU), Roti Canai 1MYR (0.73AU)

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Day 2 – Where I remember how much I dislike monkeys

Our first stop of the day is the Mega Valley Mall (mega indeed), we’re here to pick up our car for the week. Knowing how many people we had in the group and how long we’d be driving we decide to go with a van for our travels. I remember arguing with Billy when trying to choose a car for the trip, often his primary argument was something along the lines of, “Bigger Minh, bigger!“. After a bit of a wait our van finally pulled up and looked like…

This...

…um. Noticing the obvious dismay on our faces the staff are quick to assure us this isn’t our car, moments later a much shinier van pulled up and we are off! Driving in Malaysia is somewhat hair-raising, the white lines on the roads seem to be there primarily as a suggestion and red lights only deter drivers if they can’t see anyone coming in the opposite direction. Billy pulls the car to a stop at a set of lights having just missed the yellow, only to see the cars on either side of him zoom through the red. “I’ve gotten soft!” he proclaims, much to my amusement.

Our first stop of the day is the Batu Caves, but of course first – lunch.

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]]> http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2010/05/31/malaysia-mondays-road-tripping-to-batu-caves-and-melaka/feed/ 21 2.326349 102.34638752.326349102.3463875 http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2010/05/24/malaysia-mondays-kuala-lumpur-part-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=malaysia-mondays-kuala-lumpur-part-1 http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2010/05/24/malaysia-mondays-kuala-lumpur-part-1/#comments Sun, 23 May 2010 16:13:55 +0000 Minh http://www.eatshowandtell.com/?p=6447 Welcome to the first of my Malaysia Mondays posts! Rather than subject everyone to a barrage of Malaysian posts I’ve decided to space them out a little and post weekly updates. Be warned the posts are heavy with text, an inappropriate amount of rambling and yes, a truly ridiculous amount of food.

A few months ago Billy proposed the idea of a blogger style holiday, I’m always keen for a holiday and quickly agreed with no idea of what I was getting myself into! An Airasia sale later we were booked for a two and a half week Malaysia/Thailand holiday scheduled for the middle of monsoon season.

Our itinerary was a little insane: Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Penang then a pit stop over in Thailand, Penang before one last run at Kuala Lumpur.

Day 1 – Kuala Lumpur: In which we learn that you really do have to keep an eye on your luggage.

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]]> http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2010/05/24/malaysia-mondays-kuala-lumpur-part-1/feed/ 28 3.139003 101.6868553.139003101.686855 http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2010/01/06/bredbo-pizzeria-bredbo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bredbo-pizzeria-bredbo http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2010/01/06/bredbo-pizzeria-bredbo/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:00:14 +0000 squishies http://www.eatshowandtell.com/?p=3367 In going to Thredbo from Sydney, you’ll inevitably pass through quite a few small towns. Though for me, only a few names really stick in my head, one of which is Bredbo (I admit it, it’s because it really sounds like Thredbo and I always giggle when I see it). Whenever we pass through this country town, a pizzeria always catches our eye with masses of cars parked in front (during business hours of course) and each time we tell each other that we should try it out – Mark even banned F and I from going there without him.

On our last trip to the snow (yes I know, it’s been a while – sorry!), we all finally made it to Bredbo Pizzeria and found that our dinner booking for 4.30pm was a bit superfluous: we were the only customers there. I’m sure I’m not the only person to somehow become super indecisive when too many options are available and it doesn’t help when the other parties in the group are blasé about the decision that is to be made (such as where to sit). Even though I know they don’t care where they sit and we’ve already sat down, I still fret for a bit about the chosen table. Ugh, it’s terrible.

Mmm... dough

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]]> http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2010/01/06/bredbo-pizzeria-bredbo/feed/ 10 -35.95740055820052 149.1496342420578-35.95740055820052149.1496342420578 http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/09/18/burger-battle-new-zealand-style/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=burger-battle-new-zealand-style http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/09/18/burger-battle-new-zealand-style/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:00:56 +0000 squishies http://www.eatshowandtell.com/?p=3235 The second and final part of my two-part series of our eats in New Zealand’s beautiful South Island is a burger battle!

In the ring we have the newly found (i.e. we just found it) Red Star Luxury Burgers challenging the old favourite Fergburger for the title of EST’s Burger Champion of New Zealand.

The opponents are rearing to go, so… let’s get ready to ruuuummmble!

In the Red Corner…

Hailing from Wanaka, we have the challenger Red Star Luxury Burgers – a place that has just come onto our radar this year. I’m not sure how long it’s been around, but if it’s been there for a while I have no idea why we never noticed it before during all the years we’ve visited!

Our first day in New Zealand’s lovely South Island consisted of a very early morning wake-up followed by a 3-hour flight and a 6-hour drive. It was late by the time we drove into Wanaka, all bleary-eyed tired and hungry. We were going to settle for cooking instant noodles in the apartment once we checked in (but really didn’t feel like it) until someone pointed out the burger joint on the opposite side of the road.

Just as we trooped inside, the waitress came out with a couple of the burgers. Our eyes fairly popped out of our heads – the burgers were humongous! And oh they looked ever so tasty. With heightened expectations, we ordered and were not the least bit disappointed. We were all astounded by the freshness and deliciousness of the burgers.

I was too tired to take photos that night, so we went again – this time with some more friends in tow.

Virgin - Chickpea Patties, Salad, Sundried Tomato Hummus, Sweet Chilli and Minted Yoghurt ($12)

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]]> http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/09/18/burger-battle-new-zealand-style/feed/ 15 http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/08/12/chocolate-festival-hunter-valley-gardens-pokolbin/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chocolate-festival-hunter-valley-gardens-pokolbin http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/08/12/chocolate-festival-hunter-valley-gardens-pokolbin/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:00:45 +0000 Minh http://www.eatshowandtell.com/?p=2861 I’m not sure what it is about this winter, but nearly every weekend for the past three months has been gorgeous and blue. With the sun shining down it was the perfect opportunity for a day trip to the Hunter Valley to visit a few of my favourite wineries and check out the annual Chocolate Festival, held at the Hunter Valley Gardens.

A slight miscommunication in times meant that at 8am friend P buzzed at my door with me still tucked safely in bed! 20 minutes later we left and practically flew towards Hunter making the trip in just under 2 hours, a great run. Hunter Valley is absolutely doable as a day trip and I would recommend making a relatively early start of it as you’ll avoid the worst of the traffic.

Breakfast from The German Kitchen

After 2 hours of driving we found ourselves in the Hunter Valley and at the Gardens, being past 10am at this point and despite all the white pavilions in the distance we had to stop somewhere for breakfast first. It just isn’t a Sunday morning without a German sausage and sauerkraut! With our bellies taken care of we wandered into the pavilion where a number of chocolate and sweet related store were set up.

Wedding Cake from The Sweetest Things

Piggy Cupcake Cake from The Sweetest Things

At first glance I thought the piggies had been slightly damaged in transit with half of them smeared with chocolate, then realised they were simply playing in the icing! I didn’t get a shot of the rest of the cake, but it was a series of chocolate cupcakes all topped with an individual pig!

Strawberry Chocolate Cup

Given the choice between a chocolate shot, a strawberry dipped in chocolate, or a cup filled with chocolates it was a pretty easy decision! With P distracted by the bon bon stand just next door I found myself popping piece after piece after piece…

Truffles from C'est Si Bon Pastisserie

Chocolate Eclaire from C'est Si Bon Patisserie

There are friends who I inevitably call on if I’m interested in eating, however P is one of those friends I call on when I want something sweet. Between the two of us there have been occasions where our dessert selctions have outnumbered the rest of the group we’ve been eating with. So when we spotted a stand full of pastries P powers onto an eclaire. I end up almost begging for a bite from P as my stomach can’t take much more after all those chocolate strawberries. Did I mention we’d been at the festival for about 20 minutes at this point?

Dark Chocolate with Strawberry and Sichuan Pepper from The Curious Chocolatier

I made the mistake of taking this into work where it was promptly devoured by the girls. The ladies at The Curious Chocolatier tell me that the strawberries are frozen and incorporated into the chocolate whole, resulting in lovely whole strawberry chunks all throughout the bar. The pepper adds an interesting kick which works lovely with the strawberry.

Chocolate Assortment from Chocolate Mint

Fudge Selection from Personalised Chocolates

Junior Mints from American Chocolate

Don’t judge me, for some reason I can’t walk away from American chocolate and peanut butter. I ended up with a packet of Peanut Butter M&Ms and only just managed to stop myself from buying a pack of Reeses.

Cupcake Pops from S Cakes

Hot Chocolate with Chilli and Cinnamon from Mayan Coffee and Xocolate

Leaving the pavilion we noticed a Coffee and Hot Chocolate stand, despite only just proclaiming I couldn’t fit in another bite, the sight of the sign ‘Organic Hot Chocolate Mayan Style with Chilli and Cinnamon’ stopped me in my tracks. I’ve often thought of chilli chocolate as a bit of a fad but call me a convert. The Xocolate team were not shy when adding in the chilli and it added a welcome kick and was a perfect drink for a chilli Winter morning.

Following a tweet from Adriano Zumbo we wandered over towards the judging grounds for the Callebaut Chocolate Festival where he was competing. We arrive just in time to catch the tail end of his interview, but upon realising that a few of the entries are available for viewing on the sidelines I quickly swoop in with the camera. In the midst of my photography haze I find myself side by side with Zumbo himself and can only say, ‘Do you want to swap sides? ‘. Haha epic fail on my behalf.

Later on I think of various introduction lines such as, ‘I saw your tweet and came over,’ but ultimately reject all these lines deeming them as rather stalkerish.

Unfortunately while the majority of the entries had a quick description of their componenets, none listed who had created each one. The standard of these entries was astounding and I couldn’t help but wish they were available for consumer taste testing! Each of the entries was assembled at the competition grounds, the chefs responsible would plate up 4 dishes of each dessert, 3 for the judges and 1 for display.

Thank you to Amy from Wasmedia for providing me with the winners of the competition:

• Winner, Jodie Van Der Velden from ‘Josophans’ at Leura.
• Second place; Brendon Dewar from ‘Bacco patisserie’ at Chiffley Plaza.
• Third place; Brian Pescud from ‘Manna From Heaven’.
• Best apprentice; Immanuel Arena from ‘The Beresford’.

The winning dessert: ‘Palet d’Or et Noisettes’ loosely translated as pillows of gold and hazelnuts. Palet d’Or is often used to name a dark chocolate disc/pillow of chocolate which is coated in dark chocolate with a little gold leaf on top. The winner received the prize of an international trip for a 3 day training course at a Callebaut Chocolate Academy, valued at $5000. Congratulations to Jodie Van Der Velden, Laura is situated in the Blue Mountains, I may just have to make time for another day trip I think…

Tempus Two

We spent around 3 hours at the festival, and upon driving out were grateful that we’d come early as the cars were parked outside the gates on the main road! With our chocolate craving curbed we moved onto some wine tasting! Tempus Two and McGuigans are two of my favourite wineries, every time I go to Hunter I always end up walking away with a bottle of Late Picked Tramminer from McGuigans.

After reading the reviews from Karen and Billy I can’t help but make a stopover at Enzo. Depisite knowing that P and I are already booked for dinner we make the decision to stop over at Enzo for a mini tea break and a taste of their raved about scones. The fact that Enzo is less than a 5 minute drive away doesn’t hurt either.

Arriving at Enzo we are promptly seated in the courtyard and I take a moment to enjoy the sunshine. Glancing at the menu I’m slightly tempted to order a Muggacino which comes complete with a warning in red, ‘this is a warning!! our infamous muggacino’s are very large!) but manage to resist and and order a glass of white wine instead. With my mind set on afternoon tea we settle at our table and wait for our waitress.

Puff pastry tart with confit of lamb rump, young leaves, marinated feta, spanish onion and asparagus with a roast macadamia nut and bacon dessing $26.50

Unfortunately all of our resolves turns to dust as plate after plate of amazing food goes to the tables around us and I immediately beg P to share a puff pastry tart with me. We are not disappointed when the tart comes out with wonderfully flaky pastry and a perfectly seasoned combo of sundried tomatoes, lamb and feta in a serving size that is more than generous enough for us to share.

Devonshire tea 2 scones served with king island cream and strawberry jam $13

A slight miscommunication with the waitress actually sees TWO plates of scones come out to our table. Of course being who we are P and I simply look at each other before digging into our respective plates. One bite into the scone I’m infinitely grateful for the mixup as I don’t think I could have given up my second scone without a fight! Fluffy interior and a crust just lightly toasted with thick cream that begs to be spread over the scone topped with strawberry jam and fresh strawberries. The couple sitting to our right takes one look at the scones and immediately adds them to their order.

I’ll definitely be returning to Enzo on my next trip to Hunter Valley, if their other mains and desserts are even remotely on the same level as the two dishes I was able to try I’ll definitely be in for a treat!

Cafe Enzo
Broke Road Pokolbim
Hunter Valley
Ph: (02) 4998 7233

The Hunter Valley Chocolate Festival is held annually at the Hunter Valley Gardens, entry is $19.90 for adults and $15.50 for concessions.

Hunter Valley Gardens
Broke Road
Pokolbin NSW 2320 Australia
Ph: (02) 4998 4000
Fax: (02) 4998 4001
Web: http://www.hvg.com.au/

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© Minh for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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]]> http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/08/12/chocolate-festival-hunter-valley-gardens-pokolbin/feed/ 20 -32.770369 151.28385-32.770369151.28385 http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/07/25/eating-at-the-snow-jindabyne/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eating-at-the-snow-jindabyne http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/07/25/eating-at-the-snow-jindabyne/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:00:52 +0000 squishies http://www.eatshowandtell.com/?p=2779 With the snow season upon us, I’ve been popping down to the slopes every odd weekend. A couple of the trips have been those “red-eye” runs (or as I usually call them: “one-dayers”) where we leave Sydney at 2am, snowboard, and then drive home on the same day.

Despite the seemingly crazy tactic to alleviate my need to snowboard, I do get to be deliciously fuelled for the day at Serges Cafe and snack on freshly made doughnuts after.

Bacon and Egg Roll ($6.90)

Breakfast

Serges Cafe is a tiny store-in-a-wall place in the heart of Jindabyne. Despite the early hour we would get there, there’s always a line out the door of hungry customers – waiting to order or get their order.

Bacon and Egg Roll ($6.90)

The fresh, un-buttered roll is usually lightly toasted and filled with juicy, tender bacon (complete with rind) and the over-easy eggs with the yolk broken by quickly swilling the egg shell in it. Generously sauced (served up with your choice of sauce), the bacon and egg roll is F’s perfect breakfast to have before hitting the slopes.

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© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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]]> http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/07/25/eating-at-the-snow-jindabyne/feed/ 10 -36.415886501128256 148.6238408088684-36.415886501128256148.6238408088684 http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/07/02/kings-charcoal-chicken-thirroul/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kings-charcoal-chicken-thirroul http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/07/02/kings-charcoal-chicken-thirroul/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:36:29 +0000 squishies http://www.eatshowandtell.com/?p=2617 Kiama for the long weekend, we stopped by Thirroul to check out the 'Princess' Pashley bike at one of the few stores in Sydney that stocks that brand. It also happened to be lunch time and afterwards we hungrily prowled the streets for a place to eat.]]> How fried chicken was meant to be

On our way down to Kiama for the long weekend, we stopped by Thirroul to check out the ‘Princess’ Pashley bike at one of the few stores in New South Wales that stocks that brand. It also happened to be lunch time and afterwards we hungrily prowled the streets for a place to eat.

Well, okay, that’s not quite true.

We ambled along the road and a couple of stores down from the bike shop, we found ourselves at a pretty big sit-down, take-away corner store called Kings Charcoal Chicken (imagine your average kebab store and multiply that space by 5).

Southern Fried Chicken Burger (Chicken Fillet, Lettuce, Tomato, Mayo)

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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This long weekend was a bit of an anti climax for me. While it was great to have that extra day to recharge the batteries and get away from Sydney, in the back of my mind I was counting down the days (June 22nd) until my knee reconstruction. I’m not even worried about the operation, I’m more worried about the prospect of not being able to push myself to the limits in sport again. I can’t wait until rehab, it’s a strange feeling. It’ll also mean I will take two weeks off from work, I’ll be spending most my time on the couch catching up on many seasons of tv series which I have neglected for the past few years.

But it wasn’t just about me, I was with 7 other people who wanted to get away from the trials and tribulations of their day jobs and relax, bum around, watch a few movies and eat until their hearts content. We booked a beachside house down south at Kiama and the weather was absolutely perfect all long weekend. We didn’t cook up any elaborate meals, all the food was quite random in hindsight.

We watched a few movies on both ends of the genre spectrum. We tried to scare the daylights out of each other by watching Halloween and Ju-on, had a few laughs by watching the classics Dodgeball and Hercules Returns and got a bit more serious by watching Lucky Number Sleven.

Brunch

The last 2 days consisted of awesome sleep-ins and then waking up to cook a big breakfast. The balcony looked over the beach and was the perfect scene for cooking and eating. Nothing beats a hearty serving of bacon and eggs washed down with a freshly brewed coffee while looking into the ocean on a sunny day. I wish I could do this regularly, it is a stark contrast to eating muesli and toast at my office desk every morning.

Bacon & eggs, mushrooms, grilled tomato

Dinners

The last thing we wanted to do on a long weekend was spend all weekend cooking. Somehow, we ended up making things harder for ourselves by trying to make our own peking duck. It’s something I have maybe once  a year if I’m lucky, not to mention it is usually ridiculously expensive. After making it ourselves, I would never pay to eat peking duck at a restaurant again.

Saturday night

Firstly, we had to make the peking duck pancakes. The pancakes are actually very easy to make. All that is needed is plain flour and water.

Stacks of pancakes

Rest assured, these taste better than they look. I wouldn’t serve them at a banquet, but they did the job.

Cucumbers & spring onion

roast duck

We actually bought a normal chinese roast duck from the chinese bbq store. To get the skin crispy like they have at the restaurants, we poured boiling hot oil over the duck just before serving time. This method is apparently quite common in chinese restaurants according to the bloke who owns the bbq store we regularly buy from. He sells his ducks to restaurants all over Sydney so I guess he knows a thing or two about peking duck.

Crispy & tender carved duck

Roast duck & char siu

Crispy skin roast pork

Sunday night

Hand cut fries fried in duck fat

The man at the bbq store kindly gave us a bag of duck fat per our request. We had to render the duck fat in a pot and then drain the oil from the pot. We had never used duck fat before, so we decided to make some hot chips to go with our snags and salad. Firstly, the chips were quickly fried in the duck fat and then were left to cool down. When ready we then fried the chips as per normal at a higher temperature. The result was the most perfect chips I have tasted in a while, they were crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. They were also not greasy at all which was a surprise.

Chorizo & lean beef sausages

Mixed leaf salad with grilled haloumi and mushrooms

Apart from eating, we visited the blowhole at Kiama which was a bit of a let down due to the low tide. Kiama is a nice little town which seems to triple in population during long weekends and holidays. It was great to have that extra day off, we need more public holidays that’s for sure.

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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I’m sorry if I confused anyone with my Germany posts, but the story is that I was in Berlin for two weeks to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday (a big deal in Chinese culture I’m told). All of my paternal family is there, which just means I’m lucky enough to score free accommodation if I wanted, and it was really nice to see / catch up with my cousins again. Anywho, so all the posts from Germany are from that trip and this will be the last one.

I wanted to quickly blog about their version of our late night kebab and eat-at-any-time meat pie: the döner and the currywurst. They rank pretty high on my Favourite Food list and besides seeing my family again, generates a lot of excitement from both my brother and I whenever we go back to Berlin.

Beyti Kebap - Yufka ekmekli (Minced Meat on the skewer with Parsley, Onion, Spices, Grilled tomatoes, Pepper and Special Bread)

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Read the rest of Döners and Currywursts, Berlin (Germany) (793 words)

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