Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Food everywhere we go

RWAR!!! i have such a horrible sleeping pattern..

After vietnam everything went back to normal, eating the same old crap and sleeping till noon..

Not a lot has happened lately. but theres still too much of Vietnam i havent finished blogging about and i have no idea where to start really..im too lazy to continue actually..

Well other than that, this is what i've been up to since i've been back.

last week Dave took my to a cute little french restaurant in Manly called Chez Maurice Et Linda
this was our first encounter with french food, sides of course, the typical french pastries, but i've been so obsessed with anything french for so long and im actually surprised at myself for have never tried anything french till now.
the menu is really simple and easy with a fixed price, you can either pay for a 2 course meal (you can mix and match weather you want an entree or dessert with a main) or pay for a 3 course meal for $50-$60 (i cant remember, lol i didnt pay)
While we waited for our food, we were given a complimentary pate dish, it was amazing!!! it just reminded me of how much i loved pate, my mum would always get some for us when we were younger.. i ended up pretty much licking the bowl cause it was just so nice.
Crumbed and deep fried button mushroom served with tartare sauce
Dave made a mistake ordering a mushroom entree.. not that it wasnt nice.. just.. its a set price! Why wouldnt u want some seafood instead!!! lol
soo disappointing.. (also.. something i could easily make him at home if he wanted)
Scallops in mornay sauce baked with cheese
My dish was beautiful! sauce had so much flavour but still wasn't overpowering.. and dave got a bit jellen when he realised he just got mushrooms.. lol
canard braise a l'orange et au grand marnier 'braised duck in orange and grand marnier sauce'
i wanted to try something different and something that screams 'french' so i got this! the duck was made beautifully, so tender and juicy.. but i wasnt able to eat it cause the sauce made me mad..
i dont know weather it was the fact that it was orange or the alcohol in it.. but in genral orange and alcohol made me mad anyways.. LOL i just dont like the taste..
But i do recommend this dish, i personally cant handle it but the sauce isnt bad, just different.
Fillet of beef with mushrooms and pate baked in puff pastry
After watching hells kitchen Dave was obsessed with trying out a beef wellington. but he was disappointing. the meat on the inside was a bit burnt so it had a charred taste to it, and the pate was just overpowering..

for entree have got the creme burlee, which wasnt the best one we've had.. it was really really grainy.. 
 Profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream topped with hot chocolate sauce
But this entree was so good!! its enough to have between 2 people, the sauce was so rich and thick..

Anyways overall, it costed us $130 for 7 courses and 3 drinks, thats not bad hey..
but if you are interested in this place, Book first! its really small, theres only one lady waitering, shes nice but shes always too busy to do anything for you. and the toilets are outside down the stairs at the back, it seems a little scary n weird but its not that bad.. then again, i was okay with it cause nothing in Australia is as bad as Vietnam toilets.. lol

bought myself a dress for $7 =D
gotta love sales!

On the weekend Dave and I were invited to his work cruise..
i loved the sunset that day, such a beautiful day after a wet n rainy week
it was the first time meeting his work friends, they are pretty awesome.
and at night there were fireworks!! but the boat was too rocky to take a good picture of it..
After the cruise we went to the city to get some dessert, everything closed early that night so we couldnt get anything sides ice cream from the harbor. we then went to the park and lived out our childhood..


Before we left for Vietnam Stella took me to a cute little Mexican place called El Loco
i've also never been to a real mexican place, i've only had salsas and home cooked mex. but this is so different!
 Street style mexican food! served in take away paper plates
$5 tacos!
hotdog! yummo.. i love the cheese they use at this place!
and a salad.. This is amazing, its so crunchy and full of flavour.
everything was so cheap here too! soo yummy! but really filling, we ended up walking up the street to the car and we felt like 2 fat people trying to work out..

i finally tried the different flavoured ice cream they had at the corner cafe that littlestar didnt have, guava.. it was served in a coffee cup..
and not that im going to complain about the cafe cause its our competition... but there were a couple of things i found a little different.
i really didnt like the guava ice cream.. couldnt finish it :(
they had a big ice cream stand, and it looks really good, but its a little difficult for the workers cause they have to lean their complete bodies in just to scoop ice cream. which then made their hair go into everything..
and i noticed they served ice cream exactly like we do!! but they kept the glasses that were chipped..
i donno, i thought it would be common sence to not serve anything in a chipped glass..
But! other than that, they are really busy! opened early till real late.. so i admire them for working so hard everyday

Random sushi!!! =D


Food haul!
Daves been buying these 'Dr oetker' Mozzarella pizzas for $5-$6
i hate frozen pizzas, but this i can enjoy.. also, its vegetarian! sides all the cheese...
yumm.. i love the herbs they have on it.
dave also bought me some tiny chocolates..
look how little they are!!
i love that chocolates are so cheap now due to all the Christmas sales

Adriano Zumbo
Caramal&raspberry, Mango&corn, mojito, pumpkin seed, coke, coconut&chilli, Chocolate&cinnamon& chilli, Lemon.
Watermelon, passionfruit and mango, Weird frikin flavours..
Eu-Genius
Caramelised puff pastry, chocolate coconut crunch jelly, violet gel, blackcurrant crème légère
this was nice, i love sour things..
Ssnowmanorr
Pâté a choux, bubble tea custard, lychee coconut crème légère, lychee gel, coconut crunch 

lol, its not food, but it is my new buy.. i ended up buying a new camera in vietnam cause my pink one (the middle one) decided to go all fuzzy on me. i think there is water in it, it worked.. but it couldnt take any good pictures anymore.. it turned out all cloudy..
A little gift from Anya n Loc, all the way from Melbourne, by far the best macarons i've ever had.. i havent even opened them yet!! i want to savour the awesomeness..

And for some home cooked meals.
i made dave some chicken breast stuffed with garlic, butter and cheese!! 
it was my first time making this, my own recipe.. but i did overcook the crust :(
at least it werent burnt tho..
im also so proud of myself as well! it turnt out pretty well!!
and made myself some chicken nuggets coated with crunchy nut cereal.
it gives it a sweet honey flavour with a bigger crunch

And last.. this confuses me
why did they make Milo duo..
if u eat it with milk.. LOL

Monday, November 21, 2011

Vietnam: The Food, part 2

Home cooked meals!! 
this would have to be the best type of food in vietnam!!
my family cooked us breakfast, lunch and dinner for us and all our friends for the couple of days we were there.
its the only things lana could properly eat.. lol, she even had seconds!!!
and for dessert, we had fruit! this is sugar cane tho, but its just so healthy eating here.. 
Vietnamese fried spring rolls
this worm thing they made us eat!! LOL it was nice, but no one knew what it was.. haha
sea snails!! something u cant get in Australia..
my uncle in ho chi minh city cooked us the best packet noodle meal ever!! =D!
its so yummy!! im totally stealing his recipe!
my uncles kitchin, and dave washing the dishes there.. lol
SNAKE WINE!!


Things we picked up on the way
THIS WAS SO YUMMY!!!! pandan and coconut cakes!!
 MILK! its so cute.. but i couldnt drink their milk.. i just dont like milk that much..
creme caramal, with coffee.. this was really nice :)
a pork floss bun..
ca phe sua da (Vietnamese ice coffee)
best coffee ever!!!
TINY CHESTNUTS!!! or at least i thought thats what they were...


PHO!!! 
Vietnam national food!! pho would have to be with first thing you think of when you think of Vietnamese food.
pho from pho 24, this restaurant went international so its always packed out, but i guess it makes it not as nice as it should be, because it went into 'mass produce' stage.. but! it was clean. everyone wore gloves n stuff..
This tho, is my favorite pho place!!!
lol, sweet salty balls.. 
the pho in Ho chi minh city is the best thing EVER!!!!!!! i can not get enough of it!@!

there was one near our hotel!! yummo
me and lana could eat like 2 bowls full!!!!
combination, pork chop with rice and fried egg
my addiction!! coconut.. 


KFC IN VIETNAM!@
it exsits.. and you know what! its nice! 
it doesnt come with chips, just coke.. you have to order the extras..
it also comes with rice! and soup!!! 
the thing i loved about eating in vietnam is that its such a great serving size, instead of everyone in Australia over eating, at least we dont have the whole super size stuff tho..


Ha Noi style vietnamese fried spring rolls..
this is personally my favorite place to eat!
YUMM!!! omg i love this stuff so much =D
but i can not remember what the name of this place is!! i didnt take a picture of it :(



Seafood!!
before we left back to sydney, my uncle took us to a seafood place!!
soft shell crab..
crab claw
seafood everything!!
the bill ended up being 60$ aussie dollar for 5 people
but i loved the all the fresh seafood!!


this was at our beach resort.. 
freshly caught seafood, they seriously went out to catch the fishes for us!!
the food was amazing!!
best fried rice i've ever had, full of veges and so crispy!! 
 Fresh seafood from our boat at halong bay
got ourself a 9kg fish!
and all the other seafood


AIR PLANE FOOD!
jetstar food, 15$ each meal excluding drinks..
this was really yummy, i dont know what people are complaining about!

Vietnam airlines
beef and rice
fish n noodles..