The "icing" on my birthday cake

Turning 26. Surely it's not so bad. As I described in an email to some friends - I have made it up the horrendous uphill climb to the big 2-6 (ok, maybe not that horrendous), and the view is pretty damn fine from here! Whilst some may say it's a tumble downwards henceforth, I don't believe it necessarily has to be the case. I think it has so much to do with your attitude and approach to life. I'll definitely endeavour to keep living it up - work hard, play hard, build deep relationships, cultivate my interests, keep learning and growing as a person, and ... just have heaps of fun! And thank you to my Asian genes (and my mum's skin), for the lack of wrinkles thus far... haha :P

Although the actual day is this coming Saturday (boxing day!), I have already started to be spoilt with beautiful and thoughtful gifts from my friends and workmates (thanks thanks thanks!). I'm not usually a present person (rather, my predominant "love languages" are words of affirmation and touch - i.e. i feel the most loved and also express my love the best by verbal/written expressions of encouragement/affirmation, and via physical touch (e.g. hugs)), because in this material consumeristic day and age, us Gen Ys usually buy whatever we want, or at least save up for it and get it anyway. But what touches my heart about gifts is when people know you well enough to choose something that is relevant to your interests and likes. That is often quite rare.

I've been spoilt with, amongst other things - vanilla bean room fragrance (to make my room spell nice - smelling nice is very important to me! haha); a cute handmade card with an elephant and panda; a Christian fiction book about Queen Esther - one of the heroines in the Bible who was both stunningly beautiful and crazily courageous; a bottle of T'Gallant 'Juliet' 2008 Pinot Noir (the heart on the bottle and name was sufficiently romantic for me to love it without even tasting the wine!); a book titled "Coco" which contains info/recipes/pictures re 100 emerging chef talents globally and it even has a lengthy glossary of gastronomical terms; two sets of inspirational gift books - one set about wisdom from famous people over 65 years of age on the themes of Love, Peace, Ideas (by Andrew Zuckerman) - i haven't read through everything but i love some of the quotes thus far; the second a cute set of illustrated mini books with the titles "the Friends", "Shoes, chocs, bags and frocks", "The lady who was beautiful inside" and "A lovely love story" (by Edward Monkton).

As simple as they are, these books are just so "me" - so in line with my philosophy and outlook on life (e.g. the importance of being beautiful inside). My absolute favourite is the "A lovely love story" which talks about two dinosaurs (the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur) falling in love, and how the Lovely Other Dinosaur melts the ice cage that the Dinosaur is trapped in by her kind words and loving thoughts. Awwwwww.. it's so cute! It makes me want to be that Lovely Other Dinosaur that will one day melt the ice cage of some Dinosaur with my kind words and loving thoughts. Lol! :P


I also received a beautiful journal and notepad from Bookbinders (I've already started using the journal, and the notepad will be my new food/coffee review notepad - i.e. I'll take it out to eateries to scribble notes while I eat).

Oh, and beautiful purple flowers. Absolutely gorgeous (see pictures below)! If anyone knows what type of flowers they are, please do let me know. I've never seen them before, and totally totally love them! (Apparently they start with the letter "L".)


So yes, I'm a happy little vegemite with rosy cheeks because of all the blessings, friendships and love in my life. (Now, all I have to do is convince my parents to chip in for my new camera.) Haha

Long lazy weekend lunch @ Sapore (Fitzroy Street, St Kilda)

Sapore (3-5 Fitzroy St, St Kilda)

On Saturday 19 December, I had a little birthday lunch gathering with my colleagues at Sapore in St Kilda. To cut a long story short, I was highly impressed with the quality of the food. Sapore means flavour/aroma/taste in Italian - a very befitting name. Its 15/20 (one chef's hat) rating in the Age Good Food Guide 2010 is well-deserved. It's reasonably priced, great venue, good service, close to the beach. Will definitely be back again!

What I ate:
Entree - Saporetti (a range of small tastes) for $18 - great value for money! Best choice if you are indecisive (or just greedy, or both) and want to try a few different things in one dish! :)

Everything was wonderfully tasty - the items were mainly from the entree list, and included deep fried risotto ball (far right); baby octopus (centre); beef carpaccio with a caper and cornichon dressing, garlic croutons and celery hearts (left); citrus cured salmon with cucumber and dill, capers, creme fraiche and watercress (right)


Main course: Grain-fed eye fillet with truffled mash potato, salsa verde and veal jus

Most tasty steak I have had for a really long time! Perfectly seasoned, tender, tasty.
Also, I usually really dislike potato mash, but this truffled potato was sooo smooth and amazing that I cleaned my plate! Highly recommended!



What we drank:

• Sparkling wine: a bottle of Podere Castorani Prosecco 2007 'Paparazzi' (Veneto, Italy)
• Red: a bottle of Anakema 2005 'Ona' Syrah (Rapel Valley, Chile)

No 35 (restaurant on level 35 of the Sofitel)

I finally got to go to No 35 last Thursday evening - kind of as a catch up, and kind of as an early celebration for my upcoming birthday. I've been talking about going to No 35 for a while, since Stuart McVeigh (of ex-Botanical fame, which received a 16.5/20 in the Age Good Food Guide) came on board in October this year. Friends of friends who know Stuart have said that apparently he has brought in some interesting dishes and ideas.

For some reason, I haven't been able to find any reviews of No 35 as yet - only a few random online comments about the food being expensive, small servings, etc - but that was all before Stuart's tenure. I was pretty excited being able to check this out and being one of the first people to review the food (as amateur as I may be).

The Atrium Bar on level 35 of the Sofitel had long been one of my favourite places in Melbourne. The bar is in the middle and so you can't see the external views directly, but No 35 had replaced Cafe La on the outer edge of the floor - with floor to ceiling views of the Melbourne city.

We had a reservation at 8:30pm (I think you can either go for a 6pm or 8.30pm sitting - not sure if this was just an arrangement due to it being Christmas season.) I was quite excited and so dressed up slightly for the occasion, but my dress got slightly splattered by the rain on the way from work.

The venue: The venue is beautiful and perfect for an intimate dinner - appropriately dimmed lights, elegant and relatively minimalistic decor, high ceilings, tables angled in a way to enhance your view of the dazzling nightview of Melbourne.

We were lucky that the rain gradually subsided and the water gradually rolled off the glass windows over the course of the evning to enable us a clearer view. It was so beautiful I could have stayed there the whole night if it wasn't a weeknight (we both had work the next day).

I'm a firm believer that good views + good food + good company makes for a perfect night out. We probably had 2.5 out of 3 that night - you'll see why below.

The people: The service was efficient, polite and professional, but I found that the different staff who presented our dishes weren't very confident/well-trained to present and explain what each dish was. But I must say that Sommelier (Kyriacos Christodoulou) was great - after we had ordered our bottle of '07 Rusden Driftsand Grenache/Shiraz (Barossa Valley, South Australia), he came up to us and alerted us to the fact that a small minority of people may experience discomfort (e.g. upset stomach) when having oysters with Shiraz. I never knew that - and I thought it was really good of him to alert his patrons of this fact. Thumbs up to Kyri! But we said we should be ok anyway.

The food:

We opted for ala carte instead of degustation that evening - we had started dinner late already, and degustation was bound to take longer, and also, it would give us an opportunity to come back to try the degustation next time.

Starters:
To start, we were given a bit of a pre-teaser - lumps of mozarella in a green (spinach?/pea?) (cold) soup concoction. :( To be fair, maybe I just didn't get it.

We then shared a dozen of oysters with three different tastes, which wasn't great either (unfortunately). If you look at the website, you can find out the different tastes (Claire de Lune, Moonlight en Surface, and the third is sort of like a "flavour of the day" oyster). But the girl who served us our oysters didn't explain what the differences were or which was the appropriate dipping sauce for each. There were bits of broken shells stuck to the oyster flesh. And to be honest, I couldn't see or taste the difference between the three styles at all (besides from actual size of the oysters). Sigh.

I avoided having more than a few sips of Shiraz with the oysters due to Kyri's advice (above). But even so, we thought the wine tasted funny all of a sudden. The oysters (or maybe the cold spinach soup thing) must have affected our palettes/taste buds - the red wine suddenly tasted very acidic and sort of "off" - it tasted and smelt amazing when the bottle was first opened. We had been warned of potential upset stomaches, not upset taste buds... So yes, note to self - red wine and oysters don't go well together! - should have ordered champagne or white wine to go with the starter dish...

No 1:
Next, my entree was the Hiramasa kingfish and scallop ceviche with watermelon, avocado and sesame. The scallop and watermelon were cubed and placed sparsely on the kingfish sashimi, which was quite fresh, but slightly too liquid-logged (not sure why). There was also a small crisps and creamy avocado structure on the kingfish (tasty enough but bore a slight resemblance to avocado dip from the supermarket??). Overall, the dish was ok.

My friend had the warm quail salad with duck parfait and roasted onion for entree. I tried a bit - it seemed more tasty than mine....

No 2:
Next, we both had some sort of aged grain fed sirloin with organic vegetables - probably the best dish of the evening. But at $46 a pop, it was not the best steak I've ever had (however beef quality was good and tender), and I found that my vegetables were salted unevenly. But it did go very well with our medium bodied Rusden Driftsand Shiraz (our taste buds had evidently recovered).

No 3:
For dessert, I went for the No 35 trifle, while he went for the burnt orange creme. Both ok. My "trifle" was a colourful array of cream/icecream, jelly and berry "stuff". At this point, I must say that it's sad I can't even remember it well enough to describe it properly. Sigh. Even I am bored with my own review.

The verdict:

I'm glad we didn't go the degustation option this time.

Stuart McVeigh, please please please do what we are all expecting you to do with No 35. Transform it, bring out your gastronomical genius. We know you are capable of it. Next time I go back (I'll give it 3 months at least), hopefully, you would have had some time to settle in your new kitchen and work some cullinary wonders.

In conclusion, the food could have been much much better given the price we paid, but I had a wonderful evening anyway because of the good view and company.

Deadman Espresso

Deadman Espresso, located on 35 Market Street in South Melbourne, has been open for a few months now, and it's become one of my brunch/coffee venues of choice on the weekends. I've heard that it's open by the same guy that opened Seven Seeds and Brother Baba Budan. In fact, they use Seven Seeds coffee beans.

I remember the first time I went to Deadman a couple of weeks (month?) ago, the moment I stepped inside, I liked it. The venue and vibe is very accessible, modern, intellectual, not too quirky, great music (not too alternative). Lots of brown wood (which gives it a very earthy/nature-embracing element); raised verandah sitting area which looks out to the street... A really really great place for brunch/coffee catch up with friends, or simply go alone wth a book/journal/newspaper on a quiet weekend afternoon - which is exactly what I did today.

Drinking: Deadman Espresso soy latte (x2)
Just look at that! Very easy to drink, mild and creamy. I had to have two!

Eating: Panzanella (bread with olive oil and lemon juice), poached eggs with spinach puree, and spicy smoked sausages ($17) - delicious! it's rare for speciality coffee places to have good food; but I think Deadman keeps the food standard high along with their coffee

Thinking: Sitting on the verandah part of Deadman, staring out onto the street, chilled out music in the background, feeling spoilt and loved by the thoughtful bday gifts from my workmates at lunch yesterday; confused between the conflicting thoughts of my mind and feelings of my heart (as per usual)...

I'm writing in my new journal that the guys at work got me - i love the quote that came with the notebook - "Journal writing is a voyage to the interior" (Christina Baldwin) - I totally agree!

Romance in the midst of a lack thereof

This morning on the train, my thoughts and creative juices were flowing as I gazed out the window... without pen and paper, I resorted to storing the following collection of thoughts temporarily in the sms function of my mobile phone...

(I'm thinking about) romance in the midst of a lack thereof. Think freely. Feel deeply. Vain imaginations? Or are these flutters of the heart a premonition of the things that will come to fruition?

Love has to be much more than the casual exchange and superficial interactions that you hear about. Fling. Flang. Flung. What difference does it make?

Love demands affection and intimacy. It demands depth.

Love is like a beautiful vase on display. Some think it's too much, and find themselves imitations to suffice. Another may admire from afar - "it's just not my thing" - perhaps in fear of disappointment? Others touch the vase, but are not willing to pay the price for it to have as their own.

I don't like vases. But I do like the analogy. And I do like the idea of love. Love that gives and cares and upholds and nurtures. And what about romance? Yes from time to time my heart flutters, but perhaps I'm a commitment-phobe.

Serendipity + music

Today, I had an experiment with Destiny... sort of like Serendipity - to see whether I have any "yun" (Chinese word for fate/destiny) with a certain someone...

While I sat and wrote in my journal, I thought - it doesn't matter whether this person turns up or not.. because I'm happy. My contentment is in God, and His current portion for me. He has and is pouring my cup to overflow with beautiful friendships, great experiences, and lots and lots of fun.

Yesterday, I went to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO)'s Master series concert "The Slender Thread" at the Hamer Hall. Oleg Caetani was meant to conduct, but for some reason the MSO's new Principal Guest Conductor, Tadaaki Otaka (renowned Japanese conductor) stepped in to conduct this concert instead.

First piece was Brahm's "Song of Destiny" - an emotional piece about the serenity of heaven and the toil of human kind (denoted by a 'tumbling down to earth' section). This piece was performed by the MSO orchestra and MSO chorus. My eyes welled up with tears as I read the notes in the program about that piece. I even commented to my friend "I'm so excited I want to cry.".... But unfortunately, the 'heaven' part lacked the emotion/heart-stirring beauty I was expecting. The 'tumbling down to earth' part was more exciting, but admittedly, I was disappointed - the chemistry I had previously seen between Oleg and the orchestra (and even with the Chorus) was not there that afternoon with Otaka and the orchestra. I guess they just need time to bond.

Second piece, Wagner's "The Valkyrie: Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire Music"which depicts the sorrow and heart-brokenness of the god Wotan. It was performed by the orchestra with John Wegner (bass-baritone) as Wotan. Dramatic, captivating - I had seen John Wegner perform Wagner before (in fact, it was the concert I went to with Stu to celebrate his bday over a year ago - "The Flying Dutchman") - it was exactly what one would expect of John Wegner, and of course, from Richard Wagner.

The third piece - Brahm's "Symphony No 2" - one of his most renowned. It's an audience-friendly piece that would appeal to a larger crowd.

Li and Mike were there also, and I learnt from them the meaning of Allegro non troppo (first movement) - fast but not too fast. Apparently an old lady had gone up to Li during the interval, and, thinking she was a music student, had inquired the meaning of "non-troppo". By the way, yes Li did look like a music student that day. And Mike confirmed that it means "not too much" - i.e. allegro (fast) non troppo means "fast but not too fast" on the internet via his mobile. haha.

The four movements of this symphony were pleasing to the ears - my favourite being the second and fourth movements. The second movement was Adagio non troppo - melodic, romantic - a great symphonic piece. The fourth movement was triumphant and at this point I thought "ah ha! THAT's the MSO that I came to see!" The orchestra was in their element, playing with the vigour and intensity which I love to see and hear. I was so happy and fully engaged. (At this point, I looked over and my companion for the afternoon had nodded off....) All of it made me smile.

And we had amazing seats - they were a bit of an experiment on my part as the lady at the ticketbox had recommended them - Box A seats 5 & 6. The Box is not always open; but it offers great views just above and to the side of the orchestra and chorus. I had wanted to see Oleg's facial expressions while conducting. But I must say, Otaka, although more mild when it comes to facial expressions, was still good to watch in his kindly Japanese old gentleman kind of way. Yes, I am now indeed addicted to the Box seats, as Rosemary (the Arts Centre ticketbox lady) had forewarned.

After the concert, I made a brief stop at BBB for a coffee, and then went to purchase myself an early bday pressie - something feminine and pretty. I am a firm believer that every girl should invest in beautiful intimate apparel. It's part of the whole concept of "Beauty from within" - both figuratively (i.e. morally, sensually, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually) and in actuality (physically).

In the evening, I went to a soiree at my friend's house where his men's chorale performed. They sang in a capella over four brackets - folk songs, French, Latin, more contemporary songs... They looked like they were having heaps of fun performing, which made it fun for the audience as well.

They performed a song called "And so it goes" by Billy Joel, which had lyrics about a room in one's heart which captured my attention.

In every heart there is a room
A sanctuary safe and strong
To heal the wounds from lovers past
Until a new one comes along

I spoke to you in cautious tones
You answered me with no pretense
And still I feel I said too much
My silence is my self defense

And every time I've held a rose
It seems I only felt the thorns
And so it goes, and so it goes
And so will you soon I suppose

But if my silence made you leave
Then that would be my worst mistake
So I will share this room with you
And you can have this heart to break

And this is why my eyes are closed
It's just as well for all I've seen
And so it goes, and so it goes
And you're the only one who knows

So I would choose to be with you
That's if the choice were mine to make
But you can make decisions too
And you can have this heart to break

And so it goes, and so it goes
And you're the only one who knows

Watching the choir perform reminded me of my old choir days. How I long to sing and perform again....

And it was with this that I signed off on my journal. My experiment with Destiny did not work and who I thought would appear did not do so. So I guess it's meant to be.

I felt deliriously happy the rest of the day anyway.