12 Nov 14 – Day 6 (Melbourne City)

The alarm went off at 7:45am but I was too tired to get up so snoozed for another 10 minutes. Washed up, packed up, dressed in a short sleeve t-shirt and a flannel shirt and I was out about 8+am to Queen Victoria Market (QVM) only to find out that it was closed on Wednesday. Felt disappointed and returned to the hotel to rest till 10am. Went to do the check-out and was told that I had to pay A$15 for the Internet usage. Oh well… I had assumed wrongly and had myself to blame for being too lazy to check the details of the free internet usage. Deposited my luggage with the hotel and took a tram to the Federation Square. Started the walking trails on “Arcades & Lanes” and “The Cosmopolitan” around 10:30am and managed to find most of the sights such as the Block Arcade where I saw the famous Hopetoun Tea Rooms and art sculptures such as the Public Purse. Saw a lot of street performers too.

Came lunchtime and I popped into the foodcourt over at the Emporium to have pork katsu don. It was an enjoyable meal because the portion was just nice for me. Used the free wifi at David Jones to check emails as well as to whatsapp little big sis. Continued with the walking trails and managed to find the rest of the sights though I still missed a few. Saw the Chocolate Box over at the ANZ building and bought some chocolates that were on my shopping list. However, I was not able to find the Ganache Chocolate Lounge. Tried to find my way back to the Royal Arcade and got a bit lost. It was getting hot so I took off the flannel shirt, tied up my hair and tried to find the Royal Arcade again. In the midst of my search, I went into H&M to try and see if I could get a sleeveless top because the weather forecast indicated that it is going to be a hot, hot day tomorrow. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any suitable ones with my size. Found Royal Arcade and decided to have tea at Caffe e Torta where I ordered a cup of mocha and a strawberry tartlet. Yummy.

Took my time to enjoy the food before going over to Myer where I managed to find a sleeveless black blouse at the basement. Took a tram back to the hotel and it was 5:30pm. Collected my luggage and waited at the lobby for CT to pick me up. She came at 6pm with her husband, SY, and they brought me to the Suzuki Market in QVM for dinner. We walked around the market to have a look at the things that the stalls were selling and chatted along the way. Then we popped over to the food section to see what to get for dinner. In the end, I bought the patatas bravas while CT and her husband shared a portion of food as dinner. As it was still early, they then brought me to Brunetti over at Lygon Street for dessert. I ordered tiramisu and CT ordered some others to share with her husband. I had intended to pay separately but CT beat me to it and paid for all.

We chatted over desserts on the issues pertaining to Singapore and also the plans for the coming weekend. After we were done eating, SY drove us back to his place. No wonder CT told me in the email that they would pick me up every evening from wherever I may be to go back to their place. Their house was really far from the Melbourne City and subway station was not anywhere near. On top of that, it gets really dark around their area because there are not enough street lights.

Reached their place and it was a big house with their own garage and yard. CT showed me to my room which was like a mini studio apartment equipped with own kitchen and living room, in another part of the house. Settled down a little and went back to the main living room where CT made tea and passed me a SIM card to test out on my second phone so that we can keep in contact over the next few days. Also to be able to contact each other so that she can pick me up each evening. Checked with her what time they usually leave for work and was told that they will leave around 7am to have breakfast with me first, and then send CT to work before dropping me at wherever I want. It was getting late, so we all retired into our respective rooms to rest for the night and I did a bit of unpacking before sleeping at 1+am.

Thought: Melbourne City is very confusing with the many small lanes and in those small lanes are lots of cafes and many people visit those cafes. Though the small lanes can get rather crowded, the street arts on the walls are very impressive. Despite being a modern city, there are a lot of old buildings with very nice structures around where they are converted into shopping centres or offices. This gives a very interesting contrast of old and new in one place. Also there are a lot of interesting sculptures around the area. I don’t usually go for afternoon tea so today’s tea at the Caffe e Torta in Royal Arcade was really a treat to myself. It was really nice and relaxing to just sit down and watch the world goes by.

11 Nov 14 – Day 5 (Great Ocean Road)

Woke up around 6am and ate breakfast. Got dressed by 6:35am and waited till it was close to 7am before going out of the hotel to wait for the ATWAD pickup for the Great Ocean Road (GOR) day trip. Saw the mini-van at the spot where Grace dropped me off on Sunday and I walked over. There was already a family of three on the van so I took one of the back seats. The driver, Ian, came back and told me to sit in front, just behind the driver seat because there would be a family of four boarding the mini-van. He drove to the Federation Square to pick up the family of four and another Chinese lady, Milly, from Brisbane who then sat beside me. Finally, Ian drove to a hotel to pick up an old couple who then sat in the two seats beside the driver. The family of four consisted of the husband, Tye, from Melbourne, the wife from England who now lives in Melbourne and her parents who were here for visiting. The family of three were from England and the old couple were from US Oklahoma. Ian, our driver and guide, was very knowledgeable; he gave a lot of information about Melbourne and the places that we visited.

The first stop of our trip was to a seaside for morning tea which was prepared by Ian and it consisted of lamington, biscuits, vegemite, coffee and Aussie Bush Billy Tea which was pretty strong. I loved the lamington and made a mental note to look for it over the next few days. It was very windy hence was rather chilly. Fortunately, I was in long sleeve t-shirt and cotton sweater. Took some photos and helped Milly took hers. After the morning tea, we packed up, drove pass the Split Point Lighthouse and continued to see the GOR Memorial Archway, which is now the fourth arch, built to commemorate the WW I soldiers. They built the GOR and it took them 13 years to finish. During the drive, Ian told us that today is Remembrance Day and so he had to observe a 1-minute silence at 11:11.

Continued on the GOR to Bells Beach famous for international surfing competitions and it was featured in the movie “Point Break”. However, according to Ian, the film was actually not filmed in Bells Beach. Drove on the coastal road and we arrived in Kennett River for the koala walk at the Grey River Road. We saw a few wild koalas high on the trees and many birds such as King Parrots and ducks. There were a lot of people there feeding the birds and we took many photos there. We then stopped by Cape Patton Lookout, which offered spectacular ocean outlooks and an equally spectacular panorama of the long sweep of ocean beaches culminating in Apollo Bay, along with the impossibly green hills of the hinterland, before going to the Apollo Bay for lunch where I had fish and chips and drank the lemon lime bitters which was recommended by Ian.

After lunch, we continued with a forest walk. During the journey there, Ian was telling the group about leeches, how they would crawl on to the skin and suck blood without the host knowing. It kind of creep me out and I started to let my imagination ran wild to the extent of having second thoughts about the forest walk. We arrived at the Maits Rest in Great Otway National Park near Apollo Bay for a 30-minutes board walk. Ian showed us the different trees such as the Myrtle Beech, Mountain Ash and Blackwood trees as well as treeferns and mosses. There were some interesting sights such as ferns growing on a tree and Myrtle Beech growing over a Mountain Ash which later was broken down creating a hole in the Myrtle Beech. The walk was ok though I was a bit scared while walking down slopes due to bad experience during the Chiang Mai hike some years ago.

We continued on to an area of cliffs in Port Campbell National Park to see the first two of The Twelve Apostles. According to Ian, initially there were twelve, two collapsed and now left with ten. While on the way, he also told us the story about Tom and Eva and how the name Shipwreck Coast came about. We were given time to walk down the Gibson Steps, which refers to the staircase leading down to the stretch of beach. The sand was fine and we saw two dead mutton birds. Milly and I were wondering how they ended up dead on the beach. There were also a lot of white bones on the beach and Milly said they were the bones of the cuttlefish and that birds like to feed on them. There were also a lot of pig-face plants, a common sight along the coastal area of the GOR and Milly said she and her friends grow them back in Brisbane because they were such easy plant to grow. Envy because these plant will not survive in Singapore.

Drove for a few minutes and we came to the place where the Twelve Apostles are. Ian brought us down to the Loch Ard Gorge where we were given time to see the cave where Tom and Eva spent the night after they survived the ship wreck. Ian was very helpful, he helped us take photos and he got quite good photography skill. After we were all done, Ian brought us to see the London Arch which was previously known as London Bridge prior to its collapse because of its similarity to its namesake. We saw lots of footprints of little penguins on the beach too.

Done for the day and we headed back to Port Campbell for dinner where I had vegetarian pasta and lemon lime bitters. Then we started our 2+ hour long drive back to Melbourne city via the highway. We had a brief rest stop at Colac where we took a group photo using the camera that belongs to Tye. Then while continuing our way back, we gave our email addresses to him so that he could send us the photo after he got back home. Milly also gave me her email address so I can send her the photo we took together at the GOR Memorial Arch. Ian dropped the group members in sequence at their respective pickup points this morning and again I was the last to get back because of my hotel location. On the bright side, at least Ian managed to find the hotel without problem like Grace did and I got back at 8+pm. Quickly showered, watched some tv and did a bit of blogging before sleeping at around 11+pm. Checking out of the hotel tomorrow and moving over to CT’s place. Holiday is half over.

Thought: Had a great day today because the weather was good. Did worry about rain because it was cloudy but the sky cleared up and gave us the sun. Compared to the Phillip Island day trip, think I enjoyed today’s day trip more. Probably because I had Milly to talk to during the trip and the group was a fun-loving bunch. And probably because Ian was funny and informative and kept us well entertained with his jokes and stories. There was never a dull moment. On top of that, I get to see more sceneries and nature.

10 Nov 14 – Day 4 (Melbourne City)

Woke up close to 9am because I was so tired. Washed up, ate breakfast which included 1.5 muffins with jam, coffee, a yellow peach and some fruit juice, then dressed up and went out at 10:10am. Took a tram to Federation Square and started the walking trails "A Walk in the Park" and "Elegant Enclave" that I found on the That's Melbourne website. Almost got lost after 10 minutes before I finally got my bearings but I still missed a few sights. I was only happy when I got to the Fitzroy Gardens because it was not so crowded. Thought I would be able to spend a considerable amount of time in the conservatory but it turned out that the conservatory was closed till this Saturday due to the changing of display. I took a few shots on the exterior of the conservatory before moving off to the other parts of the garden and continued with the residential area in the Eastern part of Melbourne where I saw a lot of nice and beautifully restored terrace houses.

The trail brought me back from the residential area in the Eastern part of Melbourne back into Fitzroy Garden by 1:15pm and I popped into the Pavilion Café for a lunch of Spaghetti Carbonara with Bacon, Egg & Cream Sauce because that was the item on offer. It took a while for the food to come because there was a lunch crowd. When the food finally came, I noticed the interesting cooking method of mixing the egg with the cream sauce. Maybe I can try the same cooking method when I return home.

I was very full from lunch so sat for a while before continuing the walking trail at 2:05pm. Lost my bearing again and mistook a random fountain as the River God fountain hence I was unable to find St Patrick’s Cathedral. After some trial and error, I finally managed to find the River God fountain. Passed by The Masonic Centre of Victoria and took a few photos of it because I was reminded of the movie “The National Treasure” as well as the drama “Sleepy Hollow” which mentioned a lot about Freemasons. Continued my walk and found St Patrick’s Cathedral, which was built between 1858 and 1897, with spires added in the 1930s.

I took some photos of its exterior before venturing into the Cathedral itself. The cathedral was not very grand but still has its own beauty. It was very quiet inside and I dare not take photos using my NEX because of the clicking sound it gave out so I ended up taking photos using my mobile phone instead and only took a couple of shots using my NEX when I heard other people’s camera clicking. On my way out, I saw a familiar face. I didn't think it was possible but it turned out that the face belonged to Judy, the old lady from yesterday’s Phillip Island day trip. We were so happy to see each other that we let out a small scream and gave each other a big hug. She was there with her friend and then we sat down on one of the benches and exchanged email addresses before going our separate ways. Went out and circled to the back of the cathedral to check out the Pilgrim Path. While I was taking photo, a guy passed by with his friend and commented, “Makes a nice photo, isn't it?” I acknowledged with a smile and he continued his way to the gift shop.

Continued on with the walking trail, missed a few turns and was a bit lost. Got angry with myself so kept the booklet and my NEX camera and just wandered around. Saw Haigh’s Chocolate and went in to get a few chocolate truffles that I had on my shopping list before walking back to the hotel. I passed by Emporium which connects Myer and David Jones so went in to check it out. While waiting to cross the road, a Caucasian lady asked me how to get to Southern Cross Station. I had to apologise and said I have no idea. Either she was very desperate or I blended in with the locals so well with my backpack and shades. Connected to David Jones wifi and whatsapped little big sis, updated the weather forecast app in my phone, checked emails and FB.

Continued my way back and popped into H&M to browse. Half way through, there was an announcement telling the customers that they were closing for the day. Checked my watch and it was only approaching 6pm. Felt disappointed that the shops in Melbourne close so early and was thinking the shops in Singapore close only about 9+pm when it gets dark. Walked to Lygon Street to look for dinner but none of the many restaurants there interest me because I had this thinking that I would feel intimidated if I were to dine alone in a restaurant amongst the Caucasians. On top of that, I didn't feel like having western food nor was I feeling very hungry. After walking one round, I ended up in the Korean restaurant called Big Mama, which was a couple of shop-space away from my hotel. Ordered my favourite tobbokki and ate slowly. It was very filling and very spicy so in the end, I didn’t manage to finish the food. I was back in my hotel room around 7:30pm and I quickly charged my mobile phone and camera. Showered, blogged, did some packing and finally went to sleep around 10pm because the next day I got to get up by 6am for the Great Ocean Road day trip with ATWAD.

Thought: I had this feeling that I stick out like a sore thumb because I am a Chinese in a country full of Caucasians. And not sure if it was because of this that I felt uncomfortable taking out my camera to take photos or it was because there were hardly any people or tourists taking photos. After some observations, I realised that Melbourne actually has a lot of Asians living, working and studying there so this realisation made me felt slightly better. On the whole, I was quite happy with my day out. The joy of exploration, not knowing what I might find was pretty exciting. I guess to top it off, the fact that I managed to see most of the sights without getting very lost is the best achievement.

9 Nov 14 – Day 3 (Phillip Island)

I got up at 7:45am today since I didn't have to get to the pickup point for today’s day trip until 12 noon. Washed up, boiled water for coffee, ate one muffin with the jam I bought yesterday and did some packing before going over to Queen Victoria Market for a quick browse. Went back to the hotel by 10am and rested till 11am before heading out to the pickup point in front of St Paul’s Cathedral. Went to the reception counter to check on the trams to take and was told that any tram in front of the hotel would get me to Federation Square which is just next to St Paul’s Cathedral and that I would need to alight at the Flinders Street Station.

Checked out St Paul’s Cathedral and found out that one has to pay A$5 for license to take photos inside the cathedral and in any case, there was a Sunday mass in progress. I went inside to have a look, stood for a while before going out to check out the surroundings. Federation Square was very lively with many locals and tourists of all ages and there were performances too. I took photos of the exterior of St Paul’s Cathedral and its surroundings, Flinders Street Railway Station and Federation Square before waiting in front of St Paul’s Cathedral for the pickup by ATWAD close to 12 noon. It was a 12-seater mini-van and we were a group of 11 including the driver. There were already six members in the van when it arrived and initially I wanted to take the seat just behind the driver but was told to move to the back because an elderly lady named Judy, from Gold Coast, was going to sit there. The back row was a 4-seater but a group of 3 from US split themselves into 2-1 and I had to sit in between them. Felt very awkward especially when the two ladies (one of them is Chinese) flanking my left and right tried to talk to each other. There were another two guys of Indian nationality who sat in the two front seats with the driver.

The driver, Brian, was the one that corresponded with me on my day trips bookings. I thought he is going to be a young man but turned out to be an elderly man. He’s very knowledgeable and told us a lot of information about Melbourne. For example, there are a lot of street names that start with “Little”. For instance, there’s a Collins Street and there’s a Little Collins Street. The reason for most of the main street to have a little street is because in the olden days, horses were used to clear the buckets of manure every night and it wasn't nice to let the horses walk on the main streets with the smelly buckets of manure so these little streets were created for them to use. There were many other trivial that he shared with us but now I couldn't recall.

Brian drove to Berwick where he relished his role of the driver and tour guide and his wife, Grace, took over the role for the day. She gave us a rundown of the programs and it was then I realised that we wouldn't be having lunch. I should have read the program carefully beforehand and ate something before the trip. Our first stop was to a winery called “The Gurdies Winery”. Got there and we were given a wine glass each to taste the reds and whites. I tasted almost all the whites such as Verdelho-Chardonnay, Riesling (off-dry) and Pinot Noir rose (off-dry) but didn't taste the reds because I could feel my face heating up. While the rest continued with the reds, Grace was preparing the table with different types of cheese, bread and biscuits for the group. I was so happy at the sight of food because I was getting hungry. Joined the three Singaporeans at their table and chit-chatted while the others were happily chit-chatting in their group.

We left around 2:30pm to go to the Philip Island Chocolate Factory. The staff did a quick introduction on the making of chocolate and then left us to play the games in Penny’s Amazing World of Chocolate. Took some photos of the place and moved on to the retail shop where I bought some chocolates that were on my shopping list. I didn't have enough time to really look at each type of chocolates that were on display.

The next stop was to the Phillip Island Wildlife Park and all the members, except Judy and I, went into the park. Grace took our dinner orders and then gave the group 1-hour in the park before driving the rest to Cowes Jetty where Judy and I walked around to take photos. It was really windy and cold. Before Grace left, she showed us the location of the restaurant, The Fat Seagull, where we would have dinner and told us the time to be there. Soon it was 5:15pm and we made our way to the restaurant and waited for the rest to arrive. I had grilled fish & chips and I almost finished my food because I was hungry.

We left the restaurant around 6:30pm to make our way to The Nobbies for some photo-taking before hurrying to Phillip Island Nature Park for the Penguin Parade. Grace distributed blankets to everyone to use during the Penguin Parade and told us where to sit so as to get the best view. I was the only one with the Penguin Plus package which entitled me to a cup of hot drink and front seat. While Grace led the group to the viewing platform, I made my way further down to another platform that was at a corner nearer to the shore. Sat down and used the free wifi to message little big sis. The place was so windy and cold that I wished I had brought along the fleece jacket as well. I took a quick photo of the shoreline using my phone before sitting patiently to wait for the penguins to arrive. Grace came by for a while to make sure I was alright and even offered to collect the hot drink for me but I declined. The platform filled up slowly and as the sky darkened around 8:15pm, we could barely make out the little dots along the shoreline.

The little penguins were playing along the shoreline according to the Wildlife Marshall and then slowly, we could see little dots waddling up the beach and over the rocks. Soon they were in front of us, standing there for a while, preening their feathers before proceeding to their different burrows. They were so cute! Before Grace left us, she told us to gather at the van in the parking lot at 9:15pm where she would have hot drinks ready for us and after that we would make our way back to Melbourne City. So I had to move off from the platform around 8:45pm to make my way back to the visitor centre and along the way made a quick toilet stop. Reached the visitor centre, queued up to collect the hot chocolate, drank it quickly and did a quick browse at the gift shop where I bought a gold souvenir coin and a postcard.

Hurried to the meeting place, returned the blanket and Grace informed us that she had forgotten to bring the flask with the hot water when she took over the mini-van this morning so instead she offered us Tim Tam. The Chinese young lady from US was separated from her two friends and came back to the van alone. I started a friendly chat with her. Soon everyone came back and we began our 2-hour journey back. Grace managed to drop everyone off smoothly and I was the only one left. Grace had problem finding my hotel and after a few wrong turns, she finally found it and by then it was already 12 midnight. Quickly thanked her, went back to the hotel, showered, blogged, set the alarm for next day at 8:30am and slept around 1:30am.

Thought: Tour was ok, Grace was very helpful and thoughtful, she made sure that we were all well-taken care of. The downside of the tour is that for those who hardly drink wine, a visit to the winery will be a waste of time. Due to the long journey back to the city, we had to cut short our stay for the penguin parade. We only get to see about 30-45 minutes of the little penguins. No wonder people told me that it would be better to stay overnight at Phillip Island, at least we can stay longer and no need to worry about the journey back. While walking back to the visitor centre, I could see little penguins waddling along the boardwalk, some even waddled way up near to the visitor centre which was quite far from the shore. Guess this is the closest I can ever get to little penguins without the glass panel.

7 & 8 Nov 14 – Day 1 & 2 (Melbourne City)

I reached the airport about 8pm, checked in and then walked around. There was The Social Tree located at the terminal's Central Piazza, right after immigration counters where travellers can take photos or videos of themselves using one of the touchscreen photo booths and then post to the system. So I took a photo of myself and set it to send to my email. I took a photo of the tree as well before moving off to browse the shops and then finally waited outside the designated gate.

Boarded the plane at 9:25pm but the plane only took off at 10:47pm. I didn't manage to get a window seat and so ended up sitting between an old Indian lady and a young Indian lady who incidentally reminded me of a friend, similar build, very vocal and expressive. They almost got into an argument over the lights. Both the young lady and I had our backpacks stowed away under the front seats which should be fine, however, the air stewardess insisted that we put them in the luggage compartment above. The young lady tried to argue with the air stewardess that she has always put it below the seats whenever she travels but in the end, she lost the argument. Watched “Guardians of the Galaxy” and ate dinner. Wanted to continue with “How to Train Your Dragon 2” but gave up halfway because I was sleepy and I knew I don’t have many hours before landing so slept at 1+am. Slept on and off and soon it was time for breakfast but I didn't eat. 

The plane landed at 8:25am and I was off the plane by 8:35am. I used the self-service kiosk to clear the custom. Apparently there is an agreement between the Australian government and Singapore government to implement this SmartGate, an automated border processing system that enables eligible travellers arriving into Australia's international airports to self-process through passport control. Then I went to collect my luggage which took a long time to come out. Only got out of the airport by 9:30am and went to buy the one-way Skybus ticket from the booth outside the airport. There were already a couple of buses beside the booth so boarded the first one which departed around 9:37am. The bus had wifi so whatsapp little big sis while on the way to Southern Cross Station. Got there at 9:57am and proceeded to the booth to arrange for the hotel transfer. Saw a 7-11 but didn't go in to buy the MyKi card because I was told to wait at the waiting area for the hotel shuttle. Soon me and a few travellers boarded the shuttle bus and we were dropped off near our different hotels with mine being opposite of where I was dropped off at 10:10am. 

Found the entrance to the hotel, which was not very prominent, and went to the reception counter. The staff said I was very lucky to have a room available for check-in because the official check-in time should be 2pm. Collected the cardkeys and went up to my room which was at a corner behind another door. It was very secluded. I unpacked a little and used wifi to whatsapp little big sis. I remembered reading that the hotel provides free wifi, however, I was prompted about the charges when connecting. The piece of paper that the staff gave me also stated about free wifi for the first 24 hours but indicated that guest would need to check with the reception for details. Too lazy to check so just chose the first package which cost A$14.95 for 24 hours, thinking maybe it will be free-of-charge when I check-out. I rested till 11:25am before going out again. 

Went to the Asian supermart next door to get MyKi card and asked for directions to Fitzroy area. The lady was not very sure and pointed in the direction of Victoria Street. So went there to try and find the tram stop with tram number 96 but couldn’t find it. Given the hot weather, I gave up going to Fitzroy and just walked around the hotel and tried to find the Queen Victoria Market (QVM) which was supposed to be a five-minute walk. Walked for about 1+hour and still couldn't locate QVM, worse, I was in Chinatown area which meant that I was way out of range. Tried to retrace my steps and saw Melbourne Central Shopping Centre. I was perspiring and so popped into the shopping centre to escape from the heat which was about 37 degrees. Walked around the shopping centre and bought a nice silver pinky ring from a stall on level 1 before heading to Coles at the basement to buy plain muffins and two bottles of fruit juice as breakfast for the next few days. Wanted to get bread but their loaves were of jumbo size which I couldn't finish. Contemplated as to whether I should get jam as well or try my luck again at finding QVM. In the end, I decided to try my luck and luck was on my side because I saw a few tourist guides dressed in red like those in Seoul and approached one of them for direction to QVM.

Followed her instructions and finally found QVM but only left with 2 hours to shop. Took a few quick shots of the place and started to browse the stalls. Bought a bottle of Raspberry & Rhubarb Jam from Sauced Fine Preservatives, a stall which was on my shopping list. Then bought some yellow peaches and apricots from another random fruit stall before stopping in front of Flowerdale Winery stall contemplating if I should to get a bottle of wine but in the end I didn't buy. Felt hungry and bought a spicy potato borek for A$3 as lunch. Stood on the side to eat but only managed to finish half because it was huge. Walked back to the hotel, blasted the air-con once I was in the room while messaging little big sis on and off. Dozed off on the bed and soon it was almost 6pm. The temperature outside seemed to have cooled down because I opened the window to check. Part of me wanted to go out to look for dinner but I was really too tired for that. So in the end, I stayed put and ate the leftover from lunch as dinner before showering and resting for the day. Watched “Twilight” on tv and slept around 10+pm.

Thought: Taking half day leave and not watching too many movies while on the plane means no headache the next day. However, the brutal heat and glaring sun in Melbourne gave me the headache. There are a lot of small lanes in Melbourne city and so it was kind of confusing for me to navigate. Back home, we were trained to follow the traffic rules but in Melbourne, people just cross the road as long as there is no traffic so I just follow the crowd. Hehehe...

22 Oct 14 (Wed - Deepavali) - Pumpkin Walnut Ice Cream (金瓜核桃雪糕)

Still in the midst of the Halloween fun mood and because I so love the Fall (Autumn) season hence wanted to make a dish or dessert using... what else but the pumpkin! I have tried making pumpkin soup (both sweet and savory), pumpkin paste and pumpkin mochi cake so what's next? I have long toyed with the idea of using pumpkin as an ingredient in ice cream. I searched the Internet about pumpkin ice cream but the results were usually those of custard base or using heavy cream or banana or adding a lot of spices such as cloves and nutmegs.

I just wanted a simple pumpkin ice cream recipe but... but... So in the end, I decided to adopt the mango ice cream recipe that I have and just swapped the mango puree with pumpkin puree. Went to NTUC Finest and saw a few types of pumpkins: the real Japanese pumpkin at $7/kg; the Japanese pumpkin from Australia at $5.50/kg; the blue pumpkin from Australia at $5.50/kg; the orange pumpkin from Indonesia at $2.50/kg and also the butternut squash at I can't remember the price. I think I spent at good 15 minutes deciding which type to get and how big a slice to get then finally settled on a slice of 300+ gram of Japanese pumpkin from Australia.

Since I wanted this recipe to be a success, I went online to search if I should boil or steam the pumpkin and I found out that it is better to use the steaming method so as to avoid letting the pumpkin absorb too much water. I went a step further to search on how to store leftover puree and found out that it can last a few weeks in the freezer. Sounds good!

While some of the Internet recipes included pecans as part of the ingredients or as topping, I thought maybe I can add crushed walnuts instead since I didn't have pecans. The result? A golden color ice cream with fairly strong pumpkin fragrant. Yum! To add on to the Halloween fun, attempted my very first dessert plating by drawing a spiderweb with a tiny spider.

Packed some to bring to office for my close group of food buddies to try. Wonder what their comments will be. Looking forward!

Ingredients:

200g to 250g pumpkin slice

20g to 25g castor sugar

200ml whipping cream

80g icing sugar
some crushed walnuts

Method:

1.  Cut the pumpkin into small pieces and arrange them upright on a plate

2.  Steam the pumpkin pieces for about 10 minutes or till soften

3.  Remove the skin of the cooked pumpkin pieces and set aside

4.  Whisk whipping cream till foamy for about 3 mins

5.  Add icing sugar in three batches, whisk the mixture after every addition and set aside

6.  Measure 160g of pumpkin pieces and place them in a blender together with the castor sugar

7.  Blend till smooth, add to the whipping cream-icing sugar mixture and whisk till well combined

8.  Pour mixture into a container of your choice and put into the freezer

9.  Remove from freezer after 2 hours to churn* with a fork

10.  Repeat step (9) for another two times** before freezing it overnight

* Try to churn the mixture in a whisking manner to try to incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible

** Mix in the crushed walnuts on the second churning

Note #1: The leftover pumpkin piece can be drained, blitzed and stored in the freezer. Good for a few weeks.

Note #2: This recipe incorporated the making of the pumpkin puree because it is best to make the puree just before using it so that any excess water absorbed during the steaming can be drained off before blitzing.

---------------- Edited on 23 October 2014 ----------------

The comments for the ice cream were all very positive. TYY said that she can smell the pumpkin fragrant as the ice cream melts. Looks like the ice cream is a successful attempt!

19 Oct 14 (Sun) - Eyeball Osmanthus Jelly

Been very busy since last month and only felt happier after crossing the mid of this month. Partly because the worse part of my busy schedule is over, partly because this month is Halloween month and partly because next month I will be traveling to Melbourne for holidays!

I don't really celebrate Halloween but love the mood of it with all the pumpkins and scary decorations all around. So since I am making osmanthus jelly to treat my colleagues, I decided to add a twist to it by making it Halloween themed.

After some brain-storming, the idea of having an eyeball in jelly came to mind. I was contemplating of having eyeball in blue / red / purple colored jelly but in the end decided to just stick with yellow since it was supposed to be osmanthus flavor. Then came the decision whether to leave the osmanthus flowers in the jelly as usual or out. In the end, I left them in because it seemed a bit boring to have just an eyeball in plain jelly.

Here's staring at'ya!

Eyeball Osmanthus Jelly in Martini Glass

Started off by making the eyeballs using canned longan, lingonberry jam and blueberries. It was fun seeing the eyeballs all lined up on the plate. Then went on to cook the jelly using the usual method and finally assembled the eyeballs and jelly in the 3¼ oz plastic cups I bought from SKP. It was really fun to see the final product take shape. Now to see how my colleagues react tomorrow when they see the jelly.

Happy Halloween!

Ingredients (Makes 20 cups):

20 longans

20 blueberries

some lingonberry jam*

2.5 tsp dried osmanthus flowers

10g konnyaku jelly power

210g sugar

950ml water

Method:

1.  Fill longan with some jam before inserting a blueberry into the opening (scrape away excess jam, if any)

2.  Bring water to a boil in a pot, lower heat, add osmanthus flowers and simmer for roughly 2mins

3.  Add konnyaku jelly powder and sugar. Stir until powder and sugar are fully dissolved then off the flame

4.  Place one "eyeball" into one plastic cup then pour enough jelly solution to cover the eyeball

5.  Let the jelly cool down a bit in room temperature and chill in fridge till the jelly is set

* You can use any jam that is red in color

---------------- Edited on 20 October 2014 ----------------

Packed 20 cups to office for colleagues to try but only my usual group of food buddies ate. I guessed the rest were either too busy to eat or they had forgotten about the jelly or they just don't have sweet-tooth. Anyway, those who ate loved the jelly because this flavor seems to be their favorite (and have since sort of became my specialty in the department). CC saw my post on FB the day before and told me that initially she thought longan plus jam plus blueberry will be grouse but turned out they complimented one and another. She was very excited about the idea of making some herself. Hahaha... Hope I get to see her masterpiece.

13 Sep 14 (Sat) - Double-boiled Coconut Chicken Soup

Saw this simple recipe from a variety show recently and decided to give it a try. The soup has a nice coconut fragrance which is rather unique. The actual recipe asked for chicken stock and so I DIY my own chicken stock. Since I had leftover chicken stock, I used it to cook rice. The bones had some meat on them and I ate those too so basically nothing was wasted.

Ingredients:
1/4 - 1/2 chicken breast meat, cut into small pieces
1 set of chicken breast bone, cut into 4 pieces
1 small thai coconut
2 bowls of water
4 red dates, rinse
salt to taste

Method:
1.  Place chicken breast bones, chicken breast meat and water into a pot and bring to boil
2.  Lower flame and remove chicken breast meat when it turns white
3.  Let the chicken stock simmer for another 5 -8 minutes and off the heat
4.  Empty the coconut water
5.  Place blanched chicken meat and red dates into the empty coconut
6.  Pour chicken stock into the coconut and leave about 1 cm gap from the opening
7.  Cover the coconut opening
8.  Place the coconut in a pot and fill the pot with water till it covers half the coconut
9.  Bring to boil and simmer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour
10.  Add salt to taste and either eat directly from the coconut or pour into a serving bowl

24 Aug 14 (Sun) - Tiramisu

Tiramisu has always been my favourite dessert. After I managed to find ladyfingers biscuits in Candy Empire in Vivo City, I decided to buy the mascarpone cheese and the rum essence that I saw in NTUC Finest in 100 AM. 

Searched the Internet for recipes and found three which I then modified to produce this final recipe which I used today. The recipe is able to make about 10 glasses. The end product was not very pretty but fortunately, the taste was good. Out of curiosity, I did some calculations of the cost involved. The mascarpone cheese cost $7, whipping cream cost $3.40, rum essence cost $5.25, Nescafe classic instant coffee cost $2.95 and ladyfingers biscuits cost $3. The total cost of the main ingredients is about $13.40 and if I add on the cost of other ingredients, the total cost should be roughly about $18. So which means the cost price of one glass of tiramisu is about $1.80 compared to the usual $6-8 per serving if you buy from cake shops. 

Ingredients:

20 pcs ladyfingers biscuits

250g mascarpone cheese

200ml whipping cream

200ml strong coffee

2 tbsp rum essence

200g white sugar

3 egg yolks

some cocoa powder

1 square semi-dark chocolate (shaved)

Method:

1.  Combine egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl

2.  Bring a pot of water to boil and then lower the heat

3.  Place the mixing bowl with sugar and egg mixture in the pot of hot water and stir for 10 mins

4.  Remove the mixture from heat, let it cool then whip the mixture till thick

5.  Add cheese to the mixture and blend well

6.  Whip the whipping cream till stiff peak form

7.  Fold the cream into the egg mixture and set aside

8.  Dip ladyfingers biscuits one at a time quickly in the coffee and arrange in serving glasses

9.  Spoon some cream-egg mixture over the biscuits

10.  Repeat step 8 & 9 till the biscuits finish and with top layer ending with the cream-egg mixture

11. Dust the top layer with some cocoa powder using a fine sieve and sprinkle some shaved chocolate

12. Chill for 8 hrs before serving

---------------- Edited on 25 August 2014 ----------------

Packed a box of tiramisu to office for my group of food buddies to try and it received many positive reviews. Most of them like the strong rum flavour which doesn't come with high alcohol content. A couple of them said that one improvement can be to use espresso to soak the ladyfingers biscuits so that the bitterness from the espresso can compliment the sweet taste of the cream and rum.

3 Aug 14 (Sun) - Healthy Tofu

Had a nice dinner at Springleaf Taiwan Porridge Restaurant two Saturdays ago with my little big sis and her husband. We ordered sweet potato porridge, bean sprouts with salted fish, braised pork (aka lo bak), fresh cockles and tofu.  Most of the dishes were soy sauce base and the fresh cockles was particularly interesting as I had never eaten fresh cockles before.

Chatted over dinner with my little big sis and she was telling me that maybe can try to recreate the tofu dish. It got me interested and so decided to try it out today. Also cooked Japanese sweet potato porridge, fried egg with preserved turnip (aka caipo neng) and butterhead lettuce in oyster sauce.

The tofu dish was recreated entirely on my own estimation and memory and I would say it is about 65-70% close to the restaurant version. What do you think?

Top is Springleaf restaurant version; Bottom is recreated by me

Ingredients:

2 firm tofu

pork floss

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 tbsp oil

Ingredients for sauce:

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp water

1/4 tsp mirin

1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar

3-4 tbsp sugar

Method:

1.  Rinse the tofu and steam for 10-15 mins over med-low heat

2.  Drain the tofu of excess liquid, cool to room temperature before putting into the fridge to chill

3.  Fried the minced garlic with oil till golden brown and set aside

4.  Mix all the ingredients for the sauce together and cook over low heat till sugar dissolves

5.  Take out the tofu from the fridge and drain away any excess liquid

6.  Pour the fried garlic oil over the tofu

7.  Drizzle the sweeten dark soy sauce over the tofu

8.  Top with generous amount of pork floss before serving