Alright, quick blog entry. I've been saying I'd blog 4 nights ago, but then, due to the immense amount of uni work this week, and our internet being capped.. it's so frustrating waiting for a page to load, and then after several minutes, you realize it's not going to load afterall. Anyway, internet is no longer capped, so... time to blog.

Good thing it's Friday today. Yesterday after dinner, I slept from... 10pm till this morning, 9:30... haha... think I just made up for all the hours I missed out on sleeping this week.

My sister's gone back to Singapore already.. =( so, about her last full day in Australia (Sunday), we'll start from the morning.

This was at Strathfield, some korean restaurant that was open at 10:15... not many restaurants are open that early because... I assume they go to church in the morning and do business in the afternoon/night. This one was open, so we went in.

Good thing about korean meals: their side dishes. Seaweed, pickled radish, beansprouts, tofu, cabbage salad, potato (which is always the best side dish!) kimchi, and others.

Ack, blurry picture. My brother's cold noodles. It had ice in it to keep it cold, and I think my brother said there were pear slices in there..? Interesting... but could work I guess. They put apple into curry, why not pear into cold noodles?

My sister's miso stock seafood noodles. Came with rice. For some reason, she said it was spicy... but then again, my sister's taste for spiciness is very very very mild. And she's from Singapore =|

Dumpling and rice cake soup. Was meant to be shared between everyone, but it ended up being eaten by my brother only because we were full...

My spicy beef and combination soup.. came with rice too. It wasn't actually that spicy, but when it was hot (temperature wise), it felt hotter than it really is. Lots of mushrooms =|

In between then and dinner time, I went to work while my sister and brother went to other places. Look at my sister's blog for more pictures there~~

Dinner!! I was so looking forward to getting out of work for dinner.. took the train from penno to townhall and walked to world square from there, to Din Tai Fung. My brother called and gave directions of "go up the wooden block of stairs and it's that chinese restaurant there". Actually, all I had to do was go up and look towards the place crowded with people standing outside waiting to go in. It was THAT popular. Having only been open for 2, 3 weeks, their business is incredibly good.

I thought I was late, having arrived at 7:45, but my brother and sister said they were waiting outside anyway, coz they booked for 7:30. Yeah, if you're smart, book beforehand, or be prepared to wait about an hour in line. Not too bad though, you get hot tea to drink while waiting outside as you watch the ppl inside happily eating xiao long baos. The interior... very creatively decorated, with lights almost resembling the bamboo steamers, and walls mounted with the steamers itself of various sizes. Not only steamers, but they have walls of spoons, large-sized chopsticks, sauce bowls and mini soup bowls too. Unfortunately, my pictures of those didn't turn out too well.

My brother came outside to take me inside to where my parents and sister were already waiting at the table. Upon entering, waitresses bowed and welcomed us, and proceeded to pour us tea. Very efficient service, which was really quite abnormal in a Chinese restaurant. They did have many staffs working though, and they really seem to know what they're doing, so not only did the food come quickly, it was also cleared away quickly, leaving your table free for more to come.

Our first dish- also their signature dish. Their xiao long bao are no doubt the best I've ever had. Compared to the frozen ones which I steam at home, these were at least 10 times better. The skin is thin, but firm, and not a single one burst, even when picked up. At first, being all cautious because xiao long bao are such delicate dumplings, we were slowly and carefully picking them up with chopsticks and spoons, hoping against hope that it wouldn't break. And then we realise that it wasn't even necessary- it doesn't break!

Look, I picked it up with my chopsticks and took like a minute or two to get my camera out and take a photo. It was still hole-free when I was done with it too. My sister was scared and put a spoon underneath just in case, but that was not needed. Just looking at it makes me want to go there again =|

Second dish to come was a seafood (crab filled) xiao long bao. It looked exactly the same as the normal xiao long bao, and was just as nice too. This is the third- I forgot what this was called, but it was quite spicy, with pork filling. Almost like a wonton. Shaped like a handbag, it was easy to pick up, and in no time at all, this dish was emptied out too and the bowl carried away within seconds by a nearby waitress.

Fourth- this is braised beef soup I think? Noodles hidden by the dark soup, my dad thoroughly enjoyed this one =)

Fifth- Peanut soup noodle. Upon its arrival, the waitress tells us to put various sauces and mix it for a better taste. This was really nice, one of the best dan dan noodles. My dad used to make this for us at home- with crunchy peanut butter. Maybe he'll learn how to make it like this =D

Sixth- Vegetable and pork wonton soup. For some reason, I couldn't really remember the tate of this one... And I think it was around here when I accidentally smashed a toothpick holder onto the hard ground while trying to put the vinegar back onto the tray. It was a mistake!! The toothpick holder was behind the soysauce bottle and I didn't see it, so I pushed the soysauce bottle to make room for the vinegar and.. it dropped. The din brought about 3 waitresses with dustpans and swept up the mess, followed by apologies. But... it was my fault right?? Why did they have to apologise? =| Felt bad... but seriously, they got rid of the mess so fast, it was as if it has never happened after a minute or two.

Seventh- Their fried wonton which came with mayonnaise. It didn't even feel oily at all, and came to our table crispy and hot (another good point of very efficient service- you can tell the food only just came out and has not been sitting at a counter waiting to be put out for a long time).

Eighth- Hot and sour soup. This was awesome. It was seriously nice. The spiciness did not just come from adding half a packet of powdered pepper, it was actually from the spices they add in, along with chilli flakes and some pepper.

Ninth- (wow, how many dishes did we try out!!) dan dan noodle. With beans and minced meat sitting on top, the waitress recommended chilli oil to be mixed with the noodles before eating. Did so, and indeed, it tastes much better that way.

Tenth- another kind of soup dumpling... getting old and after 5 days, I don't remember what this one was.

Eleventh- poor lonesome bao! We actually ordered 4 I think, but a waitress ran up to us and told us they ran out... and had all but one. We decided to take it anyway, and ordered something else instead... dessert!

I would go back again and try their desserts... they were out of taro and black sesame was unavailable, so, we had the red bean xiao long bao. The filling was piping hot red bean paste~ it was so nice!! =D Never thought there would be a dessert xiao long bao.

Closeup- such a fine piece of work.

For those interested, I've also uploaded their menu. I think it was a little sus for me to take so many photos, and at one stage, a manager-like person came up to our table and asked us many questions, it felt like a polite interrogation ^^'' My brother told him of how we came to know of the place- through NQN, and even wrote down the site for him to visit. He was very nice, fluent in mandarin, cantonese and English, as was all the other staff there. I went to the bathroom and there, a waitress was applying lipbalm. She started talking to me like we were old friends =) Very friendly ppl.

I didn't take photos of the whole menu- my parents were nagging me to eat before everything got cold...

Click on them to enlarge.

As we were leaving, I took a photo of the chefs busily making xiao long baos and baos in a kitchen stacked high with bamboo steamers~ One of them looked at me and feeling a bit awkward, I waved and he waved back =D

Din Tai Fung- 9/10. Upstairs of World Square. Remember to book before you go. And bring your credit card (and me!) along.

It's been more than a week, and my sister is back, I survived last week's load of assessments and tests, but here comes week 11, with a new batch of work to do!! It's never going to end, until the break.. which is being looked forward to greatly at the moment.

Don't really want to start on my work right now, so putting on some music, I will start a new, and probably long, blog entry =)

I've been obsessed over this romantic classical piece since I first heard it on the radio in the morning while sitting in the car on the way to uni on Tuesday. It was on the classical channel, 102.5 or something like that, my dad likes to tune to that channel and sometimes, if they're not playing some really typical classical songs, they actually have some really really good songs... that is, if you're into classical music. It's by Felix Mendelssohn, Hebrides Overture, opus 26, aka Fingal's Cave. Lasting only about 10 minutes, it's one awesome piece, inspired by the beauty of Fingal's Cave on an island off the coast of Scotland. It really depicted the "power and stunning beauty" really well along with the intended "feelings of loneliness and solitude". Such a beautiful piece! Love the way it ended too.

Ok, I shall not ramble on about classical music anymore. It's a bit sad that the current generation doesn't really know how to appreciate classical music anymore. The composers were all such talented genius... anyway!

Coz my sister came back, we went to many different places... though I didn't manage to go to quite as many places with her as she did with my brother due to work plus uni, but...!! We still had fun~ Let's see, on Sunday, we went to Lowenbrau again~ and this time, we made sure they had pork knuckles, which they had. Went with brother, sis, P and his brothers~ it was mother's day, but our mother was busy at church with her group of friends, and P's mother is in Malaysia, so...! all the children gathered together for lunch =D

This is the non-alcoholic beer~ 0.3mL


Pretzels and garlic bread~ and of course you need extra butter~!


Mango beer~ smelt really nice and tasted like... mango nectar and beer =)

The main arrives! With a knife sticking through the centre of the pork knuckle, it arrives and perches on top of two blocks of wood~ just like last time! The L family did better than the K family on this~ we ate more than they did! =D

No surprise at what was left over- the bone, and sauerkraut =P (I can't be bothered checking the spelling this time for it, could be wrong)

Skipping forward to Thursday night~ went shopping with my sister, and then together to Leichhardt for dinner with brother~ it's like this little Italian town in the inner-west of Sydney. First time being there, it was already evening-night when we got there, so pretty much everything was closed and dark. We walked into a forum, and it was big and spread out, pretty much like a quad. As soon as we walked down the steps, waiters from all 4 sides gestured wildly to attract our attention in hope of enticing us to dine in their restaurant. Major competition for customers down there.

They had many restaurants and cafe that was open, this one being a confectionary one. We were still quite early for dinner, so there weren't many people.

Alas, we wanted to go to the second restaurant, but as soon as we walked down the stairs, we were trapped by the waiter from the first restaurant, located right at the base of the steps- the perfect place to snare customers into their restaurant, with recommendations of specials and dishes "home-made by my momma"- a very clever tactic to imply authentic and traditional cooking handed down from one generation to the next. So we ended up settling down in the well-heated Caesar Woodfired Pizza place.

Dessert Pizza? We didn't have it, but it sure looks interesting.

A very nice started- dips~ I liked the pink one the best, it tastes really familiar, but I couldn't place where I had it before. I'm sure I had something like it before when I was small...

Their duck pasta~ very interesting and nice. Their sauce was great and it had mini broccoli and other veggies along with duck pieces, cheese powder sprinkled on top, pasta cooked al dente.

I forgot the name of this... but it was ruined because my sister squeezed the whole lemon on top of it and we ended up having lemon pizza instead of whatever it should be. It already had vinegar on it, plus that extra lemon juice, all I could taste was sourness =P Otherwise, I would rate it a... hm.. 7/10

My brother still had room for dessert, so we went to another place, a cafe... this ice cream is Bacci, Pistachio and Boysenberry cheesecake, I think? Very nice~

Tiramisu, which was shared, because none of us could finish it, and it was positively soaked with alcohol, STRONG alcohol. My sister was feeling light-headed already, so my brother finished most of it, I had a few bites too. Nice, but I was never too fond of tiramisu...

Ever seen a menu that says "Special Offer $1050 per person"? Plus a "minimum 4 people"? The least you can spend on this banquet is $4200! I can fly to Japan and stay there for 21 days already with that money! It was from a 5 star restaurant, Buono Sera. From the reviews I heard from my brother, it's not that great.. the place I mean. I definitely won't pay anything more than 3 figures for a meal! Just paying 2 figures is bad enough ^^ I AM still a student, not a rich millionaire. I think the menu says a full pheasant, so maybe that's why it costs so much... but seriously, are pheasants really that delicious? Sounds like it'd taste pretty much like chicken or turkey to me...

Saturday night, went over to F's place to celebrate J's belated birthday~ sorry I couldn't make it to the dinner. Had to work instead, and it was such a strange strange day at work, I felt exhausted just thinking about it. Anyway, here's the Rocky Road Birthday Cake that Y bought~ very special indeed.

20 candles~

And this is a basket full of persimmon... or they should be! They are mutants with abnormal growths sticking out of some of them... and F said they are for eating, not for compost.... =| F! Get some fresh fruits before you food poison yourself, and your family.

I shall blog about today... I mean... yesterday... tomorrow! Too sleepy...~ There's a restaurant which I would rate 9/10~ the highest so far... Don't spoil it for yourself by looking at picasa first!!

Quick! Do a food post while I'm not in the mood for food... or else it'll be torturous, trying to blog about food on an empty stomach.

So it's time to finish off the post from yesterday. My sister is on the plane back to Australia for a week, and she'll be here in about 5 hours' time. Which means I have about 4 hours to sleep, and it'll be one long day, with my brother's graduation at 9:30, and then lunch, and then work at 2pm... when I get back, I WILL start on my classical essay, will HAVE to start on it, or else I'll be so dead this coming week.

And I will, might... maybe... also start memorising that (stupid) japanese speech. I did practically nothing today, and, for the first time in the 2 and a bit years of going to uni, I didn't go to any of my classes today. Which was only two hours really, and my friend told me not to worry, they did absolute zilch in class today. I tried so hard to go to uni, I really did... ^^'' but for the greater good of those in my classes, I didn't, coz I didn't want to spread some germs to them and have them fevered too.

So yeah, I was lying in bed half the day feeling sorry for myself (actually, it feels really bad having a fever, like you're too hot, but without the blankets, you get too cold. There's no comfortable in-between, and then after a while, you start seeing spots everywhere, it's annoying) and not willing to get out.

I digress.

Here is BB's blueberry bagel. Toasted, it's really nice, coz the top coat of sugar gets caramelized, though, they don't usually put enough sugar at all, so now I just get it as takeaway, in a paperbag, open a packet of raw sugar, pour it into the bag, shake it, and ta-da, you get a blueberry bagel that's nice and sweet. Not to mention crispy and warm. The thing about bagels are that they are so healthy (ok, maybe not my ones, I like mine covered with sugar), having been boiled in water, and then baked. It's like a healthy alternative of donuts!

Here you go, a nice pink flower for you. Yes, it is the same family as the white and pink one in the previous post.

On Ramen. It's been a place I wanted to try for a while, been walking past it quite often before, about a year ago. It's not a bad place. Bit small... but friendly ppl there.

Ordered a chicken katsu ramen set. Hm.. not too big helpings, was just right actually, inside the small covered pot is chilli powder. Salad was good (Japanese salads are always the best) and the katsu was good too. Ramen.. hm... wouldn't say it's the best, but they certainly knew what they were doing with the egg, coz it was the "special" kind of egg, where the centre was still fluidly soft. Their soup stock wasn't too bad either, but.. wouldn't beat Ryo's though. Rating would be a 5.5... leaning on 6 maybe. It passes.

This place- Sunflower, located near Broadway, on the same side of the road, on the way to Central, you'll know it by the plastic models of different crepes on plates at the display window. Doesn't look too nice, doesn't look too hygenic even from the outside, and I wasn't expecting the interior to look quite this modern even. Been wanting to try out this place for at least 2 years!

If you're interested, click for a bigger image. This is their main menu.

And their drinks and desserts menu. We ordered a main, a dessert and a drink. The thing with this place is that you would first go in, take a seat, look through the menu and then order at the counter, pay, before sitting back down and waiting for the food. It's actually quite good, because you won't have to worry about the bill during the meal at all- it's already paid for. I kinda prefer it like this.

Main came first- crispy chicken crepe. It looks nice~ came with garlic bread and a simple salad, bit of sweet chilli sauce, though it didn't really need any, since it had mustard sauce inside anyway.

Inside- crispy chicken, avocado, tomato, lettuce, mustard... not quite the Perfect combination of chicken, avocado, mushroom and cheese, but certainly gets bonus points for adding tomato in, and mustard.

Ahhh... the highlight. Our drink- green tea cappucino. One word: Awesome. It was ingenius, the combination of green tea and cappucino. The clever touch of caramel syrup on top decorated the white foam that concealed the green tea cappucino beneath, reminding us of where we are having this delightful cup of coffee- at Sunflower's. It felt almost too pretty to drink... I mean, you'd ruin the poor sunflower... =( Ok, so it was a bit pricy, normal cup of coffee would probably cost you about $2.80-$3.50, and this was $3.80, but seriously, at least try it once, it's quite special and really nice.

Lastly, the dessert, orange liquor, chocolate topping, banana and strawberry filled, served with whipped cream alongside and sprinkled lightly with icing sugar. I really never expected this to be hot. The crepe and the inside was hot, and the cream was cold. Eaten together, they contrasted beautifully and this is the first time I have a banana and strawberry combination, so it was unique to me. I don't regret trying out this place finally, and it certainly wasn't a disappointment. 7/10.
Next time I update might be a while. Got too much stuff to do... =(