lunch, babka

We're heading home tomorrow!! yaaayy, very excited, looking forward to warmer weather..! I've got 2 wedding lined up for next weekend, so on the last day in Melbourne, we went to Brunswick St to find some dress, and some gifts. We, or I should say, I, was quite hungry when we head out, so we decided to have some lunch first somewhere around Brunswick St.
We picked Babka, which was unusual, because its Sunday, and we often put off by the long line of people waiting for a table. But, hey, today is an unusual day..! We waited for about 10 min to snatch a table for two.

I've heard soooooo many bad experience with the service, but fortunately, we didn't experienced it. Yes, they were not the friendliest waitress on earth, but they were quite efficient, and given the busy-ness of the place, I think its fair enough if they don't stop for a small talk. I'm not big on small talk either. The waiters gave us some time to choose food from the menu, and happily changed my order when I changed my mind - wanted borscht instead of croissant with mushroom. Oh yeah, the waiter also asked me if I want more bread, after we finished them in 2 seconds. Yes Please!!

The food arrived at a reasonable timing, regarding how busy they were. I had borscht ($8.50) with toast, (dense-chewy-crusty bread..I want it now..!!), my date had HUGE nicoise sandwich that I've blogged before ($12 eat in, or $8.50 take away, I know, ridiculous price gap!). That was the first time I had borscht, and I loved it. Heart warming, comforting bowl of soup, plus, the colour was beautiful and uplifting. The beet and cabbage was sweet, but not overly sweet like pumpkin soup, the sour cream cut through the sweetness, and the fresh dill gave a lovely fragrant.
We were meant to try some of the sweets too, but we're to full, the soup was surprisingly filling! (or maybe its the 5 pieces of bread? :) )

Have to return for sweets!

another quote

"I am half of us."

(by : datascroll, my-other-half's screen saver)

brother baba budan

One of the best coffee in Melbourne.
They've got a new print on the take away cups, wonder what the design means.

Brunswick Flour Mill

Look, they have invisible fork!


here's the invisible fork - close up view.

Wooo hooo... Next week, I will be at my hometown, catching up with my best-est girlfriends, baking something sweet with my sister, babysitting my nephew, shopping with mom, gardening with dad (well, looking at him gardening, perhaps asking questions).
In the meantime, I need to label my visa, off we went, early in the morning..queuing outside immigration office, in the freezing Melbourne winter.
A few hours later, after market shopping, and heavy rain, we found ourselves sitting at Brunswick flour mill.
We had soy lattes (as always), baked berry cheese cake, and apple strudel. I actually wanted a carrot cake, but they're finished. The cakes were nice, not too fancy and decadent, just like a good cake baked by someone who can really bake good cake. The apple strudel was HUGE..., and ooh, and they're cheap too (cakes around $4.50).

I must admit..

I'm a bit slacking off with my morning mysore practice. My energy level was pretty low in the morning, and I've been sick for the past few days. Luckily, I bounced back pretty quick, thanks to good old lemon+water+honey in the morning, 1 g of paracetamol/day, 1.5 g of vitamin C tablets, and some zinc tablets. ooh, and some back and head massage helped a lot as well..<3
Now that I feel much better, I MUST practice on Friday morning..! :)

Here's what wordle said about me

It's official,this blog has become a food blog (mostly).
make your own here

rain, sun, rain, sun, rain, rain...!!

That's pretty much describe the weather today, my yoga class was shrunk, the studio was freeeeezzzziiiiinnngggg....!!! And my poor washing will not be dried anytime soon.. :(

well, anyway, here's what we cooked; or baked tonight, sooo much more exciting than weather report :
I baked cavolo nero tart,I found the recipe from 101 cookbooks, I just swap the turnip green with cavolo nero or tuscan cabbage, or dinosaur kale (how cool is the name!!).

verdict : creamy, and healthy..!
on the side, broccoli and carrot salad with wasabi-mayo dressing (I am currently addicted to wasabi!)


for dessert, brown sugar pavlova, with fresh orange. I borrowed the pavlova recipe from trotski&ash. Tooth-achingly-sweet pav..,crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside; paired perfectly with cream, and tangy orange wedges. yum!!!

yaayy...we've got leftover for tomorrow!! :D


p.s. I really enjoyed cooking with you..<3

drifting away

some things, just felt like sand that slowly slipping through my fingers,
I can't control it, each particles seems just simply escape from the spaces between my fingers..

buckwheat pancake

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla paste (real one, no essence please!)
1 large egg (preferably free range)
~1 cup milk (you can add a bit more if the batter is too thick)
butter, to grease the frying pan

mix dry ingredients in a large measuring jug
whisk egg, milk, vanilla paste in a small bowl
mix wet to dry ingredients
let the batter rest for 15 - 30 min in the fridge
melt butter on the frying pan, cook the pancake on one side until bubbles appear
flip, or toss if you are skillful :)

I serve mine with caramelized pear and yogurt drizzled with (fake) maple syrup, don't judge me, maple syrup is soooooo expensive here..!

1 packham pear
1 tsp butter
1tsp caster sugar

sliced the pear into wedges, don't bother to peel (add extra fibre!)
heat 1 tsp butter in a skillet, add sliced pear, sprinkle with 1 tsp caster sugar
cook one side until the pear brownish, flip, cook the other side
let the sugar bubble, and caramelized a bit, transfer to bowl.
serve with the pancake, and a glass of soy latte.

yum...perfect winter breakfast!

yaay!

We're Celebrating the end of semester with movie, and bingeing on 'bad' food, like this yummy chips from grill'd..
they are deliciously thick sliced, seasoned with salt & rosemary and served with a side of herb mayo...
bye for now carbs, as now I'm on a high protein low carb diet.. (fingers crossed,I hope I can survive!)

updated : one thing lead to another, and my main reason of doing this diet in the first place was gone, so my diet gone out of the window as well. Besides, winter is the time of the year when I crave CH the most.

new member of the family

I adopted her from local op shop, set me back for $1.50
Now, she's coming to my mom and bub's class, helping me out to demonstrate some poses.

food inc.

I went to see food inc. with my friend the other day, it was good. But, if you have read fast food nation and the ethics of what we eat, or omnivore's dilemma, there's nothing new. I found the book's content are more graphic and horrifying than the movie.
The movie encourage us to buy organic, but they missed the point that some 'organic' food are not that healthy either.
'organic chips' or 'organic corn chips' that sometime still have the scary fluorescent orange powder coating.

One tip, don't buy any food when you're watching this movie. I bought a choc top, and had to finish it, even though I was feeling really2x sick!