Category: Food & Drink

What can i say… i love food :D

Fusion

September 10, 2011 by Mal·Comments Off

This will be my last post from the road. At the moment I am chilling out in the Silverkris Lounge at Changi Airport. Unfortunately I board my last flight in about 90 minutes to head towards Australia and home, but I wont talk about that much in this post.

Looking back at my time in Singapore though, I am really happy with the time here. It was a smart way to readjust not only for myself but also for my friend Cat who is moving to Aus and is joining us on the same flight. Crazy times were had, with lots more relaxed pace since both Hong Kong where it was a flurry of determined shopping and sightseeing to random sightseeing, slow meandering shopping to see if I could find something and just exploring areas.

The main thing I have loved about Singapore is the cheap food. It is everywhere, plentiful and just amazingly good. The hawker centres have been fantastic. It is where so many of the locals eat and they just have the most amazing patience as they will line up for what is good. So that was the easiest way to work out what to eat, just line up and the longer the line, obviously the better.

I had the traditional items you would expect in Singapore, Chicken Rice but I also managed a little indian, some indonesian and some malay as well. It was all so good. But the highlight of this stay has been a dinner at Sky on 57. Touted as one of the best restaurants in Singapore it is located on the 57th Floor of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and it is right on the roof. Such an amazing view, the food was mind blowingly good. I was jealous of my friends vegetarian meal as she had it so much better than me!

I will post more when I get to Australia but the whole journey has been amazing stay!

Current Location: SilverKris Lounge, Changi Airport Singapore

Fugu!!

August 30, 2011 by Mal·Comments Off

So as one of the things I had decided to add to the “things I should do on this trip” or one of the “things I should do before I die, but not really all that important” list was to try Fugu. The infamous or notorious blow fish, puffer fish or fugu, whatever you want to call it, is a delicacy in Japan (and around the world really). I had been given a tip by some people I did my fish markets tour with on a restaurant to try it out in Osaka. So that’s what I was going to do!

Thankfully my new british companion clare was also in the area and she decided she was up for a bit of craziness so she joined me. We made our way to the restaurant just off the famous Dotonburi in Osaka and were ready to put our lives in the hands of the master chefs. The restaurant “Genpin” is a chain of Fugu restaurants all over most of Japan and it seems fairly touristy’ish, however not even the Ritz could find anywhere else open on a Sunday night that serves fugu in August (as apparently it is not at its most prevalent at this time of year).

So once I was chastised for wearing my shoes and grabbed by the waiter (that shocked me a bit) I removed my shoes and we had the traditional, sit on floor experience. The meal was set and not cheap (about 5000 Yen) for 6 courses of fugu. A Starter of Boiled Fugu Skin, Sashimi of Fugu (super thin so you could see the vein pattern, like paper thin), Fried Fugu, Fugu Hot Pot (the famous Shabu Shabu style… awesome 2 birds one stone) then Hodgepodge Porridge (we were not sure what that was to start with) then Dessert (which was going to be ice cream, we knew it).

So we ordered that set menu and figured we may as well enjoy it. Lots of jokes were made while we waited for the first course if “intentionally eating poison fish” is counted on our travel insurance policies, what we would do if someone else got sick, would this be the first time we ever made a runner if need be etc. Good way to break the tension. When the first course arrived, we made a pact to take a bite together at the same time. None of this “you go first” stuff.

I won’t break it down for you course by course or anything like that, the photos will do that for you when I upload them, but to be honest, It just tasted like any other fish, nothing special. No tingly sensation, no numbness, no death. The Hot Pot was really good and the porridge turned out to be using the leftover hot pot stock with bits of noodle still floating in it, to make a congee style dish with egg and rice etc. Was really yum.

We finished off the night with a few photos, I got to hold the Fugu and when they haid it all blown up and im holding it in the middle of the street, you could hear the screams of “FUGU!!!” coming from people everywhere and I became quite the spectacle (well probably the fish was not the gaijin holding it). All in all a good night and something I can tick off the list and say “Yep I’ve eaten fugu and lived to tell the tale”

Current Location: Crowne Plaza ANA Hiroshima, Japan

< 48 hours

August 8, 2011 by Mal·0 Comments

So when I first planned this trip, I knew I wanted to stop in New York as the flights I wanted to take were with Swiss Airlines and the only way to guarantee the new service was out of New York City. Now in saying that, the dates coincided with my birthday, so really, what better way to spend a birthday than in New York City. Sure I would be alone, but hey.. who cares. I am used to being alone and enjoying myself still.

After flying across the country and arriving in New York I was looking forward to just a few days in a room on my own. Some alone time was going to be good, no guilt, no nothing, just pure unadulterated personal space. The hotel I had chosen I had booked so much in advance I had totally forgotten about any of the costs etc and even stopped caring really. But I booked myself to stay at the Element Times Square West. Located just off 8th Ave and West 39th St it was literally like 3 blocks to time square. Location… tick! It was also brand spanking new at the time so even better it was new and was looking damn good. Free Breakfast, Wifi, 24 hour gym and a laundry on site, small kitchenette in the room (the rooms were more like a studio than anything) win freaking win!

The whole hotel was great when I arrived, checked in with ease and while playing on Four Square realised if I checked in at the hotel, I could get 2 bottles of water, saving me a trip to the covience store at 10pm at night. This was getting better and better. The room was much larger than expected and the bed was just soft and dreamy, I was in heaven. I hit the sack pretty quickly after a quick set up of a few things and working out some stuff for the morning. There was one thing I didn’t do, and you will see what.

I set my alarm for 530am, sunrise was meant to be 6am. Why so early? Well I had two mornings in New York. I figured to make the most amount of my time, I would do something I have always wanted to do, run through Central Park. I figured if I did It the first morning or planned to and the weather was crap I still had one more morning. So to maximise time I wanted to be in the park by sunrise. What I forgot though was to fix up my phone to the correct time zone, it was still on Chicago time, one hour before. Woops! So when I woke myself up at what I thought was 5am and saw it was light out, I immediately knew something was a miss. I rolled out of bed, looked at my watch, ah crap! I was now behind. So I jumped out of bed and fled uptown in a cab to 86th Street, where I was to start my run around the Reservoir track.

I have always wanted to make that run and 2 laps around the Reservoir is just over 5k so perfect for me. I ran to my hearts content, seeing so many other people doing the exact same thing. I am sure all the other people running were thinking what a weirdo as I was running with the biggest smile on my face. So big I swear I would hurt myself from the grin. It felt so good to finish that run, hell I could of kept running I was feeling so good!

With the run complete, I jumped back in a Cab to the hotel (was going to the use the subway but didn’t) and back to the hotel where the crazy morning would begin. Todays plans were: Run, Breakfast, Shopping, United Nations Tour, Canal Street Shopping, Crumpler East Village, Chelsea Market to get some lunch, Walk the High Line, A Cup of Disposable French Press Coffee (yes that’s right a plunger in a disposable paper cup) at Foodparc, Then back to the hotel and a Broadway show. But for some reason I checked the Daily Show/Colbert Report Ticket Twitter feed first thing. I don’t know why as I had pretty much given up trying. But low and behold, 4 tickets to Colbert Report, for tonight, released 3 mins prior. GOGOGOGOGO.

I jumped on the chance and I got a ticket! I couldn’t believe it. What a score. So rather than a Broadway Show I was going to Colbert, but since I had to be their earlier, I had to shuffle around a few things like when to eat dinner etc. But no biggy. So I fled off on foot exploring the city to do a bit of shopping (in the process getting myself lost by going way past where I should of) and then heading to the UN building for my tour. As I got there earlier than expected and didn’t get stuck in security, I tried to get on an earlier tour, but they wanted me to buy a new ticket, so I did, what the hell. The Tour was great, got to see the Security Council & General Assembly chambers, post a couple of postcards from the UN and also buy some stamps for my mum. I hiked it back to Grand Central after this, discovered the Central Market (omg the food was amazing looking) and grabbed a “Black and White Cookie” for some nourishment. The B&W is more like a soft cakey kinda cookie with a Chocolate & White icing on it. Yum++ and you can only get them in New York. I jumped on the subway down to Canal St (getting on an express and skipping my station which meant backtracking on a local train 1 stop) and picked up some tacky I <3 NY shirts (my first ones and some as gifts). Then it was off to East Village via 2 subways and to the Crumpler Store. I picked up some stuff there (impulse buying… love it) after checking out the newest store design and just seeing how cheap the bags are overseas. Then the walking began. From Crumpler to my hotel via all the stops was about 3 or 4 miles and I was going to make sure I worked off that nights dinner, my lunch and that cookie. Chelsea market was a damn huge temptation, I was lucky to make it out of there alive I think.

The High Line was amazing (for those that don’t know it is a park built on old raised railway tracks running at present from 10th St to 30th Street in New York. It was a great looking park with heaps of places to sit and relax or just keep going. I enjoyed a bit of lunch under the standard hotel and continued on for my coffee date with Foodparc. After that I hoofed it back to the hotel to go to the Post Office and send home the last of my purchases from that trip via a shopping stop on 34th street. It was a full on day but the fun was sure to come!

When I got up to the Colbert Report taping, I was running a bit behind as it was hard to find a cab at that time of day and probably should of just gone earlier. But I was worried I wouldn’t get a ticket as they oversell the crowd every night and just having a ticket reservation doesn’t guarantee you in the crowd. I was so nervous, using the “its my birthday tomorrow” line to try and get me in. Thankfully I didn’t need to as I got my ticket and after lots of silly photos, lots of hurry up and wait timel, we got into the crowd. It was such a good show I loved it. After the taping a lovely couple I was chatting to in line gave me a Wrist Strong bracelet they had scored during the taping as a birthday gift (thanks whoever you are) and I was over the moon. Wandered Time Square to find some dinner and ended up at a diner with meals that I just could not finish. But the one thing I was looking forward to that night, dessert!

While watching a random food show one day I heard about a place called “Shake Shack” and how they serve an ice cream concoction called a “Concrete” which was meant to be so thick you couldn’t even scoop it. So I just had to try it. I went with the flavour “Jelly’s Last Donut” and it tasted good, but it wasn’t as thick as advertised, I think they ended up leaving it sit for to long before handing it over to me (it was really busy). The sleep that night was well deserved.

Day 2 would bring my birthday, after a work out and breakfast on the run, again more walking after a subway ride. This time I jumped the A train (fastest way to Harlem!) to Brooklyn and was going to Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so easy to find and soon enough I was powering it over the bridge, all while trying to complete a challenge set out to me by my coworkers. But to be honest I was so loving every minute and enjoying my birthday I didn’t care. I was wandering uptown to my lunch stop in SoHo via a crumple store (which turned out to be closed) and since I had heaps of time to kill, I did something utterly random.

In San Fran I had seen the “Art of Shaving” and was thinking had I the time, I could of gotten an old school shave and a haircut for like $85… sounds good. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time then, but I thought, I have some time now, why not get a hair cut, I sure did need it, I was looking pretty scraggly. So out came google maps and with a few trusty clicks I was walking to a Hair Salon close by. Unfortunately they couldn’t take me till 1pm (no good) but pointed me in the direction of a few more Salons with the warning that it won’t be cheap. What the hell, I still have USD to burn. So I was walking down the street and saw what looked like a Salon, walked in and after being told a price and that they can take me right then, it was on. What I didn’t realise at the time was that I had just walked into a Celebrity Salon, one that is apparently pretty famous. I even got to meet the owner due to a mix up (almost had him cutting my hair… damn) but what the hell. Awesome if you ask me. It was the most expensive, longest hair cut in my life, but Rayna deserved the $20 tip I gave her on top of the $94 hair cut cost (that’s right total cost of a hair cut $114). But she made me look DAMN GOOD! I was over the moon, looking sexy as, new body, new look, new clothes all in a City on my 30th Birthday… Fuck it!

I hiked it as quick as I could over to my lunch destination “Katz Delicatessen” in East SoHo. It took about 10 mins but I had to get their quickly to avoid the lunch rush, and I did by sheer minutes. I had been told pretty much what to get. Pastrami on Rye with Mustard, Motzah Ball Soup, Potato Kinish & Pickles. I washed it all down with a Seltzer (Soda) Water. It was the most fantastic meal of my time so far. The Pastrami was like nothing I have ever had before, the Kinish light and fluffy and the Motzah Ball… It was like a ball of cloud, floating in a gorgoues broth. I wanted to have it all over again. With that done it was back to the hotel by Subway and then the fun journey was yet to keep going. To the Airport I was bound… but lets leave that for the trip report.

Crazy++

August 3, 2011 by Mal·Comments Off

Wow… what a time San Francisco has brought me. I pretty much have been on the go non stop since I got into San Fran on Saturday. After an amazing breakfast in what is known as the “Tenderloin” area of San Fran it was go go go. I ended up at Dotties True Blue Café for breakfast (where I was blogging from on Saturday morning) and it was an amazingly good breakfast. What I didn’t realize at that point was that the “Tenderloin” is the kinda dodgy part of town… woops! After breakfast I got out of dodge pretty quick and got myself down to the Visitors centre and worked out a plan of action for my 2 full days in San Fran.

I ended up with the following plan after working out what I wanted to see etc.

Day 1 – Saturday – Hop On Hop Off tour to get the general city tour, Golden Gate bridge etc, then Ferry Building for Lunch (farmers markets o yeah), then also along that area to the Street Car Museum, Fishermans Wharf, SS Jeremiah O Brien, More fishermans Wharf, Boudin Bakery Tour, Ghiradelli Square, try and fit a Cable Car in, meet up with a friend and then over to the Mission District for some dinner. Pretty full on first day.
Day 2 – Sunday – Yosemite Day Tour – Full Day Booked with Extranomical Tours
Day 3 – Monday – Cable Car Museum, Filbert St (steepest St in San Francisco), Lombard St (Crookedest St in San Francisco), Coit Tower, Union Square, Macys and Burger Bar for lunch to Celebrate my Birthday with my friend Brad), Then Market St shops (checking out the big name stuff like Ferrari Store etc) then a quick repack of my bag etc before going to see the Giants play at AT&T Park.
Day 4 – Tuesday (today) – Alcatraz in the morning, then out to the airport to change hotels as we are staying out here tonight then an afternoon of plane spotting, feeding the Avgeek in me.

It was a damn full on stay in San Francisco but I loved every minute of it. The Golden Gate bridge was crazy as hell, the wind is insane as you cross that bridge, I felt like I was going to get blown off the top of the open top bus. But it was an amazing site. The food at the Ferry Building was amazing for a farmers market. Had a fresh cut air dried salami, tomato chutney and arugala (rocket) sandwhich . It was delicious with every bite. Top that off with some organic yellow baby carrots and some fresh grape tomatos picked that morning, what more could you ask for. Seeing the SS Jeremiah O’Brien was cool as well, this is a “Liberty Ship” built in WW2 for the transport of goods across the Atlantic and is still in operation today. It landed in Normandy on Dday+4 so it was a good prelude to my upcoming venture to Normandy in a few days.

I tried that afternoon to get on a cable car back to the hotel, failed after waiting 30 mins and still couldn’t get one to stop as they were all full, so jumped on the bus. Thankfully the hotel is right next to the start of the California line so I jumped on it that afternoon when I went to visit my friend Chris, an old buddy from back in the www.radioactive.net.au days. After visiting Chris, since Brad didn’t come with me I knew I had a chance to finally get some good Mexican in after being denied that priveledge really so far. I went to Tacqeria La Cumbre in the mission district. This was shown on Man V Food for their Giant Burritos and apparently where the whole Mission style Mexican started from. This place did not disappoint and I had an amazing Carne Al Sada (steak) burrito filled with Meat, Rice, Black Beans, Lettuce, Tomato, Cheese, Guacamole and Pico De Gallo. It was yum++++++ By the time I got back to the hotel that night it was after 10pm and I had left at 730am that morning.

Yosemite was an amazing day. Got to go out and visit the National Park, hiking in the Giant Sequoia trees, getting to see and experience the beautiful surroundings, I can see why people go there, the views are amazing. The rock climbing at places like El Capitain and North Face would be mental, won’t catch me there. Took about 400 photos or so that day.

Then yesterday. Another early morning wake up to make sure I get some fitness in, before heading out to the Haight Ashbury district for Breakfast. Again my pre planning had failed somewhat as I had not checked what time the place opened only that it was open that day and unfortunately it did not open for several hours after we were standing in front of the store. Woops. This was meant to be an amazing place for breakfast. Instead we ended up going to a place called “The Pork Store” a good little whole in the wall style diner that was AMAZING! Turns out it is the most popular breakfast spot in the whole district. Thankfully we were there on a Monday morning and not on a weekend where the lines can go for almost 2 hours for a table! We were 2 of only 10 people in there at the time.

Again a full on morning exploring the city and also managed to send home all the clothes I had bought in Oregon ($1500 worth of stuff condensed into a 12kg box). Walked up the steepest street (well more like ran up the steps) and then ran down the crookedest street). I then hiked it half way to Coit Tower, got the bus up the incline then walked back down again to where I had just got the bus from and got over to Union Square for lunch with my friend Brad who was treeting me to lunch at Burger Bar for my birthday. Burger Bar is the restaurant run by Hubert Keller. He is a famous TV and Celebrity chef over here in the USA and I have seen him numerous times on Top Chef and Top Chef Masters. Good enough for me! The Burger was AMAZINGLY good. I didn’t go to over the top just a good Bacon, Cheese Burger but I went with Pepper Bacon & Provolone Cheese with some Buttermilk Onion Rings. Yum yum yum. The afternoon was spent exploring the shops but the only thing I bought was a jersey for the game at AT&T park.

The baseball game was great, the Giants lost (of course) but I had a good time, albeit in the Freezing cold as we were in the Bleacher seats and the stadium is right on the bay, with the wind blowing in off the bay it was freaking cold, like ice cold. We left at the top of the 8th inning cause the giants were losing and my hands were going blue. Still had an awesome time.

This morning I got to visit Alcatraz (albeit a little rushed as we had to check out by 12) but I still got to see and do the things I wanted there. The island is crazy as hell. I was amazed at how bare bones it is really. I was shocked. But in saying that a lot of the old signs etc are still there and it is in amazingly good condition. They look after the place really well. Back into the city I went to start my trek by Cab, Bart & Bus to my hotel for tonight here in Millbrae. I wanted to get some plane spotting in as I knew I would have the chance to get some good stuff and it wasn’t to far from the hotels around the Airport. Plus I have to be at the airport around 730-8am in the morning. So airport hotel makes it easier.
Managed to take 1500 photos in the 2 hours I was out spotting but got 2 more A380s to my collection (Lufthansa & Air France, leaving only Korean remaining) and some special liveries like the Alaskan Hawaii Birds, lots of old Battleship grey uniteds, a special US Airways scheme I had never seen and the Air Berlin A330 from Berlin (where else). A great afternoon really! So here I am, totally beat, doing my laundry and blogging. Will sleep well tonight as tomorrow I start the crazy part of my trip. Its time to start getting some miles under my belt!

Current Location: Millwood Inn & Suites, Millbrae, California

I still

July 27, 2011 by Mal·Comments Off

God I love this city. I really do. Seattle was always going to be the city that I would move to if I got my green card. Even though I didn’t I will try not to let that dampen my mood of the city.

This city is like heaven to me. Here’s a few reasons why:
* Pikes Place Market – fresh market produce, gorgeous artisinal foods, atmosphere, pure awesomeness
* Boeing
* Coffee (not just starbucks)
* Boeing
* Beautiful scenery
* Museum of flight
* Boeing

Ok so I slipped Boeing in there a lot but its a big thing for me in this city. One of the reasons I love this city is because it is heaven for avgeeks. Where else can you openly be an avgeek and not be ashamed. But, its not for everyone and frankly I don’t care haha.

After we got off the train on Saturday we had an easy day planned that first day. Bit of orientation, pick up some essentials and the movies to see Captain America. I also got to wipe off one of my trip list items. First thing we did after getting some sim cards was head to Seattle Coffee Works where I could get a cup of Syphon Coffee. The experience was fantastic. The whole process was a great spectacle. Best cup of coffee I have ever had.

That evening we caught up with Cory for some dinner and a movie as Captain America was showing as it was released the day before. Movie was awesome but that’s for another day.

Yesterday was a late start after our free breakfast at the hotel. O how good it was to get a bowl of cereal. Pure bliss. We hit Pikes Place Market in the morning, it was great. I spent the morning grazing over amazingly good fruit and veg (cherries are definately in season right now). I got to tick off item list number 2 for seattle as I got to catch a flying fish at the Pikes Place Fish Market. It was an awesome experience. Also got to add some gum to the chewing gum wall. It was gross but awesome.

In the afternoon it was getting pretty warm so we retreated to the hotel to cool off. It was here that I found out that there was a wholefoods store closs to our hotel. Time to tick off another item. I scooted over to the store and started to explore. My god it was awesome. I was astounded by the sheer scale of the fresh food on offer. I was going to return for lunch that’s for sure.

For dinner again we were going to meet up with cory but I had tweeted out for recommendations for dinner. One that came back was the Steelhead Diner. So with approval from the others we booked it in. It was fantastic, and with an indulgent few scoops of local ice cream for dessert I was spent.

Today was a big day for me, it was time to free the avgeek, to let it fly with free abandon, to hell with what others think. Off to the Boeing Factory and the Future of Flight. It was also another chance to meet up with a tweep as Sandy who looks after the @futureofflight account was friends with a twitter friend of mine, so with a bit of organising I got to meet another “tweep” and get my photo taken.

The tour was great, even if u can’t take photos. So many sites to see, so many sites to spot. 787s from JAL, ANA, Air India, China Southern, Royal Air Maroc and Etheopian. 747s from Lufthansa, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific and Korean and lots more.

I missed two take offs but you can’t have it all. I spent up big in the stores ($130) on lots of geeky goodies. After lunch at Wholefoods and a coffee from a donut shop that Obama frequented we checked out the Experience Music Project and Sci Fi Museum. It was great to get in and finally see these museums and then I did a Duck Tour around Seattle as well.

Tomorrow its off to the Museum of Flight and also a tour of Safeco Field hopefully and then Wednesday we hit the road.. jack.

Current Location: Holiday Inn Express Seattle City Centre

V-Town

July 24, 2011 by Mal·Comments Off

God I love Vancouver. It is one of those cities i could easily live in. I mean seriously, why wouldn’t you. The city is amazing. Unlike the first few days pre tour, i had a decent amount of time to explore the city this time and do heaps of stuff, and I was going to enjoy doing it 😀 I had a few things planned but other than that it was all good to just explore and do random things.

Of the things I wanted to do, the main thing was the Grouse Mountain Grind. Why catch up a Gondola up a mountain when I can challenge myself to a grueling trip to the top on foot. Commonly reffered to as the “Vancouver Stairmaster” this was going to be fun for me. One of the girls on the Tour Christina was up for doing it as well, my day looked up as I would have some company rather than doing it alone.

The Grind was great, even in the cold temperatures (8c) and the wet with cloud everywhere. I still managed to have fun doing it. It was not easy, step after step up we went. It was done fairly well though the steps were fantastically set up with lots of stone steps along with wooden as well with only a small percentage of dodgy looking steps.

The time on the Grind was 1h20m47s. A great achievement for me and christina. It was a great feeling at the top to have concurred the mountain. But with so much cloud and fog at the top, it was not worth sticking around as you could not see anything, so I came down the mountain and ended up working my way back to Vancouver on the Seabus (like a ferry pretty much).

The other days in seattle were spent just enjoying the outdoors and either catching up with friends or exploring the city and doing a little bit of shopping. With plenty of canadian dollars leftover, it was good to know that I could just buy whatever I wanted without an issue. I even sent home 2 boxes of souveneirs so far at a cost of $177 CAD. Ouch :/ Might have to curtail the souveneir collecting a little…. NAH!

During my time in Vancouver we did some special things. One of them included a nice dinner at Tojo’s Sushi. A tour buddy, Cory, was organising a dinner at this special sushi restaurant that everyone raved about so I just had to go. It was an amazing night, now it was not cheap at all ($85 each including drinks for 7 people) but to be honest, I did not care. The food was amazing, the company great and I had a fantastic time spoiling myself the night before the Grind. We also trekked out to La Casa Gelato out in the inner suburbs around Vancouver. This Gelateria has over 218 flavours out daily out of a range of 518 flavours they offer. CRAZY! it was great. Some of the sampled options (you can try as many as you want) included Curry Peanut Butter, Chilli Chocolate and Vegemite, yeah thats right, vegemite!

Yesterday on my final day in Vancouver, well I had a great day planned. The Aviation Geek in me demanded some time out in the open, it wanted to be released. Thanks to twitter there is a giant collective of #avgeeks around the world. One of them who I have mentioned in the past Leighton (@pacificairphoto) offered to take me out to YVR (Vancouver Airport) and let me do some spotting and was going to make the day special. What I didn’t realise was that the day we were going spotting was also the day of the Vancouver Airport 80th Birthday celebrations! AWESOME!!!

Special events were being held around the airport and i ended up taking around 1700 photos while out there. I shouted Leighton lunch at the Flying Beaver bar which is part of the Seaplane Terminal down on the River. It was a great lunch spot, with good food, good company and lots of Seaplanes coming and going around us.

I also caught up with my friend Trista who took me up to the top of the Harbour Centre (for free thanks trista!) and we had a good catch up for a couple of hours over coffee and random shopping. All in all a great time. I was pleasantly suprised at how great Vancouver was, it is a city i could get used to and if my friend Chantelle has anything to do with it, it may be possible. She put the idea in my head to apply for my Canadian work visa. I dunno if I will but we shall see.

Managed to tick off more things on my list including a Bike Ride, Plane Spotting and the first of the Train trips. More on the train trip in the trip report (later tonight probably while I do my washing). Farewell Canada… i will be back, not sure how long for but stay tuned!

Current Location: Onboard Amtrak Cascades Train 809 – Bellingham, Washington
Countries: 3
Canadian Proviences: 2
US States: 2

Winter Warmers

June 26, 2011 by Mal·0 Comments

A Few days ago I made a posterous post about some of the things I like to eat in winter. Porridge and Apple. I love it!.
Well I was thinking about what to have this week for a treat as there was no plans to head out and to be honest, I really felt like cooking. Well, why not combine the two things. So I decided to make a nice little blog cooking post about what I’ve done this week. I was having a massive craving for something baked, warm and yummy.

So with that I show you a couple of recipes that I have made up, that I am sure everyone will love to consume and I am happy to share. The main recipe is for some Apple Compote which you can then use 2 ways to make things happier (although the 2nd part won’t be shown since I used up all the apples in the first part).

Apple Compote:

First off we start with some apples. This is a kilo of cooking apples that was picked up from the local green grocer for like $2 that was sitting around, so it was a good thing to use them up.

First step. Peel the apples (takes a bit of time)

Then we Cut, Slice & Core the apples, no need to be pretty, just get it done

With all the apples cut, we put it in the pot, add about ¼ cup of water to this

Pan to the stove, and collect some things to go in it. Agave Nectar, Ground Ginger & Cinnamon are what I love to put in there.

I then also like to throw in a handful of Sultanas as well

With everything now in the Pot

We give it a good stir

Put the lid on, and let it cook on medium high heat

Cook for about 10 mins or so, or until the apples are nice and soft & tender, don’t over cook though (like I did) as they will lose all their shape

With the apples now done. We can use these for a variety of dishes. My parents love to pair it with a bit of cake and some custard. Me, well one of my favourites is Apple Crumble. O yeah! A nice warm crunchy oaty apple crumble, with some plain vanilla ice cream. Now that’s something I can enjoy!

Not having made any crumble in a while, I googled around for a few ideas, but in the end just made it up. So in a bowl you place, 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup rolled oats, ¾ cup brown sugar, Some more cinnamon and a tablespoon or two of dessicated coconut. Throw in half a cup of melted butter and you have this:

Now I did something a little different before adding the butter. I mixed some Vanilla Bean Paste into the butter to help make the taste just stand out. Why Paste and not just Vanilla Extract. Well, I felt like being fancy, and the jar was getting low so might as well try and use it up!

So with Our Crumble Topping and our apples ready to go

Butter your dishes of choice. I picked these up at Myer for $6 each. Love em

And fill them about ¾ full with apple. For these dishes this was about 3 good spoons of apple

Pack on the Crumble Topping. Don’t be stingy. Just pack it on, be generous.

And here they are, ready for the Oven:

Last night though, as I made these individually it meant my parents could have theirs when they wanted theirs, and I could have mine when I wanted them. You need to really only heat these up and brown the crumble topping. You can leave them in the fridge overnight if you wish as they can be made ahead of time. When your ready, throw them in a Moderate oven (180c) for about 30 minutes until the apple is hot and the top looks nice and Golden Brown & Delicious.

Now for part 2. Normally I would take some of the apples every morning and have them with some yummy porridge for my breakfast. But I used them up making the apple crumble. But what I will show you is the same process. You can mix in any kind of fruit though you wish. I used a banana this morning but I have also used about ½ cup of the apples or even a cup of frozen berries.

First up, pretty simple requirements. Quick Oats & Water

Take ½ cup Oats, ¾ Cup Water & a tiny pinch of salt (used a little to much here, use less than that)

Stir to combine

Throw in the microwave for 90 seconds on the highest setting. Should come out something like this:

After 90 seconds, pull out, stir and back in she goes for another 90 seconds:

After this last 90 seconds it should look something like this:

With the cooked oats, they should be pretty thick.

Give them a good stir to mix it all in again. Throw in a splash of Milk (low fat of course) and stir to combine till its smooth.

It may take a little bit to start it off, as I do like my porridge thick, but of course you can add as much milk as you like to thin it out. This is where you add your fruit. Today, it’s a banana.

Stir again and there you have it. My favourite winter breakfast.

Now that I have shared this with you, why don’t you tell me what you like to eat during winter.

First Try…

January 31, 2011 by Mal·0 Comments

One of the websites that i visit on a several daily basis (Overclockers Australia Forums) has a pretty active food section. People like to get in and share their food recipes and triumphs etc. There was one thing that piqued my interest. The Sponge Cake thread. I have always been afraid and yet mystified by sponge cakes. I have always loved how light and fluffy the cake is and how a simple cake can just be one of the most wonderful tastes.

Someone ended up posting a recipe for a CWA sponge cake. I thought to myself “i should try that sometime.” My dad’s birthday was fast approaching and I asked him if he minded if I took a stab at making a sponge for his birthday. My dad loves sponge cake. He always prefers the Sponge cakes you get from Woolworths (fake cream and all) and thats probably where I get my love of sponge cake from. So I thought to myself, I will make it from scratch for him. And I will also go all out, make the jam from scratch, and the icing. I wanted it to look like an old school sponge, kinda like this. I was really looking forward to this but in case it didn’t turn out I bought my dad a back up cake. I did not want him to go cakeless on his birthday. And in case it didn’t fail, it was cheap the back up cake so could be chucked/donated if necessary. Here it is, in all of its fake cakey goodness

This Morning was cake baking day. Since I don’t go out running or anything on Sunday mornings meant I could make my dad breakfast (and my mum to lest I never hear the end of the complaints from not doing it!) I would then have an empty kitchen to do what I need to do (and swear as much as possible if I need to). And so it began. I will put all the recipes right at the bottom.

First off you can see all of the ingrediants (just like one of my fav food websites Pioneer Woman does. The Cast of Characters

Pretty easy cake to. No flour, no butter. Cornflour, Castor Sugar, Eggs, Bi Carb, Cream of Tartar & Vanilla. Considering sponges have this lore of how difficult they are, I was looking at this thinking “wow… and this is meant to be scary”, I would soon find out why.

First thing after measuring out what I needed I greased and floured the two tins

I then set about beating up the Eggs & Sugar. Now this was meant to go on for 10 mins. So i set up the stand mixer.

So while this was going, I went to work triple sifting the dry ingrediants and getting that out of the way ready so that this could quickly be folded together and into the oven. But then disaster struck. The mixer was doing its job but was totally inadequate to the job. It just did not do anything good at all. So It was into the trash they went, stand mixer shoved out of the way and I pulled out the stab mixer with whisk attachment.

But again disaster struck. About half way in, the bowl was just getting way to full and going everywhere! So I had to get a bigger bowl. Stop the clock, grab a bigger bowl and restart the clock.

With that done it was time to mix the wet & dry together, into the Tins & into the oven. quick and easy. All up if it had not of been for the stuff up, a cake finished in half an hour with no real effort!

With the cakes in the oven I quickly tidied up and got started on the jam. This time I wasn’t going by any recipes, I was making it up as I went along.

Another cast of Characters. Rasberries, Lemon Juice & Agave Nectar. Why agave and not sugar, I was trying to be a little bit healthier and not use any sugar. The less sugar the better I guess. We will see how it turns out in the long run. I made some of this about a month back (using different fruit) and it lasted pretty good with the Agave.

Shove it all in the pot, turn on the heat and let it go. Simple as!

15 mins after going in, timer goes off, out come the cakes!

With the cakes out, it was back to the jam.

Then seriously after like 1 minute out i was slowly getting sad. I thought I had failed as this happened

I just let them sit for about 10 mins, turned them out onto a clean tea towel and walked away, thats right walk away (Alton Brown reference there, most of you wont get it)

I got back to focusing on the jam, wondering if it was going to set, was it going to be ok, the usual cooking panics

After a good 20 mins of cooking time, It was pretty cooked down and looked good, So I pulled the jam off the stove, placed it into a lovely sexy black plastic tray and into the Fridge to help it set.

I then left the house to go off and run errands and while I was out, I heard an ad for a Harvey Norman’s sale. I was tempted to go and buy a new stand mixer, one of the nice shiny ones. Ideally I would love a kitchenaid. Its the ones you see in every cooking show (Alton Brown’s has Flames!) and I wanted one so badly, but it cost $800! So not gonna happen. But There are some good more budgety models. Harvey Norman would do me one for $285.. down from $350… thats tempting. But I had to run off to the airport, so was going to come back. Then seeing as I was making good time to the airport (which is a whole other story) I stopped off at Good Guys, same mixer, retailing for $350… negotiations look good.. lets see if i have to pull the “harvey norman are offering it for less line” the conversation went like this.

Store Clerk: Can I help you with Something?
Me: Yeah, what kinda price can you do on this mixer?
Store Clerk: How you paying, cash or credit
Me: Credit card, I want the points
Store Clerk: What kinda card?
Me: Amex
Store Clerk: can’t discount on amex, but if you have a visa or mastercard I can do a price
Me: Yeah i can do that (was hoping the payments to my mastercard had cleared but they didn’t)
Store Clerk: Types away at computer, comes back $245
Me: Really? $245?
Store Clerk: Yeah
Me: What colours you got
Store Clerk: White…. looks at other box Or White
Me: Thinks Ok I’ll take it

I mean seriously $105 off the retail price! I was freaking HAPPY! So here she is in all her pretty, shiny glory.

So back to the baking. With new mixer ready to go, I was going to decorate this cake, old school styles. Kinda. Now some of you may know that I have IBS, and one of the triggers is Cream. I can’t eat cream. And after a cake request from a friend (which will be shown to the blog in a few weeks time) I was hunting round for a “non dairy” topping that was used in another recipe that I needed. Now it looks like cream, whips like cream but its not diary, so why not give it a try in the lead up to the other cake to see how it turns out. Dad was ok with trying it so went ahead with it. It’s called Rich’n Smooth. Similar to “Cool Whip” in the states.

All you do is shove it in the bowl and start to whip it like you would cream. That’s it… simple as!

Unfortunately it whipped up a lot more than i expected but hey, what can you do!

Cake Assemble (I have to stop with the sad references, this one to the Avengers… u know Avengers Assemble… ok I will stop now). First Up. Jam onto the bottom layer of the cake. With the cake tops facing In so that the bottom and top are totally flat and level.

Then the “Cream” goes on next… nice thick layer (got player to spare)

And then on goes the other half of the cake.

Wow… its coming together! It looks almost complete, now for some old school icing. When my dad worked for a company called “William Brooks Publishing” they printed some really old school cook books. I am talking old school, hell it was targeted for School Age kids learning to cook in the 70s. So there is some old school stuff in there (even a recipe for making a cup of coffee). I figured, old school cook book is bound to have an old school icing recipe. None of this fondant icing as you would see on all the cake shows (although I do love watching Ace of Cakes). Recipe found time to make. Not content with plain icing.. i chose yellow. Cause i can…

Another Cast of Characters. Icing Sugar, Butter, Water, Vanilla & Food Colouring

Pretty simple recipe. sift icing sugar into mixer bowl (hell you could do it without the mixer but i wanna play with my new toy). Beat in the butter, add in the vanilla and a touch of water to form a paste. Add in some food colouring. ice your cake. how easy can you get!

Icing Sugar in Bowl…. Check

Butter, Water & Vanilla in bowl… mix away… Check

Food Colouring Added… Check
Time to finish this cake off. Spreading some of the icing on the top. Not to much to start with so that it doesn’t go to far over the sides, I want it to look pretty.

And here it is… the finished Cake:

But heres a better Look

So there you have it. Now to wait for dinner so that I can have my cake (and eat it to! hello weekly treat, although I did lick the icing bowl a little bit.. ok maybe the cream to 😉 )

Now for the recipes so you can try it yourself!

Corn Flour Sponge Sandwhich (CWA)

Ingrediants:
* 4 eggs
* ½ cup castor sugar
* 1 cup ‘Fielders’ Cornflour (i used homebrand)
* pinch salt
* 1 teas. cream of tartar
* ½ teas. bicarb soda
* vanilla

Method:
1. Preheat Oven to 180C
2. Grease 2 x 20cm deep-sided sponge tins, dust with flour.
3. Sift cornflour, bicarb. soda, & cream of tartar three times.
4. Beat eggs & sugar together for 10 minutes. (if using a stand mixer, make sure to have a whisk not beater attached)
5. Fold in sifted ingredients.
6. Divide mixture evenly between tins.
7. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.
8. Turn out onto clean tea towel.
9. When cold, join together with raspberry jam.

Butter Icing
Day to Day Cookery – pg190

Ingrediants:
* 1 Cup Icing Sugar
* 2 Tablespoons Butter – Softened
* 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
* 1-2 Tablespoons Water or Milk

Method
1. Sift Icing Sugar into a Bowl
2. Work in softened butter with a wooden spoon (I used the mixer)
3. Add sufficient Water (or milk) to make a smooth paste
4. Add Vanilla & Beat Well
5. Add Food Colouring if desired

Updates Updates Updates!

December 14, 2010 by Mal·Comments Off

So Life has been pretty good lately. Start of the month went really well, managed to keep myself nice and happy with the way i ate at the christmas party. It was a good night to, everyone all dressed up, I was wearing my nice suit (which i really do thank Vanessa @ Always Habit for helping me out there) and got heaps of compliments on it!

Been managing my food pretty well but unfortunately went down 3kg over the last week and that was probably due to not thinking properly over the last few weeks with snacks etc and working out to much so im still juggling all of that each and every day, but thats the new goal for the new year, maintain the weight loss and keep it off. I can tell that I am slowly putting on some muscle as I can feel myself getting stronger. Managed to do some good heavy weights this morning and could definately see my performance increasing (mind you my arms are killing right now).

I had also been planning for a while to get a new Crumpler bag for work. As most of you know, I love crumpler. But i wanted a new bag that was custom made so that it would be about the whole transition of my life etc over the last year. Unfortunately to order a Custom Bag I would need to fly down to Melbourne or Sydney before the new year to get one etc and couldn’t justify the costs etc on top of the normal bag. However yesterday i was in the Crumpler store picking up a small piece for my laptop and checking out their new range of bags (for shits and giggles) when i saw this amazing looking bag in the window. I asked them about it and he told me that it was a custom made Complete Seed and they were selling off some of the random custom designs they had before the Custom Bag Stores close. I was ecstatic, i loved the design and I had to have it! So i bought it!

As for trip planning, things are pretty much done. Only france left to go with all of asia organised now and booked. France will probably be planned in the new year as I am going to hopefully be accompanied by my friend Yena. Who is going to join me in Normandy for some history!

Hopefully!

Tips…

December 8, 2010 by Mal·0 Comments

I get asked a lot how i lost all the weight and what are some good tips to be able to help be healthy or lose weight.

So I thought I would put some of those tips up on the blog. For everyone to see.

1. Being healthy is a mix of both eating and exercise. you can’t have one without the other. No point.
2. Exercise is worth the effort. It may hurt, it may feel like crap but after a while it will become fun. Choose something you enjoy doing. If you like walking, go for walks, if you like riding a bike, ride a bike. But if your trying to lose weight, twice a day was my best tip for how often to exercise (at least 30-45 mins each session).
3. Cut out the alcohol. It is just not worth it. I made that decision early on that there is no point in drinking back on my hard work. So its gone (apart from the occasional drink).
4. Eat plenty of vegies. Non Starchy vegetables. Nothing beats a salad made of Roasted Pumpkin, Eggplant, Zucchini and Capsicum with a bit of Rocket dressed with Lemon Juice and Chilli. Simple, low fat and absolutely delicious.
5. Use your head when you cook. Do you really need all that oil on things? Do you really need that extra portion of carbs or that double amount of protein.
6. Eat wholegrains instead of those crappy processed foods. If your wanting some rice, eat brown or basmatti. Some noodles, use Soba Noodles (buckwheat, absolutely yum cold in a salad). Wanting to use pasta, wholemeal or durham wheat pasta. But just remember to use a small amount of carbs. 1/2 cup of rice or 1 cup of pasta is enough. If your having breads, what about wholemeal, rye or multi grain (i prefer rye). With cereals stick to Bran or Wholegrain Cereal (i like all bran, sultana bran, just right or uncle tobys plus).
7. Its ok to treat yourself, but be smart. A deep fried mars bar is not a treat, thats just dumb.
8. Don’t skip meals. Skipping doesn’t allow your body to process everything properly, your metabolism wont function and you will feel worse. Eat 3 x meals a day and several snacks. This allows your body to keep working. While I was losing weight it was 3 meals a day with 2 or 3 snacks. Now its 3 meals a day with 5 or 6 snacks.
9. Diet Jelly is AWESOME. It is on my eat as much as you like list. Aeroplane Diet Jelly has flavour, tastes great and it makes for a fantastic guilt free sweet snack.
10. Cut out the full sugar soft drinks. Diet Soft drinks are fine but i dont like drinking lots of them. Aspartamine is fine, dont believe the whole “you will get cancer” myth. I have read lots of articles which state it is ok. If you want something fizzy to drink, go for a Mineral Water. Its just water, has loads of fizz and tastes great imo. I prefer that when i go out at night with friends. Squeeze of lemon and its awesome.
11. Seek some help. There is no harm in going and seeing a professional. I had help with a trainer and a nutritionist. Without them I wouldnt of been able to do any of what i have accomplished.
12. Most of all. Don’t give up. It’s not easy. But if you stick with it, gut out the tough times you will be rewarded.

Remember, The Only Easy Day was Yesterday.

BigMal's World

A blog about a Big Man in a Small Man World