Unpleasant reminders of previous eatings

I had lunch at Pannarotti's at Blacktown a few weeks back and being in the mood for pizza but being indecisive I ended up ordering the mixed pizza. This had quarter combinations of seafood, vegetarian, beef and chicken.

This was all fine and tasty enough for your average pizza EXCEPT unfortunately for me I started off with the beef flavoured one and unfortunately the flavour reminded me of the unpleasant kangaroo experience. It made it a bit of struggle to get through. Alas I am scarred!

Sydney adventures

My cousin has come over from overseas so I've been taking her out and about to take in the sights and tastes. At the same time I've been using the opportunity to give some foods a go too.
Like...
Saltwater crocodile pizza (bottom) and kangaroo pizza (top) from The Australian Hotel in the Rocks

My brain could not get over the thought of the crocodile and so the flavours did not present themselves to be too pleasing. It had a texture which was slightly rubbery like squid and also kinda fibrous like chicken fillet, with a slightly sea taste. The kangaroo had a marinade on it which helped with the flavour however like lamb it's distinct meaty flavour came through. This half half pizza surely was hard work to get through! I'll just add it to my 'just for an experience' list and never have it again. *shudder*

It's been years since I've had chicken feet so I thought I'd physically remind myself of why I hadn't whilst at yum cha at Blacktown (on Level 4) . Mentally I had no trouble not eating considering it was just skin and bones, with the only appeal being the sauce.

My memory was sufficiently reminded. This wasn't as off putting as the previous pizzas, probably because I was already familiar with it. Even John gave it a go, with chopsticks nonetheless.

Onto much more pleasant eatings, we did the walk from Bondi to Bronte and enjoyed lunch at Bronte Lounge

Wagu burger with fries

Fish & chips (hand cut)

Mm such deliciousness. The word of this meal was crisp. Crisp light bun, crisp light batter. Perfect. The burger was huge. We shared these two dishes between us and were soo full afterwards even though we hardly even touched the fries.
On our way back to the car we stopped by for in-store freshly made gelato (next door to Mcdonalds on Campbell Parade). I got burnt caramel and my cousin got cherry plus ferrero rocher These were oh so good. She thought this was the best gelato ever and comparable to the ones in Italy. The man behind the counter also had the Italian charming way with words :P

Another day of enjoying burgers was had at Katoomba, can't remember the place.

Again a huge size of tastiness. It was a little difficult for my cousin to eat though as the meat was in short strips which was a little odd  and so fell out everywhere. I got a simple pizzette with spinach and chicken. I'm glad this didnt fill us up too much because that then enable us to make space for the flowerpot scones at Wayzgoose Cafe at Leura. YUM.

One scone arrived between the 3 of us and we thought "that's nothing we can finish one each" and so ordered another 2. It turns out that our eyes were bigger than our stomach and we all only managed to get through the upper crisp crust along with our hot chocolate/coffee/chai. But yu-uh-um!

We progressed our way from Newtown to Leichhardt on another day, and enjoyed pizza and pasta at Gioia on Norton St. Delicious but probably not worth me showing you pictures. Naturally as we were in Italian central we had to have some gelato! We went to the little gelato bar next to the entrance of the shopping centre on Norton St.

3 mega scoops: Rose water, apple, blood orange 

When you can't decide what flavour to have, try them all! As my cousin did. It certainly was difficult to decide. We also tried the coconut, trifle and mojito between us. These were not considered anywhere as good as the Bondi ones. Enjoyable enough but not one to rush back for.

Mad Cow (city)

The combined birthday celebration for Ronald and Brett was held at Mad Cow in the city. Ronald had been very much looking forward to the souffle as he gave his advanced notice to the waiter upon ordering his main.
It was a cosy fancy pants place (for me), I loved the communal dining lounges which we shared, decorated with a simple vase of fresh flowers, under low lit light. How romantic :P The service was very friendly too.

I thought I would try something a bit different and ordered the Roasted saddle of rabbit, with king brown mushrooms, baby heirloom carrots and carrot oil.
I didnt like it that much.... I can appreciate it for the artisticness of the presentation on the plate but not quite the flavours. I think the rabbit had something rolled into it which  tasted a little like goats cheese (which I'm not a great fan of). Otherwise the rest of it was good. I don't know what the yellow smear was, but it was tasty and helped the meat.
Fancy food is a bit wasted on me I think. I'll still stick to my homecooked style simple dishes :) Especially after seeing Saby's Minute steak which on first reaction was that it was indeed minute in size. But I suppose its about the quality of the ingredients, rah rah rah...

Except, when it comes to dessert I can be bowled over. Again the presentation appearance is certainly there. This was Saby and Karina's 'Chocolate Decadence' and certainly was. The little pearl like things were like mini mini malteasers. Cute and crunchy, all in one.

Coming to America

June saw the adventures in heading to America with mum to catch up with an auntie and meet 2 cousins for the first time.
Oh my, they have so many shopping centres (malls) and copious choices of food stores. It was amusing getting familiar with the food chains I had never heard of, and those that had the same name but served different types of foods eg. Wendy's served burgers there, but they serve ice-cream here.

Of course I checked out numerous supermarkets, with Wegmans being a favourite (one branch had particularly impressive toilets (restrooms)). Reading the product labels were amusing too, in a concerning way; like the breakfast cereal promoted as containing 35% Daily Value for fibre but yet was totally coated in sugar. Hmmm. And don't get me started on pack and portion sizes.

Snapshots:

 Bufflo wings, from Buffalo of course

 Long crab legs

 Cream Pie

 Huge lobster

 Times Square

 Rockafella Centre

 M&M world

 Statue of Liberty

 St Paul's Cathedral

1/2 pound burger

Niagara Falls (from Canadian side)

Parra dining

Last minute bonus outings are fun.
Friday night dinner, off we went to the ever popular Temasek in Parra. 4 people = $65, not bad.

Entree - spring rolls and prawns

As much as i like vegies, consumption was hindered by spicyness. No tears from me at least

Noodles

Nasi Goreng

Stuffed as monkeys, we waddled over to Church St and the somewhat new Chocolateria San Churro instantly appealled. Actually it made me think of Max Brennars but it was worth a go to try a churro for the first time.

Churro = Spanish doughnut = extruded dough-stick of friedness. Mm oil...not my thing really. The chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, marshmallow, peanuts and brownies however was a different story. The plate for 2 ($20) was plenty for the four of us who only wanted a light dessert. It's was so tempting to lick the fondue bowl, but Saby and I managed to resist - as much as we could.

Latter half of 2009 continued - part 2

I love attending wedding and got invited to 2 lovely ones. Funny, for both of them I got the fun job of ushering.
Congrats to Lori and Aron! Such a great couple, and a fantastic wedding I must say.
Their reception was held at Le Montage in Lilyfield, it was pity for them about the rain but it is a great location by the water. And the food! Soo much of it, I dont know how anyone could finish the lot!
First there was the shared antipasto starter, and you have your bread roll, followed by an entree of either salad or cheesy tortellini.

All this in itself is quite filling. So when they brought out the mains of either steak with wedges or creamy chicken with risotto, your stomach starts bracing itself. I think I only managed one third of the chicken.

And of course you have to have dessert to top of the meal. This was either a cookies and cream tart or a raspberry cheesecake. Both YUM.

And you cant forget the wedding cake. Pretty. I think it was made by one of Lori's relative.

Congrats to Kim and Cam also!
Another beautiful wedding and joyous display of commitment to each other.
Their reception was held at Mandavilla Function Centre at Horsely Park. Another great location, very spacious and off the main road. I loved how they had an archway on wheels for when the couple entered the room.
Here we were served an entree of either chicken caesar salad or calamari rings and salad.

Followed by chicken or fish with mash. I had got chicken both times so luckily James was kind enough swap with me for the fish.

And this was topped off with either profiteroles or mousse. I was so hoping for the mousse but alas it was not to be. I didnt think there was a dessert I wouldnt enjoy but I have come to a realisation that I dont think I'm a fan of profiteroles in general. Maybe something about the 'tough' texture of the pastry compared to other pastries.

And the pretty cake made by Kim's friend. Lovely.

As part of the Good Food Month, my friends and I caught up over high tea at Radissons in the city one October weekend. Delicious. (Good ole footie final in the background)

Also as part of the October fooding we made a trek to Ashfield for the "Yum Cha" which was street stall all other the main street. Being too crowded we decided to just head in to an actual restaurant. (Another excitement was that I saw Jay from Frenzal Rhomb wandering the streets!)
This was much more worth it than roaming the streets. We got various noodles and meats, you know, asian stuff...Check this one out though. It's like scrambled eggs, and provided much visual amusement. Mm tasty.

Deciding to continue on with the adventuring we tried to find dessert. The guy heartily assured us 'yes they served desserts' and 'yes this is a sweet dish' after we asked several times. We were quite unconvinced but gave these a go anyway. We should have known, the menu didnt even have a dessert page or heading.

Curry puff-ish buns

Coated fried sourish berries topped in a sweet snot textured syrup

Red bean mushy filling in fried pastry (the most somewhat familiar dish for me)

These werent our typical sweets. We needed more sugar! So we were a little disappointed but it was worth the attempt.

More asianing as it was Grandma's 80th birthday celebratory dinner with the extended family coming from overseas. Dinner was had in Parra on Church St, there was that many of us that we had our own room to be rowdy in :P
All kinds of interesting dishes were ordered. Of particular note:
Lobster is a mighty lot of effort to get into, and the reward is so so. I just dont like getting my hands dirty :P

Fishy

Haha, Pink bottoms! (Actually sweet buns with a red bean filling - most fun to squeeze out...of the bottom)

On Grandma's actually birthday, the Aussie troop went out to Parra again, this time at Tingha Palace within Parra Leagues Club.
This asian version of cold meats was also ordered at the other dinner but I hadnt tried it all last time. So you have your usual BBQ pork and gravy beef etc and there in the centre is a clearish sauce coated noodle looking mass - jellyfish. Iiinteresting.

And there was pigeon which I havent had before. It kinda reminded me of the taste of liver. Dirty fingers again. Yes that is the head there. I'm, not sure if anyone attempted to 'eat' it.

Mixed pot of chicken feet, sea cucumber and fish something. They do like their delicacies. I had tried the sea cucumber previously and I dont recommend this at all if you're not a mushy  jellyish 'slimy' texture eating person.

While my cousin was in from the US we had to give her a taste of some local goods. An Angus burger was mentioned so after a random search on the net we settled on the Helm bar in the Darling Harbour. The burger was pretty high but Janet managed to get around it.
Bread and dips

Trunk's salmon

My beef salad with witlof and beetroot

Later on there was also Karina's birthday where we had dinner at Dedee's in Abbotsford till Brett finished his shift there. The restaurant has a fantastic view over the water, a guitarist playing cruisy tunes, so romantic for the 4 of us :P
And the food? MmMm. It was posh nosh for me.
Seafood pasta

My halomi and greens

Dessert tasting plates are a must. Ooh I could so go there again just for dessert. (Creme caramel, Date slice, coffee something and something tart)

I also made Karina a cake, upon Ronald's great suggestions that she liked her drinks I made a sort of wine bottle shaped white mud cake.

I also made an effort to get to Sculpture by the Sea this year. Excellent works of art. I'm impressed every year. On the food side, if this is the sauce for the sushi, I'd like to see the sushi! Funky.

John and I celebrated our 3yr anniversary by combining the 2 things we each love into one - music and food. Perfect!
After watching Where The Wild Things Are at the Dendy we strolled down to The Vanguard for dinner and live music by Steve Balbi. It has such a great atmosphere.
My salmon and tortellinis

John's steak with yummm mash

There was also the numerous Christmas eating at work, at a workmate's place, with our bible study group, with the family, with John's family and for my sister's birthday. All of thorough enjoyment and actually I dont feel of excessive consumption.
But that is enough. I might do the 2009 musings in the next post.