The husband and I spent the weekend away up in the little town of Metung somewhere south-east of Gippsland. It was our little way of celebrating the 3-month mark of our marriage, though really, we would’ve come up with any other excuse just to slip out of town for a holiday.

We left the city on a Friday night, and after a hearty meal at the Skinny Dog Hotel, stopped over in Drouin for a night. Drouin is an extremely sleepy town approximately an hour and a half from Melbourne, but was nonetheless cosy and good enough to get us by the night before another long and arduous commute to our final destination.

Breakfast the next morning was an absolute disaster. Thinking that Warragul would be a great place to stop for breakfast, we had set our expectations extremely high only to be sorely disappointed with a big but mediocre breakfast. We ordered a big breakfast – bacon and poached eggs on toast, mushroom, spinach, grilled tomatoes and sausage – individually they were decent, but somehow the elements didn’t gel together quite well, and to top it off my chai latte was a failure too. The Jman and I concluded that the place simply lacked soul. Full but disappointed, we decided to soldier on to our lunch stop – Port Albert.

Port Albert was the complete opposite of Warragul. It’s a small sleepy boating town with nothing but a jetty, a restaurant called Wildfish and a fish-and-chips shop (also owned by the restaurant). The Jman found out during his research that they (i.e. Wildfish) had apparently won some pretty good awards for their fish-and-chips. And so it was a done deal. Walking into the restaurant, you wouldn’t think much of it. Sure it was modern and bright with its white walls and minimalistic décor, but it was also empty. The staff were professional but cold, lacking the friendly touch of a welcoming place.

We sat down, placed our orders – the Jman had the beer-battered local flathead fillets, while I ordered a local Gippsland grass-fed eye fillet. And then we waited…and waited…and waited. One would’ve thought that our meals would be out in a flash since we were the only customers there, but I suppose they’d have to wait for the oil to heat up since it didn’t seem like they had any visitors for the day thus far. When our food finally came, there’d been at least another 10 people who’d come into the restaurant now.

Anyhow, here’s the verdict: the fish and chips was truly THE BEST we’d ever tasted. Golden, crisp to the core, light and simply divine. It was like we’d died and gone to fish-and-chips heaven. There was none of that soggy, mushy “crust” business that most F&C shops dish up – this one was just incredible and unbelievably amazing. I’m really, really pleased to say that I’m pretty confident we’ve found the best fish & chips in Victoria, hands down. Every element of the dish was made to perfection – the fries remained golden and crisp throughout the meal, the salad was light and fresh, the only thing I didn’t try was the bearnaise sauce because I am not a fan of creamy sauces.

Beer-battered local flathead fillets

As for the steak – it tasted good. It was full-flavoured, robust and tasted like a pretty darn good piece of meat. It was however overcooked (it turned out more medium done than medium rare) and swimming in a pool of red wine jus which didn’t quite hit the spot for me. The mash was decent but not exciting, but if anything, the meat made up for everything else that the dish lacked.

Local Gippsland grass-fed eye fillet in red wine jus

I highly recommend a visit to Wildfish if you’re in the area, bearing in mind it isn’t exactly the closest to Melbourne, and is in fact a good 3 hour drive from the city. I can still remember how delightful it felt crunching my teeth through the crispy batter and into the silky flesh of the flathead. This would be one of my most memorable meals in a long time to come, though I suppose having very little expectations to start off with would’ve played a part in the overall experience of this restaurant.

Apart from the fact that the Gippsland region is a gorgeous place to begin with, the food is definitely another reason to return.

Next up…our meals in Metung where we visited the Metung Galley and Bancroft Bites.

It was one of those days where the Jman and I simply felt like doing something…out of the ordinary. We’d just finished a quick round of shopping at Djones and didn’t quite feel like heading home. So where we headed to next? Costco.

I’ve said before that I’d never pay for a $60 membership because it wouldn’t justify the cost savings for a 2-person household. That theory still holds true (seeing how the only food item we came out of the store with was a 1.6L bottle of Kikkoman, which, to its credit, cost the same as a 800ml version at Woolworths, but why the hell do we need 1.6L of soy sauce unless we were headed for liver failure?). But ah, how we ALWAYS stab ourselves in the foot – never say never! We spent a good part of the journey there justifying paying $60. Here were our reasons:

1. It’s like paying to go watch a movie (a movie for the both of us would cost $30 once off; this would provide us supermarket entertainment for a whole year!)
2. It’s like paying to go to the Royal Melbourne Show
3. We’d (unfortunately) sacrifice our weekly dinner date (no fine dining for the rest of the month, but I guess this was a cheaper form of entertainment)
4. We could possibly share the grocery bill with our friends. After all, they only sell things in “Ginormous” sizes.

So having justified our $60 membership/entry fee into Costco, we finally set foot into the no-queue, not-so-crowded warehouse-the-size-of-Brunswick. As expected, everything was massive. BIG. GIANT. GARGANTUAN. Nothing there was small! Most of the items in there weren’t fantastically cheap, though I did spy some good finds that would come in handy at a later stage. What impressed me most, however, was the quality of their furniture. It certainly wasn’t Ikea-priced, but damn it was solid as gold. None of that cheap plywood crap, but good, solid American (or probably from China) timber furniture at reasonable prices (at least for what you get) – something that is sorely missing from the Australian industries.

Fresh produce was comparable to market prices, so I don’t foresee myself doing my weekly grocery shopping there unless I need a 6kg piece of eye fillet or a 2kg wheel of Jindi brie. I’m still partial to my local green grocer and the folks at the farmers’ markets. We did get a 1kg bag of huuuuge American scallops, of which we had 2 pieces each for dinner later on but that was enough to tip me over. I love scallops, but this one was just HUGE.

I also picked up a pair of baby Crocs for my nephew, the husband got himself a really neat jacket, and I came THIS close to buying the $139 Mavi (Citizens of Humanity!!!) jeans, except that I didn’t because I couldn’t justify spending on something I didn’t need. I spent half the time arguing against the whole ethos of overbuying household items and how the principle of bulk sales and abundance would only encourage obesity and wastage in a city that was just learning to eat organic, eat local and to eat good. After all, who needs 50 rolls of toilet paper at any one time, and why would any normal 4-5 person household need a 2-3kg mud cake or 9 massive muffins? Why should we be drinking 30 cans of Coke or eating a 6kg slab of meat? If things could be this cheap, then surely it would have to boil down to either of these:

A. They are using very very cheap ingredients
B. Some poor farmer is being massively ripped off somewhere

So as much as I had finally piqued my curiosity and had a huge supermarket fix, I walked away feeling a little disturbed. I liked Costco for its spaciousness and it certainly kept us entertained for 3 hours (and oh the parking is so expensive once you over stay your 2 free hours!), but I do wonder if this will produce an obese society in the next 10 years and an American culture of bigger-is-better. I joked to the husband that we’d soon see more bigger cars on the road so that people can fit more bulky items in their cars, but come to think of it, that might not be too far from the truth.

My lesson-of-the-day for all of you out there is this: EAT LOCAL. EAT SMALL. EAT WELL. EAT FRESH.

Before you think I’ve been wiped off the face of the earth (which I probably have anyway), I’M STILL HERE! I’m just finding that time really whizzes me by ever since I got married. We’ve been married two-and-a-half months now, and it certainly feels like we’ve been married a whole year already. Not that it’s a bad thing, but where does all that time in the world go to?

These days I don’t have any energy to sit in front of the computer when I get home. There’s dinner to cook, lunch to prepare for the next day, dishes to wash (and oh bless the dishwasher!!), laundry, and then before you know it, it’s time to wind down after a long day and get ready for bed, let alone BLOG!

The cycle repeats itself, and then the weekend is here. Weekends are greatly cherished. It’s the only time we get to wake up at a leisurely pace without either of us having to nudge the other to go wash up first while the lucky one snoozes a little longer.

I’m currently a little obsessed with curry. Especially the ones with eggplant inside. My mother-in-law makes the most amazing Malaysian and Indian curries even her Indian friends are impressed. I’ve also had the privilege of learning some tricks of the trade from my husband, so while I had some free time on my hands two nights ago, I cooked up an eggplant and sweet potato curry with some prawns and mussels and packed it for our lunch today (overnight curry tastes exceptional!).

The result – a vibrant-looking, colourful, extra healthy and tasty, delicious curry. All I used was olive oil, and no coconut milk. The secret to making your curry thick and sweet? Ground onions!

No coconut was harmed in the making of this curry.

All packed and ready to go in our lunchboxes!

I turned one year older yesterday, but contrary to being depressed about the unavoidable ageing process, I realised it was a great time to eat all the cake in the world without feeling at all depressed about it. It’s my birthday and no one was gonna take my cake away from me!

The celebrations kicked off on Tuesday night, where my mother-in-law whipped up a fantastic Indian feast and made a ridiculously indulgent chocolate cake. It was SO good, I even had two slices of it for breakfast the next day.

My colleagues then took me out for lunch. And it was followed by MORE cake.

Then later on at night I had dinner with the husband at Esposito. Oh…Esposito! It was amazing! Fantastic! We particularly felt that the entrees and the dessert were perfectly executed. In my husband’s words, every element of those dishes tied in perfectly together.

The mains (we both had fish – he had a John Dory while I had the King George Whiting), although still very good, didn’t excite as much. We felt that the chef was trying to be a little too adventurous with the Dory (it was pan-seared and drizzled with beetroot essence – a little too ‘try-hard’ in our books as the fish would’ve tasted excellent on its own). The whiting was also really good, but perhaps a little squeeze of lemon would’ve perfected it. It was also very slightly overdone, but the husband didn’t think so, so perhaps it really was just me.

I shall do a proper review once I’ve got my photos out of my camera. For now, I am still on a post-birthday high and haven’t quite gotten down to planet Earth just yet.

Stay tuned for more!

The household has been on a muffin craze of late. To date, we’ve made orange muffins, apple, oat and yoghurt ones, granola ones, chocolate ones all in a span of TWO weeks. Muffins are a dream to bake. They are fantastic when I’ve got the baking itch but feeling absolutely lazy about cleaning up. Dry ingredients. Wet ingredients. Mix them all up (although the husband gets a little complicated sometimes and decides to whip the butter and sugar together; me, I can’t be stuffed. I use olive oil and my excuse is that it’s healthier anyway). WOOHOO!

We’ve also discovered that it’s a fantastic way of finishing up all the little bits and pieces of knick knacks in our pantry (shhh, don’t tell anyone I told you!). Apples, granola, the odd remnants of oats, yoghurt, buttermilk etc…so much that we’re now even contemplating Tim Tam ones just for the heck of it.

Super Decadant Dark Chocolate Muffins

One of my all-time favourite muffin recipes is Nigella’s Orange Breakfast Muffins. The ingredients are so unbelievably simple and the end result so indulgent that I would make it everyday for breakfast if only I woke up just half an hour earlier each day. I also adore her granola muffin recipe but that requires some granola and buttermilk, which I wouldn’t assume everyone would always keep in the pantry. But that shouldn’t stop anyone though; almost anything could go into a muffin I swear.

Go try it out and tell me what other muffin combinations you’ve come up with! I’m definitely excited to try!

Once in a while I like to think about my cooking influences, and despite being an avid collector of cookbooks and food magazines (note I said collector, not do-er), the ones who’ve had major influences on my epicureal journey are few and far between. One of them is my mother.

My mother is a great cook; anyone who has met her would agree. Anyone who has been lucky enough to partake in one of her grand feasts (namely Chinese New Year and Christmas) would probably tell you it’s the best home feast they’ve ever had. For all the years that I’ve lived with my parents, I’ve been accustomed to homemade sharks fin soup, ngoh hiang, homemade fish cakes, mee siam, lovingly-brewed birds nest soup, poh piah parties and a whole host of out-of-this-world dishes. In short, everyone knows that my mother rules the kitchen in the household.

My father, on the other hand, has probably only attempted cooking us a French meal (or was it just a dessert?) ONCE in his entire life, and has never stepped into the kitchen since. Instant noodles is his specialty. I guess with my mother’s culinary prowess, there is absolutely no need for him to stick around – he’d much rather watch his golf/soccer/news. But when it comes to fruits and cutting them up at the dinner table, Dad is King and no one gets in the way.

Dinner every night always ends on a grand note with my father whipping out his fruit board and knife. Fruits of different varieties are brought out to the dining table and Dad would begin the arduous task of cutting up fruit and sometimes even peeling the skins off whatever fruit we have (e.g. my mother doesn’t like grape skins and my father would lovingly peel each and every grape for her – how’s that for being romantic?).

One of my fondest childhood memories is of him, of all things, peeling apples! Many a time after dinner we would watch in wide-mouthed wonder as Dad deftly swirls the peeler around the apple and off comes its skin in one single string! As kids, my siblings and I would cheer Dad on, though as we got older and cheekier we’d try to distract him instead so that the string of skin would break!

Anyway, the husband was making apple oat muffins tonight and I was helping him peel the apples. Without hesitation, I picked up the apple and peeler and carefully ran the blade through its skin until all I had was a long string of green apple skin. I looked at it and beamed at the husband with much pride and satisfaction, though it made me miss Dad and our dinner table fruit moments.

It’s funny how some people influence us in big and small ways, and how our little habits or idiosyncrasies begin with the most inane of events in our lives. Tonight I made two long apple skin spirals and I’m sure Dad would be really proud of me if he saw it (I think I shall email him a photo of my accomplishment). This one’s for you, Dad!

According to Today Tonight we’re having some ridiculously early spring weather this year, thanks/no thanks to global warming, and although I might risk the wrath of the fervent Greenies in saying this (my only saving grace would be that I do recycle/bring my own grocery bags to the supermarkets/time my showers/flick all switches off), I’m welcoming this early dose of happiness-inducing climate!

As it is I am craving lots of fresh fruit and foods and spring is just the right season for this – think raw vegetables, berries in everything, fruit juices for lunch. There is nothing more invigorating than freshness, and if not for the cold (and the fact that a girl needs her steak) I’d be having juice for breakfast, lunch and dinner all day, everyday!

Just last night, the husband and I trooped over to Bunnings in search of some new plants for our balcony ledge. Bless his green fingers, really – we’ve got coriander, parsley, mint, lettuce, tomatoes, oregano, thyme, basil…and thanks to Granny, we also have a newly-sprouted curry plant! Last night we added more tomato shrubs to our already brimming balcony, and we even bought a greenhouse (yes, you got that right, a greenhouse) just to up the ante!

As much as I hate gardening (I killed my cactus), and I haven’t inherited any of that green genes from my mother, I get pretty excited watching the little seedlings sprout into what could be my next dinner. What’s more, it’s organic, it’s fresh, and it’s (almost) free!

So stay tuned to watch our little “backyard” project. Spring is truly, truly an exciting time!

I have a confession to make: I love fried rice. If carbs and too much oil weren’t a health issue, I’d walk right up to any (proper) Chinese restaurant and order myself a ginormous plate of yong chow fried rice (also commonly known as “Special” Fried Rice. There’s something satisfying about eating those fluffy grains, a token sprinkling of mixed vegetables full of wok hei (which is Cantonese for “breath of the wok”), eggy goodness.

It is also a dish that seems to satisfy the husband immeasurably. Every now and then he’ll have hallucinations about fried rice, and he’ll throw in a puppy-eyed look and start pleading for me to cook him some. Ok this sounds shameless, but I secretly think that my version of fried rice can really kickass. Of course it’s a personal thing, since home-cooked fried rice is always a cauldron for unwanted leftovers or whatever secret favourites you wish to put in. I don’t think it’s necessary to put in any instructions or recipe but I thought I’d share my secret ingredients…because a good fried rice secret is always worth sharing!

• XO sauce – just a tiny bit
• Sambal belachan – this thing really kicks ass, but the amount is really up to you or your tolerance levels for spicy food
• Fish sauce – between fish and soy sauce, I’d opt for the former. This makes ALL the difference in the flavour!

The Epicureal Fried Rice

So there you have it, my secret fried rice ammunition that makes the husband happy (men are so incredibly easy to please!) and apparently makes him super-efficient at work!

The notion of “Free Range” has always been a slightly contentious topic. Unlike “organic”, the free-range-ness of animals is not widely certified, particularly when it comes to eggs. Just check the egg cartons in any supermarket aisle and you will see what I mean.

Of course the health-conscious, environment-conscious, animal-friendly (I say animal-friendly, not animal-lover by the way) chicks like me would still choose to pay $6 for a dozen eggs instead of $2.49 to keep our consciences free of evil as well, but I’ve often wondered to myself – exactly how free are those chooks laying our supposedly free-range eggs?

My folks spent a week up in the country and just returned to the city today. We joined them over the weekend at the Tonimbuk House, which is in a little township called Tonimbuk about an hour and a half’s drive from the city. Anyway, when they returned this afternoon, my city-bumpkin mother excitedly announced that she had brought back with her a DOZEN FREE-RANGE EGGS from the owners’ chickens! Frankly, I think my mother was more excited about the fact that the eggs were from the owners’ chickens (because you don’t ever get chickens running around in your HDB/apartment balconies in Singapore), while I was doing a little victory dance that mother dearest had scored us some beautiful REAL free-range eggs. And we know that they’re free range because we’d seen witnessed those chooks running around with our own eyes!

Free range eggs from the Tonimbuk House

Daffodils from the Tonimbuk House garden

That’s not all. My father-in-law has a colleague whose family runs a farm, and they too have free range chickens (according to the FIL who’s supposedly visited them before, and thus has seen ‘em chickens running around happily). So every now and then, when our stars are slightly aligned, we get to buy some free range eggs of them! DOUBLE SCORE! It also happens that the family makes their own cabana. Lovely paprika-scented, smokey smokey smokey and delightfully flavourful cabana, which we had the privilege of buying home earlier on in the week. TRIPLE SCORE!

Eggs from the FIL's colleague's farm

So yes. I’ve now been spoilt with unsupermarketed free range eggs (I now have 23 free range eggs sitting in my fridge) and homemade cabana. I wonder if I can ever go back to the supermarket shelves to get my supply now. We’ll see!

Looks like this week has been all about taking chances. And to add to my record-breaking life-changing acts, I signed myself up for a 12-month subscription to the Australian Gourmet Traveller! I have been reading the magazine for quite a while now, and have enjoyed reading through the recipes and a fair number of articles thoroughly. My all-time favourite issue this year has been their special feature on Italian cuisine, something that is close to the hearts of both the Jman and I.

Anyway, I’ve now been suckered into yet another long-term “relationship” (the others being my mobile phone subscription and my broadband plan), but I figured rather than paying $8.75 a pop for each issue at the magazine stands, I really do get in some pretty good savings from $65 for a whole year’s subscription, which works out to be something like $5.50 per month (plus a chance to win a Limited Edition Candy Apple KitchenAid!…ok I already have one but surely another one wouldn’t hurt, would it?).

Oh and this is a special online promotion (the hardcopy form on the magazine still states $74.95 for a year’s subscription so I’m guessing it’s an online-only promotion) so if you’re interested too, better jump on the bandwagon quick!