Unblogged

The Unblogged Files: June 2015

7/06/2015 11:19:00 PM

Oh my god. June was nuts. Totally nuts! It feels like I spent the whole month running from work to social engagements, to events, to family get-togethers, to German class and more! I am exhausted! Lots of pics, not so much on the words for today's post. Let's roll.

Early in the month I went on a work trip to Merimbula. Long days, lots of travel, lots of work, lots of meetings. Phew. Here's a photo of Pambula beach, just after sunrise. Aaah...

Pambula beach

Breakfasts this month were mainly (unphotographed) toast or quick things bought at a cafe, but I got into açaí bowls in a big way. Blogpost to come on those.

Açaí bowl

Here are some purchased breakfasts...

Top left: Jaffles at Little Rogue (12 Drewery Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000)
Top centre and right: Banana bread & ham and cheese croissant at Plantation, Melbourne Central
Right centre and bottom: Donut and chocolate croissant from Bonnie Coffee Co. (495 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000)
Bottom left: Samoan porridge at Khopcha Coffee (53-61 Toorak Road South Yarra, VIC 3141)

So with all the busyness of the month, I was also a little slack on the work lunch front - eating out more often than I intended. Oops.

Top left: Tank Fish and Chips, Emporium (Disclosure: Complimentary)
Top right: Nandos
Middle left: Thr1ve, Emporium
Middle right: Kalamaki Greek Street Food (389 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000)
Bottom left: New Shanghai, Emporium
Bottom right: Uncle Jung's, Melbourne Central

And we also ate out for dinner a bit more often than usual.

Top left: Dainty Sichuan Hotpot (Level 1, 2A Cambridge Street, Box Hill, VIC 3128)
Top right: Chicken tacos at TGIF, Doncaster Shoppingtown
Bottom right: Seafood Laksa at Monk and Me, (9 Evans Pl, Hawthorn East VIC 3123)
Bottom centre: Pan-fried Pork Dumplings at Noodle Kingdom, (264 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000º

There were some homecooked dinners too though!

Top left: Pumpkin soup, avo toast, Kale juice
Top right: Roast chicken and vegetables
Bottom left: Spaghetti alla Genovese
Bottom right: Sauerkraut, Weisswurst, Frankfurters, Speck, Knackwurst

I made an apple crumble one night too. Yay.

Apple and almond crumble with clotted cream

We finally managed to catch up with the lovely Mr and Mrs Food Trail for dinner at Porgie and Mr Jones (291 Auburn Rd, Hawthorn VIC 3122). It was lovely bistro food in a cosy atmosphere. I hope to blog it soon, but for now here's a pic of the dessert - dark Callebaut chocolate tart with rum and raisins.

Chocolate Callebaut tart with rum and raisins at Porgie and Mr Jones

There were a couple of events this month too. Apart from the already-blogged dinner at Din Tai Fung, I also attended an intimate Masterclass hosted by Ainsley Harriot at the Intercontinental Hotel. It was so much fun! In addition to him cooking a delicious three course meal, he was incredibly friendly and kindly posed for photos with the audience. Yay.

Sarah, Ainsley, Ashley

Afterwards, Ashley and I caught up at the nearby State of Grace (477 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000), where we shared delicious fried school prawns and beef-fat roast potatoes. Zomg!

School prawns, herb aioli - $15
Chat potatoes roasted in beef fat, thyme & garlic - $9

Another night I attended the launch of "The Hunter's Kitchen" at Lucky Penny (481 Chapel Street, South Yarra 3141). Lucky Penny is a cafe, and they're doing a Scandi-inspired dinner menu for Friday and Saturday nights during winter. Mulled wine and hearty dishes, hurrah! It was a really fun evening.

Bannockburn free range farmhouse chicken, bacon, roast celery and kale chips with potato sauce

When I was in a shopping centre earlier in the month, I made the mistake of buying a terrible smoothie from a chain that I won't name (they're a small chain that a marketed to macro-counting gym junkies). I wasted $10 on a terrible peanut butter smoothie that was thin and watery, with heaps of fake-tasting chocolate protein powder in it. Waste! After that, I had a super craving for a satisfying smoothie, and the next week I made a few visits to Five Plus Smoothies (265 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000). I like how Five Plus' smoothies are thick, nourishing and filling, with lots of natural ingredients. The muscle matcha was quite good (matcha, spinach, dates, silken tofu, almond milk), but I totally loved the blueberry cheesecake (blueberries, lemon, silken tofu, dates, almond milk). It really tasted like a cheesecake, in smoothie form!

Blueberry Cheesecake smoothie - blueberries, almond milk, dates, lemon & silken tofu

So, my brother is currently visiting from Japan, so we have been having lots and lots of family time! Here are some of the dinners we've been having:

Ngow Yok Chow Minh at Hills BBQ (586 Station St Box Hill VIC 3128)

An Indian feast at Chimes (170 Belmore Road, North Balwyn VIC 3104)

Hotpot at my parents' house

Cocktails at Pastuso (19 ACDC Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000)

Ceviche Peruano - NZ snapper with caramelised sweet potato, cancha, leche de tigre - $19
Pastuso (19 ACDC Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000)

My friend Zhen (that incredibly talented artist who drew the artwork for my blog!) is getting married, and we celebrated with a decadent High Tea at The Windsor (111 Spring Street, Melbourne VIC 3000). There was a chocolate fountain and a dessert buffet, but I was most impressed by the lovely tier of sweet and savoury treats!

High tea at The Windsor

There were three separate visits to Short Stop Donuts (12 Sutherland Street, Melbourne VIC 3000). Hot tip: the sticky date flavour is incredible! (That's the one in the bottom right hand picture).

Short Stop

And there were a couple of other weekend cafe visits too... (both of which I hope to blog soon!)

There was Short Round (731 High St, Thornbury VIC 3071), where we had an amazing gingerbread dish... (arms by Jenni and Jimbo)...

Sticky dark gingerbread, vanilla mascarpone, treacle toffee sauce, quince paste, poached pear and candied pistachio - $14.00

... and also Legacy Camberwell (347 Camberwell Road, Camberwell VIC 3124), where my indecisiveness was solved by their lovely "Little Somethin', Somethin'" - a mini açaí granola, mini croissant, mini smashed avo with egg and OJ. Delicious. Incidentally, this is where I first tried açaí. And now I'm hooked!

Little Somethin', Somethin' - Mini açaí granola, mini croissant, mini smashed avo with egg and OJ - $18

That was June! Plans for July: sleep, gym, cook more, spend time with my bro, a few more family dinners, and a weekend away. Yay.

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3 comments

  1. uhhr every single unblogged files post makes me feel like I'm missing out on all of the delicious food in the world! I'd definitely need to grow a gym addiction before attempting all of the awesomeness though, must work on that. I hate getting thin and crappy smoothies, they are the worst!

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  2. Everything looks good but that split donut totally stole the show for me! Look at the amount of filling-it's crazy! :D

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  3. Awww such a cute pic of you with Ainsley! He's such a ball of energy.

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