New York state of mind

Ah hoi hoi!

Approximately 2 years ago, I started blogging my food/travel/food+travel adventures, and I’ve rebloged one of the first entries from what feels like a lifetime ago.

I love breakfast (and food) a little too much, and I wonder where this near obsession will lead me to….?! So far, I have had the pleasure and honour of being a lucky little Melbournian Vegemite, so most of my adventures have been here.

However, over the years, I have been very fortunate to taste some very interesting dishes from some parts of the world. My adventures have only begun, travel is and will be a part of my life…for life.

So…. please join me walk through some delicious and “tasteful” memories of the past coupla years.

lots of love!! and tastefully yours,
Joanna

Available all day

. . .
[ New York tomato: Cnr New & York Streets, Richmond ]

For months I was calling this place New York Apple-for obvious reasons…It wasn’t until I went back for an encore I realised I’d been telling everyone about a mystery location! Oops!

So, a good travel buddy of mine suggested this amazing place nestled in the little streets of Richmond that was the perfect hang over cure! (good food, cosy, and you can wear your dark glasses and still look a little bit ‘last night’ and it’s totally ok!)

Boy was I in for a treat, this place is a cosy little hide out to discuss last night, to have a date, to be alone, to meet like-minded locals and just to enjoy your Sunday late morning nourishing your mind and feeding your soul.

The selection is wide and the choices are many… Sweet or savoury, fresh…

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Solo Escorregadio

. . .

[RoseGPO Hotel, 1003 Point Nepean Rd Rosebud]

Open: All day, everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Phone: (+613) 5982 3200

&

[The Box Stallion, 64 Tubbarubba Rd Merricks North]

. . .

Solo escorregadio, slippery when wet in Portuguese!!

No, I’m not learning Portuguese, however it does dance very fresh in my mind as I had a just a little taster for it and enjoyed and introduction into the language.

This girls’ weekend was a spit, drizzle and downpour away from being a washout. Lucky no-one slipt… 😉

We had breaky altogether on the saturday morning before we parted ways into impossibly heavenly Hot Springs and the surrounding area.

There was an unspoken consensus to order death by hollandaise sauce… I hardly order Hollandaise sauce, as it’s always so dubious and can easily go wrong. However, we ordered, we drowned and most were very satisfied.

(#1 was repeated a few times 🙂 )

Death by Hollandaise #1 with ham

Death by Hollandaise #1, with smoked salmon

Scrambled eggs and bacon

I’ll be honest, there was a little too much inconsistency and “blase” waiting staff. We had dinner there the night before and the young waitress brought my Pinot Noir over…it was white. Upon asking if that was supposed to be Pinot Noir, and she slaughed and said “yes, ofcourse”

It was one of my more embarrassing moments to advise the young lady that Pinot Noir is red wine… awkward.

Having said that, the eggs were perfectly poached (mmm poached-poke-ooze heaven) but I would’ve gone without the overtaking lava of Hollandaise.

Next stop on Ladies weekend was the Peninsula Hotsprings…. wow!

Below is a picture from their website of how magical it is as the sun sets.

We were there during the lunch/late lunch and were lucky enough to soak in some sunshine at points and some drizzle in others, that was also truly beautiful.

We left all lovely and pruned and relaxed like you wont believe and floated all the way to The Cups Estate and experienced some very lucky sunshine (much like last week!) and got some supplies for the weekend. Just quietly, this winery has probably one of the most beautiful views (see below), however their website doesn’t even market this serenity and landscape… strange.

Anyway, it’s an intimate and gorgeous place for lunch, pit stop or some wine in the sun overlooking the beautiful property. Bit muddy when wet, so bring appropriate footwear. 

Saturday evening was interesting… it all got very interesting upon entering the mostly 17-year-old infested time warp that is The Conti” (The Continental Hotel, Sorrento)

. . .

[The Box Stallion, 64 Tubbarubba Rd Merricks North]

Sunday, we had some wine tastings and settled down for some lunch under the heater at The Box Stallion

There were a few functions on, so it was bustling with laughter and the waiting team darted in and around the smallest of the clients.

Something to remind me of my old home…

Probably the most crunchy and “so bad for you”chips I have ever eaten…. soooo good. exactly what we needed after the night of Ace of base and dirty RnB.

The beautifully presented trio of dips with yesterdays bread… yesterdays bread was a special touch. *insert blank face here*

Lil miss “eww” and I shared some Beetroot, candied walnuts and feta salad which was just the most excited textures and flavours to have dancing around in our mouths!

For main, I ordered the below.
What is it? Juicy succulent garlic and buttery prawns on a bed of “risotto”, or rather soggy rice with sad celery that clearly wanted to die in yesterdays soup… (sorry, it was a strange contrast of “amazing and fresh” and “amazingly dead…”)

Chicken saltimbocca:
One really enjoyed hers, and the two other ladies thought it was bland and dry and didn’t enjoy the Polenta. (Me however, being a polenta fiend thought it was lovely)

Now this was, in hindsight, what I should’ve ordered!
Perfectly cooked Salmon on a bed of fresh salad and Haloumi. 🙂

Dessert was melt-in-your-mouth moorish and delicious! (but didn’t quite want to get my gear off…)

Sticky date pudding playing in caramel sauce: (DROOL!!!) with a side of fresh cream…. droool again!

Chocolate cake with strawberry reduction:

Girls weekend was such a success and can not wait for the next one 🙂
Always lovely to share good food, moments and laughs with a bunch of great quality ladies who will support you on your best and worst day.

thank you ladies for a lovely weekend, til next time…

. . .

Tastefully yours,

Menus:

Tennis ball vs MCC young members ball

. . .

[MCC young members ANZAC ball, Melbourne]

For many, Holy Thursday is the start of some heavy partying/drinking being Good Friday the next day and nothing being open.

Good Friday for some is a “write off day”, well it was for me: hot cross buns for breakfast coupled with unregretfully lounging in my PJs all day- “good” friday. I could go on about this day being the holiest on the christian calendar… but this is not the platform for my waning religious concerns…

This year, the Easter long weekend and ANZAC day falls on the same consecutive days of public holidays.
It is a good time to reflect on sacrifice, in whatever form that may be.

For me and my friends, it was sacrificing our dignity and “being a lady”, and just having a “leg-pumpingly” great evening. (“Leg-pumping”: a term coined post an incident involving a boy, a girl, and some leg pumping. Needless to say, it was a night full of laughs, regrets involving fast food binges and …memories)

We knew it was going to be large… on this eve, it started off with a tennis ball…

In the midst of the chaos of Work, work easter egg hunt and a delayed tram: I had 45 minutes to shower, get ready, and be at Miss P’s house. (Jesus!!)

Shower: TICK
Dress: TICK
Nails: “I’ll do it in the cabbage”
Cab: TICK
Shoes: TICK
Bag: “keys/cash/phone”
Tennis ball stuck IN THE GAP BETWEEN HEEL AND SOUL!!!!???:…. tick!! (how this even occurred without my knowledge is beyond me)

Yes, it was going to be a good night…

And this is what we feasted on:

I know right?…. Set menus usually kill me slowly with boredom – but I was excited!

Entrée: “Ocean Tray”

I actually like my scallops with roe – its visually more attractive and I love seafood, so I don’t see the problem with taste. (it’s a personal thing I know…) Everything else was moorish little mouthfuls. Not a fan of cauliflower mash with raisins though…

Main: Alternative between Chicken/couscous

or Veal on a bed of potato mash and beans.

I was secretly hoping for veal, and the girls were wanting chicken: win for me 🙂

The veal. was. delicious!!! Melt in your mouth, delicious. Albeit a bit cold as we were running a muck in the “vintage photo booth” (love!)

I’m a “vege-aquarian” (she says tentatively)…so I don’t eat much meat, however on the off chance I do, and its like this? YES PLEASE, Meat me!….. meat me please.

Dessert unfortunately was untouched…
My Pavlova tasted like cough syrup…

In the words of our P.I.M.P (b-rad), “Panna Cotta is always such a disappointment at these things” and plus, by this stage we were getting our dressed up selves on to the D-floor to join a bunch of white people dance like black people.

There was a lot of “dougie-ing”, and maybe a few “catdaddy-ing”. Watching men (some were boys) getting down with it, and sweating their bootys up a storm is truly entertaining.

This of-course wasn’t the last meal we had… HJs was good to us: chicken wrap… fcking awesome in the middle of the night 🙂

Hope you’re enjoying your time with family/friends and kick started this fine long weekend in style.

. . .

Tastefully yours,

TWEET-a-licious!

. . .

[Yellow Bird, 122 Chapel Street Windsor]

There is just SO MUCH variety and choice on Chapel street and any time of the day for any of your food related needs!

Yellow bird exites me!! – birds do not!
I have an odd fear of birds, or rather the weird movements they make and the flapping of their wings.

One time, I woke up fresh as a daisy to the odd sound of the “trapped bird in my fireplace” sound.. YES that EXACT sound…. Lets just say it wasn’t one of my finest moments… 🙂

So, this is the shining beacon of scariness that I have to endure whilst breakying it up that day… ONLY for you Jessica Allergory! (and the awesome fritters!!!!)

Jess ordered a heart shaped love breaky, b/c she is just so in it right now 🙂

Green eggs and ham, yes m’am!

It was just a BIG plate of lovely – much like Miss Allergory. (you like that Jess???)

I ordered a big FAT plate of F*CKING amazing!

oh! and take a look at this “poached-poke-ooze”:

sooo good!

Crunchy, flavoursome fritters smothered in avocado and overflowing with delicious egg yoke!. This was also accompanied with a moorish dollop of sour cream and fresh tomato salsa. The combination of the gooey egg, creamy sour cream and nutty avocado married together with the crunchy and moist corn fritter is bloody awesome! The fresh tomato relish/salsa is fresh and is a nice break from the heavy flavours of the Sunday bliss.

Just posting this entry now is making me crave a nice dose of Yellow bird’s finest….

Totally tweetalicious!! 🙂

. . .

Tastefully yours,

Clothing and Comestibles combined

. . .

[Captains of Industry, Level 1/2 Somerset place Melbourne]

Miss H and I only ducked in here for a moment as we waited on the oh so fashionable Mr Adam, and it is just one of those places where you get swept away into another world – old world glamour mixed with that little bit of ‘je nais se quoi’ that Melbourne laneways offer.

They offer ‘comestibles’, which is just a really special way of saying food, glorious food. 🙂

But it is just so fitting, as they do offer a very special service to gentlemen in the way of bespoke footwear and leather accessories and oh so sexy traditional mens haircutting (I dunno about you, but there is something very “oooOOOoooh” about traditional mens shaving accessories and the technique involved. It’s from a different world, an old world full of its own classic ups & downs.

But it’s not just for gentlemen, there is a little spot for everyone here.

We sat by the window and overlooked the very NEW world below, and fantasized about once upon a time ago…

The menu is seasonal, and therefore I’m not too sure if what we ordered is still there ( although they were just drinks)

I ordered a very refreshing and colourful strawberry and cinnamon sparkling cordial. WAWAWEEWA!!!! It was truly refreshing and I let out a big “ahhhh” after enjoying my first invigorating mouthful!… heaven was surely in my mouth!

See the bubbles of invigoration here: 🙂

Miss H had a tea which was just as delightful…and never ending it seemed 🙂

Whether is for comestibles, or bespoke tailoring or just people watching or after, Captains of Industry will very quickly become “captains of your heart”

. . .

Tastefully yours,

Main street, main attraction!!

[Main street Cafe, 505 Main street,Mordialloc]



Soooo, after a very long flight from Germany to melbourne via (Doha) I pretty much wrote the next off the next day sleeping and vegetating which was well needed as I would be working as of the day after!!!

The first beautiful Saturday after arrived was the perfect opportunity to catch up with my beautiful “brazilliant” friend Shyam. (yes that is a wordbaby of “Brazilian & brilliant”… Shy isn’t REALLY from brazil, just looks it, but he is just so brilliant!!) I was absolutely dying to feast on perfect Melbourne poached eggs accompanied by a perfect soy chai latte…and as Shy lives near mordy, he suggested “main street cafe” right in the heart of Mordialloc, Melbourne.

I caught the train down, and was literally greeted with the buzz that is “main street cafe” as I exited onto main street. So a big gold star for ease and accessibility.

Shy opted for a very healthy poached egg on sour dough with spinach-without hollandaise (Benedict without the guilt). And I in true form, ordered the “veggie patch”

When my chai latte came out, I was dancing in my seat as I had been craving it all this time in Germany.

Then I tasted it… It looked like a chai latte, was spicy like a chai latte but it was missing SOY!! I absent mindedly had thought all chai lattes were a beautiful marriage of soy and honey….fail… But it was a pretty good full cream milk chai latte at least…

Next, (more seat dancing) our amazingly presented meals were brought out by this gorgeous french waiter.

The 2 free range poached eggs were beautiful and wobbly and as I poked my fork through, the most luscious oozing of warm egg yolk soaked my sour dough…. I was in heaven…. Gooey, yolky, delicious heaven!!

This breakfast destination is no secret, nor is it even that new anymore… But to me, being my first breaky since Qatar plane food, I felt I had uncovered something really special….

The space is airy and buzzing with energy, smiles and satisfied tummies, easy to get to and easy to find, and most importantly-filled with cute waiters/waitresses… Oh!!!! I mean served a mean breakfast ;).

I hope to be frequenting this place often over the summer, and who knows I might be fluent in French by the end of it!! 🙂

. . .
Tastefully yours,
Joanna

Weihnachtsmarkt [Christmas Markets] in Germany

[Trier, Germany]

Its beginning to look a lot like christmas… 🙂 [I’m totally singing to myself right now]

A lot of people seem dislike this time of year, for various reasons. But for me, I reaaaaaaaaaaally really love it!. Its energetic, frantic, emotional and usually a sign that schools, uni, work and WINTER is coming to a halt…however in the northern hemisphere, winter is FULL STEAM AHEAD… but less steam, MORE SNOW!

Being my first German Christmas/winter, everything is wonderful, and new and awe-inspiring. It truly is  a winter wonderland. Everything makes little more sense celebrating the holiday season when its ‘brain-freezingly’ cold. Like, singing ‘baby its cold outside’ when its ACTUALLY cold outside…

However, I crave the sun, the heat and wearing floaty shimmery dresses to christmas lunch/dinner and all December long.

For me, there is something very odd, but beautiful about rugging up to head outdoors this time of year… making sure you’re layered up like an onion and putting on your hats and scarves. But I think, as much as I adore it and admire it, I would take slipping on a floaty number, popping on my haviannas and wearing SUNSCREEN over a scarf any day…

Yes, I may sound a tad homesick, and maybe thats b/c in a few days I’ll be in Melbourne and sweating like a ‘p***’ eating my words :)…ahh *sigh* the grass is always greener…

Anywho, whilst being in the most random place in Europe, we discovered the joys of European Christmas – the Weihnachtsmart [Christmas markets]. But especially the on in our town – Trier Weihnachtsmarkt. And the sheer joy of Christmas market food!

*Gluhwein [mulled wine]
*Hot chocolate with baileys
*Eggnog

*Poffetjes [dutch pancakes]
*waffles
*crepes

*Schocofruecte [delicious chocolate covered fresh fruit]
*Mushrooms/panfried potatoes
*Potato cakes with apple sauce

and SO MUCH MORE!!!!

If you’re on a diet – forget about it. Indulge in deep-fried, sugar-coated salty numbers and pile on the christmas weight to keep you cosy for this jolly season.

Heres a Christmas mishmash of delicious yummies and the magical backdrop that was my home for the greater part of this year….Trier

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If you don’t celebrate christmas, I hope you enjoy your holiday season and for those who do, wherever you are I hope you’re enjoying some good food and taking time to reflect on the year that has been…2010.

. . .

Tastefully yours,

Joanna