A couple of weeks ago, my mother-in-law loaded us up with lemons from her tree before she headed off on an overseas sojourn. I’m not really a lemon-buyer in general, I just don’t know what to do with them, but when I become a lemon-receiver, I (a) share the lemon love with friends and (b) pretty much forget about the ones I’m left with.
po piah (fresh spring rolls with yambean, shredded omelette, tofu, cucumber,
mince, crispy shallots and chilli paste)
Lots of people have blogged about Hawker. I read, I drooled, my eyes fell out of my head. I could not wait to get my face into the apam balik, rojak, po piah and the supposedly amazeballs assam laksa. I mean, I’m Malaysian and all that, but I really love Malaysian food. Despite the fact that I can’t actually cook any of it (oh wait, I did make char kuay teow that one time!) we eat Malaysian at least once a week and really the point is, if there’s a good new place, I wanna know about it.
So with the hype under my belt, we checked out Hawker last weekend… and I was… not blown away.
I usually default to Urbanspoon to find good eats when we travel. It’s quick, it’s easy, it gives you ratings and opening hours. It’s honest feedback from patrons and bloggers and there’s loads of photos. But we didn’t go to Cafe Le Monde based on their Urbanspoon page. We wouldn’t have gone there, given the appalling feedback, but I’m glad I didn’t check because you know what? We loved it. Not sure what went wrong for everyone else (or maybe it’s what went right for us?) but it became our local for three days of breakfasts, some lunches and even a couple of early dinners. And every single meal, including the service, was impeccable.
I can hardly believe it’s Christmas again! We spend all year longing for December, for the break, the festivities. Those of us in the southern hemisphere for the beach frenzy, our northern counterparts for the winter solstice so your days start getting longer once again. We all look forward to something at Christmas time, maybe not all the same thing. But one thing we do all have in common is the anticipation of eating, of wearing our Christmas coloured stretchy everything, and the left overs which will feed us for days to come.
Ah Christmas, it’s a great time of the year, isn’t it?
lamb rack and braised shoulder, spiced carrot puree, baby spinach,
pine nuts, herb crust, asparagus
I’ve never been this delayed in writing a post. It’s been 2.5 months since our Townsville trip and I’d all but forgotten about our dinner out at Seasoned, that is until I was scrolling through my camera roll and it’s like HOLDUPAMINUTE. That. That lamb. Holy heck, that lamb was delicious. And so 2.5 months later, here it is in all its glory.
Some days, it’s 8am and you’ve already contemplated going out and buying cake. Some days, it’s a reality. You go out and buy not one, but two portions of cake, with All The Intention In The World of sharing it with a friend. Turns out your friend isn’t having sugar right now – how convenient. So you eat all the cake, all by yourself. And you feel damn good about it.