Peking Duck!

Mel's in-laws were up visiting and wanted to have dinner with the parental units as they haven't seen each other since Mel's wedding which was a long long long long time ago. So Mel bribed me into going by booking a table at Empress Garden, THE place for peking duck in Auckland. I see through your ploy, Mel!! I'm happy to be manipulated bahahahaha.

So so crispy and juicy. Unfortunately, the lighting in the restaurant was AWFUL.... so my photos are not good.

Because of the royal pregnancy, Mel had to have her duck pieces microwaved. She told the waitress in her crap chinese to microwave it for 40 minutes... haha I quickly chimed in and said she meant 40 seconds.

Helloooooo, sexy.

Second dish was the usual stir-fried duck meat with veges....

But the twist was that instead of lettuce cups, you get these pita bread like sesame bread casings. SO GOOD! Genius.

Oh my love... how i have missed thee. Mel knows I am missing kingdo spareribs so she ordered this for me.

Wadani - Mel's Fave Haunt!

Current favourite of Mel's because it is cheap ($10 for a dish and a drink) and it doesn't make her puke. Everything made her puke throughout the early stages of the royal pregnancy so this is a miracle. Even though it is basically in the next town, the distance is worth the trouble if it meant keeping food down for her (and also less whinging).

Lemon drink which was tart and refreshing.

Corn fritters....

 Mixed plate which had a bit of everything - rice and veges in the background, beef rendang next to it and fried chicken in the foreground. It was good.

Andrew had the oxtail soup with rice.

First Meal Back in Auckland

Mel and Andrew whisked me off to Santhiya for my first meal back in Auckland. Now when I said first meal, I meant after 2 weeks in quarantine because I was sick and her Royal Highness who is going through the royal pregnancy to end all royal pregnancies didn't want to be anywhere near my diseased self during the 2 weeks. 

The always yummy and sinful and tongue-scaldingly hot teh tarik. Apparently the secret is just 4 bags of no-name brand tea bags and lashings of sugar and condensed milk.

Curry of some sort.....

Yum yum I love cashew nuts.

The dish we always get - mee goreng medium hot... which is still very hot.

Happy New Year 2012, Peeps!

I know, I know I've been very slack. Anyhoo hope you all had a good one. I had an excellent one surrounded by loved ones reminiscing about the good old days while watching childhood home videos. You know you are getting old when you have "good old days" to talk about.

Sidetrack: My answer to the ever popular question of what would you rescue if your house is on fire? This precious cassette tape which the five of us taped when we were kids and sent to the then 16-year-old Mel who was studying in Melbourne. Hmm maybe I should put it in a fire-proof box?

We also had a wedding in the family recently which added to the hecticness of the holidays. The bride looked gorgeous and the groom looked like he struck the lottery. I will be doing a blog on it when I can be bothered. In the meantime, I have been given the go-ahead to post a photo of Mel and since it's as rare as hen's teeth, I will be posting it on every social medium that I am able to. Enjoy!

Oh and by the way, I broke my resolution on January the 1st. Fail!

Mel's Birthday Celebrations Part II

Mel had a birthday with her close friends at Two Fifteen Bistro. I helped Andrew organise the cake for it and decided at the last minute to go along to it so I can see her reaction to the cake. Heheh...

The gorgeous cake...

The gorgeous cake being butchered:

Entree Choice 1 - Golden flash fried squid with leaf salad and coriander aioli. I had this. Twas nice and juicy but I gave half to Andrew to conserve calories.

Entree Choice 2 - Creamy mushroom risotto with parmesan and truffle oil. Andrew had this. He lurves mushroom.

Entree Choice 3 - Terrine of pork, mushroom and pistachio with pear chutney and red wine reduction. Mel had this and I tried a bite. I always likened terrine to catfood aka jellymeat hehe. I know. I am all class. This wasn't jellymeat like at all. Just meaty.

Side - Fries... crispy and yummy.

Main Choice 1 - Market fish and prawn with herb risotto, salsa and baby leaf. I had this. The risotto was delicious! I always thought risotto was an inferior cousin of the chinese rice, all gross and gluggy. This was so nice! My bad.

Main Choice 2 - Confit duck leg with kumara mash, spinach, spiced apple compote and jus.

Main Choice 3 - Pink lamb shoulder rack with potato gratin, minted broad beans and jus. Andrew must have had this because it looked so pink, I think I heard it go Baaaaaaaa.

Dessert Choice 1 - Buttermilk pannacotta with raspberries and lavender crisp. Me no likey pannacotta.

Dessert Choice 2 - Sticky date pudding with vanilla ice cream and toffee sauce. Ooooh so good. If I could have, I would have picked up the plate and licked it clean.

Dessert Choice 3 - Italian fritoles with lemon curd and vanilla ice cream. Mel had this AND didn't finish it. I should have finished them off. Darn it whattawaste.

Was a great night. Thanks for inviting me. Oh hang on, I invited myself. Good job, me.

Mel's 40th - Eight @ The Langham

Ok so whose bright idea is it to go to an all-you-can-eat dinner? There's a fat glutton inside me that I keep under tight lock and key. I let it out every now and then and all-you-can-eat places are definitely at the top of the list! It's not pretty, peeps, so look away NOW if you don't want your fantasy of me being ruined forever. Heheh!

Anyhoo, we all rocked up to Eight and I took my blogging duties seriously for a bit. I kinda got distracted when the waitress invited us to go into the food area and so I only took photos of 2 couples on the night. Fiona, Gavin and Isaac as well as the JJs missed out. Woopsie.

The soon-to-be Kits:

The XXXs (normally I would put the surname of the dude here but since we are dealing with supreme paranoia here, I shall refrain). Happy birthday, Mel. Thanks for being an awesome sister and always cracking us up with your escapades with the general retail world. Photo has been removed at the request of the freakshow.

The dining area which was empty because us Hiis are village people and we like to eat early:

The entrance to the cooking stations is flanked by a wall full of wine. Somewhere far far away, Harrison is convulsing in excitement:

So Eight is the latest restaurant that opened at Langham. It is not just any restaurant. Ooh no my dear friends, it is a "culinary journey" quote unquote. There are eight stations and while it is an all-you-can-eat restaurant, it is meant to be fine dining standards and all cooked to order.

First station to greet us when we walked in - Salad Bar. I didn't even bother going near this by the way. I'm not wasting precious stomach real estate on rabbit food.

Bread - ditto. But I did choose a couple to test them for softness. But they were rock hard so they didn't end up tempting me. Phew.

Close up of Salad Bar:

The one thing that is guaranteed to whip (most) Asians into a crazy frenzy - fat juicy oysters. I don't like them though. The texture and the look are too similar to a giant booger to ever tempt me.

Sushi Station. I forgot to take a photo of the chef cutting up fresh sashimi.

Ham and accompaniments such as cauliflower gratin, mash potato, some hot pasta of sorts and a soup I think.

Grill station - meat and veges:

Yum cha:

Seafood station:

Indian station:

I saved the best for last - DESSERTS. I forgot to take a photo of the main station though. Darn it.

Ice cream and you can see me in the mirror!

Chocolate fountain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also forgot to take a photo of the crepe and waffle station.

I thought this was just one of those serene bonsai-y water feature next to the sushis. Turned out to be the soy sauce!

Ok over-the-top gluttony is about to commence so brace yourself.

My first plate of sashimi:

Second plate of assorted dimsums:

Third plate - Assorted meats. I had kransky sausage, scotch fillet, cauliflower gratin and the most sinful mash potato ever.

Fourth plate: Pad thai

Fifth plate: Luscious naan bread (this was actually Mel's)

Sixth plate: Butter chicken and rice

Seventh plate: Assorted seafood - salmon, kingfish and some other fish steak.

Eighth plate: I discovered my favourite hiding behind the oysters!!! Moreton Bay Bugs... yum.

Ninth Plate: Some fruit tart

Tenth plate: Deconstructed cheesecake

Eleventh plate: Really really really good bread and butter pudding

Twelth plate: Pecan pie

Thirteenth plate: Crepe with chocolate from choc fountain and fruits

Fourteenth plate: Waffle and ice cream (this was actually Viv's).

YUM and total pig-out. Yes I can eat! Shuddup.