Melbourne for the Millionth Time, Jan 2013

Viv was still away in Malaysia with the parents and more importantly, Caleb wasn't there for me to squeeze. So I utilised my time and skipped across the ditch to see the brats. I have been to Melbourne too many times now. I used to go at least twice a year to see Logan. Money well-spent, not. 

I can't tell you what I did for 10 days except for a lot of snacking, a lot of tv watching and a lot of horror-books reading. Ah Rakoshi, Ah Here's one true love.

Haz celebrated a birthday while we were there so Monica went to DJ's and got his favourite cake.

Kids waiting restlessly to cut the cake.

Haz doing a weird look.....

Pluts...

Ah Here plotting to fatten me up with the cake.

Logan about to raid the overflowing pantry for some goodie.

The monkey faces were never too far away.

 Cake time!!!

 Why did everyone look evil here.... oh yeah Mum was skyping the cake cutting ceremony.

 Make a wish!!!

 Ummm Lauren was eating shapes as she stared at the cake haha.

Family shot.....

 Sinfully gooooooood. Yes I ate half the cake. Shuddup.

Who is the fairest (heaviest) of em all?

Spent a few hours looking through all our photo albums today and I came across our old report cards from primary school and secondary school. The curious thing was that there wasn't any of Monica's lying around. She probably hid them out of shame.

They tracked our height and weight in primary school. This was Melinda's height and weight when she was 10 years old and in Primary 6. Yes yes, she was a chubby genius. Don't think the height was right though? 40.5 cm would be tragic for a 10-year-old.

My weight and height. Note that I was 2 years older at 12 years old and only half a kilo heavier than Mel. Heheheh. Like I said, Monica's report card is nowhere to be found. Tsk tsk tsk.

Fiona the skeleton was the skinniest at 36 kgs.

I couldn't find Vivien's Primary Six report card so this was her weight when she was 7 years old, haha same weight as Fiona when she was 12.

Jennifer when she was 9 years old... awww our baybeeeeeeee.

We will never know how heavy the 10-year-old Monica was.... probably 80 kgs already heheheh.

Masterchef Blind Taste Test Hii-style

It is a not a very well-known fact (noooot!) but the Hiis can get a tad competitive at times. So with all the craze going on about macarons at the moment, super competitive Mel decided that it would be super easy for her since she's a genius, to whip up a batch to rival Laduree's. So she did for Christmas and while they were nearly as flat as pancakes, the gang declared them very good. So the compliments went to her head and she quickly whipped up another batch in as many days and this time, in a fancy schmancy flavour - pistachio.

Now I just happened to receive Adriano Zumbo's macarons as a present from Damon (thanks, dude) so I decided that it was the perfect perfect opportunity to stage a blind taste test to decide once and for all just how good Mel's macarons are... you know, compared to the Willie Wonka of Australia.. just sayin'. Although I must say that Zumborons (as they have been called affectionately in Sydney) were a tad stale due to a side week-long trip to Bali (really, thanks dude!).

This was Mel's creation:

This was Zumbo's:

Side by side comparison - virtually the same, right?

First guinea pig was Monica, sporting an eye mask to keep things equal:

We thought it would be hilarious if we had fed her papaya, her most hated food in the world... heheh but we didn't.

Macarons cut up ready for the taste test:

Logan did the honours. I like his evil look here:

Monica pretending to ponder the difference between the two... it was pretty obvious and one was a lot flatter than the other heheheh. Check out the ke-por look on Mum and Viv's faces.

Next up, it was Logan's turn.

Lauren fed her brother the macarons.

Then the girl had to have a turn too of course. Check out her orange nail polish. The girl has superb tastes in nail colours, I tell ya. She was rocking orange, blues and purples. None of that pink girly business. I like it.

Isaac also wanted in on the action but unfortunately he didn't meet the age restrictions of the competition. Next time, bub.

Last but not least, it was the newly-wed's turn.

Results - I can't quite remember now but I think they all unanimously said they liked Da Ee Ee's macarons over the professional's. Hmmm methinks they were all sucking up to Da Ee Ee. Heheh twas fun.

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 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.