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.

Oh The Humanity!!!

One of my "thing" (among many many many many others) is nail polish. My toes and fingers are always painted. I got it from my mum though. For as long as I can remember, Mum has always painted her digits. So it's in my genes. As long as we are on the topic, my dad is a SUPER shopaholic. My shopping antics pale (PALE I TELL YA) in comparison to his. So again, it's in my genes. Resistance is futile. There has gotta be an obese ancestor with a crazy sweet-tooth lurking around on our family tree.

Pretty right?

Or is it? Haha, darn toe nail got caught in my jeans while I was getting dressed and the thing came off.

Sniff sniff. I am strangely fascinated by the grossness lurking underneath the nail. And yes, a closeup is warranted. Pardon my weirdly-shaped toes as they are deformed from years of heels-wearing. Again, my mother's fault. I used to clunk along in her heels in the afternoons (when she was safely having her arvo naps and couldn't tell me off!!) when I was 6 or 7.

Hope you weren't eating when you read this. If you were, well serve you right. Who asked you to surf while eating? This will teach you a lesson you so richly deserved.

Mum and Dad's Visit in June 2011

Mum and Dad visited us in June as it was Isaac's first birthday on June 2nd. Some of the big milestones he experienced while Mum and Dad were here included:

Learning to crawl properly instead of the weird breastroke thing he was doing:

Smirking (well he knew how to do this all along actually):



Hoisting himself up with the help of nearby stationary objects:



Getting used to having photos taken by the paparazzi:

The boy has expensive food tastes. He takes after his Ee Ee:

Family photo on his birthday:

Extended family photo:

First taste of birthday cake (right before he swelled up like a balloon because he's allergic to eggs):

Eating baby yoghurt (which tastes like crap):

First ride at the mall (yes, it's moving Ah Here. People actually put coins in these things, believe it or not):


Check out his death grip haha:

Mum cooked up a huge feast on one of the last nights she was here. Well, actually she cooked up a feast every other night for a month but this was even more OTT than usual:

Must-have dish - siew york:

Yummilicious fried noodles with oodles of ingredients (see what I did there???? Logan should be so proud of me.):

Don't let this dish fool you. It is not just simply chicken. No no, that would be insulting to Mrs Hii's cooking abilities. This was crispy chicken with a bottom layer of taro. Oh so good.

Oven-grilled prawns with cheese:

Squid stuffed with fried rice. Mum was inspired after watching a Masterchef episode. Only inspiration I get when I watch Masterchef is the constant need to eat. Hmmmm....

I also surprised Mel with a cake. Ok, Mum forced me to and so I half-heartedly made a Banana and Nutella cake. Hehe poor Mel was surprised with a homemade cake... to add insult to injury, it wasn't iced AND there was a gigantic hole at the surface. Meh.

Check out the super trendy super chic not-at-all-gaudy candles haha:

Uncle Jayden torturing Isaac with his puppy-like affections as usual:

Isaac: You looking at me, kid?

Isaac: WTF?

While ugly, the cake was yum! Half of it was gone pretty much straightaway. Ok I ate 2/3 of it. Shaddup.

The parental units then headed off to Melbourne to be slaves to the two brats.

Kompia - Yummy Foochow Goodness

I had a lot of kompia left in the freezer that Mum brought over from Sibu so I decided to attempt to make the fatty stewed pork with gravy that goes with kompia like salt and pepper, fish and chips, ice cream and choc sauce, etc etc, you get the idea. By attempt, I mean i found pre-mised sachet sauce mixes for the stew at Tofu Shop. Haha all I had to do was chop up some garlic, stir in some soy sauce and pour in some water. Turn the pressure cooker on, chuck the kompia in the oven and voila, manna from Heaven an hour later. Yum yum yum. Not as good as Mum's stew obviously but it will do.

Bit ugly and not at all artistic because i was more interested in shoving it into my mouth than documenting it. Heheh.

Whoopee Pies from The Caker

Whoopee pies are apparently the next BIG thing after cupcakes and macaroons so obviously I HAD to try them . I have been reading this Auckland baker's blog for a while now and she posted an entry saying she was making them for sale. So I jumped in and bought ummm .. a couple. I ordered half a dozen each of salted caramel and peanut butter. Yum! Jordan aka the baker was so sweet, she chucked in a few more for free. Great for my wallet, bad for my waistline.

Cuuuuttteeeeeee packaging.

Oh hello there, my little crumbly darlings. This was the salted caramel I think(!).



Whoopee pies are like a cross between a cake and a biscuit and look like a giant macaroon. They taste even better a few days' old, kinda like how spag bol and lasagne always taste better a few days later. All that yummy flavours needed a few days to soak through, I reckon.

Peanut butter ones....





I am pretty sure I ate half of these babies. Don't ask me which flavour I liked better. It would be like asking me which one of my nephew and nieces is my favourite. Shsssssh it's a secret. I can't tell you.

Mel's Birthday Cake

Heaps of entries to catch up on because I'm running about 2 months behind in my posting but this one can't wait. The cake I commissioned for Mel's birthday dinner with her mates. Andrew is too honest and fessed up about the cake so I am free to take all the glory for it. Freeeeeeeeeeeee. OH yeah Viv helped with the colour scheme because I have no imagination and couldn't imagine it in my head. I thought baby pink and black would look way too weird but it turned out very well. I should be a party co-ordinator. It's so purrrrrrrrretty.

I think Mel was happy with it. Hard to tell since Hii girls are so hard to please! A more in-depth post about the night will follow very very soon. I think.