Flying Home...

Holiday came to an end and it's time to say "So Long!" to Melbourne! We packed our belongings and flew home last night. The face of Melbourne changed quite a bit over the past years and I am sorry to have to say that I like the city more in the past than the present. The changes in the demography of the city have changed the friendliness and the beauty of the place. The strength of the currency makes everything more expensive and less interesting. Having said that, I still had my getaway from home and it is always great to have an occasional break from our routines, from time to time. More importantly,  the five of us were together as a family and experienced all the goods, the bads, the frights, the fights, the laughs and so much more. We are also proud to have prevented ourselves from being cheated by an Indian money changer who tried to take away A$300 from us, in the form of 12.5% commission fee that he created by himself for himself. What a jerk! The last jerk we saw in 2012. 

Goodbye 2012, we are waiting for the arrival of new year in less than three hours.....

I try to make myself comfortable in the plane during a rather long flight, this one included. I put on the slippers from the hotel and sipped up some Solitaire Dreams served by a nice Flight Attendant of Singapore Airlines.

Queen Victoria Market

It was the day after Boxing Day and it was our plan to check out Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. It a within walking distance from the hotel where we stayed.

Boxing Day

It's Boxing Day and our intention was to stay as far away from the shops as possible, we had no plan to go the malls and try to get good bargains. Let other people have them! We went to St. Kilda beach instead. Absolutely not to swim! It's windy and too cold for us and many people. We strolled along trying to enjoy the scenery and took some pictures. That's all. And had lunch. And did a bit of window shoppings.

Christmas In Melbourne!

Merry Christmas from Melbourne! A view of Yarra river on Christmas day. Peace on earth and good health to everyone and their loved ones!

Christmas Cookies

They were baked, decorated and eaten!

Chicken Espetada From Nando's

This was our first and maybe the only time eating at Nando's at the Star Vista. I tried their Chicken Thigh Espetada with selected grilled vegetables and spicy rice for the sides. The food was okay but the service was really poor. Despite many empty tables, it was hard to get the attention from the waiters. When two out of the three meals ordered were served, nobody provided us with utensils. We had to ask and we could not get any waiter to do it until a while. We asked for water and the order was forgotten.  Very disappointing!

Yakitori Bento At Nanbantei

Back in the beginning of our marriage years when we were working in Singapore (before our adventure for many years in Jakarta!), we had started frequenting Nanbantei, a Japanese restaurant specializing in Yakitori, located in Far East Plaza. For more than 20 years we keep on coming here and we also take our kids and friends to this place. The Obento that we always order is still as good, the location is still the same and the price is still inexpensive. Our recent visit was last Saturday. These days, we always request that our quail eggs to be substituted with vegetable, we normally get grilled ocra.

A Drive By

Living here does not mean that we have been to most of its attractions.  We are aware that this island has a new place for people to go to namely Gardens by the Bay. We just have not make it there yet. One Saturday morning, when we tried to check out Marina Barrage, we ended up passing by the Gardens and decided to drive around a bit and snapped some pictures from our car. That's it. Maybe we will be able to go there and walk around. One day. One fine day.

Sambal Chicken

Sambal Chicken is one of my favorite dishes that happens to be well liked by DH and Miss K too. I normally made the dish using the cut up chicken but this time, I only used the breast. No picking bones needed and that just made Miss K's day. I mixed in some Kaffir Lime leaves, simply because I love them. We had them with homemade Nasi Lemak. So wonderful!

Saba Shio

Saba Shio or Grilled Mackerel with salt is simple, but tasty. The dish is widely available in many Japanese restaurants around. When I find myself in a situation where I just do not know what to order, I tend to get this one, together with a bowl of salad. This Saba Shio was from Sushi Tei at Raffles City.