Rise And Shine

7:30 AM this Monday morning. It's the last Monday in January. Where did the time go? I need to treasure every second that I am given to, don't you think?

Bruschetta

It took a few minutes to prepare bruschetta. I used the bread that I baked a couple of days earlier and the basil leaves from the garden. Miss K wanted her version of bruschetta by spreading a layer of Ricotta cheese on the bread slices upon pan grilling them and rubbing them with garlic.

About To...

....blossom!

Donna Hay's

I had no plan to get any cook books on my recent trip to Melbourne, but on one visit to a bookstore on the last day we were there, I ended up buying two cook books by Donna Hay, an Australian author of many best selling cook books. Both books have recipes that I could use and some pictures that are definitely attractive. Of course, I'd like to get more books.... but.....

Her recipes from Fast, Fresh and Simple can be found here.

After Lots Of Rains....

The plants in the garden looked so good after so much rain we had in December and earlier on this month. Our Basil (below) and Thai Basil Plants (above and at the very bottom) were taller than ever and the Turmeric plants (third picture from the top) looked beautiful healthy.

Along The Great Ocean Road....

When we were in Melbourne, we decided to drive along the famous Great Ocean Road up to Apollo Bay. We planned to have lunch in Apollo Bay and drove back after that. It looked cloudy in the morning and the temperature was a bit low, but as we went along, the blue sky appeared and the weather turned great. We made a few stops along the way to take some pictures and admire the scene.  The distance between Melbourne and Apollo Bay is around 187km. Not so bad for a day trip! We had fun!

Melbourne Bike Share

Melbourne has a bicycle sharing system. You can rent these bikes and ride them in the city. Just make sure you have a helmet with you or buy one for $5 from any participating stores. Quite handy, I must say.

Christmas Lunch In The Plane

On our flight the day before Christmas to Melbourne, we were offered one lunch after taking off and a smaller meal prior to landing in the evening. The starter was Tian of Alaskan King Crab and Mango with  mesclun and Singapore dressing (above). We had four options for lunch and I picked Christmas Roasted Turkey. I could have picked beef, vermicelli soup or lamb, but I was trying to stay away from red meat and vermicelli soup did not sound inviting to me. It was my third day in a row having turkey! Oh, well. I ate a bit just to fill my stomach, as I knew my day would be long.

Dessert was either Dark Chocolate Ice Cream or Christmas Log Cake  and I picked the Cake because it had a better presentaton. (!) It made nicer picture! I only tasted a bit, I was too full and too tired. I was already napping when they offered cheese and crackers and other goodies.

Hosier Lane, Melbourne

We stumbled across Hosier Lane when we were going to walk along Yarra River from our hotel. The walls along this small alley are painted with work of arts. Reportedly they change quite often too. This is one of the places that many people come to see in Melbourne.

This Evening ....

I was trimming the plants when my little fellow photographer started taking pictures of the sunset. I put down the tools and picked up my camera and joined the snapping..... 7:28PM

Beachcomber St. Kilda Lunch

Going to St. Kilda, we were aware that there were many restaurants around to choose from.  We planned on checking out either an Indian or a Thai restaurant there, but somehow we ended up eating at a Cafe (a big one!) located along the beach that we passed by when we strolled along, called Beachcomber St. Kilda Cafe. I have just read the reviews by Tripadvisor and realized how bad the overall service has been for many people in the recent times. I can't completely disagree with what they wrote. Have I read the reviews prior to coming there, I would have not decided to agree on dining there. Anyway, here are the pictures of the over-priced food that tasted just average or below, that we had. The only good thing about it was the location.

At St. Kilda, Melbourne

The day  after Christmas, the five of us took a Maxi Cab to St. Kilda. We started our sightseeing tour from near Luna Park, strolled along the beach (away from the sands!), had our lunch in one of the Cafes there, back to the Park again and walked along the streets nearby. We stopped by to droll over the cakes and pastries displays on the window and picked up some stuff from a couple of stores nearby. In the afternoon, we took tram back to near our hotel and alighted at the area where the shops were. Jam-packed with people!!!

On Christmas Day, From Our Window

View of Yarra River in Melbourne.

Nobu Dessert Bento Box, Melbourne

The day before we left Melbourne, we had lunch at the well known Nobu. I guess, we just had to try it to know whether their food is something that we like or not. These pictures here are the pictures of their Dessert Bento that we had after we finished our meal. It's our first time there and we wanted to try a little bit of everything. For such a high price, the desserts were just okay.