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