food tasting

Tonight I am super jealous because Ant gets to pig out at Restaurant 88.

His family are having a tasting of the food that will be served at the wedding.  I was trying to convince Ant to organize it at the Nadi branch when I pop over on the Queen's Birthday public holiday.

No such luck.

Restaurant 88 put out a full spread of exactly what would be served - every dish exactly like how they plan to serve.  So for the fish dish they had a full on big fish that would feed 8 people.

Present was Ant, his mum and dad, and two lots of their family friends, along with housegirl Reijeli.  Why the big group?  To make sure the food really would be enough for a table of 8.

Hey I just realized there was a lot of 8's in this post!

I've posted before that I've eaten at Restaurant 88 twice - at the Suva and Nadi branches and I wasn't impressed.  But like Mr Yam said, 'it's not about what you like, it's about finding a restaurant that will agree to cater for such a large event.'

The menu from Ant as he described tonight was

 Starter

selection of spring rolls, chicken wings, fried wontons

soup 

Mains

roast duck

battered salt and pepper prawns

whole fish

roast pork

lobster and something

broccoli and Chinese mushrooms

dalo and pork slices

beef and noodles

Dessert 

fruit platter

I can't remember if there was more because I was watching Glee while talking to him.  But I think that's it.

And guess what, Mrs Hansji is confirmed to fly over to bake the cake for us!

Frankston Beach Waterfront Festival

One of the best things to do in summer is to go to the beach; and you can tell I'm having a good summer when my last two posts and current post are about the lovely beaches we have in Melbourne.

Today Paul and Oy drove us to Frankston Beach to see their annual waterfront festival (including evening fireworks).  The Festival runs from today Saturday 15th - Sunday 16th.

It was a sunny 25 degrees while we were driving South East.  The temperature must have climbed higher during the 40min drive because by the time we arrived, it was absolutely sweltering.

In fact, during the ride in, Anthony and I had to swap seats in the car because the sun was shining on him and he complained his 'bum was getting sweaty'

While Frankston Beach is known to be one of the cleanest beaches in Melbourne, the water was quite murky due to the recent heavy rain we've been having.  That didn't stop people from having a swim; nor did it stop the sea gulls from bobbing in the shallows, as shown in Pict 4.

There was a live band performing, food stalls of each variety, beer garden, free water stations, health and fitness stalls, and numerous rides from the tame tea cups to the more death defying sky screamer which was like a merry-go-round, except hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh up in the air.  

After walking under the hot sun for 30minutes, we had a seat at the many outdoor umbrellas, picnic tables and chairs set out.  I didn't think to take a hat or wear sunscreen, so all I had to shade myself from the sun were my sunnies and knee length black dress.

This is the result; sunburned chest and arms.  Uneven on the chest, I might add.

 

And to top it off, I forgot to buy some after-sun lotion for tonight, so it is Not going to be a good good night.

On the ride home, Ant and I fell asleep on the back seat.  Unfortunately for Paul, I didn't realize I was lying on some Reese's peanut butter cup chocolates I'd brought along for the ride.  It was soft from being in the hot car all day, and when I woke up from my nap, his seat and the side of my dress was smeared with chocolate.

Now he'll have a peanuty smell in his car and will always be reminded of me :)

All in all, Frankston Beach is all that it's cracked up to be.  Just remember to slip slop slap and wear a hat!

Nancy's busy December

December has been a very busy month so far! 

Some of the more memorable highlights include

• my birthday
• work Christmas party
• Anthony's visit

December 15th is when I turned a year older...as usual I preferred this day to be normal and without fuss.

My family organized the usual dinner for me the weekend before.  As always, it was a late dinner and there was a fruit cake.

Actually wait, they forgot the fruit cake at the shop because they had so much food to bring home and too many hands helping to do it.  Either way it was fine; none of us have been a fan anyway!

Paul naturally chasticized us for not appreciating the time and effort they put in to make it.



Then there was my work Christmas party which was my very first.  Itwas at a very nice fancy restaurant with a special function centre all decked out in astroturf and flowers.  As per fancy restaurants, the food was alright but in very small portions.

We started with bread baked with sprigs of rosemary, along with dipping oil with soy sauce balsamic.  Entre was 4 thin slices of roast pork in a balsamic sauce.  Main was a tiny portion of beef steak with vegetables that an ant could single handedly carry off.

Sadly there was no dessert.  I suppose the company felt it was more important that we all over indulge on alcohol with an open bar rather than fill our tums.

 

I wasn't the only person who was still starving after our tiny meal.

Today has been the best day of all - I got to see Anthony after two months.

We met at Flinders Street Station and I made use of him by getting him to carry my heavy corn for the girls :)

Queen Vic Market is open every Tuesday and Thursday - Sunday.  There are outdoor sheds that sell fresh produce; these sheds double as knick knack stalls on Saturday and Sunday.

Weekends are incredibly busy for the obvious reason that the majority of people have it off. and need to fill up their fridge.  It takes patience to navigate through the numerous trollys and prams along in the crowds.

We dropped all my shopping at home and then went out for a late lunch in the city.  Then we spent an hour chilling at Borders; it's one of my fave things to do, just sitting there and reading together.

Then I had to see him off at the train station because he had to go back to his family obligations.