Saturday was my husband's birthday.  Wow, it still feels weird to say the H word!

I took him out to dinner at Dynasty Restaurant.  Dynasty Restaurant opened for business in Melbourne in Dec 2010. They claim to be "the one and only luxurious fine dining Chinese restaurant" with spectacular decor in Australia.

The interiro is covered with marble and lighted up with crystal chandeliers, setting off a warm golden ambiance.  Staff are immaculately presented in a fusion of cultural and modern suit-style outfits.

The only reason we could afford to eat there was becuase I bought a Scoopon (au$79 for an 8 course meal including dessert + two glasses of wine each).

The below photo's are from their website because we did not take photo's on the night.  We were too awestruck!  In most cases the pictures you see on a company website are more glamorous than the actua thing - in this instance, the photo's accurately capture the restaurant's oppulance. 



Entrance to Dynasty (Dynasty is in a Bourke St arcade)

 

foyer of Dynasty

 

our table



on the way to our table

 And then on Sunday we went to a bbq at Leny and Tze Loong's (Geelong) place in Yallambi.  There we met their friends who were all very lovely.  Genks was allowed to come so she had a great time sniffing around in a new environment.  She was a good girl mostly.  Except when she saw Billy the kitten and tried to play with him which Geelong wasn't too sure about.

Dentist Visit

On Tuesday I had my very first trip to the dentist.  Yes, my very first dentist visit in my 27 years of life.  Amazing huh?

The verdict?  All good!  No fillings, no rotten teeth, not a single problem at all.  Apart from the fact that my wisdoms need to come out soon.

Ms Dentist gave me a calculus clean (funny term!) which according to Wikipedia is also known as tartar.  It is a form of hardened dental plaque. It is caused by the continual accumulation of minerals from saliva on plaque on the teeth. Its rough surface provides an ideal medium for further plaque formation, threatening the health of the gingiva.

Brushing and flossing can remove plaque from which calculus forms; however, once formed, it is too hard and firmly attached to be removed with a toothbrush. Calculus buildup can be professionally removed with ultrasonic tools and specialized sharp instruments during a dental visit.


And that is what she did.  For about au$115.


X-rays on each side cost me au$42 each and a fluoride treament au$33.  The visit itself was au$65.  So altogether au$297 which isn't too bad considering I walked out with cleaner teeth instead of just my gums.

via

Naturally Ant is very jealous.  Not of my dentist visit but the fact that I didn't need anything done.

To Temple

On Australia Day (Jan 26th), Ant and I went with my mum to the See Yup Temple in South Melbourne.

The temple sits on Raglan Street and is made up of a line of 5 buildings, all converted into lovely prayer/ tablet rooms.

Besides leaving with a heavy smell of incense clinging to my clothes, skin and hair, I did some research and discovered some interesting facts;

• See Yup means "four districts", after the area in Guangdong (Canton) that members came from
• it is a Buddhist - Taoist temple
• it was build in 1856 by the See Yup Society through compulsory donations
• South Melbourne was once known as Emerald Hill
• there are 13,000 memorial tablets on display

main entrance to See Yup temple

Flitter's Burial

In my 2011 blog titled Tribute to Flitter, I say good bye to the best pet chicken.  Here I share photo's of her burial.

Flitter going to the Vet

Flitter's final 'resting place' in the front yard

Chinese New Year will be upon us soon and Melbourne is busy celebrating with street festivals!

Last weekend Ant and I were on our way to Ikea in Richmond when the GPS told us there was a traffic obstruction in the road, did we want to choose an alternate route?

We answered Yes, and as we took the detour we noticed a section of Victoria Street was closed off and there was loud music, yummy smelling smoke and fire crackers!

The many many MANY Asian faces clued us in that it was an Asian festival - lunar festival for New Year!!

So after driving around for what seemed like ages, we found a park which was close enough and walked back to Victoria Street to join in the festivities.

This was taken at Footscray Market - Chinese characters on apples!

pork wrapped in betel leaf

the crowd

Next on the Festival 'calendar' is another street festival at Box Hill tomororw.  That's my Saturday plans taken care of!

Lyn in HK

Lyn is in HK and I am very jealous of the all the food, cheap shopping and sightseeing she must be doing.

She inboxed me on FB and practically wrote an essay.  Most of the places she mentioned are spots that Ant and I went to during our honeymoon there...

Lyn is staying with her friend's family in Yau Ma Tei (coincidentally, this is where Ant and I stayed as well!).  This is what she has to say;

The apartment is decent size. Has a small kitchen (but we are never in it except to use the fridge and the washing machine.

Has a lounge and dining area with tv. 2 bedrooms (potentially sleeps 5 people, 6 if someone uses the couch) and a bathroom.

Its right near Yau Ma Tei station.

HK is AMAZING! I would def come back.

I've done some shopping, DisneyLand yesterday. Shenzhen, China - we just went to the shopping centre, that was it. I bought a mustard mulberry bag and a rado watch. All fake of course. Spent about $100 Aussie - which im content with. And yes i bargained! HEAPS!

They initially wanted 750rmb for the bag and i got it for $350.

And the watch they originally wanted 680, i got that one done to 350 too!

They make you feel so bad though, they are all like, OH IM LOSING MONEY HERE. *eye roll* As if!

China was pretty stinky though, the shopping centre smelt like a bar! And it was like a labyrinth of shops!

Also, had Chinese Yum Cha. I tried Chicken feet & congeeled pigs blood! (Which was recently mentioned in the Wudang book im reading!)

Then we got the first class carriage mtr back. Quickly back to the apartment and then went to the Peak (at night). Was pretty.

Would be nice to see all the greenery in the day time though (maybe next time i come here!) but the lights are magnificent!

Tomorrow I will be alone during the day. My plans are to go to Bird market in the morning (as its open from 7am - which is good cos i feel like the morning is wasted here).

Then i will mtr it to Central and go up the escalators to Soho, do some more shopping (particularly H+Ms in Central). Then around 2pm-ish meet up with everyone again and going to Mongkok to look at another H+M in Langham place, plus their other branch/line Monki.

Then to the sneaker street, as i want some converse shoes!

Tomorrow is my last day as i leave mid-day on Friday.

Anything u particularly want?

Such a silly question!  I want everything of course!

Caribean Market

On Sunday Ant drove Lyn and I to the Caribean Market in Scoresby.  It was his brilliant idea to go based on the good time he must have had when he went with his family in December 2010.  Note that I am being sarcastic.

Scoresby is approximately a 45minute drive from home which is quite a hike. 

It was quite boring there and nothing like Victoria Market.  For one, the market area was in a large undercover shed with four walls.  Not great for a warm day.

And it was really full.

Ant had lots of electronics to look at and Lyn bought a few DVD's.  They both bought some magazines.  I bought a bag of sugared cashews and dried liver for puppy.

Though they had a separate restaurant area, we ate hot dogs from the cart in the shed.  Whose stingy decision was that?  Ant's.

After lots of browsing - mostly me trailing behind them reluctantly - we finally decided to leave for Knox Shopping Centre just for something to do.  Knox is where I showed Lyn her first green mango.  Prior to that she claims she has never seen one.