$10 Discount Voucher for takeaway

Received an email from Menulog regarding a $10 discount offer for all GVIM visitors... details below.

I have used Menulog from time to time to search for restaurant but not for takeaway so far...

There is a few restaurants in my area that deliver.... Cafe Saigon, Gurkhas. Hmm might give it a go in the future.

Discount voucher details:

• Menulog Restaurant Delivery Guide has 20,000+ restaurants.


• You can order home delivery online (600+ restaurants)


• Get $10 off on your first delivery order using this voucher code: 847442

Note:

• Available for participating restaurants only (which display the “accepts vouchers”) sign


• All GVIM visitors can use this on their first order on participating restaurants


• Used for a minimum purchase of $20


• Valid until November 2009.

Living

Between working, travelling, starting a business, entertaining and sleep, there's not much time to blog.... So I've reverted to Twitter to provide this blog with updates, where ever I am.... Bear with me!! I will complete a proper post before the year is through!! xxx.

Follow me @Kazmic

Can Do Approach - Epicure Espresso (Updated)

I cannot wait to go to Brown & Do in Albert Park! It is the new restaurant from Browns Bakeries' owner - Greg Brown and his former colleague Theo Do. It will be a French-Vietnamese place for about 35 people.

I haven't been able to google where it is exactly.. All I know for now is that it is opening this Friday!

Anyone that can provide me with more info, please let me know!! In any case, planning to go there next week :)

*Read the Epicure Espresso Article
*About Greg Brown

29 January 2009 Update: My husband and I visited Brown & Do yesterday and found it refreshing. We loved our entrees and thought the mains were good. In my opinion though, they are still working out the French-Vietnamese fusion concept as I felt our meals were either more French or more Asian. I guess I expected more raw / cooked vegetables... more fish sauce...more sweetness... which are typical of Southern Vietnamese flavours. Service is friendly and the atmosphere is Parisian cafe.

I also have to say, I like Albert Park, what a beautiful little suburb. Make me think of Hayes Street in San Francisco.

Brown & Do
166 Bridport Street
Albert Park
(03) 9699 8969

In search for great Restaurants in Tokyo

We're planning a holiday in March to Tokyo for a few nights. I've already sent an reservation email to Seryna Shinjuku for dinner. Hopefully I get a confirmation :)

Other restaurants I'm looking at are:

• Kanda, Minato-Ku for a Kaiseki dinner (Alteka Plaza 2F, Harajuku, 1-13-19 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku (00 81 3 5414 6561).
• Kobe Fuwatorohonpe for okonomiyaki (Manei Satobuilding 1F, 1-14-3 Ebisunishi, Shibuya-ku (00 81 3 3770 0816)
• Tempura Ten-ichi for tempura in Ginza (00 81 3 3571 1949)
• Sukiyabashi Jiro for sushi in Ginza 03-35352600

In my research, I came across a really interesting article:

• Land of the rising stars - Take a look.It talks about Michelin-starred restaurants in Tokyo and how some fantastic restaurants are quite exclusive and probably not even known to the Michelin judges.

Without booking, I also hope to rock up for sushi around Tsukiji Fish Market; go to a local izakaya; maybe eat at an onsen tea house. We haven't confirmed where we're staying yet. But it will be either Shinjuku or Roppongi. I am hoping Roppongi actually. It's just so much more homey and so much more trendy.

Apart from Omotesando, I have been told that I should go to Daikanyama as well for shopping. There are many smaller Japanese boutiques there... I'm hoping to see something that I've never seen before :)

Wishing you a fantastic weekend!

Happy New Year!

Finally some Summer weather!!

I just want to wish everyone a Happy and Productive New Year!

My motto this year is "Simple Life" - less consumerism and more naturalism perhaps.

Happy eating and drinking to all!!

Back for good!

Sorry for the absence. I have been struggling with what I wanted to get out of this blog and how I wanted to position this blog, in relation to other blogs; in relation to my life, my time. Under the encouragement of my husband and a close friend, I’ve decided to re-establish this blog for you.

The new focus will be on providing recommendations on the eateries, wines, dishes and recipes that I love, not only from Melbourne but also from other cities that I will be visiting. Life is too short to not eat and drink well.

One of the struggles in my daily life is finding the perfect this, the perfect that…

Hopefully this blog will assist you in making the choice of where and what to eat and drink a little easier.

Best regards,
Kazmic

Spanish Feast

One of my good friend loves throwing dinner parties. The effort that she exerted conjures up images of superheroes multi-tasking. There were many dishes that drew "Wow"s and "Ohhh"s. We had a variety of homemade tapas - simple yet delicious.

I made the chicken paella in a Scanpan.

Plenty of white wine and red wine based Sangria to let the teeth have a break.

Dessert were decadent fruit kebabs and sugar dusted churros with Lindt chocolate from the awesome chocolate fountain.

Envious right!

Full Tummy

Although I've been to a few fantastic restaurant, I have not been able to review them here as I've just been swamped at work. Well I think I'm just not used to working so hard, having been in semi-retirement for 6 months.... It shows.. and I envy the younger people around me... *sigh*....

Instead of full reviews, I thought I would blog a little about the notably ones that I've been to lately:

Da Noi

Oh my gosh, what great food.... Although we didn't go for the degustation, which is a menu of 4 dishes, we really enjoyed our roast pork loin and perfectly grilled pork chop. I had the pork chop, so I can tell you in detail, how juicy it is and so full of flavour. It's not a good idea to go early as they were still preparing the menu and preparing some of the slow-cook dishes when we arrived at 6pm. We had to, as we didn't make a booking... We had lovely entrees as well, I had a kingfish carppachio and antipasto. Absolutely tasty. It's charming how they write out the menu by hand everyday... It's like eating at someone's house... someone who cooks well.... I think there are a lot of regulars there as many come through the door and are greeted by their first name... Nice personal touch. Definitely worth going again. Maybe next time I will be brave enough to try the degustation menu :P

Da Noi

95 Toorak Road

South Yarra

03 9866 5975

J-Cafe

The days that this place is open is erratic and I am absolutely madden by it. But finally we went there when it was opened and loved it. They have this fantastic original dish called Mentaigo udon (in soup)... Some of you may know that I absolutely adore mentaigo.. and of course I had to order this.... Mentaigo in soup taste very milky... and it's an interesting taste with udon... like having udon in savoury milk tea...weird but it's actually really nice! They also have the "sushi burger" which is only available there. It's basically rice paddies with your choice of filling, i.e. tempura, beef paddy, deep fried fish, chicken fillet, teriyaki chicken, crab croquette, grilled beef (Yakiniku), spicy tuna, and the list goes on.... The dinner set is good value, at around $20. I ate too much, yet again, need to cut down.. or I'm not going to fit into my suits anymore....

J-Cafe

167 Exhibition Street

Melbourne

03 9650 9877

Have been copying successfully Murasaki's miso pork hot pot....it is unbelievable how miso can go so well with pork! Delicious!

Have I blogged this already?? I will leave it here for now.. I will hopefully blog more before we leave for our belated honeymoon....

US Flavoured Cola

A few nights ago I picked up a package from my mum's house.. All the information that I initially got from mum was that the box stated that the content were cans. I knew straight away what they were... My friend from US sent me cherry coke!!!!

But instead of finding one type of cherry coke, I found Summer Mix Pepsi, Jazz Caramel Cola, Jazz Strawberry and Cream Cola, Cherry Coke, Wild Cherry coke, Cherry 7-Up and Cherry Dr. Pepper. Can you imagine, my excitment!!! I was really overwhelmed and very touched by the present...
My husband and I really love it. We had the Pepsi Wild Cherry and the Strawberry Cream Coke last night with our take away. Between these two I like the Pepsi Wild Cherry better :)
Thank you thank you, Pat!!!!!! I absolutely love the fantastic surprise!

Cosy Dinner

Having a rare home-cook dinner with my husband is always a treasured time for me.

Last month, we bought some inexpensive wagyu steaks from Fuji Mart in Prahran and made a nice little dinner out of it... I made miso soup with lots of egg tofu and seaweed, and one of our favourite desserts - vanilla bean pannacotta (recipe from Maurizio Terzini's "Something Italian" with golden syrup and pistacchio persian floss.

My little Melbourne

Photos from around where I work and IMAX / Exhibition Building where we watched Harry Potter in 3D. Beautiful huh!

Bread Making

At the recent Myer sale, I bought a pop corn maker as well as a bread maker. I've been baking various loaves of bread since then... trying to perfect the recipe. I've also started making rolls as well. Next time I want to try making baguette...

What am I up to these days…

I’ve had a cold for 2 weeks now.. even after trying every over-the-counter medicine under the sun. Surprisingly the only times when I felt better were when I saw my Oestopath and my Naturopath for my remedial massage. My remedial massage was just last Friday… and after that she gave me a remedy that required me to take the evil tasting liquid 3 times a day until I got better. I saw that she put elderflower liquid into it.. but where is it?? Where is the elderflower aroma or taste???

On the gastronomical front. We haven’t been to any new place.. just our regular haunts like Kenzan and Murasaki. We went to Rockpool again for Michael’s birthday. We didn’t have the wagyu this time and was seated inside next to the open kitchen, which was very entertaining. They cook the steaks very simply by covering it with olive oil and sea salts then straight onto the open wood fire. We had the wagyu leg steak and 33 days aged 200g sirloin. Our entrees were fantastic. I had the Spicy Seafood and Saffron Soup with Aioli, while Michael had the Lobster, Avocado and Zucchini Salad with Hazelnut and Lime Foam. There are still so many dishes we want to try there. It is quickly becoming one of our favourite restaurants.

We also went to Red Emperor for my father-in-law’s birthday on Sunday. Their food and service is always impressive. Just bring a jacket as the air-con can be vicious.

Yumcha on Sunday morning at Tai Pan with Wil and family. H is such a cute baby.

My cousin is on tour in Japan…. Lucky lucky girl…. I’m sure my travel advice emails to her have a hint of envy in them…. I miss the food in Japan!!!

Despite reviews from friends, I’ve decided to grab a booking at Vue De Monde in July. We will see how that goes…

More later..

Dancing Bonito Flakes

We took a photo of the dancing bonito flakes on top of our Agedashi Tofu at Torimatsu, for my ex-colleague, because she missed it so much. Now she has a copy on her mobile!

Hmm yum my favourite - Teriyaki Salmon Don at Torimatsu.

Torimatsu Japanese Restaurant
179 King Street
Melbourne
03 9670 9683

Weekend Weather - Dry

It's Michael's Dad's 60th this May... We are racking our brains re: what special present we can get for him. Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

Went to have yumcha BY MYSELF on Sunday (everyone was busy doing something else) at Oriental Tea House on Lt Collins Street. This probably prompted me to go on a shopping spree on Sunday.. felt so bad when I faced Michael afterwards... He is in shock about how much I spent...

But I finally bought my popcorn machine, a bread maker a jacket, a skirt, a necklace, a pair of matching earrings, glitter cherry blossom body wash and honey cleansing milk (from L'Occitane as there was a $5 special off every $50 you spend until 30 April plus gift if you spend over $65) and a Mouche handbag.... (Myer and David Jones were on sale....)

Oh yes and I bought some biscuits from Cavallini... (^^;)

I had fun...

I found out today that two of my colleagues would have loved to come with me for yumcha. Oh well next time.

Happy Belated Easter!!

I haven't had such fun for a long time!

I rushed into Easter with all these things that I had planned to do, and ended with a whole line-up of other events... Surprisingly, because of these events I have some of the most unforgettable moments that I will store for the rest of my life...

This Easter break started with a warm Thursday evening out with friends, which I have already blogged. We went to Omah's and had great desserts. It is always enjoyable to catch up with friends over good wine and good food.

For Easter Good Friday, we went out for my Sister-In-Law’s birthday with Michael's family at Sung's Kitchen near the Victoria Market. This is the quirkiest Chinese restaurant that I've been to. The decoration is bright without being unbearable. There was a lot of pastel orange being used. It felt like someone's dining room that so happens to look out on to a side street. If you reserve a table, you will be greeted with a cute little handicraft reservation tab with your name on it. Then there are the bonsai plants, lovingly grown by the owner, that welcomes you on each table. I would have loved to show you photos of what we ate but just didn't think of it at the time. Here is a run down on what we ordered:

Double-Boiled Chicken Wonton Soup
Rare Beef Fillet with Vegetables
Cantonese Braised Duck with Bakchoi
Chili Atlantic Crabs
Garlic stir-fried Chinese Broccoli
Red Bean Fried Pancake
Sesame pearls in Almond Broth
Pumpkin Sticky Rice Cake (Complimentary)

Most of the dishes were very tasty, especially the ones highlighted in purple. Sung’s also has very interesting teas available. We ordered a delicious jasmine pearl tea, which was very aromatic and calming. They also have a wide range of Asian rice wine, if you’re walking home. Yumcha is available as well.

On Saturday morning, two girlfriends, their little girls and I had brunch at Sail on the Bay on Elwood Park... Unfortunately, with the kids in tow we were told off that we were making too much noise - Oops! The breakfast is ordinary ( I even found a small piece of egg shell in my poached eggs :( ) but the view is fantastic. I had so much fun playing on the beach with the girls… They are just adorable… I get to practice my limited Japanese with them as well. Great teachers!

Saturday Brunch at Elwood Park

After that, I began my preparation for my Taiwanese dinner at home. Three friends were coming over to taste my home cuisine. Thankfully, I am less nervous than before about cooking for people. I guess my confidence is growing.

My Taiwanese Menu

Taiwanese Grilled Garlic Sausages
Steamed Salmon Fillet with Skin
Garlic and Ginger Baby Spinach
Tempura Shitake Mushrooms with Tetsuya's Truffle Salt
Egg, Spring Onion and Seaweed Soup
Chili Soya Pipies

Gulf Station Pinot Noir 2006 (Provided by Dave)

Spare - Salty Egg Stir-Fried Prawn Butterflies (too much food so I cooked it to save for M and my dinner on Sunday.

The tempura shitake mushrooms with Tetsuya’s truffle salt was the outstanding dish if I say so myself! The trick is to use a mix of plain flour and okonomiyaki flour mix, cooled in the fridge. Also dip the mushrooms in corn starch before dipping into the batter, this will allow the corn starch to absorb any water in the mushrooms so you won’t get splatter.

Late late Sunday brunch was at Mart 130. I love this place, so easy to get to and so many parking spaces. Time just passes so slow in Mart 130. I swear we spent about 3 hours there having breakfast, waiting for our friends to arrive, watching them eat and chit-chat. After we filled our belly, we headed off to Monards to see what watch bargains we could find. Unfortunately, for Michael, the watches that he wanted were snapped up minutes after we arrived. “Well,” I reassured him “if there are so many people who have the watch, then it’s not that special after all, isn't it”.

Sunday Brunch at Mart 130

After having nothing to buy… we headed off to Yarra Valley for Bella Vedre at Badger’s Brook. Although we were too late for lunch, we met the owner of Cafe Di Stasio who suggested that we go to Medhurst, a new winery and cafe created by Mr. Wilson and his family.

Before Medhurst, we stopped off at Coldstream Winery to buy our Limited Reserve Pinot Noir and Reserve Merlot. Both wonderful treats for special occasions.

At Medhurst, we had long chats with Mr. Wilson about each wine on offer and we had a lovely afternoon "tea" there with olives, toasted turkish bread, smooth blue cheese, camerbert, chedder, crackers, capsicum and pine nuts spread, and BLT sandwich. Having enjoyed such wonderful hospitality, we bought seven bottles of wine, every one exquisite and made with passion and attention to detail.

Monday morning was the long-awaited yumcha with my girlfriends at Tai Pan Chinese Restaurant. My goodness.. What have I been missing going to the city places for yumcha. There were so many yumcha dishes that I haven’t had for ages and they are absolutely divine! Bring on the turnip pastry, bring on the steamed turnip cake, and bring on the silken sweet tofu with rock sugar and ginger syrup! In the end, the bill came to just under $20 per person - what a bargain! Thinking of going every week, LOL.

Instead of Sunday night, because they had other commitments, we went to Michael’s parents’ house on Monday. We were told in advance that we were having home-made Vietnamese spring rolls, which we rolled ourselves. The condiment was sweetened fish sauce (ngoc nam) with crushed and roasted peanuts. Delicious! Ending a long weekend with a warm and full stomach.

Monday Yumcha at Tai Pan / Home-Made Vietnamese Rice Rolls Dinner

Sung’s Kitchen

1180 Franklin Street
Melbourne
03 9329 2636

Summary
Food: Interesting Mix-Region Chinese Cuisine
Top Dish: Double-Boiled Chicken Soup
Atmosphere: Cozy and colourful
Service: Friendly and attentative.
Booking: Essential especially for dinner.

Sails On the Bay
15 Elwood Foreshore
Elwood
03 9525 6933

Tai Pan Chinese Restaurant
239 Blackburn Rd
Doncaster East
03 9841 9977

Summary
Food: Quality Cantonese Cuisine
Top Dish: White Turnip Pastry for Yumcha
Atmosphere: Noisy and crowded
Service: Efficient
Booking: Recommended (especially for yumcha)

Mart 130
107a Canterbury Road
Middle Park
03 9690 8831

Summary
Food: Variety of Australian Breakfast
Top Dish: Corn Frittas with Avocado salsa
Atmosphere: Country Cottage / Playschool
Service: Friendly and helpful
Booking: Not essential

Subsequent Wine Tasting Sessions

Wine Tasting Session 2

Last week, we went throw 10 different wines and without much in our stomachs, the whole class was pretty chirpy by 9pm. We seriously went overtime last week. Anyways, here are the top picks of the night:

1. Houghton Riesling 2002 – Straw in colour. On the nose, mushroom, honey and gooseberry. On the palate, toasty, woody, herbaecious with a caramel toffee after taste.
   Vasse Felix (Partly Oaked) Semillion 2005 – Straw in colour. On the nose, pine nuts, lemon, passionfruit and spices. On the palate, woody, nutty, acidic and lemony. Simple little wine.
2. Jim Barry Cover Drive Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 – Dark red / purple in colour with full rim and core. On the nose, herbaceous, earthy, spicy and plumy. On the palate, plums, fruity, a bit of tannin, delicate with a long finish.
3. Glaetzer Bishop Shiraz 2005 – Dark red core and rim. Vanilla, plums, black pepper and herbs on the nose. Tasty chocolate, plums and tannins.
4. Red Edge Shiraz 2005 – Dark red core, with lighter rim. Berries, zucchini, oregano and nuts on the nose. Granny-smith apples, spicy nutmeg with a long finish.

For dinner, we went to Torimatsu for a quick and simple Japanese.

Wine Tasting Session 3

Most of the wines at yesterday’s session I loved… and lucky for us, we tried various wines from Australia and Europe – 12 in all. Here are the ones I loved:

1. Bollini Pinot Grigio 2005 – Straw in colour, tropical pineapple and citric on the nose with spells of unriped pears. A little sweet on the palate with a hint of honey, under-riped fruits, mango lemon tannins and a good length.
2. Scorpo Pinot Gris 2006 – Pale straw with a pink tinge in colour, citric with a hint of honey and tobacco on the nose. On the palate, tastes of seaweed and moss, with apricot acidity. Soft and sweet, rounded with a good length.
3. Hugel Gewurztraminer 2004 – Deep straw in colour. On the nose, honey, tropical fruits, floral, lycee and rose water. On the palate, notes follow through with tannin and nutty.
4. Redbank The Widow Jones Viognier 2006 – Deep straw. On the nose, citrus, nutmeg, apricot kernel, moss and capsicum,. On the palate, dried apricots, a hint of spices, dry with a good dose of tannic acids.
5. Turkey Flat Rose 2006 – Light ruby red in colour. On the nose, apple, vanilla, honey, fruity, nutmeg, of the forest smells. On the palate, a little sweet, earthy, with swirls of cherry, strawberries. Lolly lolly lolly.
6. Pizzini Sangiovese 2005 – Browny red with deep core. On the nose, spicy, peppery, leather with notes of plums and clay. On the palate, spicy, acidic, dry. Need food with it.
7. Telmo Rodriguez Tempranillo Rioja 2005 – Ruby red with deep core. On the nose, petrol, fungus and rare salmon skin. On the palate, dried orange skin, woody, with a candy floss after taste.
8. Fire Block Old Vine Grenache 2002 – Red with even core and rim. On the nose, spicy and peppery, with a hint of cooked tomatoes. On the palate, a little sweet, spicy, swirls of dried prunes and burnt taste.
9. Stanton & Killeen Rutherglen Durif 2002 – Browny-red with deeper core. On the nose, chocolate, mushroom, hazelnut, meeting with a hint of spice. On the palate, a little sweet with cherry taste, dark chocolate, sultanas and a little spicy.
   

• Interesting information:
  - Out of the white wines, Marsanne, Semillion and Riesling can be cellared while the rest should be drunk young.
  - Sometimes when the wine is sweet on the palate, it means that the grapes have been left longer on the vine.
  - Durif is often known as Petit Shiraz because of it’s spicy notes.

Afterwards, we went to Grill’d in Windsor and ordered my usual Simply Grill’d with Cheese on a Multi-Grain Bun and Herb Chips.

* The world is in mourning for Virginia Tech – How could they have let this happen….”

Touching

I've never cried so much at some one's wedding! May's wedding was just wonderful especially her speech and her mother's speech. It's really touching to see how much they love each other. It's also amazing to see when someone is so brave as to bare their soul to 90+ people with such warmth and honestly. No matter what happens, we will be there for you, May!

The Wedding Luncheon was held at Butleigh Wootton, an elegant mansion reception in Kew. Although simple, the lunch was actually quite interesting. I'm not a huge fan of Hardy's wines but it was pleasant with the food.

Menu Selection

Duck breast

marinated in mirin soy, ginger, and garlic with spinach, bean shoots, wild mushrooms and a Japanese style dressing

Fillet of Atlantic Salmon

with a minted pea mash, roasted fennel, crispy pancetta and truffle oil dressing

or

Eye fillet of beef

served on a thyme potato roesti with caramelised shallots, crispy beetroot, spinach and a classic red wine jus

Wedding Cake

served with cream,berries and coulis

Freshly percolated coffee, tea, port and chocolates

I thought the duck breast was a bit bland but Hubby loved it. We both had the Atlantic Salmon as we were intrigued by the truffle oil :P and not particularly by the beetroot. The wedding cake was a moist cherry chocolate cake which I devoured along with the berries and cream. Unfortunately, I didn't see the port before the MC announced that we had to get out before the next event at BW starts that evening.

Time really passes quickly when you're having fun. I guess for any weddings, you would want your guest to want to linger and stay until the end. This wedding was like that, it was 4:30pm before we knew it and we had to leave. Just a nice Saturday afternoon for a honest and hearth-felt wedding...

300 with Popcorn at IMAX

Any excuse to tie my review of the movie, 300, with anything culinary so that I can put it on this blog! :) But I have to say, the popcorn at IMAX was the best I've had in awhile - just popped buttery goodness with just the right amount of salt. For those who know me, they know that I'm very picky with my popcorn as it is one of my favourite "foods". Remember those Nuts about Crunchynut Cornflake ads? My obsession with popcorn nearly runs as deep as those "Nuts". In fact, I liked it so much that, for the first time, I actually took it with me out of the cinema. It was fate as I later found out.

After we left IMAX last Thursday, Kevin and his fiancee were in Richmond and they called to meet up for dinner. Somewhere easy and quick. Kevin said that he would have been happy with just popcorn... I smiled and mentally noted to remember to pass him my popcorn later. So in the end, we decided to meet back in the city and went to Hawker's Cafe on Russell Street. My friends had their Ba Kut De with rice (Malaysian dish of pork ribs and tofu medicinal soup and Curry chicken with egg on rice, I had their Bee Hun Soup (basically vermicelli with crab cakes, fried shallots and vegetables). It's okay... Not as authentic as Penang Coffee House in Hawthorn or Nonya in Carlton.

What I meant to say after all that was I highly recommend 300.... I adored the movie... the cinematography, the passion, strength and bravery of the characters, and the music. The movie really gets you fired up about fighting for a righteous cause in one's life. Not only were the men strong in this movie, women were strong as well. Fearless... I want to be fearless and strong.

Go and watch 300 when it comes out.


Hawker's Cafe
213 Russell Street
Melbourne
03 9662 1867

IMAX
Melbourne Museum
Rathdowne Street
Carlton
03 9663 5454

PS. Happy April Fools Day!

Becoming a Housewife

Becoming a housewife, the first step is to have a Tupperware party! Well, I love having people over, so it's just my excuse to have a few of my girlfriends here for a gourmet afternoon tea. In the end, I think the pretence of Tupperware wasn't really a good idea, as some people have an aversity to it, as I found out. As I don't have any tupperware, it was really for my sister and I to start and complete our collection.

Yvonne, my Tupperware demonstrator was fantastic. She was easy going and socialable. She demonstrated how to bake a chocolate mud cake in the microwave using their bake-easy range in 10 minutes. Well 15 because we overestimated the watt of my microwave. After that, I just thought how housewife-like this all feels!

Halfway through the product demonstration, we finished our bottle of Moet & Chandon Vintage Brut . It was great for my afternoon tea spread of antipasto, pannini bread slices, raw carrot sticks, smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches, Sis's mini scones with strawberry jam and cream, fresh strawberries, grapes, mild blue cheese. crackers and a camenbert. We had daiquiri, orange juice and opened a bottle of red wine which my sister, Yuki and I finished that off before we left..... We were soooo satisfied... I think I will organise afternoon tea more often!

Yuki gave me a present from Japan that day - a Sakura-themed mug and a box of sakura-shaped marshmellows from Starbucks in Japan. They are both gorgeous and I couldn't wait to use the mug! Yuki said to use it at work, hmm.. I think it's too precious for that...