the week

..has been eventful. first visit to koko black after gazillion years, and it was as remembered, yummiliciously sinful. there's even an online store now if anyone is interested in some indulgence :)

it was bani's birthday week. happy birthday my dear! be astounded by your coming present from us all ;)

now friday is all about coffee-ing and sweets after lecture. tried out the cafe offering flavoured hot chocs. was preety goood :) the food was disappointing though. i half suspect they were making up quality with quantity. those bruschettas were huge!

some brunetti lovin after the giant bruschettas.

followed by a night of bubblies and tipsy friends at charlie's bar :)

some viet food to sober up.

and of cuz, mart 130 brunch on sunday. was a mighty crowd of 8 today :)

leaving for gold coast in 2 weeks' time. have not started on preparing the presentation nor writing the paper. i'm procrastinating :( kick me.

Saturday Spanish Splendor

and so, our paella [pa'eʎa] dinner party was a roaring success :) sous chef rodney learned under the supervision of master chef claudio, all with wine in hand and nibbles on side.

the colourful array of mussels, chicken, capsicum, lemon, parsley, prawns, saffron, peas, calamari & cherry tomatoes made a pretty platter of paella.

game of death after yummy paella and too much wine was hilarious. these italian play cards that make remembering the suits and numbers all the more tougher did not help. funny funny stuffs :)

i've learned, if you emptied the last drop from a bottle of wine, make a silent wish, blow into the bottle and cap it. so there we go, 3 bottles of wishes to mark the awesome night :)

80808

fridays always make me happy :) the city feels so much more alive and the buzzzz!!! makes me tingle. we sought out the lill hidden street down at collins filled with its quirky shops and quaint cafes, plonked down at lorca's window bar and simply people watch as we sipped the lattes and munched the sweets.

made our way up collins street after to antica gelateria del corso for some gelato lovin. my light melon gelato rocks. there's something special about eatin ice cream during winter :)

some retail therapy before headin to dinner at some dodgy chinese dumpling restaurant whose queue stamps from the entrance to probs 5m down. and it was cold and wet out. food was pretty good but service was terrible. i wonder why customers are so crazy abt this place and keep returning. hmm.

today was spent stuffing our face with dim sums. yum cha at sharkfins restaurant :) i looovvvveee dim sums. trigger happy :)))

as i trudged home in the light drizzle, a beautiful rainbow greeted me. i continued home smiling like a silly lill girl who has a lolly :)

and so, it's 7pm and we are expectin our guests to arrive soon at our pad. paella dinner tonight!! :) expectin free flowin wine and good paella. yum~

hotpot!

our hotpot dinner on cold and windy monday night was utterly fabulous. satisfying to the max to say the least :)

little lamb was popular for its finely sliced mutton (hence the name i guess!) and boy, they were not kiddin. the mutton certainly were goooooooood. so were the rest of the ingredients :) everyone was immensely happy and raving about the spread, especially claudio and bani. they have never tried quite a few of the ingredients before. bani wasn't half impressed with the beef tripe though heh. i was :)

the very full and happy troop. myself, rie, claudio, bani, sam and clara! :)

weekend lovin~

a week has passed. weekend came and is almost gone. why does it always seems so fleeting? :( and so, this beautiful weekend was a myriad of shopping, good food, good wines, good music and great friends.

started off saturday evening with a goofed up dinner reservation which brought us to eno-teca for wine and cheese while waitin for our table at ladro. splendid spanish white coupled with a cheese platter, quince paste, raisins and sourdough bread. so good :)

finally got our table at ladro with its crisp white interior, bustling dining crowd and yummilicious aroma.

the lot. badabing, prosciutto, pizza special for the night, grilled calamari and braised beef cheek with polenta.

the food was great. i particularly lovvveeed the pizza special with calabrese salami, olives, spinach and mascarpone cheese. oooooooh. mouth watering. but we were rather disgusted with them charging us a dollar for the chilli that we requested for. just a small platter of fresh cut red chilli. hmmmm. not very wise of them, really.

headed for corner hotel after for some bone palace loving. martin's new album launch, we're all just monkeys. the booze, the crowd, the crazy monkeys dance, uncle peter, the music..all just made it an awesome night. the band totally rocked. so does their new album.

sunday as usual, was best spent lazing in bed in the late morning, only getting up for some brunch :) mart 130! i missed the place while i was away. scrambled eggs on organic sourdough bread with bacon, poached eggs on organic sourdough bread with goat's cheese, apple rhubard cake with cream and berries. yoks.

a very gooooood weekend indeed :) how was yours?