Melbourne

During my trip to Australia in October-November, I visited a few different places but Melbourne was the place that I stayed in between and also spent the rest of my trip. Most people who have been there would know about the unpredictable weather. I don't really like the cold weather but the temperatures in Melbourne were not as damn cold as Hanoi because the humidity is quite low.

This trip I feel was very special as it was the second time and I was invited out for dinner a lot by my friend's relatives. I was a bit lazy after the trip and with the blogging. But, once again, I would like to thank them all in this post. I may have missed out someone and please forgive me.

I would like to show my special appreciation to Liz, Mark's mother who took care of me for most of the time when I was in Melbourne and also joined the beautiful trip to Tassie. Liz also arranged quite a few different parties to welcome, farewell and for other reasons. I really enjoyed her famous lasagne, one of the best dishes I've had.

Sarah and Chris' family is the second to thank as I went to their house many times for dinner. Sarah is a great cook and she can use her talents to cook even the left overs into a beautiful meal. I was really impressed about her food and her food's presentation. I enjoyed your food and great company of your family especially Harvey, Eden and Rosie. They are gorgeous.

The third family is Catherine's, Liz's sister. Yes, I love your old house and the Greek meal which reminded me heaps about Greece and was a nice way to remember meeting Cathy and her family in Santorini in 2008. The grilled lamb, salad and dessert was delicious. Thanks alot for the great evening and funny stories about the Melbourne Cup and Nana. Just loved it !!!

Emma, Mark's cousin, and her friend Bec travelled around Vietnam at the end of 2008 and this was such a great chance to catch up again and remind each other about some funny stories about riding on the back of the motorbike and being a bit drunk at parties. Thanks Emma, Sam, Luke, Gerry, Damian and their friends that gave me a memorable dinner with beautiful food and wine. Sam is such a gentlemen and really loved his design of the house.

Megan, yes, how can I forget about you:). Thanks for the BBQ and great time with your friends. Lisa was very nice and hilarious plus the special discount I got from her work. I do appreciate it very much. Also I would like to thank John who allowed me to stay down there in Anglesea. I can't believe how quickly Angus and Myee have grown up. I was very impressed about your family's zoo. John freaked me out when he showed me the huge lizard. Very warm family atmosphere!!!!

Special memory for me was the lady with the saucy beige hair, that's Nana. I love her hair color and her old house. It was really nice seeing Nana again and spending time at Crown but hope we are luckier next time.

Thanks all once again for having me and giving me such a great time and looking forward to seeing you again very soon.

Short Break

After a short flight(Jetstar) from Melbourne to Sydney, I realized that I had forgotten my Ipod on the plane. I couldn't get it back when I talked to the official at Sydney airport. I was a bit disappointed after calling them a few times and they kept telling me that they will call back but it never happened, which is pretty bad service. Anyway, as people say," Shit happens".

However, we arrived in Melbourne and decided to take the skybus to the city then a train to my friend's house. It's unbelievable that the train system in Melbourne is so bad, with most of the trains running late and changes to the timetable without informing customers. We were waiting at Southern Cross station for a train which was delayed 10 to 15 mintues and when we got on the right one, after the first station, they announced that the train was going to a different destination. We had to get out to change trains with many other people and we were then late for my friend's birthday party. Most people seemed very upset about the hopeless system but what can we do?

So we arrived at Sarah and Chris' birthday party 1 hour late. Anyway, their party was held at The Mill Bar and Restaurant which is located in the city centre. This is such a beautiful bar and they served delicious food. As it was quite busy after a big horse race, we had few drinks at the bar then went up to the second floor for dinner. Among other things, we ordered freshly shucked oysters with soy and lemon shallot vinaigrette, sumac rolled pork belly with roasted apple mash, onion proscuitto relish and jus, braised ham hock risotto with tomato, gruyere and parsley, Atlantic salmon fillet on steamed bok choi chilli and cumin pickled corrots, Black Angus eye fillet with horseradish mash, beetroot pickle and red wine jus and Roquette, roasted corn, grana padano and white balsamic vinaigrette for a side dish. For dessert, we had dark chocolate brownie with salted peanut caramel, hazelnut tuille and Swiss, orange and almond pudding with spiced syrup, vanilla anglaise and rhubarb ice cream. We had no complaints about food in this restaurant as it tasted so good, was beautifully presented and the staff made some great recommendations.

Thanks to Sarah and Chris for inviting us to join their happy event and I look forward to many more events to come in the future. Happy belated birthday to you guys.

Australia, Welcome Back!!!

After a long flight which stopped in Kuala Lumpur, I finally have arrived in Melbourne to start my 5 weeks holiday. This is my second time in Australia but I feel like it's the first time as I haven't been back here since 2005. Everything looks familiar but I need to restart my brain again to make sure which places I've been to. I don't think I will have any trouble here as Australia is such a multi-cultural country and people seem very friendly and easy going. I spent half a day shopping for winter clothes today in Melbourne as it's a bit too cold for me. Shopping here in Melbourne is not really expensive as they have many options plus spring is almost over so tthe warm clothes prices are down quite low but some brands are still very expensive such as Kathmandu...

In the afternoon, I went to my friend's sister's house for dinner. She cooked beautiful pasta and stired fried asparagus with lemon and pepper. It was so yummy but I need to behave myself so I didn't eat alot :). I was very surprised that the food in OZ is not that expensive, veggies and meat as well are cheap. There are many things much cheaper than in Vietnam especially WINE!!!!! I love wine and a decent bottle ranges from AU$6 up to Au$15. If you buy 6 bottles you can get 30% off and of course, we bought 6 bottles on the first day. It sounds like I am an alcoholic! I think that because there are lots of wineries in Australia, they need to be competitive in price which is good for the local people including me:).

Anyway, I better stop here and get into bed for my 3 day trip to Sydney tomorrow morning. I hope I have enough time to make my noodles for breakfast before I leave. I also will try to spend some time in between to publish some photos and ideas about my trip.