新年快樂，恭喜發財！

Day 539 - 大年初一

祝老爸生意興隆，身體健康，財運亨通！
祝老媽身體健康，事業順利，快樂無煩惱！
祝姑媽笑口常開，身體健康，馬票多多旺旺旺！
祝老弟情場得意，事業更得意，步步高升！
祝小姑身體健康，工作順利，心想事成！
祝姐夫身體，工作，樣樣好，快樂無煩惱！
祝阿姐事事如意，身體安康，天天開心！
祝庭庭快高長大，聰明伶俐！

祝大家龍年開開心心，健健康康，事事順利！

發啊！

我们的团圆饭

Day 538

I bet everyone in SG is in a holiday mood. All ready to feast on the goodies and start the mahjong marathon sessions! I'm so missing my fave cashew nuts cookies, egg rolls and kueh lapis....not to mention the non-stop seafood feasts! Last year, we had our 团圆饭 at Nobu which didn't have the correct "feel" so this year, we decided to go Pacific House which definitely has the right "feel". Awesome dinner with our Melbourne family. :)

蓮藕湯

雞肉生菜包

海鲜生菜包

XO醬炒螃蟹

黑胡椒炒螃蟹

港式蒸魚

發菜圓蹄

干貝冬菇炒菠菜

虽然吃得很饱很饱，但。。。

还是没家里吃的丰富，

没妈妈煮的好吃， 

没最爱的家人在身旁，就是不一样。。。

超想念大家！！

Eat Out - By Korea

Day 536

Mr Tan had a really long day in office today and one of his staff, D, nearly drove him nuts. Mr Tan waited in office till 7pm for D to complete a piece of work and he was so mad because he told D to get it done since 9am this morning! Oh well, welcome to Melbourne. We finally made it to dinner around 730 with Jasmine. Since Jasmine has no preference about anything and I really mean anything, it was all up to me. I had a craving for Tteokbokki so it's Korean tonight. We walked down La Trobe and popped into the first Korean restaurant we saw - By Korea. 

Tonight's menu

Tteokbokki

Seafood Pajeon

Chicken Bulgogi

Kimchi Stew

The Tteokbokki was flavourful but a little too spicy for me and even though I prefer Oriental Spoon's Tteokbokki, it still satisfied my craving for chewy rice cakes. Yum! :) As I bit into each rice cake, Mr Tan kept saying, "不知道是谁说她要减肥 hor?" Argh...I know I should be avoiding carbos but it's just so irresistibleeeeeeeee!

The Chicken Bulgogi looks huge but looks are deceiving. The bulk of the dish was made up of vegetables and only the top layer was chicken. That being said, it was still a good dish with the right amount of spiciness. This was the only dish that we finished, not sure if it's because there was so little chicken or we were just too hungry for meat!

Both the pajeon and stew were disappointing. There was too much flour and not enough egg for the pajeon and it was bland and kinda tasteless. The stew wasn't to our liking either. Perhaps we ordered the wrong dishes tonight but I doubt we'll be returning to give it another chance.

搭飞机过来的祝福！

Day 534

两张贺年片。。装满了大家的祝福。。

 

 

Thank you Papa Goh! I know it's your idea! 

Although it might be my 宝贝姑妈 who bought the stamps and posted it...haha..

Gin's Kitchen - Simplified Korean Army Stew (Budae Jjigae)

Day 533

Mr Sun is finally back at work! After disappearing for the whole of last week, he has returned with a vengeance these 2 days. It has been Hot HOt HOT. The weather in Melbourne is so erratic that I reckon it must be a "she". It's impossible to predict her mood swings. She can be bright and sunny in the day but when night falls, she's unforgivingly cold and harsh. But she's finally warming up with temperatures rising to the thirties (this week at least) so it's time for me to start looking for summer recipes! I definitely won't be cooking this stew again anytime soon. :) 

Ingredients
- 3 hotdogs
- 1 packet of assorted Japanese mushrooms (enoki, oyster, shitake, trumpet)
- 1 block of silken tofu
- Kimchi (bought from Asian Grocer)
- Spring onions
- Bean sprouts
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons of Gochujang
- 2 teaspoons of Knorr chicken powder

Directions
1. Cut the mushrooms, tofu, spring onions and hotdogs into smaller pieces and place them all into a pot
2. Add Gochujang, chicken powder and enough water to cover all the ingredients to the pot and bring it to a boil
3. Once it's boiling, turn the heat down and give it a gentle stir
4. Add in the eggs and continue to stir gently for 1-2 minutes for the eggs to be cooked and it's done!

 

 
It's a simplified version as I omitted the rice cakes and noodles which are usually added. It isn't as spicy as we wanted it to be because I didn't have any red pepper powder and for some reason, it doesn't taste like the ones we've had in Korean restaurants. Mr Tan said it could be MSG and there's no need for it to taste like the ones in the restaurants so long as it suits our taste but...I want it to taste like what we've had in the restaurant! What am I missing?

Eat Out - Ramen Ya

Day 529

Where is my summer?? It has been a cold and gloomy week. Once again, Mr Sun has gone missing and Mr Wind is in-charge. Mr Sun, your holidays are over! Even Mr Tan has been going to work everyday, it's time YOU get back to work too! The cold has made me craving for ramen and this time, we're making our way to Ramen Ya - raved by many as the BEST ramen in Melbourne. 

 

No frills set-up, bright, clean and spacious. You won't have to fight for elbow space with the diners sitting next to you. Mr Tan, having tried its ramen before, found it ok and wasn't too keen on having it again. Instead, he ordered the Chicken Curry Katsu bento box. Being my first visit, I ordered its signature dish - Charshu ramen in tonkotsu broth.

 

The noodles were cooked just right and the charshu was thin and soft. It's a good thing that they are thin but when there are so few pieces of it, I would prefer them to be thicker. I think the charshu were digested even before they could reach my small intestine! It's a pity they serve hard boiled egg instead of the soft boiled one. I didn't find the broth to be exceptional but it's definitely less salty than Ajisen's. Between Ajisen's and Ramen Ya, I would go for whichever one that has no queue. Good but not to-die-for.

Gin's Kitchen - Easy Pork Cutlet

Day 505

This is one of the easiest way to cook pork cutlets but that's because I took the easy way out. Haha. No preparation time needed becaue I bought the premarinated pack from Coles and all it took was 10 mins for dinner to be ready! Easy, fast and yummy! :)

我們的新寶貝 - 陳小龍！

Day 527

陳先生帶了一位新成員回家。。。。

*掌聲歡迎*

超級無敵可愛的陳小龍！

 

 

 

Eat Out - Taco Bill

Day 524

After watching Man vs Food on TLC, I was craving for some melted cheese. All the food looks so damn good and we were glad that we weren't working in the States, otherwise, we would have ballooned in no time, not to say that we've not ballooned over here. All play and no work makes Gin a FAT GIRL. We popped over to Taco Bill to satisfy my cheese craving and Mr Tan's craving for shredded beef. 

We got these "No Peeking Envelopes" which contain mystery prizes after dining there in December and we were really excited to see what we've won. Mr Tan got a "one-for-one main" while I got a $20 food and drinks voucher! Yippie! Dinner only came up to be $11 for the 2 of us! *happy*happy*happy*

 

Lobbbbbbbster Salad!

Day 522

Jiaqi and Shenton are back from New Zealand and we went for brunch together at Cafe Sweethearts. They were full of praise for New Zealand, beautiful scenery, hardworking and friendly people and the amazing tandem diving experience. I'm kicking myself for not doing it the last time we were there, I should have done it, even if that means being stuck to Allison for those few hours. *kick*kick*kick* If I ever go New Zealand again, I'll DEFINITELY do it. After brunch, we went grocery shopping and picked up these 2 cheap lobsters from Woolworths. Sadly, 1 of them wasn't fresh. 好想念新加坡的上湯焗龍蝦,，咸蛋龍蝦和龍蝦粥！

 

 

Happy New Year!

Day 520

Happy New Year! We're back!

Had a great time swimming with the fishes in the Great Barrier Reef, 

Had an awesome time watching the stunning fireworks in Sydney, 

Had a terrific time people-watching and tanning on Bondi Beach.

Love the sun, love the sea, love my tan!

Life's goooooooood!

It's gonna be another exciting year! :) Woohoo~~