While in Melbourne, Tony cooked up an amazing steak with seaweed butter. However like a true chef one does not reveal secrets of the trade. After much, much pestering he gave in however.. family secret will stay secret I promise! So after receiving that email I went in search of ingredients. Luckily it wasn’t overly exotic, Jusco stocks specialty Japanese groceries, and I found myself rushing home from work to whip up some of my own. There really is nothing like getting busy in the kitchen to get over a bad day at work. Damn butter tastes too good.

Coincidentally I bought a whole eye fillet back from Melbourne that’s been sitting in 2″ cuts in the freezer - so am now looking forward to cooking steak on Thursday to kick off the long weekend. Need to buy some potatoes, pumpkin, chives and roquette tomorrow! And plan dessert.

Mom is officially retired. On Saturday night we had a dinner with all her colleagues at Sudu in Hilton Sentral. I must say the starter/appetiser/dessert buffet is worth going for. Particularly enjoyed making my own salad - ceasar, the works with anchovies and a dash of mango oil topped off with thick Spanish sweet vinegar. Disappointed there was no blue cheese at the cheese selection but was decent enough, liked the Camembert and Brie and there was a decent sashimi/sushi bar. Also fresh seafood, crabs and the like, oysters with a self-concocted vinaigrette (oils, vinegar and mustard stolen from salad bar.. plenty to choose from) and anchoviar. Dessert section boasts Mövenpick ice cream, fresh fruit, a ton of pastries and lollies for kids. Vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries, almonds (stolen from cheese section), raspberry coulis was excellent. In fact I had so much fun putting stuff together (and eventually eating) that I had no room for my main of beef rendang and rice with mango chutney when it arrived. Anyway, my mom, I think she’s a tad relieved not to be working anymore after being in the same place for 36 years. Talk about loyal. Am excited now that she has plenty of time we’ll be able to spend more time together.

In the meantime going to dig into my Les Halles cookbook to see what I can do for Friday’s dinner.

During the trip we took a day off from the city and drove around Yarra Valley and traipsed around some wineries and had lunch at the gorgeous Tarra Warra estates. Props to Zee who refrained from drinking so we alcos could get our fill!

It’s only been week and I’ve already cracked open one of the two bottles of Peter Lehmann’s 2006 Botrytis Semillon that I brought back. I just adore this stuff! I wish I brought back more since they don’t sell this stuff here. I especially liked one particular one from the Oakridge Estate which we visited during our wine tour - the 864 Riesling. At $50 a bottle it is a tad pricey but worth every cent! No, they don’t export :(

I used to drink a lot of reds when I was younger before they started to give me terrible hangovers and the occasional headache then I started appreciating whites for more than the fact that they don’t make me feel terrible after too many but stickies are just awesome. I’d save the muscats for very casual occasions though.

Here are some pictures from that day.

Finally going through the pics from my trip. This is our last dinner in Melbourne before we came back. Awesome stuff; now if only all home-cooked dinners were like this! Or maybe not - I need to be less a blimp now! Uncle Tony & Terry are awesome, what can I say.. lucky us.. thanks for an awesome time and being the best hosts ever! Fark, I wish I wasn’t back now that I’m going through these pics again..

Chocolate, random photos and good company; not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning especially when the skies are a pretty azure. And of course, here was the real impetus:

Berry Fiesta @ San Churros ;)

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous. I wish I had more time here; Sydney is my muse.