perth: day two, three and four

So it seems I got lazy after day one and stopped blogging – so below is day two, three and four!

Day two

My second day in Perth was mostly filled with family time, napping and then a night out.

I headed over to my friend’s house for catching up and a few pre-night drinks. After a few hours of catching up chatter we moved onto the first location of the night. It had been over a year since I had headed out in Perth – and a lot has changed. With the change in the liquor licensing laws, smaller and more niche bars have blossomed – we visited one of these first. It was a cocktail bar just round the corner from my friend’s house. There was no official cocktail menu, but as long as you give the bar tender a direction (we went with ‘fruity’) you will no doubt end up with a delicious drink. We ended up with:

all I know is that marmalade was involved – and it was delicious!

The night then lead onto another bar – this time down a little alley (very Melbourne) and then onto our last destination for the night – the Bakery, where we had tickets to see Seekae – a Sydney electronic act. The Bakery fit out was amazing – with the exterior of the club being constructed with old shipping containers, at least two storeys high. The gig itself was also amazing, I’ll need to keep an eye to see whether these boys come out to Melbourne. Below is a video of one of their tunes in case you’re interested.

The night ended around 1ish as I needed to head home for some sleep before the City to Surf the next morning.

Day Three

Day three begun bright and early at 630 – so after 4 and a half hours sleep – and involved me getting ready for the run ahead. My parents dropped me and my brother at the Floreat ovals for the start of the City to Surf – we were only attempting the 4k run as my brother is new to the running scene and we didn’t want to scare him off with the 12k run. The run itself was over in only 25 minutes, but it was a fantastic start to the day – really reminded me that I should go running more often.

After a quick costume change back home (and a shower), the family headed to the golf club for brunch, where I indulged in my favourite Eggs Benedict (everything is made better with hollandaise sauce). This was followed with the post brunch sleepyness and then an immediate nap as soon as I got home. Awaking much, much later in the day, the rest of the afternoon was spent lazing away, and enjoying my parents foxtel!

Day Four

Was mostly filled with all the little tasks that I had left to last, as well as brushing up my physics skills whilst helping my brother with his homework – however we did manage to pop out for lunch at my favourite Japanese lunch place – Edo in Subiaco. Mum and I both got the Chicken Katsu Bento Box – probably too much food, but worth every bite:

The remains of the day was just taken up by last minute family catching up – and also last minute packing, and then heading to the airport for my flight back. I arrived quite late last night (1230 land – home by 1:15) and I am still recovering today, but it was worth it for the weekend away.

Daiso purchases

It is a bit belated – but here are my purchases from Daiso – the amazing 100 yen store in Doncaster:

cute origami paper to make my cranes

fancy foldback clips – not sure of their purpose yet – but look how pretty!

stainless steel soap - apparently really good to get out odours, have yet to try it

some peach flavoured drink – yum!

I could have bought a whole lot more, but I tried to curb the spending. I will definitely need to visit again. 

wood spoon kitchen

Friday night was dinner at the Wood Spoon Kitchen in Collingwood – another cheap eats find. The restaurant was on Smith St, amongst many other japanese restaurants that occupied the strip. Once inside the decor was refreshingly simple, filled with a lot of wood and pops of colour. Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera, so my iPhone only captured a few good images of the food:

they actually had wood spoons!

We started with an organic apple cider from tap

then gyozas

and shared mains of wasabi beef and assorted onigiri

The food was delicious and the service was friendly and prompt, all in all a fantastic dinner out!

everday harumi

my first book from my book depository order arrived today! everday harumi is a japanese cook book which claims ‘simple japanese food for family & friends’ – sounds perfect! Ever since my trip to Japan earlier in the year I have craved all the flavours and food which I experienced, hopefully this book can take me that little bit closer.

On a first glance many recipes have caught my eye: katsudon, yakitori, simmered pork crepes, onigiri rice balls with minced chicken, udon noodles with minced meat miso sauce, pumpkin with sweet sesame glaze, and finally japanese coleslaw – yum!!!

Don tojo

Looking for a quick, easy and cheap Japanese feast on Friday night, we settled on Don Tojo in Carlton on recommendation from the Cheat Eats Guide – and it hasn’t been wrong yet!

Don Tojo was a tiny bar/restaurant, with a very casual atmosphere. You paid at the counter and sat at one of the small tables, or bar stools. The menu was small, but concise, and very reasonably priced. We both ordered the Bento Box (so well priced at $8.50) and were so surprised with the size of the meal that came out.

The entire Bento Box was delicious! I couldn’t even finish mine – luckily Phil was on hand to finish it off! The whole place was fantastic – I would have no hesitation to heading back very soon – especially with those prices! Delicious!

and the recap begins

Yay! I came home to my internet back! I don’t know what I would do without the internet, two weeks was long enough! Now to catch up on what we’ve missed.

A few weeks ago the bf and I headed to a Japanese Restaurant in Northcote, Otsunami – on the recommendation of the Cheap Eats Guide 2010.  I couldn’t recommend this restaurant enough – it was a contemporary twist on Japanese cuisine, taking interesting combinations of food and putting them together. It was delish – and to top it off, cheap as well!

We started with a salmon and nori roll, quite similar in texture and crunch to a spring roll.

Then deep fried chicken that had been marinated in sake…mmmm

Sweet potato gyozas – these have definitely inspired me to make my own.

Mixed tempura – not that exciting or unusual but I just can’t pass up tempura.

For our main we enjoyed mixed sashimi on top of sushi rice with a scrumptious sesame flavoured dressing.

Last but not least a lemon tart with black sesame ice-cream.

Couldn’t have been happier with the meal, the service was impeccable as well. Highly recommended if you’re ever in the Northcote area.

gyozas

I was supposed to have leftovers tonight, but a certain craving led me to cook Beef Gyozas. Finding a recipe on taste (where else!) I whipped these up:

They turned out quite well – I found the dipping sauce a tad oily though, might need to find an alternate dipping sauce.

japanese and movie

maedaya restaurant, richmond

Last night phil and I headed to Maedaya restaurant in Richmond for some Japanese BBQ grill. We had booked in the upstairs of the restaurant which was a do-it-yourself sort of bbq arrangement. You received a small grill with hot coals on which you placed meat, vegetables and seafood of your choice.

We ordered a variety of beef, chicken and vegetables for our grill, and on the table was five different sauces; best of which was the spicy miso mayonnaise.

grilling on our japanese bbq

phil working the bbq

the delicious cheese and pork fried dumplings

We also ordered some dumplings as a side – which were absolutely delicious! All the meats and vegies were scrumptious, especially since you could choose what sauce you wanted with each piece. If we had more time we would have had more dishes but, since we were headed to a movie we had to leave it at that. Another delightful surprise was the bill – totalling to $42.2o for the two of us, including two alcoholic drinks. Thank you Cheap Eats 2010!

From dinner we rushed off to make our 9:30 movie, Shutter Island. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, certainly a well thought out psychological thriller – I would very much recommend the movie to any one wanting a bit of a scare. Apparently it was based on a novel, but need to go investigate…