Ive tasted some pretty rank soy milk, with my lactose intolerance being a pain in the ass, coming and going whenever it pleases, making coffee milk choices that much harder... well not any more kids!!

The best of both world hands .. Bonsoy have been through the ringer with sodium levels getting makers into a twist and a new recipe for Bonsoy soy milk was needed. With a new and i think much improved (anything that doesn't kill you is good in my books) recipe brings the richness and the creamyness of a full cream milk, not to mention the velvet texture! At the end of it all you wont be running to the toilet or complaining about any tummy upsets !! SAY NO TO TUMMY ACHES AND YES TO SEXY MILK! .. ok ill relax its just soy milk..=p

No Sunday is complete with out my soy latte NO SUGAR PLEASE!! This humble little cafe was recommended to me by a dear vegan friend (thank goodness his good for something) =p open till about 4 in the arvo, this cafe is swarming with the vegan art students, mums and pet lovers alike.

Before you had time to look through the red wine selection your coffee is ready in all of its glory waiting for you .. milk is always perfect and the place reaks of great coffee. With a smallish yet thoughtful menu to please all palettes, A Minor Place def gets my kudos!!

Its cosy inside and its always buzzing with chatter, i love the fact that they give you milk crates to sit on outside. Its bloody refreshing as i have been hit with the travel bug blues, seeing people sprawled out on a suburbia strip took me straight back to South East Asia.

What a year 2009 was, the fires came in and took the homes of our neighbours, the recession had us all working that extra mile, MJ danced his last moonwalk and the world says hello to America's first black president. It wizzed by so fast before i knew it Christmas decorations were up and plans for new years were on everyones lips.

Lucky me, being out of the hospitality industry this season gave me time with my family friends. Did a whole lotta nothing and loved every minute of it. Every other Christmas consisted of road trips out of Melbourne, or if lucky enough a 8hr flight out to Asia.

This year the festivities kicked off at my parents house, which at the time looked like a squater house! My father having excellent timing thought house renovations should start in November and work well into December and of course Christmas... (Thanks dad) working in a bomb shelter i was scrambling for idea on what to serve. I wanted a no fuss dinner, something that took little effort however making you sickenly full, after all its Christmas! Here's what I came up with:


Roast pork stuffed with garlic and rosemary
Sugar snaped pea salad with prawns
Roasted tomatoes stuffed with Mexican rice and beans
Roast new potatoes, pumpkin, carrot

Viet Nam ... and its reigonal delights

HANOI
Starting from the North i didn't i really didn't know what to expect. Word was northern cuisine.. was lets say... bland and somewhat boring. After venturing around the old quarter and sampling the food i sadly have to agree. So to conquer that we opted to eat at a restaurant called Quan An Ngon... (delicious restaurant) i know i know what a name right.. but hey it was a pretty decent restaurant.If street food is a bit intimidating and your not keen on sitting on a toilet because of it.. this is the place for you. Street food from around Viet Nam minus the sore tummy. With dishes ranging from:papaya salad with dry beef, bun rieu, pho, bun bo hue, com tam, goi cuon.. the all star favorites at a tight wad price.. need you eat anywhere else?

NINH BINH, PU LUONG NATIONAL PARK (MAI CHAU)
Not only is this place breath taking with the luscious rice fields, mountains,waterfalls the kindness of the locals here matches its beauty. You wont find this place in any guide/ tourist books making it rarely touched by us tourists. Its a rare sight to see in this quickly developing country this region hasn't been bastardized by Americana burgers, spaghetti and sushi. The ethnic minorities that reside there live off the land, and dinner was whatever that was growing/walking in the garden.
We got to this hidden gem by motorbike as there were no roads, otherwise this place would of been flocked with hand sanitizing tourists. Every child who sees you squeals with delight as you pass them screaming "hello!" and waving to you. The electricity that they do have is generated by turbines powered by the rushing waterfall.
Once a week there would be a local market, so Sunday dinners would be a treat for the locals here. Our first dinner was, free range chicken sauteed with noodles and morning glory, free range egg omlette, and pumkin soup (straight out of the garden) The eggs were bright yellow and rich as butter, these chickens were more than happy before they hit the pot. Living in Australia and eating generic chicken.. you forget what it actually tastes like. It was a real treat to us expats but just another meal for our host family.

HUE
Land of the ancient Kings and Queens the food was really starting to get good, before the revolution the Citadel (Viet Nam's equivalent of Versailles back in its hayday) was home for the royal family and the food in this region was well.. pardon the pun fit for a king. Till this very day the Hue residents take their food seriously and try to preserve their culture as much as possible. Now the one dish that pops into your mind when your here is bun bo hue.. well when in Rome. Being a bun bo fiend myself it drove me insane that i was only there for one day. The bun bo hue was sex in a bowl, the broth fiery hot and aromatic as it should be. The pork and beef that was floating in the broth was tender and flaky, again no animal here is couped up neck to neck, it was served with a Hue cha (peppered pork loaf) wrapped in a pretty parcel of banana leaf.

Greeting from Hanoi

My mornings begin with a crow from a rooster, and the honking of passing motorbikes and cars. Three days into my journey of Vietnam, and let me tell you if i can find that rooster and make Pho Ga out of it, my Hanoi adventure would be close to perfect.
People scattered along the streets perched on their little plastic chairs and dripping coffee, would make any smuck from the west green with envy. They sit, chatter and gossip about anything worth talking about while the word passes them by, to your left you have the 'noodle lady with her boiling pot of broth, and cuts of meats that would make any health inspector cringe, and to your right you have a man with colorful bottles of soda pop with infested ice to chill the midday sun. Hey its Vietnam and they dont give a rats A** about food handling mambo jumbo and if you're going to be a traveler and not a tourist neither should you.
No I'm not telling you to put yourself at risk, if a sip of local ice is going to put you in the toilet for the rest of your trip then, go to the restaurants named 'ladybird' etc and eat the same old s*** you would be eating at home. There are dozens of restaurants catering for homesick tourists serving up, steak and chips, American style burgers and chips..excuse the crudness but eating western food in asia is like wiping your behind before you go to the toilet.
Call me a cowboy or just damn crazy, but i love street food and forever it shall be. Some of the most lip smackingly tastest things ive ever eaten have come from a seedy looking street stall, and i've survived to tell the tale. Just for precaution bring along Probiotica...my little magic pills full of happy bacteria to combat the nasty ones. See the country experience the joys it has to offer, and do try the food.. the real food of the people that live there. Ease your body into the new food, slowly introduce your body to the shock, dont go kamakaze and go drinking the tap water.. i dont think any amount of conditioning will get your body for that shock. So for the Guide for S.E.A noobs...
FOOD TIPs
1. NO TAP WATER... duhh... skys blue, grass green dont drink local water
2. Do not eat copious amounts of shell fish in one sitting .. no matter how fresh
3. If there are stacks of locals chowing down at the restauant... its usually a good indicator
4.Buy your own knife and cut your own fruits...(people are bound to cut themselves...better it be your blood than someone else's)
5. (restaurants) Always ask for the price before parking your behind on a seat, 3rd world countries think tourist are millionares.. so the might be a chance of the price being jacked up,sad but true poverty is real. so unless you want to get stung with a disguisting bill ALWAYS ASK!!
GENERAL RULES (COMMON SENSE)
1. familiarise yourself with local laws(curfew), spending time in a seedy jail for the duration of your trip is worse than a poo pie.
2.when buying things from the market cut the asking price by 50% if they still dont budge... do it like craig david and *walk away... they will call for you back.
3. Dont always go to places your hotel reccomends, they're usually 'toursisty' places go off the beaten track, who knows what you might find.
4. Dont go wearing your a jewels/ or things of value, again its a 3rd world country..unless your chuck norris.. thats a different story.
5. Research on the repitible taxi companies that operate in the area, there are ALOT of dodgy taxi's around just dying to rip you off.

Quaff in Toorak..

Quaff in Toorak, screams location location! Nestled neatly on 436 Toorak road dining here in the middle of summer is a picturesque affair. Inside Dripping with chandeliers and grand mirrors give it tasteful charm.

On this particular afternoon the mid-day sun was gleaming and had an adverse affect on staff. Food was a touch slow in coming out, luckily sitting outside destracted our grumbly tummies.

When our starters came (minus the cuttlery) I was ready to dig into my simple yet well dressed caeser salad. Most caesar salads come soaked in dressing so my fears was pleasantly answered. A gooey golden yolk dressed the cos lettuce and gave it a rich creamy flavor, no mayo here ladies and gents. It was also served with thin slices of salty robust jamon or spec. The crutons lacked major crunch and was the only let down of the salad.

If hearning corned beef rings alarm bells and images of cans swamp your mind this dish was plated to please. A plentiful mound of velvety smooth potato mash, and crunchy sauteed cabbage was a classic side for the corned beef. The corned beef was well seasoned and was not overbarinly salty. The sweet mustard seed jux was very sweet lip puckering almost and masked most of the flavors of the dish if too much was on your fork.

Hooray for tasting plates i love surpluss and variety always will. The quad glory consisted of vanilla panacota, creamy and silky it was complimented well with a berry coulis. The dry choclolate cake was a space filler, drenched with custard which didnt stand up to the sweetness of the cake. What looked like a upright oyster mushroom was a lemon soufle, fluffy and fragrant shamelessly earnt its place ont he plate. To finish off a poached pear again another spot filler, two out of four your neither up or down. The pear had a crunchy textrure, but lacked the floral aroma and taste of the ruby red juices it was poached in (possibly red wine)

The salad and corned beef was what was up for grabs on the lunch specials menu. Good value for money for those residing in those parts of town, or a secial lunch with mates for us students. Despite me having to get up to find a waitor to take our orders for dessert, overall service was okay Quaff has clean cut flavors in luxurious surroundings,it showcases mediterranean flavours in a fun and creative style. If your ever in this nose rise part of town pop by and find a seat outside to have your lunch.

Edibility rating 6/10

all aboard the steamboat

Its winter, your cold hungry and have a few mates to feed... what to do? the answer Steam boat like duh... there's something so comforting about this wonderful creation, and for those who aren't too familiar this steam boat jibby jabber here's the 411. Its the equivalent of the Japanese shabu shabu, however filled to the brim with other ingredients. If your a glutton like me having 5/6 different ingredients to chomp on for dinner is just bliss. All the ingredients are served raw on different plates and are cooked in the simmering broth. The broth is one of the main components of this dish and can be varied depending on your taste(vegetarian,chicken,seafood). Personally because I'm such a creature of habit, my default broth is tom yum! The spice and zest works perfectly with the seafood. As you continue to eat the broth does its own magic trick and develops into the most rich flavor as it boils down, and the lucky fool who arrives late to dinner gets to benefit from this. when everything is out on the table its all hands on deck, every man for themselves beware thieving poops (your mates)who take your food out of the broth when your not watching.

Check List...
*portable gas stove..
*fairly large but shallow saucepan
*Egg noodles of your choice
*rice noodles " "
*bok choy, napa cabbage
*550 gr topside beef/ slice thinly
*500gr baby squid
*600gr prawns
* your choice of fish balls
*enoki mushrooms

The broth(the lazyboy way)
1.5 litres Chicken stock
* small can tinned pineapples
*2 tomatos chopped n quartered
*3 tbsp tom yum paste..

The broth (amateur cook way)
*2 chicken carcass
*2 medium sized carrots
*1 large onion cut in half
*Put all of the above into a pot of water and simmer for 1hr skim off the 'scum' (floaty bits on top) Then....
add, the tom yum paste and tomatoes, and tinned pineapple.