Yum cha at Sky Phoenix

Last Saturday Lisa and I decided to have a lovely relaxing day watching the new season fashion parades at David Jones followed by lots of shopping(shoes and a bag for Lisa,new bag and birthday present shopping for a friend,for myself).

By the time we finished we were starving and made it just in the last hour for yum cha at our favourite,Sky Phoenix on Castlereagh Street.Ah,everytime we thing back to our first visit last year,we have cravings for their divine mango pancakes and perfect dumplings.

Duck and ginger dumplings

New to us this time were the duck and ginger dumplings,followed by the freshest prawn and corn dumplings.

Prawn and corn dumplings

We had to have the good old reliable spring roll as well and the waitress was courteous and cut them in half so we would have equal portions.

Spring rolls

One of the first things that grabs our attention is dessert and the last time we were here,the mango pancakes were a revelation,lovely chunks of mango pieces and the softest cream or whatever they use,if anybody has a recipe,i need it now.Although we hadn't finished with the savoury items,we needed to snap up the mango pancakes then to guarantee we had some.Only disapointment was that they either ran out or weren't serving the coconut jelly.

Mango Pancakes

When we were almost finished i realised we hadn't seen my favourite,the pork and chive dumplings,we asked one of the waitresses and luckily there some left.

So far this is my favourite place for yum cha,fantastic food,attentive and friendly service,and they're not rude to western people like some other places can be.
We were again satisfied at Sky Phoenix and left with our Buddha bellies and shopping bags.

Pork and chive dumplings

Cupcakes on Pitt

After a horrible day at work there was no where else i needed to go except straight to Cupcake on Pitt.Everyday rows of different flavours are displayed in the window enticing people in,fortunately today and unfortunately other days it's just a short walk from work.I decided on passionfruit and banana to share with a friend,the topping is just perfect,not sickly sweet and the banana was just perfect.
Time to detox soon,i think.

Valentines Day

All day yesterday people were greeting me with Happy Valentines Day as casually as Merry Christmas or Happy New Year,it felt very odd but of course you just had to smile and return the greeting.Allover the city women carried large bunches or boxes of roses,you just couldn't escape it.

Friends organised an Anti-Valentines get together,to celebrate our freedom and reclaim restaurants and bars for the day as previously these were the places you would avoid in the past as they seemed to only cater for couples.

Lisa and I started with a bottle of Prosecco and cheese platter at Lo Studio and were shortly joined by the others and Greg was the charmer of the night handing over roses to the ladies.It was fun watching the couples in the bar who had made such a big effort for the night and it felt great not to have that pressure on us.



A short ride later we were at Shin Ju in Chinatown for Teppanyaki and decided to splurge on the deluxe set menu which included Crispy Fresh Salad, Miso Soup, Sashimi Tempura, Large King Prawns, Fresh Fillet of Fish, Chicken Terriyaki,Fried Rice.And of course we had to order the obligatory sake,Asahi beer and plum wine while others opted for white wine.
We prepared for our adventure with our napkins tucked into our tops as our armour,we then assumed we weren't going to have food thrown at us as our rowdiness showed just how much we'd drunk.Then we got ready for showtime and unfortunately nobody had good enough mouth skills to catch the flying chicken in our mouths.






The chef showed us his skills with the kitchen utensils and unfortunately someone ended up with egg in their top and hair.Most of us caught the rice in our bowls,as most people could catch it,as the chef went along,you could feel the pressure to perform well as you knew eventually somebody had to have bad luck, and of course the person who chose not to leave their napkin on,ended up with rice allover their top



We had more treats as the night went on,i bought a small heart chocolate for everyone and we finished off our meal with more sake and beautiful cupcakes courtesy of Lisa.

I can't remember the last time i did something for Valentines Day,and i highly recommend single people organise occasions like these and i can't wait until next year.

I made them myself

I had some leftover wrapping paper and at the same time had lost my bookmarks so decided to make some.First i cut up strips of the paper and glued hem together,had them laminated,made a hole in the top right hand corner,bought some tassels from Eckersleys and tied then around the hole and voila! there you have your own bookmark.

February

It was already the first week of February when i realised i hadn't done anything for my calendar so it was rushed and i just added some bright pink Japanese paper.
Nothing much has been happening except for being so busy at work,hardly have any time to myself during the day except when escaping for lunch,it's horrid,i think it may be time to look for a new job soon.
Friday night drinks were a must this week and a colleague and i shared a bottle of white and then i left to meet up with a friend at The White Horse in Surry Hills and then i moved onto cocktails,it's true that alcohol really does numb away the pain.Although i realise I'm getting old or my body can't handle it when I'm the first to leave at 11pm while the others kick on well into the night and morning.

February Already!

It's here already,where did January go?
I've been a little slack with updating this site during the week.
Finally recovered from stomach virus.
Had a pretty late night Tuesday,last get together with Lydia before she left for London,i took a bon vivant cake from the food hall,had never tried it before,was told was a mousse cake,it was divine,a light mousse cake with hazlenut as well,i searched google for a recipe the next day and am hoping to make it soon.


Wednesday caught up with Lisa for lunch,it had been a while and we're keen to restart our adventure to eat our way through the Good Food Guide.Had $20 lobster lunch special at the Swiss Hotel,Lisa chose mornay and i had it with asian dressing,it was very tough and hard to remove from its shell,we figured it must have come out of the freezer.we left still very hungry and made a quick trip to the DJ foodhall for a satisfying sausage roll.

Thursday and Friday and it was just a few after work drinks at the bar across the road from work with a colleague.
Early yesterday morning it was off to the hairdresser for the chop,back to shorter hair and put in a dark brown almost black semi permanent colour.

Now i just have to make the February part of my calendar and i'm ready for the month to start.