Siam 1

This is sort of a newish restaurant that recently opened up in Carnegie. Gosh there's a lot of them good ones now where I live... Happiness!

After standing outside the shop a few times now, waiting for the bus, and glancing at the food reviews from newspapers stuck to the glass window and not paying much attention to it, I decided to read the reviews properly. Trying to not look like a weirdo with her face close up to the shop front, it was to my delight that one of the reviews was written by Matt Preston (One of the judges of Masterchef!) and you can read his review here:
(Matt Preston's Siam 1 review)

And I saw, they are part of The Age cheap eats guide as well!! Fantastic! Now to find people who want to go with me.

So we did on Saturday night. We turned up at about 7.30pm. It was pretty crowded. Word must have gotten around. The waitress asked if we had any booking, and upon hearing the answer "no, sorry", we were smiled upon and ushered to a dark tiny corner!

I have to say though, the lighting of this place could be better. I guess the owner was going for the romantic feel of it all, but I don't see what is so romantic about Thai food anyway and I would still like to see what I'm eating even on a date, thankyouverymuch!

If they had provided me with proper lighting as they provide each of their Buddha figurines on the walls and Buddha's wall painting, I'd be much happier. And so would the patrons sitting next to me. I had evil glances from the woman next door as my flash went off at every dish.... SIGH...



We decided to go with 2 entrees and 2 mains.

Started off with Soft Shell Crab with a tangy sweet tamarind sauce with coriander (now I can't remember what each dish were called, it was all in Thai)



We also decided to go with one of the "Today's Special" and have rice paper rolls with tiger prawns, mince pork, lime, tamarind, mint, nuts. However, the waitress heard me wrong and gave me 2 serves instead of 1. But it was good and we ate all of it!



Of course, we had to try the stir-fry chicken and cashew dish. Of course, because we weren't feeling too "curry-ish" on that night, and we already had curry previously when we went to Paradai II (which is just opposite Siam 1)




We also had deep fried butter fish with the same lemony tangy sauce.



Now the highlight of the night, would have to be the dessert. We decided to go with the Sago and Coconut with Vanilla Ice-Cream, and Steamed Banana with Coconut and Ice-Cream







All in all, I don't think this place should be in the Cheap Eats. Very misleading. Yes their dishes are mostly below $25 (some were above $30)... and the fact that we had to pay around $110 for 3 people, was in no way a Cheap Eat.

That would probably my only disagreement with the place. They had served really good food. Authentic to a degree, and not the usual Thai Restaurant fare, which is always a good thing.

So they get 7 out of 10 from me.

How to get there:

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Something Beautiful

I thought that for today at least, I'd try to show the world through my eyes. And how I view it. How often has it been that you see something that strikes you as beautiful and you have to capture it and you have no camera, or that you see something beautiful and wished that someone else in this big wide world would be able to see what you see?









Everytime I go to Chadstone, it's always packed and crowded. But on this Friday afternoon that I was there, it was... peaceful... and you could actually admire the beauty within as the mad construction goes on outside.

And then the walk home. So many beautiful trees! And the sun!... Winter is approaching, but should anyone say that Winter is cold and ugly, they obviously weren't looking through my eyes...

Tom Yam Fried Rice Recipe

Hello everybody!!.. It's a lovely day out today!!!

Anyways... to all my friends who miss this dish...you know who you are!!!

Remember the good old days???

Tom Yam Fried Rice Time!!

It's a really simple dish where you can chuck in anything you want and use leftover rice to cook!!
This time, I've got button mushrooms, mince chicken, chopped kai lan (kale) and the usual


First up, you will need to heat the pan and put in about 1 tablespoon of Tom Yam Paste, and 1 teaspoon of Chili paste (if you want it hotter, just put more in it)


Once fragrant, put in the mince chicken and stir-fry.

You can also add in some chopped tomatoes at this part if you have any.


Throw in the remainder ingredients, starting with the mushrooms and then the kai lan


Fry!! Fry!! Fry Away my pretties!!!! Nyeahahahhaha!!!


Serve hot with Bulls-eye Egg (so that the runny egg yoke will flow deliciously into your fried rice).

Sprinkle (if you have) fried shallots and/or fried anchovies and.... Sedap!!!!

Potato Croquettes Recipe

You say Potato, I say Patato... la la la...

So anyways, I decided to try something new. My version of Potato Croquettes.

My mum told me about this variation using tuna and chili, and I thought to myself, "why not?"

However, because the Boy dislikes both tuna and chili, I had to be a little creative here.

Very simple ingredients, however, it does take a while to prepare.

I minced fresh chicken breast (about 2 tenderloins)... (Yes, I like to mince chicken or any other meat on my own as it allows me to WHACK the heck out of the chicken and releases my pent up frustration and stress!)


Finely chopped carrots, half a carrot is enough here (You can tell I went slightly overboard, and used 2 carrots, and now I have a bowl of chopped carrots sitting in the fridge)
And mash potato (which I had earlier prepared and mashed with just butter and salt, and I used 2 Coliban potatoes)


What you want to do is, mash up all the ingredients.
Yes the raw chicken and carrots into the mash potato and give it a good mashing!

The you want to roll (about a teaspoon) of the mash and flatten slightly with the palms of your hands


Heat up the oil (a lot, as you want to deep fry them), in a pan. Initially I tried with a small pot, but the first croquette disintegrated when I touched it.
Fry them until golden brown


As usual, this experiment turned up to be a complete success!!!
I served with it with a simple stir-fry round beans (with Oyster Sauce), and Ginger, Soy and Honey chicken!

Tom Yam Pan Fried Fish Recipe

I did this on the weekend and I apologise for laggingness... the Boy is home after all.. and the house already looks like a hurricane has been through... TWICE...

Anyway, I made Tom Yam Pan Fried Fish.. and it was awesome.. I might have used a tad bit too much of the Tom Yam Paste.. but I had a lot of white rice.. so that was alright!!

So the ingredients... I cheated:
Tom yam paste, chili paste (although if you had fresh red chilli's it'd be better), ginger paste (again, if fresh), lemongrass, grape tomatoes (only because they were in season), finely chopped garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce, lea&perrins sauce, salt, sugar & pepper to taste


You will want to start by heating up the pan with oil. Once hot, add in the garlic and lemongrass and fry until fragrant.

Then add in 2 tablespoons of the Tom Yam paste and a single teaspoon each of the chili and ginger paste.


Add in the tomatoes after a minute or so, and stir-fry adding a bit of fish stock (I used water), and seasonings.


Add the Fish on top of the ingredients and cover with lid and allow to simmer


Lift the lid and turn the fish around to cook on the other side


And here we have it. Serve with a fresh wedge of lime and fresh chopped lemongrass!

Starstruck

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... that was the beautiful screen that greeted us when we sat upon our seats.

I sitting at the edge of my seat, jumping up and down excitedly like a 5 year old girl. The Boy sitting back and watching with a bemused expression on his face at my glee and at all the screaming girls in the crowd.

Here and there were groups of *ahem* boys that seem to be a bit confused at their arrival on this location. Methinks they came to pick up some girls, and boy were some of the girls dressed to kill... but unfortunately.. or fortunately... majority of them were underage!!! ...

And thus began, one of the greatest opening acts I've ever had the liberty to attend. That being said, Lady GaGa should never have been some other groups/persons opening act (I am a tad bias here), and should have her on show. If what the opening hints of what's to come in the near future, I am more than happy to cheer and scream and fork out another $140... *ouch I know*


The Haus of GaGa screen drops to invites us into the world of Lady GaGa


She opened up with Paparazzi!! Which was fantastic as that is one of my favourite songs from her album.

And there she is!!! Waving around her Disco Stick!!!!


A continuation from her opening video. Ahh.. I <3 Candy Warhol....


GaGa in all her glory performing Pokerface...


She performed Love Game, Pokerface, Paparazzi, The Fame, Beautiful Dirty Rich, and Just Dance.

I was really sad to see her walk off the stage after about 6 songs (none of them Eh Eh- Nothing I can say). The reason I said about 6... well there was a surprise =)

She was awesome, and made the oncoming Main Act Pussycat Dolls seem a tad disappointing.

The came onto the stage. Missing one Pussycat... My fave Doll... Jessica apparently has a back injury. I was disappointed!


Nicole doing her thang!


La La La... Nicole and Melody rocking the house


Kimberly and Nicole doing some ra-ra dancing!!


Nicole and Ashley =)


The Boy was entertained with the little burlesque cabaret show they put on... depicting how they first started out at the Viper Room, PCD Lounge... He was.. *ahem*.. really entertained!!

The really sad part was that GaGa totally Pwned PCD!!!....Sad because she was the "supporting" act...

The night was good. My extremely high expectations of Lady GaGa were met and I go home a very happy girl indeed!!

Fashion

Fashion. Yes. Lady GaGa version. Not any other.

I do indeed live to be model thin. However with my love for food and the passion to cook, it's highly unlikely that I'll ever be happy if I were to be skinny.

Although a girl, "is at hot as the shoes she choose", I try.

Times have been hard. With no extra cash to shop with. Although I have at least 10 new pairs of shoes that I haven't worn, and the same goes to items of clothing as well.

I should lay them all out on a rack and pretend to shop again. At home!!! Now that's an idea.

The Boy will be home tonight!!!

What presents did he get me? Not your normal "I shall buy my gf a bouquet of flowers, or I shall buy her some jewellery", he got me... a new....

WARCRAFT book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sooooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping that he got the right book and not some Archive/Anthology which I might already have... OMG!!! He won't tell me which one, except that it's a large copy.. which can only mean he got something that I might already have!! OMG OMG OMG!!!

*breathes in calmly*

*Hyperventilates again*

Just thought of Lady GaGa and PCD tomorrow night. I'm sooooo excited. A new book! A concert! A GaGa concert.. I've got such high expectations for this, it better be met!!!

I'm in heaven!.. I'm in Disco Heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scalloped Potatoes with Pan Fried Barramundi Recipe

So, it's Saturday Night and I realised that I still have wayyyyyyyyyyyy too much food in the fridge and I started off by wanting to do this dish, but was putting it off, because I'm not a fan of baking things.

Fortunately for the erm... 3 readers here, and my tummy... I did bake.. and the result was to die for... SO much better than I remembered it to be.

Now, I am a huge fan of Scallop Potatoes. But I always wanted to try or look for this dish, which I had years ago, which was a variation of the dish, with both potatoes and sweet potatoes.

A good friend of mine, W, took me for a treat to the F1 corporate stand in Melbourne, and one of the things they were serving there was the Scallop Sweet Potato and Potato and it was one of the most memorable things I've ever had.

Here are the ingredients for the Scallop Potatoes:


Now if you're like me, and can't be bothered with all these fancy kitchen utensils (i.e. brushes and what nots), a simple trick is to brush with a small piece of glad wrap 0_0


Voila! The outcome is the same as using a brush


First up, chop up the onion really thinly and then fry it with butter until soft


This is just normal pouring cream whisked together with a dash of Nutmeg, Pepper, and Salt


Then start arranging the potatoes on the base of the dish, scattering the onions on top, and then dribbling the cream. Continue until you run out of the ingredients.


Cover with foil and bake under 200degrees Celsius for around 40 minutes


Take off the foil and continue to bake for another 30 minutes


In the last 10-15 minutes or so, you can put on some Parmesan cheese, which I did!!
And there you have it! An excellent dish that can be used as a side or you can eat as a main by itself...


However, I felt like fish as well. So here we have the ingredients for my Pan Fried Barramundi with Ginger, Garlic, Butter and Lime Sauce


Pan Fry the fish with butter and a little bit of olive oil


Once the fish is done, set aside.
Use the leftover butter and oil to fry the garlic and ginger and then pour over the fish.

Ta-Dah!! Dinner is served!!!!!!!!!!!