The Sunshine Award is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers. The recipients of the Sunshine Award are:

“Bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogsphere”. The way the award works is this: Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them. Answer questions about yourself. Select 10 of your favourite bloggers, link their blogs to your post and let them know they have been awarded the Sunshine Award!”

Thems the rules:

-          Nominate TEN bloggers and notify them of the nomination

-          Acknowledge the blogger who passed on the Sunshine Blog Award

-          Answer the TEN questions outlined below

Questions:

1. What inspired you to start blogging?Friends (particularly Wendy B) would ask: “Where is this place you keep talking about???” and usually I wouldn’t come up with the exact locations so a blog was born with the encouragement of Megan S.
   
2. How did you come up with the name for your blog? I like using sound and condition adjectives when describing food so hopefully my choice was going to cover that. ‘Restaurants and bars’ sounds utterly boring.
   
3. What is your favourite blog to read? Oh gees, there is so many of them. Food, pictures, funny crap…
   
4. Tell about your dream job.
   Not sure…I guess as long as I’m happy and don’t have issue with my super and payment…then things should be fine. I wouldn’t mind being a Cop or some sort of person that teaches people a lesson for being bad.
5. Is your glass half full or half empty? Who cares as long as its filled with cider.
   
6. If you could go anywhere for a week’s vacation, where would you go? I want to go to Mars and play golf. Or back to Narooma, NSW where I can walk along the boardwalk, eat oysters and hang out with the Fells.
   
7. What food can you absolutely not eat? Peas that are well beyond cooked that they have turned grey or anything that’s off.
8. Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? Dark chocolate because of its intensity because milk chocolate looks likes shit stains if you spill on it on yourself.
   
9. How much time do you spend blogging? Hmmmm…..maybe once a week. It really depends on where I go and if the food places have given me a positive experience. February this year has been lame.
   
10. Do you watch tv – if so, what are some of your favourite shows? Food shows on SBS especially with Anthony Bourdain in them. At the moment I like Modern Family, Girls, Adventure Time with Finn & Jake and 2 Broke girls.
    

Nominations in no particular order:

Where’s the beef? - I do love reading Cindy and Michael’s great reviews on locals haunts.

Lyndsay with a Why – Furniture de/reconstruction done by a woman with impeccable decor style.

Edible Rainbows – Fashion coordinations about a British Muslimah especially in Hello Kitty Gothic Lolita style (she fricken rocks this look!)

Food is the best shit ever – Wonderful recipes and food stories by a fellow blogger who ain’t afraid to put in swears. Fuck yeah….!

Iheartgoodfood  -Naomi is a friendly fellow blogger who has drool worthy pictures of food from the Melbourne area.

TheHungerPangs  -Erika who’s “rookie baker/photographer” posts about food are also an interesting read.

Hooverdust – An insight to the design and pop-culture of a Melbourne-based digital designer named James.

Joel Bramley photography -  Bendigo based nature photographer who occasionally dabbles in star trails, long exposures and HDR.

Comida de Moda Food and fashion…yay! Great combo

Pez – A huge source of information about local happenings about craft, music, film, beauty, fashion, food and arts which so happens to be along the sames tastes as mine.

My version Old School Vienna Cream

BEFORE you start, get all your ingredients, utensil, equipment ready and clean up as you go. A candy themometer and kitchen scales are good to have around.

160g or 2/3 + 1 teaspoon Caster sugar

85m hot water

 I don’t add vanilla at the start because you may want to divide the icing into various flavours.

Stir together in a saucepan until sugar has dissolved before turning on the flame.

Brush down the sides with a pastry brush dipped in hot water to prevent those annoying sugar crystals forming.

Boil the sugar syrup to soft ball stage (116 – 118 C) or when you drop some in ice water and it forms a soft and pliable lump when you roll it between your fingers.

It’s ok, you won’t burn yourself here unless you actually use your fingers to pull freaking HOT sugar straight from the pot into the ice water!

2 egg yolks (I prefer duck eggs because they are bigger and taste good)

Whisk in a heat proof bowl (make sure it’s big enough because the mixture will double in size) on MEDIUM speed and gently pour the hot sugar syrup in thin stream so it looks like Coda Di Topo (a term used in coffee extraction that means ‘Mouse Tail’).

You have now made a sabayon/zabaglione. (You can try other recipes but make sure the end product is a whipped custard dessert.) By now, all that whisking should cool it down so it becomes a pale and thick.

It’s important to cool the mixture down because so you don’t melt the butter that you have to chuck in. Don’t fret if that shit starts to melt, just pop it in a bowl of ice water or in the freezer for a bit.

250g unsalted softened butter, cut into cubes.

Now on FULL SPEED, add 1 or 2 chunks of butter at a time until combined.  Add your colours and flavourings at this point.

This should be enough to ice a cake and about a dozen cup cakes or to tide you over when you have your period.

*Good for showing off, making a good impression, bribes and an overall decadent feel good treat.

*Don’t use if you decide to throw it at someone. This will make me cry and it’s a waste of perfectly good Vienna cream. Use cheap whipped cream in a can instead.

*cbf adding a pic right now

I had no idea that this cafe also makes THE gluten free bread I go out of my way to buy from the Preston Markets. This place is cute. It’s like those fancy homestead places out in the country side with its hardwood floors and Grandma light fixtures but looks kinda Frenchy on the outside. Climbing those steep stairs up to the ladies room sure worked those butt muscles and make sure you grab the banister on the way down or you’ll end up arse over tit like I nearly did. I should pay more attention instead of looking at the paintings on the red wall.

My first visit, I had a Summer Fruit salad with hash browns and bacon on the side. I’m mega impressed on how fricken FRESH it was because there were slices of bananas in there that didn’t even have time to brown! This wasn’t sugar free because it was dusted in icing sugar but I’m sure they’d omit that if requested. I’m so used to premade fruit salad where the fruit goes to mush and has that preserved taste. Even though I was full, I became increasingly jealous of what Olleh was eating.

On my second visit, I got what he had but shared it because it was waaaaay-hey too much for me to realistically handle. It satisfyingly fed 1 hungry man, 1 hungry 6 year old boy and 1 VERY hungry lady.

The Big breakfast* is a sight to behold! It was served on those ridiculously over sized dish plates that barely contained the short and thick sausages, tasty bacon, smoked salmon slices, grilled tomatoes, whole mushrooms sautéed, salsa chutney, caramelised onion, 2 poached eggs, cooked spinach, crunchy homemade hash browns that were the size of hockey pucks (we order an extra 2) and a perfectly cooked pork chop! A big kudos to the chef who made our breakfast and I will let the slightly burnt toast slide. I notice that particular gluten free bread tends to burn quickly when I toast it at home too.

My coffee was fine. It wasn’t too hot though a little acidic but at least it was strong. 3 out of 5

Everything here is GLUTEN FREE! The menu items, bread and baked goodies that are on display which makes me VERY HAPPY indeed, especially now that I know I don’t have to venture far to get my precious bread or pay middle man prices.

• Black Ruby
• 344 Rathdowne St
• Carlton North
• (03) 9348 2777
• Hours: Wed to Fri 10am – 5pm
• Sat to Sun 8:30am – 5:30pm
• Visited: 12^th and 19^th January, 2013

*(I will have to get back to you on what the prices were because I was on Cloud 9 about the whole situation. I mean, c’mon….when do you get to eat pork chops for breakfast???)

The place is called Disco Beans which is a Japanesey art gallery/lounge room/eatery swirl of creativity and scrumptiousness. Being a summer evening, meant that the sun was still blazing as it came down, drenching the place in its blinding glory that you almost needed sunglasses. The white walls have these super awesome drawings of black chubby catfish, snakes and veiney titties and hanging from the ceiling there is an art installation that I can only affectionately describe it as a colourful ‘brain fart’.

We sat along one of the wall tables in the pathway of a nice cool breeze and the drama of High street. One of the staff was making gyoza so naturally, that was going to be on someone’s plate (but not mine).

I chose the Marinated raw salmon Yu-kke $12.50, which consisted of generous amounts salmon chunks, salad leaves, avocado bits that was drizzled with traditional Yu-kke soy and sesame oil marinade with wakame sprinkled on top. The surprise underneath that it rested on a bed of brown wild rice with millet, quinoa and amaranth mixed through.

It was the perfect balance for a summer evening because it wasn’t too heavy or light but substantial enough that it kept me full as a boot!

Even though I’m bursting at the seams, I still had to try the sugar and gluten free Strawberry Fields forever cake plus ice cream $11. It’s like a slice of frozen strawberry and coconutty cheesecake with a cashew and peanut crumb base served with 3 scoops of sickly sweet vegan soy ice cream. At first, it was a bit hard to eat but I reckon give it another 10 minutes and the dessert would of soften up nicely.

This place deserves to be lavished with wonderful praise and given MASSIVE BONUS POINTS because it caters for gluten AND sugar free dweebs like me. I found joy because of its bizarre sexual vibe, adorable staff and delicious scrumptious food and art. Even that pink phallic table ornament brought an entertaining smile to my face when I thought about it hours later.

DISCO BEANS

238 High St

NORTHCOTE

Ph : 03-9077-4772

Hours: 6 – 11:30pm Tuesday to Sunday

Catch Tram 86 Bundoora RMIT (away from the city) and get off at Stop 31 Northcote Town Hall

Visited: 18^th January, 2013

My friend Jimmy and I tried this place out for the 1^st time becaue were off to see a film at the Astor theatre (2 blocks away) which was screening The Master in 70mm print. It was going to be a looooooong film so we decided to have a decent feed so keep those growling bellies at bay.

We were very impressed on arrival and I felt glad that Jimmy took out his camera phone and started taking pictures of the place too.

 I got a Stone’s Ginger Beer (alcoholic) $6.80 to tide myself over whilst waiting for my No. 1 Babu’s favourite: 220g medium cooked beef patty with cheese, bacon and fried egg $15 + $1.80 for Gluten Free bun. We shared a Large side of chips $4.50 and then asked about the ‘flowers’ item on the menu. That cool dude who greeted us explained that they were…well, I think you should ask yourself because I think he likes to tell you what it is!

My burger arrived in open formation so the glistening egg yolk fried sunny side up was beaming at me. The meal looked pretty big and I had no hope in finishing that, plus the chips in under 30 minutes. So I tied my hair back, put the 2 halves together, unhinged my jaw and chomped my way through that motherfucker of a burger! It was so tender and juicy that I had to suck up/inhale as I was eating to prevent spillage. The cheese melted over the patty became kinda creamy, the bacon was crispy and caramelised and the patty itself was about an inch thick, compact yet airy and it had a lovely bouncy spring to it. The real pickle, tomato and lettuce came standard with the burgers and are fresh. (No tired, dried or limp bits here!)

It was like a decent homemade house burger and I shouldn’t of  bothered with the Gluten Free bun but it’s great to know that they supply them. With meat as good as this, there’s no need for bullshit bread and chips (Oh, which were nicely fried, big thick pub style chips) because it’s just filler. You seriously need to pull up your sleeves, unbuckle your belt and get down to eating business!

I gave my Jimmy my onion and he seemed to have polished off his burger faster than me and I guess I should of ate my food instead of yammering on about movies.

I am VERY impressed with this place and will come back again, even if I’m not seeing anything at the Astor. I want to get the ‘Balls’ bit when I have another burger. They even have veggie burgers and other foods such as camembert cheese, roasted eggplant and onion puffs so you can build your own!

The Staff here are really nice and are observant and not annoying. There was a nice touch with how the sauces (Spicy, BBQ tomato and Pink mayo) came in cardboard Asahi 6 pack carry cases……very cool!

Visited on 16^th Dec, 2012

• Babu Burger with Balls
• 156 Chapel St
  Windsor Victoria 3181
• (03) 9510 6485
• Mon to Sun 11am – 11pm

I visited this place on 7^th October and 2^nd December,  2012.

On the 7th October, I ordered the Organic Eggs in a jar $16 with bacon on the side which was awesome though I ate the wicked sourdough bread which gave me stomach punches.

It came served on a chopping board with my bread cut up in soldiers and my slab of thick drool worthy bacon. My eggs came in a snap lock glass jar! There were soft boiled potato chunks with a creamy sauce, 2 eggs which were a glorious saffron colour baked into that and it’s crowning glory were the shavings of fresh Tasmanian truffles. They totally rocked with that combo in which all soft creamy textures were in beautiful harmony.

Then I stabbed all them peaceful eggs with the crispy soldier that were drizzled in butter and watch those yolks ooze all over those spuds….oh so gorgeous! In between bites, I’d take a piece of that sweet luscious ass bacon and roll it around in my mouth. That bacon slab seemed more like smoked pork belly!

Jesus, I felt that I had 3 days worth of calorie intake but really, little things like that don’t stay in my mind for long. I am too in love with food to deny myself the simple things like that because it’s would be torture and besides, you should NEVER be at war with food. Even if some give you painful allergy repercussions, I believe for that brief moment of pleasure is divine heaven on earth.

My visit on the 2nd December,  I had “Spring eggs in a jar with zucchini blossoms, green and white asparagus, potato and goats cheese with a side of smoked trout” and a serve of Gluten Free bread $17 with a Flat White $3.50

Only 3 small pieces of Gluten free toast which was similar to the chewy sourdough I had previously and this too, was drizzled with melted butter. The chunks of cold smoked trout came in a side dish which I threw into the warm jar that held the blossoms still with teeny tiny tender zucchinis. The eggs were at their best: nice runny yolk and firm whites. These guys know how to cook their eggs! The mild goats’ cheese flavour didn’t over power the rest of the meal and it was more like a condiment. I was surprised that they added the white asparagus because that happens to be my favourite because of its sweet buttery taste.

The coffee was good too. Good flavour, not burnt and at the right temperature….yay!

 Bonus points for the great company and having the “Standing on the beach” by The Cure playing in the background.

• L’atelier de Monsieur truffe
• 351 Lygon st, East Brunswick  ( little red door)
• (03) 93804915
• Monday - Thursday  8am till 4.30pm
• Friday 8am till 5.30pm
• Saturday – Sunday 8:30am till 5.30pm

The cider that they have here is brilliant! I’m really diggin’ it and yeah, it could be drunk talk but this would have to be one of the most perfect ciders that I’ve had. So fricken clean tasting with the right about of acidity and dryness. It’s called Flying Brick cider draught $7.50 per 300ml stubbies and at 5.3%, no wonder it was giving that giggedy feeling. Giggedy.

It swishes around in your mouth and it’s got this strong apple with honey taste. I love it and was knocking them back like it was no tomorrow. The staff here are lovely and they remember how you like your drinks and they have an All Day Menu!!! Bottom of page.

The cider was a great accompaniment to the Gluten Free Salt N Pepper Squid $13 that came in cute grey dish with a red centre to which I thought it was some sort of tomato sauce! The creamy sweet mustard like dressing with garden leaves, slivers of candied lemon, cherry tomatoes that had a stack of lightly battered squid bits balancing daintily on top but the crowning glory to all of this was the addition of plump juicy peppered pineapple pieces. It was such a clever idea to add this as well as drizzling lemon wedges over the squid.

It was super yummy scrumptious and I wouldn’t mind heading back here for the day or evening.

• 284 Smith Street
• Collingwood VIC 3066
  (03)9416 0058
• 8am – 5pm Sunday to Wednesday
• 8am – late Thursday to Saturday

Taste of Melbourne Food Festival

• Albert Park  beside the Carousel, Melbourne.
• 16^th Nov, 2012

Pez – Thank you VERY VERY for the tickets.

This was my kinda fair ground attraction with food stalls and beer tents set up in a fenced off area in Albert park.

- Olleh and I arrived before sundown and I marched straight up to the Rekorderlig tent to get myself some ice cool cider only to realise I needed to swap my money for crowns. (1 pint of cider = 8 crowns). My mango and raspberry cider tasted like cordial but at least it was refreshing and it came in a pint!

- I almost got stung by a wasp that had no business to be in my hair. I found that amusing because every now and then I wear these hairclips that have realistic looking wasps attached to them and now I had one on my head for REAL!

“Ummmmmm……is that a real wasp in your hair?” said the dude stirring the delicious looking pasta dish at the Bertolli stall .

“Errrr….it’s a real one?!” I said confused for not recalling I added insect hair accessories that day (only a black sequin flat flower which reflected pretty patterns “Hey look…I’m a DISCO!!”).

“Arrrrgh……Get it OUT, GET IT OUT!!!!” I said calmly as I tried to swat the real wasp out of my hair.

Thank you to Olleh who saved me from being more hysterical by disposing of the wasp that was supposedly gearing up to sting me.

- The Old Mout Cider (I should learn to read better because I was calling it “Old MoutH or MouNt”) tent was visited by us and whilst Olleh chatted to the stall holder about Queens of the Stone Age, I tried to down as many samples as I could. My favourite would have to be the Fejoa which was nice and dry tasting, 2^nd was the Cranberry and cider and the 3^rd was the Boysencider which was ‘perfumey’ and tasty.

- The Bishop of Ostia  & Pope Joan  food tent that served up this heavenly dish called Salmon Wings (8 crowns). It seemed like the upgrade word for fried salmon fins. They used fatty salmon bits that were extremely juicy and I LOVED it! They were nicely seasoned and I just wanted more and more! It reminded me of the scraps of fried fish (but with more flesh) that was given to us kids when we hung around the kitchen. The best bits were used for more delectable Filipino fish dishes which usually the whole fish is eaten anyways! Oh so yummy-yummy and it was so good that we came back for seconds.

Here’s the recipe card from their stall.

- Macarons of Cacao Fine chocolates were very enticing (grrrrrr fuck you sugar!) but alas I couldn’t have them but I was put in a very compromising and convincing position.

- At the Monsieur Truffe  stall, they had this pure 65% cacoa chocolate button samples which was practically shoved into my mouth minus the headlock. This was so swoon worthy, it took me back when I was about 7 or 8 years old and stole a bag of chocolate buttons from the pantry. I remember the red bag that had to be made out of the loudest fricken plastic so I had to carefully make as little noise as possible. I hid that bag in a pillow case under my bed and I allowed myself 1 button (Yes 1 fricken chocolate button!) a day! It was torture but I savoured every moment to prolong the joy. I’d just let it melt in my mouth as I drifted off to sleep. Eating that made me a little sooky because I remember the happy naughtiness, dread of being found out and that it was probably my first lessons in self discipline. I’m glad Monsieur Truffe is not far from my place and I will go visit them again.

- The Tuaca  (100% natural liqueur with authentic Italian roots, flavoured with vanilla and citrus) stall was interesting watch.  The dude made this icy granita with dry ice! Apparently it evaporates and all that is left is the sugar and orange vanilla liqueur. A fascinating little show from behind the bar consisted of seeing the slick looking dude (no need for a lab coat) ladle out dry ice from an industrial looking tank and into a metal bowl which instantly spewed forth thick cloudy smoke which faded to leave a slushy like concoction that was served to me in a mini waffle cone. I made Olleh eat it and he said it was “Mmmmmmm!”

All sorts of beers, ciders, hotels, cafes, liqueurs, food produce that were both fresh and manufactured were present here. The quality of the food was top notch and funnily enough, the only thing that seemed to be missing for this setting was the absence of carnie ‘food’: dagwood dogs, soggy chips and overpriced fairy floss.

There wasn’t much gluten free things out there other than the rice crisps and dips stand. I think all the GOOD stuff had gluten and sugar in them. Damn you macarons and lush looking pasta! I had a great time having a squizz of what was on offer, cracking nut jokes with the Morish Nut man, posing on the Tuaca orange bike cart and with the MiniMelts Icecream Penguin mascot, eating cherries and strawberries, tasting real Mexican salsa and letting my nose lead me to a tent where they were grilling chicken with a dry rub marinade.

My chilli beef with lemongrass and rice vermicelli $10 was hot and delicious that had a good balance of spice and heat. Sometimes I feel that the heat can take over and you can’t taste the flavour because your mouth is being tortured by lava disguised as food.

The freshly cut cucumber, carrots, lettuce, mint, roasted peanuts and vermicelli added layers of lightness which was a great way to break up the intense chilli bursts of the beef which was also laced with lemongrass.

The crazy straw that came with my orange juice $3 made it childish and fun and it had been a while since I’ve seen my drink do loop-de-loops!

The toilets were very clean which is a bonus because it’s an indication that the kitchen is too!

I would like to come back again.

Huyen Linh 2

• Vietnamese Restaurant
• 137 Puckle Street, Moonee Ponds
• Mon 5 to 10pm
• Tue – Sun 11am to 10pm
• 93260927

Visit date: 7^th Nov 2012

Thank god, Cafenatics was open (They shut at 5pm!) and it’s also a part of a ‘boutique chain of coffee shops’ which I found out later. But that didn’t throw me off because of the positive experience I had here.

I ordered a Pour over and was somehow charged $3.50 (The next day it was $4 but still hrrrnng?) to which I was met with enthusiasm from a curly redhead bloke who was lovely. I can recall paying double that amount at other places.

I had been tempted yet again by a sugar devil and ordered a brownie. I am deluding myself into thinking even though it was GLUTEN FREE that it would somehow make up for the sugar content. That slab of dark as night chocolate was so creamy that it was a cross between fudge and chocolate truffle ganache and it had this delicate crispy meringue-ish shell on top. Despite that it was super rich it still had a light texture to it which till baffles me! It’s the work of the devil…I tells ya! I savoured every bite and I’m going to hell again. Oh why oh why do things have to be so wickedly delicious? *shakes fist.

Cafenatics has low lighting and super cool surrounds overlooking a courtyard that looks like they had the Hulk throw chunks from the ugly buildings from Fed Square. My favourites things about this place would to be the brightly coloured La Marzocco coffee machine, communal table, big arsed flower arrangements with plenty of room and attentive staff.

The majority of suits and law court folks pop up her and there and you get the occasional tradie. I love how the late 90’s R’n’B music was playing “No diggety” by BlackStreet ft Dr. Dre and “Killing me softly” by the Fugees. Yeeeeyah….I feel like a teenager again!

My refreshing pour over in a warmed Hario beehive shaped glass jug and a warm cute heavy bottomed tumbler. I drink it like warmed Japanese sake. They used the Santa Isobel coffee ($18 a bag) that had a fruity, sharp yet sweet twang. I like how the curly redhead asked: “How is your pour over and do you like the brownie?”

“Yeah” I answered with an open mouthful of brownie….gross of me I know.

It’s always a nice touch when they give you a glass bottle full of water and a serviette. Again, I have to stress that these little things means so much to me.

• Visit date: 11th October, 2012
• Rear of 500 Bourke St
  Melbourne 3000 Victoria
  Phone: 9670 7445
• 6:30am – 5pm Mon to Fri
• http://www.cafenatics.com.au/