The Running Man: September 2007

Restaurant Liberty Grove

Usuallly I don't do this, but for this post I introducing a guest writer...Lil. Now because this post is dedicated to putting on a surprise for Lil (and Maz), rather than me describing how I planned the surprise (with invaluable help from JB as he prepared the entree and mains). Some background information about what is about to happen...inspired after watching Ratoulee (the movie about the French chef rat) I told JB of my idea of cooking a fine dining 3 course meal for the gals...namely Lil and Maz. With JB being a cook/chef, he naturally agreed even adding some bits of flair to the 'fine dining' meal (see photos) at where else, but our house at Liberty Grove! The date was set for Sunday 16 September 2007.

So without further ado here Lil's contribution to 'Restaurant Liberty Grove' :) haha...

As promised, Restaurant Liberty Grove deserves a post of its own.The night started with Maz and I being sent upstairs so that the boys can finish creating their dinner. Suddenly we heard "Dinner is ready!". I was already impressed that the boys had prepare dinner in time. Earlier in the day Darren asked to borrow table cloth from Maz, so I knew the boys were going to imitate a restaurant setting, but imagine our shock when we were greeted on the bottom of the stairs with JB in a black waiter's attire holding a menu welcoming us "madams" to Restaurant Liberty Grove.

"Oh my god" was said a couple of times as we turned into the 'restaurant' area. Then an image I will never forget. There Darren was in a complete chef's uniform including a professional chef's hat.
I couldn't stop laughing and spent a couple of minutes on the ground rolling around. Darren was trying to pull me up, but the more I looked at him the more I couldn't stop (Darren: Yes, I remember this...I was wondering if we were going to get to the dinner table :P haha, Lil's expression when she saw me was priceless...and so was her reaction afterwards)

As we finally composed ourselves, Darren filled our glasses with our favourite drinks that he researched from me earlier in the day. Maz had her Limonatta and I had my favourite sparkling mineral water. I taught Darren to put his hand behind his back like a real waiter and he did that for the rest of the night. Maz and I tried to decipher all the fancy words used in our printed menu, but I will explain what was so meticulously planned and prepared for us in my wording:

Entree: Baby octopus with curly lettuce and a chilli dressing - JB explained he used papaya to marinade and soften the octopus.
Mains: Pork belly roasted with stuffing served with grilled Fennel and Pear on a bed of mash parship - this dish was truly amazing.

The pork belly was so tasty, the meat was so tender and the cracking was so crispy.

Of the three pork belly dishes I've had in the past week I have to rate JB's pork belly as better than the Forbes & Burton and up there with Oscillate Wildly. I also loved the parship mash, it was so sweet and went so well with the savoury flavours of the pork.Dessert: Waifers and Vanilla Ice Cream served with raspberries and honey parfait sauce - my baby's baby.

Darren had put so much thought and effort in presentation. It looked so pretty and appetising. I'm not usually a sweets person but I loved every bite of it.

I might be accused of being bias but seeing food expert Maz polish it off as well meant it was definitely a YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM.In between all the courses, there was of course the usual photo taking Asian style, laughs and more attempts of intrepreting the menu.

But something happened between main and dessert. Must be a reaction to something we ate, but Maz and I got rowdy. One minute we were sitting admiring the setting, the next minute we were standing on the chairs belting out our lungs to the tunes of Eternal Flame, Aerosmith and You're Beautiful! Darren and JB stood in the kitchen dumbfounded and shaking their heads. A couple of statements "oh no... that's shocking... this is a proper restaurant..." and threats of being kicked out was to no avail.
Maz and I were acting like little kids, performing for the camera.Talk about performing for the camera, we made a video for JY as it was his birthday and he's recently moved to the UK . We had a full story line.

Maz is taking JY out for dinner for his birthday, they are greated by a waiter and the chef presents them a menu, then we all sing happy birthday to him and Maz blows out the candles on his behalf. Sounds complicated with different angles, switching scenes, lots of dialogue; but we're all professionals. One take was all we needed.JY later wrote us a thank you email and it made it all worthwhile and gratifying; his note also made me really miss our awesome foursome days. Wish he was at the dinner. I can imagine him doing some JT and 80's dance moves while Maz and I sang. Haha...

After dinner we watched a comedy "Monster in Law". It's about how a recently sacked mother is clinging onto her son. The son meets a girl and wants to marry her. The mother then goes through all these schemes to break them up (even almost killing her). It was so funny, light hearted. Perfect movie for a Sunday night. Then it was home time for some rest for a brand new week. Disclaimer: Despite the photographs, it was really JB who cooked the important dishes (the entree and mains)...so kudos (credit) must go to him for preparing and cooking such a delicious main course (he really spent lots of time and effort preparing it the night before)...making this fine dining dinner party a success! My role was more of a waiter, pastry chef (dessert maker) and restaurant manager (organising the fancy stuff and sending out the official "invites") haha.. a possible 2nd career after law??? :P

Credit must also be given to my Lil for having written up an excellent post, I think its quite an interesting way, describing an event from another person's (the person you are intending to surprise) perspective. In fact, as you will see in a future post (to be updated)...Restaurant Liberty Grove is going to be fully operational haha.. :). So anyway it was a good night for all (and we were awarded our 'one chefs hat' award by our two distinguished judges...even though they both stood on our chairs to sing :P haha) and what made it even more memorable was that the effort was there and well the gals played along with us (plus the food was excellent and so delectible as you can see from above...3 courses for next to nothing!).

Lantern Festival

Last Friday night, we were invited by HY and Haz to go and celebrate mid-autumn festival (mooncake festival). Ok technically its not the day (its on this Tues)...but since we are all hardworking auditors and lawyers...it was brought forward to the Friday night. Many thanks to HY and Haz for bringing the mooncakes (from Singapore) and Wanyi for "organising" the day amongst all of us. The location was suggested by Eugene (a park nearby his house...but he was still the last to arrive :P haha...this park overlooked the city skyline and the harbour...very nice). The weather was good, and the moon about 3/4 full. What could be better? A little slice of the Singaporean tradition in a 'foreign' land (the turn out was quite good too so the atmosphere was there). We had mooncakes, drinks and played games

4 lovely ladies...

Quite a large group of us...more people came later on :P including Maxy!

Baked Cheesecake

Inspired by a muffin cook book I saw lying around...I decided to temporarily change my focus from main courses to desserts...specifically baked cheesecakes! (armed with my trusty muffin tray which I had just bought for my 'project'). Here is the result!

Something which I packed for Lil and her mum (one of my fans ;)

Got strawberries as decorations

A success! I can now make cheesecake (good practice for any pot lucks coming up :P) it was delicious if I do say so myself...not too sweet and not like those 'pure' white type of cheesecakes that you can get at the shops..its more akin to those Japanese type cheesecakes that is light and fluffy and not too sweet :)

Best Vietnamese Pork Rolls (in Sydney)

Last Sunday, we went to pick up Leo from the airport (yes he is coming back to live and work in Sydney...good times are back again...see my previous posts). Anyway as his flight was at 12.50pm we went with Nicky to Mascot for supposedly the "best Vietnamese Pork Rolls" in Sydney. Here is the evidence of the line waiting outside the modest shop (you can see my Lil waiting in line whilst I take a picture...she is in pink). It was meant to be the best and since we had some time to waste, we gave it a go (at Nicky's suggestion who lives in the area). The price? only $3.50 per roll! great value! and you can also have chicken as well...accompanied with all the salads and vietnamese sauce :P... People who were lined up bought multiples (more than 2) not just singles...even me and Lil bought 3 to share between us (as I wanted to try both the Pork and the Chicken roll). Even the local fire department stops by to buy rolls (lots of them...probably for the whole fire station in Mascot)..no kidding, this fire engine was parked just around the corner from the store. As the sign in the picture above suggests..yupz they bake their own rolls! oh the smell of freshly baked bread, so soft and fresh...just adds to the taste of the rolls...

Lil wanted to ask the firemen whether she could sit inside the truck (we saw one of the firemen who was waiting by the truck, offer a young kid

This is the Pork Roll (unfortunately you cannot see the Pork, but it was substantial and hidden amongst the veges)..trust me...it was really really good! :) May have just found another place where we can pick up a good lunch :P

Mr Chan and Nicky enjoying the Pork Buns... yumm...I am getting hungry just blogging about it...its really that good...all who visit Sydney should line up (its quite fast) and try it (its like the Harris de Wheels Hot Dogs...a must try in Sydney)

Relaxing after lunch :P

Leo's Back

Yo Yo Yo...guess who is back in S-town?...thats right Mr Chan, the Big L, "Lock up your sisters, daughters, girlfriends, mothers" Chan! Storm!!! aka. Mr Leo Chan (he is probably going to ask me to remove this post soon :P haha). But no the Leo I mentioned to you in previous posts (the guy who helped me tremendously during those very early and miserable months whilst I was first in Sydney...is back!). He didn't enjoy the uni course he was doing and now he is back in S-town working for another bank :P. Oh and I also owe so much to him for actually actively 'forcing' or convincing me to go out and join his vball group (which eventually became my friends) and play vball (which eventually became my sport in Sydney...as you can see :P). So I owe much to Mr Chan (also got to watch him with the ladies... ;) haha). Anyway on Sunday, we went to the airport to pick him up with his stuff...and like any celebrity that arrives, we brought our trusty camera to capture the moments (Nicky also went with us to pick him up) - like Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt arriving...we were the paparazi! haha ...