Over the weekend I was treated to two brunches. The first being at St. Alexander’s and the second being -Lady Bower Kitchen (1a Marchant Ave, Reservoir). For those who know the Reservoir area well, it’s on the “Broadway” side of Reservoir. 

The food:

I ordered the smashed avocado and poached eggs with chili oil. I ordered this in hopes that this was a “something special” dish. It wasn’t. There was nothing wrong with the eggs- they were true poached eggs. But this dish didn’t wow me. I guess I can say- Jackson Dodds ruined me with their version of a smashed avocado (where the it’s seasoned and extremely appetizing). The chilli oil gave it a funny curry tang but not something I’d say “oh wow”

Mr_54632 ordered the mushroom omelette. I love mushrooms but not to the extent that it makes my omelette smell all mushroom-ey. Unfortunately the omelette didn’t have very much flavour besides a strong smell of mushroom. Personally not for me but Mr_54632 did enjoy it.

My sister had the “breakfast of champions” where she got poached eggs, bacon, mushrooms,baked beans and meatballs. I have to say- I did enjoy the meatballs because they were extremely YUMMY (but a bit heavy for breakfast). My sister did comment that she didn’t feel like a “champion” eating this. Not sure why my sister’s plate wasn’t as “retro” as ours… I think they ran out of “retro” things…

The biggest complaint between the three of us was that the bread they used(albeit very nice) was almost impossible to cut through with our mediocre butter style knives. You almost need sharp steak knives to go through the crust and it was a serious workout trying to do so. 

 

The Good things about Lady Bower Kitchen:

• I really liked the funky layout although it does have a tad “we’re trying very hard to be cool and chic” and they pull it off quite well. 
• I also liked the coffee.
• They do know how to make poached eggs

 

The Bad things about Lady Bower Kitchen:

• According to the waitress, when the menu says “eggs” and unless otherwise stated, they only do POACHED. -_- That is pretty limiting especially if you can’t eat poached eggs (hello pregnant people). In saying that, it did take them awhile to get our breakfast out to us. When I mean awhile- I mean like it would have been quicker for us to go home and cook the damn meals ourselves.
• Annoyingly even though our coffees were good they mixed them up and gave us all SOY based ones, this was AFTER the waitress had confirmed with us TWICE of what we were ordering. Obviously a pointless exercise if the barista can’t even get it right. I hate soy based drinks(unless it’s the sweetened Asian kind you find in a prima pack kind).
• Their menu is placed on a poorly cut out strip of cardboard. It might have looked cool when they first did this, but it looked pretty tired and cheap.

 

 

Interestingly enough, on Urbanspoon a LOT of people have commented on how they do like the food and the coffee is pretty good but apparently the service is so appalling that it’s completely off putting. I can assure you we didn’t come across any rude staff members on our visit- service is a tad slow but not rude.

For us, we all agreed  that it was probably easier to drive a further 5-10minutes in the opposite direction and get a much tastier and better fare at Jackson Dodds. The food and coffee are served a lot quicker and when you’re there for breakfast- you really don’t want to wait and you definitely want something fantastic to start the day.

 

 

 

I weighed myself Sunday night so that I could officially know what I weighed right before the program started- It said 81.9. I found that the last couple of days, I had been yo-yoing anywhere between 82.5- 81.7 or thereabouts.

81.9 is a massive improvement to what I weighed almost 4 weeks ago. I was approximately 86 odd kilos. Seeing those numbers really freaked me out as it was very close to 90kgs. Being 86kgs is the heaviest I’ve ever been.

 

As part of the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation, apparently Wednesday’s is “weigh in day”.. and today is our first weigh in. Where you’re supposed to weigh yourself roughly the same time each week(after you’ve gone to the toilet) and you strip down to your undies( makes it a tad difficult in the winter months)

I am now 81.5kgs.

I am somewhat delighted to see some drop- even if it’s marginal. It makes me extremely happy (this is considering I did go out to dinner Monday night and stuffed my face with Thai food)

 

In saying that- I have been hard at work at the gym doing some of the Michelle Bridges exercise routines. Unfortunately I missed out on the Monday night schedule so it’s thrown out some of it but doing some exercise is still better than doing nothing at all.

 

I’m hoping to break into the high 70′s kilo mark i.e being 79.9. That would make me very happy. I’m sick of being stuck in the 80 kg area.

 

 

How you hope your future will be like

Ever since my mum’s cancer diagnosis- as much as I like to think of the future, I really like to live in the now and only think of the immediate future (as what will happen in the next couple of days to weeks).

 

I also know from experience that what you “plan” or think will happen because that’s what you hope it to be- It just doesn’t happen for me.

For example when I was 18- I really truly believed that by 25 I would have been married. I’m 28 now and still not married- Engaged yes. But not married.

I had planned that by 28, I would have had my 1st born and probably awaiting for the second child…But as you can see, these things don’t plan out as they do.

 

But it’s the same as my career- I didn’t even think that I’d end up in this industry that I’m not saying goodbye too (today), who knew that something I did for less than 12 mths almost 5 years ago and ended up quitting would be something I would return to and end up giving me so many opportunities? I sure didn’t see that coming.

 

One thing for sure is- I know whatever my future is- the only thing I know for concrete is that whatever is in store for me, whether good or bad-the only person I want to share the hardships and the goodtimes is with Mr_54632.

 

 

A moment where you felt most satisfied with your life

 

I remember as a 17 year old, I was extremely proud of myself for having to sticking it out with Saturday school aka Vietnamese classes from 9-12.30pm

My parents had enrolled me when I was 5 years old at the Collingwood College as back in the day, it was the only place that was close enough to us. It was a bit of a drive and I’ll always remember being forced to wake up at 7am on a Saturday morning to go to classes. Every Saturday morning without a doubt, I would cry and say “I’m sick Mummie”, it only ever worked once or twice- when I was really in fact sick.

But regardless, I did make a LOT of friends- none of whom I’ve kept in contact with but there were a lot of good memories.

At the end of each year, the teachers would pick the best 3 performing students. Several times, I’d get an award for being a top student. I’d always get third, mainly because there were twin sisters who just excelled in Vietnamese. But looking back, they would have too considering they were in fact a year older than me and should have been in the class above me.

I ended up skipping a year not because I excelled in it but because I could and I wanted to do year 12 Vietnamese for my Year 11 studies. I scored okay during my exams.. 

 

And to this day, I can still read and write. Obviously speaking the language shouldn’t pose that much of a problem- I probably would have been able to speak it fluently considering my parents are vietnamese but I probably wouldn’t be able to read/write….

 

so pretty proud of that

St Alexander’s Kitchen is perhaps one of Thomastown’s best kept secret. It’s located in the most unlikely areas – (130A  Alexander Ave, Thomastown) where it’s not on a big main road or anything significant. It’s in a very unassuming area where the locals probably didn’t know that it existed… but it’s a gem find and eventually- sooner or later everybody will realize that too.

 

I’ve been lucky- where I’ve seen the development of St Alexander’s from it’s humble beginnings of when they first opened and we were the only diners to gradually building a customer base with lots of improvements to the food that they served. I stumbled upon this place almost by accident- actually I lie, urbanspoon told me that this place existed with a very high rating of 100% (although at the time approximately 20 people had voted) and I thought to myself- what eatery in a place like Thomastown could possibly get such a high rating? I figure I’d better find out.

My first time around, we had dinner- they mostly do dinners, but are open for breakfast on the weekends. I gotta say, I was pretty impressed the first time around but I knew the place could improve a little bit more (yeh i got high expectations) for it. And what I like about St.Alexander’s Kitchen is its ability to grow and become a better place….

This time around (now my 4th visit over a long period of time) was for breakfast. We were extremely happy with what we were served:

 

 

 Mr_54632 had the “Hangover breakfast” which comprised of scrambled eggs, danish feta (which was really yum), jalapenos, smoked sausages and roasted peppers. 

This was much better than my Eggs Benedict- and that’s not to say that my eggs benedict was poorly cooked. No, it was fantastic, the egg was yolkey, the hollandaise sauce was just right… but the hangover breakfast was just better in comparison.

I loved the feta and the jalapenos but the best bit was the smoked sausages. The whole dish really worked well with each other. Personally I wouldn’t have had jalapenos for breakfast but hey- who knew it was fab with eggs and feta? Well certainly the folk at St. Alexanders.

 

The coffees were very good too- albeit it did take them awhile to come out. But I liked the honesty of the waitress who told us she had our order mixed up. One person wanted a Chai latte and the other wanted a soy latte. I think she made a soy chai latte (yuck) and had to restart. Better that she realized then serve up utter rubbish- I am not a fan of soy milk (even though I am lactose intolerant)

 

Now- if it’s your first time to St. Alexander’s and it’s a beautiful day make your way to the outside garden. It’s a terrific site although the inside is very eclectic as well but what the team at St. Alexander has done is very different… something you’d find in the hipster suburbs like Brunswick/Fitzroy

 

It’s the last place you’d think to find something as cool as this. But we were really taken in with the artwork, the furniture … well basically everything. I loved how they also incorporated real plants (i.e lemon trees which are very common in the area) as part of the scenery.

There’s so much going on, but nothing too crazy where it just takes the focus away from everything where you could be lost in your own world just looking around.

We were really lucky on the day we visited as it was a beautiful day in May with fantastic weather to showcase the crazy garden area… and extremely good food to boot.

 

The ONLY setback is that they ONLY take CASH- but it’s not so much of a problem when the meals aren’t bank breaking in the first place.

But it’s a place worth visiting if you live/work or visiting the area.

 

 

*please note: this is not a paid review. All meals were paid for with my  own money*

Your zodiac sign and if you think it fits your personality

 

I was born on the 19th of August- which scraps me in to be a Leo.

“For many people, “charm” is a skill that takes years to learn. For individuals born under the astrological sign of Leo however, “charm” is something that comes as naturally as breathing. The Leo personality is magnetic, dynamic and always alluring. Leos are happiest when they are engaged in play, sensory experiences and all kinds of fulfilling work. Leos typically exhibit a natural personal warmth, and a sincere generosity. Leos aren’t generous because they expect anything in return — instead, Leo’s genuinely enjoy the act of giving for it’s own sake.

 

Leos make excellent friends because their natural desire to make others happy is especially cherished during difficult times. Leo’s are particularly good at helping their friends through difficult emotional times.

 

Leos have strong opinions on topics that are important to them — and they like to be unchallenged when speaking about their beliefs. Leos may sometimes withdraw into themselves if their desire for superiority is contested. In some cases, this desire to be “unchallenged” may be seen as arrogance or self-centeredness — but it is more likely a deep rooted passion about particular issues that lie close to the heart.“

I think that description of  Leo which I found here pretty much describes me pretty well. HAHAHA- I agree I do have strong opinions (as you would have read over the years) and I make excellent friends now- probably not so much in the past- but thats okay, you live and you learn.

 

I’m not sure about the charming thing, but I get told by many people that I can be when I want to be- especially if I want something…

I like the bit about being generous- I usually am, not always because I know being too generous also means you get taken advantage of by a$$holes.

 

what an interesting description… pretty happy with that

 

Yesterday I joined the gym.

Tonight I did my first proper session.

I’m pretty proud of myself.

I used the cross trainer, the rowing machine (that really killed), the treadmill, the leg crunching machine, leg stretching machine and some weights.

I was done in about 1/2 an hr…

 

im sore.. but feeling good..

 

 

Write 30 interesting facts about yourself

I’ll give you 30- can’t guarantee that they’re interesting but here goes:

1. I am shit scared of the dark, to the point where I sleep with a nightlight. Except when Mr_54632 is around. Having someone next to me makes it better
2. I wasn’t toilet trained until I hit primary school. I don’t know why this was the case but that’s how it was. Apparently I always had to have a change of pants at kinder :/
3. I actually didn’t get my Learners until I was 19, I got my driver’s licence officially 6 months later
4. My first ever job was at KFC, I’ll always remember being paid $5.65 an hour and earning my first $50 bucks
5. I hate going to the dentist and seeing my accountant. I’m not sure who I hate more
6. I have several very small cysts in my neck. Currently they are benign but I have to get blood tests to always check that they don’t become malignant.
7. We give our pets human names: Tony(living Pomeranian), Michelle (now deceased), Charlie (living Pug/Poodle) and we used to have a cat name Christopher Robins but he ran away
8. My sister owned 2 pet chickens. They become dinner hence the dogs :/. We don’t eat our dogs… ewww
9. I was the shortest girl in year 6. I had the last laugh because all those girls who got their growth spurt early ended up being very short in the end.
10. I was bullied as a kid. It took me a long time to get over it. Because of this, I have very few friends because trusting people is very hard for me.
11. I am a F1 fan but not so crazy where I would wake up at 4am just to catch the race because it’s airing Europe time.
12. I hate Licorice. Can’t stand the smell or taste
13. I have been in two accidents in my own car. Neither experience was fun
14. I don’t hold chopsticks properly and can’t be bothered learning to hold it correctly
15. My rice making skills is so bad (even though it’s just adding rice and water into a rice cooker) that my parents are usually the ones responsible to make sure that the rice is cooked instead of leaving it to me
16. I LOVE going to the golf range when I’m stressed
17. Apparently I snore very loudly
18. I have no fashion sense and not very daring. I usually have to ask my sister for help
19. I’m allergic to various types of preservatives and lactose intolerant. It doesn’t stop me from eating everything. I just hope for the best
20. I cry watching at all the soppy bits in movies
21. I am a very big anime and asian drama fan. I spend countless hours in bed streaming every possible episode… 
22. I am scared of needles. Although I’ll tough it out to donate blood
23. I can’t reverse my car in a straight line. 
24. I usually wake up before my alarm. If I tell myself that i need to get up at 4am then I’ll automatically wake up at 4am. 
25. I hate spiders and especially ants
26. Both my parents are the youngest of all their siblings
27. I am a creature of habit, I can eat the same thing for breakfast day in, day out
28. I have been known to eat the following: 2 big macs, 1 mcchicken, 1 quarter pounder, cheeseburger and an apple pie- in one sitting. I was 13 and hungry
29. I used to be a size 6, now I’m just fat
30. When I’m stressed or unhappy I bite my nails

 

Wow that took a long time

 

A time you thought about ending your life

 

Wow a really dark question to have to answer.

I’d be lying if I said I never thought about it but even these dark thoughts scare me. And like anyone, it’s when you hit rock bottom that it makes you think “that’s it for me”.

 

I remember when I had to deal with a breakup with a bf when I was about 17 years of age… (he was a horrid bf anyway) and the feeling that I felt back then was truly unbearable. But it also made me realize that life wasn’t worth giving up over a boy. There were going to be more boys to cry over, so I was determined to get over it.

But even when I have hit rock bottom (and there have been so many dark times), I’ve always thought about the effects that it would have on my family and my friends. 

 

i really urge people who can’t get the horrible “i need to die” thoughts and best to seek help, even if it means talking to someone, even a stranger to get pass the dark times..

It might sound corny, but it does eventually get better.

So once again, my friend Miss L invited me to another restaurant that had asked her to review their food (obviously on them). I definitely wasn’t going to say no especially to FREE food.

Please note that unless otherwise stated- I pay for all my meals when I discuss them on my blog.

Our restaurant was Pinocchio’s Pizza Restaurant (152 Toorak Rd, South Yarra), it’s kind of opposite the South Yarra train station- and not too hard to find.

This was our first visit but I was pretty impressed with the layout. From what I know, they’ve had a refurb not to long ago. I wish I got to see the “old” layout but nonetheless the new one is very cool.

The entire wall opposite the bar has the Pinocchio’s storyline drawn against a white wall backdrop. It’s very chic and very cool.  The artwork style is like this:

That’s not a milk bottle… but the water jug.. 

 

We were given the option to order anything off the menu or try the tasting plate… we opted the tasting plate…

This was our entree which comprised of a LOT of things:

• Baked herbed ricotto: which is goats cheese served with blood orange reduction and a toasted pumpkin seed and Parmesan wafer (it’s the plate on the top right hand corner).  I didn’t know it at the time that it was goats cheese and it was a good thing too because I HATE goat’s cheese- I had one bad experience at Bistro Vue that forever changed my view on goats cheese even every time I have to eat it, I shudder. I couldnt tell that it was indeed goat’s cheese and it was very tasty.. This was by far our most favourite dish on the tasting plate.
• small cubes of slow cooked milk fed veal- tossed with creamy tuna sauce and caper berries (top left in a small bowl in the photo). I really like these too, the creamy tuna sauce went realllllly well with the veal.
• Confit duck: which is parsnip and apple croquette with a hint of ginger served with an unsweetened cherry dip. I’ve never had duck croquette’s before and these were very good. The duck wasnt too dry and the outside wasn’t soggy and very crisp.
• Arancini: mushroom with tallegio cream. I found them okay- really had a strong mushroom-y smell to it. If you can’t stand mushrooms then this isn’t for you. 

*Arancini and Confit duck were on the same plate on the left hand side of the photo*

• Totoni which were crispy calamari with orange and fennel salt.(opposite the confit and arancini) This was perhaps the most disappointing thing on the plate. Don’t get me wrong, it was very tasty with just enough salt but it was by no means crispy but relatively soggy.
• A claypot of baked parmigiana with buffalo mozzarella, eggplant and fried sweet potato drizzled with balsamic reduction.(Bottom right hand corner of photo) The only eggplant I like is the deep fried kind that you get as eggplant chips. But I was midly impressed with this dish. I liked the sweet potato but I found this quite a heavy dish.
• Red wine braised baby octopus with Italian style chorizo sausage tossed with roasted pepers and light mint dressing.(bottom left hand corner of photo) It’s funny considering I’m taking the information off their menu but surprised that it had a light mint dressing because I didn’t taste any mint (hence the light dressing ahahaha) or maybe because it was my least favorite dish and I had barely any of it.
• Panino di agnello: a sweer brioche roll of sticky pulled lamb shoulder, aioli and rocket leaves. These were indeed very tasty. The lamb didn’t overly smell like “lamb in your face” smell which i can’t handle. The aioli worked really well with the lamb

By this stage, I was very full but that was just the entrees :/

My favourite was the pizzas:

• The Bufala: San Marzano tomato, fresh bufala mozaarella, oregano, fresh basil
• The Prosciutto: San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, San Daniele Prosciutto, rocket, parmesan and balsamic

Pinocchio’s apparently have a 40 year proven track record in pizza making (that’s what it says on their menus) and it shows. I really LOVE the base as it was nice and crispy and the tomato sauce base was fantastic.

My not so favourite (because it’s just me) was:

• Gnocchi: baked with fresh tomato, basil, napoli sauce and buffalo mozzarella topped with grana padano. 

I didn’t like this as much as Miss L but hey, we can’t like everything. They were a tad too mushy for me, but like the restaurant manager had pointed out the idea was that they’re supposed to melt in your mouth. I was just chewing them down and upon hearing that, I did give it a second try. They were okay – However I did like the rich sauce that it was cooked in.

What I definitely didn’t like and would never try again:

• Coniglio mezzaluna: pasta filled with Gippsland rabbit ragout tossed in a light veal and butter sauce
• Risotto alla caccio: aborio rice cooked with a rich Mediterranean shellfish broth, flavoured with saffron, a selection of fresh seafood and soft vegetables finished with chopped herbs

I’m not a fan of rabbit, thinking about the cute little bunnies being eaten always gives me the creepies… but even with my feelings I did give the dish a try. The pasta was nice but the rabbit was dry. It obviously didn’t help with my phobia.*argh*

The Risotto on the other hand was very nicely flavoured but the biggest let down was the rice was undercooked and some of it was pretty hard. I don’t like my risottos as hard as what they served up. But I did appreciate the abundance of seafood.

 

 

We had the option of a second main but we declined. I don’t know what person could manage anymore “mains” because we were absolutely full. In saying that, we did make room for dessert. HAHAHA.

I don’t remember the names of the selection other than the panna cotta and the tiramisu…and their menus dont state them either. The panna cotta reminded me of the Asian jelly that my aunty makes and it was very nice and sweet. I LOVED the tiramisu- if you’re a big fan of coffee, then this is for you because it’s got a very strong coffee taste and smell to it.

I didn’t like the chocolate/mousse like calzone or whatever it was- the inside was a bit bland and the outside had this weird minty flavor. The fruit thing was the worst..

and the cakes on the left hand side was just okay.

I definitely did not like the rhubarb which had this vinegary, salty  taste to it. It didn’t work with the rest of the extremely sweet dishes. Argh

 

 

Overall I did enjoy our meal even though there was some hits and a few misses. I really appreciated that Pinocchio was very generous with their serving size. Clearly it was more than we bargained for and I loved the fact that Pinocchio’s managed to even surprise me with some of their dishes and have turned me around to like things again i.e goats cheese. Just goes to show- you need to source the right cheese and cook it the right way.. and woah-la I’ll be eating it happily.

 

Unlike my other food adventure with Miss L to another place she got invited to, this place wasn’t dead. It did start to fill up by the 7.30pm mark. At one point, it got so noisy that I could barely concentrate or hear the conversation that we were having. 

I can’t fault the service but then again, they knew that we were there and more attentive to us than normal. I noticed that the other tables didn’t get the same service that we were getting. But I didn’t see any unhappy patrons. I did notice however that one of their waiters (must be knew) who kept fumbling with the dirty dishes and dropping things every now and again. But I was very impressed that the waiters/ress were able to happily explain the large menu to their patrons in detail when asked. This is clearly a place that cares about their staff to train them enough to get used to the menu and this was considering that this was their new menu as well. 

I’m also at odds with the food we were served. A part of me thinks that the chefs should have show cased their ultimate best and that none of their food was as flawed as some of the dishes that we had. IE- risotto and rabbit. And another part of me actually does give their hat to them daring enough to serve a mixbag of foods where some were extremely fantastic and others were just bad and were happy with the feedback given. Any place that  is willing to take it on is definitely a good thing. Better to fix than continually making poor food that people don’t enjoy and lose customers that way.

Would I be going back?

If I was in the area and felt like wood fired pizza, I definitely would give this place a definite try. 

Plus it’s always interesting to see if they did take on our feedback and improve on some of the dishes that were so bad.