HEY. HI. STILL ALIVE. REALLY.
The last month has been stupid. I've been under the weather more often than not and crazy busy on top of it, but here's some things I've been eating.
Raw passionfruit cheesecake from Naked Treaties. This is RIDICULOUSLY good raw cheesecake.. possibly better than Yong's and Pana's. Snagged it from Habib's in Flinders Street, $7.50. (Shitty train station picture because it didn't last the whole way home.)
Made dumplings! These are tofu, spinach, grated carrot with a soy-ginger-sesame marinade, with a whole lot of sesame seeds mixed in. They fried beautifully and were super tasty. I enjoy making dumplings far more when I make the dough myself; it takes about two seconds and not having to endure the nasty flour-residue hands makes it far more pleasant.
Tried the alternate non-spicy dish in Gong De Lin's Scoopon banquet: mushroom and bamboo shoot (I think) in a savoury sauce. Simple but I really enjoyed it, the texture was really interesting. I am not a mushroom person, so every dish where I genuinely enjoy a mushroom always surprises me.
Berrissimo! Watermelon fro-yo with lychee and strawberry pearls. Didn't really like the watermelon - it was slightly artificially strange.
Cruelty Free Shop's opening weekend, grabbed a few little things. That Vanoffe chocolate is insane. It tastes like Dairy Milk but in a healthy kind of way. I also snagged a block of Loving Earth's new caramel chocolate at Go Vita, which I am a bit obsessed with - it's so melty and sweet, like eating fudge but you don't get a stomachache or a sugar overload. Has anyone else tried it?
Divine Realm, formerly Chan House - this is their "roast chicken rice", $8. Crispy, salty fried chicken, lemongrass fried rice, sweet chilli vegies and fried tofu skin. For eight bucks this is an awesome lunch, and so pretty! They're also doing these ridiculous flavoured 'prawn' chips in carrot and mushroom that are really tasty, $3/bag and so worth it.
Wonton soup at Loving Hut Northcote. There was something a little offputting about the wontons themselves (slightly grainy? like underprocessed nuts? type filling) but the light broth, veggies and fried tofu were lovely. $12.
Fried chicken! I was stupidly hyped for this but I really think it needed more salt. Grease without salt just makes me feel a bit sicky - didn't feel all that great after eating these. Sadfase. Definitely better mock meat options in Melb. $15
Custard tart, made according to an old-school Women's Weekly book recipe by my mother but using Well and Good's amazing custard powder that sets perfectly with no heat. This tastes like a suburban bakery from my childhood, in a really good way - simple therapeutic food, and I was sad when we ate it all.
Lychee jelly from the local Afghan supermarket. It's made with carrageenan and still has that glorious jelly-wobble unlike agar.. in reality it's completely transparent, so I really could have chosen a better bowl. Still pretty good jelly - it'd be fantastic to suspend fruit in.
More actual food posts soon!