Wawa's Ramblings

Hmm, can I eat the candle too?

Quick, feed me!

Hands0me boy wondering what's all the fuss about

So dog tired after the bash

Labels: chihuahua

her first day at home

4 months old

5 months

9 months

and here she is all grown up today

Labels: chihuahua

Cooked burgers for dinner for a party of six, using freshly self minced chuck tender. I made thicker slices of the patties, accompanied by oven roasted rosemary fries and garlic.

A truly satisfying dinner paired with a bottle of chianti.

Labels: burger, home cooking

Had lunch again at Rakuzen, now firmly established as one of our favourite Jap restaurants. I ordered the Sakura Chirashidon zen ($20) while Co had the Tempura zen ($18). The Chirashidon was prettily presented with slices of sashimi and pickles.





It was so delicious that I cleaned off the whole bowl of rice!




We also ordered the yakitori ($6) and this was one of the better yakitori we had so far.


We stopped by at Something to Go for coffee later in the afternoon and could not resist having some dessert, the praline feuilette and mango cheesecake ($6 each). The praline is one of Regent's best sellers and is a rich dark chocolate cake comprising of chocolate mousse and a base of crunchy biscuit and sponge cake. Very rich and sinful but utterly delicious.

We also bought the cranberry raisin bread ($6) and a hazelnut chocolate donut ($2.20). The donut was very nice with a thick layer of hazelnut icing and generous sprinkles of crushed hazelnuts. There is a 20% discount for UOB cardholders for purchases above $15, so it was a pretty good deal.

Ended the day of feasting with home cooked pad thai and tom yam goong. The pad thai turned out almost perfect this time round and the tom yam goong was very flavourful (forgot the snapshot).

I also tried making the sticky rice again, this time in a steamer and finally got the consistency of the rice right. It went very well with the coconut cream topped with slices of mango.

I think our waistline just expanded a few inches but hey, it's the weekend. :)

Labels: japanese food, mango sticky rice

We saw the menu for Waraku on their website and thought we would give this place a shot since the menu looked quite extensive. We read of the long queues at the Central branch and decided instead to head off to the branch at East Coast. Parking was ridiculously expensive at $2.50 for 1st hour. Should have parked along the service road FOC. We ordered the set lunch, the sukiyaki wazen and katsu wazen (both for $13.80 including soft drinks).

Co's katsu was okay but both of us found the miso soup very strange tasting, as it had bits of pork belly in it, resulting in an overpowering 'porky' soup. We did not like it all.

My sukiyaki was no better. It came with 4 slices of beef and an assortment of vegetables, tofu and mushrooms. The stock was cloyingly sweet and there was hardly any hint of beef flavour. The rice was also quite ordinary. It was a good thing we did not have to wait for a table even though we walked in without any reservations, otherwise we would have felt even more disgruntled with the food.

Our conclusion: The food is slightly better than Sakae Sushi or Sushi Tei, but for a few dollars more, we would rather have the set lunch at Rakuzen or Kuriya where the quality of food is far more superior. Understandably, this may be a casual Japanese restaurant with moderate prices but the food we sampled today fell short of expectations. This would probably be our first and last visit to Waraku.

Labels: japanese food

Sunset over the Fishing Boat Harbour

Here is a sample of some of the restaurants we visited around the Fishing Boat Harbour;

Joe's fish shack - We ordered the seafood platter and a Western Australia crayfish served chilled with a salad. The seafood platter (AUD$29.95) was value for money and it consisted of salt and pepper squid, beer battered fish and chips and stuffed tiger prawns.We did not notice that they left out the chilli mussels, which was supposed to be part of the seafood platter as we were too busy enjoying the food.


The crayfish (AUD$26.95) was the highlight of the meal. The crayfish had a lot of flesh, which was so sweet and succulent. Our meal was paired with 2 glasses of Trentham Estate Savignon Blanc at AUD $7.00 each.


Kaili's fish and chips - Co had the seafood combo, consisting of fish, squid rings and battered prawns while I had a huge bowl of chilli mussels. The mussels were very fresh and I struggled to finish the mussels all by myself as Co has an aversion to clams and mussels or any shellfish due to some traumatic experience during childhood.

Circerello's - This is another famous fish and chips joint (next to Kailis) and their fish and chips are served wrapped in newspapers. I had the seafood chowder (with mussels, squid, fish and prawns) while Co had the garlic prawns. The fish and chips at Circerello's are deep fried and taste nice when it is eaten hot, while those at Kaili's are lightly battered and tend to be less oily. Kaili's and Circerello's only accept cash, so be sure to bring enough $$ if you are ordering for a big group.

We also visited Little Creatures Brewery, which is set inside a converted boat shed on Fishing Boat Harbour. This is a cool place to hang out for freshly brewed beer and wood fire pizzas. The spicy sausage, roast pepper and feta cheese pizza was absolutely delicious with a thin crispy crust while the corn cobs with salted butter was also yummy (pity we did not have any pictures to show 'cos we were too hungry and devoured the food immediately). The ice cold beer went very well with the food.

We splurged on a dinner at Char Char Bull, a popular steakhouse at the Fishing Boat Harbour. We had caramelized leek, potato and fennel soup for starters, a mini fillet and a scotch fillet for the main dish (again no pictures to show, sigh), a glass of Hamelin Bay Shiraz, a cup of cappucino and a macchiato. Total cost of dinner AUD$106.

Of course there was also our daily fix of coffee and gelato in the many cafes dotted around Freo.

To work off the added calories from all the feasting, we took a day trip to Rottnest Island. Rottnest Island or Rotto is a favourite island getaway for the locals and is a 30 minute ferry ride from Fremantle harbour. Rotto is located 19 km of the coast of Freemantle and no vehicles are allowed on the island.

Since the best way to see Rotto is to cycle, we rented a tandem bicycle and cycled round the island for more than 3 hours. Actually, we spent quite a significant amount of time pushing the extremly heavy bicycle up slopes, huffing and puffing as we made our way up the never ending long stretches of winding street.

As I could not cycle, I had to rely on poor Co to do most of the navigating. Our knees were wobbly by the end of the day after the extreme workout! While waiting for the return ferry, we had our coffee fix at Dome Cafe overlooking the sparkling blue waters of Thomson Bay.

At least we got to see the quokkas, the rat like marsupials native to Rotto.

The visit to Rotto has satisfied our curiosity about the island but we would recommend a visit only if you have extra time to spare in Freo. There is nothing very much to see on the island apart from the many bays surrounding the island where you can swim or snorkel.

Overall, a very enjoyable trip with many gastronomical delights. Freo is a relaxing city and it was nice just to wander around the markets, browse at the many shops and enjoy a cuppa while people watching at the Cappucino Strip.

Labels: australia, travel

clock tower

After lunch, it was a long 21/2 hours drive to the Lake District, with a photo stop at the largest lake, Lake Windermere.

Proceeded to Grasmere, a popular village in the centre of Lake District, where we bought some Sarah Nelson gingerbread.

Finally reached the Lakes Court Hotel, Carlise at 4.45pm. Carlise is a border town between England and Scotland. Nothing very interesting in this sleepy town and we had an early night's rest.

Day 4- Our first stop was at Gredna Green. Reached Edinburgh at 11.40 am. We love this city, with its stunning mix of Old and New Town and captivating view of the Edinburgh castle.



The castle, an ancient fortress, dominates the city skyline and sits atop the remnants of an extinct volcano.

entrance to Edinburgh castle

We were also touched by the heartwarming story of 'Greyfriars Bobby', Edinburgh's famous Skye Terrier, who kept vigil for 14 years at his master's grave until his own death.


Edinburgh is a charming city and is definitely worth a return visit. Arrived at our hotel, Forth Bridges Hotel at 5.30 pm. Another boring town with nothing much to see and wished we had stayed the night in Edinburgh instead.

Day 5- Left the hotel at 8.00 am for a 11/2 hours drive to Jedburg, which is the last border town of Scotland. Photo stop at the Jedburg Abbey.



Another photo stop at Hadrian's Wall, a stone fortification built in 112 AD by the Roman Empire.


Another 11/2 hours drive before we reached York, a historic walled city in Northern England.


We were taken for a half hour guided walking tour of the city and then left to explore on our own for 2 hours. The York Minster, one of the main attractions in the city, is the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe.

York Minster

Our last stop for the day was Sheffield, where we stayed at the Rutland Sheffield Hotel.

Day 6 - the last day of our tour. Our first stop was at Stamford. Proclaimed as the 'finest stone town' in England, the town is surrounded by spires and towers of its many churches in every corner.

We arrived at our next destination, the university town of Cambridge at 11.45 am. Went on a walking tour of King's College, Trinity College, Clare College and the mathematical bridge at Queen's College. There are 31 colleges in Cambridge, each run as an independent instituition. Wished we could have stayed longer than the 2 hours in this interesting historical town.

mathematical bridge

Clare College

Trinity College

King's College

We arrived back in London at 4.10 pm and dropped off at the Thistle Euston, our accomodation for the night. After checking-in to our hotel, we walked for almost an hour to find the highly recommended fish and chips joint, Fryer's Delight at Theobald Road. It was an inexpensive diner, 6.95 pounds for two servings of fish and loads of chunky fries.

That concludes our Cosmos tour. On hindsight, we should have opted for the first class Globus tour. Since we were on a tight budget then, we thought we could do away with the five star hotels and fancy dinners with wine on Globus. But now we realize that the difference between the two tours is that the first class tours like Globus and Trafalgar stay at centrally located hotels, which gives you an option to explore the city at night (think Rome or Venice or Edinburgh). With the cost saving Cosmos tour, we stayed in hotels away from the city centre, with little night life or shops. Will definitely choose the first class tours on our next trip to Europe, when we have saved enought $$$$.

Labels: britain, travel