Archive for the 'food' Category

Tiger of a Tuesday

Published at October 14, 2009 in Thailand, Coffee, food and State of the raph. 0 Comments

I starter writing this last night, but started nodding off from sheer exhaustion.

first nights sleep was interrupted by a  mild case of reflux. This minor reflux was somewht affected by the green curry i had had earlier, to basically mean RED HOT reflux. Had a peppermint and some water and was ok.

The next morning, up at 5.45 (hey its sounding like a work day) shower and get dressed and rachy and I head down for the hotels buffet breakfast. Turns out the breakfast was incredibly good. Rather glad of that, as the long days tour was ahead and a big boy like me, needs to keep fueled.

So at 6.45am we board the tour bus for our River Kwai, Death Railway Museum and Tiger Temple tour.   First stop was a museum dedicated to those that had build the railway from Thailand to Burma, including the rail bridge over the river Kwae, I had been aware of the fact the Japanese had used POW’s and labourers to build the railway, but the sheer enormity of the task had never been clear to me. Thousands died during the construction. The mind boggles at the Japanese idea - hey we are fighting a war on multiple fronts, but we need a way to get to burma that isnt by sea… LETS BUILD A RAILWAY. The fact that they got the 300km railway built and were using it while at war, is incredible. The cost in human life cannot have been worth it.

On the way through, we stopped at a thai service station, my need for caffeine overtook my good coffee sense and I purchased nescafe in a can. To my slight chagrin, I liked it. Much better than a big m ice coffee, not as nice as  a decent latte, and way too sweet, but eminently drinkable.

We then went to the bridge over the river Kwae. Full of tourists, as expected, and the locals there very insistent on selling you their touristy books. We were approached at least 10 times by the same woman. It leads me to suspect that the tactic is to keep coming back until you buy the books just to stop them coming. I did however purchase a straw hat (pictures will be put up on facebook later). We then boarded a train to travel that line. It is mildly disconcerting to be given a certificate to say you have been traveling on the Death Railway. The train lurched and rattled quite a bit, and we were glad we had spent a little extra for the “VIP” seating. These had cushions on them to shield us from the bumps. We also made acquaintance with another melbourne couple who were on the tour with us, so had nice conversation for the 1.5hr journey. Some of the views were spectacular, but it was a little like being on Thai Puffing Billy. After the train ride, we adjourned to a nearby restaurant for a nice Thai buffet lunch. After this, another 30 minutes on the bus and we arrived at the tiger temple. We were told that for an extra 1000Baht donation, we could have special photo with a tigers head on one of our laps. Initially I was not going to do this, but upon finding out that all donations go towards building a better habitat for the Tigers, I changed my mind. I will admit that the idea of getting so close to these huge beasts is one I really like. So we got taken through to the first tiger, as I sat down for the photo op, the tiger appeared to get a little aggressive and we were hurriedly moved to another tiger. These animals are absolutely magnificent, and I can now also report, they are much heavier than they look. For the 1000Baht donation we got the “special photo” with a Tiger head in my lap, and also a walk around patting each tiger individually and a photo op. The tigers are kept with very large metal collars, and I question whether it is cruel to hobble them so, however, all the tigers in the temple are bought in by the people for the monks to care for, and would likely suffer a much crueler fate if they had not been so, and the monks take duty of care seriously and the tigers are well exercised, so I do take some small comfort in this.

I also had the obligatory photo op of standing friendly with a genuine monk. One that Rachel politely declined, because as a girl, she would have to stand about a foot away, as monks are not allowed to touch females.

After that, the tour ended and the bus took us back to Bangkok. From a pre-7am start, we made it back to the hotel at around 7pm. After freshening up at the hotel, we headed back out to MBK for some more shopping and dinner. We ended up having dinner at an incredibly good  Japanese restaurant on the 7th floor. I cannot remember the name, but the food was very very good, the service was excellent.

Also, I had my first beer in over a decade. It was a Singha beer, yes there is photographic evidence, and yes, i liked it.

This morning we once again enjoyed a buffet breakfast, and are now ensconced in our room, planning for the days activities.

Tonight we will write some postcards, and I will once again fill in the boring details of the day.

Wow! Stuff! (things have been happening.)

Published at October 12, 2009 in Thailand, Coffee, food and State of the raph. 0 Comments

So, ok, I suck at updating here with any regularity. The main problem with having a vanity site, is, well, I am just not that vain. I get passionate about something, rant, rave, move on. The passion may stay, but the urge to shout it to the world tends to die down a bit.

That said, I don’t really have any new passions to rant and rave about, however I have a lot of things going on, so I guess I should share with the world.

I guess, the first big item on the agenda is that I have left my old place of employ. After four years at Adairs, it is time to move on. An opportunity arose, with an up and coming fashion retailer, that is more in sync with the direction I want to be moving. So leaving the comfort of the old, to the new future that awaits. I cannot really talk much about it, as I have not started yet, and as those that know me already are aware, I am not much given to reflections of my work life. I am a big proponent of the idea that discussion of work, should remain at work. That still holds, even when you take work home with you.

So, yes, I have already left Adairs, so why have I not started my new position yet?

Well, I am glad you asked.

This morning, 6am Thai time, the lovely Rachel and myself landed at Bangkok Airport to start 10 glorious days of Thai goodness. This is both of our first time in Thailand, and we are really taking to it.

Highlights of day 1 include (in no particular order)

  •  Seeing a Ronald MacDonald statue giving the wai
  •  The 2009 Miss Poland conference appears to be being held at our hotel, she is rather pretty, and VERY tall (we saw her get out of the lift as we were entering)
  • Wandering laps on all seven floors of MBK - this took over five hours.
  • Catching a cab to a different area just to try out a restaurant.
  • Finding out via empirical evidence that decent coffee in Thailand is hard to come by.
  • Watching tuktuk drivers get mad at the fact we don’t want them.
  • Fending out little thai ladies can really push me about.
  • Haggling to save what you then realise works out to be $1 on a $50 transaction, watch other people haggle longer, louder and harder, to save less on a significantly larger transaction

Tomorrow we are off to the tigher temple and river kwai tour. Early morning, and I am tired now, so will get back to this tomorrow

night.

More updaes then

Everyones a food critic

Published at July 2, 2009 in Television, food and Life. 0 Comments

I have always loved food. Its kind of obvious when you see me, the belly is large because the food goes in. Unlike a lot of larger people, my girth isnt caused by junk food, or alcohol, just volumes of food. I have never really been a fan of junk food, aside from the rare binge on KFC or maccas in my younger days, most of the food I eat, I have either cooked for myself, or comes from relatively decent restaurants. Consequently, my palate can be quite demanding. So, it follows, I have always had my inner food critic, which monitors what I am eating, in order to decide whether a destination is worth coming back to.

Over the past few years though, there has been a massive run of foodie tv shows. Awesome shows such as  Top Chef  andHell’s Kitchen and (admittedly one i havent watched) Australia’s Master Chef where we see chefs competing and being judged  for their efforts by a panel of food critics and distinguished chefs. Also in food tv, there has been an increase in general food shows that discuss the joy of either food preparation ie: Heston Blumenthal’s In Search of Perfection or Gordon Ramsays Cookalong or just purely the joy of good food (one of my current faves) Man V Food (I may do an entry purely on this show later if anyone is interested.)

The result of all these great shows is for me twofold.

One, it gives me great ideas to try in my own kitchen. I have always loved cooking, now that I have my big shiny house with its excellent sized kitchen it is even more of a joy. I also especially love being able to present food that looks and tastes fantastic. Getting new ideas for food combinations and also new techniques that I can manage at home is something I  always appreciate, and these shows deliver that in buckets.

The other result, is something I only really came to understand last night, when out with friends, getting particularly bad service and for the most part average or below food. I have always had that “inner critic” which has let me say this is good, or this is bad, but now, I can go beyond that. I can not only express my distaste, I can be more specific. I can state that this meat is overdone, or that there is too much seasoning. With the added experimentation I have been trying from various shows, I can even identify some of the herbs and spices that may be too intense or lacking. My culinary understanding has been increased and along with it, my vocabulary. No longer is it just - I do not like this, or - This is fantastic! - Nowadays when I judge a meal, I can not only give my general feeling, but also the reasoning behind it.

So who says television is not educational.

Chinese food - Cranbourne style.

Published at May 26, 2008 in Cranbourne and food. 1 Comment

Well we have been settling well in Cranbourne, and slowly trying the neighborhood restaurants, so slowly, I shall be reviewing some of these.

 First off the bat is Yue’s Chinese Restaurant.

First thing you notice in Yue’s is the decor. It is distinctly chinese restaurant looking. With one minor difference. Not a chopstick to be seen, forks and knives at every table, standard Australian commercial radio going.

Thats when, if you are like me, you also notice that instead of a asian person, service is provided by a matronly suburban Australian woman.

Now you would be forgiven here for assuming this is a recipe for a memorable meal, memorable for all the wrong reasons, however, when you make an assumption, you sometimes are just making an ass out of u and mption….

The service is very very friendly. The food is rather good. I wouldnt say brilliant, but it is definitely good chinese. I half suspect they have a poor chinese chef chained to the kitchen, as the flavours are 100% chinese and very well presented. Chopsticks are provided on request if you want, and the food comes out in a very timely fashion.

I will definitely be going back there again. The prices are very very reasonable and service friendly.

It seems to be a thing about some of the restaurants in Cranny, decent food at very decent prices, with very friendly service.

Whats the difference between roast beef and pea soup?

Published at November 8, 2007 in food. 4 Comments

Its really easy to roast beef.

Anyway, today, a small diversion, I shall post the recipe I made up last night to make a very healthy pea soup. Extra high on the protein, as docs orders say liquids only, but try to get more protein.

So with no further ado, here is the recipe for

Raph’s Pea Soup

 1 Medium Carrot

1 Medium Onion

1 1/2 cups dried split peas

1 Smoked chicken breast

2 teaspoons of bonox

2 cups of chicken stock

teaspoon salt

teaspoon of garlic powder

pepper to taste

Medium Saucepan (5l)

Blender

Chop up onion and carrot into small pieces, place in 5 liter pot. Add chicken stock and bonox and fill pot about 3/4 full with water. Place on medium heat. While pot is warming, chop up the smoked chicken breast into small cubes, add to pot, also add garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Bring to boil then simmer gently for 2 - 3 hours stirring every 10 minutes or so until peas are mushy. Soup should reduce over this time till it is roughly about 2.5 litres in volume. 

Take off heat and let cool for a short while, then pour into blender.

Mix should blend very easily.

 Voila, Raph’s Pea Soup.

I must say, I am most impressed with the flavour of this soup.

mmmmm food

Published at September 25, 2007 in food. 1 Comment

Tonight we decided to dine out somewhere different, so we headed down to Acland St to check it out. A good friend of mine who I have known since my high school days is head chef at a restaurant called La Roche over there. To be honest, I wasnt sure what to expect. The truth of the matter is that I have been putting off going there for a long time, as I didnt want to have to tell a good mate that his food wasnt good. But tonight I decided what the hell. Its about time we go.

So, after a quick phone call to see if my mate was working tonight and to get a reminder of which actual restaurant it was, off we went, the menu is a mix of burgers, pasta, pies and pizza, with a few salads and other bits and bobs. Rachy and I shared a garlic pizza for starters, and it was quite nice. Then I had the shepherds pie and Rachy had the chicken burger. The mains arrived just moments after the entree was finished, and were absolutely excellent. Price wise, the food was also good value, mains being between $10 and $19 with most dishes around the $13 mark. In total, 2 soft drinks, a beer (complimentary with Rachy’s burger on tuesdays) a small garlic pizza and 2 mains cost $35.  The place was pumping, lots of people in there, always a good sign, and the atmosphere very friendly.

I am very glad that I can heartily and honestly recommend La Roche. My one regret is that my mate was way to busy managing the kitchen to be able to come out and chat.

Swedish Band

Published at September 6, 2007 in food, State of the raph and Life. 0 Comments

And I dont mean ABBA!

So, after a fair amount of investigation, some visits to regular doctors, discussion with friends and family and a information session held by the bariatric team at the hospital, I think that I am going to have the swedish lap band surgery. Its a big decision, one that will change my life significantly. Hopefully for the better, possibly for the worse.

What is for certain is that if I get it I will lose weight. If I dont lose a significant amount of weight soon, I am likely to encounter a great many health issues. That is on top of the general issues I already have which I do not particularly want to go into. Such things like type 2 diabetes, cardiac issues etc are just looming on the horizon for me if I do nothing. The threat of these things scares the bejesus out of me.

So while elective surgery is something that I believe should never be undertaken lightly, I have booked an appointment with the surgeon for 2 weeks time. He will then send me to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and a dietician. After  that, it will be back to the surgeon who if all goes well, will then book me in for surgery. The whole process apparently will take around 6 weeks from first visit through to surgery.

I do need to check how much my insurance will cover for the surgery, as well as work out how i can afford to pay for the gap in between. Several options there, which I may go into in another post.

After it is all done, I will be physically unable to binge eat anymore. Seeing as I dont drink alcohol, and do not have a huge sweet tooth, this will effectively mean that I will lose weight rather fast. Of concern to me is that I binge eat for a reason, good or bad, I am unsure, I think it is to curb depression or maybe to deal with day to day drudgery much like an alcoholic turns to drink. What I will do upon losing my ability to do this worries me, but I cannot see it being as bad as doing what I am doing. I am slowly eating myself to death right now.

 Some have argued that it is purely an issue of discipline, and that I should be able to manage to sort it out by myself. Maybe they are right. In my own defence though, I have in my life managed to beat addiction to cigarettes, regular binge drinking and a few other items that I wont mention here. I have also managed to lose up to 50 kilo before putting it all back on again with a bit more on top over a 2 year period. I stand before you, someone who does not drink, smoke or do drugs, but I eat. I have found that I lack the ability to defeat this demon by myself, so before you judge me for “taking the easy way out” ask yourself if you would judge someone with a broken ankle for using a crutch.

It Felt like a nice anniversary

Published at September 1, 2007 in food. 0 Comments

So tonight was the 1 year anniversary of myself and the ever beautiful Rachel dating so in order to celebrate, a nice restaurant was chosen and off to dinner we went. The restaurant, Felt at the Lindrum Hotel,  is one I have been to on one occasion before, and had excellent memories of. Certainly not a cheap place to eat but tonights occasion was not one to be celebrated cheaply.

Felt is a cosy little restaurant. The maximum number of diners it caters for is 35. The view from the window shows batman avenue and the large ferris wheel along the yarra, which at night makes a for a beautiful cityscape. The service is impeccable and the ambiance conducive to a great night out. The lighting is not too bright, the music playing softly is modern, the sort of stuff likely to be heard on JJJ radio, though I would guess it has been hand picked to ensure nothing too offensive plays. The decor is simple and stylish, leaving me wondering what the actual hotel is like to stay at.

On to the food, which I guess is the important stuff. We decided that since we were really out for a grand time, that 3 courses were called for. The menu is not huge, but has enough choices to meet everyones tastes. Of course Rachel being the small eater that she is, ensured I got a taste of everything she ordered. That being the case, she still managed to eat a fair bit, which is a testament to how good everything there is.

For entree, I had the salmon and Rachel had  the duck. The salmon was very very nice, but I must say that the duck (a confit onion and duck pudding) was my pic of the dish of the night. Presentation of every dish at Felt was very impressive, and the serving sizes while not large, certainly werent tiny either.

For mains, I had the lamb cutlets and Rachel had the chicken. Both, again immaculately presented and the flavour and texture of both was extraordinary. We also got some side dishes to share, which were creamy mashed potatoes and green beans. These were served in seperate dishes so that it was very easy to share them. You know that mashed potatoes are good when Rachel, who normally spurns mashed potatoes, was eating her share of them.

Of course we had to save room for dessert, which i had the Vanilla bean brulee and Rachel had the dark chocolate fondant. To Rachels taste, the fondant was a little too rich, but to mine, it was chocolate perfection. Of course, I think I won out on this one though, as the brulee was magnifique.

The total bill for the evenings meal was approximately $160 which as I mentioned earlier, is not on the cheap side, but for the service and quality of food, a price well earned. I wouldn’t eat there every day, or even every month, but I wish I could.

The fact of the fat.

Published at July 26, 2007 in Weight, Television, food, State of the raph and Life. 0 Comments

I just watched a documentary that bought me to the verge of tears. It wasnt an overly sad documentary, but it did really hit home with me. The documentary was called FAT: What No One is Telling You. For those of you out there who havent met me, I am what is described as morbidly obese. I do not make excuses for this, the person responsible for my weight is me. It is my problem, but it is a real and serious problem. It could be easy to look at me and say that I have no discipline, that I just let myself go, and that all I need to do is watch what I eat. How I wish that it was true. My being overweight first started when I hit puberty. Before that, I was as skinny as a stick, but then slowly, a few extra kilos came on. At the age of 16, I went on my first diet. I had already reached my full height of 5 foot 8 inches, and weighed approximately 80 kilo. I lost 6 kilograms over 5 months. 12 months after that, I had put it back on, plus another seven kilo. This was the first bounce back of many that I have had over the years. Everytime I lose the weight, it comes back, and on top of that I gain another 10% or so. Part of me wonders, if I had never dieted, would I now still be 80 kilo, and just a little tubby but happy? Instead, I weigh somewhere around the 150 kilogram mark. I dont know exactly how much I weigh, as standard scales wont give me a reading.

My problem as such is that I have an eating disorder. My one real vice in life is food. If I get stressed, have a bout of depression (yes I have tried antidepressants, they just make me moody, and also make me put on more weight, which in turn makes me even more depressed) I turn to food. I am a tee totaller, I dont smoke, I do not do drugs. In my younger years, I did all of those to excess, yet have given up every single one of them. So I know that I do not lack willpower. Of course, it is easy to stop buying cigarettes, stop buying alcohol, and to stop buying any illicit chemicals, unfortunately cant stop buying food.

Every time I have sought medical help for my weight, I have been called a liar by the doctor. As the first thing they have always told me is that I must give up the alcohol. After I finally convince them that I do not drink alcohol AT ALL, EVER, they then tell me I must stop eating fast food. When I explain that I do not really eat fast food either and that at one stage it had been over two years since I had last eaten at a MacDonalds, they get really annoyed at me and tell me I must be lying to myself. I then explain that my issue isnt so much junk food, but too much normal food. I can, in a single sitting if stressed or depressed, eat more than a regular family of four would. I am not proud of this, in fact just thinking about it makes me incredibly sad. Which in turn, makes me crave food.

My last attempt at weight loss, I lost over 45 kilograms with the help of a strict diet and a personal trainer. I dropped down to just under 100 kilo. It all came back. Part of the problem is that any diet or weight loss regime feels like a punishment. Sure when I am thinner I do feel better, but it still feels like I am in jail or worse. The constant feeling is one of looking for a release. That the punishment will soon be over and then I will be able to reward myself with food.

I dont know what the solution is, but I do know I must do something. Whatever I do, it cannot be a “diet” per se, i will not bounce back again. I have informed all those around me that if I ever get so big as to not be able to leave the house, I do not want anyone bringing me food under any circumstances.

Right now, I am investigating the options of getting a lap band or bioenteric intragastic balloon in order to help me, but a great part of me, like Rocky in that documentary, feels like this could be a cop-out. Maybe it is, I dont know, but then again, it worked for Rocky. I have tried counseling, I have tried self regulation, I have tried medication. I will keep trying, I will not be complacent. I owe that much to myself, my friends and my family. Hopefully with some more research and some effort I will be able to solve my problem.

Heres hoping, and wish me luck.

Awesome Indian

Published at July 17, 2007 in food. 1 Comment

Tonight the beautiful Rachel and myself went out for dinner at what I consider to be one of the best Indian restaurants in Melbourne. My friends Bed & K introduced me to it a while ago, and I must agree with them, the food at Bombay By Night is absolutely outstanding. We started out sharing 2 entrees, the onion bhajia and  the batatawada. Even Rachel who does not much like onio, really loved the bhajia. Then for mains, I had the lamb roghanjosh, Rachel had the chicken masala and we both had a garlic roti and basmati rice.

It is a sign of an excellent restaurant that even on a Tuesday night, they are quite full, and we were quite lucky it seems to have gotten a table without a booking as it was completely full up. As people were leaving, more people were crowding in.

The pricing there is reasonable, the service is impeccable, the atmosphere is great and the food is delicious. I heartily recommend it for excellent Indian fare.