Monday, August 27, 2007
testing the taste buds
I had an interesting task at work earlier today, did a stock take with one of the shop floor staff. I'm glad that i hadn't lost my taste buds. What do i mean by this? It has been quite awhile since i last put my taste buds to the test or being invited to a sensory tasting. I enjoy sensory tasting sessions, taking pride in commenting what i think about a particular food. I'm known for my thoroughness. Since it has been quite a while, i have lost my confidence and wasn't sure about the accuracy of my buds.The purpose of the stock take was to identify the unused processed products and noting down the age of it. I was able to pick up a batch of roasted peanuts tainted with smokey flavour and this was really obvious. A great start! As i progressed on, picked up another batch of peanuts which is two months old from when it was processed to find that it is starting to go rancid. The final identification happened to be roasted cashews which didn't taste fresh at all. Took a sample of each of them to get a 2nd opinion.
I'm glad someone agreed with me. Therefore, i can say my taste bud is reasonably well.
What would i do if i couldn't taste anything? A year ago i had my wisdom teeth extraction. I had a complicated case and was referred to a maxilofacial surgeon for extraction. One of the tooth was embedded in the gum, angled and closed to one of the sensory nerves. During the consultation, the surgeon explained to me the complication and the potential consequences involved. One of the consequences if great attention wasn't given during the surgery was i might loose my taste buds. I didn't think that it would had a huge impact, of course being in the food industry, a good taste bud is important and not having able to taste anything is absolute bizarre. The surgeon was great, attentive and went well.
Stay well taste buds.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
round 21 @ the 'G'
It was good to be at the 'G' earlier tonight with the magpies and swannies supporters. The weather was great, not frigging cold. Its always good to have 4n24 pies and some hot chips while watching footy. I was good without any beer.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
andrew's hamburger
144 Bridport St, Albert Park, VIC 3206
Andrew's hamburgers which need no introduction at all to many of us. One of the known, voted good (a big tick) hamburger take-away in town. It's name after the founder of the business, which is Andrew. I've met him, and goodness me he's such a talker, outgoing, humourous person. He told me apparently he's very famous in Japan, and sounds like he's used to his popularity. This made it an easy task for me to take pictures. It is a relatively small shop, do not underestimate it, you will be surprised with the constant people strolling in and out.I had the lot, good old traditional hamburger without any creativity added, no alteration. Bacon, melted cheese on top of the pattie, tomatoes, lettuce. Mouth watering.
Yummy! Stop staring at the pictures! Tuesday, August 21, 2007
mc donald
McDonald's, I'm lovin it "M" have served many of us well haven't they? Let it be the ever popular McValue meal (quarter pounder, fillet-o-fish), the Breakfast at 6am (bacon and egg muffin with hash brown, hot cakes with syrup), McHappy Meal to the selection of Deli Choices. The easy quick fix to one's hunger. McDonald's despite being a fast food provider, is cautious about the choices of meal provided. This is demonstrated by the nutritional information provided on the individual meal with some of the choices outlining the grams of fat in them. Would one care about the energy serve or amount of fat that they're pumping into their body when buying the meals from McDonald's? Would chips ever taste good without frying them in oil?I must admit that McDonalds are creative with the offered selection of meals and you would notice that the dessert range changes all the time. As for the Happy Meal, it suit the children. The constant release of different toys, toys that resemble the characters from cartoon movies certainly tempt the children and some young adults. *Marketing scheme*
There is a McCafe in McDonald's depending on which store you visit. The small range of 'sweet' cakes or desserts are quite impressive: ranging from donuts, to muffins, to truffle roll, to cakes (mini cheesecake, banana and walnut slice, chocolate torte).
Creative!
Monday, August 20, 2007
spare the rod,spoil the child
It goes with the saying, spare the rod, spoil the child! This is indeed true! This is well demonstrated to me at work with the bunch of people working on the lines i'm responsible for. I've spare the rod and in return i've spoil them. I've been too easy going with them for the past months, in return i get excuses from them when i needed them to get serious about their work. Even when it comes to minor cleaning required, i received a classic excuse, 'oh why do we need to clean, this is a messy product, it will be dirty again'.
Looks like the honeymoon period is over for them, time to bring out the whip and educate them a little bit. It will be painful, but if i do not educate them i will be in a more painful position.
Isn't it a hard task to play miss/mr nice person role? Time for them to listen to their mama.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
my little pet
I've recently kept a little creature in my workplace lab. This little creature was brought to my attention by some fellow workers in manufacturing area. I'm glad not many people knew about this and lucky enough my supervisor was too busy to realise that i've fed it with an almond and an apricot. Surely, it need some sugar to survive. Who knows?Few days ago, while i was observing this creature, few of manufacturing workers saw me and were intrigued with what i was looking at. I showed them and can't believe they were afraid of it. They think it will die soon which i agreed.
Just in case if you do not know what this is, it is a maggot!
Friday, August 17, 2007
menu of the day
What have i had at this day, at work? It is amazing how my stomach can cope eating all sorts of food, from raw nuts to roasted nuts, to fruit chews and yoghurt balls. All i do is eat and eat.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
What would you like to be?
If you were given a choice to do whatever you would like to do/be for a day, what would your answer be? A good question, simple but yet required some thoughts. This question was presented to me yesterday. Strange enough, the day before i actually asked a colleague, do you like what you're doing? and have you always known that this is what you want? He burst into laughter,Chris: Are you really asking me this question, or are you indirectly asking yourself?
Me: Ermmmm, asking you. How do you know whether you like what you're doing or not?
Chris: You would know. A good indicator would be how you feel waking up every morning knowing you have to go to work on that day.
Me: Ok, Chris. I really do wish why can't i just be like one of those people who always know what they want.
Chris: You know what, another way of finding it out is to try it out! You will not know till you try it, and also taking the risks involved.
Me: Ok, Chris, i think you should get back to work. Lets not talk about this.
Chris: Again, burst into laughter!
Am i that funny?
My answer would be, if i were given a choice, for a day, i would want to be a food critic, pick a nice dining area, dine there, put together an article and get it published on The Age, Herald Sun or magazines.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
taco bill
142 Russell St, Melbourne, VIC 3000
Awhile ago, i went to Taco Bill for dinner. Yes, Mexican food, nachos with cheese, avocado and sour cream which is not to be missed. I wasn't sitting still, head up, looked at the ceiling, at the walls, at the surroundings, lightings, paintings, chairs, tables, everything... I like the interior, everything, the colours, painted cactus, painted little man wearing a sombrero, the mexican beer-corona.
This is my 2nd time of experiencing Mexican food, little is known about it, apart from nachos, tacos, tortillas, pinto beans. Well, i can't really tell whether the food is great or not. The least, i did enjoy myself, the nachos, and i had chilli con carne. Yayy.
The Echiladas looked yummy too. Too many options which certainly prompt more return.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
another version of myself
When the world is busy simpsonizing themselves, (I) on a Saturday night decided to simposinize myself. HAH, i like the Bob hair style. In reality, hairdressers said they're not suitable for me, but with simpson's simpsonizing factory, it was plausible.
Friday, August 10, 2007
peanut crackers
Lately, i've been exposed to an unlimited amount of peanut coated crackers. Addictive. A random thought came to mind, has anyone thought of wrapping these up in a clear film (the ones used to wrap hamper), tie it with a ribbon and put a nice label on it and sell them during Easter? They do look like mini eggs. Does this in some way look familiar? I'm reminded of the mini easter chocolate eggs done by Cadbury, exact same size except we're talking about crackers here and not chocolates. I'm sure these coated crackers can come in other colours.Something a little different during Easter, apart from the usual chocolate eggs.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
almonds
(Clockwise (from top):-oil roasted, dry roasted and natural)Almonds, natural almonds, dry roasted almonds and oil roasted almonds. Didn't think that almonds can be oil roasted, in other words, deep fry! The shiny, glossy appearance, the same colour as any fresh oil painted deck. Wasn't even sure whether i would want to taste it, i guess i didn't have a choice. Today, was the day where i ate so much oil roasted almonds, too much till i feel like i'm about to spew out. Eventually, it was too much, and had to ask someone else to taste it for me.
I know, aren't I lucky?
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Truffles
376 Bridge Rd, Richmond VIC 3121
Truffles, an approximately 4 month old 'chocolate' business located on the busy Bridge Rd and right in front of a Tram line.
What do i like about this place and what do i have to say about this place? Looking into this place from the glass door, one could see various chocolates neatly presented in a chilled, glass, typical (most cafes do have) display cabinet. Good enough to catch patrons or anyone's attention while strolling down Bridge Rd. The ambience of this place speak for itself. The brown reddish painted ceiling along with the visible brown bricks line makes it all an interesting presentation. The few golden frame mirrors hung on the wall along with a huge brown mirror cabinet right in front of those mirrors made the place look bigger, 'the mirror effect'. The colour of the couch, lighting of this place, colour of the furniture and even the menu had a matching colour, redish brown colour.This place has a similar concept as the established chocolatier business;-Koko Black and Max Brenner (the bald man). It serve chocolate drinks, sticky date pudding, chocolate fondue with 4 different types of fruits and a range of chocolates. The chocolates especially appeared hand made and my guess would be they were all made in a small scale and wouldn't be as extensive as Koko Black. It has the chocolate sauce on wafers, and having tried this in my perception there is a difference in the wafer compared to Max Brener's wafer. The wafer here is purely a typical wafer, just right nice. Max Brener's wafer is sweet and you will notice that the wafer has a coarse sugary taste when you bite them.
As for the chocolates, tried the hazelnut crips, almond flake and cherry bite. They were praline chocolates, except for cherry bite which has liquor in them. Praline chocolates which is known to many of us the brand GuyLian. In my opinion they taste ordinary to me and having said so, hand made chocolate making is hard work and require a lot of skills to master them (the tempering of chocolate, and how the chocolate was handled is very critical). Truly well done to this 'young' business. All the best.A bonus thing from this place, it has free wireless internet, which means you can bring your own laptop to this place and use the internet. All you need to do is obtain the password from the waitor or waitress.
Note: I wasn't paid to write this post and first time ever i have written a posting while dining at the same time. The write up is done, timpe to pack up my bag, pay the bill and leave.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
craving-kfc
A sudden craving which made my week. Guess what... it is KFC. A random thought that came to mind before the end of another working week. Decided to send a friend an e-mail about this, with the subject KFC Party. Should we have a KFC Party tonight. What do you think about this?The level of saltiness on the chicken skin, the saltiness of the chips, dipping the chips in hot gravy. I love this during winter. Finger lickin' good, good to lick your own fingers? Must be.
Yum Yum.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
illusionist
I really like this movie, the whole set-up, the colour of it (oldie and antiqued appearance). It is based on a book, ahh, can't remember the title and won't have the time to read the book either. I would watch this again, fascinated by the illusion. Well well, it is just a movie and yes none of it is real. I guess it is the cleverness, something that is a little different than normal plot that caught my attention. Mesmering and riveting from the start till the end.Jessica Biel look great in this movie, i find her lips sexy.
I'm reminded of a book which i've read couple of months ago, 'Carter Beats the Devil' by Glen David Gold, a modern literature and fiction which outlined the story of a magician.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Mesh
Crown Promenade (Crown), Southbank, VIC 3006
Few weeks ago, my housemate introduced us to Mesh, we were told that this is a good buffet place. The highlight of this place is it has a great offer of fresh seafood (oysters, prawns). The deal is, if you get a main which is at a cost of approximately 36 dollars per head, you get to enjoy unlimited (eat all you can)-seafood, a range of entrees and desserts and a selection of drinks. Great place to indulge yourself after a long hard working week. Everything is under one roof, and need not migrate to somewhere else for coffee or dessert after dinner.
True indeed the oysters and prawns were fresh and the place was very generous with the seafood supply. Waitors and waitresses continually checking the seafood tray and topping them. We get a steamed basket of oysters too, for free! Made all of us hyped up!
The entrees range from bread and butter or dips, different style of salads and even tabouleh was one of it. The mains were-eye fillet, scotch fillet, lamb shanks and etc. It was huge, served with potatoes, grilled eggplant.One of the mains (which i had):
Needless to say, the desserts weren't dissapointing at all, a selection of ice-creams, cakes and fruits.
As you can see, it is really worth the money. The quality of the food is impressive too and the level of service was up to the standard. Quite attentive.