"cooking for boys"

After all the chaos with my stupid flight situation, I was more than ecstatic to eat dim sum (or yum cha as they say here... and in Taiwan apparently) as my first meal in Sydney.

Aunt: Have you had yum cha?

Me: I've heard of it all over Melbourne, but haven't eaten it.

*after being seated at the restaurant*

Me: So what is yum cha? - keep in mind I'm expecting some kind of large bowl of soup... don't ask because I can't explain.

Aunt: This.

The Asian part of me was rather embarrassed.

Dim sum sounds cooler anyways.

Dinner was a rushed order of pide along with some debate over whether it was peed-ay or peed-ee (so we settled on 'can I get a pee-eye-dee-ee?').
Spinach and mozzarella with lots of hot sauce, eaten on the run.
Managed to make it last for the weekend (aka, one piece a day) because I was still full from the yum cha, $5 coconut bubble tea (which exploded on me - sloppy count starts at 1), and selection of Asian breads I had for lunch.

Fish and chips on the beach after the Bondi Walk.
Kyle and I "splurged" (an extra $3) and went for the battered barramundi because someone somewhere told me it's particularly special here.
Smothered in pepper, tartar, tomato, bbq (not pictured), and sweet chili sauces.  And lemon juice for added freshness.. atop a bunch of fried shit.
Spilled sweet chili sauce in my hair - sloppy count now at 2.
No regrets... not even after wading around in the ocean with food baby Jeffery.

Sidetracked whilst on our way to grocery shop by the Happy Lab.  How are you supposed to turn away from a place that's called the Happy Lab, right?
"Ohh, Happy Lab.  Wait.."
"Wanna go in?"
"Uh.. yeah." 
"Bus leaves in two mins.. or 6:15."
"Yeah, I could stay here for an hour."
Candy on candy on samples of candy.
Good thing the guy working was super good humored and dealt with our frantic sampling and debate over what to get.  As well as taking a stack of stickers each.
Chocolate almonds were by far the best.

Grocery shopping --> successful (Instagram worthy, according to Marquise) dinner of mac and cheese (with bacon bits and caramelized onion) and a variation on chicken parma. 

Harry:  mashed potatoes?

Flour, butter, and milk actually.

Followed by my favorite chocolate cake recipe from Foodness (also the only recipe I saved in a "cooking for boys" document because I couldn't decide what else to make) with as close to a chocolate mousse frosting that I could get given what I had.  Didn't quite beat Wegeman's (bummer).
Oh yes, and the rum and raisin//caramel Tim Tams we finished in a night.
Seriously contemplating filling a suitcase full of Tim Tams to bring back to the States.

Such satisfaction to finally have access to an oven... and to feed people.
Maybe I am one of those people who have some weird psychological need to be liked...
"We're not actually friends.. they just find me when they want food."

Larger than my face (there's something about larger than my head foods that really appeal to me) apple and sultana scroll after banana bread hunt failed... with icing (icing is key, apparently) and a sizable bite taken out of it.

Part of the perfect breakfast after waking up for the sunrise.
Muesli with mango-blood orange yogurt and omelet-turned-to-scrambled-eggs with tomato, onions, cheese.
And one of the six jars of peanut butters found in Bernard's pantry that I just ate with a spoon as a side dish.

Pancakes on the Rocks.
I don't know why I constantly crave pancakes here.. but I really do.
Something about going to places that multiple people separately recommend to you that also appeals to me.

Black forest pancakes (more cake than pancake).

Mexicana crepes (with fake guacamole, unfortunately, but still so good).

And buttermilk pancakes (so fluffy I wanna die).

And Kyle's artsy shot (also with bite taken out of it).

Attempted sushi and sake bomb dinner at SushiGoi (which I thought was SuishiGo!)
Would've worked better if we were at tables, but laziness got the better of us and we just settled for the closest place where the sushi rotates on a conveyor belt.  It was rather stressful trying to get the fresh wasabi before the container ran away from me.
Also spilled scallop on my shirt - sloppy count grand total at 3.
Soft shell crab roll that I regretted pointing out to the guys because I didn't see another one before we left.

 

Last meal in Sydney was three curries with rice from random North Indian place that smelled wonderful. 
Not pictured because we got it takeaway in a hurry and I immediately devoured it on the walk home (which included a steep hill and three flights of stairs) - my self control is not the greatest, as if you needed reminding.
Eggplant and potato.
Chicken vindaloo.
Lamb curry.
 So fucking delicious.
And I managed to not spill it all over myself, winning.