Flinders St Station in Melbourne, Australia
A fellow traveller on the plane
A couple of pieces for Paint Party Friday.
More homemade breakfast toast. Crunchy pear slices, walnuts and mascarpone cheese on toast, drizzled with honey. Yes, another version of the earlier ones (with strawberries and figs).
Homemade again, but on a different day! Sausage and butter beans baked in tomato sauce, with poached egg on toast
At the cafe…We love our coffee here in Melbourne, Australia.
Today, I tried to make it. I had to alter it a little, since I could find neither thick chunky bread nor figs.
My version (top photo) is fresh strawberries and walnut on mascarpone cheese on toasted bread, drizzled with honey.
My husband and I enjoyed it, but we both agree that it would be better with chunky bread on a griddle with olive oil, rather than toasted slices.
Oh, by the way, if you do try it, use lots of mascarpone cheese and honey! And I’d love to hear about what you think if you do try it.
I enjoy browsing around a busy street market in the morning
Breakfast on the go.
Steamy hot mantou, with no fillings, eaten at mealtimes with savoury dishes.
Cutting pineapple…
Pancakes with a meaty filling
Fish pastry with chocolate on the inside – I love this.
My first breakfast when I arrived a month ago. It was 2°C/36°F and I enjoyed holding and eating a steamy hot roll while walking around outside.
Skewered meat – very popular in Beijing. This reminds me of satay in Malaysia.
We refer to this as Chinese Bacon and Eggs… It’s got all the same ingredients, only a different bread. See next photo.
Yummy (…and just as unhealthy as Bacon and Eggs)
My favourite vendor but I only came here once. They disappeared overnight.
The weather in Beijing has been good in the past few days. When the temperature got over 20°C (68 °F) in the afternoons, we went out for our walks.
In the photo on the top left, the vendor is selling sweet potatoes, baked over hot coals in a drum that is built onto his bicycle. I have not tried the sweet potatoes yet but it sure smelt good. I bet he feels nice and warm all the time, with the heat from the drum even when it is really cold.
We normally stopped for dinner and we tried to eat something different every day. A few days ago, we had noodles in broth, with meat and vegetables – top right photo. Very nice.
On the way home, when the sun began to set, a lovely orange and pink tone covered the sky and the sun looked like a glowing ball…
When we were in Kyoto, we went to a sushi restaurant. We left the food selection to the chef… The restaurant was a small one, with only counter seats for less than 10 customers. It was nice to be able to see what the chef was doing.
Seating at the counter also allowed us to chat with the chef… I say “chat” but that’s stretching it a little bit. We knew almost no Japanese. Luckily, he knew enough English to tell us what we were eating :)…
This cabinet in front of us has lots of varieties of seafood.
We started with junsai, a summertime delicacy in Japan. The plant is from the water lily family. The reddish bits are the flowers. It has a transparent jelly covering and a slippery texture. This is a small serve to start with…
I won’t be able to tell you what some of the dishes are…
Sauce in an lovely ceramic bowl
Octopus if I am not mistaken… slightly grilled, with a little bit of wasabi and sesame seeds.
A grilled piece of fish
Ginger if you wish…
More fish…
A sneak peak at what other people were eating. I guess the red meat is tuna.
This is tuna. He did explain why he seared the sides but I can’t remember… This is the leanest bit of the 3 types we were tasting that day. Scroll down for more…
More tuna, not so lean and from a different part of the fish
And more tuna. This one is a fatty cut. To me, it was a melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
Another type of fish…
Now we move on to the prawns.
Prawn sushi.
Are you full yet?
I hope you are not full, because there’s more...
We had abalone too. I wonder if this is it…
More food…
This looks like scallops but I am not sure.
Now it’s uni (or sea urchin roe) time!
Doesn’t look very attractive but sure tasted divine
Mmm, and another….
I hope you have had enough… that’s all the photos of the meal that I have.
Here are just a few of my favourite dishes:
My favourite dish is pork cooked with chilli and Szechuan pepper, eaten with steamed rice.
Fish cooked in a similar way as the pork (above) – look at those garlic! Really delicious.
And another variation – chicken cooked in almost the same way. Also yummy.
Steamed buns for breakfast – satisfying!
Meat dumplings for breakfast, lunch or anytime of the day.
Siew Loong Pau literally means little dragon parcels – I love the name! Lovely little parcels with meat and broth.
Visit My World for more photos.
