asian desserts and more

During a drunken stroll in Melbourne's CBD on a Tuesday night ages ago (gotta love holidays), Dan, his friends and I went to Dessert Story, a place serving Taiwanese and Hong Kong desserts. I was at a point where I could barely eat/drink anymore but proceeded to get the tofu with mixed fruit (pic in the middle). The others got similar desserts or the shaved ice with black sesame.

Although I was already bursting at the seams, my dessert was like a nice and healthy treat... Since the tofu was pretty bland by itself, this dessert is definitely for tofu lovers and those who are very familiar with its taste. The dessert could have had more fruit syrup to penetrate the slight tartness of tofu.

As usual, I was taking pictures of the food for this blog and someone expressed an off-hand or half-hearted comment that it was very Asian of me to take pictures of food. I can't deny that many many Asians do this (see http://picsofaznstakingpicsoffood.tumblr.com/). Many Asians take pictures of food cos they think it looks 'cute' and they think the foods' aesthetics are worth showing off to facebook friends. Sometimes they do it to glorify well known eateries and brands without identifying whether or why it is different (or the same) as other food. Sometimes I take pictures of food because I think it's aesthetically pleasing or whatever. However, in my blog I critique it to expose and raise awareness of other ways of preparing food and broader societal and philosophical issues. I don't see food as 'just' something consumed for survival. There are many reasons why people (who happen to be Asian) take pictures of food. I hate being stereotyped.

accidentally vegan in melbourne

I am currently taking some down time after a week long trip to Melbourne. Although Melbourne or any big city isn't really a place to 'relax', I am happy that I got some time off work and escaped the monotony of Canberra.

It took Dan and I 8+ hours to get from Canberra to Melbourne by road (he drove the whole journey!). Sitting in the passenger seat, I ate (or squished in my mouth) half a packet of blueberries. This left an odd but surely attractive blue tint on my tongue. If you eat anything, you might as well 'explore' the textures of your food and play with it.

One thing that I loved about my holiday was that one of my Sydney friends was in Melbourne for the weekend. This gave me the opportunity me to do things in Melbourne that most guys would hate you for -  stroll along a street eating, drinking, gossiping and shopping for a whole day. 

On Brunswick Street, we came across Merry Cupcakes, a little cute and friendly store. For morning tea, my friend and I shared a peanut butter and jelly cupcake. The cake part was delicious, moist and didn't have that  odd starchy texture that many commercial cupcakes have when you finish it. The peanut was a cute addition to the icing and the jam in the centre was delicious. I expected a stronger peanut taste though. I only realised it was a vegan cupcake store when I surfed the net for this blog. Good job to the cafe!

Based on a recommendation, my friend and I went to the Vegie Bar on Brunswick Street for lunch. I was excited for this for several reasons - I find it hard to drag my Canberra friends to vego cafes (they are sceptical) and vego cafes are hard to come across in Canberra. We got gyoza dumplings for our entree which had some sort of red bean in it. Different but nice. I got the raw vege stack for my main. I thought if I was to eat vegan food, i might as well go a step further and choose something raw. It was actually tasty and nothing like those raw soups I made for myself when I was younger. Score!

I am also stoked that I finally got myself to Melbourne. You see, I had a best friend who passed away years ago. We planned to travel to Melbourne just before she died. Over the past few years, I never got around to it because I was caught up grieving and my plans with other friends fell through. Eventually I felt better about her death etc and I thought I'd be all fine to travel there whenever I wanted. However, I only realised in the past year that it was harder than I expected. When I flew for work, the plane would often stopover in Melbourne and I'd get minor panic attacks etc. I was surprised and annoyed at myself... Soo I put myself on a mission to confront this crap and go to Melbourne before the end of the year... and I did it without freaking out!