Bavarian Bier Cafe - Revisted when sober

Work and life has been really chaotic lately, meaning I haven't had a lot of time to catch up with Moishii. Since we both enjoy the Bavarian Bier Cafe and we haven't been back since Marco's drunk birthday bash, we headed off to the York St. This time, the place was packed til bursting point.


We arrived early and our table wasn't ready. So we opted to wait outside on the street since I really can't handle the noise right now. As we're standing around the corner enjoying some much needed silence, I spotted him.

Who is "Him"? "Him" is the guy that tried to hit on Moishii whilst we were at Luciana's party! My first reaction was to chase. So I grabbed Moishii's arm and started dragging him through the city and through a suburb to catch the guy only to grab a photo and run! Like WTF? I don't know what possesses me to do these things.

After we huffed and puffed our way back to the restaurant, we finally get seated. We had an absolutely delightful waitress called Tina serve us and within 10mins, we had food and drinks!

BBQ Octopus Greek Salad

This was absolutely mouth watering. The Octopus had a lovely BBQ charcoal aroma, the fetta was creamy and the salad was soooooo refreshing. I am definately going to order this again!

Mixed Sausage Platter

We both went for the mixed sausage platter since we didn't know the difference between all the different types of sausages. And what better way to learn than to get a mixed platter? The only thing is, they keep telling me the names, but I keep forgetting. Lets just say it was really good! And the mashed potatoes, crispy onion rings and bier jus went when the sausages just perfectly. I'm not a huge fan of sauerkraut so I left most of it untouched. Well, it was more to do the with the fact that I was WAY TOO FULL!!! So why did we order dessert?

Peach Melba

Beats me. But it was refreshing! The peaches were sitting on a bed of berry coulis and was topped with a cool creamy vanilla ice cream. Actually, we liked the ice cream more than anything else. I think its to do with the fact that we so rarely eat vanilla ice cream now days.

And to wash it all down? Peppermint tea. Until the next visit to the Bavarian Bier Cafe!

Malay-Chinese Takeaway - The best Laksa in Sydney

I guess this place is no longer a secret based on the number of people that rock up every lunch time (Especially after they made it into SMH). The Malay-Chinese Takeaway shop on Hunter St is famous for their laksa. Walk in any day of the week, and you see all the tables packed with people slurping down their delicious laksa that is spicy and comforting. The secret to their laksa is that they don't use just coconut milk like the other restaurants. They actually use a combination of coconut milk and normal milk. This gives it a creamy but not overly rich taste meaning you can drink every last drop of the soup and still not feel sick. OK, you can feel sick when you are so full but you won't stop eating because it tastes sooooooo good!

Skinless Chicken and Veggies

Seafood and Veggies

I first tried their laksa almost 2 years ago. First week at work, I got invited along to their weekly laksa lunch and I've been hooked every since. I've also got a lot of friends hooked as well! This is a no frills place. You get your own cutlery, the plastic bowls and spoons have been stained yellow from serving thousands of laksas every week. This is not a place is sit and chat for a leisurely lunch. Even if the owners are happy for you to stay, its the 50 odd people lining up against the wall, all the way out the restaurant, who stand there giving you dirties if you don't up and leave the minute you finish your last drop of soup. I've even had people squeeze into the one spare seat we've got left on the table, and sit there staring at us until we've finished eating.

Ontop of the laksa, they also serve a whole range of other Malay and Chinese dishes. Theres always a special of the day. Usually its either Har Mee (Prawn noodle soup), Tom Yum Noodle Soup or Mee Siam (Stir fried rice noodles with a tangy sauce). Their Har Mee is always popular, and so is their Combination Hor Fun (Rice Noodles), but no where near the popularity of their laksa. Just remember to wear black when you go in case of splatterage. (Otherwise you can buy a bib from them)

Malay-Chinese Takeaway
Shop 1, 50-58 Hunter St
Sydney
http://www.malaychinese.com.au

Pointless rant about volleyball and photography

I had an exhausting weekend. Usually after my 1.5hrs of beach volleyball, I go home, shower and passout. This week, after our class, we commandeered a court and played a few games with the other people in the class, plus a few stragglers on the beach. So after about 3hrs of beach volleyball, I get home, shower and sleep. Surprisingly, I didn't sleep the entire night away. I managed to drag myself out of bed after an hour nap, which was sooooooo hard to do! All I wanted to do was sleep! But then considering the past week, the earliest I've gone to bed is midnight, beach volleyball may not be the cause of my zombification.

I finally got to sleep in on the Sunday (First time in agesssssssssss!) and decided to take my camera for a spin at the Auburn Japanese Gardens. I haven't been to the Japanese Gardens in YEARS! I used to go there all the time with my family for BBQ. The last time I went would have been......10 years ago? And the time before that would have probably been about 5 years? I was quite disappointed when I got there yesterday. It seems to have lost all its glory. Of course, I was going in Autumn, and all their Cherry Blossom trees are bare or missing. The wandering peacocks also seem to be missing. I remember as a kid I could wander through the gardens and see a dozen or so peacocks roaming around. Yesterday, all I got was a few swans and ducks. Quite boring photography subjects to be honest. But then, to make a shot interesting, its up to the photgrapher more than the subject itself.

I'm quite lucky to have a workmate who is a top notch photographer. He's the one who's been convincing me to get a DLSR for about a year now! So when I finally caved in and took the plunge, he promised that we'll go out one day and take some shots together. Of course that hasn't happened, and the little photography tutorial he was supposed to give me, hasn't happened either. But me, being the curious beaver that I am, has been a little obsessive about photography lately. I've been fiddling with my camera whenever I have free time. Turning this dial and pressing that button to learn what my camera does. So without any proper instructions, I took my camera out to the Zoo the other week and went nuts with the camera.

When I showed the photos to my workmate, he was impressed that I took so many shots all in Manual. He had guessed that I would be using the Auto function until we get a chance to take the camera out for a spin. But why spend so much money on a camera, only to use the Auto function? If I was to do that, I should just use a Point and shoot. And even then I don't use the Auto anymore on it! My philosophy is that you need to take a lot of bad photos, to take a good photo. Yes, initially a lot of my photos are going to be crap, but I need to learn WHY they're crap and improve on them. Taking photos in Auto is just the easy way out and I'll never learn how to take better shots. Photos in Auto would be "good", but considering the money I spent on the camera, I want them to be "F**kin awesome!!". Of course, sometimes you just have to use Auto, like when the scene is just too hard to take (Cloudy, sunny and raining all in one go) or when you're drunk. :D

The other thing I've noticed since I got my camera is that I am addicted to Flickr. Not only are there thousands and thousands of awesome shots that you can use for inspiration, but its a chance to get feedback on your own shots as well. I've also used it as a backup of my photos. When I spent the long weekend battling a stupid computer virus, there was a 10min window when I tried to reboot and it said "Disk Failure". I had seen something like that previously, when my computer got fried. I felt the blood drain from my face when it looked like I had lost everything on my computer. Lucky it was a false alarm. So for the past week, I've been uploaded a whole heap of my photos onto Flickr. I've even upgraded myself to a Pro account so I can have unlimited storage. For a trigger happy person like me, I need all the backup I can get. Plus, I figured it'll be a good way to post up photos of my trip without completely killing this blog with the 234452353 photos I post up!

Anyway, you can check out my photos if you're bored.

Lunch @ Bavarian Bier Cafe - O'Connell St

One of our friends is heading off to the UK with wife to show off his new born son. (New as in 6 months old) and thought we should catch up for a beer or two before he's off for a few weeks. Since we all worked in the City, we headed off to the Bavarian Bier Cafe in O'Connell St. After a lot of confusion and people heading off to the York St one, we all managed to gather for a beer or two. I was being good and stuck to water. *GASP**SHOCK**HORROR* I know! But I had a long day left at work and falling asleep on the job was not going to help me.

We ordered off the bar menu, and originally I was too lazy to take photos. But when my Wagyu Beef burger came out, I just HAD to take a photo of it:

This thing is HUGE!! See that stick through the middle of the burger? Thats a satay stick stick. This burger was so big I couldn't just pick it up to eat, I had to cut it in half before I could even tackle this beast! Of course, that meant that I get a great innards shot:

MmmMMmm meat...... *Homer Simpson drool face* I've never had a burger that isn't 100% cooked, and this was a perfect way to introduce me to a rare burger patty. Its a shame that the wagyu beef was turned into a patty, if it was wagyu beef at all. Not that I can tell when its in a patty form. But this burger was damn good! And damn HUGE! I gave half of it to my workmate and I still couldn't finish my meal! I had chips leftover. I NEVER have chips leftover. But I had chips leftover! And did I mention the burger was good? But for $17, it better be damn good.

I would've taken photos of the other food, but once you pick this baby up, you do not let go, otherwise everything will just fall to bits! And reconstructing it will be a real problem considering the size of this thing!

Za Pina

Originally we had planned on eating at the Australian, but the Australian was packed like a can of sardines. Since we had our heart set on Pizza, we decided to give Za Pina a go. Za Pina, the tiny little Italian Restaurant on George St near Argyle St at the Rocks. Always packed whenever we walk by. Usually we're either heading towards Lowenbrau, or stumbling away from Lowenbrau. This time, we were sober enough to walk in and score a table.

Cookies, still salivating over the most delicious octopus we have ever eaten at The Athenian, went and ordered a BBQ Octopus salad.

This was.......horrid. I'm serious. This was really, really, REALLY BAD. The octopus was DEFINITELY NOT FRESH. It had been marinated for way too long in vinegar, to the stage that the octopus disintegrates in your mouth. Me being the pig I am, took a bite before Cookies even got a chance, and my face practically warned her off the dish. Thing......gnocci....that's been boiling for about 3 hours too long. Then soaked in Vinegar. The octopus did not need to be cut. The slight pressure from a fork was enough to cut them up......We quickly convinced Cookies to order a Penne Arribiata instead. That was very nice, now if only we had ordered that in the first place.

Four Seasons Pizza

I've ordered Four Seasons Pizza before, but nothing like this. One quarter was pure sliced frankfurts (Not even pepperoni). One quarter was just ham. And the last quarter was just Mushrooms. But the best quarter would be the one that was PURE ONIONS. Yes......I suggested that they jumble the ingredients around before eating it......

Mexicana Pizza

I went with my usual Mexicana Pizza. It was very nice and spicy, and the crust wasn't too bad. But it wasn't the best one I've had.

Lets just say I was very disappointed with my experience here. I don't understand why there is a constant line of people trying to get into this restaurant. What annoyed me even more was that before we had even finished eating, the bill was on our table. Have they even considered we might have wanted dessert? But then considering the standard of food, we wouldn't be getting any dessert from them either.

Weekend recap

Friday:

I did absolutely nothing. I slept in, I ate, I messed around on the computer a bit, I watched A LOT of TV and I recovered from Thursday night with about 4L of water.

Saturday:
I woke up at 6am and it was POURING down with rain. I woke up again at 7am and it was only raining heavily. By 8am, it was reduced to a drizzle. When Moishii finally called at 9am, the sky outside my window was a nice clear blue. Decision was made and we're off to Taronga Zoo! I jump out of bed and quickly shower, grabbed a bite and before I could even pack most of my gear, Moishii was at my door. I rush out with my brand new Lowepro Slingshot bag and my baby Nikon D80 and we were off to the Zoo! 2 blocks from my house, it started raining. The next suburb away, the sun was shining. Another suburb away, we had the windscreen wipers on full blast. It looked like it was going to be one of those days.

We stopped by Toby's Estate for the best coffee in the world to prepare us for a long day at the zoo. After a relaxing coffee which we sculled down (Not because we were in a rush, but because the coffee was at the perfect temperature you can't help but gulp it down!) we headed off to Taronga Zoo. It looks like whether it was going to rain or shine was a suburb by suburb thing, so we thought we'd risk it and rock up the zoo and see how we go.

Well, it was pissin down rain. We were standing in the rain, with all our gear, waiting to get in. Why didn't it occur to us to go home? Well, it did, but since we drove all the way there, we thought we might as well go in. Within seconds of going in, we had each bought a poncho. This was a real sight......I had a massive hump on my back from the backpack, a massive lump on my chest from the camera. My head could barely fit through the poncho hood, and I was choking myself with the weight of the camera and the bag! Plus, the sleeves of the poncho was too short so we had to hold an umbrella to stop our sleeves getting wet! All of this whilst trying to take photos in the rain!! It didn't help that we were taking photos of animals that wouldn't keep still!! GDI!! Plus, it would go from pouring rain, to hot hot sunshine in a matter of minutes! AND I was trying to do everything in Manual Mode! Manual focus, aperture, shutter speed etc etc. Anyhoo, heres a few photos from the day. More can be seen at my flickr page:

We ended the night at Broadway, having more coffee and a movie session of Mr Bean on Holiday. We definately needed a good laugh after an exhausting day!! Little did I know that I was to have a long night ahead of me.

I got home ready to transfer all my photos to the computer, only to find out that I had a virus on my computer. I spent the entire night trying to kill the sucker.

Sunday:
Sunday morning was a real pain in the butt. The virus was still on my computer, luckily I had my laptop to use in the meantime (And yes, I isolated my desktop so it doesn't infect my other machines). I had to go to the cemetery early in the morning for our twice a year ritual. We then rushed home around lunchtime to grab a quick bite before dashing off to the driving range with my brother in law and the kids.

I was sooooo proud of myself! I haven't been to the driving range for over a year, but I was consistently hitting 100m with a 7 iron (For those who don't know golf, a 7 iron can only hit a ball to about 100m). My dad was saying he should take me onto the green. Over my dead body! I only like the driving range because I get to hit the ball and not have to chase it! Besides, I suck hitting with a wood.

After an exhausting session at the driving range, I headed home to work on my computer. I then proceeded to spend a good 6-7hours cleaning my computer of all infections. I was 30mins away from completely reformatting my machine when I found the little bastard and exterminated it. Then I had to fix my dad's computer because my nephews had gone and deleted all his bookmarks and changed all his settings! ARGH!!!

Monday:

I woke up in absolute agony. Everything was hurting from golf! It was like "OMG just rip my arms off NOW!!". I managed to drag my ass out of bed and slowly started processing my photos. I need a newer machine if I'm going to try and simultaneous edit 50 photos.......but I did get a few photos done despite my struggling computer.

Around 6pm, I had to drag my aching, creaking body to Volleyball. Its been a good few weeks since we've played indoor Volleyball (We've only been playing beach volleyball) and because we don't have enough people to form a team this season, we've asked the organiser to put us into a team. It was interesting playing with different people, but it also made it quite enjoyable as there is no expectations on the team. We did really well considering it was 5 people vs 6. We managed to take a set off last seasons first runner up team, so I'm happy.

Now all I want to do is just crash. When is the next long weekend??

Cherry's 26th Birthday Orgy

Its almost been a year since we went to Lord Roberts Hotel. After Cherry's birthday last year, we headed across the street to Lord Roberts for drinks, and thats when we discovered "The Flaming Shot". We haven't had a chance to go back for the Flaming Shot since, so it was decided that dinner and drinks will be at LRH for Cherry's birthday.

Firstly, everyone met up in the Beer Garden for a few drinks before dinner whilst we did birthday presents.

We then moved into the restaurant for dinner where there was a special guest for Cherry:



After that excitement, it was time for dinner:

Salt and pepper squid with chips and lime mayo

Chicken Parmigiana with chips and salad

Small seafood pie with chips

Large Seafood Pie with chips

After we got food out of the way (Which was very very nice and very good value) and downed a few drinks, we decided to head downstairs to the bar for our shots.

After asking around, we managed to find the same bartender that made us "The Flaming Shot" last year. Unfortunately, they didn't have any cinnamon powder, which is essential to making "The Flaming Shot". We all stood around looking disappointed when he suggested to make us a Slippery Nipple instead:

Cam, the best bartender EVER

A Slippery Nipple

This is probably one of the better slippery nipples I've had. We all stood around the bar asking him to make us something else:

A "Wet Pussy"

I've had a "Wet Pussy" before, and let me say, this is the best "Wet Pussy" I ever had. This was the first of many:

Agwa

After a few shots, things started going downhill rapidly.....

More shots...

and again.......

and some more shots......

Cherry's toe is covered up tonight, Matt was disappointed

Me and Cherry getting ready for our yearly body tequila shot

PHOTO REMOVED

For those that missed out, it was a shot of Cherry's Chest covered in salt, ready for the body shot!

Eveyrone wanted to get in on the shots

...and like any of our drunken parties, the chest and nipples came out pretty quickly....

Everyone got very friendly afterwards. And some person tried to get TOO friendly, and smooched me and Cookies who then got a swift slap across the face followed by a few quick kicks.

I can't be bothered trying to talk about what happened above, but I'm sure the pictures speak for themselves. Besides, I don't think everything was that clear after my 10+ shots. I was still having shots after the birthday girl left! Surprisingly, I was still quite sober. Unlike some people...

Somehow, Matt managed to wake up in time and chased us back to the car. He threw himself into the back seat causing Moishii to jump out of the car to try and drag him out:

"GET OUT OF MY CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

There was a lot of slapping, a lot of swearing and definately a lot of objects flying around. I was barely home before I jumped out of the car. Another minute in the car with Matt will make me stab my own ears with a stick.

Anyway, hope you had a good birthday Cherry. Its the only way to celebrate. I'm surprised it took you so long to have a drunken bash. Now just have a better look at my photos and see how much you can remember.......