Wetlands

So happy that the weather is starting to warm up. Melbourne's weather has been crazy this August. According to the bureaus, it was the wettest August since 1991. It wouldn't be Melbourne if it didn't include a few warmer days in the mix. If you're a Melbournian or know anything minute about Melbourne, you would probably know that we have a 4 season in 1 day policy, which in my opinion - sucks! It makes it so hard to dress and even more difficult to plan road trips away. 

Because August was a really disgusting wet month, when we hit a slightly warmer day, we wanted to take advantage of it. We walked to the wetlands near my place to feed the ducks. It such a calming, quiet place that I love to frequent in the warmer weather. As you can tell from the above pics, Spring is very close!

Feeding ducks wouldn't be complete without the swarm of seagulls -argh! They're super cunning and really fast, I think about 4/5th of our bread was eaten up by them. I was quite annoyed at them so in my bad mood, I mentioned to Chris that I heard from friends that if you feed seagulls panadol, their stomachs will explode - fun fact for the day. (well, not exactly that fun if it's true and probably not even a fact.)

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Ten Minutes by Tractor

Chris and I decided to go to a winery known as 'Ten Minutes by Tractor' to spend our Saturday. We have driven past this place many times but have never taken the opportunity to go inside as we thought it'll just be like the many other wineries that we have visited. Wine Tasting and a small store/café linked to it. We thought it would be nothing too special.

We decided we'll visit this time around because we heard some really great (!) things about this place. Chris' mum also recommended it to us after she went for dinner with her friends.

Their menus are seasonal - Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring - with an emphasis on fresh produce, sourced locally if possible. They have their own veggie patch out back and their vineyards are all within a ten minute tractor ride away - hence their name. We researched their chef, Stuart Bell and found that he has won many awards and has previously worked with many Michelin star chefs in the past. We were sold.

We had to book a whole 3 weeks in advance because they were so busy! Even then, we couldn't get a seating for the dinner session so we settled for lunch. Since we knew it was a dégustation menu, we skipped breakfast.

Chris decided to go for the 8 course dégustation whilst I went for the 5.

Here we go. Time to spam the food pictures.

We both started off with the still-warm multi grain bread with olive oil, pink salt and butter.

 Amuse Broche aka the entree before the entree to 'cleanse our palette'

 Trout - cured ocean trout, cucumber puree, horseradish and creme fraiche snow, baby cos, potato salad

 Goat's Cheese - Red Hills Somers Soft, red quinoa, beetroot, avocado, green beans, aged balsamic

 Chef's Selection - Scallops

 Whiting - King George roasted fillet, spinach and fennel, dill gnocchi

 Quail - roasted breast, confit leg pillow, spring vegetables, apple cider and quail consomme

 Duck - breast, sweet potato, cumquat espuma, citrus granola, spring greens 

 Lamb - roasted rump, Jerusalem artichoke, baby leek, pine nuts, golden raisins, leek veloute

 Avant Dessert - A dessert before the real dessert

Carmelised crisp on a vanilla and mandarin custard with pear cubes.

 Chocolate - torte, Michel Cluizel chocolate, raspberry espuma, crispy raspberry canoli, liquorice ice cream

 The amazing view of their vineyard from our table.

Finished off with a chamomile tea to help us digest and not feel to heavy. Really impressed with the food quality and the service. Even their bathroom was amazing, they had hand exfoliate/cleanser, hand cream and individual hand towels. Was tough to pick a favourite dish, the duck and lamb were way up there. Also, because we both have a sweet tooth, we absolutely loved the avant dessert! 

Worth coming again but probably not any time soon. Burn a hole in our wallet. :( 
Thanks babe for spoiling me x

Did I make you hungry? 

Ten Minutes by Tractor

1333 Mornington Flinders Road, 

Main Ridge, 3928, VIC

www.tenminutesbytractor.com.au

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To Infinity and Beyond ♥

Yesterday was our 6 months together. Usually Chris and I both don’t celebrate our ‘monthsaries’ but we decided it would be nice to have dinner together and relax after a super stressful working day (for the both of us!). We decided to go on a date. As usual, dates with Chris are never complete without good food, and for that night, we had TFI Fridays!

Chris wanted to take me to TGI Fridays because it was close to the cinemas and we were planning on watching a film afterwards. We order less and less every time we dine there. I still remember our first TGI experience, we both ordered one main each and boy, did we regret that! Their serves are huge. Think American and think, Supersize. Well, maybe it’s not that disgusting but it’s still a lot for us considering we both don’t eat that much.

We decided to order one entrée, one main and one drink to share (which we found was still a lot for us!)

Half Potato Skins – This was only half serve!

 Ultimate Jack Daniels’ Burger – I absolutely love the Jack Daniels Sauce!

San Francisco – Chris and I both agreed that this drink reminded us of our childhood lolly days. It tastes like cherry sweets - liquidised.

After dinner, we decided against the movie as I was knackered (I was on-call all night and didn't sleep that much). Chris wouldn’t let me go home though; he said he had one more surprise for me at his place. Because I was so excited (I love surprises!), I kept trying to guess what it was. Chris been super firm and totally not gullible at all, did not give in. :(

When we got to his place, he whipped this little baby out.

Ah, I’m so in love.

We actually went to the shops last Friday and we walked into this little accessory store. I saw this little beauty and I pointed it out to Chris and told him how much I loved it. I decided not to get it though and I actually felt regret after I walked out. So when Chris took this ring out and said he got it ‘because I remembered you loved it’ and ‘it means infinity like our love’, I melted.

I love you so much, B x (I know you’re reading this). ♥ ♥

Thanks for spoiling me, you’re my world.
May our love reach infinity and beyond.

∞

 

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From Day to Night

As you probably already know, I love photography. I take pictures for fun, I love that I can have something there to look back on my past memories.

I love to photograph scenery although I do occasionally photograph people, food etc. One aspect that always amazes me is what different lighting can do to your final picture hence I love waking up early to capture sunrises and taking pictures of the same view by day and by night.

Here are some day to night pictures I've taken and to this day remain my favourite!

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The Melbourne Story

Chris recently had his RDO (rostered day off) and because we were still in holiday mode from our weekend away. I decided to join him on another relaxing day off work. 

We both love exploring Melbourne city but are always short on time so this was the perfect chance for us to get out and stare in awe at unique architecture, eat good food and visit Melbourne's little secrets.

My best friend. My Lover x

 We walked all the way to Melbourne Museum and spent almost 4 hours inside! It's surprisingly interesting. There's a lot to learn and a lot to see.

This was so fascinating. This is the nest of the tree ants. 

By the time we finished with the museum, it was already way past lunch time and we were starving so we went to visit an Italian restaurant nearby. They just so happened to be having special meal sets that day so we scored a really satisfying meal for a cheap price! :)

Walked again along Southbank to enjoy the view and the sunset - damn good exercise that day, so much walking! 

Such an amazing view. Beautiful way to end my day x

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