Melbourne's unpredictable weather

Now this is something you don't see everyday in Melbourne.

Overnight, Melbourne was blanketed with hail, somewhat looking like snow. It was so heavy that it actually woke me up. Morning frost is the forecast until next Wednesday. One more reason for me to snack away!

Photos courtesy from Herald Sun.

It's getting really close now...

It was the last weekend of March when we finally secured our house. We are still thrilled in owning our first home and getting really close now to settlement. Everything is being taken care of, bought almost everything that we need to buy, our plan is to get the necessities in first and if we still have any money left, maybe one or two luxuries. :)

Will be doing more house fixtures hunting this weekend. It is tiring and yet exciting... until I start adding all the cost together. :D

One thing for sure, we will be keeping our eye out for any good bargains in the market.

Las Chicas

Since we didn't get to try Las Chicas on Sunday, both Lily and myself went back the very next day to have another go. When we reached, we saw a longer queue standing outside. I quietly said to myself, if there's going to be a long wait, we will be heading over to Wall 280 to try out other delicious pides.

Spoke to the waiter and surprisingly there's a seat for the two of us. Those waiting were in a group of 4/6 pax. We will just have to come back for the sensational pides across the street! :D

Sat down, glanced through the menu, not a clue and we thought rather than being gung-ho, we would stick by the review recommendations and if it's as good as it says, we will be more adventurous next trip.

I ordered Bikini Blowout Benedict (BBB). It's a variation of your traditional egg benedict. It's served with seasoned avocado, crispy bacon, poached eggs, creamy hollandaise sauce on a sesame seed bagel. It's very tasty, bold dish. Even though the bagel was hard (as it meant to be), I actually loved it! Using bagel is probably influenced by the Jewish community in Balaclava.

Bikini Blowout Benedict

Another recommendation was the well known french toast. It served with strawberry, banana, pistachio ricotta and maple syrup, to be exact. Unlike myself, Lily has sweet tooth and didn't hesitate when ordering this. The first thing she said after her first bite was "B, try this!!!" with heaps of excitement. She usually plays it cool and rarely get excited with tasty food, when she does, you know it's super delicious! The ricotta was very cool and creamy filled with heaps of pistachio. Have it together with the warm freshly fried french toast and banana, SENSATIONAL!

Las Chicas won Cheap Eats Breakfast Of The Year award back in 2006 with this dish and with Lily's excitement, I can appreciate it. Very yummy and sinful at the same time.

French toast with strawberry, banana, pistachio ricotta and maple syrup

In case you are wondering, Cheap Eats is a guide for best spot to grab a bite to eat without breaking the budget. The range varies from cafes to restaurants, bakeries to sushi bars. A guide for frugal and fervent foodie like ourselves. :D

My cup of latte with a very "funky" saucer

Our breakfast turned out to be very impressive feast indeed. Enormous... sinful... but very impressed!

If I have gone MIA, you know where to find me!

Wall 280

Our initial plan this morning was to try out one of the best cafe in Melbourne, Las Chicas. We were told there's going to be 20 minutes wait to be seated and another 20 for the food to arrive. 40 minutes of waiting time feels like hours when you are really hungry!

We were waiting outside the cafe for our seat when Lily spotted a small interesting cafe just opposite Las Chicas. It's a very Melbourne like cafe, tables outside in the open air, few under the verandah, graffiti on the wall and minimal decor. The most important point was that it didn't look as full and went over to check it out. A quick fix to our hunger!

Sat down, ordered our meals and we were surprised how good our breakfast were! Lily ordered ham, cheese and tomato pide and I had bregenwurst sausage pide. It was nicely toasted, with friendly service, you can never complain! Ryan + Ivy had minestrone soup and vegetarian pide. They loved it as well!

We didn't get to try Las Chicas but found another great place, Wall 280. We were too hungry to take photos but I am sure we will be back again to try out other pides.

Outside Wall 280

Alfresco dining

Inside Wall 280

Inside Wall 280

A wonderful trip

May was another eventful month for us. One of our friends got married and our friends from Malaysia came down for a good holiday. With MAS fares selling at record low, our friends took advantage of it, Kenny+Carol and Jon Low. It was really enjoyable having them around, felt like back in KL all over again.

Victoria has many great beaches and breathtaking landscapes, just that we didn't have an excuse to go. With them around, it was a perfect one. We reckon Jon ,out of all of us were the most enthusiastic about the beautiful beaches and landscapes - he get to explore his new camera with his great shooting skills. Of course we were only too happy to be his "guinea pigs". :D

It turned out really good and we are already thinking where to place them in our new home. These photos were taken at Brighton Beach after a good breakkie at St Ali.

During one of the weekends when all of us were free, we made a trip to the 12 Apostles. It was one of the best trip both Lily and myself had. Good companies, enjoyable drive accompanied by great scenery. Enough said! We enjoyed it thoroughly!

Oh, did I mention that I had so much fun driving to 12 Apostles? The Great Ocean Road is very winding and every corner we hit, our car gripped it so well and handling was just sensational! Practically no cars, we had the road to ourselves! Now we know the car magazines weren't lying when they say our car has one of the best road handling system in the market.

Photos below to highlight our joyful trip.

Another nice photo by Jon Low at our friend's wedding reception.