daiso: "it's a japanese 2 dollar store, but it's not like your normal crap 2 dollar store. it's full of japanese products"

that's right - there is a line to pay

daiso

shop23/313 victoria st 

abbotsford vic 3067

in the same building as aldi, and it's upstairs

www.daiso.com.au

daiso is a massive japanese company which opened it's first store in australia.  they are a 100 YEN shop, which converts into AUD = $2.80.  so everything in the store is $2.80 AUD and they sell everything, from massage tools, cooking utensils, japanese lollies, batteries and washing bags.  i managed to go on my day off after hearing so much about it from my manager and friend who both claimed that daiso is "the best place ever. and they have the most useful things there. it's a 2 dollar store, but not those crap 2 dollar stores - they sell only japanese products." those exact words came out of my friend and manager who do not know each other. with that kind of review, i thought it must be worth checking out.  

daiso is not very big, but certainty has enough there to keep you entertained for hours.  the japanese just comes up with some weird stuff.  i found the store was very useful for finding things that you really need but may not know where to buy them.  and it's at a very low price for $2.80.  for example, my ray-bans were getting really loose so i really wanted some mini-screw drivers that everyone seems to have in hong kong, but i had no idea where i could get them in melbourne. now i know a place, daiso.   i also found daiso very handy for travelling.  they have all these travel friendly products in one place, even a whole wall section on eye masks and blow up neck cushions.  

here is a photo diary of my experience of daiso: 

all items are $2.80 - apparently that's what the AUD is converted from 100 yen

any one need plastic containers?

everyday massage tools for every part of your body - all for the low price of $2.80

this is a food drawing pen - that's just pure awesome

shape puncher for seaweed to put on your food or sushi

horse fat foot cream....

cook your eggs in a shape they came out of

japanese bathtub toys - expandable sponge animals!!!!!

my goodies - 10 items all for $28

from bottom left and going around in a circle: name tags for luggage, luggage belt, black head remover, magnet hooks, back massager, sanitary cup for the bathroom, earphone cord wrappers, mini screw drivers, jewellery stand, 2-tiered shelf

sunday mornings: coffee darling

fresh orange juice with grapefuit granita

our brunch

sweets on the counter

 

coffee darling

2 darling street

south yarra 

i wanted to go to the zimmermann sale in toorak on my birthday and brian was nice enough to come with me.  we parked on darling street and walked past coffee darling.  little did we know, it is the latest installment of the same cafe owners of Postal Hall, Federal Coffee Palace and Cafe Racer. we sat down in the very clean cafe on the most beautiful spring day.  it was too hot for me to order anything related to coffee so we asked the eccentric owner, Faye, what her slurpee look-a-like machine was.  she said it was pink grapefruit granita and suggested we order a fresh orange juice with grapefruit granita. from this moment on, it was one of the best brunch experiences i ever had.

Faye then suggested we get her chicken stew which was slow boiled and a secret family recipe.  so of course we listen to her as her suggestion for the orange juice with grapefruit granita was just awesome.  then we order full poached eggs with avocado on the side.  the food was so simple, but yet coffee darling had perfected the simple.  how can you go wrong with that?  the soup was so delicate yet tasty in all the right way. the slowly boiled chicken was not too dry.  with the avocado side, there was a sprinkle of pepper and sea salt on top which really enhanced the flavour. 

i highly suggest taking a visit to coffee darling.  there weren't people busting out of the cafe  - which is a nice change.  generally i find all the brunch places around town are so popular that it's a fight to get a seat and it's so stressful it just detracts from the easier experience. their hospitality is also something that makes coffee darling special from the rest.  Faye takes a special interest in all her customers - with us, she ripped up her cafe's newspaper so brian and i can take home a 3-page newspaper article about gen-y.

little joys of life

sometimes there are little things in life that just makes you happy. when i found out they were selling roast pork sandwich at a sandwich bar below my workplace, i was really really happy.  this is because:  1. i love crackling  2. i love roast pork sandwiches ever since my experience at earl canteen  3. i work pretty much in a relatively remote area of the city and there aren't many options.  with all those reasons combined, it was like a little piece of paradise came to work.

so here i present the roast port sandwich (i am drooling as i type) with coleslaw, apple sauce, roast pork and pork crackling with avocado spread

can you see the pork crackling... yum

this was probably the best sandwich i have ever had.  now is it purely because of the taste. i have to admit i'm not too sure.  it could be all the above reasons combined and the fact that i was super hungry, but i would rate this roast pork sandwich a good 9/10.

why is this sandwich not a 10/10? i had the same sandwich a second time and it just didn't have the same balance unfortunately. so minus 1 for inconsistency.

however, compared to the earl canteen roast port baguette, this sandwich wins by a mile in my mouth.  i love how the there is so much crackling and the roast pork is so tender.  there are also good proportions of coleslaw and apple sauce to give it that good sweet taste which goes so well with roast pork.   

celebrating halloween melbourne styles

thanks to everyone who came out on a dreadful-weather-but-very-melbourne night. everyone put in so much effort in dressing up for the party. i can't remember the last time i celebrated halloween, and honestly this might have been my first time. but i had so much fun!

i ended up dressing up as katy perry with the blue hair. however, i kept eating my wig so i took it off pretty fast.

once again, thank you everyone for making it. :)

heavy baggage

photo taken in southern cross station

i hope no one has this much heavy baggage.

sunday mornings: demitri's feasts

demitri's feasts

141 swan st
richmond 3121

www.demitrisfeast.com.au

i love sunday mornings (well i like to think it's still morning because we're eating breakfast, but it's really 12:30pm). luckily, i have wonderful girlfriends who are all under the same impression of sunday "mornings". once in a while we head out to the growing number of brunch cafes around melbourne to enjoy each other's company and be food critics for ourselves. last sunday, our target was demitri's feasts.

situated 3 or 4 blocks down from the mcg, it's a nice cafe with a non-impressive shop front. however, you know there is something special when there are people practically eating on the footpath because there is no other space. we got a table in the courtyard and luckily it was the first proper spring day we had in melbourne this year - sunny and over 25 degrees. i couldn't be happier. our seats were made out of old oil cans = genius.


demitri's feasts is a greek inspired cafe. it actually won breakfast of the year in the 2010 cheap eats guide. i had the sage mushrooms with manouri cheese, toasted almonds, and rocket on sourdough. it was lovely and not too salty as i find some mushrooms are. however, i'm not entirely sure if this is the best brunch i ever had this year. the food took quite a while and my friend's eggs weren't as hot as they could be. my highlight: my freshly squeezed orange juice, with pulp. yum

free photo booth

there is a free photo booth inside sportsgirl at bourke street mall (melbourne cbd). it takes b&w or colour photos and you get 6 photos. this is such an awesome initiative. i love these photos. i think it's because i had a little obsession with sticker photos as a teenage asian girl but all my photos got stolen, so now i take every opportunity to get them back.

when i saw the booth, i had to practically drag brian (who was next door in adidas talking to the shop assistant about soccer) into sportgirl.

hurry because i have no idea how long it will be there for! bring your friends, your boyfriend even your mother!

night of mayhem

on the way home from friday night drinks, i took the train. generally it's pretty rowdy at night but that night, there was a particular type of cheer that i had never heard before inside the train carriage. it sounded like this: "BINGO! YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

it was the scout boys holding guerrilla train bingo. they were moving from carriage to carriage giving out prizes to winners. there was a lot of buzz when they were around. great idea boys!