Yes I can proudly say that I am 26 now and yes I am feeling old, although almost everyone frowns at me when I say I feel old. I mean, I don't feel physically old but I just think mentally, I have become more mature in recent years and hopefully in the coming years, I will become even wiser and more mature. I suppose I can't help it.. When you leave your parents at the ripe age of 18, you are somehow forced to become mature quickly and you learn to be fully responsible for your own actions. Through my many rises and falls, I have learned to always rely on myself and never trust anyone too quickly or think that when you treat others nice, they don't always treat you nice in return. They might still shit all over your face (excuse my language). That, of course is not applicable to everyone you cross path with in your life. There are still people who are genuinely nice to you and will always be there to help you without expecting anything in return.
A terrific example is my housemates, they are out of this world. I live with kind hearted husband and wife. They are one of the most generous couple I have ever met in my entire life. I was searching for a place to live after I was kicked out from my rented unit last year as the landlord's son was moving in. That period of time was one of my toughest one. I had to clean and move everything by myself. At that time, I was on the verge of giving up to stay in Australia because I thought to myself, life is too hard without having anyone to rely on or any family member nearby. I was literally all by myself and thanks to one of my best friends who was the only one who helped me. We were the men in the house dismantling furnitures, painting, cleaning etc. As i was searching for places to live, I came across an advertisement saying there is an available room in the city. I quickly contacted the owner and made some time to inspect the room.
It was a tiny room with built in robe, small study table and a small single bed. I thought to myself, how was I gonna move 4 years of my life into this tiny shoe box sized room??? I figured because the monthly rent is really cheap, I just had to compromise and who was I to compromise? I literally had no choice and I needed to live in the city because of the convenience especially when you are single and from overseas. Little did I know that the husband of the owner whom I met and made contact with all along is disabled. I thought that it was odd to have a sliding door for the bathroom instead of the normal doors and I found a wheelchair in the bathroom. The wife informed me before I moved in that her husband had involved in a car accident 10 years ago and is now permanently paralised waist down. I didn't feel uncomfortable and still decided to move in as at that time, I urgently and desperately needed a room.
After getting to know each other more, they are the loveliest couple ever and they have been treating me like their own family. They very often cook and spare some food for me, we buy each other presents for big days like birthdays and Christmas. Through them, I learn the courage to hold on to what I have, never give up in achieving what you want in life and that when the hurricane is over, you'll always see a rainbow illuminating the sky. They love and support each other in times of pain and joy like what most vows say. Whenever I feel like giving up, I think of them and be shameful of myself because they have more courage and strength than me when I am a full able person. His wife works extremely hard and the disability doesn't stop her husband from doing what he loves and he is still able to work and earn money to pay the mortgage together with his wife. What they have is admirable and inspiring for me to always believe that your future is determined by your attitude and action.
I came home from a facial spa treatment on the day of my birthday to find a cake in the fridge for me from the wife.
Well, the "A" is missing from my name but that's not the point. The point is, the genuine intention that's hard to find in a person nowadays. On top of that, she came out to me, hugged me and handed me something that I could pretty much guess straight away what that was and before I even opened it, I couldn't help but to have tears running down my cheeks straight away. I have no family here and the closest people you could share your joy with, are the people you live and encounter with on a very regular basis.
It's a 22-carat gold pendant that was customised for me. I feel blessed to have received such love from my flatmates and couldn't ask for anything more. I've lived with all sorts of people in the past and even had my room ransacked when I was away on a holiday. Therefore, to finally meet the "perfect" flatmates is a blessing. I received many other presents on my birthday but I felt greatly emotional receiving a gift from the heart from my flatmates. As husband and wife, they have faced countless obstacles and more to come in the future, but their strength and courage have proven to beat all the odds.
Let's go back to when I mentioned that I went for my facial spa. That was the first time I had a facial spa done in Australia. Back at home, a facial spa is unbearingly painful. Your entire face is squeezed with no mercy until all the blotted oil, pimple & black heads popped out, then they apply all the good creams and massage your face. You do feel extremely clean afterwards though, however here, it's completely different. I managed to squeeze in a 30-minute quick facial spa as no. 1. I wanted to have it done on my birthday, no. 2. They were unable to squeeze me in any appointment longer than 30 minutes. Oh, by the way, I went to Ella Baché spa treatment centre in Melbourne Central. As it was my first time, I thought I might try something that I know of and not too expensive. The first shop I visited was in Melbourne Central as well but a lot more expensive. $130 for a microdermabrasion and I think it's a 30 minutes treatment. I had the quick Triple Expresso Facial for 30 minutes for $70 in Ella Baché. For a beginner like me, definitely try a 3-in-1 deal as you get to "sample" a bit of everything just to give you an idea of how you're gonna feel. They started with cleansing your face, a bit of massage, exfoliate your skin with their products afterwards, then they leave your face steamed with their advance facial treatment devices (Hey, I am no expert. Hence, I'm not dwelling into the technical terms).
Alas, 30 minutes went too quickly! I felt rejuvenated and my skin felt silky smooth! I was overall very satisfied with the treatment and walked out with my face glowing. I also ended up buying their moisturizer as I was looking for a lighter form of fluid as my moisturizer. I have a combination skin and my current moisturizer is way too creamy and heavy on top of the night serum I use every night, it feels like my skin weights 5 kgs. I have not noticed much result yet except that my skin feels lighter now and less oily. I bought the detox aromatique range for $69 which is quite affordable.
I pretty much went a bit too crazy on my shopping on the day of my birthday but hey, your birthday is only once a year, so treat yourself a little bit! (or maybe a bit too much)
The rest of the afternoon went too quickly and I was so busy doing some shopping that I forgot I was going out with the girls.
Birthday Selfie No.1. I am allowed to take and post as many selfies as I want because I can!!! :D
Birthday Outfit No. 1. Dress is from a random shop on Swanston st. Clutch bag on the side is from Forever New, the heels with bow ties at the front are from Wittners and the plastic bag I was holding is just a present from a friend :) Necklace is from a kiosk I visited in Sydney about 3 years ago.
The girls and I decided to go to Touché Hombre on Lonsdale st. Dinner was not fantastic I must say. Don't get me wrong, the girls ordered blue eye fillets whilst I ordered beef ribs which was quite risky I should've known better. You see, I don't know about you but I like my ribs to be tender and juicy not stone hard. The sauce was spicy and just right to my liking but the meat ruined everything the sauce had to offer. The sauce was made of fried herbs, red peppers & aioli. The ribs were too tough to chew and the texture was like eating beef rendang. For those who don't know what beef rendang is, it is a staple food in Malaysia and Indonesia. An absolute "must try" dish. I wasn't all very impressed with the ribs to say the least but the blue eye fillet was fantastic! Unfortunately, I didn't take the photo of the blue eye fillets, don't be disappointed!! The sauce was the true winner. It was made from spicy salsa roja and bean salad.
DINNER NUMBER 2
The rest of the night went pretty quickly. Before we knew it, we went to crash somebody's birthday party. As a start, we didn't even know there was a birthday party going on as a friend of a friend invited us to catch up altogether and he only mentioned "there would be a few other guys" and when we turned up, there was this small section in the bar reserved for birthday boy's guestlist only. Went there, ordered some free drinks, showed our faces around and moved on to dance the night away. What a great way to end the night (sarcastic thought). Key important thing for me was that I was able to spend the night with a few close friends.
P.S: I don't post many photos of my friends solely for privacy purposes. First of all, none of my friends knows I write a blog and second of all, that's the only reason. I don't publicise my blog enough because I think my blog is not "mature" enough in a way that there is still many works to be done in further future.
Anyways, I was more excited for my second dinner because it was going to be at ROCKPOOL!!!!!
Funny enough, last year also during my birthday, I intended to celebrate with my fellow birthday mate at Rockpool in Sydney. Yes, there is a Rockpool in Sydney as well. One of my best friends shares the same birthday with me so we celebrated together last year by going to Sydney together and we almost went to Rockpool. I for whatever reason, cannot remember why we didn't go there. Instead, last year we celebrated at an Italian restaurant in Southbank, Melbourne instead.
Me preparing for my birthday dinner number 2 outfit.
Selfie number 2....
Dinner starts from 06:30 pm at Rockpool so when we arrived, there were dozens others waiting outside the doorstep. When the door opened, we were escorted by professionally dressed waiters and waitresses with men who look like they should be working at luxury retail brands. We were guided to our table efficiently by one of the professional good looking waiters. Their suites definitely look like they came out straight from the laundry service, all pressed & clean. They all look so fine from head to toe and I swear to God the way they talk and serve you are like out of this world. Their service overall is very impressive and second to none.
They even split your meal equally and bring out 2 separate plates if you choose to share your meal!! No more digging your fork and spoon in an ill-mannered way when you're eating at a 5-star restaurant! If it is gonna be your first date, this is definitely the place to be. They pretty much do everything for you and all you have to do is to dress up elegantly and be a lady & gentleman for the night. Your date is definitely gonna end up well that night. Oh and maybe if you're not sure if she/he is quite into you, then this place is a big no no as you may be forging out some fortune dining in there but it's so worth it!!
This good looking waiter with a handsome French accent was our waiter for the night and he came out with a few recommendations. As a start, we ordered a hand cut linguini with spanner crab & spicy prawn oil. The linguini was so perfectly cooked and not too oily. It was definitely very seafood-ish and aromatique. I really took a great joy devouring it.
Pardon my very amateur photo as I didn't take my camera on the day, so I had to live with my humble iPhone5. Way too much noise in the photo due to poor lightning :( Anyways, just live with it. This portion is half of the original portion as we chose to share the linguini so I suppose the chef did all the work saving both of us from halving it ourselves. Looking at the linguini photo now makes me want to go back for more! You can never go wrong with Linguini when you don't know which pasta to choose. Oh wait, maybe you CAN go wrong if you go to the wrong place :)
Second recommendation is free range Aylesbury duck with grilled figs & apple balsamic. Duck is my least favourite type of meat but considering how much my dinner partner likes duck, I was willing to try their duck. To my surprise, their duck is superb and the meat was really tender & juicy. My dinner partner loves the duck.
Second main was Wagyu Rib Eye on the bone 350g 63 days. I love the steak here, you really get what you pay for. I asked for Medium rare and I had my steak with spicy English mustards and bearnaise. I love mustards sauce, weird I know as probably most people go with barbeque or creamy mushroom sauce for steak. You could taste the quality of wagyu which was of premium quality.
Um, yes I don't have a photo of the steak simply because it was divided into 2 separate plates as well and there were only a few pieces in one plate so it wasn't very much of a picture worthy. Besides, I suppose steak looks very generic across various restaurants, it is the taste that separates one from another and brings it to the next level like one in Rockpool.
We also ordered a couple of sides such as roasted pumpkin and sweet potato with garlic yogurt and burnt butter. This one for me, is a winner. I loooooooove it!! The garlic yogurt went super well with the roasted pumpkin. It tastes so creamy and rich! After a couple of slices though, it got a bit too filling because of the rich texture pumpkin and yogurt have to offer. Don't forget the buttery taste added to the richness. If you like rich sauce, this is definitely a "must try". If not, still try maybe 1 slice and share the rest with your company.
The other side dish was onion rings. It was probably one of the biggest onion rings I have even seen and tasted in my entire life. I hate onion and garlic and as long as I can't taste onion in it, I'm happy to take the risk. I stared at the onion rings nervously and cut it in half with my knife. As I peered nervously into the hole, I could see the cooked onion covered by a layer of battered flour. It cringed me to think that I was about to eat onion rings as all of my life, I tried to eat onion rings and I never liked any of it. HOWEVER, I love this one because it doesn't have that strong onion smell. It pretty much tasted like as if I was eating fries except it wasn't too starchy like french fries. I was glad I liked it.
We ended our feast by sharing just one dessert as we could barely fit anything else. We were recommended to try coconut sorbet and shortcrust with strawberries and lime yoghurt. We decided on the sorbet because we were already pretty full and wanted something light instead of something too heavy and rich such as cheesy or chocolaty dessert. It turned out to be just right for us and the sorbet was so light that I could easily fit a second serve!
The dinner was fantastic and the service was exceptional. I was extremely happy with this treat for my birthday this year and although the bill sets you back a little but everyone deserves a little treat on their special day, don't you agree?? Those people who work there truly show that they are extremely passionate in delivering the best dining experience possible for every patron and truly make you feel like a royal family for the night. Well, when the clock hits 12:00 am, I'm back to become a commoner again,
The next day, we decided to drive down to Queenscliff just a little bit past Geelong. I've been to Geelong but not Queenscliff. Queenscliff is a smaller town compared to Geelong city and the residents there I believe, spend most of their weekends engrossed in water sports such as fishing, jet skiing and whatever else people do with their boats. I'm always fascinated with boats and jet skis. I haven't tried many water sports but I have tried jet skiing before. The ocean is vast and is beautiful yet dangerous. I can never answer the question of whether I am a mountain or sea person because I love both!! If you haven't yet read my post on my trip to Tasmania, go and look at some photos I took there, the mountain was breathtakingly beautiful and pure. Pretty much the only reason why I love Tasmania. Other than that, it is dead boring if you're not an outdoor type of person.
Queenscliff is about 1.5 hours drive from Ascot Vale (It varies depending on where you live, eastern, western, southeastern or northern suburbs).
The pier at Queenscliff. It was a bit cloudy and rainy that day, such a sad weather but somehow offers its own beauty. This is where everyone launches their boats, jet skis etc.
Looks like a storm was about to break. I love this picture I took the most (sarcasm). Just a few people standing by the shore with the clear blue sky water sweeping through the sand. Looking at the ocean and listening to the sound of calm waves makes me feel so much in peace. If only I could live by the sea.
After taking in some admirable sceneries, we moved on to fill in our protesting stomachs by checking out the Queenscliff Inn not too far from the beach and pier.
I probably should've taken a closer photo but I simply couldn't be bothered to cross the street again. When I just came out, it started raining so we had to seek a shelter. Anyways, just to give you an idea on how it looks like from the outside. A typical historical Victorian Inn style.
Had a mussel risotto & fish and chips with rocket salad. The food is amazing and fresh from the ocean (literally).
The risotto was really good. Creamy and just right not too rich and paired really well with the mussels.
My fish was really fresh (I wish the fillet was bigger)
There was a tiny bit of drama going on in here that day. This really grumpy and unhappy patron was complaining about the service and how she had to get water by herself and about something else (I didn't manage to eavesdrop the entire conversation). She also complained about the Inn not having enough staff working on the day which I think one of the employees just cooly replied "why don't you get me someone to work tomorrow". It was so awkward when you're sitting in the middle of two people having a small altercation. In any ways, it didn't bother me because it was not my problem and the food was great so I had nothing to complain about and as long as I don't step on anyone's toes, I would expect them to do the same to me. A lot of patrons don't know how to put themselves in wait staff's shoes. They only know how to complain and not the reason as to why was there a problem that caused a complaint in the first place. Anyhow, I felt for the employees as I was once a wait staff too.
We also had one of the best pies in town and apparently won an award last year as serving the best pie in Victoria. Go Figure! We had the chunky beef pie which indeed serves the purpose of the name being Chunky beef! The pie was indeed very beefy and the beef was very tender! I'm not a pie lover, so I'm not going to give my opinion on the pie because I am not someone who appreciates pies so, for me it was just a pie except the beef was exceptionally chunky and the pie had rich ingredients which was amazing compared to those frozen pies you buy from the supermarket that have only 10% of beef quantity and 90% gravy. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of the pie eatery. I'm sure if you google best pie in Queenscliff, there is only 1 place that comes up in the search engines.
Overall, I had an excellent birthday weekend and this year I am just going to count my blessings instead of counting my miseries. When you think of how many blessings you are given, the world just seems so much worth of living!
Till next time <3 p="">
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