Running status update

I realise that I haven't been blogging much about my running lately - and I think that's because it has become part of my life, and less so something that I have to keep documenting to remain motivated.

And that's not a bad thing. That running has become part of my life routine, just like eating, sleeping and going to work. I eat, I sleep, I run. And I run so that I can keep eating yummy food (hello carbs, hello desserts, and HELLO chocolate)

The weather today has somewhat stumped my plan to run 10k today. It's been cold, wet and windy. All at once. Which kinda sucks because I've got my first Run Melbourne 10k event next Sunday!

Look, I've even got my race number:

I already did the MS 10k fun run at Albert Park in June, so I know I can run 10k. But it'll be nice to tick off the major fun runs for the year as I go. At the moment I'm seriously contemplating the half-marathon at the Melbourne Marathon event in October. Doubling the distance from 5k to 10k is one thing, but doubling that to 21.1k is something else! As for the full marathon - 42.2k - let's not even go there o_O

My training plan for this week is to run a 5k tomorrow (Monday), possibly do a hill workout on Wednesday, and a steady 8k or so on Friday. And maybe a light run on Saturday just to keep the legs fresh. Just hope I can wake up in time on Sunday!

Out on the town

Still slacking over the Malaysia and HK trip posts, but not to worry! While I get my travel-blogging, photo-uploading shit together, here are some nice piccies and food pr0n to tide you over :)

Over the weekend my fantastic friend the lovely Miss M and I checked into The Hotel Windsor and played tourists in our own city. Not a bad thing to do from time to time - I think we get so sucked into our boring regular day-to-day routines that we often forget that we're living in quite a spectacular city. Yes, Melbourne. You are spectacular, despite your crowded peak hour trains and bogan boys who ask me if I know kung-fu (I thought we were past that, fellas?).

So I got this awesome-awesome room deal over the interwebs (how I love thee!) - $209 for a deluxe room (read: upgrade!) with complimentary French sparkling rose, internet and a leisurely 1.30pm checkout.

Anyhoo, we threw open our room door and saw this:

This room is bigger than my flat!

TWO double beds? Spoilt, much?

Hello, bathroom.

High ceilings and beautiful, big windows.

Walk-in closet.

This is, like, a dressing area.

Chilled sparkling rose awaits! 

Oh my.

Now this was all very exciting because we've been watching Downton Abbey (look it up! With the power of Google) and this was all veerryy Downton Abbey. Especially when we failed miserably with opening the champagne bottle and had to, very sheepishly, ring for help! And, seriously, I kid you know, the hotel butler came up and opened it for us. Really. He was all dressed up, with coat tails and everything. It was all we could do to stop ourselves from swanning about pretending that we live in a huge Victorian/Edwardian manor and affecting posh British accents  ^_^

After a couple of glasses of champers, it was on to Ezard for our 9.30pm booking. Yay! Words cannot express how excited I am about eating here. Not only because it was Ezard, but also because it's been a while since I've been out on the town. I've blogged about our Ezard experience in a separate blog post - check it out.

By the time we finished dinner, it was 1am. YUP. One. A.M. In the morning. But it was one of the most amazing meals I've had in a while, and the service was impeccable. If only I had the dosh to do this more often (not to mention the personal trainer to help me burn it all off afterwards)!

With the city on our doorstep, the delightful Miss M and I went to see about a nightcap. I really wanted to go to the Emerald Peacock for cocktails, but when we got there - it was shut. We then see if Madame Brussels would be open - she, too, was shut :( I thought places opened til much later on weekends?! I know I haven't been out on the town in a while, but surely things haven't changed that much?

We ended up walking back to Bourke St and to the Melbourne Supper Club. It was the one place I knew would still be open. The place was abuzz with late-night patrons and both the bar and kitchen were pumping. Guess we're not the only ones still eating at this time of night (notwithstanding the crowd at Stalactites, of course!).

Both Miss M and I were so stuffed from our eight-course degustation that there was no way we could fit any more food in, so we ordered a couple of Baileys on ice to top off the night. I know, I know - who drinks Baileys on ice anymore, right? But hey, who says it's not due for a revival? I bet that we could bring it back and make the uncool, cool again ;-)

By the time we rolled into our glorious double beds (one each!), it was 4am. And there was still some champers left.

The next morning we woke up at around 9.30am (I think) and took our time getting ready, thanks to our 1.30pm check out time (yay!). We checked out earlier than that though. We left our bags at the hotel and went off in search of brunch.

I've heard lots of good things about this cafe called Hardware Societe, so we headed there in hopes of getting some good coffee and breakfast/brunch. Tucked away in Hardware St, this cafe ticked all the boxes indeed - check out my blog post on Hardware Societe.

With food in our bellies and coffee buzz in our minds, Miss M and I went shopping. I bought an oversized beanie (apparently they're all the rage) and stocked up on daily essentials like A'kin shampoo and body wash at David Jones. There was a queue outside Zara, so we didn't bother.

What a productive yet relaxing weekend. We wined and dined, explored our city and its laneways, had great coffee and had some retail therapy as well. It's really nice to play tourist in your own city once in a while, you gain a different perspective and the city becomes more than just that place you go to for work. It's experiences like this that make me fall in love with Melbourne all over again.

Ezard

We went to Ezard a few weekends ago, as part of my Out on the Town excursion with the lovely Miss M.

After revelling in our fabulous hotel room at the Hotel Windsor over a bottle of French sparkling rose, we arrived at Ezard at around 9.45pm - fashionably late for our 9.30pm booking (we did ring ahead to say we were running late though!).

A quick squiz at the menu, and we decided on the eight-course degustation (vegetarian for Miss M) and two glasses of red - a syrah from Heathcote, Vic - after the champers we weren't so sure we could do a bottle :P

Anyway, on to the food!

There was a tray of salt and olive oil on the table - this was to accompany the bread, according to our waitress. The olive oil was infused with parmesan and rosemary. The idea was to dip our piece of bread into some olive oil, then crust it with the salt. I think we also had an amuse bouche but I didn't get a photo.

Three types of salt, and olive oil infused with parmesan and rosemary

Close up of the salts - I liked the middle one best!

The salt mixes were - and I'm going on memory here - bonito/pepper/seaweed, sugar and chilli, and Szechuan pepper/some ash thingy. (Yeah. Great memory).

First course was a Japanese-inspired oyster shooter. First, suck down the oyster, infused in a delicate broth, then chase it with the spoonful of fennel puree with nam jim. The black blob you kinda see in the photo is a soba noodle sushi roll. So good.

Course 1 - Oyster shooter

Next, a yellowfin tuna sashimi topped with the most delicate bonito panacotta, dotted with blobs of sticky soy and horesadish cream, finished with some wasabi foam. Another winning dish. The freshness of the sashimi was well complemented by the saltiness of the panacotta, and the horseradish cream packed a big punch of flavour for two small blobs of things.

Course 2 - yellowfin tuna sashimi, bonito panacotta, wasabi foam, sticky soy, horseradish cream

Two courses in, and I've used the word 'delicate' twice already. And that's the food at Ezard. Delicate, but flavoursome. There's a freshness about the food that is a welcome change from previous dining experiences, where every course seemed laden with butter, cream or a rich jus (exception being Quay).

The third course was a blue swimmer crab dumpling, with soy butter and taro crisps. It was pretty good, but not exactly memorable, considering the number of dumpling specialists in Melbourne these days.

Course 3 - steamed blue swimmer crab dumpling, soy butter, taro crisps

Halfway through the degustation now, and it's a good one. Crispy fried polenta served on a bed of mushrooms and peas, topped with a parmesan crisp and a poached quail's egg, and garnished with shaved black truffles. Decadent. So decadent.

Course 4 - polenta on a bed of veggies, parmesan crisp, poached quail's egg, shaved black truffles

Now for some seafood. A perfectly steamed mulloway fillet with an awesome tasting sauce, on a pillow of soft rice noodles and veggies. Very clean flavours, delicate (again!) yet well-balanced.

Course 5 - mulloway fillet, rice noodles, veggies

By the time the pork belly arrived, I could barely move. Felt really stuffed and had to get up and walk to the bathroom and back, in the hopes that the activity will shift things around in my belly and make some space for this awesome course. Did I mention that pork belly was involved?

Mmm. Pork belly. Bangalow pork belly with a fresh salad and dressing (think apple and celeriac) and a piece of cracking crackling. Yum yum yum.

Course 6 - Bangalow pork belly, salad and pork crackling

Ok ok. Deep breaths now. One more savoury course to go! And here it is - Chinese five-spiced roast duck on a bed of sticky coconut rice, baby bok choy, and a generous sprinkling of fine carrot crisps. The duck was perfectly cooked, slightly pink in the middle and still juicy, with a suitably salty, five-spiced skin.

Course 7 - Five-spiced Chinese roast duck, sticky coconut rice, baby greens and carrot crisps

Before dessert - a palate cleanser made from Calpico soda! With some melon and mint. How cute :D

Calpico soda, melon and mint palate cleanser

We all know that dessert goes into a separate stomach. We went with the dessert tasting platter for an extra $15. Well worth it, I say!

Dessert tasting plate. Ain't it purdy?

Of course, we HAD to take individual dessert photos. We worked our way around the platter, starting with the honey crunch ice-cream on a slice of toasted gingerbread, wearing a jaunty sugar swirl hat.

Honeycrunch ice-cream, toasted gingerbread, sugar swirl

And a rhubarb (and peach?) clafoutis, garnished with sago and pomegranate. The tartness of the pomegranate went really well with the sweetness of the clafoutis (which was probably what the chef was aiming for!)

Rhubarb clafoutis, sago, pomegranate

Another delicate one - this is an apple and rhubarb crumble.

Apple and rhubarb crumble

I just love how this one looks. Pear and caramel parfait with salted popcorn and Persian fairy floss. So pretty to look at, and so delicious.

Pear and caramel parfait, salted popcorn, Persian fairy floss

Another winner here. A pistachio frangipane with some caramelised strawberries and some type of yummy sauce (yes I'm such a sophisticated food critic).

Pistachio frangipane, caramelised strawberries

And last but not least, a bittersweet chocolate torte with five-spiced kumquats and delicate chocolate wings. The kumquats cut through the richness of the chocolate, and the torte reminded me of Quay's seven-layered chocolate cake, although it certainly couldn't hold a candle to that awesome chocolate creation at Quay.

Bitterwseet chocolate torte, five-spiced kumquats, chocolate wings

I didn't take photos of Miss M's vego feast, but it was designed along the same lines as the omnivorous one, with substitutes for the meat. For example, she got Jerusalem artichokes instead of fish (if I remember the course pairings correctly!).

By the time we rolled out of there, after coffee and petit fours, it was 1am. Yup. You read correctly. We had a three-hour, eight-course degustation. Indulgent and decadent. I felt like we needed to put our feet up and loosen our belts afterwards, I haven't eaten so much in ages.

Indulge in a two-hat dining extravaganza:
Ezard at Adelphi
187 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
+61 3 9639 6811