BREAK

Subconsciously making smiley pancakes must mean I'm in a good mood!

Skittle infused vodka

Arrived home from a few time-out days with friends on the coast spent lying in the sun, staying up late, sleeping in, eating, drinking and taking photos. Ready to tackle my busiest year yet.

MAKAN

I set foot in Makan @ Alice's for the first time a few months ago for a Christmas dinner and instantly regretted not bringing my camera. Despite having won more awards than is space for on their wall, Alice's is unpretentious and very reasonably priced. Decor is minimal and it can get quite noisy (especially as it can get busy- book in advance for dinner), but who cares with such delicious Malaysian fare and a 3-course meal for little over $20? The menu is varied, waitstaff are friendly & efficient and meals are brought out speedily.

Roti canai & chicken curry. Perfect buttery & fluffy roti, perfect curry for dipping.

Mamak mee goreng.

Soft pork ribs. My stand-out dish of the night- tender, sticky & sweet. Oh baby.

One of the coolest-looking desserts I've ever laid eyes upon: Ice Kacang. DO NOT SKIP DESSERT AT ALICE'S. Ice Kacang is an adventure for the palate but not for the narrow-minded desserteur: an interesting and super-refreshing combination of shaved ice, creamed corn, sweet red beans and those jelly cubes they have in Easyway tea (name, anyone?).

Other noteworthy desserts include black sesame ice cream with red beans (next time I'm trying the green tea flavour) and sago with gula melaka- salty, caramel-y and creamy. Desserts are huge (as are other meals) so I recommend ordering one or two less than the number of people eating.

If you're ever in northern Sydney suburbia, do try it out. More information here.

RIGHT NOW

My day today: trying to figure out Photoshop, eating a spinach, ham & cheese sandwich.

W.I.R.A. #2

Not strictly 'recent', but amazing self-serve frozen yoghurt in Vietnam. You help yourself to the frozen yoghurt (melon and green tea were the stand-out flavours) & trimmings and pay by weight. Genius.

Fact: I can only bake girly-looking cakes.

Deep-fried bananas dipped in chocolate: delicious heart attack on a plate.

Benefits of working in hospitality #47: Staff dinners.

Oh the blissful first few days of 2012 when the weather actually felt like summer and was iceblock-worthy. (Taken with my disposable camera).

Now to the less aesthetically pleasing photos, but noteworthy nonetheless.

'Aussie' BBQ Meatlover's Shapes for Australia Day. Tastes nothing like a pizza but still pretty good, especially since I've personally never jumped on the 'OMG I luv shapez dey r d best!!!11' bandwagon.

The mandatory BBQ salad which no-one ever touches and eventually ends up on the floor (to make room for more Shapes and beer).

Meaty raisin toast. One has to resort to desperate measure while camping.