An Vy-Holmesglen

An Vy is a vietnamese restaurant Mr HSH and I discovered several months ago. It's located on a strip of asian restaurants and shops on Warrigal road, near Holmesglen Tafe and Holmesglen station. Due to it's proximity from Holmesglen Tafe, a lot of the customers on the shopping strip are overseas students, An Vy is none the same.

The first time we went to the restaurant, it was still starting out and I remember seeing the female owner waving to us and pushing for us to enter her restaurant. We did so, because most of the other restaurants on the strip was packed and An Vy, being relatively new, was still struggling to get it's customer base. Anyway, we were not disappointed.

The decor of the place was simple and no fuss. The presentation of the food is similar. The Menus were badly set out and had poor quality photos of the food on them. Service is mainly from the female owner who seems to be able to manage the fronthouse of her restaurant with efficiency and ease.

The standout dish at An Vy is the rice paper rolls. We usually have the pork and prawn. It is served with a delicious peanut sauce and portion has 4 rice paper rolls. They are just gorgeous. The best rice paper roll I've had. They are rolled perfectly and there is a perfect balance of tasty meat and vegetables inside. It is a dish we always order when we go to An Vy.

 We also love the special seafood fried rice, which is spicy and very tasty and always order it when dining  at An Vy.

If you are after authentic Pho, I would say that An Vy isn't the place to go. I sometimes order the special beef Pho and am always disappointed. The stock is the problem. It tastes like it's full of MSG and nothing more than that. Apart from that, the other dishes we have tried including the sizzling beef and stir fried vegetables with tofu were all edible but not outstanding.

Overall, I wouldn't be travelling across town to visit An Vy but for those living in the area, it is a very welcomed addition and we thoroughly recommend it if you're after a cheap and tasty Vietnamese meal.

Prawn and Pork rice paper roll

 

Special seafood fried rice

Sizzling beef

Stir fried vegetable with Tofu

Special beef Pho

Colourful wedding shoes

I've always wanted to have wedding shoes that are different from the traditional white or silver. Initially, I wanted sparkly red shoes, similar to Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz's. They would add a bit of colour and will also pay tribute to my Chinese heritage. Then, not having been able to find the right pair, I considered wearing a blue pair so that I would be wearing something new, something borrowed and something blue. Or....my current favourite is the bubblegum pink pair of Nat Sui, so that they match my pink diamonds....

Ideally, my shoe criteria will be as follows:

Comfortable
Heels not too tall
Blingy
Colour in no particular order: pink, red or blue
Not to exceed $500. Ideally 200-300 dollars max. 


 

Tao's-Bulleen, Bulleen Road

I visited Tao's mid last year and again about a month ago. The first time, my friend persuaded me into going, claiming that there food was quite nice.

On offer at the restaurant are set menus where you choose 1 item each from the entree, main and dessert column. They also offer something that is similar to a Amuse bouche, the assorted chef's platter which is in addition to the entree, main and dessert.  

My overall first impression of Tao's is that it's a try hard pan Asian establishment. It tries to mimic other fine dining western restaurants but in my opinion, falls short because it's focus on trying to achieve the feel of high end dining by undoubtedly stunning presentation have left little time or thought for the actual taste of the dishes. So all their food looks really good on the plate, and I agree that to a large extent, we eat with our eyes, but I found a lot of their dishes extremely mediocre once it's in the mouth.


The second time, I went to Tao's for a wedding reception. This time I was a lot more impressed with the quality of the food and will agree that they have raised the bar substantially in 6 months. Their wait staff, all asian, have always been very professional and I generally can't fault them. Albeit, they lack the charisma of other high end establishments such as Vue de monde etc. I remember when I was there the first time, there was a wedding reception going on in one of the function rooms and as a game or dare, the groom piggybacked the bride out to the main restaurant and went to each table happily yelling that he was married. After they had gone back into their own function room, I saw each wait staff go up to individual tables and apologised for the disruption. I personally found that a bit unnecessary although I understand the "horror" they may have experienced when the newly weds brought laughter and shouts of "congratulations" in their posh "fine dining" restaurant.

Chefs platter

Entree-drunken chicken

Main course-Hokkaido style miso hotpot

Anyway, I command Tao's for improving the quality of their food as oppose to concentrating all their efforts on presentation alone. Overall, the prices: "$58" for the dinner set, does not scream rip off to me if you compare it to a fine dining restaurant. However, I am one who much prefer authentic asian food presented to me unpretentiously. Tao's certainly do not tick any authentic boxes as the food is largely a mix western and pan asian fusion. 

Modifed Karyidakis Procedure for treatment of PIlonidal Sinus Day 4-8

The wound is healing well, although I am feeling a bit crazy staying at home this whole time. I continue to have little to no pain and can even lie on my back i bed relatively comfortably. I can now sit for short periods, albeit only able to sit forward and not completely onto the buttocks.

I saw the surgeon on Day 7 and was told that everything was healing well and no signs of infection at all. He said the operation findings were pretty standard and that there's a 3 percent chance of the pilonidal sinus recovering. I am told to see him again in 2 months and to continue putting steri strips on the wound for the next week or so. If it occurs again next time, he said the incision will have to be made very close to the anus. That didn't sound very pleasant at all. I pray to God that this will be the last operation I'll ever need for this problem!

Rather than posting a picture of my wound healing progress on the blog which can be a bit graphic, I have added a link to the picture instead for all those who are interested.

Day 7 

Modifed Karyidakis Procedure for treatment of PIlonidal Sinus Day 1-3

I have a pilonidal sinus.

I've had this problem for about 7 years now. I still remember my first flare up when I innocently when to the GP for some cream believing it was a haemorrhoid. Boy, was I wrong.

The facts from here forward are from the Pilonidal Support Alliance which have been an amazing resource for all fellow Pilonidal sinus sufferers. For those who don't know:

"A Pilonidal (Abscess, Cyst, Sinus, Dimple) is an abscess in the natal cleft (more commonly referred to as your butt crack) that tends to become infected and cause intense pain and drainage. Sometimes a Pilonidal contains hair and sometimes they don't."

After having 2 surgeries for it: excision with primary closure (stitches in the midline), followed by excision with open healing (daily wound packing for 5 weeks), both of which i recovered well, unfortunately for the sinus to reoccur promptly after. I decided to self fund a procedure called the Cleft lift or Modified Karyidakis procedure through a private general surgeon in Melbourne.

"What it is - These are both very similar procedures developed in-line with discoveries by Karydakis about the origins of pilonidal disease. In the Cleft Lift, the actual shape of the cleft is changed to be more shallow and allow for better healing. The surgery was originally developed to deal with surgeries that had failed to heal or continued to recur and is now being done more and more as a first surgery.With the both techniques, the surgeon removes an ellipse as he/she excises the pilonidal. The resulting defect, a football shaped ellipse or "cavity", lies parallel to the midline but to one side. The surgeon removes the medial edge of the buttock. To cover the "cavity" the surgeon undercuts the other side and pulls across the midline a flap of skin and thick fat becomes shallow and the single suture line lies in open air to the left of the midline. By almost flattening the cleft, the gathering of loose hairs is less likely, and the there is no portal of entry left for hair entry (they always enter a midline hole, not one on the side), thus greatly reducing the risk of recurrence.. The now less-deep cleft is also less of a happy harbor for anaerobic bacteria. One of the key elements to both the Cleft Lift and the Modified Karydakis are that all incisions are made to the side of the midline, never right down the middle. All wounds are closed with sutures and tissue removal is minimal."

 So on the 19th of March, I headed off to a private hospital in Melbourne's north for the procedure. I am both optimstic and skeptical of this procedure. Optimistic because of the great rapt I've heard about it online. Skeptical because all prior operations I've had to date have failed me. The operation will cost me approx 850 dollars, with close to half of that claimable through Medicare. Theatre and day case bed will be completely out of pocket=$1400.

My room

IV Cannula in the L)cubical fossa.

 I waited from 0730 till about 1030 before I was taken to theatre. Surprisingly, I wasn't too nervous. I've never had issues with anaesthetic and in fact find them quite pleasant. My anaesthetist was lovely and told me that I shouldn't be expecting a bill from him as I am a nurse. He gave me a shot of Midazolam in the IV and I was off to lala land. When I woke up, I spent a few hours in recovery, mainly because the ward was too busy to look after me. For your information, I am told nurse patient ratios at a private hospital is 1:5 or 1:6. When you have to do half hourly observations on a post op patient, that becomes a lot of hard work. I waited a long time on the ward for my pain relief or even water to be given. A division 2 nurse did my observations a few times but I found her to be pretty useless.

Anyway, the next 2 days I spent quietly at home. I am able to sit for short periods and generally have no pain at all. One issue is that I got my period the day after my operation which made it all a little less pleasant. I have been put on two different antibiotics, Flagyl and Keflex, prophlactically and thankfully have had no issues so far. In fact, I have just taken part of the dressing off as per my surgeon's advise and had my first shower in 2 days! It feels soo damn good!

Day 7 or Monday will be my follow up appointment with the surgeon. There I will have my dressing and sutures removed and hopefully, there will be no sinus, a shallower cleft and no pain!

Wedding dress couture

I visited ++ Victoria on March the 3rd and officially put a deposit down for my wedding dress. This, I hope, will be a decision that I'll be happy with. I've been to so many wedding dress shops and no one dress have made me feel like THE DRESS for me. I'm relieved to finally be able to put the decision partly into the hands of another. The dressmaker, of the store is a passionate woman who knows her stuff. This was the second meeting as I felt the first was rushed. This time, she took the time to sketch a picture of the dress for me and went into more details re: the lace and tulle that will be used. I have heard many great things about ++ and I now have my upmost trust in them.There will be 6 fittings in total, starting in August.

Looking at my deposit receipt now, some details of my dress to be include:

1 layer of french tulle
4 layers of english tulle
Line princess cut Gown (also known as A line)
Circular skirts
Veil included
Gst included
All fittings included
Lace on Bodice is not French, 3D on neckline cascading down. Not to exceed $5000

I am told by the dress maker that French tulle is second to none. Apparently, it feels AMAZING. I played around with some english and french tulle and to be honest, I couldn't feel a difference. I asked whether it would fall differently, look differently etc. I am told that the only difference is in the way that it would feel which is why at present I will have 1 layer of french tulle on the top layer of my dress. Hmm...if that's the case, maybe I'll have just the english tulle, but have french lace and more 3D on the bodice instead.

I asked Mr HSH whether it would be okay to exceed our initial budget of $5000. He didn't say no...

Mr HSH loves the idea of something made of scratch. He loves how exclusive being part of the process of designing and making a dress feels, as oppose to buying off the rack. I am toying with the idea of breaking away from tradition and allowing him to come with me to the first dress fitting....

Vue De Monde

Mr HSH treated me with a visit to Vue De Monde for my 27th birthday. A bit of background history-Vue De Monde was my first fine dining experiences from many years ago and since then I have always compared other restaurants of similar calibre with Vue de Monde, thereafter coining the phrase "well it wasn't as good as Vue De Monde"

So you see, I had and always will have very high expectations for this restaurant as not only does it produce some of the finest food I had eaten at the time (I think my 1st visit was in 2008), I was also completely blown away by the level of service we received at the old VDM.I have since been to many restaurants recommended by bloggers and the good food guide and none of them have quite lived up to my expectations (when compared to Vue De Monde)

Anyway, we went in late November 2011 on a very rainy Saturday evening. We were greeted at the foyer by a VDM employee and were shown to the lift which took us up to the 55th floor. We felt a bit lost when we came out of the lift as there was no restaurant and no one to greet us. We had in fact arrived on the right floor but the lifts opens out to the Lui Bar. It took some time to get the bartenders attention as we had no idea where to go. In fact VDM was so sleek that we totally did not see the entrance and mistakened it as a mirror or a wall.

We were finally greeted after a short time in the Lui Bar and was escorted through the doors into the actual restaurant. The restaurant was very sleek and glamorous. Very unique and interesting and was mostly black. The tables were a very respectable distance apart. The chairs were comfortable. Both the tables and chairs were made out of Kangaroo hide and were just exquisite.

It's been that many months now since I ate at VDM that I don't remember the details of each course anymore. I can say that the quality of the food is still top notch but having been to a lot of other fine dining restaurant such as Attica, Ezard, Cutler and Co, the food is very comparable. I wouldn't say that it was miles ahead of the others. When we left the building, the girl at the foyer handed us each a take home bag with bread, honey, cereal etc for "the morning after" I thought that was a very nice touch. Ultimately though, what  set the old VDM when compared with the other fine dining restaurants I've been to was the service.

Service at the old VDM was impeccable. The dining room was like a theatre and I felt like every dish had its very own performance. The new VDM also displayed that. We had liquid nitrogen, old coffee machines turned broth infuser etc.Shannon Bennett himself came to our tables a few times to serve his dishes. BTW, he is a very nice and humble man. There's no sense of arrogance about him at all. Anyway I digress, I found the new VDM was lacking slightly in its service performance.

It did not run like a well oiled machine accustomed to its every day job. It still had several glitches that needed to be smoothed out. When we asked for the bill, the eftpos machine wasn't working and we had to sign the papers some other way. It was only cash or credit card, no eftpos (ie savings). We signed with  pen bought from Coles as oppose to the Mont Blanc pen I remember signing with at the old VDM. We left the building having to ask for our coats, then had to wait stupidly looking around, expecting it to come to us but it didn't until much later. We were not escorted or fair welled to the door. All very little details, I know and really not that important. It wouldn't have really bothered me that much except that I remembered the old VDM as achieving all of the above in flying colours.

For a restaurant of this calibre, I was hoping was slightly more. Overall though, I still have a marvellous night filled with wonderful food and I applaud Shannon for recreating a fantastic restaurant. Truly a culinary gift for Melbourne.

What's new?

Sorry for the very very long leave of absence from this blog. To be honest, I lost passion for writing and with all the other matters in life requiring my attention, I am ashamed to say that I let this page become temporarily part of the graveyard of blogs.

Anyway, lets forget about the past and move onto the future! Allow me to update you on what I've been busy with lately.

First of all, Mr HSH and I got engaged! This special date occured on the 28th of December 2012. It was very low key. We were at his parent's house, house sitting whilst they were interstate. We had left overs for dinner and I was in my pajamas on his old bedroom floor watching home videos when he popped the question. I did not say YES immediately as I wanted to appear less "keen". Alas, there was no doubt that getting married was what I'd wanted to do for a very long time as I had previously pestered Mr HSH incessantly about getting engaged.

I recieved a very beautiful platinum diamond ring. It was beyond beautiful and very unique but low key which is Mr HSH's style. The center stone is 0.9ct which is perfect for my dainty hand, there are 8 side stones altogether, 4 on either side. The side stones consisted of alternating Argyle pink diamonds and the more traditional baguette white diamonds. He got it made and designed by Holloway Diamonds on Canterbury Road, Canterbury.We plan on getting our wedding bands made by them as well. For anyone who are considering a jeweller, they have Mr HSH's highest recommendations.

We have also been extremely productive and have set a date for the wedding already. It will be in the Summer of 2013. We have booked to have the wedding at Emu Bottom Homestead which is the oldest homestead in Victoria. We are aiming to have an outdoor reception on the front lawn of the homestead  but if it rains, we do have the most beautiful but more traditional back up option-the Homestead.

Lawn outside the homestead where the reception will be if weather condition permits

Our back up option-inside the homestead. I do like the candle centerpieces in this pic.

Wedding inspiration

Wedding Inspiration

We have also decided on the photographer-Ben Adams Photography, based in Newcastle. We love his style of photos and will happily pay to fly him down for the engagement photos and wedding.

I have also booked Lisa Carter for my hair and make up. She is a western make up artist who specialises in Asian wedding make up and is quite the hit at the moment. I actually won my first competition whilst participating in one of her challenges.

Tomorrow, I'll be visiting Annette of Melbourne in Seddon to have a chat about what design I would want for my dress. The wedding dress shopping experience have left me at a dead end, I have literally tried on over 30 dresses and none have wowed me so far. Perhaps I have been overburdened by my own expectations and prior research. This will not be easy...