On an indulgence trip in neon lit Chinatown, Sydney! Australia. Elsie Gabriel

On an indulgence trip in neon lit Chinatown, Sydney! Australia.

Salt and Pepper squid, Yum cha, soupy noodles, dumplings, crispy duck, tapioca pearls or just a simple chili chicken dripping with sauce and peaking duck, you can have your pick? From Thai to Malaysian, Cantonese to Vietnamese, the melting pot of eateries, gracious staff courteously beckoning you join the tables laid out on the streets, there was no stopping me, I was on an indulgence trip. Red décor, Chinese lanterns everywhere and neon-lit food in Chinatown are downright irresistible. So, where are we? Sydney, imagine!

After a fortnight in main Australia my taste buds yearned for some hot spicy Asian cuisine. Bang on, right next to our hotel the Sheraton Sydney, close to the heart of the city, there seemed hope for this gourmet lover who tracked down  Chinatown is an urban locality in the southern part of the Sydney Central Business District,Australia.

It is a beautiful pedestrian street filled with Chinese restaurants and you are spoiled for choice. Chinatown is centered around Dixon Street and Haymarket area.

The Chinese neighborhood is brimming with business and lots of chatter. Lively place alright. You can absorb all the Chinese culture around you. We didn’t know where to start, it was quite over whelming with all Chinese stalls around you, each one as enticing as the other.

A good hot plate of sumptuous Chinese food made our day and we could now shop. I got the best traditional Asian food outside of Asia right here in Chinatown Sydney.

 You can also visit some of the dessert and bakeries that are around the town. All at affordable prices. The Emperors Puff center was amazing, a heavily guarded secret recipe place where they churn out soft tiny puffs that simply melt in your mouth. An excellent desert place where you have to stand in a long queue to simply get a taste of some, the wait is worth the line. It is said it is an ancestral bakery and the ingredients are passed down from one generation of Chinese to the next.

When most Sydney restaurants are closed, Chinatown is open for a sumptuous meal. They have ‘all you can eat’ fixed menus and a la carte ones too but the assorted dimsum carts that follow you around simply make you sign up first. You can choose and pick or simply have them all. That is what Chinatown in Sydney does to yaaaaa

Getting to Chinatown-

We simply walked across to the Chinatown from the Sheraton But if you are driving, your most convenient carpark would be the Entertainment Carpark with entrances from Quay St in the south or Pier St in the north. Alternatively, park at the Goulburn Parking Station at the corner of Goulburn and Elizabeth Sts and walk west.

If going by public transport:

• The tram and Darling Harbour monorail have stops at Haymarket.
• Take any bus passing through George St and get off at a bus stop close to Hay St.
• If taking the train, get off at Central Station, walk north along Belmore Park to Hay St, then walk west on Hay.

Egg Art! Easter Eggs. Easter heralds springtime! Happy Easter!Elsie Gabriel

Egg Art! Easter Eggs. Easter heralds springtime! Happy Easter!

Elsie Gabriel

It is always fun spending quality time with my little son. The innovative artist in both of us binds us and tides us over when ever Daddy is away abroad working! This Easter is no different with hubby away at work, Mother and son use the entire dinning table to paint our Easter Eggs and welcome the Risen Lord with a riot of colours!

Whether in the name of Easter, or just because, using real eggs to paint on can be fun! Whether boiled or raw, egg shells make an excellent canvas to paint on. The colours on them catch on quick and bright. The basket full of eggs -whole rounded shell- make beautiful decoration pieces.

It is believed that egg coloring preceded Christianity and many ancient Chinese and Europeans used egg shells to paint on. If you stick crushed egg shells on paper or any canvas in various designs or shapes and cover them in whatever medium you may deem fit, the result is bound to be outstanding! You get a broken shell effect –collage appearance which is mesmerizing.

Of course Eggs are a symbol of fertility and rebirth, and an important aspect of Eater symbolsing birth and new life, maybe even the ‘ Easter Bunny -rabbit’ fits into the picture just because it multiplies and reproduces so fast, just maybe… who knows!! And I guess rabbits are around in plenty during the springtime.

Being a nature enthusiast all I know is that birds lay eggs during spring time and if you set out for a trail you could gather and bring back several coloured eggs of various different birds to study before putting them back carefully where you found them!! I guess that’s where maybe the Egg hunt games for Easter started! ?

Egg painting is an art I love. Wooden eggs, crystal eggs, real Ostrich eggs, Kashmiri paper mache eggs or swizz chocolate eggs, I relish and invest in the entire egg series ornate collection.

Of course beside the whole some protein dose, For me Eggs means Refresh, Rewind, Reduce, Rebirth, Replenish and Rejuvenate!! 

Thankyou my son Ridge for making Easter so meaningful! You renew my faith in God and Ecology,yet again.

Happy Easter all!

Rushina Munshaw takes me to Thailand. High on Vodka flovoured pickles and Lemon grass coolers .

Rushina Munshaw takes me to Thailand. High on Vodka flovoured pickles and Lemon grass coolers .

Elsie Gabriel.

It is always a pleasure to meet Rushina  the easy going, no fuss and avant -garde chef ! This time she took me to Thailand and I got high on the flavors of Vodka infused pickles and lemon grass coolers! Rushina always parts with that little extra secret about cooking and preservation or alternative ingredients that one can use,here is one...

Educates Rushina, “ Flavoring and infusing vodka is a tradition as old as vodka-drinking itself and requires very  little time and no special equipment. But you do need a little imagination, a grasp of flavours and lots of patience. You just need a good base vodka to start with and quality ingredients to flavour it with. Yes it is as easy as that! Most homemade liqueurs begin with vodka because it is a colorless flavourless spirit that makes it the ideal base for anything. Think of it as a blank canvas for you to paint your flavours onto!”

Cooking with her is always so delightfully simple. You just want to cook! She brings the exotic ingredients to the plate without much fuss and infuses you with a sense of wonder as to how simple cooking can be.

Continues Rushina on the vodka trail, “There are two ways to add flavour to Vodka: either mix flavoured extracts into it, or add the flavouring ingredients in their raw form and allow them to steep in the alcohol for a while. Using extracts is faster and in some cases better but more often than not, the best results come with slow infusion.”

I came away making Thai Green curry with Vegetables where I learned to make the Green curry paste from a scratch….and Chicken Phad Kaphro Thai where Basil leaves did a dance on my taste buds……..all with such ease and finesse I could pat myself on the back for having attended her trip to Thailand and back.
Meeting Supakan who represents the ever so slim Thai woman was insightful,she is soft spoken welcoming and graceful. Much to the surprise of many you have to know that Thai men and women eat fresh vegetarian diets which are equally exotic and sensuous,no wonder they are all so youthful,slim,clear complexioned and beautiful!

Rushina always draws you into the cooking with experiment zone, “Don’t worry too much about quantities, infusing vodka is not an exact science - the variety and quantity of flavouring you choose is up to you and if flavours get too overwhelming, they simply need to be diluted with more of the base liquor.”
Thai dishes artfully balance the sensations of hot, bitter, mild, sweet and sour from ingredients that are specific to Southeast Asia and neighboring India. The scent of Thai herbs, sweet basil, coriander, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, and Galanga which is Thai ginger, combine to create a therapeutic aroma that permeates the senses.

So I was high on the vodka and the Thai spices. The Galangal and Lemon grass both are a gourmets harem of ingredients, the absolute essentials of Thai cooking.
I believe you taste the difference in every dish lemon grass serves, the lemonade fused with lemon grass herb and the Green curry with crushed lemon bulbous roots or the lemon grass in the curries all play their part to send you to Thailand for sheer gastronomical pleasure.