La Rosa Bar & Pizza

Well if there hasn't been a week of drinking like this one. We began on Tuesday with the flow of Melbourne Cup Day bubbles and wine and I've been drinking every night since then as we had travelled for work and that always involves a tipple of two.

The last drinks to end the tumultous work week though were these pretty cocktails with @Jay2DaL at La Rosa Bar & Pizza on level 3 of The Strand Arcade. A bustling pizzeria in the heart of the city and a very lovely way to end the week.

There has been a seamless process to book this table. The staff engages very attentively to the booking process and remembers every single request made, including one that asked for the centerpiece table in the restaurant. The one under the chandelier:

 These were the pretty cocktails we had:

La Rosa Rosolio- La Rosa Rose Cocktail

 A sourish refreshing gin-based cocktail. Girly enough to look pretty but strong enough to lift the spirits.

Espresso alla Liquerizia Martini-Espresso & Liquorice Martini

 A sweet coffee martini that is that awesome wake-me-up from a long day at work.

 We started with some shared entrees and that included a selection of cured meats with Grissini, bread and Olives. The Wild Boar sausage was divine and definitely more-ish.

Mains were also great sharing plates too. Of particular enjoyment were the pizzas and pastas:


 

Spaghettini with Braised Chicken and Rosemary   

Prawns, Zucchini, Tomato, Mozzarella and Garlic

Rigatoni Pasta with Prawns, Minced Calamari, Olives & Chilli 

 Everything was of the right flavours, fresh and beautifully seasoned. I didn't have to even use any of the Chilli oil or Parmesan cheese that was brought to the table. Pastas were the right kind of al dente and the seafood was perfectly cooked. We certainly didn't mind overloading on the carbs that night. I must say though, one does fill up really quickly on the pizzas as they are quite sizeable ones. It is truly difficult to restrain I know when the Mushroom pizza comes highly recommended too.

Zeppola - Traditional Potato Dough Doughnuts with Vanilla Bean Gelato   

A lovely way to end off the evening was a small Potato Doughnut steeped in Caramel sauce. Sickly sweet and so sinful, but we've got the sunny weekend to work it off, that's alright.

La Bodeguita del Medio - A Cuban restaurant behind QVB

La Bodeguita del Medio was a place that I was excited to try out since it opened its doors last year. Somehow, it never quite eventuated until now. We were there early on a week night so the restaurant was bare, although the troops at the bar got tables a lot later in the night.

$10 Cuban cocktails were the go for the night and we all started with a round of Mojitos for the table. Limey Rum, the drink was refreshing. And with eagerness we poured over the menu.

For Shared Entrees, we had:

Ceviche del Dia

Fish of the day with fresh lime, chilli & coriander $16

 A very sour dish, but actually a great way to open up your appetite, if you weren't already ravenously hungry. But the fish was firm to the bite and a good dish I'd revisit anytime.

Panceta de Cerdo

Roasted pork belly, compressed watermelon & white balsamic foam $17

 Watermelon was an interesting accompaniment. But the pork belly was done well with very good crackling.

Terrina de Chorizo

Chorizo terrine with pea puree & sautéed baby carrots $18

 I think this entree got devoured really quickly, and it was good earthy flavours of terrine mellowed by the sweetness of the peas and carrots. The Entrees certainly were good, which meant the shared Mains had to work harder to hit the spot.

Pastel de Cangrejo

Crab pie served with homemade crusty bread $31

 I picked this dish and so was rather disappointed that the bread was larger than the pie. The flavours were decent, with every bite of the pie filling full of crab, but it didn' have the wow factor after all. On the other hand, what I did not expect was for the crusty bread to have the texture of toasted brioche, and that was something different.

Ropa Vieja de Cordero

Yogurt braised lamb, black bean vinaigrette & steamed yellow rice $30

 I remembered only the saltiness of this dish. The lamb was overcooked, so it was chewy and I liked the rice, but the overpowering black bean saltiness did me in really. Especially when all I had was a mojito to wash this down with. My saltiness and sournes palate gave way at this dish I am pretty sure.

Cazuela de Cuba

Cuban casserole with pork belly, chorizo, fresh scallops, black beans & long grain rice $32

If the previous dish lost me, this one was the star of the night. We all enjoyed this casserole hands down. It reminds one of a paella with its flavours, but it was a generous dish with flavour and portion and even though we already had pork belly earlier on in the night and the pork belly in this dish was really really chewy, we still could not fault this dish and would have eaten this on its own.

I think we each had another round of $10 cocktails including the cocktail of the week/month? (I can't quite remember which) which was a daiquiri, basically a different presentation of the mojito it tasted like. I suppose I had enough of the sourness that night.

We would have gone for desserts if we didn't feel so overwhelmed with the flavours that night. The Service fell down between entree, our second drink order and mains, so we gave up and kissed each other a goodnight before it turned sour like our dinner.

I was glad we tried it, but based on the food, I am not in a hurry to visit Cuba anytime soon. Am not sure the food quite agrees with me, although of course that is not the sole reason to visit a country. Or is it?

Wine Degustation with Quarter Twenty One

I thought I'd try my best to recall step by step the wonderful experience Mr.HEA and I had on our latest date night, celebrating the end of last week at Quarter 21. I'll let on soon enough what we were celebrating, but this post is dedicated to a first experience for me, Wine pairing with food. Whilst I've always loved wines and good food, it has always been a bit too much for me to have more than a bottle's worth of wine so I have been apprehensive. This experience however, it just seemed apt as we had received a gift voucher for our wedding and Mr.HEA wanted for me to experience this. He didn't go for this as one of us had to be the responsible one for the night.

Mr. HEA's Basil Martini

Amuse bouche

 Just a burst of flavour that leaves you wanting more.

Salad of beetroot with endive, Baw Baw blue, hazelnut and pear

2010 Coombe Farm Pinot Gris, Yarra Valley, VIC, Australia

 One of my obsessions at the moment is beetroot with a goat's cheese so this salad was right up my alley. The wine smelt strong, to take on that Baw Baw flavour was in fact a really light wine, almost like water, very refreshing to wash down the cheese with.The pear, if saved for just the right intervals, leave you with a good crisp sweetness to tide over the bitter endives and cheese with.

Raviolo of ocean trout and king prawn with fennel and ginger

2009 Hugh Hamilton Viognier, McLaren Vale, SA, Australia

 We really enjoyed the fresh and sweet seafood in this Raviolo. The stock was just as sweet. Whilst the Viognier might not have been too palatable by itself (Mr.HEA scrunched up his nose), paired with this dish, the dryness takes away the sweetness to prepare you for another bite.

(not pictured)

Bourride of ocean jacket with mussels, squid and saffron rouille

2008 Victory Point Chardonnay, Margaret River, WA, Australia

There are several reasons why this dish wasn't picutred. Firstly, we were told this dish was scallop and I was very distracted because it didn't look like scallop. Then the Chardonnay was delectable with a smooth buttery finish, and with this silky ocean jacket, I swooned throughout the flavours.



Seared Queensland scallop with boudin noir & Jerusalem artichoke

2010 Yering Station Pinot Noir ‘Village’, Yarra Valley, VIC, Australia

 I questioned the waiter as to why the scallop dish was paired with a red wine. He assured me it would be fine. And this was because of the boudin noir, which in my innocence, I did not realise was a blood sausage. Just as the irony taste gets too much, you chew a bit of scallop and then wash it off your tongue with the Pinot Noir and finish it all off with the charred leek. Quite a divine mix for the tastebuds after all.

Slow cooked Riverina lamb with broad beans, artichoke & piperade jus

2009 Hugo Shiraz, McLaren Vale, SA, Australia

or

 Mr. HEA got this dish and thought the lamb a little bloody, but overall very tender and with good peppery flavours.

Slow-cooked Glenloth Farm pheasant, braised endive, raisin, caper & Grand Marnier

2010 Woodstock Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale, SA, Australia

 I took on the Pheasant cause Mr.HEA in his ignorance thought this meant rabbit and didn't like the thought of it. I knew it was a game bird, laughed haughtily and enjoyed it tremendously with the soft CS they served with it. Rather mellow flavours here, both the dish and the wine and I am beside myself.

(palate cleanser not pictured)

Champagne chiboust, mint & rockmelon

 Mr.HEA detests rockmelon, but his mother would have been shocked to see him down this sorbet with gusto. Perhaps with Champagne to mask its flavour, he is easier to please.

Banana crème brûlée, salted peanut brittle & milk coffee sorbet

Domaine des Bernardins, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Rhone Valley, France

or

Oh, really the best creme brulee I had ever had. The crunch of the caramelised top usually is enough to keep us going, but the hidden peanut brittle was a lovely delight and overall, the mixture of the salt and bitterness from the coffee sorbet was washed down surprisingly well with the French Muscat. I am bewildered as to how a sweet wine is just the thing to take the edge off a rather rich dessert as this, but the sugars counter each other it would seem and I am left with a balanced palate.

Warm 68% Alto Beni Zokoko chocolate pudding, honeycomb & pear sorbet

2008 Cookoothama Botrytis Semillon, Darlington Point, NSW, Australia

 Mr.HEA's dessert for the night, which he adored, gaga-ing when the chocolate oozes out of the fondant and really loving the crackle of the honeycomb.



Mr.HEA orders a flat white that is all heart...



Complimentary madeleines which I didn't quite need nor fancy.

Other things deserving a mention were the extremely fantastic crusty Becasse bread they serve at the beginning of the meal; our waiter's wonderful attention to detail (bringing exactly the right wine for my meal pairing, waiting patiently for Mr.HEA and I had to taste both dishes and then swap based on which one we prefered); and the beautiful ambience of the restaurant - I really liked the luxurious chairs and the french white brick walls.

I wish Quarter 21 will stay around for a long time. It is a good unpretentious place with great service and fabulous food. Word is they have gone into Voluntary Administration, but if they keep up doing all this great work, I really cannot fathom that this isn't their pathway to suceed.

Random things until I find my voice

Hmmm... there have been a few things to mull over of late, amongst which are the questions of where our marriage is headed towards. Somewhere underneath the happy shopping and warm cups of Nespressos shared with the Husband, there are conversations that we are having that I have not shared with my blog or my family and friends.

That is, no we are not expecting as I have had a lovely sushi lunch today and am enjoying a casual drink tonight out of our wedding favours of Hendrick's Gin & Tonic.
When I was at Nobu just over a week ago I ordered this very drink and heard a man amongst the patrons explain to his female companion why there was a cucumber in my drink as I carried it to the sushi bar. I do not understand why it works either, but the cucumber accentuates just how smooth and almost menthol-like the finish is on this particular scottish gin. Absolutely divine.

I digress. Anyways, there isn't much I am prepared to share yet, mostly because the conversations have not led anywhere remotely concrete yet. But I can share this. There will not be any little HEAs in the horizon. I might be clucky, but there are other things Mr.HEA needs to achieve first before we head down that path and as impatient as I am, I hope to be able to support him in his dreams, pursuits and ambition. At least for now, when I can afford the time.

I promise I will share, and then explain my decision further to those of you who might judge differently. At this point in time, I am still easily swayed otherwise, so I cannot write with certainty.

There are other things to be happy about in the meantime, beyond being able to drink irresponsibly and eat without reservation just about anything I might fancy...I also am able to shop at whim and put more time into building my career. Ahhh, that next step. I have been taking a few meetings with our stakeholders by myself of late. Lotsa autonomy at work and empowerment which I treasure dearly. Today over coffee with a client, I found that my milk jug had left a rather curious stain on the wooden table and I could not resist a happy snap.

Perhaps this was life's way of letting me know that there is something happy to smile about still. Even in something as simple as the embrace of a loved one, the kiss of a friend and the smile of a milk stain.  

The quest for eggy pasta

I have been begging S for a pasta-making machine. I love pasta and eating noodles of all kinds, but something about the chewiness of the home made variety really makes for a different level of fooding.
I set out today to endeavour an egg pasta without the machine. I used about 600g of flour and mixed in 4 eggs and 2 egg yolks, a dash of olive oil and a pinch of salt to begin the process of making the dough.


After much kneading, I begin adding lashes of water every now and then as there really was too much egg in this recipe and the dough was not moist enough.
My grandmother used to make us noodles every Saturday when we were kids, so I channelled a lot of my memories of her into making this dish. After a long time of kneading and not seeing the silkiness that the dough should have started developing, I enlisted the help of my brother who gave it a good few hard kneads with his muscles to finish off the process.
After resting the dough for about 30 minutes,


we took turns rolling out small pieces of dough on a floured surface to make a flat piece. It took a few goes, but I found the process much easier if we cut off slices of the dough and begin rolling them out lengthways. Once you get it quite thin, flour both sides and fold it a little like an accordion and with a dry sharp knife you can begin to cut the noodles out in the width you want the noodles to look like.
We ended up making something like a fettucine:

And then turned it into this finished dish:

It was a really good bonding session with my brother. I kind of feel what Helen and Steve on the current My Kitchen Rules must feel like when they cook together. We shared so many memories of the wonderful meals our grandmother used to make whilst we made the pasta together. It was a rare ocassion where we weren't bickering or getting on each other's nerves.

I loved the pasta. It was certainly very al dente. Much like the ones that I remember from Italy. It is no wonder the Italian girl I met at surf camp said to me she didn't like the pasta in Australia. She said they all tasted like they were cooked in cold water. I realise now that if you eat hand made pasta like we did, there is a big difference in texture from the store bought variety.

Serve the dish straight from the stove on a rainy afternoon such as this one, and then wash it down with my new favourite drink, mineral water with a dash of creme de cassis for flavour. Looks pretty and makes me feel like I am having a cocktail.

Hen's weekend just passed

If you had checked my facebook wall this past weekend you would have seen something like this:

Mrs.Happyeverafter was with J & E at Pitt St Mall
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with J at MSM cafe
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with 20 others at the Gazebo
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with 20 others at Kit & Kaboodle

Then on Sun it continues:
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with 6 others at The Victoria Room
Mrs.Happyeverafter was with 4 others at The Goldfish. $10 cocktails till midnight Yeah!

What a cocktail filled weekend it was. This was a big one with A and SY getting married this year, both members of our bridal party and both destination weddings that I cannot attend. Sighz...but, it was good to be celebrating others for a change. 2011 was all about me in the limelight and it stressed me out big time. This year I can focus on helping them have the best year ever and I was happy in that role.

A is a very different personality from SY. She is vibrant, sociable and a great dancer. So it was no surprise that she had a danceoff with another birthday guy at Kit & Kaboodle. It was $10 cocktails there till midnight too so we had lychee bellinis and swayed to the RnB/ dance DJ mix that night. I loved dancing when I was in uni, but haven't really gone dancing in a while (bar my hen's when I was absolutley plastered). It took me a while and quite some watering before I lost my awkwardness and self awareness. And it was a really good time with lots of really nice girls from all walks of A's life, but I was still very happy for Mr.Happyeverafter to come swish me away from outside the club slightly after twelve, and then after a hot shower, climb into bed with my husband in my warm pajamas.

SY's Hen's was more intimate, with just one group of us that all used to work at the same place so we all had something in common. High tea at The Victoria Room is gorgeous. It was a bustling place, but nestled into a corner and tucked away from the crowd, we devoured the decadent sweets and sandwiches and sipped away at our lovely teas and cocktails chatting about the good ol' times.

Red Velvet cupcakes, cucumber sandwiches, scones and little cheesecakes...amongst others

SY enjoyed herself which was important. I can tell she's been really stressed out organising her destination wedding and balancing western ideas with eastern cultures. I saw her more relaxed yesterday with the girls and just voicing her frustrations from the wedding planning and the other more delightful parts where she is getting the things that she wants whilst we nodded in support and agreement. Another friend shares about her experiences with a one year old child and all eager ears from the newly weds in the group lapped up the wisdom hungrily, storing it away from the blessed time in the future when we become mothers ourselves. I loved it! The epitomy of what a girly High Tea should entail.

So, here we are today, most of us feeling a little weary from the Monday blues and the one-too-many cocktails. We are all happy about our friendship and the network of support we have built over the years. J is already happily brewing away at a surprise wedding present for SY having picked up on something juicy from yesterday that she will need. (Those are the best surprises!)

And me? I am just happy. Happy to have a lovely bunch of people in my daily life. Happy to have S to come home to each night. Happy to have had such good food, wine and company this weekend.

Something Yummy on the menu in Gazebo turns out to be a rich warm brownie with ice cream and topped with choco fairy floss. *droolz*

Sipping at the Queen Mary tea at the Victoria Room

The Gilded Lily drink from the Victoria Room

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