July 8th, 2011 Repeats and New Zealand

Yesterday (after I posted yesterday's post), my parents brought me back beef curry from this amazing Malaysian (and yes, we eat Malaysian food often) place. It's called Little Malaysian (simplicity...) and it is awesome.
Anyways, the main event of today was going to New Zealand. Christchurch, New Zealand is like the exact opposite of Mel. While Melbourne is a crowded city, Christchurch is a place where you can actually see houses and most people have cars (maybe that's not a good thing..). So far, we have not seen a supermarket but we have been to a butchery, a bakery, an organic fruit market, and Domino's. There's really not much in walking distance and I wish we rented a car but because people have left-sided cars, my parents can't drive. Most places have been destroyed by the earthquake which happened in February. This also limits the places we can go.

The apartment/hotel we have here is relatively smaller than the one in Melbourne but gives you the impression that it's huge because of the way it is set up.
One thing I miss from Melbourne is the retarded bikes. All around the city, there are crumpled up bikes and ones that are missing one or both wheel(s). There are also people who walk around with bicycle wheels. Wow, there are no connection between these two things. That was random. Please enjoy this random picture!

And this comic:

July 7th, 2011 The horrid name of a restaurant, Vegemite, Harbour Town, and Tennis

Today, we began our day by playing tennis......in the Margaret Court (which is an Australian Open court)! Here, we played for about two and half hours. During this amount of time, I somehow got the Small Potatoes theme song stuck in my head and began singing it for awhile. Little did I know that we were being watched. Hopefully, the cameras can't hear me. For the most part, I just goofed off while playing but it was still fun.
After that, we went to Pie Face (again) but this time, I bought a spinach roll instead of an actual pie. We are now two less pies away from getting the free pie. To bad we're leaving for New Zealand tomorrow.
We then ate dim sum/Yum Cha at this restaurant that I can't remember the name of (It was called something along the lines of Green Jade. The funny thing is, I got four business cards from this place, hoping I'd be able to get at least one of them home safely and I actually brought all four home. The thing is, my dad threw it away when we were packing). This place has delicious food but the name is horrible!
Next we went to Harbour Town which is basically an outdoor mall with free tea, coffee, and water in the visitor center. This place also had this free animal "petting zoo" where they had a(n) crocodile/aligator, a turtle, a snake, lizards, a sugar glider, birds, a possum, and a wombat!

Even though this place is awesome, but had some strange signs...

What kind of town is this?!
Now, I want to talk about what Australia's famous for...vegemite. For you people who don't have a clue what this is, it is concentrated yeast extract. Doesn't that just sound lovely? Anyways, it taste salty, kind of like soy sauce but it smells...ew. I would never eat this by itself.
Okay, about the horrid restaurant name, it turns out my dad didn't throw away the cards. Instead, he told me where it was and I found it!! The name: Crystal Jade (Still a bad name...) The address:
154 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
So, that's about it. Enjoy this fail advertisement in Harbour Town.

July 6th, 2011 Fails and Food

Since I had quite a few fails today so I decided to write part of my blog about this. So my first fail was:
1) I was complaining about this loose button on my coat and we ventured into this liquor store so my parents could buy something. While we were there, I was playing with the loose button, trying to pass time. As I was playing with it, all the stitches just burst, leaving me with a stray button. I was like, "Why?????? Why must the young die so young????"
2)Okay, since the first fail wasn't that funny, I hope you enjoy the next one. On this one, I had just put the button in my pocket and was fingering it. As I was doing so, the restaurant card that I took so I could write down the info. on it, flew out. Fail?
3) Okay enough with the "fails". Let's get on with the blog.
Now for a while, I've been wanting to eat at this place called Hungry Jack's which is basically an Australian version of Burger King. I mean, look at the logo's!

For dinner, my family and I ate at this Malaysian place called Sambal Kampung. This place offers great customer service and super fast food. Not only is the food served fast, it's delicious and pretty well priced. The only part I didn't like about this place was this crunchy-ish part of the supposedly boneless, skinless chicken. Overall rating: 9 (Wow, that's rare!) And the address:
234 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000

One last thing I want to mention before I end this post is this chocolate shop called Haigh's Chocolates. Even though the chocolate is absolutely amazing, (to me) it seems overpriced. One thing I find weird about this place is that you can only find their chocolates in their shop and never in places like Target, but oh well. The website is:

http://haighschocolates.com.au/

Enjoy:D

July 5th, 2011 Car Shows, Cupcakes, etc.

For today, my family and I went to this cupcake bakery about an hour ago and I loved it. (Then again, I love any store that sells sweets.) Oh yeah, the name is, wait for it, The Cupcake Bakery. The name is that simple. Anyway, I bought this one cupcake called 'Hummingbird' which looks and hopefully taste nothing like a hummingbird.

I actually tasted some of the icing and I would kill for this cupcake. (Not literally. Well, maybe...) I still can't wait to try this!
For dinner, we ate at this horrible restaurant called Old Town Kopitiam which is this Malaysian cuisine place. This "restaurant" had horrible customer service and their food is overpriced and disappointing. For example, they give you four pieces of meat an inch tall even though the picture shows A LOT more meat than that. So, if you want to eat at a place where the employee's ignore your needs and where the food portions are for two year olds AND too expensive, eat here.

Lately, I've been watching this strange show called Small Potatoes (Don't ask why. There's nothing good on the TV here!) which is kid show about talking potatoes singing. This show is really lame but it passes time and I absolutely love the accents of the potatoes. If you want to watch it, here: http://www.abc.net.au/iview/?series=3163572#/series/3163572
Enjoy!

Okay, for the main event of today, we went to this car show where I met the cars of my dreams (so far). The car show was pretty kid friendly, considering they let you sit in the front seat of the cars and pretend to drive. One of my favorite ones was this BMW concept car. This car looked like it came straight from the future, complete with those neon lights running down the sides. Sure they didn't let anyone touch it, it was really nice to look at. Well, that's enough for today. Enjoy the next few pictures.

July 4th, 2011 Kimmidolls and Australian Fashions

They're cute, they're miniature, they're Kimmidolls! Today, I discovered these cute super cute dolls. Each doll has their own spirits and bring different things. Here's the link:

http://www.kimmidoll.com/

(By the way, the one in the picture is Izumi, which is my favorite.)

Okay, another thing I want to write about is Australian fashion (don't ask why).
So, the articles of clothing I see most are:
-Trench coats (long or short)
-Converse :D
-Jeans
-Leggings/Tights
-Ankle boots
-Heels
-Ugg Boots
-Regular boots
-Heels/Wedges
-(Long Sleeved) Shirts (Duh!)
-Cardigan

And, the most popular color is black. So, yeah. That's about it for today.

Oh wait, one more thing! My mom, my brother and I went to this amazing tea shop which is like a tea heaven!!! They have (just about) every flavor you can think of and more. The name of this heaven on earth is L'Epicier which I'm guessing is French. Oh, the location:
Shop 14-16
Artemis Lane
Melbourne Vic 3000

-The Tourist

July 3rd, 2011 Pie Face, The Melbourne Museum, and Alpino

So, for lunch my family and I came to this Australian food chain called Pie Face. Pie Face is a trendy, fashionable, light take on the famous Australian meat pie. Though the pies aren't the best, they get the job done in a light, non-messy, way
After lunch, we travelled to the Melbourne Museum. This museum is about as interactive as a potato. Actually, a potato is a lot more interactive. This place is mainly centered towards adults and only have a few things younger audiences will care for. My favorite part of the whole museum was the forest inside the museum. Even though this was my favorite part, it still had some flaws. One of the worst flaws was the fact that they had an exhibit for certain animals, yet no animals could be found. In fact, there were absolutely no signs of life in those glass cages.
Soon enough, we became hungry and started to search for a good Italian food. After carefully looking through every menu and turning down some great offers (ie, you get free wine and it's 20 percent off if you come here), we ended up in a small restaurant called Alpino Restaurant. Here, the food was to die for but relatively pricey ($35 dollars for a lobster? Who would buy that?). Here, I decided on getting the Salmon(e) and Spinach Fettucini which was about $22. This dish was SO good but there wasn't enough. Anyways, if anyone is deciding on coming to Melbourne, Australia anytime soon, here's the restaurant info.

262 Lygon Street
Carlton Vic
3053

george0758@hotmail.com
www.alpinorestaurant.com.au