Moga Izakaya for Dinner

Moga Izakaya
http://www.moga.com.au/

I was getting frustrated by the lack of date nights so I booked Marc and myself in for dinner at Moga Izakaya last week. In a freak occurrence, we couldn't drive out of West End because every road we went onto was backed up with traffic. Mind you, this was lateish at night so there was no obvious explanation. After a few frustrating attempts, Marc and I headed home in a huff. I then got drunk, fell asleep and dreamt that I rescheduled the booking at Moga but when I woke up the next day I realised this wasn't the case.

Not one to be defeated, we ended up heading there Monday night for dinner. I was worried we couldn't get in without a booking (and I was too embarrassed to book again) but the restaurant is much bigger than I expected. It's located in Rosalie, opposite Gelataria Cremosa and it covers a big corner block.

Masala Art Indian Restaurant

Masala Art Indian Restaurant
http://www.masalaartoz.com/ 

One becomes very money-conscious after committing to a home loan. As much as food is still an interest of mine, I notice I'm a lot more focused on coupons and online deals than I was before. I found a great three course feast coupon for Masala, which is conveniently located to us, so it was a no-brainer to pick one up online.

We used the deal last night for dinner. Masala Art Indian Restaurant is located opposite the Barracks in Paddington. Parking around there is always a challenge so we looped around and got lucky in a side street. The restaurant is bigger than we first thought. There's a long inside dining area, outside tables, and a takeaway section.

Caramel Cookie Slice

Caramel Cookie Slice
Home Cooking 

I would be in no way exaggerating if I said that I've done more cooking in the past few months than I have in all of 2014. That's the Christmas period for you. Not that I'm complaining. Unlike people who have to cook for a household out of necessity, I only do it when I find a recipe I want to create. Cooking is a only a hobby on the side for me and because of that, I thoroughly enjoy it. I know that if it became a daily chore, the novelty would grow old fast.

Marc's workplace had a Christmas morning tea a while back so I was given the task of baking a contribution. I shuffled some mad scientist creations in my head (rum and raisin slice with coffee buttercream frosting was tossed up at one point) but ended up going with something easy and safe. I found this recipe for caramel cookie slice in Nick Malgieri's "The Modern Baker" one of my favourite, most used cookbooks of all time. Unlike some of the adventurous recipes in the book, this seemed exceptionally easy.

Baalbek Lebanese Restaurant

Baalbek Lebanese Restaurant
http://baalbakrestaurant.com.au/

My favourite thing to do on lunch breaks at work is online shopping. That includes online coupon shopping. Brandsexclusive is now my most used iPad app and a day is not complete without a scan through the offers on Allthedeals.com.au. Earlier this week I spotted a meal deal at a Lebanese restaurant in Morningside and I jumped on it. Marc and I ended up going last night for dinner.

The restaurant is called Baalbak located along Junction Road. The premise was more casual than I expected with an almost takeaway store vibe but the menu is comprehensive. Our host (the owner?) was extremely friendly and accommodating. I had a bit of trouble deciphering the menu and choosing what mezze plates to try but he made the process easy and painless.

Chop Chop Chang's

Chop Chop Chang's
http://www.chopchopchangs.com.au/

We caught up with our lovely friend Lilly last night and decided to have dinner and chats in Chop Chop Chang. I don't often insist on any one particular restaurant but it's common for me to get cravings for a certain type of food. Last night, it was for anything Asian. I had a mind blank over where to go but Lilly remembered that a friend of hers had tried Chop Chop and recommended it. It's a newish restaurant that I filed away to try out when I first saw it but then forgot all about. Luckily someone has a better memory than me.

Parking around that part of West End is a nightmare to put it lightly. We ended up about 10 minutes away up and over a large hill. I was worried that being Friday night, we would be turned away without a booking. Luckily that wasn't the case and we were led to one of the large share tables.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcakes
Home Cooking

Thanks to my overestimate of the amount of cream cheese frosting required to top my banana cake, I had a whole container's worth left to use. I started looking for alternative things to eat with cream cheese frosting. Carrot cake and red velvet cupcakes are obvious choices but I then found the less conventional suggestion of cream cheese paired with gingerbread. Thus, my gingerbread cupcakes were born.

The original recipe is for gingerbread cupcakes with molasses cream cheese frosting. Obviously, since I was aiming to use up my frosting, I wasn't about to make up a new batch. If you want molasses cream cheese frosting for your cupcakes, feel free to click the original link. Alternatively, if you like plain cream cheese frosting and need a refresher course on how to whip some together, I've included a recipe here that should provide the right amount. 

Birds Nest Yakitori

Birds Nest Restaurant Yakitori and Bar
http://birdsnestrestaurant.com.au/

Through a combination of life forces (being poor, trying to eat healthy, relationship turned boring), Marc and I have found that we hardly ever do proper dinner dates anymore. By that I mean anything besides cheap Asian takeaway and pizza home delivery. I was all set on something dressy last weekend when I realised (and this is an insight to my style of thinking) I had run out of contact lens and would have to wear glasses. Glasses and dressing up might work for some but not I. My glasses are lop-sided and dog-chewed and hardly stay on my face. We opted to dine locally instead.

I had noticed Birds Nest on my return from Europe and bookmarked it for later. 'Later' came about last Saturday night. We rocked up without a reservation and were squeezed into a couple of seats at a shared big table. This didn't bother us at all and in fact, I thought it suited the type of food served. Birds Nest is a small venue with a yakitori bar as centre of focus, some seats around it as well as a number of individual tables.

Christmas Biscotti

Christmas Biscotti
Home Cooking

Marc and I have spent the last couple of months painstakingly putting together our new apartment. Items of furniture, appliances, tableware and decorations have gradually arrived and each added a sense of home to the apartment. One of the last items to get here was our TV. It is a perfect example of our materialistic society that two people who don't watch TV and already owned a TV felt it necessary to purchase one just because the entertainment unit looked bare without.

Lunch at Char Char Yiros

Char Char Yiros
http://www.charcharyiros.com.au/

I always thought of Char Char Yiros as being only a takeaway store but my friend Nina told me that their meat platters were to die for. I decided to give them a try a couple of weeks ago when Marc's folks came to visit. We went to Char Char for lunch and were pleased to find they had onsite parking. Marc and I normally dread trying to find a park around that dining hub so it was a relief to not have to spend ages hunting.

Char Char must have revamped since I last went there (which might have been just for a yiros x years ago) because it definitely seemed more like a proper little restaurant than a takeaway joint. It's still a small space though, and most of the tables are outside.