Geschmack (Taste/flavour) ist King

Oh yeah, guess where two Asians living in Europe and deprived of good Asian food went to eat in Melbs? Yep - Laksa King! One of the glaring omissions of places I ate at during my last visit. Although I had been told by multiple people that Laksa King had moved and was now a pretty large restaurant compared to its previous hole-in-the-wall premises, I was surprised at how large it was! And nice! C'mon people, the last place was pretty scungy! But we weren't there to quibble about how it looked - let's dive right into how it tasted!

It sure is!

A bowl of the combination laksa with seafood, eggplant, tofu, chicken...no clams though. Apparently the place that supplies clams is having some sort of outbreak. Side of roti and some sweet, milky teh.  

Smee digs in.

Moo digs in!

Pooey wants to dig in!

But she got char kway teo. Still good but it's not laksa!

And sorry RachiePoo - BETTER THAN LAKSA BAR!!!

Ah-chee chee!

The day after the wedding, me, Poo, and Smee headed over to best man Aheugenah's place for multiple reasons. One - palm off wedding cake. Two - play Street Fighter. And, most importantly, thee - PLAY WITH ARCHIE THE CORGI!!! It's been a few years since I saw Archie, but he's JUST AS KYOOT as the last time I saw him!

LOOK HOW KYOOT HE IS!!!

Me and Archie getting reacquainted

Archie, *whut are you doing?"

Eyeing each other off

Puppy face competition!

Archie goes in for the smooch

And then looks away like nothing happened.

I'll admit, I kinda really love this photo. 

Pooey and Archie 

She restrained herself a bit more around him. 

After the initial excitement, we went off and did something else more fun - Smee taught Archie a new trick and we all took turns reinforcing it.

For each time Archie would put his paw on that rubber chicken toy and made it squeak, we would give him a munchie.

I think he learned it within 5 goes.

And then he went around to each of us, making the chicken squeak progressively longer and louder until we fed him.*

In the end, he got tired of playing with all of us and went to sleep.

*Smee went and visited a few days later and said Archie basically followed him around with that chicken asking for food. And then watching with a quizzical look when he wasn't fed. 

Pooey got married!

AT LAST!!!

Being part of the bridal party, I didn't manage to take a great deal of photos for myself but here's a few I managed to capture when I wasn't doing wedding-y stuff.

Relaxed bride!

Pooey about to get her makeup done!

Me with my made up face. Great makeup artist!

Lymbo getting her hair done. Great hair stylist!

The wedding cake.

Look carefully, the toppers matched Smee and Pooey's wedding outfits!

When we were discussing what she was going to serve for food at the wedding, she gave me a verbal smackdown - for her, an Asian wedding is all about the banquet, so she was going the whole 9 course shebang!

Course 1 &2 - suckling pig and pickled jellyfish, and the crab claw ball!

And you're damn right Pooey was going to be one of those eating brides while Smee was one of those drinking grooms!

Course 3 - shark fin soup with crab meat.

Course 4 - yep, half a lobster.

Course 5 - yep, half a quail.

Course 6 - abalone and mushrooms

Course 7 & 8 - Steamed barramundi and fried rice in lotus leaf.

Course 9a - Mango pudding dessert

Course 9b - creme caramel dessert.

But the wedding wasn't just makeup and food - it was also one helluva party! Apart from dancing, there was a photobooth with costumes for guests to record their party. In fact, it was real competition between the two locations!

Cha siu bao made the most of both though...

he was an epic photobomber.

The groom and groomsmen ham it up

As did the bride and bridesmaids

And all of us together being nice (for once).

To end, I think I said it all in my speech, but once again, all the best on your lives together, Pooey and Smee. Ruv, Moodles. 

A Walk in the Park

Pooey had her wedding preparation under control and as such, she didn't need me as much as I'd anticipated. This wasn't such a bad thing - I had the opportunity to take some time to myself in autumn sunshine after the crappy German winter (and autumn, and spring). 

I don't know what these flowers are but they were a happy and colourful sight after the grey winter. 

The Secret Garden-esque entry to the Heide II Kitchen Garden...

...where snakes are a natural part of the environement (hehehe)

And spiders!

Although it looks full, I could see that a few of the beds were in the midst of being re-planted.

No matter how often I see these corrugated iron cows, I love them. They just look so much like...cows...

Gardening - Australian style

I made my way down to the river and enjoyed the sight of sunshine coming through the trees and reflecting off the water. 

Then I made my way back to the other Heide Kitchen garden and took photos of...

Zucchini!

Tomatoes!

Eggplants!

Chillies!

I never really appreciated how nice the Australian landscape was until I left and really enjoyed walking around and seeing our weird flora, like these blossoms. I ended up walking out for around an hour - Mum actually rang me to ask where I was for so long!

And as I made my way back, despite the clear blue skies and warm sunshine, I got this reminder that winter is coming...but not snow :P