Labour Weekend and Tatsumi
Saturday December 8, 2012
I've been meaning to write this up for some time but immediately after Labour Weekend, it was just full on work to get DreamWorks Dash n Drop out on the App Store. And we did it, and it was great, yaaay. More on this in another blog post...maybe.
I had a good Labour Weekend. I finally got to visit my friend Deanna's famous Moustache Milk and Cookie Bar, and I came away with four delicious cookies to share with my family. I met up with the old Grammar gang in Mt Eden for a nice lunch. I even got to play some badminton with Julia and Steven! Of course I got to catch up with family - my adorable nephew had just started walking and was even saying a few words! So cute.
I also had a mind-blowing culinary experience at a restaurant called Tatsumi. My parents had been raving about how good this place is ever since they had a 10 course degustation there. I just had to try it. I said I'd take them there for a meal over Labour Weekend and my stepmum gleefully made all the necessary arrangements. Tatsumi is on Davis Crescent, just near the intersection of Khyber Pass and Broadway. Originally from Christchurch, their premises were struck by the earthquake and condemned, forcing them to relocate to Auckland. They describe themselves as "European-inspired Japanese fusion style" and you'll certainly see how the food at Tatsumi has been so masterfully crafted to bring together these two cuisines to create something rich and absolutely delicious.
Since my parents had already sampled the degustation, they decided to go a la carte. I, on the other hand, was ready for a 10 course meal.
10 Course Degustation
- Tempura Oyster
- Chef's Choice of Assorted Appetisers
- Variety of Sashimi
- Tempura Soft Shelled Crab Salad
- Crispy Skin Salmon Teriyaki
- Braised Pork Belly
- Scampi Miso Soup
- Assorted Nigiri Sushi
- Passionfruit Sorbet
- Green Tea Fondant
It was so good.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:46pm on Saturday December 8, 2012 :: 0 comments :: 
Mooncakes
Monday September 24, 2012
It's that time of the year again. That one where my inner child squeals in delight as all the Asian supermarkets begin stocking all sorts of delicious mooncakes - white lotus, red bean, pandan and durian, in one yolk, or in two for a teensy bit more money. My choice this year was the Golden Emerald 1 Yolk from Restoran Oversea in Malaysia. True to its name, the rich emerald-coloured filling is made possible by the intense pandan flavour - with hints of almond and coconut, and accompanied with a single duck egg yolk in the center of the cake. Yum!
In celebration of mooncake festival, I cooked dinner at the Treehouse.
~ Deep fried tofu with cucumber, red onion, sweet chili sauce and ground peanuts ~
~ Stir-fried bok choi, green beans, baby corn and prawns ~
~ Grilled mussels with cheese and bacon ~
~ Roast duck garnished with cucumber and tomato ~
~ Lettuce wrap with minced lamb, capsicum, baby corn and bamboo shoots ~
Charlotte was in charge of dessert:
~ Mango pudding garnished with fresh strawberry ~
~ Golden Emerald Pandan Mooncake with One Yolk ~
Everything went according to plan and the meal was a huge success.
Let's see... I had a sunny weekend up in Otaki, went to Wellington on a Plate with Mel at the Boulcott St Bistro, I've been playing a few games on my Sega Mega Drive, I went to the Japanese Festival at the Town Hall, I've eaten a few KFC Double Downs and had Hot 'n' Spicy, went to see Jeramiah "Module" Ross perform the Shatter soundtrack live at the San Francisco Bath House... and I've also been quite busy at work. Two more weeks until Beta >_> The game is shaping up to be pretty good and I'm proud of what we've done. There's still lots more work to be done and various aspects of the game still need some tightening and polish. I guess we'll be ramping up efforts closer to our deadlines to try and cram things in.
Oh and I've finished uploading all my America photos and just added photos from my springtime photodump.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:08am on Monday September 24, 2012 :: 0 comments ::
Day Sixteen
Sunday May 15, 2011
We decided to go our separate ways today, so it was nice not having to stop every so often so Tony and Jimmy could have a smoke (although I bet they relished not having to go into every damn candy store they saw). I headed into town at 10am and took a bus to the Golden Gate Park. It's a really serene place, kinda like a huge version of Western Springs.
I wanted to go see the penguins at the California Academy of Sciences, but admission was a whopping $30, so I flagged that. The area around the entrance, known as the Music Concourse, was scenic and had three fountains in line with the main stage at one end of the park. I got an American Hot Dog for lunch and went to the Japanese Tea Garden afterwards. Admission there was $7 and I can't say it was really worth it but I was definitely glad that I went. A lot of the ornamental features reminded me of the trinkets you find in Zen Puzzle Garden, which is fantastic, and certainly a job well done. I also saw some squirrels running around. Yay squirrels!
Further west, there was Swan Lake where a lot of waterfowl had gathered around the lake's edge. There were also some paddle boats that people had hired to explore the area. It's spring so there were quite a few new adorable ducklings and cygnets waddling around. I continued further west, following a little brook running beside the footpath, until finally I reached the bison paddock. Disappointing.
I bussed back to town and did some shopping around Westfield and Macy's. On the top floor of the Macy's building, there's a cheesecake shop with the most delectable selection of cheesecakes like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake, Pina Colada Cheesecake, Strawberry and Cream Cheesecake... I settled for the Mango and Key Lime Cheesecake and it was soooooo gooooooood.
I wandered around the area for a while, stopping by the Yerba Buena Gardens where there was a memorial to Martin Luther King. There was a water feature with a waterfall that you could walk behind, and inscribed on several plaques at the back were excerpts from MLK's famous speech. I ended up walking to Chinatown for dinner where I had salt and pepper spicy prawns. Together with the cheesecake, I'm pretty sure I undid all the walking from today.
Last day tomorrow :( I'm not ready to leave!
Posted by Jeremy at 5:31am on Sunday May 15, 2011 :: 1 comment ::
Alcohol
Friday September 10, 2010
Alcohol is weird. I've heard it tends to amplify whatever emotions you're feeling, which might be true to some effect and certainly I've noticed this. But what I find weird is that my overall mood depends on the crowd I'm with. Last night, I was feeling pretty snarky (this could also be attributed to the stupid girls at the table next to us who were dressed like Lady Gaga clones and sounded like vuvuzelas at higher, screechier frequencies) and everything seemed to annoy me. If I had gone out for drinks with my workmates, I think I would have been a lot more jovial and social.
Anyway, it's been pretty busy for me. In among the Starcraft II achievement gathering I've been doing, I've also been writing tools for the impending Black and White release sometime next week, as well as working hard on PikPok's latest game for the iPad. It should be done soon, so uh..watch this space! ¯\(º_o)/¯
Last weekend was all about the Japanese. Friday night was the first Friday of the month, so it is customary we hang around with the other iPhone developers of Wellington at Hashigo Zake. Sunday was the Japanese Cultural Festival, which amused me greatly because I recognised so many elements just from watching Anime. There were mandalas, mochi, taiko drumming, tea ceremony demonstrations, lots of food and lots of people. Photos in the gallery whenever I can be bothered.
On Monday, being the first Monday of the month, Monsoon Poon have a deal where they serve unlimited plates of Firecracker Chicken (at least, until they run out. They ran out of 40kg of chicken in under two hours) as well as naan bread, white rice and a beer. Firecracker Chicken is a delicious dish of crispy, juicy chicken smothered with a tantalising spicy sauce. So good!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:28pm on Friday September 10, 2010 :: 0 comments ::