Little Cozy Corner

Despite the rain this afternoon, the lunch was great! Venue : The Stamford, North Ryde, not in Epping as I mentioned earlier. They had a rather wide variety of seafood and I must say that my favorite was the squid salad. Out of the 3 crustaceans that I was looking forward to trying, I hit one - the Balmain Bug. I was rather disappointed with it as there was so little flesh in there and people pay a lot to eat it. The texture is somewhat prawn-like, unlike crabs meat which kinds of crumble. This was slightly tough, maybe more like lobster? I’m not sure coz I’ve not had lobster before but I think it’s almost alike. The other thing that I’m glad I tried or finally had the chance to try is fresh oyster. I’ve heard so much about it that I just had to try it.

The first one was nice coz I only took one seeing that I was afraid I might not like it and didn’t want to waste the lot. And I enjoyed it. It was something like kerang/cockels. Then I was a bit brave and took another 3, which was a mistake. The second one was ok, the third I couldn’t swallow - it began to make me feel sick coz Ted was looking at me funny and he kept asking me if I liked it coz it was slimy. Although I don’t blame my sickness on him, I think I may have had a not-so-fresh oyster when I took the 3rd shell so I dumped the 4th. Wasn’t going to take the risk and puke all that wonderful seafood out. After this, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t really like it and I’m glad that I tried it coz now I know where I stand. For dessert, I didn’t what to choose coz there was just so many things to choose from so I settled for the chocolate mud cake and the passion fruit sponge cake. The passion fruit cake was a-ok but the chocolate mud cake, AIYOR!!!! So sinfully delish……*still drooling from just now*

Anyway, all in all, we had a good time out and I’m sure that the in-laws had fun too coz they are all seafood lovers! Now, on with the pix….

Because it was raining, couldn’t take pix of the ‘resort’

The birthday boy with his pressies from big bro, Bill.

Yummy seafood for all! [L-R] Prawns, crabs, mussels, Balmain Bugs and oysters.

The sinful platter you couldn’t resist even if you tried!

The birthday boy with his birthday cake at MIL’s place.

The fountain outside the restaurant

The Balmain bug and the Oyster. ANd the squid salad too - YUMMY!

Now, one more thing before I close this post. With Lent happening now, I normally sacrifice something I enjoy. This happens every Lent. Last Lent, I cut down on my sugar intake. This Lent, it’s going to be blogging. From now until Easter, I’ll only be blogging once a week, that is every Sunday. I’ll be honest, although I don’t blog that often now, when I go back to Malaysia, I know I’ll be itching to blog and if I could [that is if it weren't Lent season], I would be blogging daily. Now only that, my friend is getting married so you can image how much I will long to blog but I would have to wait till Sunday till I can spill the stories.

It’s going to be very tough but that is what a sacrifice is. However, since I won’t be blogging, it will also give me a chance to drop by your blog instead. At least I won’t lose out that much I guess. :wink:  So till next Sunday…..have a good week and when I do get back, I’ll have pictures of Batemans Bay coz that’s where Ted and I will be going for a short holiday. We leave on Wednesday [28th Feb] and will be back in Parramatta on Saturday - a 4D/3N long awaited and well deserved holiday. We are both very excited about it and are counting the days till we head off.

So be good while I’m away and see you next Sunday!