Adelaide - What you see is not what you get....

Adelaide, not much to see on the surface but if you look hard enough you will find something wonderful. A week ago that where we found ourselves. Adelaide is no stranger to us, in fact as Mr. Coco puts it, Adelaide is to us an extension of Melbourne. While we were in Adelaide we went to our "local": Cafe Zest in Glenelg. It would have to be our fav cafe in Adelaide. The food is amazing and so is the coffee.

While we were in Adelaide we managed to go to the Fringe festival. It was the first time for us and OMG it was the best thing ever. We went to the garden of unearthly delights, and boy were we amazed. So much better then the Melbourne comedy festival. The garden was like a carival with little circus tents dotted amongst bars and rides. We saw 2 shows. The first being Felicity Ward. Only ended up seeing her after we got talking to her about if she was the person we saw at the airport a few days before. After a funny conversation we all agreed it was not her and just someone who looked like her (though Mr. Coco is convinced that it was now some other comedian). Her show at the fringe was funny and a bit odd. Not side splitting wet your pants funny, but just a nice giggle funny.


After her show and a few drinks later we went to see the half naked chef. I recommend you Google him his on YouTube. OMG he was the best thing ever. We laughed soooo much my belly was hurting. For $5 it was the best $5 ever spent. He was a cross between Jamie Oliver and the Swedish chef from the Muppets. To this day his show would have to be the most random thing I have ever seen and one of the most funniest.


We have a huge weekend this weekend so stay tuned for more.........

Jazz In the Park

Every summer the Stonington council puts on a Jazz concert in local parks. Last weekend was our turn. It was fantastic. The concept of a picnic in the park inspired Mr Coco to put together a deluxe picnic for 2. The Menu was as follows


Asparagus wrapped in prosciutto

Basil, tomato and goats cheese tartlets

Grilled organic lamb koftas

Poached chicken sandwiches with lime mayonnaise.

Cheese platter of Pygana Cheddar , Danish Blue and Camembert

Most of the ingredients were sourced from the market and it was all washed down with Beer and our favourite white wine “white mischief” from Hahndorf hills winery in Adelaide.

It was the perfect night, good music, nice weather and of course the food was amazing.

Japanese food with a twist

Friday night we decided its been a while since we went to izakaya den (http://www.izakayaden.com.au/). All I can say is we loved it last time and loved it even more this time. Amazing atmosphere and food. We had nearly everything on the menu and it was to die for!. One of the most weirdest things was black rice. Never had it before but I can tell you we will deefinately have it again!. The staff there are fantastic and always willing to make suggestions if you are unsure about what to eat or drink next. We had to wait for a table but it was worth it!

Western by day Thai by night part 2 Breakfast and the roast

Yup we did it! we went western by day and had breakfast at Ped's. It was really nice. I had a vegan breakfast , which consisted of mushrooms, spinach,tomato, avocado and eggs on toast. It also came with a very nice hash brown. Mr. Coco had a omelet with smoked salmon. His looked nice as well. Very interesting concept having one by day and another type by night. It might just work around here as lots of ppl tend to do breakfast.


Sat night Mr. Coco cooked a lamb roast. Best roast ever. He tried a new way of cooking where he put water at the bottom of the roasting dish. He also put garlic and rosemary on the roast. In was fantastic, very very moist, not dry at all and very tasty. Of course the left overs were just as good :).

Western by day Thai by night.....

Peds Kafe Western by day Thai by night ( I kid you not and yup Cafe with a I!!!) This is a new place that has opened up just near us. We decided to take our chances and do the Thai by night side of things. It is run by a very nice Thai man who is very enthusiastic about is food and service. His menu is just normal Thai stuff nothing different, but then again how different can Thai food be???. The food was good, pretty standard Thai food. Mine was a little salty but nice and Mr. Coco's Curry was nice. We are tempted to go back and try the "western by day" side of things. We had a look at the breakfast menu and that looked good so looking forward to trying it out sometime soon.


This afternoon I met up with my Cousin and went to Lindt Cafe. Only had an Iced Mocha, but it was very very nice. Like drinking liquid Lindt :) would defiantly like to try it out again and maybe have a dessert or 6 :)


Tonight we had a nice picnic in our local park. Chicken, Champagne and salad. Very nice, very relaxing and a nice way to end the week (and celebrate my work promotion).


OMG I think I just have seen the worst thing. watching Family Guy and they were all throwing up. ERGH .

where is the simple things in life gone??

Mr coco and i were sitting back relaxing last night watching "Heston Blumenthal in search of perfection", a TV show where Heston makes his version of everyday dishes. Of course his versions are not exactly simple, think more along the lines of "lets cook this chicken for 6 hours after we have blow torched it and added herbs from the far reaches of the African jungle" . Its stuff you could never replicate at home unless you had a PHD in chemistry and a good travel agent.

All this got me thinking, what ever happened to just normal, simple foods. You know like the spag bol you would get at La Porcheta, or the Chicken Parma you know would be just that with no added extras. These days people tend to want to add things to everyday meals. Is there such a resturaant that just has "simple foods"? I'm sure there is, like pubs or RSL etc, but are they really simple?

Chinese not the way to go

Everyone has their local Chinese place, You know the place where you get take out on a lazy Friday night, or the place that you go to when you cant think of anywhere else to go. We have one here, called sunluk (www.sunluk.com). That's our local. We know its has the best Chinese in the area, and we know what we are going to get.

Sometimes, however, things can go wrong. Tonight we went out for my FIL birthday to his local Chinese place called imperial gardens (its in Essedon, melb Aust). Have been there plenty of times before. Its been fine. You know what you are going to get and it can be safe. Tonight however it was not the way to go. It took over 1 hour for us to even get our food and that alone put us in a baaaaaaaaaaaaaad mood!. I had chili chicken and Mr Coco had Mushroom Duck. Now mine was chili enough, with a subtle chili sauce. The chicken , however left a little to be desired. It was mushy, goopy like in consistency and kinda weird looking. It had way too much onion. Mr Coco's Duck was covered in a mushroom sauce with bits of mushroom, but the duck looked dry. Now I don't eat duck so I cant really comment on the taste. Mr. Coco said the duck tasted like it needed more flavors and was a little too oily and boney.

Maybe it was because it was a public holiday. maybe it was because they were short staffed, what ever it was it left us feeling a bit "Meh". I guess sometimes even old faithful have bad days.

Welcome

Hi everyone, We are The Cocos and this blog is about us and the crazy stuff we get up to. Mr Coco loves to cook. In fact he is the main cook in the house.We both love to eat out and travel. We have a cat called Coco and he also loves the finer things in life. Mr coco loves wines and over the last few years has built up an impressive collection. We would love to hear about places you have been to and eaten at.Mr coco loves to hear about different wines you have tried,so feel free to comment and suggest.