Advertorial: Go Vita

Go Vita is a health store at Southern Cross. Here I was served by some down to earth and very friendly people. It is on level 2 above Woolworths.

Image courtesy of Go Vita on Facebook

Being a member is free and joining up is easy. You just fill in a form in store.

It is a tiny store.

The place is at the station on the Collins st side and every Tuesday they have try and buy days and members get 20% off. I bought a kombucha tea and it was yum!

Here I also tried some of their yummy chips. It was pretty healthy.

Do come by for your study snacks as they have a large range of items. They even have the coconut range ice cream for you to try.

Malaysian Aspiration summit

This year students went to the Malaysian Summit and we were invited along.

The Malaysian Aspiration summit was on a Sunday on daylight saving time so most people were late. It started late at 10:30am.

Here it was themed to the aspect of leadership and making changes in Malaysia. A lot of the Malaysians have talent but by how much? We need to learn to trust people and learn to voice our ideas.

We need not be scared of change.


Malaysia is looking for better ways to do things. There is a hierarchy in Malaysia and bureaucracy. The government is really strict about education and scholarships in Malaysia. The government only wants to give the scholarships to the people that are studying the things that they need. They do not like the idea of voice opinions hence students are scared of this.

New year resolutions for Malaysia
Lets make Malaysia a better country for all Malaysians. In January of 2016 MASCA will be going there to make all the new Malaysian students feel welcome in Australia by hosting an orientation camp.

There are a few new scholarships for students but lets have more chances to study down under.

Let us be heard.

Grand Hyatt Pop Up farmers market

This was on every Wednesday in November and it is so that the diners know where their food is coming from. This event is run by Collins Kitchen.

Here diners got a chance to find out about the food that Collins Kitchen uses.

I came one day after class for dinner and drinks.

 These are the seafood that was used in the paella

 The paella cooking. It smelt really good when I walked in.

Here they have $5 sangaria and paella. The paella was small, would have liked more but the sangaria was more than enough. It was punchy and the fruit was really fresh. The paella was cold this time.

But other times friends have enjoyed coming here and they really enjoyed the $5 deal of food and drink. In fact I was going to come for their $5 rose drink but had a friend's launch to attend.

Many thanks to Collins Kitchen for hosting this event.

Night noodle markets

I went in two rounds

The Night Noodle market is on again this year and this time there were 56 stalls, hence it was a lot bigger than last year.

One of the menus

The fit zone

Inside the Mercedes marquee

A voucher for free popcorn

The line for roti road was huge so didn't go in there. But went to Passar Malam instead and they had these stella tofu sliders.

Tofu sliders

Then went to a Thai Food stall upstairs for alright Chicken Pad Thai for $13. it went cold for a while and it was hard to eat with the bio dynamic fork and things. Even at Safeway I can get better. The service there wasn't so friendly.

There were these huge amaze balls of pumpkin and noodle in a ball for $8.

But at Din Tai Fung they had reusable chopsticks and I bought the salad dumplings for $9. They were the only vegan things on the menu. The quail egg wonton bought from Fat Thai fared better. It was nice and crispy on the outside and eggy on the inside. It was $9 for 5.

You order, pay and wait for them to call out your number. And then you collect your food. It was like that for all the stalls.

Yakisoba

Upstairs at the noodle stall the vegetarian yaki soba was $14 for a small but filling bowl. It was just before 8pm and upstairs was just starting to get a little bit busy. The line at the Wonderbao stall was huge so for dessert I got Mantou at the Mantou stall next door. The mantou is from Wonderbao and the people collaborated.

Soft shell crab mantou

Dessert was waaaay too addictive. It was mantou with kaffir lime and condensed milk ($10). The bread soaked up most of the milk. Dessert was not too sweet.

Do go to it just for the fun, dogs, sun, food and booze. It is open from 5pm on the weekdays and the weekends from 2pm.

Classes: Cooking class at Mr Collins

Mr Collins is an Italian place in Collins Square which is a stones throw away from Southern Cross station. Here they were blogged about by six people all of whom were invited or who liked the place.

We paid $10 to attend this one hour masterclass. It included a non alcoholic drink, the demo and the meal. It started at 2:15pm.

Preparing the ingredients

Here we came for the cooking and the eating. We met up with chef Francesco from Sicily. He made this lasagna with ragu which was cooked for about three hours.

The event was attended by foodies and office workers alike.

The lasagna was cold but flavoursome. It was also soggy. But the coffees and the tea that I had was really nice, so I might just come by for a coffee and to try the cannoli which looked so good. Someone else said that the pizza was great here, so I might have to try that.

The chef made the sauce first, putting in the 70g of butter for the bechamel (in a seperate pan) and the diced carrots and celery.  When the ragu was cooked he put the sauce in between the sheets as well as the bechamel. It took about 40 minutes to cook in the oven.

It was just fun watching the chef make the food.  He made one with the Barilla sheets and one without. The one without was much better.

Do sign up for the classes in time for Christmas and summer

Aunty Maggies

Aunty Maggies is a health food store right near the Malvern train station.

They are an organic shop which sells a great range of organic foods and meals to take home. It was one Saturday after class that I came here and enjoyed their cheeses, wines and salad. Their salads are a little bit on the pricey side but I managed to pick up one good one for $3.

Cheese and wine samples

tub of takeaway salad

They also do smoothies and coffees and people can relax at their bar after a spot of shopping.

The second time around I picked up some almonds after health class as they say that planning your snacks is key to success. Here they were just charming.

The prices are just right, although some might think that it is a little bit exy. There is a table with magazines for people to read and its a wooden one which makes it that little more homely.

Do go on by for your shopping needs.

wonderful Indonesia

Wonderful Indonesia was a festival in Melbourne. This is the first year that City of Melbourne has it. There is a dearth of Indonesian eateries in Melbourne with the exception of Salero and Blok m.

Soya bean crisps. I have never had them before

Ginger tea

 A great many non Indonesians and Indonesians alike came. The festival was small but fun.


Indonesian bred Raymond from master chef was popular with everyone. Although we didn't try their dessert we got a good photo.

There were a good many drink and food stalls to remind people of home. One drink I tried was the pink coconut drink $3. This was refreshingly sweet.

Many thanks to the City of Melbourne for putting this event on for everyone

Arbory

Arbory Bar is in the city outside Flinders St station. It has been blogged about by 24 other bloggers who were either invited or just enjoyed the good food.





The atmosphere is superchillax during the day and then at night it becomes electric. Waiting outside the bar on Platform 10 at night the bar becomes lively and interesting for all to see. Hence this is why we wanted to do this for sooooooooooooooo long.

The entrance is on the Southbank side near the entrance to the station from Southbank.

Like Ponyfish Island service is at the bar. This is an outdoor bar.

Here their burgers were the fancier version of McDonalds. This is said in a good way as I enjoyed the grilled mushroom and haloumi burger. Friend had the fish burger and she enjoyed it too. She also enjoyed her coffee.

The crinkle cut chips were yum with the sea salt and siracha.

Rating: 15/20- love the burgers. They were great. Would love to try other food and drinks. We were going to try breakfasts but breakfast was over by the time we came which was around 11am.

Do come here for drinks and breakfasts