Mongolian Barbecue and Exotic Birds

Last night’s dinner was a spicy adventure - Mongolian Barbecue at a restaurant called Kublai on Maroondah Highway. It’s set up “buffet style,” where you choose your meat (beef, chicken, lamb or pork) and vegetables (sprouts, chopped cabbage, onion, shredded carrots, etc.), combine them in a large bowl rather than a plate, and create your own sauce using the recipe posted on the sauce bar. For example, hot and spice consists of soy sauce, sesame oil, wine vinegar, garlic oil, sesame oil, crushed hot chilis and so forth. Then you hand your bowl to the Master Chef, who quickly fries it all up on a large hot plate and puts in back in the bowl for you to take to your table and eat with steamed rice. It’s an “all you can eat” restaurant; the record is eight bowls. Anyone who breaks the record gets a free dessert. I barely made it through two bowls! The half-price margaritas were a nice addition to dinner.

This morning’s wake up call was musical. Out here in the bush there are exotic birds everywhere - cockatiels, mynahs, parrots, and lots more that I can’t identify. This little guy like to sit on the back porch railing and beg for bread.