Eating in Berlin

July 24, 2015July 23, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 2 Comments

Germany is a country known for its food — from massive schnitzel to juicy currywursts to giant steins of beer. That was what I had expected to eat for the entirety of my trip to Berlin, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that this German capital is a full-fledged culinary metropolis with amazing diverse food from all over the world. Shows how much I know! It’s true that these are not your typical “German food” places, but Berlin has become an international city, and its food reflects that status. It’s going to be a long post, so let’s get started. Here are a few of my favorite places to eat in Berlin: Continue reading →

Eating in Melbourne

June 10, 2015June 9, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 1 Comment

Now that I am back from Europe, it’s time to finish up the rest of the Australia posts – onward to Melbourne! After spending a week at the beach and then melting in the outback, we were ready to go back to civilization. Our first order of business was restaurant hopping. Melbourne is the hometown of Masterchef Australia, so it was no wonder that there were a lot of high caliber restaurants. We made the rounds and visited a few restaurants of chefs featured on the show. We had only one day to try the food in Melbourne and I think we did a pretty good job fitting it all in our stomach. The day was basically sightseeing interspersed by eating and trying to digest the food as we walked to our next restaurant.

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Whitsundays: Hamilton Island

April 29, 2015January 21, 2016 / lifeafter9to5 / 2 Comments

After five days in the city, we were ready to fly to beautiful Queensland. We decided to stay on Hamilton Island, one of the 74 tropical islands at the heart of the Whitsundays. The island is situated between the Queensland coast and the Great Barrier Reef, making it the perfect base for exploring the surrounding areas. Even though it’s the largest of the inhabited Whitsundsay islands, it’s less than 2 square miles in area.

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Eating in Sydney

March 27, 2015April 15, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 3 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been four months since we set foot in Australia. I am excited to finally be able to share about our trip down under. A little bit about me before I dive into all the great places to eat in Sydney, I LOVE MasterChef Australia. I can’t emphasize this enough. I’ve watched every episode religiously, usually over dinner. It’s basically the only time I can watch the show without salivating and craving all the food. We could not wait to go to the restaurants that appeared on MasterChef and taste the wonderful, crazy concoctions ourselves. When we were planning our trip to Australia, we knew that food would be a major component of our overall experience. I’ve always felt that food is the heart and soul of a city. When you go to a new city, a great way to immerse yourself in the new environment is to venture out and try the food that locals eat. It’ll give you a great appreciation for the place and people.

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Vienna: Browsing the Supermarket

February 18, 2015February 17, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 2 Comments

It’s almost a given that everyone shops when they travel. Whether it’s for colorful little trinkets, indigenous artwork, or ethnic clothing, we all have our share of stuff that we’ve brought back from each trip that we thought we couldn’t live without at the time, but never seem to use at home. Somewhere along the way, we started to run out of room in our tiny 1 bedroom apartment so we switched gears. Now when we go away, instead of buying knickknacks that take up space, we head to the local supermarket to buy our souvenirs. I love perusing the aisles to pick out all the unique items that you won’t be able to find back at home.

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Eating in Vienna

February 6, 2015February 5, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 2 Comments

Austria was once the center of the Habsburg Empire that stretched from France to Russia. Austrian cuisine has evolved over the centuries, greatly influenced by its diverse heritage. Many of Austria’s distinctive dishes reflect the country’s mixed nationalities. The coffee culture, one of the important traditions in Vienna was introduced when the Turkish army invaded Europe and introduced coffee beans to the Viennese. Similarly, the wiener schnitzel originated in Italy, and the sausages were German delicacies. All this different food plays a major role in Austrian cuisine today, and we couldn’t wait to try it all. Here are the some highlights of all the food we tried:

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Eating in Hong Kong

January 8, 2015April 27, 2016 / lifeafter9to5 / 2 Comments

Steamed fish in soya sauce

This post was a long time coming. It’s hard to believe that we were in Hong Kong three months ago! Yes, that means I am very very behind on my posts. Anyways, now that winter is here, it’s the best time to catch up. Here is a short recap of our trip: We found a cheap ticket to Hong Kong and decided last minute that we wanted to spend our anniversary in Asia, so off we went. We were there for 4 days, but we managed to fit in quite a bit of food, but now that I think of it, that’s the norm when we travel. This post will be the highlights of all the food we ate while in Hong Kong. Continue reading →

On the Road: Day 5 in Sydney

December 2, 2014May 22, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / Leave a comment

If you’ve ever watched Masterchef Australia then you should be familiar with the ‘Snow Egg’ created by Peter Gilmore. On our last day in Sydney, we splurged and went to Quay to experience this signature dish first hand. The meal built crescendo as each course out-performed the last, ending with this memorable dessert.

Eating in Toronto

October 24, 2014October 27, 2014 / lifeafter9to5 / 3 Comments

As you all know, I am from Canada and a few times a year I come home for a few weeks to visit friends and family. Usually my visit to Canada consists of me being whisked off to Brantford straight from the airport, where I spent a blissful week in my childhood home stuffing my face with my mom’s homemade noodle soup. My recent visit up North a few weeks ago was a little different because this time we came back for our good friends Ahmed and Jihan’s wedding (Yay, SUPER happy for them!) and we stayed in Toronto for 3 days. The longer stay in the city was the perfect opportunity to try all the food Toronto has to offer. Here are highlights of the food we ate:

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Eating in New Orleans

September 17, 2014October 27, 2014 / lifeafter9to5 / 1 Comment

Where do I start? It was our first time in Louisiana and we made the most of it by hitting up local eateries and trying out some authentic Southern fare. It’s safe to say that there is no city quite like New Orleans and it’s food is a reflection of that. The dishes are a mix of traditional Southern style heavily influenced by French and Cajun flavors. Their use of ingredients indigenous to the area really makes eating in New Orleans a unique experience. We ate at upscale and hole-in-the-wall places to get a feel for all the different food that The Big Easy has to offer. Here are the highlights of all the food we tried:

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