Yelping and eating hot dogs...

My Yelp name badge.

Last night we hit up the most awesome gallery Outre for one of Yelp Melbourne's events.  Even though the weather was pretty miserable in good old Melbourne town, the great art and other Yelpers made it a lovely evening.

My Sailor Jerry cup, in front of some gorgeous work at Outre Gallery.

Drinks for the night were from Sailor Jerry Rum.  We had some gorgeous Dark and Stormy cocktails (like a Moscow Mule but with rum!) that were in very cute Sailor Jerry cups.

Beef hotdog courtesy of Phat Brats.

We also were treated to some amazing little hotdogs by Phat Brats Hot Dogs.  Mark managed to eat about 4 of them but I was happy with my beef, cabbage and horseradish cream dog, super delicious!  I would suggest checking them out if you are in Melbourne, I think they also do a pretty impressive veggie dog for our non-meat eating friends.

I've been pretty active on Yelp, especially when I am in the USA and have found it incredibly useful over there to bookmark places that I want to check out and also read others reviews.  If you would like to see where I've been visiting and read my reviews you can find me at www.missmardi.yelp.com.au

For the love of Maha, St.Kat's & the Delia!

Maha cookbook by Shane Delia

Maha restaurant in Melbourne is one of my favourites.  It's combination of Middle Eastern food and some traditional Maltese treats make it something pretty special.  The decor too is amazing and you feel like you've entered another world, stepping down into the richly decorated restaurant and bar.

Miss Mardi with the lovely and talented Shane Delia at St.Katherine's.

When Shane Delia, owner and creator of Maha released his cookbook by the same name, I was super excited!  This was an opportunity to give some of his recipes a try at home.  I was glad to see some of my favourite dishes from Maha in the book, including the amazing Turkish delight filled donuts - yum!

A special dedication...

One of the things that I love about the book are the beautiful stories of how Shane came to cooking, his inspiration and some of the photos of his family and also him when he was younger!  I love this style of cookbook where it invites you into the chef's family and life and you come out the other end feeling like you know them personally.

Partners in Crime, George Columbaris and Miss Shannon.

I rarely gush about restaurants and chefs but I have to say that the gang from Maha, St.Katherine's and the Press Club (all of them are in cahoots with each other!) they never fail to impress.  I am confident that I will be given some great dishes, I never leave hungry and there's always a dish that makes me go 'wow'.

The photography in Maha cookbook.

Although I haven't had a chance to make anything from the book as yet, I think that I will be trying my hand at some of the recipes over the Christmas break!  It's a beautiful book, take a look if you get a chance!