Fouratefive, Surry Hills

Latte - $4

On one sunny morning, a group of us decide to meet in Surry Hills for a lazy weekend brunch. A rookie mistake, because by 11am, it seems as though half of Sydney has had the same idea, and there is a steady queue of people on Crown St waiting for a table. We wait outside FourAteFive for an hour until we're finally seated and by that time, a coffee is definitely in order.

Homemade creamed corn - $17

We're able to order from either the breakfast or lunch menus. I've only ever had creamed corn out of a can, so the homemade creamed corn intrigues me. It's not as sweet as its canned counterpart, but it's definitely more creamy. It's delicious on the organic sourdough toast with the gooey yolk of two poached eggs, and a side of crispy bacon.

Croissant eggs benedict - $18

Dos Senoritas, Crows Nest

While new Mexican restaurants are opening left, right and centre, Dos Senoritas has been around for years serving up authentic Mexican food to Gladesville locals. I'd heard great things about it and had been planning on going, but then I saw that they had recently opened up a restaurant in Crows Nest and I really had no excuse not to go.

Complimentary corn chips and salsa

A bunch of us descended on the restaurant a few weeks after they first opened to try the food. We were greeted with a complimentary basket of corn chips and spicy tomato salsa which they liberally replenished as the night went on. They are seriously addictive, but try not to eat too many because you'll regret it once the rest of the food comes out...

Choice of three tacos with rice and beans - $25

Moscato Jellies

It's been a weird couple of months for me lately. You may have noticed that my posting frequency has decreased (sorry about that) but sometimes life just takes over and before you know it, the months have flown by and you've barely managed to get a post in. My usual late night blogging activities have been replaced by late nights at work, and caring for a family member of mine who is quite ill.

I like to think of myself as quite an optimistic person, and that even amongst all the crap there is still a silver lining. Although it's sad when someone is very sick, it has brought out the best in all our family and everyone has shown so much support, with relatives flying from all around the world to visit and help out where they can. And even though I've been swamped at work, I've been able to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in a while which is always cause for celebration.

On one such occasion, we had a girly night in for a friend's birthday, and I had been fortunate enough to have been sent two bottles of a new pink moscato courtesy of Bimbadgen Winery. It was the perfect reason to crack open a bottle to share with friends, who really enjoyed the pretty pink colour and the sweet, almost honey-like flavours in the moscato.

I saved the other bottle to make these bubbly moscato jellies to celebrate this humble little blog's 4th birthday. It's a pretty, slightly spritzy, and sweet treat that is very easy to make and it's a nice way to enjoy the fruity flavours of the moscato. I think I say this every year, but I'm always surprised that four years on, I'm still blogging (and I thought this was just a temporary procrastination tool!) and I'm still loving every moment of it, even though it's sometimes hard to get posts out on a regular basis.

To say thank you to all the readers of Penguin says Feed Me, I have three bottles of Bimbadgen Moscato to give away thanks to to Agent99 and Bimbadgen Winery. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post answering the following question:

"What's your favourite celebratory drink and why?"

Entries close at 11.59pm AEST, Sunday 7th July 2013. The winner will be selected by Sir D based on creativity and entertainment value. You may enter as many times as you like. Please enter a valid email address – this will only be used for the purpose of contacting the winners. Winners will be notified via email. Good luck!

Ocean Room, Sydney

One thing that always strikes me when I enter Ocean Room is the stunning view of the Opera House from the glass windows of the restaurant. But it's not all about the view - Ocean Room also serves up some fantastic Japanese food, and we're here tonight to try out their new 12-course tasting menu.

Cocktails: Spicy Fifty - $18 and Rouge Royale - $20

We start off with some of Ocean Room's new and tasty cocktails, since there's 2 for 1 cocktails between 6-7pm every night. The Spicy Fifty is a drink with a brown sugar shochu base, elderflower, vanilla and a slight heat from the chilli. The Rouge Royale is a sweet combination of peach, strawberry, cognac, bitters and sparkling wine, with a spring of rosemary stuck in the drink for good measure.

Kaki

We kick start our dinner with two freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters, with Guinness (yes, the beer), Japanese myoga ginger and a Yamazaki 'silk' made from whiskey. The alcoholic additions are surprisingly subtle which lets the natural flavour of the oysters shine through.

Ochazuke

Melbourne Snackage - Round 2

One of the dangers of going on holiday is that there are always so many places I want to eat at. Three square meals a day just isn't enough time so I manage to squeeze in a few snacks here and there, leaving me ridiculously full after each day. Oh well - it is a holiday after all! My last trip to Melbourne included snacks like fries, cupcakes and chocolate. Round 2 of Melbourne Snackage is about all things sweet... get ready for some macarons, doughnuts, cakes and more macarons!

Our first stop is LuxBite in South Yarra - and the first thing that catches my eye is the rainbow of macarons in the glass cabinet. There are lots of flavours, several of which are unique to LuxBite, which makes it difficult to choose just a few.

Endless Love - $8.50

Near the macaron display is a wall of pretty cakes. We ogle at the cake display for a while before choosing a pretty ispahan-inspired dessert called Endless Love. It's sweet but not overly so, with a delicate lychee ganache, rose cream, chunks of lychee and fresh raspberries providing a bit of tartness.

LuxBite macarons - $2.50 each