Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Breakfast @ The Farmers Market

My "holidays" are over. Apart from the sleep ins and hours of doing nothing, the thing I will miss most is being able to go to the farmers market on Saturday.

Of course it's not as huge and exciting as the ones they have overseas but it was good enough. We still managed to spend over an hour there each time, even though most of time and money was spent on eating at the stalls, we did manage to get a few things for dinner on Sunday (my cooking day).

So these pictures are from Saturday. We started breakfast with pancakes.

Boysenberry Crush and Vanilla Bean Custard? with Greek Yoghurt.
Okay, I'm not the best with punctuation sometimes, I add commas everywhere, but I found the menu for the pancake place very confusing. Normally if I were listing two or more things together I would insert an "and" at the end of it to know where it finishes, in this case there were just commas after every single thing... so there was definitely boysenberry but with the greek yoghurt I am not 100% sure there was vanilla bean custard with it. It was delicious nevertheless and yes that mini rant was necessary because now I can sleep. At $7 a pancake, it was a bit steep but if I were to make it myself, it would probably cost the same if not more, I would make a giant mess and half the ingredients would go to waste in the end, so would we get it again? Yup.

 
Gourmet Sausage Rolls
I love sausage rolls. This week I went for the moroccan lamb, and my sister the beef and cheese. Not exactly sure what makes them gourmet but still nice and at $4.50 each, they're cheaper than the ones I get for lunch at the mall.

 
Gelato
Not exactly breakfast food but a good and refreshing palate cleanser. Lemon and mixed berries, great combination... I didn't have any so I could be lying. $5.50 for two scoops.

On a little side note, I bought a gelato/ice cream maker on boxing day two years ago, I want to say I haven't used it yet, but I think I can do one better by saying I have not even taken it out of the box. One day...

Macarons
Macarons for later. I think they were about $16-$17 for six but I got a 10c discount because the girl had no change so that's a little bonus... they look so pretty.

We also had chicken skewers which looked nice at the time, and they advertised that they use thigh meat, so I thought it would be tender and juicy. Quite the opposite. Not only were they tough and dry, the teriyaki sauce they used was overly salted, never again!

The ribs and wiener stalls smelt good, but were always very busy and with a time limit, we didn't get a chance to try. No hot chocolates for us either this time because they weren't making them that day... sad but there's always next time... which will be the next time I am forced to take holidays... so... soonish, yay!


Monday, February 18, 2013

Sample Bar

A while ago I joined this service where they send you out premium samples on a monthly basis for a small price, which I considered exciting and fun because they have them overseas and I'd always been so jealous. We finally have one in New Zealand hooray, and even though I'm paying for it, I love getting stuff in the mail, especially when it's beauty related.

First package arrived, tore it open in excitement. Totally disappointed. I think I tossed it aside somewhere. When I checked their facebook page there were people complaining about it, so obviously I wasn't the only one disappointed, then I also found out that they did two versions of the box and I got the lame one, so I was a bit annoyed but then someone mentioned another sample service so I immediately did my research and the only thing I was annoyed about was that I did not know about this one sooner?!

They had pictures of what was in previous boxes and it put the other company to shame, AND price wise it was cheaper because shipping was free! I joined and was on the waiting list for two days and when I got the confirmation... happy dance!

My box arrived today.

Untitled
Excitement awaiting...
Untitled
EXCITEMENT!!!!!
I actually haven't tried anything yet because my parcel arrived at 11-ish this morning and I'd already brushed my teeth, done my makeup and it's Monday, last day of no work, I had no energy to paint my nails or moisturise my body but still wow!

I may be a little bias and not that I need any more of it, but anything that has Shiseido in it, take note other sample place, awesomeness! and... this is how you do it!

Quick run down of what is inside even though the picture is pretty clear:
  • Shiseido The Skincare Night Moisture Recharge Enriched - 10ml 
  • ELF Bronzing powder - 5g (full size?)
  • Lash Card - 10 Mascara Shields (full size?)
  • Booty Parlor's Flirty Little Secret Firming Cream - 5ml
  • Tooth Spa Toothpaste - 50g
  • SB Heart Shaped Toe Separators - 1
I will give the other sample service a few more chances but this one is a no-brainer, I can't wait for next months!!

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Valentines

Someone wasn't very prepared this year.

Trying to get a dinner reservation two days before Valentines Day is really cutting it, in fact we couldn't get a table anywhere.

Our last try was with Cook N With Gas. Of course they were fully booked but they suggested we go for lunch instead as they would be open for late lunches too. Now I know they don't do lunches so they must have meant The Astro Lounge which is part of their restaurant but the food is very different. To be honest, wasn't really impressed with the whole situation but options were running low and theres nothing worse than being a grump on Valentines Day so we decided to give it a go.

I knew where to go, and there were signs pointing where to go, but I almost didn't want to go because I'm the the kind of person who imagines the worse and I did not have high expectations to say the least.

I'm so glad we went. It was very casual but at the same time we felt very calm and relaxed. I'm the kind of person who gets grumpy when it's too hot (amongst a whole lot of other things too) but the shaded dining area in the courtyard was perfect.

Dining area
Jack ordering food (one of my favourite things in life) at the bar
Relaxing with a cider
The menu was simple and very reasonably priced ranging from $5-$35 so we didn't know if the food would be in very small portions or if we needed to order a lot of dishes, and well, I like to eat myself silly. We (I) decided on the Universal Platter, which had nearly everything except the ceviche and I love ceviche so we got that too. We were going to get another platter with the pickles, bread and cheese but decided to give what we ordered a go first and order more later cause they were open late anyway.

The platter was huge!

Universal Platter
Silver Surfer
Huge is one thing, awesome was the other. The thing is, it's really simple food, but it was really really good food and the accompanying sauces, oh my goodness, I think they make their own, if not I need to know where to get that aioli and tartare, I could drink that stuff. I was expecting bar food, not for there to be so much flavour and mmmm in everything. I actually sat there going mmmm after every few bites (every bite would have been creepy). 

Didn't need to order the ceviche in hindsight but still glad we did, it also came with pickled mussels and basil bruschetta. I LOVE ceviche. Did not disappoint! 

Presentation of the ceviche and sauces in the little paua shells, so cute and kiwi. Loved it.

So... we finished the food (left a few chips though) and I almost threw up from eating too much, but luckily kept all that goodness in my tummy. It was a great Valentines meal. I didn't need to dress up and go to that fancy dinner after all, all I needed was loose clothing, A LOT OF FOOD and Jack.

Roses for Me
and I got roses... I'm not going to lie, I love getting flowers.
Friday, February 15, 2013

Give a little...

A week or so ago I got a phone call from the blood centre to ask if I would be in their trial for the new machines that separate my plasma... I really don't know what I'm talking about because I wasn't exactly listening but basically my blood type was needed, please donate blood and something different will be done to it. Okay!

So the other day I got up extra early, ate breakfast, downed a lot of water and off I went.

Sounds easy, but the last few times, donating blood has been a rather interesting experience so I don't know why they still wanted me. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to do so, even though needles are frightening and the initial prick test is so traumatising.

I passed the prick test. Apparently I have tiny veins so there was a bit of difficulty inserting the blood sucking needle and gentleness was required. It stung and gave me a bruise, but it was in so yay take my blood...

The whole time they were trying to take my blood my machine kept beeping. The nurse reassured me it was fine but after 20 minutes and giving only a quarter of what normal people give, I think she gave up on me. I failed giving blood again :(

 
Ice pack bandaged up to help ease bruising.
Despite the fail, it was actually a little milestone of mine, it's not much and even though twice I haven't given full donations, but trying counts and it was my fifth donation so I got a little present. I felt so special (really) that I wanted to give them more blood but we all know my body doesn't work like that, so I have three months to convince my body not to be selfish and that giving blood is good.

I earned a cup!!
Sunday, February 10, 2013

Happy Chinese New Year! and Anniversary!

This year Chinese New Year fell on the same day as our anniversary (we have many anniversaries but this is one of the more important ones), so unfortunately we couldn't have our usual romantic (ha!) date night because it's more about family.

Lunch and dinner were pretty low key but after some googling I made sure I put a little tradition in our meal. Apparently long noodles to represent long life... I think they were long... dumplings and spring rolls because... there was a reason but I didn't finish reading. I did want to get some sashimi as well but it's not as easy to find as I thought it would be without dissecting a fish myself... which probably with my new present would have been okay (more on that later), but it takes a sushi chef years of training before they are even allowed to slice fish, so it would be disrespectful for me to do so.

No pictures of food this time *shock horror* but they were mostly store bought so if you really need a picture, they look like what dumplings and spring rolls would normally look like.

First Red Packet... that's Gold...
"New Year" Necklace.
Gold and red are auspicious colours to wear, I've never really been one for tradition but I finally found an occasion for my Les Nereides necklace... and it was also kind of my something new for New Years, I did have new shoes somewhere, which would have been more traditional but it didn't match my outfit... hopefully that doesn't mean I've cursed myself for life.

As for the "more on that later" part...

A Knife.
Jack was going to buy me a ring for our anniversary and because I am an awesome fiancé I declined it because he just finished studying and I don't want him to dip into his savings, and secretly, when he gets a job I will want a super duper in your face/jealous/explode ring, so I'm going to wait for that one. So for our anniversary I wasn't expecting anything but then he decided to surprise me, with a knife. A knife. Don't get me wrong, it's a really good knife and to be honest it is a great gift for me because I LOVE cooking and kitchen equipment........ but not as an anniversary present. I traded a ring for a knife?! When I think about it later I will be happy that I got this knife and no I won't be using it to stab anyone (you always read stories in the news of what happens when the other half gives them a knife) but for now, boys are stupid.

But I love him.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Let's do this!

To say I've been busy is a semi lie. Lazy is probably closer to the truth, but... no I really have just been very lazy...

and then I remembered that this was never meant to be a food blog, I kind of originally wanted something about Jack and I, worst case scenario if one of us get amnesia or something (I get murdered by an axe murderer and secretly leave clues in here to solve the crime), there would be a record... but it kinda ended up that I just really, really like food and all I wanted to do was talk about food... that is not going to solve my murder!

So for the New Year... Chinese New Year... (still early for that... yes!) I am going to start blogging again (try...). Also, hopefully, time spent blogging also means less time spent online shopping... it could have just been building up to the Christmas/New Years period that shopping took a massive spike upwards but better not take those chances!

There we have it.

Chinese New Years Resolution: (I would also like to point out I hate making New Year Resolutions because I don't believe in making changes at a set time, but we'll just go with it for now)

More blogging, but not just about food...

But while I still have A LOT of food photos on my camera... (and will continually have A LOT of food photos on my camera) let's not waste them :)

So these are from October last year, for our anniversary dinner at Kinji. We actually went there last week for my sister's birthday but hungry/greedy people forget to take photos... the food is always AMAZING by the way!

 
Kinji
 
Sea Cucumber
 
Wasabi Octopus
 
Sashimi
 
Chicken Stuffed Pumpkin Ball
 
Soft Shell Crab Tempura
 
Scampi Sashimi
 
Scampi Miso
Teppan Grill
Speaking of anniversaries, we do have one coming up this week, but because it coincides with New Years it will be more a family thing this year, so see what happens, we can still do something to make it special!
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