Differnt kinda cake

GG gave me a cupcake book for Christmas and the recipe that caught his eye was the mango cupcakes with lime syrup. They sounded pretty tasty to me too, so I gave them a go last weekend.

Very sweet, but served warm with a light dusting of icing sugar... I imagine we'll have them again :)

Mastercheffing it

I felt like extending myself the other day so I donned the apron , I poured myself some wine and I decided to get creative.

First course was scallops, which I hadn't cooked bfore so I was a little nervous, and I did those with a mango, chilli, lime salsa which was very tasty.

Then for mains, after a visit to the Avon Beef, we splashed out on some lamb cutlets, which done in rosemary and garlic were pretty tasty.

Fun times in the kitchen people - fun times!!

Ingrid turns 80!!!

It was happy birthday to Ingrid last which was lovely. All that side of the family getting together for some fine Chinese food at Dragon Village - delish!!

Was nice to get to see the Cairns rellies across and I'm sure nana had a fun night too :)

Oz Day - lamby mclamb lamb!

Cooking is a delight! And I had a marvellous time on Australia Day, whipping up some lamb salad - delish! That and some WA wine made for a mega Australia Day. Spent the day on the couch with the Oz Open and cricket on mute with the Hottest 100 cranking!

Should do yourself a favour and watch this ad on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIO06VgG8fQ

33 stories high

I won a $50 voucher for C-Restaurant a while ago so GG and I felt compelled to use it. Let me give you the red hot tip that a $50 voucher barely touches the side. The food is ok but you are paying for the view. The entree was my fave, was a potato and spinach gnocchi with a napolitana and gorgonzola cream sauce, roasted tomatoes.

GG had the
Chargrilled grassfed beef fillet, asparagus, baby beetroot and watercress salad, horseradish crème and I went with
300g-pork striploin, lemon cognac glaze, roasted cumin seed chat potatoes, apple crisps

Cairns cousins

I haven't seen my uncle and aunty and cousins - Tyrone and Chandler - from Cairns in forever so it was a nice surprise for everyone when they showed up for my nana's 80th birthday. A Sunday spent pool side was a lovely way to enjoy the sunshine.

Visiting on lazy Satursdays

My week at work last week was a blue - pulling 12 hour days from 5.30 am til 5.30 pm I was fairly wiped by week's end. So it was nice to have a relaxing night on the Friday with my cousins Brad and Mark around. We had pizza and then ended up playing some sort of Triple J Hottest 100 trivia game. Then I crashed about 11pm. Then the next day after pilates Dan and I went shopping then chillaxed for the afternoon before stopping by his sister's place for a visit. Baby Coops is growing up so quick - total little chunky monkey! It was nice to see them all though.

Lovely summery weather

I've had a lovely weekend..... Friday night GG and I whipped up some turkey burgers. We'd been excited when we stumbled across some turkey mince at Coles the other week so with some addition of egg, breadcrumbs, onion, chilli, garlic and lime we had some tasty burgers. I was a nice chilled end to the week.

Then Saturday morning, I headed to my second pilates class which was much more enjoyable this week and then I headed home and GG and I visited Myer for a friends wedding registry. Then we headed home for a nice relaxin afternoon watching Seinfeld and drinking some vino.

Then that night we went to some friends of Dans and they made us some delicious food. Then Sunday morning conditions were suitably balmy and so GG and I headed towards the beach for some lunch.

After perusing the entertainment book we headed to Zanders in Scarborough. The food was pretty good - I went with the pork and GG had the surf and turf.

My 2009 Win List

2009 was a big year for competition wins. I tried to maintain a high volume of entering and this is what I could remember picking up in 2009.....

§ Apple Ipod Touch 8G

§ 2 night overnight stay at Quest in Margaret River (with lunch at Palandri)

§ Invite to the 929 Wedding Dress Party

§ Invite to the 929 Masterchef Dinner at Sirocco at Burswood

§ Invite to the Nova Cow Pat Bingo Party

§ Invite to the Naked Blonde beer launch

§ Invite to the Garden City Summer Fashion Launch

§ 4 Tickets to The Pony Lounge at Burswood for Melbourne Cup

§ $50 Bra Bar Voucher

§ Playstation Portable (in Dan’s name) and Little Big Planet Game

§ Beginners Pilates Course

§ 4 Tickets to V-Festival

§ An overnight stay at Burswood Casino and a $200 dinner voucher

§ 2 Tickets to Summadayze Festival

§ BBQ Cookbook

§ 2 Bottles of Berocca

§ Lots of Movie Tickets (probably over 20 double passes)

§ $1,000 on the Hot 30

§ Overnight Stay at Seashells Resort (used in 2009)

§ Reuters Quiz – 3 Cartons of Strongbow Sweet and 1 Carton of pure Blonde

National Jessica Day

We thought a nice thing to do for GG's niece Jessica was to spend the day with her - take her out and about for a day of fun!

So up on the menu first was a visit to the Zoo. I unfortunately couldn't make it along because I had to start my pilates beginners course. SO I met them afterwards and we then went to Kings Park to have lunch.

We then went to Rosemount Bowl. Great spot, very old school, music videos, glow in the dark pins, it was great!

Ooo then Jenga at home and some Uno

And then we introduced Jessica to the wonder of Indian food - nom nom nom!

Dayze......

The temperature was pushing 40 degrees on the Summadayze Sunday so in all honesty it was the last thing I felt like going to but I had won tickets so I felt compelled.The good thing about Summadayze is the venue, nice and spaced out and plenty of shade to hide in. We arrived about 4.30ish just in time to hear Technotronic play Pump Up the Jam :)But the people I was there to see were the Presets. A totally polished Aussie dance act who know how to get the crowd on their feet. And they did not disappoint!

Here's the crowd grooving away to all their big hits off Apocolypto

Ahh the free tix... here they are :)Chillaxing after some dancing

And this was one of the tents.... I forget its name... wasn't Woops-a-Daisy but the other one....

By about 8.30 I was fading fast and while umming and ahhing about whether we stay or go we had the decision made for us when our neighbours called to say our alarm was going off so we had to haul ass home to check it out.

Luckily a false alarm :)

Gem

One of my favourite people in the world is a lady called Delese. I've known her all my life, she used to work with my mum and she is really incredibly special. She is totally thoughtful, tells the best stories and in all is just one of those people I am really grateful to know.

So I had her and mum, dad and Ames around for morning tea - scones, pinwheels and chocolate cake. All in all very tasty and we sat for several hours just chatting and catching up.And an example of spoiling everyone.... Delese bought us all along a christmas present. Even GG. He got this yummy mint slice set. She is a gem!

A lovey start to 2010

Love was in the air and scattered on the ground in cushion form on January 2nd for my friend Pat's much anticipated wedding to his long time love Christina. The ceremony was at a beautiful spot near the river in Mosman Park and while it had been a hot day there was a lovely breeze and conditions really were perfect. So GG and I waited patiently with the large crowd that were forming for the special occasion
And I got to wear my new dress again so I was happy

A very special touch was that the bride was rowed in to the area. Brave girl! With bigger boats wizzing past it looked a bit touch and go for a while! But she made it unscathed

They had written their own vows which were just beautiful and it was a really touching ceremony - so full of love

In all a lovely afternoon and from there we headed to the North Perth townhall for the reception. It was fun and casual, but still really touching with the bride and groom both having contributed so much to make the day really special.

Rubix NYE

It was a crew of the usual suspects for New Years 2009 - myself, GG, my sister Amy, Maree, Michael and Lisa.

And we decided we needed a change of scenary after a 3 year stint at the Brisbane, so we headed to the Paddo.... where they had a Rubix Cube theme....... so to that end we all just decided we'd wear a few of the colours

Here my crew is :)
Ahh the Voros siblings- Michael and Lisa

And the lovely Maree with her amazing head piece

And Ames getting into the spirit of things

Say cheese everyone!

Ahh Ames trying to recreate that scene from Dirty Dancing when the guy ruffles his chicks skirt... makes more sense if you are a big fan I'm sure

Then striking a pose

Cheers!

And as it got closer to midnight we were all smiles

Me showing off my crazy sequined shorts..... i bought them thinking.... wow will I really wear these out??

Great for dancing

Then the clock struck midnight, we hugged and kissed, then turned around and Maree's bag had been stoled - mobile gone, cards gone, keys gone, cash gone.......... completely ruined the night... smiles turned to tears :(

I could only hope that 2010 got better from this point

One other blast from the past

Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.

I went to uni with Andrew and a good few years ago now he moved to London to make it big in the finance world over there, so he comes back to Oz every year or so are we catch up for a drink. Its been about 5 years since uni days but I swear it feels like we are back there when I see him. Its a wonderful and reassuring feeling to have a friend like that. He is a wonderful guy and i'm so happy things are going so well for him.

Just a shame its a year between drinks I suppose ;)