Random Rambles

Egg and Bacon Crustless Pies

2011-03-13T21:53:00.001-07:00

GG recently decided that he would give the TNT (Targeted Nutrition Training) Diet a go, after reading about it in Men’s Health. I decided it would make life easier if I jumped on board as well. Mainly so then I wouldn’t have to stress about making different meals for the both of us.

It’s basically an Atkin’s style diet – low carbs, high protein – good for muscle building I’m told. The first few days were a total struggle, especially as a complete sugar fiend, to suddenly go cold turkey on my usual Milo for breakfast, mid-morning treats of strawberry freddo frogs, and that cheeky bowl of ice-cream after dinner…….. it was more than a little tough.

The key to success seems to be preparation. Making sure you have the right kind of snacks on hand, preparing breakfasts and lunches the night before, so you aren’t at work and finding yourself wandering aimlessly up and down the road for some carb-free wonder that ticks all the right TNT boxes, is key.

So after much thought we decided an easy breakfast for me to take along to work would be little egg and bacon pies – just with no crusts. All allowable ingredients and tasty too!

They are quick and easy to make to. To make a dozen, grab 8 eggs and whisk them together with a splash of milk. Then its really up to you as to what you might like in them. The ones I’ve been making I add grated cheddar cheese (I’d say about ¾ of a cup), finely diced chives (8-10 chives), chopped up ham (about 100g), then crumbled up some fetta, diced half a red capsicum, ground in some salt and pepper and then poured the mixture into a muffin tin that I’d given a quick spray of canola oil. Then I cut grape tomatoes in half and arranged those on top of the each little pie. In a moderate oven for I’d say between 20-30 minutes then taken out so they can firm up.

Easy as pie and great for a morning breakfast on the go J

Crumpet

2011-03-06T04:51:00.000-08:00

Crumpet was one of those places that I’d wanted to try out for a while, given that I’d read a few other Perth food blog’s give it a pretty good wrap. So one Sunday morning, GG and I headed out to meet my favourite pair of M’s – Maree and Michael – for breakfast. They seemed slightly unimpressed with an 8.30am start on a Sunday, but I think it served as well as getting a table for the four of us at that time wasn’t a problem.

Quite a trendy little café, very cool décor – mismatched chairs and all that, but it was actually a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be. We looked through the menus and then went up to place our orders. GG and I started the TNT (Targeted Nutrition Training) Diet, which basically meant no carbs for us. So we both ordered 2 poached eggs, with a side of bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms. Then I went for a latte and GG ordered an English breakfast tea.

Maree went for the Huevos Rancheros, a toasted tortilla with cheese, spicy beans, fried eggs, guacamole and green chilli salsa ($12.90). It was was a very generous serve and she enjoyed it, but was always going to be a struggle to finish, given the size.

Michael managed to polish off both his field mushrooms - stuffed with bacon, spinach and parmesan on toast ($14.50) - they did look tasty!

They then shared a serve of the establishment’s signature dish – homemade crumpets ($4). To say that I was more than a little disappointed not to be able to give them a go on this outing was perhaps and understatement, but I managed to just wistfully look on while they enjoyed them. They actually looked more like a scone than a crumpet to me. I suppose I’ve always thought of crumpets as having holes in them, whereas these looked quite cakey. I’m told they tasted lovely though and with the butter and honey lathered on, they did smell lovely.

So what did I think of my breakfast? Well they gave me a piece of toast which was sort of annoying given that we’d specifically placed an order without bread, but hey we pushed that to the side and all was well. The eggs were cooked fine, the mushrooms were tasty, good quality bacon and a nice ripe tomato. $3 for one tomato did seem sort of steep though… but I made my peace with it, given it was a very nice tomato.

It might have been that I didn’t get to try the crumpets, but I wasn’t really blown away by Crumpet on this visit. Don’t get me wrong, it is a nice spot and the staff are friendly, but as cooked breakfasts go, not sure if was all that special.

Clearly a popular place though, as a line had formed by the time we were looking to leave and our table was pounced on as soon as we stood up.

Would I go back? Maybe…. I think I was left slightly wanting.

The Roundhouse Tavern - Ruby's Restaurant

2011-03-06T04:46:00.000-08:00

I think it was the Friday after we got home that GG and I did the right thing and did our food shopping after we got home from the gym, but when we got home after that, cooking wasn’t high on our list of things to do. So we thought we would peruse the Entertainment Book for places close by. The Roundhouse Tavern fit the bill perfectly. Located on the corner of Amelia and Main in Balcatta, it was all of a 5 minute drive away from home.

So we arrived, fair to say it didn’t look all that flash from the outside, and perhaps after a recent night out, also courtesy of the Book, I was a little wary.

But once we walked in side we knew already that just visually it was miles in front. Had a nice relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff directed you to a table with a menu and explained that it was bar service. Worked fine for us. So we sat down and perused the menu that was pretty extensive – a lot of choice. They also had some great $20 dinner specials – that include a mains and a piece of cheesecake – great deal.

We decided we’d just go with mains though and in the end both couldn’t go past the lamb skewers. They came marinated in mint balsamic and garlic, served on roast vegetables, rocked and Danish fetta salad ($25.50)

I guess I wasn’t too sure what to expect but I was more than pleasantly surprised with what was presented. Perhaps the deep fried pasta on top wasn’t required, but it looked a little bit fancy. And the lamb was delicious, really good quality and nice flavours. And the salad underneath – excellent – plenty of rocket, roasted sweet potato and beetroot and then soft goats cheese, all with a balsamic vinegar dressing. The combination worked really well together.

It was a really enjoyable meal and I would definitely head back for another visit. So don’t be turned out by the outside, its lovely inside, nice and casual vibe, and great for a quick and tasty meal on one of those nights you don’t fancy cooking.

Qantas Clubbin

2011-03-06T04:44:00.000-08:00

It can be a nice way to reflect on a good trip – sitting in Qantas Club with a glass of vino and a few bits of cheese – looking back through the photos taken. It also made me smile to see how many people there were with UFC t-shirts…. Clearly Sydney had done very well, drawing numbers there for the action.

Really enjoyed our stay there, nice to look around with GG, shall have to do it again some time.

Last afternoon

2011-03-06T04:33:00.000-08:00

I suppose the difficult thing about having an afternoon flight is the hours between checking out of your hotel and getting to the airport. In retrospect I would have booked us an earlier flight. But we had a nice enough time wandering around. We kept ourselves entertained for a fair while in the appliance section in Myer. Fun times indeed.

Then I started craving cake so we decided we’d try out the Coffee Club, given they talked it up so much on Australia’s Funniest Home Videos. I actually wasn’t overly impressed with the cake and regretted eating it after wards.

Had a chance to walk it off though as we headed back to the food court under Westfield to grab some lunch for GG. He went for Sumo Salad, which he thought was ok, albeit an excess of sundried tomatoes.

So seemed like before we knew it we were wandering to the hotel to pick up our bags then heading to the train station to go to the airport. Sure $15 a ticket seems a little pricey but so direct and makes life easier. And now for some quality time in Qantas Club.

Yama Japanese Cafe - Queen Victoria Building Sydney

2011-03-06T04:20:00.000-08:00

Our final morning in Sydney and we procrastinated in our hotel until check out at 11am and wandered around looking for somewhere that served a nice late breakfast. We hadn’t walked through the Queen Victoria Building and I was keen for GG to see it. It’s pretty impressive with all the detail it has, nice arched ceilings and stained glass windows everywhere. We ended up on the top floor and saw a place called Yama that had a full cooked breakfast for $11.80. Too good a deal to pass up, so we sat down and peered down at the floors below.

We both ordered a pot of tea and I was really glad for that choice after many cups of coffee in the previous days it was a nice change. GG went for his staple – English Breakfast – and I tried the Monkey Jasmine. So nice!

So we sipped our tea while we waited for our breakfast which was a bit of a wait, but we were in no rush so it wasn’t a bother. So worth the wait!! Fresh baguette, beautifully poached eggs, tasty mushrooms, decent serve of bacon and a salad on the side. I had thought the inclusion of the salad was a little different. Was nice and refreshing and the perfect end to the meal after all that bacon. This was easily my favourite breakfast while we were in Sydney and I only wished I knew about it on the first day so I could have gone there every day! Brilliant service, great food – excellent value!

Yama Address

QVB
Shop 2, George St
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9269 0080

Aki's Indian Restaurant - Woolomooloo Wharf

2011-03-06T04:05:00.000-08:00

UFC finished just before 5 and we were super lucky with the trains and were back at our hotel by about 5.45ish. A great turnaround.

We had a booking that night for Aki's Indian Restaurant in Woolloomooloo. When GG had turned 30 the year before his family gave him a RedBalloonDays voucher for $200, which he had yet to spend and the expiry date was fast approaching…. So after perusing what was on offer he thought it might be nice to enjoy the dinner that was available at Aki’s. It was a 3 course set menu, but I think what appealed about it was that it was Inidian food we wouldn’t have thought to order off the menu before. We usually get butter chicken, rogan josh, the usual suspect, so getting to try something more authentic definitely appealed.

It was only a short taxi ride from the city and in a really pretty location along the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo. We were greeted by a very friendly man when we arrived and given the choice of eating inside or out. We went with out given it was a nice night and soon were enjoying a nice bottle of white and sampling an appetiser they brought out.

The food was really impressive. The flavours in the entrée along were just brilliant. It was a tasting plate, with a nice spicey piece of tandorri chicken each, then a crab dish which was really interesting and so delicious, then finally a spinach dish. Now looking at it, it definitely looked interesting, waves of different colours sauces over the battered spinaches leaves. It was really tasty and definitely not the Indian I was used to, but I figured it was totally expanding my horizons for when I visited an Indian establishment back home.

Next up came the mains – again taste sensations. The chicken tikka was so good – tasty as, and I was hard pressed to get any seconds as GG made a move for it, professing how much he enjoyed it. The other dish was a vegetarian option, full of banana chillis and baby aubergines. The flavours were beautiful and the sauce with the naan bread – perfect!

We barely had room left after all this incredible food but we managed to fit in desert, which I thought was really interesting.

A lot of Indian Restaurants that I’ve been are quite casual, but Aki’s is a real step up. Beautiful décor, lovely location, friendly and helpful staff and the food is a joy. For somewhere a little removed from the really touristy areas, jump in a taxi and give this place a go!

UFC 127

2011-03-06T03:54:00.000-08:00

It’s probably been in the last year or so that my love affair with the UFC has really been established. UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship – is a mixed martial arts competition. Some may argue that its particularly brutal, but if were to harkens back to its humble beginnings it has been significantly regulated since the days when kneeing in the head was all part of the action in the Octagon.

GG and I woke up nice and early, grabbed round 3 of bacon and eggs on our holiday, and caught the train out to Acer Arena. We managed to find our way there easily enough and given how far away it was, we were definitely glad we went with the train option. The doors hadn’t quite opened when we arrived so gave us time to peruse the merchandise stand and get me a lovely girls’ UFC t-shirt. Sadly it hard started raining so we were all a little damp when we got inside…. Soon enough though we found our seats and got to take in the wonder of the Octagon in real life. It was a wonder.

Time quickly went past and the undercard began. The music just reverberated through you it was so loud. And veteran voice of the Octagon, Bruce Buffer, totally set the mood. The next 5 hours were a blue of fights, hot chips and plastic cups of Pure Blonde Naked. I had a wonderful time. So much fun sitting there with GG, watching a sport that we had spent so many hours watching on screen at the pub.

Come back next year UFC, cya then!

Lizard Lounge

2011-03-06T03:49:00.000-08:00

After the disappointing of Casa di Nico GG and I were in need of inspiration so on our walk back along the boardwalk when we saw a place with a happy hour still on the go with beer or wine for $3.50 we were suitably inspired.

Lizard lounge is nothing flash and backs onto the Aquarium. Drinks were nice and service was fast and friendly. Had a nice casual atmosphere and made for some good people watching with groups all dolled up to head our for cruises on the harbour.

Casa di Nico - Darling Harbour

2011-03-06T03:40:00.000-08:00

I should have known that an impressive run of good meals in Sydney would come to an end. On the Saturday night after stopping by a UFC Fight Club party at Oscars across the walk way at Darling Harbour, GG and I wandered all the way along the boardwalk, up past the aquarium to see what was hiding up that end.

Some places were so full and others appeared to be just opening and were nearly empty. I was pretty hungry by this stage so we saw what looked like a nice Italian place and jumped in the queue out the front. The place was called Casa di Nico.

First problem, there seemed to be one girl seating people in this giant place, which was taking forever, while the line out the front grew and the sun was belting down. So this didn’t really impress me too much.

We sat down though and I was probably slightly surprised at the price of their food, but reminded myself I was in tourist central so just dealt with it. We decided just to have mains and GG chose the salmon and I went for a pizza – Nico’s delight, Double Smoked Ham, Caramelised Pineapple, Roma Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Parsley ($26.50)

GG seemed happy enough with his salmon, came served with a large side salad which was nice. But my pizza – sooooo disappointing! It was like they had my pizza ready and left it sitting and sweating on its pizza tray while they finished making GG’s dinner so that when I started eating it the crust was uninspiringly soggy. A total turnoff. I also thought there was an excess of cheese for such a sparse amount of other toppings. For $26.50 I’d hoped for one of the best pizzas I’d ever had however I was left so wanting.

Now perhaps I could make my peace with this, as I could with the closeness of the tables to each other however when we got up to pay with cash and the manager dismissingly threw our change back at us that was itl straw! Totally useless establishment left feeling more than a little miffed and knew there was no way I would be heading back any time soon! There are so many nice places to eat in Sydney, definitely avoid this one!

Casa di Nico

The Promenade
Lime Street
King Street Wharf Sydney NSW 2000

Tel : 1300 989 989
Fax : +61 2 9279 4219
Website: www.casadinico.com.au

White Horse Hotel - Surry Hills

2011-03-06T03:26:00.000-08:00

After breakfast we discovered the wonder of the Mono-rail and bought an all day pass each for $9.50, which was so money well spent. Our first stop we got off at Paddy’s Market. 3 stories of market fun – totally huge!! We probably spent an hour or so wandering around there, checking out the random stalls…….. lots of wigs stands…… they seem quite popular.

Then after a quick look at the map we decided that we would catch a taxi to Surry Hills for a look around there. We hadn’t been sure how far it was, but after driving on and on in the taxi we knew we’d made the right decision. Was fairly sunny out, so nice to have dodged walking in it for so long…… given our lack of sun cream.

So it was time for more wandering around…… up and down Crown Street, taking in the sights of Surry Hills. It was a really pretty area, with so many different options for lunch! Of course it was the food I noticed. I think we did a few laps up and down the road before finally settling on a nice looking pub called the White Horse Hotel. While other places had been packed, we were surprised to find this place fairly deserted….. and by fairly I mean that when we walked in we were the only ones there. Not sure why though. Really trendy décor, super friendly staff and after placing our order for lunch we had the terrace upstairs to ourselves. It was the perfect place to sit and watch the world go by. And was a plus too, the sitting and resting the feet after so much walking that morning.

I was really impressed with the food. Given the warmer weather and the giant breakfast we had had, it was nice just to have something light.

I enjoyed the pancakes. They were Confit of five spiced duck pancakes, cucumber, chives and hoisin sauce ($15). The hoi sin sauce was quite sweet but it worked well with the duck and the pancakes themselves weren’t too heavy.

And the salad was brilliant – Mango and Cajun prawn salad, cucumber, tomato, avocado, rocket and red wine vinaigarette ($16) The combination totally worked a treat!

I’m at a loss why such a nice place didn’t have more people eating at it. Perhaps they were just spoiled for choice. Worth giving this place a go though I think.

The White Horse
381-385 Crown Street
Surry Hills
Sydney 2010

T: 02 8333 9999
F: 02 8333 9911
http://www.thewhitehorse.com.au/

Nick's Cafe

2011-03-06T03:12:00.000-08:00

Another morning and we figured it was important to have a decent breakfast to put us in good stead for another day of exploring. After the disappointing breakfast the previous day we thought we’d head back down to Darling Harbour, where the view is great and the restaurants plentiful. After a brief wander we settled on Nick’s Cafe. It wasn’t overly busy at that stage so we found a table right near the front (with the best view) and quickly placed our orders. More eggs and bacon seemed like the way to go and when my ‘Big Breakfast” arrived I was so much happier than the day before! Nicely cooked poached eggs, not a crazy amount of bacon, tasty mushrooms – it all worked.

A reasonably priced breakfast in such a pretty spot, it gave us plenty of energy for the day ahead.

Darling Harbour is so stunning darling!

We walked this bridge so many times!! Until we found the wonderful mono rail

Aria

2011-03-06T02:53:00.000-08:00

There are some restaurants that I book months in advance and then eagerly count down the days until GG and I get to dine there. One such restaurant was Aria, which is owned and run by celebrity chef Matt Moran.

Given our planned trip to the East, we thought we’d head out for one flashy meal and see how they do degustation – Sydney style.

We decided we’d walk from our hotel down to Darling Harbour, which probably took a little over 15 minutes so not too bad and it was a nice evening. We pondered as we walked there whether I had seriously built up this establishment way too much in my head, placing impossible expectations on its shoulders……… time would tell if it deserved its place on the pedestal.

As soon as we arrived we were greeted by friendly staff who confirmed our booking and took us straight through to our table. Unfortunately we weren’t seated right by the window, but the view from our table was still very impressive. We were on the side of the restaurant that overlooked the Bridge. I suspect if we’d booked for when they first opened, at 6pm, we might have had more luck with the window position. It’s all ok though and didn’t take away anything from the night. I actually really enjoyed the layout of the place. Table far enough apart that you weren’t knocking into people’s chairs and you weren’t bothered by others conversations.

Service was brilliant, I couldn’t fault it. Friendly and the right amount of attentive without being disruptive.

And the food…… we knew before we got arrived that we were going to try their Summer Tasting Menu, but before we ordered that, we each enjoyed a glass of champagne, because let’s face it if you are out at a place this lovely you may as well really enjoy it. So while we sipped that and enjoyed watching the sun slowly sink in the sky our first course arrived. It was a pre-dinner started. A small glass of tomato soup, that came with chive oil drizzled on top. Amazing – so much flavour in such a small glass. Definitely got the taste spuds going for the meal ahead.

The first course arrived presently. It was cured New Zealand salmon with kombu and Earl Grey tea, yuzu tapioca and avocado purée, and this came with a glass of Mukai Ine Mankai ‘Junmai Genshu’ (Red Rice Sake), Kyoto Japan. I'm not a huge eater of fish so this was never going to be my favourite dish but it was well flavoured and I could to try Sake for the first time so it was an interesting start.

Next up it was a slightly more adventurous combination. A ballontine of smoked ham, foie gras, mushroom and chicken with a mustard salad and a pickled cucumber, caper and tarragon dressing, with a 2009 Pegasus Bay Gewürztraminer, Waipara New Zealand. It was a really interesting flavour sensation, particularly the mustard which seemed to pop in your mouth. Really enjoyed this!

Next up was some of my favourites - scallops spiced and roasted with a salad of heirloom carrots, young coconut and a coriander and yoghurt dressing, with 2010 Robert Stein ‘Reserve’ Riesling, Mudgee New South Wales. An entirely delightful course. Scallops were sweet, while the salad was refreshing. Lovely!

Now this course I think was my favourite, which is a hard call given they are all brilliant. It was a Peking Duck Consume with dumplings, shaved abalone and mushrooms, with a 2007 Grace Vineyard ‘Kayagatake’ Rouge, Yamanashi Japan. Honestly there was just so much depth to the flavour, it was a joy to eat and completely left you wanting more.

I find it hard to go past pork but I was starting to get slightly full at this point, but with the help of GG I forged ahead. Next up was Pork Belly, Kurobuta sweet pork belly with pickled watermelon and crackling, with 2009 Caillard Mataro, Barossa Valley South Australia. Perfectly cooked pork! And the most amazing way I've ever eaten watermelon - went together hand in hand.

And the next course was essentially the mains. It was roasted lamb fillet with confit belly, eggplant purée, tomato and basil fondue and a black olive sauce, with a 2005 Gibson ‘Old Vine Collection’ Grenache, McLaren Vale South Australia. Ahh lamb..... Sam Kekovich is onto a good thing. It's a wonderful meat. Loved it!

So the previous course ended the savoury side and we then turned to our sweet tooth. They gave us a wonderful pre-dessert blend of rockmelon puree with a tasty foam on top. Ideal!!

And finally - my element - dessert! Pavlova with black cherries, tonka bean cream and a pistachio sorbet, with 2009 Braida ‘Giacomo Bologna’ Brachetto d’Acqui DOCG, Piedmont Italy. I loved it! The pavlova had a wonderfully flavoured pink centre and the chewy pistaccios with the cherries - sublime!

This was merely taking pause for a photo, not that I had any thought of not finishing what was on my plate.

And finally a Coffee and Petit Fours

In all I was totally impressed with Aria – the view, the service, the food – they have the experience down to a fine art. Would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a fancy night of dining in the Sydney. Well done Matt Moran, your restaurant was one of the best I’ve been to – loved it!

Ship Inn

2011-03-03T05:10:00.000-08:00

We knew we should have something light for lunch given that we had a special dinner ahead, so we called in Ship Inn. I’d been there many moons before for a beer with a banker I knew. So it was sort of familiar. They had some nice salad options so we decided to give them a go - we went for a Caesar and a Goat Cheese Salad. There wasn’t table service, basically just order at the bar and take a number on a stick…. Worked for us and we managed to track down a spare table. While we waited for our salads, we each enjoyed a Corona with lime and it really wasn’t too long before they arrived.

They were very generous serves! Nice and fresh and it was nice to have the two between us to share. I probably though there was a little bit too much dressing on the Caesar, but the Cajun chicken they included was so delicious! The highlight of the other salad was definitely the goat cheese. Smooth and creamy – wonderful. I probably preferred that salad and set myself the challenging task of ensuring all the pine nuts were eaten…….. not sure I got there.

It was a tasty lunch and fit the bill perfectly for the something light that we were chasing. If in the area again I would stop by.

Here is the Caesar salad: Cos lettuce, bacon, croutons & Caesar dressing with Cajun chicken ($16.50)

Goats Cheese Salad: beetroot, goats cheese, rocket, red onion & toasted pine nuts ($14.50)

Toros! Darling Harbour

2011-03-03T04:29:00.000-08:00

As it turned out our hotel in Sydney was in the perfect location and only a short walk away from Darling Harbour so on our first evening in the fair city we headed that way to find somewhere to eat. After a lap each side we finally settled on Toros, a tapas restaurant overlooking the harbour. We just missed out on an outside seat, but still had a decent view.

We thought given we’d been grazing in Qantas Club, then had lunch on the plane….. I wasn’t that hungry for dinner. The 3 hour time difference was a bit of an adjustment. We got there though and soon the smells wafting from the kitchen had us both peckish and eagerly scanning the menu. We decided to choose a few dishes to share and settled on these five:

Pork Belly ($12): Twice cooked with apple & Mint, finished with Freshly Red wine jus & Quince

Meatballs ($12): Veal Meatballs in a Spicy Tomato Sauce

Calamari ($11): Dusted with Toros Spice Blend

Confit duck shanks ($12) Slow Confit & served with a Port berry Glaze

Garden salad ($11): Mixed Green Leaves, Tomato, Onions & Cucumber tossed through lemon vinegrette

The dishes were all flavourful and having the salad was refreshing after the meat options. I probably was a little bit disappointed with the duck, but the pork belly melted in your mouth in a realy tasty sauce. I only had a lemon, lime and bitters with dinner, but GG tried their Sangria and was impressed with how spicey it was. He really enjoyed it.

It was a nice place to visit for our first night together in NSW. It was reasonably priced too I found, which was a pleasant surprise given the touristy location.

Any time, East or West coast, spent with GG is precious to me xx
Toros

Shop 293

Harbourside Shopping Centre

Darling Harbour, Sydney 2000

Phone/Fax (02) 9280 0706

http://www.torossydney.com.au/

Some more quality time in Qantas Club

2011-03-03T04:17:00.000-08:00

February 24^th at last! When I had booked tickets for the UFC in December last year, February had seemed so far away. I mean it was next year then!

But finally the date had come around and GG and I found ourselves sitting pretty in Qantas Club on that Thursday morning enough their tasty snacks.

I usually just have toast, and I did partake of two slices with butter and vegemite, but I was also keen to give the hotcakes a go, given that they were a new addition to the line up since my last visit. Drowned in maple syrup they weren’t too bad. A long way from home made, closer I imagine to what you likely get some from McDonald’s. They hit the spot though and with a latte they put me in good stead for the flight ahead. A long weekend over east is always exciting, especially with your special someone who has never been to Sydney. Get your exploring shoes ready!

Ahh the wonder of plane food........ I went for the chicken option....

Tasted better than it looked - thankfully.

Smiles for the inflight movie - Unstoppable. Even sleeping he is adorable

I heart GG

Hippo Creek - Subiaco

2011-03-03T04:07:00.000-08:00

Hippo Creek is one of those places that I’ve heard a lot of praise from meat-lovers for. Steak probably isn’t my number one meal choice, but I am partial to a nice steak on the odd occasion. So when given the opportunity to pick a place for dinner for a visiting banker I thought that the time was right to visit Hippo Creek in Subiaco.

Upon walking in I really liked the décor. A lot of earthy tones, very modern looking, and you can’t go wrong with a glassed window into the kitchen, proudly displaying quality cuts of meat. It was a nice touch and it worked well for a steak lover’s paradise.
Service was friendly, prompt and attentive and we were brought some complimentary bread with olive oil and balsamic not long after all our group had arrived, which is always welcome.
I went along with 3 fellas and 2 of them decided to tackle the Hunters Assaghai, which is marinated cubes of rump on a skewer hanging over a bowl of fries with your choice of garlic or chilli butter dripping down served with a side salad ($35.50)

It was impressive just to look at! They both managed to polish the meat off, with only a few stray chips serving as a reminder of their meal. It got two thumbs up from them both.

I wasn’t quite as brave as them and went for a more dainty option, a Cape Grim Beef 120 Day Grass Fed Angus Beef Marble score +1 from Tasmania with two root mash and blue cheese dressing. ($40)

I am a massive parsnip fan and the tasty blend of parsnip and potato in the two root mash was an absolute wonder! I loved it…… probably more than the steak, is that wrong at a steakhouse? Which isn’t to say the steak wasn’t delicious and cooked to medium perfection, because it really was a great piece of meat. It was also nice to try the blue cheese dressing with it. It was the perfect creamy accompaniment and something different for the girl who always goes for pepper sauce with her steak.

We also ordered a greek salad ($15) to share which was very generous with its blend of ingredients and the grilled haloumi which garnished the top was quickly gobbled up.

You’d wonder where we might have found room for dessert but the menu options proved too tempting to pass up. Nath went for a sticky date pudding style dessert, which came with a beautiful toffee twirl on top – looked really impressive and tasted good too I’m told.

Richard choice the chilli chocolate tart, which looked entirely indulgent and he seemed very happy with his choice.

And in keeping with trying “something different” I chose the lavender panacotta. It was amazing. A light lavendery flavour and the panacotta just melted in your mouth. The stone fruit salsa worked so well with it. It was one of those desserts you really wanted more of.

I was pretty impressed with Hippo Creek, definitely keen to take GG along another time, given his appreciation of steak. Plus it would give me a reason to work my way through their dessert menu!

Lime Cafe

2011-03-03T04:01:00.000-08:00

I have worked in West Perth for over 5 years now so I’ve been to most places down Hay Street for lunch at one stage or another. At the end of the food court on a recent visit I found a relatively new café that I hadn’t been to before – Lime Cafe. And I was pleasantly surprised at the range of healthy options they had available. Particularly their salad choices.

For $7.50 I sampled 3 of the salads they had on offer – potato salad, a fennel and beetroot salad and also a brussel sprout, walnut and parmesan salad.

Have to say I was pretty impressed. With the exception of the potato, they had some interesting combinations available and they were really tasty and also very filling! I think I’ll be back…. They had about 5 other salad choices, will have to work my way through their list.

The patio!

2011-02-20T04:17:00.000-08:00

How incredibly beautiful is this patio! We had the cement pad for the bbq laid the other day and later that afternoon the table arrived. It's just the plants to go and I'm already entirely enamoured with eating outside.

Thanks to GG for all his hard work, he’s made me want to spend time outside!

Fujimore

2011-02-20T04:15:00.000-08:00

I caught up with some past work colleagues the other day for lunch and we figured the easiest option to keep everyone happy would be to visit the food court. Something for everyone!

The majority of us however found ourselves in the line at Fujimore, which is the Japanese option. Two people went for the Bento Box, which they seemed very happy with, and myself and another girl went to Teriyaki, myself chicken and her, the beef option.

I’ve eaten here before and I think the thing I like is that the chicken is really good quality. The flavours are rich and delicious and the rice is well cooked. The small side salad which is included is also a nice touch and refreshing at the end of the meal.

If you find yourself in West Perth on Hay Street at lunchtime one day and feel like Japanese, definitely worth giving this place a go. Sure it’s food court Japanese, but it hasn’t disappointed me yet.

Summer Salads

2011-02-20T04:09:00.000-08:00

Salads are lovely during Summer. Nice and fresh. This one came from Pranzo in West Perth and was basically half cous cous, baby spinach and vinaigrette salad and the other half was a pesto pasta salad. For $7.50 it was a very generous serve which I struggled to finish. The flavours were fairly decent, but I suppose it’s just the case with a lot of salads that towards the end the dressing seems quite intense and gets a bit overwhelming.

It definitely feels like a healthier option though, which can be hard to find at lunchtime these days.

Pranzo

79 Colin Street

West Perth WA 6005

(08) 9322 1393

Prawn Risotto

2011-02-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy risotto. It’s a fairly simple dish to make and just super tasty! One Saturday afternoon I decided I would try my luck with a prawn and courgette risotto. I’d made it a few times before and thought I’d use this opportunity to work on my timing, just in terms of how quickly I could get a risotto ready for dinner, if I had most of the prep work done.

I peeled about 12 decent sized prawns and had those clean and read to go. Then I diced up an onion, and also a couple of cloves or garlic and a medium sized red chilli (I’m not that brave so most of the seeds didn’t make their way into the meal.

So first step I put the diced onion into a pot with a pour of olive oil, you basically want the onion to soften and go all glossy looking.

Then I added a cup(and a bit) of Arborio rice. You want the rice to be coated in the oil. Once this is done add in a generous splash of white wine (nothing too sweet) and slowly simmer it away.

Next up add a litre of chicken stock. I’ve found with risotto that its about 1 litre of stock to 1 cup of rice. This is where I am lazy because I know you are probably meant to add the stock warm and in stages, but I pour it all on and once and just carefully monitor how its going while doing other things. Stirring often is important though to make sure it isn’t sticking.

So what other jobs do you need to work on for this dish - slicing up 2 or 3 courgettes (baby zucchinis). You then just need to quickly boil these in salty water and after a minute or so of boiling, rinse them in cold water to stop them from cooking further. So once this is done splash some olive oil into a pan, and throw in the garlic and chilli and just release the flavours, then add the prawns and it should only take a minute or so for them to cook through. Then take the pan away from the heat.

While you are waiting for the stock to fully absorb the last prep work required is grating some parmesan cheese and also lemon zest. To have it ready to mix through the rice mixture once its finished cooking. How much cheese you add is sort of a personal preference thing I suppose, but I’d say at least half a cup.

So the finally step is adding the cheese, lemon zest, courgettes and prawns (along with the oil and garlic and chilli from the pan) into the rice and mixing it thoroughly though. Really didn’t take too long to prepare and even with just over a cup of rice, it usually makes two meals for us. And it’s a dish that seems to age well. Give it a day in the fridge and it brings the flavours out more.

Would love to hear any other risotto recipes that you've made!

Riverbank Estate Jazz Picnic

2011-02-12T05:11:00.000-08:00

It can be nice to get outside of the box sometimes, colour outside the lines, see if the grass is greener on the other side, etc, etc.

My foray into something different was heading along to one of my favourite Swan Valley haunts – RiverBank Estate – for their Jazz Picnic. By a turn of events with another of their functions, we wound up with tickets and it was something different for GG and myself, given that we’d never been to see jazz and we weren’t really outdoor people. Well I wasn’t at least. But we have been to ranger camping and had our little concert chairs so we were pretty much set.

We arrived just after 5pm and there was already a decent crowd assembled outside listening to the Jazz band they had set up. The way it worked was that for your ticket, you got to choose a bottle of wine to share, as well as an impressive gourmet platter and then dessert.

We found ourselves a spot on the grass and then headed inside to pick up our platter. It made me hungry just looking at it, given the impressive selection! There was prosciutto wrapped asparagus with white truffle oil, garlic prawns marinaded in dill, cacciatore sausage with freshly squeezed lemon, potato and red onion salad with wholegrain mustard seed, roasted field mushrooms with Shiraz, Dukkah & olive oil, pickled beetroot with Star Anise, smoked salmon with baby capers on wholemeal toast, baked Turkish bread with a selection of dips and then also a selection of cheeses with homemade fruit bread & crackers. All I can say is wow – the flavours were all delicious! My favourites were probably the potato salad, really liked the addition of the seeded mustard and also the cheese! Can’t go wrong with brie and I think the other was a nice cheddar. Worked a treat with the fruit bread and a little of the fig jam. And for our wine choice we went with a bottle of the 2007 Celebration White, worked perfectly with the food and the beautiful warm evening.

Not sure whether we found room, but we were given the green light for dessert and GG went and collected our shared dessert plate. It included chocolate mocha tart with Irish Baileys foam and also a mini citrus tart with vanilla mascarpone & rose petal syrup. The chocolate cake was indulgently rich, I actually struggled to finish it, and the citrus tart offset it nicely, quite light but still full of flavour.

It was a really lovely way to spend an evening, very chilled and just another good time I can add to the growing list of good times I’ve had at Riverbank.

The Loose Box

2011-02-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

I love good food. Heading out for a nice meal with GG is one of my most favourite things. Particularly the indulgence of a degustation menu….. even more so with matched wines. Oh the delight of it all. Carefully matched flavours, sometimes sounding out of place on a menu but when sampled a complete taste sensation. I can just close my eyes and be transported back there….. thinking how amazing a certain flavour combination was.

High on the list of places in Perth I have always wanted to visit is The Loose Box. It’s reputation precedes it and I suppose the risk was always going to be that I had built it up into an experience that it was never going to be able to achieve. As I drove away on Friday night though, rubbing a very satisfied full belly of food, it had in no way disappointed. It had been everything I had hoped for and more.

My parents drove us up the hill, all the way to Mundaring, and when we arrived, my initial impression were that it was all very cute and quaint, probably a little different to how I imagined. We were greeted by a lovely lady and after she arranged a taxi to take us home, we were taken to our seat. The restaurant is totally charming! Our seat overlooked the beautiful garden and I think I’d fallen in love with the place before I had even taken a bite.

Our first drink quickly arrived, a glass of Louis Bouillot Cremant de Bourgogne Grand Réserve N.V. and we were then given some fresh baguette with olive oil. We didn’t have to wait long for the first course though, which was some of the most delicious soup I’d ever tasted. It was a Coconut and Prawn Broth, Coconut broth served with freshly shelled prawns, Kaffir lime leaf and Balmain and Rozelle spice. Tthe only other that had come close was a white bean and truffle oil soup that we’d had at a Sitella lunch and stood out as our best soup of all time to date. After careful consideration, we decided it still held that mantle but this soup was impressive nonetheless.

Next up was a crab dish, Tian de Crabes Bleus, which was Blue swimmer crab set as a montage with tomato, Toodyay olives and iceberg lettuce served with a light green vegetable sauce. This came with a glass of Domaine du Rimauresq Provence 2009. I really enjoyed this course. There was such a generous amount of crab meat and the combination with the lettuce and the slight saltiness for the olices, it all worked so well. The rose was a delicious too – really light.

I was slightly daunted by the next course, given it was fish, which isn’t my favourite. I needed have worried though because this salmon was not at all fishy, cooked to perfection and in a wonderfully herby sauce. Le Saumon de Tasmanie d'eau Profonde et La Saint Jacques de Shark Bay aux Aromates, was Finest Tasmanian salmon and Shark Bay scallops, braised with aromatic herbs and served with a beure blanc on wilted spinach. If all salmon came this way, I’d be eating it every day! Especially with the lovely wine this one came with, J.J. Vincent Bourgogne Blanc 2008 – very nice drop!

The next course was the first one that GG and I differed on. I decided to embrace my inner frenchie and try snails - Escargots à La Bordelaise en Pâte de Brick sur Ratatouille Tomates aux Chilies sauce, Snail fritter served golden on a warm ratatouille stack with a tomato and chilli sauce. It was really tasty, sort of like a fancy spring roll, and the snails didn’t really have too strong a flavour. GG had the pig trotter option here. Neither of us particularly liked this flavour, but again nice to say we gave it a go. This course came with our first red for the evening, a Plan de Pegau Rouge 2007.

Again on the next course we mixed it, with GG going for beef cheek which was cooked perfectly and I went for the duck option. It was perfection. Le Confit de Canard au poivre, Leg and thigh of duck, slow cooked and served with diced roast potatoes, wilted spinach and a light pepper sauce, which came with another red, this time the Pezat Bordeaux Superior 2006. I think this was one of my favourite courses. The meat literally fell off the bone and the flavours were in perfect harmony. The pepper sauce in particularly was fairly light but had this amazing depth of flavour. Amazing! The Pezat Bordeaux Superior that came with it was excellent too.

Before we found room for dessert we were given from fruit sorbet – pineapple with rum flavoured – refreshing and entirely delicious. Palate cleansers do have their place.

For dessert I went with Le Cygne Majestueux en Voyage sur son Lac de Framboises, the majestic swan, made from home made vanilla bean ice cream and fine tuille biscuit. Served on a "lake" of raspberry sauce. It was heavenly. The detail in the presentation of the dish was magnificent and it was the perfect sweet touch to the menu. Particularly with the Grand Maison Monbazillac Curvee des Anges that came with it.

GG went for a different dessert choice - a rosemary infused panacotta with summer berries. I got to try this and it was delicious too!

The meal was then completed with a flat white and some delicious home made Petits Fours, including a fabulous pistachio macaroon.

The Loose Box is the perfect special occasion place. It is worth the drive for the experience of the amazing cuisine of Alain Fabrègues – Très Bien!

Odin Tavern

2011-02-11T22:23:00.000-08:00

It was a Thursday night and we didn't particularly feel like cooking dinner so after a quick flick through the Entertainment Book we came across the Odin Tavern. Conveniently not too far from home and also a buy one mains get one free, so worth giving it a go.

Wasn't a problem getting a table and we'd soon placed our orders. I went with the Dukkah Crusted Lamb Rump - served with spiced cous cous and tzatziki ($28). It was ok I thought, nothing too flash, the cous cous was pretty plain tasty and again with the random salad dressing!! Definitely becoming a pet hate of mine. The lamb itself wasn't too bad, not the best quality though. I did like the tzatziki, very refreshing!

And GG went for the Atlantic Salmon which was served with Anna potatoes and a tomato beurre blanc ($28). The salmon was overcooked and he said the potatoes were nothing special. He definitely wasn't overly impressed with his meal.

In all, I mean it was close to home to worth checking out and no problem with the service, the one main concern was flies!! They were everywhere! Like seriously more than 5 persistently buzzing around our table - so annoying.... i'd stay away unless I knew they had this problem sorted.

Bruscetta

2011-02-11T22:15:00.000-08:00

Bruscetta is nice and fresh and tasty and a delight in summer. How do I do it? Dice up some nice ripe tomatos, add garlic, salt and pepper, fresh basil and some good olive oil. Then its as easy as stirring the above ingredients together and adding to some fresh slices of baguette.
And just like that you have a tasty starter.

Sometimes if the mood strikes it can be nice to grate a little parmasen cheese on top and pop into the oven for a few minutes.

Scallops and stone fruit

2011-02-11T22:04:00.000-08:00

Spending a Saturday afternoon cooking is a delightful indulgence. Given the season I decided to embrace stone fruits in my recipes..... with the key ingredient being scallops. Sort of like an Iron Chef challenge.

First up I worked on a recipe that I have done previously with mangoes, but replaced it with nectarines. Basically slice up a few nice ripe nectarine and add to a bowl with some mint, chilli , lime zest and lime juice, and a splash of olive oil. It's a nice easy recipe.

I got these scallops from Mirrabooka Square's seafood store. Have always been pleased with them. Nice and fresh.
The second type of Scallops I did in a plum sauce. A little bit spicey which was seemed to work well.

Preparation is key with any cooking adventure, and I was really to turn the heat up!

I decided I would dice up some bacon to top the plum scallops with

And here is the final product - the salsa I served with baguette and just did the scallops fairly plain, with just a squeeze of lime juice, and with the plum scallops I served them on a slice of fresh lime with the plum sauce marinated scallops topped with bacon bits.

Not half bad I thought. A little bit of prep required, but worth it to sit down to something different and tasty.

Food Court Chinese

2011-02-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

Every now and then it's lunchtime at work and I crave something tasty that isn't particularly good for me...... queue the food court Chinese! Down Hay Street in West Perth there is a food court with a particularly nice serve yourself Chinese take-away place. I really like it. I always go the same choices, but they are usually pretty good. I had honey chicken, then the vegies from beef and black bean and also the vegies from the chicken and vegies. So plenty of vegetables all with yummy sauce - good for me? Maybe not, probably a fair bit of salt, but delicious completely. And with a little white rice, it makes for a filling lunchtime treat.

Definitely a sometimes treat though........... but hey bring on sometimes!

The Chimney

2011-02-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

Another day, another bargain voucher. This time for The Chimney Restaurant in Northbridge, where for $40 you got to have $120 worth of food and wine off the menu.

It was an appetising menu and we started with seared beef carpaccio with caper, gherkin, red onion, tomato and oregano salsa.... I love carpaccio and this was entirely delicious.

We also got a serve of garlic bread each, which at $2 a person seemed like a bargain!
GG getting stuck into the carpaccio

Next up we each chose our mains. GG went for the 250gms beef eye fillet, which came with 3 type of mushrooms, garlic mash and shiraz jus. From all accounts very tasty.

And I went for the rack of lamb with baby beet, potato, artichoke crisps and minted jus. It was cooked fairly rare, so nice and tender. I really enjoyed it!

And why not go for 3 courses and enjoy dessert. GG went for the passionfruit cheesecake served with vanilla ice cream.

And I went for the lemon tart, which was served with chantilly cream and berry coulis.

It's lovely to try somewhere new and this is a place I probably would never have stumbled across if not for Scoopon. I think it was definitely worth a visit though. Really friendly and attentive staff and I thought the doof was delicious. Perhaps not silver service but a nice night out.

Subiaco Hotel

2011-02-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

A banker took a few work mates and myself to dinner the other night, and we headed to the Subiaco Hotel, a fabulous spot that to date had not disappointed me.

We started the night we a cleansing ale - I favoured the James Squire Golden Ale - nice!

To start we shared a platter of turkish bread and dips.... thought it worth nothing that the platter below has two extra serves of turkish bread... just two would never have worked... the whole dip to bread ratio would have been well out! The bread was delicious - very fresh and tasty. The dips were tasty too, my only complaint is that orange dip is either capscicum or salmon and it would be nice to be told as fish dip does nothing for me! We also shared some pork belly with this delicious coconut salad. It had strips of fresh coconut which was so good! The pork belly was melt in your mouth amazing. The only thing I wished was that there was more more more. I'm going to put it out there that it is actually the best I've ever had.
Then for the mains I went with the duck special which just fell off the bone and the flavours were amazing! Served with some crispy greens, it was entirely enjoyable, especially with the spritz of lime. Two of the lads went for the steak, served with shoe string fries and from all accounts it was fairly delicious and a nice cut of meat. And the boss went for the lamb special and served on saffron mash - again it was a hit! I would go back to the Subi in a heartbeat!

25 Visits!

2011-02-09T05:32:00.000-08:00

I felt very proud when I visited the Red Cross the other day for plasma to be given a little pin and a a box of chocolates because it was my 25th visit! Felt nice to have recorded a milestone. Definitely had me planning on extending the challenge and trying to 50 visits by early next year. Everyone should give blood if you can - every visit saves 3 lives!

Surfin and Turfin

2011-02-09T05:29:00.000-08:00

Recently I'd been around my parent's place and my mum had told me about the night that my brother and his girlfriend had been around for dinner and they'd all worked on surf and turf together. Amy had the idea to replicate a recipe they do at her work, so they threw butter into a pan and gently simmered it. Then next added some diced garlic and softened it in the butter. Once the garlic was soft they added a generous pour of whipping cream. They warmed this tthrough and into this mix added some raw peeled prawns. The prawns then cooked through fairly quickly in the creamy garlic sauce. Mum mentioned also that if you prefer the sauce a little thicker just add some cornflour (premixed in cold water). The prawns don't take too long to cook through and you basically then just pour this sauce on top of your steak - cooked to your likely.

When I attempted to re-create this recipe I used a fairly thick cut of meat - I think it was a eye beef, sealed it both sides then put it into a warm oven under al-foil to give it a little longer while I prepared the garlic prawns. I also did some roughly mashed potatos and green beans. I thought it worked out well. Tasty and easy peasy!

Australia Day Lunchin

2011-02-09T05:10:00.000-08:00

So after a breakfast on the bbq, GG and I extended the challenge and dragged the old bbq from my old place which had been sitting in the garage since we moved in, out the back under the new patio. After some fiddling with the gas bottle we got it working and threw some lamb snags on! They probably weren't the best, coming from Woolworths, nothing too special really, but they were lamb and it was Australia Day so I knew Sam Kekovich would be happy with us.

It was the first meal we'd shared under the new patio and with the Hottest 100 playing in the background, and a Beez Neez in hand - it was wonderful..... we definitely live in the lucky country!

Australia Day

2011-02-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

I had a brilliant Australia Day this year - it was essentially a big eat fest, starting with an amazing cooked breakfast with my family in the morning. I think bacon tastes so much better done on the BBQ and the mushrooms were fairly delicious too, with a little fetta crumbled on top. These may look like standard sausages, but they actually from a far away butcher in Moora - W Pursers & Sons. Amazing!!! Tremendously tasty every time.

This is an Aussie breakfast of champions! Fried egg on toast - bacon, mushrooms and a sausage - put me in good stead for the rest of the day. Wonderful way to spend the morning. Good company, good food.

Pink Zulu

2011-02-07T03:58:00.000-08:00

I heart bargains. There’s really no other way to put it, and the recent spate of voucher websites have been right up my alley. Am I addicted to their mega deals? Perhaps… but the restaurant deals are an excellent excuse to try somewhere new.

One such deal was for Pink Zulu, where for $79 you could, “Get a taste of Africa with an incredible three-course meal and a bottle of wine at Pink Zulu for only $79 (valued at $163)”

Too good to pass up I thought, so I made a booking and headed to Cottesloe with my dining partner in crime GG on the night before Australia Day. Always nice to take advantage of a sleep in the next day with a little later than usual night out before.

The décor of the restaurant is gorgeous – bright colours, African themed art, even the staff have some traditional face painting done. It all works well.

So to start we each were given a trio of entrees to enjoy, which included lamb kefta on a cinnamon quill, harissa & cucumber minted labneh, sweet tamarind glazed pork belly with roasted baby beets and chicken skewers with apricots, paprika and groundnut sauce. The flavours were incredible! Definitely left you wanting more.

There were then three choices of mains so we chose two between us to share, so as to sample as much of the menu as possible. I went with the Bambara, which is a vegetable and pastry bastille of mixed veg ragu with goats cheese & rocket salad. The goats cheese was spectacular – melted in your mouth. GG went for the Potjie (Beef) with almonds, apricot & apple with a delicate egg topping served with buttery cous cous. Both mains were delicious, but I probably didn’t love them as much as the entrees. Still the servings were generous and they were well presented dishes.

Finally we went for one of each kind of desserts on offer. There seemed to be a bit of a dramatic pause between mains and dessert, but we still had some of our complimentary bottle of rose to enjoy so we weren’t overly phased. The bonus was that the desserts were definitely worth the wait! Both were so delicious. We shared a crème brulee and sweet spiced ice cream accompanied with a shot of amarula cream. It was the perfect way to finish the meal.

I would definitely go back to Pink Zulu, though I suspect when I do I’ll order a few serves of entrees, then dessert and perhaps skip mains. Honestly the flavours on the tasting plate we were given to start were definitely worth going back for! As well as this, the staff are incredibly friendly and attentive. Ticked all the boxes for a good night out.

Dominos

2011-02-07T03:44:00.000-08:00

Let’s face it, it’s not good for you. It’s an indulgence, a sometimes not an all the time food, but every blue moon – Dominos pizza really hits the spot. One of these times was the day before Australia Day, when my office decided we’d put on pizza for lunch courtesy of the social club. Now with online ordering this is a delightfully simple process – look at the menu, pick your pizza type, select your crust and then pick the time you want it delivered. It’s a wonder we don’t have it more often!

There were 15 of us in the office that day so the 13 pizzas proved more than ample, especially with the few loaves of garlic bread for good measure. The hardest decision really was which ones to have a slice of. I was particularly partial to the thin and crispy Hawaiian, though the Toni Pepperoni with bbq sauce was fairly delicious too, and its hard to go past old classics like Supreme.

These days I always tend to make my pizzas at home, but Dominos does still have its place and for the price they do well.

Smoked Salmon

2011-02-07T03:35:00.000-08:00

There is a lunch bar down the road from work in West Perth called Smoked Salmon. It changed hands last year, but it makes a fairly decent sandwich. Most are priced between $5.50 and $8.00, depending on your fillings, which for the neighbourhood, isn’t actually too bad.

My two favourites are either chicken and salad on multigrain:

Or the Number 12 Combination of roast beef, cheese, tomato and seeded mustard on white bread.

Fresh bread and they don’t scrimp on filling – if you need a sandwich at this end of town definitely worth stopping by.

Bunnings Hotdogs!

2011-02-07T03:31:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it’s all about life’s simple pleasures. Bunnings hotdogs are one of those pleasures. Nothing like heading down to the Balcatta store on the weekend and getting within cooee of the entrance and the smell of cooking onion and sausages on the bbq greeting you like an old friend. They are hard nah impossible to pass up, and the other weekend when GG had to go there, I went along just so I could have a hotdog…. I had one when we got there, then perused the gardening section while GG got what we actually needed, and I was so hungry and enamoured with them, that I got another one on the way out. Good times – doesn’t always need to be fancy schmancy J

California Beachin

2011-02-06T05:03:00.000-08:00

Recently a new friend’s husband celebrated his 30^th birthday and had the brilliant idea for California Beach Theme. It was a whole lot of fun, everyone came in costumes, there was an excess of incredible food and drinks and in all a very fun night.

The Vines

2011-02-05T23:37:00.000-08:00

There was a special going on facebook in December for a stay at the vines for only $80 a night, which seemed like a good opportunity for a spontaneous mini break to the Swan Valley. So GG and I packed our bags and drove the scenic journey to the Vines Resort and Country Club.

Check in was fairly smooth though they had a young guy who must have been training and seriously lacked either motivation or personality, but it the process was easy enough and we then found ourselves trekking across the resort to our room. It was a decent size, and while it could probably have done with a bit of an update, it was fine.

We had packed a picnic of cheese and wine so that was nice, while we flicked through the tv channels.

Then that night we ventured to the Vines Bar and Café for a bite of dinner. It was fairly casual, nice open bar and a decent crowd and the casual was definitely highlighted by people walking to and from the bar from the poor outside, wrapped in towels.

We shared some garlic bread to start, which I really enjoyed. Now I don't know whether it was that I found having the crusts cut off to be a pleasant indulgence or whether it was because the bread seemed to have been soaked in a delicious garlicky butter before being toasted, but it was pretty impressive garlic bread I must say!

Next up GG enjoyed the steak and friesAnd I went with the spiced Lamb Koftas on Lebanese Bread and Greek Salad with Tzatziki dressing

This was the mains I went for at the Vines..... the lebanese bread - super tasty, the tzatziki - nice and fresh, but the koftas.... bit drier than I would have hoped and you can't tell from this pic, but there was an excess of feta, and not even... good fetta, which I think it was why I found it such a disappointing salad.

In all it was a nice time away at the Vines.

Kebabs

2011-02-05T23:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when the mood strikes I like to wander through Coles and really thoroughly peruse the isles to see if there’s something fabulous that I just totally need. On one such days my must have item was wooden skewers, with the grand plan of making kebabs at some stage….. these sat in the drawer at home for probably close to a year before I noticed them again and thought to myself that the time is now for operation kebab!

Luckily I had some marinade in the cupboard, so I diced up some beef and left it in the Red Wine And Garlic marinade, while I cut up some mushrooms, zucchini, onions, red capsicum and pineapple. Threading them onto the sticks was a fun job and then I cooked them up in my banquest frying pan and served them with rice. I quite like some sorta sauce on meat so with the excess marinade in the pan, once I’d removed the kebabs, I poured in some pineapple juice and reduced it down a bit and it had sort of a sweet burnt taste to it, but I liked it.

An easy meal, nice and healthy and now the big question is what to have with the next lot!

Frozen Icecream Plum Pudding

2011-02-05T23:23:00.000-08:00

My mum’s speciality come Christmas time is an ice cream plum pudding. A delicious combination of dried fruit – sultanas, currents, raisins, cherries, apricots and slivered almonds, soaked in the spicy goodness of Norfolk Punch then stirred through vanilla ice cream – usually Peters, because well it’s a tremendously creamy and fabulous ice cream brand.

Whilst not included in the pic, it is best served with a strawberry sauce, made from blending up a punnet of strawberries with a dash more Norfolk Punch…. Definitely leaves me wishing that Christmas didn’t only come once a year!

Trigg Island

2011-02-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

Many moons ago GG said he was taking me to dinner, somewhere I hadn’t been before, which is always an exciting proposition. We ended up at Trigg Island Café – a beautiful spot right on the water. I hadn’t actually ever heard of it, but I imagine it’s been around for a while – big crowd the first time I was there. So I thought I’d do the right thing and book this time, so we had a table guaranteed.

It was an absolutely beautiful evening – weather was perfect and there’s a lot of be said for watching the sunset with your favourite fella, while happily sipping on a glass of WA wine. The service at this place is also brilliant – attentive and friendly.

The menu isn’t overly extensive, but there’s enough choice that everyone should find something. I especially like that they have some lighter options or offer things in entrée or mains size. I went with the chicken stirfry in entrée size, while GG went for the steak and calamari combo. His came with some amazing chips, a side salad and an absolutely incredible pepper sauce on the steak. So delicious tasty – a little bit creamy with a little heat from the peppercorns. And I really enjoyed my stirfry – nice chunky bits of chook in a tasty marinade, with an abundance of fresh vegies, served on rice. For entrée it was an incredibly generous serve that definitely had me glad I didn’t try to tackle the mains size!

I was actually too full from my meal that I couldn’t even contemplate dessert.

I would totally go back to this place. Perhaps its not fine dining, silver service style, but the food quality is very high, service is excellent and you can’t beat the view for that added something special. Wonderful spot!

Carbonara

2011-02-05T23:07:00.000-08:00

I hadn’t used the pasta maker in a while and also had won a 4kg Christmas ham, so had to apply myself to finding many ham based recipes. Carbonara is something I enjoy eating, but had never tried cooking so I headed to www.taste.com.au and read through the many carbonara recipes they had available.

I chose the following and it was fairly straight forward…

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/19537/the+best+spaghetti+carbonara

I’m not sure I got the timing right, because it wasn’t so much saucy, as more like a cheesy/eggy sauce on the pasta, which tasted fine, but I think I had hoped it would be a smoother creamier sauce…. Anyone whose had luck with carbonara and could point me in the direction of a recipe that’s worked well for them, would be greatly appreciated!

Seven Mile Inn stoppin by for a steak!

2011-02-05T22:58:00.000-08:00

It was a Thursday night and as I worked out at the gym I got it in my head that I fancied a steak for dinner….. and that I fancied not having to cook it for myself J Now ideally I would have liked to have headed along to a steak night somewhere or other, but it proved difficult to find a list of where cheap nights around town were…… which is one of the main reasons I decided to try and start one, with the help of the Perth food faithful of course.

Anyways though I googled pubs in the vicinity of my suburb and the closest was the Seven Mile Inn, along Wannneroo Road in Balcatta. I hadn’t been before and as fate would have it their steak night was on a Wednesday, not a Thursday, but they were close and had steak on the menu – so it ticked the necessary boxes.

It wasn’t particularly busy when we arrived, a decent crowd though for a week night and we were quickly seated. We both ordered the steak, which came with your choice of beer battered chips (my choice) or mashed potato (GG’s choice). There was also a side salad included. There was also a selection of sauces on offer and we both went with pepper.

It didn’t take too long for the food to arrive and we were both pretty impressed with the size of the meal – seemed unlikely either of us would go hungry! So how was it? Decent quality steak, cooked to our liking, but I was a little disappointed in the gravy, just didn’t have a lot of depth to the taste, not really that peppery at all. But there was an abundance of it… which I suppose was a good thing for dipping chips into it. I saved my salad til the end, looking forward to something refreshing…… hugely forlorn to find out it had sort of an italiany/mayo dressing on it. I think I just wish that it would be specified if salads were automatically going to include dressing…… so I didn’t end up eating it.

Would I go back for some steak action at Seven Mile Inn again? I think I would, probably on steak night though…. knowing now to ask for less gravy and no salad dressing.

New Years at Matilda Bay

2011-01-18T04:53:00.000-08:00

My favourite crew, a chance to dress up and a few bubbles on hand to bring in the night - welcome to New Years. Following a change of location late in December, we booked in Matilda Bay for December 31st.

It was a cocktail function, so lots of nice hor d'ouerves and drinks available. GG and I had eaten before we arrived so we only really picked at a few things.

The highlight of the night though was how much dancing we all got to do! The DJ was spinning some winning tracks and we were all keen to bust a move on the dance floor.

I think we all put in at least 3 hours of dancing each...... magical times.

Made for some sore feet for the few days after but wouldn't have changed it. A wonderful night with wonderful people and with kisses from GG for a brilliant 2011.

Pitstop at the Vic

2011-01-18T04:48:00.000-08:00

On fine day during the Christmas and New Years break GG and I had a few errands to run and thought we'd grab a quick lunch at the Vic in Subi to charge our batteries for all the running around.

I felt like something light and perusing their salad selections, one in particular took my fancy - Warm Duck, Orange and Fennel Salad. It was pulled confit duck leg tossed through baby spinach with orange segments, roasted fennel and plum dressing.

It was delicious! A generous serves and the combination of flavours worked perfectly together. I've always been a fan of salads with citrus so the orange was a welcome additon. I also really enjoyed the plum sauce, was a little bit spicy. Would totally head back to have this dish again!

And GG, well if there's a steak on the menu, 9 times out of 10 it will be his choice. He went with the 250g Porterhouse served on kalkenen potato mash with buttered broccolini with a red wine and field mushroom jus.

From all accounts GG was equally pleased with his meal. A nice cut of meal, crisp vegies on the side, all worked well together.

And for reference we both had pints of Beez Neez with our meals.... worked well with either of the meals - and all very welcome to summer. Definitely a perk of the VIc - the number of beers they have on tap.

Meeting the little man

2011-01-18T04:45:00.000-08:00

Friend's having little people of their own is definitely an exciting time. Makes you feel all grown up. Now a good friend of mine moved over to Dubai and in May last year had a little boy, called Zack. He came to visit with her in December and i'm entirely smitten. He is just so cute and has the best personality already - sort of mellow but with spark... if that makes sense.

He's just so precious. So we caught up with them at the Brisbane for lunch one day, then also had them round for dinner. Tried to get my fill of cuddles - but with a cutie like this, its like you can never get enough. Hope he comes to visit again soon.....

Amazing Christmas Present

2011-01-18T04:43:00.000-08:00

I was very spoiled by GG this year and given this beautiful wine fridge so that I'll never want for cold white vino again. He knows me well :)

Offically a tradition!

2011-01-18T04:40:00.000-08:00

Last year I was lucky enough to be gifted a couple of crays by my boss for Christmas and colour me spoiled when he did the same again this year. So meant that GG and I could start a tradition of crayfish and champagne on Boxing Day. All a bit lah-di-dah..... perhaps less so on my little wooden fold out table, but still very special. Meant to look like a love heart :)

Boxing Day

2011-01-17T04:46:00.000-08:00

Boxing Day in Australia usually translates to another day of hot weather and of not doing too much because of the sheer exhaustion caused by excess eating the day before.

This year was no exception, and GG and I headed around to my cousins for a bit of a swim and to catch up with everyone again.

I am officially very average at Table Tennis, but I look like i'm super blurry fast in this photo, so perhaps we can suggest it reflects my mad skills. Here I am with Ames, enjoying a brewskie - it's Miller time!
And I hear I am with Amy bookends :)

Here is Dave, trying out his superman punches on the bag, makes for some entertaining photos.

And here is my mum and her sister - a lovely pair

And GG - super tough in his new TapOut shirt :)

Look at those guns!

Was nice to see him after being apart for Christmas Day

The pool was so the place to be!

And then the concentration turned back to darts

Before a quick break to enjoy the gingerbread house mum had made. Almost too beautiful to destroy..... but I know how good they taste!

Very popular with the younger set :)

Another lovely day!

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-01-16T04:13:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas Day. Quality time with the family, delicious food, it's always a special time. I stayed over my parents place on Christmas Eve and woke up early on Christmas Day to go for a run with my mum, which was a lovely way to start the day.

Then we headed off to Christmas mass, which is always pretty special, it's nice to sing the Christmas carols and get swept up in it all. Then that day we had some more family around. This make-shift tent thing was a requirement for the day. Anything that made more shade. It would have been pushing 40 degrees on Christmas Day in Perth in 2010. Super toasty. So there were even times during the day when we turned the sprinklers on, just to try and bring some respite.
So nice to have everyone all together though! One big happy family indeed.

Might not be the hot European style fair, but there is something delightfully Australian about cold meats and salad for Christmas.

And its important to have something of everything so that your plate resembles a small mountain - turkey, chicken, pork, ham, then potato salad, coleslaw, spinach salad, rice salad, garden salad.... where was I going to fit all this food!

I needed to save some room though for the baked white chocolate cheesecake that I'd made. Topped with mango slices and passionfruit it didnt look too bad I suppose. Tasted nice.

Then the rest of the day was a pleasant blur of playing darts, hanging out and chatting, even a nap in the afternoon.

It was a lovely day - always reminds me what a wonderful family I have when we get all together. I hope your Christmas was as Merry.

Muse

2011-01-16T03:55:00.000-08:00

Last year GG and I actually had tickets booked to the Big Day Out. It was going to be the first time I actually went there as an audience member, as apposed to working it, as I had done in my youth. Anyways though, Muse were on the card for the 2010 BDO and being GG's favourite he was keen to check them out. In the weeks prior to the event it was announced that Muse were touring seperately so we had to make the decision..... go to the BDO or wait til they tour?

In the end we sold the tix on ebay and waited patiently for the Muse concert tickets to go on sale. Didn't take too long really, couple of months perhaps, and we locked ours in the day they were available.

Then the long wait until December 19th...... seemed like a lifetime away but by the same token was here before we knew it. So we drove along to Steel Blue Oval in Bassendean and prepared ourself for what was set to be an epic show. The boys did not disappoint. Amazing sound, visually spectacular, just an incredible night of musical entertainment.

Lead singer, Matt Bellamy is a polished entertainer!

Black Toms

2011-01-12T04:27:00.000-08:00

Food is a joy to me and I think tasting plates are just a brilliant creation and excuse to try numerous delicious flavours. The plate below came from Black Toms. One of the many lunches I went to in the blur that was December. I thought this was fiarly impressive. The chicken skewers were super tasty, the glaric bread was magic, the chorizo had the right amount of spice and the salt and pepper squid wasn't too oily. Also nice to have a bit of salad on the side. A pleasant inclusion.They also offered a trio of seafood tasting plate. Now given I don't eat fish, this one didn't impress me as much, but the prawns and scallops were cooked perfectly and amazing!

Pony Clubbin'

2011-01-09T00:55:00.000-08:00

Way back... when was it, in December that's right.... it was time for my work's Christmas do, and we decided to mix it up this year and head to the Pony Club in Mount Lawley. It was going to be more of a cocktail function to give people the opportunity to mix. Did the plan work? Difficult to say, I think some people made the effort and it was a really beautiful venue. We had a private room upstairs and it really was very lovely. The drinks were flowing and the only real problem was the lack of food. And it wasn't that the food wasn't good, just wished for a whole lot more of it.

But hey was nice to have a night away from the office and chill with the work crew.

This is Team Awesome - aren't we just :)
With the lovely Nikki, who looked super glam

Here is one of the plates they bought around.... I didn't actually have one of these. I don't rate salmon. They looked pretty though - very well presented, couldn't fault them there.

We even had our own little balcony which was a nice addition to any function venue.

I got well stuck into the cheese plates, was starving by this stage!

The Stella Bella SSB was a delight!Group shot gals - get together!

In all, it was a good night and from what i'm told Pony Club only recently started doing functions so perhaps its a learning curve from their side.

Cooking with the Professor

2011-01-09T00:39:00.000-08:00

For GG's birthday, way back in March, my parents got him a voucher so that him and I could head along to a class at the Cooking Professor. He had picked the one he wanted to do, but what with our trip during the year, it got a bit tricky to sort out a date. So it was left until December but we finally booked for a class and headed along to learn about the Tajine.

Basically there was a group of about 10 of us in this very well decked out kitchen and we had a list of recipes to work through that were assigned to either people or couples to work on. GG was put to task on a carrot and mint salad. It had this super tasty dressing on it. He did very well. And he looked so cute in his apron. Concentration was key
A dash of this, a dash of that...

And you get the perfect salad - ta dah! Other dishes on the menu were beef koftas

And since it was such a large group we didn't actually use a tajine.... but it was a tajine style dish, a layered fish and vegetable blend.

This is the view of the dining room from the kitchen, its a cool set up I think. Cooking for about an hour or so then everyone sits down to eat. Relaxing and you learn a few things.

Impressive selection!

I did the usual and loaded up my plate with much more than I could actually eat! Was all so delicious and looked like a rainbow on my plate!

And what did I made? Dessert! It was this mega simple strawberry mousse - super tasty - loved it!

In all a lovely night with GG, quality food and quality time - a winning combination.

Lovely Sundays

2011-01-09T00:34:00.001-08:00

One of my favourite ways to spend a Sunday at the moment is some quality time at the Paddo watching the UFC with the lovely GG and my cousin Braddles, then a wander down the road to my other cousin, Ryan's nursery to partake in some tasty lunchtime snacks.

This is the lamb roll which GG had last time we went, which was very tasty from all accounts. And Brad and I shared the grilled mushroom and....
the bruscetta - loved them both!

Wonderful spot, perfect location, excellent company

I heart UFC Sundays

J'dore does Thanksgiving

2011-01-02T23:43:00.000-08:00

Another day, another cooking club and being late in the year, the challenge was on for us to do our take on an American Thanksgiving meal - so queue the ham and the turkey, even the candied yams.... even though they sounded horrendous.

So we assembled at Kris's house, the fellow of the lovely Lisa, and after a quick trip to the local IGA, with a very memorable sausage sizzle (happy sighs - so delish) we headed back and started reading up on the recipes.

We'd set ourself quite the challenge, but we each started tackling something different and slowly things came together.

Here is Maree putting together the cheesecake - baked white chocolate cheesecake, served with fruit. We really took over the place.... stuff everywhere!
Look how hard these girls are working - what a team!

Ahh yes, the very glamerous job of removing the turkey neck from our whopping great big 4.5kg bird.

But I remembered the bird leg tieing trick that GG taught me! Looks all neat and tidy now, and in theory the stuffing shouldn't fall out....

And this mixture was for our Jamie Oliver style hush puppies, a deep fried before dinner snack

Say cheese team!

This creation was a tarte tatin - with chipolatas and cranberrys and stuffing balls... different yes, but delicious entirely!

It was quite an epic undertaking in terms of prep work for the evening meal

But at last it all came together and the guests arrived! Hows this impressive bird!

So much food! Green beans, carrots with dill, sour cream and chives mashed potato, candied yams (done in a Betty Crocker style - so no marshmallows!), and ham, turkey and the special tarte.

Tehehe the sad turkey leg Maree ended up with - slim pickings!

Hows this!! Needless to say I didn't finish this massive serve.... slightly ambitious. Had to try though.

And I almost forgot the peacan pie! It was pretty tasty too!

Always room for a bit of dessert.

Then it was time to chill and try and put a dent in the massive collection of Bourbon that Michael had bought along.... left overs from Maree's party

And Kris tried his hand at egg nog.... with Lisa his trusty assistant at the ready

Michael thought it best to rest after the meal, to make room for egg nog I suppose :)

Unfortunately though... we didn't quite get the smooth consistency we were hoping for... not a bad first go though :)In all though an amazing night. Different to the other two when we've had a set 3 courses. This one sort of felt like we served the main meal and that was it... so it was all done and dusted a bit fast. The plan for Round 4 is Spanish and tapas should be good because its a meal where you can linger. Bring on the sangria!

Prawny prawny prawn town

2011-01-02T23:31:00.000-08:00

Prawns done 3 ways was a fun way for me to spend an afternoon. We started with the first course, which was sort of a prawn cocktail, served with mango and a lime, mint and avocado dip. It was pretty tasty.

Following this I tried my hand at tempura prawns - they weren't too bad - hot as! Then we finished with garlic prawns with a nice side of turkish bread. Even though I had only done 5 of each type for each of us, still very filling!
I had fun though, I like to experiment in the kitchen.
One of life's simple pleasures.

Cuddly Animals

2010-12-28T00:07:00.000-08:00

So not too long ago it was little lady Faith's third birthday. Faith is GG's niece and in her little princess frock she looked very much the part and GG and I headed to the Cuddly Animal Farm to sing Happy Birthday. Ahh the lovely GG bringing me a cup of coffee... he's a gem!
And here is the lovely Jess, GG's oldest niece.

And hey GG's new camera takes lovely pics.... I liked his one he took of me. A little bit casual :)

It was quite a nice morning, and I really wanted to take home a baby goat and a baby pig..... no joy on that front though, and despite standing in the shade I still maanged to come home a delightful shade of pink!

Pedicure it

2010-12-28T00:03:00.000-08:00

I'm addicted to Scoopon and Spreets and one of my latest buys was this two, two hour package thing from a beauty salon called Sparadise... and I got a facial and a pedicure in my first visit. I left work early and it was seriously a wonderful way to spend a Friday afternoon! And it was the first time I'd had a pedicure and it was nice to come home with some pretty tootsies - all red and painted lovely! Red like rubies!
Ta- dah!

Roof!!

2010-12-27T23:59:00.000-08:00

As it turns out, my GG is a renovation machine!! And a proud day in the construction of our patio was when we got the roof on. GG did it all and he is truly amazing and very talented! Oh happy day!
It really does look just unreal with a roof and standing underneath at the end of the day with the sunset all beautful - it was a moment

Cherry Season

2010-12-27T23:47:00.000-08:00

Close to Christmas also means that its cherry season and my fmaily was lucky this year, with my nana's tree having a super impressive crop. I scored this dish-full - I'm super spoiled!

Tis the Season

2010-12-05T01:12:00.000-08:00

I love decorating the Christmas tree and I wait as long as the first Friday of the month to spend some quality time putting it up, with all the lovely decorations. The sparkly ones are my favourites
And while I was busy decorating GG was trying out fancy settings on his new camera :)

So it's like I was in 3 places at once - amazing hey!

Merry Christmas to everyone x

Dining For Life

2010-12-05T00:50:00.000-08:00

I love to eat and all the more with my lovely man GG by my side. So when I heard about a fundraising function called Dine for Life I was keen. Basically at 13 of the lovely restaurants around town there were a table of 10 diners. And these were all lovely eateries. GG and I were given Bar One, which we hadn't been to together before so it was sure to be nice. The menu was super impressive, starting with the best carpaccio that i'd ever had!
Followed by a super tasty prawn and scallop risotto

Then for mains it was a cherry glazed duck leg and it was melt in your mouth amazing!!

The salad on the bottom was a perfect addition, nice and fresh and almost a little bitter which was a nice contrast with the sweet duck

The perfect end was beetroot icecream with gingerbread crumbles - such a great combination!

How I managed to fit a coffee in I had no idea! I was full to capacity, which amazingly delicious food!

Then after dinner we were driven to the surprise after party at Malt Supper Club - an inventive drink from Cocktail Gastronomy.... wasn't my favourite but it was fun.

It was a lovely venue, very trendy, but I didn't fancy being super wiped the next day so we tapped out about 10ish.... so we missed out on a goody bag, but I had a lovely time, would totally do it again!!

Here's cheers!

Tranby

2010-12-05T00:26:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be nice to spend some quality time one afternoon with my lovely mum, so we headed to Tranby House for their high tea. It was a whole bunch of food! The top tier was tasty pastries..........

Followed by scones with delicious strawberry jam and cream
And the bottom tier was finger sandwiches. The main shame here was that the bread was so dry!!

It did look the impressive spread though!

And they had beautiful tea cups, which was a nice touch

The teapots were lovely too, but unfortuantely they were molten hot.... seemed like quite the design flaw....

I started with the scones and they were pretty good!

After high tea, we went for a quick wander down by the river. Its a beautiful spot and i'm lucky to have been able to have grown up in the area.

Isn't my mum just gorgeous!

Maree's Surprise Party

2010-12-05T00:18:00.000-08:00

There are those special people in your life and given the opportunity you'd be happy to lend a hand to give them a night they'd remember. I got that chance for my good friend Maree. She turned 29 and I was on the planning team. It was a 1929'd theme party so with a gangster hat on GG and a flapper dress for me, we were set! Set to hit the kitchen that was. I had signed up to be resident caterer with the lovely Maree's mum, who was actually my primary school librarian, isn't that a strange coincidence! Worked out wonderfully! Maree is my best friend. And many people love her to bits, so lots were willing to help plan this fabulous surprise party for her. One of her friends makes cakes. Will you look at this amazing creation!
Other's helped with decorations and the plan of distraction and it worked, she had no idea! It was wonderful!

And after an epic 3 hour sesh in the kitchen, knocking out arranchini rice balls, pizza and curry boxes and chips and burgers and oysters done three ways.... it was tiring, sweaty, exhausting work but when I finally got outside I found my second wind and my dancin shoes.

It was a great crew of people and everyone got into the theme of things

Ready, aim, fire!

And here I am with the lovely birthday girl - she's a stunner!

In all it was an amazing night!

Nursery and UFC

2010-12-05T00:02:00.000-08:00

Maria might have sung about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens but a few of my favourite things are a Sunday morning at the Paddo, with a Toohey's 5 Seeds in hand, with GG and a few cousins near by as we watch the UFC. It was actually the first time Mark had come along, but I don't think he was disappointed. Was a decent card and plenty of fun. The best thing then was that my cousin Ryan who has a nursery down the road, recently opened up a cafe there so we wandered from the Paddo to the nursery for a bite of lunch.
Such a lovely day!

I started with this little strawberry mousse cake

Then GG and I shared this grilled mushroom dish - really tasty!

Wonderful wonderful Sunday!!

Chloe and Steve's

2010-12-04T23:48:00.000-08:00

So after dinner at Siderno's GG and I had an engagement party to go to. We figured no one would get there on time and that we could sort of blend in to the crowd. Apparently not though... as it turned out, Chloe and Steve were going for something a little different. More of a quiz night feel. It was fun and I had a good table.

My friend Kristen was there with her new little man, Dominic. She is such a wonderfully relaxed new mum. So calm and chilled. And look at the cute little booties that baby Dom is sporting!
I even got to have a cuddle!

And here's Kerryn and Tyrell

And here is my brother Dave and his lady, Amy. The rest of our table. And Chloe and Steve, cutting their impressive superhero cake

They are a lovely couple and they throw a really fun engagement party!

Siderno

2010-12-04T23:35:00.000-08:00

GG and my local Italian restaurant is Siderno. Just on Main Street in Ossie Park, so nice and close and tasty food. Plus they managed to squeeze us in on a busy Saturday night.

We started with their garlic bread, which is always delicious, and quite a generous serve. Then we were both sort of sleepy so for something different we had coffees with our dinner... instead of wine. There's a first time for everything I suppose.

Then I had a creamy veal dish, with a few prawns, which wasn't too bad, nice to have some salad on the side, given the sauce was pretty heavy.

And GG had steak. He loves his steak.

All in all they are fairly consistent with their meals - large serves, tasty sauces. I'd go back... in fact I probably will.

The tourist

2010-12-04T23:18:00.000-08:00

So back in early November I had a friend's brother stay with me. An American fellow, orginally from Michigan who was doing the world tour thing. So he put Perth on his list of places to go, given that his brother had spent a year studying here.

It was sort of an adjustment to have someone else sharing our abode, but we GG and I got there, plus Brian was the independent sort and didn't need a lot of handholding with his exploring, so that was a big plus.

He tried out Vegemite too, which was good - very important really.

And I took him down to Freo one day for a look, here we are at The Left Bank for lunch.Getting arty in Freo.... near the markets. Thanks to the random who leant Bri his smoke for this pic.Then on the weekend I drove him down to Yallingup.... possibly just to get rid of him for the weekend, but it's hard to say ;)

We drove through Busselton for a photo op of the pretty jetty. Wave tourist!Then after a quick stop at the tourist bureau in Dunsborough, Brian decided he wanted to stay in Yallingup so we pushed on and drove there. He couldn't understand how I could just drive there and turn around and leave, given how lovely the scenary is and all that, but I suppose I'd seen it before and knew I had a 4 hour return trip ahead of me. So I left him in the smallest little tent i've ever seen and headed home. I'm told that when he got home on Monday night, that he'd had a lovely time.

He left on the Thursday.

Choc-Chippin

2010-11-07T04:21:00.000-08:00

I found a really tasty recipe on line when I googled chewy chocolate chips and they didn't turn out half bad and I figured they would be a tasty snack for the tourist that was on the way to stay with me.

How good are chocolate bits!
They were pretty tasty - and chewy - score!

Nice new appliance

2010-11-07T04:17:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to get this beautiful Sunbeam mini-whiz thing off my family for my birthday and I thought I'd try it out and make some dip. Looking in the fridge - I had beetroot and fetta at the ready so decided to whiz it all together.

It wasn't too bad.... dip is a learning curve I figure, in terms of what to add to make it the best it can be - was still half decent with some fresh turkish bread though.

Cupcakin

2010-11-07T04:01:00.000-08:00

I also treated myself a few cupcakes.... ok 12.... but how amazing do they look! Kustom Cupcakes - hats off to them. Beautiful presentation
Doesn't it just look amazing!!

Here's a Snickers one....

This was the first one I had.... peppermint crisp, one of my favourite flavours

I do love cake!

Nom nom nom

And later on the weekend I had a red velvet cupcake

The lemon meringue one was pretty tasty too

My Birthday Dinner

2010-11-07T03:57:00.000-08:00

My birthday wasn't the best this year... a hard day, but when I got home my lovely GG had made me a special dinner. Starting with this super tasty beetroot salad, with walnuts and rocket - yum!

Next up was a super tasty lamb salad on pasta he had made fresh - am I spoiled or what!

It was served with roast capsicum and a lemony parsley - so nice - really enjoyed it!

Pa-pa-parity

2010-11-07T03:53:00.000-08:00

It was exciting sitting at work and seeing the AUD edge through parity. No longer te battler... strong, strong, strong!

Getting my Cinderella on with Prince Charming

2010-11-07T03:41:00.000-08:00

It is always be nice to frock up with your favourite man and head out for something special. My work sponsored a table at the Global Good Foundation Ball, so GG and I were all dolled up for our night at the Hyatt. Isn't my man so handsome in a suit.

Even got my hair done in curls - fun times at the hairdresser for an hour
We had a nice table and the entree was prawns - fairly tasty

I had the beef for mains

And GG had the fish

Dessert was pretty tasty - chocolate pudding and ice cream

Here I am with Alyce and Nath from work - a fun pair

And here are all the lads from work

Not a bad night - fun to dress up and dance and drink a glass or two of bubbles.