Dinner for six

Last night I had 2 couples over for dinner :D so I decided to test run some of the food I was going to cook on my 20th birthday

On the Menu:
- Maggie Beer's Chicken & Garlic
- Jamie Oliver's Roast chicken with mushroom stuffing
- Potato & sweet potato wedges
- Salad
- Steamed Asparagus

It was my first time stuffing things between meat and skin and it turned out really yummy!

I treated myself with a small candle & a new nail polish today after getting my two injections done for fieldwork this semester :P (i hate injections :'( haha) 

I have to wake up at 6am tomorrow for my first class this semester. I don't think I've woken up this early since the holidays begun! haha so I better go to bed. night x

Happy Happy Birthday :)

Happy 21st Birthday Krystal :)
As I have said many times last night your prom dress looks AMAZING :) and I wish I had the assets to fill them x)
Thank you for such an amazing night.
& most importantly being such a great friend to me. I will never forget all the fun times we shared esp. the Friday afternoon talks in my room :) & surf camp (when your assets go noticed by "someone" ;) hahahah)
You are one of the most bubbly person I know and don't stop shining! :)
You can always put a smile on everyone's faces :)
Love you girlie :)
x

Pleasures on a Rainy Day

Today has not been a top notch day. Though waking up to the sound of rain was quite soothing. For those of you in Sydney would know it has been dark and gloomy all day and it hasn't stopped raining since I woke up. 

Since there was really no point in going out in this weather I stayed home and window shopped online :P

I have a mad obsession with home ware, and these are definitely on the top of my want list

I know this isn't really homeware BUT after getting the mini version of it from the Daily Telegraph I can't help but notice all the yummy food that was in this amazing cook book. Definitely on my list to buy when I have extra money to spare :P.

Yes. it is a jar. BUT I've been wanting to find a nice jar to contain flour, and all other goods needed for baking and this one from Donna Hay is definitely one of my favourite looking ones

And mymy do I love Croc pots :) I just found this mixing bowl from Le Cruset and I'm already in love with it :) 

Teatowels. Oh how I love nicely patterned ones. I don't actually use nice ones for cleaning really I cover things with them or frame them making nice wall art. haha I'm weird like that. This one from Mozi is definitely wall art material x)
I don't really know why you need a Olive Oil Decanter, but this one just looks nice :P

One of my many guilty pleasures are smelling candles. Whenever I pass a candle store I have to drag my boyfriend in with me to smell candles. I'm pretty sure I've ruined his olfactory senses by now. But I LOVE good smelling candles and on this rainy and mood suppressing day I could not help browse through some of my favourites x)

Picture from Mozi. Can be purchased from Borders or Mozi's online store.

Pictures from Glasshouse. Sold in most nice furniture stores. I found them at Shack located in Chatswood Chase.

Pictures from Archipelago. These are sold in Kit Cosmetics, Myers.

After hours of staring into the computer and wishing I had saved up all the money I spent on useless things, I think I should go educate myself and continue reading my book and start preparing for uni next week :(. SO I will leave you all with one last find. Even though I'm not much of a nail polish horder (as I mainly stick dark solid colours) or frequent wearer. I found this O.P.I nail polish really intriguing

Must try it one day :)

xx

My holiday food adventures

After reading from my favourite food blogger :) I decided to try out these two cafes whom where captivating to me x)

Cafe ish :) I have been wanting to find a lamb sandwich as good as the one Tommy & I tasted in Laurent in Melbourne and I found one close to it :D here in cafe ish! :D Definitely will go there again! :D:D thanks stef for the photo upload x)

Bruschetteria 102 was somewhat a let down. Maybe because we didn't order something spectacular. The bread was amazing! though the one with the egg on it got kind of soggy. Our highlight was definitely the nutella chocolate & our mini bruschetta (which consisted of pancetta, buffalo mozzarella & chopped tomatoes). Not too bad I must say, though pricey for bread and toppings.

Anyhow, didn't go venturing out to many places as there are quite a few 21st coming up and I'm on a tight budget! :P

Will update soon! Might try bake this delicious looking Banana, Nutella & Cream Cheese Cake from always with butter :)

xx

1/2 way till uni starts again

It is now half way through my uni holidays & I've been very lazy to blog as I have been sick :( & since now I have a quite moment I thought I might just update on what I have been up to these past few weeks.

I recently went with a few friends of mine to the QVB tea room for high tea :) The food & tea was delicious of course. It was my first time going to high tea & everyone seemed so posh! Every thing was nice besides the passion fruit sandwich biscuit thing and the macron :(

I chose the vanilla tea because 1) I like vanilla & 2) I like sweet tea :) I heard high tea at the intercontinental is good too! Must try that some time! When I save up more $$, 'cus those finger sandwiches ain't cheap!

On a more budget conscious side. I made Jamie Oliver's "Crabmeat & Fennel Risotto" the other day. I used canned crab meat *ashamed* that's why it looks kinda fried rice -ish and why I added some peas to add some colour. Had that with some organic pumpkin soup I bought from the shop :) It was a nice warm & satisfying lunch & not to dear either.

"Crabmeat & Fennel Risotto" & Pumpkin 'n' ginger soup

Crabmeat - $4

Fennel - $2

Vegetable stock - $4

Abrorio rice & frozen peas - had at home

Pumpkin & Ginger soup - $5

Total - $15 for 2 people :)

On the fun side of things the first "outing" I went to when I got better was Mish's farewell :) Her mum made dessert for all of us and it was really really yummy! Mish I hope you have an awesome time on exchange in Germany! :) heheheh Take heaps of photos & I can't wait to hear the stories when you come back! :D

Today was a special day! Row came over for lunch and we made "Gnocchi Carbonara" from this month's delicious magazine! & Yes we made the gnocchi from scratch! :D Quite an achievement for us I must say! with Tommy being our very own roller! (Seen above)

Though the gnocchi didn't turn out as nicely shaped as we hope (it all started mushing together in the pan) Row saved the day by pan frying off all the ones that can be saved :D Next time we definitely have to try figure out what went wrong :P

Though the slight downfall, the final dish ended tasting pretty good! Pretty good for a first go I must say! Go team! x)

"Gnocchi Carbonara"

Pancetta - $4.55

Potatoes - $5.40

Thickened Cream x 2 - $6

Nutmeg - $2.5

Flour, frozen peas - had at home

Total - $18.45 for 3 people (with lots of left over gnocchi) $6.15pp!

I would tell you to make gnocchi at home if you have time! :P or you can just by gnocchi from the store :P but it is fun to experiment and try x)

I'm kinda excited for uni actually, but I'm always like this, in a studious mode when I'm on holidays and it goes away when uni start! Geez why can't it just linger on throughout the semester so I get motivated to constantly study and bring my grades up :P

Though this semester Tommy & I made a pact of no gaming, no sidereel, no youtube for the semester haha I wonder how long that would last!

xx