Adventure, baby!

Sydney

LCC Pizza & Wii Night

/ friends, Sydney Food / 0 comment

LCC is out staple pizza delivery place in Artarmon. I always order the same thing – bocconcini, tomato and basil, but it’s such a winning combination I never have the urge to order anything else.

The store front – it’s super tiny.


Delectable menu.


Matt hangs out.


The elder Cooper brother looks mightily red here.


Waiting in the cold. It would be awesome if LCC invested in some outdoor heaters in winter.


Our stack of delicious pizza ready to be inhaled.


Alec praises the lord that his pizza is here at last.


Alec ordered a Mediterranean pizza this time – not a touch on the usual but still good.


Matt models his b’day present from Aya.


Alec is so hungry he eats where he stands.


Trying to mute me with the Wii.


Post pizza carb overload.


Working off the pizza with Wii bowling.



And Wii baseball.


I was just taking photos here to see what faces Alec was pulling. He never disappoints.







Pulling a face of my own with Aya.


With Aya and her new flatmate Marianne.


Home time! Good bye!

LCC Gourmet Pizza
Shop 4, 1 Wilkes Ave
Artarmon NSW 2064
Phone: 02 9412 4411

High Tea At The Queen Victoria Building

/ Family, friends, Sydney Food / 2 Comments

I’m a bit freaked out about having my last 20-something birthday next week. I thought I would try and celebrate it as much as possible to hopefully leave me less freaked and more excited …

I’ve been wanting to try high tea for a long time, so Beverly suggested we go for my birthday and helped me selected the perfect venue – the QVB Tearoom.

The Tearoom is situated at the top of the old QVB. I’ve been visiting the QVB all my life and never realised it was even there.

Entering the Tearoom is like taking a journey back in time to a more elegant era. The decor is amazing – beautiful plush seats, chandeliers and very smartly dressed waiters with white gloves.

View of the shops below.

Lisa decides what she’ll have.


The Tearoom area – high ceilings with lots of natural light.


Prince Albert china.


Silverware! I felt so refined …


Alec is humouring me here.


So many nice things to order!


Pretty!


“Tea?”


Lisa ordered the gluten-free platter.




Shelley, Rosalie and I shared this arrangement of goodness.


Tomato and avocado sandwiches for me, tuna and chicken for the girls.


Sweeties!


Delicious scones.



This spinach and cheese thing was divine.


I ordered English breakfast – not very original but I love it.


Fresh scone – crunchy on the outside and not too doughy on the inside.


Smothered with rich jam and cream.



Pistachio meringue – deliciously light.



Cheesy thing – it was a bit over-powering for me, but everyone else loved them.


Passionfruit cream on a biscuit base. Delicious!


Little chocolate square.


Strawberry cup.


Nom nom nom-ing.


“Cheese?”


Inhaled!


“Tea?”


Very refined … where is my pinky, dammit?


Stuffed!




“Hmmm, I shall ponder it.”


“No, we’re not talking anymore.”


“She said she would be right back!”



Bev looks so stylish!

The Tearoom
Lvl 3, north end QVB
455 George St, Sydney
Ph: 02 9243 7279

Make sure to call plenty in advance for a good time slot.

Regular high tea or gluten-free high tea costs $30pp, plus 10% surcharge on weekends.

Skechers Awesomeness

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I have a Skechers fetish. They are my favourite casual sneakers because:
1. They’re super comfy and are great for trekking all over the world.
2. They fit my ugly orthotics in them perfectly! My podatrist would be so proud of me for choosing such sensible shoes (Last time I went to see him I wore black flimsy ballet flats – he was not amused).

I found a Skechers store at the DFO factory outlets at Homebush. I bought two pairs for $79 and $69 each. I will keep the tan and blue ones till my current black ones wear out, and wear the pretty taupe and pink lace ones to work. Bliss for my feet when compared to the high-heeled MJs I bought recently. I am excited to wear the taupe and pink ones when I need foot rehab days at work. I also love that I can wear sneakers to work. I think it is the standard by which I judge whether I can work in a company. Can I wear sneakers? Nope – then I’m outta there.


Chunky Vegetable Minestrone

/ Sydney Food, Sydney Life / 1 Comment

One of my favourite winter dishes is the minestrone my dad makes for me. Now I’m fending for myself, I have decided to try to make it for myself.

I found this recipe in the newspaper, but modified it slightly (OK, I modified it a lot). Anything with a “*” next to it is my modification.

1 onion, diced
1 leek, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped (I left this out as I hate celery)
2 large carrots, diced
1 red capsicum, diced (I only added half of this)
1 yellow capsicum, diced (I only added half of this)
*4 small white potatoes, diced
*Macaroni pasta
400g tin of crushed tomatoes
400g tin of cannellini beans or chickpeas, drained (I used mixed beans)
80g peas (I used frozen and they were fine)
1 litre low-salt vegetable stock or water
Handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley (I left this out)

Saute the onion , leek and garlic in a large saucepan with a little water until soft. Add the celery, carrot, potato and cook for about 5 – 10 min. I added more water to stop it burning on the bottom. Add the tomato, beans, capsicum, peas and stock. Simmer for about 30 mins. Cook the pasta separately or add in when there is about 10 minutes left to go. Soup is ready when veges are soft. Potato takes a while to cook. Season with black pepper and fold through parsley just before serving.

One very tasty vegan recipe!

All in one pot.

Adding in the pasta.

Ready!

Nice Little Things

/ Shopping, Sydney Food / 0 comment

I had a sparkly day on Friday and thought I would document it!

These cute shoes I bought at Nine West a long time ago but I rarely wear them.

The “twinkle” tee I bought on sale from Peter Alexander. It’s super soft and comfy. I love it!

Sparkly pin for Daffodil Day – money goes to the Cancer Council.

Cute pink case for my iPhone that Alec bought me – deliberately not leather, what a sweetie.

Chocolates Alec brought me from Haighs – just because. 🙂 He’s such a sweetheart, thank you Alec!

New Tokidoki Prints!

/ Shopping / 1 Comment

OK, so maybe I have a problem. I saw these new Tokidoki bags available for pre-order, and I’m trying to work out if I really need (OK, want!) another one … or two! I like the black bags cos they’re so functional and don’t show the dirt, but I love the printed ones just cos they’re so damn cute!

The two new prints available soon are Carnival and Mezzanotte. I like the Mezzanotte in the styles below:

From Karmaloop, Graziosa Small Messenger (I have this in another print and I use it all the time).

Creativa Large Messenger


Tobi has the Carnvial Sorriso bag which is a similar style again to the ones I currently have.

The new Adios keychain that comes with each bag. So cute!

What’s tough is they are also releasing two other prints this year that I really love, so I am thinking of getting them as well! I am considering buying Carnival one as an investment piece as all of the others have had high resale value, but I need to look into if they are limited edition first.

DinTaiFung

/ friends, Sydney Food / 2 Comments

Several work colleagues have been raving about the DinTaiFung dumpling house for weeks and I finally organised to go with a few friends.

Lisa got there first and was lovely enough to line up while the rest of got ourselves there. It’s super popular and Lisa had to line up for about 30 mins. By the time we got there Lisa was at the front of the queue and we didn’t have long to wait – thanks so much Lise!

While we were waiting to get out table, the staff gave us the entire menu on a tiny form so we could order in advance. We also were given a huge menus with pictures on them – very helpful for first timers like me to know what to order!

The queue out the front.


Happy diners inside.


Poring over the menus. Too many choices!


Boys socialise. And Alec pulls a face.


We’ll take one of everything!


Lego-tastic!


So much fun it’s all a blur!


Pretty pictures in the menu.


Awww.


Nice condiments. Umm … what are they?


Some vege combination of mushrooms, seaweed and beansprouts.


Directions for newbs on how to eat dumplings without making a fool of yourself. Very helpful!


Packed!


Silken tofu topped with Pork Floss and Century Egg.


Spinach in garlic. Very tasty!


Lesson on how to eat dumplings.


Pork with fried rice.


Pork and prawn dumplings I think.


Pork and shrimp dumplings.


Food shoveling begins! The food comes out ultra fast and we literally shoveled to get it all in while it was hot. It was also very tasty so it was hard to not keep shoving it in! I keep saying shoveling … hmmm.


Lone vege dumpling for me – filled with mushrooms and green veges. It was a thick, breaded dumpling. I just couldn’t eat it all, it was so big!


My vege fried rice. It was my fave dish and was so light and fluffy I could have kept eating it all night.


The inside of the huge vege dumpling.


I have no idea what’s in this. Pork perhaps?


My vege version – also filled with more mushroom and green things. Very light and tasty. Even the non-veges liked them.


Extreme close-up!


Roar!


Sweet!


Halo!


Smile!


Being a weirdo. I think I started doing this in Japan. I am so easily influenced by those around me!


More posing.


No idea what Alec is doing here.


Group shot taken by the waiters. Happy diners! The service was amazing btw. Very smily faces and fast service.


Dessert – cookies and cream ice-cream, Asian-style. Interesting! The others laughed at me for being such a “whitey” and ordering this, and it was pretty average to be honest!


Golden taro bread. The bread bit was tasty but the rest was pretty average.


Poor Alec, I couldn’t stop taking photos!


Red bean dumplings. The inside was nice but would have been nicer in the bread that the Golden Taros was in.


Black sesame. Not to my taste at all, but very entertaining to watch Lisa try to cut with her chop sticks!




Bev tries to fit Chris’ entire hand in her mouth. Good party trick!


Modelling my new coat from the Alannah Hill 50% off sale.


Ohhh watch the little men make dumplings! I felt sorry for these guys being on display for everyone to watch them work.


Busy workers.



Chris loves pink.


I don’t know what’s going on here.


Or here …


Yes, posing again.


And again! This time in height order so I don’t look like such a giant.


Good men-folk.


Alec touches the scale on the symbolic dragon. Aparently it’s sharp!


This is the rest of the “dragon”.


Walking down to George St.


On the train coming home – Chris and Bev open their present, and play with the ribbon as they do so. Uber-cute couple.


“Oh hai!”


Bev is detained.


Excited faces opening their gift.


“Pointy!”

Lisa and I and our Tokidoki bags… Do we have a problem?


Home time!

DinTaiFung
Shop 11.04, World Square Shopping Centre,
644 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
TEL: +61 2 9264 6010

Random Food Shots

/ Sydney Food / 1 Comment

Just a few tasty things I’ve eaten in the past week.

These delicious shortbread heart biscuits were served at work.

Close-up of glittery cupcake from the RSPCA ball. It was amazing! Really fresh and light, not too sugary.



Churros! I never get sick of these. They gave us so much caramel with these it made us feel ill.


RSPCA Paws For Celebration Ball

/ Sydney Life / 1 Comment

Last night was the 2008 RSPCA Paws For Celebration Ball, held at Star City Casino. I try to go every year because they are my favourite charity.

The theme this year was “The Musical”, so the entertainment was all based on musicals like Chicago and Hairspray – right up my alley!

I loved the cute little cupcakes they placed on all the tables for us to take home – and to remind us about Cupcake Day in August (I’ve already registered my work place – now I had better get organised!).



Cupcake tower!


Donating money to play a trivia game.



The food was pretty average but the dessert more than made up for it.




“Blue steel” look.


Showing off our dresses.


Kae in a bevy of girls.


The weird horse lamp outside Astral bar.

The Dark Knight

/ Sydney Life / 0 comment

I was devastated when Heath Ledger died and have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a long time. I loved Batman Begins and was keen to see if the follow-up would be as good.

We decided to see the movie at Imax right in the middle of youth week. Not the best choice ever, but it was worth it! We did have to line up for a while to get in which was annoying. I don’t understand why iMax doesn’t sell numbered seats!

Back to the movie, Heath Ledger was undeniably amazing. He was such a cruel villain that he scared me and I had to look away several times. The movie is even darker than the first one and doesn’t leave the ending looking very positive for the future, it felt more realistic, if you can say that about a superhero movie.

Lots of people in line.

More people in line behind us!

Why hello there!

Ready for launch!