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Food & Wine Festival

June 21, 2008 / Sydney Food / 2 Comments

Lisa and I decided to attend the Sydney Food & Wine Festival today to celebrate our mutual love of food and gluttony.

There were SO many people there it was just insane. We had to have a lot of patience, both with having to wait a while to get samples or buy anything and with the people in general. Events like this with freebies and great deals always bring out the absolute worst in human nature.

Highlights included the amazing deals up for offer in most of the booths. It was like extreme grocery shopping. Lowlights included the pushing, shoving and being run over by trolleys and prams as well as carrying around my loot after purchasing it!

Entry was $25 which I thought was a bit pricey, but we DID get a free wine glass to sample wine with and take home, as well as free samples from almost every booth. Lots and lots of fun!

The Lindt booth.

The dips Lisa was in love with.

Sweet potato dip.

Lisa eating butter chicken and spinach and lentil curries with rice.

We were Tokidoki twins.

Wine tasting booth.

Food bouquets.

Pepper and spice grinders.

Chockas!

Whisk & Pin – my favourite cereal.

This gluten-free cereal has sentimental value for me.

Free Dove samples.

My favourite pasta-makers were there.

Lisa and her sausage roll for lunch.

Self-portrait.

Lisa tries another dip.

This is a huge batch of raspberries being heated up to serve with pancakes. Yuuum.

Tasty!

Nutritional goodness.

Wine!

Heading home with heavy bags.

I *may* have purchased a few things.

OK, so here is my swag.

The deals I got were amazing!

Pasta pack – gnocci, two kinds of pasta, cannelloni, homemade sauce and freezer bag – $25
Lindt – 13 full-size blocks – $25
Apples – six – $6
Instant noodles – three – $1
Lemon ice tea – $1
Iams fod food samples – free
Cucumber & pine nuts dip – free
Salt & pepper grinders – $5
Olives – two jars – $5
Stir-fry sauce – two bottles – $5

Food Etc On Friday

June 20, 2008 / Sydney Food / 1 Comment

I had an exercise bonanza today – netball (we won! yay!) followed by a dance class with Kassie. On the way home I saw this on a round-about… Yes, what looks like a very expensive sports car underneath a huge concrete block …

I then met Alec to grab some chinese from Chatswood BBQ Kitchen. Alec had this new dish called Fook Kien Fried Rice and I had the usual.

Spring rolls – with meat unfortunately so only Alec could eat them. He said they were pretty good.

Edward Scissorhands

June 20, 2008 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

I was really keen to see this stage show but didn’t manage to get tickets. A work colleague of mine sold me his the day before the show as he was unable to make it – really tough for him, but fabulous news for Rosalie and myself.

I saw the movie a long time ago and didn’t remember much of it – the show was faithful to the movie from what I remember, but what resonated most with me was the beautiful, haunting music.

The show was created by Matthew Bourne, and was a strange hybrid of dancing and what could almost be described as mime … it was very successful however and incredibly entertaining. The actor who played Edward was fabulous – as was the whole cast actually.

I would strongly recommend this show for anything who isn’t a big fan of musicals or dance shows as well as people who are.

The Incredible Hulk

June 17, 2008 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

I hated the first Hulk movie. I watched it on TV and changed the channel. Alec, however, loves the Hulk, so off we went to watch the latest incarnation of the big green beast.

I was so pleasantly surprised to find that it was an enjoyable movie. Edward Norton is such a classy actor, so his performance alone was riveting. There was lots of action, a splattering of soul searching and a dash of true love – everything you want from a super hero movie.

Alec was stoked that there was a “Hulk … smash!” line that made the final cut, and I was happy to see that there are more super hero movies in the works!

Photography Class – Fashion?

June 12, 2008 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

Tonight’s class was how to shoot for fashion. The lighting set-ups were a lot of fun and really useful – I have so much to learn!

Our model wasn’t really a fashion model – or a model at all it turned out! She was a 5’2″ film student from France… Still, she was very obliging and tried her best to make 10 students happy 🙂

Here are the results of my attempt. I’m quite happy with the pics except that the background doesn’t look as white as it should – I will have to do some re-touching in my old friend Photoshop I think!

Pugs in Fashion

June 12, 2008 / Animals, Shopping / 1 Comment

I have a pug obsession. And a clothes obsession. Combine them and you get this photo shoot from Vogue Italia, by Steven Meisel and featuring Linda Evangelista.

SATC – The Movie

June 12, 2008 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

In the years since Sex & The City ended, I’ve watched all of the episodes many times over. I’ve been awaiting the return of these old friends for a long time!

I took some clients of mine to see the movie in Gold Glass for a treat – my first Gold Class experience. It’s pricey, but so worth it! The seats are like reclining lounge chairs and there is a lot of space between the chairs and rows so it almost feels like your own private theatre.

The movie itself was OK – not brilliant but enjoyable. It really was like catching up with old friends. I thought it could have been a lot wittier – they had a lot of jokes but they were cheap shots in my opinion. I also thought the over-riding themes of forgiveness were too strong. Miranda gets cheated on and Carrie gets left at the alter – but both are urged to forgive their partner. The feeling that was being portrayed was “you’re getting old, you have to compromise now” rather than feelings from their earlier episodes when they would have ditched the guys pronto.

I did however enjoy the movie in total and will watch it again. The clothes were great, Charlotte was fabulous and I always love seeing NY in movies.

Random Sydney

June 11, 2008 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

Just a few pics from the weird weather lately.

This one was driving in to work this morning. The fog right now is amazing. I can’t see out my office window.

Sunset yesterday – love the colours and light!

Cafe Sydney

June 11, 2008 / Sydney Food / 1 Comment

I love to eat. I am a fussy eater but I eat a lot of the few foods I love.

One of the benefits of my job is I now get to occasionally eat at restaurants that I would otherwise never be able to afford, such as Cafe Sydney at Circular Quay. They didn’t have much food catered to vegetarians, but I still managed to find plenty to scoff down.

Tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella, basil, aged balsamic and extra virgin olive oil.

Peppered wagyu carpaccio, truss cherry tomatoes, olives , baby capers, pecorino, horseradish and lemon dressing.

Seared scallops, mushroom and pancettea tart with a green pea sauce.

Zucchini flowers with gorgonzola and ricotta filling, tomatoes and olives.

Grilled tuna with salt cod brandade filled zucchini flower, kipfler potatoes, peas and salsa verde.

Mashed potato and steamed greens.

Roasted lamb rack with confit shoulder, jerusalem artichoke and jus.

Bitter chocolate ganache tart with honeycomb iced parfait . DELICIOUS!

Strawberry and vanilla trifle with moscato and meringue sticks.

Chocolate pudding.

View from our table.

Even on a cloudy day the view is amazing.

Blue Mountains Offsite

June 11, 2008 / Sydney Life / 0 comment

I spent two days in the Blue Mountains on a work offsite. We stayed at the Old Leura Dairy – a pretty cool place! It’s been completely renovated and is a really quirky, unique place to stay with either a loved one of a group.

The dining room table set up for morning tea.

Fireplace – definitely needed in winter!