friends Archives - Page 6 of 10

Girls’ Day Out

August 16, 2008 / friends, Sydney Food / 2 Comments

Beverly has been telling us about this fabulous French cafe for a while, so I was more than happy to begin our shopping bonanza with hot chocolate and pastries. I’ve been to France a few times and am planning another trip, so it really got me into the “I’m going to France” groove. Which also reminds me that my lapse in practicing French has left my language skills as abysmal. Must refresh my memory before venturing the land of chocolate!

Back to the cafe, it’s called La Gerbe D’or and is in Paddington. Beverly knows the owner, a lovely French fellow, who recognised her and came over for a chat. The cafe was extremely busy, both with fellow diners inhaling gigantic amounts of hot chocolate, as well as locals popping in for exquisite pastries and baguettes.

Beverly points to the many items she is about to order.

This is not a distorted image. The bowl is as large as my head. We worked out it was about four cups worth, and only cost around $5. Bargain – and sickness-inducing.

Onion tart.

Mushroom quiche.

My late breakfast – so tasty and fluffy. It cost around $8, which I thought was a reasonable price.

Yes, another demonstration of how piggy we are.

Three girls, ready to pig out and buy lots of pretty things.

Lisa’s dessert.

Drinking my way into queasiness. It was so divine I just couldn’t stop. It was very sweet and light, but next time I will split it with someone.

In Alannah Hill I fell in love with this princess dress. I wasn’t exactly in the market for another dress, but what can you do when fate throws you the perfect frock?

After a day of trying on dresses, we adjourned back to the apartment for pizza gluttony from LCC. After boasting about the glory of LCC pizza, the girls insisted we all try it and decide once and for all if it is indeed the fairest pizza on the North Shore. The evening did not start auspiciously – the pizza took an hour to arrive. That is the standard delivery time for LCC and we’re used to it, but our guests were impatient for foooood.

Posing. Of course.

“Limpeted!”

Don’t know what was going on here. Beverly has “I’m cranky, feed me” face. And Chris has … I don’t know what to call that.

Finally! Food! LCC were good to us and threw in a large garlic and herb pizza and garlic bread.

Alec tries to save me from myself.

Chillin’. Ahhh pizza satisfaction!

Spellbound by the Wii.

Cuties with their toy ferrets.

Couldn’t resist throwing this one in. Too cute for words.

La Gerbe D’or
255 Glenmore Road
Paddington, NSW 2021

Sakura Japanese Kitchen

August 12, 2008 / friends, Sydney Food / 2 Comments

Shelley took me to Sakura Japanese Kitchen before we saw a movie last week. It’s a tiny little place that serves fast, tasty, cheap Japanese food. There were lots of Japanese people in there so I think it’s safe to say if it’s a hit with the locals then it’s more than good enough for us!

The service is fast and friendly and the food come out within 10 minutes of ordering. Shelley had rainbow rolls and prawn and vege tempora, and I had vegetables tempora and udon noodle soup. The noodles were super tasty, the soup was delicious and the veges were huge! I also thought the food was good value – it cost about $11 for my dish. We will be back!

Sakura Japanese Kitchen
Shop 325 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel. 02 9261 0711
Open seven days

LCC Pizza & Wii Night

August 3, 2008 / 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

August 2, 2008 / 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.

DinTaiFung

July 25, 2008 / 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

Bev & Chris’ Engagement Party

July 20, 2008 / friends / 2 Comments

The city is empty this weekend thanks to the pilgrims, so it was quite a surreal experience being at a bar on a Saturday night and to have no one around.

Bev hired a room at Cruise bar, so we had an amazing view of the harbour.

The happy couple.

“Excellent…”

Posers.

Goodnight!

Churros, Noodles & Panda

July 5, 2008 / friends, Sydney Food / 1 Comment

The release of Kung Fu Panda sparked excitement. Panda! Kung Fu! Together at last!

We gathered at San Churros for pre movie snacks. Hot and Cold Hot Chocolate, churros and a white hot chocolate … so basically sugar and milk I believe.

Yum yum yum … the best hot chocolate ever.

Chris: “What do you mean white chocolate isn’t actually chocolate?”

Churros with chocolate.

My fave – churros with caramel.

Lisa – times three Tokidokis.

“There can be more Tokidokis?”

Chocolate is not something to be laughing at.

After the movie we needed noodles. Badly. You need to watch the movie to understand why. We set off to our fave Vietnamese place in Chatswood – Golden Bo.

Tea!

Crazy food blogger.

Helpful pics on the menu.

Where are my noodles?

Panda! Kung Fu!

Mmmm raw bean sprouts.

Mystery herb – turned out to be mint.

Mmmm smells like crack!

Vege spring rolls.

Lisa needed dumplings AND noodles.

Alec gets the same thing every time – MORE spring rolls and noodles.

My flat noodles with soya and veges… YUM!

Noodle bliss.

More spring rolls – we ordered two lots and ate them all.

This was Chris’ – I have no idea what it is.

More food? Over THERE? No WAY!

Awesome movie, awesome night.

Dinner at Bev’s

July 4, 2008 / Animals, friends / 4 Comments

Bev and Chris invited us over for dinner – a traditional Singaporean dish I can’t remember the name of, but it was very tasty!

Bev fries eggs.

My chopped veges. Very neat, eh?

“Why don’t you guys lend a hand?”
“Everything here looks A-OK.”

Relaxed.

Veges cooking away.

Bev’s an awesome cook.

Lisa and I took a lot of photos while we were cooking. Industrious workers? Mmm maybe.

Noodles – cooked and ready to go in.

Stir stir stir! Bev is preparing my vege version on the left. Thanks Bev!

The tofu and chicken version.

Noodle-licious.

My delicious vege version ready to eat.

Bev’s adorable dessert forks.

Lisa made these pecan butter treats.

SMOTHERED with double cream.

A cook tasting her treats.

Yum yum yum.

Why are we such weirdos?

Ferrety fun!

T-rex ferret.

Ninja ferret!

iPhone Snapshots

June 29, 2008 / Animals, friends / 2 Comments

A few shots with the iPhone at Bev’s place playing with the ferrets.

“We can flyyyyyy!”

“Yum … 21 jams!”

“Oh, hai!”

Ready to pounce.

Engagement Celebrations

June 17, 2008 / friends / 2 Comments

Last Friday night we went over Beverly’s new place to celebrate her engagement to Chris. Beverly decided to make us pizza from scratch – supreme for everyone and vege special for me.

Ready to go in the oven.

Cooks hard at work.