waffle

balanced?

2007-07-22T22:36:00.000+10:00

Yeha just noticed how long it's been between posts. That's because I'm busy training - you can read my training blog for an update (if you dont know the link them email and ask me...it's all 'secret squirrel')- and also beceause I've become a FACEBOOK WHORE. Yeah look me up...

This weekend was jam packed with fun - it convinced me that I'm still leading a balanced life sort of and not the insane feeling of having your life run away from you.

A combination of training (2 excellent DB training sessions), socialising (catching up with the girls and seeing jpeg for at least a few hours), eating (baking pineapple pie, home cooked meals and 'About Life') and cultural activities (watched '25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee', the Bledisloe Cup, and went partying at a really cool club in Kings Cross which reminded me of being at a random houseparty!)makes for one tired but happy girl :D

Banned substances alert!

2007-06-06T23:45:00.000+10:00

Big Dave has dictated that certain foods are no longer 'Sydney07 Compliant' which foods that will not make us win a GOLD MEDAL at the world championships in september. The list includes
- chocolate ( dark variety is okay in small amounts ON sundays),
- foods that are high in fat (such as all junk food and bacon and scrambled eggs with cream and butter)
- foods which are high GI value, and high in sugar (which is basically anything that tastes good including pumpkin soup)
and of course BAKED GOODS (which is of course a combination of all things non-compliant).

Which leads me to the topic at hand.... Today I found out that CINNABON has a store in Melbourne, but not in Melbourne city..in Fountain Gate shopping centre which is where Kath and Kim shop.

I've never had a real cinnabon before - they're basically cinnamon rolls with cream cheese topping from The States. Maureena and Red Ginger swear they are delicious...I've yet to try it but am almost contemplating going to Melbourne for the trip (oh and the shopping too). It's almost beginning to sound like the quest for the now not-so-elusive Beard Papa Cream Puff!

Of course I suppose I'll have to wait til after September to go and try one....

Tart for a Tart

2007-05-28T22:57:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago my cousins, Ben and Ed, brought over a bag of home grown mandarins - i'd love to say they were sweet juicy organic jewels of flavour sensation, except they were dry and sour and they were sitting there about to go mouldy. haha

So what to do with a bunch of mandarins that aren't fit to eat? I was thinking of making jam but that might require me to sterilise jars and take much more time and effort than I was willing to invest on a sunday morning, so I decided to take the easy option - mandarin curd. It was the first time I made it - I used a recipe for lemon curd from the Bill Granger recipe book that my cousins gave me for my bday (yay), except the mixture wasn't thickening and I ended up doubling the batch thinking it was some juice to egg to butter ratio. In the end I consulted Nigella's domestic goddess turns out I didn't have enough heat. I love her cookbooks!

Baked some left over pastry, spooned on the curd and it was great. I also ended up using 10 egg yolks and so had to make a double batch of lemon friands to use the left over egg whites. It was a baked goods daily double...not so good for the 'lean mean paddling machine' diet though.

brunch at Kazbah

2007-05-21T22:38:00.000+10:00

It's my birthday - Let the feasting begin! Sat morning breakfast feast at Kazbah in Balmain with friends and lovers...

Update

2007-05-08T23:57:00.000+10:00

So most of you know i'm pretty blind - i've worn glasses since I was in year 7 when my science teacher Ms Ratcliffe (affectionately referred to as Ratty) pulled me out of class to demand that I should stop squinting at the blackboard and go to the optometrist. ah the joys. Next thursday I'm finally biting the bullet - I'm getting Lasik eye surgery and i'm hoping I will be able to jump out of bed without first having to search for my glasses and jump into the water without having to scrunch my eyes shut worrying that my contacts will float away....I will miss my funky purple glasses though - I often get mistaken for a doctor when i wear them HA HA (okay I also work in Kogarah where most people either work for St George Bank or for the Hospital so it's not that unbelievable!)

I'm thinking of doing a photographic homage to my life with glasses...but the photos would be so dorky i dont think I could bear it hahaha (exercising my right to self-censorship!)

Marley's first birthday

2007-05-08T00:06:00.000+10:00

On the weekend we went to Jpeg's cousin's son's first birthday party. And in true Rotuman island style it was a BBQ with a whole big bunch of family and friends and lots of food. We got to watch 20 kids try to whack the crap out of the hardest pinata we have ever seen haha. There's something so enjoyable about watching kids hyped up on lollies and soft drink and giving them a big stick and yelling at them to HIT IT HARDER...especially when they're not your kids and you don't have to take them home. haha.

This is the birthday boy, Marley wearing a traditional 'te-fui' necklace lei ...with his mum and dad. I think he was abit overwhelmed by all the attention.

These are the snags on the barbie...

...and this is the can of cow on the barbie.

I wasn't joking - it's a can of CORNED BEEF. And that's how they cook it - on the barbie in the can. If they were using the traditional underground oven (lovo) they just shove the can ontop of the hot ashes. I think it's just to warm up the fat so that it's not solidified when they open the can up.

That's my culinary tip for all you folks for this week! hehe.

Personally i can't stand canned corned beef. I dont mind the silverside variety, but just not the shredded beef bits, it just reminds me too much of dog food! But Jpeg LOVES it and apparently all 'true' pacific islanders love it too!

HAPPY bIRTHDAY MARLEY!

What about Brian?

2007-05-01T20:00:00.000+10:00

A pics from Brian and Irene's gorgeous wedding...

whoa...EXTREME!

2007-04-30T17:20:00.000+10:00

On Saturday I got to play substitute Adventure Racer for Lady Malia in the 'Flipside Wahines' team - we went up north to East Lake Macquarie and attempted the final AROC adventure race . I say 'attempted' because we didn't actually finish it, but after 4 hours I thought it was still a pretty good effort. (the cut off time was 6 hours) we cut the race short and headed straight to the finish line to hang out and pretend we finished with all the more experienced racers hehe! The race consisted of 9km on foot, 20km on your mountain bike and 3.5km kayaking. We never got to the kayaking bit, but the mountain biking was great - caked in mud the whole way, and the coastal leg required us to jump and swim fully geared into the ocean, rock pools and scramble up rocks to get out. I ended up with some great bruises but not nearly as bad as Voodoo who did a great stack on her bike that i witnessed infront of me. I also stacked it off my bike and off one of the rocks trying to get out of the ocean!

We didn't have any time to take pictures, but there are definately a few of me and mel at the race briefing - links to come later. Thanks to Mel and Maureen for making my first adventure race so much fun!

See you at the World Champs in...Penrith

2007-04-30T17:14:00.000+10:00

Hello - good news is that I made it into the Australian DB Team for the World Championships this year, which will be held at Penrith in Sept. So I'm hoping to see all of you Sydney based people there to cheer us on when we win our medals!!!

Err...gotta get through 4 months of hard slog training though! At least it will mean I will tone up and lose some of this 'good living' gut!

Congrats to all my peeps who made it in!

Sydney Easter Show 07

2007-04-16T01:03:00.000+10:00

Hello..sorry for no updates, been busy racing and relaxing. Thanks to those of you who left comments on last post - I'm feeling the LOVE and spreading it around :)

On Good Friday I went to the Easter Show with some friends - I haven't been to The Show in a long time. I think i've only been once since they moved to the homebush show ground. It was a great day - so much to see and do and eat (cheese on a stick? fairy floss? german sausages? waffles? oh the decisions!). We started at 9am and didnt leave until 11pm coz we also watched the Rugby League Game that was part of the ticket deal.

9AM: Cat Show - Shar wanted to see the cat show , we saw some burman kittens being judged and some had ridiculous faces on them...

10AM: Dog Show
We saw a dog obedience judging, and walked around the dog breeders stalls. Shar and I bought a super cool animal hair removing comb - i use it on my carpet to pick my own hair up haha.

10.30AM: Flower Show - I love Dahlias and succulents and they both happened to be on show the day we went!

11AM: Arts Show! - the cake decorating is always my favourite - check out giant sushi and love the kitschy old school decorating too.

12Pm: Xtreme Korruption! We saw Lady Cannonball and motor cross madness... fully sik bro.

1PM: Poultry. I loved the chickens for some strange reason...some of them were bizarre..These hens have gorgeous feathers that for some reason make me want to break out in that 'See My Vest' song sung by Mr. Burns from The Simpsons...hmmm....

2PM: Tiny Rina! The Smallest Belly Dancer....she was tiny but we couldnt take pictures of her. This is the Princess Popcorn out the front.

3PM: Wood Chopping Action - we watched the big men in white pants chop wood with big axes. They looked like real VB men....sooo manly with beer guts..

And after that I didn't take that many pictures (except for some reason alot of the chickens and then my batteries ran out ha ha) So that's it for my pics but the others have pics! We also went to buy show bags, checked out the farm animals - no ducklings down the slippery dip! what's up with THAT! we saw a whole bunch of piglets though! And then we watched the dogs vs rabbitohs game (dogs won by a mile much to Mars' dismay).

You know when summer is really over when...

2007-03-27T21:46:00.000+10:00

the coconut oil has solidified and you have to wear thermals to paddling!

PS. Today something terrible happened near my work. Rita and I usually loiter around the newsagency (to check out the latest interior design mags) and then we go next door to Gloria Jeans for coffee at around 11am. This morning Rita had a meeting and we didn't make it for coffee. It wasn't until 12 noon that we heard about the accident that occurred at 11.10am right on the corner where the newsagency and the coffee shop are. Everyone was in shock at work and we hope everyone makes it through okay (a 20 y.o woman passed away this arvo). It makes me want to hug everyone I love and be grateful just to be alive!

Jpeg's 30th Bday!

2007-03-25T19:45:00.000+10:00

Jpeg's 30th Bday was on friday. To celebrate he had a little party at Red Room at Hotel Chambers in the city. They play old skool RnB on saturday nights and it was packed. The crowd was the very best mix of skanky hos, ballers, JT wannabes and big islanders plus a dragonboat team or two thrown into the mix. We all had fun!

Photos of Citychase and BBQ

2007-03-25T19:03:00.000+10:00

Part 1. The Race

Here's some pics of the CityChase adventure race we did two weekends ago on Maureen's Bday. We started and ended the day at Luna Park - the race took us to the PM's Place. The link to our picture with the PM in front of his place.

Then it was off to eat worms! The pic above left is the bucket of dirt filled with worms that we had to pick through. The challenge: complete a sudoku puzzle or eat two live worms each. We chose the latter because it would be alot faster more fun - how often do you get to eat live worms! And even though Mo is vego she doesn't draw the line at worms haha(especially if they are in tequila).

We caught the train to Bondi Junction for some texas hold 'em poker and a little scavenger hunt (lucky Mo has a tattoo there!) and on the bus to Centennial Park for a Biggest Loser style boot camp session (minus the biggest losers) and some Strip Cricket!

Then we were back in town at Circular Quay in the Minus 5 bar eating icecubes without eskimo jackets! Then over to the MCA to make a balloon dog to sell for charity, ran down George St tied up as a four legged group and that's me (above right) Pole Dancing in Jackson's on George (I never thought I'd pole dance looking so feral haha)

Then it was over to Observatory Hill for a quiz and we ran over the Harbour Bridge to get back to the finish line Yay!!!

It was a brilliant day except for the humidity - my face was beetroot red after the first 5 minutes and stayed that way until the very end! Maureen on the other hand looked fine (funny that!) We celebrated our finish with hot chips, beer and a massage on a vibrating machine back at Luna Park!

Here's the official link with a little video clip of the Channel9 news item. My friend Cheech even made it into the clip -"brain freeze!" hahah love it!

Part 2. The BBQ

We had a little bbq on sunday to celebrate Maureen's Bday and also as an excuse to get Chef Robbie to cook for all of us!

Digging into the chow! Magoo gives us 'Blue Steel'

Tart for a Tart! Chef Robbies show us his skewers

Big Dave. Prawn Skewers

Weekend Update

2007-03-19T16:47:00.000+11:00

I'm sick at home. This is the third day I've taken a half sick day. I should've taken a whole day off on thursday and I reckon I would have been better by now. Instead i guilted myself into feeling 'okay' and went into work on thursday and friday but ended up leaving at lunchtime on both occasions. and then went and pushed myself to the limit on saturday doing the City Chase Adventure Race (which will be featured in a later entry) and squad training.

On sunday I was feeling better, but this morning I woke up feeling very ordinary. But I still went to work and I didn't last again. Should have saved myself the hassle of getting ready to go to work (I even blowdried my hair this morning which never ever happens)! I blame the guy over the partition who bought his cough back from NZ last week. Anyhow I'm hoping abit of serious rest will make me feel better soon! HT thinks I might have legionnaires' disease . har.

BTW Too lazy to write about it anymore so here are the rest of the pics of our Tassie Trip last month.

Weekend update

2007-03-13T23:00:00.000+11:00

Very G.C! The Gold Coast Cup is done! We came 4th out of 4th in the mixed category but only 1 minute behind 3rd - it was a close race all the way and we crossed the line in 3 hours 14 minutes which is pretty fast considering we paddled 44kms! The weather was Queensland perfect, and we saw sea turtles and dolphins (who needs to go to sea world!)

Photos to be uploaded later!

News Flash!

2007-03-07T22:24:00.000+11:00

Voodoo and I have put in our entry for the City Chase Adventure Race in the city next weekend! It should be fun and a big day, considering it's a world wide event and looks like some 'pro' adventure racing teams will be competing! The prize is a trip to compete in an international final of the city chase series.. I'm just hoping we finish in time for Squad training at 3.45pm (yes 'State Coach' you read correctly). Should be a whole heap of fun - Flipside are GO!

This weekend I'm also going up to the Gold Coast to do a 44km changes race at the Gold Coast Cup ! Yay for cheap domestic airfares. We're staying at the Sea World Nara Resort. The last time I stayed there was in 1988 when i went with my dad to a dragonboat race and actually sat in row 10 to make up the numbers (probably the last time I sit in row 10 coz good luck fitting in there now!)...and I remember they were filming an episode of E-Street with Marcus Graham and Alyssa Jane Cook. (but i digress!). After the big race on Saturday I'm hoping to chill out on the beach if it's good weather!

Tassie Trip Day 1.

2007-02-28T18:29:00.000+11:00

Ahhhhh....The start of our 4 day short break to Tassie.

We left Sydney for the rain clouds and arrived in Launceston late at night. After a quick bite to eat at one of the late night (err only about 11pm) pizza joints in town, we drove to our apartments in the Tamar Valley, Rosevears Estate Vineyard. The dude at the car rental place warned us to look out for the wildlife, we kind of thought he was joking until we spotted about 10 wallabies while we drove up through the vineyard. The next morning Jpeg and I walked around the vineyard that was scattered in poo - I guess they dont have to worry about fertilising so much.

Head in the clouds and the View that greeted up the next morning from our bed!

Jpeg doing his air jordan jump and me looking like oompa lompa!

The Swiss Village known as 'Grindelwald', a kitschy little swiss style village that reminded me of 'Duloc' in Shrek. And a glass of the excellent Pipers Brook Pinot Noir at Strathlynn.

After breakfast at an 'authentic' Swiss Village down the road, we had lunch at Daniel Alps at Strathlynn at the Ninth Island Vineyard which was just down the road from where we were staying and had a beautiful setting. We ate outside under the shade of a large tree with a views of the river. The food was divine!

The al fresco setting and the vineyard platter.

For starters, we shared the vineyard platter with lamb, cheeses and roasted veges. Nat loved the Heidi Tilsit cheese which was described as 'moist creamy texture with strong swiss cheese flaours'. I preferred the Lactos Heritage Red Square - wash rind cheese with creamy centre.

The venison and the fish

For the mains, Syl had the Spring Bay scallops with leek, thyme butter and pine nut gratin.
Ben had the fish with warm cucumber, spring onion and chilli salad. They were both practising lent, so the rest of us automatically ordered the meat to tempt them with our bloody meat (haha).

Jpeg and HT had the oven roasted Springfield venison with Huon Valley mushrooms, and silver beet. Jpeg had never tasted venison before and is now a convert (watch out bambi!) - infact he ate everything off his plate including the silverbeet which I have never seen before!

Nat and I had Flinders Island lamb rump with baby carrots, parsnips and glazed shallots. The lamp was delicious though tasted abit fatty in comparison to the leaness of the venison.

For dessert - Syl had the white chocolate mousse tart with organic strawberries. I finished off the soft centre Callebaut chocolate pudding with icecream and king island double cream, it was so thick and delish! The boys had blackcurrant semifreddo which was very..fruity.

HT's face vs. Nat's purse (which is pinker?) and the chocolate pudding *drool* (i ate all the king island cream)

Ben with a glass of sticky wine, the semifreddo and a hongki pose. The boys in downtown Beaconsfield.

Afterwards, we took our family van the Tarago around the valley and sampled some Straits vodka and gin which was very good, and stopped by in Beaconsfield. The boys went to the pub for a beer and all the locals in the pub stopped to stare at them as they walked in, even the guy who was playing the guitar. ha ha.

Straits Vodka (next to Seahorse World) and the boys helping to park the Tarago

After an off road adventure that included a drive over Batman Bridge (i kid you not and it looks nothing like a bat!), we went running through the strawberry fields at Hillwood Strawberry Farm to find the biggest and ripest strawberry. There's a fine line between really ripe and rotten and by that arvo most of the strawberries were borderline! After a big food coma nap we walked along the boardwalk in Launceston hoping to find a decent restaurant to dine in only to be rejected by each and everyone! FULL! It was only 8.30pm but all the kitchens closed at 9pm and they weren't letting us in! Eventually we found a pub that had a decent kitchen and ate pub food as predicted by Ben's draft itinerary which read something like this "gourmet lunch, casual pub meal, decent lunch, gourmet dinner etc etc".

The Strawberries we picked at the Hillwood Strawberry Farm

HT helps out (NOT) and the contest for the biggest reddest strawberry.

The strawberries and the pail of chips at the Star Hotel

Phew that's it for Day 1. Sorry it took so long!

peppermint lounge

2007-02-14T23:06:00.000+11:00

My girlfriends and I love catching up at The Peppermint Lounge in Potts Point (really it's Kings Cross) on a friday night for 2-4-1 cocktails. It's never packed, it's funky, the cocktails are great and the bartenders are kinda cute and if you ask nicely the security guard might even order pizza from down the road for you. So imagine my surprise when I read this in the news. Maybe we should consider going on a saturday night!

Wedding Action

2007-02-06T00:01:00.000+11:00

Last Friday, Tif's cousin Simone married Paul. It was a colourful and fun wedding which included a stretch Ford 4WD - almost as big as a stretch hummer, and a pimp-tastic Groom's party, as well as a traditional Rotuman wedding ceremony. The festivities continued for the rest of the weekend!

The colourful wedding

The pimp-tastic groom's party infront of the stretch ford that fit 14 people. Alex (second from the left) is 6'3 to give you an idea how big the car was!

The traditional wedding ceremony

The giant present!

Flamenco, Fried Icecream, Fat baby and Flaming Cockatoos

2007-02-05T23:32:00.000+11:00

F is for Flamenco.
Two weeks ago, Voodoo scored free tix to see the famous flamenco dancer Eva Y at the Opera House. The performance was excellent except that we couldn't see their feet stomping as we were in the front row, but I imagined that the stomping was great haha. We stomped all the way home to the car.

F is for Fried Icecream

Ben gives his thumbs up for the fried icecream

Been on a fried icecream bender. Last month Ben, Rita and I decided that our lunchtime ritual of eating chinese 'polo buns' after beef noodle soup at Miss Saigon in Hurstville was in need of an overhaul, especially since the quality of the buns and freshness has gone down (they introduced plastic wrapping so now the crunchy top is no longer crunchy) ANYHOW. We found a better substitute in our friend the fried icecream. We trawled down Forest Rd and found a suitable chinese restaurant that was 'gwai lo' enough to offer fried icecream. We all agree that caramel topping is superior to the chocolate. There's something special about the combination of fried sponge cake crumbs and vanilla icecream with caramel that just works. chocolate doesn't work as well, and I normally love chocolate. Ever since, I've become addicted. A 'once-in-every-few-months' treat has turned into a twice a week habit. It will have to stop, or else I will start looking like a fried icecream.

F is for Faber
Finally got to meet Claudy's gorgeous baby Faber. She's cute and so huggable and yes she's a big girl for only 9 months.

F is for flaming cockatoos.
Actually it was for the Cockatoo Cup which is Big Dave's little special event for Australia Day. A bunch of crazy paddlers go around Cockatoo Island (twice) in Sydney Harbour just for fun. Red Ginger and I were meant to break out our OC2 'wiki wiki' and go for the cockatoo cup record this year (last year I missed out coz i was hung over). Except we got scratched out of the race in the last minute (which was just as well since we had state DB time trials the next morning). Instead I baked green and gold cupcakes with KK and watched everyone else cross the finish line.

Later that arvo I went to Aoife's housewarming which was lovely. The wallpaper was gorgeous, the furniture was retro cool and now i have apartment envy. (and i regret not taking any pics). Also managed to catch up with Blee and JK who were in from London for a short stint and it was great to have an excuse to pig out on yum cha!

stomping, fire and sweating and greys

2007-01-22T23:07:00.000+11:00

Last week Voodoo and I skivved off training and went to see The Stomp Company - Lost and Found Orchestra showing at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Sydney Festival 07. It was fantastic - an assault on the sense with all the instruments made from found objects, bottles, pipes, trolleys. High production values and great music and entertainment value, especially when it was free! hehe!

On sunday we had our OC regatta up in Ettalong (on the central coast of NSW), and it was HOT. Try paddling in 40 degree dry heat for 1.5hours. Lucky this time I applied the 30+ sports sunscreen all over this time and so far haven't gotten burnt. The water was ice cold though, maybe 20 degrees. Jpeg's cousin is visiting from fiji and he couldn't believe how cold it was. I hate that bathwarm water they have in the sea over in Fiji, there's no relief from the heat. Nothing beats the heat like the ice cold ocean. I love it when it's so cold it takes your breathe away and makes your skin tingle and then you have to get out and lie in the sun to warm your body up again and then you plunge yourself back into the ocean when it gets too warm. That's one of my favourite parts of Sydney summer! But i digress.

Hot dry winds are ideal for bush fires and on the way back from the regatta we were coming back on the F3 and drove through a fire that was just starting in the national park near Berowra. The fire had jumped on the median strip and the bushes flared up just after we passed. We were lucky - the freeway was closed after we went through.

Just a note: I have finally finished season 2 of greys anatomy. I was living in a half reality for most of last week. Everyday I'd have to get my hit of 'greys' either before training, after dinner or on the weekend. It's seriously addictive and I'm glad there are only 28 episodes and not like 50 otherwise I would become a social recluse.

Jump! Jump!

2007-01-19T22:44:00.002+11:00

fish icecream

2007-01-05T18:28:00.000+11:00

This is one of my fave snacks from the SPAR supermarket down the road at work. It's a fish icecream. No it's not fish flavoured it's just fish shaped wafer with vanilla icecream and red bean filling. $1.10 , which is cheaper than an overpriced magnum (although i do love that almond one!)

and yes i only decided to blog about this because Jaysun mentioned that all i do is blog about how much i eat. WOOO! What ELSE is there to blog about :P

Hello 2007!

2007-01-05T18:15:00.000+11:00

Like Hello. Welcome to a fab new year everyone!Been rather slack on the blogging lately but there's so many things i'd rather be doing than sitting here typing in front of this here computer! So many projects i want to do so little time and energy actually!

Holidays were fun - lots of eating sleeping resting playing shopping (try a 10 hour expedition to WBJ! that was my post xmas feed workout haha) Hope yours was as good.

Here's some random photos from the last week.

From top left: Mean Girls up to mischief on tour in Cairns - that's us after our bungy jump off the 50m tower and yes that's me in wet shirt after being dunked up to my waist at the bottom of the bungy! Leah at work having her 'monica' moment when the tube of coconut body lotion she was sniffing opened up from the not-so-sealed end as a result everyone in the office smelt like pina coladas. One Paul's hamburger with the lot down in Sylvania delish! KittyKat with her frangipani lei (belated happy bday candy girl!)Paul's hamburger sign - they are only open from thursday to sunday - which means they must make enough money to have 3 days off a week (what a life!), Bennifer eating his burger.

IN!

2006-12-22T15:34:00.000+11:00

Just a quick note: NSW state DB crews were announced today and we're IN like FLYNN baby!!! Yippee! Voodoo, Red Ginger, Johann, Big Dave, Sensei , Tan Chan and me! We're going to rock the boat! Congrats to all everyone and too bad to those who didn't make it (like the chad who isn't even training but thought he might get in on his golf swing)

Tomorrow i'm doing the OC2 relay for 20 beaches from Palm Beach down to Manly. I hope it's a nice day and we get some swells!

Happy Holidays to everyone and don't forget to put some sunscreen!

update

2006-12-17T23:22:00.000+11:00

Hello and season's greetings to you all! Sorry for slackness of late, you know how busy it is at the end of the year - so many parties so little time (stamina/effort)! So many things to update but nothing really, so this post will be general rambling...

1. No longer TB Carrier. Yes I officially got the OK from the Chest Doctor and i've finished my horse tranquiliser (hehe) tablets and got the all clear on the x-rays. (so you dont have to hold your breath when you see me around anymore).

2. Erg time trials for State DB crew were on last saturday morning, 2 minutes on the erg machine (a rowing machine that has been modified with a paddle handle) is not my idea of fun (actually it's probably the most pain i've ever felt), but it's a challenge and i think it's good to set yourself goals...

3. This morning Red Ginger and I went down to Cronulla to get our OC2 Wiki Wiki scrutineered so we can race it next weekend. We decided we might as well do the race down in cronulla and we came back with a gold medal and a bronze medal for one race. We were the only womens crew in short course OC2 so we won! haha! and we won a bronze for the series of 7 races of which we only did the 7th race. and now we're the state champions! ha ha ha ha ha...

4. Glutton. Ate so much this past month. So much seafood I was almost reliving the scene in Splash where Madison the mermaid hoes into the lobster shell and all. Oh yeah. A new cake shop 'christophers' opened down the road from work... i'm considering a baked goods ban until the new year!! Except I bought a 1kg tray of baklava from Abla's in Granville for a xmas party yesterday and i'm stuck with leftovers... yum. but i feel so sick of food right now!

5. Lots of shout outs to december birthday people you know who you are!!

pink-eye

2006-11-22T14:30:00.000+11:00

blergh. Got conjunctivitis - I knew my eyes were itchy for a reason.
This means no contacts lenses for 1 week = no water sports for 1 week. Guess i should hit the gym in steamy foggy glasses!

Cupcakes and stuff...

2006-11-19T22:21:00.000+11:00

Recently Thien celebrated her 30th bday on Shark Island (a little island in the middle of Sydney Harbour). The picnic was great fun - especially the part where I slept through most of the arvo in the sun. Oh wells, at least I remembered to take some photos when I woke up!

Shoes update: it was meant to be - I went shopping for new work shoes at Birkenhead Point yesterday and I found the same style shoes as my broken pink ones only with in a deeper shade of PINK. yay! And they were 30% off as well!

friday yay!

2006-11-17T13:11:00.000+11:00

Happy Friday kids!
Random posts briefly -

Went indoor rockclimbing on during with week with Derek (aka 'Mini Lau')and the girls. I think I was even more awkward than him at 14! It was fun - they have a foosball table in the centre so if you're resting between climbs you can break out and have a few games. Some of the people there are abit too hardcore though - they look like they stepped out of a kathmandu catelogue! I guess that's what we look like when we step out of our canoes and dragonboats in our hardcore lycra outfits...NOT.

Shoes - time to go shopping for some new work shoes, two pairs of my favourite work shoes decided to cark it. One pink, One black! Farewell favourite shoes! Both were 3 years old!

New Deli open at work - new deli boasting 'Europian delights' opened up next door to work yesterday, today we ran down to get some sandwiches and handle every bit of produce that was in there. They even have Churros! HURRAH! Except I am banned from baked goods and chocolates until next week - self imposed due to expanding waist line!

Shout outs and good luck to the PD Wahines going to Cook Islands this weekend. Wish I was there paddling with you! Voodoo 'build that big foundation'! Means Girls are with you all the way even when you hit struggle town!

Hump Day

2006-11-08T16:34:00.000+11:00

My humps my humps my humps...sorry got distracted. After all it is hump day! Here's some frivilious hump day fun.

Normally I’m not a fan of animals subjected to the humiliation of dressing up. Okay. I lied. Sometimes it's very funny to see animals dressed up but only as other animals. When they're dressed up like humans it's all abit freaky. Anyhow the other week Target were having a sale and I bought Coco this bumblebee outfit. It’s actually a warm fleecy top that she wears to bed. So it's practical and hilarious…it has these tiny wings on the back which are so tiny and out of proportion - but those stupid antennas kill me everytime haha!

sit back and relax...NOT (Part 2)

2006-11-06T23:50:00.000+11:00

And den...on Sunday (yes that last post was all saturday!) it was all about the food!

Syl, Natty and I did a dessert cooking course!

We managed to avoid any sinking souffle moments (a la Sabrina - Audrey Hepburn version of course) and here are the pics for proof. I know it doesn't look very high. We didnt have enough time to bake it, but I promise to practise till I get it very high! We learnt a few prep skills and knife skills and little tricks (like how to whisk without wobbling my butt - i actually like the fact that I am burning calories while I cook...ha). It was a fun way to spend a rainy Sunday and it was delicious!

Vanilla Souffle with caramel sauce

Our chocolate tarts with Chef Zigi

Our apple baskets with raspberry frappe, citrus and chocolate semifreddo and puff pastry biscuit with cinnamon spiced syrup

and den we ate all the desserts we made!!!

...and den earlier that week...

Backstrap, mash, dutch carrots = delish!

...and no more and den for now.

sit back and relax...not (Part 1)

2006-11-06T23:09:00.000+11:00

I wish every weekend could be like last weekend - relaxing, but most weekends are all about the go! go! go! Kinda like that toyota hilux ad where the guy tries to cram everything into '48 hours to live' in a weekend. I totally get that. I would like an extra 24 hours every weekend...

New Wheels Baby!
No more 'driving miss daisy' (aka my gold camry-ex-librarian company car), and welcome to my new car a subaru impreza hatch. The top one is the same colour (URBAN GREY hehe) and model as mine. The bottom one is Mel's mazda 3 with Wiki Wiki on the roof (yes i know 'wiks' is Very Long). They are not the same car, and we are not the same person. yet. And I am not having a SWF moment. har.

New Wheels? Bah!
Jpeg and I went to the Sydney Motor Show on saturday. It was abit disappointing. I was hoping for lots of concept cars and hot chicks in skimpy clothing. There was hardly any concept cars and even fewer hot chicks. It felt like an upmarket Auto Alley with dressed up car salesmen, NORMAL cars, and big flower arrangements. WTF? Clearly I have to go to Autosalon for something abit more entertaining.. eh. We took some 'fun' photos but not really that exciting.

A new Honda in sexy red lines (ooh la la!)

A fancy sports Proton (is there reallly such a thing?)

Pink scooter action!

Tiffy and the wheels that he wants for his new car.

Moving on
Voodoo moved out of Rodd Point and into a grand new room in Drummoyne. Rodd Point was one of our regular weekend hangouts -especially since we parked Wiki Wiki there, but all good things must come to an end, so farewell Rodd Point! We partied, ate, slept, baked, painted and laughed so much in that place but now it's time for new beginnings...Drummoyne House is looking swish and that new kitchen is going to be AWESOME!

Loading up the canoes on Rockstar's car

Allora!

2006-11-03T12:22:00.000+11:00

The kilos are creeping back on after the trip (no more 8 hour walking days, just 8 hour- sitting-in-front-of-computer days), but the new shirts still fit for now and the jeans just barely. This can only mean one thing –I haven’t actually been training much har!

Wednesday marked the start of a new month and my return to ‘massive un-sexy back’ weights training. I’ve been undecided for the last few months over whether to go for the Sydney World Dragonboat Championships in 07 or whether I should try to lead a normal life that does not require me to watch my body fat percentage, train 10 times a week, endure waking up every day with a new ache in my body, have no real social life for 9 months and sadly, grow a she-hulk back that cannot be contained in nice shirts or my new Zara coat that I just bought in Japan! However....after 2 years I’ve decided maybe I am ready for all this again. BRING ON THE PAIN…for now. It will all depend on my trials to get into the NSW team in December. Watch this space.

Ladies of Leisure...

2006-11-02T22:27:00.000+11:00

Last weekend Mean Girls decided to celebrate Red Ginger's birthday (err two months ago) and lived it up at the Iluka Day Spa at Park Hyatt. Unfortunately Jay-z and Beyonce weren't staying at the hotel - otherwise I could have learnt some booty shaking moves poolside on the rooftop. Instead we got massages, read trashy mags and lazed about. The rest of the day was spent getting up to mischief including two hours of power karaoke! 'Lets Get Loud' will never sound the same again...

Herbal tea pots; poolside gossip

Hello Kitty lollypops

Kittykat reads our stars!

Wedding Action

2006-11-02T22:19:00.000+11:00

Some photos from Mylee and Tom's wedding last month...

Mylee & Tom exchanging vows in the Chinese Gardens ; Clinton Chow Bin filming action

BCK films reunion (NOT) ; Shar, Mars, Wayne & Moi

Tiffy and Shar blowing bubbles; Wayne kicks Tiffys butt

Dove commercial

2006-10-23T21:32:00.000+10:00

I LOVE this new commercial from Dove that's going around on youtube! It just proves that even models can't look as good as themselves without the help of a crazy photoshop session. I'm tempted to play around with my own photo in photoshop to become alien/model like, but then my own vision of myself would become distorted and I'd get annoyed that I could never look that good - unless I walked around wearing a mask of my 'photoshopped' face. haha.

New Years Eve

2006-10-23T21:07:00.000+10:00

Yeah - for once I've sorted out my New Years Eve celebration early. I usually leave it the very last minute - maybe around boxing day I start wondering what's I'm going to do for NYE. Jpeg usually has to work (like the maccas slave that he is) on all the public holidays. Poor him, but yay for me -this year I'm ditching him and going with my mean girls to Tropical Cairns! WOOHOO! We're crashing Voodoo's family home and celebrating KittyKat's birthday for 5 fab days with mangoes, crabs, swimming, arvo naps, frangipani flowers everywhere and maybe some tequila (sounds just like an island style holiday). Only 9 weeks to go....

Slowly getting back to it

2006-10-20T00:07:00.000+10:00

Actually it's only been two weeks since i came back and sadly it's all too easy to slot back into this life like I never went on holidays!

Luckily, there are plenty of things to keep me occupied and away from post holiday blues. I'm loving the 30+ degrees heat, and hanging out with Jpeg (who is officially no longer referred to as TB boy because he is all clear YAY). So far have not been back in the OC6, but have taken 'Wiki Wiki' out for a paddle.

Last night mean girls and tiffy went to see 'No.2' a NZ movie about Fijian matriarch and her family living in NZ. It was good fun, and it was all for a good cause raising funds for Kidney Disease in Fiji, there was even an after party at our fave 'Golden Palace' bar in Chinatown. So many things to do on a school night. I love it!

Getting back into training for...dunno what. Sydney 07 Dragonboat world championships? Maybe. Right now I'm starting to think about training for this Biathlon series. Except I'm no runner and I dont know if they have a 'maximum' time limit, but i guess it's a goal to make me run and swim more!

Photos Slowly

2006-10-11T23:33:00.000+10:00

I'm updated my Europe blog entries with pictures, very slowly because for some reason Big Pond has decided it should be very slowly. bah! And i'm editing and some of the pictures have been corrupted and blah blah blah I'm lazy.

Here's a link to the first entry: Paris

Spring in Sydney

2006-10-11T23:21:00.000+10:00

Yeah I'm back.

Since last thursday I've managed to:
-Convince Jpeg that he needs a suit and go with him to buy one!
-Go drinking and dancing with my mean girls and enjoy Lucy's flashdance moves!
-Celebrate Mylee and Tom's wedding and watch Jpeg eat his way through his first Chinese Wedding Banquet!
-Visit the Growers Market at Pyrmont and enjoy a delish gourmet lunch with Syl and Ben!
- Do two erg trials and a DB regatta
-Go to the Noodle Markets in Hyde Park (sydney hehe) with the girlies
- Wear my new boots! Whilst the weather is still cool enough...
and watch 'Step Up' the latest 'Save the Last Dance' style dance movie! Oh i want to dance!!

oh and go back to work ugh. Only made bearable by my cool workmates, and that I'm getting a new work car very very soon. YAY!

Lost in Translation...

2006-10-03T23:03:00.000+10:00

Konnichi wa!

Tokyo was fast and fun. We stayed one night in a little Ryokan (traditional inn style accommodation) sleeping on tatami mats, and spent the next night in Cityhotel Lornstar (not to be confused with P0rnstar) right in Shinjuku - in the Gay district. Tokyo was one of the hardest places to navigate, partly because it was all in Japanese and not many people spoke English, and also the train systems were definately the biggest and most difficult ones we had encountered. Still, Red Ginger managed most of the navigation and we checked out Harajuku, a famous Shrine, Japanese noodles and sushi, electric city (for our new digital cameras) and Shibuya for more shopping.

We also met up with darling Keith, who took us to eat excellent sushi and sashimi - my new favourites are now scallop sashimi and cuttlefish sushi! And he took me to a 'GAY BAR! GAY BAR! GAY BAR!' around the corner from our hotel!

When i checked my luggage in at Sydney it was 13kgs, when I checked my luggage in at Tokyo it was 30kgs not including my handcarry (with a stack of pot tiles!)! I was so paranoid that my bags filled with all my goodies wouldn't arrive in Sydney...but they did! And so did Mel's eventually...

London Calling

2006-09-30T22:45:00.000+10:00

We arrived in sunny(!) London on Tuesday arvo, and headed straight to Hyde Park with YDG for KFC and Rose wine by the duck pond! Later that night we had famous Roast Duck from The Four Seasons chinese restaurant in Bayswater, complete with Duck Nazi style waitress, down the road from YDG and Eric's place.

Over the next few days we saw a few of the classic sites - Tower of London, London Eye, Westminster and Big Ben, Trafalger Square, Buckingham Palace, Camden Markets, Harrods and things pointed out along the way by YDG our illustrious tour guide. And we enjoyed more of the good things - shopping at H&M and window shopping along Oxford Circus, eating and general bumming around with old friends and of course the reason for our trip... to celebrate Kim's big birthday!

I wish we could have stayed another week or two just to hang out and check out London! Instead I had to try and cram all my luggage into the backpack and a new pink wheely bag (bought in Turkey) and catch that plane!

Next stop: Tokyo

Istanbul

2006-09-26T22:14:00.000+10:00

We arrived in Istanbul in the middle of the night and straight into the hostel that 'someone' recommended. It was an 8 person mixed dorm with the shower from grimy hell. We moved out the next day to a decent hotel with real beds (not bunks), MTV and our own clean bathroom. BLISS. I enjoyed MTV so much that I was beginning to think I could bust out some bootylicious dancing like Beyonce (yes. Deluded).

We spent 4 days in Istanbul - we had hoped to make it to some of the ruins and coastal parts of Turkey, but we ran out of time and energy. Istanbul was great though, totally different from France and Italy - the people, the food, the whole vibe of the place felt distinctly 'foreign'...and yet familiar like we had stepped into a grander version of Auburn hehe.

We stayed in the Sultanahmet area in the heart of Old Istanbul, which meant we had great rooftop views of the river and alot of fantastic buildings. We visited Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) - a fabulous building that was once a Christian church and then a Mosque and is now a World Heritage site, the Blue Mosque which was lit up at night especially for Ramazan (Ramadan), and The Topaki Palace where The Sultan lived including The Harem (sorry no belly dancing concubines left in the Harem).

As for the Grand Bazaar - we bought a whole bag of silver jewellery, intricately decorated pot tiles, and evil eyes. Red Ginger showed her true bargaining power, managing to score 50% off all initial prices with her First and Final Offer technique. We also managed to find the Spice Bazaar, and the main shopping strip in the CBD side of Istanbul.

At night we walked along the cobbled streets and down to the Hippodrome area where the Ramazan feasting took place at night. We tried pommegranite juice, Kebabs, Baklava, Cola Turka and convincing fruit shaped soaps as well as getting turkish style calligraphy done by a man with a very stylish mo, if he wore MC hammer pants I would have guessed he was a Pasha!
Oh and we had a good scrub down in the same Hamam (turkish bath) that Cameron Diaz had visited. There's no actual 'bath', and you get scrubbed and rubbed by big turkish mamas on a marble slab infront of all the other women. So squeaky clean!

Next Stop: London!

Roma!

2006-09-26T03:16:00.000+10:00

Ciao Bellas!

Roma was bellissimo! Those crazy Romans and their crazy scooters and driving skills. I have new found respect for Roman drivers, their ability to negotiate traffic, pedestrians, and avoid getting caught by police for entering the centre zone without a city pass is frankly extraordinary. It makes sydney CBD peak hour look like a walk in the park.

Mel and I spent the first few days hitting the sights.
Trevi Fountain {tick}
Pantheon {tick}
Piazza Navona {tick}
{Not the Tim Tam} Colesseum was excellent! If you ever want to feel like a VIP and walk past a line of 100 people I recommend buying your tickets from the Roman Forum first! There were lots of large ITalian men dressed as Gladiators for tourists, which reminded us of Billy and Linda's fantastic Roman party.
Vatican City {tick} we almost saw the pope on wed morning but didnt have the special red pass and so couldnt be bothered waiting around! Sistine Chapel was superb!

As for the shopping i am now the owner of cowboy boots and knee high boots. haha! Spent 1 hour in a shop trying on different boot styles.

The food was great, Voodoo's old flatmate, Vittorio showed us around he was so sweet taking us out every night we were there, to the pub area in Trastevere and we had a ball meeting his crazy friends and eating home cooked meals. I even got to try Buffalo Mozerella! And learnt how to 'scarpetta' although i already knew how to do it i just didn't know the term for it!

Next stop
Istanbul not Constantinople!

Swimming in Venice

2006-09-26T03:03:00.000+10:00

...Well not really but almost. We arrived in Venice in the pouring rain. The heaviest since we have been on our trip. It was kind of just wet and funny as we stomped in puddles in our flip flops and other people in gum boots and some were wearing entire plastic bags over their feet and wearing these plastic thong contraptions that were specifically designed for ..tourists. haha.
Luckily the rain stopped the next day and we could appreciate the beauty of Venice when not completely flooded!

Highlights of Venice
~murano island checking the funky and not so funky designs
~that wet dirty pigeon smell in St Marks Square unforgettable!
~staying in a nunnery without TV. *when did i become so dependent on MTV!!!!*
~the quaintness of it all...even with all the chinese mainlanders who are now working in italian cafes I will not tolerate my coffee being made by a nonitalian in italy!!!

Under the tuscan rain

2006-09-17T05:52:00.000+10:00

Today Red Ginger and I went on a cycling tour of the Tuscan countryside outside of Florence. We started off on our cool mountain bikes under blue skies, until we hit the city gates and up to Michaelangelo's Piazza, (which has a bronze replica of his David statue complete with pooping pigeons). It was so dramatic and fun - we cycled through the rain and thunder past olive groves, old villas, little towns and had a great lunch in a little trattoria near Galileo's villa.

Almost got run off by a bus when we re-entered Florence , perhaps abit too much Chianti at lunchtime!

Afterwards, Red Ginger and I hit the San Lorenzo markets BIG TIME. Leather goods, people, leather goods. I think I might be needing another luggage bag for the trip home!

The food here in Florence has been excellent, tonight we had the traditional soupy bread dish called 'Papa di Pomodoro' which is stale bread in olive oil and tomatoey kind of glug that is very tasty. Last night we had the Florence Beefsteak. Not just any kind of steak but a whole whopping kilo of t-bone that looks like it came from the set of the Flintstones. We shared it between two, but it was still too much!

Tomorrow we are off to Venice.

Ciao for now!
-bec & mel (in leather jackets)

Ciao!

2006-09-16T02:42:00.000+10:00

Ciao! Mel and I have left Easycruise and we're back on solid ground in Florence. Easycruise was too easy - arriving each day on shore at 1pmish too see all the glitzy shops and glamour of the french riveria meant that we didn't do hardly any shopping. We spent most of the time checking out mega yachts and the villas as per 'Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous'...staring at the beautiful and not so beautiful people and their tiny dogs.

The scenery was great, but the coastline is not nearly as beautiful or as clean as Australia, so appreciative of our own beaches now!!

The big orange Easycruise boat was big and orange and was alot more comfortable than the chinese tourist boat on the yangtze haha. The sun deck and sports bar were our favourite places..oh and the gym. Yes, we actually used it!

Today we checked off teh sights in Florence and ate more gelato! I have art coming out of my pores. Tomorrow we are leaving for Venice...hopefully the trains wont be delayed again. Yesterday it took us 5 hours to come from Cinque Terre, instead of the usual 2 hours....ahh gotta love the Italian way of life!

Ciao for now!

Paris

2006-09-08T17:17:00.000+10:00

Bonjour!

Our first week has been C'est Manifique! Ahh...Paris! After a long flight to London - we were greeted by a chirpy YDG! Walking through the streets of London was like walking onto a movie set. Abit surreal. After a quick tour of the shops, Red Ginger and I were back on the road and onto the Eurostar to Paris. We changed onto the suburban train line RER - and it was like stepping into Africa. I felt more like a minority than ever! We meet Rockstar's brother's friend, Sam at the meeting place and our fave girls Kim and Cazz! Yippee!! Talk about one big reunion!

Mark's Apartment was so cute - in an old building, but so relaxing to have our own little place to call home. The area, St Michel is filled with art galleries and is quite trendy. The Seine was just up our street, and a cute little street called Rue De Buci has it own supermarche, florist, 'Carton' patisserie and lots of other little cafes and shops.

On our first night, Sam took us to this cool bar on the right bank called Film Noir i think - filled with beautiful skinny smoking women and us in our daggy clothes. Then it was off to dinner at 10pm at some little french restaurant in the Marais Area where I had the Confit de Canard! Yum!

I love that the sun doesn't set until around 9-10pm and people go out to eat very late - Red Ginger and I have been getting up super early, then spending hours walking around and then coming home at 6pm to sitback and relax our aching feet and eat some gelato and then off to dinner at 9ish . Then drag ourselves home past midnight and pass out on the bed.

We saw lots of the sights - The Eiffel Tower from the Champ De Mars - park next to it, we didn't actually go up! And we went to the Jardin de Luxemborg (gardens) where you aren't allowed to sit on the grass but can take the little chairs and sit near the grass to enjoy the view. Saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, saw Rodin's Gates of Hell at the Musee D'orsay and lots of my favourite paintings!!

Yesterday we left Paris and made our way down to Nice by train.

The next update: Easycruise!!

two sleeps to go

2006-08-29T21:17:00.000+10:00

...until Red Ginger and I are leaving on a jet plane to Europe.
We're going away for 5 weeks, and hopefully I'll try to update our adventures (food/shopping/sight-seeing/cruising/chillin').

It's goin' to be GRAND!

FYI - we're going to France, Italy, UK and some other place that's not Turkey :(

Love bex
xx

PS. Can't wait to catch up with you gang in London!

The snot-week update:

2006-08-18T18:54:00.000+10:00

1. Last saturday the Sydney Weekender program came down and filmed our club. I was in the canoe paddling with Luke Ricketson in the middle of the harbour when we flipped. It was freeeeezing cold, with no thermal and I think it pushed my immune system just over the edge and into 'snotsville'. (BTW Channel 7 is screening the segment next sat at 5.30pm i think.)

2. Spent Monday and Tuesday in bed, reading books, watching DVDs (Match Point, Pride and Prejudice, Chocolat, and La Dolce Vita). Kept forgetting to watch Queer Eye at noon!

3. Housesitted Lady Malia's place on and off for the last two weeks - and on saturday night the girls came over to 'wear in' her sofa. KK bought this great hibiscus syrup that you throw into with the champers and it's like those tea flowers that open up and they make okay champers taste better!

4. This is Jpeg looking unimpressed by my hairstyling/tzushing efforts. I blame his bad bankstown haircut!

5. Even when visiting snot-ville, I managed to whip up some chocolate and chilli cupcakes and pink peppermint cupcakes for Rita's birthday! Alas no time to find a resonably priced Tajine maybe if i went to Morocco and brought one back for her..haha. Throw a nice table cloth on the ugly beige 'work meetings' communal desk in our area and pop a open some pink champagne and it turns into a morning tea fit for a birthday celebration! I used the cookie press that Rita gave me for the icing swirls, but it's still not the right template for those lovely Mr. Whippy style swirls!

6. Watched ridiculous HongKong TV shows that require 'beautiful girls' to cook dishes in the kitchen that get tasted and rated by a panel of men - usually comedians who make smart and sometimes very fitting comments about their abilities to cook. It's no 'Hells Kitchen', but it's highly entertaining!

7. Only two weeks until Europe and Red Ginger and I are starting to get excited! Wardrobe options, presents, itineraries, guidebooks...excited but slightly stressed.

food and stuff

2006-08-09T13:23:00.000+10:00

Kogarah food update
(if you're ever in the area getting medical attention or getting a haircut).

Bun action
The SPAR supermarket on Kensington St opposite the St George Hospital is abit like a regular convenience store combined with an asian grocery store. The signs outside read 'caucasian and asian groceries' which includes (at least in my sense of essential groceries) tim tams, milo, milk, bok choy, instant noodles in about 50 varieties and brands and hello kitty lollies. It's been open for a few years now, and it's a few stores down from the gone but not forgotten Hainan Chicken place. The other week I went down to SPAR to see what kind of exciting food stuffs i could conjure up for lunch and they had a chinese bakery plastic cases set up in the front section of the store, complete with orange trays and tongs. WOOHOO! All the standard buns were there including my fave the custard pineapple (polo) bun! I was abit worried that it might not be fresh - that they might be delivered from Hurstville, so i wondered through the store looking at other fall-back options and then i spied amongst the cans of soup base - the actual bakery equipment on the other side. So they built a mini bakery in the supermarket. SWEET! Needless to say, those buns came back to work with me and they were fresh!

Toffee Apples
The other day I had a craving for crunchy apples - my current fave is the fuji apple, anyhow Rita and I walked past the fruit shop on Railway Parade and the apples..well they didn't look so good, but the fresh tray of fluro red and green toffee apples sure did.haha. And that is how I found myself munching on brown but still crunchy granny smith apple smothered in red sickly sweet toffee. So good. Definately better than an average apple haha!

Other stuff
Happy belated bday to Cherie (with cake and...clevage)-

crapness
Jpeg's car got broken into on saturday night, we were staying at my friend's place in Abbotsford and he parked his car in the complex in the vistor carpark where lots of units look into. The bastards broke into his car (his alarm was broken and he drives a soft-top so say no more!) stole his new stereo that he got for his birthday, AND ripped out the sub-woofer that is as big as a small person from the boot and his speakers and ripped his car seat covers off, probably because they were ugly (hehe). He can't believe it - he says that even in Parramatta they don't steal the subs! We didn't know who to report it to, it was like 4am in the morning when I came home, and the car isn't insured. I think they might have security cameras, but so what - I guess it was a crime of opportunity.

and to end on a better note

Marissa shows us her bust
It's amazing what good posture can do for your bust...

just peachy...or just predictable

2006-07-31T13:20:00.000+10:00

With only 1 month until the Europe trip, Mel and I have started hitting the shops looking for 'essential items' that will create the ultimate holiday wardrobe in the space of a backpack. (No Kathmandu quick-dry travel shirts/shorts/undies for us thanks!) On the weekend I bought 1 coral pink jumper, 1 coral pink singlet and one melon pink jacket. I'm not going to lie - My wardrobe is about 60% pink (plus shoes and bags and jewellery) and the rest is brown and black and even some white.

My dilemma is - am I becoming predictable? Or do I just know what suits me?
I walk into a shop, look at the clothes in my 'colour range' (pinks/brown/black ocassionally greens) and kind of disregard everything else. I don't feel every adventurous - even when i'm wearing a hot coral pink shirt that's bright enough warm up a grey winter day. That whole primary blue/ red /white theme that's happening in fashion at the moment is just passing me by, but really what's the point of buying something that I'm not going ot love or wear?

I used to be afraid of colour - all those years of Chinese Dancing in garish costumes with sequins and red lipstick put me off for abit. So I stuck to black. I just sort of added pink to the range, but I always go back to black, and hey who doesn't want to look slimmer (TB Boy excluded of course)?

slow mo weekend

2006-07-23T19:23:00.000+10:00

This weekend I could have been down at the snow - but instead I opted to try and save some money for the upcoming holiday, and i'm glad I did - Mel and I finally took Wiki-Wiki out on the water for our first paddle and it was sweet! Brunch with the ladies, shopping with the mean girls and a huge feast with Mel's entire extended family made the whole weekend feel abit like a holiday. I even tried my hand at ricotta gnocchi and chocolate truffles from the latest Donna Hay Magazine that Rita gave me for my birthday - and they weren't as difficult to make as I thought they would be.

Today I spent a whole day repotting all my succulents which was totally indulgent and relaxing (except for the part where I got annoyed trying to pull Jamie Durie's smug smiling face stickers off his 'Patio' pots!!).

Mum's ginger milk curd dessert

2006-07-20T22:26:00.000+10:00

This is mum's successful attempt at making one of her fave desserts from Hong Kong - 'geurng jong lai' which literally means "ginger collides with milk" (traditionally i think they throw ladles of milk into the ginger mixture in a wooden bucket). It's hot sweetened milk set with ginger juice (some kind of reaction) with a texture that is similar but lighter than dessert tofu. Her first two attempts didn't set - we think the milk temperature was too hot - they ended up tasting like a hot milkshakes...only gingery!

BTW - Big July Birthday shout outs to my girl Syl, forever young Shar, Miss Joey, The irrepressible Magoona, Lee & SMarty, Jelli and Lady Malia!

Weekend Update: Pig Out Central

2006-07-17T16:50:00.000+10:00

No paddling = feasting and fun! Red Ginger and I wanted to take out ‘wiki wiki’ for our first paddle, but the weather was not on our side! However it was perfect weather for knitting and baking (yes the pink mixer is getting a good work out folks!!) and feasting…3 rounds of it!

Round 1: Bastille Day/Birthday Degustation
A few of us celebrated a belated bday and Bastille Day at Restaurant Balzac, Randwick. The restaurant recommends leaving about 3 hours for the degustation menu. We started at 8pm and left at 12am. I love meals that continue on til the next day! And the fine dining experience is always a revelation for someone who is accustomed to the ‘Superbowl’ style of "service"...I guess that’s the difference between a $90 meal vs. a $9 one!

Unfortunately I have no pics because I forgot my camera as I was rushing out the door! (and I was late because I was at the gym desperately trying to burn up more calories before dinner hehe!) I could go on to dissect every one of the nine courses we had, but it’s pointless without pictures – but I will tell you that the most interesting dish was a terrine of confit goose and roast liver with roasted hazelnuts, served with a salad of snails, goose proscuitto and a sliver of gizzard. Fancy and abit grotesque sounding! But not nearly as scary as it sounded. The terrine reminded me of the first course of meats (like pigs ears) at Chinese Wedding Banquets minus the pink tablecloths, decorative carnations, carved carrots, indifferent waiters and flying chopsticks. It was gamey and tasty. There were whole hazelnuts hidden inside the terrine, which we all approached apprehensively - we were expecting it to be an eyeball or a goose joint!

Overall it was a great night - an excellent foodie experience and a lot of fun- I seriously couldn't eat breakfast the next morning which hardly EVER happens, though i probably consumed enough calories to last me the entire week without food! It's definately a 'sometimes' food as Cookie monster would say.

Round Two: Trivia, Frittata and cinnamon buns

Saturday night, I went to a fundraiser trivia night for The Sloths’ dragonboat club world championship campaign to Toronto, Canada. More eating of frittata, cinnamon buns and more cheese. The trivia night was so well organized and an excellent night of fun. Our team ‘Fiji Me’ were leading out of 24 teams in the start of the final round, but we fell out of contention over the ‘famous faces’ trivia round. If only I had paid more attention when flicking through those trashy mags at the doctor's surgery! The final tie breaker for the winning teams was a dance off to ‘U can’t touch this ‘ by MC Hammer. The video tells a thousand moves. haha.

Round 3: Soft shell crabs and chocolate cake
More baking. A heavy but not too sweet chocolate cake for my baby brother’s 14th birthday! He has officially arrived into the teenage awkward dorkness stage of his life. Braces, Glasses, Pimples, Lanky Limbs, Girls calling him out on dates. What the?! Last year he was playing with lego! Oh they grow up so fast! :P Mum made all 'our' favourites for dinner – soft shell crab, oysters Kilpatrick and a delish rack of lamb!

Um yeah, so I’m going to be hitting the gym this week. Only 6 weeks til i have to wear a bikini! *sigh*

You know you're old when

2006-07-17T16:49:00.000+10:00

...you're witnessing the 2nd cycle of a fashion trend. I thought it would never happen. I was SO wrong.

I walked into General Pants on the weekend and they had a big banner up proclaiming “All is forgiven: Come back 1986”. No WAY! I wanted to turn around and walk back out again, because:

I remembered the year 1986 and that I used to wear stonewashed skinny jeans (back when I was skinny and didn't know what 'stoned' meant)
The staff in the store looked like they were born in 1986 and treated me like I was someone not within their store's demographic (ie. someone willing to pay $300 for a pair of jeans that looked like something from St. Vinnies)
The clothes were truly heinous

And when I continued through the shopping centre I felt like I was having an 80s flashback.

Like TOTALLY!

Every freaken shop was selling polka dots. Been there. Done that. I used to own 3 beloved polka dot items in the summer of '89. A black off the shoulder tube dress with white polka dot trim and a black shift dress with tiny white dots from supre, back when Supre used to be a clothing warehouse in Marrickville and not some crazy shop with disco music and actual change rooms. My all time fave piece of polkadots was a hand me down from mum - her white polka dot sun dress as seen in the picture below. (shit does that mean i'm actually witnessing the third cycle of a trend?!) I refuse to willingly purchase a polka dotted item.

Emaciated in St Tropez

2006-07-12T12:49:00.000+10:00

Yesterday’s bizarre ‘summer’ day of 24 C smack in the middle of winter reminded me that there’s less than 2 months to go before Red Ginger and I hit Europe. I’ve been day dreaming about getting a tan whilst cruising the French Riviera whilst wearing ridiculously big sunglasses over my ridiculously small eyes, whilst attempting to sunbathe topless whilst drinking a cocktail. At work they joke about me being ‘Emaciated in St. Tropez’ because they think I won’t be able to afford to eat. Like that is EVER going to happen – be becoming emaciated would require my body to live on ‘Survivor’ style ratios for at least 2 months. And I would quite happily sell my belongings before I would starve – how many euros does it take to live off crepes, pasta, fromage and baguettes!

We will be traveling the whole of September through
Paris – French and Italian Riveria – Rome - Venice – Turkey – London –Tokyo.
If you want to join us along the way just email me. If you have any ‘must see and do’ suggestions – also send them our way!

For those of you living in the UK, we will be arriving in London at the end of our journey for a brief stint at the end of September for a few days (possibly the Wed 27th Sept), so pencil us in for a cocktail or two or three or more. I will be emailing you all closer to the date.

proud parents

2006-07-09T22:15:00.000+10:00

Today Red Ginger and I brought home our new baby - an OC2 (two person canoe)! She's a few years old, and we are planning to customise her and re-name her 'Wiki Wiki' which means 'fast' in Hawaiian. Yay! Big Thanks to Big Dave for helping us transport her from The Shire!

more tim tam colleseum

2006-07-04T11:06:00.000+10:00

A more complete set of pictures from construction to demolition and plenty of the party.

Lisa Curry Kenny

2006-07-04T00:25:00.000+10:00

Last year, I managed to rack up a total of 3 Lisa sightings during the Hamilton Island Cup Race, but I didn't manage to deliver on my promise

This year I delivered the goods - lots of sightings and a photo!
..better late than never!

PS. Will post a proper review of hamo later. Right now i'm suffering from post-holiday-can't-believe-i'm-back-at-work-and-it's-not-25-degrees blues.

Thirsty...

2006-06-27T20:49:00.000+10:00

Last weekend, we went to the Hunter Valley to celebrate Shar's 30th and also wayne' 31st.
This was taken at the Tempus Two vineyard, which is more like a nightclub with lounges and funky chandeliers than the other more traditional style cellar doors.

Mrs. Leo flew in from London to celebrate and showed us that she is still in peak condition despite being a housewife (with a medical degree) for over a year! Check out her guns!

Jpeg enjoys the home cooked meal (btw those are HIS pink slippers not mine!). We visited a few wineries, but he's not big on wine and this is a picture of him trying to figure out what bouquet is by smelling some dried up leaves on the vine.

This is the view from the mountain top where we drove up to search for a lavender farm that was closed when we got there!

One Dark Italian takeaway

2006-06-27T20:41:00.000+10:00

dark italian, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

Jpeg and I have been checking out the new section of Parramatta Westfields - they have a max brenner chocolate cafe there now! The only problem is that it is always packed, so i've had to resort to taking away my 'dark italian' with my 'tan fijian' :p

Happy Birthday Ah Beng

2006-06-21T09:07:00.000+10:00

Today is Winter Solstice which means the days are getting longer and hopefully warmer! Today is also Jason's birthday. His face is plastered all over his website in lots of kinky poses, which is why I have borrowed this rare photo (from mon cherie) of Jason's backside. Even with his back to the camera i can hear his hongkie-style "Yeah!!". I also chose this pic because it highlights his well defined back muscles from the gym. I also noticed that he is surfing with goggles on his face ha ha.)

Happy Birthday Jason!

baking and the high seas

2006-06-19T13:52:00.000+10:00

Well it happened on the weekend again. I lost another flip flop when our canoe flipped outside of North Head. We were paddling from Balmoral up to Long Reef as part of our training for the up coming Hamilton Island Cup Race. The only other time I've been in such big rolling swells was in Hamilton Island last year.

The weather was fine, the waves and wind were in the right direction. Ms. Frangipaddle and I even spotted two fairy penguins who came up to have a look at our canoe. I think they came from the Manly Colony of penguins! And we also saw an Albatross. We joked that they were like vultures of the sea - circling around us. Which I really shouldnt have joked about - as it turns out - our mens crew flipped and their canoe got swamped (which meant that they couldn't bail the water out fast enough - it happened to our crew last year). They were stranded in the ocean for quite sometime until a passing fishing boat picked them up. Everyone is okay now - but its humbling when you realise that when you're out in the ocean you are at it's mercy.

After all that adventure, I needed to bake. And so I embarked on 'the best ever chocolate cake' (which is the actual name of the recipe in my mum's women's weekly Cakes) for Joe's bday bbq on sunday. I have made the cake before and due to time constraints (alright I was getting a pedicure!) I baked it at his place - including the hands on cooking demonstration with a 5 year old assistant. It was all under control until we pulled the cake out of the oven and realised that the trays holding the pink silicon bakeware were slanting, resulting in lopsided cakes. So much for being a domestic goddess! Ordinarily I would have shaved off bits of cake to even it up and tarted it up with icing to hide the mistakes, but the crowd was hungry and didn't want any cake wasted - I ended up pouring over some chocolate sauce and getting people to throw malteasers on it.

The result: delicious!
The lesson: leave enough time to bake at home and/or check for slanting trays!

June Long Weekend

2006-06-12T18:47:00.000+10:00

Yay for the long weekend! This weekend I managed alot of nothingness and abit of everything, which is exactly what I planned. We scrambled up to chatswood for THE cream puffs, which were just as we good as we remembered them!

Red Ginger and I hit the sales 'in training' for our Europe trip (lots of walking/shopping), the variety at Chatswood is like an oasis compared to my suburban style desert! We saw The Break Up - oh yes I did get abit teary (and not just because I am tres envious of Ms. Aniston's toned and taut body).

And I pulled out the pink mixer again and baked my first ever batch of chocolate macaroons care of the fabulous Nigella and her 'How to be a domestic goddess' book, which Jpeg bought for my birthday (under instructions over the mobile phone 'the one with the cupcake on the front ', 'but they all have cupcakes on the front?!'). I can't wait to try all the macaroons in Paris!

Beard Papa cream puffs

2006-06-06T23:10:00.000+10:00

On my trip to China in 2004, Mel introduced me to the wonders of Beard Papa's cream puffs. We ate them in Shanghai and then in HK. Last year when we went to Hawaii, I went searching for the store only to find it was across the road from our Hotel!

Recently I had a craving for them and where i had to resort to making my own.

And Today, I found out that Beard Papa cream puffs are in Sydney!!!!
Oh Yeah! I called Red Ginger immediately to share the good news. We are locked in for saturday to shop and eat cream puffs. (which is what we always seem to do when we go on holidays)

Did you know each cream puff has more calories than 1 krispy creme donut?! Not exactly an 'everyday treat'(unlike club mint dark chocolate which is low GI and therefore suitable for everyday hahaha!),but they dont leave that sickly sweet feeling in your gut that happens after a donut.

Luckily for me, they are based in Chatswood, which is too far for me to visit that often. Unluckily for me, my dad's office is in Chatswood...I have a feeling that the cute yellow box with Beard papa's face will be appearing on our kitchen bench soon.

Tim Tam Colleseum

2006-06-05T23:48:00.000+10:00

Whooooop dere it is...

After eating the gingerbread house I built for KK's xmas party, Linda challenged me to build her a gingerbread colleseum for her and billy's roman theme house warming party. We decided that a Tim Tam Colleseum would be much cooler and tastier, and so after two trials and lots of eating of tim tams, this is the final product.

The damage:
Tim Tams = 100+
Gaiety biscuits = 100+
Chocolate Royal Icing = 2 bags
Egg Whites = half a dozen
Chicos = one bag
No Frills Jelly Babies = 2 bags
Tina Wafers = 2 packets
Home Brand chocolate/strawberry/vanilla wafers= 2 packets each
Labour = 2 nights of building and setting
Time it took to eat and demolish = not very long....

It wasn't until we were at the party that Billy realised that one of the guests actually works for Arnotts (who make all the biscuits we used) and probably could have provided them for free. Ah wells....

PS> Click on the pic for more pics of the party.

Checklist for month away in Europe

2006-06-05T17:22:00.000+10:00

cruisespa, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

- Airplane tickets (tick)
- Draft itinerary going through France, Italy, Turkey, London, Tokyo (tick)

Things to do:
-Read lonely planet guide book
-Shop for 'trans-seasonal-european' travelling wardrobe for backpack
- Lose 10kgs so I can pose in skimpy bikini by the spa (as depicted on actual cruise website) on budget cruise boat that looks like a converted old ferry full of young european slappers...

Blergh

2006-05-30T22:58:00.000+10:00

Been feeling abit off lately, abit blergh and grumpy, but as Kittykat's daily horrorscopes say - Venus is back in my house so bring on the love...

Last weekend I competed in my first ever OC1 race. It was a leisurely 10km paddle up and down Lane Cove River and I'm glad I did it, the weather was stunning, and weaving up and down the river was much more fun than attempting to run around the bay. Yes would rather paddle 10km than run for 1km!

Many busy weekends coming up before Hamilton Island Cup Race at end of June.

This weekend's check list looks like this
1. Paddle to Long Reef and try not to re-enact last year's scenario (almost flipping and crashing on reef)
2. Build a 3 tiered tim tam Colosseum
2. Design a roman/toga costume
3. Go to THE party
4. Get very drunk
5. Fight gladiators off for a big piece of crackling off the suckling pig
6. Turn the Tim Tam Colosseum into ruins
6. Go to Ikea and help Ben and Syl build billy bookcases.

Bring on the weekend...

and Tomorrow - I'm booking our flights to Europe! WooHoo!

Pink Mixer

2006-05-23T22:34:00.000+10:00

new mixer, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

This is it! My brand new mixer from my good friends for my birthday! Yay! I'm so excited! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I'm so spoilt!

Cream Puffs!

2006-05-23T22:31:00.000+10:00

These are the first babies I made using my new mixer. They are cream puffs inspired by the delicious Japanese Beard Papa Cream Puffs . Mine were more cream than puff, but still delicious with vanilla cream and blackberry jam!

I don't know how Beard Papa manages to use both pie crust and choux pastry but his puffs are extra puffy and crispy..YUM!

More party photos

2006-05-22T09:03:00.000+10:00

I had a great weekend - tequila and tacos on friday night, saturday morning paddle and breaky in Balmoral then drinks with a whole bunch of friends in Rozelle.

My mean girls and Syl helped organise the best present ever!! The breville stand mixer in PINK that i have been eyeing off since xmas and a whole bunch of pink baking accessories.... Let the bake off begin!! More pics in my gallery - just click on the picture for the link to see lots of photos where I am very drunk and everyone around me is not so drunk but amused at how drunk I am. ha!

Sunday - TB Boy and I helped Syl and Ben move using my dad's hilux. We had this evil thought of how funny it would be seeing their queen size mattress fly off the Gladesville Bridge!

TB boy is in love with the truck - he wanted to pick up his cousins to sit in the back and drive to a house party...i reminded him that he was on longer in Fiji :p

it's my party and i'll sleep if i want to...

2006-05-21T14:41:00.000+10:00

sleeping, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

Last night I had birthday drinks at the 3 Weeds Hotel in Rozelle. A whole lot of love, alcohol, presents, laughter and pink whisking was shared by all. It was too much to bear - i had to have a little lie down during the party. Thanks so much to everyone for coming along and celebrating my birthday. It felt like a big milestone birthday - even though it was only for my 28th - which i think it a grand year. Not yet thirty - still enjoying life wtih no responsibilities haha. Big thank you to my mean girls and syl for organising, surprising me and not surprising me with awesome presents and cakes. There will be a full update wtih pictures later....but right now I want to have another little nap. Love Youse All! xxx

The Rugby

2006-05-17T18:50:00.000+10:00

waratahs vs hurricanes, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

Last saturday was the first time i've seen a super 14 rugby match. It was waratahs vs hurricanes and it was a really interesting game. Waratahs just couldnt find a win in the end - it was really close right up to the final siren...bloody Wendell Sailor blah blah. Anyhow i found it much more exciting than league and might actually consider following it..only coz the guys are better looking than the league players hahah and the crowds are generally better looking too - except for the row of 10 year olds who were sitting behind me and red ginger -they were banging the backs of our chairs and yellin out obscenities. I seriously wanted to spank them all. and not in a good way!

baklava

2006-05-17T18:43:00.000+10:00

baklava, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

My first attempt at baklava a few weeks ago. Can't believe how easy it was - layer upon layer of filo pastry and butter and nuts and orange blossom water syrup. So tasty. So much fat....

Lately...

2006-05-16T10:11:00.000+10:00

Yeah. I’ve been busy. And there are photos, I just haven’t got round to them yet.

Been busy with the mean girls makeover for Voodoo’s bedroom. It’s almost complete! We transformed her room from backpacker hostel to island girl chic (which at one stage included an unintentional blue lagoon effect on the wall haha) so now it matches the rest of the funky beach house.

Getting fat. Oh yes. I have been slack. Training has been half off since TB boy got TB. And I was pissed at them for canceling my lunchtime classes! BASTARDS at Globo Gym! So I didn’t go to the gym at all for 2 whole months, and now I’m paying for it. Literally and physically, since it costs so much darn money when you’re not actually using the gym! Anyhow, this morning was my first session back and as punishment for not going to the gym - they had moved the weights around to try and confuse me! Ha! They tried to sabotage my session with dodgy equipment falling apart, and providing a crap training environment - bad music and broken TV screens -and the showers were dirtier than I remembered. But I won’t let them break me! I’ve got one month to go until Hamilton Island Cup, and really need to get fit and ready to haul my ass into a canoe in tough conditions! The only plus side from this morning (other than burning 200 calories) – they now have milk and apricot nivea body wash in the shower soap dispensers and I got to see Casey Donovan from Australian Idol working out with her personal trainer (dunno if that was a plus actually).

Dreaming about knitting baking nesting again. I think it’s the cold weather and I just got my bookclub books – some knitting book with some cool projects. My aim this winter is to learn how to increase decrease and knit a beanie! Also got the latest Jill Dupleix cook book and made her awesome lemon friands for mother’s day. Even TB boy said they’re better than the friands at McCafe...which according to him, are so rubbery that you can bounce them on the floors.

PS. Belated Happy Birthday to Sze, Kwongie and Delan, and upcoming bday shout to my boy Joe, who I feel like i haven't seen in a year!

Banff Film Fest

2006-05-03T09:46:00.000+10:00

Last night I went to the Banff Film Festival at The Metro I think it was the ‘world tour’ short list of short films on different adventure sports based in the mountains – mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking, skiing, snow boarding etc…which sounds fun, except they were all ‘totally extreme man!’ (insert gnarly Californian accent).

So instead of just going heli-skiing, the ‘extreme’ version is to get dumped by a chopper and ski down a pristine slope which happens to be a sliver of snow on the edge of a vertical drop cliff, and launch themselves into a B.A.S.E jump off the side off the cliff. I was in awe, but I was not inspired. I get enough of an adrenalin rush from a 2metre swell. haha.

The most extreme activity I will be doing this weekend is renovating Voodoo’s room. I wonder how many ways I can make painting a ceiling ‘Extreme!’…

Buttermilk kisses

2006-04-27T20:48:00.000+10:00

blog copy, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

This Anzac Day we held the cockatoo cup race in honour of little Mich's farewell. At the last minute a whole bunch of us girlie girls pulled out of the race - it was grey, cold and wet! Instead we made breakfast (for the other paddlers like Big Dave who didn't help organise anything!) whilst sipping champers - a far more fitting anzac tribute. ha!

I was too busy flipping pancakes for 30 people(!) to take pictures of the breakfast menu which consisted of: Bacon and Egg Rolls, Hello Kitty faced toast (it is the coolest toaster!), fruit salad, and Buttermilk pancakes with blueberry sauce and icecream! Instead I have pictures of - the girls flipping pancakes, Red Ginger and her NEW CAR! close ups of pancakes, Mich trying on her farewell present (with billy in the background holding back the tears because she's leaving and now he'll have the whole responsibility of updating the PD's website hehe!), Red Ginger and her new stylin' sunnies, the girls hanging out on the deck chairs in the front yard.

Farewell Lil' Mich, I know you'll have a great time travelling around Europe hanging out with other aussies haha! Hopefully I'll see you in Sept when Red Ginger and I take on Europe! Safe Trip and Big Hugs.

i would do anything for love...but i wont eat that.

2006-04-20T09:42:00.000+10:00

There are many things I will eat - pig's trotters, pig intestines, pig's blood (okay so mostly pig related stuff) and chicken's feet, but I wont eat a placenta. After rumours yesterday was that Tom Cruise wanted to eat Katie's placenta, we talked about placenta recipes at work, as you do. ;-p

Last night, I asked mum about placentas and she replied of course they eat them in China and OF COURSE the hospitals sell human placentas to the food markets so that people can buy one and cook it up at home. You can even get placenta soup at the hospital canteen. OF COURSE! The going rate for a placenta in Guangdong?
Fresh placentas for about 100 yuan (US$12) each and dried ones for 130 yuan (US$16).

Long Weekend

2006-04-18T17:17:00.000+10:00

chadbday, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

Ello Ello!

Happy Birthday to The Chad! My good friend and wannabe Pro Golfer/Pro Millionaire/Pro-Actor (hence the standard Chad pose in the top right hand corner of the pic).

I baked him a Hummingbird Cake from a Delicious Magazine recipe. It's the first time I baked a fruit cake - it's kind of like a carrot cake with pineapple and mango bits in it. I made a lime cream cheese frosting and Natty helped me decorate with the 'C' made from crushed walnuts!

The combination of roasted walnuts, carrots, pineapple and mango pieces and frosting was an intersting combination of sweetness and texture.

Chad requested a 'low fat' cake. Unfortunately the only really 'low fat' thing about this cake is the 'lite' philly cream cheese I used in the frosting haha...

Happy Easter

2006-04-13T09:59:00.000+10:00

easterfrog, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

Yeah I know I'm not religous but any holiday that celebrates with chocolate gets my vote! This year I decided to splash out on a Haigh's Peppermint Super Frog (novelty size as it says on the sticker). Everyone at work was more than willing to help out with the eating! YUM!

Another Weekend (eating)

2006-04-10T12:47:00.000+10:00

More eating – was the theme for this weekend (and every weekend).

Jpeg/TB Boy came out of hospital on Friday, to celebrate we went straight from hospital to Hungry Jacks for the much anticipated “when I get out of hospital the first thing I want to eat is a whopper-whopper". It did not disappoint.

Later that night, I baked pineapple pie and it was reviewed by TB Boy as the ‘best tasting one yet except the bottom is really burnt’ (this is my 4th attempt but I think it has more to do with the fact that anything tastes better than hospital food).

Saturday – after watching Saturday – after watching ‘The Laughing Samoans’ perform at Riverside Theatre in Parramatta (I ‘get’ island humour now…am I turning into an islander by proxy?!), the girls and I went down to Temasek for some Laksa. The rich creamy coconut milk was delish. It wasn’t until we were paying the bill that I noticed my fave Assam Laksa on the specials blackboard! Damn it! But the Laksa was still good, and then we wondered off to Church St in search of some mouth cooling gelato and westie night life. We saw drunken louts stumbling back from the Races shouted out obscenities to passers-by, women wandering barefoot in their race frocks and crushed fascinators, and there were plenty of doof doof cars cruising the strip. Ahh.."Parra..doesn’t..matta"!

After hearing about the big swells that were coming down as a result of recently cyclones, we had hoped that Sunday's regatta organisers would let us play in the big waves at Fisherman’s beach in Narrabeen. But no such luck – instead the race was moved up to Palm Beach and we pounded our canoe through the windy bay around Scotland Island. Felt knackered afterwards – but managed to drag myself to dinner with the family to celebrate dad’s 30 year anniversary for arriving in Australia! Dad’s first job was at the Pagewood KFC, I suggested we go there for dinner (ha ha) but instead we had good old canto style ginger and shallot crab, giant steamed oysters, and a beef in a hot pot soup that tasted abit like Vietnamese beef noodle soup, but less spicy. YUM! I was so stuffed. Wished that I was like Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so they could roll me out like a human blueberry...

And this weekend is the easter long weekend which can only mean one thing. More Eating. AGAIN!

End of summer...

2006-04-07T08:39:00.000+10:00

I’d like to officially announce that it’s no longer summer. Ha!
I know it’s April but March still had days like summer in the mid 20s and I was hoping that the heat would last longer this year, but when the bottle of Tahitian tanning lotion (courtesy of Red Ginger) goes from a nice liquid state to solid overnight – there’s no denying that the seasons have changed.

PS. Jpeg is coming out of hospital today! Yippee! Now I’ve just got to fatten him up and get him back to normal!

stress=baking

2006-04-02T17:26:00.000+10:00

When I get stressed and need some cheering up I bake. (therefore I am) haha.

In the past week I have baked, cooked and eaten like a starving woman. I baked scones, Mrs Field's dark chocolate chunk cookies , and attempted to bake another frangipani tart . Except that the tart bombed out (i misguidedly thought I could replace pure icing sugar with impure icing mixture. what. was. i thinking?!) the frangipane mixture did not set and remained in a molten gooey state even after the tart crust had been burnt to a crisp. No worries -I made buttermilk pancakes with rich chocolate sauce instead. Almost as good as Trade Winds Cafe in Maroubra.

Despite Jpeg being in hospital the weekend wasn't so bad. I got to gorge myself on Voodoo's mum's fijian crab curry. OH YEAH! (crab makes everything better!)

The low down (public service announcement)

2006-04-02T17:02:00.000+10:00

Hello friends.

Just a little note to let you know the good news is that Jpeg's mysterious illness is confirmed as T.B. Thanks for all the well wishes - he's still in hospital but hopefully will be out sometime this week and on the road to recovery (he has to get treatment for 6 months).

The bad news is that TB is a contagious but luckily curable disease and if you think Jpeg might have coughed or breathed air near you in the last few weeks (i.e. his birthday celebrations last weekend....that's the last time i organise anything!) you might want to go get a check up with the G.P and ask for the TB skin test just to be sure. If you have contracted TB - the incubation period is about two weeks from contact.

The symptoms for TB are:

coughing for 2-3 weeks with no improvement after treatment
weight loss (unintentionally and not on jenny craig)
feeling unwell and tired
fever and night sweats (drenched clothes and bedsheets kind of sweating)

If you have noticed all these symptoms get thee to a doctor quick smart.

Okay that's the end of the public service announcement.

By any means possible!

2006-03-31T15:13:00.001+11:00

Yeeehaw! Check out this pics from my race up in Port Stephens last weekend. Click on pics for more action.

I'm in seat 4 and we are surfing over a wave. We managed to catch up and overtake that team just ahead of us to snatch third place!

And pic below is me (well my foot) trying to change into the boat "By any means possible!" (to quote Miss Voodoo). 'Foot First' is probably what you would call my style. Everyone has their own style - Sensei for example, has a textbook change in looking like a seal. Slip in Slip out! (So elegant that it makes you want to through fish at her or a ball to balance on her nose to make it abit more difficult. ha! )Red Ginger is more from the Hook on with armpit style, KittyKat, on the other hand is nicknamed 'buttcrack' for her entry style...

mental health

2006-03-28T11:21:00.000+11:00

This morning I dreamed that I had a dance off with a black rapper out of those MTV video clips - I was popping and krumping and moon walking. And I won! I woke up so excited and pumped and then realised it was tuesday and I had to go to work.

I'm thinking of taking a mental health day off work this week. Seriously unmotivated at work and just general feeling of 'blargh'.

Same but different

2006-03-27T14:33:00.000+11:00

It was Jpeg's birthday week celebrations - starting with peking duck feast for two at Eastwood Garden Peking Restaurant (two thumbs up!), followed by drinks on Saturday night at the Triple 8 Bar in Chinatown (where we were entertained by Larry's yoga poses) and a little satay bbq lunch in the park on Sunday (dogs, smokey satays and the famous 'Larb'), finishing off with a not-so-quiet Sunday arvo/dinner at The 3 Weeds pub in Rozelle. (Note to Mars: they serve your St. Arnou Pils there - and it's must nicer than Boganville.)

In between all the eating, I drove up to Port Stephens and did a 3.5hours changes OC race on Saturday. It was fun, except same as last year, when the weather decided to rev it up just before our race, and so we were forced to do the entire race in the Bay (flat water and scenery doesn't change) , while later in the day the boys got to go out in the ocean around the islands (much more exciting and bigger waves). One of the race highlights was seeing dolphins jumping out of the water nearby, and our team came third!

and den?....I need a weekend to recover from this past weekend.

pretty big dave

2006-03-21T18:52:00.000+11:00

pretty big dave & bec, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

This was meant to be a belated birthday tribute to Miss Maureen aka Voodoo, but I can't upload all the pictures of 'The Feast at Thirroul', so instead I bring you a little taster - Bec and Big Dave, resplendent with paper parasols.

Lovely lei

2006-03-20T14:19:00.000+11:00

This is Annette wearing her birthday frangipani lei and Red Ginger and I made two weekends ago for the 'Bridge to Beach' paddle/swim race. I just wanted to post and gloat because it was a great lei!And also because we had to prowl around Kittykat’s street trying to steal frangipanis in broad daylight.

Afterwards we went to a house around the corner from Red Ginger's and the old man who lived there said we could take plenty from his huge tree! No more suspicious prowling and shaking of trees. Click on the pic for more pictures of the race.

Lazy glutton

2006-03-20T12:31:00.000+11:00

Been feeling lazy. No doubt due to being an absolute glutton and having no energy to move as my body tries to digest all the food I ate all weekend.
First it was lunch and afternoon tea with Santososos, then ‘snackies’ half an hour later (I couldn’t resist trying Ben’s lamb backstrap yum!) and a terrible steak house dinner out in Penriff, followed by dessert and and then a 'sil yeah' late night course of mum’s duck sang choy bao.

And that was just Saturday.

Sunday was a whole other feast which will be posted tomorrow.

Miss Caroline

2006-03-15T09:03:00.000+11:00

Miss Caroline, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

Happy Birthday Cazz!

May you always be dancing under coconut trees (preferrably real ones)!

Last week’s food addictions…

2006-03-13T13:03:00.000+11:00

are brought to you by:

Home made Pavlova – courtesy of my manager who was celebrating his birthday. I had to restrain myself and only eat two slices (ha ha!).

Raspberry Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Tart – from Donna Hay’s Off The Shelf. I’ve never made coconut macaroons before and never realized how easy it was! It was good, but not quite chocolately enough for me, definitely less effort than short crust pastry though.

Pocky Green Tea Mousse. Spotted at an asian supermarket in Rhodes shopping centre. I love the Japanese packaging - sucked me right in! The mousse on the pocky stick really does taste like matcha. It’s my new favourite flavor of pocky, though apparently this is a seasonal flavour.

Homemade steak sandwich - $7 for two pieces of New York cut organic steak, stick it on slices of thick cut crusty loaf, lettuce and lots of tomato sauce!Delish!

King Island Blue Brie – I have been eating this big hunk of cheese with figs on vitawheats all last week. Practically everyday for lunch - it was half price! I finally finished it today. No more cheese for this week. Banned. Honest!

Snow crab - Mum cooked up some unintentionally salty (more like salt and pepper style) crab for dinner. It was yummy - but does not compare in flesh texture or sweetness to the mighty mud crab. CRAB SEASON IS UPON US! My favourite season of the year!

I really need to start paddling again - went on a two week hiatus. But i'm back in the boat tonight!

thumbsucker

2006-03-08T10:13:00.000+11:00

thumbsucker, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

After years of saying I'd go, and a false start on the Princess Bride night (it got rained out!) We finally made it to Moonlight Cinemas last night down in Centennial Park.

We watched Thumbsucker , which is about a 17 year old boy who still sucks his thumb. I hadn't heard much about the film, other than Keanu Reeves playing a Dentist/pyschologist - and it turned out to be a great black comedy. I didn't realise that so many big names were in it. Vince Vaughan, Tilda Swinton, Benjamin Bratt and that guy from Law&Order Criminal Intent. I recommend it and give it one thumbs up if you're in the video store looking for something to watch. (ha pun intended)

Three busloads of teenage kids from some school turned up to watch the movie and at first we didn't notice their presence until there was scene in the movie where the boy's parents start making out and all the kids were making icky noises about it 'eww gross'. I wasn't grossed out by it - they were because they associated with the main character - the 17 year old boy, then I realised that Keanu - my teenage heart throb (back in Point Break days) is 40 years old. Which means I am old.
When did I grow so old?! haha

more shopping...

2006-03-05T17:38:00.000+11:00

My quest for cute gym bag/overnight bag is over! Ever since Red Ginger brought back her stylin' Kenneth Cole one from San Fran. I thought it was time that I upgrade from my dodgy hand-me-down freebie travel agency bag.

Today Red Ginger and I went to DFO and she spotted this pink one for me at Strandbags. It was just the right size and saved me from buying a pink Lonsdale London gym bag (and also stopped me from becoming a label whore)

Red Ginger is now my official accessory shopper - first maui jim sunglasses, caps and visors, and gym bags! My next target is a clutch handbag!

Sydney 2000...again

2006-03-01T09:57:00.000+11:00

This is our team receiving our silver medals for the 500m state sprint titles last weekend. (we are in the orange!) Many of our OC and DB regattas are held at the 'world class facilities' out in Penrith, which was the rowing venue for the Sydney 2000 Olypmics. They use the same podium to present the medals and more often than not I pretend that I'm an olympic medallist. (sometimes as i speed down the M4, it feels like i really am travelling 'back to the future' to the year 2000)

frangipani tart

2006-02-28T21:48:00.000+11:00

tart, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

Had the urge to bake tonight after seeing Matt Moran's raspberry frangipani tart in this month's Delicious Magazine. And it's one of those rare nights when I dont have anything scheduled! *gasp*

I've never made a 'tart' before - but it was super easy (it is written up as 'foolproof' - my kind of recipe haha)
and i was suckered in coz it's called a frangipani tart!(no there are no flowers in it). And yeah i know you all love it when i use the word 'TART'.

PS. Clearly my tart is the one on the right - supersized and without a dusting of icing sugar.

Kia Orana!

2006-02-27T18:03:00.000+11:00

Following from the previous post - here is a pic of the $2 a piece bikinis i bought from the seafolly factory outlet sale on the weekend. Not all the pieces shown here were $2, but most were - all up i spent like $50 for 9 pieces - which is what i paid for a 1 piece swimsuit just a few months ago. 9 for the price of 1!

Our OC club colours are orange and purple and so I couldn't resist buying those orange ones with white hibiscus print to wear to club regattas ...and maybe the cook islands race we are hoping to make in November this year!!

'Kia Orana' means Hello in the Cook Islands!

last weekend of summer

2006-02-27T13:08:00.000+11:00

I spent the last weekend of summer....

1. Getting drunk on 2-4-1 cocktails at kuletos in Newtown with the girls and trying to spot out any transsexuals waiterstaff in Thai Potong (alas they were none!)

2. Going crazy at the seafolly factory sale and buying far too many $2 bikinis (1 for each day of the week!) - more pics on the sale to come.

3. Gorging on an international spread of food - big breakfasts, bbqs with german sausages, yumcha and tangy gelato!

4. Winning a silver bling bling medal at State Sprint Titles out in Penrith. Woohoo!

5. But the highlight was coming home to find THAT corner of my room literally swollen with water from the storm. The paint on the wall was holding up like a water balloon in the section above my window. We had to cut a hole in the paint membrane so the water could be drained into a bucket! It was kind of cool - except that my bed got wet and I had to move it into the centre of the room away from the walls. It's so disorienting waking up and realising that everything isn't quite where is should be!

declutter

2006-02-21T22:43:00.000+11:00

wardrobe copy, originally uploaded by creamy_mash.

A couple of weeks ago I decluttered my wardrobe. The result is the lower two pics. I thought I had alot of pink until I saw the front page of the Ikea website and fell in love with this cute wardrobe in the top pics. So those were THE pink boxes that kitty kat told me about months ago! Am tempted to use them as shoe boxes! And I have always wanted those pull out belt/accessory drawers...and check out all the handbags hanging off butcher hooks. I think I might head down to ikea this weekend! (dont ask me about the rest of my room - i'm working on one corner at a time people!)