Five things

Another crazy week where I don’t remember a single thing about what just went down. Seriously. I’m glad I take ten jillion photos otherwise I’d forget it all. I’ve been so crazy busy with goodness knows what, but I really had the urge to drop everything and blog tonight. I must do the nails again though. It really annoys me when one peels or chips. Here’s a short summary of this week in five short n’ sweet pics.

ONE. I discovered Cabrito coffee roasters the other day while having lunch at La Lupita. Besides my excitement of having them open in the city (yay new lunch spot!) I quite like the coffee beans they use here. Plus how can you say no to these cute little stamps on the cups! That said, I just Googled ‘cabrito’ and I think it means goat meat. :S:S

TWO. H and I took a trip to Le Pub, the Parisian bistro slash pub. We’d been meaning to go for the longest time – he was swayed by the cider pork knuckle for two, so off we went. I loved the interiors and the cutlery. Love love love art deco. I think we’ll be returning as I discovered a voucher for it in the Entertainment Book. Plus the food wasn’t bad at all!

THREE. I love it when food trucks come to my end of town as there aren’t that many good food selections down my end of town. This week I was lucky enough to catch EatArtTruck with their amazing kingfish ceviche with corn chips. I heart that mayo. Seriously.

FOUR. I really adore Sydney harbour. I love sitting by the foreshore and just people watch. Or this week’s case, birdwatch. This ibis was scrounging around for scraps of food. Although I dislike these birds, I quite like the gradient of the sky in the shot.

FIVE. I just had to add this in. I frequent Hole in the Wall coffee whenever I’m nearby. They happened to have this adorable chalkboard up outside the little store on King Street. I definitely recommend coffee here if you’re in the area! Made with love. Just how I like it.

How has your week been?

Iyama design studio

I have a thing for washi tape. Something about the pretty pastels and bright coloured masking tape just keeps drawing me in. There is nothing more that I’d love than to visit the washi tape museum in Japan. But. Not for a while to come I think. I saw this MT installation by the Iyama Design Studio. Swoon.

I would however wonder what would happen with the dust sticking to the tape. It might not even be sticky. Who knows. Anyway. I like it.

What creative stuff have you made with washi tape?

Five things

Sydney weather is a bit unpredictable at the moment I never know what to wear so I’ve been wearing a lot of layers and peeling/putting them on as required. I put together my latest five obsessions of the moment, and seemingly they are very cool-weather focused!

ONE. Glasshouse candles are becoming an obsession. Well obsession is probably an understatement. I have about three different variations open around the house. I love them. The mimosa and wild apple scent is my current favourite. I love them so much I decided to make an animated gif out of it.

TWO. My birthday vanilla lamington from My Little Cupcake was TDF. A perfect light cake encased in vanilla frosting and smothered in coconut flakes. Now to try the ones from Flour and Stone to compare. I really should lay off the sugar.

THREE. But wait! More sugar. Banoffee torte from Cafe Sopra. My weakness. I can never say no to a good banoffee torte. Just thinking about it makes me salivate. I love the caramel and biscuit base, and the banana is just a little something extra. Adore the textures.

FOUR. I’m loving the free art exhibitions that run across Sydney. H and I ventured over to 13 rooms down at Walsh Bay. It was my first exposure to performance art. I have to say that it did make me feel a bit uneasy at first, but overall I found it very interesting!

FIVE. There isn’t anything better than a lazy Sunday lunch with a glass of wine (or two). Any excuse will do really. It was a cold autumn day and we had pasta and osso bucco. Love.

What are you doing to keep warm this season?

I’m guilty.

I risk being disowned, but I’m guilty of indulging in chick flicks.

I watched A Walk to Remember for the very first time over the weekend. It came after a discussion with the boy after an episode of Nikita – which involved Shane West. I made the comment about him being in that movie with Mandy Moore (that I never watched as a tween).

Anyway, fast forward to Sunday night. I watched A Walk to Remember. I *bawled* my eyes out. It really was the most syrupy, sugary sweet tweenage movie, but I couldn’t help but wish for my own love story conveniently set by a spectacular lakeside view, with a boy who will make me a telescope. And then live happily ever after.

That’s all I’ll say about that. Do you have any cheesy romantic movies that you like to indulge in?

(And let’s maybe forget this post ever existed.)

Manicure: Electric blue striping tape patterns

 

My manicure is a few days old already but I thought that I’d put it up on the blog. I was inspired by the Nailasaurus’ latest neon mani. Apologies for the slight tip wear on the nails. I think it’s time for a change sometime soon. I used Sally Hansen’s Pacific Blue that I picked up from the latest Priceline 40% off everything sale. I saw it sitting on its lonesome on the shelf and knew I needed it in my collection.

It’s a pretty electric blue shade with a hint of purple. If you know me you know I just can’t pass up on *any* shade of purple. Such a quick and easy mani that produces some pretty patterns. I’m a sucker for geometric lines.

Another shot of the manicure in the sun. As you can see, the lines aren’t as crisp as I’d like, but you don’t really notice them from afar.

What’s your fav nail colour at the moment?

My birthday night at the museum

I’m the epitome of low key, so my birthday last week was no exception. The celebrations were extended throughout the entire week, but it was a relatively tame one. It started on Tuesday where a few friends and I had coincidentally decided to pop over to the Australian Museum for Jurassic Lounge. I expected that they’d open up one room of the museum with a bar in the corner. Needless to say that the event far exceeded my expectations. I pre-ordered my tickets (despite the booking fee) and I was glad I did! The queue snaked around all over the place and I was in no mood for standing in a line. There were a couple more queues inside for food and alcohol, but it was still much better than the one outside. The large t-rex skeleton that greeted us in the foyer. I quite like the shadows that they made on the walls. It was very night at the museum. Different animal eggs lined up by size. It was like they were from another world. A little alien-esque time line. Oh hello there Mr Dinosaur. I think you’re missing a little something there. We lined up for drinks and realised it was the quesadillas queue. So naturally, we quesadilla-ed. With a side of champagne of course. The spread. We ate standing because that’s what us classy girls (and boy) do. Being artsy with the bubbles. They had heaps of these polycarbonate flutes at the start of the night. But as you’ll see as you go further into this post, they ran out… Hello creepy fish. There were a few creepy preserved animals in the museum. I found Skippy along the way. Funnily enough I don’t ever remember coming to the Australian Museum before this visit. Playing with the skull plaster casts. They were all interactive and free to touch. Pretty butterflies and moths. I absolutely love order. This was just amazing to me. The amazing artwork they had in the basement of the museum. We ended the night with more champagne. Of course they ran out of flutes, so we were drinking out of classy disposable coffee cups.Overall an awesome night. There was also a silent disco in the animals section. Would definitely return if they hold it again next year!

Helveticat

I’m trying hard been catching up on emails and blog reading where I can this past week. I have a long list of topics to blog about with eye candy to match. I suppose it is a case of sitting down and writing it all up and editing photos. Oh to have more hours in the day!

Anyway. Being a girl I love anything cute. The designer in me loves typography, so when I came across Helveticat (buy it here), I knew I had to share it. If I were more of a cat person, this would be perfect on my future office wall. But, turns out I don’t like cats as much (read: I’m seemingly allergic to them).

Random fact: I discovered I was allergic last year when I babysat my friend’s cat, and started getting red eyes, sneezing, and really itchy. Boo.

Liebster award

Liebster is a German word that means dearest, and this award is given to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers who you think deserves more recognition. I was nominated by the lovely Sass and Spice a couple of weeks ago now, and I’ve been so bad at getting around to doing it.

I love the idea of finding more about bloggers this way.

Here are the rules:

• List 11 random facts about yourself
• Answer the 11 questions which are given to you by your nominator
• Ask 11 new questions for all the bloggers that you nominate to win the award
• Nominate 9 bloggers with less than 200 followers to win the award
• Go to each of the blogger’s pages to let them know about their nomination
• Thank the blogger who nominated you by mentioning them and link back to their blog

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Here we go, 11 random facts about me:

ONE. A weird one, but I can’t bring myself to walk in between two similar inanimate things. Yes that’s right. It’s really odd. Unless it will endanger my life or the lives of others, I won’t walk in between two inanimate objects. Two poles, two signposts. I’m not OCD – Although I’ve been labelled OCPD. I just prefer not to walk in between things. :S

TWO. Leading on from that – I won’t open umbrellas indoors. Nor will I walk under a ladder. Which makes me think that this behaviour is more superstitious than anything else. I don’t think anything bad will happen if I do, but yes. Haha!

THREE. I’m into old people hobbies – i.e. crafting, knitting, sewing, gardening. I don’t quite know how to crochet just yet, but I definitely will learn. One day. I love making my own birthday/special event cards and sending it via snail mail to its recipient.

FOUR. Both my first name and second name mean ‘Christmas’ – but I was born in April. I think my parents just liked the names more than anything. I’m not really sure why my names have a great affiliation with Christmas.

FIVE. Growing up I never had a favourite colour. I latched onto blue because it was what all the cool kids were doing in primary school, but deep down I knew it really wasn’t my colour. I grew up and realised I loved purple. And now I have purple everything. Well, a bit of an exaggeration but I do like purple (within reason).

SIX. I secretly like trashy TV shows. I’ve gotten the boy watching Keeping up with the Kardashians. There’s nothing like mindless entertainment to play in the background while you do your household chores.

SEVEN. A little embarrassing but my friends know not to make me laugh whilst I am drinking a beverage. I had an unfortunate encounter during high school with chocolate milk coming out of my nose. I was really surprised at how much it hurt :S So it makes me think soft drink would be 10000 times worse?

EIGHT. I’m still into Hello Kitty. And Sailor Moon. I went through a phase last year where I had to watch all the episodes of Sailor Moon in order. I have a couple of SM paraphernalia. Also a Hello Kitty clock, money bank and other random bits and pieces around the house.

NINE. I published a paper during my university years. I based it on my thesis topic, and I ended up travelling to Cairns in tropical Northern Queensland to present it at a conference. It was pretty nerve racking, but overall an amazing experience. I got to do a bit of scuba diving on the side as well.

TEN. I was supposed to be left handed. My mother believed left-handedness to be the sign of the devil, so she often swapped the pen from the left to the right. I brush my teeth and my hair with my left hand as they were self-taught tasks.

ELEVEN. My party trick is doing a clover shape with my tongue. There was a family gathering where I was entertaining the kids, and managed to teach my nieces how to do this. Which probably isn’t really a good thing. But hey, they were proud of themselves once they knew they could do it.

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And now, the 11 questions for me:

ONE. How tall are you?
I’m pretty short actually. I’m about 150cm tall, and this isn’t part of the original question but my shoe size hovers between a 5 and a 5.5.

TWO. What’s your ideal holiday?
Hmm, probably going to a city with a lot of history and just exploring. A foodie holiday would be a bonus. I’d love to go around Asia and eat my way through it all!

THREE. What is your favourite dish to cook?
I’m definitely a meat and potato type of girl – I love making steak in garlic/diane sauce with shoestring fries and fresh herbs throughout. Second to that would be gnocchi.

FOUR. Describe your usual Saturday night.
Cooking dinner at home. Watching my stories. I’m boring and old fashioned.

FIVE. What is your most treasured piece of clothing/jewellery and why?
At the moment it’s probably my Ryan Storer ear cuff. It’s so pretty and sparkly. But yes, this would change month to month. I like me some variety.

SIX. Style wise, who is your icon?
I quite like the style of theclotheshorse. I don’t think I have one particular icon, but I like to draw inspiration from a couple of pretty ladies.

SEVEN. How would you describe your home interior?
Victorian – the dark woods, embellished gold, with a few low-brow art prints thrown around for some prettiness.

EIGHT. What would you do if you suddenly won $10 million dollars?
That’s hard. I’m not really sure. I’d probably invest half in stocks, then buy a house, then help pay off the parents debt, and. I don’t know! Def donate some to charity too.

NINE. How would your friends describe you?
I’d say loud. Which is funny because people at work would probably describe me as quiet.

TEN. How do you stay healthy?
I’m pretty lazy so I don’t exercise a whole lot. I do a daily brisk 30 minute walk from work, but besides that and (trying) to watch what I eat, I embarrassingly don’t do very much else!

ELEVEN. What was one of your resolutions for 2013?
To blog more. Which I think I’m somewhat failing at. But trying!

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My nominees (a small selection of the lovely ladies I follow in no particular order):

1. Zygomatic Fiend
2. Jadore Lamour
3. Food Porn Nation
4. My Cats Say Meow
5. Curious Charlie
6. Ineffavle
7. A Shoe Affair
8. Nesstopia
9. A Matter of Instinct

Questions for the nominees:

1. Do you have a signature scent/perfume and if so, is there an interesting story behind it?
2. If I were to buy you a drink, what would it be?
3. What was your dream job growing up?
4. What talent do you wish you had?
5. What is your favourite ice cream flavour?
6. What do you do to relax after a busy day?
7. Name three things you regret doing.
8. What are the top 5 most played songs on your music player?
9. What are you afraid of most?
10. What five people would you want with you in an apocalypse?
11. What are some goofy rituals you and/or your friends have?

I’d love to hear the answers from anyone else interested in doing it! Remember to leave me a comment if/when you choose to fill out the questions so I can take a look! 

Shepherd’s pie with cheesy truffle mash

H and I were faced with a dilemma last week – deciding what to do with some beef mince we had frozen a few weeks ago. Initially we had decided on nachos, but after realising I had some potatoes in the pantry, I searched around for a shepherd’s pie recipe. Now I realise traditional shepherd’s pie calls for lamb mince, but I didn’t think beef would hurt much.

I found a recipe by Donna Hay and adapted it a little to suit the beef modification. Plus I added some truffle to it. Who can resist truffle? This is a great recipe for preparing in advance on a weekend, and cooking in a snap on a school night during the week for a quick dinner. I used my piping bag to get pretty little florets on top, but in the end it melted together and didn’t resemble anything like what it used to be. Still pretty tasty despite its appearance.

SHEPHERD’S PIE WITH CHEDDAR MASH
Makes 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
500g beef mince
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary/basil/thyme
sea salt and cracked black pepper
1kg dutch cream potatoes, peeled and chopped
¼ cup milk
60g butter
1 cup grated vintage cheddar cheese/mozzarella/parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over high heat.
2. Add the onion, garlic, and carrot. Cook for 5 minutes or until softened.
3. Add the mince and cook for 5 minutes or until browned.
4. Add the tomato, vinegar, paprika, herbs, salt and pepper and cook for a further 10 minutes.
5. Place the potato in a saucepan of salted cold water and bring to the boil. Cook for 12 minutes or until tender. Drain and squeeze through a potato ricer to ensure a smooth consistency.
6. Add the milk and butter, then mash. Add the cheese and salt and mix to combine.
7. Divide the beef between 4 x 1½-cup capacity ovenproof dishes (or one large dish).
8. Top with the mash and bake for 25 minutes or until golden. I used a piping bag to get some pretty shapes on it and make it extra crunchy.
9. Drizzle with truffle oil before serving.

What do you cook in advance for dinner during the week?

Five things

ONE. Did some random errands today. It was a miserable and wet day, so I brought the red camellia out for some cheering up. I kept the outfit simple today: black ace jeans [bettina liano]; long sleeve chambray shirt [forever 21] and of course my red camellia woc [chanel]. I am extremely late to the chambray party.

TWO. H and I went out for an obligatory iced coffee from Don Campos. You know. The famed ones that contain three jillion shots of espresso. Go figure it is now one am and I’m wide awake blogging about nothing in particular at all.

THREE. Oh there was the most random pillow fight outside the MCA forecourt today. It consisted of a large cordoned off area and a whole lot of feathers. By the time I had gotten there, people were picking feathers out of their hair and clothes. Some unfortunate souls made the mistake of wearing knits, and seemingly had a much more difficult time removing the fluff.

FOUR. Easter chocolates. Namely Godiva chocolates marked down to half price. Yes, yes and yes. I bought a box. Not yet opened. To be saved for that special occasion I think!

FIVE. An assortment of Lebanese pastries from Abla’s in Granville. Crisp, sticky, sweet goodness. A welcome break whilst working on the last of my streamers. On the home stretch!