So, what's a ban again?

Well you know how this blog was supposed to keep me from buying stuff? It hasn't really been successful has it? 

Hmmm...so maybe I should rethink my expenditure...

Things have come to a head anyway so I will be taking a mini break from buying shoes. I want M to quit smoking all together (he's a social smoker) so being the deal maker than he is, he struck a bargain. If he has to quit smoking I have to quit buying shoes. It kinda sucks but I can deal with not buying shoes for a month or two...it'll give me a chance to buy the clothes, bags & accessories I want. Shhh! Don't tell him though, it'll be our little secret. God help me if he checks my blog! I stupidly told him I was blogging...I'll never make that mistake again! 

I haven't updated you in a while but somewhere along the line I've seen Avatar 3D, eaten some Thai, bought some goodies, had several serious chats with M about shoes and cigarettes, had lots of meetings at work, been in charge of a project that just finished up, eaten some more Thai, had a fight with the self checkout system at the local grocery store, disciplined Bailey, freaked out, watched a bit of TV, listened to some music, celebrated a birthday, caught up with friends, attended my first dance class in years, had countless random thoughts and slept a little less than I'd have liked. Phew!

Anyhoo, this entry is a little gallery of what I've been up to lately. I did get a bit slack and forget to take pics towards the end of this week though. Not that exciting but I keep forgetting to take the pics of my phone.

Enjoy and I'll chat to you soon!

Resistance is futile...

Wowsers, how has another week flown away from me?

On Tuesday night I caught up one of my best friends and we had thai at this unbelievably cheap place. The food was fresh and came in big serves. The best part was that it was only $6 a meal!!!

And we weren't done, we had a date with Robert Downey Jnr playing the title role of Sherlock Holmes. I actually didn't mind the film, it fulfilled my requirements for entertainment - good looking men, action ahoy, and a reasonable plot.

Then work, work and more work until Friday. Since we'd been talking cupcakes on the forum I finally caved in and went and got some for afternoon tea.

How good do they look? Cupcakes on Pitt is one of the cutest little cupcake shops to have sprung up over the last few years. They're mini cupcakes but seriously you shouldn't need more than 1 or 2 of these suckers to satisfy your sweet tooth. I got the rocky road and lemon meringue ones. My fave will always be the lemon meringue as it uses real meringue and lemon curd! It's the BUSINESS! Im drooling again just thinking of it.

Speaking of lemon, you what I recently discovered? Krispy Kreme have stopped making their lemon filled donuts!!! WTF? They were my favourite flavour! I am severely disappointed. I only have KK once every 6 or so months and I really wanted a lemon one and they tell me they're no longer in production! Grrrr...!

After work M met me and we went to the cheap thai place again. Spring rolls, money bags, red curry chicken & chicken pad hokkien with satay sauce this time. DELISH! Sorry, no pic of the meal as I was starving. I tend to focus on the food when I'm hungry...

Here are some action shots from the afternoon/night though.

M looking pensive

My Christian Louboutin Penny Girl flats peeping out the window

Playing with Bails at home

 My outfit of 3/4 jeans, Bonds singlet & Supre bolero, accessorised with Diva necklace, cotton & wood bracelet from the markets in Cairns, stainless steel ring & Chanel earrings

Now it's all quiet on the western as the boys have gone camping and I'm home alone. I'm actually looking forward to it in a way. It'll be like I'm living by myself again. I was thinking I should pull out my apron and start baking again this weekend but it's going to be about 39C (104F) outside today and whilst I do have airconditioning I think putting the oven on too would be ludicrous. Then we're supposed to get a change tonight and it's supposed to thunderstorm! WTF is with this crazy weather lately? I've heard LA is getting hail and were on tornado warning plus Arizona had a tornado...the world going crazy! Or God's gonna wipe us out soon. Not sure which one scares me more.

Anyway, back to cooking/baking. I've been inspired by my friend V who linked me to some cooking blogs. I'll have to update my links column with them but the things on there are so inspiring and they make me want to do more creative cooking again. I'll keep you updated on my cooking plans!

A whole weeks worth of catchups

I can't believe it's Sunday night and I've got to back to work tomorrow! This week has whizzed by and I seem to have lost it somewhere. I guess time flies when you're busy. Last week was a bit of a fmily week as M's parents are down from Queensland.

Tuesday 12th Jan

Went to dinner at Bay Tinh in Marrickville with M's parents, uncles and aunts. The food was sensational! We've been there before and I just love Vietnamese food to death. I would eat it everyday if I could. Actually I almost do as I try and have beef pho at least once a week. Noodles, beef, onion and soup, what's not to laove I ask you? And it's not that bad for you either as there isn't too much that's deep fried. Unlike Japanese where I love all the fried stuff like katsu and teriyaki tofu....anyway, I'm digressing!

Here's what we had for dinner:

Doesn't that look great? There was crispy vietnamese style pancake with prawns & chicken, soft shell crab, grilled beef rolls, prawn meat rolls wrapped around sugar cane, prawn & chicken volcano (rice paper wrap your own rolls) & a vegetable soup with noodles to finsh up with (no pic). Sooo full by the end of it all!

We got home at about midnight or so to find out our darling puppy had peed on our bed!!! Not happy at all! So I've decided if he doesn't want to act like our usual adorable fur baby he can be treated like a dog. Time for a manners refresher course. He spent the night outdoors and we spent an hour and a half fixing up our bed.

Thursday 14th Jan

Had one of my bosses up from Melbourne today and we had a workshop on going paperless. FUN....

Went to dinner at M's uncle's place and had this beautiful dish his mother cooked. Didn't get a picture of it but it was salmon poached in mango pulp served with a macadamia crust, and a rocket & roasted tomato salad sprinkled with balsamic. It was soooo good!

Since Bailey is still serving time we put him out on the balcony for the night. He whined for 1.5hrs and finally stopped at 1am!! Then he had the hide to start up again at 4am. Needless to say it took me a while to get started on Friday. Bad timing as I had to go through something with bossman 2 and I wasn't really coherent enough to make sense.... (>.<)

Friday 15th Jan

Couldn't wait to get home and veg out with the boys (I should clarify here that I am talking about M & Bails!). Had dinner at home and watched a movie. Conked out. Bliss!

Saturday 16th Jan

Since this weekend was a dedicated "us" weekend we wandered into town around lunchtime after a nice homemade brunch of scrambled eggs and bacon.

That night we decided to have a spontaneous dinner out at El Bulli around the corner. We started with a drink at our local water hole, one that I've been dying to try out as it always looked good from the outside. To our surprise we enjoyed it and found out they served a great pub menu. Must go there for a meal one day next week or the next.

Anyway, when we finally got a table at El Bulli (note: you cannot book for 2) we had a smorgasboard of:

• PATATAS BRAVAS - crispy fried potatoes in tomato chilli sauce
• GAMBAS a la SEVILLANA - Panfried prawns in tomato based garlic, chilli & olive oil salsa
• GNOCCI con PICOS AZUL - Homemade crispy gnocchi in a serano ham, blue vein cheese & white wine cream sauce
• Bread
• Carafe of red sangria

I promise to take pics of the tapas next time but the lighting in there is quite low and I couldn't get any decent ones with my phone.

That brings us full circle to Sunday. We watched a few episodes of Top Gear and a movie called RocknRolla. I love Guy Ritchie and his films never fail to amuse and entertain. It's not in the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells range but it was great in it's own right.

Sorry there weren't many pictures so I'll finish off with a nice random cartoon for you...

 

Turkey, Ramen, Steak, Vampires & Werewolves.

Friday night was our work Christmas party which I must say I thoroughly enjoyed as it was a harbour cruise and buffet dinner. The buffet certainly wasn't anything to write home about but all we needed was basic stuff. I don't have any photos on my camera as I forgot to take any! Too busy having a good time I think. I know my friend was taking millions of pics with her dslr so here are some pics of the party!

I look like such a travel brochure in the second pic don't I? Also check out my blue contacts in the third pic. Love it!

Saturday was a bit of a lazy day and we wandered up to our local restaurant strip for lunch. Our favourite Korean run Japanese restaurant had recently opened a noodle bar where they served miso or soya based ramen. OMG! It was soooo good!!!!

Karage chicken ramen with soya base

Pork & kimchee ramen with soya base

The soup was just what we needed and soothed booth of our heads and tummies. We were so full from the sheer amount of noodles in the bowl and wodnered if we could fit a BBQ in that night. But we did! Don't have any pictures from the birthday BBQ but trust me, we had fun!!!

Hmm, Sunday and Monday don't really rate a mention but on Tuesday a friend and I finally got to see New Moon! Oh PHWOAR! I don't know which team to go for!!! I think I'm in team Jacob for the abs and team Edward for the Heathcliffe-esque demeanor.

Oh I sold my Orlans - RIP my dear friend. I hope you are loved well by your new owner.

Anyway that about sums up my week up till now. I'll chat to you later on, night!!