Lush Life 4 Less

My First Melbourne Adventure

2011-11-01T22:11:00.000+13:00

Hi Kiddies,

Have been AWOL for a bit as I was venturing around the city of Melbourne. My apologies! I had an amazing time and it was my first trip there, very excite!

I didn't get to do many touristy things but here are some of the things (mostly shopping my ass off!) that I did while in Melbourne..

The first place I ate in Melbourne was Chillipadi - a Malaysian style chain similar to Oaks or KK Malaysia but much more commercial. I had fried noodles with seafood and Jeff-wah had Beef Rendang. The noodles were very tasty, quite standard. The rendang was great. Better than KK Malaysia - shock horror! They have Chillipadi restaurants pretty much all over Melbourne. The one we went to was in Habourtown.

Burger from Grill'd, pretty much Australias version of Burgerfuel. Definately not as good but it is pretty up there. I got just a basic cheeseburger type thing, I know what I like when it comes to burgers. It was good but nothing to write home about.

My favourite meal in Melbourne from the Queen Victoria Market - spicy beef bratwurst with sauerkraut, tomato relish and dijon mustard. Located in the deli section of the market, this stall is always buzzing with people. Around the lunch rush the amount of people surrounding is massive but never fear! The lines move quickly. I suggest standing back for a bit to really decide what you want because the locals know and they will get pissed (along with the staff) when you take ages to choose between a cheese or spicy brat. Wash it down with a blood orange drink and sit opposite Maccas and just enjoy. Really puts the Brat Pack to shame.

Shopping - my favourite place to shop was very handy in Harbourtown shopping centre. Located at the Docklands there is also a car park there that offers a flat rate of $5.00 (we parked there everyday we went to the city) and the City Circle tram stop is right outside. Harbourtown has a mix of regular AND outlet stores. Love it!

We didn't go to this particular Lord of the Fries outlet but we did eat at one while in Melbiurne. We were really excited to try it as it promises "The best fries you will ever try". Ah NAH! They were below average. The thing that is supposed to set them apart is the fact that they smother their fries with sauces of your choosing. I got a burger combo - the burger was disgusting, meat was so dry it felt like I was eating gib. Get it together mate.

Shopping and walking around Melbourne Central. Melbourne central acts as a mall but it really isn't. It's underground mostly and it connects many streets together with the illusion of being inside a mall. It really is quite a lovely place to browse around since the fresh air is still able to circulate throughout. It also links up to a train station!

Ride the City Circle tram. We used the tram to get pretty much everywhere all over the central city. On a map Melbourne doesn't look too bad but the reality is that everyone uses the trams to get everywhere. The city circle trams run in clockwise and anticlockwise directions and are every 12 minutes. The tram also had on board audio which advises tourists of which stops have which attractions. Oh and it's FREE!

Lunch at the Pancake Parlour. I got a fish and chip type meal all served on top of a potato pancake. They have lunch deals and their regular menu looked awesome! Lots of dessert type pancakes too. Mmm..

The cutest penguins can be found at the Melbourne Aquarium! Jeff-wah was mesmerized by the penguins and we were lucky enough to arrive at the time of day that they feed the penguins which was sooooo cool to see! We also got to feed some fish which was actually pretty cool and was only AUD$5.00 extra. If you have a valid metcard then you can get 20% off the entry price.

Hot chocolate at Max Brenner. The coolest place for hot chocolate! So yum. This particular one is called a Suckao which is hot milk served with chocolate drops (your choice of dark, milk or white) and you melt it all together in a special candle burner. Mmm..

Shopping at Chadstone Mall. Without a doubt the biggest mall I went to while in Melbourne. On the top floor they have all the flashy flashy stores like Gucci and Louis Vuitton (and Tiffanys - which had a line!) and on the ground floor they have all the normal chain stores and the foodcourt. Definately not the place to go if you are on a bit of a budget shopping wise.

IKEA! Oh my goodness I loved IKEA! It has everything I could want - homewares, furniture, kids toys! Everything! Honestly, we spent a whole day at IKEA just looking around at all the displays. I really wish they had an IKEA in Wellington.

Lunch at Red Rooster. This place doesn't seem very popular in Australia and I can't really see why. Everytime we drove past one it always looked empty. We even asked a few locals and they said it was gross. I'm glad we went against their word 'cause it was actually pretty yum! The chips were amazing.
I would recommend a Rippa Wrap.

I honestly for the life of me cannot remember the name of the place we ate on Lygon Street. Lygon Street is like the Little Italy of Melbourne and most of the dining places are al fresco which is great and was so lovely on a nice night Melbourne. We went with some friends who live in Melbourne and generally speaking it seems that if the service is bad.. The food is probably good!

COSTO is a huge discount store kind of like a supermarket meets the Warehouse. They have pretty much everything. The only thing is you can only enter if you have a membership or are with someone who has one. We got a giant bottle of Tobasco sauce for just a little more than the price of a tiny one from NZ.

Come on, go to Melbourne..

Kalliana

Strawberry Fare

2011-10-15T10:37:00.002+13:00

The last time I went to Strawberry Fare on Kent Terrace I was really disappointed- the prices had increased a bit and the sizes had decreaed. It seems that they have now taken it back up a notch and changed things back to the old ways.

We went to Strawberry Fare this week so Tom could experience the Wellington restaurant before he leaves for Japan. They have a Strawberry Fare in CHCH as well but it's more of a bistro whereas the Wellington one is.. Well it certainly has a family restaurant feel. There are only a few main dishes on the menu - which are just food nothing it seems to write home about.

I got the pavalova ($14.50) served with cream and fruit. It was sooooooooooooo big! Like you could cut it into four portions and serve it at a party!

Here have some well deserved food porn..

Pavalova $14.50

Devils Dream Cake $17.50

Baked Chocolate and Lemon Cheesecake $16.00

Chocolate Bleeding Heart $16.50ish

Chocolate Madness $18.00

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Webb Ellis Cup

2011-10-14T09:15:00.001+13:00

Last weekend me and Jeff-wah decided to go for a nice drive around Oriental Bay just because it was a pretty nice day. Of course, we forgot, that because Courtenay Place was closed over the weekend that traffic would be backed up!

Here are some photos of Wellington on a friggin good day and some Rugby World Cup related banter. At Te Papa they have the Webb Ellis Cup on display. There is a biiiiig security guard standing next to it at all times. But he stands far away enough so that you can get a picture with it!
.

Fountain in Oriental Bay

Driving along Oriental Bay

Proud Maori

South Africa fans

Facts re RWC 2011

The Webb Ellis Cup

GO THE ALL BLACKS!
Kalliana

Fidels

2011-10-11T21:41:00.003+13:00

Sigh. Last night our entire flat went out to dinner at Fidels on upper Cuba Street as a last supper. Tom the Jap has decided to return to Nippon-land to take up a job opportunity that is too good to miss. I really like Fidels. Sometimes I get put off with all the "hipsters" that frequent there.. I just feel that I don't fit in, with my crisp clean clothes, neat hair and made up face.. Well, I'm sorry that I don't like to wear smelly vintage clothes - which by the way need WASHING before you wear them after you bring your haul back from the Sallies..

ANYWHO, excuse my mini rant there! Dinner was goooood. Usually I get the pizza and beer special (2 Heines and a large pizza for $25.00) but now that we live just down the road from Hell pizza, I'm pretty pizza-d out. Instead I decided to have the mussels in a cream, lemon and rosemary broth ($16.00) and a vegan berry smoothie ($5.50). Jeff-wah decided on beef nachos ($15.00) and a snickers milkshake ($6.50).

My mussels were pretty good! The broth was a little bit salty but that can be expected of mussels. The waitress made a recommendation of having the mussels with 5-grain toast as she said it soaks up the broth better. I'm glad I listened to her on this cause damn son that bread had me coming back for more! The vegan smoothie tasted a lot like Ribena - but still real yum! Jeff-wahs frickin Snickers milkshake was SO GOOD! I hate being lactose intolerant.. I might have had too much of a taste and paid for it later on via stomach cramps. His nachos were very generous in size and to be honest there was mince leftover - which does not happen often.

The rest of our flat got a mexican pizza, chicken and holoumi salad and the beef burger - which was huge! All in all it was a really nice meal out (after being told that there would be a 50 minute wait for food at The Southern Cross) and their dinner prices are pretty much the same as their lunch prices. Cha-ching!

Have some photo

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Never shared..

2011-10-08T19:43:00.004+13:00

It's almost been a year since this happened. November 2010. That is quite shocking! Sorry.. Well when the U2 tour was announced I was a poor student living at home with my parents (basically now I remember that as the good life - I never realised how good I had it. Have to buy toothpaste and toilet paper with my own money now. And I like 2 or 3 PLY!). Because I was a student this meant I had all the time in the world to wait for the tickets to come out, be online and nab the super cheap ones! From memory I think they were like $39.00 each? Something riddonk like that! I will be honest.. Mainly wanted to go to see Jay. You know. Jay Z? We're on a one syllable basis.. I wish. Kong is one syllable right? Well I nabbed two tickets for me and Jeff-wah and convinced two of our friends to come road trip with us to Auckland for the show.

Here's a little run down of the pics I am sharing now. When Jay Z stepped out and started performing my heart melted from seeing those big lips. The down side of the cheap tickets was that the view wasn't great for Jay Z because all his gear was set up on the main middle stage facing the other way. I did get to see him arrive and depart though, which was surreal! To think that Jay Z was so close to me.. Sigh. It was quite awkward though, as we were surrounded by U2 fans.. Who had pretty much no idea who Jay Z was (I'm sure..) and looked at me and Jeff-wah with weird looks when we did our diamond signs. He is also a very lovely man, dedicating one of his newer tracks (at the time) Young Forever to the Pike River Miners.

U2 was amazing. They're just naturally talented and the show itself was so easy to get into and you just felt so involved. The stage was epic! Most of the time we were amazed by something that the stage was doing! It had little bridges that moved around and had this awesome screen that would expand. Crazy shit. Also living up to their humanitarian repuations they also displayed the names of all the miners lost in the Pike River tragedy on the screen.

While in Auckland for the concert we decided to hit up Dressmart in Onehunga. Excuse my language, but FUCK that place is big. Like, compared to the shitty little one we have in Wellington, it is MASSIVE. I mean it is nothing compared to the malls in Asia but damn girl that's a lot of outlet shopping right thurr. All the shopping in the photo is not all mine!

I tried rainbow Twizzlers and coconut M&M's. I bought a few packets of each from this random place called the Candyshack. I have no idea where it was but I remember it was down a dirty, dusty, unpaved alleyway/driveway thing and had no sign. We walked in and it was like a wholesale warehouse specialising in containers, paper cups etc. The guy opened this little pantry cabinet and there were all these American lollies and goodies in there! Word to the wise.. Twizzlers taste like playdough. And I know you know what playdough tastes like. And not the homemade one that you had at Kindy, the one that you buy from the store. Yeah. Not good. Also.. Twinkies are not as nice as I thought they would be? I didn't microwave it though. And I can't understand how anyone can eat a Poptart for breakfast? Why not just have a cupcake? Or a bowl of sugar?

Anyways, here enjoy some pictures, I've already said my thousand words!

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Orange? No! Tangerine.

2011-09-09T14:36:00.002+12:00

Ahhh Tangerine. Quite quickly becoming one of my favourite places to just chill. have a few brewskies. Ya dig?

I had a voucher from Grabone or Treatme that was about to expire (I always do that!) for $30.00 towards food/ beverages at Tangerine on Cuba Street. I got the fish platter ($9.00) and some tempura squid ($7.00) as I wasn't overly hungry. The squid was delish - the crumbing was particularly yum. The fish platter seemed to be popular choice between the rest of the patron. Jeff-wah got a burger called the Completo Tiger which is described as a Tiger burger with Japanese mayo and Asian spices. Unfortunately the description did not state that the burger comes with pineapple.. Which would have deterred Jeff-wah from the choice.

On Thursday they have two for one cocktails (they advertise that this is on Tues and Thurs but on Tues they close at 6pm) my fave is the Extremely Bare which is a gingery cocktail. The aftertaste is amazing!! Ommmmmmmmm.. I am kind of drooling just thinking about it.

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Treats from Japan

2011-09-04T20:49:00.000+12:00

My flatmate T-Bone recently returned from a month long trip to Nippon land (Japan). Lucky for some. To be fair, it is his homeland. After a nice long visit to his family and friends back home he returned to us with many treats.

Japanese Chocolates

More Japanese Chocos

Cute tea set

REAL green tea

Japanese Mayo - YUM. Retails for approx $1.50NZD in Japan

WOAP: Arizona for Lunch

2011-09-04T17:40:00.000+12:00

After the chocolate festival we decided to go and have lunch at Arizona, since it is right next to the Intercon and they had a pretty good lunch deal on for Wellington on A Plate. Their deal was $15.00 for a two course lunch. For a starter they had flat bread with yoghurt dip, which was really, really average. It would have been nice if they served the bread seperately as well (as what you see is for two people and who said I wanted to share? Huh?). The bread was soggy and very uninspired. It also would have been really nice if the waiter PLACED the plate on the table instead of THROWING it down on the table and saying "here's your bread". Not even explaining that the ONE plate was to suffice for TWO servings. Dick.

Moving on to the main. You had a choice of roast chicken or cajun fish. My flatmate decided to get the chicken so I got the fish just to be different. Now, I usually make my own cajun fish at home. Basically I get a fillet, rub it down with olive oil, a little salt and pepper and cajun spices. A LOT of cajun spices. All in all the fish was underwhelming - I wasn't impressed but nor was I disappointed. My flatmate noted that the chicken was cooked really well and made for a well rounded lunch. I had a bit of food envy there. My highlight would have been that the fish was cooked well - not too dry, which is always a risk you run when ordering fish.

Jeff-wah got the burger that they had on offer which was a venison burger (from memory) which I THINK was $15.00? Served on a sourdough bun with fries Jeff was really impressed with it that he even commented about it to the waitress at the counter when we paid our bill.

Overall I would give Arizona a pat on the back for trying really hard but I would also give them a kick up the bum for their service being all over the show. They're lucky I was too lazy to fill out a comment card.

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Chocolate Festival

2011-08-31T09:46:00.003+12:00

Finally got some pics from the Chocolate Festival sorted out. Don't you just love it when you go somewhere all prepared with your camera and then.. Uh, oh! Forgot to put the friggin' memory card back in. Great.

Anyhow, the man, my flatty and I all went to the Chocolate Festival at the Intercontinental earlier in August. My, my what a lot of chocolate. I don't think there is really much else to say.

Except that we went to a talk by the head chef from The Flying Burrito Brothers here in Wellington and they were giving out drink vouchers to people who got questions right.. I got two drink vouchers 'cause I'm a frickin' smartarse.

Here, have some photo.

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Taphaus

2011-08-29T20:51:00.001+12:00

Woah quick blog update alert! Just got home from dindin at Taphaus with the Mister. I had a Grabone voucher that was about to expire for $40.00 to use towards food and drink that their fine establishment.

Walking in it can be quite awkward if someone is sitting at the table directly on the left of the door (which there were - they were in the process of leaving which made it even more awkward) they've certainly utilised the max space they could when decided where tables can go. I personally wouldn't have the tables there - especially in the case of "runners". The bar/restaurant itself is really spacious. The bar takes up a lot of room is so many beer taps you would definately have a hard time choosing a drop - especially if you are quite a boutique beer house virgin. Which I am.

We were seated in the dining area which is quite seperate from the main bar. There are gold trellis type walls in between allowing for some flow between the areas and the windows provide a nice view of.. Traffic. I chose the salt and pepper squid and Mister got the meat feast pizza (both $15.00). The squid itself was really tasty and was served with fries and a small amount of salad - dressed with a muy delicious balsamic vinegar. The crumbing tasted like potato crumbing similar to the style they have at Gotham except done to perfection. The pizza left a lot of be desire with the toppings and was missing a sauce ie BBQ, sweet chilli or even just more tomato base. The crust/base was AMAZING. Perfectly crunchy. Nom nom nom!

To drink Mister had an Asahi beer and I had a glass of Mt Difficulty Riesling - which doesn't feature by the glass on the menu, normally $44.00 a bottle, but they were out of the Penfolds which was my original choice. Riesling really is the new Sav. Sav is soooo two years ago. Even Pinot Gris has had its time in the spotlight. Sav is so totally over - but that is a whole other issue. After everything all we had to pay was $8.50 making a very cheap night out.

Come on, buy me a bottle of Mt Difficulty Riesling
Kalliana

I Wish..

2011-08-28T21:59:00.000+12:00

It was my birthday. These are really old photos from my 20th that I found whilst cleaning up my camera.

Always special on your birthday - except this particular year when I had to make my own cake/s.

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

SPCA Cupcake Day

2011-08-28T09:30:00.002+12:00

Tomorrow (29/08/2011) is SPCA Cupcake Day! At work they are going to have many, many cupcakes for sale to help raise funds for those cute animals at the SPCA.

Yesterday when we went to the Southern Cross for lunch they had some cupcakes for sale for the cause ($3.00). We each got one of every flavour (I had the chocolate paw - which had edible glitter on it! YAY!) and ate them quite happily in support of the SPCA.

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Oh my goodness..

2011-08-27T14:50:00.001+12:00

THEY HAVE THE DOCTORS RIESLING AT THE OCCIDENTAL! $44.00 a bottle! YAY it's near my workplace!

All day on Friday I was thinking about this wine. I daydream about it quite a lot really.. It might be a bit unhealthy but, hey, a girl can dream.

You can imagine that I had to try very, very, very, VERY hard to contain my excitement when I saw this little name on the wine list under aromatics.. And at such a reasonable price as well. A very good workmate of mine agreed to go in on a bottle with me - "trust me you'll love it Anna" - and I had to apologise to her after she tried it, for ruining her for any other wine. Lets just say that after finishing up this bottle at The Occi we went and had a drink elsewhere.. Which was poos and wees compared to the delishness of The Doctors.. At the moment I have two bottles of this gold in my wine stores. I will never let it dwindle lesser than 1 bottle and I will not drink a bottle unless I have another one in my stores.. So really I always have to have at least two. It's not such a bad thing. Life is too short to drink crappy wine!

Come on and buy me a bottle of Doctors
Kalliana

Brunch @ The Cross

2011-08-27T14:44:00.000+12:00

At the moment as a flat we are all pretty unhealthy (3 sickies, 1 almost not sick anymore (me) and 1 AWOL in Japan) henceforth we are all feeling lazy. So noone felt like cooking something for lunch so we wandered down the street to find something to eat. Initally we were going to go Fidels Cafe but there were no tables for four available so we went to the Southern Cross instead.

Me and my best friend flatty both got the eggs bene ($16.00ish I think?). I know, I know, none can compare to the deliciousness of the Picton eggs benedict but hey.. You have to move on in life. It was pretty good, the eggs were really nicely cooked/runny (I have provided imagery of before and after the yolk has been broken). My other flatty got blueberry pancakes with banana and bacon ($15.50 from memory) which she said were amazing. The serving size is very, very generous! Jeff-wah got mince on toast served with a poached egg on top of rye bread ($12.00) which he noted needed a few lashings of both tomato and hot sauce. The sickies also enjoyed a nice hot lemon, honey and ginger drink to ease their throats - which Jeff-wah commented was "very lemonney" honestly.. Coming from a guy who once advised that "these peanuts taste like peanut butter"..

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Kahurangi Wine

2011-08-26T08:59:00.001+12:00

Menage a tois?

I scream, you scream..

2011-08-25T09:42:00.003+12:00

We all scream for ICE CREAM! More Picton pics. Tee hee hee! At the advise/ demand of a couple of friends who were not able to visit the Indulge ice cream parlour as it is only open on "sunny weekends" we went along on our last day in Picton - which happened to be a sunny, busy, bustling Sunday!

Not the best ice cream I've ever had but certainly the best waffle cone I have ever had! It tasted like gingerbread men cookies!! We tried the cookies and cream and hokey pokey flavours. The hokey pokey was really creamy and melted really quickly - but had no hokey pokey bits throughout, just hokey pokey flavoured. Located on the main road High Street in Picton it's pretty much the only place to get ice cream so I guess go ahead and check it out? Their ice cream sundaes look MEAN! There is one that comes with a raspberry brownie.. And another that comes with a meringue!

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Kahurangi Estate Winery

2011-08-24T09:14:00.002+12:00

During our weekend in the South Island my boo and I went for a nice (windy as F**K) drive to Nelson from Picton and went to visit the Kahurangi Winery. We chose Kahurangi because they make Jeffreys favourite Pinot Noir. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the winery is only bout a 30 drive from Nelson and there are heaps of other wineries on the way if you want to stop off at more than one.

The actual area that is open to the public does not consist of too much - a restaurant serving handmade pizza from a gorgeous woodfired oven ($18.00 each) and sides (large salad $8.00) with the cheapest wine list to match (a glass of Reserve Riesling cost me $6.50 with lunch) a small cellar featuring international wines and clearance wines and then a bar where the tasting happens ($2.00 for 4 tasters refundable on a bottle of wine if purchased).

We walked away with three bottles of wine.. Oops. Three bottles (Pinot Noir, Merlot and Reserve Riesling) of wine, a pizza, salad and two glasses of wine with lunch cost more or less $100.00.

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Cruisin' on the Interislander..

2011-08-23T08:28:00.004+12:00

Driving on in Picton

Overlooking Picton before departure

Departure from Picton

First glimpse of Wellington

The BEST Eggs Bene EVER!

2011-08-23T08:21:00.000+12:00

On a recent trip down to Picton (which was won at a CureKids charity event) me and my boo got to sample some great breakfast food by the waterfront at Cafe Cortado as the package we won included two $50.00 vouchers to the cafe. My first impression was that the location is absolutely to die for. Right on the waterfront with a wonderful view of the harbour, on a sunny day (which it was - both days) it makes for a blissful dining experience in the morning.

Both days, we both got the eggs benedict - which, as a nice touch, also comes with spinach YUM! The eggs were cooked perfectly, not too runny, just the right consistency and not too vinegary. The hollandaise given was neither too much nor too little - and was also very tasty. The bacon was actually streaky bacon which was cooked so that the fatty edges were crispy but not soo much that the meat was dried out. Hands down the BEST eggs benedict I have ever had.

It goes for approx $16.00 (I didn't really look at the price since I was on holiday AND had a gift voucher) but basically we got two eggs bene, a hot choco, a soy hot choco, a coffee and tomato juice for under $50.00. It's definately worth a trip across the Strait for!

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Cambodian food: Bee Bung

2011-08-22T09:18:00.002+12:00

Last night I went up to my mothers house for a special Cambodian meal. This meal is one that can be requested on birthdays or special occasions. Last night just happened to be the celebration of my nephews 3rd birthday. You know, sometimes I feel sorry for people who are not of colour. This food is what I've grown up with and enjoyed for all my life. I don't have to go far to find it and I can still enjoy all the pleasures of European food as it is so prominent in Wellington dining life. BUT really amazing Asian food is not - such a shame.

Bee bung consits of rice noodles which are boiled then drained placed in a bowl. On top of this you pile beef cooked with onions, cut up spring rolls, lettuce, carrot, beansprouts, cucumber and Vietnamese mint if you like (I don't like). To finish the dish off a ladel full of mums special fish sauce - otherwise known as tuk-trey (vinegar, fish sauce, chilli, garlic, sugar) and a couple of spoonfuls of warmed coconut cream. Garnish with a sprinkle of crushed peanuts. Mix it together with your chopsticks and enjoy!

Here is a recipe I found online for tuk-trey that is similar to how mummy makes it.

I would totally prefer this to your regular meat and three veg. Jealous much?

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

The Green Man

2011-08-16T13:46:00.000+12:00

I love The Green Man. I remember I tried to go there for a drink on St Paddys. No chance.

Me and one of my best friends Uncle Shane always go there on a Tuesday. On Tuesdays and Saturdays they have two for one 500gm rump steaks - served with fries (or salad if that's how you roll but hey you're already ordering a huge 500gm steak.. Cut it with the diet shiz?) and your choice of either mushroom or peppercorn sauce (I have tried both and would recommend the peppercorn although both are just Maggi tasting gravies). All for only $15.00. There ain't a lot out there for that sort of price for dindin. Unless you want to go to Mc D's. Even Burgerfuel isn't really that cheap..

I'm really keen to try the suicidal wings.. On Mondays you can get a jug o' beer and 30 wings for $30. Keen! They come in three heats suicidal, Dantes inferno and total molecular disintegration. Or BBQ... Lame..

The steak is so so. It's great for if you really just feel like a big piece of steak but not if you feel like a NICE piece of steak. But then on a cold Tueday night for $15.00 - beggars can't be choosers?

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Pokeball cake!

2011-08-15T10:10:00.002+12:00

For a 21st birthday for one of his best friends, Jeffrey made a Pokeball cake for the occasion. The hardest part was probably the black line between the red and the white. It was impossible to find the thick strap licquorice at the supermarket so we had to settle for the twisted type and I had to slice it really thinly. From afar it looks fine. This was probably the easiest cake that he has made. Mind you the cakes that he/we venture are generally easy. We were running low on ingredients and funds at the new flat so we went for an one egg chocolate cake from the Edmonds Cookbook.

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Pizza and Beer on a Friday

2011-08-15T09:45:00.000+12:00

Is there anything better?

YES.

Pizza and my most favouritestest wine.

On Friday night I met up with some friends at The Malthouse (where they have a million beers) for some drinks after work. With the shitty weather we ended up staying there for a bite as well instead of venturing out in the weather to find another eatery. I guess it didn't help that we couldn't chose another place to eat. As I mentioned above they have my favourite wine (Doctors Riesling $8.50 per glass) for a very reasonable price (considering it sells for $22.50 a bottle at New World) so I was a happy chappy to stay on at The Malthouse. The pizza we ended up getting was the Malthouse Special (pretty much an everything pizza) and the venison sausage pizza. Out of the two I would recommend the Malthouse Special but on the menu there was another pizza I spied called "The Hot American" which was pepperoni, moz and chilli flakes that I would be keen to try out. Pizza goes for anywhere between $18.00 - $20.00.

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

Scones!

2011-08-09T10:16:00.001+12:00

Last night I wanted a sweet treat so I decided to make scones. I've never really made them before but just thinking about a nice fresh scone served with some jam and cream made my mouth water. So I picked up my trusty Edmonds cookbook and whipped up a batch (actually - they only take about 10-15 minutes to mix up and then 10 mins to cook!)

Recipe

3 cups Edmonds standard plain flour
6 teaspoons Edmonds baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
75g butter
1 - 1½ cups milk, approximately
extra milk for glazing

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 220C. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut butter in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add 1 cup milk and mix quickly with a knife to a soft dough, adding more milk if needed. Knead a few times.
3. Lightly dust an oven tray with flour. Press scone mix out on floured bench or tray, cut into 12 even-sized pieces. Place on oven tray, brush tops with milk and place in top half of oven to bake

4. Bake scones for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Once golden brown with crisp crusts, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Cooling on a rack will give you crisp crusts, while covering them with a clean tea towel will give a soft scone

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana

NZ Chocolate Festival

2011-08-02T18:49:00.001+12:00

Just got me some tickets to the first ever New Zealand Chocolate Festival! So amped! Who doesn't love chocolate? Well, actually, I do know a few people who don't like chocolate. One of them just says he is not a fan of sweets. I do prefer savoury over sweet myself (give me a salami stick over a chocolate bar anyday - LOL that's what she said!) but a whole festival of something is just too hard to miss.

Tickets are only $20.00 and door sales are available but will be $25.00 and limited to remaining availability on the day and session you wish to attend. The festival is running from 12 - 14 August and each day has two sessions. Saturday evening session has already sold out! I had to settle for Saturday morning! Lucky I'm not working that day eh?

Come on, vamanos!
Kalliana