June 27, 2006

Thirsty...



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


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

June 21, 2006

Happy Birthday Ah Beng



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!

June 19, 2006

baking and the high seas

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 12, 2006

June Long Weekend




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!

June 06, 2006

Beard Papa cream puffs

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.

June 05, 2006

Tim Tam Colleseum



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


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...