a interesting time..

Been a bit quiet haven't i? I must admit ive been busy and having fun! ;)

My anniversary went well, hubby got a few hours off in the morning on friday so we could have breakfast together. breakfast was sooooo good! I decided The Coffee Club, yum. had a Mocha & a bacon, egg & cheese on a toasted focaccia bun for $9.50. Normally any breakfast that i didnt have to make is amazing, but this was really good. nevermind that it was a friday and the last day of Tia in childcare for the year, so we did have to wait until she was dropped off at 9.30!!! I was starving!

We then looked at jewellery shops and i didnt find anything i liked, but i did get my engagement ring polished and cleaned for $2. The guy who did it (typical blacksmith look) was cheeky and kept going on about how i must be gripping something metal alot to get so many marks and scratches. *rolls eyes* no i don't.. its just had 6 years of ME! lol!

I decided i'd get something nice to wear for the christmas management party that night, i've seen all the maternity clothes before in the other shops and nothing was dressy enough! So i decided i'd go to this shop called Big City Chic! lol! ;) The lady was so helpful, i couldnt stop smiling when she said i looked like a medium! nevermind that a medium in this shop is a 18-20. ;) i tried it on a nice white top with polka dots, black lace band under the bust and sleeveless.. it didnt look flattering, just a tad to big also. So in a hurry i decided on this black sleeveless top with the beads and sequins (the other one in the pic is a dress) Lots of room for a bigger bump later! ;) Grabbed another coffee (or in my case a cocoa locco) from gloria jeans and headed back with hubby till we had to split, him off to work and me back home.
Picked tia up and went back out shopping deciding that i need a new pretty hair clip, saw a few in diva but $2 bux more than i wanted to spend, found what i wanted tho in a different shop!
It was about time to leave or call a cab, but the line was busy! doh!!! So i walked in my normal joggers and when we almost go there i changed into nicer shoes, that i havent worn in completely! haha! Everyone was there, the girls and the boys in 2 different groups! lol! I had apple juice everyone else was drinking beers or some nice wine the boss had picked.
It was a interesting evening, a shame towards the end. So much food! gosh!

For drinks there were apparently the best ever prawn crackers & cashews. Entrees were spring rolls, prawn battered & deepfried on a sugar cane stick, prawn & veg rice paper rolls, pork balls and basil leaves and lettuce leaves! 1st course was satay chicken and rice, 2nd course was a interesting mild viet curry veggies and a bread roll to use as a dip, 3rd course was a DIY meat & veg fondue? lol! There were portable gas stoves with a boiling pot and we got little special spoons to place meat (chicken, beef, squid, prawns, fish, scallops) and a plate of veggies to put in & some vermicelli noodles and a nice terriyaki & sesame seed sauce. we were all quite full as you can imagine. (i didnt take my handbag so i had no camera! doh!)

It was awesome, i don't think i have had Vietnamese food before but this was great. then there was a fruit platter and later tea and biscuits but we never got to that, by then it was 11ish! Tia was really well behaved, the boss of the restaurant had a little boy around 5-6ish who was a real gentlemen and drew on the tables (the food is quiet messy so theres paper covering the tables) with her and played. she was upset at leaving, nevermind it was way past her bedtime!
It really was so kind of them to put that kind of a dinner on! gosh!

Also good news, i'm 9 weeks pregnant so i will go for my ultrasound after christmas, perhaps early new year since we come back on the 28th. james really wants twins! thats crazy! lol! I also chickened out of living thru morning sickness and bought anti-morning sickness tablets basically ginger and vit B6 in the tablets. I tell you what they burn they are so hot! have to get them down very quickly! They are working pretty well, however some things will make me sick whatever i take!
is it 1 week till christmas today? i still havent done any cards for family or sent any gifts to qld for christmas! My bad! Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Another great chocolate trip.. i mean city trip ;)

What a day! Im glad to be absolutely energy-less! :D
We missed our train that would have gotten us there on time, it seems they have put more trains on in the morning (as usually there was a train 1 hr after that one) so there was only a 15 minute gap between the one we missed and the one we got on! (which was waiting already) The morning was awesome! Windy, cold-ish and some light rain! What a break from the heat and sun!

Got in and waited for the other special people to arrive, read in a directory about the clock how it does this marionette opening thing on the hour. maria and jenna arrived and we waited for the clock thing.. and so was 2 different school groups and other tourists.. it was 3 minutes late! funny!Off to the usual chocolate feast place, max brenners. Jenna had a Popsicle fondue (very interesting!) Maria had a 1/2 or 1/4 strength cappuccino in a kangaroo mug, it has a extra pouch at the side of the mug where melted chocolate can be licked.(photo below) (Tia had a milk hot chocolate (which i didnt actually ask for, but oh well.. she can consider herself spoilt for the day) and a chocolate lick now $2.20 (gone up 20c)I had a dark chocolate mocha which was rather on the dark bitter side than i expected and a rich brownie(which the waiter forgot about til i said i was still waiting on it, she still did a good job remembering our order off the top of her head, how many times did we test her? lol).
Tia enjoying the ribbons from the presents Maria & Jenna gave us! Also wearing her funky necklaces that she got! *forgot to try out the torch tonight, will have to try it tomorrow. ;)Maria and I!
Presents i received. YAY! presents! =D Much appreciated! A Tea towel with christmas theme, (we have survived with only 2 tea towels all year.. lol!) a purrrty basket with mini christmas puddings inside, a good health magazine (which i thought would be great to read on the trip home, but spent more time pointing at 2 pages that were 100kj & 400kj with tia pointing out chocolate, chips, strawberry, cheese, sushi etc lol!) a sample of some special baby bath stuff and some stickers! whoot! ;)

A trip to krispy kreme while the queue was short picked up a chocolate glazed creme filled, to share with hubby.Breadtop for lunch! Wishing there was a local one! Love their little buns, rolls, donuts not keen on pork floss buns or chicken & mushroom donut lol! But they have alot of yummy stuff. Also decided to pick up for later. Some choc chip buns & some Red bean Mochi.Central Groceries? Is the asian imports grocery shop where i stock up on mens pocky and look at the daifuku & other mochi (made in taiwan tho, i rather either Japan or Aussie made.. picky arent i)
A visit to L'Occitane, came across a Honey Massage nectar.

Light and soothing. Blend of propolis, royal jelly and honey from Provençal hives soothes; linden extract and bisabolol extract calm and help reduce irritation. Natural honey aroma pleases the senses. Use as a comforting massage lotion or as a body lotion. Suitable for adults and children ages three and up.

On my wish list! Not oily which is great, i hate giving a massage only to get oily hands and think about how terrible it is for hubbys skin.. especially if he falls asleep. Smells good, not over bearing like some cheap stuff!

It was great day! In L'Occitane Tia was asked if jenna was her sister, lol! And after that Tia was very happy to call jenna 'sister'. Tia cried when went to go home on the train, she wanted her sister! lol! Very cute.

Now to get some sleep... Night all! ;)

DH 30th Birthday

it went well yesterday. I got a call early in the morning from DH telling me how his office was decorated with metallic big paper cut-outs of 30's everywhere, a cluster of balloons with the number 30.

Tia and i? well we were off to the beach, but we had to go to go-lo or reject shop to find a cheap bucket n spade for the beach!

Tia was sooo very happy and excited she was going to the beach! So i used a few times to remind her to behave.. or maybe i used it as a threat! hahaha!

We had to get home to order pizza online to arrive for DH lunch. DH asked me later how the pizza person knew it was his birthday and i said i had the name for the order as 'birthday boy' hahaha!

He had cake at his work that the boss's wife had made! (he bought home 2 pieces for Tia and i) I havent tried it yet, but its a orange and poppyseed with a strawberry and chocolate on top of the icing.


When we got home, i played some video games, cleaned the house, put tia in the bath. Then told her to get ready for DH birthday party and helped her into a cute dress. ;)

I put the bought yum-cha in the oven, started on a beef stirfry. I made sure we had some nice sauces for the yum cha, sweet chilli and plum sauce! I love my plum sauce. Unfortunately only the spring rolls did not contain fish or shrimp! Tia loved it, DH loved it. All good! ;)

I decided i'd do something light for DH birthday dessert/cake, i knew he was having cake thru the day, i knew i didnt want to be stressed or in the kitchen all day and i knew i didnt want anything 'heavy'. So i decided on a pav/meringue thing, i did have egg whites in the fridge BUT i dont have a electric beater, so i decided to be lazy and buy some nests all done! After dinner i decided to keep with the birthday cake tradition and so i put this interesting thing together with toothpicks, however they did crack it did hold altogether for as long as it needed to! I decided on caramel top n fill, since hubby isnt into berries that much.. he is a BIG caramel fan tho.
So i was surprised with Nestle top n fill caramel!(hadn't tried it before) i could pipe it! woohoo! And it tasted exactly 100% like the caramel filling from a bakers for caramel tarts or caramel eclairs etc. It was gorgeous! Its so deadly! I could so live on it! lol! only its not very kind calorie/fat wise! He blew out his candles, dished it out and put some double cream on top! yum!
DH got for his birthday: slippers with mario (a Nintendo character) on them(which he then told me he doesnt like slippers), A bottle of Galliano Amaretto & The godfather blackhand edition game for the wii. (he bought himself the game tenchu z for the xbox 360) and thats about it.

Are you serious?

Im looking at the time.. 5pm? no way! where has today gone?
What did i get done today:

• Dishes.

• Recycling out in the bin.
• Got little miss to put her toys back in her room.
• Bleached the shower curtain.
• Cleaned the kitchen.
• Cleaned the bathroom.
• Did the vacuuming.
• organized the wardrobe and hanged up more clothes.
  
• folded clothes *gasps*.
• found the clothes that have acquired that musty-ive-not-been-worn in ages smell and put in laundry bag.
  
• found the socks with holes in them & thrown them out
  
• Rang my dad for fathers day that i had forgotten! oops!!!
  
• Uploaded more deviant art.
  
• catch up on blogs.
  
• catch up on forums.

have u seen the new weight watches adds on tv the ones for the food? It has kate richie from home and away.. interesting (not a fan)

have u seen the awful lite n easy adds? wow do they suck, its paid actors the whole 'say no to fads' if u watch the actors they are all (okay 2/4) shaking their heads saying 'no' while they are blabbing on how its so easy and i lost weight blah blah blah. my hubby picked up on it and now it bugs me alot watching it! argh! basically if ur lying sometimes you might be shaking ur head. eg you say 'that dress looks great on you' shaking your head u really meant to say 'nope. thats awful, but gosh it would look great on me!' HAHAHA..

the picture is of my quilt/duvet cover set oh and my handbag! I miss my duvet and its cover so bad! (i need to organize the delivery of our stuff!)
our duvet would have been so nice this winter, it was only new and we only used it for last spring/early summer til we moved.

Ive been buying reduced to clear capscuims lately, which is great $$ wise. i bring them home wash and cut them up and then put them in the freezer and then i have capscuim on hand already cut up when i need it. (unfortunately they go soft when thawed which is ok for cooking but not ok to be used in salads or uncooked)
Also i chopped up some carrots awhile back (for when im lazy) and put them in the freezer ready to be put into a hot frying pan (i miss my wok) for stirfries..
i chop everything that needs to be chopped before freezing it as i only have 1 crappy sharp knife (i miss my knife block)

Whoot! aw hubby is being sweet and while he is out getting sake he is going to do some grocery shopping also. what a honey-pie! its been rainy all day so i didnt bother to venture out into the wilderness to go grocery shopping (i have to walk everywhere..) besides i didnt have time today..

tonights dinner is left over spag bol (meat) on hot roasted potatoes with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. yum.

last night i made up a home pizza, it was delish! wish i took a picture! hehehe red capscuim, onion, lite ham, lite cheese & mushies! oh and 4 pieces of garlic bread.. so nice and so naughty!

i also found out that empty schnapps bottles make great rolling pins! lol! and today i found another great use for them! *just wait and see, i havent uploaded the pics to the pc yet!* dont hold ur breath, lol.. its not that interesting..

*excuse my scatter-brain-mode* its monday after all!

Caramel slice

i dont have my usual recipe on me at the moment, so i attempted this one which is similar (theres not many that are actually different) it was great. a friend of mine that i made them for occasionally told me she freezes them 1) they last longer as her son and hubby cant find them, 2) i guess its harder to eat quickly.. am i am yet to try this out.. so i think i will give it a shot!
here is the link
Makes 18.
Ingredients

* 1 cup plain flour, sifted
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
* 125g butter, melted
*
Caramel
* 395g can sweetened condensed milk
* 2 tablespoons golden syrup
* 50g butter, chopped
*
Topping
* 200g dark chocolate, chopped
* 1/4 cup pouring cream

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line base and sides of a 3cm deep, 16.5cm x 26cm slice pan with baking paper, allowing 2cm overhang at both long ends.
2. Combine flour, sugar and coconut in a bowl. Add butter and stir to combine. Press mixture into base of pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden. Set aside for 10 minutes.
3. Make caramel: Combine condensed milk, golden syrup and butter in an 8-cup capacity heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH (100%) for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring every minute, or until light golden and thickened slightly. Pour warm caramel over warm base. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are deep golden. Transfer to wire rack. Set aside to cool for 1 hour.
4. Make topping: Place chocolate and cream in a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH (100%) for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, stirring every minute with a metal spoon, or until smooth. Spread over cooled caramel. Set aside until firm. Cut into squares. Serve.

Notes & tips

Variation: For a nutty variation, you could add 1 cup chopped roasted hazelnuts to the caramel before pouring over the base in step 3.
Source

Super Food Ideas - July 2005 , Page 26 Recipe by Janelle Bloom