Monday 21 May 2012

In Which I Eat Food From The Crest, Bay Vista, The Meridian, Guzman y Gomez And My Own Kitchen, and read STYD June


I wore this outfit to a "Cover Your Face" themed party on the weekend (thanks Liz for having us).  It was heaps of fun and as you can see I'm bringing down the CPW of the Reject Shop mask I wore to Teen Spirit.  Sorry about the dodgy snap.


If you wondered, it's a Temt dress ($15, but I had a $10 credit note so only $5 really), fleece lined tights from the supermarket, Court Couture "Pearly" boots from DSW ($69 but it was buy one get one half price so I also got the boots I wore in Canberra), Glassons Merino cardi ($60 but on sale for $48, still outrageous), necklaces from Big W ($3?) and a Barbie watch my Dad brought back from Europe one time.


The Crest is doing a 2 for 1 meal deal for members.  Their burgers are pretty good and only $10 anyway, so it's a cheap lunch for me and James.


Plus you can draw on the tablecloths!



James and I had dinner at The Meridian pub in Hurstville the other night.  We bumped into my friend Jason (aka Asian Jason, because this is The Shire and being Asian is still a thing around here), who told us to get the Beef Pho, so we did.


It was pretty tasty and only $7!  SEVEN DOLLARS!  All the food there is comparably cheap so I will definitely be back.  But I probably won't order these disappointing shredded pork rice paper rolls again:



On Mother's Day I made smoked salmon on Turkish for lunch.



For dinner I made this:


It's chicken topped with a creamy mushroom sauce from Julie Goodwin's book.  The orange roast vegetables (carrot, sweet potato and pumpkin) have a sour cream and horseradish sauce and walnuts on top.  The recipe for this is in a magazine somewhere in my house, but I couldn't be bothered looking for it so I just made it up.

The Bet-Dawg and I gave Mum the new Jodi Picoult book, a turtle keyring and a red mini teapot with a strainer in it.


Here's some Mother's Day/Grammar Nerd trivia for you:  Mother's Day has the apostrophe before the S because it's meant to be a special day for your own mother, but Fathers' Day has the apostrophe after the S, because it's just a day for fathers in general.  Mother's Day is a proper holiday invented by some lady who thought everyone should celebrate their mothers.  Father's Day is just what happened when Hallmark realised how much money they made off Mother's Day. 

Isn't learning fun?


My Shop Til You Drop arrived a couple of weeks ago.  They had this promising feature on hosiery:


I wasn't that impressed though, they didn't mention nearly enough kinds of insanely warm tights.  Perhaps Expect Cowgirls should feature tights one day.


I'm really not into this trend of metallic shoes that look as though they are made of cheap plastic and sold in the children's toys section of Kmart next to the tiaras.


Here are some mozzarella-stuffed giant meatballs Mum made.  The recipe is from Justine Schofield.  As you can see, we love our ex MasterChef contestants in this house.



Something else we love is SWEETS.  James and I finally went to Bay Vista in Brighton-le-Sands.  It was SO GOOD.  Oh em gee guys, you have to try it. 


This is an ice cream sundae of some kind:


I had Belgian Waffles with melted chocolate from the chocolate fountain.  This is weird but I don't think I had ever eaten Belgian Waffles before.  I can't imagine why not, because they are AMAZING.  And this was only about $9, pretty reasonable.



We had lunch a while ago from Guzman y Gomez.  On the left is James's burrito, on the right is my mini burrito.  As you can see, they are almost the same size, even though mine was a fair bit cheaper. 


I'll be honest: we didn't love them.  I think we will try Mad Mex next.


Here's a cupcake I made Amy for her birthday:


Naturally I had some too.


Does anyone think I should change the name to Expect Heiffers?

Sunday 13 May 2012

My Weekend With Delta


Last weekend we went out to King's Cross for Amy's birthday.


We ate delicious Mexican food and drank margaritas at Barrio Chino. We evaded a drunk stalker (hello if you are reading!) and spotted Chris Lilley at the Kings Cross Hotel. We drank Sours (mine was Amaretto; it was nice but I didn't love it) at the Backroom and listened to a DJ play the same six songs on a loop.


The best fun was when we went to Kit and Kaboodle. I thought the music was brill and so did Delta Goodrem. Yeah that's right, Delta was in the house!  Hi Delta if you're reading!


I missed Chris earlier in the night but I have seen celebrities before, including Cosima DeVito, Wil Anderson, most of the cast of Home and Away and a few sports guys whose names I mostly forget. Shannon Noll used to shop at our IGA. I never get excited, I just think 'oh that Home and Away girl's at this party...right near the dip! Yum!' and go about my business.


But you guys, I was SO EXCITED about Delta. I don't even know any of her songs after Innocent Eyes (did she even have any songs after that?) and I find her a bit annoying on The Voice, getting confused about intellectual property and whereabouts the vocal cords are located, but I was just like ZOMG DELTA!!!!!!!!!!!!! and kept trying to see her through her entourage. Seal wasn't with her, which is a shame - but then, imagine how I'd react if I spotted someone of whom I'm actually a fan.


 
Meanwhile, here are some pictures of what the ladies were wearing:

Becky, Meg, Amy


Me, Becky, Meg (less blurry in real life)


My dress is from Kmart. I went a bit The Nanny and wore it with leopard heels from Loeman's, I mean Target.


The boys joined us too - thanks guys for coming along!

And thanks Amy for such a fun night out! Happy birthday!!

Thursday 10 May 2012

In Which I Stuff My Face Some More And My Sister And I Are The Same Person


Is everyone sick of seeing pictures of things I've eaten yet?


On Friday I went to Sushi Express in Caringbah for lunch. It was delicious and only $3 a plate, but I was kind of annoyed that the Coke was $3 too, it was only a can!


My sister picked me up from work and we went to Vinnies, where I bought a grey knit Saba dress ($10) for work and a red cropped blazer (&7). Betty bought a Saba dress and a jacket too.


Our family went to dinner at Lively Catch. They have a good two course deal.


Betty and I shared our two entrees, haloumi and salt and pepper squid. Both were amazing.




Dad had a mixed plate thingy.


Mum had a breakfast-esque smoked salmon and egg thing.


In keeping with the theme of the day, Betty and I both ordered veal for our main course. Hers was crumbed.


Mine was not. I loved it more than I can say. It had rocket, sweet potato mash and prawns. I couldn't imagine a better dish if I tried.


Dad had fish and chips, with snapper I think.


Mum had barramundi.


I wanted creme brûlée afterwards but everyone else was too full and I thought it was too embarrassing if I was the only one to order dessert. Next time.

 
Here are our outfits:


As you can see, my sister and I both wore grey sweater dresses with black tights. It wasn't planned, that's just how we roll.


Saturday 5 May 2012

Drivers of Sydney, Beware


Because on Thursday I got my Ps! It only took me six years. Did you know you aren't allowed to smile AT ALL in your licence photo now? It has something to do with their facial recognition software.


That night I had dinner at Thai Top North in Sans Souci or maybe Ramsgate.


James had a LivingSocial voucher - for $19 we got a mixed entree, chicken pad see ew, a chilli jam stir fry with seafood (which fortunately turned out to be real seafood, not seafood extender), plus rice, and a pink lemonade for me. We also took champagne and they didn't charge us corkage! Score!






All the food was really tasty. The prices were reasonable too and the service was pretty quick. I don't think I'll go back soon because it's a bit far away just for Thai (especially considering my own local Thai is absolutely outstanding) but I'd definitely recommend Thai Top North to my friends who live closer to it, it is an awesome little local Thai.




To eat this delicious meal I wore a black top with silver trim, black and silver shoes (Myer, $14) and a silver glomesh bag (Vincenzo's, $4). Can you tell I love matching?







After I got home I started reading The Hunger Games. It's awesome and kept me up for hours but more on that later.