Copper Pot Indian, Bargains and Ramones

A couple of weeks ago, James and I went to Copper Pot Indian Restaurant at Menai.  As usual, we had a voucher.  I think it cost $35. 

It was a small restaurant and looked a bit old; most of the Indian restaurants I've been to were quite nicely decorated and ambient, which you expect when you are paying more than you would at a local Thai or pizzeria, so I was a little disappointed.

The waitress told us we could each choose any entree from a list, but when we ordered two mixed entrees from the waiter he told us the mixed one was for sharing so we could only have one.  Even though it was the same size as the other entrees, not a double serving.

Anyway, it had a samosa (good, not great), a piece of tandoori chicken (nice but a pretty boring entree), a "kebab" which was really a sausage on a stick (not really my thing but if you like sausages you'll like it) and allegedly an onion bhaji, which seemed to involve many small pieces of fried onion (like the onion rings you get at takeaway shops). 

For the main course, we ordered a butter chicken and some kind of lamb with spinach.

The butter chicken sauce was much thinner than I'm used to, not the rich creamy consistency you get at Murraya.  It tasted nice enough but it didn't have really rich flavours either.  It was more like a good curry from one of those Indian takeaways like Mr India.

The lamb one was a bit hot.  The spinach sauce was really nice, but the meat was quite fatty.  Some people don't mind this but I am a fusspot.

We also had rice, which was fine, and naan breads, which were okay but again, not what I'm used to at Murraya.  They were a bit chewy, not light and fluffy.

Our voucher also included soft drinks, but we didn't want any and we couldn't swap for something else like sparkling water.  We did order tap water, but we had to ask a second time before they brought it.

It wasn't really a bad dining experience but it wasn't an especially good one either.  I suppose I am spoilt from going to Murraya so often, but I don't think I will go back to Copper Pot.  If you aren't accustomed to exceptionally delicious Indian, though, you might find Copper Pot quite satisfactory.

I bought some cool stuff at The Reject Shop.

I got this crazy letter-holding bird for my sister.  It was only $3 and they also had them in orange, yellow and pink.  I might have to go back and grab one for myself.  Don't you think it's so cute and funny?

I'm too cheap to buy body scrub so I normally use exfoliating gloves.  I can't believe supermarkets charge like $6 for them when they are only $2 at junk shops.

I also bought some VO5 hair stuff for $3 - did you know The Reject Shop sells heaps of good hair products and toiletries?  Some of it's "parallel imports" (some of which are good, others not so much) but some of it is just excess stock or discontinued packaging.  I also bought some $2.50 false eyelashes with diamantes because I'm classy like that.

At Priceline, I bought another tube of my favourite mascara, Max Factor False Lash Effect.  They've repackaged so the ones in the old packaging were on sale for $10.  They are normally $25 so quite a bargain.  And the tube is pink.  PINK.

As always they had a big bin of Australis products for $2.99.  I bought this black Mineral Eyeshadow, which was absolute rubbish (I have thrown it away already) and this foam latex Base Eyeshadow Applicator, which was spectacular.  I used it to apply a MAC eyeshadow and it made the colour look SO much more noticeable than when I use a brush.

Here's some Bay Vista desserts.

Sundae was less blurry in real life.

I had butterscotch sauce on my waffles this time but it was a bit too sweet.  I think I will go back to chocolate next time.

My parents gave me a record player a few years ago and I have a great assortment of records.  Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley courtesy of my friend Sarah E (hello if you're reading!).  Blondie and Siouxsie Sioux courtesy of my parents' collection that was still in the house, even when we didn't have anything to play it on.  Village People, Billy Joel, Meat Loaf and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack volumes 1 and 2 from various op shops.  And best of all, Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys from when my Mum used to be a punk.

Isn't that so awesome that my Mum used to be a punk?

Anyway, this Ramones album, Rocket To Russia, is my favourite.  I listen to it a lot in Winter, because I spend so much time in my room with the heater on, avoiding the outdoors.

I tried on this Basque dress the other day.  I didn't buy it because I wasn't wild about the pattern or the cheap nasty fabric, but I thought it was a very Kate-esque style.

And last but not least, here is a photo of a dinner my Mum cooked.

I thought the green and orange veggies looked pretty attractive.  Does anyone else like Brussels Sprouts, or is it just me?

As you have probably noticed, I have been jazzing up my blog a bit.  There are some new handy features like links to the Facebook and Tumblr, a list of my most popular posts and a pageview counter.  Feel free to check them out if you're so inclined.

Is the layout working okay for everybody?  What broswers are you guys using?  Do you usually keep your Favourites tab open all the time?  I never knew there would be so many factors to consider.

Ad Break Apple & Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

Last night while watching MasterChef, I spied an apple pie and was hit with a craving for apple crumble.  I talked Mum into helping me make one, since she makes the best crumble in town, plus I'm lazy.

This apple crumble is the best thing a person can make or eat.  It's amazingly delicious; the juxtaposition of textures (soft filling, crunchy topping) and flavours (tart fruit, sweet crumble) is perfect.  It's very quick and easy and you don't need to stand over it, so you can make during the ad breaks of your favourite show.  It probably keeps well, though I've never had the self control to test that out.  It's a warm and hearty dessert, but it also makes a lovely breakfast (fruit = nutritious start to the day).  And since it's not proper baking, you don't need to worry too much about precise quantities so you can experiment.

Anyway, here is how you do it.

1. Make your crumble topping.  You need plain flour, caster sugar and butter; you can just guess the quantities but your ratio of flour:sugar:butter should be 2:1:1.  Mix it all together with your fingers or food processor (careful if you use a processor, you don't want to make it too fine). 

Lots of people add things like oats, almond or coconuts* to their crumble but these people need professional help.  Plain crumble topping is the nicest thing in the world. 

2. Into a square Pyrex dish or similar, empty a 500g tin of apples.  I used Woolworths Select, which is the best in my experience, but any will do.

Allegedly you can also peel, core, slice and cook your own apples.  Why would you?  It tastes awesome like this and you'll save like 10 hours.

3. Add another kind of fruit if you feel like it.  In a true TV chef moment, I had some "here's one I prepared earlier" stewed rhubarb in the freezer, which I got v. cheap at the greengrocer (Best Fresh, hi Lara!) one day.  Ordinarily I would use frozen raspberries, as we always have these in the freezer.  If anyone knows where I can buy frozen rhubarb, leave me a comment and I'll give you a crumble for yourself.  You could use pears in lieu of apples, if you hate yourself.

You don't need any sugar!

4. Put it in a 200 degree celsius oven and cook it until the top is golden.

5. BONUS ROUND! While it cooks, make some custard. This is super easy.  Just take some custard powder (Bird's is the best but Foster Clark's is what I used this time) and 2 cups of milk and follow the directions on the packet.  Don't do it in the microwave though; it only takes 5 minutes in the saucepan anyway, and it's quite fun.

And tada, you have a super delicious dessert made from pantry staples and you didn't even miss the Immunity Challenge.

It looks more glamourous when you don't pour thirty litres of custard over it, but then what would be the point?

Okay, now off you go to make a crumble.

*Naturally I meant to say shredded coconut, not whole coconuts!  But I couldn't bring myself to correct it after I realised my mistake.

So Many Snaps: Things I've Done Lately

I went back to Bay Vista a couple more times.

Here are some waffles with strawberries and white chocolate sauce:

This banana split looked nice but the banana was bruised :(

Here's a sign at the takeaway shop nearby:

Weird, huh?

I had a chicken, bacon, leek and potato pie for lunch at a cafe at uni.  It was pretty good and ony $7.50!

The other thing is James's smoked salmon wrap, sounds nice but actually disappointing.  I won this round.

I went out for dinner with my Dad and BetDawg to ShangriLa Chinese in Cazbah.  If you've been reading for a long time you'll remember that I love retro Chinese food.

San(g?) Choy Bow was amazing.

I had fried ice cream for the first time - pretty nice!

Mongolian lamb and lemon chicken with the sauce on the side <3

I got a new coat!  I looked for ages for a black one to wear with dresses and I finally found this one at SES for $30.  It's surprisingly warm but it doesn't have pockets which is kind of annoying.

I went to my cousin's birthday party.  It was a dress up theme, but we came in our regular clothes and he provided things for everyone to dress up.  I thought I was rather fetching in a plastic blonde wig and red sequinned cocktail dress.

Here is some yummy food I ate at book club.

Thanks Amy for hosting such a great night and helping me finish that champagne!

We read The Hunger Games, which as you may know I read a few weeks ago, but I will discuss that after exams.

I don't want to keep buying stuff so I made a DIY body lotion.  I had this Clinique perfumed one that smells nice but way too strong, so I mixed it with this pretty much fragrance free Garnier stuff (which is very moisturising, I recommend it) and put it in this empty Natio tub (which contained some lovely lotion, I recommend that too). 

Et voila, luxury body lotion without spending any extra money!

I read a gossip mag at work.  Here's Phil Collins's daughter Lily:

I think she's quite pretty.

And this one's for Gemma:

Every year James gets some prizes at the Law Faculty awards night and I always go with him.  I wore my red dress and he matched me!

It is usually a good night; last year's sucked so they made it extra good this year to compensate.  Waiters walked around with trays of champagne and cocktails and there was heaps of lovely food, including fresh prawns and cannoli.  And I finally got to meet our Dean of Law, of whom I am an enourmous fan.

I had this pizza from Big Al's at Miranda.  It was SO GOOD.  It's tandoori chicken.

I ordered a delivery from them a couple of days later and I picked the same pizza.  What I received looked like a BBQ chicken.  It had a slightly Indian taste though, so possibly it's the same pizza but they forgot the, garnishes i.e. tandoori sauce and nuts and corriander.  Which makes it not really the same pizza at all. 

And they said the wait would be 45 minutes to 1 hr and it took about 1 hr 25. 

Disappointing.

In the Summer I buy my dresses at op shops, but in the Winter I need Merino wool and I always get it from Glassons.  It's cheaper online, as their prices are the same in NZ and AUD and the site is NZ.  They had $10 off too!

I got this dark teal jumper, and the same one in black as my own black one is a bit tatty now.

But the best thing was this dress:

It has proper 3/4 (not elbow) sleeves, a not-too-low scoop neck and a short-but-not-tunic-like skirt.  There's enough dress to keep you warm and it's super comfy.  I've always dreamed of owning a Merino dress like this.  You can't really see but it has a funky zipper on the side of the skirt - kind of weird but whatever, I'm warm!

It cost about $80 for the three.  The jumpers are $40 each in the shop at Westfield so quite a good deal.  The website has some other similar sale on at the moment so hop to it!

I saw an ABBA tribute act with my Mum, Nana and Aunty.  I'm just cool like that.

It wasn't Bjorn Again.  They're called Abbasback.  They were a bit amateurish; in parts a little dull but in other parts really fun.  Overall it was a good time, especially in the second half when they changed into cooler outfits and did all the best songs.

James and I remain committed to matching, but he's not committed to keeping his mirror clean so you'll just have to take my word for it that his navy coat matched my navy Glassons knit and navy corduroy (the very fine kind, what is this called?) CKM blazer, purchased in Coffs Harbour circa 2006.

And apparently that's all the photos I had!

I'm a bit preoccupied at the mo but I'll be back in a bit with advice on workwear for weirdly shaped people, a story about my famous stalker and probably a lot more pictures of things I've eaten.  (Today's highlight: a Value Pack of Aldi brand M&Ms.)  In the meantime good luck everybody with your exams and assessments and such.

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?