Sweet And Salty And A Little Bit Nutty

Last weekend Em came round and we made Nigella's Sweet and Salty Crunchy Nut Bars.  Here is how:

We melted 300g of dark and milk chocolate (I think it was 200 milk and 100 dark, but you can do it however you like) with 3 tablespoons of golden syrup and 250g of butter.  The recipe said 125g.  Oops.

I smashed up about 160g of Crunchie bars.

We chucked that and 250g salted peanuts into the pan and mixed it all up.

Then we put it in a lined tray and let it set in the fridge for a few hours.  Easy!

It's super delicious, but because of the extra butter it was even more delicious but also very rich, so I chopped it into pretty small pieces.

Which is great because that means there are heaps more pieces for me to enjoy!  I've been snacking on it every day and there's still a bit left.

Thanks Em for coming over and showing me this lovely recipe!

Dinner at Club Central and Some New Things

Look to the left.

What's that?  I've had over 7000 page views! Over a hundred of them were yesterday! In the blogging world that really isn't much at all but I'm pretty excited.  Thanks to all four of my friends, who must have refreshed thirty times a day for me to get to this point.  And hello if you have come here from the Jamie Oliver forums!  You'll need to scroll down to read about his restaurant.

But here's some other food in the meantime!

Last week I met James and Club Central for a drink (we're so posh).  We were going to go to Mortdale for dinner, but then I saw the Club Central restaurant upstairs had a Schnitzel Special for $15.  I can't say no to a Schnitzel Special.

I had veal:

It was totally delicious - tender meat, crispy breadcrumbs, perfectly seasoned. It came with the loveliest crunchy chips and a pretty nice little side salad.

James had chicken:

He said his was really good too.

The garlic bread is really garlicky there and the bread is lovely and fresh, though I prefer mine toasted.

At the ripe old age of 22 I am noticing some little lines around my eyes.  I have my doubts about anti-ageing creams, but I also have my doubts about 22 year olds with wrinkles looking hot so I bought this:

It's only $6 at Chemist Warehouse! SIX DOLLARS!  I think the normal retail price is like $25.

As you can see it is a pretty small jar, but you only need a tiny bit at a time.  I've used it every night since I bought it and I swear the skin around my eyes feels firmer.  Maybe it's just wishful thinking but whatever. 

I also found this Natio eye gel at home to use in the mornings.  I only remember sometimes.  I don't really know if it's the Nivea or this that's responsible for my firmer skin so I guess I'll keep using both of them and hope for the best. 

This was even thriftier than the first cream, becase it was a freebie with some other Natio purchase once upon a time.

My premature midlife crisis wouldn't be complete without a bright pink lipstick:

I bought this BYS one from Kmart for $4.75.  It's a longwear formula - the regular formula costs $3.75, and has a similar colour which I might also buy.

My Mum gave me some presents the other day!

I hate the fake cherry flavour that you often get with lipglosses and lollies, but this Urban Rituelle lipbalm in Cherry is lovely.  It reminds me of redskins, or my Body Shop Cherry Blossom body spray.  The vanilla-scented soap was a freebie.

How cool are those animal print shoe inserts?  Allegedly they make your shoes comfier, even heels.  I will test them out and report back.

Misc.

A spiffy shirt I helped Jimmy buy in the Myer sale. It fits really well, which is unusual for him.

Sushi!

Lamington cupcakes I baked for our Australian BBQ themed Book Club.

Emily made chocolate and raspberry pavlova. So good!  I think it's a Nigella recipe.

Meg gave me some clothes that she was throwing out so I channelled Cher from Clueless.

Some birthday cakes my sister made for twin brothers she is friends with.

Bay Vista!

Spinach cob dip.

Trivia winnings - thanks Stu!

My Nana's little garden.

Fur Elise

A couple of weeks ago was Lara's birthday and I was supposed to go to Kit and Kaboodle to celebrate.  I love Lara and I love Kit and Kaboodle so I was pretty pumped!

Some of the other girls were also going to K&K the same night, so we met up for dinner first at Thai Passion in World Square.

It was all really yummy, and since it's BYO we took some trivia wine too.  Unfortunately though I left my lipstick behind!  So sad.

Meg's grandmother recently gave her a mink coat that she wanted to wear out, so naturally I joined in.

As is often the case, I swear it's less blurry in real life. 

I do have a fur (I think it's faux but it's very classy) that used to belong to my Nana (hello Nana if you're reading!) but this mink jacket is a hand-me-down from a family friend's daughter's dress up collection.  I've had it since I was a kid, but this was the first time I wore it out.  It's a bit big, but it was SO warm.  I only had on a short-sleeved knit dress that is actually meant to be a long top (classy) and opaque tights, but I was extremely warm all night.

Here's Meg modelling hers:

That's The Newt's car, parked smack in the middle of George St.  Lucky much!

I did feel a bit silly at first, but that ended when I met Lizzie Lovette, who I used to listen to on the radio, and she said we looked glamourous.  Then a tourist stopped us and asked whereabouts in Sydney she could buy fur jackets like ours.  Stuff like that doesn't usually happen to me so I was pretty excited.

We made some friends:

Then we stopped for a quick beverage at this swanky old fashioned place called Eau de Vie in Darlo.  Our fur coats felt right at home.

And naturally we stopped at King's Cross Maccas for a Happy Meal.

Finally we made it to Kit and Kaboodle, but I couldn't find Lara anywhere!  I thought maybe I got the wrong stamp so I even walked down to the door and checked with the lady about the guest list and she told me I was on the right level.  Maybe everyone had left already and gone somewhere else?

Lara I am really sorry that I somehow dogged your birthday!  I feel really bad!

...I still had an awesome night though.