Finally got to try Adriano Zumbo’s macaroons. Even though it’s months after the Masterchef-macaroon-madness, we still had to line up – out the door – for the macaroons! Crazy.

We got an interesting selection of flavours: Pistachio and apricot, Rice pudding and Finger bun. I think I like rice pudding the best, it’s not as sweet and has little bits of rice in the middle.

btw: sorry about the crappy photo, seeing that I’ve lost my camera it’s the best I can do.

Jan and Esta recently got engaged and decided to throw an impromptu engagement party. She only gave us a weeks notice of the party so it was a bit of a rushed trip. And I was lucky enough to fly Virgin Blue on the days their IT system crashed. Gr…

The day before the party was pretty crazy. Esta’s a chef so she decided to cater for the party herself; with us as the kitchen hand. I’ve seriously never grated so many veggies in my life. I had muscles the next day from grating and chopping so much. This was the frittata mixture: grated carrots, zucchini, potato, pumpkin; capsicum; fresh corn off the cob; spinach and two dozen eggs. The tray was giant – so giant that it actually didn’t fit in the oven. FAIL!

Esta’s concoction: Cherry tomato, basil and bocconcini sticks drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum…

Apart from chopping and grating, we also had to roll. Gav and I spent what felt like hours rolling rice paper rolls, I think we made about 80 rolls all up. It was all worth it though, they were a huge hit. Jerry nearly ate an entire plate all by himself.

The never-ending punch bowl. It’s always dangerous having a punch bowl at a party, especially when there’s cheeky boys constantly topping it up with God knows what. It was a bit hard to keep track of what was going in the punch bowl throughout the night but whatever it was, it was still delicious.

And now for the main attraction. The dish that stopped the party. Max’s Pavluva (Heart shaped pavlova).

When these rolled out everyone went silent. Everyone was too busy eating to talk.

I kid you not, Max’s Pavluva is THE BEST pavlova I’ve ever had. It wasn’t too sweet and it had a really nice gooey bit in the middle. Sheer heaven! And to top it off, that morning Max picked 5kgs of Mulberries and made his own Mulberry sauce. YUM!

I had seriously died and gone to heaven, then snapped back to reality and I remembered I had to share my dessert with G.

It was an amazing party all up. You had the a great mix of people, awesome food, great punch and the best dessert ever.

Congrats Jan and Esta!

It’s been a while since my last post but I’m back! I’d like to say that I’m back stronger than ever but that would be a lie, if anything it’s the opposite. I lost my little pocket camera and suffered from 2 types of the flu (normal flu AND stomach flu). Fun times! In between that I did a quick trip to Byron (my second home), more on Byron coming soon.

When Charles and Anna did a quick trip to Canada I knew I had to stock up on some Roots gear. I’m not sure why but I’ve always had this fascination with Canada. 2011 baby! (Well, that’s the plan).

Anyway, they picked up a few pieces of clothing for me and I absolutely love it! It’s all so soft and comfy. Mmm… just like a marshmallow.

Thanks for the gear guys!

All the Dad’s in my family love meat so we thought Teppanyaki was the way to go for Father’s Day. The thing with my family is they tend to go a little over the top. I remember this one time while shopping with my mum I bought a pair of flannel PJs. Ever since then she’s been buying me flannel PJs left right and centre. My wardrobe is now filled with them.

Sticking to their over the top nature my family bought way too much meat. There was so much meat I had to spend the second half of my meal eating just bean sprouts and lettuce.

I’m glad my little cousin made this carrot cake for dessert, the vegetables in the cake were well welcomed in my belly.

Cute writing aye?

Whenever I house sit there are 4 sure things:

1. I leave covered in cat hair. Thanks to the beautiful cat pictured above.

2. I always get a good laugh from Rambo.
He got himself stuck here for a good 10 minutes. The silly thing couldn’t figure out how to get out of the box.

3. There’s always a good feed.
Anna had a bit too much fun with the lemon, chilli and cappers; but it still tasted great. We also had capsicums stuffed with mushroom and pumpkin risotto, but we gobbled them down before I could get a photo.

4. There’s always an attempt at baking.
Our baking track record isn’t the greatest but I’m proud to say we’re getting better at it. Our Jaffa muffins actually turned out really well. Sure it involved us squatting in front of the oven door peering through the glass with a torch in fear of them burning, but hey the end result was totally worth it. And I’ll probably return to the gym this week because of them.

(btw: If you don’t like the F-word, don’t to play the video)

For some strange reason every night when I go to sleep I have this song stuck in my head! It’s probably not the best song to have stuck in your head but it’s just so catchy. It’s been getting a bit of air time on triple j and whenever it comes on everyone in the office can’t help but sing along (we just have to make sure no ones on the phone at the time).

I was rearranging my desk the other day and came to the conclusion that I have too many screens. I think I need to clear out my desk.

And btw, I didn’t intentionally use this photo with Spencer in it (Justin Bobby all the way!), but for some strange reason when Spencer was on screen the shot seem to light up really well. I guess his face is just made for the camera … too bad he’s crazy.

I’d been looking for a leather jacket for quite a while now but every jacket I liked was either way too expensive or wasn’t my size. So you could imagine the look of sheer joy on my face when I found this leather jacket at Vinnies. It’s a real motorcycle jacket, 100% leather, in good condition (and doesn’t smell like op-shop), and it’s made in Australia. I looked up the brand and found the same jacket on sale for $299.

How much did I pay? 50 bucks! What a bargain!

Gotta love op-shopping.

My work place won the NSW Telstra Business Awards in the micro business sector so on Friday we all headed to the finals dinner. We didn’t win the finals but it was a fun night anyway.

The nights entertainment was Glenn Shorrock… Who’s that? Yeah even I had to ask. The only song I recognised was Help is on its way.

Nevertheless, it was the food that I was excited about (as usual), at the NSW awards dinner the food was amazing so I had high hopes for the finals dinner. My entree, ocean trout on a bed of smashed pumpkin – delish! It would have been even nice if it was hot… or even warm, but still at room temperature it was great.

After a great (room temperature) entree I was really excited about my main but unfortunately I was severely let down. It was wagyu beef with mash potato and a red wine reduction. How can you stuff that up!

I was hoping dessert would save the night, but again I was let down. The panna cotta had an odd minty taste to it. I guess the only saviour was the fruit, but then again how can you stuff up fruit.