I love food!

As I mentioned earlier I have been eating a lot and I wanted to share some of the places I've been to this month. First of all, gorgeous Fel took me to The Secret Garden Cafe for Brunch one morning. It is a beautiful little cafe with a magnificent garden with water features, a wishing well and miniature bridges and the atmosphere is just so warm and relaxing.

I ordered Stuffed mushrooms with toast, a poached egg and salad on the side. Let me tell you it was one of the best meals I have ever had in awhile and I dream about the stuffed mushrooms all the time! I must admit, I do love my mushrooms though. I loved it so much that I tried to recreate a similar dish at home (not succeeding, but that's not the point). I will definitely have to go back and have those mushrooms again!
Fel & Pavlova

If you are looking for a new cafe to try, I highly recommend this place! And try the stuffed mushrooms!

The Secret Garden Cafe

64 Angelo Street

South Perth WA 6151

(08 ) 9367 5597

Another eatery I went to was the Burger Bistro located at Leederville. I had lunch there with Robbie because we've walked past a couple of times and it looks quite groovy with its light globe decorations and Banksy art hanging around the walls of the place.


I ordered the Hey pesto Burger which consist of hand made CAAB Angus beef patty with fresh basil leaf, shaved parmesan, basil pesto and tomato relish on a bed of salads.


I really liked their tomato relish in the burger as well as a dip for the chips however the burger itself did not blow my mind away. It was a decent burger but I did not crave for it. Otherwise, real nice atmosphere and lovely presentation.

The Burger Bistro

147 Oxford Street

Leederville WA

(08 ) 9443 5881

And that's the way the cookie crumbles

I have not been blogging recently because my current life consists of watching TV series and eating lots of food. Also, I am extremely lazy. I finally found a job which starts in June so I am relaxing before reality kicks in.

After discovering the cookie gun on Kanela and Lemon's blog along with a Butter Cookie Recipe on Sunday, I went searching for a cookie gun to atempt her lovely creation.
Photo from Kanela and Lemon

However, I didn't end up purchasing a cookie gun because the only one I found was in Myer and it was above the price range I wanted to spend so I decided to use my cookie cutters that I already had at home.



Little did I know, the recipe was made specifically for cookie guns so the dough was too soft to be cut. Instead, I used an icing pipe so my resulting cookies did not turn out as nice as I would' have liked.

In the meantime, I've found some lovely cookie guns on ebay that catches my fancy.

Lovely Advice

I found this on tumblr and thought it was sweet. Food for thought.

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s - Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Play more games.
6. Read more books than you did in 2010.
7. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
8. Sleep for 7 hours.
9. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

1. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
2. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
3. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
6. Dream more while you are awake.
7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
8. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
10. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
13. Smile and laugh more.
14. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:

1. Call your family often.
2. Each day give something good to others.
3. Forgive everyone for everything.
4. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
5. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
6. What other people think of you is none of your business.
7. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

1. Do the right thing!
2. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
3. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
4. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
5. The best is yet to come.
6. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Butterfly Stamping Nail Art

There's a new little nail art shop located at Southlands Shopping Centre next to the shoe shop and it sells Konad Stamping nail art gear. I just bought a mini stamping kit today, the kit contains 3 x polish (black, white, clear), 1 image plate, a scraper and a stamp. If you're interested to see how it's done, there's a youtube video at the bottom but it's basically a stamp, that is stamped onto your nails.

I had heaps of fun stamping my nails with butterflies.

Happy Easter everybody

I put together a little easter basket for the bf and his family and I decided to make Panna cotta for the first time.I've always viewed it as a fancy dessert and love ordering them at restaurants but never knew how easy it was to actually make it.

I found the recipe on David Le Bovitz's blog but I'll type it up again (with slight changes) on here for those that are too lazy to view it. Also I didn't unmould the panna cotta but placed them in.....tealight candle holders haha. I was searching for glasses that were larger than shot glasses but smaller than drinking glasses and these were the perfect size!

Ingredients

4 cups thickened cream
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
4 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water
1 packet Raspberry Jelly

Method

1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least four hours.

6.Make the jelly according the instructions on the packet, cool and pour on top of the panna cotta. Chill for at least 4 hours. Serve cold.

Cupcake nail art

I was inspired to paint a cupcake on my nail after watching this nail tutorial:



So this is my attempt at cupcake nails and I decided to mix it up a little with other random drawings I thought of on the spot.



Cupcake, Clouds, Kisses, Bling & a black heart. Enjoy!

Rainbow cookies

Nothing like a smartie cookie to bring a smile to your face.

Afternoon Delight

I've always been obsessed with tea cups, tea, cakes, high tea and so when I saw the 2 tiered plate stand at Koko Black I decided to purchase my own tiered plate stand. Having already owned the Maxwell and Williams Polka Dot Tea Set [Below],



Maxwell and Williams Polka Dot Tea Set

I decided to get the Maxwell and Williams Kimono Tiered plate stand in pink of course, to match my tea set. I really like the Flowery Japanese inspired design.



I was so excited to use it that I made some mini quiches and toasted pesto chicken sandwiches to test out my new plate stand and I love it! I followed the recipe found on Exclusively Food for the Mini quiches and they were delightful! The top tier is just filled with Krispy Kreme donuts that my brother brought back from the east coast.

A Sunny Sunday @ Angove Street Festival

I love exploring Perth and attending all the community festivals & other local happenings so when Angove Street Festival was advertised, I quickly marked it on my calender as a little reminder! So that is what I did today, attended the festival held on Angove Street, or as the locals like to call it the 'Hangover St'.


There was plenty of live music, local fashion, fresh food and coffee, market stalls, live art, photo exhibitions, street performers and children's activities such as mini bungee, rocking climbing, animal farm and plenty more other activities occuring. The live music definitely created a lovely atmosphere for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I live on the south side of river so I don't normally shop in North Perth so it was nice to wander around and I discovered a lot of local shops and cafes that I would love to go back and visit.

There was some live graffiti art demonstration at the festival and I really liked this particular one. It was a picture drawn with a permament marker of all the different people he saw walking down Angove Street.
There was also a mini car show featuring mainly Alfa Romeos and a lonesome Lotus Elise which was my favourite.

Koko Black: Claremont

Perth is definitley improving with its growing number of shopping centres and eateries. I just came back from High Tea at the new Koko Black chocolate salon located at the Claremont Quarters and I have to say I am impressed. I love the elegant feel of the place with its chocolate (brown) leather lounges, beautiful blue lanterns to its delicate tier plate stands.



My friends and I decided to try out this awesome chocolate salon as soon as we could and we treated ourselves to the Queen of Hearts high tea which was a two tiered platter, one sweet and one savoury. The bottom tier consisted of two mini sandwiches, a leek and ricotta tart and a pancetta and cherry tomato tart whilst the top tier presented with a lamingtom, lemon tart, layered chocolate cake, chocolate brownie and a berry panacotta. I have to say the savoury was very welcoming to the taste buds after all the sweet indulgences.



We also tried the Autumn Spoil which is pretty much a bit of everything. It consisted of pear sorbet, gingerbread cookie, chocolate mousse, pear and cinnamon cake and two chocolates.



After our meal of utter divineness, we looked around the chocolate salon and there were many different selections of various flavoured chocolates and pattiseries on offer. With easter around the corner there were many handpainted chocolate bunnies and easter eggs on display and I was very tempted to purchase one of everything. Another thing I really liked about Koko black was the chocolatier's kitchen which had a clear window so you could view the making of the chocolate and pattiseries. I got to witness the making of the creme brulee tarts which looked really delicious.



A polaroid to capture that Koko Black high tea moment!

Love Heart Bokeh

I've always wanted to try the love heart bokeh technique but never get round to testing the technique until recently. This awesome site tells you what it is and how to do it HERE. So we bought black cardboard and cut the love heart out by hand although you may also use a shape puncher. Using the lowest aperature on a large aperature lens, the love heart bokeh may be created! Tips: Christmas lights make really nice bokeh effects. Here are some of our results, enjoy:
Cup full of love



Blowing love kisses



Teddy bear love



Random soft toy with heart background

R.I.P Snowflake

My bunny passed away this morning. Snowflake has been such a lovely companion for the last 2 years. He lived a short life as rabbits can live up to 15 years. He unfortunately contracted myxomatosis which is uncurable with the survival rate of 5%. I'm going to miss you and all your quirky behaviours. You are the friendliest bunny ever and I'm going to miss spending hours taking care of you and playing with you. You will always be loved & remembered. May you rest in peace dear Snowflake, I hope you are in a better place.

New ride

New year, new house, new car, new phone! The year has been good so far despite my boyfriend moving to Canberra and my bunny catching myxo which is like one of the deadliest viruses they could catch. He actually looks better than before so I'm hoping he will pull through seeing as it's the year of the rabbit! Graduating from my 4 year degree on the 17th which should be good. My new Mini Cooper S (blue one) was my graduation present. So in love with my new car! :D

Happy year of the rabbit!

I am back from the land of Canberra! Had a blast there, attended my friend's 21st which was really lovely held in a garden area decorated with fairy lights and paper lanterns and pom poms.


Spent my 23rd in Canberra, had bacon & eggs for breakfast made by the lovely boyfriend and then had the loveliest time exploring the city with some friends, went to the War memorial, the new Parliament house and visited the National Portrait Gallery.


The Martin Schoeller: Close up exhibition was on which was really good. He takes extreme close up pictures of celebrities and some non-celebrities. It was a very busy day so we went to Koko black to chill out and have some of the best chocolates I've ever had.

We had the Summer spoil for two which consisted of passionfruit sorbett, strawberry salad, chocolate mousse, orange poppy seed muffin and two mouth watering chocolates - passion and candied orange.

After dropping off a friend at the airport we headed to The Deck at Regatta Point which by the way has the most gorgeous view of the lake burley griffin, the national gallery and the parliament house. Met up with some friends, such a beautiful place and we had sangria and stayed there til' night. It was such a good birthday, thoroughly enjoyed it!

Photo courtesy of The Deck

Holidaying in the Capital City

Just a quick update, as I have been very slack. I am now residing in Canberra for the next week and a half, visiting the boyfriend and attending my friend's 21st. I am still committed to my 365 project surprisingly, the photos may be viewed on my Tumblr and my Flickr.
I have visited the War memorial, Yarralumla gardens, Regetta Point and the Canberra centre. The other night, we made tacos and the oven caught on fire (View brief story here) and yesterday evening we had a few games of lawn bowls and finished it off with some yummy Chicken snitzel. Heading to Sydney for the weekend, can't wait!

Happy 2011~!

The new year is a time to reflect and make amendments and resolve things that we want to change. What are your new year’s resolutions? Having a look at my last year’s resolutions I managed to fulfill half of them so will work on completing the rest this year. They were;

1. Fitness
2. Keep track of my spendings
3. Learn to use my camera
4. Plan another trip
5. Relax more
6. Read more books

This year however, I am going to attempt to take on the 365 Project of documenting my year by taking a daily photo on tumblr. I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating new year’s day and all the best for 2011. Stay safe and remember to enjoy the little things!

My Flickr

My Tumblr

Diana Mini Love

Lately I have been keeping up to date with Lomography on Twitter and joining in on the lomojeopardy fun and winning piggies! I managed to get 40 piggies and bought myself a Diana F+ Flash for my Diana Mini! I can't wait to take all kinds of shots. I never realised there were so many different things you can do with the Diana Mini. Here are a bunch of tips found on Lomography. P.S. Free shipping until 20th of December.

All I want for Christmas

I have been on Christmas Island for the past week, and the weather was miserably grey almost the entire time Robbie & I were there however it was sunny on the day that we left. Fantastic! We did, however, manage to go snorkelling at Lily Beach three days in a row! Not as great as Flying Fish Cove reefs but there were still some fishes to see. The jetty was closed due to the bad swell season. Pretty decent week despite the rain, very relaxing atmosphere on the island.

Fish.
Fish.
And more fishes.


Brown Booby Bird.

The famous red crab.