Dresses & Snacks

twas the night before Christmas..

Twas the night before Christmas, and as my family are in no way religious (beyond our extreme devotion to food) and missing one core family member (my little brother is still in Beijing) we had a rather lowkey but still Christmas-y evening.

We visited our local cinema to see a taping of The Nutcracker performed by the New York City Ballet at the Lincoln Centre, a beautiful theatre I was fortunate enough to visit roughly this time last year to see Carmen. It was a little odd watching something I'm used to seeing live in the cinema, but it was a beautiful production and a very nice outing to get us feeling festive.

After our Christmas booster shot, we wandered across the road to Bambusa for tea. Both my parents had already been there and spoke very highly of it, so my expectations were relatively high.

The style of Bambusa's menu encourages sharing, so that's exactly what we did. To start with, we enjoyed the gow gee (vegetable dumplings) and peking style duck pancakes.

The dumplings were very pretty and equally as tasty. Having recently visited The Land of Dumplings I may be a little hard to please in this area, but they were certainly yummy. My only criticism would be they were served with forks, which struck me as odd, and as it turns out while I can wrangle chopsticks fairly competently if left with a fork I will complete bollocks up eating a dumpling.

Ducky pancakes! The pancakes were nice and thin, the duck nice and bbq-y and the vegetables fresh and crunchy. Pretty much all you can want from a ducky pancake, really.

After whetting our appetites with those little treats, we moved onto a teryaki lamb rack and fresh rock salt prawns with potato dumplings.

The lamb was ever-so tender,  just delightful. The sweet sake and soy glaze was lovely and sticky, but certainly not over the top as glazes can be. The accompany broccolini, lotus root and mushrooms also benefited from the glaze and this plate was emptied fairly promptly.

Looking at this (very bad) photo makes me want more of these prawns. The prawns themselves were very fresh with lovely sweet, tight flesh. The batter was very light and although obviously fried, they were in no way greasy and seasoned with great precision. Perfect. The cute little potato dumplings were quite fun too. I guess it was a very fancy/abstracted version of fish and chips.

While the dessert menu was very tempting I had to decline and had a reasonable coffee instead.

All in all I was impressed the Bambusa and will definitely visit again. In addition to the great food on offer, the service was of a surprisingly high standard as well and I take my hat off to the young staff there, they did a wonderful job.

santa claws

I'm a little late uploading our Christmas photo, but I think you'll agree it was worth the wait. Karl was a perfect little angel when we met Santa, I can easily see this becoming a Christmas tradition. He is mightily photogenic, if I do say so myself.

Karl is obviously the star of the show, however, I'm wearing..

black linen dress - ASOS
tights - Kmart
black felted ballet flats with white toe - ASOS
black and white resin bangles - CottonOn
wishbone pendant - Marcs by Marc Jacobs
watch - Swatch
matching bows - $2 shop

the art of eating

As part of my family's Christmas celebration we joined the Melbourne branch of our family at The Artisan in Narrabundah, Canberra for a lovely dinner late last week.

The Artisan is easily my favourite restaurant in Canberra. The food is of an incredibly high standard, yet avoids being overly fussy. The service is impeccably professional, but still very friendly. I really loathe hoity toity service that leaves you feeling like you must be on your best behaviour. At The Artisan you are very well taken care of, but made to feel welcome and relaxed.

You will have to forgive my less than brilliant photos which do not give the beautiful food justice, I was silly enough to forget my camera and was in a hurry to eat rather than take amazing food portraits.

Wagyu bresaola, chesire cheddar, pickled beetroot, rosemary grissini and quail egg.

What a perfect little plate of flavours if ever there was one. This starter was just divine, a perfect balance of textures and tastes to begin a meal. I stopped talking to everyone at the table to eat this one. In addition, I may or may not have had half of Dad's pork belly (maple brushed pork belly, slow braised in Gypsy pear cider with witlof and hazelnuts), which was also highly delectable.

Blackberry glazed roast duck breast with sugar snaps, baby carrots and chestnut puree.

The gaminess of the duck, earthy flavours of chestnut and fresh sweetness of the baby carrots and sugar snaps made my tummy very happy. Sometimes I feel the additions to duck can make it far too heavy and rich, but the light accompaniments to this dish complimented  the duck very gently,  without distracting from the duck itself.

Bitter chocolate and cherry pavé with crème anglaise and rose fairy floss

This dessert, oh my goodness. To start with, it was abundantly gorgeous with its toupée of brightly pink rose fairy floss. The crème anglaise provided a soft, creamy background for the richness of the bitter chocolate and sweetness of the fairy floss to sit against. I was surprised to hear this, and in fact the vast majority of the dessert menu, was wheat and gluten free. This treat was the perfect end to the meal.

The Artisan has fast become my family's favourite for special occasion dinners so I'm sure I'll be visiting Canberra again soon for more of their scrumptious delights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

waiting for Santa

While we await the arrival of an electronic copy of Karl's Santa photo, please enjoy this silly little picture instead.

We will be spending the day with my parents, their two dachshunds and a small truck load of seafood.

Whether you recognise Christmas, Chanukah, or are only in it for the Boxing Day sales, I wish you all a lovely and relaxing holiday period.

Hamilton Sun review

Product Talk by Nuffnang

Hamilton kindly sent me three of their sunscreen products to review. As a pale lil' lady wishing to protect my Eastern-European skin in a country floating under a gaping hole in the ozone layer, I know a thing or two about suncscreen so I've been looking forward to testing them out. Jokes aside, regardless of skin type or country of residence daily sun protection is pretty important - who wants to look like a leather wallet or heighten their risk of  cancer? Not I!


I was sent Family, Sensitive and Toddler sunscreens. As I have mildly, but not overly, senstivie skins and I am not a toddler, nor do I have access to one, i I can't really comment on the effectiveness of these prodcuts sunscreen on their exact target market, so my review is based on my use of them.  All three are 30+SPF with 4 hours of water resistance. I tested all three on my arms, legs and face.

I'm always hesitant when an inherently greasy product claims to be 'non-greasy', however the Family sunscreen manages to be just that. Despite being a relatively thick cream it does absorb into the skin promptly leaving a soft, moisturised feeling. While wearing this on a bare face with no makeup over the top felt comfortable, I do think it may be a little heavy if you were to apply foundation over the top. As sun protection for the body, I greatly prefer this to the daily sunscreen I'm using currently and many other that I have used recently.

The Sensitive sunscreen is fragrance free and avoids skin reactions by eliminating 'chemical absorbers' and as such takes sometime to absorb into the skin and does leave a slight white residue on the surface. However, despite the visibile residue it too leaves the skin feeling moisturised and although slightly sunscreen-y to touch, certainly not greasy. While I would certainly use this when my fussy skin is having a cranky day, I probably wouldn't wear it every day as the slight residue made my skin look a bit pink - not terrible attractive for work or school. As I wear sunscreen everyday of the year, I would prefer something a little more icognito for an everyday sunscreen. Due to the residue, I would not use this under makeup on the face.

In terms of absorbancy, the Toddler sunscreen fell somewhere inbetween the above two. While it did take a little longer than the Family sunscreen to absorb, once it had it did not leave a residue. It felt very light on a clean face and I would be tempted to see how it travelled with makeup over the top.

FINAL VERDICT: While I don't think I would purchase the Sensitive sunscreen due to the residue, I will continue using the Family sunscreen as my everyday sun protection as I like it a great deal more than the one I was already using on my body and will be trying to Toddler sunscreen for face protection.

Thank you to Hamilton and Nuffnang for sending me these product to review.

pressing matters

Today I visited  Manchester Press and I can safely say it is one of the few places I've eaten recently where I've been abundantly pleased with everything from start to finish. They even have nice Aesop soap in their bathroom.

The cafe itself is really beautifully and simply designed with nice little details like subtle acoustic panels suspended from the ceiling to prevent the space becoming overly loud. I also liked the worn-looking communal tables.

The lunch menu is predominantly bagels, which obviously made me extra happy because aside from pastries bagels are definitely my favourite bread product. YUM. Also, all the bagels are $12, which considering the amount and quality of fillings they're made with I think is just about the CBD lunch deal of the century. The bagels are generous enough that you could easily share one for lunch with a pal.

There are so many great bagel options on the menu, but I simply couldn't go past my old favourite of cream cheese, salmon, dill and capers. The dill was mixed into the cream cheese, how's that for a fancy bagel? And just look at all that salmon, my goodness. My bagel was beyond delicious, so fresh and scrummy.

My coffee had a lil face too, which was pretty good to say the least.

Manchester Press has yummy snacks, good coffee, really friendly and prompt service and for the city (or anywhere, really) is very affordable considering the quantity and quality of the food on offer. I think I will definitely be returning for many a bagels before too long.

snack city

Summer is definitely the season for snacking. There are night markets to attend, warm weather to enjoy over brunch and delicious, fresh produce to consume. Here's a little selection of the yummy treats I've enjoyed lately.

Super-adorable and equally as yummy carrot cupcake at Brother Baba Budan. I was pretty cranky when I sat down to eat this, but once yummy cake and wonderful coffee was sitting in my belly my mood was vastly improved.

After eight long months apart, I have finally been reunited with my glorious love, the twisto potato, the clear highlight of the night market. They're just SO GOOD. It's a potato, on a stick, deep fried. What is not to love about that little arrangement?

Another of my night market favourites, cevapi. Sort of like a fancy sausage sizzle but, you know, more swish and dignified. Unless you eat it like I did in which case not so much.

A recent visit from Dad provided the perfect excuse to visit Babka for a lush breakfast. I cannot go past the French toast made with Babka's egg loaf, an almost brioche-y bread, with a side of bacon of course. I had to buy a loaf of egg loaf as well, which is my opinion is best consumed toasted with strawberry jam.

So that's all my tummy-related excitement of late. I'm gearing up for some pretty serious snacking next week over the Christmas break so expect many, many more snack posts soon.

photobooth phun

I'm a little impatient and did intend to wait for my secondhand replacement camera to arrive before making any outfit posts, but I quite liked what I was wearing yesterday so utilised photobooth and post slightly crappy photos instead.

Yesterday was the first warm day in Melbourne in forever, we actually had a very chilly start to summer which saw me digging out tights to wear and blankets to snuggle into. I was pretty exicted because it meant I could wear my uglycomfy fake batek print pants.

bodysuit - ebay
fake batek pants - op-shop
belt - Moschino, via ebay
watch - Swatch
sandals - ASOS
'tote of many colours' tote - Dolly Parton merchadise
tacky manicure to match Dolly bag - some cheapo polish called 'Flamingo'
'vintage red' lipstick - Clinique

 

heaven is a place in Beijing

I experienced a lot of interesting and exciting things during my brief trip to China. I saw things that were difficult to comprehend given Australia's comparatively brief white history and sparse population. Some occurrences even left with me a with a wee bit of culture shock.

However, not even the ancient wonder of the Great Wall or the shock of babies wearing split pants and weeing in the street could compare to the overwhelming joy and awe I felt upon visiting what I can only describe as heaven on earth.

  What is the mystical, fairy-lit place? The four level, 24 hour dumpling palace. Sure, my brother had told me about it, but to be standing in front of it, its neon lights glowing and a steady stream of hungry patrons entering while a steady stream of stuffed patrons left made the magic real.

Upon entering and being seated I was so excited I was wiggling in my seat and clapping. I just love dumplings so much. I was so excited I could barely handle the menu, pointed at a few things that looked yummy and left it to my brother to make the hard choices.

Xiaolongbao, also known as soup dumplings, also known as the most wonderful little parcels to grace my taste buds and belly. Oh. My. Goodness. Left to my own devices I would've eaten these until I fell asleep (and truth me told, I wasn't far off after waddling into a homeward bound taxi). After a crash course from my brother in the best way to eat these dumpling and the optimum time to leave them cool (long enough to avoid a steam burn, not long enough for the skins to toughen), I may or may not have eaten more of these than you can count on one hand. My life before these little darling is barely worth remembering.

Char siu bao! My much loved pork buns, an oldie but a goodie, it wouldn't be a proper dim sum adventure unless Dad and I bet how many pork buns I can eat (hint: it's a lot more than you might think).

I adore these translucent dumplings, they're almost too good to eat. Almost. These little ones were prawns and chive (I think), and perfectly scrummy.

Apologise for the blurry photo, I think my food coma was starting to take over at this stage. I think these tasty morsels were pork and prawn, delish.

We finished off with deep fried glutinous rice cake..thingies, with walnuts. We didn't manage to eat them all (not surprising given these photos are the mere tip of the iceberg of our meal), so I did the classy thing and stashed them in my purse for later. We returned to dumpling heaven once more during our Beijing stay, I would've happily spent the remainder of our holiday there.

Is it any wonder my clothes were a bit tight on the way home?

Beijing Brunch

On our first morning in Beijing, after a long journey from Canberra to Beijing the day before, Dad had booked the three of us in for a relaxing brunch at Capital M. I understand it's questionable as to why we would travel to China and then go to a French-inspired restaurant, but the answer is very simply, to treat my little brother! And to enjoy the exciting view from the terrace of course.

The view of Zhengyangmen, Qianmen and Tian'anmen Square beyond from the terrace at Capital M.

Capital M's weekend fare is a three (!!) course brunch menu, served with a cocktail of your choice. It was indeed quite a feast, but I think I put in a fair effort.

My first course was duck rillettes, served with toasted bread and the most delightful little zucchini pickles with the flowers intact. So pretty, and so tasty!

A closer look at the gorgeous little pickles.

The duck rillettes after I plunged into them. They were incredible smooth and wonderfully rich.

While enjoying my yummy ducky I was slurping on what else, but pimms! Made with orange and cucumber, just as it should be in my book.

For my main course I thoroughly enjoyed quite possibly the best eggs benny I've ever had (definitely the most perfect poached eggs) with a side of crispy roast potatoes.

It really is a thing of beauty, just magnificent!

And just as I thought my dress seams may be compromised, dessert arrived. I had the apparently famous Capital M pavlova, and while I maintain my mother's pavlova is the best pavlova, this was a very close second.

When the petit fours arrived I was definitely set to explode, but still managed a nibble on the Turkish delight which was incredible. Petit fours are so often an after thought and not too flash, but these were (along with the rest of the meal) well above average.

Without being a sap, the best part of the meal was spending time with my little brother, but the food was pretty wonderful as well! Should you happen to find yourself in Beijing and in the mood for some French inspired snacks and a view, I highly recommend Capital M.