Another Stakeout?

So, the boy is back at La Porchetta last nite with school mates in town. This time I went home and cooked myself a Chicken Mignon. It was NOMS! I was starving...Any other time I would have been staking out across the street, hiding in some bushes and checking up on them ...ahemm! But I spend the evening watching another scary movie after my dinner. This movie was so slow and it dragged on and I gave up on it. It was not even scary!

You know what is scary though? Picking up the boy after his dinner and stopping by Gelatissimo, which was next door to La Porchetta. Look at the food porn. Plus that I am givng up carbs and sugar at the moment. So I started the diet with steaks, been eating meat and veg and meat and salad but weakened when I saw that Woolies were selling macarons. Yup I bought it... no sugar diet will begin when the macs are gone. This was seriously tempting.. Really? How is a girl supposed to go on a diet?

"Look away....look away...nothing to see here..."

Gourmet Traveller Wine

This is a sponsored post about Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine.  I panicked when I first got the email for this assignment for Gourmet Traveller Wine. Am I going to be articulate enough? What if they don’t understand me? I don’t know the first thing about wine or the making of wine. What will I write about? I can’t write, no way. Do I like wines? Yes. That’s a good start!  All I know is, having lived in New Zealand previously for seven years and working in the hospitality industry then, I was always surrounded by wines and winemakers for wine tasting days at the hotel where I worked at. I even lived across a vineyard by Burnham Camp in New Zealand. That is in the South Island, about 15 minutes out of Christchurch city. We had Giesen Wines vineyard right outside our doorsteps. Weekends were spent going on their tours. The part that I enjoyed the most is not the chemistry lesson; I love the wine tasting part, so I would get restless, and tried not to look bored whilst thinking to myself “Err, hurry up and let’s get drinking already.” This is why I love vineyards and cellar door sales, it’s the wine tasting. I know what I like and I buy what I like. It’s not a hard sell, just pour me some samples and there you go. I‘m sold! So when I was asked to review a wine magazine, what can I say, sheer panic! I thought I might give it a go and bought myself the magazine, if anything, I will learn more about Australian wines. I am severely lacking knowledge in this area.   Looking at the cover photo of the magazine, it had a photo of a glass of red with some berries and cherry. I had to laugh. Not because it was funny or anything, because that was how I would have described my wine. To describe any of it really, it’s like drinking fruity sunshine!   My favourite article in this Wine magazine  is the “Coonawarra Unearthed” article which was featured in the Travel section and it’s no great surprise there, as I love travelling myself. I love reading travel articles, even more when there’s food or wine involved. I like to imagine that I was strolling thru the vineyards under the warm sunshine. I like this article because I can relate to it; it’s about cabernet sauvignon, which is one of my favourite red wines. Plus, it’s in South Australia, so it’s not too far to travel.  Someday I may visit Adelaide and do all the wine trips along the way in the countryside. Coonawarra is almost midway between Adelaide and Melbourne. This is a red wine country like no other place in Australia. It beckons me! Do you know what else appealed to me about the article? The images, on the front of article alone, there’s this huge tree and as far as your eyes can see it, lay the vineyard in its glory.  Wow, and this is why Coonawarra is the most celebrated vineyards. What lies beneath the surface is what matter most, the soil. Apparently, this is where Coonawarra aligns with Champagne, The Loire, Alsace and Burgundy in Europe. The secret weapon is limestone. Limestone is what regulates the soil. I learned that limestone sucks away the entire heavy deluge and retains the moisture and Coonawarra has the best iron rich, rusty red soil also known as terra rossa. This is what the locals claimed to be the best agricultural soil.  So from reading this, if you stop at the front of Balnaves Coonawarra Estate, you will see in between the vine is a deep soil pit, proudly displayed to show you the depth of the terra rossa. The terra rossa is six inches deep over limestone and just a meter away, terra rossa in a full meter in depth. Travel magazines. So a bit of history here, viticulture was first introduced in Coonawarra in 1890 by a Scottish pioneer named John Riddoch. What a good man, I’ll say!  Who doesn’t like a glass of red every now and then? Isn't it supposed to be good for you or something like that? Anyway, just across the highway is Yalumba, who hasn’t heard of Yalumba wines? Why, it’s famous! I am sure that I have drunk a few Yalumba wines. However, before this article on the wine magazine, I didn’t even know that it came from Coonawarra, there you go, I learned something new today. This red wine country is where you get the best Cabernet, Shiraz and Merlot. Merlot is the natural partner to Cabernet. To describe it in plain English, well, at least to me anyway, it softens the blow. Cabernet is this rich powerful red wine that hits you full force, but the addition of merlot mellows it down. I love it. It’s beautiful. You can taste the rich berries in it, it’s fruity and yet warm, it’s intense in colour and it taste really good. Take my word for it or go out and buy a bottle of red from Coonawarra. You will not regret it. Another wine partnership that I really enjoy is the Cabernet and Shiraz blend. All I know is that it is fabulous with a big juicy thick steak. You get your rich berry with pepper spicy taste. How good is that? I am definitely visiting this place. Who wants to come on a great wine drive with me? No? Well, what about a competition just by buying a subscription to any of the Travel magazines then?

Be eligible to win one of 10 fabulous Hawaiian holiday packages valued at over $12,000 each with Magshop’s Christmas Competition. Simply subscribe or renew for yourself or treat family and friends to any of the 35 participating titles including Gourmet Traveller WINE, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Top Gear Australia, Australian House &Garden, Shop Til You Drop, UFC, Money, and many more.

Xmas shopping at The Ware House

Hi all,

Xmas is almost upon us and how many of you have done your shopping? Well technically, I started mine last week by redeeming all my FlyBuys points and ANZ Rewards points. This week however, I thought I would hit the mall and explore.

I actually ended up on the main street of Wagga, not in the mall as I had intended. I wanted to check out this store called "The Warehouse". To be honest, I was actually looking for a photo frame as I had accidentally broken someone's frame at work during an IT Refresh. I was swapping out her computer and moved her monitor and there was this SMASH!!!! Her wedding photo frame made out of glass had the biggest crack over it and I was like "OMFG!!!! That is someone's wedding frame!" #dies!

She was really cool about it but I really wanted to replace her broken frame and so I will keep looking for something nice.

Back to this store, it has amazing items, I spotted some Japanese dinnerware and had to ask the store owner if I could take photos of the store items. He was fantastic, so helpful. I must appear like some mad Japanese tourist or something! LOL ;) Then I handed out my blog business card and was soon snapping away. What a great day! Surrounded by beautiful objects and doing what I like best, taking photos.

Here are a few shots of the shop. More pics will be uploaded to my Flickr stream.

The Warehouse is located at 86 Baylis Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650 . Tel No: 02 69216766.
The blogger ( that's me...) visited this store and purchased her Japanese dinnerware at her own expense and this is not a paid editorial. Happy Xmas all..

Muruku -Chakli

Hi all, I have been wanting to make this forever, ever since I first tasted my Auntie Jill's muruku at a young age. Every year, for Deepavali, mum and my late Dad would pile us all into his car and drove us to Penang. You see, my late grandma used to live in Changkat Tembaga in Penang, and that was like our second home as we would visit our relatives every weekend.

It was great when the Krishanans lived in Sungai Ara Army camp. Uncle Shanan was in the Malaysian Army, so going to visit them was always fun. I love going to Sungai Ara camp. We would get Indian food and we could buy real Cadbury chocolate from the NAAFI. They were imported, of course and sealed in purple foil. I wonder why they are not purple anymore?

Did I ever tell you about the time when I got lost in the jungle? I didn't? Well, we were looking for durians and mangosteen at the back of the camp and before I knew it, I had gotten lost.

I didn't panic at all, I just wandered around, happiest in the jungle, just call me Pocahontas...anyway, my Uncle Shanan got his troops to search for me and they found me. Oh well, I was getting hungry anyway at that time. No, I didn't see any tiger, what a shame! Time to head back for Auntie Jill's tosai and muruku and her curries and chapatis. That was then. I loved my childhood adventures. Another time I got lost at the KOMTAR mall. It was huge place for a small kid.

Okay, I digressed, back to this muruku post. So last week or maybe later than that, I found an online shop that sells all these Indian spices and flour. I googled and found a muruku recipe and voila, here it is!

Recipe from http://simplyspicy.blogspot.com/2007/08/murukku-chakli.html

2 cups - Rice flour
1 cup - Besan flour / Gram flour
1 tbsp - Ajwain / Carom seeds
1 tbsp - White sesame seeds
1 tsp - Red chili powder
1/4 tsp - Hing powder / Asafoedita
1/4 cup - Melted butter or Margarine
About 2 cups - Lukewarm water, add a little at a time, otherwise it will be too runny.
Salt to taste
Oil to fry ( Peanut oil )

The dough should look like a chapati dough, not loose.

Kimba's banana choc cupcakes

Thought I bring you a new post prior to my next giveaway. This recipe is pretty easy and from a good foodie friend http://www.kimbaskitchen.com/2011/11/chocolate-banana-cupcakes-recipe.html

I just had to make them after seeing her delicious cupcake, I haven't iced mine yet, and already had two cupcakes for breaky. LOL ;) Seriously good stuff! Don't think I'll be frosting mine, loving the melted choc lava!

The Aftermath - Madame Brussels

Wow, some people just don't have any class and she have issues with my eating McDonalds. Her tweet was a personal attack at me for my negative feedback on her establishment (previous post)

A dumpscreen from Twitter feed.

Just to be clear, I love McDonalds and there is nothing wrong with being a Taxi mum or driver, better safe than sorry or dead! Clearly, that bitch with her old bone is getting old! Bahhahahahaha!