Sunny, blue skies, perfection of Perth's Winter

The beauty about Perth's winters is that you get amazing sunny blue skies with just that touch of chill (enough for you to wear your cashmere cardigan).

Pity, I'm going to be indoors at work counting stock.

Just keep thinking about the monlah.

Still... Sunday outing at Hillarys Boat Harbour - blue skies and seas - sounds so much better.

Ps. Photo is not filtered and taken by my new phone - Samsung galaxy 4.

Beethoven

My bf's family doesn't live in Perth which makes it really hard for me to catch up with them. Although they do frequently drive up to Perth for appointments, it's usually always on weeknights! I'm ever so busy on weeknights with having to do assignments, or going to the gym and busy with my exercise regimens and training and having finished a busy day at work I have no energy nor the desire to go anywhere but be at home in my trackies and watch my favourite shows on telly or go through my photos or read a book.

Fortunately, they happen to come up on a Friday night one week and I was free (for a change and not have appointments booked - which is another troublesome thing, I really need to get a good quality diary) and my bf was nice enough to tell me almost a week in advance and not a few days beforehand. He booked a family dinner at this German restaurant, Beethoven - we went to a few years back and he hasn't really gotten the memory of the size of the servings of this place nor quality of the meats since then and have been trying to go back, so a family dinner seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Beethoven is located in Applecross opposite Maccas, and is located behind Jetts gym, just off Canning Hwy.  A family ran restaurant specializing in German cuisine with a few European dishes thrown in for good measure. It's a casual restaurant that radiates warmth and friendliness with a little outdated decor with a twist of European flare. They have soft classical music playing in the background, not necessary just Beethoven symphonies, but also the likes of Mozart, Chopin and many other greats.

As for the food? Well, the place mainly being German in flavour, you have to and can expect hearty, big, German dishes, especially your meats. The dishes are massive in size, rather generous, cooked well, salted and flavoured with condiments like sauerkruat, bavarian dumpling, potatoes, braised sweet red cabbage, and vegetables.

Bf ordered his usual favourite - pork with crackling, in this case it was the pork shank. An oven roasted pork shank (a massive one at that.. I had to take the photo from a bird's eye view to get the whole dish into the photo!) with crispy crackle (which was yum! although some bits weren't 100% crackled but for the size, which you can feed at least 2-3 people, it's pretty good that 95% of the crackle was, well crispy!). It also came with sauerkruat, roasted potatoes and apple mousse. It can be shared or can be for one extremely hungry person.

Pork shank with sauerkruat, roasted potatoes and apple mousse

Bf's dad and his brother on the other hand got the whole lamb rack. Again,a massive dish. At least 8 pieces of lamb cutlets still held together (not chopped up) cooked the way it was bought from the butchers, served with goose fat baked potatoes, red cabbage and a minted pesto jus. The lamb was cooked to perfection, ever slightly pink and juicy. I can tell you that the boys couldn't stop raving about how good it was and what a decent size it is. Worth the price at $41.

Whole Lamb Rack

Bf's mum opted for something the safe option (and smaller portion size) of beef fillet with creamy garlic prawns (surf and turf styling but a little on the European side more than the Australian way) served with mash potato, asparagus spears and shiraz jus.  

Beef fillet with creamy garlic prawns

Despite it being very surf and turf like, the fillet was juicy and cooked to a slight pink with a nice creamy garlic, almost broth like sauce of the prawns. I thought it was also visually pleasing.

As for me? I couldn't take a lot of red meat, in fact I wasn't in the mood and I decided to take a chance on chicken. I hardly ever order chicken because well, I eat a lot of chicken dishes at home, and secondaly, chicken in restaurants tend to be on the dry over cooked side. However, apart from a pasta, a chicken dish was pretty much the smallest portioned sized meal on the menu. 

Pan-fried chicken breast wrapped in ham stuffed with camembert on a bed of spinach and sundried tomato risotto

So I ordered myself a pan-fried chicken breast wrapped in ham stuffed with camembert, served on spinach and sundried tomato risotto drizzled with roast garlic sauce. It looked and smelled divine. It tasted just as wonderful. The chicken wasn't dry at all. The risotto was lovely, although a little salty for my ever sensitive salt taste buds. But the one thing I was a little disappointed that the "stuffed with camembert" to me means the chicken breast I have is somehow stuffed with the lovely soft cheese, so when you cut into the breast you have the cheese in the middle. Alas this was not the case, in fact it was more the cheese was attempted to be stuffed by making a tiny finger mound at the top of the chicken a small amount of cheese was pushed into this said mound. So basically NOT "stuffed with camembert". A little disappointed because I really craved and wanted cheesie-goodness! But overall, I did enjoy the dish. 

Even with the largest of dishes somehow we managed to get desserts into us. Crazy I know. Overeating, for sure. Unhealthy. Most definitely! And one I do not recommend you do often!

Bf's brother and I got ourselves a hot apple strudel with vanilla ice cream. The strudel was definitely homemade and it would have been wonderful if it wasn't for the fact that the pastry was tough. It didn't flake and they have burnt the underside of the strudel. But I did love the cinnamon and apple smells and taste of it. 

Homemade apple strudel

Bf's dad got the chocolate overload (which bf really wanted but unfortunately the brownie in the chocolate overload had nuts in it). The chocolate overload came with a chocolate brownie, coffee infused chocolate mousse, with a scoop of chocolate ice cream. He polished of the plate and seemed to have enjoyed it and said that the brownie was nice and fluffy.

Chocolate overload

Vanilla creme brulee wild berry compote and lemon sorbet

Bf's dessert was suppose to a sweet and sour concoction. A balance of sweet with the sour. But unfortunately it was a little bit of a fail. The brulee itself had the nice crack through the carmelisation, but other than that it was little eggy, and felt more like eating custard. Proportions of the ingredients slightly wrong. The berry compote was sour and in a shot glass, it caused a little confusion as to what to eat it with and how to eat it. By itself it was too tangy and with the brulee, it didn't go. The lemon sorbet was lovely on it's own but again, with the other elements on the dish, it was questionable. A disappointing dessert for my boy.

Overall, Beethoven is a warm, casual and hearty German restaurant with beers on tap (and German beers are also available), along with assorted wines. The service can be a little careless, but they try and you can see them try. The food is big in portion so wear your stretch pants and bring your appetite. The prices are reasonable for what you get and with it being on the entertainment card it's a win. 

Will I go back? Well, I'm sure bf will drag me back but I will have to bring someone else along to share the dishes with.

UWA Club House Restaurant Dinner

The UWA club house is for the alumni house for ex-University of Western Australia students. It's suppose to be rather exclusive or something rather and costs a fair bit to join and keep your membership. The perks however is that you get to fully utilise their function centre and of course dine in their restaurant. The restaurant and cafe area isn't just for club members, so you can dine here if you like.

I didn't graduate from UWA, but I've been fortunate enough to have had the food provided by the restaurant and catering staffs of the UWA club on numerous occasions, such as balls, seminars and of course my cousin's wedding. The wedding and the seminar provided rather nice food, although the balls, was a bit of a let down. The recent dining experience at the Club Restaurant was at my Aunty's 60th birthday. A 3 course meal enjoyed with the best of companies, many happy and funny speeches and of course with delightful food.

The entree served to us was a tasting plate consisting of 4 different dishes.

There was seared wagyu beef, sesame crusted pan-fried scallops, butter and garlic prawns and I can't remember what the green thing and yellow-corn thing was but both were really delicious. The seafood was cooked to perfection the scallops being so wonderful I wanted more than just one. The only let down would have to be the wagyu beef. 

The main was a choice of either the angus fillet or barramundi fish. Bf opted for the steak, while I went for the fish. The fish was wonderful, melt-in-your-mouth perfection. Although I'm not sure about the condiments on the plate. They were a little sour.

The good thing about bf having the opposite dish to me is that I get to taste test his and he gets a bit of mine. The steak was perfectly pink, gorgeous to look and taste just wanted you wanted medium-rare. No major bleeding. The jus that came with it, wasn't the best of sauces, it had a slight tang to it and wasn't something you wanted the steak to be covered in, which was a bit of a pity.

Of course the best course of the evening was of course the dessert. Another tasting plate to boot! Tasting plates in the form of dessert I think is the best, because you get to try a variety of different ones so you don't get sick of just eating one thing, especially if that one thing you chose is ultra rich! Having said that, the bad thing is that if there is one that you like on the plate, it tends to disappear much too quickly!

The plate consisted of vanilla ice cream coated in dark chocolate, orange sponge soaked in lovely sticky syrup, strawberry meringue and an orange cake thing topped with macaroon (and everyone got a different flavoured macaroon! - I liked the coffee one best, but I ended up getting a chocolate orange one). The desserts were all lovely, but I have to say the orange sponge was delicious and more of it was definitely required. 

I think overall, the Club Restaurant is one that I have enjoyed having functions at as the staff are so professional and the food is pretty good, especially when they have to cater for a fair few people and each presentation plate of dish have to (or should be) the same. 

If you ever get a chance, or you are in the area, the UWA Club restaurant is really a nice place to dine at. It's tranquil and calm and the service is lovely and attentive (and especially patient on this occasion!). But please be aware that they have a strict dress code. For more information on the venue check it out here. The latest menu is also available here.

Eating healthy with AntiOx Chocolate and Snack Bars and GIVEAWAY!

One of my biggest vices in the quest to become toned and fit is.. well can you guess?.. my love of food. I think this blog says it all. It's a miracle that I don't weight a ton.

When I'm not out dining my diet is generally good, except for this minor (ok fine it's a major problem) thing.. it's snacking. I snack on too much junk. The biggest vices being chocolate and chips.

Good thing for me that I discovered Australian made AntiOx Snack Bars and Chocolate (and just in the nick of time too, because I have been coming home this past 3 weeks eating my little heart out on cadbury chocolate blocks of milk chocolate and crunchies and feeling rather sluggish!). They are high in natural antioxidants, low in sugar and calories. Winning so far!

The chocolate bars are made with rich 70% cocoa dark chocolate (which you can really taste) and super fruits goji or acai. I really couldn't believe the low sugar content and the low calories. I could eat the whole packet and still wouldn't be as bad as eating one piece of Lindt or blocks of cadbury chocolate. Just see for yourself in this photo.

Ok, so you are probably wondering, something that healthy can't possibly taste good. But trust me they are! Surprisingly. I couldn't believe that they punch a fair bit of dark chocolate, that slightly bitter dark chocolate bitter goodness taste. The goji berries flavour is better than acai one. The goji berries have this slight chewy texture and reminded me very much of the "fruits of forrest" cadbury minus the sugar content and AntiOx Goji is dark chocolate deliciousness. I was in chocolate haven. Now I can snack and not feel guilty. And to top it off, just four blocks or even less fills you up and satisfies you so much more than any other chocolate.
WINNING.

Enjoying my block of dark chocolate and looking rather worn out from the cold and stresses

Then there are the AntiOx Snack Bars that come in three flavours (made of super foods!) - goji, acai and chia and quinoa. The snack bars are made of 70% cocoa dark chocolate coated around super fruits (goji, acai or chia and quinoa, depending on the flavour), forrest berries and wholegrains. I have been having them after work but before gymming, that in between time where you are so famished and wanting to consume everything. The snack bars were great to satisfy that craving.

The insides of the Goji snack bar

The snack bars a little higher in calories, but are still better than most snack bars on the super market shelves and they actually surprisingly taste good, even without the added sugar, just natural sugar. Again, the goji flavour came out best in terms of taste. Have a look at the calorie content.

The AntiOx chocolate and snack bars range is the way to go in terms of not giving up on the chocolate love, and keeping your waistline in check. It's an option to substitute your bad cravings, whist giving you all this antioxidant boosts. In fact for further nutritional information on the AntiOx products check out this page.

But HEY don't let me tell you about it, you should try it out yourself and let me know what you think and if you agree with me.

Better yet, I have 2 AntiOx prize packs to giveaway.
Each prize pack contains:
6 x AntiOx Snack Bars
4 x AntiOx Chocolates

All you have to do to get the prize packs is answer this very simple question in my comment section of this post...
"Why do you want to try the new AntiOx Snack Bars and Chocolate?"

Competition closes Friday 28th June 2013 and the winning entry will be the ones that have the most creative answer. Don't forget to leave your preferred contact details so I can contact you after the competition closes if you are the winner!

Some T&C:
Entry is only open to Australian residents aged 14 years and over.
The winners will be notified via their preferred contact method and will be asked to provide their email and contact phone number at that time.
To claim the prize, the winners must reply to the winner notification and accept the prize within 14 days, as well as, indicate their preferred address for the prize to be sent. If the winner does not respond within 1 days they will forfeit the prize.
Further T&C check here.

(This post has been sponsored by nuffnang)

Lunch at Gordon st Garage Coffee/Bar/Kitchen

My very last RDO was a few weeks ago, and it will be the last for a long while. This meant it's time to enjoy it the only way possible - organising for my epic holiday and of course catching up for a very late lunch with a good friend.

After practically running across the city (very fast walking pace from one end of Hay street to another - east to west) to get to Gordon St. Garage. An old warehouse turned breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night dining area. Exposed lights, air-conditioning units with lots of different areas for dining - upstairs, outside, main area. A little canteen like, for some reason reminded me of school/university and of course very much like Little Creatures in Fremantle.

Jojo and I were served by a lovely French waiter who has only been in Perth for a few months and will be travelling around Australia and New Zealand in another few months time. Sounds rather bliss. I don't think my travel bug will ever be extinguish. Anyway, he recommended us the soup of the day, but we both weren't in the mood and it just wasn't cold enough at the time. It was sunny and warm, despite it being close to the start of winter.

We started off the afternoon with a flat white for Jojo and a Zenzero, ginger beer with ginseng and apple (warning it is alcoholic) for me. Zenzero was refreshing and did not taste alcoholic at all, but the taste of ginseng, ginger and apple was all there. Delicious in a drink.

Our mains followed a while later. 

Jojo opted for the open pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw.It was served on a wooden slab, which at the moment is all the rage for serving dishes. It was most definitely open sandwich and the bread (not sure what kind because I didn't get a chance to have a proper look) was definitely well toasted and possibly grilled too. I was lucky to have a taste of the chutney and the pork. The chutney was flavoursome and so was the pork but nothing that was outstandingly amazing.

I got myself a quinoa and lamb kofta on a bed of pita bread. The lamb kofta was delicious and the quinoa (one of the super foods prounced "Keen-Wah" NOT "qui-no-a") added that bit of dimension to the chickpeas/hummus and vegetables. I felt rather healthy eating it too! However, the downside was the pita bread was a little tough and definitely was left in the oven a little too long. Like the open sandwich it was served on a wooden slab, which is all very cute, if not a little small for my dish, as I keep getting quinoa rolling out around everywhere, and didn't help that I couldn't cut into the pita bread. Nevermind, it was great lunch, just ate it like 2-year-old. 

Of course an RDO lunch is never complete without dessert. We decided to share a piece and after having a look at their cake selection and their little dessert cabinet consisting of pannacotta, mousse etc. After much deliberation, we settled for the peanut butter gateau/wafer cake thing and was also recommended by one of the waitresses.

It was most definitely peanut buttery and the wafer/biscuit thing at the bottom was chewy and crunchy all at the same time, a nice textural difference to the creamy peanut buttery taste and the dark chocolate. It was a little bit hard to crack through though and again a little messy, but hey at least it tastes great.

Gordan st. Garage is your little casual chilled place to catch up. The female toilets also have an awesome mirror to freshen up from head to toe. The service is a little slow, even at 3pm and there was hardly anyone there, or it is because it was 3pm and there was hardly anyone that caused the slow in service? The one thing I love about this place though is the desserts and you can usually get the full and fresh range in the mornings. They also open late Monday to Sunday meaning you can get your coffee and dessert fix at any time! BONUS.

The food? I don't rate it as amazing and it isn't bad. It's decent and the dessert selection is what is probably going to be bringing me back.

Shoe Party @ Vangoh Shoes

One of my favourite and locally (in Perth, Western Australia) designed shoe store in Perth in Vangoh (owned by husband and wife team). There are two stores located in Perth - Perth city in the Raine Square area (opposite Country Road) and in Subiaco.

In fact, I've been steadily building up a shoe collection from their... well.. shoe collection... So when Vanessa Goh (part owner - she co-owns with her husband Raj and creative head - get it VanGoh??) asked me whether I wanted to do an initiation evening/night of Vangoh shoes to all my beautiful, fashionable, creative ladies in my life I jumped at the chance. After all who doesn't love a shoe party?? It's like a tupperware party except with shoes!!

So after much emailing back and forth between Vanessa and myself, we finally had a date, and decided on which store - Subiaco. She also made me lovely invites of mint green and white (colours chosen by moi - and yes they are very Tiffany's colour...) and I distributed them to all the lovely ladies in my life (well.. as much as I can.. facebook can be a wonderful pre-warning for everyone..).

The invite - the yellow lighting and the over-filtering made it look all blah

I was a little nervous at first mainly because I was afraid that people may not have the same taste as me in terms of shoes and what happens if no one enjoys themselves and left home disappointed? I really shouldn't have worried and trusted that one of my favourite shoe stores would have amazing things. The shoes are on trend and yet are classic enough to last you more than one season of fashion. Are of high quality. Are affordable and the most important thing of all... COMFORTABLE. They are ridiculously comfortable - even the uber high heeled one.

Vanessa, Raj and their staff were so welcoming providing us with mini cupcakes, chocolates, mashmallows and glasses of champagne and for those driving juice/non-alcoholic beverages. However, we were all too excited and to busy pulling shoes off the shelves and trying things on that they were forgotten and Vanessa and Raj had to keep reminding us to have it!

From the initiation evening, not only do we get the whole store to ourselves (after hours of course) and a personalised service, they also provided everyone with 50% off ALL shoes, 30% off bags and accessories and $99 leather boots. 

I can assure you some of us went a little nuts. 

There was a little of ooo-ing.. aah-ing and "does this look good..?" .. "what do you think?" and staring at the mirrors then finding another pair while walking around the store to ensure the pair that were tried were comfortable. 

Apart from the shoes, they also stock some pretty cool leather bags. There was one that was so similar to a celine bag and I really wanted it, but I just couldn't justify having another bag (I have enough of a bag collection as it is!).

They also has a cabinet of pretty sparkling accessories - necklaces, earrings, rings (sourced from Australian and Perth designers) and some were swarovski crystal as well! I think SM scored a bargain on a beautiful swarovski crystal, almost costing her nothing!

By the end of the night we were pretty shopped out. But went home with bags of goodies. 

We all had so much fun and Vanessa, Raj and their staff were amazingly patient and helpful as we pretty much caused the whole store to be turned upside down with all the picking of shoes off shelves, trying them on and boxes flying open everywhere!

Thanks for letting me host a shoe night. It was an absolute success and the girls had so much fun, lots of laughter, smiles and excitement. They are hoping I would host another one soon (not sure if you would agree to it! hahah)

As to my purchases?

I got myself this amazing statement ring (which I forgot to take a photo of..)

I also got myself some very comfortable leopard printed ballet flats (something I have been hunting for - cute, fashionable, statement, comfortable and affordable - these flats ticked all the boxes!). In fact they are so comfortable my mum (who can't wear any old shoes - she needs those supersoft brands or equivalent) tried these on and said they were so comfortable, she couldn't believe she could wear these and it didn't hurt her feet!

I also got some very nice pair of heels (which I just realised that the girl in the photo on the invite is wearing the shoes! sheesh so unobservant!). I usually can't wear rounded shoes because I have really long abnormal toes and they tend to hit the front or get squashed.

But these were rounded but roomy at the roomy at the front for my odd toes. They are suede, are high, but platformed at the front so they don't feel like you are standing on massive high heels. They are t-bar so they elongate my legs instead of cutting it off with just a normal strap in the middle. Not only that, look at the buckle bit! You don't need to undo those little clips, it has a little hook of its own that you can just hook across and your shoes is on! Genius really!

Happy with the buys! and can't wait to wear them out around P-town!

I would also like to thank Vanessa and Raj for allowing me to host an awesome shoe party and letting my friends roam around. They had such a blast and so did I. I hope to host another one if you would let me!

For more information on Vangoh, the brand, the creative team behind the brand and a preview of some of their shoe collection check it out here.

hello winter, you've been sorely missed

I love winter/autumn/the nippy weather (I have yet to really experience negative/sub-zero climate apart from spending a few days in the snow fields of Hakuba in winter and the mountains of Chamonix in Autumn.. nonetheless.. winter is bliss).

Nothing beats the chill and the layering of lovely angora and merino knits, cashmere cardigans, cotton and silk blouses and shirts, leather jackets, trench coats, cashmere scarves and nothing beats a warm hoodie jumper. (of course not necessarily wearing all of these items all at once...but perhaps a couple of the pieces together).

I love how I'm still having free dress-ups at work as my uniform is yet to be arranged as the lady that's in charge of it is not ready for me to have a uniform just yet. It suits me fine. I get to play with layering and wearing spring items into winter.

I especially love the cool mornings, how the cool wind caresses my cheeks, and how a warm embrace is that much better in the depths of winter.

I'm making the most of this.

ps. I promise to post properly again soons. My last assignment is due this Friday. This is just a little reprieve from the work.