We had Boxing Day dinner at the Flame Restaurant and Bar inside my local sports club, Canterbury Leagues. We were pretty impressed with the decor the first time we went. Definitely one of the nicest clubs I’ve been to thus far and it was just down the road all this time! The food is nicely presented and everyone is generally satisfied with their meals. I, however, have a knack for choosing the bland dishes. Nothing that a bit of salt can’t fix, though.
Garlic pizza starter to share
The dranks. Can you believe a bottle of Westcoast is cheaper than a bottle of Coke?!
BBQ King Prawns on a Potato Roesti with Garlic Butter, Baby Herbs and Lime
500g MSA Grade T-Bone Steak served with Mash and a Garlic and Brandy Cream Sauce
Risotto of Duck Breast, Portabello Mushrooms, Spinach and Parmesan. This was very delicately flavoured. I’m a bit of a brute and felt the need for a few grinds of salt and pepper.
Yes, his nails are painted! Thien let me let rip on his nails with some neon purple and orange. I should’ve cut his nails and given him some nubbins. His girly hands and long nails makes this pic that little bit more disturbing!
We’ve spent Christmas eve at the Le Family BBQ for the past three or four years now and it is fast becoming a tradition. We had a wonderful time, as usual, stuffing ourselves silly with loads of delicious food, especially Mrs Le’s seafood spring rolls! Their new LED TV also made for some excellent viewing when the Victoria’s Secret show came on. Thanks for having us over! A+++ will attend again!
The Family Tree. Loaaads of presents!
A full and satisfied David after eating copious amounts of food.
My present from Nghi! I’ll do another post on what I got this Christmas!
The Hostess with the mostest and I.
David with one of Nghi’s red velvet cup cakes.
Fruit cocktail, mMmMm!
Rocky. Cute, isn’t he? But looks are deceiving, he is one aggressive little bugger!
The fobby honey dew melon cake David and I brought over. MerryX’ Mas everyone! Sheesh, you’d think they would’ve put “X’Mas” together on a new line. But nevermind, it still tasted divine!
Red velvet cup cake – take away!
Aww my poor neglected blog! I’ve been slack with posting lately but I’ll just put that down to the busy holiday season 
I hope you all stuffed yourselves silly and got some wonderful presents from Santa this year!
Here are a few past NOTD’s, including what I wore for Christmas.
Christmas Mani
I thought I would get into the festive spirit this year with the classic green and red combo. I had Illamasqua – Rampage on my ring fingers and OPI – Little Red Wagon on the others. Not the most original but hey, fun nonetheless!
OPI – A Grape Fit!
From the Bright Pair collection, this is a wonderful purple creme. I had the urge to wear a lighter purple (the majority of purples I own are darker like Lourve Me, Lourve Me Not) and was consistently drawn to Parlez Vous OPI (which I have already worn) but was hesitant about it because I have so many untrieds to get through. This was until I remembered I had this little beauty as a part of the mini set for this collection. It was perfect (and virginal)! I would call this PVO’s brighter summery cousin. I loved it so much I went out and got the full size bottle. Weird thing about the minis, I seem to forget they’re a part of my stash and unconsciously leave them off my spreadsheet, heh! I used to love the idea of getting a little sample of colours but I now have this thing about uniformity across my nail racks (it just looks better). Full size China Glaze polishes stick together, as do the Color Clubs and OPIs. Opting for full sized bottles means I can integrate them into my stash in a more visually pleasing manner.
Color Club – Brrr-Red
This picture is soooooooo inaccurate! I don’t even know why I’m posting it. It appears much darker and deeper in real life with a jelly-ish finish to it. I’m still trying to get my head around the concept of jelly finishes. I can see what is meant whilst applying it because it has that glossy, translucent look to it between coats but I wouldn’t be able to tell a ‘jelly’ apart from a creme at full bottle colour. Who knows! 
China Glaze – Recycle
A medium grey creme. I got this as a part of China Glaze’s eCollection and have to admit that I was a little unsure about how much I would like it at that time. The thing about having a million untrieds is that it gives colours plenty of time to grow on you before you get around to wearing them. I loved this! I think I have a thing for these ‘chic’, ‘fashion forward’ taupey, mushroomy and grey cremes. This will definitely be coming out to play more in autumn/winter.
OPI – Miami Beet
Eep! Again, I shouldn’t be posting this because this is much deeper in real life. The name for this one is spot on, it makes your finger tips look like they are covered in slices of beetroot! It’s another one of those colours that play mind games. It’s not quite red. Not quite magenta. I don’t know, but I like them complicated!
Ah, this has been a family favourite for some time now. It reminds me of my childhood and it’s kind of cool that it’s still around. Why oh why do such awesome things get discontinued? Things like bubblegum jelly cups; deli cups that came in (among others) tiramisu, trifle and chocolate mousse varieties; and that Norco ice cream that came with two sticks (both chocolate and bubblegum flavours!). I think the idea behind that was so that you could share it with a mate but it was so good I always just kept it to myself. I could list dozens of things they should bring back, but properly! I was sorely disappointed with the highly anticipated come back of the Monaco Bar. It just isn’t the same, damn it! This also applies to, of course, nail polish. All those wonderful discontinued colours that end up on evilbay for ridiculous prices but I won’t go into that because this isn’t a polish post! It’s all about the Creme Caramel, baby. Check it.
Classy, huh? I just need to add a fancily sliced strawberry and this could pass off as a $6 dessert!
Remove foil lid and invert on a serving dish? Okay!
ooooooh! Only a lid peel and tip upside down away from smooooth exquisiteness!
Divine Classic Creme Caramel. In the dairy cabinet of your local supermarket!
This post has been sitting in my Wordpress as a draft for waaay too long…
06.12.09 – Mount Stromlo
The next day was spent at Mount Stromlo. It was a loooooong ride up the mountain but the ride down was definitely worth it! Good thing we rented the bike-mobile or we wouldn’t have been able to fit another run down before rushing back to Sydney to make a wedding. Shuttling FTW! Weeeeeee! I was feeling a bit vulnerable at the top, looking down at the trails laid before me (serves me right for being lazy and not wearing my knee and elbow pads up) but it was A-OK and there was lots of fun to be had through those berms. YEEEEHAR!
(Credit: Justin)
Unloading the bang bus.. I mean van.
(Credit: Carl)
Where to?
(Credit: Justin)
Enough room for 6 bikes…
(Credit: Carl)
… and a few illegal immigrants, haha. A few of the guys hitched a ride up the mountain. I think it was sickly and hot back there and I’m sure it didn’t help that we drove the wrong way for a good ten minutes, either! I’m glad noone puked back there, would’ve been horrendous driving back to Sydney in a stinky van!
(Credit: Carl)
At the top of ze mountain!
What a great weekend! We were rushing like crazy to get back to Sydney, get ready for the wedding, rush to return the van and then finally make our way to the reception. I was pooped by the end of it all and was glad to finally get to sleep in my own bed.
