Sunday 29 April 2012

Romance Was Born

A fortnight ago I was lucky to be able to go to the Cleo Bachelor of the Year Party at the new Marquee nightclub at the casino.  I didn't have anything to wear and so I needed a dress, pronto!  I had my eye on this Romance Was Born dress from a little while ago and went back to the store to get it and lucky it was the 2nd last one there and in my size!  It's my first Romance Was Born piece and alas romance was born!  I am in love with my dress!  The beautiful digital print on stretch silk satin, bold jewel like colours in a long raglan sleeve shift silhouette was perfect for the Autumn night time. 

A quick run down on this Sydney born label. . . . Designed by Aussie duo Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales the label is 6 years old and season after season they create collections that are quirky, colourful and beyond trends.  They have collaborated with Sportsgirl and now costume designing for the Sydney Theatre Company as well.  They are super creative and I wish I had as many creative juices flowing 24/7 as they do. 

Here is my dress from the other night teamed with my Badgeley Mischka gold sparkle peep toe platform pumps (my wedding shoes which I didn't think I would wear again so soon, thank-you metallic trend).   And following are some shots from Romance was Born to show how they styled the same dress from their latest Autumn WInter 2012 collection called "Happy Campers".  Much quirkier than my styling.






Love this jacket!

Sunday 15 April 2012

Mr Han Traditional Restaurant - 261 Rowe Street, Eastwood

Usually when I meet up with my parents for dinner we usually almost always go to the same 3 Chinese restaurants that have been in rotation for at least 3 years.  One of them we have been going to regularly for at least 10 years!  So I was looking forward to this night out.  New restaurant means new menu!  Yay!

Mr Han is in Eastwood which is a suburban China and Korea town.  There are a lot of little specialised cuisine restaurants on Rowe Street alone, like a Chilli Hotpot place and a Korean BBQ restaurant, and all looked busy.  Must make the time and go to Eastwood more often.

The first thing you notice about Mr Han is that it is LOUD!  It was packed even on a Wednesday night, and a nothing inside that absorbs the sound of the 70 or so people jam packed in there.  It was also hot and particularly hot after eating the first dish of the night.  Fish soup! 



The fish soup served 6 and in it was a whole fish, not sure what type but it was swimming in a delicious clouded broth that was fishy yet not too fishy, gingery, garlicky and fresh from the generous amount of fresh coriander and shallots sprinkled on top.  In amongst the soup was soft silken tofu and clear sheets of rice noodles.  So unusual.   Everyone loved it!  There was enough for a second bowl too.  10/10 but beware of bones!

We ordered a standard stir fry of greens which I neglected to take a pic of as I was too busy eating.

The stir fried prawns with chilli were awesome!  Fresh and full of flavour with chunks of onion to give the dish some crunch with a medium level of chilli hotness.   All the dishes were quite generous in size too.  I also forgot to take note of the prices, but they were all standard suburban restaurant prices, about $18 for a stir fry I think??  Maybe cheaper.  Anyway I rate this 8.5/10.



The pork spare ribs with green peppers and black bean sauce was my pick and it was great!  The bits of pork on the bone were perfectly battered, not the stodgy batter of standard food court sweet and sour pork.  The sauce had the perfect amount of saltiness from the black beans and also nice and garlicky.  The green peppers were pretty hot and left a bit of a lingering burn on my lips for the rest of the night.  No-one else ate them except me.  9/10.


The beef and tofu hotpot was also nice.  I must say if you don't like the chinese style sauce, which is of a slightly thick, gravy like consistency then you might not like this.  I also forgot to take a pic of this dish until it was almost gone.  It was tasty but not as much flavour as the other dishes.  I might be saying this as my mouth had maybe lost some of it's tasting abilities due to the chillies eaten previously.  The bamboo shoots were unusual and not like the standard yellow rectangles you get but hollow and exactly how you would think a piece of cut up bamboo would look like.  The tofu was yummy, the fried type but softened because of the sauce.  6.5/10.


We were given the bill before we even finished which meant hurry up and leave so we can get the next seating in.  This was fine by us as it was stinking hot,  plus the noise of a screaming baby and loudness in general was getting too much.  

Overall the food was great authentic Chinese - Shanghai and Szechuan style food, I give it a 7.5/10.  What let it down was the lack of air-con and loudness but it was cheap only $110 for 6 people.  There were heaps of other dishes that looked good.  If you are into the offal, then this is a good place too.  Lots of tripe and tongue etc!   




Mr Han's Traditional Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Saturday 14 April 2012

Instagram

This week's big news was that Facebook bought Instagram for 1 billion dollars!  And Android users can now have Instagram on their phones.  This applied to me.  I was quite excited about this.   So if you can't get enough of my posts (I know there's heaps of you ; )  then you can follow me on Instagram: b_rut


Thought I might share this to hang on to summer a bit more - 
Cleo November '11 - An Aztec Rose Bikini I designed, top left:


Sunday 8 April 2012

How to make "zjush" up leftover chicken



With some leftover roast chicken I wrapped some bacon, well tried to with a skewer stick and browned it in sage infused olive oil after I had fried some leaves up first.  I made use of the sage growing in the garden of the in-laws used the fried leaves as garnish and also used fresh ones under the bacon so the flavour could go into the chicken as well as the bacon. 

To make the sauce I just added some white wine, chicken stock, some more sage leaves and water to the pan after removing the chicken.  If I had garlic I would have added that too.  The sauce was delicious and was needed as already cooked chicken tends to be a bit dry especially if re-heating.  I forget how tasty sage is.  Mixed with the combo made in heaven, that is chicken and bacon, this was a good Easter Sunday dinner.

This was the first time I made this and it was delish together with some fresh salad on the side. 

Holidayin'

Whilst on Easter holidays I have been relaxing on the beach, dreaming about what I would like to buy, fishing and thinking about my next meal.   Seeing as I am by the water, one must have fish'n chips for at least one meal right?  Yes I hear you say.  Well for lunch today I had the best fish'n chips ever at Savige's Seafood, Bongaree, Bribie Island - 12 First Avenue.  It was really busy and we were going to bypass it as I was so hungry I didn't want to wait, but boy, it was worth the 20 minute wait!  I wish I took a photo, but I can describe to you what I had.  I had crumbed sweet lip fish'n chips.  I ordered "sweet lip" as my father in law only mentioned it to us the other day that it was a fish caught locally.  Before that I had never heard of it before.  The fish was not as meaty as hake or as light as flat head, it was a big "sweet" piece of fish.  The crumbs were super fine and cooked to perfection AND the chips were so crispy and crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  They were the best chips I have had from a little local shop.  The best,  I still recall are from Kinglseys Steak House.

Apart from eating and thinking about food, here are some colourful pics from a day at the beach. . . There are so many Aztec inspired prints and designs in the world of fashion at the moment.  Here are a few pieces on my wishlist.


Someone else's bold green beach umbrella which I liked


In-laws towel,  very Aztec!



Etro Clutch
Sass & Bide - My Favourite Game Silk Blend Jacket






Current/Elliott Printed Denim Jeans, nice with a tucked in black or white shirt.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Organic kale frittata


 
Went to the growers markets yesterday and bought two cute, dark forest green bunches of kale and decided to make today's breakfast with them.

I have never eaten kale before.  And just like I assumed, it tastes like spinach.  Kale is high in calcium and we absorb it twice as much than we do from milk!

I added one large clove of garlic, one finely sliced onion, one red chilli, one can of cannelini beans, the finely chopped kale, four eggs with a bit of milk and fresh parsley and oregano. And just for a bit of naughtiness to this otherwise healthy frittata, some grated tasty cheese on top which browns nicely when you finish off the frittata in the pan under the grill.

Easy, pretty healthy, good way to start the day with a good ol' cuppa tea.

Try it!





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