Lawn Bowls

Friday 24/02/2006
My Managers decided to take the team to Lawn Bowls at The Paddington Bowling club today. If you haven't gone already it's great fun! In the last couple of years, lawn bowls has really taken off for the younger people and Paddington really caters to that particular crowd. The bar and seating area is quite trendy compared to the traditional clubs, and on a Friday afternoon it gets packed out with people.

The instructors are all really young and pretty easy on the eye, we also seemed to be surrounded by people speaking in different accents. This is Matt he was born in England, grew up in Canada and now lives in Australia. He collects your balls, buys your drinks and even delivers your food orders, hows that for service!

The weather was perfect and the Blue team (my team) came back from losing the very first game to win convincingly.

Just us standing around having a few beers and chilling out for the afternoon.

I'm not sure how much it was because the company paid, but I know that the corporate price is $22 per person for 2 hours (where you get about 8-10 games) so I assume that normal entry would only be a little more? I can't wait till I go back with my friends.

Paddington Bowling Club
Quarry Street Paddington
Ph: 02 9363 1150

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Next Saturday
Pole Dancing intermediate 1 - Graduation
Does anyone want to come? and when I say anyone I mean females =P

Inspire me with some costume ideas people!

Jacksons on George

Today was our 7 year and 9 month Anniversary. Normally we'd go to a bit of effort to find a nice place to celebrate, but in my 2nd week I'm already snowed under with work and staying back to catch up.

My 2006 Grads started today and in between going to induction, running their welcome lunch and getting all the summer clerks sorted, I bearly had time to eat. So for dinner I wanted somewhere close where the food came out quick! With a Entertainment voucher that saved us $25 (buy one main meal get one free) Jacksons on George was a no brainer.

On a weekday the place is fairly quiet so it's not too hard to find a quiet seat. The tables are a little sticky and it seems that the half open room makes it ok for people to smoke indoors (which is a big no no in my books). Overall the food is ok and the prices are fairly reasonable.

Entree: Garlic Prawn & Squid Salad w prawn & squid tossed through a rich tomato & basil sauce $15.0

Main: Scotch Fillet 250gm w crispy fondant, eschalot jus, and coral salad $24.0

We both had the steak which was cooked well i.e. medium was medium and rare was rare, but I felt that the steak itself lacked flavour (would be great if they offered a selection of sauces). The potato cup on the side looked cute but was very dry; the side salad was colourful but not recommended for those who aren't fans of balsamic vinegar.

If you have an entertainment voucher give this place a go, if not there's probably better places to eat around CQ.

Jacksons on George
Open 7 days
176 George St
Sydney
PH: (02) 9247 2727

Valentine's Day Props

Now and then the guys in our lives will do things that is worthy of the "Awwww that's so sweet!". Remember my friend Roula? Well with her permission, she has allowed me to share the Valentine's Day suprise that she received with you all.

The entry to her room...

Rose Petals & Candles covered her bed.....not to mention the roses itself!

Awwwww...

I must also give Valentine's Day Props to The Reverend Timothy , the suprise that he organised for his girlfriend was Definitely awww worthy!! Good Job!

Beef Stroganoff

Now that Jacky and I catch the train together everyday, I cook lunch for us to take to work the night before. Betty as requested, please find my recipe for beef stroganoff.

Ingredients
400 grams of rump steak, thinly sliced
1 onion
Large bag of mushrooms
1 beef stock cube
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 tablespoons of sour cream
1 teaspoon of cornflower
Salt and pepper

- Brown the meat and remove, place in a bowl to rest.
- In the same pot/pan, fry the onions and mushrooms until soft.
- Mix together the tomato paste and beef stock with a cup of water.
- Add the meat and mixture to the onions and mushrooms – cook through for at least 10 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- In a cup mix together cornflower and sour cream and add to the dish 5 minutes before serving.

Sorry for the dodgey pic!

A Fitting end

The end is so close that I can almost taste it. Instead of calling everyone to say farewell I decided to email them one by one. I really should (and I will call some) but I’m not good with goodbyes because I get emotional. I really don’t want to be feeling upset right before I go. Having to contact my clients to give them the news was something that I had been putting off for as long as I could. I narrowed my goodbye list to 151 people.

Working through my list was therapeutic. As I went through their names I would remember all the trial and tribulations and how I got to where I am. Saying goodbye was also finally letting go and trying to rid myself of the attachment. I was holding up ok until my clients started calling me off the back of my email. A lot of them were shocked that I was leaving and some even asked for my personal mobile to keep in touch.

Going into my new role I am a little scared, scared that it won’t be as challenging or as fulfilling. I just can’t imagine anything being harder than what I do now. I guess that was probably why I was given the job because I’m not afraid of anything that they may throw at me.

My last day is tomorrow but my whole team is in the city office for a training day so everyone had to say their goodbyes today. I couldn't ask for a better send off, my love of food is known throughout the office (because I'm always eating i.e. pork chops for breakfast much to everyone's amusement). Instead of taking me out to lunch everyone cooked something and we had a big board room lunch.

Entrees

Fresh Rice from the rice cooker, Mixed salad with shaved parmesan

pasta, cauliflower curry

Potato salad, indian dish (forgot the name)

Seafood stir fry, bread rolls

This person cheated and bought some pies, Pea curry

There was also chilli beef, asian noodles, sushi and so much more!

My first plate

Dessert

It's amazing how much effort everyone went to, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I was also given a bag and a 12 month subscription to Donna Hay magazine! (just what I wanted!). Thank you everyone for making my last 2 years so much sweeter, I will miss you.

Shancheng HotPot King

Shancheng HotPot King is not an easy place to find. To get to the restaurant you enter via a little door in Sussex St and then walk down to the end of the corridor before you are greeted with a big neon sign with Chinese writing. I discovered this place whilst dining with friends 4 years ago and have been a regular visitor ever since.

The service here is pretty bad. We always get a little put off by the staff standing around and staring at us whilst we eat (although this could be their way of offering good service, because the same thing happened when we ate at restaurants in China). We also found that they had a tendency to keep speaking mandarin to us even when we replied using Cantonese or English; this lead to a lot of miscommunication.

Having said that, the food here is good and the price is very reasonable. Everyone comes for the Hotpot but you can also order noodles and small Asian entrée dishes (like marinated spicy chicken or vegetables).

To explain how this restaurant works, you are given a checklist when you sit down. From there you select the soup bases that you would like i.e. chicken, spicy, herbal chicken etc (you can have up to 2 soups). You then go through the rest of the list selecting the items of food for the hot pot. Items on offer include: fish balls, octopus balls, sliced beef, fish pieces, different types of mushrooms, vegetables, pork and the list goes on.

This type of dining is not for everyone but is very popular amongst Chinese families. It would be a great place to eat for those who are not fussy about service and decor and is best suited to groups of 4 or more (so that you get more variety).

Left: We went with half spicy and half chicken for the soup base (this picture was taken before any dishes was put into the hop pot).

Right: I think that between 5 people we ordered around 20 dishes with prices ranging from $3 to $8 per dish.

Shancheng HotPot King
8a/363 Sussex St
Haymarket
Open 7 days 11:30am -12:00am
phone: 02 9267 6366

Libertine

Tucked away in the eastside of Kings Cross you could easily walk right past the old washed out walls without realizing the exciting restaurant that is inside. The Libertine is a relatively new restaurant whose menu offers a range of modern Asian cuisine. The décor is an oriental eclectic mix with Chinese lanterns and glass chandeliers. The lights are left dim and the atmosphere accentuated with candles and walls of gilded gold.

The staff is friendly and enthusiastic carrying strong accents from exotic countries. Despite being a busy Saturday night we appreciated the fact that we were allowed to sit and talk long after our meals had finished. The food is very flavorsome and presented well, however I do have the one slight criticism that the servings are a little small.

We observed that the later hours bring in a younger trendier crowd, but it really is a restaurant for anyone looking for a nice atmosphere to sit down with friends.

Outside open area and inside

Cocktails from around $15

Entree: Libertine 'chao tom' with minced prawn and pork grilled on sugar cane skewers $12

Mains: Crispy Spiced Tofu with wok-tossed vegetables, baby herbs in a brown onion jus $16
Vietnamese Roast Duck with a ginger dipping sauce, rice paper and table salad $20

Mains: Southern Style Vegetable Curry with okra, sweet potato and eggplant $17
Sticky Babyback Ribs with Vietnamese basil and grilled lime $18

Dessert: Kaffir Lime Leaf Crème Brûlée hazelnuts and ginger ice cream $9
Baked Peach Tart star anise ice cream $9

Soft Centred Chocolate Pudding coconut sorbet $9
Sweet Coconut Rice Pudding grilled mango and peanut praline $9

We got all 4 desserts and gave them the thumbs up!

Thanks for joining us Di, was a great night and we must do it again soon! (thanks for the last pic Twinnies)

Libertine
1 Kellett Street
Kings Cross
Phone: 02 9368 7507

Reflecting

Last night was a great night but also quite a tough one because it highlighted all the things that I would miss about Hudson. Recruitment is a hard industry with massive turnover. A lot of new starters don’t make it past 6 months because they can’t hack it or they just don’t do well enough so the company let’s them go. Last night was about the good times, team work and a great bunch of people.

For me, Hudson has been a big achievement. To get into the company in the first place I had to go through 3 rounds of interviews (6hrs, 4hrs and 2 hrs) and finish up with 5 hours of psychometric testing.

My first year was horrible! Crazy hours, coming in on Saturdays then working a second job all day Sunday. My base pay was pretty bad because I was new and had yet to make bonus, back then it didn’t matter as much because I just wanted a good job in a good company. To save on the $12 parking fee next door I would park 30mins away at a free car park and walk to and from work every morning and afternoon. The drive home was 1 hr and 15 minutes (each way) making my work day 14hrs long.

The job itself wasn’t easy and you pretty much get thrown in from the deep end from the word go. My patch had been left empty for about 9 months before I joined, my predecessor had been in the role for 4 years and was now working at a competitor right across the road marketing to exactly the same clients (why would clients use someone like me when you can go back to the same person?) it was such a battle to make a name for myself.

My first marketing call was terrible; it was to one of the Accounting managers in one of the Boral divisions, I was so nervous that I must have sounded like a robot reading from a script. In my first few months no one knew who I was, no one wanted to talk to me and there was definitely no way that they were going to give me a job. Rejection after rejection, day after day, it was pretty painful but you learn to toughen up and persist. With a good manager who was an excellent mentor I billed over $100k in my first year. I really missed her when she left, I still do.

Fast forward to now, I’ve been in the game for over 2 years. I've placed many people in their current roles and interviewed over 250 people. Most importantly my clients call me, they ask for me by name (which 2 years ago seemed impossible). It was hard making this decision to leave because I was finally where I wanted to be and my patch is red hot. In these 2 years I've invested a lot of blood, sweat and many MANY tears. I now have to kiss my baby goodbye and hand it over to some one who…let’s just say that I don’t think that this person deserves it and it kills me; but I made this choice so I have to let it go and live with it.

Next week is my last week, it's hard to say goodbye to people I consider good friends. I know that we’ll keep in touch but it’s not the same when you don’t see them everyday. I’m not going to dwell on that too much right now because I get upset at the thought. In recruitment you meet THE BEST people! Everyone is personality plus, there is never a dull moment. I never realised how important this was till I went to Jacky’s Christmas party at Schneider. My new team and environment seems a lot quieter and it’ll be an interesting but scary change.

I’ll probably blog about it to keep track but I’m very aware that my blog gets up to 80+ hits daily which is a big surprise (who are you all!?!? Introduce yourself! I won't bite =P). Someone also recently pointed out that I wrote a lot of personal stuff here, since getting my new job it has made me a little paranoid and with the nature of my new company I also need to be a bit more careful.

So when it comes to blogging about work or if I need a place to vent my frustrations I’m going to do it on my Xanga. I know I’m pretty boring, but to my friends out there if you have a Xanga and you actually want to hear about my ramblings make sure you subscribe because I will begin writing protected posts allowing permissions to people I know. If you don't have a Xanga you're seriously not missing out on much and you'll hear about it in person or on msn anyway.

7 more sleeps till my last day.

Hudson Black Tie awards @ The Little Snail

What: Hudson Accounting and Finance NSW Awards night for 2005

Where: Little Snail

When: Thursday the 3rd of February - 7pm to 12pm

Dress: Guys tuxedos, Girls formal/cocktail dresses

The little Snail is located in Pyrmont with parking found in the side streets or nearby at Star City. Inside, the decorations are bright and the upstairs floor has a nice open view of Harbourside. This was my 3rd visit to The Little Snail and whilst the service is good I have had mixed experiences with the food overall rating it as pretty average. For $44 you select 3 courses from the menu (but you can often find 20% discount vouchers online or on shop-a-dockets).

Hudson works you really hard but they throw excellent parties! This was only a small one with for the Accounting and Finance recruiters and their support staff (around 70 people) The company provided champagne for the night and paid for all three courses.

Entrees: snails (one dozen) in the shell with garlic butter, Duck Liver Pate flavoured with brandy

Yes, I had the snails but because I haven't had snails elsewhere I can't compare it with anywhere else. It was a bit of a mistake because the garlic is very heavy and I was embrassed to mingle with other people for the rest of the night!

Mains: chicken breast fillet with a balanced combination of honey & ginger sauce, Whole river trout roasted and served with a dill and lemon sauce

The girl who had the chicken said that the meat was cooked to perfection but the taste of the sauce was very sweet and was a bit weird. The trout was nice, but is a bit hard to eat because of all the little bones. You can usually get the same dish with a different cut of fish (usually barramundi) so make sure you check for blackboard specials.

Dessert: Poached Pear in cinnamon and red wine, Traditional Creme Caramel, Profiteroles topped with chocolate sauce, Mango and Coconut Bavarois

It could be just me but I'm not a massive fan of their desserts, the poached pear had a bit too much alcohol which overwhelms the taste (compared to the one I had at Jazushi which I really enjoyed) and the Profiteroles are very sweet, a bit too sweet for my liking. I give my thumbs up to the Mango and Coconut Bavarois and Creme Caramel.

The Little Snail Restaurant
Open 7 days for Lunch and Dinner
50 Murray StPyrmont
Tel: (02) 9212 7512