Jordi turns 1

Jordi's first birthday at Bicentennial Park Homebush, the weather was perfect and the company was fantastic. Mandy's cooking was as awesome as always and Jen and I had the best time being in charge of the face painting for the kids.

I need more Sundays like these....

Our Road trip

Did someone say Lindt chocolate sale?!?! We're there!

About 2 weeks ago Jill received a flyer for the Lindt Chocolate sale at Eastern Creek, after seeing Helen's haul last year Jill, Sarah, Belinda, Rods and I were quick to formulate a plan on how to get there. This morning at 8am we all met up at Sarah's, the four of us (minus Rodna) set out on a little road trip to Eastern Creek. This was a pretty good effort for me because I didn't sleep till 2am after going out for drinks last night.

Eastern Creek is about 1 hour away, the place isn't too hard to find but we still managed to get lost! At one stage there was just bush and grass all around us, so we pulled out Beli's 2001 road map.

The trouble was, this whole area was only built in the last few years, so her map showed a big empty space of nothing! Jill finally pointed at the map and said "Look there's a sign with Lindt chocolate sale!"...I can't believe I looked =P

We eventually made a right turn following some dirt tracks left by a truck (that should have been a warning sign) it lead to another dead end. We realised that where we needed to be was on the other side of the footpath, with a tall pile of concrete and rubble in our way Sarah encouraged Beli to "Just drive through it!". Jill and I looked at each other and said "are you guys crazy! reverse! reverse!".

We could just imagine the headlines 'Girls missing in bush in search of a chocolate sale'.

We eventually found where we needed to be

The sale started at 8am and by 9am the line was from the warehouse door all the way outside past the gate and beyond. We waited in line for 1 hour, it wasn't too bad because there were 4 of us so we stood there talking about our travels and meeting up when we're all in London.

10am.....we were in!



Lindt Lindor Hazelnut Balls usually $10.00 a box, today it was $4 each or 3 boxes for $10.


packs of chocolate 3 for $10

chocolate blocks $2 each or 3 for $5, there were also some really cute tinned ones at $6 each, some boxes of the deluxe variety at 2 boxes for $10 and plenty more! I was a little disappointed that there wasn't the bag of pack-it-yourself Lindt this year, I think I could have given Helen a run for her money =P

When we finally stocked up, the line at the cash registers looked to be another long wait. The funny thing was, everyone had the biggest smile on their faces and just looked super pleased with themselves.

When we left at 11:30am there was still a massive line outside


This is what we bought between the 4 of us, yes we plan to eat it all....don't say it we know


Chocolate shopping is tiring work, the local Rotary club was throwing a sausage sizzle


We were starving and this was the best $2.50 sausage sandwich that I've ever had!

It turned out to be a really fun morning and this is what I came home with (I stuck with my favourites):

6 boxes of 12 Lindt balls @ 3 boxes for $10
6 tubes of 3 assorted Lindt balls @ 6 for $5
3 Bars of dark chocolate in various flavours @ 3 for $5

based on the prices that I found on Coles online shopping this would have cost me $83.84, everyone loves a good bargain!

Chinese New Year Celebrations

Chinese New Year doesn't actually start till February 18th and continues for another 7 days after, however the celebrations have begun early in Sydney. I work every Sunday so before work I got Jacky to drop me off at Chinatown so I could catch the New Year parade.

I couldn't resist buying a few Chinese buns as I passed the bakery so my hands were too greasy for me to take photos of the parade as the floats passed. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people came out for the parade (especially with showers forecast) instead Sussex and George Street became a river of people.

I bumped into these 2 men carrying little dogs....awww, glad to see them getting into the spirit of things. (Jacky can we get a dog pleaseeee?)

My last stop before work was Belmore Park to see what goodies were on offer, there were a lot of cute decorations but VERY expensive. These Chinese Lions were $79 each.

I love fresh flowers but my Mum thinks that I should save money and buy a plant instead. I'm not sure if these good fortune trees had quite the look that I was going for.

MmmMm....fish balls on a stick, dim sim on a stick, satay chicken on a stick....who knew one could gain so much pleasure from eating off a stick. *Sigh*.... this makes me miss Hong Kong but then I remember how I gained 4kgs in 3weeks the last time I was there (Jacky 10kgs) and I don't feel so bad after all.

After work I caught up with 3 old work friends for dinner at BBQ king followed by ice cream at the French Riveria. I adore these guys, they just get me in so many ways and are full of advice (and gossip) every time we meet up.

Sculpture By the Sea

Before we headed to Sculpture by the Sea Jacky and I decided to stop somewhere to have breakfast, after checking out a few places we decided to give Doxa a go. The place is very unique; the designers have done a fabulous job with the use of mood lightings throughout the restaurant. The rest of the area is then sectioned off into areas with a different theme, large red day beds, eating booths and a raised platform. The kitchen is wide and open and located at the very front of the shop, it's fun watching the prepare the food.

Because the decor was so exquisite we had high expectations of the breakfast. We ordered our food (1 big breakfast $9.00 and 1 vegetarian breakfast $8.00) and waited and waited and waited. In fact we waited well over 1 hour for scrambled eggs and toast!

Was it worth the 1 hour wait? Absolutely not. My toast was untoasted while Jacky's toast was burnt black all one side (he didn't touch it which is very rare). The slice of tomato was cold (as in just out of the fridge cold) and salt & pepper shakers were no where in sight.

After this experience we don't think we will be returning any time soon, but I guess all places have their off days.

Doxa
108 Campbell Parade
Bondi Beach

After Breakfast (although it was now almost lunch time) we began the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk to admire the the sculptures by the sea. We walked past BBQ by the Sea (what a great idea!) and were tempted by the grilled swiss bratwurst with roast onions and european mustard all on a country style roll + drink for $11.00. The smell was incredible but we had just eaten.

There weather was excellent and a lot of people turned up for the 2nd last day of the exhibit.

Some one asked me if Jacky was carrying a man bag...but no...that would be my bag he's carrying

The sculptures were great but we didn't do the full walk because we ended up getting changed and lying on the beach for the rest of the time to soak up the goregous weather. It's days like these that you really really love living in Sydney.

The rest of the photos here.

Farmers Market @ The Entertainment Quarter

With the Grower Markets becoming so crowded I find that I’m starting to love the Farmers Market at the Entertainment Quarter more and more. I come here to buy flowers for the house every fortnight, whilst it's a relatively small market a lot of what I buy at the Grower Markets is available here (such as fresh bread, butter, jams and olives).

The flowers here are such a bargain! From my observations you easily pay double the price at any City flower shop. The pink roses were just stunning today.

There's also this bread shop that specialises in all different types of cakes and tarts. There seems to be something different on offer each time that I come. There is a large variety of breads to choose from but they don't do tarts every week. When they do, most of the popular ones sell out just after lunch time.

It sure beats shopping at Coles

Farmers Markets
Entertainment Quarter
Wednesday & Saturday 10am to 4pm

Merchandise Markets
Saturday 10am to 4pm
Sunday 10am to 5pm

The best thing is that parking is free for the first 2 hours in the car park next door, you never have to worry about wasting time looking for a park!