i wore three layers to dinner on saturday and wore seven today, the weather is not nice at the moment and i’ve realized that i need several new winter jackets.

this week, i have assignments due and exams to study for. it is dreadfully boring and ridiculously time consuming. i have no social life this week.

aside from studying, i am having car troubles. i had my car towed yesterday and taken to the mechanic for gosh knows how long … my guy said weeks and that’s at a minimum.

on the plus side, it’s my birthday in a week and i’m massively excited. the planning has begun and i can’t wait for all the things i have planned. my birthday is always a huge ordeal, i thoroughly enjoy celebrating my birth and i’m not known to hold back on what i enjoy.

if your a blogger and interested in a foodie tour of starcity, email me. we have an event planned on the 24th.

and for my last trick … matching jumpers in public!

my mother drives me insane daily but i love her for it. she asks that i call her on a very regular basis and i love her ability to put up with my crazy adventures. she will listen to my insane stories with a smile on her face, that is not an easy task … let’s face it – my stories are #bat.shit.crazy!

our relationship was not always strong. like most mothers and daughters, we did have a brief ‘silence’ period when i was between the ages of 18 and 19. i was going through a strange period, those were dark times and they don’t need to be repeated. i’m overjoyed that they are over and we are best friends again.

our mothers day was simple, we headed to our local pub for lunch with my brother. we wanted super casual and the pub was exactly what we felt like. i had their golden lentil spicy lentil burger with hummus, lettuce, tomato, onion and fries.

i am honest and i firmly believe that honesty is the best policy … this meal. it was alright and i am hard to please. keeping that in mind, i’ll say this … the lentil burger was delicious and very crunchy, i liked that. the hummus was very dry, extremely dry and could have used something to moisten it up (possible lemon juice?). the chips, holy moly, they were salty and when i was salty … i literally mean that all the moisture was sucked from my mouth after just three!

the service here is fantastic and friendly, it’s a lovely environment but i don’t think i’ll be going back for the food. i love the staff and found them extremely accommodating. it truly was delightful service!

as you are reading this i’m possibly doing one of three things (time dependent):
1. if it is saturday morning – i’m sitting in my science class or doing a test. 2. if it is saturday evening – i’m eating dinner at kura with benny. 3. if it is sunday – i’m celebrating mothers day with mother and brother.

we are celebrating our mothers day in two parts this year. tgb is headed to port douglas for a holiday and can’t be with us on mothers day. we celebrated at a new (to us) restaurant in annandale which was a block away from where my mother lived whilst in her early twenties. how insane is that?

i have given up coffee (again) and decided to order a forest fruit melange tea which was a beautiful red color and tasted perfectly sweet in just the right way. i decided to order from their lunch menu, my dish was spaghetti with prawns, olives, fresh tomato and herbs.

the weather was perfect, the location was splendid, the service was the best i think i’ve ever had (hi vincent, we adored you!) and we all had a delightful day together.

happy mothers day to all the mothers, expecting mothers and grandmothers. don’t forget to spoilt her and remind her that you appreciate every ounce of her being because without her, you wouldn’t be here today. remember, you wouldn’t be who you are today without her!!!

i adore my mum even though she nags me about how to use her iPad every fifteen minutes and i ask myself, why did i buy it? nobody knows but i do know that i wholeheartedly love her to pieces.

enjoy your weekend!

this study business … oh boy, i am not enjoying it this week. i can’t tell you the number of hours i have spent studying, i don’t even want to know. learning new things is hard. mini rant over, moving on to a much happier note.

let’s talk cinco de mayo, while i didn’t celebrate … i would like to say “happy tequila day americans”. i say that because that’s the extent of my american history knowledge. i could research it but i can’t look at one more wikipedia page, i just can’t.

on sunday, we celebrated with lunch at our local pub. technically the dunkirk is not my closest pub but it is within five minutes of my apartment and i would still classify that as local. titles aside, we had a meal here.

after living in pyrmont for two years we decided to try the dunkirk and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal. we sat in the sunshine and i sipped on water while the others sipped on cappuccino.

i ordered scrambled eggs with sautéed mushrooms, hash brown and baked beans with toast. the portion was huge, the value for money here is brilliant.

mj ordered the roast pork which came with a yorkshire pudding, roasted veggies, gravy and crackling. the motherchef ordered vegetarian nachos in honor of cinco de mayo, they came with a fabulous bean mix that is made in their kitchen with just the right amount of spice.

i spoke with curtis from the kitchen after our meal. when i asked about the sautéed mushrooms that i confessed my love for, i found out the secret ingredient of awesome, was garlic butter. i can’t even remember the last time i had garlic butter and i have to admit, I LOVED IT!

before i go and study some more, i realized that this week has turned into restaurant week. i have been so busy that i haven’t been photographing at home, oops!

last week, i decided to changed my monday maths classes to an earlier time because the later class was not suitable for my schedule and you know the best part about changing classes?

… dinner at 6pm.

this makes me incredibly happy and allows my body to digest before bed. it removes the stomach cramps i have if i eat then go straight to bed. another reason – i’m a monster if i’m hungry and everybody is happier once my stomach stops singing!

instead of heading to sabbaba i decided to have vietnamese. the weather was freezing and i was craving a steaming hot bowl of soup. the worst part about autumn is the awkward weather changes and it’s no wonder that everyone is feeling under the weather at the moment. our poor body don’t understand what is going on.

you won’t believe this but i was wearing five layers of clothing in this photo, it was disgusting.

i shared a vegetarian summer roll (goi cuon chay) rice papper rolled with tofu, cabbage, carrot, vermicelli, salad and herbs with mj as a starter. i adore rice paper rolls, i adore tofu and i adore vermicelli … this was a match made in heaven!!

for warmth, i went with the seafood rice noodle soup. my only complaint is that i would have liked more herbs and more prawns but the brooth kept me warm for the ride home and for that, i’m forever greatful.

i’m glad to have found this place and i’m excited to try more of their menu in the weeks to come!!

several weeks ago, i lined up at bills for brunch with the girls. the weather was average and yet, we sat outside. our stomachs were hungry and as a foursome we could obtain a table much faster outside.

juice, coffee and tea was the first things on our minds when we sat down. i ordered a freshly squeezed oj because i’m predictable when it comes to juice. the girls ordered other beverages and we chatted about our brunch options. i knew i wanted the fritters, it was a given as i simply adore them.

… oh how corny!

did you see what i did there, awfully cleaver wasn’t it??!!? nooot! my apologies, i tell “dad jokes” and i am not sorry. they are in my blood and i refuse to suppress them.

where was i??!!?

bills, right, yesss. oh bill granger, can i marry you and have you make me breakfast every morning… i would like the fritters and the pancakes??!?

we ordered far too much food between the four of us, typical. mia and gina have a love for porridge and nadia has a thing for desserts. it makes for a very interesting and tasty brunch that we all waddle away from.

these kinds of brunches are where happiness comes from … delicious food, great friendships and naughty conversation. thanks for the company girls, i thoroughly enjoyed my third visit to bills and i’m plotting my return. i can not resist the fritters.

bill … will you marry me?

p.s – the coffee was not from bills, it came from another shop and it was delicious. mr piccolo i also adore thee!

simplicity equals #winning.

i ordered my juice of freshly squeezed orange, mango and passionfruit. i actually order one with brunch and one to-go because i love the way ben makes his juices. i bet he would claim it was his personal skills, whereas i think it is the incredible juicer he purchased.

to eat, i had an egg white omelette with spinach and asparagus. the bread, it’s sourdough and in sydney, that generally means that it is brasserie. whenever i find brasserie, it is instant smiles. nice choice benny!

this weeks juice is bought to you by cafe kebo in pyrmont. their ingredients list is small and therefore i’m limited for choice, so i decide upon … watermelon and fresh mint. this juice is happiness, it cleanses the mouth and tastes like just summer.

how was your weekend? did you enjoy the sunshine we experienced here in sydney? i sure did, i am actually sunburnt from yesterday. that’s right, sunburnt in may. it’s glorious.

this one is my attempt to hold onto summer for as long as possible because i dislike winter so very very much.

saturday night. hello, how are you?
did you know it was cinco de mayo?
… i’m at home in my pj’s – you know, not drinking tequila!

i had my science class today and i’m learning about rocks, minerals and plate tectonics. yes, i just said that. no jokes here. it’s terribly boring and my brain hurts so much that i can’t even describe the headache i had after class.

i made these muffins on tuesday and had the last one this morning on the way to class, warmed in the microwave. i enjoyed this baby with an earl grey tea, i might be turning into a grandma. the grandma who drinks juice, vegemite toast and eats soup.

since starting my studies, i have been turning down alcohol and nights out in favour of my brain sleep. i was not kidding about the grandma title, i have been in my pjs more than i actually care to admit on the internet.

studying does change you, dramatically!

i have discovered that i function best on 8 hours sleep and this automatically rules out the late nights. my friend times are allocated and timed because i need to get home to following my insane schedule.

if i don’t set alarms then i don’t study … this is a weakness of mine.

puddings, yes, puddings. as you can guess, these started as muffins. however, after my initial taste, i declared them puddings with an alternative name of fruit cake. the name is not really important, the flavour is what i liked most about them.

p.s - please don’t let the ingredients list scare you. i can assure you that you will have 80% of them in your cupboard, i did!

p.s.s - don’t let the pumpkin puree fool you, the apple has a surprising kick to it and the nuts are essential for the crunch factor.

Rustic Apple and Walnut Mini Puddings

yields 12 puddings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/4 cup flax seed meal

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsps ground cinnamon

2 tsps ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1\2 tsp ground cloves

1\4 tsp ground nutmeg

1\2 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 170g cup plain 0% greek yogurt (chobani)

2 eggs

3 tbsps molasses

3 tbsps unsweetened applesauce

1 tbsp rice bran oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1\2 cup sultanas

1\2 cup chopped walnuts

pumpkin seeds (garnish)

Directions:

preheat oven to 200 degrees C. place muffin casings into your muffin cups.

in a bowl, mix together the flour, flax seed meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, rolled oats, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves until the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

in another large bowl, beat together the yogurt, molasses, brown sugar, applesauce, rice bran oil, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin puree until well-blended. gently mix in the sultanas and walnuts.

divide the mixture into the prepared muffin tins, sprinkle each muffin pumpkin seeds, and bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes.

let cool before serving warm with buttttah!

[this post was sponsored by chobani]

i technically only have a one day weekend due to my saturday morning (9am-1pm) being consumed by my science class. studying on saturday is not nearly as bad as it sounds. our teacher is exceptionally passionate about the topic and it makes for a fascinating lecture.

just a small side note: i’m glad you liked the guest post from lyn yesterday. i have a few other pieces that i’ll be using from time to time … when i’m unable to shoot and write for my blog, i hope you don’t mind.

i thought it was appropriate to share one of my favourite breakfasts that i enjoy when the cravings come over me. i generally opt for the egg white but a girl can not deny her craving for a runny, sexual egg yolk. i’m powerless to resist when my body asks for one.

can you seriously look at that egg and tell me you wouldn’t love to be eating it while this adorable puppy watches over you?

before i go … why did i buy my mother an ipad? i have spent the last two hours showing her how to use it and she is still confused!!