After all, according to the powers that be in magazine land, we should all be getting stuck into Christmas / New Year menu planning right about now. Long lazy lunches on Christmas Day, lots of elegant drinks accompanied by fancy snacky things for New Years and all of it to take place in the heat of an Australian summer’s day, according to the magazine photo shoots.
I’m pacing myself with the Christmas Issue magazine purchasing. I’ve started relatively simple and realistic with Super Food Ideas this week. I might have been swayed by the free set of cookie cutters that came with the issue (a Woolworths exclusive deal from what I could tell). I’m pretty sure we will be having some kind of trifle on the table for Christmas Day. Trifle leftovers are my favourite kind of Christmas leftover. It’s great for Boxing Day breakfast because technically you have a leave pass from healthy eating until the 27th if you need to be in top physical form for a New Year’s function (or let’s face it, January 2 if you’re more like me and going to be spending the break lazing and grazing).
My other must have magazines are Donna Hay (of course) and The AWW (another of course). Which ones are on your list this year?
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| High end cars on Bay Street and a bit of a silent protest against Sticker Families on car rear windows…. |
Way back when it was sunny and warm on Sunday, Toddler SSG and I went to the new ‘hood’s annual street party. The main event is a car sale / display featuring both vintage and new European vehicles.
Not really being car people, Toddler SSG and I made a bee line for Food Street where coffees were the first order of business.
Then we moved on to frites with ketchup and mayo for an early lunch.
Before moving on to some fresh Vietnamese rolls (me) and gelati (Toddler SSG).
Luck was on our side because we managed to beat the storm fronts home. Just in time for me to get the laundry in off the line. Sorry if it’s laboring a point but line dried laundry in the midst of the current weather pattern Sydney is having really makes my day.
As the storms set in, we discovered that the House of H make a great a great catalogue for collage creation.
And that the secret to making chicken drum sticks just like Grandma makes involves marinating them skin on in soya sauce and white pepper before baking at 180C for half an hour.
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| www.coles.com.au |
Which really did look a giant cinnamon sugar topped cookie going into the oven.
Exhibit B was Fat Mum Slim’s Epic Chocolate Fudge Cake and quite frankly, Chantelle, you were being modest in calling it ‘Epic’ because it’s out of this world amazing for such an easy cake to bake and decorate.
The cake itself is super moist and fluffy despite its dense appearance. It’s a perfect foil to the rich sour cream based fluffy chocolate frosting.
Sprinkling the frosted cake liberally with hundreds and thousands injected a much needed dose of fun into an otherwise wet and dreary Tuesday afternoon. Looks like I’ve found myself a new go to chocolate cake recipe. I’ve already got requests for repeat bakes.
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| www.vogue.com.au |
Before I go, I’ll leave you with a bit of breaking news in the world of online beauty shopping. Sephora Australia’s online store has finally gone live this week. You can create an account to become a Beauty Insider with a points for purchases reward scheme similar to how things run with Sephora overseas. You bet I’ve joined up!