The Glass Menagerie

I won't lie, the first four weeks of motherhood have been hard and a steep learning curve. So when my sister-in-law offered darling husband and I a night out and free tickets to her play, we jumped at the chance. It felt a bit odd leaving bub in the hands of someone else for a couple of hours but we did make the most of our time out of the house. We visited the Craft Restaurant and Bar for Tapas before heading out to see The Glass Menagerie, playing at the La Boite Theatre Company. 

 Image sourced from www.weekendnotes.com

The Glass Menagerie is a four-character play, originally written by Tennessee Williams. It is based on the story of southern mother called Amanda, who has been abandoned by her husband to raise her two kids. Amanda seeks gentlemen callers for her mentally ill daughter, Laura and asks Laura's younger brother, Tom to find a suitable caller at work to bring home and meet Laura. Unfortuantely Laura's situation has meant that she had become a bit of a recluse, who stays at home listening to her records and playing with her glass menagerie.

La Boite does a great rendition of the play. The set design is quite dramatic but very time appropriate, particularly in the 2nd half of the play. The only negative was perhaps the difference in southern accents put on by the actors in the play.

The Glass Menagerie is playing at the La Boite Theatre Company until the 31st August. I'd recommend it for a good night out.      

Primal Pantry Opening Soon!

I've been watching the space a couple doors down from work for some weeks now, change from Salon Lounge to the Primal Pantry. To be honest, I am quite excited about what the space will bring.

Salon always seemed to have such dark decor but the new cafe has definitely brought light back into the place and I can't wait for the area to be buzzing with activity again. It's just a shame that we're moving out of our offices a couple doors down, just as they're opening their new business. On the plus side, we're just moving up the road but having a coffee place a couple doors down would have been bliss (provided they can make a good coffee).  

Primal Pantry is Brisbane’s first 100% Paleo Grocer and Café  and will offer 100% grass-fed, gluten-free, and organic meal options, made from scratch using only the freshest ingredients.

The new cafe opens its doors to the public on Thursday.

Almost 32 Weeks!!!

This Thursday marks the 32 week point in my pregnancy, which is a little scary. It means there are only 8 weeks left until bub comes. At the same time, that is a very exciting prospect for darling husband and self. This also means that things are starting to come to a close like my antenatal classes.

The 6 week course, which was run by a lovely midwife at the hospital (and thankfully covered by BUPA), ended last night. It was an eye-opening 6 weeks and I would definitely recommend an antenatal course for first time mothers. I found it very useful and if nothing else, it gave me reassurance that darling husband is now be up to speed and can give me a hand with things once the baby is born.  We were told to bring a plate last night to celebrate, so I made mini cupcakes with a cream cheese icing (Australian made cheese) and caramel chico babies.

I also wanted to give a quick plug to 'Starts with Legs'. I have been fortunate enough to be part of a maternity trial via Kidspot for their French Gerbe tights and was very excited when these beautiful packages arrived via courier late last week. These have to be the most comfortable maternity tights I've worn. They have a nice thick denier, heels built into the foot area and a waist belt to help keep them up.  

Highlights from Sydney

I have been a bit lapse with my Sydney posts, so I'll condense the highlights for you into one post of places that a worth a visit or things that are worth seeing.

Day One

Bondi is a beautiful area, famous for its beach and sexy TV lifeguards. We did keep our eyes pealed for them on the Friday morning but alas didn't see any. We did however visit an amazing breakfast place called Lamrock Cafe, which is well worth the visit. Meals are very reasonably priced and the food is delicious. I ordered the big breakfast and my plate came inundated with beautiful, buttery mushrooms. My only suggestion would be to sit inside because it gets very windy outside.

The rest of day one was taken up by my friend's wedding and beautiful view from L'Aqua Restaurant of Darling Harbour.

Day Two

As you can see day two was very wet but a girlfriend of mine was thankfully very keen to hit up the shops with me. Our first port of call was Topshop. I had always loved the store in the UK, so I was very keen to visit but a little underwhelmed with my experience there. It's not quite what I remember it being in the UK.

 

A trip to Sydney is never complete for me without visiting the decadent Queen Victoria Building. I love this place! It has such beautiful design inside, not to mention Haigs and my mother's favourite kitchen discounter, 'Victoria's Basement'.

I also have to admire the shop windows outside the Queen Victoria Building. This was just one from Camper. The colours seemed quite appropriate seeing as Anzac Day was the following week.

My next stop was The Strand Building, also across the road from the Queen Victoria Building. It houses my favourite bookshop in Australia, the Kinokuniya Bookstore. It seems to contain large sections of every possible genre, including Manga. The building also seemed to house a vending machine for Havaianas. I feel Brisbane is somewhat missing out here. Where is our Havaianas vending machine? What if my heels accidentally break while out? I actually got to see someone using the machine just before I took a picture.

Manly was the meeting point for the afternoon and quite pleasant once the rain cleared up. The only unpleasant thing about it was the ferry ride over and back, which was quite choppy. The ferry was almost perpendicular at one point - it's never a good thing when you can only see water in front of the boat and no boat!

I was quite happy with my Manly find for the afternoon, which turned out to be a patisserie owned by Adriano Zumbo. It was almost a hidey-hole in the wall and you wouldn't know it was there if you didn't see the tiny sign above the cut out wall. Hubby and I took our macarons home on the plane and devoured them. The flavours are quite unusual but still work really well together. One example is salted butter popcorn.

Whilst I was happy with my macaron find, my first experience of Max Brenner made Manly all the more sweeter (literally). The queue was still huge (nothing unlike Brisbane) but the white hot chocolate purchased for the ferry ride back was well worth it.

Day Three

Our hotel was right used to Paddy's markets, which is now known as Market City. Hubby and I ventured out of our hotel to find breakfast there but were sadly disappointed. The markets were nothing like to ones here at Kelvin Grove, where you can purchase fresh baked goods. Instead we stumbled upon a backpackers breakfast spot, right near our hotel and were quite surprised by the quality of the food and the price. The place was called the Wake Up Bar. Here's a photo of my banana, cinnamon and maple syrup pancake breakfast - yum!

I think I'm noticing a trend in the things I'm eating, hmm. Can you tell this pregnant lady has a sweet tooth at the moment?

A Weekend of Birthdays

Last weekend was definitely a weekend for birthdays, despite the rain and the little bit of renovating we got done. I celebrated my 20 something birthday and a friend celebrated her 30th birthday on the Saturday and then my mum celebrated her 60th birthday with family on Sunday night. I was indeed spoilt by family and friends between receiving maternity clothes, Tupperware, money and cabin bags for travel. I also managed to purchase the mattress I had been wanting for my Boori cot.

 The cot is finally set up

I went out with my immediate family Saturday night to celebrate and really should have booked somewhere but we were happy to stumble upon the Craft Restaurant and Bar, who thankfully weren't booked out. The Craft Restaurant and Bar is located on the corner of Park Rd. and Railway Tce., Milton and whilst it may appear as if it's just your ordinary pub from the street, it is much more on the inside. The food was also amazing. I had this delicious pasta and pork belly meal for dinner and a Rhubarb Tarte Tatin for dessert. This place was a real find! 

mmm pasta with Pork Belly

Sunday night was a planned surprise event for my mum that was to include all the family but unfortunately some of the family members had to cancel that afternoon, due to the birth of my cousin's little girl that day. So it was happy tidings but unfortunate timing. Nonetheless, we still had 10 people in attendance to the Mud Dessert Bar in Bulimba, on Oxford Street. Their desserts were to die for and hats off to the chef. My dessert was definitely in my top 10 list. Here's just a couple of their desserts that were on our table...

 Death Row
(amazingly everyone got through their dessert)

 Rocky Road Sundae

   Ferrero
(complete with hazelnut floss)

A surprise party wouldn't be complete without a few balloons, so I'd like to thank Spartys (at Spotlight) for putting these together for me. 

Sparrow and Finch for Breakfast

I met up with a friend this morning for breakfast, who writes for Style from the Suburban Intellect. The cafe of choice was Sparrow and Finch, which you'll find on the corner of Adelaide and Creek Streets in the Brisbane CBD. Now I'm not accustomed to getting up at 5:45am but I thought I'd make an effort today. It just so happens that my brother-in-law was on the bus into the city, so my day was off to a good start.

Unfortunately the cafe doesn't have a website but I can direct you to Urbanspoon's review of the cafe here - http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/337/1534735/restaurant/Brisbane-CBD/Sparrow-Finch-Brisbane
I tend to agree with most of the reviewers. It is a laid back, easy-going cafe that is reasonably priced, for the city. The coffee wasn't bad and although I was expecting a bit more fruit toast on the plate, the fruit toast that did come out was quite tasty and included figs! The company was also great :).

Here's some dad joke humour for your Friday too: http://www.addictedtohumor.com/lol/best-short-jokes-ever-part-5-41-50/

Gender Reveal Cupcakes

I am seeing my side of the family tonight and wanted a cheeky way of revealing the gender of the baby to them, without it being obvious from word go...so I baked cupcakes! I may have stolen the idea from this great blog article - http://prettyhungrygirl.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/a-very-revealing-dessert/ The only difference is her cupcakes look a lot prettier because I am still to master this icing thing. I think I'm going to try using cream cheese next time.

The idea is for family members to choose a pink or blue baby shower favour and stick it in their cupcake and then cut through the cupcake to see if they're right or not. It's really just a bit of fun for a Friday night.

Here's the before shot...

I had to laugh this morning because hubby thought I'd just baked a pile of regular cupcakes and didn't understand why they were getting yellow cupcakes. Little did he know that there was a surprise inside.

 The second and third batch for extended family and coworkers definitely worked better, don't you think?

Happy Pancake Day!

Being the dedicated wife that I am (*cough*), I got up early this morning at 6am to make hubby surprise pancakes for Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. I used this recipe from Taste:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups White Wings self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 25g butter, melted

Method

Whisk milk, egg, and vanilla together in a jug (or bowl in my case). Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir in sugar. Make a well in centre. Add milk mixture. Whisk until just combined. I also added the bit of butter into the mixture but they kept it for cooking. I think it works well with the butter in the mixture.

I would also suggest using a non-stick frypan for cooking, as my first pancake attempt in another frypan did not work well. 

Here is the end result and it was delicious! It was so nice to sit down with hubby and have breakfast together (for once) before leaving for work.

A Wild and Wet Weekend

My heart goes out to all those Queenslanders and southern counterparts, who have been affected by the remnants of the cyclone over the weekend. I certainly haven't seen winds that ferocious in years and never thought my dog would cower in a storm but she certainly did with this weather. She was even too afraid to step foot outside to go when she needed to - a little coaxing was necessary.

Aside from the rain, the weekend started quite well and I baked my little heart out and made some cheese and Vegemite scrolls and Iced Vovo Cake to take to the coast and share with friends. Thanks must go to Raspberri Cupcakes, who shared the amazing recipe on her blog. The end result was not quite the same but I think I did pretty well for a first attempt. The rain was the only dampener to Australia Day.  

  

And then Sunday came...

Destructive winds - level 1 cyclone wind...so our neighbour tells us

Sheltering Critters

Emergency Lighting at the Shops

Candlelight Dinner due to 10 hour Power Outage

The poor drainage surrounding our property meant that our downstairs got flooded again! I have yet to sort through everything we've lost this time and hate to think. I'm sure a lot of it would have got tossed anyway - maybe I should look at this as a positive, as I had been wanting to clean downstairs before bub arrives. The carpet at the bottom of our stairs also got ruined and has now left an awful smell wafting through the house. I think I'm going to have to buy a Stanley knife today and cut it up. 

On the positive side of things, I got to spend an extra night with hubby before he headed overseas for work. His flight got cancelled and postponed to the following day, which put my mind at ease because I didn't want him on a plane in that wind. 

Ferrari F1 Cake

A friend of mine celebrated his birthday over the weekend and another two of my friends hosted a party for him. I was asked to bring a cake, which is an easy enough task but I decided to challenge myself a bake a cake. My head then went to thinking about all the types of things this friend likes and the answer that kept popping up was F1 racing. I did a bit of research and got an understanding for F1 birthday cakes and how they're made - with fondant, sponge, rice krispies and buttercream. Four different recipes but the final product definitely made it worth it. Here's the process I went through, with the help of my darling husband. More photos to come when my phone decides to email them to me!!!

 Shaping the sponge into an F1 car

 Covering the sponge with red marshmallow fondant

 The finished product

We even managed a figurine from Halo

On an unrelated note but related food note, I am really excited by a new cafe in my area that is opening soon. I can't wait to have coffee at my doorstep. I am crossing my fingers it will be good coffee!

  

A scorcher of a weekend

Whilst Victoria may still be enjoying some cooler (miserable) weather, Queensland has been very dry and hot of late. This was evidenced by several bush fires occurring over the weekend. I have been secretly hanging out for some rain, just so the lawn can appear a little bit greener. The electrical storm we received last night does not count! It did however manage to freak me out at one point because the light was so bright, I thought someone was shining a torch into my place. Thunder followed, as did a sigh of relief.

I often spare a thought for the animals in this heat and them having to cope with our humid days. It is for this reason, that we often give our labrador ice in her water bowl over spring and summer. We splurged on her a little bit this weekend and bought her a paddling, shell pool and a big ball (she is used to playing with smaller, tennis balls that she can wrap her teeth around). The new basketball-like ball was therefore a bit of a challenge. Here's a picture of her playing with her new toys.

I have also been trying harder to be healthier with this hot weather. Dinner last night was watermelon juice and a pasta salad. They may not go together well but boy did they ever taste delicious! What did you cook on the weekend?

Taken 2 Review

With nothing better to do on a Saturday night, Hubby and self decided to visit the local cinema complex last night and see Taken 2. We managed to get one free ticket through Cinebuzz but still ended up paying $18.50 (booking fee included) for an adult ticket for a 90 minute movie. Is it just me or does that seem a bit steep?

If you've never heard of Taken 2, here's the official trailer...

We both loved the first 'Taken' movie but had low expectations going into the 2nd one, after hearing poor reviews. Unfortunately, the reviews were correct in this instance. The storyline follows from the last movie and there there are a number of holes in the plot. You are left wondering how did the movie suddenly jump to here and why didn't they show this. I was left feeling disappointed after paying $18.50 for one ticket and would recommend this one as a DVD rental.

On a more positive note my Sunday morning has started with a trip to the Banneton Bakery, where the food is always fresh and amazing. I will have a long walk to go on this afternoon after sampling their almond croissant, apricot and pistachio danish and raspberry brioche. I'll leave your mouth watering with this image.

  

Wedding No. 1

My beautiful, younger sister got married over the weekend to her partner of 9 years, so I thought I'd share some memorable (and pretty) photos of their day with you. These photos are more so for my mum than anything, as she doesn't have a facebook account...as yet.

The view from level Brisbane's Meriton Apartments the afternoon before

 The view was just as good at night

Bridal bouquets

 The beautifully decorated reception tables

The bride and groom on their big day

 Il Centro's famous Sand Crab Lasagne for entree

 Swordfish for main

 Creme Brulee for dessert, which I may have already taken a

bite out of

 Hubby and self at the reception

How stunning is the dress!

 Mum trying out some moves on the dance floor

Wedding number 2 (also as bridesmaid) for one of my 'besties' is next weekend. I'm really excited about that one too! All this delicious food and drink too, mmm! Good thing I''m eating healthy and exercising at the moment.