My Bloggable Day

Retro pool party

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Bec

Some people think that I get quite involved in theme parties. These people have not met my friends Ellenmary and Flash. Last year Ellenmary called me on the day of my Halloween party to enquire about the width of my front door just in case her full size Dalek* costume wouldn’t fit through. This year, Ellenmary and Flash came to my Winter Wonderland party as arctic explorers with faces so severely frost bitten, people had to look away. My skin would be crawling with jealousy at their commitment if I wasn’t so in awe. (* It’s a Dr Who thing)

Anyway, not long ago I received an invitation in the mail to Flash and Ellenmary’s retro pool party, that’s right, a paper invitation. So classy. I’d already been one upped.

Adorable.

So last Saturday I donned my most retro high-waisted bikini (much to the dislike of my boyfriend) and headed over to the party with a plate of watermelon.

I don’t even know what a Hepcat is but I LOVE it.

There were pink lawn flamingos and hula girls and pineapples and all of the retro pool party things. Most importantly there were Pina Coladas:

At one point I was drinking a Pina Colada and the song Escape (If you like Pina Coladas) came on, fulfilling a life-long dream of mine to be both listening to said song and drinking said drink AT THE SAME TIME. (no I’m not into yoga, thanks for asking)

SQUAWK! Dave won the most appropriately dressed male award, the one I made up just then in my head.

The only thing I enjoy more than Pina Coladas is more Pina Coladas:

There were also delicious daiquiris but I drank mine in the pool and hence didn’t have my camera on me. Around this time some talented Hepcats and Kittens got up to entertain us with a little skit. Ellenmary sung the Hula Hana from Dirty Dancing and was accompanied by a ukelele. I was somewhat chastised for not knowing the song and for my general lack of knowledge of Dirty Dancing, but Ellenmary was excellent! Far better than the train wreck singer in the actual movie.

After this pork and lamb that had been slow roasting for the better part of the day were brought out along with crusty bread rolls and hot gravy. Oh baby. I overdid the gravy and ended up spilling it down the front of my bikini, heh.

With full tummies it was time to get some photos.

Recognise that photo?! Yep, it’s the same one from the invitation. SHUT. UP.

Amazing. I wouldn’t even know where to begin with making one of those! All too soon it was time to leave to go to someone’s work BBQ (read: not mine). To say I was devastated is putting it lightly and I think Lauren’s face in this photo perfectly captures how I felt as I was leaving:

Sad. Anyway, thanks for having me! It sure was swell; the company, food, drinks, entertainment, errything. Can’t wait for next year.

Posted in Misc | Tagged Pina Coladas, Pool Party, Retro | 2 Comments

Maybe Scrooge had a point?

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Bec

Try as I might (and I have!) I just can’t get into the Christmas spirit this year. I’ve done everything:

Looked at Christmas lights (see photo above- wowza).

Played Mariah Carey’s All I want for Christmas is You a few times on YouTube.

Watched Home Alone 1 and Four Christmases (the latter is a truly heinous movie).

Decorated the house:

Been to five Christmas parties/dinners.

Indulged in some festive and fattening baking:

(Pavlova)

(Sticky date pudding)

AND

Listened to Michael Buble’s Christmas album.

I’m now at a loss as to what I should try next. None of the above have given me that twinkly Yuletide feeling which could be because:

a) I had a Winter/Christmas themed birthday party in August and am possibly suffering festive season fatigue

b) I weighed myself after three Christmas parties on the weekend and it was truly depressing

c) trying to buy decent Christmas presents in regional Australia is a frustrating and pointless exercise (the local CD store didn’t stock The Rolling Stones?! Rage!)

d) I am on the other side of the country from my family and it won’t feel like Christmas until I am with them.

I’m hoping it’s d) otherwise I have prematurely morphed into the Grinch. And I’m pretty sure I can’t rely on a trio of ghosts to visit me overnight to teach me the real meaning of Christmas. Humbug.

What do you do to get into the Christmas spirit? Help me!

Posted in Misc | Tagged Christmas | 4 Comments

Seminyak Sunset

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Bec

I do love a good sunset (see here, here and most epically, here for proof) . As corny as it sounds it’s the best natural entertainment around and if you happen to miss a show there’s always one the next day! Obviously some places are better for witnessing sunsets than others and it doesn’t really get any better than watching the sun set over the water.

One night in Seminyak we headed down to a random bar on the beach, pulled up a pew and ordered a round just in time.

The best part was when the sun disappeared completely and the sky turned purple. Getting there…

BAM:

How does that even happen?!

We were an appreciative, if not slightly tipsy audience.

Magic.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Bali, Beach, Seminyak, Sunset | 2 Comments

Banana choc chip cookies

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Bec

This is the story of my (banana related) life:

Rather than make more banana bread and more smoothies, I thought I’d try a cookie recipe with my decaying bananas. These cookies are so good, delicious and moist. Perhaps the best I’ve ever made.

Here’s what you will need:

2 and 1/2 cups of plain flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
half a teaspoon of salt
a quarter teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup of brown sugar
2/3 cup of butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of mashed bananas (I just used three)
1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Mash these ugly things (seriously, how gross is the black one? It’s making me dry retch…):

1. Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees celcius, line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
3. In another bowl cream together the sugar and butter, add the eggs and then beat in the vanilla and mashed bananas. Stir in the dry ingredients until combined and then fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Spoon heaped tablespoons of the batter on the tray and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until slightly brown.

Cool them on a rack for as long as you can possibly manage (which for me, is not long at all) and consume with a frosty glass of milk.

Deeeelightful!

Posted in Food | Tagged Banana choc chip cookies, Food, Recipe | 2 Comments

More Bali places I loved

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Bec

La Plancha

Thanks to Claire and Mike for this recommendation. La Plancha is a tapas bar set on the beach at Legian. Beware of imitation bars that have set up the same parasol/beanbag look to try and snare your business.

Doesn’t it look adorable? I recommend the mojito jug.

And the croquettes.

And that adorable French boys come and chat to your in their delightful broken English (sadly not pictured).

Merah Putih

I think I’m going to go ahead and say that this was my favourite out of all the restaurants we tried. Firstly, check out the inside:

That is some class right there. Apparently when it rains, water rushes in through those white columns creating some kind of dramatic water feature. It wasn’t raining when I went there on my date with Elly though.

Mmmm Amaretto Sour. For entree we had this amazing boneless duck:

As well as crispy lobster slippers and amazing raw yellowfin tuna, which was plenty, we really didn’t need a main. But we got one! Balinese Wagyu beef curry with potato chilli and quail eggs:

Terrible photo. It was delicious, but we barely made a dent in it. I couldn’t bring myself to try a quail egg. If you do go to Merah Putih don’t deny yourself a trip to the bathroom, it’s amazing!

Motel Mexicola

Another recommendation from Claire, this place is completely adorable. You could almost be in Mexico! Maybe. I really have no idea, I’ve never been to Mexico.

Margarita and guac.

The taco innards were delicious but something kind of strange was going on with the tortillas. The texture or something was off? Maybe that’s just the difference between corn and flour tortillas, I don’t know. I had the pork, battered fish and chicken (why did I order chicken?! boring) tacos. The quesadillas were great.

Sarong

“She’s the Queen B, the star. Those other two are just her little workers” – Damian, Mean Girls

That quote is how I feel about Sarong. It is beautiful inside. The food is great and people love the place, but does Sarong love the people? I don’t know. The hosts were very odd when Elly and I dropped in to make a booking and service was a tad sketchy, although that could have just been because we were in a smaller room to the side, perhaps the wait staff forgot about us? Those things aside, it was a very pleasant dining experience.

The cuisine is mostly Indian, I had lamb korma. Again we over-ordered but they let us take home our leftovers (!!!!) which were delicious the next day.

Pretty orchids.

EatWell Bali

We stumbled across EatWell for lunch on one of our shopping days. Its menu features meats, lots of delicious MEATZ. I wish I had ordered a steak, but I ordered a panini and it turned out to be bloody incredible.

Elly had grilled chicken.

We shared a serve of fries. And then ordered another serve. Completely unnecessary.

Sea Circus

I’ll save you from more bad grainy iPhone photos of food. We went to Sea Circus on our last night. Bec and I had tacos, Elly had some kind of fish. They have delicious non alcoholic granitas which was perfect because by this point we were all strictly dry (ha! defeated). This was the only night we managed to eat dessert after a concerted effort not to order entrees. Elly and Bec both had the brownie with ice cream and I had a banofee parfait. They won. The brownie was amazing.

And that’s it! Looking back at all that food I’m starting to understand why my jeans are feeling a tad snug… Oh well. Also, Bec and I had a nice lunch at a place called Townhouse in Seminyak. Try the macaroni! And you must go to Un’s in Kuta. The frozen margaritas are amazing and only $3. Ok, now I’m done.

Posted in Food, Travel | Tagged Bali, Bali Restaurants, Food, Kuta, Legian, Seminyak | Leave a comment

Not Christmas Shopping

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Bec

Have you started your Christmas shopping? Everyone keeps asking me if I’ve commenced mine. The answer is: sort of. I’ve been to two local VIP shopping nights, had a lot to eat and drink and then purchased something for myself… It’s not working out that well.

One of the nights was a Tropical Paradise themed VIP event at Fossick. I met a few friends out the front and after collecting our goodie bags (which were actually really great and not full of random fliers for life coaches) we made a beeline for the delightful drinks.

And the tropical cupcakes to help fuel ~~our~~ my focus to remember to buy gifts for other people.

Lauren plays with a pin wheel.

Look at all the colour!

Wish I had someone to buy this adorable ukulele for… Mum?

Time for a refill I think!

And some seconds…

Lauren and I found excellent carry-all bags:

I got to see my friend Clair’s exhibition of amazing Melbourne lane way photos, unfortunately I was away for the launch. Apparently it was wild! The photos made me a tad homesick. Clair is a sea captain in her spare time.

Cocktail scented candles! Now those are candles I could get on board with.

I think I bought my sister some of these earrings for Christmas last year… Or a birthday? So they’re out.

No mirror is immune from the scourge of my selfies…

So how did I do? I ended up buying the ‘Random Crap’ bag… for myself. Who am I meant to give it to?! My Grandma? I think not. I did buy two lovely gift cards to send overseas, so that’s a start. Friends and family reading this: don’t fret. I am the last minute Queen. You won’t be empty handed this Christmas.

To end on a more positive note, how beautiful is the Fossick building?

Any tips for success Christmas shopping?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Christmas Shopping, Fossick Handmade, Shopping | 1 Comment

Bali places I loved: Potato Head

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Bec

I realise I’m seriously behind the eight ball with this one, but Potato Head is the biz.

We got there early, about 11am, in order to secure a sun bed. There is some kind of minimum spend in order to use the sun beds but we far surpassed whatever that amount was.

Starving hungry we ordered fries and settled in for the day.

Hunger somewhat sated we set about working our way through the extensive cocktail list.

I started with an Atomic Punch while the girls went for Pina Coladas served in coconuts.

Tangy!

Next I went for some kind of raspberry/strawberry concoction that wasn’t particularly mind blowing.

It was then time for lunch so we ordered Wagyu beef burgers all round, with mushrooms and gorgonzola added on.

Ain’t nothing like smashing a burger in a bikini.

I thought it was entirely necessary that someone order a drink in one of the classy wooden Tiki cups, so I took one for the team and ordered a Zombie.

You really can taste three kinds of rum!

After that we spent a long time in the pool in an attempt to work off some of our food and drinks, but it didn’t really work. I think you’re meant to move around more. I got seriously wrinkly.

After extensive research, I believed we found the best cocktail on the menu:

I totally forgot what it was called but God bless the internet and google, it was called ‘Bells & Whistles’. It’s made up of ‘crushed, zesty miniature mandarins and lively citrus and mandarin vodka, churned with rich palm sugar plus explosive passionfruit and lemon juices and a gorgeous orange liqueur’. I have no idea if that ridiculous description is from the menu or some random blogger. But man it was good.

The sun got low in the sky, our hands were pruned and it had been at least 5 hours so we headed off home to prep for a big night out. The best day.

Posted in Food, Travel | Tagged Bali, Cocktails, Food, Potato Head | 9 Comments

Quad biking in the rice fields

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Bec

In order to break up the shopping, massage, sun-baking cycle we had happily fallen into last week, the girls and I decided to go quad biking. Our friends had recommended it, so Bec and I found a random street vendor and $80 later our day was planned.

We opted to get picked up at 11:30am so we could have a leisurely morning, but of course were still rushing around when a car came to collect us. About an hour and a half later we had arrived at our destination in the Piling rice fields.

We were given gumboots, a helmet and some limited instructions (where the breaks and throttle were) and we were on our way through a village. Not going to lie, it was kind of scary at first! The bikes were quite jerky and my experience on a scooter in Vietnam left me nervous (I almost plowed into an elderly man on a push bike wearing a conical hat, he laughed at me).

Once we were out of the village and into the rice fields we had the brakes mastered and zoomed up and down steep muddy hills.

Not the most flattering angle ^ The view was amazing but you can’t tell in these dreary overcast photos.

We stopped for a coffee in the middle of the rice fields, a move I regretted later as it sloshed around in my empty stomach as we continued on our bumpy ride.

Before too long our ride had come to an end, just as I started imagine my life as a lone intrepid quad-biker, noisily making my way across countries. I was kind of glad though because I was absolutely ravenous. All throughout the week I was either painfully I’m-never-eating-again-when-will-it-stop-hurting full or starving hungry. There was no middle ground. No idea why. Thankfully lunch was waiting for us.

Some kind of chicken washed down with full fat coke in glass bottles. Heaven.

Full and happy we rolled back down the green hills to Seminyak.

If you are looking to do something non beach or water related I definitely recommend quad biking.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Bali, Quad Bikes, rice fields, Travel | Leave a comment

Disgusting, isn’t it?

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Bec

I never want to come home.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Bali, Travel | 1 Comment

Bali: day one

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Bec

We have arrived! Yesterday we set off from Perth and after an un eventful and stress free flight we arrived at Denpasar Airport 25 minutes early- thank you Air Asia.

Obligatory airport gate photo:

Snakes on a plane.

Our villa in Seminyak is pretty gorgeous.

After cracking into the duty free haul for a pre dinner drink we headed to Kuta for dinner. We went to Uns Restaurant, one of Bec’s family favourites. She was greeted like a long lost daughter and we tucked into the frozen margaritas ($3!). We had some amazing tuna tartare for entree and some spring rolls. Then Bec and Elly tried traditional Balinese cuisine; chicken Maryland and lamb shanks. I had Rendang. 15 margaritas later we hit Main Street Kuta for some fun.

Joined by thousands of recent school leavers (we cleverly booked our trip to coincide with schoolies week) we danced up a storm in a couple of ginormous night clubs.
Everyone was sweaty and only partially clothed, so I think I speak for us all when I say we felt overdressed.
We couldn’t make it past 1:30am and all fell asleep in the taxi on the way back to the villa. Talk about party animals.

We had booked breakfast for 10am this morning, thinking we would sleep in after a big night… We were awake by 6:30am. So we had a swim and brought breakfast forward by two hours.

Feeling a bit worse for wear: