Long Time No Post

Well it is 9 months since I last posted an entry in my blog.
Not too much has happened but here are the highlights.....
In October we attended the first ever Hublot dinner in Australia. The guest of honour was of course Mr Jean Claude Biver from Hublot watches. We helped get a few people for Hublot(well about 30people) and the rest of the guests were from the three Sydney dealers(J Farren-Price, Hardy Brother's, and The Hourglass Sydney).
The event was held at Quay restaurant and was a wonderful evening. Beautiful food and the most fantastic cheese from Mr Biver's own cheese farm.






So After the excitement of the Hublot evening we left Sydney on the Sunday and headed for Tokyo. What a wonderful week we had there. We stayed at the Park Hotel in Shimbashi again and Rene used some of his Hyatt points and got us a free night at the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Here we had a own little Lost in Translation moments. Swam in the pool dinner in the New York Grill, wandering the halls. Fabulous hotel!!
Mainly we just wandered around having fun and trying to visit areas we hadn't been to before. When we were in Meiji Jingu we saw a japanese wedding, was great to see. So here are some photos from Tokyo.

If we took a holiday....(or two)!

We started our holiday by having an eight night break at Hayman Island. Fabulous time resting and relaxing. Beautiful sunshine days every day, just a little on the cool side but still nice. We flew into Hamilton Island and were then shown over to the boat to get out to the island. We enjoyed some nibbles and bubbles on our way over. Got shown to our room and set about exploring. So beautiful on the Island.
First night we had a fantastic seafood extravaganza for 2, considering I don't eat a lot of seafood I really enjoyed everything on the plates. Scallops, prawns, oysters, Lobster, crabs, grilled prawns, 4 types of fish. Definitely no room for desserts!!
All the food we had was absolutely fantastic, which isn't surprising considering it is a luxury resort.
So a few shots of the resort.....





We also took a day trip to go snorkeling at Knuckle reef. What a great day. They have a semi submersible which gets you closer to the reef than a glass bottom boat does. We went snorkeling twice, enjoyed a lovely buffet lunch and had a quiet night.





While we were checking out we decided that seeing as we still had 6 days of holiday left that we would check out online specials for other holidays. So we booked for Hong Kong for 4 nights. This meant we could catch up with some friends and get away from the cold. We stayed at the Harbour Plaza Metropolis which is a great hotel on Kowloon side that we stayed at last time we went to HK in 2006. Beautiful and hot 30C when we got off the plane. Thursday night we were taken to dinner by a friend to a restaurant in ONE Peking building called Hutong. Fantastic food and breathtaking views from the 28th floor of HK side with the light show. Then it was off to the 30th floor for cocktails at AquaSpirit.



Friday night found us catching up with some friends of Rene's from a forum he is on and having a local dinner. So we trekked down to Causeway Bay for Typhoon Shelter Crab at Underbridge Spicy Crab restaurant. WOOOWWWWW what a feast!! Razor clams, Mantis prawns, welks, Mudcrab, congee. All delicious!!



After dinner we had a local dessert at Yee Shun Milk Company. All sorts of custardy creations, hot or cold.

Saturday we woke up to very windy day. After breakfast we headed across to HK for a trip up the peak. At the terminal we noticed a sign warning that Typhoon Signal 1 had been hoisted. so up we went looking for Hard Rock Cafe up the top, but no more proper Hard rock Cafe just a shop. So we had Bubba Gumps instead. That was delicious!! After lunch we wandered around and then found a sign advising that Typhoon Signal 3 hoisted. As we were making our way down in the tram the rain just burst from the sky. By the time we got from the terminus to the cathedral we were drenched. But that didn't stop wandering around the shops.




Sunday found us wandering the shops again with a long walk down Nathan Road. Then it was back to the hotel to finish packing and check out for our flight back to cold Sydney.

Thanks for having a look!!
Catch you soon

New Knives!!!

Okay so these are a few weeks old now but finally got time to post them. Bought these Macusta knives from THE CHEF'S ARMOURY in Sydney during their recent sale. Fabulous knives to work with. I have a preference for fine Japanese knives and love to buy them when I can(tax return will hopefully allow me to buy a few more!!

I guess it is a bit silly to carry on about knives but quality and sharpness are inmportant when using them!
Catch you later
V

De Bortoli Wine Night at CHPRSL June 2009

Last night we had a great time doing another well received wine dinner at work This time we had De Bortoli wines which we matched 5 great courses to. If anybody asks me to make pastry any time soon I am going to kick them hard!!LOL 3kg of puff pastry which I haven't made since TAFE and 3kg of short crust for tarts. The tarts looked great as we decided to grate the pastry and then press it in to the tins so it had this wonderful textural look to the cases.

Shortcrust tart filled with Jerusalem Artichokes, Baby Leek and Baby Fennel.



Prawn Bisque with Quenelles of Lobster.


House Smoked Duck on Celeriac Discs with a Broad Bean Puree and Tamarillo Jus.(one of my ideas)


Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks with Seasonal Root Vegetables and Red Wine Jus.


Tarte Tatin of Apple and Rhubarb with Vanilla Bean Icecream(my other idea).




Assorted before and during shots.

New favourite song

So after watching the finals of Eurovision I have to say Malena Ernman was AMAZING!! Loved the song she did called La Voix with it's blend of pop and opera. Such an amazing voice Malena has too. Managed to Google the lyrics too:

La voix/The voice
Can you keep a secret?
Can you keep a secret?
I'm in love with you
Can you make a promise?
Can you make a promise?
Stay forever true, oh...
Then I'm forever yours

Je t'aime, amour, quand j'entends la voix /I love you, my love, when I hear the voice
Je t'aime, ma vie, c'est jamais sans toi /I love you, my life is never without you
J'vis ma vie pour toi, c'est l'univers pour moi /I live my life for you, it's the universe for me
Je t'aime, amour, quand j'entends la voix /I love you, my love, when I hear the voice

Tell me what you're feelin'
Tell me what you're feelin'
I just wanna know
Tell me what you're dreamin'
Tell me what you're dreamin'
Let your feelings show, oh...
Stay and don't let go

Je t'aime, amour, quand j'entends la voix /I love you, my love, when I hear the voice
Je t'aime, ma vie, c'est jamais sans toi /I love you, my life is never without you
J'vis ma vie pour toi, c'est l'univers pour moi /I live my life for you, it's the universe for me
Je t'aime, amour, quand j'entends la voix /I love you, my love, when I hear the voice

(Je t'aime, amour, quand j'entends la voix) (I love you, my love, when I hear the voice)
(Je t'aime, ma vie, c'est jamais sans toi) (I love you, my life is never without you)
J'vis ma vie pour toi, c'est l'univers pour moi /I live my life for you, it's the universe for me
Je t'aime, amour, quand j'entends la voix /I love you, my love, when I hear the voice
J'entends la voix, la voix... /I hear the voice, the voice
(Je t'aime, amour, quand j'entends la voix) /(I love you, my love, when I hear the voice)

Check out her official video and her performance at Eurovision in the video bar to the side.
Catch you soon
V

Been a While...

So what have I been up to?
Well I had my birthday at the end of January and got a Hibachi from my sister in law and her husband. Unfortunately the first day I wanted to use it, it rained. So out came the umbrellas...





Kept most of the rain off until dinner was cooked.

Also learnt to make an easy cheese called Labne/Labna. Made from yoghurt and a little salt and then left to drain. I found the recipe for it on the following blog....http://cookalmostanything.blogspot.com/2006/09/making-labne.html Lots of other yummy recipes on there too!!






In December we attended the Sydney cocktail party at LK Jewellery (in the Sheraton on the Park) for Boucheron. It is wonderful that there is a stockist in Australia of these wonderful jewels. Having been to the Tokyo boutique last year it was a wonderful surprise when Rose told us that they were going to stock Boucheron. The evening was fantastic I got to try on LOTS of jewels. I also got to meet one of Australia's best performers Maria Venuti. A truly lovely lady who is a well known charity supporter. Hope Maria has some performances this year as I would love to catch her live.

Anyway that is it for me today Catch you soon
Ciao!!

Videos From Nan's Party

So here are a few videos from our camera that I took at Nan's party.....













Lighting wasn't the best for the next one, we really should have turned the spotlights on...