A little more blue!

I've been obsessed with the color blue for a little while now. I'm not sure why, but suddenly blue seemed like the most beautiful color in the world. I own 4 pairs of blue high heels, 2 pairs of blue flats, 15 blue dresses (ranging from pale blue to navy blue) and even a blue cardigan. I just can't help myself. 

Today, after some very disappointing visits to the post office over the past week, i finally got my package. And guess what it was? A 70's BLUE MAXI DRESS WITH MATCHING BOLERO! I am a little bit in love with this dress right. I'm sorry, but it's just lovely. Not only was it nice to finally get my new dress, but it was wrapped with so much love and care that i couldn't help smile while opening it. Take a look...and please excuse the iphone photos, i couldn't resist opening it up before i got home to my camera.

Such cute packaging, it was a little like pass the parcel, as one layer had a skittle flavored lip balm, and the other had a little packet of lollies. I was happy!

The little note was sweet too, it said thanks and enjoy the dress on one side and then i turned over to find a lovely quote by Coco Chanel. 

Here's the dress, photographed and sold by the delightful Kelsey from Tractordog Vintage. Let me know what you think. 

Petunia

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Cruise

Last weekend Ellen and i went to the lovely Cruise for dinner. It was really rather lovely getting all dressed up, dining in a fancy restaurant with just about the most stunning view imaginable. As for the food, we were both a little disappointed especially considering the prices.

The cocktails were fantastic, Ellen's was champagne based, very tasty. Mine was a mohito with a twist of fresh raspberries, seriously divine. We were naughty and decided to have a bread plate before our main. I must admit the olive oil and balsamic were really lovely, a fruity hint, great compliment to the sour dough bread. Of course we both went for the same main, a veal chop coated in Gorgonzola cheese, on a bed of polenta, and mixed wild mushrooms. And because we didn't have enough on offer we ordered a side of kipfler potatoes drizzled in truffle oil and herbs. Those potatoes were incredible, i must make that known. They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, amazingly rich because of the truffle oil. The veal was beautifully cooked, but far too big for either of us to finish. As lovely as the polenta, mushrooms, and reduced sweet sauce were, Elle and i both found that it was all a bit rich. It was almost like eating a very large dessert, there was no real balance. I think we were both waiting for something to offset the richness, but unfortunately that something never came.

The actual desserts were also a bit disappointing. Somewhat strange and again too rich. I really enjoyed aspects of mine, but Elle found hers a little too 'new age'. I had the white chocolate sponge cake with clotted cream, strawberry sorbet and fresh strawberries. The cake was melt in your mouth soft and spongy, sweet and perfect. The sorbet was far to sickly sweet, it just wasn't a necessary component. Elle had a dessert called the Summer Landscape, and that is quite literally what they attempted to create. It was made up of a chocolate soil base (as they called it), a scoop of mint sorbet (very odd i must say, mint ice-cream yes, sorbet no) chocolate stick trees, tiny purple edible flowers, caramalised nuts and vanilla cream. It was interesting, the only real downfall was the sorbet, it just didn't work, especially with the rich chocolatey, creaminess of the other components.

So all in all a fairly disappointing reaction from the two of us. It may sound very snobby and rude, but we do dine out a fair bit, and that restaurant just did not live up to expectations. Perhaps we just chose wrong, there were some mains being eaten by other diners that were rather tantalizing, and even some entrées that looked quite tempting. I'd recommend it for a night out enjoying a nice few, a few cocktails and maybe some small nibblies downstairs by the bar. Ta ta!

Petunia
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Recipe for the salmon hater

I know a lot of people out there are not so keen on salmon, and i happen to be one of them. I love raw salmon to death, but when my parents cook up grilled salmon i want to cry. I don't know what it is, but i just don't really like it. So i decided tonight, once told salmon was on the menu, that i might come up with something a little more tasty. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

3 salmon pieces, deboned and chopped into bits

2 bunches of asparagus, remove the woody end and chop the spear into 3

1 onion diced

3-4 garlic cloves

1 chicken stock cube

1 cup of cream

Bunch of parsley

Half a lemon or lime

Capers (if you like them)

Spaghetti

Boil spaghetti until aldente. Place the onions and garlic in a pan to sweat, once they have released some juice and become transparent crumble the stock cube and stir in. Then add the asparagus, salmon, lemon or lime juice and a hand full of capers. Once the salmon pieces are cooked through you can add the parsley, about 1/2 a cup. Before serving add the cream and stir through. Serve on top of spaghetti with a lime quarter for those who like it extra tart (like me!) and voila you have a really tasty dinner that helps you avoid boring grilled salmon. 

I'm thinking i may start blogging about the monthly dinners i go on with Ellen. It's always interesting to compare each restaurant to the one before it. Some places are just incredible, amazing main, sumptuous dessert, and delicious cocktail. Where as others are a tad disappointing, no balance to the food, portions to big/small, service not ideal, chefs attempting to be too bold and new age. All in all, i love dinning out, and Ellen and i always like to discuss what we thought of the food in detail, so why not write about it. Hehe.

Petunia

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