Elyse's 21st

I do believe i forgot to post this entry about a month ago. Can you tell i've been stressed? Oops. Well here it is, a post on the second 21st i attended last month, one of my other best friends, Elyse.

This is the birthday girl and her very cute cake (made by the same talented lady that made my 21st cake- aka her mom). The cake has cyanide and happiness comics. 

Yes we are strange creatures.

Two of my besties being silly and dancing the night away.

Isn't my wife pretty? (ok so not actually my wife, just my bestest best friend in the whole world). 

I love this dress, from Max and co. Can you tell i have a thing for blue lately? I can't help myself, i just find blue so enticing, and so calming to wear.

And of course the lovely Elle in a gorgeous vintage dress.

Just a photo showing silliness and fun.

It was a really fun night, a beautiful location down at the Italian Village at the rocks. The food was tasty, the cake was SO yummy. And i had a lovely time catching up with friends i hadn't seen in ages. 

*Petunia*

Mmmm scones

Many many apologies, i know it's been a month since my last post, but it has been a crazy busy month filled with assignments. But i am back, and with a delectable recipe for those who love scones. This recipe is not a traditional scone recipe, but i found that it resulted in fluffy, morish scones. Enjoy!

4 cups of self-raising flour
1 or 2 tbls caster sugar
1 cup thickened cream
1 cup milk
2 tsps vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees, line baking tray with baking paper.

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.

Mix wet ingredients in a pouring jug, stir and combine with dry ingredients. When the mixture forms a doughy texture, pour onto a cold surface and kneed gently until smooth.

Roll the dough out and use a round cookie cutter to make 12 even scones. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the scones have a golden brown tinge.

Serve them steaming hot with whipped cream and really tasty jam (my preference is raspberry), honey or syrup. Absolutely delicious!

Hope you enjoy, i certainly did!!!

*Petunia*

Under the sea...

I couldn't resist titling this post with a line from one of my favorite Disney songs, as corny as that may be. And besides, this post is indeed about the sea, a 21st with a sea theme in fact.

The party was absolutely delightful, people were so brilliantly dressed up, and the venue was really lovely. Originally i thought my best friend had lost the plot when she settled on an ocean theme in the middle of Autumn. But the venue was sufficiently heated, and delightfully decorated with blow up pineapples, beach balls, and fishing nets.

Below is the cake, which was made by the wonderful mother and step father of the birthday girl, and is one of the many cakes in the birthday cake edition of Woman's Weekly. It was DELICIOUS, a vanilla sponge with a meringue and boysenberry filling. Moist and creamy and mmmm.

I was very happy with my outfit choice for this party, i think i chose quite well. I stuck to the theme but managed a sexy/elegant look (hopefully). The dress was a teal 70's maxi dress from Tractordog Vintage, and the shoes are Tsubi (i paid a grand total of $40 at the Bondi Beach markets). I went as the ocean, with strips of green satin cut into seaweed shapes pinned into my hair, a shell around my neck and pearls on my fingers. It was fun.

The gorgeous blond lass on the right is my best friend Alice, and the birthday girl, dressed as a very sexy mermaid in a 70's skirt and a bikini top hand made by her gran.

Petunia

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Stanly St Station

I have to give this restaurant two thumbs up for food, atmosphere and drinks. The exterior is simple enough, the interior relaxed and homely, neither really do justice to the delicious wholesome goodness of the food. I've eaten there twice now and i have every intention of going back again. And i know Elle agrees with me, and she's eaten there far more.

We started off with some very strong cocktails. A classic mohito for me and a chin chin for Ellie. Tasty to say the least.

Onto the mains which were both superb. I had the sirloin steak with creamy mash, crisp green veges and a peppercorn juis. Elle had the chicken Kiev with crispy kipfler potatoes, wilted baby spinach and mushroom and brie stuffed chicken. Really and truly they were two delicious dishes.

We finally finished with dessert, of course. A panacota with raspberry compote and vanilla bean ice-cream for myself, and homemade mango ice-cream with raspberry compote for Elle. The panacota was smooth and creamy and perfectly balanced by the tart raspberries. Ellie's mango ice-cream was rich and fruity, you could taste real mango rather than mango flavoring.

I'll leave you with something really very funny. It's the sign outside the restaurant. Just brilliantly dry. And of course our smiling faces after a brilliant meal.

Petunia
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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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Cinnamon and Apple Cupcakes

When i am feeling kind of antsy, restless, frustrated, and annoyed, i like to pace around my kitchen and busy myself with some form of baking. Tonight i had a craving for apple and cinnamon muffins/cupcakes. I have a recipe that will make your mouth water, it make 12 delicious muffins or 21 tasty cupcakes depending on what size you like.

Ingredients for cupcakes
2 cups plain flour
1 tbs baking powder (sounds like a lot but is necessary)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup of brown sugar
2 medium apples of your choice, peeled and grated
125g butter/margarine, melted and cooled
2 eggs
3/4 cup of milk

Ingredients for icing
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp butter (room temp)
2 tsps milk
1/4 cup icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin or cupcake tin with melted butter or cooking spray.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add the grated apple and the brown sugar. Mix the eggs, milk and butter separately and then add to the dry ingredients. Stir through, but only enough so that it is mixed. Over mixing will result in firm muffins.

Spoon the mixture evenly into your muffin/cupcake tin. Place in the oven and bake for 20 mins. Allow to cool and then ice.

I'll admit they don't look like the most appetizing cupcakes, but they taste pretty good. The icing is the key, it's really tasty.

Petunia
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Hi friends

Ok, i really have been a busy Petunia lately. I've been crafting left right and center. I've knitted, i've sewn, i've worked out my own cute little patterns. And i even managed to make an AMANDA PALMER DOLL. But she will need an entire post dedicated just to her, she is after all one of my favorite singers. So for now let me introduce you to Clementine, Maggie and Skip. I worked out the patterns myself, and had a lot of fun hand sewing them. Very simple and easy, felt is a lovely fabric to work with when it comes to toys.

Skip and his little cotton tail and love heart birth mark. He is an orange rabbit ostracized by his warren, and has come to make friends with some other irregular little creatures.

Clementine is a giraffe, quite irregular in color, and has misplaced her splodges. She likes apples and staring at yellow objects. Maggie is a kitty, plain and simple. Blue because her previous owners thought it funny to bath her in permanent dye. 

My blind, deaf and mute lady was an experiment. I like her, she can stay. My mouse was also an experiment and turned out quite nicely, her skirt was fun to make.

Belinda the bunny and Eee the ghost. Belinda is one of my faves with her cute little scarf and sultry bunny eyes.

I haven't named these two little critters. The whale now belongs to Ellen so perhaps she might give it a suitable name. :)

A strange little family.

 Hope you like my odd little darlings. If you want to buy any make an offer and i will happily negotiate.

Petunia
x

Australia day, Sam's birthday and 13 years since we moves to Sydney

It was a very pleasant Australia this year. Spent the first half of it at my friend Sam's 21st birthday brunch, and the rest of it at home lazing about with Ellen, my mom and my silly cats. Here are some cute photos of my outfit, which i just adore, and some extra bits and pieces.

Dress: Dear Golden Vintage

Shoes: Nine West

Head band: Hot Dollar

This gorgeous ring was a Christmas present from Ellen, 

isn't she such a sweetheart?

Om nom nom...

The birthday girl :)

This is what orange cats do on Australia day.

Petunia
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