#NaBloPoMo - Photo catch up

It's a Sunday and I'm seldom in the mood to blog on weekends. So I'll do a bit of a cheat post and summarise the last 10 days of photos for my other November challenge - the Photo A Day challenge.

Here we go.

Day 1: Something beginning with 'C'

Day 2: Colour

Day 3: Breakfast

Day 4: TV

Day 5: 5 o'clock

Day 6: A favourite thing

Day 7: Reflection

Day 8: Something you do everyday

Day 9: Small

Day 10: Can't {won't} live without

 
My instagram ID: @missrbit

*This post is part of the November NaBloPoMo blogging challenge.

 

#NaBloPoMo - Oh to be loved.

Just a quick one today about my J because he's so perfect and I honestly don't know how I got so lucky. (sorry, I know. Monday Mushitis I call it)

He cooks and actually likes to clean  - which is enough to make him perfect.  But most importantly, he makes me laugh...big, happy belly laughs.

It's good to be loved.

*This post is part of the November NaBloPoMo blogging challenge. 

#NaBloPoMo - New Recipe Saturdays

We've decided we're going to try and cook a new recipe on Saturday nights. Saturday nights without plans that is. J and I both love to experiment with new kinds of food. Unfortunately there aren't too many new and yummy restaurants on the Gold Coast that excite me enough to want to go out every Saturday night. Besides, going out would involve wearing a bra which sometimes is more effort than it's worth.

Cooking is something we both enjoy. The weeknight menu isn't always exciting because those meals are more about what is easiest and/or quickest. Saturdays allow us the luxury of time so why not try a new recipe while we're at it?

I bought a book on Spanish food almost 2 years ago to cook a surprise dinner for J's birthday and it's one of the best recipe books I've ever bought. So last night, we cooked up a Spanish-themed feast - steak with chimmichurri, bean salad, prawns and haloumi. I know, I know haloumi isn't Spanish at all but hey, it was the perfect addition to the meal. Of course we had some vino tinto to go with.

I'm no food blogger so the pictures aren't great :(

The books I used.

The end result :)

All ingredients are easily available at Coles or Woolies. The steak however we bought at The Gold Coast Fresh Meat Centre in Burleigh and it was really great quality meat. It was cooked medium rare.

To go with the steak, we made some Argentinian inspired Chimichurri. We first had some at an Argentinian restaurant in Melbourne and have been wanting to make some for ourselves ever since. It's really easy to make and tastes absolutely divine on the steak. I used this recipe. Mmm...garlic!

The Haloumi is available in the cheese section (Lemmos..Lemnos?) and we fried it off in a pan until brown and squeezed a bit of lemon over it before biting into it. (Heaven!).

The prawns (also known as Gambas al Ajillo) were a tiny bit of a letdown as they didn't caramelise the way I would have liked (still yummy thought). But, I think that's more to do with my oven and less the fault of the recipe. I used a combination of this recipe and the recipe pictured below (from my Spanish book). I like the use of the sherry and the parsley in the Food.com recipe.

The recipe

The salad is a recipe from the salads recipe book pictured above. The recipe and a picture from the book is below. I'm happy to report the end product looked exactly like the picture from the book. I loved the mustard and lemon dressing as I'm not a fan of heavy salad dressings. 

The recipe

The salad.

It was a feast of a Saturday night and I can't wait till our next cooking adventure.

*This post is part of the November NaBloPoMo blogging challenge. 

#NaBloPoMo - If I could live anywhere…

Today's Prompt: If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

There are many countries in the world I would love to live in but instead of going into that I thought I'd share my idea of a dream home. If I could live anywhere, it would be in a home…

…with plenty of open space and a deck

…with lots of books.

…with wooden floors

…with a red and/or brick feature wall

…with a big kitchen

...with a low bed

…with dogs

One day, I hope.

I've recently started pinning and have a board on Pinterest with more ideas :)

*This post is part of the November NaBloPoMo blogging challenge.

November Challenges

Inspired by PsychBabbler and Ilaeria, I have decided to take on a couple of challenges this month.

First, the #fmsphotoaday November Instagram challenge. I gave up last month due to various reasons but what the heck, here I go again. These are the prompts for November:

My Instagram & Twitter handle is @missRBit

Also this month, I am attempting the NaBloPoMo to motivate me to blog more. I think I'll use the writing prompts on some days and go my own way on others - we'll see how it pans out.

 Wish me luck!

#PhotoADayJune - Days 6, 7, 8 and 9

Been a bit slack putting up the Photo a Day June challenge pictures up on the blog. I'll blame it on being tired and the inability to share straight to my blog via Instagram. Anyway, here's a quick catch up.

Day 6 - Hat

I'm not really much of a hat-wearer. However I am a hoodie-wearer and a hoodie can qualify as a hat right?

This picture is of me in my favourite hoodie. It has been unnaturally cold for the Gold Coast so obviously this hoodie has been getting quite a run lately. I am known to wear this at work even in summer (hood up) as I am always freezing in the office and need to protect myself from the cold aircon. Some of my colleagues even call me Kenny (from South Park). ;-)

Day 7 - Drink

The cold I spoke of continued and after dinner on Thursday, I needed something to warm me up so I convinced J to buy me a cup of hot chocolate from Max Brenner. I don't go to Max Brenner much but when I do, I always get the same thing - the dark hot chocolate with waffle balls. If you haven't had it, you are missing out. It is heaven in a cup.

Day 8 - Six o'clock

Today I almost forgot to put up a picture so I had to recycle one that I've taken before. My alarm goes off at 6 am every work day and when I wake up, the first thing I see is the shelf next to my bed. This is a picture of the shelf which is stacked with my ever multiplying and much prized jewellery collection.

And no, I definitely don't have enough!

Day 9 - Your View Today

I have spent most of my day being a bum on the couch so my view has involved:

1. AFL players and wondering why they must fumble with the ball so. Stupid game. (sorry Victoria)
2. Don (sexist but sexy) Draper
3. Food
4. Did I mention, food?
5. J (when I could take my eyes of aforementioned Don Draper)
6. A painting of tango dancers that J bought in Argentina.

No. 6 seemed to be the obvious choice for the photo since J declined being a model and I was too hungry to take photos of my food earlier today.

Obviously my photography skills do no justice to this painting but it is absolutely beautiful and I do spend a lot of time looking at it, dreaming about winning the lottery and running away to a land far, far away. But until that happens, this painting will have to suffice.

This post is part of the #PhotoADayJune Challenge.

#PhotoADayJune - Sign

This is a sign in the office kitchen (above the toaster, obvs).

About 10 am every morning, is burnt toast time. A lot of people eat their morning tea around this time and the entire office smells like toast.

But apparently burnt toast is srs bsns.

The text on the bottom explains in detail how there have been complaints and also includes a statutory warning about burnt toast being injurious to our health. Especially the people smelling the burnt toast.



 I thought this sign was funny because I can't believe it's actually up there. I mean ok, you may not like the smell of toast but is it really that bad that you would complain about it? There are worse smells. But I suppose it bothers some people.

This post is part of the #PhotoADayJune Challenge.

#PhotoADayJune - Close Up

This is a close up picture of a couple of my favourite silver bangles.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I LOVE jewellery.

I really miss jewellery shopping in India. It's cheap and its oh-so-pretty! I bought these bangles when I was in India in 2011, from a little store I have been going to since I was about 13 or 14 years old. I hadn't been there since 2007, yet the guy at the shop immediately recognised me (I did after all spend a LOT of money there).

I ended up spending a LOT of money. Again. (surprise surprise) but I cam back with some amazing silver jewellery that I always get compliments for.

This post is part of the #PhotoADayJune Challenge.
 

#PhotoADayJune - On My Plate

This is our dinner tonight - Garlic and thyme roast beef with a side of roast vegetables and gravy.

And because you're asking, it was delish!

This post is part of the #PhotoADayJune Challenge.

#PhotoADayJune - Empty

It's a cold, rainy miserable Saturday on the Gold Coast and not too many people out and about.

This picture is taken just outside J's house, normally a pretty busy street on a Saturday with heaps of people walking their dogs. Today the dogs have decided to stay home however.

I love this street. Normally I'll leave the door open and I can look out onto the street and just people watch. Dogs and little children. Skateboards and short shorts. Crackheads and fast cars.

It's cold today, the door is shut and it's an empty street. Empty.

This post is part of the #PhotoADayJune Challenge.

#PhotoADayJune - Mornings

Day 1 of the challenge and I didn't have to think twice about what my picture should be today.


I am not a morning person. So much so that J insists on cooking breakfast every morning because when I do it, it takes twice as long. Definitely not complaining about that one!

My body has (very reluctantly) gotten used to waking up very early these days. It’s an occupational hazard for the luxury of being an adult. Doesn’t mean I like it and definitely doesn’t make it any easier getting out of bed. So every morning, I tell myself “there’s coffee at the other end of this” and that helps.

So here’s to morning haters and divine cuppas.

This post is part of the #PhotoADayJune Challenge.

#PhotoADayJune Challenge

I'm doing the #PhotoADayJune challenge.

I have never done one of these challenges before and am quite excited about it.

I will be sharing via this blog or you can also catch me on Twitter (@missRBit) or on Instagram (MissRBit).

This is what June is going to be all about:

If you want more info, FatMumSlim has a detailed explanation on her blog.

I will post my photo for today in a bit.

Mondayitis evermore

Happy Monday! Haha jokes – Monday ain’t never gonna be happy unless it’s a holiday!

Image courtesy: hunchypiper.com

Getting a bit used to these short weeks ever so often…another one coming up next Monday for Labor Day here in Queensland. How good would life be with just a four day week? I would happily work 4x10 hour days if I could have 3 days off. I work almost 9 hours a day now anyway, so whats another hour? In an ideal world....

This weekend was pretty unproductive and I think I procrastinated most of it away. Of course, being unproductive didn't get in the way of enjoying some amazing food. I always joke to J about how much our lives revolve around food but it's true. We make such an effort to eat well and well, nothing makes me happier than a happy tummy.

Here are some of my Instagram (Follow me: missrbit) pictures of some of the good food I enjoyed over the weekend...

Saturday night - Chicken parmigiana at Nobby's Beach Surf Club. It was massive and dripping with gooey cheese, just as a chicken parmy should be.

.

Coffee. The addiction has only intensified over the last couple of years, so much so I have converted J (who previously didn't drink much coffee) to a pretty regular coffee drinker. The Burleigh area on the Gold Coast has heaps of good cafes doing excellent coffee, so every weekend I have plenty to choose from. On Sunday morning, we went to Canteen Coffee, hidden away in a little alleyway off James Street. If you like your coffee strong and your decor retro-hipster-chic, you will love Canteen.

The almond biscotti was good too though it wasn't as biscotti-like as I expected. I'm used to biscotti being hard, softening when you dip into coffee or tea.

Finally, J and I headed to Slurping Panda for Sunday night dinner. Slupring Panda is at Burleigh Heads too, tucked away in the Old Burleigh Theatre Arcade. We had a menu dropped into the mailbox and it looked very interesting so we had to try it out. The menu is a mix of different Asian cuisines, from Thai to Korean, from Japanese to Malaysian and so much more - I really struggled to pick just one dish to order.

We shared the Panko duck and pumpkin rice balls with plum dipping sauce and it was nothing like what I expected. In a good way! The batter in which the balls were fried was unbelievable, crispy and loads of taste!

For mains, we ended up ordering the Beef Pho (Thinly sliced eye fillet and wombok in ginger broth with mung bean noodles) and the Pork Japchae (pork belly, eggplant, basil, chilli, heirloom tomato and gai lan in oyster sauce with sweet potato noodles). Both dishes were incredible. They were full of fresh vegetables which J and I both love and most importantly, they tasted so food. The Pho tasted very typically Vietnamese with its mix of ginger and lime and the mung bean noodles blew me away with their taste! The pork belly is always a crowd favourite and it didn't fail to disappoint. It was sort of like a spicy Thai stir fry but with a twist. I was glad the sweet potato noodles didn't have a sweet potato taste to it (I hate sweet potato with a passion). I loved their slippery, glassy texture however and it mixed in so well with the rest of the fresh vegetables.

I think we're going back for more next weekend.

Day 05: #30daysofme

The Task: A picture of somewhere you’ve been to

 

This is a picture of Wategos beach at Byron Bay from my last trip in April. TO say I love Byron would be an understatement. Yes yes I know, it's become very yuppie, has way too many tourists, is overpriced... and all that. But Byron's inherent hippie-ness appeals to my inner flower child.

This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends.