Christmas is the perfect way to end the year

My warm fuzzies about Christmas...

Here down under in the southern hemisphere, we don't get snow. Its gets hot and humid. Although admittedly, this summer is whacky because the weather is bipolar. 

Sunny blue skies and then cloudiness sets in as afternoon rolls around... Rain, Thunder and Lightning!

Enough about my observation of the weather, more about christmas. 

Never a disappointment, family, an abundance of food and Presents!! And of course, being catholic - Happy Birthday Jesus :) 

My family celebrate christmas starting on christmas eve - Not the traditional idea of Christmas day celebrations.. Because my family and I celebrate starting on christmas eve, chatting and eating right up until midnight, so we make the instant crossover to Christmas Day and open all the pressies - no sleep (or time for Santa to leave pressies) between christmas eve and clocking over to Christmas day. To me this is the best Christmas tradition EVER!

This year's festivities started with attending Christmas Mass at 10pm. Followed by driving around to find houses in the local area who got creative and motivated enough to put up christmas lights. As you can see below, I took some snaps of my favourite ones!

Tree wrapped with lights

Stuffed koalas in a tree

The Grinch + Minion stealing Lights

Blow up carousel and Santa

Spelling the official Christmas greeting in lights

Precious little lit up reindeer

These are not fireworks, but pom pom lights hanging in a tree

Then feasting begins, glorious eating of food whilst chatting and taking pictures with family. Then the countdown to midnight as if it is New Year's Eve, without the kissing. Then we bust out the presents (skipping sleep and straight to the excitement). I mean think about it... trying to sleep from the excitement of Christmas day - Why wait?! Lol.

And of course pictures of the spread of food can't be forgotten (a memorable snapshot to commemorate the effort of mothers' home made cooking) - my life very much revolves around the enjoyment of food...

My Family's Christmas Eve Night/Early Morning Feast

My Partner's Christmas Day Lunch Feast.

Merry Christmas and (very soon) Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading my Blog!

Keep it sweet <3 

Teacup Love

All photos and written content are under copyright 2014 © by the account holder of this blog. Seek permission via ilikeilove.teacup@gmail.com to use blog photos and content for commercial purposes. If using for non-commercial purposes, feel free to use but with acknowledgement or a link to this blog. 

Magnifique Eclair eatery in Sydney (Bondi) 12 Pics

Eclairs like I have never seen before! It's food ART! Magnifique :)

If you are a sweet tooth and want to read about how I came about this dessert discovery then read on..
Was driving along Bondi Rd in Sydney heading towards the Sculptures By The Sea annual event (which takes place from 23 October - 9 November 2014, another blog + video to come soon about this event). 

Naturally, I love food and waiting in the insanely bad traffic (because of Sculptures by the Sea) I noticed a sign for an eclair shop. I am a hug eclair fan, it the combination of pastry and chocolate and cream that is so decadently irresistible and very naughty for a ladies waistline. However, you only live once and I am a sweet tooth and hence did not resist.

I insisted and begged my partner to take the detour with me to check out this place. My friend was there also, and our eyes popped open, jaws dropped and we started a salivating over these gorgeous, or should I say magnifique array of eclairs. In various colours and flavours. This changed my whole perception of the traditional, cream, chocolate and pastry eclair.

I felt like I fell into some sort of eclair room in the Willy Wonka factory!

With no regret, I spent the most I have ever spent on eclairs in my life! Bought four eclairs to share with my family, this set me back about $30 from memory, as the eclairs ranged from $6.50 to $8.50 for the normal sized eclairs. As there were mini-me sized eclairs available, I think they were about $3.95 or so.

And now the best parts, admiring these delectable eclairs... and yes (to me), they taste as good as they look...

 If you want to know what it looks like from the outside... And of course want to know the darn name of the place of course ... La Maison De L'Eclair

A few more inside pics, there is seating.. but a limited amount, not for huge groups of people. Notice on the bottom right, the giant jar of Nutella, HUGE (knowing how I eat Nutella, if it didn't expire so quickly... that size would be like a 4 year supply for me.. lol)

Keep it sweet <3 

Teacup Love

All photos and written content are under copyright 2014 © by the account holder of this blog. Seek permission via ilikeilove.teacup@gmail.com to use blog photos and content for commercial purposes. If using for non-commercial purposes, feel free to use but with acknowledgement or a link to this blog. 

Sunshine and summer is coming... Yay!

The sun is out and the Jacaranda trees are in full bloom in Sydney.

I was working at Paddington last week and decided to take a stroll under the sunshine. A stunning reminder of the summertime to come. What a beautiful day it was a week ago. 

Funnily enough, today was the opposite?! Thunderstorms and heavy fat rain, flooding the streets leaving giant puddles everywhere ... Anyhoo.

Took some pictures to capture the feel of the sunshine I caught last week. Jacaranda trees only come out around this time of the year, as you can see they have bloomed and already the flowers are falling to the ground. I think they must have similar life spans to Cherry Blossom trees... they might be cousins (I am making this up of course and have not thoroughly researched this, simply making an observation).

While in Paddington I finally got to see some Yarn Bombing in action, normally I just see these in pictures, but last week I got to see some real Yarn Bombing. Even better in real life. Something very cool about knitting beautiful wool/threads around a tree, wish I got to the see the people who did it.

I always wonder though if the tree is still okay with the knitted fabric covering it? I visited again a day ago and the trees seem as Happy and alive as ever, so it is probably fine for the trees. Will check up on it again in a years time probably :)

Thanks for reading my Blog!

Keep it sweet <3 

Teacup Love

All photos and written content are under copyright 2014 © by the account holder of this blog. Seek permission via ilikeilove.teacup@gmail.com to use blog photos and content for commercial purposes. If using for non-commercial purposes, feel free to use but with acknowledgement or a link to this blog. 

Cute Animal Shaped Desserts/Cakes - (Awww and YUM! at the same time)

I saw these cute animal shaped edibles in Sydney (Australia) city today (November 2014). Thought they deserved their own blog post.

Spunky little chick bird with a top hat and tiny fin-like wings

(From 85º Bakery, George St, Sydney CBD)

Adorale round piggy with little legs and hoofs, and Puss-in-Boots like eyes.

(From 85º Bakery, George St, Sydney CBD)

 Aren't these little pups precious, bow and all!

(BreadTop, inside World Square shopping mall, Sydney CBD)

Also saw some fun looking ice creams which were animal & Hello Kitty inspired ice creams in Westfield Chatswood the other day (Shop was called "Pop Choc 'n' Rock")...

Just wanted to share some of what I literally consider eye-candy!

Delicious, colourful and great looking all at once - Almost seems a shame to eat such edible artworks.

Funnily enough, I do find it hard eating foods shaped like animals, especially when they are soooo cute! So I might eat a bit of the leg first, then the arms, then the torso.. eating the head always seems to be the difficult part. 

Keep it sweet <3 

Teacup Love

All photos and written content are under copyright 2014 © by the account holder of this blog. Seek permission via ilikeilove.teacup@gmail.com to use blog photos and content for commercial purposes. If using for non-commercial purposes, feel free to use but with acknowledgement or a link to this blog. 

Borocay Philippines... Tropical paradise!

Borocay 

My second visit to this island paradise :) 

I would highly recommend this holiday destination to anyone who wants to go to paradise on a budget. There are expensive luxury resorts on this island, but you don't need to spend too much to enjoy the natural paradise that surrounds you on the island of Borocay. 

The view from the beachfront bar of our stay at the Whitehouse. 

Accommodation: 

Stayed at the Whitehouse, it was like hotel/motel, affordable and decent. I would stay here again, but would probably like to try a different stay next time. Key benefits would be the air-conditioning, the beachfront bar area (as pictured above), the super friendly and attentive staff and a refreshing drink on arrival. Something you may want to try are the affordable massages on the beach, hearing the ocean while getting a massage is an experience I often  do not get to experience everyday ... the 1hour massage cost me what I sometimes pay for lunch, AU$10! (400 Pesos at the time).

Keep in mind the bar food is so-so, if you do not want to be disappointed order something fried or something from their traditional filipino menu. Some cons, issue with the water pressure in the bathroom, which they fixed within a day, and the hotel furnishings and and general fixtures could use some refreshment. 

Shopping:

There was a small main island shopping area, which was open air, so it felt like a market. There were a few air-conditioned shops in this main shopping area, was not compelled to buy anything while there, as they were things I have seen before on my travels. Saw some nice bathing suits, but the size large was the equivalent of a size 10 here in Australia. The only thing I physically bought were a few knick knack type souvenirs for friends. I bought a shell purse and shell bracelets. Spent much more money on food!

Food:

Good food was hard to find while on the island. The only place I enjoyed eating was at Gerry's Grill, so delicious! (but obviously not a useful eating recommendation for vegans or vegetarians - sorry). Interestingly, there was a Starbucks - a welcome sight for my partner who was homesick from the familiar. Also, I highly recommend you try a 'Mango Shake' while you are in Borocay... they make them so well on this island.

Enjoying the warm weather and cool, calm and aqua clear waters.

If you want to see some brief video footage of the highlights of my trip & see fire dancers pull some awesome moves, you can watch all this in my video below...

Keep it sweet <3 

Teacup Love

All photos, videos and written content are under copyright 2014 © by the account holder of this blog. Seek permission via ilikeilove.teacup@gmail.com to use blog photos and content for commercial purposes. If using for non-commercial purposes, feel free to use but with acknowledgement or a link to this blog. 

Sydney Zombie Walk 2014 + Pics

The Zombie Walk in Sydney is an event to raise money for the Brain Foundation. More information can be found at http://www.sydneyzombiewalk.com .

Not sure if there is another walk like this around the world actually?! Please leave a comment if you have. Would be curious to know if there are other ones around the world.

But being a Walking Dead fan, this was an opportunity not to be missed... to dress like a zombie, be dead for a day and raise money for a good cause.

This walk is a lot shorter than most other charity walks/marathons I have taken part in, as you can see in the map below...

I personally went for a simple and realistic approach to my zombie getup, not one to seek too much attention. I used white and grey face paint to cover my exposed skins. I then used Extra Flesh - Fake Skin (by Mehron) to create the fake cut on my face cheek and the fake bite mark on my arm. I also needed black eyeshadow for the fake bite mark on my arm along with some fake blood. (Pictures below)

I used Cottee's thick chocolate syrup mixed with pre-made fake-blood to make the blood texture more realistic. What was not so great were all the flies I was attracting because of the chocolate syrup. Although, all the flies hanging around probably added to the realism of me being a rotting corpse.

  

     Zombie Selfie                        My Zombie face (kinda look drugged)             My fake cut

My friend on the right only wore one contact lens.. definitely added to her zombie look!

Random zombie clown

This fellow wore red contact lenses.

These ladies went all out! I was officially been out-zombied.

This dude was popular with the camera... not everyday you see a zombie with a keyboard jammed into their head.

Keep it sweet <3 

Teacup Love

All photos and written content are under copyright 2014 © by the account holder of this blog. Seek permission via contacting ilikeilove.teacup@gmail.com to use blog photos and content for commercial purposes. If using for non-commercial purposes, feel free to use but with acknowledgement or a link to this blog. 

The Philippines (Manila and Borocay) + video of Buffet at Sofitel Hotel

October 2014

I went to Manila in the Philippines a couple of weeks ago for a holiday.

First time for my partner to visit an Asian country for the first time in his life... he described it as an eye-opener. Always is when you come for the very first time. But he loved it! <3   He had loads of fun meeting my relatives and trying the food. 

Only natural to put on a couple of kilos/pounds while on holidays ;) Should try not to, but the food is so darn good. As you can probably tell, I have unintentionally turned this blog into one all about food. I cross my heart and promise I will have non-food related blogs in future.

Anyhoo...

I was born in the Philippines but have spent most of my life growing up as a child/teen/adult in Australia. 

If you have never been to the Philippines, I recommend visiting the tropical island paradises - Borocay and El Nido!!

This trip, we spent time in the city of Manila and on the island of Borocay (I will have video footage of my Borocay  highlights available on Youtube, coming out in the next couple of days).

My highlight would be Borocay, Why this is so....

• (In my opinion) Best Mango shakes in the world. Buying Mangoes in the Philippines are like the ease of buying apples in Australia.
• Hour long massages on the beach with the sound of the ocean in the background - conversion at the time, it cost us only AU$10.00.
• The clear waters and fine as powder sound. It was was bliss!

Fun fact... They have a Starbucks on the island ... with air-conditioning :)

Highlight during my time in Manila would be the Malls & Shopping and the Sofitel Hotel, is a destination all in itself. One of the best stays & the lunch buffet is like nothing I have ever seen (the video below can give you an idea of how amazing this buffet was).

On returning home to Australia, we relished in the fact we could once more drink tap water freely and   safely in large amounts. As we had to be diligent in drinking only bottled water and asking every single place we ate at in the Philippines NO ICE please! Otherwise, we would have been very ill.

On a side note, if you are wanting to find some affordable and delicious Filipino snacks to take home for other to try in your home country the following are highly recommended... (Took them to work as my souvenir to my colleagues, or as other Filipinos would refer to as Pasalubong) and they went down like a treat, ALL GONE by the end of the working day, every last crumb!

From Left to right, Jovy's Crispy Pili Nuts, Choco Uron Chocolate Coated polvoron (Graham flavour, 2 in 1 coated) and Philippine Brand Dried Mangoes.

Keep it sweet <3

Thanks for reading my blog ;)

All photos, videos and written content are under copyright 2014 © by the account holder of this blog. Seek permission via contacting ilikeilove.teacup@gmail.com to use blog photos and content for commercial purposes. If using for non-commercial purposes, feel free to use but with acknowledgement or a link to this blog. 

A Few More Ampersand Cafe Pics (Paddington within Sydney, in Australia)

For more of a description about this cafe or more food pics, please visit the blog previous to this one - Thanks :)

Keep it sweet <3 

Teacup Love

All photos and written content are under copyright 2014 © by the account holder of this blog. Seek permission via contacting ilikeilove.teacup@gmail.com to use blog photos and content for commercial purposes. If using for non-commercial purposes, feel free to use but with acknowledgement or a link to this blog. 

Ampersand Cafe Paddington (Sydney, Australia) + Food pics

Can't say enough about this cafe! (Good things)

I wanted to give a shout out to this lovely cafe located in in the suburb of Paddington which is a 20 minute walk from Sydney Townhall.

In this post you will find a series of (food) pictures taken on various days throughout the last couple of months. I have been going to lunch at Ampersand whenever possible during the weekdays when my employer sends me to work at Paddington. 

Always look forward to spending my hours here.

The reason for this is...

• The deliciously interesting and healthy food options (this is the key reason). They have a set menu available, but it is the many specials of the day they have in their shop window that I always try.
• The quirky and fun furnishings themed throughout.
• The option to eat outside or inside (They have a second level upstairs or if room runs out you can go down below to their lower level).
• There are bathrooms!! (as often eateries these days share bathrooms and share a key for people to borrow and take with them - not always confident of how hygienic a practice this is? I mean think about it, are there special hooks to hold these shared bathroom keys...hmmmm...)
• They also offer a range of desserts and hot/cold drinks.
• THE BOOKS! If you sit inside to eat, you will find yourself surrounded by books on shelves. You can read them before, during and after you eat. Free entertainment for all may lunch hours.(They have a varied and good selection of books)

Keep in mind...

-> Price is not too expensive, but also not super cheap either. Cost is slightly above the average cost for lunch. In my eyes, worth the cost.

-> This place serves mostly healthy food, but they do it with such pizazz. I normally hate eating vegetables - but they certainly know how to make veggies appealing.

-> They have some delicious breakfast options too!

-> Gets incredibly busy during the week from 12:30pm to 1:30pm

If I had to rate them, for a cafe I would give them a 9/10. 

Salmon, Kale, Corn, Rocket, Spinach and a dash of Paprika.

Ricotta cheese, rocket, pasta, broccoli, capsicum, mustard seeds, pesto, olive oil

Sweet Potato slices Deep Fried with Aioli

Chick peas, Pumpkin, Capsicum, Spinach, Eggplant and Almonds (A delicious sauce of some sort)

 Mushroom and Kale Arancini (rice inside has a nice flavouring, maybe a broth of some sort), covered in a red sauce (tasting very similar to a salsa type sauce), it came with a side of rocket.

 Pasta, with capsicum, a delicious sauce of some sort, eggplant, rocket.

Keep it sweet <3 

Teacup Love

All photos and written content are under copyright 2014 © by the account holder of this blog. Seek permission via contacting ilikeilove.teacup@gmail.com to use blog photos and content.