Woohoo

Nat here.  Happy End-of-Financial-Year!

Friday night's a great night for ironing

Nat here.  This was me, seemingly all weekend!  Are you an "all at once ironer" or an "as you go ironer"?  On Friday night over a couple of champas with the girls, I discovered I am a lone ranger in the "all at once" category. I think it's because I love the feeling of putting all the freshly ironed clothes away and having an empty clothes basket.  Am I odd?  I also remember every Sunday night Mum would always have the ironing board out watching 60 minutes and I'm the same!  It was a bit sad seeing Grant Hackett so upset last night wasn't it?  I know he did the wrong thing but I feel deadset sorry for him.

We had peonies at work last week (imported from Holland nevertheless).....I loooooved them

Friday night we stayed down at husband's parents.  Husband's Mum is a superstar cook, we had the most delicious beef with mushroom sauce...

Not to mention the baileys creme brulee for dessert....look at that presentation, I know, she should open a shop...

We had a lovely barbie at Mum's too but I forgot to take photos, we tried kangaroo sausages!

Had a lovely breakfast with S, P and baby R at Verve Lounge at New Farm on Sunday, it was delicious..one of the best breakfast menu's I've ever seen

Baby R is 100/10 cute, I totes pretended she was mine as we have the same hair colour, cue gushing when people (everyone in the cafe) told me how beautiful she was...I would reply "oh, I know, isn't she"?

Read this over the weekend....can't believe Stuart Membery has a store in Singapore and I didn't know until now!!

 Had a cathartic clean-out of the wardrobe on Saturday...

Went to Corner Store Cafe at Toowong for a lovely lunch on Sunday, it was yum.  Although lining up for lunch isn't my idea of a good time.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Faux Asia II

Where did we leave off Part I? On the cocktail train I think...our next stop was Raffles Hotel which is famous for developing the Singapore Sling, the red is the traditional however the guide said it was created for ladies so the husband chose something more manly...the sunshine sling.  You could throw your peanuts on the floor, which was fun.

Afterwards we met Shaanie, CSD and T for some traditional Singapore food court action.  It was brilliant, Shaanie and I went Indian...

Bintan was our next stop after a short ferry ride from Singapore, it was uber relaxing.  Shaanie and I had couples massages!

On the first night we went next door to Banyan Tree and had an amazing three course meal, this was husband's Indonesian delights...

And dessert....that's a creme brulee in front of Shaanie, not soup!

The rest of our trip at Bintan was reading, eating, swimming and repeat.  I think we all could have stayed much longer.  


The night we returned from Bintan we had our last supper in Singapore at a great Mexican place at Dempsey Hill....

It was hard to say goodbye...

Overall, I rate our trip 100/10.   We can't wait to return to Singapore for another holiday with Shaanie and CSD, we miss you guys!! xo

Faux Asia

Nat here, with Shaanie in spirit!  We were meant to collate this post together whilst we were eating our way through Singapore but alas, we ran out of time!  What a trip, and how clean is Singapore?! You could eat off the roads they are so sparkly clean..and green, so much beautiful greenery.  It was so clean in fact that we dubbed it "Faux Asia" because let's face it, it is not really Asia, it is Fasia.

We kicked off our visit with a brunch at the Mandarin Oriental, of course!  Picture free flowing Veuve and Mojito's and every food under the sun available under one roof, amazing!  I think this was the remnants of everyone else's mojito's and lobster....in front of CSD...

After brunch we zipped over to Sentosa, which has been dubbed the Ibiza of Singapore, very apt description, superb people watching!

Shaanie and I didn't want to ruin all the single people's egos so we decided against whipping out our bikinis, rock solid abs and preppy good looks.  I've never seen anything like it!

A bit of sightseeing was in order the next day so husband and I went up to the rooftop bar at Marina Bay Sands and we were thirsty, so we naturally ordered a delicious cocktail and enjoyed the view...

Our trip down the 75 floors in the lift really took it out of us and we needed instant nourishment, I've read that chocolate éclairs and macaroons are packed full of vitamins? Lucky there was a shop that provided just that at the bottom of the lift.

The next night was Shaanie and CSD's wedding anniversary, I can't believe we were in Fij (Bula!) two years ago on their big day!  We celebrated with them by having foot reflexology and massages in China Town...

followed by the best Yum Cha ever, the place is called Yum Cha, how utterly easy to remember for next time!

Stay tuned for Part II of our Fasia trip!

Happy Hour

Gem here. According to Jimmy Buffett whose empire has a massive presence in this part of the world..."It's 5'Oclock somewhere"! Who needs an excuse to hit happy hour? Very few in Cayman that's for sure and particularly on a Friday. And what better way to let the woes of the working week slip slide away by watching the golden sun dip over the Caribbean Sea while sipping on a quenching beverage.
Since we have lived here, we have been introduced to the delicacy of fresh coconut water. Legend has it coconut water is so full of electrolytes and nutrients (and is generally sterile when retrieved from the coconut) that in years gone by if the intravenous fluid ran out at the local hospital, patients were given coconut water in their intravenous drips for hydration, babies have been refreshed on a warm day with coconut water in their bottles and generally it is the Caribbean 'go to' when one is sporting a hangover. Who knows but it was certainly made to be drunk with rum!
There is never a shortage of coconut palm's bulging with the glorious green fruits but getting them down is another story. Not many of my friends are willing to scale the tall skinny trees and many a local have refused to make the climb due to the fact iguanas hang out amongst the branches and so we have had to get creative. Our friend M often leads the charge with yet another makeshift item this time made out of a pool vacuum handle and taping a small saw to the end. It works! However this morning I was blessed with raining coconuts as I walked out our front door to find the gardener precariously balanced up a long ladder cutting down the fruit with a giant machete- Xmas!
Traditionally there is a knack to hacking at the coconut with a machete without severing fingers, creating a hole at the top and accessing the coconut water without spilling a drop, add your straw and there you have it. None of we expats really like the idea of a massive machete lying around in our utility cupboards so yet again we have found a way to yield the goods. For a while there the boys delighted in taking to the coconuts with an electric drill and draining the water. It works but is very messy so after another trip to the hardware store (boys will be boys), the latest method is extremely effective and oh so technical- hammer a peg into the coconut, drain water into jug while creating air vent with screwdriver, strain and put on ice.





Add your rum of choice (we prefer white rum with the delicate taste of the fresh coconut water), add a sprinkle of sugar and or/a dash of bitters (or neither) depending on the flavour/ripeness of the coconut water and there you have it. Grab your fishing rod, watch the sunset with friends and relish in Caribbean living 'mon'

SUNSHINE!



Au Revior

Nat here.  We're off to Singapore tomorrow!! Can't wait.  A few pininterest images to keep you going below.

Great space....

 

Love this!

And this...

Have a ball while I'm gone!!

Haven't packed yet but it shouldn't take long to put an empty suitcase in another empty suitcase for all the shopping I'll hopefully be doing!! 

If only I had a closet like this to come home to!

Lots of sunshine

Nat here.  Hope you all had a great weekend.  Are we all loving the Jubilee celebrations?

Me too!  Everyone looks so happy - even Camilla!

We had a big weekend which kicked off with a 30th birthday at Sassafras for G which was great.  Saturday I had a lovely spa day at the Thai Foot Spa in the Valley with P & L which was divine.  We followed it up with some window shopping on James St where we found some great decorating ideas...

Shopping led to lunch at Bucci, I've have heard so many great reviews about this place and it was nice but we all decided we wouldn't rush back...

After lunch we decided that we just hadn't chatted enough so followed it up with dinner from Thai Chada which we enjoyed at L's house..

I don't usually do anything spesh on a Sunday night but we decided that the rainy weather deserved something yummy.  I whipped up a mini lamb roast on sweet potato mash with vine tomatoes and my new favourite - mashed peas with marinated fetta..yum!

I've been invited along to book club tonight with SB tonight and was told not to bring anything so I whipped up some cupcakes to take...have had the girls at work taste test to ensure they are up to scratch....

The calendar is in sync with the blog this month..

Rush on over to Temple and Webster to buy some drastically reduced Murchison Home sets...

 Happy Monday!!!