Easter

Happy Easter to all those who are currently celebrating!

Despite the fact that I converted to Orthodox in 2011, we still celebrate both Easters & Christmases, and so will Nelly.

The best of both worlds really.

I took the opportunity of Nelly sleeping peacefully to quickly load in some of her Bunnies and snap this shot as I don't have any Easter themed clothing for her, and to then quickly take them out without disturbing her.

Looking at this photo, I realise that she actually has 2 more bunnies somewhere - everyone seems to have gravitated towards buying her bunnies.

When I was younger my brother Lucas won me a Koala at Timezone, whom I quickly christened Sleepy, and Sleepy went every where with me - we have photos of Sleepy in Bali, Fiji and more local destinations.

One time that my siblings were looking after me I had a big fight with Lucas, I can't remember how old I was, but I yelled at him "I hate you and I wish you weren't my brother" which obviously upset him because him being the firebug that he was, he grabbed Sleepy from my bed and set him on fire and flung him off our balcony deep into the bushes. 

I remember being hysterical and the next day having him retrieved with half a foot missing. 

I slept with Sleepy on my bed until the day that I moved in with The Husband.

The point of this story was to tell you that Cat got Nelly a Koala of her own, and I know that she will love it growing up!  

This photo was taken after Good Friday lunch at Geefas house. 

As you can see, I am still in maternity wear as I have a pretty sizable belly still, I would say it's at about 5 months fullness.

This photo is such a weird angle as I am standing on a hill and The Husband is already taller than me so looking down even more.

Dress - ASOS Maternity

Cardigan - Target

Nappy Bag - Marc by Marc Jacobs 

Pram - Joolz

As always, a massive seafood feast was put on and I was there to demolish it. 

Bugs. I rate bugs higher than lobster.

Nelly has impeccable timing and just when I was about to sit down for lunch she started to root around looking for the breast, taking it upon her self to suck on my collarbone until I removed my self from the table and went to feed her.

I messaged The Husband telling him to load up my plate in case there was nothing left by the time I was finished and this is what I returned to, but fear not as their was plenty of food to go around.

It's impossible to peel a prawn whilst holding a baby though. 

 

The aftermath.

Vanilla pannacotta makes this old girl pretty damn happy. 

So, what has been happening whilst I have been MIA? Entertain me. 

Box on Collins Street - Birthday Dinner

It's my birthday today! I'm 24. I keep forgetting how old I am, I don't know whether to blame baby brain or my old age now.

I celebrated early and went out to dinner on Friday with The Husband and Geefa.

I always walk past Box on Collins and make a mental note to myself that I really must try it, after all, I do love seafood pretty much more than life itself.

I made a booking a few days in advance and didn't eat much lunch in preparation of the feasting that I was to undertake, however my stomach just cannot fit as much food in as it used to. Damn you third trimester.

I wore this dress from Target - non maternity thank you very much. The one online is a different print though.

Also my stock standard Witchery Sandals and Sussan necklace.

Geefa arrived first and was seated at the front of the restaurant near the front door, with me following and then The Husband bringing up the rear when he worked out where we were since I forgot to tell him. 

Geefa made a comment that they acted like they had to 'find' us a table when he first got there. 
Considering that they only had about 4 other tables dining at the time, I found this weird but then found out first hand that their service is quite iffy. 

Saganaki cheese pan fried with fresh lemon $12

This is freaking delicious. I usually don't like Saganaki because it is always too rubbery for my liking but this was perfection, despite looking like fish. 

Why does it look fish, why?

Marinated pickled octopus $14.50

Can't say that I tried this, but I noticed that the fellas didn't finish it off which usually tells me something, unless they were both being polite and didn't want to seem like gutsys but we are family so I doubt that. 

Trio of dips home- made served with warm pita bread $15 + $5 for more pita

I don't know why but I just love pita and this pita was no exception. 

It was dripping in oil (I do love me some oil) and the dips were pretty good also.

I could eat pita and dips all day every day. 

Definitely not enough pita bread for 2 grown men and one hungry pregnant lady though so we ordered more and it was more than enough, about 4 times the amount originally given.

Scallops lightly floured, pan fried with a garlic aioli dipping sauce $48

I don't know if this was good or not but Geefa did mention being impressed by the large mass of scallops and polished it all off so they must have been quite nice.

Coconut king prawns crumbed in shredded coconut with a mango and plum dipping sauces $38

Whilst this was nice, it wasn't anything great. It wasn't a meal that would make me want to return.

All of the crumbing came off as I cut into the prawns and it was almost a too dry but this may have been because I asked that they made sure the prawns were cooked through. 

The sauces were nice, and the rice was cooked perfectly. I don't know why the rice being cooked perfectly stuck in my mind but maybe I was looking for a positive. 

King prawns pan fried with cracked black pepper, garlic, lemon juice, spring onions and butter $38

The Husband says this was fine.

It was a pretty small serving compared to mine and Geefas though but perhaps ours were just decent sized servings in the first place. He was eyeing off my rice but the chips filled him up, until we got home at least and then he went and got more food whilst I lay in bed complaining that the third trimester has ruined my appetite and I cannot fit as much food in these days. 

Beer battered chips $9.50 (no photo but use your imagination)

Hate to say it folks but the chips were my favorite food of the night after the pita bread. 

The waitress made a few smartass remarks during the night, with one being "One is Red. One is White." which was accompanied by a raised eyebrow and eyeroll. She said this to The Husband when he was trying to decide between two wines. 

Okay lady, calm down, he still had the wine menu open and was reading it when you came over and demanded we order more drinks, despite the fellas still having beer to drink before their meals came so it should have been obvious that he was still deciding. Sheesh.

I asked the waitress what she could recommend on the menu as The Husband and I ended up wanted to order the same thing (but try to not do this obviously) and she just gave me a blank stare and answered "It's all good" with a shrug. Well, that was a big help - thanks a lot. 

Every now and then I found myself zoning out as the men talked about finance and work. I wonder if anyone else could tell that I was daydreaming. 

For some reason I was staring at this bucket of Coronas thinking how damn refreshing they would be and how I really wanted one. This is weird because I don't drink beer and I don't drink when pregnant. 

Some form of Citrus Tart

As we were ordering dessert she asked us to move our stuff off the table and she took off the table cloth, which was not at all dirty, leaving us with the underneath one and at Geefas quip "I didn't think we were that messy" she just flounced off. 

Way to make us feel like you were trying to get rid of us, at 9pm on a Friday night when you still have other patrons in.

Vanilla Pannacotta with Apple

This was really, really lovely. I just love pannacotta, all day every day.

The Husband and I shared this, pity!!

I didn't mean for this post to turn into such a whinge, what a Debby Downer I am. 

I don't like complaining about staff etc but sometimes it has to be mentioned, and it seems like I'm not the only one with these thoughts judging from the online reviews! 

Obviously I am not a real critic (ha, what a laugh) but I do like to eat and poor service doesn't make me happy. 

Regardless, my birthday dinner was lovely and I like going out to dinner with The Husband and Geefa!!

Pros: 

Nice central location

Easy to get a booking

Food brought out very quickly

Good Serving Sizes

Food was nice (see below)

Cons: 

Service

Food was not great 

Pricey for what it is, alcohol also pricey

Would I go back? I would not go out of my way to go back, there are plenty more fish in the sea (get it? seafood restaurant!) for me to try in the city. 

Have you been to Box on Collins Street? Your thoughts?

Feliz Navidad. Joyeux Noel. Hristos se rodi. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates, and to those who don't, I hope you enjoyed a happy holiday regardless!

Last night whilst watching the Carols by Candle light and munching on my lamb lollipops, I turned to The Husband suddenly and started to cry into my dinner. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what was wrong.

I tried to explain that I was just really sad that I wouldn't be with all of my family for Christmas.

Maybe it was my pregnancy hormones, I'm not sure. I also kept thinking of how good Christmas would be for us next year, so maybe it was a bit of happy tears at the same time. 

My mum is still in Perth, Cat is in Ireland, Liz and the boys are in Adelaide, Lucas is in Afghanistan, Greg is in South Africa and we wouldn't be seeing Joanna. 

I don't remember the last time that we have had Christmas in Melbourne and I didn't see my mum. 

I did get to see Geefa and Joseph though which was good!

It's comforting to know that next year Lucas will be back from Afghanistan and Cathy will have moved back to Australia - I just cannot wait.

I don't know how those who have lost family members feel on Christmas, but I imagine it to be really hard for them. If this is you, I hope you were okay and not lonely today. 

Anyway, on to brighter things.

The Christmas Tree at Dad & Bets house was looking a bit sparse on the bauble front this year.

I'm trying to decide what colour combo to do our tree in next year. I figure for our first real (full sized) tree that we should go traditional, but just what is traditional?

I nominate this as my favorite Christmas Table Setting to date.

This is last years table, and whilst it may be more Christmas-sy, I prefer this years but there is no denying that Bet doesn't mess around when it comes to decor.

See the little dice like things? They are actually vintage scrabble pieces from before they were flat.

The paper that the place cards, which contained lollies, were wrapped in was actually paper found in my Nana and Grandads house, dating back to the late 1950's - pretty awesome to be able to incorporate that with our Christmas Lunch if you ask me!

Don't worry, I've kept mine and wont be throwing it out. 

This bread was the business. It had spinach, thyme, ham and all things nice. 

I know that Bet said the little pots had to be cured (is this the right word? She had to soak them in oil, bake and repeat a few times for them to be suitable to bake the bread in). 

Here you go Joey, stop saying I don't feature you on my blog. It's your time to shine.

Christmas Lunch always includes seafood. If it didn't, perhaps I would not turn up. 

This is just a quarter of the spread. 

After gorging my self on Lobster, Bugs and Prawns I really struggled to eat the hot foods, ham, turkey and the like but did manage to jam some salads in.

I nearly lost my cool yesterday making custard for the trifle I was preparing in honor of my mums absence. I only burnt 4 saucepan loads before mastering it and cursed trifle all the way to the lunch. 

I chose to omit the sherry that my mums recipe calls for but I still think that it tasted pretty good!

My attempt at a love heart made of jelly. Or jello for those of you reading from America.

You know that it is Trifle Season when you grab the last box of Port Wine flavour jelly from Woolworths.

Look, I know that everyone says the alcohol content evaporates during cooking but I chose to not eat the Christmas pudding anyway.

How adorable is Raina just chilling out with her new headphones in?

The adorable noodle box that my gift from Dad & Bet came in. Look how cheap Fords were going for back in the day. 

In case you were wondering what I wore today, wonder no more.

I didn't want to wear my fitted red dress, I need all the room I can get for extra eating so I trekked to the maternity store, Maternity Collective, in GPO and bought another dress from Soon Maternity - the Kara dress.

I am really annoyed though as I paid full price for it, and it is on sale on the Soon Maternity website. 

That is just not right!! What a rookie error. 

Kara Dress - Soon Maternity 

Lovisa Necklace

Witchery Sandals 

Baby Bump at 29 weeks! 

My hair is finally long enough for me to curl at home, hurrah!! I curl it into full on ringlets and then spray and brush out a little. 

As you all know by now, I am not afraid to wardrobe repeat and wore the same outfit on Saturday too. 

This dress is so comfortable. I am just annoyed that I didn't check the website as I knew that the dress that I got for the work party was on sale. gjskergiksh. Does this annoy others too??

Anyway, you will see a lot more of this dress I am sure. 

The Husband and I are not swapping gifts this year, we have enough to buy! He wants to go shopping tomorrow for stuff but I have become funny about crowds and people bumping into me and my belly so maybe I will give it a miss. I don't find the sales to be that good anyway. 

I return to China Bar

I messaged The Husband last Tuesday asking him if he wanted to go to China Bar for dinner, my shout.

He was immediately suspicious considering it wasn’t his birthday, ha.

He said no.
I kid you not, it took about 20 messages back and forth with me whining about really wanting to go that he agreed. Seriously, how could you say no? 

I met him after work and I started the night with about 5 plates of seafood.

It never fills me up, I just keep eating and eating and eating and eating and you get the drift. 

I’ve decided to start enjoying oysters, but I need lots of lemon to actually suck them down and it is so hard to resist the urge to chew them!! Does anyone chew them?! 

I had to make my way to the dumplings, sashimi, curry, fried prawns etc eventually and that’s when I started to fill up. 

I’m still not very adventurous with my food choices, I am such a creature of habit and I know what I like but I am branching out, I mean come on, I have been eating oysters! 

 I swear that I pile my plate so high with the dumplings, I am a hazard when walking back to our table. 

I’m not big on dessert at buffet places.

Never have been, never will be.

The Husband gets all excited about the ice cream though and has to sample at least one of every dessert. 

After my small dessert plate I went back for seafood. I’m not one to eat in order.

I’ve had lots of people on twitter and the like, telling me they went to China Bar after reading my last post on it. Did you go? Did you like it?

The service was far better this time than it was on Mothers Day thankfully. 


Great, now I'm hungry.