holly pop lolly pop

Simple Arithmetic.

2012-02-23T20:32:00.001-08:00

Happy hour drinks + precious friends = a jolly good time! Simple.

So, I'm home from Canada and the USA. I had a shmarvelous time! Properly wonderful.

Upon returning, I promptly uploaded my photographs to my MBP only to have lappy flat line on me.. At only 6 months old! Cha!! So anyway, hopefully the Apple 'Geniuses' will unlease their genii on lappy and magically bring her and those pictures back to me.

How annoying is it when your manicure does not dry. Exclamation!

University starts next week. Excited?

Most awesome February.

2012-01-31T19:37:00.000-08:00

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! The day is finally here!!! The Eve of Canada ski times, that is! I'm just procrastinating packing for a bit right now. This year it's ultra max excellent because I am journeying to New Orleans as well! YEWWWW! I got these cute boots for walking around with Lindsey. I've never met Lindsey before but we've been e-friends for 10 years. More? Maybe 13? I am excited to meet her!!! I am excited for jazz and swamp people and allla that too!

See you, suckas!!

Moncur

2012-01-29T03:11:00.000-08:00

What did you do on Saturday? In the afternoon I watched the Lincoln Lawyer and then made mojitos before convincing my boyfriend that dinner at Bistro Moncur was the go.

Love bubbles! Date night bubbles are the best.

This salad with baby beetroot w/ goats curd and cucumber w/ watercress totally changed my mind about goats curd. Oh yeah. What is a good light goats curd available in shoppes? I want one which is really light and not too tangy or anything.

Prime fillet with béarnaise and fries. This steak was pretty good. I enjoyed it and all but if you must know, it was rather overcooked. Much closer to medium-well than medium-rare. I have a soft spot for dry meat though as that's how my nanna always cooked for us. Mmm. Salty dry lamb chops..

I would definitely go back, and I'd go about 8-8.30pm as the restaurant is half empty at that point. So suburban. Sydney is great and all, but I feel as though I hardly known my own home town. Where is good in Melbourne?

This is what I wore. All Sass & Bide because I am obsessed. Silk top, shiny shorts and my usual Ferragamo patent bow flats. I always wear flats. You would too if you had cyborg toes. I had my hair done on Friday. Just a trim. Can you tell that don't like to iron? If I've got my wits about me, I ask my mum or boyfriend to do it for me when they've got the iron out, but clearly that is an imperfect arrangement. Ironing, gross. It's just not my thing..

Mojito, yeah.

2012-01-26T14:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder if I am wasting my time at steakhouses and fine diners when the best love match ever is mojitos with hot chips and aioli.

Did you have a Happy Australia Day? I forgot to vote in the TripleJ hottest 100, so the day was essentially meaningless to me. Shame.

Horry wears leather skirt

2012-01-22T17:27:00.000-08:00

Oh, no. The next time I decide it is a good idea to take outfit pictures in public in daylight hours I will steady myself with a cocktail first. Is it natural to want to die every time someone walks by? Between the wanting to die thing and my natural proclivity to make derp faces it's not easy to get a decent picture.

I had a lufferly weekend! Did you? I had personal training, cocktails and tapas. Watched French rom-coms and took our friends to a new brunch place which was creppé and they took us to an Indian restaurant which was fab.

I keep meaning to organise tickets to the Picasso exhibit before realising that I'm essentially an uncultured sloth. Has anyone been? Hopefully next weekend!

There's a brand new dance, but I don't know its name.

2012-01-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

My new sunnies. I like 'em. But for once in my life I've been struck with some kind of almost.. It's hard to define. Almost like regret but probably more accurately described as GREED. The thing was, I was deliberating between this pair and a Chanel pair which were more 'fuck off, i've just had an elective-cosmetic-surgical procedure' than these. Ya know? These are cute. That's me all over, hey!

I keep them in this macaron box.

Flowers, for you. Just because!

What are we all doing for the weekend?

foodsta.gram

2012-01-18T02:49:00.000-08:00

I still love instagram.
As you can see, I favour the Amaro filter. Some of the other filters are totally sub-prime.

Do you use it? Leave your username here or follow me: pearlypop. But still, leave a note or comment or something so I know it's you and not just some random trying up their followers. Geh!

1. Raspberries are prime right now.
2. Home made salad w/ vegies/quinoa/candied walnuts/parlsey and YUM stuff.
3. Sass & Bide tee I searched Hell and high water for.
4. Brunch at Mad Spuds
5. Melbourne skyline from Crown Metropol hotel room.
6. Current bedside flowers.
7. Complex Geometries silk top w/ Sass & Bide shorts. Worn to date night at est.

Blue Corn

2012-01-15T21:01:00.000-08:00

Maryanne
Nat

R

Merowyn

On Saturday evening I had dinner n drinks with these ratbags! HUZZAH! To be a little bit sappy, I quite adore their faces. Each in their own unique way they are some of the loveliest, most interesting and fun people ever. Sometimes the internet gives out something more awesome even than Salad Fingers. Next time you see R you'd do well to have her to show you her Mariah Carey dances moves. Properly hilarious. I've been practicing for next time.

Summer Sunset @ est.

2012-01-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

Last week we had date night at est. As anticipated, it was pretty awesome.

You like the souffle? Cherry! With kirsch ice cream and creme fraiche. I think the dessert needs to be shown first because it was sublime.

Mash tater! My camera just refused to focus on the mash until I dropped some of my fish on it as I was passing some to Jus. Poor table etiquette pays.

I had a small morsel of this steak and it was not only perfectly cooked by also dripping in some manner of delicious herby butter. More please! As at Flying Fish last week, there was a helluva lotta whispering happening at est. Whispering- so in right now.

My fishie was good but I did have steak envy. The tahini/dukkah sauce was really tasty and I think it would be simple enough to replicate at home.

Dessert again! So pretty and so delicious. Uhh, I tried to bake a souffle at home and everything was going well until I separated the eggs and the oven sparked and billowed electrical smoke in the room. Boohoo!

Happy weekend! What are you up to today? I'm hanging on my mums couch with foxtel and a cup of tea. Later I'm meeting some crackas for dinner. YAY!!!

Flying Fish

2012-01-11T14:51:00.000-08:00

After all the success I had with home eatin' I made a celebration reservation at Flying Fish. I just really wanted sushi, alright? I wore my Gorman leather panel dress again. This dress is actually not a brilliant eating dress but I like to wear it anyway. Say HAIII to my belly button.

Flying Fish is down on Jones Bay Wharf by the Harbour which might explain why the prices are pretty cray. I think it was pretty good, especially the service. I mentioned when booking that I was gluten free and again when I was presented wit sourdough that I wouldn't be having any because I am glutarded and 3 minutes later they bought out toasted gf bread and a few moments after that this gorgeous looking amuse bouche. It was some kind of smokey seafoody puree business. Liked it.

Next was anooother amuse bouche! I think it was Kingfish. My memory is not so good and have you noticed that invariably waiters who explain the contents of your meal have an accent and prefer to speak really quietly? "Mademoiselle, this is a *whisper* on a bed of *whisper* with a *whisperrrr* quenelle *yet more whispers*". Whispers must be so hot in Paris right now.

As a mad chip lover, I have the sad duty to report that the chips were a lil' disappointing. The chilli salt was good and all but the chips themselves could have been cooked a smidge longer.

This entree was pretty good. It was a special. I think it was some kind of carpaccio? With an incredibly smokey eggplant mousse. The smokey eggplant was tasty but maybe a tiny bit too smokey because I had just a tiny bit and I could taste it for a long time.

This is my main. I think it was flathead? Again, whispering was involved.

I overheard another waiter telling the table beside us about the MARRON SPECIAL and fell on my sword. Why oh why did nobody tell me about the marron special?!!?

The desert was DELICIOUS and so nice to look at! I looove meringue, though. It was roasted strawberries, mini raspberry meringue with peach sorbet and some kind of fruit leather. I adore fruit leather. I remember desserts better than anything else :D I had some sushi too but the pictures didn't turn out, so not photos for you!

Hmm, this entry was too review-like for my liking. I'll try harder next time.

Happy Thursday!!

Just Yesterday

2012-01-09T16:19:00.000-08:00

.. I went to visit Elyse in her 'hood. It's so quiet around those parts. Tranquil, even. I wish I had of taken more pictures! It's so pretty and Elyse looked cute. I have no idea how to photograph a human being. I just kind of peered at Elyse with a sense of panic also some dread and snapped away. People are hard to frame!

The non-moving food is the best of all the subjects! Any suggestions? On an unrelated note, I have a hideous caffeine hangover from the three coffees I slurped yesterday, including two icey ones. Om. The McDonalds coffee kick frappe is really good! With all that ice I might even think of it as hydrating. Of course, there was also the vanilla-creme-ice-creme-milky-iced coffee. The natural conclusion to the caffeination was night-long feverish thoughts and heart palpitations, but that's all part of the fun!

As atrocious as I am at humanoid photography, I really am even worse at standing in front of the camera.

Oh I have new sunnies! They were acquired with the birthday money of '11. I dropped my dearly beloved Chloe ones on the gravel at Red Hill Cheese. So sad. It was hard to choose new ones but I was drawn to the butterflyesqueness of this pair.

P.S Thanks Elyse for the pictures of me <3

Dinner time.

2012-01-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

Check me out. I haven't eaten out since last year. Killing it! Last night there was takeaway, though. Check out the sticky rice. Ommmm.

Last week I barbecued some grass fed sirloin w/ a salt rub and served it with a parmesan nectarine salad. OMM. Shared a bottle of Rekoderlig with the MP, too. YUM.

Uhoh, what is Peri-Peri Spatchcock up to with Green Rice? Suss :O

At some point I cooked this barbecued fajita chickeny thing with barbecued spicy/cheesy corn and a salad from the January Gourmet Traveller (my favourite magaziiiine)!!

The salad was really good! It had black beans, lime zest, basmati rice, some red onion, roquette and some other stuff I think! Make it!! YUMMMM. Oh and YEA, that is my Mud Australia bowl platter that I totally needed :-///// Somebody stop me from disseminating all of my money at Mud. Please? Actually.. can feel another visit coming on. I think I'll go with it.

So far I am feeling pretty good with myself.

Next week I'd like to make some fancier/more involved recipes for dinner. Any ideas? They have to be summery.

Bedside

2012-01-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

Sometimes my bedside table is cluttered with receipts and nail polish and letters and occasionally a half eaten snack. One recent sunny morning I noticed it to be quite clean( ie, the junk found its way into drawers) and nice to look at. Ideally it would look similar to this all the time, but I decided to take some pictures for those busy times when its not. I'd love to know what you've got on your bedside table. Share?

Gingerboy

2012-01-02T23:01:00.000-08:00

Oh hey, man! Lookit my necklace. Innit lovely? It's the pink mod necklace by Alexandra Blak made of hand worked lucite and hand dyed rope and all. Oh, and that's me sporting it on 3 hours sleep. Even with only 3 hours sleep, I can go to dinner like it's nobodies business. It's one of my skills. Sleep deprived? Can go to dinner. Heinous flu, puking all day, can't get out of bed? Can go to dinner. Lost my wallet/mind/phone, can't find them anywhere? Can do dinner! That's one of my non-resolutions for 2012. Go to dinner less, cook at home more. I am going to exercise restraint and make budgets and lists and the like. But that is quite a digression because I am here to talk about Gingerboy! Oh boy. I liked it there immediately. The staff were so friendly and happy even at 10.30pm on Friday/ Christmas Eve Eve. That's what we like.
We had some deliiiicious drinks. Namely the piña colada (though they call it something else) and this other one in the martini glass. Cannot remember what that was called. J thought he would be hilarious and rub the chilli from his drink all along the rim of mine. Flea. 'Sif it bothers me, I love it hot.

So the good news is Gingerboy can cook some of their special sort of Asian fusion gluten free and the bad news is that in making it so they just leave out the glutenous ingredient. Say, we had Som Tum and instead of putting the balancing fish sauce, they just left it out. The result was really sweet and unbalanced which is the antithesis of Thai food, amirite? It's nice to be accommodated at all but how hard is it for a hatted restaurant to keep a $3 bottle of gluten free fish/soy/oyster sauce on hand?
Anyway, have some piccus!

Sigh. I feel like I should be better at taking pictures by now. In my defence I had enjoyed a mojito at Siglo before these pictures were taken..So, yeah.

Fun years

2012-01-02T02:32:00.000-08:00

To ring in 2012, we oped for the no-plans-'til-the-last-minute-low-key-dinner-party-with-friends means of celebration. I love hanging with friends and making food! Rather sadly, the nerves of cooking for people usually always bother me and I sod something up. This year it was the watermelon salad. I used dolce gorgonzola instead of feta and it didn't work!! It was yucky! Also the chilli I bought for the salad was muuushy in the middle so I couldn't use it. Sigh. Do you like my TABLE?

Poppin' pink Veuve like we won the Championship game!

And last minute 70% chocolate ganache strawberries.

In other news, the ribs were quite good. I used Jamie Oliver's Epic Barbeque sauce. It was nice but I suspect the EPIC part the title refers to is the houuuurs it takes to make it.

My friends bought some yummy morsels to share so thats good! We drank champagne and had jelly shots and then we ate pie.

We watched the fireworks from a rooftop and then I was in bed by 1am. Loved it so mad! Personally, I don't want to wake up hungover on the first of the year.

AHHHH. I took photos of the fireworks and of my friends but they are ALL CREPPÉ. Why am I so atrocious at the mystic art of friend photography?

Christmas

2011-12-28T18:21:00.000-08:00

Phew! I love Christmas and always feverishly look forward to the food, treats, presents and family time but it sure takes a lot out of a girl. This year I was very thankful to have my Dad home with us. He's been quite unwell this year and has spent rather a lot of time in hospital. My thoughts were definitely with families not quite as fortunate as us in this regard.

Sooo, for lack of smooth segue I'm just going to get right into it. My pictures weren't fabulous and were taken quite haphazardly. Here are some of the less creppé ones!

Emma, in her homemade gingerbread dress. So festive! I just love it.

The turkey J's parents cooked. So good!

My brother would do well to practice his ham carving/knife handling skillz for next year :-/////

The girdlebuster! Which promptly oozed melted ice cream everywhere upon slicing. SAD.

At Mum's request, I got up at 5am to put 3kgs of pork shoulder in the oven. It's her favourite so I was happy to oblige. Mum also cooked turkey and a ham. YUM. My mum is such a champ. She cooks so much yummy food! I love her Christmas table; it's always very festive with her more is best approach which leaves hardly any room for the food. I think this year her theme was 'pirates treasure feast' as there were loads of gold beads and treasures strewn about.

I got a bunch of fab gifties. Maybe I will share some here over the next few weeks.

Is everyone ready for the new year? I'm so not. But I will endeavour to make myself so.. in the next few hours.

Side frame facsimile

2011-12-26T13:59:00.000-08:00

So, did ya have a noice Christmas? I did! But more on that later.

Right now I feel for gabbing about the incredibly full day I enjoyed on Friday (Christmas Eve Eve). Friday included but was not limited to: Flight delays due to faulty generators, macarons, coffee from Melbourne coffee mecca Brother Bada Budan, Christmas shopping, lunch at Bistro Guillaume, drinks at Siglo, dinner at Gingerboy and bedtime at Crown Metropol. Nice, huh? The best part is that- besides meeting up with Rachel- all was 100% spontaneous. Yeee!!
I made a wardrobe change for drinks so more on that later. Here is a facsimile of me in my complexgeometries top that I've worn to death in the last few months. Thanks Rachel for the pics.

Horrypop Moments at 4am.

2011-12-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

I'm back with another dose of Horrypop Moments. Youpi!!

1. Silk and velvet. In Summer. Sigh. Later, I had a cocktail known as a Cherry Back Spider. Dr Pepper+ Vanilla + popcorn syrup+rum+ice cream+ cherry on top. Oh, so good!

2. Gingerbread latte and gluten free brownie with Wendy. A little cafe in Mornington makes their own gingerbread syrup - I think the place is called Raw Sugar? Nice place. Their espresso machine is pink and all!

3. Chicken dinner. Saturday past we celebrated a Christmas with friends. Laura hosted and served a feast of rice, honeyed sweet potato + chickpea braise and this delicious toasted nutty chicken. So good. Pip bought crackers and we all wore awesome colourful Christmas hats! I made a Girdlebuster Pie for dessert but something went HORRIBLY AWRY and the delicious Messina gelato (chocolate and coffee) MELTED instead of setting. Modern day tragedy.

4. There's something you should know about my Nana. It's that, as easy as breathing, she can conjur the most perfect, fluffy sponge cakes in the world. Sometimes with lemon curd, sometimes passionfruit. Me so happy that these gems from my childhood are naturally gluten free.

5. Remember when I wrote about my Mud porcelain vases? I'm still obsessed with these handmade goodies. The store seems to extract money from me by use of black magic or similar. But how sweet is this pink espresso cup? I bought a matching blue one for Manpeach. Ahh! Do not go into Mud unless you have tied your loose pennies down.

Merry Christmas!! I hope it's hot so we can have a swim after lunch. Question: Do you celebrate Christmas and if so how? If not, will you be doing whilst I'm popping Veuve and smooshing yet another sliver of cheese?

Sub-prime baking.

2011-12-21T03:17:00.000-08:00

A spiritually gruelling ordeal was had by myself as I tried to shape this crumbly, cracking 'dough' into discs large enough to stamp a biscuit cutter upon. Boo hoo. I used coconut and brown rice flour. Coconut flour tastes amazing but evidently dislikes being formed into dough with brown rice. Fair.

Arcadia

2011-12-18T11:17:00.001-08:00

Oh my God, brunch.

Last week I decided that I needed to feed my Mud fetish by visiting their showroom on Gertrude St. On a Sunday they don't open until 12pm. How perfect. I think it's very proper that shoppes open only after brunching hour.

My Mumma's breakfast of corn fritters with smoked salmon(and bacon). Hehe.

My breakfast of awesome gluten free mashed potato fritter with the most righteous gluten free toast, ever. Ever. So good. So deceptive in fact, that I asked my mum to taste it first to see if it were really gluten free. Upon biting into it she didn't make a scrunched up Gross Face or anything! It was very good. The bacon and poached eggs were perfection as well. Would repeat business. A+++++++!

I had tea instead of coffee, WHY? Dunno, so we had to waddle up the road to Sonido for coffees. Look at 'em! Fine Melbourne specimens, innithey? I've never eaten at Sonido but the food menu looks amahzing! Want.

My mum styled the coffee picture. How cute is she! Hehe.

Horrypop Moments [1511-2011]

2011-12-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

1. Enroute to dinner to celebrate my boyfriends birthday. Gorman dress. Messy hair. A split in the fringe is true vexation. (terrible picture but cameras loathe to focus on me when my face is in the frame. TRUE STORY. Thanks Elyse for fixing it up <3).

2. Baking brownies for my birthday-boy-friend. I made a GF adaptation of the triple layer number from the Hummingbird bakery book. Brownie, cheesecake, blueberry whipped cream. Note: this recipe is MAX sweetness! Reduce the sugar if you attempt it yourself. I even used part sour cream in the cheesecake layer and it was still max toof hurtin'.

3. The beach on a hazy Sunday. It was really hot and really hazy, I just wanted to sleep the whole day.

4. Rachel. Fabulous Rachel. Need the necklace in pink.

Is anyone else loving the new The Black Keys album? So many gems!

Gingies!

2011-12-13T18:10:00.000-08:00

Spied these in a shoppe in Fitzroy and squeeeeed!

Prepare your mind for MAX CUTENESS.

Foood. You know I dig it

2011-12-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ribs.

How excellent are home cooked ribs? I've never eaten truly divine ribs unless I've made them myself. I've had some very decent ones in Canada but my ribs are definitely the best. Tender in the middle and charred with sticky crispy bits on the outside. Sometimes I use Quincy Jones' recipe and sometimes I use Jamie Olivers barbeque marinade recipe. Sometimes I combine the two. That is what I did on Sunday night. For the side, I chopped up some purple potatoes and roasted them in salt and olive oil for ultra crispy potato wedges. Ribs and wedges aka Carbicidal Heaven/Hell. The secret is to cook the ribs slowly and then before the ribs fall apart, drain most of the cooking juice and add extra sticky glaze and bake until perfectly burnished. I make it up as I go so I can't offer quantities and whatnot, though maple syrup, tomato sauce, salt/pepper/dried herbs and American mustard are my usual suspects.

Monday night we ate butterflied lamb which I bought pre-marinated in lemon, herbs, onion and garlic. First I seared it and then I cooked it in a hot/200c oven for 20 mins. Too long! Still, it was tender and delicious if not pink in the middle.

I slapped together this watermelon/feta/chilli/mint/lime salad to go with. So good!

Watermelly Sarrad
1/4 a watermelon, sliced into wedges
100gm feta, crumbled
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 bunch mint, torn.
1 long red chilli, chopped.
zest and juice of 1/2 a lime
good olive oil/salt/pepper
I think it would work with a limey yoghurt dressing, too! Especially with the lamb..
(serves two)
And then I hacked my finger so no more cooking for me.

Horrypop Moments [2511-0112]

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

YAY, hooray! It's that time of the week again- Horrypop Moments!! I've decided to skip ahead a bit. These events took place last week. I'll probably skip back and cover November next time.

Looking back on pictures is good because I think of all the cool fun times I've had. It's also a tad angsty because I think of all the delicious and otherwise great times I had which I didn't photograph. WOE. Like- for example- last week our friends took us to an AMAZING tiny French restaurant called Mere Catherine. Such excellent food. The waitress was so cute and just like the sweetest grandmother you can imagine. Mere Catherine was very gluten free friendly and I ate the best crispy skin duck of my life that night. After dinner we had perfect cocktails at Eau De Vie and fondue at the Victoria Rooms. Blissss! Yet, SAD. Sad, because there are no pictures. Oh well. Memories live on in my heart and my heart will go on.

1. Spontaneous date at Morena, the new Latin American restaurant in Surry Hills. It's goood. So good!! But you probably wouldn't like it. Also, glutards the staff are super knowledgeable and provide lots of excellent gf options. Get to it!
Pictured here is my spiffy Summer manpeach. Followed by pink snapper ceviche and my main of braised short rib. Crispy on the outside and tender-corny-beefy on the inside. The beetroot actually worked really well alongside and is not just a pretty smear (for once). We also had oysters and scallops but those pictures not turn out sufficiently well to be shown here. Oh and Jus ate ALPACA, which I did not try. The dessert was divine. Think rice pudding creme brûlée - featuring a very crispy topping with notes of cinnamon. Winner.

2. Ikea boxes, satisfyingly squashed and stacked.

3. Peonies. The gorgeous peonies I blogged about were the magical colour changing kind. I love a magical flower.

4. Elyse took pity on me and stopped by to help me sort out my camera issues. Here she is wondering if I am ever going to get it. She did good!! I learned how to auto focus. Haha, it's not as easy as it sounds :P. I made her mexicany salmon for dinner and this pico de gallo thingy w/mango, mint, onion and stuff. YUM. Then we butchered some Haighs mint chocolate frog(a gift from RACHEL) and cherries.

P.S. SANK YOU for the kind words re: my wound. <3333333 my nail polish also appreciated the mention!

Cred.

2011-12-06T16:53:00.001-08:00

Hi!! I am home today. Early this morning, whilst I prepped my salad, I lopped the very tip of my left pointer clean off. OUCHIES! Now have a finger bandage. A finger bandage may seem cumbersome at first but I've found actually very convenient for pointing at things. I'm sure you'll agree, the bandage lends a certain grandness and my street cred is up +++++++. Tis a pity my homie is at his day job.

Christmas Treeeee O Christmas TREEEEE.

2011-12-02T16:51:00.001-08:00

OH YAY it's Christmas Tree O Christmas Treee time!!
AS you can see I've opted out of the traditional green tree (as gorgeous as they are) and have gone for a white woodland tree. I just love it so much!

Here are some of my favourite decorations. I'm not quite done with the tree, but I'm majorly excited and I wanted to share it with someone!! Can you see the sad limb? It must have become broken in the box during the year. D:D:D:

How awesome is the GINGERBREAD Swarovski crystal decoration? I also have a HOLLY Swarovski crystal deccy but I couldn't get a good picture of it..YET. My boyfriend bought Gingy! He doubles as a necklace so I will be wearing it on Christmas Day.

I have mostly non-traditional decorations and zero baubles. I think I will buy some very shiny baubles though. Maybe silver ones? I tend to think it's more about quality than quantity though. What say you? Too many decorations and I won't be able to have a personal connection.

These pressed tin hearts are from Bali this year.

Please leave a link to your tree or general festive decorations in the comments. I would love to see it.

I took some pictures lying under it but they were all blurry. I'll have to get some more because it was so pretty under there.

Horrypop moments.

2011-12-01T02:44:00.001-08:00

Greetings!
After a discussion with Elyse over dinner and chocolate tonight (salmon with mango salsa/giant mint chocolate Haighs frog), I've decided I am going to introduce a new and awesome feature to my blog. At the moment it is to be known as Horrypop Moments! This title is subject to change without notice. Basically this feature will .. feature some of my favourite pictures of the week! YAY.
These are from a week in October/November. I know, right! I'll catch up eventually.

1. Wine and cheese with the bronze goddess known as Nataree. Her face makes me happy!
2. Mochas with my Mum at Coffee Traders in Mornington. Best mochas. Best Mummy.
3 & 4. Pip and Sam. Pippy, in her Melbourne Cup finery, helping us unpack. Sam baking his treats for his work cake day. He nearly lost a finger that night. And there was blood splatter everywhere. Memories.
5. Scottie in my suitcase. A cat in a suitcase!

For this awesome and exciting segment, I'll be using only pictures taken on my camera. For more essential and unmissable Horrypop Moments taken on my iphone, follow me on instagram (pearlypop).

Mud and peonies

2011-11-30T03:55:00.001-08:00

Hello. I'm back, and so soon!

On Tuesday, I spent two hours in a porcelain shoppe and unloaded a bunch of money on some pretties. To be safe, I first bought my Mum a Christmas present and only then gifted myself with these two gorgeous oval vases. I knew immediately that I wanted the larger vase white and would really have liked some pink to go with it but ultimately decided on a light spearminty green. Just because I am adventurous. Not really. I was simply overwhelmed with choice. The shoppe I speak of is Mud Australia. Do you know of the beauteous yet practical items which can be yours for lots of money? I need more stuff and more money!! I especially must have some platters and bowls and plates and dip and soya sauce thingies and a milk jug and a definitely some pretty cups for my morning short black. I am actually turning into my dear, sweet mother. Once upon a time her bowl obsession bored me and occasionally scared me and here I am drooling.
Anyway, when I arrived home I knew I needed some peonies for the vases. Peonies cost the frightful sum of $10 per stem in my 'hood, so I bought only two. WANT MORE. I bought a salad for the same amount. A really delicious BBQ chicken salad with red pesto.

I'm ready for bed now. I'm totally getting up early to go to the gym. After a protein shake. This morning my shake(choc banana) spilled all over my car and I was starving and craving chocolate all day. I had to put my shoes in the washing machine and wear ugg boots allllll day. The temperature was 30c! At the park a lady, obviously quite proud of her powers of observation remarked :'you must be quite hot in those'. Oh my DER.

Disaster.

POOH! I uploaded two near identical pictures. Sorry and you're welcome!

Clean bean.

2011-11-27T21:22:00.001-08:00

Harrro!
So my boyfriend gave the internet peeps the wrong postcode and they haven't been able to connect the internet all this time because of that! WAIIII. I'm not even missing blogging though. I think it's 'cause I realised that I am no good at it! I think I've got a fab picture and i get home to see it and it looks bogus. I know some people blog (and can be awesome) with creppe pictures but I try to have some standards for myself :-/.
Anyway, if you've been reading this blog awhile, you probably know (and love) the a clean living girl I am. Lean and healthy and absolutely no alca-hol! Oh, wait, that's not this blog at all. Oh well. Lately I have really been a clean bean! I started personal training on the weekly, hit the cross trainer and I've also revamped my diet totally. Lots of (vegetarian for the most part) protein and 5 small meals per day. I've not had any diet coke in aaaages and i hardly touch sugar and the sweet, sweet butter anymore. For snacks, I love protein shakes the best because you can put all kinds of stuff in them and make healthy stuff taste ace.
My favourite is coconut mango but I don't have a picture of it D:D: I'll make it tomorrowww, maybe!
The second best is raspberry ripe! This brew consists of frozen raspberries w/ raw cocao powder, Sun Warrior chocolate protein and ice, milk or cashew milk if I remember to buy cashews. IT'S SO GOOD YA KNOW.

Third best is blueberry coconut! I use coconut protein powder w/ blueberries and a drop of coconut oil and LSA. Maybe I will make up some recipes to share with all of your faces.

If you ever, ever ever take spirulina make sure it is the tablet and not the powder. IT REALLY TASTES NON-NICE AND NOT EDIBLE. Although, tellingly, the manpeach has no trouble slurping it :-/////////

Birfday boy

2011-11-22T01:02:00.001-08:00

So this month has been shmarvelous! Lotsa travel and fun gatherings to celebrate my manpeachies third decade of life. To start, we had a big long and lovely dinner with his family at Montalto restaurant followed the next day by chocolate flourless cake with copious scoops of Maggie Beer ice cream (I was in charge of the SCOOPING and I do it good).

Unbeknownst to the either of us, Nataree was dining with her family at the exact same time, EATING THE EXACT SAME MEAL and most importantly BREATHING THE EXACT SAME AIR. No wonder it smelled like hussy in there :-/ LULZ. Nah, totally joking. She's cool and doesn't smell at all ;-//////. So, the restaurant is appropriately picturesque for the Mornington Peninsula. You know, being situated on a hillside overlooking a vineyard (aka where booze is born!) and rolllling green hills and all.

See!

The only disappointing aspect was that there was no French bubbles on the wine list (I know it's an Italian restaurant but I prefer FRENCH bubbles at birthdays) anddd my food was actually mostly cold by the time I got it and and their creme brulee is not gluten free. WHAA? You know my thoughts on unneccesary sprinklings of gluten Tsk. I would go back for the professional service and views at lunch though. :P

I wore this. I'm trying to remember to take pictures of outfits. Why are the 'good' ones always blurry? Maybe that only happens to me. I rely on my mum and bf to take the pictures and my mum is blind in one eye and my boyfriend cares not for supporting my narcissistic pursuits. Sigh.

And then the middle celebration! On Wednesday (the real birth day) I came home from a long day and attempted to fix the cracks in my visage and we went out to dinner at the 'restaurant of the year', Sepia. It really was very good. My favourite part was the marron tail. So gooood! I love marron. The dessert was pretty special too with many textures which danced about in my mouth. Check out the pictures

We did more fun stuff but my attention span is at it's limit. Smell you later!

Cheese.

2011-11-13T15:26:00.001-08:00

So the was cheese had!

I got these two pictures. Pretty crazy. I was running back and forth to the door and I just didn't have a minute to take pictures and then when we went to tapas I forgot about it. Ah well. It was fun! Thanks folloooowers.

Hehe, the cheese looks teeny! I think it was bigger than that O.o. So, as you can see, we had white truffle pecorino, gorgonzola dolce latte and D'affinois! HOW GOOD IS CHEESE! You need to eat truffle pecorino before you die. I was soo disorganised because I had been trapped in all day waiting for very late repairman. The fridge was broken and I had to enlist my friend PIPSICLE to haul 5kgs of ice and essentially do everything whilst I opened a bottle of wine.

This upcoming week is an exciting one, my darling man peach will be 30 on Wednesday. 30!! Thus rendering me olde by association. The weekend was spent celebrating with his family. Pictures soon! This Wednesday we will have a romantic yet rockin' dinner and Saturday night is AMERICAN PSYCHO PARTY. I have hardly organised a thing! I have even forgotten to pass out invitations :O:O I came up with the theme and I suppose that is the entirety of my contribution to this whole thing. I'm more of a dreamer than do-er it seems. I'm compiling some music for the tune bank. Probably should have organised DJ. What are your recommendations? I'm afraid I'm in a slightly melancholy mood and it seems the playlist is reflecting that! You may remember that I recently spilled a cappuccino on my lappy and I LOST 15 YEARS OF MUSIC. D:D:
So far I have:
Bowie, Tupac, The Cure, The Clash, Girl Talk, The Do, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Diplo, Daft Punk, Beastie Boys, Dizzee Rascal, Green Day (vom) Blink 182 & Bon Jovi (excessive saliva but no vom) M83, MJ, M.I.A, Ice Cube, The Presets, Run DMC, SBTRK, Santigold, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye, Billy Ocean and Curtis Mayfield (thanks!)

What else do I needddd??

Fitzroy, duh.

2011-11-03T02:16:00.000-07:00

OH YAY!!!
I made it to 100+ followers! THANK YOU, LOVELY E-PEOPLE. You may be happy/unhappy to know that I am throwing a cheese and wine party for some girlfriends and myself tomorrow - my boyfriend is picking up the cheese bill. Quite nice, yes? Damn, I love cheese! I'm thinking a nice white truffle pecorino. But what else is good? A nice blue and some D'Affinois too! Rhymey rhymey.

So, now on to the main ish of this post: these pictures were the least crap of a whole slew I snapped at dinner last Saturday. I have a new lens which I am loving. I still have troubling remembering to adjust the ISO and F appropriately. Sigh. You've got a slow learner here.

I am suited to issuing a kick up the backside to the next Sydneysider who shows the poor wit to describe anywhere in the state of New South Wales as "So Melbourne!". There is nowhere in Sydney which is anything at all like Melbourne. Not Newtown. Not The Duke and especially not Shady Pines Saloon. Just no. Just let it go.
How awesome is Rachels ring? I found a hunk of fools gold just like that once when I was a kiddy.

I know it may not seem like it from my posts, but I am actually on a health bent at the moment. Lots of exercise and what have you. It is Spring after all. We usually eat out sooo much and it was actually becoming a bore. Travesty, right? So we've cut back and it's better now! Though I do need some ideas for healthy dinners.. as they're not my specialty. What's your favourite healthy dinner?

Sydney tourist board.

2011-10-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

If you follow me on instagram you've probably seen these pictures, so the time for you to tune out is nigh.

This weekend I had a new hair cut. And also at my brow appointment I was used as a training model for false lashes. They totarry suit me.

I looove this silk Sass & Bide top. It's perfection.

Then I had this lychee/strawberry mojitio which I enjoyed by my onesie on account of being liek totally stood up.

Do you think I am overdoing it on the Harbour pictures of late? I should have started this post with "Oh, G'DAYYY! It's Horry here again from the Sydney TOurist Board!" Derp.

Ah well, every visit the harbour still manages to WOW me, despite attempts at engaging my unperturbed Victorian indentity. =O. Yes, I expect you to have no trouble understanding the above sentence. I am going to purchase my daily coffee now.

Bloglovin' et al.

2011-10-19T03:43:00.001-07:00

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Err! Just claiming my blog :D

I am still at 98 followers. That is so cruel. Ehh. I didn't even care about silly followers until my boything piped up about a party! Why did he have to do that? In any event, he has totally back peddled and now claims the 'party' he spoke of is him just him opening the pink Veuve that has been in his fridge since our Anniversary. BOYS! So, whatever.

Babez, if you have the wonder that is instagram comment here and leave your username or follow me, I'm pearlypop.

Here be some of the sweet shizzle you've been missing out on, you silly fleas who don't have an iPhone/instaaaa.

Consider this your notice, following me on insta may induce rabid cravings.

Botanical Gardens

2011-10-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

It was bliss to wake up on a sunny Sunday knowing nothing was planned and we could choose our own adventure.
After a delicious brunch at our usual cafe (where I ordered my usual breakfast of grilled lemon corn bread with tiny felafel's, spicy beans and avocado with an orange juice. I have pictures on my phone but I prefer to not mix camera and phone pictures in one post. It's unholy), we stopped into my boyfriends work to collect the business card invitations we had printed for his upcoming American Psycho themed birthday bash.
We had in mind to drive down the coast and take a walk but since we were already in the city, we decided to stay put and wander through the botanic gardens. In Melbourne we have gorgeous gardens too, but Sydney is so lucky to have such beautiful gardens directly on a the harbour.

After our walk through the gardens, we found ourselves at Finger Wharf.
So we ate seafood and drank cocktails. I indulged my lychee mojito fetish. The salmon ceviche was to die, just die! for, as was the tuna sashimi. So fresh! My scallops were good although the chunks of pork belly could have been crispier. I left them on my plate. Boyface enjoyed the yabby tail pasta.

After lunch we napped before meeting our friends to watch the Rugby World Cup. I watched two games of the stuff this weekend which brings my total of rugby games watched in my life to 2!
It's just not my cup of tea.

Haha.

Hahaha, my friends are crazy and they dress alike. Weirdos.

Amorelita Designs cups!

2011-10-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

Cups!

Today, acting on a hot tip from a friend (HI PIP!), Jus and I visited Paddington Market. Our mission was to buy gorgeously coloured, fine porcelain bowls and cups. They come in so many amazing colours. It's times like these when wish I wasn't stupid and shy because I would really have liked to take picture of the stall. We arrived at the market late (at around 10am) so the salad bowls had already sold. SAD! After much umm-ing and ahh-ing, my heart settled on the mugs you see here. They're pinched on each side for the holding pleasure of small hands. See? Thanks for the present, Boyfriend!

(Speaking of my boyfriend; he has deigned to throw me a party when I reach 100 followers. I'm at the exciting precipice of 98 followers as I write this. Please, lovely random reading this, for the love of cocktails and miniature yet perfectly formed snack foods, follow me :D (I know this only accounts for the people following on blogger so maybe if you're following on bloglovin'/yadayada you could leave a comment and I can 'count' you? Or not, whatever, it's cool).)

Congratulations, Holly.

2011-10-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

YAY! Horry won something! I won a really ace cookbook in Heidi's competition. It's actually ultra awesome because the book is written by the chef of a really ace cafe on the Peninsula! I can't wait to bake the chocolate torte. Mmm, torte.

Thanks, Guy!

Lookit what Justin's Dad brought me from Canada. Hehe- Halloween soon! What are your plans?!

No idea how the nail polish bloggers do it. My hands hurt after contorting them around the bottle of polish whilst simultaneously trying to snap a photo.

Do any glutards read this? I don't mind talking to myself but I'm just over here wondering, is all. So, in any case, this Schar brand of gluten free corn flakes is the absolute ish. It's properly crunchy like normal corn flakes- none of that psyllium husk 'enriched' garbage which leads to soggy flakes.

We have to shift apartments and I am SO HAPPY. We are the most desirable candidates for a shiny new apartment and we are going to the final inspection/lease signing today. YAY US! It is in slightly more awesome location than our current place (which is hard as I love our spot here) and has a dishwasher, modern oven and a balcony. Wee!

WEEKEND

2011-10-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

Friday! A 7am flight followed by a train ride. Boo! Luckily for me, a friend was there with her adorable daughter and a .. wait for it.. box of tiny ponies!

Then Saturday! Thanksgiving! We went to my boyfriends parents house and they served cheese, wine, sake and veuve before a dinner of turkey! OMM. I love Thanksgiving. There was no jelly salad this year and I was sad!! I love jelly salad!! After a walk on the beach we partook of a pumpkin pie. SO GOOD. It was drizzled in melted 85% chocolate and whipped cream. No pictures cause I scoffed it right away. Hehe!

Sunday morning I awoke at 6am and put a pork shoulder in the oven. Later, mum and I whipped up roasted sweet potato w/ rosemary + garlic, creamy mash, home made apple sauce and coleslaw. Dad secretly confided in my mum his fears that 6 hours was too long for a roast in the oven. Silly Dad, it was so good! My Nanna bought over her famous sponge cake which we didn't have enough cream to cover properly. And then we discovered that we actually did have enough cream. Oops, and also yuummm!

My brother had a (manly) fancy for chocolate ripple cake so he whipped one up. Mmm.

September bits.

2011-10-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

I had dear old Elyse over for dinner tonight and she inspired me to post some pictures I had kicking around on my hard drive. Ta, Elyse, please find attached some random straggler snaps from my September.

1. Pan fried kipflers.

2. Wine by the (gas) fire in the Hunter Valley.
3. Cheese and wine with Elyse
4. P & S.
5. Rachel and Elyse in a backalley photo-derp-fest.
6. Booties.
7. Amazing chips at Fish Face
8. Ocean trout ceviche.
9. Gallery
10. Complex Geometries fetish.
11. Sweet sweet coffee.
12. Black textures!
13. Elyse!

Too sleepy for more elaborate descriptions.

Nana bread.

2011-09-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

Homework, banana bread and drinks with some of the best girls Sydney has to offer.. What a nice Friday.

SAADly, for me, that nice Friday was two weeks ago now. Today is Friday also! I'm listening to Digitalism for the first time and soon I'll go into the city to share a 2 minute iced coffee with my boyfriend.

Tonight I must work. What are you doing?

Oh, right. I used Bill Grangers melt and mix recipe for this banana bread but substituted the floury part for Bob's Red Mill gluten free baking mix. Also I add toasted walnuts for crunch. It's an excellent and very easy recipe. Bob's Red Mill biscuit mix is good except it has a very pungent quinoa flour taste which definitely overpowers other flavours. I suffer!

Wednesday

2011-09-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hai!!
So my wednesday started out all civil like..And then i had dinner with a friend. That was good too until her boyfriend showed up. Actually, he's a cool dude. You'd like him. Hi, Sam!

So I learned a new word today. It's "cacklevanish!" My friend Mikey told it to me. God, he's a riot. A cacklevanish occurs when one cackles and vanishes directly thereafter! Have you got it? Ahh, it's amazing.

I've had a really long day. Goodnight!

Thanks P for taking the picture of my boots! <3

Saturday afternoon live form new lappy.

2011-09-16T23:37:00.000-07:00

I love me some tree lined avenues in spring. 'Tis a pity I'm gross at photographing them.

So, today my darling ~~robot~~ boyfriend and I attended a dental appointment together which was fun because our dentist is a super lovely friend. After we walked around until we saw something good to have for lunch. A jug of "group hug" (chamomile, vodka, apple juice and lemon/mint), ocean trout and steak caught our eye. Omm! After we did a spot of shopping and I bought my boyfriend some jeans for his anniversary present.

Did ye notice my new sandals? They're mimco and I like 'em. Usually I can't find sandals because I own two of the wonkiest-yet-strangely-cute excuses for feet ever. Maybe I never told you about my surgical alterations in which I had my metatarsals removed? It's true. Apparently there's a stage one can reach in which walking is actually easier without them. You might have noticed my peculiar walk? I think it's super noticeable in pictures. It's a bit drunk-bitch-meets-bride-of-frankenstein. Or maybe you chalked it up to me being spethal? Now I've gone and taken all the mystery away, sorry 'bout that.

Enjoy your Saturday, lovers.

Hunter Valley in Spring the 2nd!

2011-09-16T15:30:00.001-07:00

For our 7th anniversary my bebe took us on a hot air balloon ride- perfection! Excepting the 4am wake up call, of course. Buhuu! We met up with the balloon pilot at 5.15am sharp and were in the balloon around 7am. What a freezing and glorious morning. Silly me, I hadn't packed a jacket or anything sensible like that. Brr!

After the ride we went back to Petersons Champagne House where we were served a really YUM brunch with a glass or two of bubbly. No pictures 'cause I was sooo hungry!

Hunter Valley in Spring.

2011-09-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning

The restaurant we ate at was rad and they grow their own vegetables on site. Yum!

Weeehehehe! Just revelling in my innate affinity with the vines.

Haha. Poor boyfriend drinks light beer!

and Amaretto.

I'm just not quite sure if we picked up quite enough Botrytis Semillon. What do you think?

I suspect we can do better next time. Please advise.

Oh yeah it was our Anniversary x7! Happy Anniversaryyyyy to us! More on that later.

Love you lappy.

2011-09-01T16:41:00.001-07:00

Today I mourn the loss of my precious lappy. Drowned, torched and taken from me much too young, into Gods hands. I've shaved my head and gnashed my teeth. Now, I share a picture of her on the first day she came to me, only 6 months ago. Wasn't she a good lappy?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

consumer fetishism et al.

2011-08-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

The last thing I typed to Oishee during an IM/rant session Friday was: 'I don't give an eff what bloggers buy' and yet here I am photographing my new shoes. In my defence, I had no idea that I was going to buy these on Friday.

The afternoon sun burns >.<

Earlier today:

And then:

I made mini baseless quiches with proscuitto, spinach, french shalots and a very nice gruyere.

Right now I'm kicking back to some Rage Against the Machine (specifically: the excellent cover of 'how i could just kill a man') and researching duck recipes for tonights dinner.

Fitzroy.

2011-08-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

You may remember Rachel from such posts as Silk Road and that other time I posted about her..Well, this post is about the brunch and a stroll through Fitzroy we enjoyed recently. Me, (with fresh off the plane massive and excessive baggage in tow) teetered my way through the streets in a mode which is best described as "like a t-rex". That is, until Rachel weedled my bags away from me. I'm older (as she will be quick to mention) yet she fusses after me in a very motherly way. Baggage will not be pictured.

I suppose that is not very interesting. Possibly, the most interesting part of the morning was when we purchased FRIENDSHIP wear. Her, a black mesh leotard with a solid heart cut out across the bust. Me, a nude mesh tank dress with a solid heart cutout across the booty. Sounds seedy, right? Is actually totally cute, I swear! ESPECIALLY, when we don them in tandem next we meet! Watch out world: unbearable CUTENESS ahead.

Here are some pictures of Rachel (and later, of me). As you may have already determined, she is very eclectically stylish. I dig it. I lover her DD ring and her Gorman cardy. It is sooo soft! Plus, you see those gorgeous leopards? She wears stuff I think I wouldn't like and makes me like it. Also, she may tell you: "you can take a picture of me but, just don't ask me to pose". Ha. That is because you (the photographer) don't need to ask. She's naturally posey.

Melbourne is beautiful in Winter.

Eating.

2011-08-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

I am so confused now about what qualifies for the blog and what is better left to the tumblr. I'll figure it out!

The important thing is that I just ate this for afternoon tea. Frozen gf crepe + lemon juice + sugar + butter. Gone in 15 seconds.

Last night I cooked a chicky roast and gratin of silverbeet, leek and taters (kipfler + purple ones). Sweet Lord, it was goood eatin'!

The chicken had garlic and lemon zest stuffed under the skin w/ oil + butter and a herb and salt rub on top. I had a some gratin for brekky. We'll be eating this sucker for a few days yet.

The chicken took ages to cook so I made quite a mark on this bottle of Cloudy Bay. It's a nice drop and possibly my favourite white that I can remember the name of. Personally, I love a messy kitchen picture once in awhile. No oily finger prints though. Ew.

In all, I've been eating pretty well lately, in case you were wondering.

Tumblr.

2011-08-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, I've got a tumblr. I'm trying it out to see if it's a good place to share single images which aren't really enough for a blog post of their own.

So, you can check it out, here or you know, not.

friday night.

2011-08-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

hello! jus and i met up with elyse and her boyfriend and we had a merry time which included but was not limited to tacos and coronas for them margaritas for me. we always drink responsibly, of course. elyse blogged it here.

i didn't wear my complex geometries tank for the virgin outing of my galaxies. my arms just weren't up for it. plus, i had to send my harness back for a larger size. cool. i'm sure that's nothing to worry about. so, instead i donned this wicked fifth avenue shoe repair top i found at my new favourite boutique i. it has an asymetically cut-out back of which there are NO PICTURES. close friends and family only, you know? ta elyse for taking these pics <3

AND THEN we split to the venue where we were to see my favourite french electro pop princesse live and killing it.

oh, she was amazing.

the end.

what did you do friday night?

i hope everyone in London is staying safe and out of harms way. my heart is going out to you right now <3

p.s. sorry for the terrible formatting on the outfit pics. i am just learning how to crop. yes, i know.

quick and rough.

2011-08-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

did ye all know that 25600 is a very very high ISO setting?

bwahaha. slightly earlier today, i was e-moaning to elyse about my sad and sorry holiday pictures when she inquired of my ISO settings. she mentioned that perhaps 25600 is not a reasonable setting for outside pictures. i'm such a loser! immediately, i lunged for my camera and took these pictures of my newest delivery with a more appropriate ISO of 200. a bit better, yes? it maybe could have been higher since i was inside, right? i am beyond happy with these leggings. fancy me lubbing something green, blue and red? craycray.

this week we've had two amazing date nights at vini and sake. i took the cards because i am a loser like that. ha. but i didn't have to show you, did i?

i took these quickly and they're still very rough. i should get a backup battery for times like these. sure, i'll continue to flounder for awhile yet, but with the help of my friends i know i'm destined to be a monster behind the camera.

and on that note..

happy friday and a very swell weekend to ye all!

i want you to trust me.

2011-08-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

just practicing being shit at taking photographs again today. i know this will be my favourite outfit this spring. mayhaps i'll don my forthcoming blackmilk galaxy leggings to make it the holy trinity of fucking cool.

(the harness is too small and i am waiting to hear back from zana bayne about exchanging it. i think their e-mail is broken as several back bounced. buhuhu.)

edit: also an extra totally big THANK YOU to everyone who has left a sweet comment in the last few days. <3

babes in a wine bar.

2011-08-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

on friday night i found myself at dinner with some of my favourite people to stalk on the internet! such a lucky little loser am i. naturally, i toted my cammy along and set about terrorising my dinner companions. enjoy.

R from cotton socks is hilarious and suchhhhh a proficient poser! you've got to watch her as she's quite cunning and had me switch positions because the angle wasn't her 'good side'. sadly, it was not my good side either.

horry takes one for the team.

cheeeese. i love me some d'affinois and i need to know the name of this blue 'cause it was incredible!

oh well, i'm back here in sydney and my stalking* is relegated to the electronic realm once again.

zzzzzz me sleepy! nightttty!

*i'm not really a stalker but 'tis late and i'm having trouble coming up with synonyms.

more ubud.

2011-07-31T16:42:00.000-07:00

after being felt up by monkeys the boy and i wandered around in the heat looking for the restaurant the hotel manager said we must try. he said it was a gorgeous little place set amongst rice padi. and that it was walking distance from the monkey temple- HA! it was on the other side of town. heat delirium kicking in, i still found time to pause to take these blah pictures. i'm annoyed that i am still such a crap photographer after many minutes of practice! i have trouble focusing. fer real; what kind of unevolved lifeform has trouble focusing? sometimes i just sit and shake my head at my self.

but anyway, if you're in ubud you must go to sari organik at sunset. beautiful.

on a more positive note, i'm excited for the day when i can focus and begin developing my own style! it's kind of cool that i've started something that is so new to me with so much to learn. (what settings does your camera prefer for really high light situations? as you can see in some of the above pictures- around the tree line especially- it's very bright and meh.)

copper; a true love of mine

2011-07-27T21:25:00.001-07:00

you likeeey our gorgeous light fittings? we got three of these. i think they will look smashing in our new abode. perhaps over the dining table for a warm romantical glow. in addition to these, i chose two other lights which are flute shaped and larger with a rougher beaten finish. i think will look lovely in the garden. they had to take the slow boat and subsequently cannot feature in this post.

we've chosen an architect and our first meeting is next weekend. i can't wait to see the drawings!

monkey temple. FOR REALZ

2011-07-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

The best morning of our time in Ubud was spent at the Monkey Temple. So much cuteness! Baby monkeys and the totally eeety beeety babette monkeys galore! It's a gorgeous place and i recommend it. Hopefully when you go there won't be any hardcore bogans drinking bintang in their bintang singlets at 11am in the am at a damn temple. sigh.

and the .gif i've been working so hard on. damn, i'm a spaz...

how cuuuuute is the tiiiiny ickle monkey hand!!!!!

Ubud

2011-07-22T02:29:00.001-07:00

Oh, hey man! Just practicing my relaxing here padi-side in Ubud. It's a little arrogant of me to say, but I am becoming rather proficient. Most tragically I have to go home tomorrow. Bummer.
My boyface is snoozing at the mo-mo but soon I'll wake him and we will go for food and drinks. Yay!

Bali is a terrifically inspiring place. I'm already devising a plot to come back ASAP-like.

richmond

2011-07-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

saturday with my mum was so fun. we ate, we ate, we ate. breakfast for lunch at new york tomato followed by a turn around fitzroy gardens. oh,i wonder if you'd like to know what i learned? well.. i learned that tinted windows are the perfect accompaniment to an indulgent afternoon tea at brunetti's. a 30 minute nap with the seat reclined is sometimes totally necessary after italian hot chocolates with whipped cream and a flourless chocolate cream layer cake.

richmond is a fascinating place, these pictures were all taken within metres of each other between the car and the cafe.

day + night

2011-07-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

yeyyy! i love my new camera. the good news is that it is excellent. the bad news is that i am still a total noob and it's going to take me a few weeks to get even remotely competent. the auto pictures are sucky (the ones of port philip bay here) but the ones where i messed about manually with the ISO are quite good (night time pictures). i've got to learn how to hold my hands still! so many pictures have been ruined with wobbly fingers. woe.

mothers beach. so many summer-time days right here.

___

later that day..

friday night. rachel <3. two-for-one delicious cocktails, amazing tapas and the worlds most perfectly crunchy on the outside/ fluffy in the middle french fries w/ aioli. silk road sure is pretty. the music in the main bar is very good but 'tis a shame about the dj with a penchant for crazy frog remixes. we left for riverland only to discover it closes early in winter. i really should have asked that young lad (lawrence?) what was in that pipe he smoked so happily.

ETA: ERRR, no idea why some pictures are tall and others are not so! >.<

this morning at hardware societe.

2011-07-06T23:41:00.000-07:00

enjoyed the most amaaaaaaazing breakfast with my oldest and dearest friend today at hardware societe. yum yum yum! we both ce each of the two different baked egg dishes. the menu is looks amazing and i will go back asap.

so, i was giddy with excitement and anxiety this morning because yesterday i finally collected my nikon d7000. i bundled up the unassembled bits and bought them along with me. i tried to affix the lens in hungry jacks whilst i waited for ellie to come meet me. that did not go well and when she arrived i was a bundle of anxious and paranoid thoughts (what if i RUINED it already?!?!). eep! that's when i had the brilliant idea to acost a lovely camera shoppe attendant and ask them to do it for me. the lass found help from was amazing and so sweet and helpful. now i'm confident to do lens changes in the future if necessary. noob.
i'm slowly figuring it out and i can't wait to share some pictures with you soon.

(i'm on my mama's pc lappy and it's driving me insane. how did i ever manage?)

assortment.

2011-07-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

i love tulips.

the beauteous cake sank dramatically 10 minutes after removing it from the oven. maybe one day i will be less terrible at photographing cakes. any cake photography tips? i sure hope it tastes good. i made it glutarded, so who knows?

in other news, the weekend is still over and i am sad. i totally forgot to organise a canada day party. i suck.

bye weekend, you were swell.

2011-07-03T04:34:00.000-07:00

my lipstick is actually a deep, hot pink and not orange :-/

i know, i always wear this. it's just comfy and i feel good in it. i'd love a new leather jacket to alternate with this one.

oh yeah, i had brunch with elyse today. it was good! elyse is excellent company. she took these pictures of me. i'm so not comfortable in front of the camera >.< you can see the pictures i snapped of her here. i finally decided on a dslr and i'mma collect it thursday. yiew!

so what did you do today? this afternoon i napped, drank a delectable mochaccino form bourke st bakery, tidied up the house and baked a huge heart shaped chocolate mud cake for my boyfriends boss. i hope he likes it.

goodbye, weekend.

worlds most gorgeous chair.

2011-06-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

a friend and i paid a visit to one of my favourite shoppes ever on the weekend. it was there that my little eyes spied this gorgeous chair.i wanted to take it home with me immediately but it took a whole day to get the approval from the boy! it was toooorture. he thought we had "no space" and because we're renting until the terrace is renovated that we shouldn't by anything until we move in there. so silly! eventually he decided we should get the chair because it would look really good and because it was a good deal. YAY!!! sadly, he decided all of this 10 minutes past closing time. wah! why, yes i did find it hard to sleep not knowing if the chair would still be there on the morrow. it was. phew. i flew out to victoria and the boy went to pick it up. and now it is OURS!! weee!

bare couch. every time i pick up a cushion i like it says $299 or $299 reduced to $199. bah! hopefully i'll find just the ticket in bali.

i love the colours and the stitching detail and the shape and everything! apparently it is made from antique saris :-/ those people will tell you anything.

i'm totally going to sweep today XD. damn flower petals.

the boys parents visited this weekend whilst i was away and, they gifted us this georg jensen money box for house saving. how cute. i love a nice silver-shiny elephant.

nice ugg boots/leggings as pants combo, holly.

the coffee table deserves an honourable mention. it's made from camel bone and enamel O.o.

i have a new fancy

2011-06-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

my new fancy is none other the wonder which is instagram.

let's be instragram fwends? my username is pearlypop.

let's be friends! let's be bestest instragam friiiiiiiiends! maybe you can tell me how to use the tilt-shift to make the pictures more interesting but not weird like you see here.

ok, byeeeee!!

Being elsewhere and returning home again.

2011-06-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

what is both soothing and exciting more than a delicious drink poured into a glass?

.why so serious?

2011-06-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

hehe. i love this picture! can you see the scar on my brothers face? he was running some mad spins when it went awry and he ate some of his skis. you can't keep that kid down.

i'm going away for a few days. that is, if the ash cloud doesn't say otherwise. byes!

TACOTACOTACO or PANTS OFF FRIDAY!

2011-06-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

please enjoy some happy snaps elyse and i took on our way to wine. after delicious wine we had delicious tacos. hot damn, do i love the tacos at el loco! whilst there, we enjoyed some chatter and some drinks (diet coke & jack daniels- classy bitches) before i packed dear elyse into a taxi. i proceeded down to penthouse in chinatown where vodka sunrises were had before tequila shots at the dip. we even got to go to my favourite place in the cross. yiew! besides the very necessary hour i spent eating potato nachos( tater skins w. chili con carne) at the local cafe i slept for the most part before heading back to el loco for more tacos. TACOSSS!!

<3 preeety!!do you like my new dress? i am pretty in love with it, though i think i told every one i happened across that "i should have worn my granna undiez!" i sure know how to hold an adult conversation. #smdh

turns out instagram actually does save flash pictures from an otherwise lonely infinity hidden on my hard drive.

as you like it.

2011-06-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

hehe @ my hair. here is where i convince you that it's a stubborn cowl-lick whilst knowing full well that i haven't brushed it since sleepy-time.

rosette buttons, precious!

this weekend the boy and i rocked it back to basics with couch time, b-grade costume drama (downton abbey series 1) indian takeaway and french red. we pulled it together sunday afternoon for drinks(mojitos and red sangria) at our favourite local. we left the venue with the vague idea to investigate to el loco but, before we made it there we happened past billy kwong. what's that- no line around the corner for the kwong? i think we will have a table thanks miss! nom nom nom.

edit: sorry about my emo post on friday. thanks to the people who commented! from now on i will try to reply to each comment(if i have something to say) thanks for reading!

a bit of a moan.

2011-06-02T22:24:00.000-07:00

sometimes i really really wish my taste buds weren't the gastronomical stars that they are. couldn't they be plebs instead? i mean, what's the point of being a connoisseur of the finer flavours in life, if ones tastebuds are attached to a faulty and fucking stupid immune system?!!!!!!!!

fuck these insipid fucking corn thins. for real.

wah!!!!!!!!

la-sag-na

2011-05-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

le-sag-na!

my mum taught me how to make lasagna. hers is always better than mine. my recipe is different every time depending on whether i have any wine and which herbs in the house. i didn't have any wine in the house today. SAD.

hollypop's easy la-sag-na!

mince sauce:

brown onion, chopped

garlic, 3-4 cloves, chopped

thyme, 1/2 a bunch, leaves pulled. sometimes i use fresh basil or oregano. or both.

beef mince, 500gms

tin tomato, 400gms

2-3tbsp tomato paste(or a whole little tub thingy)

gf lasagna sheets, 1 pack

passata, 400ml

salt/pepper, lots

chicken stock, 200ml

baby spinach, 400gms

mushrooms, 400gms, sliced

cheesy sauce: i don't really use a recipe for this, i just go by how it looks and tastes, but this is an approximation which should work.

butter, 50gms

corn flour, 25gms

salt/pepper, milk 2-2.5cups

grated cheese, 250gms

fry the onion and garlic in some olive oil, add fresh thyme and continue to cook until onions are soft. add mince and brown, then add tin tomato, passata, stock, baby spinach, salt and pepper.

in a small saucepan melt butter, over a medium heat, add corn flour and cook until a little bit thick. then add a small amount of milk and mix it up. then add more milk and the cheese and cook until cheese has melted.

assemble with pasta sheets and mince sauce etc. i usually put cheese sauce on the top layer but it works mixed in too. bake at 180c for 35 mins and then at 150c for 20 minutes.

sprinkle with chopped italian parsley and parmesan. nom.

tastes better the next day.

hello, i am a tard.

2011-05-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

so how are you today? i've lost my voice and i sound pretty adorable.

iphone pictures. may edition. (lol).

2011-05-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

the paint which told us to look right, and we did. the courtyard and slippery noodles we enjoyed. burnished leaves and sunshine. the teensy piccolo cappuccino which contented me. the stroking of studded wangs. lol. the super kawaii sammiches which i peered at but didn't sample. the meyer lemons i grew myself. the cabbage flowers my boyfriend bought for us. the 'jools favourite stew' which i'll serve for dinner tonight. fresh sheet day. one picture which won't align. some stuff we did. some rambles.

little red riding hood-pop

2011-05-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

i love my new coat beyond measure. it's perfection in hundreds of ways. the fabric. the toggles, the buttons, the hood. the hood! autumn in sydney is too gorgeously blue and mild to wear it out of necessity, but today i donned it anyway. i'm sure i'll get loads of use out of her in melbourne.

my favourite version of little red riding hood is the company of wolves by the incredible late angela carter. have you read it: what did you think: what is your favourite version of the amazing story of red?

edit: grr. i'm a little cross with myself because i forgot to photograph the adorable lining. boo. i'll have to do that soon! AND i had my camera on the wrong setting D: failtown. population: hollypop.

lemon barz!

2011-05-15T23:33:00.000-07:00

these terrifically compelling pictures worked their magic on me and before i knew it i was whipping up some lemon bars of my own.

i was super pleased at how well my gluten free adaptation worked on these. the crust is short and buttery and very pleasing indeed. maybe it's my two years hard time as a glutard or maybe they just tasted properly good. i will never know! next time i would add extra extra lemon 'cause i dig lemon so much. now i think about, next time i might double the lemony topping as well for super thick lemony joy.

i made myself sick eating too many fresh from the oven. you know that foggy mental lull which comes after the sweet giddy high of fresh treats? well, it happens to me all the time. the recipe specifies to leave bars to cool in the tin. haha, 'sif i could manage that! next time i will really try.

recipe (adapted to be gf) from here.

awkward moments caught on digital.

2011-05-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

yesterday, i wore this on errands and to try on a little red riding hood coat i had spied online. thank ye m'lady, i i'll totally take it!

the frills on this top are great, even if i do resemble the hunchback of notre dame 100% more than prior to donning it.

poopy, the lighting is so in winter. i have enough money for my dslr camera but am delaying purchase because i still cannot decide on which model. ah, terrible first world problems!

so what are you up to this fine saturday? this morning, jus and i are brunching before i head to french class. later, we will pow wow to figure out what we're going to do with the house design wise and, i am going to make chicken soup with the left overs from last nights roast. it's all getting pretty real down here. enjoy your saturday.

my stack is too smally.

2011-05-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

my stack is too small! oh, of all the troubles i could have brought upon myself! why did i not buy magazines sooner?! i should have been buying as many as i could haul home for months now. i've ordered subscriptions but i fear they won't arrive in time to be of comfort. i am so silly! i was just very reluctant to get too exciting about the house thing until it was a certainty. of course, it's not really this size of my stack that's bothering me. i am cross with myself for deferring dreaming in case the dreams did not come true. or something.

so i had to bring this tube of goodness home to soothe my fretting body. it smells warm and delicious. tangerine and vanilla for the wintery skin win. hesitate not! buy it for yourself.

lastly, i've gifted us these hyacinths because, how could i not?

please help a chick in need and share with me your favourite design blogs or webpages or magazines!

baking and pwning hipsters at auction or, the best saturday in a long time.

2011-05-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

i'm loving bob's red mill baking mixes mad. they have all the bits in them like xantham and baking soda, but no sugar. i hate mixes with sugar in them. before i found out i was glutarded i never would have used packet mixes. SAAADLY the reality for a ~~lazy~~glutard is a harsh and cruel and grainy packet mix filled one.

anyway, i baked some muffins with a sweet crumb (haha, borat). these are blueberry raspberry. i was inspired by a little mermaid who sent me a recipe for gluten free berry muffins using almond meal. sadly i didn't have enough almond meal at hand so i made these from the hummingbird bakery cookbook. i halved the recipe but kept the whole egg as i think gluten free baking loves egg.

i was rather worried when the mix became very.. like this.. instead of nice and barely coming together like good muffin mixes should. luckily these muffins transformed in the oven into good little muffiny sprites.

i love these tea towels which the boys nana sent him from canada. i just do.

hahaha i'msuchaloser.

see the insides! so crumby and good for eating.

the very moment after we gobbled these muffins we left the house to attend the auction for our dream home and we won it. boooo-yah! that's just how we roll. the house is a cute terrace in a tree lined street close to where we are now, which is the most awesome place in sydney! i can't wait to pull the guts out of it and sit back and supervise other people busting sweet reno moves all over it. that'll be rad.

other stuff from the (too) long weekend.

2011-04-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

you can call me crazy, because i didn't enjoy that 5 day long weekend. it was just way too long for everything to be closed. sadly, my parents were scheduled to visit and i had it all planned out. the boys were all going to golf whilst my mum and i did tons or super rad awesome fun stuff. but sadly parents had to pull out at the 11th hour because my dad had to go into hospital. because of the stupid too long easter weekend we were told that they couldn't do the procedure cause people were on vacation. get back to work pls, my dad is sick! stupid long weekend. i know that people in health work hard and deserve their time off more than most. but, it's still hard to use logic when people you love are sick and scared. when i'm scared sick.

plus, then i hurt my own self prancing about on rocks around on the beach at gerroa and the chiropractor and pilates studio are closed. i hurt mahself! everyone needs to come back to work now, pls!

the only good thing about the long weekend is that it is nearly the weekend again and i am going to melbourne to see my family.

the proceeding is the stuff i did to keep myself distracted:

enjoyed delicious food made by a friend

gluten freee deep fried yummy stuff!

figs love it.

how cute are they? P just loves snuggling up in Laura's Country Road blanket!

sunday i made lunch for jus and the other orphans, but i did not take a single picture. what the heck 'sup with that? MEMORIES? LOST!

i got up early to clean the oven only to discover i was all out of open cleaner. luckily the milk bar stocked my favourite. we had slow cooked lamb shoulder with home made tater chips, herb/garlic/lemon zest crusted pumpkin slices and um, beans? and a bit of mulled wine.

the boy was a good kid and gave me these cute eggy weggy truffles.

i baked brownies from the hummingbird bakery recipe. i used bob's red mill flour mix for biscuits(just a mix of different flours and x-gum, no sugar or flavours, thankfully!) which i lugged back from canada. happily for glutards it is now stocked at grocer's in sydney. GET ON IT.

the batter had the texture of chocolate playdoh.

om om.

also that skirt y'all liked is actually a dress, see!

DERP!

so, what do you do when you need to be distracted?

p.s. it's raining here. a lot!

monday? south coast.

2011-04-25T01:01:00.001-07:00

boyfriend and i participated in a spontaneous road trip down the coast today. it's gorgeous down that way. i love how the rolling hills are right by the water. so beautiful.

can hardly wait 'til i can afford a proper camera XD. weee!

coffee in a tea cup.

2011-04-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

this afternoon i am feeling blue(ANXIETYYYYYYYYYYYYYY) because i am a majorly A+ league procrastinator, and i have an assignment due tomorrow.

the last few days i've sat at my desk kind thinking about starting it, but not. sad face! i like my subject, i don't know why i am such a giant fool about assignments!

i hate that i am a fool D:

anyway, i swear this is the last procrastinating i will do until this lab report is finished.

p.s. seen any cute tea towels around? i want some! my boyfriends nana sent him a bunch of hilarious ones. some of them have mooses on them and others have old school cocktails. they're so tacky and so fabulous!

crazy-quick-derribery!

2011-04-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

yesterday, i placed an order with fountain cosmetics. at around 3pm they called to check the address, because, silly me, i'd typed in the address of my boyfriends office wrong. how nice of them. anyway, my boyfriend got home just after 7pm and had this package for me! epic quick! i checked and their office is in potts point, which is like 3kms from my boyfriends office. but still, i find the quickiness amazing!

this is the stuff i got. kinda very unexciting necessities. i really ought to do another sephora order soon and get me some make up.

well i'm home from work again, still not feeling well. hopefully tonight i will feel bettterrrr!

black magic and piggies.

2011-04-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

yesterday i tizzied myself up and braved the pouring rain to attend friends 30th birthday lunch. yay! birthdays are the best. i wore this skirt which i've only worn a few times since acquiring it last year. i can't wear heels and i think it really needs them. but i wore it anyway and i think it looks ok. soooo wish i could wear heels. i love the fabric and the pleats and it has pockets to boot!

so, anyway, a bunch of us shared an enormous piggy. it was a troubling mixture of decadence and confronting whole animal-y-ness. with pleasing results! i used to have ethics. oh well. in other news, you can call me arrogant 'cause i'm about to say that my pork shoulder was totally way better than the piglet from four in hand.it was totally better.

arrogant.

anyway, this is the piggy. i really disbelieve in disclaimers. sigh. but i suppose if you frighten easily, stop reading now. piggy has been cooked whole and he looks a damn mess.

good pig. it's actually not so kind of me to post him sans cosmetic retouching, is it? he/she's a lovely ugly darling.

hehe. maddie demonstrating her cheese gobbling face. how does her hair look like that after being in the rain? i suspect black magic. <3

this one time, not so long ago...

2011-04-14T20:40:00.001-07:00

i invited some friends over for roast. i slow roasted a pork shoulder and it looked pretty good. somehow, when i was roasting the potatoes and honey/sage carrots i caused the environment in the oven to be compromised in a way which led to a fire. first, of course, there was lots and lots of smoke. but my carrots were not ready yet, plus the crackling had not very achieved perfect texture! and, like any good foodie, i decided it was better to risk a fire to uphold the more stringent duty to enjoy perfectly cooked crackling. of course, i had been drinking and i was compromised cognitively. my eyes were stinging and at one point i had to drop to ground so i could breathe and see. yet i did not turn off the oven. when the risk of fire turn into an actual fire, i was most upset. i had tears in my eyes from the smoke so i really did look sad.

good god. the main reason i am telling this story of my ridiculous failure to follow basic kitchen safety protocol is because that very same night, my precious and immaculately coiffed friend, LAURA made a DELICIOUS and gluten free version of dark chocolate mousse cake for me everyone. it means so much when friends make special things i can eat, too!

lauras cake. i'm pretty sure she used the recipe in the gourmet traveller.

looks exactly the same.

it does look awesome, right? so you're probably going to want to make it yourself! be warned, laura said the recipe was rather substandard as at the end she had some sheets of gelatine with no instruction on what to do with them. but she knew what to do with them.

pork!

sunshine is your friend.

2011-04-13T22:25:00.001-07:00

i bemoan the "crappy old ghetto apartment" we live in far too fervently and often. but sometimes, i quite like it. i like to remind myself of these pluses: 1) it's in a rad location. 2) it has floor boards. and um.. hm. i even sometimes like how the crumblyness of this old place provides a contrast to the lovely and nice things we have in it. plants, candles, cuddly snuggly cushy bed, our beautiful bone + enamel coffee table. the crackling walls, draughts and debris piles (from termites, i suspect. i can't convinced my boyfriend that we have them, but i'm convinced!) are kind of almost charming. almost. kind of.

anyway. that was a long way of saying 'here are some pictures of some pretty shiz laying about the place lately'.

this candle smells wonderous. i'm not even sure what the scent. i picked it up the last time i was in melbourne. i want to go back to that shoppe ~~with a balaclaca~~ and ~~steal~~buy allll of the other ones.
huwow ladybug! plastermaster at EQ needs to invest in some decent brushes, uhhuhh.

a win for the glutard.

2011-04-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

whilst i was visiting the great white north earlier this year, i went a bit craaaycraaay in the supermarkets/health food shops. love supermarket shopping! the first time i went to LA i got drunk on giant margaritas and then went to ralphs and wandered around oooh-ing and aahhh-ing. some people go to rodeo drive. not this little hollypop. every year in canada, i would stock up on cinnamon toast crunch and .. yeah basically my suitcase was full of cinnamon toast crunch. so, yeah. anyway. now that i am a glutard, it was rad to find things glutard-specfic cookery/baking books spoke of, such as bob's red mill flour mixes and GLUTEN FREE OATS.

this is a batch i whipped up this morning. i mixed the berries and the honey in as i like it to almost dissolve before eating.

i need to make a crumble and some oatmeal bikkies next. i used to take oats for granted. NEVER AGAIN, OATS! *hugs*

(edit: uhoh looks like my pictures are too big for my layout. i'll have to investigate! in the meanwhile, sorry for offending your eyes with this aesthetically unpleasing horror.)

different drummer.

2011-04-13T15:01:00.001-07:00

charming view.

excellent company. (or, charming view no. 2).

delicious mexican food.

friday night fun times. despite the wonderful company an drinks and food and bla bla..the highlight of the whole night was definitely heading down the stairs to the bar at 7.26pm (4 minutes before the close of happy hour) to behold the bar chin-deep in thirsty patrons. we stood in line, thirsty, hopeful, with our bestest cutest most nicest faces on. tragedy struck our hopes when, at 7.32pm, the chicky babe and her date ahead of us in line had to pay standard rates. deflated, we waited our turn. 'boo! only one drink each?' i thought to myself, and probably whined aloud to E. happily for us the cute dude bar tender served us and at 7.45pm (ish) we shuffled away from the bar with our two-for-one cocktails in hand. YAAAAY!

E was probably thinking 'double you tee eff, hollyyyy! why are you stopping to take a peeekture?! proceed to the bar post haste!" or something.

i sure spend a lotta time gazing at my toes after a few drinks.

E took way better pictures and posted about the night here. check it out :)

all the best dresses.

2011-04-10T13:58:00.001-07:00

my darling friend PP let me take pictures on her roof. not that you can tell from these atrocious photographs, but the rooftop has great views of the district.

i love this ah dress. i calls it mah eatin' dress. it's so roomy; perfect for dinner dates. plus - ribbons and bows and pockets! i don't like to think of this but, when i first saw it i said to rachel, "eww, do not like. very clowny!" happily for both of us(the dress and i) i couldn't get it out of my head and now i love it long time. <3

when i comes to html, images, anything. i'm a power noob. i can out noob even the noobiest of noobs. go me! i hope this works and from now on pictures should be a nicer size.

exhale.

(new lippy + liner by illamasqua.)

satuday morning sprites.

2011-04-10T02:27:00.000-07:00

had the bestest and rather epic saturday.my day began with sunshine pouring into our bedroom and silent thanks offered to E for being sensible enough to send me home at a reasonable hour (pics to come!). I made coffee which was drunk in bed before a trip to eveleigh market. once our goodies were safely packed up at home we headed to breakfast at our favourite local cafe. my brekky was a bit sucky. that's what i get for straying from my usual. house-hunting and a post brunch nap later, it was high time for a late lunch date with my fuzzymanpeach at the winery.
i totally dropped my delicious mojito onto the marble surface of the table, shattering it and cutting my hand in the process. as the icy nectar trickled into my lap, every single person in the place turned to have a nice long peer at me. swell!
before heading to walsh bay for a rad dance performance, we met up with some good friends for wine and drink at no name bar. i love that place. the cocktails are good and there's so much to be distracted by. PetitePrincesse and I both chose the same one which had gin and elderflower w/ cucumber. yarm!
the dance show 'shared frequencies' started out strongly, with really intense and edgy dance and lighting. i loved the music and the costumes. after the interval i could hardly keep my eyes open. it was sooo slowwwww. i woke towards the end when i heard the lady next to me say something about the dancers being ~~boring~~ fluid like water. zzz.
(my pics are all the wrong size - too small- but i don't know how to change it and also i am still getting accustomed to my mac. so hopefully i'll figure it out soon)

different drummer.

2011-04-09T15:25:00.002-07:00

charming view.

excellent company. (or, charming view no. 2).

delicious mexican food.

friday night fun times. despite the wonderful company an drinks and food and bla bla..the highlight was definitely heading down the stairs to the bar at 7.26pm (4 minutes before the close of happy hour) to behold the bar chin-deep in thirsty patrons. we stood in line, thirsty, hopeful, with our bestest cutest most nicest faces on. tragedy struck our hopes when, at 7.32pm, the chicky babe and her date ahead of us in line had to pay standard rates. deflated, we waited our turn. 'boo! only one drink each?' i thought to myself, and probably whined aloud to E. happily for us the cute dude bar tender served us and at 7.45pm (ish) we shuffled away from the bar with our two-for-one cocktails in hand. YAAAAY!

E was probably thinking 'double you tee eff, hollyyyy! why are you stopping to take a peeekture?! proceed to the bar post haste!" or something.

the better pictures featured here are from E's camera. the other ones are my iphone pics.

i sure spend a lotta time gazing at my toes after a few drinks.

double happiness.

2011-04-07T22:44:00.000-07:00

the weekend before last, i flew to melbourne for a uni thing and also to see some awesome peeps and step back into my former life as a victorian for a weekend.

rachel and i were reunited after a too-long time of a year(or more!) over dinner at movida acqui. squeals and hugs were mandatory.

(blurry iphone pics ahead :)

after dinner we scurried through the city with the icy wind behind us to partake in drinks at err... double happiness!

double happiness was awesome. it's a little hot cellar of a place with excellent martinis. and as a super sick neato bonus, they were playing dub step there- yieeew! i highly recommend the plum, but the ginger martini was a close second. very strong on the gingery front which i dig.

i acted a tipsy tard fool and spilled most of my radical plum martini into my bag of fresh clothes for the following day. all of my nice, warm, clean clothes were dribbled in a sticky, purpley, fragrant alcoholic syrup. yup.

how wicked is rachels lace full body suit - and her amazing leather jacket? i had a bit of a feel ofit and i was cool to the touch and a bit clammy or something. not creepy, right?

let me work it.

2011-04-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

my pilates uniform has been updated to include this super fun lululemon wrap cardi. i have a soft spot for lululemon 'cause it's a fun word to say and is canadian like my mancake. plus, they actually make really adorable and functional workout gear. i love this cardy because it is so lovely with the waterfall front and snuggly to boot. perfect for autumn in sydney.

i know that my pictures are always crooked. i'm sure this is partly due to my complete tarded amatueriness, but i won't lie; mostly the blame lays squarely with this dodgy old 'apartment' which has nary a right angle to be found.

gtgooo! time to shower and wash my face :D

lappy! and gushy stuff

2011-04-04T17:28:00.000-07:00

this week i have been ultra aware of reasons to love and cherish my lovely boyfriend. he is just such a super kid! he works long hours but always eventually performs the domestic tasks he has been asked to do, he is super generous, he spoils me with yummy dinners (out, he doesn't cook) he looks at me with love and adoration in his eyes and he gives me the bestest birthday presents!

as essentially everyone is aware, i originally was dying for a chanel classic flap hangbag, but boyfriend say "no, that's ridiculous". hollypop says: "whaaat?" "but, i looooove it! i don't like any other bag! ever! y u no give hollypop chanel bag, y u nooo!!". ahem. pouting and sulking continued and he didn't even get mad at me. eventually i calmed down and accepted that i would have to buy my damn self a chanel bag and i initiated the investigation of more viable birthday gift options.

lappy's first hug.

yay! lappy arrives in the cover of darkness!

and thus lappy was born unto us, a beautiful asexual, inanimate, precious thing.

i would crop these images but it is all too hard right now.

for the lovely nerds out there, i had it customised with 8gb ram, 2.35ghz, a glossy hi-res screen and a 500 regular whatsit hardrive because the 500 solid state ones were like $1,500 and we all know "that's ridiculous!"

thank you boyfriend!1

bloomies (handmade by me).

2011-03-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

recently when i was visiting my parents i found these darling things in a pile of clothes in my old bedroom. memories! the discovery has helped me overcome some distressing confusion clothing-wise: "who am i? what do i like to wear?". lately, the answer to that has been "nothing in my wardrobe!".

as it turns out, i still like cute stuff. ribbons, fairies, hello kitty & bows. but only when it is anchored with harder edges in the form of velvet, leather, heavy boots & metal. otherwise i feel far too girly and not myself at all. youpi! inner angst resolved.

i think about food 99.00% of the time and sleeping in the remaining 1.00%

2011-03-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

yes, yes y'all!

got my paws on some patrice newell garlic before the season comes to a close. YAY!!!! it's delicious. i'm using it in this which is in the oven right now..

lime pear flavoured squishie is delish. best flavour ever!
$50 a kilo. worth it cus this dish i made with it was bi-winning! i love it how in store they have a price along the lines of "$6.99 per 100gms" so it never seems as bad.

veal cutlet, taleggio polenta, salsa which was unfinished due to starvation.

taleggio is the bomb. it's melty but has such a great strong flavour. winner winner veal cutlet dinner~!

if chipped nail polish revolts you: look away now!

i have actually taken pics of things other than food but those pics didn't turn out well (my friends looked hungry. for brains!) i'll work on that.

i want a dslr camera. entry level/intermediate maybe? what are your suggestions for this little noob?

i'm off to melbourne for a long weekend of awesomeness and university. have a swell one, yo!

stuff & things & this weekend.

2011-03-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

jus, looking rather serious for someone eating the cities most delectable gelato.

i love love love rainy weekends. too bad though, that is it not actually cold yet here in sydney, and toasty clothes and soft layers can not yet be worn.two flavours is one less than enough. lemon verbena and chocolat.

socca.

newtown, filthy with greatness. still don't see how it is the 'melbourne of sydney'.zumbo caaaaake for glutards

wee ickle ladybeetle.

handwriting of a criminal (?)

2011-03-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

lindsey tagged me in this rad exercise in which you are privy to my handwriting. so let me know if any of the loops or crossings of the t's indicate certain mental unstableness or disposition to criminality.

please.

so this is whatcha have to do if you choose to accept the tag/wanna do it anyway:

1. Name and blog name
2. URL
3. Write, "A quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog!"
4. Favorite quote
5. Favorite song
6. Favorite bands/singers
7. Anything you want to say!
+ tag a few people!

i also tag: genevieve at appl3pie & blessyocottonsocks!

macarons and american beauty.

2011-03-14T01:12:00.000-07:00

zumbo macarons in autumnal colours and american beauty tea cup & saucer which is part of a vintage set my mummy gave me for christmas.

i need photography lessons 'cause i'm starting to really love it.

zumbo macarons are so heavenly.

jazz city weekend.

2011-03-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

not pictured:

naptime

friends

wine

march into merivale. felix edition.

2011-03-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

last night the boy and i had an impromtu date at felix.

we just wandered on by and happily for our tummies they could fit us in straight away. we chose the march into merivale special which is $33 and consists of a glass of wine or beer and a main meal and a bowl of delicious smelling bread*.

i got the snapper and a glass of sauvignon blanc.

i'd never had snapper cooked like this (always deep fried in batter..mm batter) but it was really lovely. the fish is quite firm despite being pink in the middle, and whilst it was nice, i wouldn't order it again.

boyfriend ordered the veal cutlet with a glass of shiraz somethingorother.

this veal cutlet was was the lead ho on the stroll last night. holy moly, was it good. i scored myself only one bite and it was a symphony on my tongue! the veal was buttery soft and the polenta was perfectly cooked with a nice melty cheese(forget which one) throughout. the salsa deliiiiiicious and worked so well with the polenta and veal. order this!

as we were time-poor we didn't have a chance to order desserts, but the ones the ladies beside us were chowing down on looked super delish.

if you get a chance to get to felix during march - get the veal!

*sniffing bread is good for morale and almost as good as tasting it.

brunch at the potato factory, surry hills.

2011-03-09T02:06:00.000-08:00

i'm in a bit of a tizz about whether i should be sharing this place. in some ways i feel it's my duty as a food loving glutard to share all the tasty finds i come across. however, there is the greedy foodie in me who does no wanna share or wait in a queue for her fix! ~~but then i remembered that i already told the two people who read this blog about this cafe. so, that fixes that.~~today i am rather arrogantly congratulating you on your good fortune because the noble(r) side of me is #WINNING and i am going to share my favouritist local cafe with you.

my favouritst cafe with the worst name. ever. mad spuds. ah, not good.

we usually start out with some juices. apple, celery, ginger & mint.

and coffee. i usually order a piccolo but i forgot this time. the victorian coffee snob in me didn't like this rather weakish cappuccino. the piccolos are always good.

this dish is the grilled lemon corn bread. it is actually quite epic and contains loads of stuff

-falafel & "apple sauce"

-guacamole w/ cherry tomatoes & basil leaves.

-pureed corn w/ vanilla.

-housemade baked beans.

-the namesake lemon bread which is not a true corn bread but more of a polenta slice.

i can't get this picture to rotate, boo! happily, even sideways it looks delicious.

i love this dish and order it every single time! there's a lot going on but i like it because i don't get bored whilst i'm eating my brekky.

the pureed corn w/ vanilla is not for everyone, it could even be described as 'interesting', but i really like it and gobble it all up.

my darling boyfriend sometimes gets the boxty which is an irish inspired potato pancake with a sausage patty and some other stuff. sounds gross to me but he loves it. the others times asks for the potato nachoes. the potato nachoes are very, very good especially if one finds oneself in the throes of a hangover. this dish consists of the crispy potato skins, chili con carne and gauc and stuff.

oh & there was this one time when he ordered the special.

the special, which was a potato oat cake thing with avocado and the other stuff you can see here.

the other thing you should know about mad spuds is that they usually have cold water. awesome. sydney tap water is like, so gross.

lots of gluten free and vegetarian/vegan stuff.

[mad spuds/http://www.madspuds.com.au/479 crown st, surry hills].