The weeks in brief: 24 December 2012 – 6 January 2013

Ikea

ARGH. This post was meant to be published last Sunday and I’ve only just noticed it in my drafts. TOTAL FAIL.

Hello and happy 2013!

So this is what’s been happening over the past two weeks.


Xmas

There was Xmas.

Hellenic Republic

And then a post-Xmas lunch at Hellenic Republic with Dany and her papa and stepmum.

Hellenic Republic

I enjoyed Hellenic Republic. Full post to come.

Catspam

Of course there was catspam. 🙂

Streat

We had breakfast at Streat, where I ordered something I normally never order: crunchy granola with fruit and honey labneh.

It was really nice, but I felt a bit ill afterwards – maybe because of the milk. Eurrgh I hate milk.

I have blogged Streat previously.

Cranbourne Gardens

There was a visit to the Cranbourne Botanic Gardens with mum and dad.

Cranbourne Gardens

We spent all our time in the Australian Garden, which is really quite cool.

Cranbourne Gardens

Worth a visit (if you like gardens and stuff).

Food Republik

There was also a late lunch at Food Republik in Box Hill with the parentals. I’ll blog that at some point.

High tea

Cherrie hosted a high tea and this was our spread. Pretty good, right?

High tea

I made mango and coconut friands and spicy cheese biscuits.

The friands were particularly good. Toot toot!

Reading Rooms

Alastair and I had brunch at Reading Rooms (again). I really need to blog that place.

NYE

Oh and then it was NYE.

NYE BBQ

We had a fairly quiet one. There was BBQ (thanks to Bro for manning it, as always), karaoke, and sparklers.

NYE

And then it was 2013. :O

The Vintage Shed

On Friday – yes the 41°C day – I went on a road trip to the Mornington Peninsula with Maz, Taz and Haz (yay, the Dastardly Duo are together again!).

Sporks

Our first stop was The Vintage Shed, where I found a set of sporks. YAY. (Yes, I did buy them. I’m starting to amass a collection!)

The Vintage Shed

I didn’t buy anything else, though I was tempted…

Montalto

Our next stop on our road trip was lunch at Montalto at their Piazza Cafe. This was our view – not too shabby, hey?

Montalto

For lunch we had pizzas, fries and frittata.

Montalto wine tasting

Afterwards, we did some wine tasting.

Red Hill Cheeses

Then we moved on to Red Hill Cheese for cheese tasting. I LOVE their cheese and came away with a jar of feta and a small wedge of their Granny Blue cheese (it’s the best).

Red Hill Bakery

Our next stop was for cake at Red Hill Baker. Sadly, they were only average and we didn’t finish them (not worth the calories, as Hazzie said).

Heronswood

We then stopped at Heronswood for a quick look around. It was HOT by that stage, but there was a lovely sea breeze up there. It’s such a beautiful spot.

Ice cream

It was so hot that all we could think about was ice cream (ice cream, I melt you down like ice cream). We drove down to Dromana and made a stop for cones.

I choose pistachio gelato and yoghurt with mango swirl. Sadly, it was just average (the pistachio didn’t taste like pistachio, and the yoghurt was too sweet) and I didn’t finish it.

Sunset

That was our last stop before we all headed home. Thanks Maz for driving us around! <3 Worried cat

And that’s it! I haven’t done any cooking (except for Xmas and BBQ for NYE) because the parents are still here. This is how much mum looks after us (me): they were going to be out tonight so she even left me some food to cook. But they came home early (in time for dinner) so she just ended up making it. AHHHH. <3 I'll leave you with worried cat is worried catspam. (I have no idea what he was worried about.) How's your 2013 been so far?