Why, hello there!

I'm sorry it's been so long! It's been quite busy here and I have had a couple of trips in between.

Just some happy memories from the last few months:

Chinese New Year

Sadly I couldn't spend it with my family in Victoria, but my Qld family was close enough!

We had an awesome seafood feast followed by drinks in town.

Clockwise starting from the top right corner: XO sauce scallops, Ginger crab with egg noodles, Steamed prawns, Sliced abalone with chinese mushrooms and Steamed fish

My contribution to the evening: Coconut and mango sago. It was my first attempt and very delicious if I do say so myself!



Just after Easter all the girls from work went to our boss's beach house for a girlie weekend. The beach was so beautiful and we had a blast. The only disappointment was the weather, we didn't get many hours of sunshine.

One crazy busy Saturday at work a lovely client brought these 'Thank you' flowers for me with a card. It absolutely made my day! It's so rare, but wonderful when someone shows appreciation for the work you do. Some days I find myself bogged down with work that can be depressing and it's just so nice to be reminded that people actually do see the effort you put in.

One night I was called outside by one of my neighbours, "There's a snake outside your house! Do you know what type of snake it is?"
A very impressive python. Let's just say I was relieved that it was not at my carport, but the one next door! Apparently there'd been a kitten that was playing underneath the car earlier today, so the snake must've seen the kitten and was waiting for it to make a second appearance.

Of course, I had to include an obligatory Ninja cat photo.
So here's a photo of him flipping me the bird.

Do any of your pets show you contempt like this? I'd like to feel less alone!

Two weeks of happiness

For the past two weeks Mr Kittylove had come up from 'down south'/aka Victoria to visit. It was so lovely to have someone to come home to from work-disgruntled cat excluded.

Unfortunately I was too slow to put dibs on the few days off available where the bosses decided we were overstaffed for those few days (the bosses put dibs on having those days off instead!) so I had to work the whole time he was visiting. I did have one weekend off, one Sunday and a two rostered day offs, so it wasn't too bad!

Whilst it was great to have an extra hand at home to help out with things (especially kitty litter duty!) Mr Kittylove did drive me crazy at times and there were definitely some casualties.

Casualty #1:
Kittylove's new lamington baking tray (used only once). Mr Kittylove was trying to make roast pork and thought my tray would be perfect. No foil covering, no baking paper..
The pork was excellent although a little too salty; he was a little too enthusiastic with the salt, but my tray is now caked with cooked grease and has gone from silver to yellow. No amount of soaking is helping at all! Any tips would be appreciated.

Casualty #2:
The cake. I recently found a sweet treats cookbook in my suitcase-present from Mummy Kittylove.

When we were invited to a last minute dinner at a friends' house the Baked Chocolate Cheesecake recipe seemed perfect! Mr Kittylove was enamoured with the cake and nagged me all week to bake him another. I'd spent the afternoon prepping, determined to make this cake even better than last time. His job was to fit the cake into the oven around his roast pork which had taken up half the oven. I had only just sat onto the couch when I heard 'OH NO! UH OH!' plus a string of obscenities. As Mr KL was positioning the cake into the oven he'd touched the baking paper onto the hot bars in the oven, setting the baking paper on fire. The cake was coated in burnt paper. *sigh* He did attempt to redeem himself by standing in the kitchen trying to scoop the paper out of the batter while I left the kitchen to bury my head.

Just a small slice for me! 

Definitely not a Masterchef contender judging by my poor plating skills, but the cake was delicious!

On his third night here Mr KL and I decided to give the kitchen a night off (I heard the oven sigh with relief) and headed to try Korean BBQ at KohYa. I'd been there in the past with friends, but Mr KL had not been there before.

His verdict? Two thumbs up! He loved being able to cook his own meat and I loved not having to clean after him. Win/win. A little pricey for us at $40pp minus drinks, but it's a great 'once in awhile' treat.

After this massive food loaded post the next one will be more about the touristy side of things.

Tonight I have to continue bringing my house back to order after the mess Mr KL left behind-6 empty coke cans, empty gatorade bottles left on dining table, anyone? He says 'efficiency', I say 'the bin is 4 metres away!'
I'm also finding myself rewashing dishes and pans because he only washes the top side of the plate and not the bottom and only washes the main part of the pan, not the handle that's greasy! He has improved in the 2 weeks he's been here, he knows I'm very particular about hygiene and cleanliness and will become very stressed if there's dirty dishes left for a day.

Is your partner's idea of domestic cleanliness like Mr KLs'?

Long time no see!

Sorry I've been MIA for the last few weeks, I was overloaded with work over the Christmas/New Year period and have been hosting a special visitor for the past two weeks.

Will be posting on Tuesday though! Have some lovely photos to share.

Side note, has anyone been watching the tennis? I miss being in Melbourne for the Aus Open!