Giveaway: Sunraysia Organic Juice Pack

Juice Galore! 

I was invited to the Sunraysia Organic Juice brunch event at The Greengrocer recently to find out more about Sunraysia’s latest organic product. Boy was I glad I attended! It was a very hot day, one of the first 30-something degrees day that we had. And I cracked into one of these yummies straight away. The juice is individually packed and comes in 4 flavours: Tropical, Apple, Orange and Apple & Blackcurrant. Organic food products is not a new thing but what is new is these come in individual 200ml sized BPA-free packaging with its own straw.

BPA-free products were common when D was a little baby. BPA-Free bottles, drink cups and food containers were advertised widely and I started to look for the BPA-Free labels when I was purchasing new bottles for him. The scary part is that plastic is everywhere and we are not sure what it can do to our body. Yes, I am no saint either and do not check everything strictly. I purchased Thomas water bottles for them because of the licensed design and it was not BPA-free. But while at the brunch, I started thinking what exactly is getting into the boy’s diet through packaging, chemicals, GM foods and how it would affect them.  

Tropical flavour Juice pack slushie in action

The idea that organic was good for the boys and that was where it ended. It did not enter my head that toxic chemicals were everywhere in their food packaging. I put a few of them in the freezer as ice blocks for our 1 and a half hour trip to a picnic during Christmas. You can see D and Pickles look tired here. LOL! If you need an ice block in summer for you or your kids’ lunches, this is ace! The good thing about size of the product is that you can still purchase these packs if you live alone and do not want to purchase a 2litre bottle for yourself.

Sunraysia is 100% Australian owned if you are supporting Australian companies. During the product development of the juices, I was told that they spent many trips worldwide to search for a packaging company that could manufacture BPA-free. They also visited many fruit farms to ensure that the farmers were indeed strictly organic and could produce the quantities required for this. RRP for the juice packs are 5 for $5 or $1.49 each, and they are available from supermarkets nationally.

Sunraysia has kindly offered a prize pack worth $70 including 40 samples of the juices and an eco-shopper bag. Actually I now want another one of these packs! What you need to do to enter is email me porkchopsnest (at) gmail dot com the flavour of the Sunraysia juice that you most want to try and why. 

Oh hellloooo goodie pack!

The fine print 

Deadline: Friday 25^th January 2013 midnight (Melbourne time)
Winner will be announced on this post and will be redrawn if they do not contact me within 5 days with their mailing address. Decision (mine) will be final and based on skill not luck. Care is taken for shipping the products to the winner but I am not responsible for damages that occur during shipping.

Winner Announced: Hannah C is the winner of this giveaway and I am waiting for her to provide her mailing address. 

So many flavours
Utterly delicious
Now which do I want to try?!
Really like the look of Tropical
All the fruits that I love in one handy pack
Yes, I think Tropical!
Samples galore, could I be so lucky?!!
I hope so!
Am excitedly awaiting the answer...

Outfit Hall of Shame explained

Stellllllaaaaaaaaaaaaa was responsible. Ok so we might have an explanation for the SEXY BOILER suit you guys! Remember your favourite Onesie series Outfit Hall of Shame?

Thanks to etailqueen who pointed this out to me on gofugyourself!!! http://gofugyourself.com/stella-mcfuggney-2-01-2013 Google tells me that Stella is a serial onesie wearer.

The Daily Mail UK calls this "an elegantly oversized tweed onesie". I am sure Anna Wintour was doing the Devil Wears Prada pursing of the lips with disapproving death stare. That smile was only for the camera. Check out the onesies Stella wears in the Dailymail article. I bet Stella's version is at least 1000GBP, making the ASOS one a bigger bargain. Run don't wok (walk).

Source: Dailymail UK www.dailymail.co.uk

Neiman Marcus + Target Haul

This is what happens every Friday evening. I rush the boys off to sleep at about 7.30pm. Mick has poker and he goes about 7.10pm or thereabouts. If the boys are not jumping and yelling at each other. I turn on my work computer .. for some reason I always seem to have one or two deadlines on a Friday. Anyway I send that off and boomtish, I start browsing stuff.

So I came across Aidan Mattox somewhere and I start browsing through eBay, google search... you know the usual. Tonight I ended up on the old faithful - Neiman Marcus. Thank you NM you have delivered again.
I always click "Sale" straight up -> who doesn't? And there was a section called "Target + Neiman Marcus". Ok wait what? It's on sale?

So my enablers on Twitter told me I had to buy them. This is what I got in the sale. I am blogging now because I know how bad/unreliable I am on outfit posts. Here they are!!

NM + Target Robert Rodriguez Dress
 

NM + Target Sequined Cape

NM + Target Watercolor Dress

I realise I have used American spelling in the captions, I am following NM's descriptions. Now don't fall off your chairs. The dresses were $30 each and the cape was $24. I do not know why I bought a cape. I mean.. really.. a cape. But I rationalised it as postage saving. Buying an additional item cost the same for shipping. I also wanted the Marc Jacobs scarf but they will not ship to Australia. There is also a Derek Lam skateboard that D would like. How dare they not ship that to Australia!

There you go.. this is what I do on Friday evenings. Yay or Nay? Also is that Watercolor (sic) dress an ugly mullet dress? For $30 + $7/8 shipping I will endure humiliation of wearing a mullet dress.

Stalk my Weekend: Cake, Cherries and Shopping

Woohoooo stalk my weekend. It felt like I had a 2 week weekend if you know what I mean. We had a staycation in the middle but all we did was sit in the hotel bed and watch TV. We also had a movie and the boys now know what is Kath and Kim.. look at moiiiii.. Last weekend we trooped down to Mornington Peninsula. I pretty much had enough of everyone IG-ing Red Hill Cheese pics and strawberries. Heck it, we are going. I haven't been since D was in the Orbit baby stroller. This meant he was less than a year old. I remember hoisting (well not me because I WAS PREGNANT THEN!) the Orbit baby up a few steps there and feeding him cheese. I have to declare that I am not going back to Mornington until they open that bypass. What on earth is up with the roundabouts? As we went further south, everyone was more tanned the further we went. LOL! My first stop was to Flinders Shed to visit Nat. I have been saying I would go down for like more than a year. And I finally did.

Girls Top Purchase from Flinders Shed

The good thing about not having boobs - yes I do not have any and have gone past the stage of caring - is you can shop easily online without worrying about cut or whether you will have gaping buttonhole HELLO BOYS syndrome. You can also fit into childrens' clothing without worrying about boobage allowance. So the top was what I bought from Flinders Shed. They have just received their order of Alessandra cashmere and the pictures Nat showed me were divineeee. I loveeeeeeeeee them!!

Ripe n' Ready Cherry Time LOL

From Flinders Shed we went to Red Hill Cheese.. Blogger fail as we chowed down on the cheese and didn't take any pictures. HAHAH We happened to drive past a sign that said Cherries here -> and did a U-turn to go back. Can I just giggle about the name of the business? It's called Ripe n' Ready Cherry Time. They have cherry picking if that takes your fancy. But for me, I have no issues with ready packed ones. Picked up blueberries, mulberries, blackberries, strawberries and half a kg of cherries to take home. They also sold ice cream so we shared a small tub there. If we were staying there for the night, I would have made Mick go trout fishing. Unfotunately we were not prepared for this.

Bestest popcorn ever

Sunday was omgawd we have no food in the house at all madness. We went to Doncaster for our Colonial food shop. D asked for popcorn once when we were there and usually I am the grinch that says no. I thought ok fine just get this packet. It says organic plus lightly salted and slightly sweet. I thought it sounded different to the microwave packets that I usually get, so I agreed to get it for him. But now seriously get yourself a packet. You will LOVE IT. I have seen them at Nutshack as well but I just googled for you -> Stockists.

Ok let's go!

So I have not baked in ages because someone.. not naming names here ..  complained that I bake and do not eat any of it. I would also give death stares when the cakes get stale and we have to throw it out. LOL! I am a feeder and not an eater of cakes. I saw this recipe in a magazine and I cannot remember which one now. I took a picture of the recipe as I did not want to search online for it and thought this would be quickest way of saving it. Here it is! It claims to be the only Vanilla Teacake recipe you will need.

Source: Unknown

D and I made this together, but we reduced the caster sugar to say about 3/4 cup. I had no vanilla bean paste so normal vanilla would do. I did not have lemons either.. bahhhh.. I bet it would taste better with lemon rind. He shifted the flour into the mixing bowl. I have to let my "OMG do not make mess of the flour everywhere issue that I have". I think this stems from my childhood where I would get in trouble if I left a mess behind while baking.

Vanilla Teacake

D poked the cake in the middle and it cracked. Oopss.. I baked it for only 25minutes, I am not sure why my oven never requires the stated baking time. I swear it is not on fan mode and I cannot work it out. I also used 20inch springform pan instead of 22inch cake tin. I preferred it as it has more height. Everything that says 22inch cake tin, I would use a 20inch. Well really..  because I don't want to buy a 22inch cake tin. :)

Outfit Hall of Shame: The Onesies Series

You know ASOS will never fail to disappoint on the Hall of Shame stakes. Just hop onto the sale items and the heavily discounted section. BOOM-TISH Bob's your Uncle.
I bring you.. the Jumpsuit edition.

SEXY? Boiler Jumpsuit

What in the living daylights is THIS? ASOS idea of a joke on Sexy Boiler outfits. Can someone Please Explain (in my best Aussie accent and a red wig on my head). What.is.this? Please note I also screen captured the glorious picture of someone carrying a handbag with this. Are they suggesting that you wear this OUT of the HOUSE? The only reason this would be sexy is if you are trying to seduce someone that bats on the same team as you. And he has a thing for painters and tradies that have to put on a boiler suit. If that's the case, someone is going to have to walk up and down a new housing estate with lots of building happening and test out this theory. Get in on this... do sweaty men working a trade arouse your man?

Going to the Playboy Mansion anyone? 

I suppose one would really need something like this Bandeau Playsuit with Peplum if they were going to the Playboy Mansion. But last I heard, Hugh Hefner is married ... no chances left there for inheriting a fortune ladies. Time to go back to sugadaddy.com or something. Gosh darned it. I was hoping to put this on with playboy bunny ears. Also run.. do not walk. It is now reduced to 12 GBP! At least all you can see are those peplum flaps and not the flaps of the other variety I guess.

What is this? And why is is saggy at the hoochie?

I really don't know why ASOS thought it was a great idea to combine see-through mesh with high shine PU vinyl. Why? Did they not realise Matrix was done and dusted a long time ago? And why is it saggy at the hoochie? The PU vinyl is not even fitted. And there's a frigging keyhole at the back. I just cannot fathom why anyone thought let's make a see through mesh suit with PU high shine vinyl. Oh yeah yeah... the podium dancers, they love it sick.

There are no words

There are just ... Ok I get that jumpsuits are laze about gear. But what is this Oversized Jumpsuit? It's an old sheet sewn up at the crotch and sewn together with the doona cover as they ran out of sheet. I get that it is collaborated with a designerrrrr. But what is this? 120GBP? Really? I'm ripping up my old sheets to sew this up as we speak.

Stalk my Noms: New Years Day

Run.. quick there are Chinese lining up there!

The boys' childcare was open on New Years' Eve so we went around the city at 11am and helped Vita who is trapped in paradise Noosa with no DJs nearby pick up a Shu Uemura eyeshadow palette... I am such a bad enabler! I have to admit that I fell asleep before midnight. I am sad aren't I? You might as well click the X button on this window now. LOL

What does one do on New Years' Day when everything is shut? You find an Asian joint .. chances are they are open as us Chinese we need to eat. We also eat out. I generalise a lot don't I? Another big generalisation statement, where are all the Asian places in the northern-east? Box Hill of course. Turns out most of Box Hill Plaza was closed as well. BigW did a roaring trade as did the supermarkets as they were the only shops open. Nothing else!!?

Haven't seen D in a high chair for more than a year!

Thankfully I spotted a line forming outside Food Republik. Quick! Chinese people lining up.. let's go. We stood in the sun briefly but the line moved quite fast. Food Republik is like a glorified food court. You can get Dessert Story, Crystal Jade dumplings, Taiwan Cafe and Bento all in one place. I am not sure why they gave D a high chair. D said but I'm a good boy. Then said he wanted to sit in it.. so in he went.

Mick wanted a green tea ice cream and red bean drink. This thing is like a dessert! For $7.20 ... it was really yummy though. D said he wanted Noo Noos (noodles) in soup and chicken on rice. This is the standard response everywhere we go when he looks at the menu.

Taiwan Beef Noodles

I think there was a long order list of popcorn chicken. We had the taiwan beef noodles almost immediately. This sparked out a yelling fest. I WANT NOO NOOSSS.. Soupppp Mummy. Had to make sure 4 bowls of noodles in soup was divided out. D kept asking for seconds on this, he had about 3 little bowls.

Popcorn Chicken Bento

The little plate of popcorn chicken arrived, followed by the popcorn bento. YUMMYYYY.. It started a 3 way fight for popcorn chicken between myself, Mick and Pickles. D carried on with the noo noos so he was out of the race. I looked down and though omg I ordered too much again. Have to say that the popcorn chicken was eaten and most of the rice too! D also had a bowl of rice. What on earth!?

Yoghurt and Mango Icey Poles

Then he tells me he wants yoghurt and mango pops in the afternoon. I am starting to wonder where he puts everything in his little belly.

The Claw: Featuring Hello Darling Verano NYE nails

Oh hello there 2013! It has been a while since the claw made an appearance. I had issues with weak nails that were chipping and breaking and had to take a break from painting them. But it was NYE and I wanted some colour. So here is a fantastic summer colour - Hello Darling Verano. I posted about receiving this colour in the mail on this post. Do happy dance here.

Oh hey there broccoli looking flower thing 

This picture says it all really.. no words. What a hot colour for the new year! This colour was incredibly easy to paint on and dried shiny. I did do a top coat but even before that it was shiny with 2 coats.

Unbelievable hibiscus bloom

Mick had thought the hibiscus would not bloom so soon but it did make it. I just had to grab this picture when it was blooming. Hello Darling needs to send this nail colour to Ita Buttrose. Do you remember when she was on Beauty and the Beast in the afternoons? I used to watch this show when I was in Uni and I had no idea who she was. But I just could not stop staring at her matching lipstick and nail colour. She almost always had a coral pink shade on. Ita Buttrose if you are googling yourself.. get yourself a bottle and email me to thank me later. kthx!

Pansies and my hands look red 

Succulent flowered

These two pictures were taken in the late afternoon and I think D and L were running around in the background eating chocolate cake. I'm not sure how our succulents flowered but it is super cool! I really love that succulent pot. I need MOREEEE. 

Sunrise with Roses