I love Aldi: Chicken Parma Review

What Aldi says it looks like

I bet you miss this series don't ya? Oh I am sure that you do. I haven't been able to face eating freezer meals for a while. I had this sitting in my freezer for ages! It was 3pm and I had not had lunch yet. I also had an event coming up in the evening and I thought this would do to tide me over until I get food again at 8.30pm.

What it really looks like

This could actually taste much worse. I remember a horrendous one in the past with chicken and I do not want to go back there. Now listen here.. only get this one if you can 'hack' a very unique and spongey yet chewy hard to describe type of chicken texture. I appreciate that it is not real chicken. So if you can deal with faux-ken this is not a bad one. Mmm Potatoes.. Mmmm spuds. This is slightly bigger than the normal range and I think in terms of size, it is a bit more filling.

Price: Tick $4.99 A WHOLE DORRAH MORE THAN THE NORMAL!! Outrageous. LOL
Appearance: Tick could look a lot worse, you get the normal weird bubble cheesey top from the microwave.
Taste: Not bad! The chicken is a little weird which is kind of expected of freezer "schnitz" meals. I mean it ain't a $11 Schnitz wrap. The sauce on the parma was a little sour but overall it was ok. The potatoes were quite yummy. 
Will buy again Factor: Yes this one is buyable

P.S: This is not a paid post. I had shelled out $5 for my own meal.

Stalk my Weekend: BBQ, Fascinators and Scooter

Scooter!

I received the train sets that I bought from Singapore through help from my friend on Friday evening. They were pretty expensive for 2 sets of wind up Thomas and Friends trains. Anyway, after spending all that money... D has decided he really really wants a scooter. Mick said let's get him one because it's Christmas. What will i do with the trains?! But look what the boys came home with! This was salvaged from hard rubbish. Mick still has to check it thoroughly but it looks ok so far. D asked if this was someone's rubbish and Mick had to explain recycling to him. :)

La Clinica Cleansing Oil Door Gifts!

On Saturday we had lots of "Aunties" come over to visit. D had been hounding me since 9am if his visitors were coming. When you have bloggers come over, this is what you lay out on the welcome table. Glasses ready for Tequila Sunrises and door gifts of La Clinica Anti-Aging Beautiful Skin Cleansing oils! Everyone was frocked up like they were heading to the races. This is my Races BBQ which evolved into a theme as MadeUpMaiden suggested that we wear fascinators.

Vita from Make Up 4 My Age & Kerri

Alright now left to right we have Norlin (standing) from Baubles, Bubbles, Bags, Ash from Miss Directions, Ling from The Best Beauty Blog, Nalini from Made Up Maiden, Kerri from The Ugly Moments, Me in my yellow Target dress and Emma from Emma Bovary Beauty 

Ok that was a handful of links to do ^^ Phew.. Egg-hausted. So you see that I did end up keeping the Yellow Target dress! We did a KK swap and I had D to help hand out the presents. It was so uber cute!!

Oh hai! I has tongue

Oh hai I is cute

On Sunday, we had split the boys up as D was going to swimming and Pickles could not get a space. So Mick took him out while we were at swimming. This week D wanted me to take him and we were early because he was so excited to go. What do we end up doing? We took selfies. About 5 mins down the road by car, Mick and Pickles were doing the same. Photostream doesn't lie!!! 

NOMMYYYYYY PESTOOOOO

This weekend was just exhausting.. much thanks to Mick for organising all the food (or D will say chow chow) for the ladies who came over. All I did was buy the lamb leg and that was epic enough as I left it in the office and left to go home! He pretty much did everything else that day like you know cook me dinner! I shall leave you with my dinner from Saturday night. Leftover Afghan spice rubbed BBQ lamb leg and Roza's Basil Mustard pesto with pasta. This combination was amazeballs. When I first had the Basil Mustard pesto on it's own I thought it was a little weird. But I think this worked really well together.

For disclosure purposes: Roza's Gourmet Sauces did not sponsor this post. La Clinica generously provided me with the cleansing oils which I chose to use as door gifts :) 

Stalk my Noms: Pavlova featuring Bodum Hand Mixer

Ingredients - ignore the toys in background

I honestly thought that I had a post about Pavlovas before but a search suggests otherwise. But this is a fav to do when people come over. It looks impressive but you can prepare the base earlier. Whip the cream topping and prepare the fruit prior to your guests arriving. This is what we Mick did for the Pav.

Ingredients (variations made on Donna Hay's recipe from back of Cornflour box)

4 egg whites

1 cup caster sugar

2 tsp cornflour 

2 tsp white vinegar

250ml cream

Passionfruit pulp (we used tin ... ducks to avoid food bloggers throwing stones at us)

Strawberries
Raspberries

The amazing red Bodum beater and Mum's retro bowls

Preheat the oven to 150C and get whisking. We were kindly armed with the red Bodum beater at KitchenwareDirect.com.au and many thanks to Brad who organised this for us! This is to prove that if you do not have the space in your kitchen for a stand mixer you are still able to make amazing things with a handheld.  Do not let this stop you people! Sometimes I just prefer to use a handheld especially if I am making a recipe that uses small quantity items. It is sometimes overkill to cream 80g of butter with the Kitchenaid. Plus the Bodum range comes in so many pretty colours! I am a big fan of this brand.

Start whisking!

Do you see what I did up there? By posing with the handheld mixer everyone now believes that I made the Pav. YAY!!!

Beat till stiff peaks

Add in the sugar gradually when stiff peaks form. Then beat in shifted cornflour and the vinegar. Make sure you shift the cornflour in as there are big lumps. And beat this in thoroughly. The Bodum mixer has rubber 'feet' at the bottom to stand the mixer on its side. The best feature of this mixer has to be wind up wire. You know how you shove wires into a drawer just to pack the item away? The wire is retractable into the actual mixer. You just wind it back and pull it to unwind when you want to use it again. You just have to admire this design!

Form it upwards and high

Mick likes to form his pav upwards and high. I know some people instruct to have a dip in the centre but he prefers it this way. Don't forget to line your tray please!! Then reduce oven temperature to 120C, bake for an hour and 20minutes. Turn oven off and let the completed pavlova cool completely in the oven.

Break centre portion

D helping with the cream

Then you get yourself a child minion to help with the beating of the cream. No this one is not available for hiring out sorry. The Bodum Hand Mixer has 5 speed settings and we used about a 3 to 4 for the egg whites and lower for the cream. But it did not take long at all. 

Finished! Let's chow down!

The fruit flan on the right was made by Vita. Go check her nails out and convince her to share this recipe! And don't forget to come back for a new Stalk my weekend cos I actually did stuff this weekend.

For disclosure purposes, Kitchenwaredirect.com.au had provided the Red Bodum Bistro Hand Mixer.

Cauliflower & Cheese Soup

Cauliflower & Cheese Soup

I had a long time reader ask if I could provide more recipes. Oh Hai long time reader! I have read it and have answered. This is a favourite during winter and it is super cheap to make as well.

It is SO HARD to take decent pictures of my cooking. And I sort of forget quantities as well.

Once again - here are rough estimates with quantities. As I always say to Mick and I drive him nuts - just look at it and add more if you need.

Ingredients
1 head of Cauliflower chopped
Enough water or stock to cover up to half of Cauliflower
Stock cube if you are using water
Cream
Half a block of Cream Cheese cut to cubes
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cover and cook cauliflower until it breaks apart easily. You do not want too much water in there and it will look like there is not enough. But the rest of the cauliflower that is not submerged in water will  be steamed so do not worry about it.
Once it is cooked till soft. I blend the cauliflower roughly. Add half a block of cream cheese to this and continue blitzing it into the soup. I put about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of cream to the soup to make it creamier. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you have added too much water at the start, your soup will be thinner.

That picture above is what it looks like before I have finished blending it. When finished it should be a smooth soup :). Top it off with bacon bits or croutons.

Stocking Fillers: Korres Lip Butters Glaze Pack

Top to Bottom: Pomegranate, Raspberry and Jasmine

My Skincare BFF at work bought these for me from Strawberrynet. How cute! Remember my Korres Lip Butter pot post? Well the stuff in the pot is great but the sticky balm bit on finger is yuck when I'm outside on the train or something. So these ones are pretty much perfect.

Left to Right in Sun: Pomegranate, Raspberry and Jasmine

Raspberry was a little thicker than the others and I found that I still had to smooth it out with my finger. But least it eliminated the need for 'digging'. Pomegranate is a sweet colour and quite pigmented. Jasmine is a light pink which is sweet. The 3 tubes come packaged together and would be a great stocking filler.

Stalk my Noms: Jus Burgers South Yarra

Jus Burger: Roo Burger & Cheeseburger

We were recently kindly invited to Jus Burgers in South Yarra to review their yummy burgers. I pretty much won best wife award for 2012 with this review from Mick as he loves burgers so much. Jus Burgers philosophy is simply to source from local producers and do not freeze any of their meat. Sounds pretty good to me! So we made our way down to Chapel Street in South Yarra. Can I just say that I have not been to South Yarra in ages and it was totally funny as I had to sit the boys outside of Condom Kingdom to google the address as I had transposed the digits incorrectly in my memory bank.

Waiting for our burgers!

Mmmm Burgers... The boys shared a Cheeseburger, I had ordered the Roo Burger with Green Chilli Jam and Mick had the Organic Beef. For sides, we had onion rings and a Spanish slaw. Corey suggested we try the organic Cola and not the normal Coca Cola. Mick is now converted and said he can no longer drink normal Coke. The organic Cola is not as acidic and had a stronger Cola flavour. The boys of asked for juice but I told them to have water. :) Are you proud of us Dr Tung? While waiting for our burgers, the boys played with the dinosaur with our order number on it by passing it between them. D asked if he could take it home, thankfully he did not notice when it was taken back by the lovely service staff.

Organic Beef Burger + chips, slaw and green tomato pickle

Onion Rings Spanish Slaw

The onion rings came with aioli that was to die for. The burgers were a meal deal with chips, green tomato pickle and a yummy slaw. I strongly suggest trying the onion rings but the chips -> look at those chips! They are amazing with the aioli dip and pickle! That's D eating his onion ring in the background. 

Pickles did not want his burger which was his loss and clung onto the chips. I really mean it, he held onto two chips and would not give it up even when we got into the car. 

Action at the Front area

The above was the front bar area where the action is, they also have seats outside on the street - it is after all Chapel Street! And a quieter area behind where this picture was taken. Parents with kids would appreciate the back area and there is a wall where kids' drawings are displayed.

D's drawing

Jus Burgers is a child friendly place, don't forget to ask for an activity sheet when you order and crayons. D insisted that his drawing is left on the wall. Pickles did not colour one as he was busy eating his chips and dancing on the bench. 

Jus Burgers

364 Chapel Street, South Yarra (near Cnr of Commercial Road)

www.jusburgers.com.au

(03) 9827 1318

Shu Uemura Karl Lagerfeld Collaboration

There is nothing better than payday shopping. Nothing. I talk a lot about online shopping but sometimes I just want to go into a physical store. I had a quasi hard week.. another one. Yeah. You must be sick of hearing my hard weeks. So I shall take you straight to Shu Uemura.

I trooped to David Jones because I wanted to mentally purchase all the Louboutins in there and imagine myself walking out with all these new shoes but also because I wanted to look at Shu Uemura. I was told today that they are going to become a concession store from next week onwards and will have a wider range in the DJ CBD store! I went back downstairs to the makeup department to find Shu Uemura. I had to walk around looking a little lost as I had no idea where the Shu Uemura counter was. Don't laugh!

My Goodies!!

My skincare BFF at work said that I am 764.. 7 - beige, 6 is the shade with 9 being lightest and she forgot what the last number was. Anyone care to clarify? And I was very excited to find out that she was quite right! Iris who was at the counter thought I could either be 764 or 774. I went with 774 and it was a perfect match. As Iris was so helpful and applied my makeup with primer and got me a great match, I bought the Face Architect Illuminating foundation without hesitating.

I also bought the Peach Tsuya UV Under Base Mousse which was in the Karl Lagerfeld collection packaging. Big hint if you are after one, run in now and get the Karl packaging as it is the same thing but it is cheaper at $49!

In the meantime check these Karl Lagerfeld Eyeshadow Palettes, these have been reduced in price to $88 recently. I am now hoping that the price I have published here is correct. The mind blanked about what it was before when I opened the palettes... now you see why figures just went over my head here?

This one has my name on it

OMG MakingUpVita is saying gimme gimme gimmeeee

I thought of Vita from Makeup4MyAge immediately when I saw this. I know she has a thing for purple, add glitter in the mix, she's sold.

The comments from the foundation were, it looks like your own skin (colour match) but just better. Mick also thought that I looked different and had makeup on when I got home. He said it looked 'softer'. Woohoo. Can't wait to try this on for the weekend.

So have I tempted you to run out and get those eyeshadow palettes?