Sublime Sunday at Tedder & Woodroffe

Over the long weekend, a friend and I braved the torrential rain and gale force winds battering much of Queensland to partake in some delectable tapas and refreshing ciders at Tedder & Woodroffe.

The white-washed, provincial style interior lent itself to an afternoon spent cocooned in one of the restaurants many cosy enclaves, watching the rain beat down outside.

While all the offerings were divine, I would exercise caution when ordering the "Gringo's Buffalo Wings" as I fear the accompanying blue cheese dressing may be too potent for many a palate.

Gorgeous décor at Tedder & Woodroffe

 

Sublime Rekorderlig cider; nothing compares to the strawberry and lime variety!

Front: "Gringo's Buffalo Wings"- spicy chicken wings with blue cheese sauce

Back: Vegetable gyoza

 

Chicken karage with Kewpie mayonaise

 

 

Apart from wonderful food and relaxing décor, Tedder & Woodroffe is located within close proximity to both the shopping decadence of Marina Mirage and the delightful cocktails in the Le Jardin at Palazzo Versace. Perfect plan for a lazy Sunday, perhaps? Xx

 

 



2013: A Year of Gastronomic Delights

I, like most people, enjoy going out for dinner a couple of times a week (or more, depending on how loathsome I perceive cooking to be). And, like most people, I have my favourite, tried-and-true haunts, like our neighbourhood Chinese restaurant where I am greeted by a familiar face, ushered to my usual table by the window and swiftly order a Number 11 and a Number 24 without so much as glancing at the menu.

However, of late I have (out of little more than laziness), come to over-rely on the 'usual suspects' when it comes to picking a venue for a ladies' lunch or a long-overdue catch-up with an old friend.
I feel this laziness is manifesting as the gastronomic equivalent of the 'Law of Diminishing Returns'; the more often I eat at my usual restaurants, the less pleasurable the experience becomes, irrespective of the quality of the food, ambience and company.

As one who hates to be be stuck in any kind of rut, I have decided to sample the bounty of (at least)one new restaurant per week throughout 2013. I am already relishing the opportunity to get myself out of my culinary comfort zone and began my mission last night with gusto, dining at Continental Café with a close friend.

This was truly a magnificent find! I can't believe it has taken me so long to stumble across this bijou venue, tucked away in a cosy enclave in New Farm. The experience can best be described as a 'warm hug'; sumptuous comfort food, like Nan used to make.

Everything we sampled was divine, the wait staff were knowledgeable, and the ambience made one feel they were a guest in the owners' kitchen. A particular highlight were the fresh Moreton Bay bugs served with tomato and Cognac sauce and saffron linguini.

 The menu @ Continental Café

 

 

Delightful appetiser of warm bruschetta of seasonal tomatoes, sweet basil & sea salt.

 

 

 Front to back: Moreton Bay bugs served with tomato and Cognac sauce and saffron linguini, seasonal steamed vegetables and 90 day grain-fed rump steak with diane sauce and french fries. Note: While I met my dining partner's choice of meal with derision (he seldom orders anything but steak), the dish was truly magnificent, with the sumptuous diane sauce warranting a particuarly special mention.

 

Delicious affogato. Note: I may have been one of the last people to learn this; Affogato means 'drowned' in Italian...the wonderful imagery this evokes makes this classic dessert even more appealing (if that's possible).

So if you're a Brisbanite who has yet to sample the delicacies of Continental Café, I implore you make it a feature on your To-Do list. As for me, I'm already looking forward to whatever gastronomic delights await me next week. Bon appétit, darlings! Xx

The Art of the Stay-cation

I am at the end of a wondrous Summer holiday. I have fallen asleep on the beach as I watched the waves lap at the shore, sipped cocktails poolside and nourished my soul with many a visit to art galleries and museums.

Sounds like a typical Summer holiday, does it not? Indeed it is, but with one slight difference...I did all this while staying at home. This Summer I vowed to be economical (incredibly hard for a hedonist such as me) and save the pennies I would ordinarily spend travelling abroad. Thus, I decided the embark on a “Stay-cation” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staycation).

For the first few days, I admit I was at a loss. It is rare for me to have time off and when I do, I am typically off jet setting, so a mild case of cabin fever began to set in, not helped by my insistence to watch Season 3 of Modern Family in a single day. To combat my boredom, I started researching Brisbane's tourist attractions and came to the staggering realisation that one doesn’t have to be in a foreign country (or even another State) to be a tourist.

I spent the remainder of my holiday taking in the sights of Brisbane and the Gold Coast and had a truly wonderful time. Best of all, I won’t be going back to work jetlagged and with a huge credit card bill from too many duty-free indulgences!

Some of my favourite parts of the Stay-cation were:

1. Spending two full days sipping decadent fruity cocktails by the side of my very own pool. Not only did I avoid paying $18 for a drink, but also cultivated a tan to rival anyone who spent time sunning themselves in the Maldives or St Bart’s.

2. Christmas with my family- usually I am in transit and miss out on at least some of the festivities. It was an absolute treat to spend time with my wonderful extended family, eating, drinking and being merry.

3. New Years Eve- it has been a few years since I spent New Year’s Eve in Brisbane. While I’m the first to admit the fireworks don’t hold a candle (pardon the pun) to those in New York, it was a joy to see in the New Year surrounded by friends (and copious amounts of Moët).

4. Exploring the Gold Coast and Tweed Valley- I was lucky to spend some time with my wonderful godparents who live in Northern New South Wales and who happily gave me a guided tour of their backyard. Together we visited the Red Rattlers cafe near Murwillumbah, a converted rail car, selling mouth-watering homemade cakes. We also took in the wonderful art (and view) at the Tweed River Art Gallery, sampled seafood at the ever-delightful  George's Paragon and swam in the crystal clear waters of Rainbow Bay.

Some of the delicious treats I whipped up for the

family Christmas celebrations.

Celebrating NYE with copious amounts of Moët.

The gorgeous view of the Tweed Valley

from the Tweed River Art Gallery.

Perfect day at Snapper Rocks (near Rainbow Bay).

 

My bank account is most thankful for my Stay-cation, as am I. It just goes to show, fun doesn't (always) have to be expensive.  Xx



New Year, Old Resolutions

2013. New year, new beginning...or so they say. I’m not much for New Year’s Resolutions myself (I never seem to get past day one), but over many a jubilant champagne during the festive season, I became well acquainted with many of my friends’ resolutions for 2013. At the time, I blamed the champagne-induced cloud, which made me swear I’d encountered very similar conversations with these people before. However, the next day, a clear head enabled me to recall that, yes, some of my well-meaning, optimistic friends had pledged the same resolutions before, some even year in, year out with monotonous regularity!

This got me contemplating the nature of the New Year’s Resolution and whether it is indeed a useful vehicle for self-improvement, or simply an inevitable spiral toward self-flagellation and loathing. I many NYE resolution-oriented conversations of days gone by quickly sprung to mind and a couple of clear patterns began to emerge. The serial offenders (resolutions which seem doomed to fail and therefore appear on peoples’ lists year after year) tend to fall into one of two categories:

1.       The Epic- What a given person genuinely wants to achieve; usually a concrete goal (eg. I will lose 20 kg or I will learn to speak fluent Spanish). These are usually noble pursuits which the individual believes will set them on the yellow brick road towards becoming their best possible self. The problem? When, after slaving away in the gym for a fort night you have only lost 1kg (What do you mean I gained muscle?!?) or, after six Spanish lessons with that gorgeous tutor, the only phrase we can muster is “Hola Chicas!” we quickly become disheartened and quit. Hence, that hard-won 1kg loss is quickly regained, the tutor told “Adios” and our resolutions filed in the “For Future Consideration” file.  

2.       The Filler- let’s be honest; these are all show and no follow-through. Just like many of us pad our resume with vague statements such as “good communication skills”, setting resolutions such as “work out more” or “volunteer” are doomed to fail. Think about it, if you can’t even be bothered to set a goal of how many times per week you want to work out, or give even a cursory thought to what organisation you would like to volunteer for, the outlook is pretty bleak. Yes, it may make your list of resolutions appear “well rounded”, but your life is not a job interview!

Apologies if I’ve deflated your ego, or made you question whether you will be able to, “Cook just like Julia Childs” by the time 2014 dawns, but as my mother always says, there's nothing like a little tough love!

However, there does appear to be a caveat, a light at the end of the tunnel, for those devotees of the New Year’s resolution. I also recalled a conversation I had with a friend, let's call her Tanya, who wanted to start her own business. Yes, it was an epic resolution and she could easily have cast it aside into the “too hard” basket. However, she didn’t. Instead she broke her resolution down into bite-sized pieces (apologies to those of you who’ve sworn off chocolate!). She fastidiously planned what needed to be done, week by week, month by month, until she (of course) succeeded in achieving her goal.

So best of luck to those of you still on the wagon with your Resolutions and to those who have already fallen off, remember:

 

As for me, I have decided to resolve to be a (much) more active blogger. I will be posting at least one blog per week...feel free to hold me to that!

Welcome to 2013, darlings! Xx