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Pies at the Carungra Outpost Cafe

By
Melissa Loh
– January 23, 2012Posted in: In the Kitchen, Reviews

The last time the SO and I drove up to O’Reiley’s was when girlfriend Celeste and @iriael were visiting back in October 2009. That’s a looooooong time ago, so we thought to give our new car a little test run on those country roads.

Enroute, we stopped in the little township of Canungra, just 90km from Brisbane for a quick lunch.

You cannot miss The Outpost Cafe when you’re in Canungra. The large Australian windmill up on the roof is a dead giveaway and if you’re lucky, you might spy a vintage or kit car parked out front.

I had the steak and kidney pie with chips and gravy, while the SO had the steak and mushroom (his favorite flavour).

Now I have never had a steak and kidney pie before, but this one was pretty good. The kidney flavour was not as strong as one would expect and there were real pieces of steak.

The SO chowed down on his steak and mushroom without much of a peep, so I take it he enjoyed it.

The chips are ok – nothing fancy or particularly interesting.

The Outpost Cafe on Urbanspoon

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1

Fish and chip dinner at Peter’s Fish Market, Gold Coast

By
Melissa Loh
– January 18, 2012Posted in: In the Kitchen, Reviews

There is nothing like hopping into the car after an afternoon folicking at the beach to grab a piping hot fresh fish and chip dinner. And down at the Gold Coast, Peter’s Fish Market out on the Spit is one of the best places to pick up such a meal.

Contrary to their name, Peter’s Fish Market is not really a fish market market – the crazy hustle and bustle warehouse full of forklifts and men in thick plastic aprons. While Peter’s Fish Market does get a little crazy on the weekend, you have a clean organised space with several displays of seafood instead – fresh, packaged or pre-prepared – on thick beds of ice. This ranges from whole fish, shucked oysters, prawns, octopus, crabs and fish fillets. And lots of people walking out with a stack of paper trays full of fish and chips in their arms.

What I love is the wide variety of fish fillets you can select for your fish and chips, such as flake, whiting, cod, flathead, salmon. So you’re not limited to the standard 1 piece of fish (there’s usually a daily special for the type of fish) and chips, which by the way is still fantastic. You can obviously go with as many pieces as you like in all 3 ways: battered, crumbed or grilled.

2 years in and their prices haven’t changed from the AUD$8.50 for standard 1 piece of fish with chips, which includes a wedge of lemon to squeeze over the lot. That’s fantastic when everything else seems to get more and more expensive.

And if just fish and chips are not enough, there are other meal packs, which include prawn cutlets, calamari, etc.

Just wait too long to get there on a Saturday/Sunday evening. I have seen the line snake well past their front door.

Peter's Fish Market on Urbanspoon

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5

Q having breakfast

By
Melissa Loh
– January 15, 2012Posted in: Everyday

Our cockatiel Q demands – yes, demands – to join us for most meals. Most of the time, he will be satisfied with a few grains of cooked rice or nibbles of multi-grain toast, but every now and then, he prefers whatever we are having… whatever it is.

That apparently includes pikelets.

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1

Jamie Oliver inspired leftover Christmas turkey, leek and green pea pie

By
Melissa Loh
– January 13, 2012Posted in: In the Kitchen, Recipes

During one of the SO’s bouts of self-imposed programming stints, I sat curled on the couch to watch Jamie Oliver’s Best Ever Christmas special on the telly and one of the recipes I was mesmerised by was the leftover Christmas turkey and leek pie.

Was it the leeks softening as they cooked in the pan or the gravy oozing out from the sieve that had me salivating? Or is it because it just looks so dead simple to make? Either way, I told myself I had to give this recipe a go.

Knowing we would have leftover turkey from Christmas, I kept an eye out for leeks at the market. But it would seem they might be out of season or there is a shrink ray at the Brisbane markets, because all the leeks seem tiny this time of year. And pricey.

I used just two good sized leek and threw in some peas as well. Our freezer always has peas and I only ever seem to use them for fried rice. Guess this is not a bad way to use them in something else, eh?

Inspired by Jamie Oliver’s leftover turkey and leek pie, here is cannot-be-simpler pie using a method I think can be used for just about any kind of leftover and veg in your fridge.

Print
Jamie Oliver inspired leftover Christmas turkey, leek and green pea pie

Yield: Serves 4-6

Ingredients

  • 1 large handful of ham/bacon, roughly chopped
  • ½ bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
  • Olive oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 2 large leeks, washed, trimmed; white end chopped into chunks, green end finely sliced
  • 500g cooked turkey meat, torn/chopped into chunks
  • 2 cups frozen peas
  • 2 heaped tbsp plain flour
  • 3 cups stock or water
  • 2 tbsp cream
  • 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, slightly thawed (big enough to cover your baking dish
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
  2. In a large pan on a medium heat, add olive oil, butter, ham/bacon and thyme leaves. Fry for a few minutes before adding the leeks. Fry for about 3 minutes, before adding a pinch of salt and pepper. Cover with a lid, reduce the heat and let everything cook away gently for 15-20 minutes to soften, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes.
  3. Add the turkey meat and frozen peas to the pan and stir, ensuring both are cooked through.
  4. Add the flour, mix it in well before pouring in stock/water and cream before stirring again. Turn the heat up and bring everything back up to the boil.
  5. Taste and season with salt and pepper before turning off the heat.
  6. Pour the mixture through a sieve over another large empty pan and let the wonderful gravy from the mixture drip from your pie stuffing.
  7. Pour the drained turkey, leek and pea mixture evenly into a deep baking dish, and cover with the slightly thawed sheet of puff pastry. Tuck the edges under and brush the pastry with the beaten egg.
  8. Bake the pie in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown.
  9. Serve warm with the gravy.
http://www.melissaloh.com/2012/01/13/jamie-oliver-inspired-leftover-christmas-turkey-leek-and-green-pea-pie/

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1

GLOSSYBOX (Australia) – December 2011

By
Melissa Loh
– January 11, 2012Posted in: In the Closet

I did not receive my December 2011 GLOSSYBOX till January 2012. Here’s why.

 

Review of the GLOSSYBOX Service Experience

As Christmas loomed closer, members on GLOSSYBOX‘s Facebook page were sharing how they had started receiving their boxes. However I had not received an email notification of a tracking number, so I logged into my GLOSSYBOX account to discover my order had been cancelled. I had not received any notification regarding why, so I tried to call. No one picked up after several tries.

I took to Twitter instead, seeing as @GlossyBox_au was tweeting. I didn’t receive a response till about 2 hours later, but by which time I had already managed to get through to someone on the phone. They were not able to tell me why my subscription had been cancelled, but they would send out a December box to me immediately and warned it probably would not get to me till after the New Year. Given it was the Christmas season, I found this fair and received my December box the first week of January 2012.

I later discovered I needed to update my credit card details and this was most likely to be the reason why my subscription was cancelled. If so, I would have appreciated a notification, so I could rectify it as soon as possible, rather than to have discovered it on my own accord.

However changing one’s credit card isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. After a good hour trying to work out how to do so, I had to make another phone call to ask if they would do it for me. Turns out to change credit card details, members have to cancel their existing subscription and re-subscribe to input the new details. By this stage, I was frustrated and wondered if there isn’t a simpler way of updating credit card information.

 

Review of the Beauty Samples

Besides the beauty samples, included in this GLOSSYBOX are a GLOSSYBOX circle sticker, a Christmas card and a candy cane.

GORGEOUS COSMETICS Lip Pencil in Premiere
RRP: AUD$25 for 1.5g


I have never heard of Gorgeous Cosmetics, so was really curious about this product.

The full-sized product is a 12cm long pencil with a black plastic cap, so it is easy to throw into a cosmetic bag. One end has the colour sample of the product, making it easy to tell what the colour is without lifting the cap.

The lip pencil is really creamy and soft with a great colour payoff – I’d say almost too soft, as the tip wonked out with a bit of pressure. This is good if you tend to use lip pencils as lipstick – not so good if you have a heavy hand. The creaminess certainly enables it to blend really well with a lip brush.

 

SALLY HANSEN Diamond Strength Diamond Shine Base and Top Cost
RRP: AUD$16.46 for 13.3ml

This is another full-sized sample and an information booklet on the Sally Hansen product range. I already had a great experience with the Sally Hansen Everyday Strength Medium Nail File from the first Beauty Box back in September 2011, so had high hopes this base and top coat would fulfill its product promises: brilliant shine, extended wear, which strengthens nails and protects nail polish.

Straight off, I have to say I don’t like the silver bottle packaging. It looks a little tacky and my bottle already came with 2 large scratches, which cannot be buffed out.

The actual product however, is good. The liquid is relatively thin and applies evenly, giving nails a lovely shine. I have been wearing it alone for 4 days before it started flaking around the cuticles. My manicures usually last maximum a week, so it doesn’t hold up too badly. I cannot be sure about whether it strengthens: time will tell.

 

TIGI HAIRCARE Manipulator by Bed Head
RRP: AUD$23.95 for 57ml

I’m sooo excited to get this! I have been oogling Bed Head‘s product range since I was in school, but at the time, didn’t have enough money to validate buying anything. And after I started work, my money went to a million other purchases.

Manipulator is really tacky stuff and a little goes a looooong way, unless you are going for the sticky look. It holds styles well and is relatively matte, so it suits natural styles as much as it would funky monkey ones. It leaves a light pleasant coconut scent in my hair afterwards.

 

JOHN FRIEDA – Frizz-Ease® Secret Weapon Finishing Crème
RRP: AUD$16.99 for 113gm

The last time I tried a John Frieda product, I wasn’t very impressed, so this one started with relatively low expectations. The Frizz-Ease® Secret Weapon Finishing Crème is a light-weight formulation and easy to apply. The scent is a little strong, but it definitely keeps my hair feeling slick and less frizzy (and poofy) without having to blowdry after a wash. Definitely something I wouldn’t mind trying a full bottle of.

 

AUSCREEEN Everyday sunscreen Lotion
RRP: AUD$7.49 for 125ml, AUD$10.49 for 250ml


The SO and I have been hitting the beach the last two weekends, so I took this with me. There isn’t enough in the sample bottle for a whole body, so I just applied it to my face.

The formulation is light-weight non-greasy and absorbs really easily into the skin. It is SPF 30+, 3 hours water resistant and pleasantly scented, which holds up well for my already tanned skin. I would like to test it on the SO, who is fair and incapable of tanning (ie. he burns without sunscreen in 5 mins and then goes back to being white albeit with a couple more freckles).

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