the most awesomest food tattoo ive seen in a while! it’s a nice change from all the angel wings i keep seeing around… DUDES this aint my tattoo! image is from flickr user Kapten Hanna

a cookbook launch from a hotel? and from the vibe hotel which is mostly known for its unique take on ‘traditional’ hotels? im pleasantly surprised at the invite and am curious at the concept of a cookbook from a hotel and so after a chocolate feast and about half of the 32cm softserve eaten, helen and i rock up to the vibe hotel, sydney


we are greeted with colourful hypnotically flashing martini glasses filled with the delicious combination of lychee and midori. the glasses are so pretty, helen starts scheming on how to obtain a glass to take home until we find out we would be getting a goodie bag with the glass lol sweet


a demonstration on one of the recipes is soon the spotlight in the room


pork mince, rambutan and lime juice in the rambutan shell


the second demonstration was on the other side of the room and helen and i had watched as the waiters with the trays of canapes were getting mauled before reaching us so we moved into a better position. sitting 2m away from the kitchen door hahaha and the waiters would see us first and we could take photos of pristine platters and uh get first dibs =P


seared pepper crusted tuna salad


crystal bay prawns with wasabi


tempura vegetables


crystal bay prawns with chilli vodka. oh boy did this burn!


but probably not as much as this! the awesome bartenders were quite the highlight of the night getting the crowd worked up with the preetty preetty fire


another round of drinks brings the vibe sunset cocktail with white wine, strawberry liquer and soda water


and our favourite part of the night is dessert time! blue cheese and blueberry bites; shortbreads with mascarpone and toffee; and cinnamon-dusted mini pavlovas (descriptions stolen from helen)


we leave clutching our stomach and goodie bag which sadly is sans cookbook…but i had a tops time and thanks for the invite belinda!

EDIT: the kiosk selling the 32cm icecream cone inside the smile korea mart has closed and moved! i have nfi where they went but if anyone knows email me!

it doesnt take alot to amuse me. i am VERY easily amused and when i saw this massive icecream on two-kg i knew i had to get it and less than half an hr after finishing the guylian degustation plate with helen we toddled up george st and into the smile korea mart (630 George St, Sydney) next door to hungry jacks.


we eyed the little cart that had been set up inside the convenience store and did a lap checking out the aisles whilst debating whether or not we should eat more considering we had a dinner to go… i of course am greedy and ordered the chocolate (they have strawberry and vanilla and also do double flavours).


HAHAHAHA i am very happy with my icecream and all for the low low price of $2.70! helen is a piker but seems to take great delight in seeing how many silly poses i will do for the camera heh im sure youve all read her post here


mmm look at all those swirls!


(photo borrowed from helen) i wonder if the hungry jacks next door will do anything with their soft serves for competition… like maybe a 50cm icecream? cos seriously how can you go back to their midgety sized soft serves when you can have the king of all soft serves!

i know i know im late to the guylian party. there has been baking galore and the weekends have been taken over by the xmas markets but a couplea weeks ago i trekked to the city to meet helen for the vibe entertains cookbook launch and we decided to have some dessert first at the guylian belgian chocolate cafe in east circular quay.


oh boy a whole counter of chocolate! how to resist?


cakes… um helen has a more detailed post here if ya want names and prices of the cakes


eclairs, brownies, financiers and cookies aplenty


baked goods filled with chocolatey goodness


wall of chocolates


i really wanted to buy the seahorse praline liqueur… oh man imagine how good it would be on icecream… anyone want to buy for me for xmas? =P


oh man a whole bowl of seashells!


and another huge bowl of chocolate!


squares of solitaire choccies waiting to be eaten


our milk and dark hot chocolate ($7)


we grin as we take turns pouring our hot chocolate for each other to take a photo ah the happiness that is food blogging


gratuitous chocolatesuze shot. i liked the square of chocolate on the bottom of the mug but wished i had more to chuck in to make it more chocolatey (you can never have too much chocolate)


chocolate degustation plate ($30). l-r cup of chocolate mousse, baked chocolate cake, macadamia brownie, the red delight, cup of praline ice cream, and three chocolates. the degustation plate comes with a hot chocolate but when our bill arrives we arent charged for our extra one. sweet.


helen is merciless and hacks away at our cakes. heh heh. she did a pretty good job tho right? lol i didnt enjoy the selection as much as i thought i would- for some reason there was a cloyingly sweet taste of honey in the brownie and chocolate mousse and id just gotten over a cold and ate way too much manuka honey for my liking. but the company was great and there was still a trip down george st for some icecream later…


i reckon i will be back tho there is still much much more cakes to be tried!