Thanks to everyone who entered the chocolatesuze Cocolo chocolate giveaway!


The Random Integer Generator was used to determine the winners so congratulations to:

#96 Hannah

#63 Wenqi

#110 Dante

All winners have been sent emails and Cocolo will send out your chocolates in the next few days. Thanks to everyone who entered! And much thanks to Cocolo chocolate for the prizes!

THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO BUTCH. Butch would like me to start writing with capital letters in my sentences. Hope you’re happy Butch!


(Image borrowed from Laura). Last week i attended my first ever blog chicks meetup. Blog chicks is an online community of aussie women bloggers and is hosted by the lovely Leigh who also collates the list of top 100 aussie female bloggers each month.

Bloggers at the lunch were: Lucy from Chief Bridesmaid, Leigh from Crazy Meezer, Marilyn from Live first, write later, Laura from LR Kane, Trish from My Little Drummer Boys, Emma from Reality Ravings, Liz from Savvy Cat and fellow foodbloggers Helen, Jen and Shez. But hey time for some food pics!


Ok i lied here’s a pic of our drinks. Helen and I have spotted an avocado milkshake ($5.50) on the menu and because we are suckers for random menu items we immediately order it. Along with a normal drink just in case- a vanilla malt milkshake ($5.10). The vanilla malt milkshake was awesome. The avocado milkshake not so much. It was like drinking guacamole and the honey that was laced in the drink was no comparison to the condensed milk that an avocado milkshake should have.


Steak sandwich ($17.50) with extra cheese, roasted mushrooms, rocket and beetroot relish with chips. I loved all the toppings on the sandwich except well, the steak. A tad on the dry side but the beetroot relish saves the day. As does the side of fat crunchy chips. Mmm carbohydrates.


Big Breakfast ($18) Two eggs, bacon, tomato, mushrooms, sausage, hash brown and toast. And a single piece of rocket heh. Shez gleefully attacks her food and crows with delight at finding sausage buried under the pile. I snuck a piece of hash brown when she wasn’t looking. It was tasty. I like my potato deep fried. Actually i guess i like all foods deep fried.


Open BBQ chicken burger ($16.50) with lettuce, tomato, avocado and aioli with chips


Chicken quesadilla ($16.50) Folded flour tortilla filled with grilled chicken, Spanish onion and cheese lightly toasted and topped with sour cream


Salt and pepper calamari ($16.50) tossed with seasoned Besan flour


Grilled barramundi ($19) with a macadamia crust on sauteed spinach, capsicum, tomato and feta


Grilled prawn pasta ($16.50) with chilli, lime and basil


The afternoon passes quickly with tech talk about what platforms we use, domain registrations and how a boy managed to get on the girls list… Soon we start feeling peckish and while the others have chosen dessert from the cake cabinet at the front i have stuck to my can of mother and a chocolate icecream while Helen goes for the Magnum option.


Chocolate tart ($6). Shez has chosen a rich looking chocolate tart and i stare enviously at it before begging for a piece heh and it is good. Super chocolatey but not too sweet with a fudgey denseness


Cannoli ($6)


Banana cake ($6)


Baby chocolate pudding ($6). (Lol oops sorry about the crap pic of the pudding. Still messing around with the 50mm)


It was lovely meeting everyone and super thanks to Leigh for organising!

i managed to walk past the entrance of the ivy lifts several times and when finally emerging from the lifts i paused for to my right was a super long bar and all around me were sofas and chairs scattered in a seemingly random pattern. and so, helen and i wait there in front of the lifts for billy to save us. we eventually find the restaurant Teppanyaki without tripping (my god it’s dark in there) and are led to the communal table and stare at the chefs in their open kitchen. we are joined by the lovely myriam who is french and confirmed that it’s ‘macaron’ with ONE ‘o’ and pronounced macarawn NOT MACAROON PEOPLE! but anyways moving along…


the merivale winter feast is an awesome $35 and you get 3 courses plus a glass of wine or beer. there are 3 choices for entree, main and dessert. for the entree i have of course chosen the wagyu penny burgers (2 pieces) with cucumber, tomato and house sauce. hee so cute they were! i wouldve been happy eating about 6 of those burgers!


balmain bug wonton (2 pieces) with sweet chilli and cucumber sauce. it was such a shame that the delicate balmain bug flesh got killed by being wrapped in a wonton wrapper and deepfried


king fish sashimi (2 pieces) with shiso leaf and an asian salsa. again with the wonton skins! altho at least the kingfish to wonton ratio was more balanced than the balmain bug wontons


Main: wagyu striploin 100g Oakleigh Ranch marble score 5+ striploin with wok-tossed shiitake, buckwheat and soybean. funnily enough the girls have chosen the wagyu and while the presentation is beautiful the same cannot be said for the wagyu which is sadly a tad overcooked. the shiitake mushrooms are awesome tho and are swirled in the wagyu juice before nomming


Main: ocean trout served with crispy skin, pickled cucumber, black fungus and chilli salad with sesame dressing. billy has chosen the trout which is juicy and the plate is soon polished off


Dessert: banana tempura with a sake chocolate fondue. the desserts on the teppanyaki winter feasts menu are to be shared between two people and immediately i am drawn towards the word ‘tempura’ ‘sake’ and ‘chocolate’ ahh anything that is deep fried, contains alcohol and of course has the magic that is chocolate and i am a very happy girl. the banana tempura batter is light with sweet banana innards that i gleefully dunk into the bittersweet chocolate sauce which seriously i could have drunk straight from the bowl.


Dessert: black sesame ice cream with seasonal fruits. the single scoop of icecream in that teeny tiny bowl had us glancing at each other- if this dessert was meant to be shared by two people they must be either very full or not a fan of dessert because man it was pretty small!


the chair at the ivy lifts… pricewise i’d say the teppanyaki winter feasts is a pretty good deal. servings are a little small for dinner but i think it’d be perfect for lunch. probably less dark too.


of course a bit later we get the munchies and so we head to mamak for some roti tissue goodness…

lol lol lol seriously is the dumbest allergy warning you’ve seen? the eggs from testco in ireland comes with a warning: “Allergy Advice: Contains egg.”
[image and link via serious eats]