Making up for lost time

It's approaching 12 months since my last blog post. Yes, I got slack, but the lack of audience was disheartening!

So, my tendrils have stretched a little further in to nail and food circles during the past year, so hopefully this time, the word spreads and encourages me to keep blogging with the four F's - fun, fitness, food and fashion. I guess my nail posts (trust me, you'll be bombarded with them) fit in the fashion category - or I could say fingernails!

Anyway, a quick overview of months past:

• I passed my Certificate II in Nail Technology early this year. Whilst it's not developed in to a little part time business, I have more than sufficient quantities of products to do so if required. Plus it means I have all the toys to play with on my own nails.
• I'm still cooking and doing cake decorating. I recently undertook a full day course for a Novelty Cake at Planet Cake here in Sydney. It was a massively long day but well worth it in the end, especially since I scored the class at half price! I'll put a post up shortly about the end result and all the lessons learned during the course.
• The fitness part of the blog may be lacking somewhat. I let my gym routine slip. Actually, it's effectively non-existent these days. I did get in to Body Pump class for a while, but then the instructor left and I lost all interest. I also had a few sessions with a new PT, but then she went on maternity leave. I'm hoping she's to return to training soon because I felt like it could be a very beneficial relationship. I have kept up some of the weight training, and my last leg press session saw me get to an 8 rep set of 320kg.

Hope to see a few more faces on board here in the coming months.

Nail art updates

After yet another hiatus in posts, I thought I'd present a compilation of my recent nail art attempts so you get to see them all in one go.

Christmas water marbling. As with the previous water marbling post a three colour marble was achieved using China Glaze "Four Leaf Clover", China Glaze "White on White" and OPI "MINNIE RANGE RED." I make note of a very important point here - the China Glaze "Four Leaf Clover" causes significant yellow staining on my acrylic nails, despite the nails being sealed with CND's Shellac UV Top Coat.

China Glaze "Mrs Claus"
This is a beautiful colour - one coat is a sheer pinky glitter, two coats and it turns a deep salmon red colour. I've not attempted a third coat to see just how red it can turn, probably because even at two coats it's near impossible to remove (since I don't want to use an acetone polish remover because of the acrylics.)

This is one of the few acrylic enhancements I've received from the salon I go to in Sydney. I was eligible for two free nail arts because of the client reward system, so I extended the 2 nails to all ten. This is CND's latest release called "Additives". The fine gold powder is gently pressed on to Shellac UV Top Coated nails as they come out from under the lamp. The thicker the powder, the more solid the colour. Another top coat was applied over the Additive.

Base acrylics - CND Warm Opaque Pink.
I found some old Revlon decals in my nail art stash, so I tipped each nail with them, and then lightened up my ring fingers with some lacquer dots.

China Glaze "White on White" with an OPI "Black Shatter" overlay. I loved this effect - stark, bright and bold. And matched pretty much any outfit.

OPI "A Roll In The Hague" with OPI "Black Shatter" overlay. This combination didn't turn out as bright as I'd hoped, but it would  make an excellent pattern for Halloween.

Because of the wide stiletto tips I have my nails filed too, I thought about adding some art to highlight the shape. And what better feature than little strawberries on the tips! This shot is from the first attempt and I have tried a few times since with neater results. But you get the idea! Just note, this used that horrid China Glaze "Four Leaf Clover" green, so when I removed the lacquer I had yellow stain marks on the acrylic. I cannot emphasise enough how disappointed I am with this colour.

I think my inner child guided me to this nailart - it was Easter long weekend and upon reflection, these seem to look like something which would have appeared in the Cadbury Joyville advert! Base colour is OPI "Purple With A Purpose", white dots are achieved using a dotting tool and China Glaze "White on White."

If you know anything about me, you'll know I have thing for leopard print. So, I couldn't resist attempting painting my own leopard pattern. This was achieved using China Glaze Magnetix "You Move Me" as the base, and just a cheap black lacquer I found in my stash!

Streets of Saigon - Westfield Sydney

My weekend adventures around Sydney city usually stir up a decent appetite. So, I try to discover new delicacies on every visit.

Today I wandered in to Westfield Sydney, level 5, to Streets of Saigon. From what I understand, the owner is of Vietnamese origin and aimed to create a dining experience authentic to her home cuisine. And it certainly appeared authentic to me - plenty of menu options for rolls (cold rolls, spring rolls, variations on each of these at $9.90 a serving), Pho, rice and noodle dishes.

I opted for the Bun Cha Gio - spring rolls on a bed of lettuce, mint, cucumber, carrot, rice vermicelli and associated dressings. At $13.50 a meal, I was pleased with the serving size. The spring rolls had plenty of flavour, being able to taste the prawn filling. And they weren't deep fried to a total crisp which kept them light and able to absorb the vinaigrette. The self service cutlery bar also has plenty of fresh chilli and bean shoots to add as extras to your meal.

Bun Cha Gio, $13.50

Overall, a lovely meal, quick service, simple surrounds and good value for money.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to sample any other delights from Streets of Saigon, but first impressions will definitely call me back for seconds another day!

• Westfield Sydney, Level: 5
• Store: 5004
• Phone: (02) 8072 7050

Tea... for two... T2

I've always been a tea drinker. And in my family household it was never "dunk a bag in a mug" kind of tea. Even if it was teabag tea, the bags were always steeped in the teapot (the Royal Albert Old Country Roses set) and the cups were served with the appropriate saucer below (and usually a home made chocolate chip cookie on the side!). I purchased a Breville Tea Maker for my parents a few years ago. It soon became the best appliance in the kitchen, and subsequently one of the highlights of my own kitchen too. The beauty of this tea maker is the ability to set temperature and brew time as appropriate to the tea leaf type, and even the timer-on and keep warm functions get their fair use.

There's a regular supply of Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Orange Pekoe and green tea (China Siaou Chu Pearl and Sencha) but for something different I have taken to stocking up on fruit tisanes from T2. My current T2 favourites are:

• Pumping Pomegranate - apparently the PP lovers of the country went in to meltdown when T2 ran out of all stock!
• Spring
• Fruitalicious
• French Earl Grey
• Honey Vanilla
• Southern Sunrise
• Ayurvedic Passion
• Lemongrass and Ginger
• Toasty Nougat

I make a full pot of Spring, Fruit or SS and keep it in the fridge as iced tea. I find it easier to drink than plain water, and it can be flashed up with some slices of fresh fruit and berries in a pretty jug to serve to guests.

I also like the "T2 all sorts two" box. It is a collection of loose leaf teas which are packaged in individual bags. The flavours include Melbourne Breakfast, French Earl Grey, Gorgeous Geisha, Brisbane Breakfast, Oolong, Red Fancy Fruit, Sleep Tight and Sydney Breakfast. It provides a gentle introduction to flavoured teas, green tea and rooibos blends and I cannot recommend the mixed packs highly enough for convenience and variety.