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I won A Competition!!

I entered a competition on the Food & Wine website a few weeks ago. I got an e-mail last week in my junk mail box from a stranger with a subject line, "Congratulations: you have won!". I was almost not going to open the e-mail, but something inside of me said," just open it!" So I did and I read the e-mail to find out that I had won!! I returned the e-mail to say that I would accept the prize which was:

1. Return flights to Melbourne
2. Accomodation at the Hilton on the Park with breakfast daily
3. Tickets to the Food and Wine Show
4. Meet and Greet with George and Gary from Masterchef
5. Front row tickets to George and Gary's cooking show
6. Signed copy of George and Gary's new cook book

Phew!!

What a great prize and I am still in shock that I won it!! All I had to do was say what my last meal was and in all honesty I can't remember exactly what I wrote, but it was along the lines of:
" I would not stop at a single meal, I would have a Thai Banquet! Green curry, Masamum, Chicken Pad Se Ew,Pad Thai, and Chicken Cashew."

So yeah, something a long those lines and I am so happy someone else loves those dishes and understands where I am coming from! I think the best bit about all of this is I am going away with my hubby! We so need some time with each other and I am looking forward to hanging out with him without the concern of children and being home at a certain time!!  Yay for my I am so happy!!!

Want some follower Love?

Here are a few places I go to each Friday to discover great blogs and share the blogging love! Have fun

Back up Meals: Dr Oetker Mozzarella Pizza

I first purchased this pizza when it was on special at COLES last year. It was reduced to $4 from $6.79. Being the bargain queen I am, I thought I would give it a go. I tried the mozzarella, funghi(mushroom) and spinach ones.

The Funghi pizza was a little too moist/juicy and didn't have a lot of taste. The spinach one wasn't too bad, but only I liked it. The big winner with the kids was the mozzarella one.  The second time they were on special, they were about the same price and I tried the 4 cheese one. This wasn't too bad. It was a little weird to see little dollops of what I can only describe as looking like cheese spread with maybe herbs in it. But its more like the processed cheese spread than something like Philly spread. We decided the best variety is mozzarella. There are large mozzarella circles with grated cheese, pieces of tomato and dollops of herb pesto. There is also a distinct flavour of garlic, but its not overpowering.  What you see on the packaging/box is what it looks like. It only takes about 10 mins max in my fan forced gas oven. Don't get me wrong here, its not the best pizza on earth but I much prefer it to the other frozen pizzas at the supermarket and with no greasy proccessed meat, its a much healthier option.  I purchased the pizzas again last week on special at COLES for $3.49.  To my knowledge they are only available at COLES supermarkets. I am yet to see them at Woolworths. My recommendation is to keep an eye out for them but try them when they go on special, which seems to be fairly often. They make a great back up meal. Dr Oetker pizzas are a product of Germany.

Back up Meals: Campbells Country Ladle, I love you!

We all need some back up meals. Back up meals are the types of meals that can be thrown together rather quickly when you don't feel like cooking or are short on time. Some people have frozen home made meals on hand, that's a good way to go about it. But realistically, that doesn't always happen for me. Mum to 4 and working part time, I do what I can, when I can. So when I go shopping, I plan for the week or fortnight and I always add a couple of back up meals. I try to choose something that has a long shelf life so if I don't use it that week, it goes into my food storage pantry for a time when I really need.

My kids for some reason, I can't put my finger on, absolutely love canned soup. I'm not complaining because they will eat the ones with heaps of veges in them. If I put those kinds of veges steamed on their plates they will switch off and refuse to eat and then its a battle to get them to eat up. Every one of my children will down Campbells Country Ladle Minestone soup, its their absolute favourite and I know I've picked a winner when I ask my kids if they want McDonalds or minestrone canned soup and they opt for the canned soup!!! Can't say that always happens but it does sometimes! I also find on the odd occasion when ALL my kids are with me shopping(this rarely happens for sanity reasons!), to keep them happy I will say, " If your good you can go pick your very own can of soup" and it usually works! They put their name on it when they get home and they can choose it eat it whenever they want to.

We have given all the soups ago, since my kids love them, and they always request Campbells Country Ladle. They do have the best flavour and a good variety of vegtables. Heinz has a few good varieties too. We have also tried the minestrone at Aldi, but my kids gave it the big thumbs down. I personally didn't like the taste of it either. It think the pumpkin soup at Aldi is ok, but much prefer the Campbells varieties.

Lovers of Cadbury Chocolate MUST read this!

Dear lovers of Cadbury chocolate! I have been doing chocolate orders for around 18months now for family and friends and everyone who purchases from me are happy! I am doing it again, so I thought if you live in Sydney area and love Cadbury then you will love me! I can get Cadbury dairy milk and dark old gold chocolate buttons for $9.50/kg. It is the same chocolate you purchase as blocks in the supermarket, but for far less. I also sell couverture white chocolate which is made by Nestle (I am told its the best for melting and making ganache etc.) for $13/kg. I live in Lalor Park in Sydney's west and pick is usually from my house. I would be happy to discuss  arrangments for a half-way meeting spot for those who live further away. If you live interstate, I am happy to post to you.  Please leave me a comment if you are interested, or contact me through my e-mail on my blogger profile.

This isn't a business, its something I started because I do a lot of baking. I was so annoyed when Cadbury put up their prices for their blocks and ticked at the little choice we have in this area at the supermarkets. So I decided to research into making wholesale purchases and got my friends and family behind me. I purchase the chocolate, I weigh and bag it all myself. I do charge a small fee for this, which is included in the price.

So hands up who is interested? Hands down, now comment or message me!!

Winners of American Marshmallow Giveaway

First of all, apologies for the late post. Blogger had 'issues' last week and I have been very busy over the weekend, but as promised I have done a draw from random.org and the 2 winners of the American Campfire Marshmallows are comments made by Leimay and Sapna! Congratulations to you I will be in touch to get your details, but please feel free to contact me. If I can't get in touch or no contact is made by you within the next 3 days,I will do a redraw. 

Thanks again to everyone who entered:)

I have a few giveaways in the pipeline. So make sure you follow me so you know when the giveaway happens:)

Penmachine - the final blog post

I wish I had found this blog a long time ago so I would not be reading the first and last post in the one moment. I heard about this on the 106.5FM Claire and Richard morning show (which I love and listen to every morning). Derek K. Miller wrote a blog about his life with cancer and his final post is titled, " The Last Post" its the post he had his family post when he died. Its a very moving piece and something I think everyone should read as it helps us realise what is good in our lives and to be grateful for every moment we have.

http://www.penmachine.com/2011/05/the-last-post

What to do in Tuncurry NSW with Kids

During the last school holidays we took the kids up the north coast of New South Wales to a town called Tuncurry. Its about 4 hours north of Sydney and about 2 hours north of Newcastle. We camped at a place called Tuncurry Lakes Resort and I have to say I give this place 4/5. Generally speaking, when our family camps, I prefer not to camp at a caravan park or anywhere that has some sense of civilisation. When we camp, we go out bush and the closest creature comfort is a public pit toilet or if we go all out a toilet that flushes! Its a great way to really get away from it all in my opinion. This time however, the friends we camped with, one of the women was 5 months pregnant, so going out bush was not really an option!

So Tuncurry Lakes Resort was chosen and for $50/night for our family it was a great experience. There was so much for the kids to do to keep them entertained. They had a scooter park, playground area, access to the pool, games room, plenty of open level space and a giant jumping pillow. I have to admit, I enjoyed the jumping pillow more than the kids did! I love jumping castles, and a jumping pillow is the same thing without walls to bounce off!! The only downside to the area was the sewage smell and slush around one part of the jumping pillow, you can avoid walking through it but the smell you can't avoid, which was a shame.

The best experience of all was hiring the boats. We hired a basic speed boat (doesn't go very fast but was sufficient for our needs) for a half day for $15! We went up the river and out to the harbour where the bridge connects Forster and Tuncurry. The water in the harbour was amazing, so clear we could see the bottom and see schools of fish, and even a turtle! It was an amazing experience for the kids. We stopped at a sandbar for an hour where James and the kids swam in the warm water - which was nice during Autumn to be in warm water. I would highly recommend anyone do this, with or without children.

As for food, we made our own meal the first night at the campsite and for the second meal, we thought we would do something different and head out for dinner. We came across a restaurant that James and I had eaten at about 11 years earlier which was a waterfront seafood restaurant then. Now is a Thai restaurant. Our biggest question was whether they made Pad Si Ew. We called and while it was not on the menu we were assured that the cook could make anything we asked for! So we were sold and headed to the Thai Waterfront Restaurant. When we arrived, we were the only patrons at the time,which was nice as it gave us time to talk to our waiter which happened to be the husband of the Chef. He is a lovely man and made us feel at ease. We have 4 kids, and between the two other families that were with us there was another 5 children, so you can imagine what kinds of reactions we sometimes get. But, our waiter was lovely and chatted and joked with us and was very accommodating.

The atmosphere was pleasant and the main window looks out over the harbour. To compliment the views and ambience, the food was amazing! I love my Thai and I have eaten enough to know good Thai and not so good and I would say that his Thai was the BEST I have ever had! It was so fresh, tasty and I wanted to eat more and more. The only thing stopping me was the size of my stomach! The Pad Si Ew was divine. We also ordered spring rolls for the kids,  chicken cashew and chicken pad thai, all our favourite dishes. The servings were ample too. The three dishes were more than enough for James and I and our 4 kids. The bill for the evening for our meal was $61.50 which I consider a great deal for the amount of food we had. The locals must also agree with how good the food is, because by the time we left, the place was almost full.
I give Thai Waterfront ***** Five Stars!
Be sure to give these places a try when you are planning your next holiday in Tuncurry. If you are a local, get your butts out to the Thai Waterfront Resaurant!

Thai Waterfront Restaurant
Cnr Ray & Wharf Sts, Tuncurry NSW 2428

(02) 6554 5019

BUY AUS MADE IPOD IPHONE IPAD APP

If you are passionate about purchasing Australian made groccery products at the supermarket then this app will be your best friend. Its free and available in AppStore on your Ipod, Iphone, Ipad. The only supermarkets it covers is Coles, Woolworths, and IGA. However, once you get used to seeing the products on the app, you can purchase them wherever you see them. 

Personally, I found it easy to use and insightful. I don't always look at the labels to see where things are made, I am often driven by how much it costs. Now, when and where I can, I will do my best to choose an Australian product. Unfortunately, for a lot of us, we need to stick to a budget and if you can get tin tomatoes for cheaper than the Australian made Ardoma tin tomatos, then you have to go with the cheapers ones, I get it because I do that too. But its nice to know what is australian and when you can purchase something that helps our economy and aussie jobs. This is app is FREE.

Deep Filled Apple Pie and Melting Middle Cookies - Coles brand

At coles last week there was a 1/2 price sale on their new dessert lines. So I thought I would give the Melting Middle cookies and Apple and Caramel deep dish pie a go.  The cookies were down to $3 for the two and the pie was too.

The cookies were delishus!! Very rich and I would say you could easily share 1 between 2 or if you are having them for a family dessert give your kids half . The varieties are  chocolate chip with a chocolate melting centre and my favourite, chocolate mud cookie with a vanilla cream centre. The centre tastes more like a marshmallow cream than anything else and is sweet!

The Deep Filled Apple and Caramel Lattice pie looks great out of the box, so was very promising. The box says serves 4 but these would be rather small serves, which may not bother some. I would say serves 3 would be better and between 2 would be large serves. The pie was also priced at $3.

There are lovely big chunks of apple and it definately tastes caramelly, perhaps a little sweet, but not too offensive. I still wanted to eat up my portion! Great with ice cream and I would say cream or custard would work well too!

I would recommend you give them a try especially since its winter! The 1/2 price made it easier for me to make the choice to give them a go and, of course, I purchased a couple of each for my food storage. I would purchase them at full price if I had a special occasion to take them to.

Disclaimer: I purchased these products with my own money and therefore have done this review with an unbiased opinion.

Freeze dried fruit anyone? Costco has it covered!!

I am totally in love with the concept of freeze dried fruit! Its such an awesome phenomanon. Its a process by which the fruit has all its moisture freeze dried out of it so all that is left is a crunchy whole fruit that tastes the same and has all nutrients intact. I would love to purchase this in bulk, but I am yet to find the best way to do it. If you live in Australia and are interested, let me know and maybe as a larger group we can purchase in bulk. Anyway, in smaller quanities you can purchase freeze dried fruit. Some of you may have seen it in cole or Woolies in the dried fruit isle. The packets look like this:

Individual packets I believe retailed for about $1.75 each or so. The last time I checked for these they were clearing them out at Woolies, so its possible they are not on the shelves anymore. However, the last time I was at Costco in Melbourne I purchased a box of 24. The box contained 12 of each of the above varieties. I can't remember unfortunately the price, but I think they worked out to be about $20 or so for the box. Its a great snack for school lunches. Its real fruit, nothing added and can be kept in the cupboard long term. If you end up crushing the fruit, you get a great powder that can be added to smoothies or custard.

What to expect at COSTCO

I have have recently checked the Costco website for an update when the store will be opening. The scheduled opening is for JULY this year!! So excited, its finally happening. It is going to make my life a lot easier and I can't wait to stock up when it comes. For those of you who are completely new to COSTCO or at least aren't sure what kind of good you can get there, I have taken a couple of pictures of items that I purchase when I visit the Melbourne store when I am there. When I am there, I usually only choose items that I can take home easily with me. So I can't choose the enormous pizzas, or gorgeous dips, or deliciously deli style yoghurt that actally comes in 1kg tubs!! Yes you heard me right, 1Kg not 720g or or 800g, its actually by the kilo! There is also a colourful array of ice creams - tubs, bars, on stick etc etc. I could go on and on, and in fact I will, but I will show and share a little bit each week of what I like about Costco.

I like to bake a treat for my kids to eat for little lunch, or recess(whatever you want to call it!) but its not always easy for me to do that. So I don't mind giving them some kind of packaged treat or food if the price is right. Usually I will purchase something on special or if I get an opportunity to buy something decent in bulk I will. So naturally, when I am at Costco I go bananas for Fruit Nuggets! In the supermarkets, ie Coles or Woolies they cost $3.99 for a box of 7 packets ( 57c/packet). I don't pay this for them, I usually wait till they go on special for $2.99( 42c/packet) and get a couple of boxes, but this doesn't happen very often. However, I discovered them at Costco for a box of 48 packets, it only cost $9.99( 20c/packet). My last purchase I got them on special for $7.99(17c/packet) and I think I got about 3 boxes of them. What are they you are asking? They are little pieces of chewy candy like pips - thats the best description I can come up with! They are hard to describe, but the kids love them and they are fruit based (predominantly pear). They are small packets, kinda like IXL Naughts and Crosses. As I said, you can find them in Coles or Woolies where the museli bars and Roll-ups are, check them out next time you shop and see what you think and keep them in mind when you shop at Costco.

The box at costco contains all of the above flavours. At the supermarkets you can only purchase one flavour in a box.