Saturday, January 21, 2012

LETTER OF THANKS...AS SEEN..OUT AND ABOUT AT IL POSTO...WE LOVE GNARLY DUDES...AUSTRALIA DAY FARE TO THAI FOR...THE BEER BREEZER AND MORE!

IT'S NICE TO GET A PAT ON THE BACK...

We were busy leading up to Christmas with Custom Made Table orders. It seemed that everyone wanted a new table for Christmas Dinner!

Hey...no complaints from us! We were happy to accommodate.

It's always really nice when a client takes the time out of their busy day to send us a 'Thank you'.

I wanted to share this email we received. Cath had responded firstly to the email by thanking the client for her email expressing delight in the table we crafted for her....and below is the response. It always makes us feel very special when we get these types of responses to our work and designs. It truly does, indeed make our day :-)

"I'm pleased to have made your day, as the arrival of the beautiful table made my day as well. I'd appreciate if you would let the craftsman who made this gorgeous table know that we really value his care and skillfulness. We also really appreciate that Charcoal is part of Brisbane, giving us ready access to such beautiful furniture."

Gloria

www.charcoalinteriors.com.au

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AS SEEN.....OUT AND ABOUT WITH STYLE IN THE CITY....

New year and new ideas. We get out and about during our working week, and of course visit special places, eat at restaurants, meet interesting people and so on. So, this year we have started up a new section to the Style in the City blog, called 'Out and About'. We look forward to sharing with you some snippets of our week every Friday.

http://www.ilposto.com.au/

This week, I wanted to share with you a great new restaurant here in Brisbane called Il Posto.

Il Posto is very easy to find as its right next to Spoon cafe on Latrobe Terrace Paddington.

We loved the relaxed atmosphere and I can honestly say that I havent felt so well attended to by wait staff for quite some time. Pete the Greek had the pepperoni pizza and I had the Ravioli in truffle oil and butter with Sage leaves. All washed down with a bottle of Gnarly Dudes Shiraz from the Barossa Valley region in South Australia.

Gnarly Dudes Shiraz....Cool Name..Cool Label....Cool Drink....

Link to Gnarly Dudes and Two Hands Wines

We do love our Shiraz and found the Gnarly Dudes ticked all the boxes...will definitely be back to Il Posto. Such a warm family environment with the staff and they seemed to know everyone?!...I want to be a part of that....

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WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR AUSTRALIA DAY?

Regardless of how you may feel about a certain 'ranga' running the country...we really do live in the best part of the world.

From our beaches to the beautiful mountains, we have a lot to be grateful for and to celebrate.
So what are you doing for Australia Day on Thursday? There will be plenty of BBQ's and sausage sizzles. We are celebrating by the pool (weather permitting) and listening to the Hottest 100...which is a bit of a tradition now in the family. I do find though that after a few bevvies we never really end up getting to the final number one! Cath's heading to the beach and Colette is spending the day out on the deck with a good book and perhaps a beer cocktail or two!

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BEST THAI BROTH RECIPE EVER!

Being a fan of Thai food, but not Thai Cooking, I decided to give Thai broth a go this week. This weeks recipe is in celebration and recognition of our diverse Multi-Cultural country and all the wonderful food that has been brought here from around the world...from spaghetti, to sweet and sour. My all time fave though is Thai food. My most loved Thai restaurant always serves up this very involved looking broth, but I found that it wasnt half as hard as anticipated once I got stuck in. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make, and delicious. You can basically add to it whatever you like to your taste once its made up.

I ended up poaching some fish in the sauce and adding to it snow peas, bean sprouts, bok choy, spring onions and coriander....then served on a bed of rice to soak up all the juices....yummo!

Here's the recipe for the broth....

Heat 1 and a half tbsp of Green Curry Paste (get a good quality one) with 1tbsp of oil in pan and stir for about a minute. Mix in 400ml of coconut milk and bring to the boil. Add a cup of chopped coriander and let it sit for about half an hour to soak up all the flavours.

Then, whilst waiting for the broth, chop up your snow peas, bok choy etc...as above.

Cook your diced chicken and cook separately, or you can cut fish into chunks and just poach it in the broth. Add your fresh ingredients to the broth along with the meat, cover and simmer until cooked through and serve on a bed of rice.

Deeeelish!...easy and the kids liked this one too.

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BEER COCKTAIL ANYONE??

Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of New Holland. Australia Day is an official public holiday in every state and territory of Australia, and is marked by the Order of Australia and Australian of the Year awards, along with an address from the Prime Minister.
We have found a great cocktail recipe to help you Celebrate Australia Day!

THE BEER BREEZER....SO AUSSIE...SO DANGEROUSLY TEMPTING...

Not being a huge fan of beer, for the sake of the blog and country, we road tested the Beer Breezer and were surprisingly drawn into its spell. The flavours are pretty special and its now going to be the standard drop on Australia Day. Girls...serve it up in a pretty glass...