Friday, June 11, 2010

Dinner Party!

Ever since our things have arrived from home we (or more so I) have been all about the dinner parties! We received so many beautiful wedding gifts such as our full dinner sets, serving dishes, glasses, cooking ware and so on and we never had the opportunity to show them off at home.  So, upon arrival, I (or shall I say we) have been dinner party planners!  Here are a few photos of one of our Sunday's Roast dinners



 Rare occasion for us to have this and our friends Mike and Kristina graciously brought over a full roast beef! Oh it was so good! 

Jamie the Sous Chief!  He is actually always in charge of the beef and roasting at Casa del Booth, and he is an amazing cook!  I got lucky!

the finished product, roasted beef!

roasted potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots

and Mash potatoes, I am a mash fan and Jamie is a roasted potato fan, so we agreed to disagree on what to make and made both, this way we were both happy! (FYI the mash was better!)

homemade Caesar salad with homemade dressing

of course, the gravy


hmmmm, obviously my plate as I only have one roasted potato on here!

and for dessert....drum roll please.....HOMEMADE blue berry cheese cake! Thats right, homemade crust, filling and topping and it was AMAZING!

Our guest of honour, JD, he was full and ready to go home......so cute!

We love dinner parties, can't wait to host more!





Surfers Paradise and Road Trip back to Singapore

After site seeing in Byron Bay it was time to make our way back to Brisbane to catch our red eye flight to Singapore.  We did take our time and making stops along the way, Jamie used to attend University at Bond, which is located just off of Surfers Paradise and after meeting so many of our friends in Singapore that also attended Bond, I wanted to visit the campus that brought these guys all together!


After a few days of non stop nagging, Jamie finally agreed to let me drive!  It was a bit awkward driving on the right side of the car and the right side of the road and after 5 or so blocks, I was told that I could no longer drive.  SO SAD! Has it been so long that I forgot how to drive?!!?!?!


We had to try the local bakery, hmmm spinach and feta cheese roll, so so so good!


The famous Aussie meat pie!  Jamie tried the meat, bacon and cheese pie and it was finger licking good!




The best car i've seen!


Surfers Paradise!


Totally random turkey's running around the parks!


We had to stop at sunset to try some of the local brews

ahh Bond University!  Finally I get to see you!

As we were in the old stomping grounds we had to stop at the famous Mike's Steak House, where Jamie, Jon and Grant spent many Sunday nights on there Uni days indulging themselves in the oh so good ribs!  And boy and boy did it ever live to it's expectations, we don't eat much read meat like this in Singapore since it's so expensive but as we were in Australia, we over indulged ourselves! SO GOOD!

hmmm Don Booth would LOVE this! We thought you Don! Can you guess which one of us ordered the ribs?


What a treat to eat these yummy meals!  Oh I can't wait to go home and have a juicy steak and ribs!

Byron Bay day 2

We woke up bright and early in hope that Jamie could get a few surf sessions in, unfortunately the waves were not cooperating with us and they were almost non existent!  So in back, just so I could participate in an activity, we rented bikes and biked the surrounding area of Byron Bay and stumbled upon some beautiful beaches!




the sand was literally like soft powder! 

Jamie debating, "shall I go in, hmmmm"

Me, looking away thinking, "no way am I going in! It's chilly!"

Jamie made his choice.....didn't take long



The beach went on for miles and miles, so beautiful!



biking along trails to the beaches


Loved Byron Bay, would definitely go back when we can! Hopefully next time we can surf!

Byron Bay day 1

Oh how I loved Byron Bay. So relaxed, such a surfers town.......very very cool. The beach is so nice, and stretched for miles and miles. The town itself is adorable, shops all over the place and YUMMY YUMMY food at every turn!  The air was crisp, cool and so refreshing!  I almost forgot what crisp cool air was like, Singapore is going into it's "summer" months and it's just hot, humid and sticky!

Upon arriving in Byron Bay we headed straight for the fish and chips.....then off to catch the sunset at the famous Byron Bay light house, which is located at the most eastern point of Australia!

The main strip of the beach located right in town!

hiking up to the light house

the 2nd strip of beach located on the other side of town


the light house


the most eastern point of Auz








ending our first day in Byron Bay with a delish Greek dinner! YUMMY!!!!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Road Trip to Byron Bay

Ahhh Byron Bay what a beautiful drive!  Jamie and I took the scenic way on the old hwy 97, I think that was the name, ironic as I grew up near Hwy 97 in Tonasket!

What a stunning drive on old narrow roads, lush greenery and farm land.....and the air! Oh the crisp cold fresh air, so refreshing from Singapore! LOVE IT!

Jamie and his "too cool for school" metro car

Numinbah Valley, not to far from Nimbin a famous little town in New South Wales

Cute church in the middle of no where

Leaving Queensland

Entering New South Wales


Oh to live with all this land....love it, miss it! Reminds me of home!


I can't remember the name of this fruit but for some reason we thought it looked really really funny!



Almost to Byron Bay!!!!