Ladies who lunch...

Last Wednesday my mother and I went to Tea Royale at the Langham Hotel in Auckland City. The Langham is known for their fabulous high teas and it was something that both she and I had wanted to do. The Tea Royale was a special menu that they were hosting in celebration of the upcoming royal wedding and they had worked with with a local milliner, Natalie Chan, so that the area played host to a whole range of fabulous headpieces. The Winery (the area of the hotel set up for the high teas) has all these lovely armchairs that you just sink into... at least, I think it was the chair and not the glass of champagne!

The menu was amazing:

• Yorkshire pudding with roast beef and horseradish cream
• Profiteroles filled with goat's cheese and plum compote (A-may-zing)
• Prawn and spring onion sandwiches (not a huge fan of prawn, loved this!)
• Petite egg sandwiches with silver accents (don't eat egg so lucky Mum got two)
• Honey and ham biscuit
• Earl grey and orange marinated salmon with honey mustard sauce on pumperknickel
• Pretty in Pink cupcake
• Opera cake with a Baileys liqueur centre (quite strong on the Baileys :D)
• Peppermint jelly on chocolate crunch (odd but delicious)
• Royal vanilla creme brulee
• Champagne mousse with cherry glaze
• Fresh fruit tartlets with lemon curd
• Pistachio macaroon with vanilla cream (was too full to finish, this got left out)
• Freshly baked scones in "regal rose" and "rum & raisin" flavours with cream and marmalade (don't like raisins so I ate BOTH the regal rose... so crispy yet soft)
• St Honore's vanilla cream with crunchy meringue, raspberries and lychees and a rose petal mousse (FAVOURITE)

In addition to that, we also got a glass of champagne and a pot of tea of our choice! For only NZ$59, that is a total bargain. An amazing experience and we WILL be back! Go there if you have the chance :D

This is not a sponsored post, we just had so much fun I had to tell you!

I'd rather eat like a horse than drink like a fish...

Tis the season to be busy!

In just over an hour I'm going to be heading out to my fourth event of the weekend - seems crazy but that's the run up to Christmas! I had a BBQ with my work girls on Friday night, dinner with my cousin and her partner last night followed by drinks and dancing with my "usual suspects" and today we are heading to the joint birthday party of SB's dad and cousin. Over the next few weeks we also have my school's Christmas function, my department's End-Of-Year function, a catch-up BBQ with my mates from my business degree (class of 2006, woop) and SB's work function. There's also talk of attending a foam party at our local bar and I'm sure a few more catch ups with various groups of friends before Christmas!

What does this mean for my new conscious consuming? It means taking into account the opportunity cost of what I eat and drink. Last night I could have had the option to eat a salad for dinner and then drink the sum total of my remaining points... or I could take advantage of the fact that we were at a restaurant that makes delicious food and decide to stay sober. Can you guess which one I chose?

Consuming two sugarfree energy drinks before heading out dancing gave me the boot up the bum I needed and I'm able to enjoy a day today in which I don't feel seedy at all... kind of important when hanging out with SB's extended family LOL. I love my food too much to trade it in for a few midori and lemonades and right now I can't do both. It's really strange to have this new consciousness about what I'm putting into my body... but it's kind of awesome :)

Would you rather eat like a horse or drink like a fish?

I love the holidays... so much more time!

Having bought some bacon with the best of intentions, it had languished in the fridge until today - close to the "use by" date. I met up with mum for lunch and managed to get a recipe for cheese and bacon muffins that I'd loved eating at home (ideal with pumpkin soup). Eating them with SB, they still had the delicious texture and taste I had enjoyed.

So I thought I would share this yummy recipe with you all! Credit must go to Mama Scribbles and to the book she originally used: "Mostly muffins" by Barbara Albright and Leslie Warner (copyright 1984)

Some substitutions were made to make it low in lactose... and because I felt like it :)

Recipe:

1 3/4 cups flour
2tsp baking powder
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt - I used a manuka smoked garlic salt for some extra zest
dash ground red pepper (or paprika) - I didn't have either so I used a dash of curry powder
8 slices (approx2-4 rashers) bacon cooked,drained, cooled, chopped - I used chicken bacon
1/2 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese (or parmesan) - used parmesan as it is extremely low in lactose
1 cup milk - lactose-free milk works just fine
1 egg beaten
3 tbsp butter or margarine melted and cooled - I used rice bran oil
1/2 tsp dijon mustard or 1/4 tsp mustard powder

1. Preheat oven 200 degrees C & grease ten 3x 1 3/4 inch muffin cups (this makes 9- 12 muffins depending on how much bacon you put in)
2. In large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper/paprika (curry powder).
3. Stir in bacon and cheese.
4. In another bowl combine milk, egg, butter (oil) and mustard til blended.
5. Make a well in dry ingredients, add milk mixture and stir just to combine.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups - bake 20 mins or until skewer comes out clean
7. Remove from oven and cool 5 mins before removing from tins.

We had one each with dinner and the rest have been packed up for SB to take to work - something nice for his colleagues who covered him on our holiday. Yummy!