catered breakfast

i got the huuuugest compliment last sunday. a friend from church came and asked me if i would do some food for her husbands birthday party the following weekend. now this chick is a foodie like no other. she's south american, looooves beautiful food - and she asked me. i was gobsmacked. even more so, because i don't think she's ever even tasted anthing i have made. but she came to me and when i said that, she was like, "well he has! and i've seen enough of it online to know i want to order some!" amazing!

she decided on ham and cheese croissants (no, i do not make those from scratch, you would legit have to be insane) ready to go in the oven to melt the cheese, spinach and ricotta parcels and a batch of blueberry muffins. i was super stoked and got to work. apparently it was amazing (it was a surprise and he was very surprised), all the food (well all of mine!) got polished off quickly and it was a great day. hooray! i even got sent a banquet photo, which looked incredible. hopefully more orders come from it, cause i don't mind a bit!

hello fresh: a completely unbiased review

i have a friend who regularly orders meals from hello fresh. she loves their stuff. i am all about budget cooking and making my dollar stretch further so i haven't been super keen to try it, especially when i am being flagged down by random people promoting it in the shopping centre.

however, said friend was sent some free boxes from hello fresh and asked me if i would like to try it. she sent one to me and one to dougs parents (super kind of her!) which i ordered through the app. here is where the problems began. i have a small baby who cries a lot. if you don't cancel your subscription, you'll start getting charged the value of the free box weekly... which is $124.95 plus $9.95 delivery where we live. i'm happy to try the box, not pay for one weekly. perhaps i'll order at some later stage, let's wait and see. but noooooo, i cancelled my subscription too early (due to stressing that i would forget to do it later!), was refunded my $9.95 i had paid for delivery and then when i called to complain, was told that i could no longer have my free box, as i was no longer a new customer. what the heck?! did i receive one i was unaware of? nope. the system says i have ordered one, so that "violates their terms and conditions" as i cancelled it too soon and now i get nothing. well. their customer service team weren't very nice about it, i was well unimpressed and i got absolutely no where complaining, as did my friend who sent me it to begin with. i lost my freebie, she lost the freebie she sent me... no one is happy here.

but. there was still the in-laws freebie and we ordered that. it arrived on schedule, the contents were fresh and the recipes were easy... and the meals were delicious. like super good. i would absolutely make them again, and thanks to the handy recipe cards that are included, i can! awesome.

but i find them very expensive. $124.95 for three meals for four people? i could do my weeks shopping for that! if you have the money, you're uninspired and you want some excellent fancy meals to make, well worth it. you want budget meals? hello fresh is not for you. i very much doubt i'll order again in the future unless i get some awesome deals emailed to me... 

my only advice would be, don't call their customer service unless you want to bang your head against a wall... and if you get a free box, make sure you skip the following weeks subscription on the app and then cancel as soon as the box arrives. that way they won't slog you for the following week straight away.

hello fresh - well worth a try. easy, quick, tasty, meals... just not easy on the pocket.

baby's first food

this little boy has not been sleeping so well lately, so i am trying to rectify the situation. maybe he is hungry? so a couple of days ago, we tried his first solids. i gave him some stewed pears and he seemed fairly pleased after the initial shock of having something other than milk in his mouth. 

i'm just praying he sleeps a bit better now!

♥

fremantle (+ lapa brazilian bbq)

i have rambled in many past posts about how much i love fremantle. the ocean, the old streets... and most of all the old buildings. we went to dinner in fremantle tonight with some old friends, who are over visiting from sydney, so after we parked, my poor husband had to deal with watching me take photos of building after building as we wandered up to the restaurant.

seriously, how beautiful is this place!

we tried lapa brazilian bbq for the first time and man was i impressed! the food was so authentic and i can certainly see why, all the staff are brazilian too, so they obviously know what they are doing! it's a wide range of perfectly bbq-ed meat plus sides... and they even had my favourite drink, guarana antartica. so happy! (for those who came in late, i lived in brazil for a year, so i certainly know how it's all spoosed to taste!) plus it was all you can eat, so my meat loving husband was in heaven! seriously though, it's so worth a try, i know for sure we will definitely go back!

more photos on the way back to the car... 

maybe one day when i win lotto (haha you have to buy it to win it...) i'll get us a house here,

because fremantle is a little piece of heaven on earth ♥

chicken and zucchini poppers

when trying to find gf and df options for emilys bridal shower recently, i did a lot of internet searching in the hopes i would find something delicious, but in both those categories. 

i came across the recipe for chicken and zucchini poppers here (via pinterest) and can i just say, they were amazing! so much flavour and pretty easy to make. i have already made them again since and they are totally on the make over and over list. i think i can say fairly safely that they were a big hit as the whole lot of them were gone in no time at all!

please trust me and go and make them asap.

obviously cook them prior to eating, but yum!

cafe twotwentyfour

oh my word. i have found a new favourite cafe. i have seen picture after picture from a new cafe that opened in belmont during october last year (opposite the forum, on the edge of the cinema carpark) cafe twotwentyfour. their milkshakes are all beautifully decorated with cream, syrup and chocolate on the plate and just looked absolutely delicious!

my friend dominique and i decided to check it out today and i was not even a little disappointed. the shakes were $9 each and i think well worth it... they were so yum! i had the snickers one and it was just the right mix of peanut to chocolate, to take the sweet edge off. yum! 

i will so be back for more, we didn't have lunch, just shakes, but watching all the meals come out i was so keen to get one... they looked amazing! there was also plenty of fresh juice options on the menu and an epic array of raw and vegan treat on offer. looks like it will have to become a place we visit pretty regularly. 

staff were great, drinks were perfect. hooray for cafe two twenty four.