Choc Chip Cookies

Ah the humble choc chip cookie. So popular, yet often done so badly. This recipe I use is the best one I have found – the high ratio of brown sugar ensures the cookies are chewy in the middle and crunchy on the outside.

But beware these cookies like to spread when they bake! The first time I made it everything morphed into 1 UBER COOKIE which was wonderful and all, but not a great idea for portion control. To avoid uber-cookie problems, I suggest spooning 5 tablespoon size balls onto each baking sheet.

Highlights from my Travel Bucket List

We all have some form of travel bucket list, even if only in our minds. I absolutely love writing lists and then crossing things off (I have notebooks filled with actioned lists, it is so satisfying!) and decided writing down some travel dreams were a good way of keeping oneself accountable and to give me something to work towards. Naturally I want to visit nearly every place on this earth, so as not to bore you, here are some highlights of my list.

♥ See the midnight sun rolling over the horizon in Nordkapp, Norway

I actually tried to see this back in June 2007. However the weather had other ideas and I soon found myself in blizzard conditions (in the middle of summer! Humf!)

What I was meant to see (Image source)

What I actually saw – ripped off!

♥ Visit Lake Bled in Slovenia

Breathtakingly beautiful, I cannot wait to see Lake Bled for myself and explore Slovenia.

Image source

♥ Go on a yoga retreat somewhere, anywhere.

I’ve been practicing yoga for several years now and would love to escape for a few weeks on a yoga retreat to focus on myself and my practice.

Image source

♥ Explore the Balkans

I have seen a LOT of Europe, however I am yet to visit this part of Europe including Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania etc.

Image source

♥ Visit China and see sights such as the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Warriors and the Forbidden City

Image source

♥ See the Northern Lights in Iceland

Both times I have been to Iceland were in the summer, when the Northern Lights aren’t visible. Next time!

Image source

♥ Stay overnight in a Buddhist temple on Mount Koya in Japan

Staying in a temple alongside Buddhist monks sounds like an amazing experience.

Image source

♥ Visit the salt flats of Bolivia

I am yet to set foot in South America, there are so many sights to see and the salt flats of Bolivia is high up there!

Image source

♥ Visit Greenland

I am so fascinated by this isolated and gorgeous country and its people.

Image source

This list could go on and on but this is just a taster of what I hope to experience sometime in the (hopefully) near future. Now I just need to win the lottery and clear my schedule for next year! ;)

What is on your travel bucket list?

Cats in Advertising

If I was in advertising, I would probably just constantly make ads featuring cats. Because who doesn’t love cats? (Actually I am aware there are a lot of people out there who hate cats. I just pretend you don’t exist).

First up we have the gorgeous IKEA Cats ad. Beautifully shot and heart warming, I am honestly surprised they didn’t have an all out kitty brawl in their store.

Next up is possibly one my favourite ads. Ever. From Japan! This is business cat. A rough translation is: “I’m Niyaran. Today big profits are a hard task. (while looking at computer) It’s grown! (profits are up!). Tagline: Profitable: Hotel Yakumo.”

And finally an ad from France. Kittens! Everywhere! There is so much attention to detail in this ad, they even have kitty weight loss ads on the side of the taxi! As a crazy cat lady it truly warms my heart.

The only bit of advertising my cat has done lately is promoting the Dexter book. She really likes Michael C Hall.

Weekends Away: Orange and Millthorpe, NSW

A group of friends and I recently went to Orange for a weekend of nice wine, food and chats. It’s around a 4 hour drive from Sydney and yes, you do have to stop on the way and eat McDonalds (the only time I permit such a thing!) We arrived late on a Friday night to be graciously met with cheese and wine by our lovely friend Kat. Soon our tiredness got the best of us and we turned in for a good night’s sleep in preparation for lots of eating and drinking tomorrow.

We piled into 2 cars the next morning and set off for brunch at Tonic in Millthorpe, a 20 minute drive from Orange.

Tonic is located at 30 Victoria St, Millthorpe NSW 2798. The coffee was great and the range of foods tasted was delicious. Since I can never make up my mind I chose the sweetcorn cakes and pizza and shared with a friend.

Sweetcorn cakes with mascarpone and prosciutto, $16

Ham, bocconcini, egg and pesto pizza with rocket and parmesan salad, $16

Then we set off to explore Milthorpe. First stop, Galvanised (17 Pym Street, Millthorpe), a converted century old galvanised iron shed that sells everything from homewares and lollies to birdcages and coffee supplies.

The boys preferred eating their sherbert they bought from Galvanised instead of our next stop, the antique store!

Peppertree (23 Pym Street, Millthorpe) had a lovely assortment of antiques, homewares and modern furniture. I had my eyes on this pink and white floral tea set.

Our next stop on our tour of Millthorpe was Tomolly (7 Blake Street, Millthorpe), a store filled with cute gifts, homewares and stationery. The owner was lovely and very excited I was featuring her store on my blog!

It was well into the afternoon now and therefore a suitable time to commence wine tastings! Our first winery was Mayfield Vineyard (954 Icely Road, Orange NSW 2800).

Now, I am no wine expert so don’t expect me to go on about the heady aromas and nuances of blackberry or whatever. But the wine was tasty and affordable, the lady extremely friendly and helpful and we purchased quite a few bottles.

We returned to “downtown Orange” for some coffee and yet more shopping at Hawkes General Store (46 Sale St, Orange). The store was filled with gorgeous homewares and gifts. I loved the Paris gift tags.

Back in the car, we head off to another vineyard – the Philip Shaw vineyard (45 Caldwell Lane, Orange NSW). The views of vineyards on the way there were superb.

Philip Shaw has produced a line of wines called “The Character Series” with titles such as The Dreamer Viognier and The Wire Walker Pinot Noir. I adored the illustrations on each bottle.

The vineyard also had a lovely dog who wanted to play ball!

Our third and final vineyard for the day was Hedberg Hill (701 The Escort Way (Forbes Road), Orange). This vineyard had come highly recommended by my father who is quite a wine buff and personal friend of the owner, Peter Hedberg. We were greeted by more beautiful scenic views of vineyards on the way there.

Peter was a lovely host and we learned (and tasted) a lot. His Riesling and Viognier were delicious! We ended up buying about 3 cases of wine I think! Ooops…

The views from his cellar door was breathtaking, particularly as the sun started to set and cast a yellow glow over the landscape.

Then it was home time for a power nap before dinner!

We went to Bistro Ceello (179 Anson Street, Orange). The food was delicious, the service unfortunately not great. I think we must have gotten the new girl as she made quite a few rookie mistakes – not knowing what the specials were, failing to change glasses between wines, pouring the champagne into a wine glass (!!) etc etc. Nothing to ruin our evening but anyway… Here are a few samples of what was eaten.

House cured ocean trout gravlax, potato pancake, cucumber spaghetti and dill cream, $20 entree

Venison shank sausage, parmesan pudding, roasted tomato and balsamic reduction, $20 entree

Twice cooked pork belly, roasted root vegetables and fennel mustard, $32 main – I swear I could eat this everyday.

Beef sirloin, caponata, creamy polenta with veal jus, $32 main

We were all completely stuffed to the gills, but you know I am never one to miss dessert! We settled on 2 tasting plates and shared them.

Dessert tasting plate featuring lemon cheesecake, nougat ice-cream and choc cake terrine, frangelico panna cotta and steamed marmalade pudding, $30

The next morning we arose and cooked 1kg of bacon. I do not have a photograph of this as we don’t need a reminder. Oh god.

Then we drove off to Totally Local (426 Mitchell Highway, Orange) in search of MORE food. It has an amazing array of locally produced honey, cheese, olive oil and more.

And then we sadly bid adieu to Orange and started the 4 hour drive back to Sydney. What a lovely weekend away!

New website for Design Centre Enmore

Hey guys
I am currently completing my graphic design studies at Design Centre Enmore (the best place to study graphic design in Sydney, in my opinion). Our year was asked to design a new website for the graphic design department. They were after a conceptual design that was more than just the standard linear web design with a navigation containing “about” “gallery” and “application”. I wanted something fun and interactive, and decided to focus on the student’s work. I devised a grid containing duo tone buttons of samples of our work, with some revealing letters to spell out words and others revealing the student’s full work.

And guess what… my site won! It is now the official website of Design Centre Enmore and I am very chuffed. Check it out http://www.dcegraphicdesign.org/.

Here are some screenshots from the live site:

The user was initially met with a grid of green duotone rollover boxes featuring samples of students work.

Once the user begins mousing around the grid, they start to reveal letters in some places and full colour versions of the work in others.

After exploring the site the user discovers the text “Graphic Design @ DCE”

The remaining thumbnails can be clicked on and a full version of the student’s work opens up in a lightbox. There are also external links to our social media profiles such as Twitter and Facebook, and important documents such as the application form included in the thumbnails.

I’ve had really positive feedback from designers and non-designers alike saying they had a lot of fun interacting with the site. I had a lot of fun making it!

Caramel Peanut Popcorn

This recipe for caramel peanut popcorn is deliciously dangerous – I can never stop eating it! I regularly make it as a gift (a zip locked bag full of this stuff always keeps the boyfriend happy) but I dare say he always ends up receiving around half of what was originally intended for him. For a more decadent twist swap the peanuts for macadamia nuts (or leave them out entirely if you are allergic).

Enjoy!

Hello World

Sorry things have been a bit quiet in Swah-land lately. I have been incredibly busy with assignments and freelance work, and then my blog was hacked right before a holiday. It was a complete mess. Fortunately my tech-savvy boy helped bring Love Swah back from the brink of death upon returning from our trip. I’ve been slowly reinstalling everything and it’s now almost back to business – although I can’t wait to do a complete re-design of the blog once I have completed my course (and have some more free time) at the end of this year.

After weeks of an intense schedule my immune system decided to throw the towel in this week, so unfortunately I’ve been holed up in bed the past few days being a sook. Let’s have a look at some good things that have been going on lately!

♥ Spring has sprung

Spring is well and truly upon us in Sydney and last week I was roaming my neighbourhood with DSLR in tow, snapping pics of the beautiful blooming cherry blossoms. Loving my new lens, the Canon 50mm f1.4

♥ Getting fit in beautiful surroundings

At the start of this year my lungs were pretty much obliterated by pneumonia. I found it quite depressing not being able to exercise regularly so I have been working on building up my fitness and stamina again. I have been going on amazing (and challenging) walks around Sydney with a friend who is in training for a trek to Nepal.

♥ A weekend in Orange

A group of friends and I recently drove to Orange in country NSW to visit a lovely friend who has moved out there. It was a weekend full of amazing food, wine and company. Stay tuned for a mini weekend-away guide on Orange.

♥ Purchasing the 2012 Frankie calendar and diary

I missed out on the coveted Frankie magazine calendar and diary last year, so got my order in early this time. I can’t wait until they arrive! Being organised never looked so pretty.

All this excitement is exhausting, I’m going back to bed. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Please excuse

Hey everyone,

Unfortunately my blog was hacked recently (damn them!) and I am still in the process of getting content back online. Please excuse my shabby appearance for the moment whilst I get things back to looking pretty :)

Purikura – Japanese Photobooths

One of the (many) things I loved about Japan was the “Purikura” or photo sticker booths that were everywhere! They cost 400 YEN (around AUD$5) and are so so much fun. They enlarge your eyes, smooth your skin, let you add makeup as well as random accessories like bows and hearts. I successfully dragged my boyfriend into 3 Purikuras whilst in Japan (and then 1 more time back in Sydney for good measure).

The advertising for the photo booths involve heavily made-up and Photoshopped girls and are usually marketed at either groups of friends or couples.

Our first photo booth we experienced (that’s right, it’s an “experience”) was love themed.

The computer advised us on what poses to strike and then let us add tasteful decorations at the end such as “Best Couple”, hearts and squiggles.

Oh the corniness and creepiness is simply wonderful!

Occasionally the computer shouts at you in Japanese and you have no idea what’s going on – thus this awkward and confused photo.

The next time we went to a Purikura, it was my birthday! Naturally a birthday themed photo shoot was chosen.

We added birthday paraphernalia and cat faces cause I freakin’ love cats. Party tonight!!!!

This particular photo captures the sheer delight we were experiencing.

Followed by a moment of calmness and self reflection. And bows.

Our third trip to the Purikura was the trippiest yet – it featured sheep and hatching chickens. But we LOST. THEM. Fortunately we had a few snaps of the actual computer screen.

Chin shelf yeh.

Sheep! In hats! What!?

Before we finally got to be hatching chickens. My life is now complete.

Naturally, upon returning to Sydney I went in search of more Purikura. I was hooked. We found some near Chinatown in Sydney – they are 2-3 times the price and don’t seem to doll you up as much but still are a fun time!

We went to town on the sparkles, blush and hair accessories.

And then had a fight whilst wearing fake glasses.

I hope I have sufficiently amused and/or traumatised you on this Thursday afternoon. For more whacky things to do in Japan check out my post on Cat Cafes.

Travel Guides

Hi everyone!

Over the past few months I have been writing travel guides based on my own personal journeys and research around the world. They are focused on the female demographic aged 18-40 but anyone can enjoy them. They feature my own photography and include a selection of hotels in each city with budget, mid-range and high-end options, sightseeing (and tourist traps to avoid), shopping, transport and most importantly EATING (each guide has a specific sweets section of course!) I so far have written guides on New York, Melbourne and San Francisco. I am planning on writing my next 3 guides soon but wanted YOUR input on what cities I should focus on next.

These guides will soon be printed and for sale on my blog – there will also be a cheaper downloadable PDF option available too.