As the post was getting a bit long I've separated it into two parts. The prior was giving, this one is recieving. Like having your birthday on Christmas presents double up, and I don't mean in frequency, I mean the present you get is labelled either xmas or b'day. You don't get two. My birthday is much like that, but it's alright as I don't get Christmas presents anyway, with a generous allowance. This year le beau's family did a gift exchange with me, and someone told them it it was my birthday on Boxing Day, so they also got me birthday presents! :) It's like the family I never had, as I have no memory of ever celebrating Christmas, that and with us family and fun don't mix.


a - le beau. He gave me a French Kiss (from Lush), he picked it from the name :P rather than my method of spending an hour in stores smelling everything. The 2nd thing he got me was on my wishlist - V&R's Flowerbomb 20ml. The 3rd thing he hasn't given me yet, as he says he's ordered it but it hasn't arrived yet. As it's something big it's part of my Christmas present as well as Birthday. He's not giving an hints, other than it's not on my list and he's certain I'll absolutely love it. As le beau's got good taste, I'm sure it's something lovely.


b - Lily. Silver bird on swing necklace, which I love! It was something I took a picture of at a craft market. Somehow Lily managed to track it down. :) Being a make-up expert she has all the recommendations on the topic, and bought me her favourite make-up guide, Amazing Face. She also got me MOR's Lychee Perfume Oil, when we were at DJ's and I wasn't looking. :P And the last thing she got me was a framed picture of Felicity Wishes - my favourite faerie!

c - Helen & Adrian, got me an amazing piece of artwork from Esty. It's an ink drawing of a bunny with a bark (tree) texture. They also got me a Lush Gift Card, which I used during their sale. Adrian said the gift card was hos idea. :P For my birthday they bought me a lovely silver origami bunny! (near the top of the picture, next to the perfume, on top of the candle).s

d - Jas, got me the amazing Gardenia Glasshouse candle (on the WL) and a bottle of L'Occitane's Cherry Blossom EDT, which I really like, except for the staying power (not his fault) it's a light and fresh summer fragrance.

e - Emily, she bought everything offline, so I've got pictures and comments here.

f - Secret Santa, I love doing secret santa with the rule of no food :) (chocolates melt when posted). This year my SS got me Marc Jacob's Daisy which I love, perfect timing too, as I was going to buy it myself. She was very generous and also sent me a giftcard to Dymocks, as she couldn't find the book on my wishlist.

g - Myself. As my birthday is a shopping holiday in Australia I usually ask for cash - if you absolutely can't find something that you know I'll like. Most of the time I prefer something that required analyzing. Hence I tend to get a lot of cash for my b'day. This year by random luck I found V&R's Flowerbomb 100ml on sale, at Target for only $130. It's $160 at Sephora and here it goes for $180 at David Jones.




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While we don't do Christmas, as family and fun aren't two words that can be in the same sentence without a negative adjective, this year we (my friends & le beau's family) did a gift exchange, with budgets starting from $10. Emily & Lily were $20, Helen & Adrian $30, Jas $50, and le beau, anything goes, as whenever I see something he'd like I'll buy it and save it for an occasion.

On Sunday we meet for the exchange and a luncheon hosted by Helen & Adrian, I took a few pictures but they're on the other computer... that and with my mini camera isn't as good as my DSLR. If you're wondering why we didn't wait till Christmas it was because le beau & his family were going to spend Christmas in the Hunter Valley, and NYE in Sydney. I was invited along a couple months ago when they made bookings, but I chose not to go, that and I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to go anyway. 

Anyway everyone liked/loved what I got them :).



le beau is a music teacher at a school far far away, he likes to cook occasionally. I got him custom treble clef cufflinks, an ipad case, a signed cookbook entwined with a story, and a slim music sheet tie.

Lily's le beau's younger sister, a make-up enthusiast, studying to be a teacher. Our budget was $20-is, and with that I got her a Burt's Bees's 3 Piece Kit and some mesh bags from Bloom.


For Helen, le beau's SIL, the dr & hostess, I saw these lovely gold sequin throw cushions, unfortunately they were over budget, so I made her three cushion covers. The budget was $30. Being a dr (she's at a hospital) she's on her feet all day so I got her a pedi. kit. I know she likes candles, so after confirming with Adrian that she didn't have this one, I got her MOR's Fig & Olive. Green's her favourite colour.


Adrian, le beau's brother is one of the hardest to shop for.  With suggestions from Lily I got him a Burt's Bees' Kit and Soccer Ball cufflinks. It's his favourite sport.


Emily. Magpie. We've been permanently separated in maths, and get glares in IT. XD Who said girls were hard to shop for? :P There's a million generic girly gifts you can get them. For one anything shiny. Like a phone case (do check which version/model they have first) and the Union Jack shamballa bracelet - it's so shiny and it sparkles! And it matches a bag I encouraged her to buy. The only con is that it require two to put on. Not all girls are into nail polish, but Emily is, and so I got her the crystal nail file from Bloom, it's not like using those sandpaper ones. Our budget was $10-20.


Jas is another one hard to shop for, over the years I've bought him everything I can think of. After a long discussion he revealed he needed a notebook for the workshop. We prodded a bit more and got another detail: unlined, no spiral spine (unless it doesn't effect how you write). I wanted to get him Typo's Big Ideas Notebook, the kraft brown one, but it was season :( so we settled for the least girly one I could find. And to get it up to the budget level I got him an itunes card.

I would have preferred to post this before Christmas, but I know that le beau's family and Emily do occasionally read/check out my pictures. :P                 

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Friday 14th Dec.

On Friday late afternoon (about a fortnight now, awaiting jas's promise of his half of the review) we went for an early dinner (someone was an hour late) at the Dick Whittington Tavern on Chapel Street, it seems that we weren't the first to get lost. 32 Chapel St, according to Jas is next to the paint shop on the busy shopping strip. Fortunately we had the tavern's number and called them for directions. It's near Balacava Station, not Windsor. I got the right location on google maps, he didn't on his phone.I find it helps to check out the street view, so you're familiar with the location. The tavern is almost on the corner, next to their drive through BWS-esque liquorland, park there.


We started with entrees...


Why does it look so pretty?! Fuchsia is Beetroot, Curry Orange is Spiced Sweet Potato, and White is Tzatziki. Jas says he's working on the reviews, but I doubt he is, that or he's only started, hence half the pictures/dishes don't have reviews.




Everything we ordered arrived at the same time which was great. The soup was very nice, I would get it again. Though I did find it made me thirsty, so don't forget to order a drink. It's also heavy on the flavours. The combination of sweet potato and rosemary went very well as you could taste both, rather than having one overpowering the other.



Everyone has that one thing they always order from certain types of places like mocha from coffee shops or hot chips from those new gourmet fast food joints. For jas at restaurants, if they have lamb of some sort that's what he'll get. For unknown reasons his food is once again doing much better in terms of food porn. 



As I don't eat bacon I got it without the bacon. Wrong move. Rather than order it without a piece essential to the dish pick something else. In this dish the bacon plays a part in cooking the eye fillet, without it the outside of the fillet was overcooked, hard and chewy. Inedible. However the inside was fine. The mash I did find too salty for my liking. I liked this dish, but wouldn't recommend it (w/o the bacon) or get it again. 



Pudding, particularly Christmas Pudding is something that's always been fascinating to me - the part where you set it on fire. I've never had this pudding but did make it a decade or two ago. Jas explains that an xmas pudding is a fruit cake but denser and moist. That doesn't sound too appealing, I prefer my sponge and cream cakes.  



I love Creme Burlee, and most things custard. This one was great, I've never had a bad creme burlee though, they all taste the same to me... One thing I would change is the presentation, it was quite shallow, the dish was about 1.5cm deep, I'd prefer a smaller deep dish. I'd recommend it, but perhaps not at this price.

We enjoyed our dinning experience at the tavern, with some many places to eat at and so little time I wouldn't go back, due to prices and the location. But the service was very good, and if you're in town do check it out. But don't go on a Friday or Saturday night, there's a pub next door and it's very loud. Oh and on Wednesdays they have half price men's night, which include all their dishes except the fillet mignon. So I am curious, does it mean that if a couple dines and the guy pays it's half price, or does it refer to the consumer?



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