Christmas presents

Just a quick post about some awesome foodie Christmas presents I got this year.

After some not-so-subtle hinting, my dad got me this absolutely gorgeous crockery from the Bistro Vue Robert Gordon range (available for purchase here!) I fell in love with these plates when I had lunch at Cafe Vue @ 401. I got 2 sets of teacups & saucers, 2 dinner plates and a serving plate. Thank-you Dad! They were also wrapped in that beautiful Bistro Vue pink paper you see above there (kinda ruined the surprise, but I wasn't complaining!!). The only issue with these is that when Dad went to pick up the plates at Vue De Monde, he said the guy working there was a total douche and extremely snobby and dismissive - until he realised that my dad had already spent money and just wanted to pick up his order. Sheesh.

Continuing with the French theme...
My friend Clarice in Paris bought me this cute "Maison du Chocolat" thermal bag, and the pretty chocolate spoons. I've been using the bag to carry my lunch to work - it is very effective. Sandra got me the Mariage Frères Marco Polo tea, at an exorbitant price, from Simon Johnson. We figured afterwards that it would be cheaper to get Clarice to buy the tea in France and send it over!

I'm not sure if the book counts as a Christmas present, seeing as my dad bought it in the Boxing Day sales, but it is pretty awesome nonetheless - Je Sais Cuisiner - a thick doorstop of a book full of French recipes. The chocolate and chestnut terrine was one of the first to catch my eye!

And now... from the folks in Germany...

A German cookbook (to add to my ever-growing collection of German cookbooks... I really should start taking lessons...). This one splits up the recipes by region - Hesse and Bavaria are my favourites!

A silicon Kipferlform! Now my Vanilakipferl can stop looking so irregular and demented, hehe.

Another German cookbook - I think this is the German equivalent of Cookery the Australian Way (my year 9 Home Economics textbook). Later on today I'll be trying the recipe for Frikadellen mit Schafkäsefüllung! (Rissoles filled with fetta).

The rest of the package wasn't technically a Christmas gift, but more of a care package for myself and Sandra.

German cookery magazines. I can never get enough of these, especially the Christmas editions!

And lots of packet-fixes. (This isn't even all of them, I've basically shown one or two of each type in the below photo).
Apart from the magazines and books, there are fixes for Zwiebel-Rahm Schnitzel, Kartoffel Gratin, Deftiger Linsentopf mit Speck (my favourite), Schinken-Hack Röllchen and more. There were some chocolate jelly snowmen, and 8 x XXL packets of Nik Naks. I'd never had these before, but they are the German snack equivalent of crack. They're peanuts, covered in a crispy-salty-spicy shell, and they are incredibly addictive.

I hope everyone else had awesome Christmasses and brilliant new years!

Just a quick post about some awesome foodie Christmas presents I got this year.

After some not-so-subtle hinting, my dad got me this absolutely gorgeous crockery from the Bistro Vue Robert Gordon range (available for purchase here!) I fell in love with these plates when I had lunch at Cafe Vue @ 401. I got 2 sets of teacups & saucers, 2 dinner plates and a serving plate. Thank-you Dad! They were also wrapped in that beautiful Bistro Vue pink paper you see above there (kinda ruined the surprise, but I wasn't complaining!!). The only issue with these is that when Dad went to pick up the plates at Vue De Monde, he said the guy working there was a total douche and extremely snobby and dismissive - until he realised that my dad had already spent money and just wanted to pick up his order. Sheesh.

Continuing with the French theme...
My friend Clarice in Paris bought me this cute "Maison du Chocolat" thermal bag, and the pretty chocolate spoons. I've been using the bag to carry my lunch to work - it is very effective. Sandra got me the Mariage Frères Marco Polo tea, at an exorbitant price, from Simon Johnson. We figured afterwards that it would be cheaper to get Clarice to buy the tea in France and send it over!

I'm not sure if the book counts as a Christmas present, seeing as my dad bought it in the Boxing Day sales, but it is pretty awesome nonetheless - Je Sais Cuisiner - a thick doorstop of a book full of French recipes. The chocolate and chestnut terrine was one of the first to catch my eye!

And now... from the folks in Germany...

A German cookbook (to add to my ever-growing collection of German cookbooks... I really should start taking lessons...). This one splits up the recipes by region - Hesse and Bavaria are my favourites!

A silicon Kipferlform! Now my Vanilakipferl can stop looking so irregular and demented, hehe.

Another German cookbook - I think this is the German equivalent of Cookery the Australian Way (my year 9 Home Economics textbook). Later on today I'll be trying the recipe for Frikadellen mit Schafkäsefüllung! (Rissoles filled with fetta).

The rest of the package wasn't technically a Christmas gift, but more of a care package for myself and Sandra.

German cookery magazines. I can never get enough of these, especially the Christmas editions!

And lots of packet-fixes. (This isn't even all of them, I've basically shown one or two of each type in the below photo).
Apart from the magazines and books, there are fixes for Zwiebel-Rahm Schnitzel, Kartoffel Gratin, Deftiger Linsentopf mit Speck (my favourite), Schinken-Hack Röllchen and more. There were some chocolate jelly snowmen, and 8 x XXL packets of Nik Naks. I'd never had these before, but they are the German snack equivalent of crack. They're peanuts, covered in a crispy-salty-spicy shell, and they are incredibly addictive.

I hope everyone else had awesome Christmasses and brilliant new years!