Auckland International Cultural Festival 2012

If there is an event in town that involves food culture, you will find us there and one that is not to be missed is the Auckland International Cultural Festival held in Mt Roskill. It's a day when every sub group calling Auckland home comes out to proudly share their culture and food. I don't know the exact number of stalls, but almost every country that I can name, there will be a stall to represent it. What is really amazing is that the African communities of Auckland is largely present in this event which is an uncommon sight until recent years.Auckland has multiple festivals celebrating its diversity throughout the year.There are big events to signify the celebrations of Chinese, Indian, European and Pacifican communities but not as much from the Africans and  possible East Europeans. 

Please be prepared for a food photo-heavy post.

German goodies from Paris-Berlin Bakery in Ellerslie.

There's French

Performance from the Burundian group

Women of Somalia serving up some home-cooked goodness.

A lotus float from the Thais

Thai women in their traditional costumes selling flower floats

A very proud ambassador from the Turkish group

Good-looking representatives from Peru.

A Mariachi band to bring on some mexican atmosphere to the crowd !

Savouring my prawn tacos from the Mexican Grill. I will definitely be checking out their restaurant in the city soon for my mexican fix.

We are crazy for Eritrean/ Ethiopian food but unfortunately there are no restaurants in town serving this particular cuisine. This festival is a really good opportunity to eat our hearts out! I hate posting about the food because it makes me crave for it again. Coincidentally, we ran into Akiliu's family whom I blogged about at the Festival. They were serving up some delicious Eritrean food and coffee to the eager public. We packed two servings of injera for dinner and they  were so kind to offer us to get more of our fix when we are craving for the cuisine again,this really made my day.

Injera bread topped with vegetables, lentils and doro wat..I can never say no to this, it tastes divine!

After a couple hours of eating marathon, we decided to call it a day. I secretly wish that there will be more festivals like this throughout the year. It's a great way to learn of other cultures, try out some new food and be aware of what a great and diverse city you live in.

Do you enjoy cultural events in your city?

What are your favourite cuisines?

Have you tried any African cuisines before? Do you like it?

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

Weekend hair with Kevin Murphy Color Bug

Sass & Bide designer Sarah-Jane Clarke

So, you've heard other people talking about their weekend bag, weekend car but weekend hair dye ? Not really. In my earlier post about Kevin Murphy Color Bug, I have mentioned all the possibilities and temptation of having a quick haircolor and then revert it back to work-friendly (for those of us who are not fortunate enough to work in a place that you can show up to work looking like a lucky troll doll without stares at their hair colour when Mondays come. I love the flexibility of having bright-coloured hair for a night out and not having to deal ugly faded hair color jobs after a few washes because you just simply wash it out and put on another color and wear as many as you like.

On my black hair, the color is not very obvious but it's great if you just want a little colour but not too bright. I used purple on the photo on left  and orange on the right.

Here is another ombre hairdo I love but my hair is just too dark to achieve the same results.

I would love to be able to color my hair in different shades of blues and greens one day like the photo above. 

Have you tried the Color Bug?

How do you like the Color Bug ? Does it stay on your hair?

What other colors would you like the Color Bug to have?

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

Positivity Friday !!

I am going to try and make this a weekly event to celebrate Friday and the weekend by sharing some positivity and running motivations! It always feel that Friday took too long to arrive and Monday comes too soon. Have a great weekend everyone!

How far are you planning to run this weekend? 

   What is your idea of a great weekend?

Are you planning for a big feast? What are you cooking?

This photo cracks me up everytime!

Source: media-cache5.pinterest.com via Penny on Pinterest

     

Source: blog.runtheedge.com via Penny on Pinterest

Source: icanrelate.info via Penny on Pinterest

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

10k fun race and loads of refueling

Trying hard to rub off the sleepiness on my face

For the fun of it, I signed up for an unplanned 10km run on Sunday as part of the Run Auckland series.The first race of the series was at Waiatarua Reserve. Other than the date, time and venue, I didn't find out too much about the route. I arrive to find out that it's 10km of gravel. Fun. The whistle went and I ran easily for a while, hoping for some nice views. None. When I finished the first lap, Runmeter told me it was 2.5km. Crap! I just found out that I had to run the uninspiring lap for a total of 4 times! Blech. By the second lap, I felt like calling it a day because I was bored and running on gravel is really no fun. Anyway, I finished after about 65 minutes. The last few hundred metres felt like forever.

The good thing is that this is my first race in Lululemon attire. I wore my first CRB from Lululemon with Switch Back Shorts in Inkblot. I love how much the  color of my CRB pops in the photos. I was so close to "rewarding" myself by "checking out" new arrivals at LL store. But I was strong.

Our new favorite: Habanero sauce!!

I have a fantastic hubby who wakes up early to watch me run on a Sunday morning and cooks bacon and egg breakfast for me to "refuel" after the run. Nothing can get better than that, oh yeah, he did the dishes too !

Ok I have a confession to make, I love staring at my painted nails when I run. And when I can't decide on the colour, I do 4 colours!

We went for a bite at Angie's and I've ordered this beauties. They are Pie Tee, a popular Nyonya snack with fried casing filled with vegetables and dried shrimps. What a delight!

How was your weekend run? 

Have you ran a race that you wish you'd not? And how you overcome that?

Do you like to paint your nails so that you have something to stare at whilst running?

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

Good One Coffee Roasters, Ponsonby

Saturday was a brilliant day to be out and about as the weather was utterly perfect have a stroll around town in search of a good find. My idea of a good Saturday afternoon is having a good brunch washed down by a strong smooth cuppa.

We headed to Good One in Ponsonby as I came across it while searching for Supreme coffee in  Auckland after a trip to Wellington last year. Their coffees are just divine and I was hooked. Good One is not located on the main stretch of cafes and restaurants on Ponsonby road. It is located inside a commercial building that has been thoughtfully transformed into an unique and retro looking cafe with equally as good looking staff. And they are very friendly and helpful too. We were talked through the different type of beans and blend they have and the staff hooked us up with a small bag and gave us 2 free samples to try at home which was awesome. I wish more places would let you take coffee samples home instead of ending up with a big bag that I don't like very much but obliged to finish it.

I had a toasted haloumi sandwish which was so good! Sorry that I missed the photo of my coffee because I drank it up in no time.

After a great toasted sandwich and with bags of coffee grinds in my arms, I can't wait to get home to brew some coffees with the heavenly find 

Good One,

 42 Douglas St, Ponsonby

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

Positivity Friday!!

This is an article someone shared with me on FB which I find interesting. Some of these are as I believe just common sense but still worth reading to give yourself something to think about. Here is the link of the complete article on Purposefairy

1. Give up your need to always be right.  The wife is always right, right? Ok, I will try harder.

2. Give up your need for control. “By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu. This so true because I get frustrated when things are beyond my control and it stresses me out for nothing. Especially true when I cannot tick all the boxes on the spreadsheet of to-do list while traveling.

3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life. I have to stop blaming my husband when we run out of ice-cream. I know I ate them too.

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk. “The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!  This is so true. When you think you have a limit, it's as if putting a bottle cap on your head and not allowing yourself to achieve more.

6. Give up complaining. Hmm...do I? Sometimes.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Cursing is criticism ?

8. Give up your need to impress others. Check.

9. Give up your resistance to change. Need to work on that

10. Give up labels. Check. I don't even have the money for them. 

11. Give up on your fears. “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt. I need to learn this

12. Give up your excuses. Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. Still working hard on this

13. Give up the past. Check.

14. Give up attachment. I don't have any.

15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations.  Check.

Here are a few of my favourite pins that inspires me and I would like to share with you all. I love positive phrases like these and try to remember them in time of adversity.

 What are your favourite phrases?

 What are your biggest fears? Are you afraid of change?

 How are you going to spend the weekend?

Have a great weekend everyone !!

Source: google.nl via Penny on Pinterest

Source: s3.amazonaws.com via Penny on Pinterest

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

5 Course Degustation at Number 5 Restaurant

I bought a Grabone voucher for a 5-course degustation meal for 2 person at Number. 5 restaurant recently after hearing really good things about this place. It costs only $99 for 2 person and that's a really good deal. This was also our first experience of degustation menu which is becoming a norm in most fine dining restaurants particularly in Auckland. The food here are amazing and every dish was very well-presented to us by attentive staff. My only gripe is that I forgot to bring my camera but it was maybe a blessing in disguise because we might get some weird stares from other patrons.

First course :Seared Scallops with Cauliflower Puree.  The scallops were so tender and I have never eaten a more well cooked scallop on a dollop of buttery Cauliflower Puree. This marks a good start of the night.

Second course:  Chicken Liver Parfait with Crisp Bread and Berry Compote. Fortunately both S and I love liver parfaits otherwise it  will be challenging. The combination of berry compote with the liver parfait sounds strange to some but it tastes fabulous together. My only complaint was not enough crisp bread to spread the parfait on as itwas a generous portion.

Third Course:Green Apple Sorbet. The maitre'd explained that this is to cleanse our palate before the main course. S loves the sorbet and I wish there were more in the glass.

Fourth course: Loin of Lamb with Lamb Springroll with Pea Puree. Sorry that the photo didn't turn out so well in the dim lighting. There is a springroll on the lamb loin. When this dish was brought to the table, it smelt so good and  everything was cooked to perfection. The lamb loin is so tender it's like eating marshmallows. The only component that I didn't like too much was the pea puree. It tasted like baking soda and I didn't like it however much I've tried to.

Fifth Course: Chocolate Fondant with Honey Comb Ice-cream and Coconut Shortbread.
Dessert has always been my favourite part of fine dining. I love love love the honey comb ice cream and coconut shortbread. By the time I dig into the chocolate fondant my belly was close to explosion because I was feeling so full. My hubs happily offered his 'help' to finish it for me.


It was overall a great dining experience. The ambiance is a little old fashioned and stuffy for my liking but the service is flawless and the food is one of the best I have had in a long time. We will definitely be back. Now I just need to stalk Grabone/ Groupon for another voucher.

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

Running and refueling

I have to rewrite this post because the one that I did last night was published as an empty post. Frustrating really. I went for my 'long' run on Sunday and the weather was gorgeous plus because it was a public holiday, there were hardly any cars on the road. I need to burn off the gazillion calories I have consumed in the form of chocolate eggs. I ran for a little more than 10km with average pace of 6:31/km. I know this is walking with licking ice-cream pace for a lot of people but it's running for me. I will am slow but I will keep trying. My shins were a little grumpy after my run on Thursday so I took 2 days off without any workout to rest and did some stretching and yoga at home. The overall run was pretty good although it was a little hotter for my liking. For the next 6 to weeks I will be trying to increase my weekly mileage as base training. I have also learnt not to increase my mileage too rapidly to avoid injuries. I have learnt my lessons!

The cows who didn't want to be on the photos but they were photogenic. I don't live on a farm, I just happen to runthrough Cornwall Park with lots of adorable farm animals.

The perfect thing to 'reward and refuel' oneself after a massive effort to get out of bed on a Sunday morning to run is going for a great lunch. Hubs and I went shopping and then drop by at Mac's Brewbar for a bite. I had a Calabreze Sausage with potatoes, poached eggs and salad. Delicious!!

Lunch was followed by a stroll on the beach and a ginger breadman ice-cream!!  I decided that treating myself to a good lunch followed by ice-cream is much more economical than heading into Lululemon. I didn't even get close to one, fearing that I might succumb to the temptation.

The annual Adidas Auckland Marathon is going to open for registration tomorrow. I think I might do the half marathon. I've promised myself that once I can finish a half marathon at sub 2, I will consider a full marathon.

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

Hot Cross Buns and Easter break

When this post was written, there has been 10,000 calories consumed. Mostly in the form of chocolates and other forms of sweets. It certainly didn't help that I decided to make some hot cross buns at home myself this year too. This is my first time.

 I am so excited about having Easter break so I can catch up on watching DVDs, try out some recipes, bake, a few long runs and read lots of blogs! That's my idea of a good break. 

Laying out all my ingredients for a batch of 12 hot cross buns.

I mixed 3 cups of standard flour, 3/4 cup warm water, 1 tbsp yeast,1 egg, 1 egg white, 1/2 tsp salt 3 tbsp butter into the breadmaker to make the dough and added 3 tsp of cinnamon and 3/4 raisins before the end of the knead cycle and let it rise for 1 hour and then rolled them out as 12 balls and let rise for 40 minutes.

Before putting the buns into the oven I mixed 1 egg yolk with 2 tsp of water and brush all the buns 

evenly before baking at 200c for 20 minutes.

Voila! Freshly baked hot cross buns to devour! For the crosses, I mixed 1/2 cup caster sugar with 1 tsp milk and 1/2 tsp ground vanilla.

I hope everyone is enjoying Easter break with loved ones and enjoying the spare time for long runs. I went out for a 11km run this morning and it was fantastic! Not fast but good enough for me. Next week I will need to work harder after the break to burn off the extra holiday calories!!

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

The week that the migraine spoilt the running and my running must-haves

I hate migraines with a passion. No less. It's one of the worst feelings ever and all you can do is lie on the bed with the agonizing pain. Horrid. What a bad timing too because after a sweet run last Sunday ,I was planning to increase my mileage for the next 6 weeks as my base training and. But all the planning and running is stalled until the migraine is gone for good. Anyway, it's just a small speed bump and I am pretty sure I will be rewarded with many many great runs soon. Fingers crossed.

I tell myself it's a mental break, so when I am well to run again, I will be so excited and start running with a huge grin on my face.

So what can you write about running when you can't run ? Lots.

There are a few essentials that I must have with me when I go out for my runs and here are a few of them:

I don't carry a Sharpie, it's just for comparison in size.

1.Spi-belt. This baby can hold up an iphone, cash, keys and 3 gels and stay put around your waist and doesn't look as awful as a fanny pack. I got mine in high viz so in winter months, it's additional visibility for me which is really fantastic. I love this so much that I never went for a run without it. The material is really strong and stretchy doubles as my passport holder when I travel so I don't have to dig into my large bag at immigration checkpoints. It costs about USD20 and is worth every cent.

That gross looking yellowish spot is actually a Compeed blister pack, ibuprofen and more blister pack. 

2. 2XU running cap. It's light and dries real fast. I wear it all year round, rain or shine. I have a habit of taping ibuprofen and plaster underneath my cap. So not weird. But it has been handy when I needed a plaster during a half marathon race.

3. Retrosuperfuture Sunglasses in Flat Frank II. I wear these everywhere and you will see them on all my holiday and running photos. Strangers will think I was wearing these when I was born. They are perfect fit for me and I love the Carl Zeiss lens and doesn't hurt my ears.

4. iphone and earphones.

5. House key and small change in case I need a drink. No need for photos of these I think.

I don't know why everything is white, I don't have an obsession with matching my running gears,it's a coincidence really. You may ask why I don't own run with a Garmin. I need to know too. I use Runmeter to log all my runs but I am sure that's not enough.

There are a few things that I am planning to buy soon for my winter runs.When I started running I thought I only need a pair of good shoes and I'm good to go and I always thought that it's a relatively cheap sport. This is not true when you actually get too many ideas of how to equip your long runs to make it more fashionable bearable.

On my wishlist are :

1. Arm warmers for the autumn running where it's still too hot to wear a baselayer. I saw these at Lululemon but not stoked of the price (NZD 45) and color options. I don't know if I am vain but I know for sure I don't want to look like I am wearing old socks as arm warmers.

2. Garmin Forerunner 305 - I am still undecided which model to buy but I think I need to get one.
    My hubs got a Garmin Edge 800 for cycling and he's been having problems with the HRM strap
    and told me to go for Polar instead. Still undecided.

3. Running skirt-I have been wanting to buy a running skirt for a while but have yet to find one that is not too long on me (I'm only 5'1!). The one in the photo is Lululemon's Pace Setter Skirt in Black/ Blush Quartz and I really like it. I should see if the store has it when I go there tomorrow for  yoga.
 

If you use a heart rate monitor or GPS for your runs,please share your opinions about which brand and model and why everyone who runs need one. I have to convince myself before I am willing to fork out hundreds of moolah to get an arm computer.


Last but not least, some interesting information I found on Pinterest:

Source: blog.runkeeper.com via Tobi_S on Pinterest

Tweet

Follow @herworldly

Blossom Court Malaysian Restaurant, Panmure

Penang Assam Laksa- A must try if you want a zesty laksa packed with flavours

The weekend has been good with lots of eating and although I have wanted to run more than last week, I haven't been able to do so. I will explain this in the next post about running. I will just keep my food post mostly about food for now and share some food photos that will make you drool at work. Yeah that's just me being bitter for eating too much and running too little and I want to believe that everyone is the same. Hah!

Anyway, I have been going to Blossom Court for when I want need a fix of Malaysian food and I guess it's about time that I should review it here. This place is a little gem for our cheap and cheerful eat outs. The chefs used to work at Sri Puteri's in its early days when S and I worshipped its food but has stopped going in the last few years since they have changed ownership and the food standard has dropped. The food at Blossom Court is pretty good   and prices are reasonable except for the butter prawns which I find a little steep but everything else is pretty good. My favourite dishes here are the Char Kuey Teow and Kam Heong Chicken. Sorry the photo of the Kam Heong Chicken was too blur to be used.

Their Char Kuey Teow is one of my favourite. Really smokey flavored.

Butter Prawns. Their version is the creamy one but I personally prefer the dry version with egg white floss.

Blossom Court is only about 100 meters away from Sri Puteri's if you are in Panmure it's a good spot for a quick lunch or dinner. The service is courteous and prompt  with plenty of parking around.


Blossom Court Malaysian Cuisine
135 Queens Rd
Panmure 
09 527 7022

Tweet

Follow @herworldly