What do these things have in common?

Any idea?

They all weigh 44kg's. My leader sent me a You Tube video tonight, that had me all 'teared-up'. A Weight Watchers member from Caloundra, Qld shares her journey in pictures to Whitney Houston music! And you know what? I realised that this is the amount of weight I have left to lose too. To get to WW goal! Well.. 45kgs

Check out this lovely, video here!

The Difference A Month Makes...

This is Cate Blanchett one month after giving birth.

Though 4kg's off (8.8 pounds) isn't that much for someone my size, I think I've lost more fat than that in the last month and have gained muscle, walking so much each week. I've never had this kind of reasonably noticeable transformation after 4kg's, so I do believe my legs and butt have increased muscle tone. It feels like it and looks like it too (under my clothes). I'm also 11kg's down from my heaviest weight last year, being 24.3 pounds. I will remove the 'body shots' after a few days once my friends have had a look-see. (Photo's removed. If you're a friend, I will happily share them via email).

Granted, the Oct 'face photo's' were taken in Brisbane, it was very warm and thus I carry a bit more fluid in summery weather. But I was still 4kg's heavier.
I needed to spend time today making these photo comparisons. It's at this point (ie. at this weight) that I tend to go backwards because my losses aren't really 'life changing' and I'm still wearing the same clothes (albeit they fit better). It's usually easier to just resort to the drug-like intoxication of overeating. But I need to meditate on these progress shots. Yes, I've had lapses in the last month. I've not been perfect. But I've got back on the 'horse' very quickly after falling off. I've not given up. Subsequently I still get cross at myself because I could have potentially lost considerably more. Anyway, just thought I'd share. I'm so glad I did take photo's a month ago, I can't deny that my walking and points counting hasn't paid off in some way. Tracking what what goes in your mouth really works. Exercise on top of that, even better.

Australia. The Movie.

A film that not even Oprah could save? Let me say that though Baz Luhrmann doesn't necessarily translate well into Americanese.. it shouldn't bear reflection on his own brand of, lets face it, *genius*. On my youngest sisters birthday, May 28th 2001 I was in a Seattle movie theatre (with her and BIL) viewing Moulin Rouge. The cinema wasn't even one quarter full and several of the scanty groups walked out during the movie (& never came back). Last time I witnessed that kind of 'unsettledness' was during Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" because the in-your-face torture of Jesus proved too much for some. The last movie I walked out of (within 15 minutes of it starting) was Russell Crowe's "Master and Commander".. but I digress! (If you're leaving a comment at the end of this post, please share a time where you've done "the cinema-walk-out")?

Last night the large cinema we walked into was nearly full. However this morning I've woken up to headlines declaring Australia to be an "epic failure". What a shame for Nic and Hugh and Baz. I wanted it to be huger than huge for them. And for us Aussies. 'Titanic', at the time of seeing it on the big screen was huger than huge for me. Australia, though quite entertaining in parts.. it somehow.. nyehhh... how shall I say it? Didn't get all of the cattle home? Or I should say "onto the ship"? It was very good. But Oprah's hype made me anticipate another Titanic. I usually appreciate long movies. It somehow extends the cinema experience (which I enjoy) and also makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth. But this was an itsy-bit too long.

David Wenham played the bad guy again (as he did in Moulin Rouge). Other familiar Aussie icon actors (as dense in number as a mob of kangaroo's) were: Bryan Brown, John Jarratt, Barry Otto, Bill Hunter, Jack Thompson, Sandy Gore, Max Cullen, David Gulpilil and Ben Mendelsohn!

I won't share a synopsis on this occasion as sometimes they can act as 'spoilers'. What you can expect to see is: drama, suspense, comedy, romance and tragedy.. all in one with Baz Luhrmann's distinct 'touches'. Some love his imagination & style but it's not everyone's cup of billy tea. .{End of cheesy, Australian colloquialisms}. Set in 1939, it's 175 minutes long and if you don't see it for any other reason.. consider supporting Australia's film industry. Or if you're from overseas, let it inspire you to come here!

Times laughed out loud: More than 5

Opportunities to ogle Hugh Jackman: More than 5

Times I shed tears: Twice..or was it maybe thrice?

Favourite scene: Lady Sarah Ashley & Drover's first kiss. I need to upload that from somewhere. Words cannot express the level of 'scorching' tenderness that it was (for me anyway).

Personal observation: Every kiss after the first one, Nicole Kidman seemed to be much more 'into' it than Hugh. Or should I say Nicole seemed to 'dig' the scenes that little bit more and I was picking up an "I love my real-life-wife" thing from Hugh.

Times snored: Twice (my girl, within 5 minutes of the ending).

Times food and eating feature (not counting cups of tea): Big. Fat. Zero. Tsk-Tsk! ><

Do I recommend you check it out?: Yes.

P.S. And this was definitely an after-thought: One of my own You Tube video's has been promoting our shores for over a year now. I still get comments left each month. Mostly from folk missing home or peeps longing to come here. They're from all walks of life and some even change their negative views to positive ones after viewing the video! Any negative comments are usually from 'home' ie. Aussies saying I didn't feature Western Australia or I favoured Melbourne over Sydney.. that kind of thing. Anyway, I'm thrilled for others excitment about coming here more than any of the praise I've received. I usually get anywhere from 50 to 300 views on average per video I upload and this one so far has over 28,000.

COME TO AUSTRALIA! The Big Facts 'n Trivia Movie!

Interview Update...

Stage one was (praise the Lord) having my cover letter and resume work for me -which led to my interview this afternoon. The lady conducting my interview (lets call her 'S'), said she'd received a lot of applications and gestured with her hand above the desk to show the height of "the pile" that came in. Maybe two tissue boxes high? She said it was 'crazy'. From my experience this seems the norm these days. What am I saying? It's been my experience for 21 years! So many applicants for one job. The only job that has ever fallen into my lap without actively searching for it was my current job as a new member hostess at WW. It wasn't 'dumb luck' either. I had been 'observed and assessed' over time and I was consistent with my meeting attendances too. Preparation meeting opportunity had never worked for me before ..but there's also the God equation whom I give full credit to. My leader wasn't the only one observing and assessing I guess :)

So, I was blessed to be interviewed today out of all the applicants in their pile. It turns out even Web Developers had applied for the position but 'S' said she didn't want to consider overqualified folk. Anyway my interview led me to be shortlisted a second time. 'S' said she's passing my resume onto the employer. w00t!!


I'm so glad I even made it to the interview because I'm suddenly overcome with back problems. Two days ago I started experiencing spasms and painful cramps under my left shoulder blade. Yesterday, though sore, I seemed to improve. Today, it became worse. I planned on going for a walk in the morning having woken at 6.30am but I couldn't even make my daughters lunch. I kept letting out loud "yells" from the sudden pain and spasms.. so I had no choice but to flop onto my bed with an icepack. I also had to cancel a 2pm appointment (the interview was at 4pm). My back was dictating my day. I fell asleep on the icepack. When I woke up I was able to move around a bit more.. so I was relieved to see signs of improvement. Going to the interview was challenging, namely getting in and out of the car. I wished someone would carry my handbag for me. I didn't wince at the interview or show signs that I was in pain, so 'phew' to that! I'm just worried since my back has been getting worse since then. It's as if the area of cramping and spasms has increased. I only hope if I get called for another interview that I won't be incapacitated. I'm almost afraid to go to bed because I don't know if I'll be able to get out of bed tomorrow! Healing scriptures will be prayed tonight. P.S. No.... that picture (above left) isn't a self-portrait, but when I fell asleep this morning I dreamt I was looking in a full-length mirror and I was visibly much slimmer!

Glitches & Surprises

I woke up today to find that my bank account is nearly $140 overdrawn.

WHAT THE?

How..what..how?!

Here's an excerpt of the story today as reported on ABC news:

CBA identifies glitch but won't explain

The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) says it has worked out what caused a nationwide banking glitch but will not reveal the nature of the problem.

The bank has spent the day trying to rectify a processing problem that has left thousands of customers out of pocket.

About 200,000 people have been affected by the glitch, which resulted in internet and ATM transactions being lodged twice overnight.

Some customers' accounts have been stripped of funds, while others have been credited with more money than they should have been.

Last week I had different reasons to be mad with the CBA, so I finally went bank shopping and opened new accounts at another bank. I'm waiting for my new card to arrive and I need to notify places of my new bank details too before I close my CBA accounts.

For those of you that haven't been following my Twitterings on the sidebar, I thought I'd share that at LAST I HAVE A JOB INTERVIEW!!! Granted, it's a "1st interview" and it's with an employment agency (ie. not the employer). I emailed my covering letter and resume this morning and within an hour and a half, I received a phone call asking me first "Do you want to work part time or full time"? I answered "part time". I was then offered the interview. The job advertisment specifically said it was for a part time position.

When I wrote my covering letter and tweaked my resume, I decided to be more 'relaxed' about it..and my words came straight from the heart. I also included a photo of myelf for the first time too. This particular position would allow me to use creative muscles, but also utilise computer skills and my 'eye for detail'. It's one suburb away too! The interview is at 4pm tomorrow.. straight after a 2pm appointment on the other side of town. A full-on afternoon.

I loaned my car out for 24hrs (from yesterday to today) and received it back with new hub caps (one of mine was missing and the others were cracked). It was also hand washed, waxed, polished..and the black plastic trim was 'Armour All' treated. The oil was topped up..and some kind of 'jet cleaner' was put in the engine? My neighbour accosted me as I was driving down the driveway this afternoon. (It seems as if she likes me this week ;)) She gave me petrol vouchers and a packet of salt and vinegar chips 2/3rds eaten. New 'Sultry Sally' brand.. 97% fat free. They were terrible! As well as wanting me to share the low fat chips with fellow WW members, she asked "Have you washed your car or something?"

Chickpea & Vegetable Tagine Etc...

I made this WW recipe for friends almost exactly a year ago! What I didn't realise was that I originally hadn't read the recipe properly! I made the vegies.. and served them alongside the couscous and sprinkled pinenuts over the top (see last years photo below).Yesterday, I read that the couscous was supposed to be stirred through the finished vegies. Then fluffed up with a fork when done and drizzled with olive oil! So I did it according to the recipe and you know what? It was almost ruined in my opinion. It was like one big, overcooked couscous dish. Nowhere near as tasty as last years 'faux pas'. Below.. here are the vegies, not done yet.. still looking and tasting pretty good.
And then here's the finished product. It was just a bit boring. The couscous should have stayed 'on the side'. The grains became overly soft in the hot vegie stew.I wanted to also share some of my snacks. I don't always buy portion controlled treats from my WW meetings. Even with a staff discount, they're not really a bargain. Occasionally I'll buy little zip-lock bags and divide rice crackers into 1 or 1.5point portions like below. I usually get Sakata-type crackers, but I received a free 'single serve' sample pack of the BBQ Delite's the other week and I was hooked!

I'll share with you what my girl ate this afternoon, visiting with her Dad:
*Okonomiyaki at a shopping mall (Japanese vegie pancake)
*Waffles & Icecream & Caramel Syrup
*Vanilla with Chocolate Cornetto.. where the 'good stuff' goes right through the cone
*Came home with a 400gm Toblerone

We measured-out (read: my girl nibbled off) a 20 gram piece for me.. Ewww.. (not even a full triangle) which was 2.5 points (more than a milk Lindt ball which is 2pts). The whole 400gm Toblerone was 50 points exactly.Monday: Picking up (at no monetary cost to me) new Nike walking sneakers hopefully and being treated to Subway for lunch.

Requests made online at local library:
-The Way of the Heart - Connecting with God through prayer, wisdom & silence by Henri Nouwen
-Start Living, Start Losing - Inspirational stories that will motivate you now, by Weight Watchers International
-Reduce Me To Love - Unlocking the Secret to Lasting Joy, by Joyce Meyer
-Look Great, Feel Great, 12 keys to enjoying a healthy life now - 5 x audio CD's by Joyce Meyer
-Nigella Feasts DVD (2 discs)

Does anyone have a recipe?

These things must be part of the spiritual warfare that is going on with me from week to week. Never before have I had such a hard time getting rid of ants. Bottles of Ant Rid and countless baits over months have not killed the Queen or whoever else is in charge of reproduction. As I sit here.. there are ants on my computer desk, ants in my pristine bathroom sink.. ants in the kitchen. I'm soooo sick of them. I sometimes get wild, grit my teeth and madly squirt my non-toxic, mint scented 'Cinderella' cleaner at them. It evidently gives them instant cardiac arrests. But they have friends. And I feel so mad at them. Some days I just try to pretend like I don't care about them anymore. At other times I feel like emptying the contents of my fridge out onto the kitchen bench, drizzling honey over the lot and leaving it out overnight.. and then falling into a heap of tears and scary, wincing laughter. O.O I'll be enjoying something on the tv and I'll feel a tell-tale 'tickle' on my arm and sure enough... (I'm trying so hard not to think of expletives here). Sigh.

Work and pleasures...

Tonight (Friday night) my girl attended a 'girls night' at church from 7 to 9pm. I went and saw the movie Nights in Rodanthe.. and wet my face with tears because I was drawn-in by the romantic drama. And yes, I was there even though I regretfully knew the ending (Note to self: Do not visit the authors website and check out readers Q&A pages prior to viewing the movie. I did this and within a split second read the hugest spoiler one could ever have for a movie.. being the ending. But I decided to see the film anyway).

Richard Gere.. gosh.. words can't describe. Though he's not 'my type' ...somehow in romantic leads, thanks to scripted, heat-charged moments & maybe his Buddhist, meat-free diet -he earns my attention for 90 minutes or so. I really believed him and to watch the tender moments with Diane.. ((hands to my heart.. eyes closed))..lol ... so real..(for me), so convincing.. so sexy. They acted their asses off. Ok as much as you can act in a romance with just as many helicopter shots as there are kisses. There might be a handful of movie cliche's.. and the script won't win any Oscars, but it did evoke emotion and passion and longing within me.. and maybe that was what it was supposed to do? The author of Nights in Rodanthe (Nicholas Sparks) is also the author of The Notebook and Message in a Bottle.

So.. I digressed. Yes when I arrived to pick my girl up, I walked up some stairs into a dark, cosy, intimate room filled with many flickering candles and chairs in rows. My girl was ready to be collected, but she went off to the ladies room and I was invited over to the (barely visible, if not for the candles) coffee/tea/snacks table. I made myself a coffee and noted the munchies on offer were two big bowls of potato chips and (for the chocolate fountain) a large platter of chopped-up banana, more-ishly sweet pineapple and ....it was too dark to make out the rest. I had one little piece of banana which I stabbed with a toothpick, then barely brushed it alongside the flowing chocolate. I just smeared it really O.O And I tried some pineapple minus melted chocolate too. Chatting to our senior Pastors P.A., I asked if she knew how much chocolate was needed for the fountain (which was pretty much identical to what you see above). I was informed the ingredients were: 2 x family blocks of Cadbury Dairy Milk plus one cup of oil.

Whaaat? A cup of oil? Ewww... how sinful are these chocolate fountains? I had no idea!

WW Nutritional Info: 1 x family block of Cadbury's = 29 points. (My daily allowance is 23). Total chocolate points = 58 points. 1 x cup of oil = 70.5 points. Total chocolate fountain ingredients points value = 128.5 points. If the fountain was shared among 20 people, equally then everyone would have about 6 points worth of chocolate (& oil), not including the toothpick-skewered dunkeroo's

I seemed to be the only Mum picking her girl up.. the rest were Dad's who had to wait in the church foyer (ie. no men/boys allowed in the chocolate fountain, candle-lit room). As we left, all girls were given a rose as a parting gift. I was asked to take one for myself too which was nice :) Kind-of fitting after Nights in Rodanthe... sigh...
WORK RANT!

When I arrived Friday morning I was blessed to be greeted with a bag of zucchini's. Lovely one's actually from my Leaders vegie garden! Très cool. Only three of us (staff) were there, no separate weigher and monies-received person because our meetings are not reaching 28 people to warrant the extra staff member. So 'S' (in Monopoly terms) was the 'banker' and weigher. We had about 4 or 5 members stay for the first meeting and only 2 (plus me) at the second.. quite shocking. We've had as high as 15 sometimes.. but yeah, not very good this week. Last week and the week before I signed up no new members at all. Today we had two newbies. I was grateful today that at last the power points were fixed in the meeting room, so I was able to vacuum the entire room as opposed to half of it. It took at least two months for the electrician to be organised. But that's not my rant. We're also low on stock.. even WW passports.. the very book your weight gets recorded in. And no Points Calculators or Pedometers at all.. and members are asking for them! But that's not my rant either.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my two Friday meetings and working with my leader and 'S' --is as good as it gets. We all left together at the end of the meetings.. while talking about banks (I started that topic).. and it just felt good to lock-up and walk out together. I felt like 'one of them'.. as in.. someone in the workforce with real work colleagues.

But not when I reflected on a topic I'd brought up about 15min's prior to lock-up. I had spotted a notice posted in the staff-only room advertising a meeting next week. "Leaders Meeting" it read.. but it asked for "all staff members" to "please attend". Topics to be covered were new products and the new WW program for 2009. Fantastic! I definitely wanted to go to that. But my leader hadn't mentioned it to me and so I myself brought it up. "Oh.. I don't think that's for volunteers.. let me check". She talked with 'S'.. and confirmed it wasn't for volunteers. Whaaat? I'm staff! I sign a piece of paper for each shift declaring that I voluntarily waive the right to workers comp should I get injured because I'm voluntary staff. I don't pay for meetings because I'm staff. I get staff discount on all of the products. I was invited to a meeting where the Slimmer of the Year was guest speaker (didn't go to that.. it was a horrible weekend back in early August and I understandably, completely forgot about it). Now.. for this meeting I'm not eligible? I answer questions all of the time at work. I have my own desk, my own set of scales and work materials. I sell products.. I offer help/advice.. I encourage, I inspire. I use the staff-only "Ssshhh" toilet out the back. I wear a WW lanyard, I get zucchini's, multiple pots of Nivea visage, and free use of WW fitness dvd's. I write in the staff 'Communications Book'. I'm trusted. I have access to all of the stock and I handle this stock too. Yet I can't go to the staff meeting?

Anyway.. (sigh).. my leader whispered to me not to worry. She said she had all of the 2009 "new program" info.. including all of the new books and she'd loan them to me and I'd know about the new program before any of the other members did. My frustration/disappointment doesn't stem from wanting to be recognised as a valued, contibuting staff member.. it comes from genuinally wanting to sit-in on the meeting and hear more. Learn more. Because I feel like a part of the company. Apparantly my current Points book (shopping guide), Eating Out guide and Journal are all being replaced with new stuff for the new program! All my leader said about it was that it was "fantastic"..and combining the "best of" both the Points and Core plans. Huh? I'm a tad confused. I hope I'll like it.. It better work! So does it mean no more 23 points a day? Anyway, I'll find out soon enough I guess.

Oh, p.s. I am giving my current bank the flick.. as they've used up all of their nine lives on me (lives #8 & #9 bought the farm this week.. causing me stress & grief, I shed tears, enough is enough, buh-bye!). So, quite surprisingly I feel peace and relief that I've opened new fee-less bank accounts for my daughter and I..and I'll be in possession of a Mastercard (debit card -arriving in the mail next week) - which will come in Über-handiness when needing a Mastercard for purchases.. online especially.

I was considering the Bendigo Bank as they came highly recommended to me. However, I like to use internet banking a lot and the Bendigo Bank requires you to purchase a little $20 gadget to enable you to transfer money online or use BPAY! This little thing (to the right >) issues you with a security code (number) that you enter online, to enable your transaction to occur. With my old bank (that I'm piffing).. I would be sent this code via SMS instantly when transferring money. So anyway.. the idea of having to buy a $20 contraption.. and making sure I didn't lose it.. or bearing the worry of whether I was slowly destroying it on my keyring.. with rough handling or water droplets from the bottles of Mount Franklin I carry around with me. I already carry a WW points calculator and a mobile phone.. so it feels like I've reached my gadget quota right there. Now if it doubled as an FM radio and mp3 player.. I might have considered it. :-P~

Carousels Cupcakes & Coffee - Brisbane

I'm very familiar with the northern Brisbane suburb of Chermside because it's the suburb next to where my Dad and sisters lived for a long time. My youngest sister did some high school years there too. Chermside's Westfield shopping mall is now huge and whenever I'm in Brisbane, my sister and I make a point of "doing stuff" there. Eat, browse, go to the movies etc. Right near this mammoth shopping complex on Gympie Road is a cute little cupcake shop that wasn't there last time I visited Brizzy.

Here's a lovely photo of my sister Liz (below). Made sure to get the colourful chandelier in! Carousels (on their website) describes themselves as having a "fifties feel" with a "little mix of modern and metro". It's a great combination! It was also a refreshingly cooler place to sit and gurgle down many ml's of cold, bottled water from the fridge (having walked over from the shopping centre.. took about 5-7 min's)? I said I'd have these cupcakes "to go", but then changed my mind after we left the counter and sat down in one of the booth's to get off our feet for a little bit. Otherwise I'm sure there would have been a plate under these cc's? My only complaint about the Carousels experience was that these pretty things were put into a standard, thin white paper bag, ie. not a box, so the icing already had been exposed to human (and paper) touch! I didn't eat both of these in one sitting, so what was left was put back into the paper bag and quite 'squished' by the time we got home on the bus.

I made sure to camouflage any icing 'dents', with a twirl-twirl here and a twirl-twirl there. Admittedly I was not adventurous on this hot October afternoon. Initially I thought I'd get one cupcake and one bottle of water (as I'd already spent enough money and eaten enough that day). But my sister insisted I choose two and she'd shout me the second one. I chose a 'Kiki' (left) being a 'Hawaiian kiss' (passionfruit cake with a passionfruit and lemon filling). The cupcake on the right was a "Hello Dolly" (vanilla-vanilla cake with sweet buttercream). Both were very soft and fresh and quite lovely. But maybe not as big as I envisioned them to be? Or am I confusing cupcakes with Texas-style muffins?

(Above) Inside the 'Kiki' . From memory two cupcakes were $7.00. ie. $3.50 each

I could have happily eaten any of these cupcakes. Here are some examples of what was on offer:

chilli chilli bang bang
not for the faint hearted! chocolate & chilli topped with tia maria chocolate frosting

mama cass
gluten free, rich and scrumptious chocolate mudcake

miss molly
gluten free, orange and almond cake with white chocolate ganache

razz my berries
vanilla & blueberry cake topped w/ blueberry buttercream frosting

hot date
sticky date pudding with caramel buttercream and a white chocolate surprise

If you want to see some great Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes, check them out here.

I'd definitely visit Carousels again but next time would try the coffee, maybe have some lunch and be bold enough to request a plate and/or a box!

Carousels Cupcakes & Coffee
819 Gympie Rd, Chermside QLD 4032

Opening hours:
Monday - Friday: 9:00am to 5:00pm
Saturday: 9:00am to 4:00pm

Night Time Moment...

Turned the camera on (late Wednesday night) before I went to bed.. just wanted to share something. One and a half minutes.

Visual DNA

If you take this little 'personality test', you'll be shown a number of images (look at the theme/question at the top). Pick the picture that best represents your answer.

The results I felt were pretty accurate for me. The feedback at the end appears in 'little book'-like form with assessments on a few little pages. Here below are just some piccies and choices I made. To see my entire little profile booklet click on 'View my Visualdna profile' below (should you be interested).

$175 burger in New York. Selling 20 a day...

What you get: A huge, well marbled, minced (ground) Kobe beef patty stuffed with red wine braised short ribs,black truffles, seared foie gras (as you can see on top of the burger there), aged Gruyere cheese, wild mushrooms and flecks of gold leaf on a brioche bun. Eating this burger should qualify as a 'pre-existing condition' in health insurance policies.
Apparantly without truffles it would cost $32. A regular burger downstairs at the Wall Street Burger Shoppe costs $4 and they sell about 20 of the $175 burgers a day. Some are returning customers. Others share the burger so they can get a taste. Apparantly it's very good?! I smell a publicity stunt...?
The burger comes with golden truffle mayonnaise, Belgian-style fries, mixed greens and tomato salad.

You can view the a video of the news story here.

Four books from the library...

Preview: I'm interested in okra recipes & mint in Indian cooking is something I'd like to try more of. The low fat content of the meals in this book astounds me. I'll be able to work out the points values too.

Preview: There's also very lean versions of lasagne, nacho's, chocolate brownies, dips etc. Not many pictures in this book.


Preview: I'm not about to follow their specific weight loss plan - but the low fat recipes seem great. Like the soft hazelnut chews below. And banana and coffee pots?

Preview: Included are recipes for the different dough's (from scratch) required for dumplings, rolls, bao's and buns.

I returned Skye Gyngell and Nigel Slater in exchange for the above four. I'll be happy if I can do at least one recipe out of each book. Like other foodies, I love browsing through these books for the pictures and chatty anecdotes too.. like reading a novel, but more exciting.

Indian in Brisbane & "Hating the Colonel".

Whenever I'm in Brisbane, I make a point of getting some takeaway curry from Miss India "Instant Takeaway Cafe" in the northern suburb of Aspley. I've been going there since 2003. I didn't know 'Miss India' was a franchise either until today. I just checked my empty-ish suitcase and *phew* I do still have the takeaway menu! And the menu lists other Miss India locations too. I never read that far before.. rofl!

I asked for permission to take some photo's & the owners graciously said "yes". So many more "no wait" curries than my local curry takeaway. Here (above in no particular order) we have: Butter chicken, Mango Chicken and Chicken/Beef and Lamb in Tikka Masala, Madras and Vindaloo. Yes, even Chicken Vindaloo! There is also Beef and Lamb Korma and Lamb Roganjosh. No waiting required for any of these including the vegetarian dishes which were: Dahl maharani, Vegetable korma, Chickpea and potato curry, Eggplant masala and Mixed vegie curry. All curries come with rice and they are $11.95 for a generous large serving and $8.50 for a small.
There are some 'sides' to choose from also, being Tandoori chicken wings at $1.50 each, Tandoori chicken pieces @$2.50 each, fresh cooked Naan from $1.95, Vegie samosa's @$1.50, Pakora @$80cents and Pappadums @50cents each. There were onion/carrot fritters too.. not listed on the menu, but I remember them and can see them above!

I had lovely lamb roganjosh (above). No fancy photography here.. just not the best lighting, plus hungry bellies eager to dig in. My sisters butter chicken (below) presents in 'brick-like' form as we didn't fluff-it-up with a fork after upturning the plastic takeaway container!
My camera battery died after this shot. So no piccies of my chicken wing, samosa and raita! It was a lot of food admittedly, but I couldn't resist the displays and "no waiting" concept. I've heard of fortnightly KFC cravings (started I think from the cult Mike Myers flick 'So I Married an Axe Murderer').. but for me, it's Indian I need to eat almost fortnightly. Gotta have a curry hit and must have some cooling yoghurt with it.. (raita). Great for gluten-free diets too!

Shop 10 - 1378 Gympie Road, Aspley. Open 7 days till 10pm. Lunch Thu-Fri-Sat.

Craving Colonel Sanders KFC fortnightly...

(from "So I Married An Axe Murderer"), 50 second clip.

Sweet Chilli Prawns & Noodles + Apple Oat Muffins

Thought I'd share Saturday nights dinner seeing as it was particularly yummy. Stir-fry's with noodles of some description have been part of my weekly dinner repertoire for the longest time. And usually no two stir-fry's are alike. I vary the sauces, the vegies, the meat, the spices and the types of noodles used. This particular Weight Watchers recipe (made last night, 5.5 points per serve) seemed (on the surface) a bit too basic with very few ingredients. Namely baby bok choy, fresh chilli + sweet chilli sauce, garlic, ground & fresh coriander + soy sauce! Whenever I do stir-fry's I include no fewer than 5 vegetables. This recipe also called for 100grams of thin egg noodles per person, but I had udon in the pantry, so udon it was!

One thing I have to be mindful of when I'm making any WW noodle or pasta dishes, is that I usually mourn the small quantities per serve. Namely because I'm used to eating at least two serves. There is such a thing as one serve of cereal and one serve of rice and one serve of pasta. But most of us 'supersize' ourselves without even realising it. Anyway.. I ate slowly (with chopsticks) and enjoyed every slurpy, mouthful. I loved these noodles! The prawns just burst in our mouths with juiciness! The recipe says substitute firm tofu for the prawns if you don't want prawns.

My WW leader handed out a recipe for Apple Oat Muffins on Friday. Upon closer inspection I realised I had this recipe in one of my cookbooks. No matter, I was inspired to make them!
She said that at a recent WW conference (at a Melbourne hotel), she noticed that all the food served were WW recipes. (Hot food was on offer too). My leader tried these muffins and liked them so much she thought she'd share the recipe with everyone.

Muffin trays (above) greased and floured + muffin batter ready to bake. My girl took one bite of these muffins and handed hers back to me. She didn't like that they were made with wholemeal flour, low fat and had apple pieces in them. They're not overly-sweet either. But I can tell you now, they're very good! Don't pay attention to my 13 year old with the premature Cadbury Santa Stocking. I think these muffins are too 'grown up' for her. I've tasted horrible 'healthy' muffins.. but believe me, these aren't in that door-stop league. (Below: muffins done)!
I actually used wholemeal flour to dust the muffin tins.. lol.. so there are caked-on husks and roughage everywhere as you can see! If you're not counting your points or calories.. I'd say, serve these warm, break them apart, smear them with real butter and sprinkle over cinnamon sugar!

Apple and Oat Muffins

2 points each - Freezable - Makes 12

*Oil Spray

*Wholemeal Plain Flour (I used S/R.. worked great!) - 1 1/3 cups (200g)

*Baking Powder - 1 tbspn

*Mixed Spice - 1 tspn

*Rolled Oats - 1/4 cup (60g)

*Dark Brown Sugar - 1/3 cup (65g)

*Apples, two small cored, peeled, diced

*Egg -1

*Olive Oil - 1tbspn

*Low Fat Natural Yoghurt - 1/3 cup (100g)

*Skim Milk - 1/2 cup (125ml)

---------------------------------------------

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Lightly spray a 12 hole, 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity muffin tin with oil.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder & mixed spice into a large mixing bowl. Pour the remaining husks from flour into the mixing bowl (FYI.. I didn't sift.. couldn't be bothered). Reserve 1 tbspn of oats, add remaining oats (I reserved 2 tbspns), brown sugar and chopped apples to the mixing bowl.

3. In another bowl, using a fork, beat together egg, oil, yoghurt and milk. Add to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon evenly into prepared tin and sprinkle with the reserved oats. Bake for 20mins or until golden and cooked through.

Recipe from Danielle Ritchie-Halligan, WW Field Coach, Robina, Qld - "Secrets of Success" cookbook (Slimmers favourite recipes).

This body is high maintenance...

Hey everyone. I'm having natural urges to walk every day for an hour, but yesterday I did a mega-walk and decided to make a video along the way. (You can catch that at the bottom of this post, it's 7 minutes long.. but I tried to keep it tres-entertaining with music etc).

One thing I can only be grateful to God for is that my hip isn't hurting! In the past, even at a lighter weight my hip would wake me up in the night (aaaching), if I walked for an hour more than one day in a row. Maybe this time around (because I'm ascending a few hills) my footing is less impacting because of the 'climbing' mode ie. less 'jarring' than an hour of concrete on flat terrain? 15% of the journey is grass and dirt too.

I've been meaning to post some pics of my Potato and Pea Filo Tarts (you guessed it, another WW recipe).. so I'll do that now and follow it with the video. :)

I'm enjoying planning my weekly dinners. In fact, I feel a bit panicky about the idea of not doing it. Tonight was supposed to be (and hopefully still will be) white fish fillets in a lemon/caper butter sauce (yup.. WW). So I went to a fish monger earlier this afternoon (not my usual one)..and I left empty-handed and dismayed. Everything I would have liked was between $29.00 and $39.00 a kilo. I need 400 grams of fish. It's not that I wouldn't pay that much for a meal.. but sometimes I feel like I'm trying to keep the cost of my meals down to early 80's prices. Why is that? Less than $5 for four serves you say? Cooool! I'm not by any measure a cheapskate or tight wad. I buy $4 mangoes, $6 dukkah and spend $10 on good salt.. for everyday use. It's just that I associate any 'meat' over $20 a kilo (for a meal) with birthdays and Christmas.. *usually*. Especially if I'm paying.

p.s. Left index-finger "gel nails alert"! The gel nail is off! I first injured it by getting the nail caught in something (time to have them filed a bit shorter too). I'm now up for a $5 single-nail-repair.. plus another $5 to spray paint the french manicure look back on because my own nails are well and truly showing through PLUS another $35 on top of that for infills again. ((Groooaaan)) But I really do like these nails now. It's a financial sacrifice.. but it's evidently good for my self-esteem and it's part of embracing a newer, 'cared-for' me. Not just for a season, but for always.

POTATO & PEA FILO TARTS
4.5 points each (For those who don't speak Weight Watchers language, I'm on 23 points a day. I'm hoping for a wonderful and freaky reward on the scales tomorrow which would mean I'd lose one point per day. Less food to eat, but it'd mean I'm in a new, lower weight-range. If not this week, then by next week for sure. People closer to goal are usually on 18 points a day and it never goes lower than that for weight loss).

My brand new individual pie tins still had sticker-residue on the bases no matter how hard I tried to get it off. There's not much you can do with the fibreglassy, rounded edges of gel nails, but even my girl tried! (I remember some wise words I read once, given to me by a beauty therapist --on an info sheet--, way back in the late 80's, it read: "Nails are jewels. Not tools!"). So I put foil on the base of each pie tin and used them as normal. Above we have the egg, mint and parmesan mixture ( & f.y.i. -I didn't use all of the required mint either, a quarter of a cup is ridiculous for four egg tarts -in my opinion anyway. I did want my girl to eat her dinner).

Verdict? Nice-ish. Don't know if I'd go out of my way to make them again. I never go out of my way much for peas. So it seems. It has given me the idea of using other fillings though. Locally smoked chicken and triple cream Jindi brie? rofl!!

WALK WITH ME?

Carrying Extra?

I've just posted a little tally of my weight loss results over to the left (again). Though my journey at Weight Watchers has had distinct yo-yo-ing elements, I can reflect on my results since this July (and since the beginning actually) and acknowledge that I'm heading in the right direction.

I've upped the intensity of everything recently because I have a specific goal for the first weigh-in of 2009. However, I didn't start at an intense level. I had to first make walking a habit before I increased the amount I walked or attempted anything but flat terrain. Each week I've had to plan my dinners for every night of the week before I seemed to phase-out takeaway drive-thru's. I've been making small changes (bit by bit) in many areas of my life, even non-food related which is actually all related (in the bigger scheme of things). What is most encouraging for me personally is how I've responded to some emotional challenges in the last week (more than one). Like someone has picked me up.. roughed me up and spat me out. So I found myself (again) in the ripest environment to hear the 'Pied-Piper cooing' of "Welcome to McDonalds, can I take your order please?" But I wasn't lured. I have STUCK with it. I kept walking. I kept looking to my dinner list and seeing what I had to cook that night. I've also been eating out socially more than usual (another lunch coming up today actually). And I've been making good meal choices followed by upping the exercise "just in case".. because you never really know how many points there are in someone elses food (being devoid of any nutritional guide).

I want to tell you that I don't post results and talk about victories to big-note myself. Any encouragment and support I get will be graciously received. However, I'm so hoping to inspire somebody. I have been 'all things' at Weight Watchers. I've been the person who stands up, shares and receives applause, I've been the person who hopes nobody notices while others are receiving their "goal" keyring. I'm talking people at goal who joined way after I did. I could have received my "first 5kg" bookmark several times over.

That's why I find looking to others successes (and actually, my own) can be motivatingly uplifting. Some successful folks have had 1.5 to 2 times more weight to lose than I. Have taken 2, 3 or even 4 years to get there. But their faces ended up in the magazine. They got there!

I've been at WW twenty one months. I can safely assume that had I not been part of this, I would be 120-something kg's by now. I would have had a lot more weight related illnesses, derailments and suffering. I'd not have "New Member Hostess" on my resume, or the friends/acquaintances I see each week. I've not paid any WW fee's for 11 months (being staff), but paying or not paying, evidently has had no effect on where my focus has been each week.

If I can impart anything to anyone who is wanting to lose weight right now.. it is "please don't give up". Many of us have lost weight, but somewhere along the line, we can go back to where we came from. Maybe not even the whole way back, but the effects can seem just as impacting. It's a well-worn path, it's familiar and it's something we know how to do. If getting to goal was impossible there would be no weight loss industry. Never see yourself as a failure because your journey hasn't been straight with no hurdles or backsliding. Don't think of 'weight loss industry' as dirty words either. We take vitamins by choice to improve our health, we go to the hairdressers to improve our appearance. I'm guessing Adam and Eve didn't use toiletries and cosmetics, but somehow things like toothpaste, deodorant, moisturiser and/or eyeliner have become part of our daily grooming and ultimately part of how we nurture our own wellbeing. Usually the goal is to be healthy, happy and to feel relatively good about our choices. It takes a village.

As part of my journey as a new member hostess I often sign-up ladies who are joining for the third and fourth time. Does that mean they're failures? No, they're successes! To actually admit they need help and say "ok lets tackle these 5kgs" or 10kgs or 15 or whatever, is worthy of applause. I sign-up many lifetime members who have been at goal, maintained a couple of years and then had a baby and gained some back (for eg.). Some ladies come back with each baby. Some ladies come back after thinking they're fine on their own.. but eventually realise, they (personally) need the support of the journal to write in, the points guides to track what they eat and also the weekly encouragment from our leader and other friends in the same boat. There's nothing wrong with that. People overcoming addictions to drugs and alcohol need to be 'vigilant' for the rest of their lives don't they? If you're not a naturally thin person (ie. you don't make all the right choices naturally, like second nature).. then you will need to 'mind yourself' for the rest of your days and not be complacent. How you 'mind yourself' is up to you. You will ultimately know what really works for you. Think of when you were a lighter weight and what you were doing to be in that 'zone'? But more importantly don't be overwhelmed by it. You don't need to do and be everything at once.

In recent weeks there was a week when I had only fit in 2 walks (which was 2 more than I did the previous month) and I thought "Well I guess that's over then, I can't even walk half an hour most days". But I took notice of the mental dialogue. I said back to myself "That is exactly why you have previously gone backwards because you think a setback means it's all over. It's never over. Keep going!!!!!!!!!" And waddaya know.. the following week, instead of resorting to a KFC drive-thru which would have felt fantastic in the moment.. my walking increased. Now it's like "Hmm can I fit in a walk right now?" Spontaneous can-I-walk-now? thoughts! Me! Some days I fit in more than one walk. That will make up for days when I'm too busy to walk or too run-off my feet.

I do have a heart for anyone who wants to lose weight.. and I really do hope that somewhere along the line I will be able to inspire you or help you. I may have over 45kgs to lose, but I'm already 10.5kg's lighter than my heaviest weight last year.

My WW group were given a list of items two weeks ago which I'll reprint for you now. I have lost the equivalent of a stand-up vacuum cleaner. Or a car tyre and a 1.5 litre bottle of water! Now my organs and joints would have to be loving that:

CARRYING EXTRA?

1kg - 1litre bottled water
2kg - 14 medium apples
3kg - Medicine ball
4kg - 5cm thick phone book
5kg - Maltese Terrier
6kg - Average Christmas turkey
7kg - Large watermelon
8kg - Mop and bucket with water
9kg - Average car tyre
10kg - Stand up vacuum cleaner
11kg - Mountain buggy pram
12kg - A dozen bottles of wine
13kg - Leg weight of average 170cm woman
14kg - Wombat
15kg - Large full barbeque gas bottle
16kg - Average weight of four year old girl
17kg - Mountain bike
18kg - Six person tent
19kg - Electric lawn mower
20kg - Large bag of garden fertiliser

Post-Dinner-Post

Hey everyone, here I am (above) back from the 75th anniversary dinner. It was a pleasant evening and time passed rather quickly actually. The blurry photo features (on purpose) more of my shiny bag! My necklace isn't sitting right because it broke twice tonight. Once in the ladies room at the reception centre..which was ok because I was able to fix it and it didn't create 'a scene' (lol)..and again it broke right before I took these photo's.

The meals served tonight were a choice of whole chicken breast with creamy sauce & vegetables OR lamb and vegetables. I chose the chicken.. but didn't even eat half of it. It was lovely (albeit uncomplicated/simple) but I wasn't hungry.. and I don't eat everything in sight these days just for the sake of it. For dessert the choices were cheesecake with cream & strawberries or custard filled profiteroles with a chocolate sauce, icecream and strawberries. I chose the profiteroles.. and left behind 80% of the custard and icecream..and half of the chokkie sauce. When I see dairy in desserts these days.. I think of my liver. My liver and pancreas react the most to fat in dairy. Hence, I was able to 'control' the dairy intake by choosing the profiteroles.

Throughout the evening there were some speeches..slide presentations & awards presented. There were also some folk within our church worship team who sang a few songs (slower, ballad-type ditty's). And amidst all that was much 'mingling' with people visiting different tables to say 'hi'. Coffee/tea was 'help yourself' all evening at a corner table. I was also very humbled by comments complimenting how I looked, right throughout the evening.

I loved it that I was there with another lady (I picked her up on the way). We'd never done anything specifically together before and have only ever sat 'near' each other at church.. or attended church functions at the same time. I got to know her a bit more when we both attended a women's conference this year. After the conference, whilst still at the hotel, there was some 'sharing'..where we had to talk about how the weekend had impacted us. Through that some 'inside stories and life perspectives' were shared. We all felt closer to each other afterwards. Subsequently I was able to give 'Judy' an impromptu hug in the foyer/lounge of the Ibis hotel! That was in June. From there.. I contacted her yesterday (via a Pastor) and asked if she'd like to tag along with me to the dinner. It turns out I solved the problem of her not really wanting to go alone either.. so it worked out well. Subsequently, we were ribbed because we went to the ladies room in pairs. Actually we even went and fetched coffee/tea in pairs. When my coffee was too sweet (I'm used to mugs at home).. Judy took my cup away and went and made me another one! How sweet was that! The gesture, not the coffee! We talked about catching up in the future for movies.. or even just for walks. She's a busy professional lady in the health industry.. but we should be able to get together sometimes. Anyway.. twas a good night! :) It's good to be part of that big 'family'. My life has been so much richer since I started attending church five years ago.

So we better get this party started...

I have to be ready to go in just over an hour and here I am just bursting to share mainly because of one handbag purchase! Our church is having a special 75th anniversary dinner tonight. It was very 'last minute' but I'm attending (it's being held at a reception venue, there will be just over 200 in attendance). I didn't know what I'd wear as it's semi-formal, but I had a brand new top in the wardrobe I hadn't even worn yet, sent to me by the lovely Tiffany. Original price of this top was $80! Tiffany bought it on sale and did an amazing thing by sending it to me back in June? It's a silky fabric and a mixture of blues and greens. I figured I'd team it with a royal blue 'wrap' I have which is part of my wedding dress actually. (The wrap was sent down from Sydney to Ballarat and cost $65 in 2005). Anyway.. I really wanted a nice little 'clutch' type handbag to go with it all. Something small. So during my break at work and also after work I descended upon a few op-shops. I found one I thought would be very nice but it cost $15! I knew I still wanted to buy some false eyelashes and conditioning treatment for my hair since I can't afford a blow-wave at the moment.. so I gave the $15 bag a miss. I also bought an eyeliner sharpener.

The last shop I looked in, a 'Lifeline' vintage or 'recycled' clothing centre.. had the exact, perfect bag I wanted! My 'brief' was for it to be preferably shiny, sparkly or 'blingy'. It's teal-green.. one of the colours in my top.

The conditioning treatment actually has the word 'Placenta' in the title if you can believe that? It was from Priceline. The little tubs of 'Nivea Visage' are sample pots.. which we received at WW today. Since I'm staff.. I usually get perks and todays perk was receiving 3 tubs. Ssshhh!

I had a green glass-beaded necklace..quite long, but it was broken, so I mended it with a pair of scissors..and was able to wrap it around my neck 3 times. All in all I'm pleased with the outfit.. it's all God.. he made it all possible.. including my place setting at dinner tonight.

I took some photo's last night (hair not done.. just how I was).. with the top and jewellery on. Not to big-note myself..but I'm noticing that when I look at a picture of myself.. I get a better idea of whether something looks 'right' or 'real' or not. Because looking in the mirror, I seem to easily deceive myself.

Anyway.. I'm attaching quickly some of last nights bathroom photo's..and showing you the little shiny bag I bought today for $8. I'm picking up a lady from church on my way..and we're attending together. It's pouring rain outside... so the footwear issue is solved, I'm wearing high heel boots with my black slacks. Ok.. must rush!! (Head tilted to the side so you can see the metallic teal earrings?)

What I've been cooking for dinner...

Until tonight, I had never eaten okra before. I was aware of it, I'd seen okra used in recipes on tv and You Tube, but I'd never eaten it myself! A month or so ago I strolled into a new, little Indian grocer, tucked away in a 'lane-way' street in town. I noticed this bag of frozen okra in one of their freezers and decided I must have it. The fresh okra at my local green grocer charges an arm and a leg for it, hence why I've always ignored it. This frozen okra was imported from India.

I was supposed to make a Moroccan chickpea and vegetable tagine tonight (which I've successfully test-driven on friends before). I modified the Weight Watchers recipe by taking out the chickpea's, eggplant, green beans and sweet potato! I replaced those ingredients with what I had on hand. Okra and spinach mainly! There were peas, corn, onion and garlic in there too aswell as a tin of crushed tomatoes and Moroccan spices (last 4 ingredients being a part of the recipe). It was really delicious! My girl ate two small bowls full. I only told her what she was eating later. I served mine with a dollop of skim yoghurt, some currants and chilli flakes. Oh..and a squeeze of lemon. 5.5 points a serve.

All of the meals made and featured in this post are Weight Watchers recipes. Weight Watchers has a special on at the moment (in meetings, for members) - if you spend $20 you get a full sized cookbook for free.. which can be valued at $15 to $20 depending on which book you get. I use my books and my WW magazines for inspiration. Especially these days as I'm shedding the kg's. Last nights dinner below was 'Shepherds Pie Potatoes'. 3 points for what you see here.

Last Thursday we had Sweet Chilli Salmon with Thai Coleslaw (below) 5 points. The recipe said 3 points, but I definitely spotted an error there. This recipe was from last years 'Slimmer Of The Year' Yvette Bugal. I should have served this with a wedge of lime but they're too expensive right now and I used bottled 'lime squeeze' in the dressing. I do resort to such things admittedly.. on occasion.

The next recipe is from my favourite Slimmer of the Year so far, Nicole Gully from South Australia. It's a triple cheese and mushroom lasagne. The three cheeses are Weight Watchers cottage cheese, light cream cheese and WW tasty cheese.The lasagne doesn't contain too many layers and it's a bit flat.. but as far as flavour goes, it's very good! It's also a meatless dish. 6.5 points a serve. You get 6 generous slices of this. Much nicer than frozen lasagne.

100 grams of tasty cheese (grated) went on the top of this. Yum!

Last Thursday I went to a 'foodie' green grocer in another suburb because I was processing some photo's with a discount coupon in that area. I spent $4 on one mango! It looked and smelled so good, I couldn't resist. I also bought a jar of satay sauce that had 'bragging' on the label from various food reviewers. It tastes great.. a little oily though. And I spotted another variety of Castlemaine dip.. being Carrot. I'll give that a miss next time, it's not as nice as their Sundried Tomato Hommus.My daughter hates most fruits but I somehow managed to get her to try the mango and she loved it. However.. she struggled very much with the texture of it and had to try really hard not to gag! Below was our proud attempt at including fruit in our diet again. Banana's plus fuji apples as well as mango. It was probably one of the best mangoes I've ever eaten. I noticed later that mangoes were cheaper at the supermarket but they were smaller in appearance and didn't look anywhere near as good as my 'gourmet grocer' purchase. No regrets on spending $4.

On Monday night we had 'Chicken Souvlaki' - well that's what the recipe calls it. It gives you the option of having this with rice or a piece of pita bread. We had rice and salad. The skewers are supposed to have fresh bay leaves threaded in there too.. but I didn't have any. I will definitely make these again, they were SO tasty! The chicken was marinated first in oregano, garlic and olive oil. There are pieces of onion and capsicum too. Two skewers were 3.5 points and each serve of rice we had was also 3 points.

Tomorrow night we're having another WW favourite being Red Lentil and Tomato soup with Turkish fingers (being grilled with a bit of olive oil brushed over it..and fresh garlic rubbed into it). I have some minute steaks to inject into my daughter as she needs the protein being a growing, skinny minny herself. I've been buying a bag of toasted, salted pistachio's every couple of weeks .. around $15 for 750 grams. They're the highest protein nut.. and 25 of them are around 2.5 points. Great, healthy nibbles.

What else will I share? I've been walking lots! Oh and my car is on the street (whinge-whinge). Our driveway was ripped-up for the second time this year.. and it's been re-concreted. I was told if I wanted to use my car within the next 3 or 4 days then I should move it out onto the street otherwise I won't be able to get it out! I worry about it being on the street. Anything could happen to it. I don't have a garage.. but I do have a carport..tucked neatly away from street view. A friend recently had her rear windscreen smashed.. (her car being parked in the driveway). So yeah.. I'm waiting for concrete to dry at the moment. In more ways than one.

Virgin Blue's "The Lounge" Melbourne Airport.

No, this little cutey wasn't part of "The Lounge's" perks, but she did come to Melbourne Airport with me and seemed to bid me farewell as I head off for Brisbane. By default of course. As it happens, I left my car at a parking facility not too far away from the airport. I was the only passenger in the mini-van-courtesy-shuttle from my car to the airport. "Bella" the puppy was my drivers dog and she came along too. My 'driver' was/is also one of two partners in the parking business I employed. The other business partner picked me up 4 days later and drove me back to my car. There's the yellow van below.. driving away. Bye Bella! I opted for outdoor parking rather than indoor and it cost me $37 for 4 days. To park at the airport would have cost me $60. To catch my local airport bus (return) would have been $55 + add $30 minimum for return taxi fare from the bus depot in town. So the local airport bus service wasn't even an option because I arrived home late in the evening and the last service departed too close to my arrival back from Brisbane. If I missed it, I would have been stranded in Melbourne.

Some airlines have 'lounges' (or lounges that they partner with). Qantas has three tiers of them being: The International First Lounge, the International Business Lounge and The Qantas Club (domestic lounge) and the only way I could access any of those is if I were a member or if I were travelling with a member, as a 'guest'.

However I happened to be flying Virgin Blue and you can access their lounge as long as you're flying with them. For a fee. No need to be anyone elses 'guest'. But if you did want to be a member it'd set you back $369 annually. Plus a $199 one-off joining fee. Or, do what I did; as a non-member, single entry fee was $35 or prepaid online $30. .."A small price to pay to reach your destination extra satisfied. Single entry to The Lounge is inclusive of all benefits of The Lounge and provides full access to any of The Lounge facilities located in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra domestic airports.." Source of quoted text: Virgin Blue's website.

I first checked in at 'Virgin Blue Departures' and handed over my luggage, then made my way over to 'The Lounge'.

(Below) is what you see after checking-in at 'The Lounge' reception desk. They don't want you arriving there any earlier than two hours before your flight. Maybe they don't want you to eat all of their DIY sandwich buffet? Timed 'benefits'? Or maybe that 'suggestion' is just for the $35 crowd? Lady on the left in the photo is standing in front of the 'drinks' area (just passed the sandwich bar, out of shot). The large windows looking out to the planes are on the right (out of shot).
I couldn't get all of the bowls contents in one shot, so I opted for one, more distanced photo only. Nothing too remarkable here. Tuna, cheese, ham and salad basically. But I did take photo's (and took notes) of what I ate.I love the Kath & Kim episode where Kath and her new husband Kel have a short holiday at Melbourne Airport (and eat for free by sneaking into a 'lounge'). Their "mystery flight" was cancelled at the last minute (?luggage handlers dispute?) to which Kath responded "Bloody Howard". However, rewind back to when Kath finds out about the 'free' trip.

Kim: All right. I'm guilty. You've found out my surprise.
Kath: What, Kim?
Kim: I've been trying to run up your credit card bill to earn you enough Fly-Buys to get you a free mystery flight for your honeymoon.
Kath: Oh, well why didn't you say so, love? Oh, I'm thrilled. So do we get a free trip?
Kim: Yes, I have managed to get you and Kel a trip. It's on Sunday the 23rd of October... 4:30... AM... You won't be sitting together and they can't tell me where you're going, but they can tell me that it's not out of the state.

Further into 'The Lounge'. It's quite big. Folk are on laptops and reading/having drinks/beverages.
More of the non-food features later, now back to the food. At the beginning of the modest sandwich bar is a large pot of soup (that particular days offering was 'pumpkin') and a bread selection. Plus a toaster.

Near the coffee machine are jars of little nibbles you can choose to have with your drinks. Mini fig & ginger cookies, chocolate biscotti, Vanilla pistachio nougat, Asian cracker/nut mix, Kettle chips and Soy crisps/nibbles. You can ask for a mixture of all of these if you like (all part of 'The Lounge', no need to pay anymore money).
A selection of beer and wine, complimentary.
I made sure I only had a banana or something for breakfast at home so I could eat a decent lunch in 'The Lounge'. I assembled what I wanted at the DIY sandwich bar, making sure I had bits of everything. It required more than one trip. This (below) was the view from where I sat at a floor-to-ceiling window. I was interested in the plane in the background (on the tarmac), coming towards us. Mainly just because it was moving!
It had been raining.
All plates are the modest bread-plate-size. My baguette was maybe 5" or 6" long? I filled it with ham, Swiss cheese, carrot, cucumber, lettuce mix, cranberry sauce, cracked pepper and whole egg mayo. The ham was poorly. I can find nicer, cheap hams at supermarket deli's. But the bread was good and everything else on here was 'thumbs up' too, especially the proper mayo.
I decided to make up a little tuna salad plate too. Tuna was good (not excellent). The wholegrain sourdough lovely. The tomatoes, nothing special.. just the cheap, tasteless kind. I can't remember what dressing I lightly ladled over this, but I dolloped more cranberry and mayo on the side too. At least everything was 'fresh'.
I didn't partcularly feel like eating soup but I wanted to try it and review it if I had the chance. It wasn't too bad. It had a mild 'roast capsicum' flavour beneath the silky, out-of-season pumpkiness. It passed. For my tastes, 6.5/10. My girl may have liked it. I didn't finish it because I still had a latte to drink and I didn't want to feel 'full' before my flight. Just satisfied.
I thought the acting (petite, female) 'barista' could have showed more enthusiasm for her job/clientele. No smiles. But the latte was ok. I popped the nougat into my bag and ate them in Brisbane. The fig and ginger cookies were nice. I ate one and the other.. you guessed it. Brisbane. I couldn't help but think my girl would have asked for several servings of Kettle Chips had she been with me. Travelling on your own can suck. I like to share experiences like this mostly. And I was sharing in a way.. because obviously I had you guys in mind (and this blog post). So "thank you :) (Below) See this row of magazines? There were two rows like this. The magazines with the round, red stickers were meant for the lounge only (ie. read and leave please). Brand new issues of Time magazine and House and Garden, The Bulletin etc. The mag's without a red sticker were there to take and keep. I admit I took two of one 'unstickered' magazine (as a gift for my sister).
Apparantly Melbourne's lounge is the only Virgin lounge in Australia with a pool table. But here's a critique of the furniture: I understand with chunky chairs, a tiny 'occasional' table doesn't take up much space and it looks good. But they're not practical. I can't imagine sitting here with another person or several, with coffee's, drinks, bowls of Kettle chips or Asian cracker mix? Where do you put your newspaper or magazine if you decide to pick up your drink or some snacks?
Some of the artwork around the walls.

The photo below has been digitally lightened. It was a dark, curtained-off room because it's a makeshift 'theatre'. They apparantly screen movies in here, but on this day, it was Oprah. And it was empty.
Apologies for the blurry shots (especially the one below). These are private-ish little area's where you can watch free-to-air TV or Foxtel. What you can't see on the right is some couch-style seating facing the flat screen. Someone was watching something, hence I wanted to take the photo quickly and buzz-off away from there. You can see this image (in the distance) in the first inside-lounge photo I posted (scroll up).
Ok, the dunnies! Quite frankly I was disappointed. They needed attending to. Our church loo's are nicer, but having said that, we are in the throes of renovations at church and the toilets were done first. And the ladies restroom is better than some of the one's I've seen in 5 star hotels. There were three or four cubicles and none of them had toilet paper on their holders.


The last thing I wanted to do before heading to my gate (to board my plane), was go on the internet. I didnt bring along our laptop (my sister in Brisbane has no internet). But there are computers there to use. I thought that writing a quickie-blog post from 'The Lounge' would be fun. That plan went down the drain however because I wasted twenty minutes of 'Lounge time' trying two computers and neither of them worked. Eventually a staff member came over to say that everyone's internet was down. By then, it was time for me to leave.
Below are the mags I took with me. Weighed a tonne in my hand luggage. The Elle Macpherson magazine was Virgin Blue's complimentary inflight magazine. I knew I could get a copy on board my flight however, this one was in pristine, unread condition. I had two of the 'OK' mags. They were unstickered!
More rain. But soon enough I left these clouds and landed in dry Brisbane.
I'm sitting at my window seat as the plane taxi's to the runway for departure.

Did I get my money's worth?

I will modestly estimate 'airport prices' for the 'complimentary' items I received:

6" filled baguette $7
Small tuna salad $6
Cafe Latte $4
Pumpkin Soup with bread $5
Cookies and Nougat $4
Purified water $3
Magazines $25

I could have potentially had $10 to $15 worth of internet access but won't count this because the internet was down. I also could have added $4.90 for the access to Foxtel. On board my flight, each seat had a personal screen in the headrest in front of you. For a credit card swipe of $4.90 you could have access to Foxtel, hence how I priced it as such. Or the movies on board were $9.90 each! The choices were: The Love Guru, Meet Dave and Hancock. Another 'perk' I haven't itemised is the lounge atmosphere. Quiet. Relaxed. Comfortable seating options with good views (a notch-up from an airport gate waiting area). The pace inside is less frenetic and noisy than outside the doors. There are showers available too.

TOTAL COST VALUE (of consumed goods/services): $54
Total paid: $35

VERDICT:

Would I do it again? Hmmm. Travelling on my own, maaaybe? Once you start paying $70 for two people it gets a little pricey, especially as you wouldn't take double the amount of magazines. I'd advise anyone going to arrive very hungry and take full advantage of the soup and baguette-filling-station.. and the hot beverages and/or a glass of wine/beer if that takes your fancy. In the morning they have brekky items such as fruit, muesli, yoghurt, toast, jams and cereal, even Coco Pops apparantly. Lunchtime is the DIY sandwich bar and at dinner time you get 'antipasto' items and crackers to go with your hot soup and bread selection. Alcohol is served after 11am. I won't say 'never' re: using 'The Lounge' again.. but I'd probably be more inclined to hold onto my money, take something to read with me and grab some sushi or noodles/ramen elsewhere, even if it cost $10 to $15. I don't usually mind eating at airport food courts. I usually mosy-on over to the international terminal for a better selection and I love looking up at the boards to see where all the planes are going. Canada? USA? Japan? I notice families seeing their loved-one's off and the travelling fire in my belly kindles hungrily with each suitcase and check-in queue.