This, again, is a very late Foodie Friday post. A couple of months ago, I visited Holy Basil for the first time for a late night meal with my siblings and cousin. We ordered the Thai Beef Salad, Chicken Pad Thai and Salt and Pepper Squid.


What I love about Holy Basil is the atmosphere. The store gives off a cozy, intimate feeling without feeling like you are in a shoebox which I think is an achievement given how small the space is. The service button on the table, what you usually see in Korean restaurants, was a welcome addition as the waiters/waitresses were still busy even though it was about 9pm when we went.

The service was okay. Wait staff would come when the button was pressed and the food came out within about 10 minutes I think ... This wait time would most probably be longer if we came during peak dinner time. So nothing bad about the service but then again not anything to be excited again.

The food was decent with the salt and pepper squid being the standout of the 3 dishes for me. The pad thai wasn't particularly spectacular but was pleasing to eat with the same being said of the thai beef salad. If it wasn't a late night meal, I would have definitely liked to try out other things off their menu, such as their famous fried ice-cream, to have a better picture of how they compare to other Thai restaurants.

Overall, I would say that Holy Basil's strongest point is their atmosphere. The food and service was good but nothing that spectacular. I have definitely eaten at cheaper restaurants where the food was just as good and maybe even better in some cases.


Oh, by the way hope you all had a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 

On the 12th, Rosa (her blog) and I visited the Etsy Pop-Up Store that was opened on Castlereagh Street in Sydney for about 2 weeks. I've never been on the site personally but have heard about all the unique things that are available for purchase from different creators and designers. The store just made me want to buy everything since it was filled with such interesting, cute things.

Here are just a bunch of photos of some of the things that were showcased in the store and available for purchase from etsy.com.

In August (yes, I am that behind LOL), I visited 'bills' - chef Bill Granger's restaurant with a friend of mine. The restaurant is only open for Breakfast and Lunch and we arrived quite late with about 30-45 minutes left of service. Even though we came really late into service, our waitress was really nice and we ended up ordering the Ricotta Pancakes with Banana and Honeycomb Butter and the Wagyu Beef Burger with Fries and Tomato Relish.


I didn't personally have the Ricotta Pancakes, as I don't do well with any type of cheese, but was told that they were beautifully fluffy and absolutely delicious. We were told that the Ricotta Pancakes are the best sellers and from other reviews, it looks like the majority of diners agree. The Wagyu Burger was perfectly cooked though not the best I've had as it's not a restaurant that specialises in burgers. Loved the fries and the herbed salt that they seasoned them with, if you can't tell I'm a fries girl LOL.

I loved how the restaurant was set out with the large community table in the middle and smaller tables around the edge of the restaurant. Next time, I would love to sit at the community table and just have a chat with other diners. The atmosphere was really relaxed and I can definitely see why locals would love coming here for their Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch. The staff were great - friendly and approachable. Even though I'm pretty sure we stayed after their service finished, they allowed us to eat and chat at our own pace. It was a great first experience and would love to go back when I'm in the area again.

Would definitely recommend that you check it out if it interests you.

For my trip to Korea and Japan, I will have some posts pre-scheduled to go up on this blog on every Friday. If I find time, there may be additional posts giving some snapshots of my time while in Korea and Japan. So until next week, remember to enjoy every moment that comes your way.

November was the marker for a lot of events with the largest being University finished for the year with the conclusion of all my exams by mid-November. Thankfully, I passed all my classes with my goal of all Distinctions this semester being realised, YAY for me. With another month passing by brings along with it another month of favourites. So here we go again,

In the months that have passed, some shopping has been done with probably more than half not needed in my overstuffed wardrobe. This is just a quick haul of the items that I have acquired since my last blog post. Again, photos are taken with my iPhone 4S so the warning about the quality has been given even though it should be okay.

Onto my unneeded shopping ...

I went and got some things off 'The Iconic' which is an Australian online shopping stores. This was my first time ordering from it and they had a deal where you got 20%, or was it 30%, off all sale items.



I've been into statement necklaces recently and I especially love the first gold necklace. It just feels really nicely and has a good weight to it for about $5. The brown boots have to be my favourite purchase though since they were about $12 and I love the side cutout it has.

I also purchased 2 items from 'Forever New' with my brother paying as it was my birthday present.



I wanted a nice white skirt that was slightly formal for any work occasions that may arise and this fit my bill to a T. The bag has to my new baby now though. I love the bag and I mean ABSOLUTELY love!! The small bag looks a mini Prada bag with the material and the luggage tag and it fulfils my Prada bag dreams. I, however, have been so scared to use it but I will use it eventually ...

I went to 'Dotti' at Market City about a month ago and just got a slightly cropped jumper that was$10!! An absolute bargain and I love the colour of it - like a bright, clear blue sky.



I have been obsessed with my Valleygirl black circle skirt and I wanted another one so I picked out this polka dot one. Two of my obsessions at the moment rolled into one = perfection in my mind. The maroon coat I picked up in preparation for my trip to Korea and Japan in 2 weeks (can't believe that I will be overseas in 2 weeks ...) and it was only $10!! So bloody cheap. Really like the plaid interior too though it is a bit scratchy on my skin but I shall learn to deal with it. It should be okay since I will be wearing lots of long sleeve shirts though. I also got a pair of pj bottoms but it's in the wash at the moment so no photos of that unfortunately.

And that concludes my purchases over the 3 month period that I have been absent. My absolute favourite purchases would have to be the boots from 'The Iconic' and the mini bag from 'Forever New'.

I hope that this post has been interesting and looking over the purchases, I didn't buy as much as I thought I did so YAY for my bank account. Until next time, stay safe everyone!

Well, this blog has been neglected ... I can't believe that my last post was in August.

I want to try and change the look of this blog just because I felt like this blog needed a change. At the moment, it's just plain white but we shall see where it goes and hope that it turns into something that I am happy with.

Also, hopefully posts to this blog will become more regularly especially with my upcoming trip overseas. So there may be one or two posts in the lead up to the trip and also some decorating posts as I am in the process of decorating my room from its "renovation" earlier this year that was mentioned previously.

I'm also hoping to have a somewhat schedule made for this blog but we all saw how successful that was last time so let's keep fingers crossed that it somewhat sticks this time.

That's all for now.

Until next time, be safe and happy with every moment that you are given :)

YAY for the first 'Foodie Friday'. Under these posts, it was just be a general lowdown about restaurants/cafes that I have recently visited and my general opinion of them. I hope that you find these posts interesting and gives you some ideas to places that you may have not thought of visiting.

For this post, I'll be talking about El Loco located at Slip Inn, 111 Sussex Street Sydney.

Welcome to August. We have officially finished half of 2013. Can you believe that?

Well, to welcome in August I thought I would post about a shopping trip that I made about 2 weeks ago. I went to Stocklands Merrylands for a short shopping trip to get a couple of things for my birthday party. I really do love this Stocklands since parking is unlimited (YAY :D) and the range of stores at this branch is really good. It has everything that you need and has Chatime which gives it a thousand points in my mind. Writing this up, makes me want to go back and do some more shopping.




What I purchased: 
Valleygirl: peachy/orange jumper for $19.95
Kmart: 2 sets of "no show" socks @ $3/3 pairs. They are really good when wearing Vans, Converses or low cut closed shoes.
JB HiFi: Downton Abbey Series 2 DVD as part of Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal and Biology's 'Making Moves' album for $2. The Biology album was an accidental buy as I somehow thought it was an All-American Rejects album ...
Daiso, a Japanese import store where everything is $2.80: 2 sets of 12 gift bags and ribbon tape for lollu bags
Woolworths: All of the confectionery/lollies

Think that's about it guys. I'll see you on Friday for the first 'Foodie Friday'. Bye guys :)