Outback Steakhouse, North Strathfield

Did you know that Outback Steakhouse is not Australian?

Yeah - high five if you didn't know that either :) lol

I only kinda realised when I saw that they had Outback Steakhouse restaurants in Korea and thought, surely that can't be an Aussie export? So a little bit of googling and found out it was American.

Anyways, so when I was a uni student, me and my friends would feel like steak but not be bothered to go all the way to the city so we used to go to Outback Steakhouse in North Strathfield.

And in my memory it was pretty easy to get a table there - we would sometimes rock up without a booking and be fine.

But this time when we rocked up....there was a 45min to 1 hour WAIT!!!! I was so surprised at how packed the restaurant was....ummm since when was Outback Steakhouse so popular? It was only like 6:30pm or something.



Thank goodness we had called a few days earlier and were informed about this "priority seating" system where if you call in you get put on top of the waiting list for seating (they don't take bookings for less than 8 people).

So we ended up getting a table in 15-20mins, rather than 45 mins.  They do have a bar section where people can have a drink while they wait for their seats as well.



The menu is pretty extensive but I was so set on getting a steak - so I chose the 225g Victoria's Fillet (although it wasn't as thick as it looked in the picture..!). I ordered medium rare, and it was cooked pretty decently so I was happy with the steak.





When you order a steak you have the option to choose between a soup (depends on what they have that day) or a salad and then one side.





I chose the Pumpkin Soup and the jacket potato as my side (as you can see above).  The pumpkin soup was super yummy (cos I don't usually like pumpkin soup but this one was really creamy and good) but the jacket potato was a little bit bland....should've got the sweet potato....

My friends chose the salad and garlic mash.  The salad wasn't particularly great because you could tell it had been pre-made and in the fridge from the condensation on the side of the dish.

We also ordered Bushies to share - they're like KFC but mushrooms! It was quite yummy at the beginning but then they started getting soggy....



You can also get refills of soft drinks for free and they give you complimentary bread (freshly baked) for the table with this delicious whipped butter...MMMMM

From observation it seemed like the cheesy fries were quite popular that day because everyone was having one! I remember I had then before and they were quite yummy, along with the "Blooming Onion" which is like onion fried in the shape of a blooming flower.

Would I come back again? Most likely I'll end up coming back because it's convenient and not too pricey - although I really didn't like the music and the atmosphere that day...the music was too fast which made me feel like I had to eat faster? and it was so loud we had trouble hearing each other across the table. The service was pretty decent though - the waitress was pretty attentive so no dramas there! If you do end up going there I definitely suggest calling beforehand to get the priority seating and TRY THE CHEESY FRIES!

D xx

Rimmel 60 seconds nail polish.

When it comes to nails, I can be quite impatient.

It seems like forever waiting for my nails to dry....and I really can't bear sitting around doing nothing, afraid that my nails would be ruined if I move my fingers :(

So I like nail polishes that dry FAST. There are many top coats that allow nail polish to dry faster but that still doesn't solve my other problem - bubbles on my nails when I apply extra coats without the bottom coats drying properly.

Thus, I needed a nail polish that dries fast. That's when I discovered Rimmel 60 seconds nail polish.



It's only like $8 a bottle (sometimes its on sale at Priceline for like 2 for $10)! It's definitely affordable and also works well :)

The other great thing about these nail polishes is that their brushes are flatter & wider than the usual nail polish brushes so it's much easier and quicker to apply.



Here are the individual colours:

430 Coralicious





670 Lucky Lilac





285 Style Hunter





260 Funtime Fuschia





510 Euphoria





605 Purple Reign





805 Grey Matter





825 Sky High





Guess which colours these are! :)



You can check out the other colours at the Rimmel website or at your nearest Priceline or pharmarcy that stocks Rimmel! :)

D xx

My favourite things #2 - Malcolm Gladwell

For those of you who don't know already, I am really really into reading books :) My mum says that I've been reading books ever since I could well....read. Haha.

Anyways, so I generally like reading social science books, philosophy books, art books, mystery novels and classics - although occasionally I delve into mainstream books like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Fifty Shades of Grey ;)

So today I thought I would introduce you to one of my favourite authors - Malcolm Gladwell! I have read all four of his books and loved them ALL.



Gladwell is a quite prominent social science author - he writes about his theories on why things are the way they are. By that I don't mean like, why the sky is blue etc, but things like why Asians are better at Maths (yeh, there's an actual theory to this lol - read it in Outliers).



(I read his last book "What the Dog Saw" while I was travelling around Europe and must've given it away because my bag was getting too heavy!)

Although I thoroughly enjoyed all this books, Outliers is definitely my favourite. It was the book that introduced me to Gladwell and I'm sure glad it did.





Outliers is a book which explains why certain people are "outliers" in our society - successful people from sportsmen to Bill Gates and how they came to be so "successful".





Blink is about perception and how within the blink of an eye, our brain can register information through our sub-conscience - so what we would call "our gut feeling"





The Tipping Point is about what makes something go from being ordinary, to something special - like a viral video!



(Me reading "What the Dog Saw" in Florence....it did exist....just don't know where it is now! Hopefully somewhere in Europe :P)



Lastly, What the Dogs Saw is actually a collection of articles that Gladwell wrote for The New Yorker, which has really interesting theories, such as why smart people are overrated and what makes someone choose someone for a particular job.

So why do I like these books? Well firstly, Gladwell has quite a casual writing style which makes you feel like he's standing right front of you telling you his theory. The amount of research he has done for his books is just amazing and just the way he presents his ideas in such a convincing fashion is superb - to me they don't seem like theories, but actual FACTS. Now that's some convincing :)

So if you're in need of an enjoyable book which will bring insight into the ins and outs of what shapes modern society, I suggest you go get yourself one of Gladwell's books and have a relaxing read.

D xx

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You can purchase Gladwell's books at Book Depository :) If you haven't used Book Depository before, it's a UK based website with books at excellent prices and FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE! I use to buy from it all the time (before I got my iPad).

Yum cha @ Crystal Seafood Restaurant

I'm sure that like me, everyone reading this loves a good yum cha.

For those of you who've never had yum cha before, it's basically where ladies walk around the restaurant pushing trolleys of freshly made chinese food (like dumplings, noodles, chicken feet etc) and when you get a dish off them, they stamp your table's piece of paper which will then be used to calculate how much you've eaten and how much you have to pay!

I'm a real big fan of yum cha because it's yummy food, real quick and loads of variety without having to look at a menu! I've been to my fair share of yum cha places in Sydney but I have to say that the best yum cha in my memory is in Melbourne.....although I can't remember where it was nor what it was called because I was like 14 or something :(

Anyways, so I had a massive yum cha craving which had to be satisfied so I visited Crystal Seafood restaurant in Strathfield for yum cha.



It's located in Strathfield Plaza but the entrance is outside to the right of Oportos. You can park at Strathfield Plaza for free for 3 hours or get there by train!



So why this one? Well the location is quite central and I've been here a few times before and thought the food was decent.

We made a booking at 12 on a Saturday and when we got there the place was bustling with people!



So we got seated and the rest is history. We ate and ate and ate! (don't forget to ask for chilli sauce and soy sauce with chillis!) Here are some of the dishes we had:

















And last but not least, had to finish off with some egg tarts! They were actually fresh out of the kitchen so they were extra delicious :)



We ate a few other dishes like the preserved egg congee, pork buns and flat prawn rice noodles but forgot to take photos because I was so into eating hehehe :)

At the end, we ended up paying around $20-25 per person which is fairly normal for yum cha.

Will I come back? Probably - it's decent yum cha at a decent price at a central location. But to be honest I'm not really picky with my yum cha! When I'm at home I go to the ones closest to my house. When I'm in the city I usually go to Marigold or Chinatown because I've been to them before and it's decent.

So really, unless the yum cha place is really bad, my choice is more of a location based choice than a taste based one at the end of the day!

But, if you have an absolute favorite yum cha place - let me know!!

D xx

My favourite things #1 - bags

Hi everyone :)

Today I thought I would introduce you to some of my favourite things - because I think that if I like something so much, it would be a shame to not share it with everyone as well! (Only if I had enough money like Oprah to buy everyone all these things as well... !)

So today's post will focus on my favourite bags at the moment (because my fave bags always change depending on my mood and season!). I take different bags to work all the time, depending on what I'm wearing and depending on my mood :P A lady at work even asked me "how long does it take to change from one bag to another every morning?" Hehe the truth is, I already make up my mind the night before!

Anyways, here we go!

1. Ted Baker small ikon bag in navy with gold bow

The first bag is the newest addition to my bag collection - the Ted Baker Ikon bag in navy!!



Remember how a few posts ago (click here if you don't remember) I said I really wanted to buy this ikon bag with the gift card my friends gave me...so I did!

I initially wanted to buy the black one with the white bow but when I went this time, this navy one was there!! (it wasn't there before!!). Way nicer than the black one - so I got it. It's such a cute size, but big enough to take to work - I can put my iPad, iPhone, make-up bag and big wallet in there which is all I really need :)

It was $80 at the Ted Baker store in Westfield Sydney.  These are like GBP25 in the UK....so if you know someone that's in the UK or going there soon...get them to buy one for you! $80 is quite a rip if you compare it to how much the bag really is in the UK.

2. Saba Melrose tote in Blush



I first saw this bag in the window of the QVB Saba store while I was waiting for the bus and thought "Ooh la la! What a great size / colour!".  I also liked how simple and classic it looked as well....but then I saw the price tag and it was $349. HMMM so I contemplated a bit and then went onto my bus without checking out the store.

So the next time I was out shopping I decided to drop by Saba to just check the bag out and found out it was ON SALE for $279!!!  Bought it straight away :)

And I have to admit. I use this bag quite often as my work bag because you can fit sooooo much stuff in it!  And because it's a very neutral colour, it goes with whatever you wear :) Even the back of the bag is pretty, simple and classic on its own right :)



3. Couronne Stephanie medium bag in blue

Ok, so I really like my European brands like Prada, Ferragamo, Chanel, Bally etc. BUT I realised that there are also some great quality Korean luxury brands that are just as pretty, and just as durable as the European luxury houses.

One of them is MCM, which has released a lot of great bags lately (something different from their monogrammed bags) and the other is Couronne.

I have to say that I only stumbled upon Couronne when I was just browsing around korean websites / blogs and saw a blogger that had one of these Stephanie bags and it looked really lovely.  I did some research and found out that this bags was super popular amongst the korean celebrities and thus frequently SOLD OUT.

So last time I was in Korea I bought a medium sized one at the Airport Duty Free for around $450 - I got lucky because this one had come in that day because it had been sold out previously.



They also have a larger size which I thought was quite big..and probably not as "cute" as the medium one :P

Couronne has very classic designs but the best thing about them is that they use AMAZING colours on their bags and they use good quality leather on their bags so you can just tell why it's so popular!

One great thing about the Stephanie design specifically is that you can fold in the edges to create a completely new look.



They also have wallets in this range and they are super pretty too - I'm contemplating whether I should get myself a wallet too!

Check them out at www.couronne.co.kr :)

4. Love Moschino Home Sweet Home chain bag in red

I bought this bag when I was in Monza, which is a small Italian town not far from Milan.  I was waiting for my train to Lake Como and had a bit of time so I decided to have a look around the La Rinascente (which is an Italian department store) which was near the station.

While I was looking around....I saw the Love Moschino stand and just fell in love with the cute designs and stand out colours!  And especially this bag :)



The thing that real stood out about this bag was the detailed stitching of the windows on the bag which reminded me of Paris for some reason!

I also really liked the gold detailing on the back of the bag as well.



This bag is quite similar in size and ergonomic design as the Chanel 2.55 but at a fraction of the price!  Can't remember exactly but I think I paid around EUR 150 for this.  It's a really cute bag for nights out - probably not so much for work :)

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So that's it for now - hopefully I've introduced you guys to some different types of bags and also to new brands like Couronne!

D xx