Vietnamese Tea Party!

What a busy day of preparation - but we are finally ready for our tea party frenzy. We are participating in two great parties today: Firstly, Tuesday Tea Party hosted by The Plumed Pen, and the second is Mr Toast's First Annual Christmas Tea!


I thought it would be nice to do something a little different this week - so we are having a Vietnamese Tea Party!! Here is my Ao dai that I'm wearing - this is the traditional Vietnamese Outfit. Click here to see me wearing it! Patsy is wearing her dragonfly kimono (also bought in Vietnam).

Patsy is waiting for me to pour the tea ......



Lets begin with something savoury - Vietnamese Summer Rolls!



The highlight is the rambutan red bean cake!



Have you tried a rambutan before? Now is the perfect opportunity!
Its just like a lychee, and the skin is sooooo interesting!! This is what it looks like! Tastes nice too :-)



We are also serving moon cake. I know we are a little late, as the Mid-Autumn moon festival was on in October. This festival celebrates the autumnul equinox of the solar calendar and is the asian version of the harvest celebration! Moon cakes (which look like the full moon in the night sky) are eaten at this time when families get together and celebrate! Anyway, I'm celebrating the first harvest of my lettuce in the garden which I ate last night .... delicious!

They come in so many varieties.... even green tea!




Lets finish with a decorated fortune cookie!! Hope you get a sweet message!



Hoping you have enjoyed the green tea and exotic foods!! Thankyou for dropping in my dear friends :-)
Stay a while, enjoy the hot weather (35 degrees celcius today). Why not relax in the pool!!!

On our way to 'tea party'

Well, Patsy is such a party animal - she has been accepting invitations from friends all over the blog world.
We are now on our way to 'Mr Toast's First annual Christmas Tea'. Click here to visit.
We are also participating in Tuesday Tea Party with the Plumed Pen. Click here to visit.
As you can see, we are having a themed party - we are doing a Vietnamese tea party. (I am in traditional dress)!!
We will be posting our party pics later today. So much to do, we are still preparing!!
Hope you can join us here, and at the other parties!!!

Saturday night party in my palm tree!

I was treated at sundown today to a most spectacular sight & sound display in my garden! Hundreds of the most beautiful (and noisiest) colourful lorrikeets gathered in my palm trees feasting on the big juicy seed pods! What a party!





Have a great weekend :-)

Happy Feasting!

Sadly, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia - I wish we did though. I love the idea of it!
I've seen so many great pics in blog-land of thanksgiving dinners - I've been drooling for days!!

I decided I must share this picture on my calendar for today (I have an American calendar)!!! Keep this in the back of your mind before getting stuck in (yeah right)!!
Happy feasting, happy thanksgiving and wishing you all the happiest times with your families and loved ones!


Here is Patsy after our 3 day tea party. Thanks everyone who visited. We had such a lovely time and will do this again next week. We have a special theme in mind for next week - stay tuned!!

Join Patsy and I - Tuesday Tea For Two!!

Patsy and I are joining in on the fun of Tuesday Tea for Two Blog Tea Party!! (we are posting very early for two reasons: 1. I get confused with the time differences, and 2. I'm going to be busy Tuesday and don't want to miss it! ;-)

Tea Party is hosted by Plumed Pen.
Make sure you visit to see who is playing!



Patsy has chosen her pretty frock!



She's guarding the tea set!



To begin with - just two little cakes for me - 1 for Patsy!!



Funnily enough - here's the calendar page for today - very appropriate!! This is how I will feel at the end of the party!!




Have a delightful day my friends, and enjoy your tea parties!! Thanks for visiting :-)

Its sizzling .....

Ooooh - the weather here is still incredibly hot and humid!!! I have perked myself up a little though - thanks to fruit cocktails like these!!
mmmmmmm - so refreshing and delicious!





Images courtesy of flickr


Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend :-)

I need Traditional Herb Street

The weather in Brisbane today is outrageously hot, and I'm feeling so flat and lethargic. Big sigh :-(


I've got so many things to do and no energy - I need a miracle herbal cure. Wish I was back in Saigon! I could take a trip to 'D Hai Thuong Lan Ong (the area of traditional herb shops). Here, you can purchase a natural remedy to fix any ailment or condition - now matter how big or small.

The sights and the aromas are like nothing I've ever seen before, and its such a busy place!!.

Each store has sacks and bags of goodies all spread on the pavement, and they have the very cute Chinese medicine chests which I love. To my untrained eye, all the stores seem the same to me - I wonder how you choose who to buy from!


This area is in the Cholon (China town) area, near some of the fabulous pagodas I blogged about recently (click here for pics).

Maybe, I just need a cup of green tea and a lie down ...... Its almost the weekend - help!!

Summer fashion

I just love these outfits! Perfect for any much-loved pooch (just like our Patsy)!


So many to choose from .....

Here's Patsy after her day at the beauty parlour. She looks so beautiful and smells divine!!! She visits a wonderful salon in Brisbane - K9 chic. Many of these lovely outfits are designed just for this store, and are also available online - they will even mail internationally!!

Doesn't Patsy look adorable after her haircut!!?? I'm sure she is so much more comfortable now that summer has almost arrived!
I wonder which outfit she is wanting for xmas?! I like the second outfit - maybe Santa will too!!!

Romance ... The Time Travellers Wife

Yesterday I watched a fabulous movie - The Time Travellers Wife. Fantastic movie, though I recommend you have a box of Kleenex at the ready!!
Well, I love a romance, and a wedding scene, but I especially loved this one, as it features the most beautiful white lanterns, (just like the ones I have in Lanternshop)! Sooooooooo romantic!!
Also features some very lovely eye candy, as the male star is the very handsome and talented Australian Eric Bana!


Patsy went to the beauty parlour today! I'll post the pics tomorrow!! She looks cuter than ever!
Have a great day!

Miss Dragon Fruit Fairy

Very exciting!! My dragon fruit cuttings have arrived and are now in the garden!
I'll take a nice pic and post soon. We also received a jar of jam to try as well - and look what Patsy got ..... the 'Dragon Fruit Fairy' sash!!!

She's a little tired from the photo shoot!

The jam .... I just need some scones now :-)

This is what my harvest is going to look like!

and here's the cake I'm gonna make with my fruit!!! :-)
I can't wait!
Happy Monday everyone :-)

I spy with my little eye ......

Today, I've had a lovely day! I had a client to visit at Boonah (one and a half hour drive west of Brisbane) in the countryside. Its such a great place, so quiet and serene, and a really lovely drive.
I saw lots of cows everywhere, (nice, but not that exciting), but then I spotted these beauties! I had to stop and take some pics to share with you all!

This first cow has been made from scrap pieces - 100% recycled goodies. I have a bit of a thing for animal sculptures!!

And this cow (you might need to enlarge the pic to see it well - sorry I didn't wanna go walking through the long grass as its snake season to get a close-up, and I got scared)!
This one is a burnt tree stump, and it has been decorated with white paint to look like a cow! Cute!!
Have a lovely weekend :-)

Mini makeover!

Here's my little piece of paradise in my yard! It looks extra nice at dusk when the solar lamps light up! I enjoy sitting outside at the end of a long hard day, nice cold drink in hand, enjoying the serenity with buddah.

I moved into this house a year ago, and it was in some desperate need of some general tidy-up and tlc. I've added in this picture of Patsy cause it always makes me laugh.
This is what she thinks of the yard pre-makover!!! I'd have to agree with her too!

Have a lovely day

Burning money!

Its tradition in Vietnam to burn 'paper money' for the ancestors!
Look at these sweet old ladies at the temple in the village! They were very happy to pose for me and give me lovely big smiles :-)
In Hanoi, there's an entire section of the old quarter dedicated to selling all the paper items for burning - money, houses, motorbikes - just about anything your dearly departed could wish for!
Such a fascinating tradition!!

The great outdoors!

Summer time in Brisbane is nearly here! Perfect weather now to be out in the fresh air.
I'm going to dedicate a half-day on Sundays for my kayak! Patsy is also excited about this too - she loves it. She even has her own doggy-life-jacket (its in army camouflage colours). So cool ;-)
Only 6 more days to go ......... Happy Monday everyone!!

I've had a makeover!!!!

Well, not me (but I could sure do with one), but Dragonfly Interiors website has!
We got up super-early this morning (0500) and have been working like mad all morning!
A big thank you to the long-suffering Mr Dragonfly for his help with photoshop, and coffee-making!!

To celebrate the new look, we are offering FREE delivery all this week (to Australian addresses only) for all orders on Dragonfly Interiors and Lanternshop! So exciting :-)

Still got a lot of work to do on the two websites, which I will slowly chip away at this week!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend - time for me to indulge in a couple of well-earned cupcakes!!!

I'm getting a dragon fruit!!!

As you all know, my newest obsession is the dragon fruit (see my earlier posts). I've been putting it out to the universe now for two weeks that I want to be able to obtain some here in Brisbane - and guess what?! I've purchased two cuttings (one for red flesh (which I've never seen before) and one for regular dragon fruit), and they are on their way to me as I type!!! I can't believe I'm gonna have my own trees!! Such an exciting day for me :-)
If you are wanting more info on where to buy, click here!
Here's the beautiful flower

The flower bud

and the tree .... I hope mine looks like this soon!

Here's a few interesting facts about this unusual fruit:
* The plant originated in South America and the French bought it to Vietnam (where it's now one of their biggest export products)
* They are a member of the cactus family, so they need far less water and fertiliser than most crops. The stems can grow up to 7m!
* In Australia, the flowers will begin in October, going through til May - but when they flower its only open for 1 night. The flowers are 30cm long.
* The fruit is ready approx 40 days after flowering.
* They are full of Vitamin C - Yay!!

I will keep you updated with their progress! Have a great weekend all :-)