a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit

I love my footy. What can I say? I'm a Queenslander and I started following the Broncos when I was about 12 years old and have loved them ever since. In fact, I love watching most sports; I've even been known to watch a round of golf or a game of lawn bowls on the telly. (But I must say that I draw the line at motor sports.) Back to the footy.

Living in an AFL-obsessed state, it's not often that I get to watch rugby league, so when I found out that Game 1 of the 2009 State of Origin was being played in Melbourne, I jumped at the opportunity to go. The fact that the Queensland team is made up of mostly Broncos players, only confirmed the decision. My good friend Adele who's also a mad-keen Broncos supporter is coming down to watch the game AND we found out that the Broncos are playing Melbourne 2 days later IN MELBOURNE!! So I've been starved of my addiction for months, and this week I'll be going to 2 games within 3 days!!!!! PLEASURE OVERLOAD!!!!!!!!

GO QUEENSLAND!!!!! AND BRONCOS!!!!!!

Posted by Renae at 5:00 PM Comments

Hubs and Wifey got off to a slow start with their flight being delayed by an hour but managed to make up time in the air they were picked up at Townsville by the boys and the beast to be taken off to their motel in Ayr where they spent the next 3 hours catching up on news and locking themselves out of their room luckily the landlord was on site and was able to let them in without too much trouble after a few beers and a few more rums it was bed time only to have to rise again at 8am Saturday for some brekky and more catching up on the Miller's cane farm then it was time to get ready for the Burdekin races held in Home Hill and BOY didn't Hubs and Wifey look a treat they jumped on a bus with a bunch of suits fascinators and heels and were on their way to the track after purchasing booze tickets and checking out the fashions on the field it was time to get drinking and MY GOODNESS did they put in the effort after 6 hours at the most fun races ever it was time to jump on the bus and head to Ayr's one and only nightclub where they all enjoyed $3.50 basic spirits which they thought was an ABSOLUTE bargain then Wifey finished up a bit early while Hubs partied on and stumbled home with the boys around midnight and crashed into bed then the alarm went off at 8:30am to prepare for the trip back to Townsville and a flight to Brisbane where they were greeted by the ROARING crowd of their family they enjoyed lots of tasty treats supplied by family members after a quick Happy Birthday to Wifey's Dad and a kiss and cuddle from Billy-Bob and Billy-Bob's Mum as well and hugs from nieces and Nath-Neph it was back on the plane to Melbourne and a cab trip home and they were in bed by 10:30pm what a GREAT weekend what an AMAZING time was had by all and it was exactly the result we expected :-)

Some happy snaps:
The boys and the BEAST (our hire car for the weekend - a Chrysler C300)


Hubs and Wifey looking HOT! (It was about 25 degrees and, well, you can see the blue skies to match our outfits!) Incidentally, my whole outfit (apart from my unmentionables) was borrowed! So thanks Chelsea for the fascinator, Ezza for the gorgeous dress, and Billy-Bob's Mum for the shoes (technically she gave them to me but you know, I don't want the truth to get in the way of a good story!)


Hubs' hair took longer than mine to do!! (Totally worth it though!)


The boys at our table in the tent


Oh yeah, and we DID actually see some horse races (though, I didn't place any bets!) Can you see the ambulance brining up the rear? The crowd cheered the ambos on as much as the horses!


Fascinating! (Thanks for the naked shot Hubs! Tee hee!)


Hmmmmm.... not so fascinating?


Some gorgeous fashions on the field entrants!! Lookin' good guys!
(Note: Anne is a milliner and she made this stunning creation she is wearing!)


We MAY have contributed to the beer shortage that occurred by about 3pm...


I don't have any photos to put up from the rellies visit in the afternoon (on a different camera) but I can assure you there were lots of hugs and kisses and food. Lots of food. We even brought some back home with us! Ha ha. Thanks everyone for a fabulous weekend! We had an amazing time!!

Posted by Renae at 1:10 PM Comments

So as you know, Hubs and Wifey are planning a trip to the USA!! Ahem. Let me rephrase that. Wifey is planning a trip to the USA, and Hubs will be tagging along. Ha ha. Actually I LOVE planning trips, whether it be a weekend away (you know, like this weekend!) or a month long coast-to-coast road trip across America. The plans are coming along nicely and we seem to have similar expectations of the trip which is always a good thing!

The one thing I'm finding annoying/frustrating/hilarious is the accommodation. We have considered arriving in LA, driving to Walmart, picking up a tent and some camping supplies, and doing a bit of camping across the states, though the problem with that is that it's going to be quite warm (think: camping in Queensland in the middle of summer) plus we'd have to arrive before dark to set up etc. Then I started looking into hostels. They're all very well and good, except that to book 2 individual people, plus taxes, it ends up costing almost as much as a hotel! Almost...

So we're looking into couchsurfing at the moment (after a tip from a couple of friends of mine) which sounds like a fun option, but might be tricky to coordinate. We shall see.

I've never been so interested (daily) in the US Dollar! I believe the Aussie dollar has been progressively getting stronger which is good news for us. Another funny thing I'm finding is that when you book hotels on line (which I've done for Palm Springs and New Orleans) is that you don't have to pay for it now. You pay when you arrive. But what if the Aussie dollar is weaker then? Too bad...

Aaaaaah the joys of travelling! If anyone has any travelling tips for the States, don't be shy! We need all the help we can get :-)

Posted by Renae at 3:10 PM Comments

As I mentioned the other day, the Newman College Senior Common Room held a bake-off on Sunday, and it was an event that lived up to expectation. In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of big talk about who's going to bake what, and who's going to win. The scene was set with 21 entries (more than anticipated!) of foods such as spinach triangles, truffles, muffins, cakes, scones, a Tim Tam stack, and jelly. Oh yes. The steaks were high!

In preparation for this prestigious event, I spent most of Saturday in the kitchen, baking and making my creations. I had decided on a Pink theme and started looking into recipes and found this one on a blog that I read (the cake balls, towards the end of the post). I was excited and got to work fairly early in the morning (10am!). I really should have take progress-photos, but mine turned out pretty much the same as the ones on the blog, and her photos are MUCH better than anything I could have taken.

So pink cake balls down, coconut ice and choc-dipped strawberries to go! Here's the final product, titled "Pretty in Pink".



And from another angle:



It seems my entry impressed the judges, as I took out first place in the sweets section! The prize? A wooden spoon of course!



Now I know this looks like a typical dessert-time at Nanny's, but it's actually all the other fabulous entries:




Ingredients for my creations: $25
Bribes for the judges: $50 (ha ha)
Seeing Hubs look at all the fantastic bakery creations and getting the most excited about blue and green "Griffin" jelly: Priceless.



There are some things money really can't buy.

Posted by Renae at 2:05 PM Comments

I haven't really been in a very blog-postie mood as of late. Not really sure why. I have plenty to talk about - like how I've been playing hockey again this semester and we won 3 games then lost the semi-final 5-4 in overtime this morning, but have made it to "grand final B" this coming Sunday. Or that I'm entering a bake-off this Sunday with the Newman SCR and my entry is going to ROCK! Or that we're popping up to Home Hill for the Home Hill Races on the weekend of the 23rd/24th May with some friends which is going to be a wild and crazy adventure. Or that we're currently planning a trip to the USA for 4 weeks in June/July that we're hoping we can pull off. Or that, you know, life is going pretty damn well.

So I guess "watch this space" would be a good word of advice from me, cos once I get back into my blogging mood, I'm going to be going NUTS!

Posted by Renae at 1:50 PM Comments

A couple of months before we were due to leave for Melbourne, Hubs asked if he could buy an electric skateboard. Yes, you read correctly. Now being married to a nerd who loves all things gadgety, I wasn't terribly surprised with the request. He showed me some YouTube clips to convince me of how teyodally awesome they were. He even suggested we get one each!! This is where I suggested he hold his horses.

I'm not against all things fun, in fact, I don't mind a bit of mischievious behaviour every now and then, but I really couldn't imagine myself on one of these things. I mean, the ones he was showing me weighed between 25 and 30kg!! I suggested that it was perhaps something we could look into getting once we got down to Melbourne, and a sad look fell upon his face. So I asked him:

"Do you really want to get an electric skateboard?"
(Hubs with his head bowed and a sad look on his face) "yes"
"Do you really want to get one before we go to Melbourne so you can show off your cool new toy to all your friends?"
(Hubs, with a smile creeping onto his face) "yesssssss"
Decision made. (Yes. I'm a totally awesome Wifey!)

So "to ebay to ebay!" to buy an electric skateboard! And I gotta say, it rocks just a little bit. Okay, a lot! Hubs' friends thought it was really cool and had lots of turns on it before we left. I was worried Hubs wouldn't get much use out of it down here, but he rides it to uni most days (cos, you know, we live about 800m from his lecture rooms!) and takes it on bigger trips as well. And yes, I've had a turn and it's a lot of fun! The first time I rode it, I had on a helmet, wrist guards and knee pads and looked ridiculous! But, you know, safety first.

It turned out to be a great investment, not only in transportation, but in Hubs' happiness. And you know me! Anything to make Hubs happy! :-)

Hubs and his beloved skateboard. You can see the wireless trigger remote in his right hand.

Posted by Renae at 1:39 PM Comments

Mum came down for a visit last weekend and we had a de-lightful time! We left Hubs at home to study (aka do all the things he's not "allowed" to do when Wifey is home like read recreationally and watch scary movies!) and took a road trip out to Stratford to visit some rellies. We had a lovely evening with them and a couple of their friends drinking wine, eating a roast and drinking more wine! We then filled up on a BIG Breakfast (they know how to do a proper Big Brekky in the country!) Sunday morning and headed back to Melbourne town, passing through the "Sale Gale"! Fun!

We then treated Mum to a service at Newman College Chapel where the choir were in fine form, as per usual. Monday we went off to the movies and saw Milk which was a really great movie - 4 stars out of 5 for sure. Before that, however, we visited Kokoblack, the inspiration for the title of this post. Definitely 4.5 stars out of 5! It was a real treat!

Hubs opted for the Chocolate ice cream Martini:


And Mum and I had the Belgian Spoil for Two with 2 hot chocolates and a taste of a whole lotta yummy stuff!!



I was impressed by the presentation and the service, and quite impressed with the prices as well. I mean, it wasn't super-cheap, but it was different and delicious, and considering you can pay (and I have paid) $5.50 for a fancy hot-chocolate in chocolaterias, I thought $22 for 2 awesome hot chocolates, and small servings of chocolate cake, 2 belgian chocolates, shortbread, chocolate ice cream and chocolate mousse was okay by me.

What's that? You'd like me to take you to Kokoblack next time you're in town? Oh, okay then!

Posted by Renae at 2:36 PM Comments