Soju Girl - Civic, Canberra

I've been meaning to try the new addition to the Canberra cocktail lounge scene, Soju Girl, so on a recent trip, I grabbed the bestie and headed there for drinks and inadvertently had a second dinner.

Soju Girl is located right in the heart of Civic, housed in the Melbourne Building - with a dining room and bar area, perfect for grabbing a couple of drinks and having a chat (the full menu is still available in the bar area too!) With some cool Asian fusion plates and fun cocktails, I was keen to try it out.

So hard to pick from their extensive cocktail list - I wanted to try everything!

Even though I'd already had a dinner previously, I couldn't resist these fresh and addictively crispy lotus chips. They were so good! Perfect nibbles to have with drinks.

Soju Girl cocktail - korean soju, midori and house lemongrass syrup shaken with muddled lime and kiwifruit layered over cranberry juice - so fruity and delicious!!

Passionfruit and lychee martini

Tuna futomaki, seaweed salad, emulsions

The Concubine - Japanese shochu, umeshu and house ginger syrup shaken hard with fresh lime and eggwhite

I always, ALWAYS have room for dessert:

It had fruit in it so it was justified :P

I'll definitely be back next time I'm in town to try out more yummy cocktails!

Emmilou - Surry Hills, Sydney

I've always wanted to try Emmilou, so I jumped at the chance when I saw this deal on Living Social for a mid-week girly catch up. 

4 courses - I was especially looking forward to the pork belly!

First things first, alcohol! Our waiter brings out some fruity red wine sangria to kick off the night.

 A little starter of gazpacho, which I found surprisingly spicy! It was tasty, but packed quite a punch (maybe because I don't really handle spicy stuff that well)

 Chef's selection of pintxos - drinks were consumed at this stage so I couldn't tell you precisely what these were, except for the fact that they were pretty tasty! Our lovely waiter did explain them, but that kind of went in one ear and out the other... 

Burnt pineapple daiquiri - El Dorado 2 year old white rum shaked vigorously with roasted spices, burnt pineapple and lime - this was sweet and delicious!

Croquetas - King crab and potato croquetas with grain mustard vinaigrette - these are fantastic to have with drinks.

Lady killer - Aperol grapefruit liqeuer, fresh passionfruit and lemon - served in a wine goblet with chopped fruit and soda

Embutidos - Chartecurie board of fine cured meats with sourdough

Itsy Bitsy Tiki - Ron Zacapa 23 year old rum and Marie Brizard apricot brandy, shaken with lychee sorbet, fresh orange and Tahitian lime served in a Tiki mug

16 hour pork belly - with spiced carrot and honey puree and grilled figs.  Hello, crackling! I was pretty tipsy by this point so I conveniently forgot that the carrot was 'spiced' and was confused when my tongue started burning after a mouthful. 

Emmilou also has cocktail specials between 5-7pm, so I'll definitely be back for that!

Tidbits 2012

I can't believe it's February already.  Where has the time gone?

How's everyone going with their new year's resolutions/goals? I don't even remember mine, but one thing I am doing is making a dent on getting lots of practice with the salsa dancing - I've been going out dancing at least 3-4 times a week, hence the severe lack of sleep (and blog posts!)

This is a bit of a mish/mash post of tidbits of the past few months that haven't been enough for a post of it's own:

Mid-week pick me up with the fried ice-cream at Holy Basil - best cure for mid-week itis.  I've heard that Holy Basil has opened up at Shark Hotel - is it as packed as the Canley Heights branch?

A couple of visits to Jamie's Italian, with the first being their opening night with 50% (!!) the whole menu:

Squid ink risotto - the chilli in this dish packed quite a punch

Crab meat bruschetta - so fresh and lovely flavours, really enjoyed this dish

And of course, who can go past the the yummy desserts?:

Handmade skirts

Delicious summer cocktails - speaking of summer.... when are we going to get some good beach weather?

I've also been to Hurricanes a few times in the last couple of months:

Scallops @ Hurricanes

Ribs @ Hurricanes

Mars bars cheesecake @ Hurricanes

Maxi skirt

Gorgeous flowers brighten my days

French white nectarine cake

New dresses for Christmas:

Tea time:

Picnic by the beach:

Blueberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing + chocolate brownies

Garlic and rosemary foccacia - from the Alio recipe we received from their cooking class

Quiche

Pumpkin and feta salad

Robert Robert heels

My new favourite thing: Glasshouse candles, heavenly!

Current obsession:

Accumulating new and pretty dance shoes! It's slowly becoming an unhealthy addiction...

Still addicted to Dream Cuisine macarons - fave is the honey and lavender!

I also did a resin jewellery workshop over the weekend, which was SUPER fun - highly recommended. 

My bangle creation