Pissy PA: Efficient Event Management 101

“S, can you call XYZ company and enquire about hosting an event for me?”

“No problem. When do you want to hold the event?”

“Oh, I don’t know…sometime in June”

“Right… how many people are we thinking?”

“I’m not sure”

“….Is it drinks? Drinks and dinner? Drinks and nibbles? Lunch? Breakfast?”

“Oh, I don’t really know yet”

“Well, it’s going to be difficult for me to call a venue and ask to hold a function at an unspecified time in the future for an unknown amount of guests and no real input on the type of event. Are we talking a breakfast function for 40 or a sit down 3 course meal for 10? …because they are quite different.”

“But can’t you just call and ask?”

Of course I can….

LondonUnder£20:Lunch at Borough Markets

You’re never going to be stuck with a shortage of dining options in London, and there are a slew of markets to choose from for a variety of budget gourmet options.

The Borough Market is no exception, and I’ve been on a few visits already in my short stint here. There’s a buzz that I love about markets like this – the mingling of dozens of different aromas and spices hitting your nose, the throes of people and the endless array of choices that boggle the mind and the senses.

Look at those lush leaves!

 

 

This little piggy went to market…

 

I desperately wanted to wrap my chops around the three-cheese toasted sandwich that I can only imagine is mind-blowing judging by the length of the queue… But the noodles being tossed and folded over at Khanom Krok lured me in. The toastie is still on the list, I just need to make sure I go prepared for the wait next time.

When: The lunch market is open 10-5 Monday & Tuesday and the full market is open 10-5 Wed & Thurs, 10-6 Fri and 8-5 on Saturday

Where: 8 Southwark Street, London SE1 1TL

What: Food market – both produce and meals

How much?: you could easily get away with lunch for two for £20.

Verdict: This is fast becoming one of my favourite spots – there’s a huge range of choice and on a sunny day, it’s great to grab a bite and wander along Southbank, enjoying the buskers. I just wish it wasn’t quite so packed on the weekends! Makes a great tourist trail pit-stop too!

Empties #3

So, powering through my stash of products and reached the end of these ones recently:

1.Imperial Leather Japanese Spa Nourishing Body Wash, £1 here
This was a Tesco purchase – for £1 how can you go wrong? It was pleasant enough, with green tea, jasmine and rice milk creating a lovely sweet scent that had quite a lot of longevity. I probably won’t repurchase as I still have another 2 body washes to get through and I tend to like mixing it up.

2. Elemis Skin Buff, £22.40 here
Another Elemis staple in my skincare routine – I’ve been using this for over a year and will be repurchasing. It’s a fine-grain scrub that does a really top job of sloughing off that dead flaky skin that seems to only have gotten worse since living in London. It goes a long way and smells delicious too, which never hurts.

3. L’erbolario all’olio di Argan Face Cream, €26.50 here
This came as a sample with some products I recently purchased from an erboristeria in Italy. I love the scent of this range and have purchased their lip balm several times, but the face cream is just too perfumed for my liking. I find it quite overpowering to use on the face, so it’s not going to be a repurchase.

4. Palmolive Fig & Coconut Hand Sanitiser, AU$4.18, here
I actually bought this in Australia last year – I always keep one kicking around in my handbag when I travel. This is one of the nicest smelling ones I’ve ever used, and didn’t leave me with that sticky feeling that often comes with using hand sanitiser, so it would be a definite repurchase for me, I’ll have to see if I can find something similar here.

Five Faves: Greek Island Eats

Ah, Greece. Forever living in the shadow of your not-so-distant pizza-shovelling neighbours across the water who get all of the European food cred. Out of all of our honeymoon stops, I think we ate the best in Santorini. Here are our top 5 Greek eats:

1. Tomato balls at Salt & Pepper, Fira
When I tried to get a table for dinner it was fully booked, (good sign) so we managed to snag a table for lunch on our very last day. And I’m glad we did. The tomato balls were fantastic, so much so that with these began a tomato ball frenzy through all of Greece; “OMG! Tomato balls! Remember those amazing ones we had in Santorini? Let’s order them”, only to be sorely disappointed that the best ones remained at Salt & Pepper – light, crunchy, salty and sweet, you could eat these by the bucketload.

2. Squid, saganaki, tzatziki and fresh bread, Dimitri’s Ammoudi Taverna, Ammoudi Bay
I’m fairly certain you could order just about anything off the menu here and be satisfied. After a morning of quad biking around Santorini, we drove down to Ammoudi Bay and followed the strung-out octopus pathway along the jetty to Dimitri’s Ammoudi Taverna – the very last restaurant, where the bread is fresh out of the oven and the seafood fresh out of the ocean. There’s an old-school open grill where octopus and whole fish are expertly charred, and the tavern serves local beers from the Santorini Brewing Company. There is simply no better spot to soak in the salty air and dunk fresh bread into house-made tzatziki.

Look at that water! Look at that squid! Look at that bread! Look at that saganaki!

3. Lamb Klefitikido, Dionysos in Altantis, Fira
Food that is cooked in a bag is A-OK with me, and almost every European cuisine has a take on it. My mum taught me an old cooking technique – patting down a sheet of dampened baking paper over your stew before closing the lid (to trap the moisture) and leaving it low and slow in the oven, making for the most tender, moist meat. The lamb was just that, improved only by the addition of fresh, salty feta. Order the house wine and the squid, then move onto this parcel of herbed, salty lamby goodness and don’t look back.

4. Gyros at Lucky’s Souvlaki, Fira
There’s no breath-taking view or gorgeous décor to take in here, unless you can count the bus stop vista or the gaudy soft drink posters. But, out of the 45,000 gyros we chowed through on the trip, these ones were top of my list, not least of all because of the garlic yoghurt sauce drizzled over them. Your legs will undoubtedly stick to the vinyl-covered stools in the sweltering heat, but the salty grilled gyros will more than make up for it. Order two with a side of no regrets.

5. Warm beef & papaya salad, Mr. Pug, Mykonos
This was probably one of the few meals that wasn’t enjoyed road-side or beach-side, or wrapped in paper – but it would definitely warrant a visit if you’re in Mykonos (particularly if you need a break from an all-gyros diet like we did) This salad was the perfect balance of Thai flavours, and the ground rice dressing gave it an earthy flavour that made me want to lick that perfectly presented plate clean. The views here are fantastic and the food even more so.

 

The Pissy PA: Stapler Special Edition

“Steph, Can you order me a stapler?”

“Sure”

“But not just any stapler. I’m quite particular about my staplers. I need a nice one. I don’t really like most ordinary staplers.”

*DEEP BREATHING*

Most staplers probably don’t like you either and frankly I’m beginning to understand why.

“OK…One like mine?” (Holding up black stapler that binds things together with a small metal staple…)

“Oh no, not one of those. I’ll find it and send you what I’m looking for”

Well please do, because that will shoot right to the top of my to-do list, I can guarantee it.

 

7 weeks in, no stapler ordered. Chalking it up to a win. It’s a huge day in PA land.

Living in London: Eight Weeks Down

So, its been 8 weeks since I moved here. Thus far, I have mixed thoughts about it to be honest. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I’m just…processing. Everybody keeps telling me how expensive it is to live here, which I can see, but I’m not eating 2 minute noodles every day, so it’s not that bad. Which makes me a bit nervous as now I feel like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop….People have said to me “you don’t come to London to make money” so I wonder if I am being completely naïve for hoping to squirrel a little bit away and return home with some pounds to exchange.

But not if I keep buying flowers here…

Don’t get me wrong – rent is expensive. No doubt about that. But I look at it from the point of view that it’s all relative – to what your expectations are, your living standards, your eating habits. I would love to go and splash a bit of dough on Oxford Street but that’s just not in the budget right now. The fact that what I pay for a room here used to get me a 2-bedroom flat with a huge garden, plus a living and dining room back home does make me a little bit queasy but then I try and remind myself that I’m living in one of the biggest cities in the world. That, and the fact that by all accounts Perth seems to be slipping deeper into the hole by the day, so it’s not all bad news that I’m here and not there.

Because that would mean missing out on these views

Lifestyle-wise, I think I could really like it here. I can see myself living here potentially long-term. Until I get sick of the weather, so however long that takes I guess. It’s not that different from home really, though I think having spent the last 6 months in Italy probably skews that a little. I think the hardest thing is making friends, which you don’t really think about until you have to. I was reflecting on this the other night, and I realised that all of my current friends come from places that I had a lot of time invested in…school, university, work. So it’s not a shock that 8 weeks in I haven’t made headway in the friends department. And I’m trying to be gentle on myself about it. But making friends as an adult is a different ballgame. There are a few potential friend candidates at work but some of them are definitely on a spectrum of special social skills. I’m trying to get involved with as many things as I can and not be a rude, judgemental bitch, but it just comes so naturally to me. I’ll be sharing a selection of my favourite work gems in my Pissy PA posts, so keep an eye out for those.

A fair bit of enduring and not much adoring happening at work so far…

All-in though, it’s been pretty good. Aside from IT’S FUCKING COLD IN THE MORNING. But I can deal with that – after all, a 20-degree summer is on the way. Really though, there are loads of things to do here, and being new in a city always has an invigorating, blank-sheet-of-paper feel about it. Being somewhere where nobody knows you is so exciting – you get to write a whole new story and that story will become part of your life book.

Empties: #2

I’m going pretty well at mowing my way through the bottom-less pit of products –  so well I’ve written this and somehow deleted the photo that I took! Anyway, here’s the latest haul of empties:

1. Korres Bergamot Pear shower gel (here, $18)

I picked this up in the Korres shop at Athens airport on our way home from our honeymoon. It smells so good, I wish I’d grabbed the body cream as well. Actually, I would have liked to cart the entire contents of the store home. I also like that this is free from parabens, silicones, alcohol etc etc. In Australia, you can find this in Mecca stores.

2. Elemis Skin Bliss Recovery Capsules (here, $138)

I received a small pot of these in a sampler pack of Elemis products that I picked up from ASOS a while ago. I’ve already bought a replacement (full size) product because I love them so much. They live up to my expectations of Elemis products – smells good, a little product goes a long way and makes my skin look and feel amazing. The full size container comes in a little silver drawstring pouch that’s handy for stuffing bracelets/cotton swabs/whatever you like in. These are excellent to take on long haul flights in place of a moisturiser, I just wish they were a little bigger so I had a bit more of that luscious oil to rub on myself. On my face – don’t be filthy!

3. The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector (here, $9.95)

This is the perfect handbag-sized hand cream. I’ve received 88 hand creams for Christmas this year, so I definitely don’t need to be re-stocking. If I did, this would be a repurchase.

4. Dove Whitening Original roll on deodorant

I can’t remember where I got this, so I’m not entirely sure if this particular variety is available in the Australian market. In any case, my intense hatred for liquid roll on deodorants has been confirmed. They’re just very…wet. Spray or solid roll on only thanks.

Recipe: Almond-Crusted Herby Chicken Nuggety Things

I had some almond meal leftover from a cake I made a few weeks ago and some parsley I the fridge that’s looking a little bit miserable, so I whipped them up into chicken nuggety-type things for dinner tonight. That’s the technical term for them, by the way.

These are great for kids (they made many an appearance in my nanny-ing days) and are ideal to chop up and throw into salads, have as a snack at work, or serve with some roasted veggies as a quick weeknight dinner. There are also plenty of variations you can dream up – add in desiccated coconut instead of almond meal, sesame seeds or even quinoa or dukkah. If you’re going to use tenders or larger slices of chicken breast, you can top them with tomato and mozzarella and then finish in the oven to make them parmigiana-esque.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, sliced into small pieces or slices
1.5 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup grated parmesan
grated lemon zest
chopped parsley, and any other herbs you want to add in (sage and thyme work well)
black pepper & sea salt
1-2 eggs, beaten
vegetable oil, to fry

Method:

1. Prepare 2 bowls: 1 with the beaten egg, and another with the breadcrumbs, almond meal, parmesan, parsley, lemon zest and salt and pepper mixed well. 
2. Take a handful of chicken pieces, drip through the egg bowl and then drop into the breadcrumb mix, coating well. Set aside on a clean plate or cutting board. 

 3. Heat oil in a large frypan. (Alternatively, these can be placed onto an oven tray and baked at 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes, depending on how chunky your pieces are) 

4. Gently fry the chicken pieces and drain onto paper towel.

5. Serve with your choice of salad, or roasted vegetables – or for the non-diet version, topped with tomato and mozzarella.  

Empties: the latest

While my brain navigates its way through a myriad of gingerly-ventured resolutions and promises that already haven’t eventuated (why I thought trying Kayla’s Bikini Body Guide might be fun is utterly beyond me), I’m instead occupying myself with something far more light-hearted – my latest collection of empties.

I’m starting an empties series in an attempt to create some accountability – I seem to have a chronic problem of buying 56,000 skincare/beauty products and never actually finishing a single one. Why do I need to have 4 different shower gels on the go at once? Why? I have (self-diagnosed) bathroom product ADD. And not even for exciting products like eyeshadow or lipstick. Just the boring ones – moisturiser, shampoo….

So, in a New Years’ Non-Resolution, (this way I might actually stick to it) I’m going to try and finish all of the floating products in my bathroom before buying anything else.

Bolder words have never been spoken.

  

1. Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel (here, $69)

When I first started using this, I really didn’t understand why. (I got suckered in after a facial) I saw no need for a scrub and a peel. Now that I’ve made my way through my first tube, I think I’ve changed my tune. I use this once or twice a week, usually after a scrub and  it’s lasted a good while. Like all Elemis products, it smells lickably-good and leaves your face feeling fresh and zingy. I’ve got another tube to start so don’t panic.

2. ROC Retinol Correxion Sensitive Eye Cream (here, $44)

Apparently Retinol is THE anti-ageing ingredient, so ages ago I bought this to see if it would create any miracles. I’ve since discovered that because it’s the sensitive formula, it contains a lower amount of retinol, but I would repurchase this, albeit in the non-sensitive, retinol-pumped formula. I like the texture and feel like it has done some good groundwork in the eye area.

3. Elemis Maximum Moisture Day Cream (here, $81)

This was the first Elemis moisturiser I tried, and it does a great job. I just wish it was a little friendlier on the hip pocket, although the best thing about their products (apart from the amazing smell) is that a little goes a long way, so I tend to get a long run between purchases. I much prefer this to the Pro-Radiance Illuminating Flash Balm, which I find has a weird texture, so I’ll purchase this again as my everyday moisturiser.

4. John Frieda Full Repair hydrate+rescue Deep Conditioner (here, $7)

My mum left this behind in Italy when she went home, so I gave it a go. The thing is, I’m just not a cream/conditioner girl. I don’t have the patience for rinse-out products – I’m strictly a leave-in girl or nothing – serum or oil all the way for me. It does smell good and is easy on the budget, so they are both positives, but it won’t be a repurchase for me.

 

2015: The Highlight Reel

This year has been a huge one. I think I say that every year, as though one year I’ll look back and be able to say “what a calm, uneventful year”. The older I get, the more I realise that’s never going to happen. As uncertain as I am about what 2016 will bring, looking back on 2015 shows me that sometimes, the most unexpected, difficult things are exactly what we need.

Some of my favourites this year:

 

Serpentine Falls, Western Australia

 

A dear friend’s wedding, Perth

 

On the pink carpet with Jimmy Choo

 

Chopper Rides in the Pilbara

 

Rottnest Island, WA

 

Ammoudi Bay, Santorini

 

Wedding Day, Arquà Petrarca

 

My gorgeous bridesmaids

 

Florence

 

Old school photo booth, Florence

 

Fresh squid, lunch on the water, Santorini

 

La Montanella, Arquà Petrarca

 

Picking up my wedding bands

 

Happiness

 

Perth Sunsets

 

Bolca Sunsets

 

Barcelona

 

Quad biking, Santorini

 

Wine Tasting, Colli Euganei

 

Cocktail hour, Santorini