Food Diaries : Rose Shamrock Hotel

On Australia Day Eve, we found ourselves hectic busy. In between trying to do my nails and preparing for our Australia Day BBQ, I just could not find the time (nor could I be bothered!) to cook a proper meal. We toyed with the idea of eating potato chips for dinner, but decided that a far better option would be to stop by and grab a quick bite to eat on our way home from the shops.

That's where the Rose Shamrock Hotel comes in! We'd driven past it countless time, and even peered in while stocking up at the BWS bottle shop next door but had yet to try any of the food. As we walked past the pokies to the left and into the spacious bistro area, a sign greeted us declaring that all main meals were $16 every Wednesday. That sealed the deal!

We browsed through the menu, and after making our decision headed up to the counter to order.

Whenever we go for a counter meal, it's always a fairly safe bet that Liam will opt for a chicken parma.
He's going for the title of parma connoisseur, I think!

I decided on the fish and chips, with a side of salad and tartare sauce. I guess you could say we ordered fairly safe on this evening. Both were stock standard dishes, hard to really go terribly wrong with.

As for the standard of the Rose Shamrock? Well, as previously stated, the dishes we ordered were ones that were hard to stuff up. I was a little disappointed with my fish - I misbehaved and ordered it fried instead of grilled, and was expecting a lovely thick crunchy batter. When the meal was placed in front of me it looked flimsy and didn't impress me, however upon cutting it open the flesh was lovely, fresh and piping hot.

While the food wasn't fantastic, it was passable. I left the Rose Shamrock Hotel feeling fairly neutral overall. I didn't dislike my meal but I wasn't wowed by it either, and I didn't feel entirely satisfied. Full yes, satisfied no.

It was a cheap and easy meal, but I'm not sure I would come back again. On a Wednesday, the food is good value for $16 a meal, however any other day of the week you're better off going to the Stolberg just down the road which is also fairly reasonably priced for a much higher standard.


PS - Don't forget my mini-giveaway! :) xx

Cheap OPI on COTD!

Just in case you didn't know, there's cheap OPI going on Catch of the Day!

I'm not sure when the deal ends, but at the time of publishing this, almost all colours are still in stock. Shipping is $5.95 per bottle, but is capped at $10 so is great if you're after a few different colours!

I am a little way of Catch of the Day, based on what I've heard and a couple of experiences - they've really let their standards drop lately! However, it still seems to be a cheap way of getting a bargain if you're not in a hurry.

If you're after a bargain on OPI, why not have a look?


PS - don't forget my mini-giveaway! :) xx

50 + Mini Giveaway!

So, this here is my 50th blog post! 

Only a few short months ago, I sat down at my computer to write my very first post.  These days, I try to post at least each weekday, and it's funny how blogging can consume your life! Every time I do anything now, I think about my blog and try to take pictures so I can share with my lovely followers!
Who, by the way, I am grateful for each and every one! I really appreciate everyone of you who stops by to read and leave some comment-love.

I wanted to commemorate this milestone with a giveaway to thank all you lovely people!

I know it's not much - it's been a busy couple of weeks, and I have been terribly disorganised so didn't have time to sort it out properly! But I managed to rustle up a few items, and I hope you enjoy them!

 Giveaway One!

First up are these cute 3D Nail Decals! I think they'd look fantastic on some brightly colored red nails, which the black would stand out against and the white would just pop!

Giveaway Two!!

Next we have these cute little touch screen pens! You can't see it in the above photo, because I was stupid with my photo-taking, but there is a little line of diamantes around the centre of the purple pen too.  The little black plugs fit perfectly into any headphone jack, so you can hang it off your phone or iPad easily accessible for whenever you might need.  I'm giving these away separately, so do let me know if you want one of these! Look how cute they are... you absolutely need one of these!

Giveaway Three!!!

Last but not least, I have this set of NYC polishes! These nail polishes are the same as the ever-popular Ulta3 range, just with different names and packaging.  Thanks to the wonderful More Nail Polish blog, I can tell you the Ulta3 equivalent of all three of these nail polishes that I have available to give away!

Goblin = Jelly

Glow worm = Citris

Gelati = Tahiti

So there you have it! My very first giveaway.  Is anyone keen?

To enter, here is what you have to do! 

1. Become a follower of this blog via Google Friend Connect
2. Leave a comment letting me know if you want to win any (or all!) of the above giveaways!
3. Include your email or blog address, so I can get in touch if you win!
4. Make sure you live in Australia
5. Do all of the above by 12pm AETD on Friday 10th February!

 Winners will be picked at random, so good luck! And again, THANK YOU for reading! xx

Wordless Wednesdays - Mid-week Luxuries...

Footspa.

Massage.

Big bowl of steaming hot pho.

Mid-week luxuries!

Playing Wordless Wednesday here, here and here! 

Australia Day BBQ

For Liam, Australia Day is like his religious holiday.  It's the one day a year he looks forward to, and celebrates everything that he loves.  We decided to celebrate the day by inviting our friends to join us by the pool with beers, BBQ and Triple J's Hottest 100 - what could be more Australian than that?!

The last few events we've tried to organise have been cursed with dismal weather (read: thunderstorms) however it was our turn for a win, and we were blessed with sunshine and a lovely warm summer's day! Whilst I busied myself sorting out my nails (the important stuff, obviously!) Liam cleaned, swept, dusted, decorated and transformed our backyard.

Of course there were Australian flags! We put up large ones in the bar, in the bungalow, on the fence, and hanging off the hills hoist for good measure! I decided that my Essendon flag also needed to take pride of place in the bar too.  Liam, although being a massive Hawks supporter himself, humoured me and put it up as I asked.

More flags outside the bar area, and we brought the ratties outside to play!  As you can see, Rocket is keeping guard, and making sure his little pals are safe! We also had new covers for the two couches in the bar, but people seemed to use them more for storage space than anything! Since it was such nice weather, everyone opted to sit out in the yard to enjoy the sunshine! It was lovely... kind of like having a little picnic at home with our friends! :)

Liam was determined to have zinc! He was so excited to find green and yellow coloured zinc at the shops too! He had a ball, painting everyone's faces with Aussie-coloured stripes! Unfortunately for me, his godson got a hold of the zinc and I decided it would be a good idea to let him paint little wiggly lines down my leg.  Just a note for all of you - zinc does NOT come off easily, and may result in awkward little tan lines!

The pool got PLENTY of use! Boys being boys, were running around attacking each other and throwing everyone into the water.  Unfortunately, this resulted in a couple of phone deaths. RIP little phones.

Rocket loved joining in the festivities! But the excitement all got a bit too much for him! 

The next day, I totally understood how he felt.  I think most of our guests were feeling a little worse for wear but it was totally worth it!

I was not a huge fan of the top song of the Hottest 100 though! But then again, I've always been a little less into commercial music than the next person. I just don't understand the big hype over that song.  I mean, it's a good tune, but is it really THAT deserving? And it's been overplayed to death.

What are your thoughts?

NOTD - Belated Happy Australia Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Australia Day!

We hosted a BBQ bash, and then headed up to Big River for a camping weekend away! :)

I had ideas in my head for lovely Australia Day themed nails, but underestimated how much preparation I would need to do for the BBQ and how time-consuming it would be!  I do this every single time, and end up rushing to the shower just as guests are starting to arrive.

I've had to switch my photo-taking hand, due to a nail-breakage injury that my regular model has suffered :(

The initial plan was to do up a stencil for the Union Jack on the thumb, and another for little stars that would make up the Southern Cross on each nail.  After a few attempts at getting the base colours perfect, only to ruin them during the preparation process for the party I gave up and just used an old bottle of OPI glitter that I found stashed away (red, blue and silver mixture - perfect colours!) and painted the Union Jack freehand.

Not quite as I'd hoped, but still received plenty of compliments from my party guests! :)

How did you spend your Australia Day?

Wordless Wednesday - Waiting......

Rocket can't wait for his friends to join him for BBQ and beers!

Bring on Australia Day!

 Playing Wordless Wednesday over at My Little Drummer Boys!