Hail. The Big Chill. Costco Finds.

These are glamorous times in Sydney. Glamorous.

If it wasn’t ugg boots and trackies it was head to toe adventure wear, hastily pulled out of storage (complete with last year’s lint) as everyone struggled to adjust to the sudden cold change this morning.

Everyone who bravely made it to the pool this morning rewarded themselves with a coffee afterwards at the pool cafe. I’ve never seen it as busy as it was this morning. There was such a wait for their usually prompt coffees that sat it out behind the pot plant feature at the tables.

Speaking of the weather, how about the hail yesterday? I pulled into the garage just in time to hear the thuds of the downpour on the tin roof change to the staccato firing of hailstones as they pelted everything that wasn’t under some kind of shelter. The hail only lasted a few minutes where I was.

www.smh.com.au

But it looked like it was snowing on the streets of Newtown.

How did you fair in the hail? I hope nothing got damaged.

To add some oomph to the buttermilk marinade for the chicken strips, I seasoned with a bit of onion and garlic powders.

With the work trip a sacrily low number of days away, I’ve made a start on batches of meals as back up for when my mum and aunty come over to stay with Toddler SSG (they’re both so excited about coming over that they don’t actually look at their trip over as baby sitting). I’m pretty sure he’ll eat whatever they make or treat him to but it never hurts to have a supply of chicken strips in the freezer for a quick meal. My mum’s actually a fan of them too, much to Toddler SSG’s fascination.

I made the crumbs a bit fancy this time. To the panko and parmesan I added thyme, oregano, parsley and paprika in addition to the onion and garlic powders I used in the marinade. The kitchen ended up smelling like pizza even before any of the strips were baked.

And there’s my flat packed chicken strips ready to pop into the freezer.

As surprising as it may sound, the paprika really did bring out the pizza-ish flavours of the crumb mix. This batch of strips was a huge hit with Toddler SSG for dinner tonight. I think we’ve both accepted that he’s already too old for the finer textures and relatively blander flavours of the Annabel Karmel range at Coles. For your reference, the chicken and beef bites are very smoothly textured and don’t have the bite of either mince or chicken breast. If your toddler is used to the textures and appearance of softer ‘adult’ foods, they may not be too interested in the AK range either.

No weekend of crazy weather in Sydney would be complete with a spot of shopping, would it? And I’m not just talking about my emotional need to find shelter in a shopping centre when the heavens have opened. The shops in general were chaos today. In addition to the semi usual parking in the no parking areas of the car park (which are usually there for reasons of safety and easier driving for other patrons), people were semi parking two cars across on any available surface that was close to a car that looked like it was going to be pulling out of its bay within the next half hour. There was justifiable road rage because of this all over the place this afternoon at Costco.

After taking an entire afternoon nap (Toddler SSG’s not mine, that would’ve been kind of dangerous…) to find a park, I couldn’t just leave with what I needed to buy, could I? And I couldn’t just leave for a trip without buying things to specifically wear on it either, could I? I don’t even think that last sentence made sense but it’s Sunday night and it’s fast approaching weekend wind down time and I don’t even have the attention span to watch My Kitchen Rules.

Anyway. The shopping. The theme of which was essentials for the streets of New York in May where though it’s spring, the current temperatures look depressingly very much like what they are in Sydney right now.

My collection of Supre leggings have officially given notice of their retirement so I found these for $20 per pack of two. They’re a matte black and completely opaque. Every member of the leggings as pants brigade should be given a pack of these before they go out their front door in the morning. Back leggings are my friend on holidays especially. Their natural partner is the black skivvy. But I’ve already got enough of those so no need to buy any more before I fly out.

And I can’t even think about boarding a departing flight without some kind of accessory mascot. They have to be reasonably priced and sturdy enough to withstand a couple of weeks on planes and in airports. This $20 Ike Behar wrap just said New York to me. It’s actually fleece but from a distance, the black and white side looks like a knit. I love how it’s reversible, not scratchy, machine washable and very warm.

I’ve been at my wrap with my new Daiso stitch ripper. With the label neatly removed, it’s now officially reversible.

Here’s to a lovely week for all of us. And if you’re counting down to a trip or something else exciting too, may the days fly by!

Stay warm and take care,

Sydney Shop Girl

Hail. The Big Chill. Costco Finds.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply