Blog Name Change...

Hey Peeps!

So I have been thinking lately... that I'm going to change my blog name... so that my blog name matches my blogspot address.. I also think that Caz Monkeys Around would be easier for people to remember than just Monkeying Around... and I think the narcissistic part of me just likes that it incorporates my name! :D

The main reason really is so that my blog name and blogspot address are synonymous.. and Caz Monkeys Around is far more unique than Monkeying Around...

I'll make the change in the next couple of days... so don't fret if you think I've disappeared from your blogger reader... I've just moved on up the alphabetical order a little bit!!

[edit] Ok, I thought I could just change the header on my page, but it's gone ahead and switched the name.. so I'm just going to go with it.. Welcome to the new blog! What do you think of the new font?? I'm still undecided...

Geocaching!

Howdie Loverlies!!

So at the end of October Mr N & Ms B came to visit us from Bristol and they brought with them a "Geocoin"... we were told that this coin was on a mission to visit as many Police Stations as possible.. ummm.. ok!?! We managed to get its photo taken with an old Police Box that looks a bit like a tardis, then we took it up to Pitlochry and took its photo with the local police station... Mr N then wanted to drop off this coin at a Geocache by Edinburgh Castle...  so one night after dinner, we went a searching for this "cache"... bear in mind, the mister and I really had no idea what these crazy people were on about!!

After a quick review of the map on the website I got us in the general vicinity... then we used the GPS to get us in the right area and using the clues to get us in the right spot Mr N and Ms B went a foraging... After some rummaging around behind some 'big rocks' Mr N declared he'd found it! He produced a click top container with a log book and various little tokens inside.. they dutifully dropped off the Geocoin, signed the log book and replaced the cache to where it was found.. Mr N was rather disappointed that the other "trackables" logged on the website weren't actually in the cache.

So this was Geocaching?!?! The next day while the mister was at work, Mr N, Ms B and I went for a walk up Arthur's Seat to check out the view and take the opportunity to find another cache... this time I tried to play along on my own phone.. tho to be honest I still left most of the heavy lifting to them and just followed along!

Oxford Cushion Cover DIY

It's been a while since I've done any sewing and with Kim coming to visit for the weekend, I thought I would try to tick one of my projects off the list..

On a trip to Ikea... (forever ago...) I found a single curtain and also a big cushion in the bargain section... and decided I would attempt to turn the curtain into a cover for the cushion... so for the bargain price of £6 I made myself a pretty swank cushion cover!!

I was pretty lucky that width of the curtain was the perfect size to cover the cushion with about an inch of overlap which saved me the hassle of hemming the two sides! (Gotta love a shortcut!!) I cut off the original bottom hem of the curtain because it was messily hemmed with hemming tape and was about 3 inches high..  I measured the length (26.5") added 2 inches for a hem top and bottom and cut straight across at 28.5" from the bottom of the fabric.

Instead of actually hemming the raw edges, I just turned the fabric inside out (so right sides facing) and sewed up the sides with a zig zag stich. (Hemming AND sewing up the sides all in one go! FABULOUS!)

I was crossing my fingers that the overlap opening would somehow sort itself out when I turned the cushion cover the right side out, and it seemed to work out fine!! I threw the cushion in to check the size of the opening and it fit in easily and I had loads of room to spare. (I wasn't entirely sure I would have room to make the oxford edge.) Just by sheer luck, the pattern even matched up along the overlap!

I figured out pretty quickly that I would have to sew along the outside of the cushion to make the oxford edge.. I was a bit hesitant as my sewing machine has a tendency to do funny things with stitching (probably my own fault for not adjusting the tension properly), but so far everything had been running pretty smoothly so I measured an inch and a half around the entire edge, marked it out with some pins and got to work. It all worked out pretty well and I even managed to release the foot and turn the cover to sew the right angles! WOOHOO!!

So there you have my most recent sewing project! It was actually super easy once I got going.. if my written instructions aren't clear and people would like me to draw up a proper "tutorial", I can attempt it.. just ask!

Well, I hope you've all had a fantastic weekend!
We've had a great weekend with Kim.. it was a shame she had to leave so early today. :( Hopefully we'll see her again soon!!

Fill in the blanks on Black Friday...

Happy Black Friday!

Today is apparently the craziest shopping day if you live in the States.. so good luck for those of you out to bag a bargain!! So far I've bagged 35% off + free shipping @Pree Brulee and gotten matching bracelets for my mummy, one of my "surrogate mums" & me!!  I bought us all this bracelet, orange for me and pink for the two mum's. 

1.   Waking up at the break of dawn to go shopping is my idea of     craziness!! I love to shop and I love a good bargain.. but "the break of dawn" and me really do NOT get along...  .

2.   If I were to go shopping today I would be on the hunt for   a tablet or netbook.. so I can stop lugging my 15" beast around when I go travelling... tho, I might see if I can survive the next trip with my brand spanking new smartphone and no laptop... eek!!   .

3.  The best thing I ate yesterday was    turnip cakes! We don't "do" Thanksgiving... so we didn't eat anything special...    .

4. Something I've been learning lately is    that I seriously lack motivation, especially when there is no structure to my life.. I think I've always known this.. but it has been overtly apparent lately... *sigh*   .

5.  I cannot start my day without    checking emails & facebook.. (so much easier now that I don't even have to get out of bed to do it!)  .

6.  My nighttime attire consists of    a singlet and pj bottoms...  .

7.  I am looking forward to    Kim arriving for the weekend, the last F1 race on Sunday & hitting up the Christmas markets!! Mulled wine & yummy treats?? Yes please!!  .

                                Happy Weekend!!

                             As always, head along to Lauren's to join the fun!!

Home-made Sweet & Sour Pork

I made this recipe months ago, before I went to Canada even, I had intended on posting the recipe while I was on holiday and I think I even promised it to a few people on facebook.. then I realised I never uploaded the photos, then it took me a while to find them... so here I am.. months after the fact... posting this recipe!

What you'll need:

• 200ml Pineapple Juice
• 1/4c cider vinegar (I would probably dial this back to 1/8c)
• 2T soy
• 2T honey
• 2T sugar
• 1/2t paprika
• 1/2t five spice
• 1/2t chilli

---------------------

• green pepper, sliced or diced 
• onion, sliced
• 2c pineapple chunks (approx. I think I used most of a 500ml can)
• 4 pork loin steaks, diced

-------------------------

• 2T cornflour to thicken

• 1c rice to serve

What to do:


Get your rice washed and started cooking if you are cooking rice from scratch.

Mix first group of ingredients in a bowl, have a wee taste to judge acidity & flavour. (I didn't do this.. I kinda threw in ingredients as I went, but this would have been a much better way to do it!) Feel free to adjust the flavour to suit your taste. Let me know any changes you make too!

Brown onion
Add peppers
Add pork, cook until pork has started to brown.

Add the sauce mix..

Once it's come to a boil, sieve in the cornflour to thicken up the sauce.. make sure you stir it in well so it doesn't get lumpy.  It would probably be easiest to scoop the solid ingredients to one side and tip the liquid to the other side and just add the cornflour to the liquid.. (does that make sense??)

Stir well, add more cornflour if you want your sauce to be thicker, or you can let it reduce down a bit if this won't overcook the pork.

Throw in the pineapple chunks near the end, a few minutes before you're ready to serve, so they don't get too soggy.

Hopefully your rice is done cooking by this stage!! Spoon plenty of pork and sauce over your rice and enjoy!!

I love the fact that this sweet and sour isn't bright orange! I've never really understood why restaurant sweet n sour is always so fluorescent orange... Maybe they use orange juice instead of pineapple juice but even still... Anywhos.. this is my "healthy" home made sweet & sour! You could essentially use it with chicken I guess as well.

I would love to know if you try this and if you make any changes to the sauce...

Happy Eating!!

Samsung Galaxy S2 Phone Case Review

So I got a new phone recently... Not really because I really wanted to.. but as the screen on my old Nokia 6600 has died for a second time and I wasn't keen to repeat the experience of spending £50 to get it fixed, I decided it was time to upgrade and join the smartphone age...

After ruling out iPhones (I have a thing against iThings.. I own one iThing... it is a black, first gen ipod nano) and Blackberries (I don't like the teeny tiny keys)...  I was pretty much left with Samsungs... so far Nokia smartphones haven't garnished the best reviews... (the much heralded N8 was a flash in the pan with loads of complaints about its operating system)... Sony Ericssons, to me, have the most counter intuitive user interface I've ever come across on a mobile phone of ANY kind... I considered getting an HTC.. well, I considered getting my mother to go and buy me an HTC in Taiwan and sending it to me.. but considering she still uses her old Motorola v150/220 (I don't even think her one has a colour screen!) I thought sending her into a store full of smartphones might just be a bit overwhelming... or probably just too confusing!  Couple that with international shipping with insurance and the love of Royal Mail to charge me tax on anything I get sent in from overseas.. I figure it'd cost just the same for me to get the phone here.... and when Lou mentioned the weight difference between her S2 and JP's HTC, I was pretty much sold on the S2...

Let me just say, this phone feels impossibly thin and light! For some reason, mine came without a manual and I've had to google a few things but I've managed to find my way around it without too much hassle... 

But I digress....  I love my phone so much, that I went a bit crazy buying cases for it... I might have bought 4 cases at once... I started the search and couldn't pick just one... and seeing as they were "only" £4 each.. I thought I'd get them, and if I didn't like any of them... I could always send em back... riiiiight??? Each of the cases also came with a 'free' screen protector & 'polishing cloth'...

Anywhos... in anticipation of Sok also getting her S2... I thought I'd do a little post about the cases I got for mine to help her decide on a case for her phone... :)

This is definitely my "novelty" phone case.. it's full silicone and adds quite a bit of bulk to the phone (you can see how much thicker it is side on if you compare it to the top photo without a case), it is also the only case that wraps around the full front of the screen.. it's fun, but I highly doubt I'd use it as a day to day case... (It is also red, taking photos on the couch via lamp light = not the best lighting conditions!)

This is probably my favourite case, it's slim, hardly adds any bulk to the phone and feels quite tough, it is also the only case that doesn't wrap at top and bottom and has physical cut outs for the volume and power switches on each side. It comes in a variety of colours but I like the black with the white of the phone showing through...

This case is half plastic, half silicone, I like that is has textured sides... makes it feel like I'm less likely to drop it... this one also comes in a variety of colours but I like blue... I think the cases would also look darker if they were used with the black phone rather than white...

 

This is the case I have on my phone at the moment, as you can see, it's a hard plastic inner with almost like a rubber paint on top, again, it doesn't add much bulk to the phone and wraps all the way around. The paint isn't of the best quality and I've noticed parts of it are starting to rub/chip off already.. but I love the pattern, and there's plenty of colours and pictures to choose from.

So there you have it... a quick review on potential cases... do you have an S2?? What kinda case do you have for it??  What do you think of my choices??

If you want to read a cute advertorial about the phone (or just read some super cute comic strips), visit Miao & WafuPafu...  I am currently addicted to swype... it makes texting so much faster and easier!! I've yet to figure out how to use the voice command... but I'm slowly getting there!!

[I had to google to try and find my mum's phone.. and if you want to take a wander down cellphone memory lane... click here.. Funny how for the longest time, it was about making phones smaller and smaller... and now it's gone to making them thinner with bigger screens..]

Conversations with Mother #4

I am absolutely convinced that my mother is THE most ridiculous person.... possibly... EVER!

So she called this morning and after a brief discussion about what she actually called for... we got onto talking about my weight... it is a pertinent issue for her.... much more for her than for me... but if we carry on in this fashion... I may just develop a complex about it... Keep in mind that this is a conversation with a woman who weights herself EVERYDAY... EVERY SINGLE DAY.... yea...

mum: So, have you lost or gained weight lately?
me: Probably gained... I lost some while I was going to the gym, but with having visitors and going to Morocco, I've probably put weight on again...
mum: Well, you really need to be careful about your weight...
me: .....it's hard when people come to visit and we're eating and going out a lot...
mum: So, you're eating lunch AND dinner!?!
me: ...uhh.. yes? (I'm not suppose to starve myself!?!?)
mum: Well, if you eat a big lunch, you should have a small dinner..
me: I can't really expect my friends not to eat...
mum: Then you should order things lower in calories... like things without cheese...
me: Ok
mum: And you should give your food away, SHARE it with people... give people parts to "try", then you can eat less...
me: Generally if you give people some of your food to try, they give you some back to try too...
mum: Well, then just eat less of it... 
me: ......
mum: And it's ok to leave it as well and not eat it...

WHAT!?!?!  So in my mother's ideal world, I'd go out to eat, order something and give most of it away, then leave the rest that I didn't manage to pawn off on my friends! You should all come eat out with me... I'd just order and pay for the food and you can all eat it off my plate!!

me: ...........*more silence*.............
mum: You have to think about your knees, supporting all that weight... and it's bad for your health to be overweight...
me: I'm not exactly HUGE mum...
mum: It's just you said a while ago you were close to 70kg...
me: About 60 odd, 70....
mum: Once you break that barrier into 70kg, it's hard to come back...
me: ............................
mum: You should just make sure you eat less, because the more you stretch your stomach, the more you'll eat, and the more your stomach will stretch, then you'll eat even more...
me: ..................................
mum: So when your friends are visiting, just give them your food...
me: ...................

This is about when she decided to give up on the subject... Seriously, the way she talks about it, you'd think I weighed 10 million pounds... I know I'm not exactly small, and I'm definitely not by Asian standards (I swear half the women there are anorexic... or at least look that way...)  and I know I could do with losing a few kilos but it drives me crazy that she seems completely fixated on the issue...

Anywhos! Has anyone else had any success in getting their mother's to not obsess about their weight??!! :D Maybe I should just tell her I found a miracle cure and I suddenly woke up 20kg lighter.. hehe..

I also asked if she could send me my birth certificate and she asked me where she'd go to get one...!?!?! Is this normal?? Aren't mothers/parents supposed to have our birth certificates safely squirreled away somewhere!?!?! I suggested that we must have needed them when we immigrated to NZ?? She said she would look up the file... hmmmmmmmmmm....

I then tried to explain the concept of Groupon... in an effort to try and explain how I could afford to holiday in Morocco while I'm not working... Although she seem to lose interest in it fairly quickly... but proceeded to grill me about whether I went to the Mosque while I was there... I told her that only Muslims were allowed in the Mosque.. tho she was adamant that she went to the mosque when she was there... it was one of the biggest in the world (or maybe Morocco) and that it was blue and white!... When I questioned what city it was in.. she didn't seem to know... If anyone knows anything about this blue and white mosque... I'd love to know what she's talking about!!

And thus concludes another edition of Conversations with Mother...

Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!!

Filling in the blanks... post Marrakesh!!

Well hallo my loverlies!! Have you missed me?? I have been fairly absent from my little corner of the interwebs lately as I seem to still be in vacay mode since my jaunt to Canada over the Summer... probably mostly to do with the fact that because I'm not working, I have no structure to my life, therefore time seems to just fall by the wayside... I need to get back into some form of routine!!

I was also in Marrakesh for a week, enjoying the heat and rain! Getting my fill of tagines and falling in love with pastillas.... Along with surviving the manic of the souk, long nights up drinking in a riad in the medina as well as surviving doing nothing at all but chillax at a resort for three days!! It was definitely a holiday of opposites and extremes and hopefully I will find time to put up some photos and tell you about it soon... but we have some loverlies from Bristol coming to visit for a long weekend.. so no promises that it will be anytime soon!!

Although I DO have a fancy schmancy new phone (it's the Samsung Galaxy S2 if you're wondering) to play with, so if I can figure out how to hook it up with my bloggy here, I might be able to post "on-the-run"!!

Without further ado, let's get fillin' in some blanks!!

1.   When I was a kid I wanted to be      a teacher/ a librarian/ an astronaut/ a dancer    when I grew up.

2.   As an adult, my dream job would be   a travel writer/reviewer...      .

3.  W hen I was younger I wanted to be just like  me! I've never wanted to be "like" anyone else... I still don't... is that weird??   .

4. The childhood Halloween costume that I remember most was when I was    me! haha.. I can't actually remember any Halloween costumes.. I must have had one because I remember going trick-or-treating... but I was never much about dressing up... I'm still not a huge fan of dress up parties... I'm just too lazy.. it's true..   .

5.  My favorite childhood toy was    my electric Mercedes car and my green pedal wagon.. it had a wagon on the back and I used to load it up with stones and drive it from one place to another.. it drove my mother nuts.. hehe... I loved those things... .

6.  The time I got into the biggest amount of trouble when I was a kid was when I     refused to practice piano.. or made a scene while we were out... I got some good spankings for those offences... ohhhh yes I did!!   .

7.  I get daily inspiration from    life, facebook (there seems to be an extrodinate amount of "inspirational stuff" going around at the mo... have you noticed??), the internet  .

Happy Weekend & Happy Halloween!! Do you have a great costume?? What are your Hallows Eve plans???

As always, head along to Lauren's if you want to play along...

Filling in Blanks on a Saturday..

I feel like it's been a while since my last Fill in the Blank...

Now that I'm not working, I don't really have a routine to stick to, so these things tend to fall by the wayside a little...

1.   The most selfless thing I've ever done was      - I don't know! I think I'm a fairly selfish person... as well as a spoilt princess...   

2.   When it comes to working out    my biggest hurdle is motivation... I actually really enjoy the gym, and I always feel great when I'm done.. it's just finding the motivation to get off my toosh and GO... it's a struggle!     

3.  A woman should always   stand her ground without feeling bad/guilty.. so many women feel like they're being "a bad person"/"a bully"/"a bitch" for standing her ground.. I don't get it... (see aforementioned spoilt princess statement)   

4. I wish I could    find more motivation    and then I'd    be so much more productive!   

5.  A best friend is    someone who isn't afraid to laugh at you to your face.. seriously tho.. think about it...  

6.  I can't get enough of     sitting in the sauna after a workout... love it!   

7.  This weekend I am    going to check out a gym open day, watching the Korean F1 and hopefully getting a new phone!!! (The screen on my phone is completely dead.. which kinda renders the phone useless... *sad panda*)  .

Happy Weekend!!

Remember to link up with Lauren if you want to play along..

Mark Greenaway @ No.12 Picardy Place, Edinburgh

On Tuesday, SW and I had a fabulous lunch at Mark Greenaway, which is housed in No. 12 Picardy Place formerly known as Hawke and Hunter.  I was a bit confused when I walked in the door and was greeted by a receptionist behind a desk... had I stumbled into a hotel or something? I was swiftly led around the corner and into the stylish dining room.  SW already had water for the table and a "Market Menu" as well as an a la carte menu were delivered without fuss.  I'd already had a peruse online, so pretty much had my heart set on what I wanted.  I was very happy to see that the things I wanted off the a la carte menu were pretty much all present on the set priced Market Menu.

Confit Gressingham Duck Leg - 

Hot Orange Jelly, Beetroot Carpaccio, Sakura Salad, Raspberry Dressing

 Beautifully presented and an absolute delight to eat. 

The Orange Jelly provided just the right amount of acidity to the confit.

The main dining room was our private dining room for the meal and we had a lovely corner table under a big window overlooking the Secret Garden. The table was well presented with an oil lamp, fresh flowers and butter and rock salt.

11 Hour Slow Roasted Clash Farm Pork Belly - 

Spiced Fillet, Pomme Puree, Savoy Cabbage, Toffee Apple Jus

The crackling was a bit impossible to cut through and a bit sticky on the teeth.. but the top was just crunchy enough for a bit of texture, the pork belly was melt in the mouth tender and the puree was rich and smooth. The cabbage was a nice balance to the richness of everything else on the plate. I struggled to get through the mash, but SW has no problems polishing off his plate!

SW was torn between choosing a dessert off the Market Menu or the Chocolate Fondant which was in the a la carte menu (which actually shows on the Market Menu on the website... shhhhh!), but after some debate and deciding that the fondant would be too rich after the Pork Belly, we decided to stick with the trend and order the same thing...

 Broken Lemon Tart -

Yuzu Parfait, Frozen Shortbread, Pistachio Puree, Compact Watermelon, Coconut Jelly

We agreed that this Lemon Tart was definitely "Broken"! We both looked a bit doubtfully at it on the plate...  (confusion about where to start perhaps!?!) I decided to try a bit of the lemon curd and all doubt was immediately dissipated... It was creamy and tart with just a hint of sweetness - perfection! The pistachio puree was a bit strange on its own, unlike the coconut jelly and yuzu parfait which were both delightful, but when all the elements are combined and eaten together, the result was a little party on the tastebuds. 

You could see our reflections on the plates when we were finished and SW declared he could eat another whole plate right away! No small compliment coming from someone who's career is hospitality and dining!

Our 3 courses set us back £20 each, our wine (a lovely Vionier, I trusted SW to order) was £20 and a bottle of fizzy water for the table a fairly reasonable (for a restaurant) £3. Making our total bill £70 including tip. So £35 for 3 course lunch with a bottle of wine = absolute STEAL!!

 View from our table into a Private Dining Room with a wine cellar.

 View looking into the rest of the main restaurant, another PDR through the doorway on the left. Waiter's station on the right, doors where you enter the restaurant on the right wall.

After lunch we had a nosey around the property, I've been downstairs to the Green Room before for an event but had never seen the rest of the building.

A huge display of my favourite flowers on the landing on the way upstairs to the Cocktail Bar

Cocktail Bar

Private Room off the Lounge of the Cocktail Bar

Main Lounge Area of the Bar

Funky Artwork

Chaise Lounge in the Ladies Bathroom

More Funky Artwork ( I love this... I want it!)

Trendy MDF/Wood Deer Head on Downstairs Wall

The restaurant (along with many others) is taking part in the Yelp Eats! Dine Out in Edinburgh next week, where you can have two courses at some of the city's fine dining restaurants for £15 (on a prix fixe menu).


I'm pretty gutted I'm not in town to take full advantage, though my wallet probably appreciates that fact far more than my belly! If you're in town, you should definitely check it out!! Even if you miss out on the Yelp Eats! Week, I still think Mark Greenaway offers fantastic value for the quality of food if you order off the Market Menu.  Otherwise it would be a nice treat for a special occasion!!


Happy Eating!!

Gymmin It: Exercise Diary 2 & Seeking Soundtrack Suggestions!

So, I braved the wind and slight rain to get to the gym for my PT session today... I was slightly early, so I told one of the girls at the desk that I was going to head up to the gym and get started on my warm up and to tell Nacho I was up there when he arrived... 15mins on the cross trainer later... no PT... so I head back down to the front desk to investigate... only to find that, I apparently wasn't in the book... even tho I saw the girl write it in on Monday... in pen... and there was no white out marks, so I think she mistakenly wrote it on last week's roster??

{source}

Anywhos.. the absolutely gormless girls gave me two options.. a) they could call him and I could wait (tho one of the other girls was already on the phone on what seemed like a personal phone call who showed no signs of getting OFF...)  or... oh wait.. that was the only option they gave me.... I said it was fine and I was happy to book another time.. then she asked if I had his number... ummmm, no?  She then pretty much said if I wanted to book a session with Nacho, it would be better for me to phone him and arrange it myself... otherwise she could book me with one of the group exercise teachers.... WHAT??!!!  What the hell do they pay you for if I need to organise my own shit??!! I chose to take his number rather than leave my fate in the hands of someone so completely clueless....

I then headed back upstairs and decided to do some cardio rather than any weight training... so I jumped on the elliptical for another 30 minutes... listening to the awful music in the gym and watching some Top 40 Music Video thing on the tv... I'd left my iPod in my bag and left the house with it low on battery because I thought I'd be listening to a PT at the gym today!

{source}

Anywhos... it got me thinking... do you have a gym soundtrack on your "portable media player"???  What kinda music gets you going at the gym?? What beats keep you company when you're out pounding the pavement?? I'd love to know! I don't have a gym playlist yet and am in desperate need of some suggestions!!