My big Holiday Adventure

Woohoo - We've done it! Yep we finally booked our dream holiday to the US and Paris and I'm so, so excited I can hardly breathe!!!!

Hubby & I have been planning this for more than two years and with all the craziness that's been happening it sort of slipped away from us for a while, but not anymore - it's happening!!!

OK so where are we going I hear you ask - first stop Sydney (but just for an overnighter) then off on the Qantas A380 to Los Angeles. From LA we then do five nights in Cabo San Lucas Mexico eeeeeeeeeee (I so can't wait for this), then from Mexico we do three nights in LA, four nights in Vegas, three nights in Miami and wait for it two and a half weeks in New York, New York woohooo!!! From New York we fly to Paris and spend one whole week there to which we come home via Hong Kong for a four day visit and then fly back to Perth.

All up it's a six week holiday & although not very long for some it's still my DREAM HOLIDAY and I can't wait!!!

Have you had a dream holiday, where you counted down the days til take off? What's your dream destination? I'd love to hear from you - Cooking in Choos :)

P.S FYI - My dream destinations: NYC, Mexico, Paris, Greece & Brazil - hey three out of five aint bad!!! P.P.S - 159 days til takeoff!!!

Times square - New York on New Year's Eve

Little Caesars open in Leederville - woop woop!!!

A few weeks ago Theo Kalogeracos - brainchild of Little Caesars Mundaring opened up his second Pizzeria replacing Retro Betty's in Leederville (another big TICK for Leederville - it's slowly but surely becoming the foodie haven Perth's been missing). And after three weeks of indulging I thought why stop now and went back for a my Little Caesar's fix!!

You can spot Little Caesars a mile away - the queue of people lining up all the way down the street or the alfresco diners sitting on upside-down black buckets usually gives it away!!But what makes Little Caesars so unique are the types of pizzas Theo & his team come up with day in, day out. On any given day you can find a pizza with pumpkin, lamb & yoghurt, prawns & prosciutto, chocolate and toffee, with each one absolutely delicious in their own right.

On this occasion I could not wait to sink my teeth into the Jane's Addiction (prawn & proscuitto) which was the very first pizza Theo introduced me to back in June at the Good Food & Wine Show.

This delicious combination of garlic cream sauce, prosciutto, prawns, wild rocket pesto and mozzarella work together beautifully - making my taste-buds jump for joy with every bite!

Have you been to the new Little Caesars? What do you think of it? Do you love it as much I do? I'd love to hear from you - Cooking In Choos :)


Diving into the Jane's Addiction

New Year's Resolutions or as I like to call it This Year's Goals

So every year I take the time to write a few New Year's Resolutions (or as I like to refer to them "This Year's Goals") and sometimes I keep them and sometimes, well they don't last the distance. This year I've culled them down from 10 to 5, so here goes:
1. Lead a healthier lifestyle. This includes cutting out junk food and cooking tasty, nutritious meals, limiting my alcohol intake & exercising (more than I do now which is nada).
2. Make more money. The last couple of years have bean quite crazy in terms of spending our cash flow, so hopefully this year this is the year we can generate more wealth and cut down our debt.
3. Learn French. I've wanted to do this for a while now and with our impending holiday in Paris not too far away I've got even more of an excuse to learn the language of love.
4. Spend more time with family and friends. They're the ones who matter most.
5.Volunteer. Again, I've wanted to do this for a few years but have not had the time - this year I'm hoping to make the time and volunteer as a mentor at my local high school.

So there that's it. What about all of you? Do you have any New Year's Resolutions your hoping to keep? Or do you not bother with resolutions at all? I'd love to hear from you - Cooking In Choos :)

My family & I celebrating New Year's in style!

Summer Seafood

With Christmas over and New Year fast approaching there's been a lot of indulging - in everything!! So while I was lazing about watching Heston Blumenthal cook door mice and venison during a Holiday Special on the Lifestyle Food Channel, hubby suggested we visit Herdsman Fresh and Seafresh in Innaloo to stock up on some fresh, local produce for the night's dinner.

I love shopping at the Herdsie - everything sold there is fresh, delicious and most importantly made or grown here in WA. We bought fruit, vegetables and dairy products all of which we were in serious need of having not been grocery shopping over the Christmas period. On the way home we stopped by Seafresh Innaloo and bought some fresh squid and West Australian mussels ready to be turned into a couple of dishes I found in my new cookbooks.

Never one to really jump into the kitchen it was nice to hear hubby say he wanted to get his hands dirty so he tackled cleaning the mussels while I cut and scored the squid. Together we created Giada's Chilli Mussels and Cafe style Salt and Pepper squid - here are the results:

Giada's Chilli Mussels

Cafe Style Salt & Pepper Squid

My verdict - I think we work brilliantly well together as a team and the results really speak for themselves!! What do you think? Have you ever cooked something out of the blue and been surprised by the results? I'd love to hear from you!! Bom Aproveito - Cooking in Choos :)