The good thing about living in Sydney is that we can celebrate Christmas twice every year. There’s a thing called “Christmas in July” in Australia because our winter season falls from June to August.  The phrase “Christmas in July” is used by establishments in ads and it is quite true. It is during this time that we are all bundled up in thick coats, scarves, gloves and beanies. It is during this time that some areas in Australia experience the falling of snow. We got the whole winter thing going in a different time of the year so it’s a good excuse to celebrate Christmas in July. A part of winter may seem gloomy but the thought of celebrating Christmas in the middle of year brings joy and warmth. 


I used to organize Christmas in July parties with friends but this year, the Husband and I were busy with other social events, I actually forgot about it. I only remembered two weeks ago during grocery shopping when a piece of ham caught my eye. I decided there and then to have our own little Christmas in July at home by cooking something festive and sinful for dinner.


Since I always cook ham during New Year’s, and have also baked one when my Mum was here in April, I decided to make a Roast Pork Belly with a siding of chips and carrots.


You know what I love about Christmas in July? We get to celebrate it without having the fuss of gift giving.  It’s Christmas with just the celebration of joy, togetherness, gratitude and of course, good food.

Christmas in July!
Christmas in July!

The past weekend blessed us with great weather and sunshine, company of friends, delicious food and fun moments filled with laughter.  

We started our weekend on Friday afternoon where we (finally) conquered North Strathfield, a suburb located in the Inner West of Sydney Metro.  It was a plan we’ve had for awhile. As some of you may know, the Husband and I live a partly-Korean lifestyle already, hence, we visit places where there’s a Koreatown so we can buy Korean products and ingredients, eat at Korean restaurants and cafes, etc.  North Strathfield has a few Korean restaurants so we invited our friends to have dinner there on Friday. 

While we waited for the others, the Husband and I had coffee at Cheeky Chocolate, a fancy dessert cafe which offer pastries and cakes made by Adriano Zumbo. We shared a Salted Chocolate Mud Cake and two pieces of Salted Caramel Macarons.  Will share more about our Cheeky Chocolate experience in a separate post.
Dinner with friends was at the Bakehouse Garden Korean BBQ Restaurant. The food was delicious! The marinated meats were all juicy and flavourful. We loved their soups too.

We went back to the Cheeky Chocolate for dessert.  This time, the Husband and I only had tea while our friends had coffee and hot chocolate. We decided to try two pastries: some berry tart and a dome made of chocolate and hazelnut (I forgot the name).

Below is my Husband’s best capture that night.  Jackie, Teena and I love to eat and cook. They also love to bake and while I’m not into baking much (I can bake but I’d rather buy cake), I’ve always been a happy recipient of their works of art, forever grateful that I get to sample their yummy concoctions straight from the oven. This photo says it all. It’s like we’re Masterchef judges because we were seriously tasting the cakes we ordered. You can even see Jack pointing her finger at the spoon she’s about to put into her mouth because we’re figuring out what’s in the cake we were about to taste.

The following day, we were blessed with more sunshiny weather as we met with friends for lunch at Coco Cubano (Parramatta). We had a blast, especially the ladies–it actually felt like a ladies’ day out for us wives and mommies. Lunch at Coco Cubano was a great start as we had mouthwatering food and the most refreshing Sangria.  The Husbands and kids were left to their own devices so we can enjoy “Magic Mike” in the cinema. It’s really a ladies’ movie.  It’s funny, sexy and entertaining. I’ve never been to a strip club ever in my life so with this movie, I felt like I had a little experience of that.
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Meeting Annie. She’s a friend of one of my high school friends who just came back from her Manila vacation. My high school friend sent me a care package (thanks Majo!) thru Annie. The nice thing about it was that we got to meet new friends here.  We’re grateful for Annie and her family for bringing us Majo’s gifts and even more grateful that Annie was generous enough to get to know us and invite us for dinner on Saturday.  

Sunday was just spent at home doing the usual weekend chores and resting up so we can face another busy week ahead.
So how was your weekend?
Inner peace can be one of the most elusive things but it is achievable. My journey to finding inner peace is not without struggle. It took me years–a lot of introspection, positivity, forgiving, acceptance, contentment, help from a life guru and support from loved ones–just to achieve peace that emanates from within.  The world is not perfect it will always throw in a few challenges here and there (to make life exciting) and I’m still capable of getting hurt (because I’m human and humans get tired sometimes) but with peace in my heart and spirit, I find it easier to get thru any adversity and say, “This too shall pass”.  

Inner peace is one of the greatest gifts to loving yourself. 🙂

Wishing you a productive week ahead!

I’m glad that knitted jumpers made a comeback this year.  For the past few years, it wasn’t as prevalent as it is now.  It’s about time for fashion stores to make more of these as it’s getting colder each year.  Some days it’s not enough to wear just not-so-thick knitted shirts as the ones that give more warmth are these oversized and thick knitted jumpers. On days when it’s cool but sunny, one can get away with just the jumper over two to three shirts underneath instead of a winter coat. They make one look bulky, shapeless even, but who cares? What’s important is that one’s warm during cold days. 

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Yesterday, we caught the sunset at North Strathfield where we had dinner and coffee with friends. With just a camisole and thermal underneath my oversized knitted jumper, I stayed warm enough until we went home.
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Pink Oversized Knitted Jumper: D.P Shop
Striped Skirt: Big W
Tights: Voodoo
Ankle Boots: Shoe Shed
Satchel: Valley Girl
Accessories: DKNY watch, The Bead Shop, Diva