Need to Diet and Happy New Year!

Oh wow! How did you guys pull up for Christmas? I feel like I'm still rolling around from all the yummy food that I have consumed in 8 days. Yes! You heard correctly; I didn't stop eating for 8 whole full days. Best 8 days of my life.

Christmas dinner with my immediate family is always fun as I get to be a kid again and play games with my nieces. As they get older and find their own personalities and become more independent, I find myself still treating them like little toddlers. Soon we'll be clubbing together! LOL....NEVER! Not for me anyway.

Every year I spend Christmas day with my extended family and this year was the alternate year where many of my relatives spend Christmas with their partners and/or in-laws so it was a small crowd but was still consisting of 30+ people. You can only imagine how many people we have for Christmas when everyone is here in Sydney together. Christmas has always been big for me and it's not just family, we have many very close family friends who join us because they don't have family here in Sydney so it's a big celebration.

Even though it was a "smaller" crowd this year it meant that I really got a chance to spend some quality time with my aunties and uncles who love to tell stories of when we were younger and all the trouble we use to get up to - these are the moment I cherish and laugh at the most, especially when I find things out about my brothers!

Over the next few days I had friends over for dinner and catch-ups and in my proud cook-off moment I successfully made a triple chocolate mud cake with salted caramel chocolate pieces and topped with chocolate butter-cream and my ultimate "move over Kylie Kwong" moment was my PEKING ROAST DUCK! Totally made from scratch and all made by me. I'm still so proud of this that if heads really did grow in size then mine was massive!

Doesn't look sexy but it was amazing

The rich triple chocolate mud cake with salt caramel chocolate pieces and topped with chocolate butter-cream.

The amazing roast duck was accompanied with steam fish, asian greens and brown rice.

Dinner on another night serving slow roast lamb, mash potato, honey carrots & broccolini with butter & toasted hazelnuts.

My final (for now) indulgence day of eating, the 8th day, was dinner at Le Pelican in Surry Hills (Shop 2, 411 Bourke Street, Pelican Private Hotel). This was the first time I've been there and what a lovely cute little place it is. The restaurant has in-door seating and through the back has more seating in their lovely cute outdoor courtyard. It is French bistro combining fresh local seasonal produce to create classic and new favourites.

For entree I had a couple of fresh Wapengo lake organic oysters with lemon and shallot dressing and the pork and duck foie gras pâté with cornichon and onion jam served with a crusty warm baguette which is absolutely amazing. For main, I had the special, roasted pigeon; can't remember what it came with but it was tasty and tender. To finish it all off I squeezed in a couple of scoops of ice cream: chocolate and olive oil sorbet.

It was the first time I've tried  olive oil sorbet and it seriously did tasty of olive oil including the oily texture in  your mouth. You could only eat a couple of spoonfuls at a time and then it just gets too oily so I would recommend having it with something else as it needs to accompany another dessert. Being the lover of food and all things sweet, I then proceeded to try everyone elses dessert: Baked fruit soufflé with chocolate ice cream, strawberry and rhubard meringue with lemon gel and olive oil sorbet, chocolate fondant and thyme ice cream and the cheese plate that consisted of Ossau Iraty, Buche d’Affinois and Fourme d’Ambert.

Olive oil sorbet and chocolate ice cream.

So, that was my final day of indulgence eating. I have since gone back to eating healthy (as much as possible) and have started walking and swimming again to lose (what feels like) 100kgs I have gained in these 8 days! Meh, it's Christmas and I've enjoyed every moment of it; I love the fact that food brings people together.

As I draw towards the last couple of days of 2014 I wish you all a fabulous New Year and and awesome 2015 and beyond. I hope you all have a great time whatever it is you're doing and stay safe. I also look forward to sharing more of my journey and moments with you in the new year so do come back!

What are your plans for New Years? Will you be securing a spot for the fireworks in Sydney?

Love,
Jo xo