Chocolate-making, cocktail-drinking and celebrity-meeting

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 1 Sydney sky

Mrs Romance has just asked me what my favourite line from a movie is. I couldn’t really think of one at first but she’s clearly been thinking about this for a while.

Hers is: “so shines a good deed in a weary world.” Pretty cool. It’s from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – the original with Gene Wilder. It’s also from The Merchant of Venice apparently.

I think mine would have to be: “I love lamp” from The Anchorman. It’s not in any Shakespeare play. What’s your favourite movie quote? Tell us in the comments.

Anyway, on with this week’s wrap-up…

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 2 winter escape to Coogee

On Mr & Mrs Romance this week, we look back on our beach-in-winter stay-cation in Coogee. Check out our review on what you can do while you’re there, where you should stay, where to eat and other things we found quite interesting there. We even made a video – our first proper one in fact.

Check out our winter beach stay-cation in Coogee here.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 3 Romance Media weekly meeting

Every week, Mrs Romance and I like to go for a meeting to catch up and keep each other accountable. It’s also a good excuse to get out of the office and spend a bit of non-writing time together! And we try to keep up with what the cafes in our area are like too.

This week we’re in Joe Black on Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills. It’s not too bad – the food’s ok and so’s the coffee, but the service is a little slow. In their defence, the cafe does get a lot of takeaway traffic and they’re busy… but still…

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 4 tour of 'the office'

Today we thought we’d share a bit about where Romance Media (Hair Romance, Nail Romance and Mr & Mrs Romance) is created. This is the view from one of our favourite places to work overlooking our park. Technically, it’s not our park… but only technically.

So anyway, here’s our tour of our home office.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 5 Wonka work 1

Mrs Romance has a dilemma today. Should she be Charlie, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teavee or even perhaps Augustus Gloop. Well, she’s more like the great Wonka himself  (that sounded better in my head) here as she creating her own chocolate bars! How cool is this?

It’s all part of the latest Wonka Bar Golden Ticket Launch. That’s right folks – just like in the movie (and the book before it), you can win one of just 5 golden tickets hidden in specially marked Wonka bars. The tickets allow the winners access to the Wonka chocolate factory for a tour!

It’s like a dream come true! Find more details here.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 6 Wonka work 2

And here’s the master at work. Mrs Romance’s very fine efforts. I am seriously looking forward to getting my gums round this little lot!

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 7 cocktails at Oceans

Tonight, we’re back in Coogee! It turns out we won the Oceans Bar Instagram competition a couple of weeks back – the prize is a $50 bar tab!

We’re here with our lovely friend Tash from @coogee_rose. The cocktails and pizzas here are pretty bloody good!

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 8 Eau de Vie Apothecary review

Last week we went to try Eau de Vie’s latest incarnation: Apothecary. Eau de Vie is already an award-winning bar in Darlinghurst, Sydney, and the other bar in Melbourne, have been voted Bar of the Year multiple times.

This new bar is a stroke of genius – it’s a mix of science, romance and – the best part – alcohol! Here’s our full review of Eau de Vie Apothecary.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 9 Spice Temple lunch

We’re having lunch with one of our old friends today. It’s her birthday so we’re dining somewhere pretty special. Spice Temple is part of the Rock Pool Group, run by Neil Perry. The food and wine’s amazing, and the company’s even better… the bill at the end, however, isn’t so much fun! But it’s totally worth it.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 10 brekky with Sam & David at Moody Chef

This morning we get the weekend started with a delicious brunch with our awesome friends Sam and David. Sam runs the site The Annoyed Thyroid and her husband David is @GeordieDownunder on Instagram. We’re at The Moody Chef in Crows Nest, and this stack of pancakes is Sam’s.

Everyone else’s food’s pretty good too, but this stack is the winner.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 11 Lunch at PappaRich with Poh

After brunch, we head to Chatswood and to PappaRich. PappaRich is a Malaysian restaurant chain that started in Malaysia. We’re here to sample their food but also to meet the first PappaRich Australia ambassador: Poh Ling Yeow from Australia’s Masterchef.

Lunch is delicious – definitely give one of their restaurants a try – and Poh is an absolute sweetheart.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 12 Sydney Harbour Bridge and Luna Park

We’re really excited about dinner tonight. We’re heading to our friends’ place. To get there, we decide the ferry’s the best option. It’s such a beautiful way to get to dinner!

Our hosts for the evening are Bele and Gordon Masterman from Blah Blah Magazine, and Rah from Rahest.com and her husband Dan. The food is just sensational.

Image courtesy of @rahest.

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 13 dinner (photo by @rahest)

My photos of tonight’s dinner aren’t great, so I’ve borrowed Rah’s. This was Gordon’s creation – roe-on scallops on betel leaf with a chilli coriander salsa. Genius. And this is just the beginning…

Mr & Mrs Romance - Insta diary - 14 Sunday dinner

And now it’s finally Sunday. Mrs Romance has rustled up this awesome dinner. It’s certainly helped distract me from the fact that it’s Monday tomorrow. Cherry tomatoes and shredded basil, mixed olives, stuffed bell peppers, olive and cashew dip, brie, a huge chunk of gorgonzola dolce and this new recipe for butternut squash: deconstructed butternut salad. It’s delicious and easy.

The recipe’s from Beth of Baby-Mac.com.

So how’s your week been? Do you have a favourite movie quote? Tell us in the comments!

Images by Mr and Mrs Romance via Instagram: @MrAndMrsRomance, @HairRomance and of course @AngryBastard!

2 Comments

  • Reply July 28, 2014

    Sammie

    I’m still salivating over those pancakes. Anyways, spent Sunday arvo hanging out on the sofa with Ferris Bueller so I guess my favourite quote is “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

    • Reply July 29, 2014

      Mr Romance

      Ah, excellent choice, Sam! Great film. I love that teacher: Bueller. Bueller. Bueller. Bueller.
      I suppose you’re watching that to plan for your visit to Chicago? Bet you can’t wait. I love that city.
      Those pancakes looked so good – I might have to go back there to sample them myself!
      Jxx

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