Kate Waterhouse's Lipton Ice Green Tea Party, Ivy Sun Room, CBD Sydney (29 May 2012)

Ivy Sun Room, Level 3, 330 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
http://liptonicetea.com.au

Green with refreshing envy

“Lipton Ice Green Tea is naturally low in calories, with no preservatives, artificial flavours or sweeteners. Made with real green tea leaves the Lipton Ice Green Tea range includes flavours such as Original, Citrus and Mango.”

Thanks to Rachel Winter and Caroline Bligh from Pulsecom for inviting me to the intimate Lipton Ice Green Tea Party hosted by Kate Waterhouse. Not only was Miss Kate easy-on-the-eye and incredibly slim to perhaps the envy of every women in the room but the three promoted Ice Tea drinks were refreshingly light on the palate without tasting too sweet. These days I personally avoid buying soft drinks and similar beverages which might be high in sugar and boringly opt for plain old tap water or fresh juicers as my preferred thirst quencher, but each to their own. My mind wandered to the potential of making an alcoholic cocktail with these drinks. Perhaps a Long Island Iced Tea using the Original Iced Tea instead of Coca-Cola, Citrus Vodka with the Citrus Iced Tea and Mango Liqueur with the Mango Iced Tea might work a treat? I was assured the unnatural sounding 'Tea Flavonoids' listed on the nutrition label was actually natural and Lipton Ice Tea had no preservatives, artificial colours or sweeteners — thankfully it tasted pretty good too. Impressive canapés were served to match the three kinds of Ice Tea. The Herb crusted salmon ballontine with horseradish and watercress and Alaskan king crab, black pepper and lime pillow sandwiches were my favourites of the day. All the canapés were cleverly designed to be bite sized except for the tasty Crisped zucchini flower in a soft flour tortilla with avocado salsa verde which had the potential to be a dress stainer from the juices if you weren't too careful. 

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Nice venue and interesting canapés served, Lipton Ice Tea has a refreshing taste that's not overly sweet on the palate

CONS: Still contains sugar of around 4.5%, I was the only guest who was a guy (although I didn't mind)

MUST TRY: Finding a cocktail recipe that works with Lipton Ice Tea

—

Miss Kate Waterhouse — yep, she is that pretty in person

Original Iced Tea

Tuna tartare with cucumber, wasabi, soy and yuzu

Asparagus and fontina cheese tart with shallots and parmesan

Italian prosciutto with savoury ricotta and parmesan on gnocco fritto

Citrus Iced tea

Fennel and orange cured kingfish with white miso, fennel and shiso 

Crostini of fresh tomato, bocconcini and basil

Herb crusted salmon ballontine with horseradish and watercress
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Mango Green Tea

Spiced prawns with green mango salad and burnt chilli salsa

Alaskan king crab, black pepper and lime pillow sandwiches
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Crisped zucchini flower in a soft flour tortilla with avocado salsa verde

Speech time with Kate Waterhouse and Lipton representative

Guests in the Sun Room — nice venue for an event

Canapés are served

Canapé Menu and Iced Tea matching — excellent catering

Nutrition Information

Welcoming service staff with iced water although a glass of champers would have gone down well as a nice start for a tea party :-)

Official photographer in action — thanks for the flash tips

Goodie bag of Lipton Ice Tea and themed glassware

View Larger Map

Family Christmas Lunch: Henkell, Oysters, Prawns and Rekorderlig (25 Dec 2011)

Henkell Happy Hour

This years family Christmas lunch included a plus 1 of Baby Isabelle who slept all the way through the eating festivities. Hopefully in a few years she'll have the acquired taste of eating oysters and prawns so she can join me in the pre-Christmas seafood shopping at Sydney Fish Market. A bottle of Henkell Trocken was chilled for the lunch occasion and my brother bought most of the flavours I think of Rekorderlig to try. The Strawberry & Lime was nice at first but then became a bit too sweet for the palate and reminded of cough mixture too much (sorry). The Premium Apple Cider flavour was more to me liking and the Apple & Blackcurrant was quite nice as well even though it reminded me of Ribena.

The St Helens Pacific Oysters faired well in the fridge for 36 hours but freshly shucked on the day would have been even better. Half the prawns were tiger I think and the other half were smaller Crystal Bay Prawns which I found had a sweeter and more distinct flavour even though they looked more pale in color. Mum made her famous potato salad to go with dad's marinated chicken wings and pork ribs and brother tried his hand at lamb kofta balls with good success along with some barbecued baby octopus. For dessert the Pattison's Patisserie lime tart and pre-made pavlova base topped with freshly whipped cream and fresh fruit finished the lunch off nicely which soon sent me into a food coma.

Other Family Christmas lunches:

• 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008

Henkell Trocken

Rekorderlig ciders

St Helens pacific oysters from Nicholas Seafoods Traders at Sydney Fish Market

Tiger King Prawns and Crystal Bay Prawns

Lobster and King Crab from supermarket

Barbecued octopus

Marinated chicken wings

Barbecued pork ribs

Potato salad

Lamb kofta balls

Pattison's Patisserie lime tart

Dress your own pavlova

Resting after a good feed

Sydney Fish Market: Pre-Christmas Shopping at Midnight, Pyrmont (23 Dec 2011)

Sydney Fish Market, Bank Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009
http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au

Midnight seafood shopping

Continuing the family tradition of midnight shopping for Christmas lunch I head down with my dad and brother to Sydney Fish Market to buy some St Helen's pacific oysters (Nicholas Seafoods), tiger prawns (Claudio's) and octopus (Peter's Seafood Market) this year. The car park was again full and there was hardly a seat available outside under the umbrella seating. Traffic outside wasn't too bad and we managed to find a free car spot on Wattle Street next to Wentworth Park. The crowds were again busier than a normal Saturday trading as expected. De Costi Seafoods had a line outside to get in and Claudio's was a very tight squeeze due to hardly any traffic area to move. I tend to get my oysters from either Nicholas Seafoods or Christie's Seafood depending which ones look good. If they have either Coffin Bay or St Helen's then this tends to influence my decision at the time.

Other visits to the Sydney Fish Market:

• 23 Dec 2011 – Pre-Christmas Shopping

• 23 Dec 2010 – Pre-Christmas Shopping, Oysters, Mussels

• 23 Dec 2009 – Pre-Christmas Shopping

• 26 April 2009 – Whitebait, Mussels, Oysters, Prawns, Calamari

• 23 Dec 2008 – Pre-Christmas Shopping

Video of shoppers

Checking out Claudio's and De Costi Seafoods

Nicholas Seafood

I've bought the Alaskan King Crab from here before and it's been quite good

I tend to get my oysters here if they are good instead of Christie's because they give you the oyster tray to keep them all nicely organised. I bought 2 dozen St Helen's Pacific Oysters ($19.99 per dozen)

Peter's Seafood Market

These prawns were super large

Christie's Seafoods

Musumeci Seafood

It always seems a tight squeeze in this place

De Costi Seafoods

Claudio's

I used to buy oysters from Claudio's but tend to prefer Nicholas Seafoods or Christie's Seafoods now

Late night dining

Midnight crowds

St John First Aid Volunteers in case you get overwhelmed by the crowds

I sometimes buy Orchids from this flower shop

Full car park at midnight

Dining at midnight

12.17 am shopping

View Larger Map