The amazing thing about shopping in Sydney is the incredible mark-downs by departmental stores after every season. The recent sale, aptly named the Stocktake sale, took place between June-July as this marks the end of the financial year for most stores. This is perhaps the best time to comb through departmental stores such as David Jones and Myers.

At David Jones, you can get designer shoes and bags – think Celine, Christian Louboutins, Charlotte Olympia etc. at up to 50%-70% off. Myers stocks Aussie brands such as Basque, Cue, Review, Wayne Cooper and Alannah Hill.

Now, on top of the original mark-down, it is common for retailers to slash a further say 30% or 40% off reduced items, so if you’re lucky, you could get that dress you’ve been eyeing for a long time at just 10% or 20% of the original retail price.

Take me for example. I have been eyeing these delectable platform heels from Basque at Myers for some time. Originally priced at A$169, it dropped to just A$17 during the sale. See what I mean when I say you can actually find items at 10-20% of the original retail price?

The kind sales assistant brought out the same design in another colour for me to try on. Needless to say, I bought both pairs! These are quality shoes (leather-upper too) with great workmanship after all!

Besides the departmental stores,I can’t do without Forever New (you can find this in Singapore at Wisma Atria and Raffles City) and Alannah Hill, two of my favourite Aussie brands. If you love frills, flowers, lace, and basically just all things girly, you’ll love these brands.

What I also love about these brands here is that you can find off-season items at discounted prices at Birkenhead Point, an outlet mall in Sydney.

Karen and I had a field day at Birkenhead Point when she came over recently. 🙂 Here are some of my buys:

In this post, I wore a Liz Lisa dress given to me by Karen. It’s thick and warm, perfect for the current weather. The best part is, I can wear this out on its own without having to put on a coat or add on layers.

The floral headband from ClubCouture was the icing on the cake. It is so delicate and feminine, I absolutely couldn’t resist putting it on.

I like the recent batch of accessories brought in by ClubCouture. One of them is the flutter ring in pink, which goes really well with this ensemble.

The dress also comes with a detachable bow that can be either pinned to the front or the back. I chose the back this time as I wanted to keep the look simple.

The only ramen joint that I enjoy going to in Singapore is Santouka, but even that pales in comparison to Ryo’s Noodles in Sydney.

To complete the look, I added on floral accessories in similar shades. The ring is from Forever21 and the necklace is from Accessorize.

Check out the new arrivals at ClubCouture now. 🙂

I believe the general consensus was that the taste was up to mark too, but perhaps not as good as that of Campos Cafe.

We’ve heard so much about the chilli chicken at Jeans from Felicia and we were really excited to try it out. I’ve been hanging out with Felicia practically everyday and she always has new places to recommend. 🙂

The menacing plate of chicken coated in spicy chilli sauce initially proved a little too much for me to stomach as I was nursing a bad sore throat then, but I couldn’t care less!

I was fortunate to have Felicia and JW take turns to make rice balls for me! As you can tell from the photos, JW isn’t as adept as Felicia when it comes to domestic chores like this.

Affogato is an interesting mix of vanilla ice-cream and a shot of espresso. It’s great for non-coffee drinkers like me because you feel like you’re just having coffee flavoured dessert. I can finally order something else besides hot chocolate now! The only flip side is, only a handful of cafes serve affogato. :S

I am a complete noob when it comes to coffee and needless to say, all these fancy equipment are so alien to me.

For some strange reason, I’ve been rockclimbing and dancing the past week, a routine that I fully intend to keep up with for the period that I’m here (Note: keyword here is INTEND). My aching body is a testament to my hard work, and what better way to reward myself than with a sumptuous meal at yet another newly discovered restaurant.

I ordered the mentaiko (spicy cod roe) pasta and devoured everything within the blink of an eye. I’ve never had mentaiko pasta that tasted this good and now I can’t wait to head there for lunch again!

When a park comes equipped with swings, it’s even better. The adrenalin rush from swinging your legs in the air never fails to put a smile on anyone’s face and always seems to be the panacea for all worries and troubles. Spending a day in the park always makes me feel happier!

According to Campos Coffee’s website, “Cupping is a basic method of tasting coffee which is standard across the world. Whether it be Guatemala, Canada, Indonesia, London, Mexico, Kenya – everyone uses this same procedure which is almost a ritual. 5oz of water at 92 degrees is added to 10g of coffee coarsely ground. The coffee then steeps for 5 minutes and then the grinds removed- and the coffee is ready to be analyzed. “

Never knew brewing a cuppa coffee was so technical. 😛

They call it Kumara fries with Aioli on the menu. Aioli is a stronger, more pungent version of mayonnaise and is made of garlic, egg and olive oil. I’ve never tried it in Singapore previously but it certainly proved to be a very tasty complement to fries, especially sweet potato fries!