The Petite Pair Christmas Tag

We love Christmas tags and have compiled a list of festive questions to let you get to know us a bit better Christmas style.

1. Favourite christmas movie 
 Sara: The ultimate Christmas movie for me has to be The Polar Express. It's just so magical! I also like watching the new Hallmark Christmas movies for the year.
Serena: Polar Express for sure, it's the ultimate Christmas Eve movie.

2. Favourite holiday treat 
Sara: Gingerbread men.
Serena: Cookies! Especially shortbread ones like sugar cookies.

3. When/how did you learn that Santa wasn't real? 
 Sara: One Christmas when I was maybe 5 or 6, I noticed Santa's handwriting looked exactly like my mum's...
Serena: I don't remember ever finding out that Santa wasn't real, it just didn't seem possible.  But I didn't let anyone know until I was older because I still liked participating in the Christmas magic.

4. Favourite Christmas song 
Sara: Let it Snow.
Serena: Have yourself a very merry Christmas

5. Best gift you've ever received
Sara: That's so tricky! I like all my gifts, but the most memorable one was probably last year when I received a full year's subscription and tickets to the WA Ballet for the year.
Serena: That is hard! One of them is my Breville stand mixer which replaced my vintage hand held mixer that made me dread any recipe that said 'now beat for 10-15 minutes'.

6. Your favourite tree ornament
Sara: Pretty, vintage looking fairies, snowflakes and other intricate ornaments.
Serena: Nutcracker or ballet inspired ornaments.

7. Most memorable Christmas
Sara: So many for all different reasons.
Serena: All the ones we've hosted just because I love event planning and scouring Pinterest boards for inspiration.

8. If you could be in any Christmas movie, which one would it be?
Sara: A Christmas Carol but the Barbie version. The normal one is slightly creepy.
Serena: The Nutcracker as Clara of course!

9. Easiest person to buy for
Sara: Serena.
Serena: Sara. Her presents are basically my wishlist.

10. Favourite holiday scent
Sara: Pine and gingerbread.
Serena: Gingerbread and sugar cookies.

11. Favourite Christmas tradition
Sara: Waking up early on Christmas day, seeing what Santa left us in our stockings and enjoying a leisurely breakfast in our pyjamas.
Serena: A Christmas picnic with family and friends.

12. Wrapping paper or gift bags
 Sara: Wrapping paper!
Serena: Wrapping paper. Gift bags make wrapping so much easier because you don't have to wrap at all but it takes away the element of surprise.

13. Favourite Christmas book
 Sara: Oh, I'm not too sure... maybe Little Women?
Serena: Nutcracker by ETA Hoffman

14. Real or artificial tree
Sara: I've always wanted a real tree, but I've not had one yet! One day... 
Serena: Artificial but it has to be a traditional green. Love the idea of a real one but it seems like too much work.

15. Best gift you've given
Sara: I'm not sure... I just hope everyone likes their gifts!
Serena: Can I say all? I'd like to think I give pretty great gifts haha. Probably a heart locket necklace.

16. Hardest person to buy for 
Sara: Dad.
Serena: Guys.

17. Would you rather live in Santa's workshop or a gingerbread house?
Sara: Santa's workshop.
Serena: Same. If I lived in a gingerbread house, I'd be homeless in a couple of days because seriously who could resist that if your whole house was edible.

18. When do you open gifts? 
Sara and Serena: Christmas morning!  

19. Favourite stocking stuffer 
 Sara: Every year we get a bottle of the Philosophy shower gel in a holiday scent.
 Serena: Pastel Essie nail polish.

20. Favourite Christmas meal 
 Sara: Roast vegetables.
 Serena: Dessert, obviously.

21. Do you travel on the holidays? 
Sara: Some years I do, and that's always fun! Especially when it's to places that actually have a cold Christmas!
Serena: Every year! I can only remember one time that I've not travelled during the Christmas break.   

22. Egg nog or hot chocolate
Sara: Hot chocolate all the way. Anyone who knows me will also know how much I enjoy having my hot chocolates.
Serena: Hot chocolate. Whipped cream, marshmallows and Netflix is mandatory.

 23. Your plans for christmas 
Sara: This year, just the usual. I'm hoping to attempt baking and cooking more, which will be quite interesting!
Serena: A whole lot of baking! I've been allocated desserts for upcoming Christmas events and will be baking Christmas cookies to go along with gifts. If all goes well I will share a couple of recipes on the blog.

24. Favourite Christmas Eve traditions 
Sara: Go to mass, and watching a Christmas movie with hot chocolate.
Serena: Christmas movie with the family then having a sisterly chat in the living room with only the glow of the Christmas tree lights.

We hoped you enjoyed reading our answers and we tag everyone to have a go.

If you do complete the tag, please leave a comment below so we can read your answers!

The Petite Pair

xx

Dining with the Pair: Vans, Cottesloe

Walk into Vans and you'll see that this is not the usual Napoleon St café.
Fake butterflies hang off wires stretched across the ceiling in an unexpected decor move and the breakfast menu continues this subtle otherworldly vibe.  It has an interesting mix of spicy, sweet and classic brekky dishes with Asian flavours worked in such as mango and coconut chia pudding, son in law eggs and a Indonesian fried egg dish with lap cheong and sambal.



Our food:

Buttermilk pancakes with apple and strawberry compote and whipped maple butter ($19)

The pancakes unfortunately lacked flavour and were drenched in maple syrup. Now I'm not averse to a good drizzle of maple syrup but there was so much syrup that the pancakes had begun to disintegrate in its sogginess. The sweet strawberry purée and honeycomb butter made this a sugar overload even to me and my love of sweets. A small carafe of maple syrup or perhaps some cream instead of the purée would have toned down its sweetness.

Mushrooms on toast with Fremantle life cycle mushrooms, goats curd, 63 degree egg, truffle oil and grilled gluten free sourdough ($24)

The mushroom dish was executed well and had a good combination of textures with the crusty bread. They thoughtfully supplied us with a sharper knife for this dish to cut through the harder sourdough.

Open egg white omelette with stir fried blue swimmer crab, broccolini, pea tendrils, coriander, green chilli nah jim ($26)

The whipped egg white elevated the normally hearty omelette into a very light and fluffy dish. The crab meat portions were generous and well spread so you got a good chunk of juicy crab in each bite. The cilantro, chilli and oil gave off Thai flavours but perhaps a lighter hand on the oil would have made this perfect as it got slightly too greasy near the end.

We didn't take photos of our drinks but the hot chocolate would have been a real winner if only it had been served at a hotter temperature. The milk was not hot enough to melt the dark chocolate and marshmallow leaving a clump of solid chocolate at the bottom. The chai latte was brewed with real chai tea and unlike the majority of tea leaf based lattes it actually had a good balance of mellow sweetness provided by the honey.


Overall
The service although slow was friendly. Not including the pancakes, Vans is worthy of another visit but I'd probably stick with the savoury options.
Dishes for next time: Roast cauliflower and manchego fritters with romesco sauce, soft poached egg, endive and avocado.
Rating: 6/10.

Until next time my fellow foodies,

Serena

Notes

~ Breakfast, lunch and dinner available

~ Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options are available

Vans

Open 7 days a week

1 Napoleon St, Cottesloe

http://www.vanscafe.com.au/#welcome

Friday Favourites

Hi ladies,

Inspired by the master LC (Lauren Conrad), we are starting up a Friday Favourites series so we can share our current faves with you.

Favourite show: Scream Queens
Star studded with guest stars like Ariana Grande, Nick Jonas, Colton Haynes and full of dark humour,  this show has us hooked at the moment. If you are't a fan of the slightly gory death scenes, its worth closing your eyes for those just to see Chanel's closet and their sorority house. Get your giant fluffy jacket and pastel heels out because the Chanel trio's fashion is to die for *wink*

Favourite beverage: Hot chocolate
With Christmas approaching, there's nothing better than a mug of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and marshmallows and an episode of Scream Queens to end the night.

Favourite read: Gift guides
They're everywhere: blog posts, catalogues, magazines...
Take advantage of them for gift ideas, your own wishlist and keep up to date on all the latest sales.


Favourite scent: Vanilla Chai from their 2016 Christmas collection by the Body Shop
A combination of two of our favourite flavours to make this chai latte in a bottle, can someone please make this part of their regular range?

Favourite treat: This pale pink cross body bag from the Daily Edited

Let us know what are your current favourites!

Serena & Sara

xoxo

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Beauty Review: Alison Jade

Hi everyone,

So today I wanted to talk to you about my visit to Alison Jade in Cottesloe. Something I have found is that while there are so many bloggers and Instagrammers out there, very few people seem to actually do posts on their experiences at beauty and hair salons. I really enjoy trying out new places, and am constantly on the lookout for great local places, but I do like to research the place before going. There's only so much an Instagram photo can tell you! This is why I thought I'd share my experience, so that others looking to try somewhere new can have a little more insight into the place before trying it out!

I called in to book an appointment, and was lucky enough to get an appointment for the following day. There is parking just across the road by the train line, but you've got to keep an eye out as those spots can fill up quickly! Having said that, an eyebrow appointment generally lasts somewhere between 15 - 30 minutes, so there is a lot of movement there.

Walking into the building was like walking into what I imagine a lobby for a fashion magazine would be like. Very chic, clean and spacious with elements of luxury here and there.

Such a gorgeous waiting area!

I arrived early to my appointment (surprise, surprise), so I was encourage to help myself to some delicious T2 iced tea. There were also macarons and even champagne available for those after something a little more glamourous.

T2 iced tea

Macarons and champagne

Soon I was greeted by my brow specialist, who led me to my room. It's more like a row of open rooms, with beaded curtains for a little privacy. As I settled into my large, plush chair, I felt more like I was having a spa appointment rather than your typical brow appointment. We chatted a little about what sort of shape I was after, how long it had been since my last appointment and how I had been maintaining them. As I have Asian brows, I am really quite particular with how I like my brows shaped, and often end up just shaping them myself. I'm not a huge fan of the arched look, preferring more of the typical Korean style straight brow, but I do like a soft, natural arch. 

First, my brows were trimmed, then a medium tint was placed to match my hair. After this, my brows were waxed and then plucked to perfection. So much attention on the brows! My specialist really knew what she was doing, and was quite a perfectionist in getting a super clean shape. The whole experience was finished with her filling in my brows.

Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take a photo of what my eyebrows looked like before to compare, however I have a photo of what it looked like straight after.

I know there are hairs sticking out! She told me to leave them to grow out more, and to use a brow gel in the meanwhile to keep them down.

Overall the experience was a lovely one, a place to feel a little bit special and have wonderful service. I do really like my brows, even though I feel like they still may be a little too arched for my taste, and perhaps drawn on a little longer than I normally would draw them. Besides that, I like how the rest of the shape and thickness ended up. At $60 for an initial appointment, and $55 thereafter, it is definitely on the pricey side, but completely worth it if you are like me and just needed a completely brow reshape. The price covers not only the actual service, which is very detailed, but also good service and yummy tea!

xo Sara

Stepping into Spring

We are so ready for spring! Personally, it's my favourite season (although maybe I'm a bit biased because it's my birthday season). I'd thought I share a few pretty things to get your month started! I'm all about the pastels all year round, but for the start of spring nothing beats a pretty pink dress. Check out our Polyvore account to see all the details for the set - just search for The Petite Pair!

xo Sara