Drum roll please....I finally have a vegetable garden! It's only taken three weekends; one to clear the huge mess, one to work out what the hell to do with the giant pile of weeds I'd created, and one to purchase and plant.
There's regular mint, Vietnamese mint, Moroccan mint (just to cover all bases!), parsley, sage, chives, oregano, coriander, dill, basil, chillies, tomato, spinach, silverbeet, cucumber, capsicum, eggplant, zucchini and squash. You know, thought I'd start small...
And they're growing! Which is the complete opposite of anything I've ever had a plant do before. I am, as Sherry Strong would say, 'horticulturally retarded'.
Look at my zucchini!
Ta-da! A new leaf! Whose a good little planty!
It's also given me an excuse to play with my camera, so expect to see more of the progress of my new little babies.
As for this weekend, I plan on spending the rest of today doing some yoga (if anyone's interested Yoga Download are having a 40% off sale this weekend, the code is 'HALLOWEEN2010'), cleaning the house, and working on reading the giant pile of books next to my bed. And tomorrow I'm heading down to World Vegan Day for some inspiration and tasty food.
In other super exciting news, my brand new toy arrived last week.
It was love at first blend. Banana icecream never tasted so good. Especially after having to lug the box home in the heat. Note to self: cheap trolley + awkwardly weighted box + awkward individual + cobblestones is a recipe for disaster. I haven't quite recovered from the experience yet. And I haven't had a chance to spend some quality time experimenting with him yet, but that's what rainy days are for, right? Next stop homemade hommus.
I've got some sad news, last week my blender died. We had some good times blendy and I, with once or twice (and occasionally thrice) daily blending since last November. She changed my life and introduced me to all kinds of tasty treats. RIP little friend, life won't be the same without you.
I have often find myself wondering, "what did I eat before I had a blender?" and over the last week I've had to find out. I haven't had smoothies for breakfast for months, but of course as soon as I can't have one it's all I want. And mashing second breakfast with a fork just isn't quite the same.
However the loss of something old leaves room for the purchase of something new. Something new and exciting. Something new and exciting and with a 2HP blending capability. Something new and exciting with a 2HP blending capability that can make hot soup in minutes and that I can't wait to welcome into my kitchen!
I alluded here that I would clean up the backyard over the weekend but I didn't actually think I would do it.
Yes, that is a mega pile of weeds. No, that wasn't all of it. Yes, I am ashamed.
I was creating that monster all day yesterday and holy carp I'm paying for it today. Everything hurts! The upside is that I'm not too embarrassed to go out into the yard anymore and there's now room to plant new things. Herbs! Greens! Vegetables! Exclamation!
My aching muscles didn't stop me getting into test kitchen to make some little treats to take to work this week.
These lemon ginger balls are a mix of cashew butter, Sun Warrior protein powder, mesquite, honey, lemon zest, ground ginger, coconut oil and coconut flakes. They taste exactly like my Nanna's lemon slice. Except, well, better.
I've started this post so many times. Both in my head and on paper. But I'm never quite sure what I'm trying to say. I guess in the end it doesn't matter, it's the act of writing it down that helps.
A couple of weeks ago I was feeling great. And it had been so long since I'd felt so good that it was really quite strange.
And then I crashed.
A month or so ago I did an allergy test and the results came in last week. Turns out I'm highly reactive to lots of my favourite things. And it also turns out I was highly reactive to this news. Over the last twelve months I've taken huge steps in trying to eat as cleanly as I can. And this was the second time that I've been thoroughly knocked off my high horse and told that my healthy diet could very well be making me sick.
The kinesiology sessions and introspective work I've been doing have started to make me think about things in a different way and I came to the conclusion that the strong reaction and resistance I had to the idea of allergies and the feeling of vulnerability that came with it is most likely because, mentally, it's linked to something big. My kinesiologist wholeheartedly agreed and the next steps are to clear whatever it is that's holding me back. This, of course, scares the crap out of me. But more and more it's also becoming a hopeful, positive and exciting prospect.
So as I'm coming to terms with the immediate future without some of my favourite things (almonds! pineapple! kidney beans! oats! chickpeas!) it has also led to more experimentation in the kitchen. Which I'm always more than happy to do. Even with very simple flavours.
This was an allergy friendly lunch of grilled eggplant and asparagus, kale salad and Choosing Raw's amazing sunflower dill spread.
So now that I've got it back together plans for the weekend include a morning run tomorrow, some very much needed cleaning up of the garden and some long overdue lounging and picnicking in the park. (Questionable segue:) Something I certainly didn't plan was running into a lovely couple and their pet snakes on the way home from work tonight. I can now officially say that I have patted a python. Fact.
Have a lovely weekend!
Drum roll please....I finally have a vegetable garden! It's only taken three weekends; one to clear the huge mess, one to work out what the hell to do with the giant pile of weeds I'd created, and one to purchase and plant.
Ta-da! A new leaf! Whose a good little planty!
