We did see a lot of machine guns, but at least we didn't see any severed heads.
- I'm not eating any of that foreign muck by Brian Thacker
...otherwise known as Friday in Christchurch.
If you're going to be out traipsing across the hills all day then you're going to need a big, hearty breakfast. This is where my epic porridge comes in...for the 2 of us I used 1 cup of wholegrain oats, 1 cup rice milk and 1 cup water. About halfway through cooking I added 2 heaped tablespoons of peanut butter, 2 sliced bananas and some frozen berries. Topped with golden syrup this was absolutely perfect (as we huddled next to the fire)!
So after breakfast and much debate over where we were going to go, we headed off to tackle as much of the Crater Rim Walkway that we could before it got dark (we should have got up earlier in hindsight but holidays are for sleeping in right?). The below photo is looking down into Lyttleton Harbour from the Port Hills.
Along the way you encounter various gun emplacements and what we could only assume were once bomb shelters or something similar. The artwork on some of these was really quite fascinating...
Are you worthy of notice, observation or consideration?
We live in a free country where you are free to do nothing
B thought he'd bring his gas cooker along so lunch was really quite civilised. That morning I'd fried up some cubes of tofu and we just added that to a packet soup (Naked Organics Thai Coconut Curry).
Ah, a hot lunch...just perfect for a beautiful, but freezing day on the hills.
This was our turnaround point since we didn't really feel like wandering in the dark. As it was, we got back with enough time but the sky was definitely well on its way to darkening.
I'm not much of a walker so I was feeling rather stiff by the end and was quite glad to curl up in the car on the way home again (it's ironic really...I could run that track and probably feel fine but when it comes to walking I just get tired!).
We were pretty hungry by then so dinner was definitely in order. We were joined by B's friend M and thought we'd check out somewhere we hadn't been before, the Welcome Chinese Vegetarian Cafe.
As a starter for everyone we ordered the Crispy Savoury Cheeky Nuggets simply because it is such an awesome name!
We each got to pick a main dish that we would all share and I ended up choosing the Hotplate Sambal Lemon Eggplant Tofu.
M ordered this dish but I actually can't remember what it was. My main memory was that it was quite spicy but delicious.
B ordered us the Crispy Sesame BBQ Fried Rice on Hotplate which is described as BBQ Sesame sauce over Crispy protein with Nori and fried rice. Let's just say that to me that description sounds highly unappetising but it turned out to be my favourite of all the dishes. The 'crispy protein with nori' was absolutely delicious and I should have taken a cutaway photo of it 'cause it looked so cool.
Dessert is, of course, very important and I got some vegan ice cream because, well, it was on the menu and that in itself is pretty exciting.
We also got some red bean pastries to share because I love red bean. I was kind of hoping for something like the red bean pancakes I get in Auckland but it was not to be. These were still pretty good though.
Dinner (we'll definitely be coming back to this restaurant) and company was nice and all but I was quite happy to get back to B's flat and sit in front of the fire with a nice cup of tea. I'm such a nana!
The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Oh man, SO busy!!! At least I'm slightly more awake than yesterday where I walked around in a bit of a dream after 3 hours of sleep. A concert (Band of Horses...it was awesome) followed by some girly time followed by cats keeping me up followed by a tiny slab of sleep snuck in somewhere followed by my 5am alarm for training is guaranteed to fry your brain especially after you've already had a string of late nights/early mornings before this. My alarm went off at a similar time this morning but I decided training could wait. I have epic plans for the next 3 days so some sleep was probably a good idea (although I still feel a tad scatterbrained).
Anyway, I got back from a whirlwind trip to Christchurch on Monday night, repacked my bags and headed over to my cousin's flat to look after her cats for the week. The best thing about Christchurch (apart from hanging out with my best friend) is the food. I dream about this food! In fact, I planned my flight down on Thursday afternoon especially so I could make it there in time for dinner. It meant I had to leave work early but hey, some things are more important!!
Dinner at Govinda's Vegetarian Restaurant. I think this meal was, like, $5 which is dirt cheap and gets you a decent amount of curry, savory pastries and rice.
Dessert was the best damn ginger slice ever...I have been trying to replicate it with no success so far (not that my versions haven't been delicious but just not quite up to this standard...I'm working on it!).
There is much more food and adventuring to come (hey, I was there Thursday to Monday and there is a lot of eating you can do in that time). Oh, and some exciting news (well, if you're me anyway). Stay tuned.
I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was waiting for that moment - you know the one I mean - the moment when your date suddenly confesses to something you just can't stomach: he reveals himself as a racist or homophobe, admits he'd never marry anyone but another Baptist (Southerner, brunette, marathon runner, whatever), tells you about his children by his first three wives, describes his fondness for being paddled, or relates his youthful experiences in blowing up frogs or torturing cats. After that moment, no matter how much fun you have, you know it's not going anywhere.
- Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
Some days I just want to spend all day in the kitchen...like I'm having a fantasy about being a (not so desperate) housewife. Odd, since I don't want to be a wife, or stuck at home in the kitchen instead of working or adventuring. But I do like being in the kitchen.
Anyway, it's these sort of days which are perfect for cooking up a storm and stocking up the pantry, the fridge and the freezer. First up we have a big batch of stewed fruit which I use on my breakfasts.
It's always a little different but this particular batch contained 2 x 1.5(ish)kg bags of organic granny smith apples (oh how I love having Harvest Wholefoods so close), a few handfuls of frozen mixed berries and about a cup of organic raisins...oh, and a dash of vanilla along with a good shake of cinnamon. This freezes really well too.
Next up was a giant batch of muesli (well, as giant as the oven dish would allow...it made 2 big containers full). Apparently muesli is granola. Is that correct? I don't know. We always call it muesli.
Hmmm, what's in it? I just tend to throw in what I have but I think it's got wholegrain oats, rye oats, rolled oats, some other kind of oats I can't remember (maybe buckwheat?), shredded coconut, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, cashews, brazil nuts and hazelnuts baked with a drizzle of molasses and a big spoonful of coconut oil. Once cooked and cooled I added ground flaxseed and dried fruit consisting of (I think) dates, pineapple, apricots and raisins (or were they sultanas? I can't remember).
There really is nothing like homemade muesli...I'm serious. Plus you can't really go wrong. Just don't talk on the phone while it's cooking 'cause you might forget about it. Luckily one of my flatmates was paying attention! Chuck in what you've got. I have a habit of finding stuff in my pantry and then emptying out the entire packet.
I also made my awesome muesli bars which I have before training every morning. They are SO good (an old flatmate once proclaimed them the best muesli bars they'd ever tried). Again, I just use what I have on hand but you can see one variant of my recipe here.
The whole night suddenly rose up and whalloped me one.
- Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
So, as I said in the last post, my mate M was up for the weekend recently. Instead of hanging around Auckland we decided to head north a bit to my beach house. After a long car trip up through the Friday afternoon traffic and munching an entire packet of vegetable crackers (um, how can you have an ingredient listed that simply says vegetables. I mean, what vegetables? Aren't you going to list them?) I made us dinner.
Turning on the oven when it's this cold is a very good idea (so is huddling by the heater under a snuggly blanket). So dinner was pizza using bought bases (well, actually Turkish Bread pizza bread which makes a mighty fine base) and a fancy tomato sauce then topped with onion, capsicum, mushrooms, courgette and black beans mixed together with a bit of oil and finished off with grated mozzarella cheezly and sliced tomato.
Oh and there were some veggies on the side...steamed broccoli and raw carrot sticks. I needed a veggie kick after way too much sugar at lunch.
Breakfast...some fancy store-bought muesli (which, no matter how fancy it is, never can taste as good as homemade), stewed apple and kiwifruit, soy yogurt and oat milk. There was also toast but that's not pictured. We were fueling up for a long run later that morning over the hills.
There was lunch in here at some point...leftover pizza on the hills somewhere and toast when we got back. You can just picture it instead. We all should use our imaginations a bit more (plus if you imagine it, what you see might be more exciting than what it really was which could be kinda cool).
Then dinner. Food always tastes amazing up here no matter what you cook. Perhaps it's because we tend to spend the days exploring and getting out in the fresh air. Or maybe it's just because this place is magic. It could, of course, be both.
I marinated some tofu and then stir-fried it with some veggies. This was served with two thirds of a packet of green tea soba noodles. Difficult to serve and messy to eat but delicious. I should eat these noodles more often.
Dessert was required. I made a mint chocolate self-saucing pudding adapted from a recipe in the Edmonds Flatters cookbook...although I got a bit impatient waiting for it to cook so we probably started eating it about 5 minutes before it was properly done but hey, it was just super fudgy and there is nothing wrong with that!
It was good pudding, very good pudding.
Now let me show you something disturbing(ly awesome?)...
Yes. What you are seeing is true.
To make up for that I made us both massive tofu and veggie sandwiches to take out to the orienteering the next day (hummus, marmite, lettuce, tomato, carrot, beetroot, fried tofu, soy cheese). Even after squashing this sandwich down to pack it up, it was still impossible to wrap my mouth around.
But after this high dosage of wholesome veggies and grainy bread I felt much more like a healthy human (I suspect I looked like a crazy monster attempting to eat it though).
Here we were, bounding through the cemetery, going toward the Wicked Witch of the West, instead of hiding in a dark hole where she couldn't find us. This was so smart.
- Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
(I think someone has a Sookie Stackhouse addiction...and I think that someone might be me)
My new flat is on the edge of an orienteering map...how cool is that?! Admittedly it's just a park map but still, it's pretty awesome. I mean, I've lived down the road from maps but never, well, actually on a map before. I've run past this house countless times. I know this area backwards. You just don't understand how cool this is!
Okay, rant over! Moving on...
A couple of weeks ago my beautiful cousin K and my awesome brother C came round for one final dinner at my old flat. I was trying to clean out my fridge and pantry so I cooked up all the potatoes I could find, a block of tofu and every vegetable I had left (apart from all the carrots because if I'd done that we would have turned orange). Oh, and finished off the last of a jar of peanut butter and one of macadamia nut butter.
And here's my plate.
Dessert was also made (a team effort) but unfortunately I forgot to take a photo! I made the Lower Fat Banana Bread from Veganomicon but since I didn't have any apple sauce I actually just added an extra banana and it seemed fine...until I overcooked it in the oven (I think I had it turned up a bit high). It was still good hot and slathered in olivani.
Also recently was my Dad's birthday which, naturally, called for cake. But before we can get to cake you've got to eat dinner like a good girl right?
Mum made the vegetarian shepherds pie from Alison and Simon Holst's Meals Without Meat but adapted a dumpling recipe to put on top instead of the usual potato mash mixture. It's good. I should get the recipe.
Anyway, how about cake...?
I was, unsurprisingly, in charge of cake and spent ages trying to decide what to make. I ended up going for the Peanut Butter Banana Cake from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes. It is basically a banana cake with peanut butter cream cheese icing...and is really tasty!!! I can't believe I hadn't made it until now considering how many of Kris's other cakes I've made.
I like cake!
The vanity of others offends our taste only when it offends our vanity.
- Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
I haven't plugged my camera into my computer to get photos off it in ages and right now I'm not really sure where my camera is since I moved flats yesterday and there are boxes everywhere! So you will have to make do with another tiny teaser from a few weeks ago...
...good old ginger crunch based on the traditional Edmonds Cookbook recipe but veganised and with an increased ginger content (you can find the recipe here. Love...!
So good. Next time I want to make the icing a thicker consistency and, um, perhaps double it (and trust me, there will be a next time)!
Coming up next time (if I can get some space to breathe)...lots of food and maybe a little explore of my new flat (if it ever stops raining).
