Waking up and eating

"Now," the man in black said, laughing. "Oh, now. We make great magic together, you and I. You kill me no more than you kill yourself."
- The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The fuse for the oven is blown so we've been without cooking abilities for the last 2 nights...still waiting on the electrician to come since it's one of those really old fuses that make no sense. Other than that though the new flat is great.


That's a terrible photo of our backyard from my bedroom. One lemon tree with more lemons on it than tree, 2 very sour orange trees and a grapefruit tree...awesome! Also a bonus is that the sun is out this morning. I'm solar powered so I feel more alive on sunny days.

I often have breakfast at work during the week since I've come straight from training so I need a variety of quick, easy, filling and delicious meal options that don't require much effort at the time and I can preferably eat at my desk. I love the taste spelt flour gives to baking and I am in love with the spelt flour muffins they make at Kokako so naturally I had to make the Blueberry Ginger Spelt Muffins from Vegan Brunch (I bought a copy via The Book Depository...free shipping and much cheaper prices than books here anyway? How is that possible?).


I only had mixed berries so I used those and I've never seen vanilla soy yogurt in my life. It's hard enough finding plain soy yogurt anyway so I used a berry-flavoured one which seemed somewhat fitting! Also, I made mine texas sized...perfect for breakfast with a piece of fruit. They were SO good.

Another recipe I tried from Vegan Brunch was Chocolate Beer Waffles. I had my friend C over one day and his main hobby seems to be drinking (okay, not really but he does like beer...a lot) so, well, beer and chocolate seemed the perfect mix for a lazy brunch.


My mixture came out pretty runny but I thought I'd give it a shot cooking it anyway...nope definitely too runny. Once I added a little more flour though they were perfect...kind of like a chocolate beer brownie waffle! More of a dessert than a brunch but hey, everyone deserves to treat themselves sometimes.

Since we seem to be on the topic of breakfast/brunch, I've also been having the odd green smoothie...


...very tasty but definitely not good on my stomach before going for a run! Better to save it for afterwards...

Digging up family memories

He smiled at me like a dark prophet telling some simple truth which I had always known but never before heard in words
- The Favoured Child by Philippa Gregory

There was a time when us kids would avoid going to our parents house and having to be around family but lately we've been regularly coming together (well, not my eldest brother and his wife in America but that goes without saying...they do tend to call on the nights we're all together though) for dinner. Mum secretly loves the opportunity to cook up a storm especially 'cause she can make dessert!


Stir fried veges with crispy tofu...super quick, super healthy and super delicious!


Pear crumble with homemade custard and chocolate lite licks ice cream.

Sometimes it's my job to come round and cook dinner for everyone! I made one of my quick and easy favourites, nachos.


This batch was not nearly as spicy as I'd normally make them as my parents aren't good with hot food but it was still delicious.

One of our family favourites is vegetarian shepherds pie adapted from one of the Meals Without Meat books by Alison and Simon Holst.


Served with some stir-fried veges and it's the perfect warming winter meal.

One of the best parts of dinner at the parents is that Mum often will make us dessert! This is an old favourite of hers, apple butterscotch pudding.


Apparently Mum used to make us this when we were little kids...my brother fondly remembers it but my memory is clearly a little lacking. It's SO delicious though that the four of us polished off the whole pudding in one sitting! Definitely a keeper (now to see if I can prize the recipe off Mum!).

Welcome to the kitchen

Wall Street and the City of London had plenty of money to fund new ideas, but only if they were easily understandable ideas, ones that merely modified what could already be done.
- Electric Universe by David Bodanis

I finally got around to cooking properly on Tuesday night but I was still feeling fairly drained so it was a pretty simple meal - a good old tofu stir-fry using a block of pre-marinated tofu.


It made enough for 3 serves so I had leftovers to look forward to for lunches for the next couple of days. Always good!

The following night my friends S and E took me out to Sunflower Cafe, an asian vegetarian restaurant in town with a variety of mock meats. I'd never been to a restaurant serving mock meats before so I had to order one of the fried chicken stir fries just for the hell of it. Turns out it was very delicious!


Can't remember everything else we ordered but it was all really delicious and filling. I even managed to score leftovers of the chicken dish to take home (more leftovers...yay!).


Afterwards we went back to S's place where we devoured vegan chocolate cherry cupcakes that S had made and chocolate-dipped orange peel alongside copious amounts of tea and gossip. I haven't had such a good night in a long time (or felt quite that overly-full)!

I also met my Mum in town during the week and took her out to lunch at Revive as a very belated Mother's Day present (she's been overseas...that's my excuse!). I ordered the hotpot of the day which was Dahl Aloo with potatoes and brown rice and the German style slaw on the side.


I love all the colours in the slaw...it's like eating a rainbow straight off your plate! And just because everyone deserves a treat now and then, we had bliss balls to finish...perfect :)


I wanted to post some photos of the house and garden here but it's been raining non stop which made my race yesterday a mudbath! Looks like more rain is forecast for the up coming week too...fun times!

Here we go again...

In the aftermath of your visit, I am moving slowly, as if I'm swimming underwater. I had hoped to see you because I am selfish, but now I wish you hadn't come...I am no longer a source of protection for you, but a source of pain.

- Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

It was Dad's birthday last weekend so that called for a little celebration. And what do all celebrations need to have? Good food!

For dinner I made a vegetable and lentil lasagna with whatever I could find in the kitchen. I haven't made (or eaten) lasagna since I last was living at home and this made me wonder why since it was so simple and quick...plus it freezes really well for leftovers.


Instead of cake I opted for one of my favourite recipes, Celine's Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. I couldn't find the recipe on her website any more but luckily I had a copy stowed away. This time though, I made Chocolate Almond Butter Pie with a chocolate crust.


So delicious! We all went back for seconds even though we knew we were well and truly full. It's so rich I don't know how we even managed it but life is too short to waste good pie!


On another note, I moved into my new flat on Friday so you can expect to see some decent food coming out of my kitchen shortly!

Homeward bound

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Thanks everyone for your really kind thoughts. Things are still not going well here but today I did get some exciting news so hopefully life starts brightening up soon.

Anyway, I've been staying at my parents' place for the last couple of days so have finally been able to have some decent meals. I think Mum secretly likes it when my brother and I come over 'cause it gives her an excuse to cook up a storm!

She made my favourite sweet and sour tofu (with peanut butter too this time so I guess that sort of makes it a sweet and sour satay tofu!!) the other night which is always delicious.


I had leftovers on a bagel for breakfast the next day...perfect fuel before a long run around the neighbourhood a couple of hours later. Near the end the sky opened up and I got completely drenched but it was so good to be outside and running...clears my head and gives me space from the chaos.

Mum even made dessert...stewed apple and rhubarb crumble. The rhubarb is straight from her vege garden.


Last night I was home really late so I picked up some kind of curried tofu pie from the health food store for dinner which I had with salad and potatoes Mum had made for their dinner. Quick and tasty.


Then this morning for a bit of fun Mum and I decided to make green smoothies since everyone seems to be making these! Naturally the thought of putting spinach in a smoothie seemed a little on the scary side so I added quite a few berries which ended up making it, well, not green...but you get the idea.


This had a frozen banana, baby spinach, almond butter, frozen mixed berries and soy milk. The mixture was a bit thick so we actually ended up eating them with spoons but it tasted SO good! I'll definitely make these more often.

Feeling a little at a loose end this afternoon I made molasses muesli bars. They are kind of (in a very round about way) based on this recipe.


They were very sweet so next time there will be even more serious adaption, but a nice change from store-bought bars.

Remembering to breathe...

Everyone talked about food, all day and all night! No sooner had lunch been finished and cleared away, than supper would be discussed and a shopping list drawn up for the second meal of the day.

- from Viva l'Italia by Julie Biuso

Sometimes you just need a change of scene, some time to yourself, a break. Life has been incredibly difficult lately. I’ve never been that good with change, coping when things don’t go to plan. Everything suddenly feels so much harder and food tends to get pushed lower down the list and when it does get eaten it tends to be very basic - cereal, toast, muesli bars...

So about the middle of last week I jetted off down to Queenstown to stay at our fancy work apartments with the most amazing view (see the photo below) and a feeling of lightness inside for the first time in a while...


I got picked up from the airport by a good friend and workmate who promptly took me on a tour of the local supermarket and Mediteranian Markets where I well and truly stocked up on enough food to feed me (and a small army) for the week! It was fun as she took me round her favourite places to shop and pointed out some of her favourite things at the Mediteranian Market.


There was no way I was going to get through all this food but I hadn't even thought about what I needed and what I was going to cook so made sure I had plenty of choice. Some of it is coming back with me in my suitcase since I didn't have a chance to use it (hopefully I'm not overweight...it was close on the way down as I had all my art gear packed too).

Despite the fact that it's winter, the idea of salad seemed highly appealing since minimal effort is required (hmmm, I'm sounding really lazy about now). Salads are not something I’ve had that often but if they are good they can be the best thing in the world.


This one was SO good. I should totally do this more often.

Queenstown has quite a cool little health food store, Destination Organic, which I always check out when I come here.


I picked up this prune and linseed bar there which was pretty good - tasted very healthy but I won't hold that against it! It was perfect fuel for my run that day which took me right up into the snow!

Of course, a trip to Queenstown is not complete without a visit to Patagonia Chocolates.


I got 71% dark chocolate with mixed peel and nuts, dark chocolate coconut and dark chocolate ginger...SO delicious.

When I got lazy (or tired) I resorted to simple food...


...a wholemeal bagel with almond butter and blackberry jam...

...and more salad.


One of my favourite quick meals to make used to be nachos but even the thought of cooking that seemed rather daunting. Too much chopping, too much cooking, too much work...but the stove here is seriously awesome...I wish it was mine!


I had leftover tofu which I chucked in for a change and tried to use up as many of the vegetables I had as possible so I didn't waste anything.


It made enough for 3 large servings which meant I didn't have to cook something each night! Not as spicy as I'd usually make it but you make do with what you have.

We had snow yesterday which was pretty cool but sent the temperatures plummeting. Here's the view out my window yesterday morning...quite a change from when I first arrived!


So here I am, about to leave for the airport and head back up to Auckland, to the place I apparently call home and the real world but I think I'm a bit more ready to deal with it now...we'll see.

Land of O

'If I'd been as bad as you, I'd have been a whole lot worse. Better at it than you've ever dreamed of.'
- Granny Weatherwax from Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

No food today...instead, not that I suspect anyone is probably interested, I thought I would give you a small glimpse into my favourite pass time, orienteering...

This last weekend was our last long weekend until the end of October and as usual it was spent orienteering, the Queen's Birthday Orienteering Competition (I've always found it weird that Queen's Birthday doesn't even fall on the same day each year let alone on the actually Queen's birthday but I get an extra day off so it's all good!) which was held down in the Waikato region (a couple of hours south of Auckland).

The theme of the weekend was mud, mud and more mud. Rinsing out all my clothes last night it took forever until the water even started to run vaguely clear and I had to attack my shoes with a scrubbing brush!

On Saturday night there was, well, a night race across the same farmland we had covered in the daylight. It was still pouring with rain so the ground had turned to a mud bath. One of the hills I ended up sliding halfway down on my arse!

The rain stopped in time for Sunday's race but instead of muddy paddocks we had to deal with deep marshes and unpredictable rivers (unpredictable in that you never knew just how deep they were at any given point until you, well, got wet).


I ended up waist-deep crossing a marsh on Sunday's race which I thought was pretty bad...only to end up chest-deep in another one on Monday and I hadn't even got to my first control! I don't think I've ever had to cross so many marshes and fight my way across so much mud...ever!


I'm guessing a lot of you don't really know what orienteering is all about. Yes, you have a compass (I have this one). You also have what's called a Sport Ident or E Card (it'll look something like this) which you wear on your finger. This will electronically record when you get to each control. You'll also have a map which has your course marked on it and basically you have to find the best, fastest way round that course. Easier said than done!

If you want to see what an orienteering map looks like I've posted some here and here and all the maps and courses for big events in New Zealand are posted on Route Gadget where we can draw out the routes we took to get to each control and compare with others (see, I told you I'm an orienteering geek). Splits and results can be compared at Winsplits.

This is what a control looks like when you get to it. There will be a number on it that will correspond to the number you've been given (so you know you've come to the right control).


The little red box you can see on the top of the control is where you insert your Sport Ident so that your splits are recorded.

Did that make any sense? Did I bore everyone to death?! I could talk about it till the cows come home! But if for some reason you were actually interested, check out the IOF website.


Yes, I will be back next time with food...I promise!