Krakow, Poland

Hello again! I’m glad to have found a free morning because lots of exciting things have happened since my last update. On Monday of this week mum, dad and I headed on a little ‘road trip’ from Warsaw to Krakow. I wasn’t feeling particularly well on the Monday having caught a cold which, according to my parents, was the likely result of the flight to Europe and the air in the plane. In any event, it was really frustrating. Normally I don’t mind being sick because it  means a day off from uni or work and an excuse to laze around on the couch, but not so much on holidays when there is lots to see and do.

Anyway, early into our drive we stopped by one of the many road-side fruit stands. This is organic fruit at its best! Mum bought a bag of apples, some plums and some red cherries. The apples weren’t that good (in my opinion, mum really liked them) – they had a potato-y texture. The plums and cherries were lovely though.

On Monday we did lots of driving. I’m a bit scared to have a go at driving because the whole driving on the right-hand side of the road thing still confuses me a bit, so I’m leaving it to dad. There was a very funny moment when both mum and dad went to the wrong side of the car and didn’t notice until they had their seatbelts on. You had to be there.

On the way to Krakow, we stopped first in a town called Czestochowa and a place called Jasna Gora, which is is the most famous shrine to the Virgin Mary in Poland and the country’s greatest place of pilgrimage – for many it is Poland’s spiritual capital. Here you can see the image of Black Madonna, to which miraculous powers are attributed, and for which Czestochowa is very famous. The place had a very calming atmosphere. I instantly felt at ease and at peace there.

After our visit to Czestochowa, we hit the road again to finish the journey to Krakow. Along the way, we stopped for some lunch. I had a zupa grochowa (split pea soup) which is traditionally made using green or yellow split peas, bacon, diced ham, potatoes, carrots and celery, and left chunky.

My mum had one of her favourite Polish dishes (she’s eaten this 3 times since we’ve been here!) called Flaki (tripe soup). I’ve never really been a fan…

My dad orded for himself barszcz czerwony (beetroot soup) and a krokiet (a fried pastry stuffed with mushrooms).

And then we all shared probably one of Poland’s most well-known dishes pierogi. These were meat-filled ones, made with Pork, which are my favourite kind.

We finally arrived in Krakow late in the afternoon and after checking into a hotel, we walked to rynek Krakowski (the main square) where we  saw the beautiful Kosciol Mariacki (St Mary’s Basilica) which was built in the 13th century. A trumpet call is sounded from the church’s main tower every hour which always ends abruptly midstream. According to legend, the tune was played during a Tatar invasion by a guard warning citizens against the attack. He was shot by a Tatar warrior while playing, the melody breaking off at the moment he died.

That evening, we headed out to dinner and shared amongst the three of us a plate of meat (pork, chicken, sausage) and some vegetables.

… and also some salad.

At home I don’t eat a lot of meat (only poultry) but I’m really enjoying the meat-heavy cuisine in Poland. It is interesting to see how my ‘tastes’ have adapted while overseas. I am truly in love with Polish food!

Breakfast the next day was at the hotel. I haven’t really taken any pictures of my breakfasts while in Poland (which is ironic, because before I went away most of my pictures were of breakfast!) I guess it’s because it hasn’t been especially note-worthy. At the hotels, I generally had museli and yogurt. At my Aunt’s, I eat oats. A Polish breakfast can be quite varied but the very ‘traditional’ variety includes cold meats, salads, eggs and bread.

So back to our second day.  As we were walking around, I noticed these bread stands everywhere. They sell rolls and pretzels, called obwarzanki.

My dad bought one… The great thing about travelling with my parents is that when they buy anything, I always have a bite or two

During our second day in Krakow we went to see the famous Wawel Hill, crowned by Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral, which was the seat of royal power up until the 17th century. Wawel Castle was built in the 14th century at the behest of Casimir III the Great. The Castle was home to many Polish kings and queens and the royal crypts in the Cathedral marks their final resting place, along with several other Polish heroes.

After our visit to Wawel Hill, we snacked on some goralskie oszczypki (smoked ‘mountain’ cheese).

Later on we had some more ice cream (I think the reason they can pile it on so high is because it is quite icy so it can stay upright) and mum had gofry (Polish waffles!).Yeah, they were awesome.

Apart from meat, cheese is a big part of Polish cuisine…

And so is bread! The little bowl on the left contains smalec which is spread on bread and is made from lard with onions and bacon. Although it sounds kind of bad it is actually really really tasty. Enjoy this in moderation

This was my dinner  on the second night in Poland – golabki – which are cabbage dumplings filled with ground beef, chopped onions and rice, baked in a spicy tomato sauce.

And yes, I’ve ventured into new drinking territory while here in Poland – beer (or piwo in Polish). I’ve never been a big beer drinker but the ones I’ve tried here have really been quite nice. My favourite has been one called ‘Tyskie’ which has a clean after-taste and none of the nasty bitterness I attribute with beer. Gina, are you proud?

And yes, I have still been faithful to Polish vodka. At a lot of restaurants, after you finish your meal, you are given a shot of wisnowka which is a sweet cherry vodka. Very yummy!

On our next day in the Krakow region, we headed out to a town called Wieliczka to visit the famous Polish salt mines, which had been operating since the 13th century! The tour features statues of historic and mythic figures which are all sculpted out of rock salt. Even the crystals of the chandeliers are made from rock salt! The mine is a really interesting place, and more than 1 million people visit each year. That’s about 6 thousand each day! Notably, the salt mines of Wieliczka were on the first World Heritage List ever.

On our last day, we went to Oswiecim which is not far from Krakow and is the location of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp, which is now a state museum. It was an incredibly sad but significant visit. Below is a picture of the infamous entry point of the camp with the ironic phrase ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ which means ‘work makes you free’ or ‘work brings liberation’.

On the way back to Warsaw, we stopped in a town not far from Kielce to visit my mum’s family. This was an interesting experience for me because I essentially met a lot of my relatives for what felt like the first time. Although I was last in Poland 8 years ago, I haven’t seen my mum’s side of the family since my first visit (when I was 5!) It’s a little strange to meet people you have a blood connection with, but don’t really know.

While there, we were served the most amazing food, made by my cousin who is a chef, and nearly all of which was made from food produced by my Aunt on her property. First were the cold platters, filled with cheeses, meats, breads etc. Then came the hot meals, with more meat, potatoes and vegetables. The servings were absolutely enormous. It was quite literally too much food, but despite our protests, we were told to eat! One thing I have noticed about Polish people is the incredible hospitality they show when you visit their home. I used to be embarassed when my mum would constantly offer my friends food when they were at my house, but now I understand! You will never enter a Polish person’s house without being offered a proper meal. A special  effort is always made.

I will leave you with a picture of some of the Polish candy we bought to my Aunt’s house as a gift for the children.These are called Krowki (cows) and are little sugary creamy buttery lollies which are so delicious, you may indeed turn into a cow if you eat too many.

So my last week has been truly wonderful. I am in Poland for another 10 days before heading to Paris, which is a little unbelievable to me! The time is going so fast!

Apart from the excitement of seeing new things, I also found out I did well in all my exams and will be graduating from my law degree with first class honours. Life is good on all fronts at the moment

I hope you are all well and I look forward to doing some blog reading of my own soo!

A trumpet call, hejnał mariacki, is sounded from the church’s main tower every hour. The melody played ends unexpectedly in midstream. According to legend, the tune was played during a 13th-century Tatar invasion by a guard warning citizens against the attack. He was shot by a Tatar warrior while playing, the melody breaking off at the moment he died

Warsaw, Poland

Hello everyone! This is my first official post since landing in Warsaw, Poland after the long long journey. We (mum, dad and I) left Melbourne, Australia on July 15 in the evening and flew for one hour before we had our first stop-over at Sydney airport. Our next flight went for about 9 hours and took us to Hong Kong airport. Then we flew for another 12 hours (approx.) and arrived at Heathrow airport. Then we had another 2 hour flight before we touched down in Warsaw, Poland. So I think that’s about 24 hours of flying, not including all the time we spent waiting in-between flights. I tell you what – it was exhausting! I won’t bore you with the details of the flight except to say that the food was bad and the leg-room was lacking.

We were picked up at the airport by my cousin  and taken to my Aunt and Uncle’s house in Warsaw. They have the most beautiful property! I loved seeing how green and alive everything looked. In Australia, because of all the water restrictions, a patch of green grass is pretty rare.

I was delighted to see my Aunt’s doggies again. This cutie below was originally called ‘Tina’ but then the family started calling her ‘Pinda’ (which is Polish for ‘bitchy’) because she’s a little bit stuck-up. The name stuck. She’s a little bit reserved but still a total sweetheart.

This little fellow is the opposite to Pinda – he loves being cuddled and craves affection. His name is Guzik (Polish for ‘button’).

You may be amused to know that one of the first things dad and I did when we arrived was to head to the local supermarket to find some oat bran so we could continue making our breakfasts while here at my Aunt’s house. Despite lots of searching (we went to several supermarkets!), the best we could find was rolled oats. Alas, there has been no spinach or cauliflower finding its way into my oats (yes, I miss them…) Instead, we have been using lots of apples, blueberries and raspberries which are all in season. Along with searching for oat bran, dad and I also sought to scope out the ‘nut butter’ situation here in Poland. Unfortunately nut butter doesn’t really seem to be very popular over here. I found some peanut butter (it took some effort!) but that’s about it. We are going to check a health food store later today, however, so maybe we can find some nut butter there…

Ok, onto more ‘Polish-y’ things. In the last couple of days my parents (especially my dad, who was born and raised in Warsaw) have proved to be excellent guides by taking me to the key landmarks in Warsaw. The last time I visited Poland was 8 years ago, so the refresher was definately needed. We visted Stare Miasto (Poland’s ‘old town’) which is the oldest historic district of the city.

Below is a picture of Kolumna Zygmunta (Polish for Zygmunt’s column) which was erected in 1644 and is one of Warsaw’s most famous landmarks. The column and statue commemorate’s King Zygmunt III Waza who in 1596 had moved Poland’s capital from Krakow to Warsaw.

There was a lot of walking and a lot of eating! Mum and I shared this massive plate below which features trout, and prawns and salmon on top of some saffron rice, potatoes and red and white cabbage. As usual, I couldn’t get enough of the cabbage. The salmon and trout was delicious too.

Other notable eats included a grilled Polish sausage with mustard and warm cabbage salad.

And of course ice cream!

For 2 zloty (about 65 US cents) you can buy a pasztecik. This is a traditional Polish pastry filled with mushrooms.

One of the other truly lovely places we have visited was Łazienki Królewskie (Łazienki Palace) which is Warsaw’s Royal Baths Park. In the photo below I’m standing in front of a monument of Chopin, which is in the Park, amidst some red roses which are in bloom.  

We did lots of walking around the park and eventually had a much-deserved sit down and a cup of tea. My dad ordered one of Poland’s best known desserts called Charlotka which is apple pie cake served with cream. I stole a few bites, of course.

These first few days of my holiday in Poland have been marvelous! I am thrilled to be able to wear shorts and t-shirts and feel the warmth of the sun on my pasty-white skin (though I’m not so thrilled about the pasty-white bit). I have to be honest – I do miss my daily exercise sessions. Although we are walking a lot, I am craving a weights session which must sound a bit weird. But I really want to make the most of my time here… In any event, I’ve only seen one gym while I’ve been here anyway. Which is interesting because all the girls are soooo skinny. And they are total stunners too. Must be something to do with genetics

In any event, I am loving seeing where my parent’s home country, getting the chance to practice my Polish, eating amazing Polish food and seeing all the beautiful sites. I’ve also become very well-acquainted with Vodka while here too..

Truly, what I have posted is really a small small piece of what I am experiencing! Although I’ve struggled to find the odd free minute to update this blog, I am really keen to share what I can of this amazing country.. (here I am below sneaking in some blog time!)

On Monday we are leaving Warsaw to explore the rest of Poland, including Krakow, Gdansk and Lublin. We are also going to go visit my mum’s family. I will take lots of photos and keep updating you when I can! I hope you are all well my lovelies

Departure

I’m not quite sure how I got from ‘5 sleep’s to ‘Departure’ but I do know I have been crazy busy getting organised for my flight this afternoon. I wanted to do a proper post today, but I have been running around doing last minute things all morning – and am now 15 minutes away from heading to the airport!

I am so excited about what is to come! My first stop is Warsaw, Poland where I will spend 3 weeks visiting family and travelling around with my parents. Then, mum and I are headed to Paris for a week before I head to London for another week. From then on, my plans are a little hazy… I figure I’ll go where I please! On my list are Greece, Ireland and Scottland… and whatever else I can squeeze in. In early September I leave Europe and head to the US. I’ll be travelling the whole country (or at least, intend to!) and will be back home in late October. I’m looking forward to having some blogger catch-ups

I have every plan to blog my travels while away – so please check back so see what I have been up too!

With that, I best be off…

5 sleeps to go

Yesterday I finished off my last serve of oatgurt which was a little sad. But I suppose I should get used to not having it (thank goodness for Heather who has kindly agreed to give me my outgurt fix when I visit Tennessee!) I made a creamy base for this bowl of oatgurt by whisking an egg through the oatgurt in a saucepan with some water and half a banana, until the egg was cooked. I then blended 1/3 broccoli head with the creamy oatgurt base. The egg definately gave it an extra creamy taste, without any eggy taste. Anyone else like using eggs in oats?

It took me a little while to catch up on all your blogs yesterday and I spent most of my morning doing just that. In the midst of my reading, I made myself a GM with 3 huge handfuls of spinach, 1/2 banana, almond milk and 1/2 scoop of chocolate protein powder and a little ice.

Then I  got ready to go out and run a few errands. I wanted to try the new shoes I bought with dad – to break them in a little – and thought I’d take a picture for you all to see. Although they are pretty plain, they are really comfy and just what I was after. I think these are far more appropriate walking shoes than the numerous pairs of ballet flats that I own!

When I got home I whipped out a jar of vegemite to make myself a little snacky snack. This jar of vegemite, however, is different to the traditional kind. It’s a new ‘flavour’ which has been bought out and even to look at, it is a lighter colour than normal vegemite. Normal vegemite is quite severe and has a strong taste, whereas this flavour you can eat off a spoon (well, almost) and is a bit milder and creamier.

Here it is spread on a wrap – with normal vegemite I’d use less. I added some cheddar cheese to this and it was the perfect vegemite wrap.

For dinner tonight I picked up a different veggie – a celeriac. We normally have this in soup, but I was feeling creative. Celeriac is a kind of celery which is grown as a root vegetable and is high in vitamin C, vitamin K, phosphorus, potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, magnesium and manganese. It won’t win any beauty contests, but it is certainly good for you.

This is what I made  – a tuna spinach mornay pie topped with a sweet potato and celeriac mash.

I used:

Pie

• tablespoon of butter
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 30g wholemeal flour
• 2 cups of soy milk, warmed
• 150g baby spinach
• 500g can of tuna, drained
• juice of half a lemon

Mash

• 300g celeriac, chopped
• 400g sweet potato, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of soy milk
• tablespoon of parmesan cheese

1. I made the pie mixtutre first by melting the butter in a saucepan, cooking the onion for around 5 minutes, then adding the flour and milk and stirring until the mixture thickened and bubbled. Then I removed this from the heat and stirred in the spinach, tuna and lemon juice. I then spooned the pie mixture into an oven-friendly casserole dish.

2. I made the mash by boiling the vegetables until tender, draining them, then adding the soy milk and mashing until smooth. I spooned this on top of the pie mixture and topped it with the parmesan cheese.

3. I put this into the oven at 180C until the top of the pie was browned.

Here is my serve – we ate it immediately after it was ready, so it hadn’t quite ’set’ yet but was still delicious.

We also had some veggies – carrots and broccoli.

And some sweetcorn.

So in the past few days I’ve been reading lots of travel books trying to decide where I should definately go in the US. I already have a few things on my list and I’m wondering what your thoughts on these are. Here is what I have so far:

• San Diego (visiting a friend)
• L.A.
• San Francisco
• Las Vegas
• Yosemite National Park
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Nashville
• Washington D.C.
• New York
• Boston
• Pittsburgh (visiting family)

If you have anywhere else you would suggest I should go (or shouldn’t go), please tell me. I’m open to suggestions. I’m so excited – only 5 sleeps left until I get on a plane!

Here today

Hey guys – I can’t believe I haven’t posted since the weekend! I guess I have been fairly busy this last week, but I also had a few ‘meh’ days early in the week where I didn’t want to go over what happened. Let me explain..

So my week started out well enough – with some delicious oatgurt in a jar. I always keep the jars to myself, and haven’t yet shared with dad how great eating oatbran out of a near-empty jar is. I feel this is a little pleasure I can keep to myself seeing as ‘what you don’t know can’t hurt you’.

Lunch on Monday was the last of my wraps, filled with cheddar cheese and hummus and a baby spinach side salad with some tuna and peas on top.

After lunch, I headed to the grocery store to buy some supplies to make ‘coconut chocolate bars’ for my friends going away/birthday that night. I hadn’t tried the recipe before, but it was in a chocolate cook book I own and it looked really tasty!

Anyway, it was a total baking fail Although it looked pretty, when I chopped it, the base didn’t behave and went all crumbly. I followed the recipe exactly, so I’m not sure what went wrong, but being slice-less left me a little annoyed. I also didn’t have enough time to wash my hair before I left for his party (my fault – I could have done it during the day but didn’t) and so felt immediately ‘icky’ by virtue of having dirty hair. I was, however, able to ‘deal’ with the no-slice issue by buying my friend an ice cream cake from Dairy Bell which he really liked!

The party was not so great. Although I loved seeing my friend (he’s the one I’ll be travelling around Greece with) another friend of mine, who was there on the night, kind of avoided me. To be fair, I didn’t speak to her either so it went both ways. This girl was once my best friend – we met in our first year of university and travelled to Europe together. But after a few ‘issues’ in the last couple of years, I think it is fair to say that our friendship is all but over. This made me so incredibly sad on Monday night, and also on Tuesday. I know that being her friend just doesn’t make me happy anymore, and that it’s better for me to not see her anymore, but at the same time, I feel so sad to have lost her. Has anyone else broken up with a friend before? This happened a couple of days ago but recounting it now (even if vaguely) is just making me feel teary again. So I better move on to something happier!

Alas, I have no photos from Monday though there was a delicious curry and satay chicken skewers at the party which I enjoyed. Along with a small sliver of chocolate cake, and ice cream cake!

On Tuesday morning I was still feeling a bit down and preoccupied. I didn’t take a photo of my breakfast, which was a banana with almond butter, which I ate on the run on my way to my training session at the gym. My trainer made me do a bit of a ‘circuit’ which was good fun (that’s sarcasm, by the way). I did one rep of five different exercises – DB squats, barbell chest press, bicep curl, lat pulldown, pushup on a medicine ball, cable row and an ab exercise - and then on the next round did two reps, then three reps etc until I got to ten. Oh, and he made me do 20 reps of the ab thing on the last 5 rounds because he decided it didn’t seem hard enough. Yeah, it hurt. I followed this up with an amazing 50 minutes of cardio. Don’t know how I managed that – I think having a rest day on Monday gave me the energy to bust out a bit more time on the cross-trainer/bike.

When I came home I immediately had a massive green monster protein shake. This has about 3 handfuls of spinach, a scoop of chocolate protein powder, 1/2 banana, a couple of strawberries and some almond milk.

For dinner on Tuesday, I made a ‘vegetable slice’. Like I’ve said before, it’s hard cooking for dad. As well as being a fussy eater, he is on doctors orders to avoid animal fat. This throws an extra spanner in the works.   

So here’s what I used:

• 2 zucchini’s - grated and moisture removed
• 1 large carrot – grated
• 1 large onion – chopped
• 1/2 head of broccoli - grated and steamed
• 1/2 head of cauliflower – grated and steamed
• 100g turkey breast – chopped (optional)
• 3 eggs
• 6 egg whites
• 50g wholewheat flour
• small handful of tasty cheese

1. Put a little oil in the pan and cook the onion until golden brown

2. Mix all the veggies and the turkey together.

3. Mix together the flour and eggs/whites until well combined

4. Pour over the veggies and mix together.

5. Place in a baking dish and top with a handful of cheese.

This came out really well! I don’t think there was enough turkey in it – you couldn’t really taste it – but otherwise, it was great. And dad-friendly!

Wednesday was a bit of a family day. Dad and I went shoe shopping after my breakfast which was a bowl of broccoli oat bran (yes, no oatgurt!)

Normally, I wouldn’t go shoe shopping with dad - but we were looking for some walking shoes. And luckily enough, a family friend of ours happens to own a shoe shop, so we headed into the city and both bought ourselves a nice pair of converse shoes. We also went travel insurance shopping. It’s about as fun as it sounds. We got a few quotes and need to decide today who we will go with. Did you know that my travel insurance takes a huge jump cost-wise because I’m going to the US? Oh well, it’s worth it!

After our shopping expedition, dad and I went and had lunch at a Polish restaurant we were excited to spot. Dad ordered some pierogi and I must admit, they weren’t nearly as good as my mum’s. I had a roast vegetable salad which was quite good… but I left my camera at home, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

And guess what – I had my first ‘last’ yesterday before I go overseas. I had my last boxing class. Oh, it was sad. I love that class so much. And I’ll miss the line of death (a boxing game we play at the end of each class – it’s much funner than it sounds!)

When I came home, we had some more Polish eats. Zurek soup – with some sausage and an egg in there. Kinda looks like a wonky smiley face hey? It was delicious.

And dessert yesterday was a large green apple, some peaches and a few almonds baked in the oven for about 40 minutes. I topped this with a little honey and flaxmeal, and had ice cream on the side.

Ok, I have to find something else to make for dinner tonight. And also talk to my bank. And go to the travel shop. The list goes on!

Early mornings

So it’s about 1am here in Melbourne and I am blogging whilst watching the mens Wimbeldon Grand Final. Roddick has taken the first set, Federer the second, and it is 5-6 in the third. If you’re not watching this, you are missing out! It has been great tennis so far! I hope Roddick wins because he’s such a cutie and definately the underdog, but I’ll be happy if Federer takes it out (which I predict is what will happen). Hopefully I can stay awake to see the end of this!

I was up early on Saturday morning to meet with my running group. It was such a wet and yucky morning – pouring down with rain, windy and cold! But the thing about running group is that you become so consumed with simply surviving the session, that you end up forgetting about the rain and stop caring about the puddles. It’s always a hard session, but like my personal training, I feel so awesome afterwards. No pain no gain.

I came home to a bowl of outgurt blended with cauliflower, banana and tofu. Topped with ABC spread. There’s nothing like over-ripe bananas in oats. Makes such a difference.

After my great breakfast (seriously, how did I survive before discovering outgurt??) I hit the couch for some sloth-inspired laziness. A friend of mine lent me the book “The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella, which is the book on the which the movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic” was based. It’s such a fun read. It’s what I like to call a ‘popcorn’ book – it’s entertaining despite not having much substance. Books like this definately have their place. As much as I like a deeper, more intellectual read, I love this kind of thing too.

Given all the exertion in the morning, I actually ended up taking a nap on the couch in front of the fireplace. I haven’t napped at all since my exams finished (I used to nap all the time while I was studying).

I spent Saturday watching lots of movies. I started with ‘I am Legend’ with Will Smith. I think Will Smith is great and even though the ending of this movie disappointed me, I still enjoyed it. But I cried in the bit about the dog. Nothing makes me cry more than a dog dying in a movie I watched some Harry Potter too!

For dessert on Saturday I had two of my favourite things - cherries and 70% dark chocolate. I tried some 85% dark chocolate the other day and it was so intense! I could only eat the tiniest amount of it. Are you a dark chocolate fan? If so, how dark do you go?

I figure I might as well tell you about my Sunday, given that I’m sparse on Saturday pictures.

For breakfast I had more outgurt and tofu, and blended through some broccoli and vanilla protein powder as well.

After breakfast, I met my friend at the gym and we did an hour of weights together. We did legs, chest, back and abs. It was a good session and it made me realise I’m going to miss lifting weights when I’m overseas. And imagine all the muscle I will lose! That makes me sad. It’s one thing to squeeze in a run while in a foreign country, it’s harder to hit the gym for some strength training (especially if you are cheap like me!)

I had some Abu topped broccoli and two hardboiled eggs when I got back from the gym. I also had an (unpictured) green monster with a scoop of protein powder, spinach, mango and cottage cheese. Has everyone tried Pbu/Abu already? It’s good stuff!

In the afternoon my beautiful friend Jess, who will be house-sitting (and more appropriately, dog-sitting!) while my parents are away (they are going to spend a month with me in Poland) came over to get a run-down on our house. Most of the discussion revolved around Phantom (our dog) and his likes/dislikes. I swear, the dog is so spoilt! But we love him to bits and I have no doubt mum will be using Skype often to call back home and check up on him.

Dinner was some delicious stuffed red capsicums. I should have taken a photo of the stuffing but was too hungry to even think about it! These were filled with a minced chicken and sweet potato mixture and topped with a little bit of cheese. So delicious!

And the other part of dinner consisted of possibly my favourite food – a tomato, onion and eggplant bake that my dad makes. Here it is out of the oven.

… and what it looks like inside.

And of course – there was some salad too.

I read somewhere that iceberg lettuce isn’t very good for you. Does anyone know? We don’t normally use iceberg lettuce, but mum has temporarily stopped buying romaine after all the bugs on it really creeped me out. We clean our lettuce really well, but still, those little fly things make my stomach turn. I’m quite neurotic and spend ages looking over each piece of lettuce to make sure it’s clean. It’s quite time consuming.

On a final note, I wanted to wish luck to the ever-talented Susan who is participating in a triathalon tomorrow (well, my today!) Good luck Susan!!!

And I hope everyone else has a fabulous Monday

Double up

I’ve been feeling a little blazy (blog lazy) lately, hence not updating you all yesterday. So this is a bit of a double post to make up for it.

First things first – I’ve crossed off a couple of things from my to-do list (although I added a couple of things to it as well): I emailed a girl I’ll be visiting in San Diego with my flight details and I ordered enough disposable contacts to last me 5 months (even though I’m only away for aroung 3). Still, the lost looks pretty long…

Ok, so breakfast on Thursday was more outgurt. This time with cauliflower and cottage cheese. There is possibly a carob surprise contained within also. As always, it was filling and delicious.

For lunch on Thursday I had some butternut pumpkin with cottage cheese and hazelnut nut butter (I could decide which to use so used both!) and a crack wrap with spinach. In my crack wrap I used a cheddar cheese babybel piece and it was soooo good. I love cheddar cheese.  

It has been a while (a long while in fact!) since I’ve done some baking. I’m a bit of a fan, and given that I’ve finished exams, its kind of surprising I haven’t  done more baking. Actually, on second thoughts, it makes perfect sense that I’m not baking as much – dad is on his diet. However, this ricotta chocolate cheesecake is practically a health food – its protein packed with skim ricotta, chocolate protein powder, cocoa powder and some eggs. And delicious too!

After my baking, I went to the gym and did about 50 minutes of cardio – on the bike, elliptical and treadmill. When I got home, I tucked into a few oysters. Anyone else a fan? I love me anything out the ocean. And even though I didn’t like oysters when I was little (really, what child does?) I love them now! With lots of lemon, of course.

Along with my oysters, I had a spinach and butter bean salad (with some sweet potato in there too), topped with some leftover tuna bake. It was pretty good given it was a 5-minute effort using leftovers.

I felt like some super green-ness on Friday morning – meet my blended bowl of oat bran which featured broccoflower and spinach. Notice I didn’t have outgurt? I felt like I should ’shake things up’ a bit given that I’ve been dutifully eating outgurt for a while now. Do you find you get into food routines? I do this a lot – when I find something I like, I stick to it until I’m sick of it.

I should also add, this bowl had some double nut-butter aciton happening – hazelnut nut butter and almond, brazil nut and cashew nut butter. Brilliant.

For lunch I had some more ‘mashed’ cauliflower with hummus, and also an omelet topped with jam.

Dinner was some roasted chicken and salad, and dessert was a piece of my chocolate ricotta cheesecake. For the berry sauce, I microwaved a strawberry and some blueberries in the microwave for 40 seconds. So yummy! I also whipped out the ‘Paris’ plate for this dessert. I feel I need to start acclimatising myself a little to what it will be like eating cake in Paris

Are you a cheesecake fan? I love a piece of real baked cheesecake but haven’t had any for agggeees. When I was little, I didn’t like it though. I thought it was really weird to put cheese in a dessert (I also didn’t like carrot cake for a similar reason…)

What to-do

I was really pleased with the positive feedback I received from everyone yesterday, in relation to the whole ‘finding what works’ thing. I think it’s really freeing to be able to accept that everybody is different and that there is no right or wrong way of going about eating and exercising. Maybe I’m finally getting a (loose) grip on this intuitive eating business?

So as you may know, I finished exams (and uni) nearly two weeks ago, and I’m going overseas in less than two weeks. You’d think I’d start to get a bit organised right? Nup. I have been super lazy. And I still can’t be bothered doing much of anything. Today, however, I think I made a breakthrough – I finally made a to-do list. It has 19 things on it and I’ve decided I’m going to knock at least one thing over every day. And then I’m going to tell you all about it so that you can keep me accountable. I’m sure you’ll all be dying to know when I’ve organised my travel insurance and bought enough socks

Ok, so here is a shot of yesterday mornings breakfast. It was another broccoli/broccoflower/ricotta/egg white outgurt  combination. I’m a bit of a carob chip fan and lately have been burrying them deep in my oats, so that as I’m eating, I strike little pockets of carob gold. It makes breakfast more exciting (if that’s even possible!) Another one of my weird quirks – I always push all my nut butter to the side of the bowl and eat around it, leaving it until last. Anyone else do funny things with their food?

For lunch I had ‘mashed potatos’… or not! The white fluffiness on the side is actually 1/2 of a shredded cauliflower. I topped one half with hummus and the other half with almond, brazil nut and cashew nut butter. I also had a classic ‘crack wrap’  (cheese and hummus) with a little spinach also thrown in for good measure. 

So as I’m home a lot now, I end up making dinner most nights. This task has been made more enjoyable for me, because dad has lately really changed how he is eating and with great results. He has already lost 8kgs! Anyway – I attribute some of his success to me (aren’t I modest?) After all, he started dropping the weight and feeling really good after he started eating my breakfasts! So now when I’m cooking, I’m conscious of trying to make something especially healthy and good for him, and tasty all at once. This isn’t always easy with my dad – he can be a pretty picker eater! But yesterday I made something he really really liked – a cheesy tuna and cauliflower bake. Have a look:

Ok, so she’s not especially photogenic but don’t judge a book by its cover. This bake contains:

• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Onion
• Mushrooms
• Celery
• Tuna
• Light tasty cheese
• Soy milk

It tasted great! I used ’shredded’ cauliflower and broccoli in this dish which made it taste and look a lot like a rice. Crafty, eh?

After I made dinner, I headed to my usual Wednesday night gossip session (aka a warm-up on the bike with a friend) followed by a boxing class. The class was a bit disappointing. My trainer usually runs the class but someone else was taking it and it just wasn’t as good. Plus, we started 5 minutes late and finished 5 minutes early. That sucked. Oh well, at least its not my last boxing class before I go overseas! My last class will be next Wednesday and it better be good. I’m going to miss it so much though.

When I got home from the gym, I had dinner. Here is my plate – it features some leftover vegetable hot pot, tuna bake and a tomato with sour cream.

And for dessert I had some fresh strawberries and cherries. Yummo!

Want to hear some (vaguely) interesting news? Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise and Suri landed in Melbourne, Australia yesterday because Katie is doing a film here. They are staying at the Villa apartment at Crown Towers (the best hotel in Melbourne) which costs $27, 500 a night. Isn’t that insane? I must admit, as much as I think Tom is a bit of a weirdo, I was a little jealous of Katie when I read this.  Ok, so I’m off to bed now and am hoping to wake up to some sunshine tomorrow! Good night

Works for me

Since I’ve finished exam, I’ve been meeting my trainer on Tuesday mornings for a weights session. I have a habit of getting up a few hours before my session so I’m wide awake and have digested my breakfast. I then like to arrive 20 minutes before my session to warm up on the bike and come to terms with the awful torture which is bound to ensue. Yesterday was like any other Tuesday, I woke up and had this for breakfast:

This is a bowl of outgurt, ricotta, a couple of egg whites and broccoli all blended together with some carob chips and ABC spread on top. I should have arrived about 15 minutes before my session, but instead got stuck in some crazy traffic which was the result of road works. I ended up being late to my session and I didn’t get to warm up or have time to mentally prepare. Agh! I think being late stresses me more than anything else! I hate it. That said, it was a pretty good PT session. I did lot of squats with DBs, followed by intense timed squats against the wall using the fitball (my butt had to touch the ground or they wouldn’t count). After my session, I did some intervals on the bike and elliptical. My thighs are really aching today.

When I got home I had one of my favourite protein-filled, post-workout snacks – protein pancakes! I used 1 scoop protein powder, an egg white, vanilla essence, some baking powder and a little water. I then fried this up as a normal pancake and topped it with cottage cheese and fresh strawberries. Is there any better combination than chocolate, strawberries and cream? (ok, cottage cheese isn’t quite cream, but its a pretty good alternative!)

I also had a green monster made with a couple handfuls of spinach and a few more strawberries blended with almond milk and some more protein powder.

And dinner was chicken soup (the chicken is under the noodles).

So I was reading Heather’s blog yesterday, where she spoke about her weight loss and what she has found works for her. This made me reflect a little on my eating and what works for me. The truth is, I have never been overweight. I’ve often fluctated 5 pounds here and there but that’s probably it. When I was in High School I used to be pretty active and played a lot of sport. And I never thought about what I was eating. Buttered white bread rolls every day at the tuck-shop? Sure thing! Pizza every week on debate night (yes, I was a nerd..) followed by sponge cake? Bring it on! I always ate well at home, but when I had to make my own food choices, they weren’t always great. Because I was pretty active, I guess it didn’t make much of a difference. However, in my final year of school I stopped playing tennis (to make time to study) and I became really aware of how my body was changing (I felt heavier, sluggish and unhappy). And I didn’t particularly like it. When I got to uni, I got back into exercise, started eating better and from then on have always had an interest in food and exercise. So I guess I have been ‘experimenting’ with my diet for about 6 years now. And here is what I’ve found ‘works’ for me (for now!)

1. A big breakfast

Before I was an oat bran convert, I used to eat yogurt and/or cereal every morning for breakfast. Although I really enjoyed my breakfasts, they never kept me very full for long. I’d always be dreaming about lunch or my next snack. I’ve found in the last year that I’ve really increased how much I eat at breakfast. It’s probably one of my most calorific meals of the day. But it works! I’ve always been the type of person who is ravenous in the mornings, so I guess it makes sense for me to eat a lot then. 

2. Three proper meals (+ dessert!)

I used to focus on having 6 meals a day. I think the theory of mini-meals is great – you are constantly fueling your body and so you aren’t ever hungry. But the theory just didn’t work for me. I would be HUNGRY all the time. It wasn’t until I started eating much more at each meal, that I felt my hunger was kept at bay more effectively. That said, I still have small snacks between meals.

3. Nutrient breakdown

There was a time when I didn’t really think about the nutrient breakdown of the foods I would be eating. For example, a typical day may have involved cereal for breakfast, a sandwhich for lunch, fruit as a snack and some meat and rice/pasta for dinner.  It might sounds ok, but talk about carb overload! I wasn’t getting enough protein and fat in my diet. Carbs have always easy for me – I could eat them all day, every day. But the other stuff has always tougher. Being conscious of getting fat and protein into my diet has made me feel better, and less hungry.

4. Fibre

This is my new best friend – whether its in the form of flax, chia or a complex carb it helps me feel full so I love it!

5. Not depriving myself of anything

I don’t deal very well with avoiding “bad” foods. I think the moment I make anything off limits, it makes me want to eat it even more. If you haven’t guessed already from reading my blog, I love chocolate. And how many times in the past have I tried to swear it off? Too many times. So now, instead of banning foods, I’ve simply changed the way I look at these foods. Chocolate isn’t bad. And I can have it, if I want. And guess what, because I can have it, I kinda don’t want it as much! It’s as simple as that! Changing the way I think of chocolate has made me want it less.  That said, when I want it, I eat it and refuse to feel guilty about it!

All this said, I think there are lots of ways I could improve my diet and I am always open to trying new things. I think that my diet will continue to evolve – but that’s ok with me! It’s all about the journey, right? I’m also well aware that works for some people doesn’t work for me, and vice versa. But that’s totally ok! Just because someone else has cut out dairy, doesn’t mean I have to. It’s all about finding what works. So I wonder – what have you found works for you?

Go Aussie!

Oh my, I stayed up late last night! I was watching the Hewitt v Stepanek match which went for close to 3 hours. But I was pretty happy to see Lleyton win! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi! (If you haven’t heard that before, it’s the catch-cry of every Australian sports fan!) Anyone else follow the tennis?

Anyway, due to my late night, I woke up a little later this morning and proceeded to make myself some breakfast outgurt. I blended through some broccoli and banana and used a nut butter jar as my bowl. Alas the jar wasn’t big enough, so I had some extra in an ordinary bowl too. One really good thing about making my dad breakfast each morning is that he eats nut butter too – so we go through the jars more quickly. This means more oats in a jar for me! Yummm

After breakfast, I headed out to run some errands. This involved going to my (old) university and getting a refund on my parking permit, doing a little grocery shopping, picking up a prescription and then meeting a friend for a chai tea latte and a choc chip muffin. I’m so excited – my friend and I have worked out that we will both be free on August 15 and so plan to travel through Greece together. We have a friend working in Mykonos so we will visit her too! I love when my travel plans develop a little more. Makes me feel very excited for what is ahead

When I got home, I had to make a dinner quick-fast before my dad got home. I made a vegetable hot pot and it actually tasted really awesome. Take a look:

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground paprika
• 500g butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded, cut into 2cm pieces
• 400g can diced tomatoes
• 400g chickpeas
• 400g cannellini beans
• 300g green beans, trimmed, blanched

Method

1. I cooked the onion for about 5 minutes on a medium heat, until golden. I then stirred in cumin and paprika and cooked for maybe 30 seconds to release the flavour. Next I added the pumpkin, tomato and chickpeas with 1 cup water. I covered the pan, and cooked for about 10 minutes, until the pumpkin was tender.

2. Once the pumpkin was cooked, I added the cannellini and green beans and tossed gently until heated through. I served this sprinkled with some parmasan cheese.

The final product is pictured below (along with a side salad of rocket and tomato, with a drizzle of balsamic and olive oil). I think cumin is one of my favourite spices! It works really well with beans. I loved this dish. Colourful and delicious.

Although I’m not a vegetarian, I’m finding I’m really liking veggie-ful dishes. I could probably live without red meat – probably not chicken or fish though. Are you a meat-eater? If not, why not?

After I made dinner, I headed to the gym and did 60 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, bike and elliptical. 60 minutes is normally a long time for me to do cardio but I didn’t do anything on Sunday so found I could do it quite easily. Plus, the muffin spurred me on a bit too… Hey, I’ll use any motivation I can!

Hope you’ve all had a great day