spring

The mulberry tree in our front garden is fruiting and the birds and I are racing to get the ripe fruit first. If you've never tasted mulberries, they have a subtle sweet flavour that makes me think of greenness and  growing. The taste is evocative for me; my great-aunt and -uncle had a mulberry tree in their huge (in my memory, at least) back yard. I have a clear memory of standing in the bathroom in front of the mirror, crushing mulberries in my mouth so that the juice ran down my chin, so I could see what I'd look like as a vampire. Clearly Peanut would be a very messy vampire.

happy easter

 

 All photos by Sky Croeser

Every two weeks a group of my friends gets together for Crafternoon. Recently several of us were complaining on missing out on fun ethnic traditions because of our boring backgrounds so this weekend Sky, who is of Greek heritage, hosted Greek Easternoon.

 We made tsourekia together and dyed and polished eggs. Making bread as a group felt like a ritual.

It must seem strange for people from the Northern Hemisphere to see traditional holidays taking place at the opposite end of the seasons. All the traditional symbolism of Easter is about its traditional roots as a spring festival: eggs, rabbits, birth and rebirth, fecundity and fertility.

But summer is so brutal in Perth that this time of year, when the weather starts to cool, feels like a rebirth to me. After being battered by the heat for so long, I feel revitalised by the cooler weather. I want to bake and potter around and nest again. Plants and lawns are recovering from the blistering sun and starting to grow again. We're all coming back to life.

pretty colours

Just some recent photos: books arranged according to colour in the window of the New Edition bookstore on William St; cables on the floor at work; a Sesame Street record; and a meat pie in pea soup. (It's an Australian thing, and no, I didn't eat it, I just made it for my husband.)

#beautifulinsideandout week 8

 Image via That's Nerdalicious!

How did I go last week? Well, better than the two weeks before, that's for sure. I didn't manage to stick to my goals, though. My husband was sick and I used that as an excuse to get us lots of comfort foods. However, I'm really feeling like I've had enough of that, and that I want to make real changes.

This week I want to focus on one goal:

Stop eating food I can't digest.

I have known that I am lactose intolerant for several years. About a year ago I found out I am also intolerant of many other foods, including wheat. (My many food intolerances will have to be another blog post-- there's something for you to look forward to!) I went on a very strict elimination diet to find this out, and was vigilant about keeping those foods to a minimum. However, over time, I've become lazy. It's so much easier to grab a roll for lunch and than to look around for a gluten-free alternative. It's so hard to resist biscuits when a coworker brings them in.

But I've come to the point where I really don't feel good. I feel like my body isn't happy, and I need to make changes. So no more wheat, no more cheese (except my beloved vintage cheddar, thank god for aged cheeses) and a lot more cooking.

Drop some crumbs on the curb for me!

#beautifulinsideandout week 3

 image via Cutest Food

My goals for last week were:

• Exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes
• Record calories eaten
• Cut out lollies and sugary drinks

How did I do?

Pretty good!

I exercised five times (Pilates for an hour, dancing for 90 minutes, and walking for 30 minutes three times)! It felt great to get moving more, and I am definitely feeling fitter.

I recorded my calories every day except Saturday. I've found it easy to keep track on weekday because I'm at my desk all day, but I try to stay off the computer on the weekends. I need to make an effort on weekends, though, because that's when the tempting food is around!

I stayed away from lollies by chewing sugarless gum after every meal-- I find that it really takes the craving away. It was pretty painless to cut out soft drinks.

Grade: A

This week I'm updating my goals:

• Exercise four times a week for at least 30 minutes
• Record calories eaten
• Cut out lollies and sugary drinks 
• Eat home-cooked meals 5 days a week
• No deep-fried foods

We've been eating out way too much lately, which is expensive and can be unhealthy (or at the least calorie-dense). I put home-cooked to include visiting family. Cutting out deep-fried foods is a no-brainer: I have to stay away from chips! And I'm increasing my exercise amount to 4 times a week.

crazyjuice

This is Super Nudie Breakfast Juice, which I bought because a) look at it! and b) it has chia seeds, which I've wanted to try ever since I read Born to Run. This juice tastes as weird as it looks! It has lots of cinnamon, some apple and banana, as well as the seeds. The mouthfeel is kind of slimy, in that way that banana always is, and I had to drink it really slowly because my OCD tendencies forced me to stop and crunch as many of the little seeds as possible instead of just swallowing them. It was pretty nice though!

In conclusion: I don't know why I took a photo of my juice and blogged about it. Thank you for your time!

pea soup

On Saturday night I made pea soup from Orangette, adapted from Nigella Lawson. It's made with green peas, not split peas, and it tastes like a bowl full of spring.



I just had to take a picture of that beautiful colour. The recipe is incredibly simple, just frozen peas, garlic, stock and spring onions (the recipe confused me by calling them scallions, which is a much more sophisticated name). The only bit that was difficult was buying Parmesan rind to simmer in the soup; I had to buy a hunk of Parmesan to get it. On the up side, I now have a hunk of Parmesan. I bet Nigella just bats her eyelids at her cheesemonger and gets all the rind she wants.