I've been chatting with a few of my friends recently who seem to find empowerment and calmness through the practice of meditation. One such friend won't answer my phone calls in the morning while she's on the train heading to work because this is one of her many times during the day that she stops to find her own peace and tranquility. At first I found it kind of odd and brushed past the conversation topic, but as time went on and I continued to hear about her practice, which was quickly developing, I felt like I was missing out on something. I could see what meditation practice was doing to her, how her responses were changing, how she was viewing the world and the people amongst it differently...
She told me that when she needed to get herself back to a good place at work she would find an empty meeting room and meditate for a couple of minutes...does this blow your mind as much as it did mine? I couldn't ever picture doing the same thing, but I did feel a sense of curiosity as to how this would feel and what I would feel like afterward.
I'm sure most people go through a stressful work day and just 'deal with it' and keep chugging along until home time, because that's just what you do. I used to head to the mailroom if I needed a bit of downtime, have a nice friendly chat with the mailroom guy and whoever else was in there at the time. But this is different.
So, I decided to give it a go. I took a recommendation from my friend to download the 1 Giant Mind app and had my first 'session' four days ago...I sat upright with a pillow behind my back for support on my bed, crossed my legs, closed my eyes when I was indicated to do so and started to follow the instruction to repeat the mantra 'uh-hum'...except I couln't remember it! I kept saying 'uh huh' and 'Yum Cha'..! For the life of me, I could NOT remember the exact mantra and spent most of the time in a panic to delve back into my thoughts to remember it, and the other half of the time feeling as though I was about to fall asleep, my head falling forward. This apparently was all normal, according to the review video footage afterward - phew. It's okay to forget the mantra, and actually quite normal, and the sleepiness was my body trying to let go of my fatigue.
The second session my thoughts went wild - I don't know what was going on but I just couldn't stop my thoughts from thinking! I could not switch off, but again I was told this was normal and that when this does happen I should return to the mantra.
The third session was odd. It's as though I forgot why I was doing this and couldn't understand what it's purpose was. I felt calm, but I couldn't keep my breathing at a regular pace, concentrating on that made me feel as though I was starting to lose out on what I should be doing, but then I couldn't remember what I was meant to be doing..!
Maybe I'm not doing it right, or maybe I'm reading too much into it and should just let go.
I don't know...I would love to hear about other people's experiences...
18 March 2016
14 March 2016
From soil slab to veggie jungle...
It's pretty exciting watching seeds turn to sprouts turn to leaves turn to flowers turn to produce..!
I only started experimenting with growing vegetables, fruits and herbs in the spring of 2014 when I was working with respected gardener Simon Rickard on his book, Heirloom Vegetables. At the time, I had no idea what an heirloom was, and afterward my world expanded and turned green.
We launched Simon's book at The Diggers Club in Dromana. I got there a little early and looked around the nursery and at all the packaged seedlings, seeing varieties I'd never knew existed. I asked the man behind the counter what do I do to start my own veggie patch, so he set me up with a palette to grow the seedlings, a rich soil and helped me choose some great veggie choices that were ready to sow. I bought heirloom tomatoes, heirloom capsicums, Tuscan kale and eggplant to start off, and decided to even give avocado sprouting a go! Take a look.
Of course, days later little sprouts began to emerge from the soil and my future father-in-law, Tommo, started to prepare the garden bed within our backyard that had been covered with tarp over the last few years when the family had given up on having an active garden. Tommo really got into it too and started to bring other vegetables to plant, we had beetroot, silverbeet, zucchini, cucumbers...check out the space. A good friend of mine saw this photo of our zucchinis and told me it looked like the soil was lacking nitrate, I had no idea! I learnt so much that summer, when the first tomato emerged I was in awe, I didn't realise the produce developed from the flower - I really should have paid more attention in those classes at school!
Soon our garden was becoming its own jungle and to the awe of quite a few of my friends and family as they watched me take so many produce shots!
Have a look at some of the produce we were picking: tomatoes, kale, zucchini and capsicum,eggplant; and a garden shot.
We began to cook some really incredible dishes, Stipe loved stuffing the capsicums and I can't even begin to tell you how incredible the house smelt. Heaven.
Of course we didn't stop there. One weekend Stipe and I drove down to The Diggers Club in Blackwood and I felt right at home. I really wanted to experiment with a winter garden bed - although admittedly it was a lot harder to get out there and find the motivation in those colder months! Tommo helped me replenish the soil and give it a good churning, then we got to work in sowing the new seeds, it was pretty exciting watching the cabbage start to form itself and a few months later really come into its own. Unfortunately, we started to have a lot of issues with pests and I could not work out how to get rid of them, I asked so many people for advice and bought quite a lot of pest controls and tried natural methods too, but to no avail, it was such a shame. Stipe's uncle came over and told me that I had been quite smart without even knowing it - I had companion planted. I had sacrified the cabbage for the broccoli, which was in fine form and replenishing itself days within cutting off the stalks. We had a bit of luck with cauliflower too, but found you had to use them quite quickly before they started to discolour. Oh, I was especially proud of this one - check out the heirloom carrots!
It has been quite a ride this garden of ours. This is a shot from about a month and a half ago, our summer bed for 2015/16, it's getting toward the end of the season now and is quite a mess. I made a slight blunder and planted the tomatoes way too close together, so much so that the gate we have holding them up is now leaning like the Tower of Pisa!! The leaves are starting to die away now too and making quite a mess.
In case you were wondering, the avocado seeds are doing pretty good! We've had a few misses and have thrown them out, but with each new seed we make sure we give it a go. This shot is from the start of summer. And this one is a shot I love from outside the garden where I house all the pot plants - we've tried to get a little creative with wheelbarrows that house strawberries, lavender and basil. Amongst the pots are blueberries, raspberries, mint, chocolate mint, thyme, oregano, dill, corriander, lettuce and nasturniums.
Not bad for some garden experimenting, hey! The neighbours can see over our fence and usually say something when we bump into them, I think they think we're some kind of pros at this, but really we're just having some fun with it, learning from our many mistakes and trying out different things. My favourite part is bringing produce to family and friends who are so impressed by the taste, always commenting that they've never tasted a flavour like it before; the second is when my family and friends show me their own attempts at a garden and telling me that I've influenced them to do the same - what an honour!
I thought I'd close off with the produce I picked tonight from the garden - check out those heirloom tomatoes (I even saved the seed from last year's crop to plant these ones, how cool is that!), and we made this incredible ravioli dish, which I picked up from the Prahran Market's Fresh Pasta Shop, along with the sauce we made from the pick, it was a winner.
I only started experimenting with growing vegetables, fruits and herbs in the spring of 2014 when I was working with respected gardener Simon Rickard on his book, Heirloom Vegetables. At the time, I had no idea what an heirloom was, and afterward my world expanded and turned green.
We launched Simon's book at The Diggers Club in Dromana. I got there a little early and looked around the nursery and at all the packaged seedlings, seeing varieties I'd never knew existed. I asked the man behind the counter what do I do to start my own veggie patch, so he set me up with a palette to grow the seedlings, a rich soil and helped me choose some great veggie choices that were ready to sow. I bought heirloom tomatoes, heirloom capsicums, Tuscan kale and eggplant to start off, and decided to even give avocado sprouting a go! Take a look.
Of course, days later little sprouts began to emerge from the soil and my future father-in-law, Tommo, started to prepare the garden bed within our backyard that had been covered with tarp over the last few years when the family had given up on having an active garden. Tommo really got into it too and started to bring other vegetables to plant, we had beetroot, silverbeet, zucchini, cucumbers...check out the space. A good friend of mine saw this photo of our zucchinis and told me it looked like the soil was lacking nitrate, I had no idea! I learnt so much that summer, when the first tomato emerged I was in awe, I didn't realise the produce developed from the flower - I really should have paid more attention in those classes at school!
Soon our garden was becoming its own jungle and to the awe of quite a few of my friends and family as they watched me take so many produce shots!
Have a look at some of the produce we were picking: tomatoes, kale, zucchini and capsicum,eggplant; and a garden shot.
We began to cook some really incredible dishes, Stipe loved stuffing the capsicums and I can't even begin to tell you how incredible the house smelt. Heaven.
Of course we didn't stop there. One weekend Stipe and I drove down to The Diggers Club in Blackwood and I felt right at home. I really wanted to experiment with a winter garden bed - although admittedly it was a lot harder to get out there and find the motivation in those colder months! Tommo helped me replenish the soil and give it a good churning, then we got to work in sowing the new seeds, it was pretty exciting watching the cabbage start to form itself and a few months later really come into its own. Unfortunately, we started to have a lot of issues with pests and I could not work out how to get rid of them, I asked so many people for advice and bought quite a lot of pest controls and tried natural methods too, but to no avail, it was such a shame. Stipe's uncle came over and told me that I had been quite smart without even knowing it - I had companion planted. I had sacrified the cabbage for the broccoli, which was in fine form and replenishing itself days within cutting off the stalks. We had a bit of luck with cauliflower too, but found you had to use them quite quickly before they started to discolour. Oh, I was especially proud of this one - check out the heirloom carrots!
It has been quite a ride this garden of ours. This is a shot from about a month and a half ago, our summer bed for 2015/16, it's getting toward the end of the season now and is quite a mess. I made a slight blunder and planted the tomatoes way too close together, so much so that the gate we have holding them up is now leaning like the Tower of Pisa!! The leaves are starting to die away now too and making quite a mess.
In case you were wondering, the avocado seeds are doing pretty good! We've had a few misses and have thrown them out, but with each new seed we make sure we give it a go. This shot is from the start of summer. And this one is a shot I love from outside the garden where I house all the pot plants - we've tried to get a little creative with wheelbarrows that house strawberries, lavender and basil. Amongst the pots are blueberries, raspberries, mint, chocolate mint, thyme, oregano, dill, corriander, lettuce and nasturniums.
Not bad for some garden experimenting, hey! The neighbours can see over our fence and usually say something when we bump into them, I think they think we're some kind of pros at this, but really we're just having some fun with it, learning from our many mistakes and trying out different things. My favourite part is bringing produce to family and friends who are so impressed by the taste, always commenting that they've never tasted a flavour like it before; the second is when my family and friends show me their own attempts at a garden and telling me that I've influenced them to do the same - what an honour!
I thought I'd close off with the produce I picked tonight from the garden - check out those heirloom tomatoes (I even saved the seed from last year's crop to plant these ones, how cool is that!), and we made this incredible ravioli dish, which I picked up from the Prahran Market's Fresh Pasta Shop, along with the sauce we made from the pick, it was a winner.
10 February 2015
The best ice cream you'll ever try...promise!
Sometimes keeping it simple is seriously the best option. My little sister and I came off a 28-day juice fast last week (thank you Jason Vale!) and she was concerned about feeling restricted about her diet here-on-in.
We spent a few hours in the kitchen going through some basic recipes that you can still indulge in, without the guilt or feeling the compromise!
Below is a banana/mango and macadamia ice-cream with a 'chocolate' brownie and frozen raspberries.
The ice cream is essentially frozen banana and frozen mango placed into the Vitamix with a handful of macadamias. I've sprinkled a few cacao nibs on top.
The 'chocolate' brownies comes from the wonderful recipe you can find here: http://eatdrinkpaleo.com.au/chocolate-brownies-that-blew-me-away/
This seriously lives up to its name and will blow you away - you will never guess the ingredients once you have a taste! The next time I make them, I might add some orange rind or chilli for a different flavour also.
There you have it, guilt-free and such a beautiful dessert!
8 February 2015
How to make natural almond milk
Making almond milk is so simple and easy that you'll be kicking yourself for even contemplating purchasing the long-life varieties sitting on the supermarket shelves.
It only takes a few steps and two ingredients: almonds and water.
Take one handful of almonds and place them in a plate of water and leave overnight (7 hours minimum), this will activate the almonds, releasing the enzyme inhibitors called phytic acid, which is not digestible by humans.
Rinse the almonds until the water runs clear.
Place the almonds and 500ml of water in a food processor / blender. Blitz on a high speed.
NB: do not allow this to 'cook', which you will notice if the mixture grows warm.
Use a sieve and pour the liquid into a bowl and voila you have almond milk.
You will have quite a bit of almond pulp leftover, depending on the type of processor you used, there are lots of recipes online on how to use the pulp to minimise waste.
You can also transfer the milk back into a clean processor and add a scroll of true cinnamon and/or vanilla bean to give it a little flavour.
This milk will keep for 48 hours.
It only takes a few steps and two ingredients: almonds and water.
Take one handful of almonds and place them in a plate of water and leave overnight (7 hours minimum), this will activate the almonds, releasing the enzyme inhibitors called phytic acid, which is not digestible by humans.
Rinse the almonds until the water runs clear.
Place the almonds and 500ml of water in a food processor / blender. Blitz on a high speed.
NB: do not allow this to 'cook', which you will notice if the mixture grows warm.
Use a sieve and pour the liquid into a bowl and voila you have almond milk.
You will have quite a bit of almond pulp leftover, depending on the type of processor you used, there are lots of recipes online on how to use the pulp to minimise waste.
You can also transfer the milk back into a clean processor and add a scroll of true cinnamon and/or vanilla bean to give it a little flavour.
This milk will keep for 48 hours.
My kind of raw bliss balls
These balls are incredibly easy, guilt-free and raw. I don't usually use any measuring devices, I go with the feel, texture and cheeky test tastes in between.
Ingredients include:
- Activated almonds, macadamia and hazelnuts
- sesame seeds
- hemp seeds
- liquorice root
- star anise
- true cinnamon, ground
- maca
- cacao
- carob
- clove
- vanilla bean or organic vanilla essence
- coconut dessicated
- cranberries (optional)
- medjool dates
- ginger
- Celtic sea salt
- coconut oil
In a food processor place the vanilla bean, ginger, star anise, liquorice root and Celtic salt, blend into a paste.
Add rest of ingredients, keeping some of the sesame seeds, carob and hemp seeds aside. Use a tamper to assist in bringing the mix together.
Spoon a mix onto your palm and create bite-sized balls. Alternate rolling these in hemp, carob or sesame seeds.
Place in fridge for 10 minutes.
Enjoy!!
Nb: do get in touch if you'd like some guidance on quantity.
6 May 2014
Decision made - proud Vitamix owner
I've wanted a Vitamix ever since I saw the first demonstration. I knew it would be a hero on my kitchen bench and would never see the dark side of a cupboard. The hefty price did see me entering competitions, texting for the daily Sunrise cash cow call and researching a negotiated price from a wholesaler but no one will budge, and no phone from the morning cow just yet!
So we bit the bullet and decided it was time, we were going to fork out for the Vitamix, pros outweighing the cons, justifications concrete.
Wow, what a machine, this baby is strong. Check out one of the first recipes we made, and start tuned for updates!
25 August 2013
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