tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-130614292024-03-07T15:48:40.436+11:00words@randomshawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.comBlogger888125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-25979950739880789992013-11-18T21:56:00.001+11:002013-11-18T22:05:48.886+11:00Rubbish Free Week<div dir="ltr">
Moreland council is encouraging people to participate in a <a href="http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/environment-and-waste/zero-waste.html">"Zero waste for a week"</a> challenge. We just completed our week . I was surprised that it wasn't too hard to do. In Moreland we can recycle soft plastics like bread bags and other plastic wrappings so that helps (I just realized we could do this through our curbside collection a couple weeks ago-we had been collecting them up and taking them to Coles for recycling). We did end up with four pieces of rubbish for the week: a foil-like plastic wrapper from a chocolate bar we got at WVD-I'm pretty sure this sort of plastic can't be recycled with soft plastics (someone please tell me if I'm wrong), a foil-like plastic wrapper from some crackers I'd opened before the week began, the wrapper of a stock cube and the small bit of paper towel I used to re-season our wok (I probably could have used a cloth for that). We compost all our food scraps and recycle all the packaging we can. I realized we can probably downsize our bin (it's not that big anyway but if would be nice if it took up less space). Maybe we'll be able to do a completely rubbish free week in the near future. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> Our 1 week of rubbish</span> </div>
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shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-16697888830487810322013-10-22T18:32:00.000+11:002013-10-22T18:32:10.720+11:00Goldilocks Lunchbox<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8dkrL2y3XNvPknG2aYp5zyipDJCBCf6CgPf0DiOizUalwkPg7Hu5-hFiyKHpAjeiHxR-qJotDa2KpsDhT4aIXQX5EhyNm3Y1FsCsbpvuWMJvuWGL8dAgh9dVcsl-jcppFx2Gz/s1600/2013-10-21+18.07.30.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8dkrL2y3XNvPknG2aYp5zyipDJCBCf6CgPf0DiOizUalwkPg7Hu5-hFiyKHpAjeiHxR-qJotDa2KpsDhT4aIXQX5EhyNm3Y1FsCsbpvuWMJvuWGL8dAgh9dVcsl-jcppFx2Gz/s1600/2013-10-21+18.07.30.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Last week my boss ordered us all <a href="https://www.facebook.com/goldilockslunchbox?fref=ts">Goldilocks Lunchboxes</a> for our monthly staff meeting. We'd been talking about having the option to order them once a week after one of my coworker's daughter was raving about them. They are amazing. Each week has a theme (last week was a literary theme, the week before was French). They contain something big, something small and something sweet and are hand made and hand delivered to your workplace. She offers a vegetarian option and is able to cater to vegan and gluten free diets. The lunchboxes are presented beautifully (last week's box was tied up with some fancy string and had a pencil included). The sandwiches were wrapped in a quote from Tom Robbins (taped around with some of that decorative sticky tape). The were 3 sandwiches, each on a different type of bread. One had roast veggies, one was cucumber and hummus. I can't remember the third now but they were all amazing. There was a bamboo tray of fresh berries and a bamboo tray with an apple pie/crumble dessert (the non-vegan lunches contained fresh made scones with cream and tiny jars of jam). Everything,including the container and the cutlery, are recyclable or compostable. The lunches are $15 each (or 4 weeks for $55). They are worth the money. Right now there's only a few suburbs that she delivers but she seems to be expanding a bit (I think the business is run by a woman and her father<span style="font-size: x-small;">?</span> and has only been around for just over a year). This week is a Thai theme-- I'm very excited for lunch tomorrow. shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-73079332917999255122013-10-20T18:17:00.001+11:002013-10-20T18:17:27.864+11:00How I trained for Tough MudderI decided to do the spring Tough Mudder last April-ish. I had been working out 3-5 times a week (often with Gillian Michaels' videos) since last spring but when I thought about joining my husband's cousin's team for Tough Mudder I realized I probably need to see if I can run. I used to run a bit when I was at university but the last time I remember going for a run was June 2002, just before I left Southern California (and it didn't go well since we lived on the side of a mountain and I hadn't run for a year or so). I never ran for more than 30 minutes (I think I ran for 35 minutes once) so I was only ever doing around 5km. I'd need to be able to do around 20km for Tough Mudder (but there would be breaks at the obstacles). Since I had decent cardio fitness I decided to go for a run to see how far I could run without stopping to walk. I then looked at the <a href="http://www.c25k.com/c25k_metric.html">couch to 5k program</a> and decided my running fitness level fit around week 4. The program was great and I was easily running 5km within 6 weeks. I continued to build from there (my cardiovascular system had no problems handling the runs, it was just strengthening all the muscles used in running that took time). <div>
I started alternating runs and <a href="http://toughmudder.com.au/tough-mudder-boot-camp-training/">Tough Mudder Boot Camps</a> (or other strength training activities, including Zac's cousin's boot camp style group fitness sessions with her new business <a href="http://www.fitqueen.com.au/">Fit Queen</a>) 6 days a week. </div>
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I changed the way I ate during training too. This year Zac went back to school so we had to cut back on expenses, which meant less eating out and take away. I started avoiding a lot of packaged foods too (way less store bought vegan cheese that is generally not very healthy but oh soooo good) and eating more wholefoods. </div>
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Pre-workout I would usually have some sort of snack if it was right after work (crackers with tahini, dates, bananas or something along those lines). I would also make sure I'd been hydrating well over the last hour or 2. </div>
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After I'd finish I would either have a homemade energy bar (usually something like <a href="http://pfctdayelise.livejournal.com/190948.html">this one</a>, based on<a href="http://www.nomeatathlete.com/homemade-energy-bar-recipe/"> this formula</a>) or a smoothie (often banana, frozen berries, chia seeds, nuts, a bit of soy milk, water and maybe so kale). I also made sure to continue to stay hydrated. <br />No<a href="http://www.nomeatathlete.com/"> Meat Athlete</a> and <a href="http://happyherbivore.com/blog/">Happy Herbivore</a> had a lot of useful information on training on a vegan diet. </div>
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During my one 15km run and Tough Mudder I used Clif Shot energy gels that I got from <a href="http://www.uproar.org.au/uproar-shop/">Uproar</a>. Cliff shots seem to have the most natural looking ingredients in energy gels. BSC gels (I've seen them at Woolies) are also vegan but the ingredients looked a bit weird to me and I wasn't sure if my stomach would handle them. Clif Shots actually tasted pretty good too (although I'm sure the one I had during Tough Mudder, I took in as much mud from the outside of the packet as I did gel) and I didn't have any stomach issues (the gels my teammates used definitely weren't as tasty). </div>
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When I researched how to fuel for events like Tough Mudder (half marathons) most people recommend light breakfasts beforehand. I seem to work better when I've had a carb heavy meal within an hour (or less) before a long run. My best longer runs (10-15km) were the ones that I had a bowl of pasta (like Vegan Yum Yum's <a href="http://lostmittenblog.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/hurry-up-alfredo-by-vegan-yum-yum.html"> Hurry Up Alfredo</a>-<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> the Vegan Yum Yum site seems to be down but I've linked to someone else who posted the recipe. Hopefully the site will be up again soon and I can link to her actual site</span>) 30 minutes or less before running. The morning of Tough Mudder we were all up early (our start time was 10:40, we were up by 7ish). I had a big bowl of homemade baked beans (made with a can of 4 bean mix, a can of diced tomatoes, some garlic and spinach) on toast and then later had a few fork-fulls of left over hurry up alfredo and a couple dates just before we left and just before we started the event. I also had my husband bring me a peanut butter and banana sandwich so I would have some food at the finish line. It was great that bananas were available at a few of the water stations along the course (I only used 1 energy gel because of this). I never felt hungry or overfull at any point during or after the event. </div>
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I found Tough Mudder easier than I expected (and although the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-HG32z9hz4">Arctic Enema</a> was terrible it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be). I will be doing another one. We had a great time. </div>
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shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-46850878401332393942013-10-04T18:14:00.002+10:002013-10-04T18:18:04.083+10:00Neglected BlogI haven't touched my blog in a LONG time. There are a lot of reasons. One of the main reasons over the past several months has been lack of time. A good part of this was because I decided last April that I was going to do Tough Mudder in September. When I decided that, I decided I was going to need to train hard. I started working out 5-6 times a week about a year ago, trying to focus a bit on strength since I'm fairly active cardio-wise anyway. When I decided to do Tough Mudder I upped the strength training a level and started running again (for the first time in more than a decade). Turns out that I really like running and it came back to me quite easily (I think it was because with the strength training I'd been doing and that I had decent cardio levels to start with it was just about training the running muscles). I was working out 40-60 minutes a day, alternating running and strength training/bootcamp style workouts, 6 days a week. I liked doing it could feel/see myself getting stronger but it did take up a huge chunk of time (40-60 minutes didn't include making food to eat after--usually smoothies or homemade energy bars-- and showering). The payoff was that I had a great time doing Tough Mudder with my team and actually found the event easier than I thought it would be (and wasn't too sore in the days after).<br />
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<span style="color: #999999;"> my team just before we crossed the finish line</span></div>
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It's been great the past couple weeks to be off work (we didn't run a holiday program since we were having more renovations done on the building) and not have to do ANYTHING. I still went for a few runs (including a 10km run yesterday) and did a couple Jillian Michaels workouts (I really like the 3minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, 1 minute abs circuits). I'm still deciding what event I'd like to try next (the other day a friend tried to encourage me to do a triathlon with her. That's something I've never even considered-- I don't really know how to do proper swim strokes for the most part but maybe it would be fun....). I'd like to join the Run for Refugees team at the Melbourne Marathon next year and do the half marathon distance (so far, the furthest I've run is a 15km run and it went really well). <br />
I think my next post will be about some things I've found useful during training. I've changed what I eat a bit. Turns out I also have a weird fueling technique for before a big run but it works for me. I also made some really good homemade energy bars that I like to keep on hand. I'll also post some info about how I trained.<br />
<br />shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-75782487829546734182012-12-22T09:09:00.001+11:002012-12-22T09:10:07.093+11:00Hellenic RepublicThis year 2 women at my work who have been there for 30+ years decided to retire at the end of the year so we had a big celebration at the Hellenic Republic. Our group of 18 booked the spartan table at the front of the restaurant in a semi private area and had a 4 course banquet. My boss had given them a heads up that I was vegan (and there were a couple vegetarians and pescetarians too). The confirmed all dietary restrictions and allergies before we began. One of the servers came out to confirm whether honey was ok with me. I was impressed that I was asked and obviously they have a good understanding of vegan (I'm assuming that people who eat plant based diets for environmental or health reasons would just say "vegan" in a restaurant and would then say honey was ok with them). I was brought my own separate dishes when necessary.<br />
To start with we had flat bread and I had my own hummus (we assume the other hummus had some sort of cheese that normally wouldn't be in a hummus in it). The next course I had 2 tomatoes stuffed with rice and herbs. I don't care for parsley (which was very strong in this dish) but I still liked them. I also got a small Greek salad (made vegan) in lieu of on of the other dishes. There was also an amazing salad with lentils, pomegranate and coriander (I had my own with no yogurt on top). By the time the main course arrived we were all very full. Mine was eggplant with tomato and some amazing flavours. I was so full I couldn't finish the last couple bits. A server came to confirm with me that I'd had enough food to eat during the night at this point. Dessert was amazing. It had a long Greek name and was basically 2 small plates of preserved fruit- I think one was citrus and the other was watermelon. The watermelon was amazing. It looked nothing like watermelon. It was 2 orange/clear, jelly looking blocks on a plate. They did not have jelly texture at all though- it was a very firm watermelon like texture. They were amazingly sweet but so good. <br />
I was very impressed with the service and the food. I'd heard good things about the vegan food there (but for some reason I can't find the posts to link to them now....) so I was excited when we were told that's where the end of year/retirement dinner would be. We all left completely overfull but the food was amazing and it was great having a semi private area where we were all at one table and could move around to chat to each other between courses.<br />
<br />shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-45949041905983535542012-12-18T20:51:00.001+11:002012-12-18T20:54:23.971+11:00simple gift<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7EpeVDhpAUIGk5xL0tPfQD6ZKSr0UeCJaBfva9XkkNh2euakD6eZj1uIPnYwiLM0yZNZF0AToJBe2MApHdaEmpWzVsctBoaECN8vbXFOWXa97LsTVN7uWUZ3-UTfKYPLZskq/s1600/IMG_4740.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7EpeVDhpAUIGk5xL0tPfQD6ZKSr0UeCJaBfva9XkkNh2euakD6eZj1uIPnYwiLM0yZNZF0AToJBe2MApHdaEmpWzVsctBoaECN8vbXFOWXa97LsTVN7uWUZ3-UTfKYPLZskq/s320/IMG_4740.JPG" style="clear: both; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a> I wanted to give my co-workers a little something without spending much money and something that wasn't a baked good (we get so many of those from families and several co-workers are pretty health conscious so the amount of sweets is already a bit overwhelming). I decided on cinnamon sugar-- probably the simplest thing possible to make but a nice treat (and it'll keep for a long time so it can just sit in their cupboard til they want a nice treat in a few months). Basically it's a ratio of about 1 cup of sugar to 1 tablespoon of cinnamon mixed together. I got some cheap spice jars from a $2 shop but decided to fix them up a bit so the scratched, painted silver plastic lids don't show. Fortunately I've been collecting bigger size scraps of fabric from work and I hadn't come up with anything to do with them so I cut a bunch into circles to cover the lids. Simple, easy and nice small gift (and it will come with a small photo card of Wombat in a santa hat). I'm thinking next year I wanna make little bottles of vanilla extract (from <a href="http://www.homemade-gifts-made-easy.com/how-to-make-vanilla-extract.html">this recipe</a>). It takes 6 weeks though so I'd have to get on to it early (I was going to get onto making gifts early this year but that never happened).<br />
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shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-51851874156920534472012-05-11T17:13:00.000+10:002012-05-11T17:40:44.978+10:00Fair FoodWe've been getting boxes from CERES Fair Food program for almost 2 years now. We started getting them when my workplace was a host (a drop of point where I could collect our box and extras from). This past summer I wanted to continue getting boxes while my work was closed but I realized there were no hosts really close to me. I decided to volunteer to host since I think it's such a great program and I wanted to support them to grow. <br />
I love that everything about Fair Food has been thought through to be sustainable and ethical. Most of the food is grown locally (a lot of it around East Brunswick and Coburg) so the food miles are minimal. It is all organic (better for the earth, better for people). The farmers are paid 50% of the price the consumer pays. The workers in the distribution warehouse are disadvantaged people that are gaining skills based on environmental and social principles. The packaging used is minimal and most of it is re-used and can be recycled. The profits support programs at CERES Environmental Park. Any left over food after the boxes are packed is given to a soup kitchen. Scraps that cannot be used are composted. <br />
The food is also very reasonably priced for organic produce since the food is bought in such large lots to be distributed between each of the boxes for the week. <br />
There are <a href="https://members.ceresfairfood.org.au/categories/boxes">several sizes and varieties of boxes</a> that are available. Our box this week was the "Basic Mixed Box" ($30):<br />
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It contained 1/4 pumpkin, 1/2 cauliflower, 2 capsicums, 2 parsnips, lots o' carrots<span class="text_exposed_show">, 2 beetroots, a leek, lots o' potatoes, 5 onions, 2 broccoli heads, zucchini, 2 oranges, several apples and a bunch of bananas.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">There are also a TON of <a href="https://members.ceresfairfood.org.au/categories">extra items</a> available including pantry items, household products and extra produce. There are <a href="https://members.ceresfairfood.org.au/food_hosts">food hosts</a> (box pick up points) all around Melbourne (including some outer suburbs as well as close to the city). <br />If you've ever thought about getting an organic produce box, I highly CERES Fair Food. We tried it and loved it so much we decided to host. </span>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-13516686748500756312012-04-20T16:02:00.002+10:002012-04-20T16:16:16.472+10:00Dog Cookie<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2GJvWf4HH9L20yh6-eoYaXbub48Bt6eHxUBQpk6H3gJBRFlC2lz2P1KO7MJ8TE1H49MccjaoRB3Kui_71xg6qXwB7NwEna4HjvbWqRHFeNVfOXzW84No-MYsEhJqVxtjTxfDt/s1600/IMG_4188.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2GJvWf4HH9L20yh6-eoYaXbub48Bt6eHxUBQpk6H3gJBRFlC2lz2P1KO7MJ8TE1H49MccjaoRB3Kui_71xg6qXwB7NwEna4HjvbWqRHFeNVfOXzW84No-MYsEhJqVxtjTxfDt/s320/IMG_4188.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5733359837149698530" border="0" /></a><br />Wombat had some bad breath when she came back from the kennel so I decided to make her some cookies that hopefully would help with the breath (and other smelly issues). Wombat is not a picky eater (she very excitedly ate blocks of ice that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Zac</span> was throwing in the yard one day after I scraped out the chucks in the freezer) but according to her these cookies are amazing (lay-down-on-the-cold-kitchen-tiles amazing). All I did was take a very large handful of parsley, a small handful of mint, chopped them up, added wholemeal flour and enough water to make a thick cookie dough. I then added a bit of baking soda and mixed everything up really well. I made 5 large-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ish</span> cookies (I didn't want to make too big a batch because there wasn't anything to preserve the cookies in the ingredients). I baked them until they looked a bit golden and were cooked through (not sure how long that was-- maybe 15 minutes). Such an easy and healthy treat to make for Wombat, we'll have to make them for her more often (it would be so easy to make a small batch to throw in the oven when we're cooking something else or make larger batches and freeze them).shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-23603987252849892392012-04-20T13:41:00.005+10:002012-04-20T16:02:18.683+10:00CanadaWe did a 2 week trip to Canada over the school holidays to meet my new <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">niece</span>.<br /><br /><p><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 214px; height: 320px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5733324273010326482" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS4Y3YYsfsapU4Ak9sfTP6N8EeYA6CWWIsClWoF90CMBY6Q49-mCmIrEFGxrC1J_zQNCRYSLzH0vO4h9bBwmJrmdoKrG6LxACFdz-eaRbaW0QyivphNsAnLj931lUKxPxvetOJ/s320/IMG_3932.JPG" border="0" />(all cute and bundled up at Fisherman's Wharf)<br />For <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Zac's</span> birthday I managed to get up tickets to a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Canucks</span> game the day after we arrived in Vancouver. <img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 320px; height: 240px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5733324276421714114" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0JxoU0oL2XrLg-3qa8zGLvjZZKlHbBV9mAp-jjcmFBa6Qtj9ZptS-SEWn9T-YGJXlhJZTFcBcf15DBVL7ff98vTxyhXeZ17FvqkDZQu2zVxc-yDxsr_m_RF-fnHCMRP4OuZ64/s320/canucks.jpg" border="0" />The picture makes us look really far away but they were actually pretty good seats and we could see everything. The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Canucks</span> won so that made it even better. </p><p>The night after the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Canucks</span> game we had tickets to see the lead singer from one of our favourite bands (The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Weakerthans</span>) do a solo show. As well as doing stuff from his newly released solo album, he played a lot of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Weakerthans</span> and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Propagandhi</span> songs. </p><p>When we got to the island my brother decided that we should do an overnight trip up the island to go see some family and go to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tofino</span> (somehow I'd never been to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tofino</span> before).</p><p>On the way up we stopped at Cathedral Grove to see some of the oldest trees on the island (up to about 800 years old!)</p><p><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 214px; height: 320px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5733324294436389810" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cLQnUGKqUVjC3u30CC1rh5m1vFucWq3M-tkGEkxsqmXbEGgAAwmdilvpDaSF-ODaQi9z4rrxdJ4WM0aMD0o7DfBcyp-iVoj8VnDZ6OrGxykVQ9HsqZO6x6P80HLyXVw7g3zJ/s320/IMG_3959.JPG" border="0" /></p><p>We got to see snow as we went over the pass to Port <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Alberni</span> (and there was even snow in town when we arrived in Port <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Alberni</span> but it was mostly gone when we left a few hours later).<br />We stayed at <a href="http://www.crystalcove.ca/">Crystal Cove Beach Resort in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Tofino</span></a> for a night. We had a private cabin with ocean view (we could have got one with a private hot tub but the ocean view hot tub cabins weren't available when we made our booking and we decided ocean view was more important). We did have a fire place and sat <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">infront</span> of the fire all evening after a walk on the beach. The bed was the most amazing bed I have ever slept on (all 4 of us agreed the beds were the best ever and even Maya slept longer than usual so I'm sure she'd agree it's the best bed if she could talk). </p><p>The next day we went to Long Beach and did a beach walk and hiked the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">Amphitrite</span> Lighthouse trail. <img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 320px; height: 214px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5733324285976221106" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIsMBJbT4ZabUQ7fdk6DJ8OcdevNXWqIJhY8jrI5rYrvmr1YsQZFTerk7wNCG0MsF2eaMmL2Lg1z_emrXafFMJmf72tr3OxYVBVABtis7R4xJYaHB4qGFTQBo3emZccsxncN5j/s320/IMG_4037.JPG" border="0" /><br />The rest of the trip was mostly spent in Victoria enjoying the amazing spring weather, helping my brother with stuff at my mom's house and spending time with family. The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">Canucks</span> made it into the playoffs while we were there, with game 1 happening the night before we were flying back out. We managed to get 2 tickets off a friend again and went to game 1 of the playoffs. Unfortunately the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Canucks</span> didn't do so well that night so it was kind of a sad way to end our trip but we did get free <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">Canucks</span> playoff towels from the game (hopefully we'll get to go wave those around at the pub if the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">Canucks</span> go further in the playoffs and we actually make it down to the Imperial Hotel when they're showing the games).<br /><br />On our way home we had a 10 hour layover at LAX so we decided we had to leave the airport so we didn't go insane. We managed to have a nice afternoon out, eating lunch at a veggie burger place and going to Manhattan Beach. I'll do a separate post about that part of the trip though. </p>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-72187285661722478332012-03-04T17:47:00.009+11:002012-03-04T18:44:00.117+11:00Edgar's Mission<div>Last weekend we finally got to go to <a href="http://www.edgarsmission.org.au/">Edgar's Mission</a> to meet the animals. Zac had organized the tour but there was a bit of a mix up in dates (the email said Sunday the 25th-- it was supposed to be Saturday the 25th but Zac read Sunday and Pam read 25th). No one was supposed to even be at the farm when we arrived on Sunday but they'd had to cancel an event and were headed out around lunch time so Pam gave us a slightly rushed tour and then left us to continue on with the animals and a box of Wheat-Bix. The place is pretty nice. There's some rescued dogs that followed us on our tour and one (Rory) that continued with me and Zac after Pam left. We got to meet a lot of the pigs (they were all VERY cute and loved attention). We walked down to the big paddocks and fed the sheep and goats. It was pretty cool that Pam could just point out each of them by name as they crowded around us for Wheat Bix.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div><br /> </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5w4vDt_rSun6YCdjZwrImKuXTm6yKhjR3i_hYwOUAdIOcRhsVvOKAeSOmW9k1XoM97xSv2W1MNVxQw1Cu728r9i6f3yMhgfVXGGy7m0e-Q4WBNkq91YAtnT2X4TVJat76hkv/s1600/IMG_3892-001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px; height: 214px; float: left; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715931095216657762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM5w4vDt_rSun6YCdjZwrImKuXTm6yKhjR3i_hYwOUAdIOcRhsVvOKAeSOmW9k1XoM97xSv2W1MNVxQw1Cu728r9i6f3yMhgfVXGGy7m0e-Q4WBNkq91YAtnT2X4TVJat76hkv/s320/IMG_3892-001.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> This little goat was so cute (I'm not sure of his name because Pam had to leave before we got to him and his friends):</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWVtVhWwURp-eMNWqglD9VyWACpAmEmmfxvdJ_GTG9-Bj-2vU9wZAp6M29B2G_7rDWXE4t0SRSaqHyELfM_JKGY6DtKi9vibgIQzMUrkD6fheulMwV21gw7mNsj1DqjRiCftr/s1600/IMG_3895-001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 214px; height: 320px; float: left; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715931091128593922" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWVtVhWwURp-eMNWqglD9VyWACpAmEmmfxvdJ_GTG9-Bj-2vU9wZAp6M29B2G_7rDWXE4t0SRSaqHyELfM_JKGY6DtKi9vibgIQzMUrkD6fheulMwV21gw7mNsj1DqjRiCftr/s320/IMG_3895-001.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div><br />Cows have been one of my favourite animals for a long time so I was pretty excited to meet them. This is Hansel (I'm pretty sure- I've compared my photos to ones on the website). Zac became friends with him. </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0sYX9ZaVRRovDDdiOcire4EaZLzjrmbkTcXz2oVFQZ3zlm0NjwgDFyGS68MMnB2MtFyU0MBpy40AEVw2tYPBDLh4x87AT7SqT-tlVlYckuKqsjFv5b9sc9WWC_m09oud8Lnsj/s1600/IMG_3902-001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px; height: 214px; float: left; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715931098673416578" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0sYX9ZaVRRovDDdiOcire4EaZLzjrmbkTcXz2oVFQZ3zlm0NjwgDFyGS68MMnB2MtFyU0MBpy40AEVw2tYPBDLh4x87AT7SqT-tlVlYckuKqsjFv5b9sc9WWC_m09oud8Lnsj/s320/IMG_3902-001.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div><br /> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>My favourite cow that came up to the fence was Tippi (pretty sure that's who she is). She's HUGE and has a huge rough tongue but was so gentle when taking Wheat-Bix. </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevOBIZPB1i0umWWjqa5-pATVoVRr6LrXw0NcCDZQpk6SANeYK6RnsC7pCksMBAqg_ye4_PU-PBIpeMiKV0xgXKk5f8-Q0pY-T-fzg2TDD22ESYeN-W569aG5tUEr_vy7MA_gm/s1600/IMG_3907-001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px; height: 214px; float: left; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715931101865396210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevOBIZPB1i0umWWjqa5-pATVoVRr6LrXw0NcCDZQpk6SANeYK6RnsC7pCksMBAqg_ye4_PU-PBIpeMiKV0xgXKk5f8-Q0pY-T-fzg2TDD22ESYeN-W569aG5tUEr_vy7MA_gm/s320/IMG_3907-001.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>We were hoping to meet Micaly because she was a <a href="http://www.edgarsmission.org.au/animals/?wh_animalstatus=best-buddy">best buddy</a> that I got for Zac as a 3rd anniversary gift (traditional 3rd anniversary gifts are leather, I got Zac a rescued cow buddy instead) but she was sitting in the middle of the paddock with a couple other cows and wasn't interested in moving (she did move her ears when we called out Micaly though)</div><div> </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>One of several gorgeous horses at Edgar's Mission:</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJXc5LzootSqwa6nEKO79xRKF4vtutEWEHHEquWy1LsgfHXIYUmJUfMcVvwWzbGylM5cHw48UxFiYAESuUL7T4m4NtsPVWru2i-0BMgTEoY96bUG2111u6UjOh5gtQn21dZCh/s1600/IMG_3919-001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px; height: 213px; float: left; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715932992256258018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJXc5LzootSqwa6nEKO79xRKF4vtutEWEHHEquWy1LsgfHXIYUmJUfMcVvwWzbGylM5cHw48UxFiYAESuUL7T4m4NtsPVWru2i-0BMgTEoY96bUG2111u6UjOh5gtQn21dZCh/s320/IMG_3919-001.JPG" /></a></div><div> </div><div> </div><div><br /> </div><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>I'm glad we finally got up there (and I wish we had been able to work it out a couple years ago when we first heard about Edgar's Mission). I will be going back again to help with one of their bi-monthly working bees and spend more time with the animals. </div></div></div>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-30616911909742491002012-01-31T18:27:00.001+11:002012-01-31T18:28:34.253+11:00hot and cold<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV7UrFzJMLo35GiLBsE24xfer5XNBzToVtxzhNWYzNxQXEfB6IQeBYaCF67Aa_DgL0AvxmhltSZJAcj2tDziZyWJkiaZqDFsnre4ztaL3y_Tzicfr2I6iJozttD40ckL0yQyth/s1600/31.1.12.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; FLOAT: left; CLEAR: both" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV7UrFzJMLo35GiLBsE24xfer5XNBzToVtxzhNWYzNxQXEfB6IQeBYaCF67Aa_DgL0AvxmhltSZJAcj2tDziZyWJkiaZqDFsnre4ztaL3y_Tzicfr2I6iJozttD40ckL0yQyth/s320/31.1.12.jpg" /></a> I don't mind the heat but I need it to be somewhat cool overnight (lower than 20C) to be able to sleep. By the time Monday came I was exhausted from 3 nights with very little, not very good sleep. I was very excited to see that the forecast for today was that it wasn't even going to get to 20C during the day (and that it was only going to be like that for 1 day). I took Wombat for an extra long walk in the wind and rain then huddled inside most of the rest of the day letting the wind cool down our still pretty warm house. I'm cold now. I'm ready for the heat again. It's supposed to go down to 13C overnight tonight (that seems really cold to me) but then be in the mid-20s tomorrow. One cold day is just enough for me. <br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; CLEAR: both"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BACKGROUND: 0% 50%; BORDER-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial" border="0" alt="Posted by Picasa" align="middle" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" /></a></div>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-82127064423560284832012-01-29T20:42:00.002+11:002012-01-29T20:46:09.686+11:00tempehA couple weeks ago I decided to try to make some homemade tempeh. I was able to get a free sample of tempeh starter from <a href="http://www.tempeh.info/">here</a>.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVn1Qem3djKMDbIN_zyYbeess8PxJFtqRfUS7L5eTwfibCxWmaHwhKUeE-b06HvIdcBr0GhwnkLtSWYnsICp_Tt1QIZGCwNjAIDHZpWx_HgMY3pIKTo60UAaZs_5g69t_HfE3c/s1600/IMG_3880.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; FLOAT: left; CLEAR: both" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVn1Qem3djKMDbIN_zyYbeess8PxJFtqRfUS7L5eTwfibCxWmaHwhKUeE-b06HvIdcBr0GhwnkLtSWYnsICp_Tt1QIZGCwNjAIDHZpWx_HgMY3pIKTo60UAaZs_5g69t_HfE3c/s320/IMG_3880.JPG" /></a> The website also has instructions on how to make tempeh. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures until the very end so I don't have any of the process.<br />My plan was to make the tempeh when we were having a couple of hot days since it needs to incubate around 30C for 36-48 hours. I ended up doing it during the coldest couple days/nights of the week. First I soaked the beans for about 18 hours. Dehulling the beans was the most time consuming part since we don't have a grain mill so I did it by hand by rubbing the beans between my hands after they'd been soaking for a while and then removing the hulls when they floated to the top of the bowl.<br />After the soy beans had been mostly dehulled I cooked them in water with a bit of vinegar for 30 minutes, drained them and let them cool and dry for a bit before mixing in the tempeh starter. While the beans where cooling I took 3 zip lock sandwich size bags and poked lots and lots of little holes in the bag with a nail to allow the soy beans to breath while incubating. I filled each of the bags with about 1/3 of the soy beans and set up an incubator in our esky using a hot water bottle. I have no idea if it was at the right temperature and it definitely wasn't a constant temperature but it seemed to work. My best looking block of tempeh (the one pictured) looks a lot like the store bought ones because I had it sitting on a cooling rack over the hot water bottle (there wasn't enough room for all 3 on the bottom of the esky with the hot water bottle). I was a little concerned about the black bits but apparently that's normal (has to do with the air flow and heat levels). I fried a little bit up right after incubating it (I incubated mine 48 hours, I probably could have gone a couple hours or so more) and it tasted great. Zac made a stir fry with some of it the next night and it was sooooo good. What was left of it I sliced up and froze today (I sliced it so it would be easy to get just a bit of it if I want-- I hate trying to use just part of a frozen store bought tempeh block, it's so hard to cut). I'm impressed with my results in making tempeh but it was time consuming (mostly just trying to dehull the soy beans) and had to be well planned out so I was home when steps needed to be done. <br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; CLEAR: both"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BACKGROUND: 0% 50%; BORDER-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial" border="0" alt="Posted by Picasa" align="middle" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" /></a></div>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-69714887710858180412012-01-26T20:01:00.005+11:002012-01-26T20:13:31.883+11:00Coco Loco<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3yAnQbvYB9Q3-Y47GRTs4Wmd7AOZP1_4gF54ixKSDPRukfv0wr7zU_IYd_GVJz5PuFoaAi-QA9DC4q8lzJu9F6jSsHDCyw0TolGwkg2D5aSoAH7AMoLxhYyH0_Xd0Z9ij_uE/s1600/DSC01411.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701864430833048866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3yAnQbvYB9Q3-Y47GRTs4Wmd7AOZP1_4gF54ixKSDPRukfv0wr7zU_IYd_GVJz5PuFoaAi-QA9DC4q8lzJu9F6jSsHDCyw0TolGwkg2D5aSoAH7AMoLxhYyH0_Xd0Z9ij_uE/s320/DSC01411.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kleopatra's</span> Brew with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kashew</span> Milk, iced. So amazing!<br />We used to go to <a href="http://www.cocoloco.net.au/index.htm">Coco Loco </a>(High St, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Northcote</span>) fairly often but for some reason we haven't been in ages (we just haven't gone to High St. much at all). We were up there today and Coco Loco was open so we decided to stop by because <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Khaled</span> makes the best chocolate drinks ever (and a lot of his stuff is vegan). The one I got was an orange flavoured chocolate drink. I got it as an iced chocolate today. So rich and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">chocolatey</span> and so good! <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Zac</span> got a lemon myrtle chocolate drink. Both of us had our drinks made with his homemade cashew milk. We need to go back again soon. </div>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-87699120204511447282012-01-10T15:53:00.003+11:002012-01-10T16:09:17.090+11:00attempting tempehI bought a bag of dried soybeans yesterday. While I was looking up information on how to cook soybeans properly I came across information on homemade <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">tempeh</span> so I'm going to attempt making that. I'm ordering a free sample of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">tempeh</span> starter from <a href="www.topcultures.com">Top Cultures</a> (a Belgium based company). It doesn't seem to difficult to <a href="http://www.tempeh.info/maketempeh/how-to-make-tempeh.php">make</a> so I'm hoping it turns out well because I do really like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">tempeh</span>, I just don't buy it very often. I'll write about my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">tempeh</span> making experience after I complete it. Has anyone else had any experience making tempeh?shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-21007049907398466502011-12-16T10:15:00.004+11:002011-12-16T10:33:32.831+11:00Warung AgusFor our end of year dinner for work my boss booked us into the traditional Balinese restaurant <a href="http://www.warungagus.com.au/index.php">Warung Agus </a>(305 Victoria St, West Melbourne). Because we were a large group my boss had pre-arranged a set menu, including alternatives to the meaty dishes for the vegans and vegetarians in our group. I can't remember everything we ate (and I didn't take any pictures) but from looking at the online menu, our dishes included: Apokat Mebasa Santen Misi Oong (avocado with mushroom and coconut cream sauce), Krupuk Singkong (spicy vegetarian cassava crackers and peanut sauce), satay skewers (chicken for the meat eaters, tofu for the vegos), Toge (traditional Balinese gado gado - Mountain of steamed vegetables and bean curd with peanut sauce and cassava crackers), Tahu Istimewa (soya bean curd in lightly spicy sauce with crisp bean shoots, capsicum and cherry tomatoes), Temple Jagung (nutty flavoured soya bean morsels in sweet soy sauce with corn, spring onions and spices) and Mie Goreng (stir-fried wheat noodles with vegetables). Everything was presented amazingly and was really tasty. The servers were very friendly and made sure to point out which dishes were vegan as they brought them out. They also didn't make any effort to try to move us out even though I'm sure they were planning on turning off the lights and leaving long before we actually walked out the door. I'm looking forward to going back again hopefully in the near future.shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-5385144913491207182011-12-03T20:52:00.002+11:002011-12-03T21:17:56.182+11:00Savi Seed<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJKlaaQ8k9_xmiR36LKVrbRlD0H_tgBKcms1LxqeTgcF-3MkipXorZwiE3ms9ceJ1tSHXJLXW3aBcMsYAKiiblLknV7o8ky43AEY8LWKrAhAgEU1hWvd21pMRNR_J_Oqg9doV/s1600/DSC01351.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJKlaaQ8k9_xmiR36LKVrbRlD0H_tgBKcms1LxqeTgcF-3MkipXorZwiE3ms9ceJ1tSHXJLXW3aBcMsYAKiiblLknV7o8ky43AEY8LWKrAhAgEU1hWvd21pMRNR_J_Oqg9doV/s320/DSC01351.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div>We fell in love with these when we were in Canada. They come in 3 different varieties but the cocoa kissed ones are the best by far. They taste like chocolate covered coffee beans. These amazing seeds (sacha inchi seeds) are large peanut sized, extremely high in Omega 3 and a complete protein source. We picked up several packets throughout our stay and for our trip home from <a href="http://www.govegan.net/">Sarah's Place</a> and Lifestyles Market. I'm hoping these soon get imported to Australia. We finished our last packet this afternoon (I'd been hiding it so we could share it with a friend). Now I've gotta wait until my next trip to Canada or hope that someone will bring some down soon (we've got friends coming down in a couple weeks-- I may have to ask them to bring some)<br /><div style="text-align: center; clear: both;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-46055485167715583162011-12-03T15:47:00.000+11:002011-12-03T15:48:58.471+11:00Westgarth Books & Cooks<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px"></div>After reading <a href="http://inthemoodfornoodles.blogspot.com/">Kristy's</a> mention of a new veg place in Westgarth I mentioned it to Zac when he got up this morning and he decided that's where he wanted to eat breakfast so we walked up there around mid-day. It's only the 3rd day of serving food in this great little bookshop (we were just up here last weekend to grab a quick coffee while running to the train station, we didn't even realize they would soon be opening a vegan cafe). Only some of the menu items were available but there was a good selection of raw food, mains and desserts. All vegan! Zac ordered the Little Aussie breakfast ($9.50): toast topped with cashew cheese and sort of a fresh salsa made of tomato, red capsicum and onion, and a side of rocket and avacoado. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of his meal (it looked pretty good). I had eaten breakfast earlier so I decided to get the green curry<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLudUUYVht9zPf4vxY0Oxli3I3UJ8gGRaa3crm_9a6b5ziQ6iKcA3mL-YECwUWSC495agn-HjouxrAqXAl33nko6v0yfsZV1tq8HdcyxktI0LA3eJpTG8AL-7gy0cyJfdXdfQY/s1600/DSC01347.JPG"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLudUUYVht9zPf4vxY0Oxli3I3UJ8gGRaa3crm_9a6b5ziQ6iKcA3mL-YECwUWSC495agn-HjouxrAqXAl33nko6v0yfsZV1tq8HdcyxktI0LA3eJpTG8AL-7gy0cyJfdXdfQY/s320/DSC01347.JPG" /></a><br /><br />(I forgot to take a photo until after I started taking apart the rice pile). It was really tasty. The curry was just slightly spicy with a very coconut-y flavour, filled with vegies and fried tofu cubes. The greens on the side were really nice. <br />We'll be heading back again once they get settled and have their full menu available (there's a list of the menu on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Westgarth-Books-Cooks-Cafe/221493931257101">facebook page</a>).<br />Westgarth Books & Cooks is at 77 High Street in Northcote.<div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-73573667056230441502011-11-22T21:30:00.003+11:002011-11-22T21:32:45.580+11:00almost backIt's been a while since I blogged. I have meant to do a couple posts in the past couple weeks but that hasn't happened. Soon I'll have the time an energy again.shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-78863788024156733632011-09-04T10:38:00.003+10:002011-09-04T10:58:43.021+10:00ShakahariFor my birthday last week I decided I wanted to go to <a href="http://www.shakahari.com.au/"><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Shakahari</span> </a>for dinner. Half way there my bike tire tube decided it no longer wanted to hold air and split open leaving me with a suddenly flat tire. We locked our bikes up and walked the rest of the way there (and then all the way home afterwards). Fortunately it was a nice evening for walking.
<br />Dinner was really good (but the couple of photos we took on our phones where very dark and blurry so I just deleted them). The menu is available <a href="http://www.shakahari.com.au/themenu.aspx">online</a> (I'd pretty much decided what I wanted when I'd looked at the menu the day before). We started with the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Avacado</span> Magic and the mushroom <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">shinjuku</span>. I was still congested from a cold so I wasn't tasting a lot of flavour but the fact I could taste things <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">ment</span> they must have been flavourful. I got the green, green <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">laksa</span> for my main which I really enjoyed (nice and spicy- perfect for getting over a cold). It's description on the menu is: Green tea <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">soba</span> noodles (buckwheat/wheat ), spinach and bean sprouts cooked in a Thai <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">krachai</span> ( lesser <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">galangal</span> ) green curry coconut stock. This is topped
<br />with a variety of fried tofu, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">tempeh</span> and fragrant herbs.
<br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Zac</span> got the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Shaolin</span> Treasure, described as: The secret of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Shaolin</span> monks! Five grain mixed rice cooked with vegetable stock to a risotto like texture. This comes with a bowl of braised turnips,spiced tofu,<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">gingko</span> nuts, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">beancurd</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">seitan</span>, and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">bok</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">choy</span>.
<br />At first glance <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">Zac</span> was pretty sure his meal wouldn't fill him but within a couple minutes of finishing he decided he was too full to have dessert. We ended up not getting dessert and just having some mini raw cheesecakes when we got home.
<br />That was only the second time we've eaten at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">Shakahari</span> but I think we do need to go there more often for special meals.
<br />shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-32991640547653746272011-08-27T18:32:00.000+10:002011-08-27T18:33:08.375+10:00new bag<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px">For months (maybe even more than a year) I have been planning on making myself a hand bag. I finally chose some <a href="http://www.inkandspindle.com.au/">Ink and Spindle </a>fabric I liked at a market last summer or autumn. I got around to buying fabric for the rest of the bag about a month ago. Last week I finally worked out a pattern for my bag and made a test bag out of some scrap fabric I got from work. I made a few adjustments (like decreasing the size by 3cm on each side), decided to add some pockets and then started sewing the bag yesterday. I needed to buy some different bias tape today and then I managed to complete my bag:
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkInBEr9zStrHFlIit-iBNl3G6mMhWk4ZvOxSETHbPfFRMmOFzaIWVoIzTWAWzrf76OOjjYOsQSjFL_jjdqt7mbFLb6El2_INSTew-i8E-8F6WK6JEnCVVZQo85ARiO_r47fHk/s1600/IMG_3064.JPG"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkInBEr9zStrHFlIit-iBNl3G6mMhWk4ZvOxSETHbPfFRMmOFzaIWVoIzTWAWzrf76OOjjYOsQSjFL_jjdqt7mbFLb6El2_INSTew-i8E-8F6WK6JEnCVVZQo85ARiO_r47fHk/s320/IMG_3064.JPG" /></a> </div>
<br />View of bag with front flap open:
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<br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfey4WKft05xHDMaPAHd3uS-7wdzZOwc09nMJsUfXDaMzXmdmtuQEBRUlBIPkvpRnF7wAWVOZdHXvuik1a5D9BwNFDl8W8alLQa0qOkBNsHiVOZdabtJSoQR6T9X4inwnrJiTY/s1600/IMG_3065.JPG"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfey4WKft05xHDMaPAHd3uS-7wdzZOwc09nMJsUfXDaMzXmdmtuQEBRUlBIPkvpRnF7wAWVOZdHXvuik1a5D9BwNFDl8W8alLQa0qOkBNsHiVOZdabtJSoQR6T9X4inwnrJiTY/s320/IMG_3065.JPG" /></a>
<br />(There are also 2 pockets inside the main compartment of the bag that line up with the 2 pockets shown in the photo above)</div>My sewing skills are pretty basic but somehow I managed to complete this with minimal errors and messes (you can see a few issues like not quite straight stitching and slightly wonky corners when you look closely but generally nobody but me will do that).
<br />I also discovered it seems to be imposible to buy the pieces to make an adustable strap. Spotlight only had D shaped loops and I wanted square (rectangle) ones and Lincraft didn't seem to carry anything either (I just looked on their website but didn't think it would be worth the effort to go into the city to see if the store might have something). I found a website that carried the pieces I wanted but when I put together an order it only came to just over $8 and the site wouldn't let me complete an order for less than $15 and there was nothing else I needed or wanted from the company. I ended up just chopping the adjustable strap off the bag that I got this year from our yearly conference we go too (I just gave 4 other bags from that conferenence to the opp shop last summer) and sewing it onto my bag. I'm very happy with the results.
<br /><div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-51158948080423468702011-08-25T19:38:00.009+10:002011-08-25T20:28:33.902+10:00Hepburn SpringsLast weekend we went to Hepburn Springs for the weekend. It was kind of my birthday gift (even though it isn't my birthday until next week). We went to see Henry Wagons (of the band Wagons that played at our wedding) play a solo gig at the Palais in Hepburn. We stayed at the Hepburn Motor Inn which was right next door to the Palais.
<br />I love how vegan friendly Hepburn Springs and Daylesford are.
<br />Saturday night I was hoping we could have the banquet at the Hepburn Retreat Centre (formerly the Continental) but they didn't have enough bookings so it was cancelled. Instead we went to the Electric Sitar in Daylesford (4/27 Albert Lane). It's an Indian cafe/take away place. They only have a couple vegan items on the menu but the 2 we had were both really good (eggplant masala and a chickpea dahl).
<br />Sunday morning we went to the Harvest Cafe and Organic Grocery (29 Albert St. Daylesford) for breakfast. We both had the scrambled tofu which was good although I thought it had too many olives in it (and I like olives).
<br />Sunday afternoon we discovered a new pub that we had never been to in Hepburn (in a part of Hepburn we didn't know existed--where a lot of the locals live and go to school): The Old Hepburn Hotel. A Melbourne band (The Brothers Grim) was playing there in the afternoon so we thought we'd try to find it and check it out. The pub had both Coopers Dark Ale and Pale Ale on tap (but no vegan food other than the veggie toastie without the cheese). It felt a bit like we were in Portland, Oregan when we walked in the pub. It was a great place.
<br />Sunday dinner was at Jasmine Thai (right across from the Palais). They have all their vegetarian items that can be made vegan clearly marked on their menu (the ones with the asterisk next to them in the photo below). The food there is good and soooo filling (and no doggie bags).
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uDJ1l_on2dMGXSjSLaPwhqD77EWjt3O0UgYqItcmM4u2_1DvkpdhVvHWrpSrZ7fT5ACkYeekp5RDWeZPbLes1IfVKE_KDYhVmHEi5nriwSi4sc2kN0hLD-i1vdMw5lC72_UB/s1600/DSC01273.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644731460097434562" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uDJ1l_on2dMGXSjSLaPwhqD77EWjt3O0UgYqItcmM4u2_1DvkpdhVvHWrpSrZ7fT5ACkYeekp5RDWeZPbLes1IfVKE_KDYhVmHEi5nriwSi4sc2kN0hLD-i1vdMw5lC72_UB/s320/DSC01273.JPG" /></a>Henry's gig was really good (and the 20 of us that had pre-purchased tickets had couches and chairs reserved at the front). It comes second with only the time most of Wagons played at our wedding being a better gig.
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<br />Monday morning after a bit of a battery issue with our flexicar (which we're pretty sure wasn't our fault but possibly an issue with their swipe card thing which could drain the battery) we headed to The Chocolate Mill before heading back to Melbourne. We arrived just as their morning demo was finishing and a woman was explaining that the chocolate they use (Callebaut)-- also the brand my parents used in their chocolate factory-- has always been fair trade but at the start of this year the became properly fair trade certified. The dark chocolate is vegan (Zac discovered this a few years ago at my mom's place so whenever we're there we go looking for dark chocolate things left in the disused factory) and they clearly mark all their vegan friendly chocolates in their display. I got a chocolate orange piece and a chocolate covered candied ginger. Zac got 2 mint chocolates. We then stopped in their cafe and got a vegan hot chocolate (the photo was taken before I stirred the chocolate through the hot, frothy soy milk). <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLbZ6T_hpxGsawlXPD8BDf6ybV-8g7lj-8P2QZDBsyWG_dP9ConT-OeD665vvauv0ivt3xwxK0jF-6jZMgVO321NWFLEx8-WNBujbEz_i4NinvCZhwjmT6F55OyeZL6H0dorj/s1600/DSC01275.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644731466782521714" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLbZ6T_hpxGsawlXPD8BDf6ybV-8g7lj-8P2QZDBsyWG_dP9ConT-OeD665vvauv0ivt3xwxK0jF-6jZMgVO321NWFLEx8-WNBujbEz_i4NinvCZhwjmT6F55OyeZL6H0dorj/s320/DSC01275.JPG" /></a>
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<br />It was the perfect relaxing weekend away.
<br />shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-14434664756762805632011-08-10T17:09:00.002+10:002011-08-10T17:27:09.130+10:00sick kidsIn past years we've had a lot of problems with parents giving their sick child Panadol or other fever/pain meds and sending them in to kinder. Then they try to act surprised when we call them at lunch time to inform them their child is miserable and has a fever. This year parents have been much better (with a couple exceptions). Yesterday a parent came in and stated that his child had felt like they had a fever (they didn't actually take his temperature but he said he felt quite hot) so he had given his child Panadol and brought him into kinder saying he was fine. Upon hearing this both me and the teacher tried to explain to him that his child can't be at kinder because a fever means your body is fighting an infection and there are some nasty flu type illnesses going around. He seemed quite surprised when we said he would have to take his child home and the look he had was one that made me think that today he would bring his child in on Panadol but know not to say anything to us. Fortunately he didn't do that and the child was away today hopefully having a good rest at home and recovering from his illness.
<br />This morning we were chatting to a parent about illnesses and we said that we do get parents bringing them in on Panadol and we don't find out until lunchtime when the meds wear off that the child is sick. His response was "That's not fair!!" Finally a parent that really understands the importance of keeping sick children home (and was quite upset that others may not do the same). He had actually had to cancel a meeting at work today so he could go home for a few hours in the middle of the day to take care of his possibly sick child that they decided they didn't want to infect others at child care and his wife who was sick as well. They also called into kinder about midday to make sure their kinder child was ok and not showing any signs that he may be coming down with what the rest of the family has had.
<br />I spent half my planning time yesterday researching children and illnesses to try to type up a nice email for families stating the importance if keeping an unwell child at home (and how sick is too sick to bring them to kinder). I'm sure it is hard for working parents to keep sick children at home but it is sooooo important for the child to rest and that they don't share their germs with the children and staff at kinder.
<br />shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-51009037457031488842011-07-17T09:28:00.000+10:002011-07-17T09:29:24.267+10:00mocha<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihl8d0gLGrE8ATqe0ECFjtvDMx1FiIU3X2NirnJTb8HV0UC_B_aVQdGjOaF8iCXfEFGQefXw7LIxAqEWfhrp3LFdWDwLcQQYcR2Gcsi3zxNRWCjPqiMJrwICFX6djRoII-BZ01/s1600/DSC01202.JPG"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihl8d0gLGrE8ATqe0ECFjtvDMx1FiIU3X2NirnJTb8HV0UC_B_aVQdGjOaF8iCXfEFGQefXw7LIxAqEWfhrp3LFdWDwLcQQYcR2Gcsi3zxNRWCjPqiMJrwICFX6djRoII-BZ01/s320/DSC01202.JPG" /></a> </div><br />Chocolate mint mochas were the drink that started me on coffee (although they don't really have a a coffee taste at all). In grade 11 a friend convinced me to skip a class to come with her to starbucks to have this amazing mint mocha she'd had a few times. I went and fell in love (and generally I don't even like mint and chocolate together). I haven't had a mint mocha in years (mochas aren't really that big at all in Australia but most coffee shops back home serve them-- and they're usually much better than the coffee). Mr. Nice Guy had mint mocha on their menu when we were there for brunch yesterday so I couldn't pass it up. They served it in a Batman mug! (I messed up the cocoa powder on top before i took the photo). We also had the french toast (I had strawberries, Zac had blueberries) which is also blogged about <a href="http://veganabouttown.blogspot.com/2011/07/mr-nice-guy-cafe-brunswick.html">here</a>. I haven't had french toast that good in a long time.<div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-24311645284219569612011-07-15T20:26:00.005+10:002011-07-16T11:45:42.328+10:00mallacoota again<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px">Last week we spent a week in Mallacoota to celebrate Zac's mum's birthday. I took about 700 pictures (and now I have to get really good at hitting the delete button because there are way too many photos and a lot are very similar-- trying to get that really good shot). I couldn't choose just a few to put on here (I have about 90 of my favourites on facebook) so I made a few collages (click on the image to make it larger).<br />Wombat had the best time (and didn't get sore feet the entire trip-- a first for her. I think it was because we brought all her different meds for allergies with us so of course we didn't need them). She ran free on the beaches every day:<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Otw0j0NHlpw0N4d6SDPmi9KTfMjN82LimGQdKzqHroZU9s0XkyzJZJFBMwXi5nZ8EfiOvRcrHVTEgayEK3qGmTihUdscM4TQMEMI4tUBjs7oCj1_yRfsY1Ah18gCjRmkEnEQ/s1600/July+2011.jpg"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Otw0j0NHlpw0N4d6SDPmi9KTfMjN82LimGQdKzqHroZU9s0XkyzJZJFBMwXi5nZ8EfiOvRcrHVTEgayEK3qGmTihUdscM4TQMEMI4tUBjs7oCj1_yRfsY1Ah18gCjRmkEnEQ/s400/July+2011.jpg" /></a> </div>She spent her evenings charming everybody and getting fed way to much junk food from people. We had our own unit at the <a href="http://www.adobeholidayflats.com.au/">Adobe Mudbrick Flats</a> (same place we stayed <a href="http://mywordsatrandom.blogspot.com/2010/12/mallacoota.html">last time</a>) and Zac's mum hired the penthouse for the week. We spent most of our time at the penthouse and just slept, watched the sunrise and had short quiet breaks at our unit. The penthouse has a huge balcony with an amazing view and a bird feeder on the rail where dozens of birds feed all day long (at our unit we had a bird feeder just outside the floor to ceiling lounge room windows and a small outdoor space where we could sit next to the bird feeder).<br />We did a lot of bird watching at the units and around the area:<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcSp655uwMoeJJS23XOh_IDIq1HavAYD_phiuSp6RbZYmIJQxSQW69Wi9UugdBV501JafuTFkmLNlR6pzNwsIGrKouqJz51WwA51dz-9wZZPoZclx2lNVoiF6VqWfH_dd9sazo/s1600/July+20111.jpg"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcSp655uwMoeJJS23XOh_IDIq1HavAYD_phiuSp6RbZYmIJQxSQW69Wi9UugdBV501JafuTFkmLNlR6pzNwsIGrKouqJz51WwA51dz-9wZZPoZclx2lNVoiF6VqWfH_dd9sazo/s400/July+20111.jpg" /></a> </div>The bird feeders attracted lorikeets, galahs, rosellas, red browed firetail finches, fairy wrens, king parrots (who would feed from your hand) and sparrows (and I'm sure I'm forgetting several other birds). At the beaches and in the inlet and up in Eden, NSW (we took a day trip up there) we saw lots of sea eagles and pelicans. It was pretty amazing seeing so many birds everywhere we went.<br />I got up for the sunrise 3 or 4 mornings while we were there (not something I usually do but I was accidentally awake the first morning and then after that I kept waking up and then didn't want to miss watching it. One of the rooms in the penthouse faces right out across the balcony straight towards the winter sunrise. The woman staying in that room watched the sunrise every morning with no chance of sleeping through it (there are no curtains on the floor to ceiling windows in that room). Even the morning it rained, the sun was pretty amazing when it broke through the clouds (the black and white looking images are from that morning-- I didn't actually alter the colour on the photos-- it was very grey and shots taken into the light look very greyscale). The colours of the sky during sunset were also amazing with lots of pink clouds. The rainbow in the bottom left of the collage was in Eden. Just as we finished taking Wombat for a short run on the beach there, the rain clouds broke. As we were getting into the car we noticed a double rainbow over the water so we had to stop and take some photos.</div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg4RPUBBvBtcpeD-VCEs70zQWBPygbmQqP4NJlqRc3vSaWY1wXEOzAd-VJ0ID1MWFViyfYUnzuncgsb3MUl_mIJ-u6P0IPjI8GG0qln9g9B-ChaNO1V7DLefugQyYvjxBzokex/s1600/July+20112.jpg"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg4RPUBBvBtcpeD-VCEs70zQWBPygbmQqP4NJlqRc3vSaWY1wXEOzAd-VJ0ID1MWFViyfYUnzuncgsb3MUl_mIJ-u6P0IPjI8GG0qln9g9B-ChaNO1V7DLefugQyYvjxBzokex/s400/July+20112.jpg" /></a> </div>We spent about an hour a day at the beaches. I could have sat there all day watching and listening to the waves roll over into tubes and crash on the rocks.<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaNpadwYBGJSzJQF2dz2Hp1-zwr0J0UPJjcc6sFTiDwRsbNKnvpDVSYF547wjdjPa55n1gcjNIHT9a4Tm2misEHHxSd35TdpTZm9RNlnpeZQ3Lxvrd4NzmE5TRGwnpk4nL6AcD/s1600/July+20113.jpg"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaNpadwYBGJSzJQF2dz2Hp1-zwr0J0UPJjcc6sFTiDwRsbNKnvpDVSYF547wjdjPa55n1gcjNIHT9a4Tm2misEHHxSd35TdpTZm9RNlnpeZQ3Lxvrd4NzmE5TRGwnpk4nL6AcD/s400/July+20113.jpg" /></a><br /></div>On the way home we spent a night in Paynesville. I convinced Zac we had to make a quick trip over to Raymond Island before the sun set so I could take photos of koalas on the small island (there is about 258 according to a count done a couple weeks ago). We managed to find about 5 (including one really alert one that was watching us and the other people walking around the trail below her) in the half hour we were on the island. We spotted the kangaroos relaxing in someone's front yard at Gypsy Point (a slight detour on the way out of Mallacoota). <br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBYIl5hyphenhyphenPBZCDr1SN0J7KuoNneVHnCMtccJFo_gfyjwGTQvUEGUW-s-8oXOlk25EoLy2oMDQEeEkj-ExuAATyv3FuUpJ5IpwO0fXJQLypXstEA3iP3tduz67k1r0hemQ4t0ix/s1600/July+20114.jpg"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBYIl5hyphenhyphenPBZCDr1SN0J7KuoNneVHnCMtccJFo_gfyjwGTQvUEGUW-s-8oXOlk25EoLy2oMDQEeEkj-ExuAATyv3FuUpJ5IpwO0fXJQLypXstEA3iP3tduz67k1r0hemQ4t0ix/s400/July+20114.jpg" /></a></p><br /><p align="center">Mallacoota is totally worth the 7 hour drive from Melbourne (and the pub even has vegan risotto on the menu which was an exciting bonus when we went there for dinner one night). I'm glad Zac's mum lives at about the halfway point though so we can have a stopover night along the way. Wombat LOVED her holiday but was completely exhausted by the end of it (and I'm pretty sure she's gained a kilo or 2 from all the food people gave her even though she did a LOT of running at the beaches).<br /><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BACKGROUND: 0% 50%; BORDER-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial" border="0" alt="Posted by Picasa" align="middle" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" /></a></p>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13061429.post-8673695263571232812011-07-11T09:45:00.000+10:002011-07-11T09:45:44.484+10:00chilli<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLZsr3H_Q6IDEk6N1cpP_05gUX7PSAMMOTtDn27bWgf_VHKfKPaIySzDXEAPCeN0HLbJGrSb1Dz7WxCBKB5aS1N44h5rCC5qFv9Xh8_PfkQtmo265BwNrXQTvk2fr4w9dvR3GB/s1600/IMG_2786.JPG"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLZsr3H_Q6IDEk6N1cpP_05gUX7PSAMMOTtDn27bWgf_VHKfKPaIySzDXEAPCeN0HLbJGrSb1Dz7WxCBKB5aS1N44h5rCC5qFv9Xh8_PfkQtmo265BwNrXQTvk2fr4w9dvR3GB/s320/IMG_2786.JPG" /></a> </div>We cooked dinner for ourselves only one night during our trip (every other night was at the penthouse with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Zac's</span> mum and everyone else or at one of the 2 places to eat in town). The night we (I) cooked <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Zac</span> was sick so I got to eat most of it. It was the best <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">chilli</span> I've made on holidays (I often make it when we go to a holiday house because it's easy to bring all the ingredients for it). This one had about 1 cup of green lentils in just enough stock to cook them, a can of tomatoes, a handful of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">TVP</span>, a can of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">cannellini</span> beans, some <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">chilli</span> powder and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">cayenne</span> pepper and a large clove of garlic (which I fried for about a minute in a frying pan before adding it into the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">chilli</span> not long after I started cooking the lentils). The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">chilli</span> was great served with with tortilla chips. I need to remember to make this at home instead of only on holidays because it's a nice easy dinner and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">sooooo</span> good.<div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15393933015016286894noreply@blogger.com0