Stop! Smoothie time!

I feel so uncool right now. I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t seem to be drinking green smoothies each morning. I haven’t even managed to find kale to buy. But tomorrow I’m going to go to Mel’s green grocer and secure myself a few bunches.

For breakfast this morning though, my honey and I had this smoothie and I thought I’d share the recipie in case anyone else wants to drink something other than greens in the morning.

Ingredients: 
1) Milk & plain Greek yoghurt – the portions of each depend on how thick or smooth you  like your morning drink to be. I don’t add too much yoghurt because E doesn’t like the sourness of the plain, Greek style.

2) Three frozen banananas – its all about the cold bananas I tell you. A smoothie with room temperature bananas never tastes as good. Buy a few and when they start going brown, chuck them in the fridge or freezer.

3) Mixed berries, fresh or frozen

4) Fresh passionfruit (or canned, when out of season)

Method:
Whack it all in a blender and blend, blend, blend.

Breakfast in less than five minutes!

1. 

Friday five

Five lovely internet finds from this fabulous Friday.

1) Funny little toys from Lucky Boy Sunday
I love the girl with the worried face – she looks like she needs a big hug!

2) Funny stationery from Mac & Murphy
I know a few people that I could send this card to!

3) Clear balloons filled with pretties!
I want to pop this and dance around in the confetti!

4) Cute spool necklace from Kortni Sheely, spotted here this morning.
A bit twee but I’d still wear one. I like cute, quirky, necklaces.

5) Leather and wood trivets, found here on Design Sponge.
I’m not really good at DIY but you know what? I’m going to try this! I think they look like pot holders made of chalk!

And five lovely quotes that I found here.

1) 
What’s the biggest room you’ve ever come across?

No that’s not the biggest. The biggest room is your mind. Now what are you going to do fill it with?

2) 
Have you heard about tomorrow? It’s a mysterious place where 90% of all our motivation & achievements are held. Will it ever arrive?*

3) 
A bad day doesn’t exist. Just bad moments we’ve chosen to carry all day long. Life is a series of moments. Life goes on. Sometimes we don’t.

4) 
Happiness is being in harmony with who you are and the life you lead.

5) 
The past is done and dusted. Once you truly understand and believe this it has no power over you. Why waste your energy on what’s already happened? Use your energy on what you can become now.

Happy Friday people!

*That one is for you Deb!

Things I’ve loved about March

I think I’ll remember March 2012 as the month I went on an Asian food bender. Mostly Malaysian. I’m not exactly sure why I had such intense cravings but I think it was probably driven by a couple a food blog I follow. This blogger has been sampling and reviewing Malaysian cuisine around Sydney. His food soirées have made me lick my lips….and then I’ve gone off on my own food adventures.

I didn’t take photos of everything I ate this month, but here are some of the highlights. From left to right, there was prawn har mee,  seafood laksa and nasi lemak, all from Temasek in Parramatta. Then on the second row you’ll see won ton ramen from Ichi Ban Boshi in the City, spinach and pumpkin dumplings that I made myself and Vietnamese Bun Bi Xao Xa from Pasteur Vietnamese in Parramatta. I also went to Mamak for roti and Chat Thai for red curry.

Nom, nom, nom.

Other wonderful things this month:

• Coffee at Pirrama Park kiosk
  Pirrama Park is one of my favourite places in Pyrmont and I walk around it often. Sometimes I go down there early in the morning so I can play on the swings before kids arrive and steal them!

  In the first photo, you can see the tiny little kiosk with people sitting around the outdoor tables. I usually grab a take away coffee and then go and sit closer to the water. Can you see that tall ship in the second pic? Its old school sails made me happy. And how cloudy were the clouds on the day I took this photo?

• Dinner at Strangers with Candy
  We caught with the A team (aka, Andrew and Alissa) for a lovely dinner at Strangers with Candy. It’s a shoddy looking place in Redfern that has the most amazing food! They use really fresh, good quality produce and the service is wonderful too. I got the tea smoked Atlantic salmon and it was light, yet flavoursome. I also had the same chocolate fudge cake that I ate last time I was there. Sadly, there are no photos of the cake because it was so divine that I was caught up in a food orgasm and didn’t think to take a picture.

  

• A David & Leigh weekend
  My lovely sister and her just as lovely husband came to stay. We ate lots of yummy food, went to see the Picasso exhibition and had honeycomb coffees at Cafe Otto in Glebe. I love those two.

  

And then there was:

• My gorgeous friend Rosetta’s 50th birthday party.
• An outing with my Grandfather to the Lake Macquarie Art Gallery, plus some lovely artisan markets. I made a mammoth effort to try and reverse park outside the gallery. After trying and then failing miserably more than a gazillion times, I eventually gave up. My grandfather then told me that he couldn’t fathom how I could possibly have a licence, then produced his disability car parking pass! I laughed for a long time. And then almost killed him :)
• Seeing the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with my Aunt. A beautiful film that sort of felt like Autumn. If that makes sense.
• Dinner club with the Williams at Sydney’s best Lebanese restaurant. That Melly, I tells you, she’s a barrel of positive energy and gives me a good injection of happiness whenever I see her.
• Pump classes and other exercise with Melly. She smiles the whole way through which I find disconcerting and yet adorable.
•  Boxing classes with Husband. He forces me to have good form.
• Sheela. We have mammoth texting sessions, write long emails to each other on most days and support each other through numerous emotional meltdowns on a regular basis. I’m lucky to have her.
• Signing up for Draw Something. Husband and I play with Sheels, Kys, Ames and Kat. They are all amazing artists. Our drawings on the other hand look like they come from mentally challenged children. But it’s still so much fun!

  April is looking hectic. Fingers crossed that it’s a good month too!