Welcome to 2008!

Here we are and it's 2008! Time for me to start my big diet change.

So my original plan was to do a juice fast before I start my new vegan diet, however after doing some more reading I don't think it will be a good idea given the medication I am on. My poor liver is under stress as it is on this stuff, and a fast would only cause it more pressure. So I'm not off to the start I had originally planned. I think I may be better to do a fast once I'm off this stuff.

Having said that though I am still starting the vegan diet from today. So far I have only had breakfast which has consisted of fruit, and then some grain toast with tahini instead of butter and a smidge of homemade apricot jam...yum!!

I think for lunch I will have a bean salad :)

New books

6 new books in veganism and cooking vegan food have just arrived on our doorstep...yipee!

2 successful vegan meals

So for the last 2 nights I have tried to cook vegan meals with quite some success. With my cooking and nutrition background I feel I am at an advantage to the average person trying to go vegan.

So here is what I made:
Italian veg and butter bean bake with brown rice:
splash olive oil
huge spoon of minced garlic
1/2 red onion
1/2 white onion
3 sticks of celery
2 field mushrooms
1/2 zucchini
1 red capsicum
tin of butter beans
1 tin of crushed tomatoes or 1/2 jar of passata (tomato puree)
Italian herbs (dried)
smoked paprika
Minced chili (just a tiny bit)
splash of balsamic vinegar
pinch salt
cracked pepper to taste

So basically, shop all the veg into smallish chunks, cook the onion first, then throw in the rest of the veg and the tomato puree. Some people might cook the garlic with the onion, but I find if it burns at all which is easy to do at this stage it can be a bit bitter, so I add it in with everything else. You might need to add some extra water if it's not very runny as it need to cook for a while and needs a good bit of liquid for this. Add the rest of the ingredients (make sure you wash the beans well, or they will make you fart!), bring to the boil then turn down to a gentle simmer. Let it cook until all the veg are soft.

Topping:
breadcrumbs
vegan cheese
spray olive oil
Transfer the veg mix into a baking tray. crumble the vegan cheese (1/3) in with the breadcrumbs (2/3). I found this was a bit like rubbing butter and flour together when you make shortbread or short pastry. Sprinkle this mix over the veg, give a little spray with the olive oil then bake it till golden and crisp on top.

Boil some brown rice, and voila! Serve the two on a plate and enjoy. This would also be nice with any kind of fresh herbs sprinkled on top or even some lemon zest! Yummy!!

The other dish I made which was tonight was:
Pumpkin, sweet potato, tempeh and pine nut fettuccine
Ingredients:
gluten free fettuccine
garlic whole
sweet potato
butternut pumpkin
olive oil
rosemary
2 slices of grainy bread
pine nuts
tempeh
sea salt
cracked fresh pepper

First I put some of the olive oil in a metal baking dish, added the whole garlic cloves (leave the skin on) and rosemary (you can leave that whole too). Heat the oil over the cook top to flavour the oil. Then add in the diced pieces of sweet potato and pumpkin and throw the dish in the oven to bake it.

Put fettuccine on to boil, should take about 10-12 minutes.

Take the bread slices and chop up into crumbs. I just run a knife over it a few times, but you can use a food processor of you have one. More olive oil in a fry pan, flavour the oil again with the rosemary and this time chopped garlic. Throw in breadcrumbs and cook til golden, remove from heat into a bowl.

Remove tempeh from it's plastic and crumble up the desired amount. Tempeh is a fermented soy product in case you wondered. You can usually get it in the cold section in Coles. It's very nice! Again more olive oil, and cook the tempeh like you did the breadcrumbs, until golden, remove from pan.

Repeat same thing with pine nuts till golden.

Once everything is cooked it's just a matter of throwing a bit of everything in with the pasta. I usually use my fry pan from before, throw in a tong full of pasta, add a bit of everything else, toss it well and transfer to a bowl.

For those non-vegans, this would be divine with any kind of cheese or a dash of cream. Also other great things would be wilted rocket, baby spinach, sundried tomatoes, lemon zest or even a nice piece of pan fried fish on top.

More recipes and vegan discoveries to come! :)

My immune system is shot

So here I am mooching around at home missing out on Matt's birthday and Adventure World fun..poo! I have yet another sinus infection and I feel like death.

I think that's it for me, the end of my partying hard days. My body just can't take it, even when I take it 'easy' I still get sick. The lows far out weight the highs and so it is time for me to hang up my hat in that regard.

To be honest I spent most of breakfest sober and still had a ball so I don't think I even need it. Despite the fun and frolics after the festival I think I would have had fun anyway as Miss Mini proved by staying sober while the rest of us didn't. I think if I asked her she'd say she had just as much fun as any of us.

So for me 2008 will be a year to become fit and health. Get my running back on track, get my cycling to work happening as a regular thing. Lose about 10 kg and give veganism a go.

I'm excited about the prospect of living a healthier life, of both Tony and I feeling well and always healthy, not getting sick every 5 seconds. I think also as we move closer toward having a family of our own what better time for my body to be in the best shape it has ever been?

I think the biggest challenges for being vegan are going to be those nights we both get home tired and hungry but can't be bothered cooking anything. Also eating out is going to be quite a challenge. These are both things I will have to think about and formulate some 'game plans' to combat this. I think making extra food and putting together frozen dinners will be the best way around avoiding takeaway food on lazy nights. But as for the eating out part, I am not sure I know of a single vegan restaurant in Perth. I guess there are a few vego ones, but I am not even sure of that.

So many challenges abound in 2008, and hopefully this time next year I will be sitting here feeling fit as a fiddle and recounting proudly how I achieved all of my personal goals.

Having said that 2007 has been an amazing year, meeting the love of my life my Tony Polony. Getting engaged (something I thought would never happen in a million years), moving out of John St and getting a new exciting job which has opened so many doors to the future. Wow, what a year!

Becoming Vegan

I just read some very interesting advice about going vegan. I can't find the exact quote, but it was something like this: Rather than cutting out foods and feeling like you are depriving yourself, it should be more about trying lots and lots of new things to the point that your 'banned' foods are almost 'pushed out' by the new foods you now enjoy.

Good advice, and I think I will try and use this mentality when I feel deprived.

I want your opinion

Tony and I are thinking of buying a game console in the new year. So far we are thinking the wii is the most likely candidate as we have both enjoyed playing Maggie's and heard a number of good reviews from other friends, not to mention the price is right.

But I am wondering what other people think, who has what, why do they like it, what's good what is bad. What's good value re:games, consoles, all the other fruit etc.

So we have a normal TV, not a super flash big screen LCD type thing, and we have a media pc, so we don't need something that plays movies etc as well.

Garn, give us yer opinion!! :)

Chris Isaak and the Divinyls

Last night Tony and I were invited by Carrie and Tony to see Chris Isaak and the Divinyls at Freo oval. I wasn't too interested in the music when she asked, but was keen to spend some time with them and actually get a chance to have a conversation with Tony.

Chris Isaak was actually quite good and I enjoyed his interesting mix of old rock and roll, gospel and pop. Towards the end of his show he got about 10 pretty young girls from the audience to come up on the stage. His attentions turned to one girl in particular and he started to ask her about if she was a dancer, she said no she was at uni. He then proceeded to show her a 'dance move' which involved thrusting his pelvis at her and then yelled 'who's your Daddy!' The girl then pointed out to the crowd and said, 'he is!'. Isaak being American thought she was saying her boyfriend was out there, until she said 'no, he's my Dad!'. It was very funny, he then toned it down big time saying 'you have a lovely daughter sir'.

So we had a really nice night. We didn't stay for all of the Divinyls as most of their music was stuff we didn't know. It was certainly interesting to see the sorts of people that came out for the event. Lots of 40 something slutty-bikey looking women. Plenty of blokes swilling VB in their best flanno, and equally as many people just like us.

Time off

So I have 2 weeks off and I hope to use the time wisely. My plan is to nurture myself in this time. Once all the partying and boozing of the silly season are over I am going to do a juice fast, then start vegan-ising my life.

I don't know how long I will do this, or at this stage how strictly vegan I will be, but it is something I would like to try out. I have done the vego thing before and had no dramas, so I will be interested to see how I go cutting out dairy and eggs as well. I'm actually really excited to explore the world of unusual grains and all the sorts of interesting vegetable and legume based protein sources.

I think it may help me to buy a few books on the subject and do a fair bit of online reading. What really appeals is that I am going to go into this focusing on eating a balanced diet, but not really worrying about every last thing I put into my mouth. I feel that will be quite a freeing exercise!

Warping time

It's weird, but today went really, really slow, and so I have attributed it to this : Being in the buff all day makes time slow down! It is recommended that you do this in the comfort of your own home with all the blinds down.

Although I do remember a friend when I lived in Broome reckoned the best way to avoid the police giving you a speeding fine etc if they pull you over is to drive nude.

It goes like this:
*cop siren*
You pull over and await the officer coming to your window. He hasn't looked at you yet and asks 'registration please'.
To which you reply 'I left it in my other pants'.
He then looks at you in disgust and says ' please drive on'.

Probably works better if you are a dude.

But the point is nudity is great, slows time and reduces traffic fines. Not sure it would work with parking tickets though.

How do I acheive all of this before I am 100?

Weddings! Argh! How do normal everyday people who have never organised a huge event for all of their family and friends do it without falling apart?

I think I have bought too many wedding magazines cause it is all doing my head in, big time!