Loving it- week thirteen and fourteen

Another double whammy coming at ya, because as per usual, I coudn't get my a into g last week!

I feel like I have had a busy two weeks of not doing much but feeling exhausted nonetheless - ever have one of those?

The weekend before last, my dad came up and we went and watched the All Blacks at Eden Park. It was heaps of fun, they totally wasted Australia and we had great seats. Kingsland was crazy busy that night; we got a lift in around 5pm and it was impossible to get in anywhere pretty much. Thankfully we managed to squeeze in at Citizen Park and have a few drinks before the match.

Ben and I made haloumi burgers on Friday night for dinner, which were really good.  We have made them quite a few times and always reckon that if we ever had a burger making biz they would be our go to vege burger option. They are pretty simple but so tasty- portobello mushrooms, haloumi, roasted peppers, mayo, onion and a green. 

I took dad to swimming on Saturday and thankfully June-bug got over her sudden water fears and got involved with her lesson. The last couple of times had been kind of pathetic on her part; a lot of refusing to hop in and then refusing to participate- so annoying when you know she can swim pretty well for a four-year-old! However, this weekend just gone by,, Anton informed she once again refused to get in the water and to quote Anton "Bug is done with swimming".  UGH.  I'm gonna take her this weekend and push her in. Maybe.... probably not! It is tempting though.

This weekend just gone by was pretty low key. I worked the Saturday and babysat my nieces, who are little well-behaved blonde angels. We ate brisket, which Ben had smoked all day in his weber with coleslaw, bbq sauce in fresh bread rolls and we watched Guardians of the Galaxy at the girls request (I may or may not have dozed off for the most part).

On Sunday, Ben and I had one of those 'get shit done' type days, which involved markets, supermarket, briscoes for a toaster, rebel sports for a yoga mat and Real Groovy for some record perusal.  I bought two rippers (as pictured) for a whopping $7.  What a bargain hunter.

Anyhoo, here's some stuff I have been loving of late, listed in no particular order...

First up, I have started watching The Walking Dead's first season and subsequently have had a whole series of zombie apocalypse extreme survival-type dreams.  

At a glance this would not seem like the series for me, but I'm totally hooked on it. The new spin-off series starring Cliff Curtis starts tonight and I'm pretty amped on that too.

Some other things I'm grateful for this week include: having my girls for an extra night this week (thanks Anton), rediscovering chocolate ice cream, my daily eight thirty coffee, hot water bottles and topshop tights (honestly, they are the best). John came off his medication a week ago but is doing remarkably well. So well, in fact he is heading home today to continue his respite care at home. Another week with John about is definitely something to love.

Also, Little Sister in Henderson is a recent discovery and it is so good. I would recommend anyone who finds themselves in that part of the world to head there asap for Kokako coffee, great breakfast options and the most enticing cabinet food you've ever clapped eyes on.

Also, whileIi'm giving a shout out to yummy places to eat, I have to mention Musashi in New Lynn as well.  Ben and I went there for date night on Fri and it was so good. We sat at the back at a long granite bench and got a shared menu for two with Beef Sukiyaki, green salad and Agedashi tofu as our mains.  The presentation of the beef had extremely high novelty value- it comes in a little pot and cooks down at your table.  It was all really tasty, prettily presented and worth the money (imo).  Also, it's BYO which always gets a big tick from us!

And there you have it, two weeks of stuff rolled into one little ole blog post. Have a happy week everyone x

Loving it - week twelve

Talofa!  Having just returned from a week-long tropical holiday with my mum and sister, I'm finding plenty to love this week, but the Auckland weather doesn't feature! (Oh my god, it's so fricken cold here right now, I feel like I could actually perish at night.)

None of our group of three had ever been to Samoa before, and I can't understand why because it's pretty awesome. We stayed on the southern coast at Coconuts Beach Club and spent most of our time either lounging around the resort, eating at another joint down the road or tiki-touring in our rental car across the island.

I was the sole driver and frankly, the driving was exhausting at times due to the sheer amount of pot-holes in the road. The locals ambling along the road three abreast are a hazard unto themselves as well.

Highlights for me included a waterfall we visited on our last day in the O le Pupu-Pue National Park.  I was a bit too scared to jump in, but I did swim and the water was amazing, as was all the bush around.  This was the one spot where I saw a lot of lizards too. 

Oka was another trip favourite, none of us could get enough of this dish and at least one person ordered it at every meal pretty much. Oka was always raw tuna marinated in coconut milk with various additions like tomato, cucumber, chili, coriander and lemon. The best thing to eat in the searing heat.

Although the food at our resort was a bit hit and miss (actually pretty bad), their Fia Fia night was really fun and despite the torrential downpour through out dinner the performers kept us entertained with heaps of songs, dances and fire twirling, licking and dancing (this probably has a proper name). 

Coconuts also made epic cocktails and Harriet and I did a great job of working our way through a big chunk of the list, and the staff were friendly, accommodating and sweet. In fact one girl helped Harriet in a medical emergency by taking us back to her house to find supplies because they had run out at the hotel.  At Sinelei we managed to befriend a waiter who hugged us all good bye when we had our last dinner there on Sunday night, he was a total sweetheart who seemed to really like my mum and who's last words were "goodbye palangi."

Like most holidays I go on, I kept thinking about how much my kids would love it there- the heat, the water, the wild surrounds make a pretty perfect kids' playground and there was so much to do that we never got round to that I can't wait to find the time and money to go back with the fambam in tow. 

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On a sadder (much, much sadder) note, my step dad John has gone into hospice for the final time to be made comfortable as he finally succumbs to his horrible degenerative lung condition. I have been up to see him twice and the last time he was unable to really speak as he has decided to go off his antibiotics, which are basically prolonging his life. 

The amazing team at hospice are keeping him comfortable and relaxed and he is able to sleep most of the day. It's really too hard to talk about or accept and in this situation there is nothing to love, there's only a terrible sense of grief. 

Loving it - week ten and eleven

A double whammy this week, due in part to general slackness and general busyness!  So much has happened since I last touched base including a new job offer, which I accepted.  So, in one month's time I shall be heading over to Auckland Council to work out a one-year contract working on their library website.  I'm pretty excited about the new opportunities that lie ahead and figure it's a step on the path to self-employment (aka world domination of the webby kind).

The weekend before last, Anton and I took the girls to see Disney princesses on ice, which was actually pretty cool.  A total overload of young girls all frocked up and high on sugar. The best part of the whole thing was managing to keep it a secret from Juno and Mila, who right up to our arrival at vector genuinely thought we were just all going to get coffee 'as a family'.  Parenting win for us!

Other fun events last weekend included dinner out with our friends Simon and Viv on the Friday and dinner at Ben's friends house on Saturday to fare him well before he went off to Europe.

This weekend that has just gone has been a good one too.  We took the girls down to Tauranga to see my dad and checked out the Mount, went for a swim at Welcome Bay pools (my favourite), hit the Tauranga Farmers' Market, made Lemon Meringue Pie for dinner, took a ride on a miniature train and just generally had fun with grandad. 

So, in honour of my busy two weeks, here's some things I'm loving at present...

I bought a new swimsuit in preparation for my trip to Samoa this week and I love them.  Black and kinda slimming i think?  I didn't cry in the changing rooms anyway, so that's a win!

I also got some new makeup, which i love.  Nars foundation and Stila primer. I'm determined to learn how to put make-up on like a proper adult and not a kid that raided her mum's makeup bag.

I'm loving Jamie Oliver's bircher muesli recipe, which we have been eating for breakfast for the last couple of weeks. We take it to work with stewed fruits and it is really good. And actually keeps me full- success!

I got a hard copy of the Kings Seeds catalogue, which makes for great reading and planning and plotting and dreaming. Kind keen to grow my own loofahs at some point....

And lastly I'm loving weekends out of Auckland with my crew. Fun times x

Loving it - week nine

Well, it's practically week ten but I've said it before and I'll say it again- better late than never!

I'm trying hard to stay positive at the moment but the stress of having an uncertain job future lying ahead of me has taken a toll on my body somewhat and my pbs has flared up.  Having a chronic condition is a real pain in the ass.... like totally.  I have been pain-free for quite some time after months of prolonged discomfort and 'flare up' after 'flare up'. So as you can imagine, I was pretty upset when I was struck down on Tuesday. I ended up crying on the couch, pumping myself full of nurofen and hugging a hot water bottle. Ugh.

Anyway, the thing about chronic conditions is that you're stuck with them, so at some point you have to make peace with it.  I've spent too long envying other people their ability to eat anything and drink anything, to never have abdomen pain that feels like fire in your lower belly. Getting stressed about the situation only makes it worse, so now I try to be as zen as possible about it. But sometimes that's easier said than done.

Still, making my list of things I love serves to remind me that life 's not really that bad and of course they're all things that make me happy, so the stress levels drop and the pain reduces - score :)

The pics above are all of  a cake baking session Mila and I had when we hung out during the school hols.  We made a chocolate cake on Bastille Day in honour of my nana Sylvie, who died earlier this year.  July 14 is her birthday but I couldn't really think of anything particularly French that my nana would like (she was a pretty fussy eater). She did love chocolate cake though so that's what we went with.  A little bit of tweaking was required as I didn't have exactly the right ingredients (happens to me all the time) but Mila and I were pretty stoked with the end result. The cake we made was adapted from a recipe from the book Gran's Kitchen by Natalie Oldfield.

Other fun things we did on our day together, which I'm loving, include watching make-up tutorials for ages and trying to achieve a 'smoky eye' (we didn't) and also doing a couple of yoga videos thanks to the lovely Adriene from YWA (she's awesome, youtube her). So basically I'm loving the internet, days off with my daughter and chocolate cake!

The International Film Festival is on in Auckland at the moment and I've managed to check out two films so far. First up was The Lobster, which was the opening night film.  It was so good, but so weird. On the weekend we took the girls to see Enchanted Kingdom in 3D, which was an Our World-type nature doco about Africa.  It was pretty cool to and was narrated by Idris Elba (Stringer Bell from the Wire), which for some reason made me giggle.

On the Thursday we saw The Lobster, Ben and I also went to Little and Easy for an after work drink and checked out the Street Food Collective for dinner; a pretty sweet date night all in all. I'm definitely loving the Street Food Collective and am keen to head back to try some more stuff.

And well yep, I think that sums up what I'm loving at the mo.... onwards and upwards I say xx

Loving it - week eight

This is a two part post, the first part being a re-hash of my weekend fun times on Saturday and the second being a list of some of the things I've been loving of late (there's some overlap, I admit)

First up, a nod to friendly occasions.

This weekend my pals and I threw our first ever mid winter Christmas complete with turkey, presents and the best feckin' dessert you can imagine (thanks Chris).  We had the party at our house and Ben spent all Saturday smoking a pork shoulder in his new Smoky Mountain Weber bbq. 

The smoke was intense! So much so, that a sheet that had been drying on the line had to go through the wash again the next day because it stunk. The weather totally played ball, it was one of the most beautiful clear Auckland days you could have hoped for, but so, so cold. 

After about 11 hours of cooking the end result was pretty amazing, although the intense smokiness of the meat did take some getting used to.

We also had amazing vege loaf, potatoes, salmon, stuffed turkey roll, brussel sprouts, broccoli, Yorkshire puddings and gravy, I was stuffed afterwards. Liz and Chris were in charge of pudding and made chocolate orange souffles with custard. They were divine.

Before dinner we 'secret santa'd' and had mulled wine. Seriously, could a group of people get more festive? I don't think so.

I scored 10 scratchies, which I thought was a pretty swell gift- so much fun scratching to be had and then I made $5 and won an extra free ticket - sweet!

Felice Navidad peeps.

And on that note, a list of things I'm loving of late.

First up a shout-out to Chris and Liz, who own OTT patisserie in Birkenhead.  Our Christmas desserts were so yummy and the almond croissants and lemon meringue pies you left behind were life-saving the next day. If you're day-tripping to the shore, or more importantly if you're a shore-dweller, you need to visit this place for bready goodness.

And while we're giving out shout-outs, one to my pal Viv of Revival massage therapy who organised for me to have an hour-long massage on Sunday with a new, prospective therapist.  It was so good! I am now able to move my neck again without any pain- life-saver Viv!

I'm also loving leftovers, especially the pulled pork sliders with coleslaw and bbq sauce Ben created on Sunday, along with afternoon drinks at the pub on Sunday (the best way to pick up your kids!), impromptu visits from sisters and nieces who helpfully sit with you and make crepe paper streamers, cuddles with Olive- who just gets cuter everyday, and having my girls back home under my roof again. 

Bliss x

Loving it - week seven

I had the girls over the weekend and as mentioned in my previous post we had a fairly quiet one on the Saturday night; just Hook and meatballs for the win!

On Sunday, we visited my grandad and raided his lemon tree, so one of my things to love this week has been all the citrussy goodness brightening up our kitchen. There are bowls of lemons on the divider, on the kitchen table and on the butcher's block. Lemons everywhere and ripe with possibilities... Ben made an awesome cake with the last load and I made lemon delicious for pudding which is basically the most epic thing you can do with lemons in my opinion (apart from lemon curd which is also a triumph).  This time round we may look to incorporate them into some savoury dishes and an alcoholic beverage or two.

I had a baking fail on Sunday, but I'm gonna spin it into a positive and say I love baking- win or lose- and taking into account the wonder that was pudding on Saturday, I can live with the failure that was my date scones on Sunday.  They smelled great but looked like deformed pancakes and tasted like chewy, weird, baking powder-laced crap.  Still, I love to bake and I shall not be beaten!  Just need to find a better recipe perhaps....

Mila has gone off with my mum for the week and Juno heads off  today, so a child-free and quiet house for the rest of the week.  Have to say, I'm loving grandparents stepping up and taking care of the girls- it's a massive help and I'm always super grateful.

Hard to believe it's Wednesday already, I'm so keen for the weekend... x

PS: Check out my pretty flowers in the pic above given to us from my pals Tori and Carl who visited on the weekend.

A nod to tradition

On Saturday night, the girls and I sat down to eat meatball subs on a picnic rug in the lounge as we watched a movie together. The whole ritual of making a sauce, then meatballs, compiling subs, picking a movie and then eating together has become our own little family tradition and it's great.

It's weird how once you have kids little things slip into your routines that become part and parcel of any event.  While Anton and I were together, we created our own traditions/stories for the kids, like fairies in the shells of boiled eggs and Anton's favourite fun-fact that ALL horses come from Cambridge (is it tradition to make your three-year-old constantly sing back to you that horses come from Cambridge every time you go to visit your mother?).

After we broke up, the girls and I moved into a tiny flat; our very own space for the very first time. It was devoid of any tradition and at times, I guess, a somewhat sad (yet oddly liberating) place to be.

It was Ben who introduced us to the idea of an inside picnic and it was Ben that won us over with subs as a dinner choice. The first time we all sat down together it was to watch The Croods.  Our plans for an out-of-doors feast had been thwarted by the weather, so we got creative with the blankets inside instead.

For some reason, the habit of eating inside on the floor and always eating subs kinda stuck and now I would say it's pretty much tradition round our ways.

A lot of the time it's just me and the girls and it ends up being something I really look forward to. Thinking about the movie, getting all cosy together and just chilling out on the weekend is bliss.

In the early days after Anton and I separated, I would spend those Saturday nights alone with girls and sometimes feel like I was the only person stuck at home, that every other person my age was out having a life or with someone else, socialising, having fun, making the right life decisions.

With time, I have totally got over that weird misplaced fear that I might be missing out on something better all the time.  I don't know why I felt that way, but to say i'm generally a FOMO sufferer is putting it mildly.

Now I can't wait for a chance to put the 'tradition' card into play and do nothing but watch telly and eat with my favourite girls. Sometimes Ben makes it along, my sister and nieces have gotten involved before and that's great, but if it's just the three of us keeping each other company and generally having a laugh, well that's pretty great too. xx