Eurovision and comfort food

It’s seems like I’ve been missing in action for the last few months. It’s been crazy! I had a milestone birthday, left a job I’d been happy in for 11 years and started a new job working longer hours.

And that was just me! My daughter left school and started a fantastic new course and our dog had some health problems and needed lots of vet visits and special care (he’s fine now).

Throughout that time I had lots of ideas for blog posts, but I just never had the time or energy for writing, until now.

Another family birthday

At our place, at this time of the year, birthdays come in quick succession, and last week it was my husband, B’s, turn to celebrate.

Our daughter jumped at the chance to bake another of her special cakes – the more year 12 study she needs to do, the more cakes we’re eating! B and I also took the opportunity to have a night on the town.

Daiya and Please Like Me TONIGHT!

It’s an exciting night for me!

ABC2 are showing all the episodes of the first season of Please Like Me back to back tonight, before the new season starts on Tuesday.

But that’s not all…I also managed to get hold of the second last packet of Daiya mozzarella at Mad Cowgirls  this morning.

And H has made a cake. Banana and chocolate with cream cheese icing.

Mad Cowgirls: vegan goodies close to home

Mad Cowgirls vegan grocery shop in Preston is a treasure trove of vegan goodies. The big advantage of this shop over the Cruelty Free Shop (for me) is that I can drop in quickly to grab something for dinner – because I can easily park nearby (with no parking metres!). They stock everything from Botanical Cuisine nut cheeses to chocolate-coated honeycomb (no honey, of course) to cute vegan jewellery and t-shirts, and even humane mousetraps.

Winning the lottery at Smith & Daughters

A daggy middle-aged couple walk into the newest and grooviest restaurant in town. The place has been open less than a week, and it’s buzzing and packed full. They have no booking. All the tables are reserved. What happens next will amaze you!

[Did that sound enough like one of those silly social media articles trying its best to go viral?]

What actually happened was that the pair were welcomed, quickly found a couple of stools at the end of the bar, and had a great meal!

Warming cassoulet for Autumn

Meat Free Week starts tomorrow. I know some people who are going to try it out – some trying meat-free and some vegetarians trying animal-product-free and I’m cheering them all on!

Fry’s chocolate bars. They’re vegan!

I’ve ALWAYS had a sweet tooth, and chocolate has always been my biggest weakness. As a kid, I loved almost all chocolate bars (except Pollywaffles and Nudge bars), but my very favourite were Fry’s bars.

New Year’s resolutions

I know some people think New Year’s resolutions are dumb, but I love them. They’re a chance to re-evaluate things and make plans (even if I don’t always keep them).

A lot of people around me had a horrible time in 2013, but for me personally, it was rather good.  I’m hoping 2014 can be just as good – but for everyone, this time! Here are my resolutions to keep me on track for another good year.

All Christmassed out

Melbourne really turned it on for Christmas this year. After a miserable week, we finally got some amazing weather.

Now Christmas is over, and I’m chillin’ on the verandah with a soda water. The dog is roaming around the sunny garden, and I thought this would be a good time to catch up on a bit of blogging. Christmas didn’t turn out exactly as I’d planned, but it was very relaxing, a lot of fun, and way too much great food was devoured by all.

Too much of a good thing

After watching Super Size Me again recently, I had an idea. If Morgan Spurlock could end up that sick and unhealthy-looking after 30 days of eating bad food and not exercising, I wondered whether we could make a significant difference to our health and fitness if we did 30 days of healthy living…but ‘Fitness Month’ hasn’t got off to a very good start!