I'm an AUNTY!!

And once again 6 months has passed me by without a blog! Thank god this isn’t my job or I would be sacked!

On that note, let’s start here.  I am currently unemployed (although to be clear I was not sacked!) and it is the best decision I have made for myself in a long time.  I am putting me first for a while and sadly the environment I was working in didn’t allow me to do that, so I got out.  And that’s all I’m gonna say about that!

One of the reasons I haven’t blogged in such a long time is I totally lost my passion for food, especially for cooking, and blogging about food wasn’t really appealing as you can imagine.  Well I am super excited that I am starting to get that passion back and experimenting in the kitchen again which I am pumped to write about.  I even have some experiments in the oven as I type!

So much has happened in the last 6 months so before I get on to food let me fill you in a little bit.  I haven’t exactly had a great start to the year, so I will quickly skip through the crap before getting to the fun things, like becoming an Aunty!! 

It kinda feels like MS has been ruling my life a little this last 6 months, not so much in a physical making me unwell kinda way, more in a I need to deal with this shit so I don’t get sick for the rest of my life kinda way!  My brain grew itself another lesion sometime between December and March but that is only one change since my original scan in September so it aint all bad.  Seeing some changes allowed me to make a little more peace with my diagnosis and I am now out of that limbo phase of “you have MS but we can’t officially diagnose as you don’t check all the boxes yet..so just wait and we will see how long it takes”.  It is nice to be out of limbo.

That peace of mind allowed me to make some decision and so in addition to changing my lifestyle I have now started medication to assist in slowing down the progression of the disease.  I am doing self-injections every two weeks, a bit like an Epipen.   Once my body has adjusted to it, it has little side effects, the worst of it is flu like symptoms, headaches etc, and in comparison to all other drugs on the market that is actually easy to deal with!

Ok on to the good stuff.  I AM AN AUNTY! I have the cutest niece in the world and I love her.  And my sister also has a bun in the oven so look out, I'm going to be Aunty of the year showering the kids with chocolate and presents! This unemployed status has allowed me to spend a lot more time at the farm and it has been really enjoyable.  I have gotten back to my farm girl roots, I helped my brother out with cropping and even drove the tractor for a few weeks.  My only aim for the entire thing was not to crash, who cares about getting the crop in correctly (don’t tell my brother that haha).

Hmm what else…*thinking face*…There are definitely 3 other things worth mentioning.  I started outdoor netball again this year.  It’s been a long 8 years since I last played and gosh I am rusty to say the least but it has been really lovely to get out and at it again.

I participated in the MS Walk & Fun Run on Sunday June 5^th.  The weather was not our friend but the enthusiasm of ‘Chloe’s Crew’ outweighed the damp and dreary day Albert Park put on for us.  23 of my most amazing supportive friends and family made the journey to Melbourne and together we raised an amazing $3803.50 to go towards MS Australia.  I am so grateful and overwhelmed by everyone's support which has come from so many places and in so many ways.

Ok the final thing before the food is wine! Yum yum yum, get in my tum! I participated in my first Winery Walkabout in Rutherglen and it was amazing.  If you haven’t been before, you totally should.  I am not much of a drinker these days so I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy 2 days of drinking but I had a really enjoyable weekend, not to mention some great company.  For me the weekend consisted of just taste testing some wine at each winery and enjoying the atmosphere, good music, great weather and the stunning scenery.

So..food…what should I tell you.  I might just touch on a few things I have started to whip up in the kitchen as I am definitely not eating out as much as I used to these days.  I have started to find a happy medium between giving myself some treats and following the low saturated fats rules.  Let’s just say there has been a little cheese and chocolate here and there but I am starting to find ways to enjoy food and adapt some tasty recipes to suit me without compromising the deliciousness that makes food the bomb!

One of my favourite dishes I have created is Chilli Con Vege.  I had a serious craving for tacos one day so I did a little research and this is what I came up with.  I was genuinely shocked with how good it was and it has become a regular in our weekly meals.  It is really easy to freeze too so super handy to pull out when I can’t be bothered cooking.

I have been trying to come up with sweet options so I don’t get sucked into eating chocolate when I have that craving and have got some pretty good chices so far but the winning one to date is lemon macarons.  I visited the farm a few weeks ago and my Nana has a huge lemon tree so I came back with 3 bags and some inspiration to try new things.  I started off attempting some vegan lemon butter and it proved more difficult than I thought.  One recipe was a complete disaster, straight to the bin for that but the second had custard powder in it and it was extremely successful and then these bad boys were born.  They are awesome.  They are easy to make although admittedly pretty time consuming but so worth it.  Make them! You won’t regret it!!

So last blog I ended with “2016, I hope you bring me, health, happiness and good fortune”…Well I am still waiting on that tattslotto payout but I have made some good decisions that have made me happier than I have been in a while and I am doing pretty good on the health front realistically so here’s hoping we continue on the up and that I am back here before another 6 months rolls on by.  Until then, keep smiling J

Life...always kicking me in the face

So here we are, a good 6 weeks since my last post but I'll have you know I started writing this latest update weeks ago! Life however, had a different plan and with what seems to be a reoccurring pattern this last 12 months and it just popped up to kicked me in the face!

My Mum and I booked a holiday over the New Year break to New Zealand way back in August and I have been counting down the months, weeks, days and let's be honest seconds ever since to give myself a break from this pesky little life that keeps kicking me in the butt recently.  I was looking forward to scenic views, helicopter rides, whale watching, wine tours and deliciously fresh seafood all with the knowledge that some chef in some restaurant would be cooking me every single meal for two weeks without me having to plan or buy or cook or do anything which I feel is currently ruling this life that I live. Well didn't life have the last laugh as sadly my Grandfather passed away days before we were due to fly out and we of course cancelled our trip.  I am obviously incredibly sad that he has left us, but he was 85 and we had a great celebration to commemorate his very colorful life. It's just a shame the cheeky bugger couldn't have timed things a little better!

So apart from the for mentioned kick in the face, what else have I been up to in the last 6 weeks.

As I am sure is the same with most of you at this time of year, I spent more time than usual going to parties and catching up with friends and of course this usually centers around eating! I was incredibly nervous about how I was going to handle eating my way through the silly season but I did pretty well all things considered. After an incredibly tough few weeks of researching recipes and trying new things it was a welcome change to eat out and not have to think too much about it. That was of course until Christmas came around and I spent a lot of time tripping around Victoria then things got a little tricky.

December started off with a trip to the Pleasant St Primary School Christmas markets, one of my favourite evenings of the year.  It is a jam packed mix of homemade craft and local fresh produce with plenty of rides and things thrown in for the kids.  The whole idea is to do your Christmas shopping but I am pretty good and buying presents for myself it seems.  If you haven't been, you should check it out next year, although it seems to get busier and busier every year and it is becoming increasingly hard to get around to all of the stalls!  After the market we headed to the Lake View for a well overdue glass of wine and a bite to eat.  With a few feasible options on the menu I settled for seafood paella, it admittedly wasn't even close to the best I have had but who cares, I didn't have to cook it!

As the days flew by I ticked off a bunch of other places around town including seafood pasta from The George and then again from Red Peppa, prawn and soba noddle salad from Open Pantry, grains & seeds salad from Websters Market & cafe and pizza from The Forge.
With the exception of Websters, as this is a new cafe, these places are definitely high up on my favourite places to eat around town. I have mentioned them in the past and I am incredibly thankful I can still eat delicious, fresh and local produce from my favourite places.
Websters on the other hand is new so I was interested to see what it was all about.  For a tiny little place that isn't even in the CBD it was insanely busy. The menu was really limited but the food was good quality and I would give it another crack.

After trying all of this delicious food I had high spirits for coping through the rest of the Christmas break and I must admit everyone was incredibly accommodating and doing their best to make sure they cater for me too but things became much much harder when you're not in your own kitchen.  Armed with bags of groceries which was mainly full of tinned food I did my best to get through with no tears of frustration, although there was plenty of frustration as everyone tucked into yummy leftovers, amazing looking desserts and plenty of BBQs and here I was trying to come up with something to make out of my tinned grocery bags I dragged around everywhere.  One of the hardest things is the isolation and lack of access to fresh food, especially fish.  I found myself living off tins of tuna for what seemed like meal after meal for a few days until I refused to eat anymore.

I have however cooked up a few things worth mentioning while I have been at home including a pumpkin and chickpea burger, falafel wraps, pizza's (if you have never made your own pizza dough, you need to!) and probably the most successful a crumbed whiting burger and air fried chips.  I am looking forward to doing this one again very soon (I can't wait until Ballarat Seafoods open again tomorrow for some fresh fish!).

I feel I have done a lot of ranting and raving in this post so I will finish off with some less gloomy and more relaxing things I have done post Christmas.
I had a beautiful New Years Eve with some of my favourite girls.  We had a very causal afternoon and quiet night in the back yard with our first BBQ for the season.  A lovely way to bring in the New Year and all I really have to say is farewell 2015! You have kicked my butt in more ways than one and I am glad to see the back of you!

After spending some time back at the farm the moment my brother mentioned the words "river" and "fishing" my ears pricked up.  I haven't been fishing in such a long time and I love it.  I went for my birthday last year but it was at a trout farm where the fish basically jump out of the pond and into the net so I am not sure that counts.  I think this was possibly the best day I have had of this entire break.  I had such a fun day out on the boat with my cousin even though we caught snag after snag, knotted line after line and of course I was the only one that didn't catch a fish for the entire day!

Keeping to the water theme, yesterday I spent the day at the beach with my favourite sexy mumma and my main man (sorry Dyl, you can't beat those chubby cheeks!).  I have been back in Ballarat for about a week and haven't really achieved a great deal or felt like I have done anything relaxing and this was well and truly needed.  We had a great day, the weather was beautiful and my main man was a delight and provided much entertainment as he played in the water and tried to eat sand.  I even snuck in a treat meal with delicious deep fried fish and chips.

I am heading to my first T20 Big Bash game tonight, I can't say I am a fan of cricket but looking forward to getting out and doing something and may also head to the tennis on Wednesday before getting back into work on Thursday.  Wish me luck, I think I am going to need it.
2016, I hope you bring me, health, happiness and good fortune (fingers crossed for a big tattslotto pay out!).  As always, keep smiling, even when/if life kicks you in the face!