BBQ Sunday

Such a beautiful day today in Perth. Sunny, warm and relaxing.

For breakfast we had overnight oats again which I prepped last night after the concert. On top was 1/2 a pink lady apple. Delicious.

 

We then headed off to see our friends at the hospital who have just had a baby, then to an engagement party.

There was a nice spread of food at the party starting with cheese, dips, crackers, dried figs and strawberries. I had a little taste of everything, lots of dried figs cause I love them!,

  

Plus 2 Peroni low cal, low carb light beers over the course of a few hours. 

Then the guys BBQ’d a whole lot of meat, chicken, prawns, onions, eggplant and mushrooms. I had some greed salad, 2 small pieces of marinated chicken breast, a corn cob and shared 1/2 a fluffy white roll with Adam.

I went back for seconds and got a few prawns, some eggplant and a little potato salad and some more green salad.

One of the girls had made home made ice cream sandwiches. Adam and I shared one for dessert and it was so good! I need this recipe!

I was totally full after all that food and the 2 beers and I’m still pretty full now! We are heading down the beach for the evening and will probably grab a bite if we get hungry, then Adam is flying back to Hong Kong tonight. Hopefully he’s only away for a week or so this time.

Pearl Jam heaven

Morning everyone!

Wow, so exhausted. Yesterday was BUSY and AWESOME! People who know me, know that I am completely nuts when it comes to Pearl Jam. I’ve travelled the world to see their concerts, met Eddie Vedder and behave quite embarrassingly when at concerts (poor Adam ) but they have and will always be my favourite band. Last night just reinforced how amazing they are, especially as a live band. Eddie was on fire!

Here are some snaps in case you’re interested

     

Ahhhh – got some great video too but I won’t bore you all with that, ha ha!

But what did she eat?

Well yesterday turned into a really busy day with us running around a bit like headless chickens. Mid morning I had a piece of toast with PB

and after being stuck in some serious traffic for over an hour we went to Pronto for a quick lunch where I had a delicious pizza

This was prawn and goats cheese (no yellow cheese) and I added the chillis on (of course).

Adam had an eggplant and goats cheese and yellow cheese pizza

I was starving and managed to eat all my pizza! Super full though.

Later in the afternoon we had some Il Gelato for refreshment. I got cookies and Adam got passionfruit. 

So good, and 50% less fat than normal icecream.

I really didn’t eat much else for the day. At the concert I snacked on a pack of sultanas. By the end and once we got home at midnight though I was going to eat my arms off so we made some more midnight munchies .

Veggie burger with tomato paste and cheese

which exploded a bit in the microwave. We split this down the middle. Plus I had a tiny bowl of Digestive cereal.

So you may be wondering why I am sitting here blogging when I should be running a 10k race! Well yesterday afternoon I made the decision that I wasn’t going to do the race for a few reasons. I wanted to spend more time with Adam since he is flying back to Hong Kong tonight, I knew I would be tired from going to the concert and there is not point running a race when you are exhausted. Also, my back hurts from standing at the concert all night so I am really glad I didn’t push myself to do it.

Next week is the 4k cross country over in Sydney that I am running with my nieces so I’m looking forward to that!

Gotta go, we are off to see our friends new baby girl and we have an engagement party.

Ciao!

The Ball – Bluewater Grill, Heathcote

Hi guys! Sorry for the late posting but last night was a huge night and I needed a sleep in . We had a great time, but ended up going to The Avenue in Claremont till about 2am I believe – ha ha, reminds me of my uni days…

Before all the shenanigans Adam and I got dressed up in our Ball outfits (see we coordinated – how cheesy!)

and met all our friends at The Raffles for some pre-ball bubbles and beers.

But just to recap, for my lunch yesterday I made a simple cottage cheese sandwich which I had with some cherry tomatoes on the side. My overnight oats kept me so full! Love them – so I just had my apple for morning tea while on my work excursion (to a power company control room – fun fun!) and a Freedom bar around 2pm. I got off work at 3.30pm and Adam picked me up and we went home to get ready.

I drank champagne all night and lots of water so this morning I feel ok but just a bit sleep deprived. I think I might need to have a nanna nap later before the Pearl Jam concert.

So what was there to eat at the Ball? The function was held at Bluewater Grill at Heathcote which is a great setting with beautiful views of the city and the river. It was a cocktail function with some finger food going round. There were grilled salmon skewers, fried spring rolls and wontons and mini caramelised onion quiches from what I saw. I had 2 tiny salmon skewers and a mini quiche but didn’t get snaps sorry, just the wontons in all their fried glory!

I had a wonton too and it was pretty tasty. No idea what was in the middle though! Then we found a sushi and sashimi station so I went to town there!

I probably had about 3 times this amount.

There was also a carvery station full of meat which Adam happily devoured but I steered clear of,

but I did find some salad, bread rolls, and fried rice so that filled me up enough.

 

Later in the night they set up a dessert and cheese station. Wished I had had a mini pavlova now!

But I chose the lemon tart which was really yummy. I shared that with Adam and had a bite of his mini apple pie which was also delicious.

Plus some of those sultanas from the cheese plate.

Very fun night indeed .

 

There was some 2am munchies eaten…

And I just had a nice bowl of vogels with sultanas for brekkie

and a very strong coffee! Adam is off to get me skinny capp and then I think we are meeting his Dad and stepmum for lunch later at Pronto and Pearl Jam starts at 6.30pm with Ben Harper as the opening act.

I’ve got the Black Eyed Peas “I’ve got a feeling” stuck in my head from last night, but yes, I’ve got a feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night!! Ha ha.

Have a great day! 

Cherry bomb

Morning! Adam is home (yippee!) and I made overnight oats last night since I had to stay up late to go to the airport. I made enough for 2 using Lowan Fusion Apple Cinnamon Muesli, Black Swan no fat Greek yoghurt and a 1/4 cup of milk.

My serve

Plus I added a few frozen cherries to mine and nuked it for 20 seconds to take the edge off. Delish! I highly recommend the muesli for overnight oats – perfect sweetness and so filling.

Busy day ahead including an excursion and meetings and I’m hoping to leave work by 3.30pm so I have time to get ready for Adam’s work ball tonight .

Ciao!

Gotta fly

Hi guys!

I have to make this snappy unfortunately because I need to head out to the airport asap! Luckily lunch today kept me feeling full full full, however I was feeling pretty blah all day with stomach pain and indigestion and didn’t feel like my apple or the crackers. I felt like Schmears vegan slice, so I went and got some and had that at about 3pm – nuked for 20 seconds. Mmmmmm heaven!

Now that kept me nicely full throughout my walk to the optometrist to pick up my trial contact lenses and then home by about 6pm. Once home I had a little snack of a corn thin with hummos

I love Deli Dipz hummos – if you can find it at Woolies, it is so lemony!

Then I did my usual lower body strength moves – plies, squats and lunges, pressed some tofu and did this 20 minute yogajournal.com freebie while my tofu baked.

I was thinking about a tofu stir-fry all day! I made a simple sauce to bake the tofu in – 1 T peanut butter, 2 T boiling water, some chilli flakes, pinch of garlic and ginger powders. I sliced the tofu up really thin and then once cooked, cut each piece into 3. Total cooking time for the tofu was about 15 mins each side but my oven is not fan forced.

On the veggie side I used:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium carrot
• 1/2 a bunch of kai-lan
• 1 medium red chilli
• 4 spears asparagus
• 1/2 a corn cobb
• 1/2 a small head of broccoli

No salt!

This was so delicious! It made 2 huge serves as well so I will most likely take it for lunch unless Adam is hungry tonight.

I also had a beer because it’s stinking hot here in Perth and I needed refreshment .

For dessert I just had a spot of Barambah yoghurt and a handful of Vogel’s grain clusters.

On that note, I’ve gotta fly! See you in the morning. 

PS. Sanitarium finally replied today and the Natural Peanut Butter has NOT been discontinued! They are still making it but Woolies has stopped stocking it (why??). They said Coles should have it (just not the ones around me – grrrrrr) but I’ve emailed back to ask if they can tell me some Coles stores in WA where it is definitely stocked!

Simple breakfast

Great news – Adam is getting in tonight instead of tomorrow morning! He gets in pretty late but I’ll be going to the airport to collect him.

Today I had my simple breakfast of Vogel’s Ultra Bran and apple and sultanas with skim milk.

This stuff usually keeps me very full so hopefully today I won’t get hunger pains. For lunch I’ve made a sandwich with 2 slices of Helgas Wholemeal, cottage cheese, tomatoes, salad mix and cucumber.

And I’ve packed a Protaplus bar, apple and Mary’s crackers for snacks. I’m planning on leaving around 4pm today so this should be enough food till I get home.

Have a great day! It’s so humid here in Perth today and rained overnight (good for my Kale plant which is slowly growing).

Famished

Hi guys!

Good day today, busy and fast – 10 work days left! Yip yip! Ended nicely with a good gym session and now I am stuffed (belly and body). As I was walking home from work I was talking myself out of a workout tonight… but I managed to beat the negative thoughts. I had planned to go to Spinning tongiht but I think I just didn’t feel like being cooped up in the dark stinky room. So I just did my own thing at the gym and I am super glad I went (aren’t we always ).

So my workout tonight consisted of cardio:

• 30 minutes Elliptical intervals – Levels 13 and 11
• 10 minutes seated bike intervals – Levels 5 and 3

and abs:

• 50 normal crunches
• 50 reverse crunches
• 20 oblique crunches each side
• 1 minute bicycle twists
• 50 leg and arm overhead extensions
• 1 minute plank on feet
• 1 minute plank on knees

Ahhhhh, it was tough, but great!

Lunch today was salad. In this mix was lettuce mix, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, jalapenos  

and I added a can of tuna and some delish salsa.

Snackies were a banana and Freedom bar in the morning and the apple in the afternoon.

I was so hungry again today. I’m not sure why I’ve been so hungry this week. By the time I get home at 5ish I am dying of hunger! I hate getting to that point because that it when you eat the entire contents of the pantry and fridge! It’s like either my breakfasts or lunches just aren’t cutting it at the moment… I’m going to try a sandwich tomorrow and see if that keeps me full for longer. Anyway, so that I wouldn’t eat my arm off before the gym I made myself a big snack.

A slice of wholemeal toast with about 1 T of PB.

Plus a good serve of cottage cheese for protein. Not together obviously – eew.

Once back from my workout I made a quick, easy and yummy dinner. This is an Eatwell Mediterranean burger nuked with tomato paste and a little mozzarella on top. I guess you could call it a veggie parmigana! Plus a corn cob, some broccoli and a courgette. I only ate 1/2 the corn because I got full but stuffed the rest down.

There is always room for dessert! Tonight was the last of my raspberries and some cherries, nuked for 60 seconds with a couple of tiny scoops of Barambah non fat yoghurt.

So sweet and healthy! Give me berries for dessert over cake and chocolate any day . Just watched Masterchef – LOVE IT. Why can’t it be on every night, beats most of the rubbish on telly at the moment. 

Off to read, have a great night .

Voluminous

Good morning and happy hump day.

This morning I made an enormous bowl of Oatbran. I used the same amount as usual (50g) but I added 3/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of skim milk and nuked it for 4.5 minutes.

The result! A huge bowl of perfectly creamy Oatbran. Yum yum!

Off to get ready for the day, I think it will be a busy one. I’m heading to Spinning tonight after work.

The Garden – Leederville Hotel

Just got home from a lovely catch up with some girlfriends I used to work with! We usually have a once a month dinner date but unfortunately it hasn’t happened for the last 3 months (babies, holidays etc etc.). Tonight we went to The Garden in Leederville. It is the newly renovated part of the old Leederville hotel and its great – sort of like The Brisbane and Little Creatures .

Just to recap on today though, I ate the same stuff as yesterday so I didn’t bother photographing it but today I was FAMISHED! All day. My hunger was persistent all day and only after dinner just now do I actually feel satisfied. Weird! So I brought Mary’s crackers instead of Ryvitas today but I had eaten them by about 10.45am as well as the Freedom bar. My Ratatouille was gone by 12.15pm and my apply by 1.30pm! By around 3.30pm I thought I was going to eat my arm off so I went down to the deli at the bottom of my building but it was all chocolate bars or Fuji apples. I went with another apple, but it didn’t really help. I don’t think I’ve ever walked home so fast!!! I almost felt a bit faint too. So when home I made myself a snacky plate.

Which helped. I also had a teaspoon of PB and growling then stopped. Once I had gobbled that all down I did some quick strength moves:

• 100 plies
• 50 squats
• 20 lunges each leg
• 10 walking lunges

I am trying to do this set every day till my holiday! Monday and Tuesday down, lots more days to come .

Then, I met the girls at The Garden and we shared a bottle of one of my favourite wines – Castle Rock Sauvignon Blanc. I had 1 glass and about another 1/4. Perfect!

I really really liked the set up at The Garden. We just ate at the outdoor bar area which was very casual but the inside main restaurant was a little like Il Lido in Cottesloe with long tables. It was packed! We all decided on pizza and 3 out of 4 of us wanted the prawn pizza so rather than have leftovers we decided to split 3 pizzas, 2 prawn, 1 tomato and olive and we got a big spinach salad to share. They were both really tasty though the base of the prawn pizza could have been cooked a little longer. The service was also a little lax. I had to ask for plates, serviettes and knives and forks but they all came out 2 seconds later so no problemos. Also we weren’t offered any water which I have just realised now that I am parched…

The prawn pizza, with caramelized onion and rosemary

Spinach and avocado salad (not sure what those things on top were)

Tomato and olive pizza

My plate

Plus I had 3 pieces of the prawn pizza. I probably didn’t need the 4th piece but it was on the small side and only had 1 prawny on it.

A bad pic of the main dining area – must go back during the day to take some better pics as you can’t really get a good impression of it from this photo.

 

They don’t do coffees at The Garden so we decided to head over to Green & Co instead. It was buzzing! I seriously can’t believe how many people were out and about in Leederville tonight! Explains why it took my 20 minutes to find a park…

My lovely small and perfect skinny capp served in a glass (weird).

Love the lantern look.

You better believe that is an amazing cake selection in the cabinet there. Absolutely incredible! And everyone was eating cake except us… we were all stuffed. I’ll be back .

Unfortunately, I have a little indigestion, I guess from the pizza. Hoping it goes away quick.

Good news! Adam is coming home Friday – yip yip! But he has to go back Sunday night for a few more days. Better than nothing though!

Night!

Re-repeat

Good morning friends!

With Hawaii coming I’ve starting to really crack down on my spending so that I have more spending money while I’m away. When I stayed at my sister Rosie’s house with Lily a few weeks ago I tried these coffee bags she uses and they were great. So for the next little while I am nixing my morning skinny capp to save some cash and have one of these at home before I head in to work. With a dash of skim milk, they are really quite good and at $7 for 18 bags work out a lot cheaper. No froth and chocolate powder but I’ll save that for the weekend .

This morning was a breakfast repeat, just the same oats as yesterday with a heaped teaspoon of PB

and my coffee bag mug.

  

Last night after I posted I got done one of the things I’ve been meaning to do but have been putting offing for yonks. I organised my jewellery box. It was a complete disaster area with about 15 necklaces all tangled up and a lot of stuff that I don’t wear and don’t like. It honestly took me about an hour to sort it all out but its finally done! And wow, I have a lot of cool stuff that I had totally forgotten about. I don’t need to go to Diva for 6 months!

While I was bored at work yesterday I also stumbled upon the fact that there are 2 cool events on while we are in Hawaii:

• Triple Crown of Surfing on the North Shore of Oahu
• Honolulu Marathon

Unfortunately the marathon is on while we are in Maui, but I checked and they are not offering any shorter races or a half marathon just a 10k walk that starts at 5.45am. Um, no thanks! I don’t plan to be rising that early on my holiday! We are planning on hiring a car and driving to the North Shore to check out the surfing!

I am contemplating a rest day today. I am feeling a bit tight all over so may just do a light 20 minute yoga session from the net.

Have a great day.