Currently... 25.04.22

It's the end of the Easter holidays. Tomorrow it's back to reality for Term 2 of the school year. Here are some things I've been doing lately...

Reading I just finished The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. What a delightful read! The book's title refers to a group of friends who live in an upscale retirement community in Kent, England. All of them are still very energetic and active and they meet every Thursday to discuss unsolved murders. When a local developer ends up murdered they start to investigate the case, often more successfully than the local police. Although the book is about a murder and has a few twists, it's not a thriller or stressful to read. It's funny, and although some serious themes are explored, the book is mostly lighthearted. The characters are quirky and I dare say I hope I'm as agile and clever as them when I'm pushing 80!

Listening to the podcast Wind of Change. It's about the song of the same name by the German rock band The Scorpions. The song came out just before the end of the Cold War and became an anthem for Eastern European countries who were breaking away from the Soviet Union. Sounds topical considering the current war in Ukraine, however the podcast came out in 2020. It does give some interesting background on the relationship between Russia and Ukraine, but the podcast is really about a rumour that the CIA wrote the song Wind of Change as part of a cultural propaganda campaign in former communist countries. Who doesn't love a CIA conspiracy theory?! I found this podcast super interesting and binged all eight episodes within a week.

Watching Drive to Survive Season 4. I know after my last post it probably seems like I'm obsessed with Formula 1. I'm promise I'm not! I find the show really fun and easy watching. I like that the episodes are 30-40 minutes long, as I just don't have a full hour to devote to TV watching in the evenings at the moment. My Youtube feed also thinks I love Formula 1 as it recommended this clip, of Daniel Ricciardo and Landon Norris watching Drive to Survive. It was very cute.

Drinking coconut turmeric lattes. Sounds pretentious, I know. Don't worry I never order these in a café. But I have finally mastered using the milk steamer on our espresso machine and I'm having a field day making myself fancy coffees. This particular concoction is coconut milk steamed with about a quarter teaspoon each of turmeric and cinnamon, and is the perfect drink for the weekend now that the weather is getting a bit cooler. 

We are also drinking more smoothies lately. During the workweek I make one every morning, trying to get in a serve of two of veggies with breakfast. My favourite combination lately is spinach, zucchini, frozen cauliflower, banana, frozen pineapple and coconut milk. Sometimes I add some Greek yogurt and/or flax meal to get more protein and fiber in. And yes you counted THREE different vegetables there, all before 8am. Winning.

Cooking a few new recipes lately. We get a weekly veg box which lately always includes eggplant. This is not a vegetable I normally buy as no one really likes it, so I'm constantly trying to find ways to cook it so that Andy will eat it. I'll admit I haven't even tried to get the kids on board with it yet. Baby steps. I made this eggplant lentil salad a few days ago which I thought was delicious. Andy liked the salad but only ate a few pieces of eggplant before picking off the rest and putting it on my plate. Sigh! We also barbecued it when my vegan friends came over a few weeks ago. I topped it with a dressing of olive oil, garlic, cumin and chilli powder. The vegans and I loved it, Andy, again, not so much. The search for the perfect eggplant recipe continues!

Wearing all the fleece things from Uniqlo. It is autumn here in Melbourne, and with the colder nights comes a cold house. I've mentioned on this blog a few times before that older houses are not well insulated here, and so it can often be the same temperature both inside and outside the house. I am refusing to turn the heat on until May (there is a bit of my dad in me) and so wearing warm clothing inside is essential. Uniqlo has fleece EVERYTHING, so I have started collected pieces of clothing so that I can stand to be in my house all winter without blowing out the gas bill. A big part of us leaving Canada was due to the harsh winters, but I do miss living in an insulated house that's for sure!

Planning meals using the app Recipe Keeper. I have no idea why I've only just realised there could be an app for organising recipes, meal planning and creating shopping lists. This app is seriously life changing. I can upload recipes by simply adding in a web address or taking a picture of it, and the app scans it and perfectly imports the ingredients and directions. You can edit the recipes and add in any notes. And then you can tick any of the ingredients you want to add to your grocery list. You can also plan weekly meals and add to your grocery list from there. I used to do all this by hand, constantly trying to remember recipes I liked and looking them up on various websites, and then creating my shopping lists and meal plans using pen and paper. This app makes it SO MUCH quicker and easier. I am a huge fan and even paid to upgrade from the free version to the full version. At at $15 one off payment (no subscription! Yay!) it has been well worth the money.

Wondering if it's really a lot cheaper to shop at Aldi. Continuing on with my grocery/meal planning theme, the cost of food has gone up a lot since the pandemic and my friend recently mentioned that she reckons shopping at Aldi is about 30% cheaper. I should experiment for the month of May... do all the shopping at Aldi and compare my food spend at the end of the month. It's a bit further away from us than Coles or Woolworths, but still only about a 8 minute drive away so is definitely doable. (Update: I went to Aldi yesterday. After some initial bumbling around as I didn't have a coin to unlock the shopping trollies the shop went fine. Some things are definitely cheaper but 30% is a stretch. But like I said I'd have to compare the spending for a whole month to really see if it's worth switching. The downsides are that there is less selection, it's further away and you have to bag your own groceries.)

Loving the family photos we had taken earlier this year at Verve Portrait Studios. Below are a few of my favourites... how cute are the kids?!