How Urban Design effects our lives.

A TED talk that got me thinking.....

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html

Easy Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

We used this recipe to make Eggs Benedict for Lunch today. Yum!

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks

Juice of 1 lemon

50g butter

salt and pepper

Method:

1.Melt the butter in a small saucepan.

2. While the butter is melting mix the remaining ingredients in the blender

3. Add the melted butter to the blender and mix.

Enjoy!!

A Stitch in Time....

I have wanted to learn to sew for awhile now. I learnt a few basic skills while at School which I forgot pretty quickly because I didn't apply them. But then, about a year ago something inside of me wanted to create simple clothing and useful things for around the house.

Maybe it was because I could rarely find what I wanted in the shops. I would have a picture in my head of what I wanted that the items on the shelf failed to live up to, or maybe it was the creative inspiration I got from going to craft markets and picking up original handmade things that had been lovingly made by someone with a genuine passion for craft instead of someone forced to work behind a sewing machine at a factory for the minimum wage. Or maybe it was the joy I got from receiving gorgeous hand knitted cardigans for my baby from my Nana and realising that by the time I had Great-Grandchildren this art may have died out.

So, I have gone ahead and bought a very basic sewing machine off Trade Me. My Nana gave me a couple of lessons to get me started and to date I have completed 3 projects, made LOADS of mistakes including wonky seams, jammed up treads on the machine and wasted fabric from cutting in out wrong.

Here are 2 of my Completed Projects:

Patchwork Duvet Cover made from scraps of material in my Mum's sewing box.......

.....and a girly dress for Jacinda

Pondering while Grocery shopping......

Today was Grocery day.

My husband and I are real fans of organic food (for reasons that I will explain more thoroughly in a future post) and it is our goal to eat an organic diet rich in nutrients. However, since we have made the choice to live on a single income while Jacinda is little, it is not a reality for us at the moment. But we are trying..... here is how.....

Gardening:

My husband, Dave has done a great job of planting a Vege box in our small courtyard. We have already enjoyed lettuce & herbs and are looking forward to some beetroot and celery very soon. 

Buy non-processed organic food:

The price of processed organic food such as cereals, breads, pre-made sauces, confectionery and baked goods is about double that of their non-organic counterparts! and to be honest these products aren't as good for your health as they claim to be. They may contain organically grown ingredients but many of the nutrients are destroyed during the process of making the goods.

On the other hand if you look at the price differences between the wholefoods such as meat, vegetables and whole grains you may be pleasantly surprised to find what an extra dollar or two can get you. Don't get me wrong this is not always the case but does happen, for example today the difference between free-range and conventional chicken was 60cents and the difference between yogurt was $1.49

In short: Get more bang for your buck - choose the organic apples over the organic chocolate

Eliminate the bad, emphasise the good:

Before we started to look at the food we were eating our main expenses at the supermarket each week were Cereal, Bread, Meat and Dairy.

Now, since we no longer buy Cereal and Bread the money that we save can be spent on higher quality Meat, Dairy and Produce

Remember that Quality food fills you up:

Have you ever been to a really good restaurant and come home feeling like your tummy is about to burst even though you didn't eat a huge portion??

That is because the food was so high quality that you most likely needed much less than you thought you did, the same goes with organic food, you will find that you can eat a smaller portion due to the high nutrient. Eat Quality not Quantity.

Farmers Markets:

We get our fruit, vegetables and eggs at our local Farmers Market. The prices are actually CHEAPER than the non-organic produce at our supermarket.

I know it may be different in other areas but it is definitely worth a try.

An added bonus is that going to the market makes and nice morning out. Personally, we have a Sunday morning ritual of walking down to the Devonport Village, having a coffee, taking Jacinda to the playground than buying our produce for the week.

If anyone else has any ideas for increasing organic food in your diet without increasing your spending - I would love to know.

Emma

Hello World!

I am about to embark on a new journey in the world of blogging. Some things I have been thinking about lately are:

- Motherhood: What it means and how to lead an exciting & forfilling life with little ones by your side

- Nutrition: In particular, fresh wholesome organic food that nourishes your body and provides you with the energy you need to live well.

- Gardening: In relation to nutrition but also the satisfaction of tending to a garden and being rewarded with the yummy produce that comes with it!

- Sewing: My Nana has been teaching me how to sew and I am really enjoying this new found passion. I am hoping to learn knitting in time for winter too

- Community: Oh to live in a place where people just "pop in" for the sake of it, and where you always bump in to a friendly face on your way to the shops. A place where you Belong.

- Sustainability: My heart always aches a little bit whenever I struggle with the smell of traffic fumes while out on my run, or when the water at the beach looks a bit murkier than before, or that the queue of traffic creeping up the road is getting a tad longer as the weeks go by.

- The bigger picture: How all of this is connected