Work, Yoga, Fruits and Greens, Some Tea and Choccie... Best weekend in a long time!

I don't know how I've done it but I've somehow managed to have had THE BEST WEEKEND EVER! Call me crazy - sure I no doubt put everything into my schedule, so yes one could say it was all in my own doing. And I'll happily take that too. But I'll be honest with you, for what has been at least the last 2 if not 3 months, I havn't been feeling my true amazing self.

But today I have INSPIRATION! Which is so beautifully fitting as I feel really good about blogging today - which would lead you to believe that I don't always, and yes that's correct also. So as I got my dandelion tea ready (I think the coffee drinker in me still loves how it looks like a big pot of black coffee mmm), and a few pieces of choccie (did you know Loving Earth have a new recipe?), I moved my laptop into my study - where I do love to work but it is bloody cold in comparison to every other room in the house so at this time of year I don't really spend time there - and sat down.This is my little piece of Heaven.

It's picture perfect. I had my incense on and it overlooks the front yard which in itself is inspiring I think. The word "INSPIRATION" was staring me in the face, and on my yoga magazine; "Bliss Every Day".Um synchronicities much?

So the rest of what I want to type away with my excited little fingertips is this -

Yesterday I was working all day (yeh best weekend ever I hear you moan). But i LOVE my job. And what's more - I LOVE that I can say that! I know way too many people who can't. Or wont. I work with beautiful girls and LOVE talking to all the customers that come in. At 520pm I ran over to my gym for a 530pm yoga class that was taken by a fill-in teacher and she was beautiful. It was the perfect end to my day (and even more so as I usually do a weights class followed by a cardio class, but as I've been ill lately I think NOT being able to do those was a blessing in disguise paving the path for yoga instead). I waltzed out and was pleasantly surprised by Brock waiting at the door for cuddles before we walked back home together.
Hot showers and a delicious dinner followed by maca truffles that are my absolute favourite right now (thanks to the beatiful Tamara at The Goodness Company - love you).

This morning I woke and cleansed in another hot shower - rubbing organic sugar scrub all over my body and topping it off with warm oils. Yum! I made Brock and I juicy fruit platters before I met my cousin for a green tea in the sun over a good ol' chin wag - wasn't it absolutley delicious this morning?!?!

Sunday morning brekkie

I popped by the cafe my other cousin works at for a quick hug on my way to yoga again. This mornings teacher was one that I wasn't so fond of in the past so I did hesitate about going. But on Brock's wise words "Go - You love it!"  I am so so glad I did.

I've been practicing yoga on and off for a few years, doing more of my own at home but a couple of classes each week if and when I can get there. But for the first time ever, my thoughts stayed in the yoga room! MY mind wasn't wondering about work or college, or posting a letter, or what I had to do later... I was totally in the room in my practice with my breath and my flow (for those of you that know me well, you'll know how HUGE that is for me). 

I figure if I've made the effort and choice to take 90minutes out of my Sunday to attend yoga - then I "should" attend it! Save thinking about college work, blogging, washing, when I'll see Brock again, remembering to call Mum, message Tanya, make treats later... etc etc etc. Save it til after class coz right now, you're here so prove it! Easier said than done alot of the time though hey. I'm sure many of you can relate. But today - and I'll admit, the teacher (who yes I wasn't so keen on previously) was a HUGE help in this depertment. Reguarly checking in on our breathing to make sure it was audible made a big difference. And I suppose other than that, maybe it was all me. And I somehow managed to actually be in an entire yoga class. And it felt incredible.

So again, I floated on out into the crisp winter air and warm sunshine. A train trip home reading my latest magazine for inspiration on organics (I've got some interesting tips n info next post) made a yummy lunch, sat outside whilst reading the paper, then made a batch of sweet caramel hazelnut balls for a friends birthday, and now I'm sitting in my haven talking to you guys... I havn't felt so good in a long time!

I hope you all had SPECTACULAR weekends also :)

Sour Little Lemons

Just a quickie mid-week to let you know my latest post on LEMONS and why they're awesome in detox and particuarly for helping gallstones is up at The Raw Divas blog here so be sure to check it out!

Perfect Peachy Persimons

I whipped up such a yummy lunch after yoga last week. I came home starving and had to make something to fill my grumbling tummy pronto! I had found a couple of persimmons left on the bonnet of my car thanks to my man who sneakily dropped them off to surprise me, so I raced home and started chopping super fast!
Easily my favourite fruit at the moment; addicted!?!

Ingredients:


persimons
celery
apples
snow pea sprouts


Chop your persimons, celery and apples into small little chunks. Throw them into a bowl. Add your sprouts.

You can also drizzle a little olive oil or orange infused agave syrup over the top if you feel the temptations. A little blob of yummy nut butter is also delish!

And last night for dinner B and I shared a huge bowl of fresh spinach and persimon salad, laced with coconut water! And a few chia seeds sprinkled ontop. Sounds odd? Maybe so but it's so good.

Try it. Fast. Simple. Fresh. Yum.

Dinner for me?

My life pretty much revolves around food - blending smoothies, making juices, creating salads, chopping, slicing, dicing, packing lunches, trying to come up with a different salad for dinner... and as much as I love it all every now and then (I hit a rough patch) I couldn't care less, I'm sick of forever being in the kitchen, I'm tired and exhausted, and everything seems to much!! Know the feeling ?? 


Haha... always funny to look back on. Anyway that period hit me this week. Living in a house with three other people who don't eat raw I make everyone of my meals when the others share their duties. So when my mummy said she was going to make something special for me - OH MY GOD! I felt like I had died and gone to Heaven! I was so so SO grateful to have someone make my dinner for me I can't tell you how much it meant to me!

And what a FAB job my mummy did!!

These were so yummy, and the sauce only made them better! She spent days sprouting mung beans, black eyed beans and barley for these guys. Mixed them up with avocado, a little tamari, and a few other bits n bobs. Served with fresh rocket for a touch of spice (and lots of leftovers for later), I was one very happy lady :)

Nourishing Cooked Foods

At the top of my street there's a cute little Indian take away place. Not the dodgy greasy kind, but a nice small shop where all the dishes are cooked with loving hands each day by the Indian guys that work there. I walk past it everyday and have done so since it opened over 2yrs ago. And everyday I've seen petite crispy vegie samosa's through the window and have wanted to try them. But a bigger part of me intuitively felt that I would feel ill if I did. And so I never bought one. Never even ventured in - but then again if you wern't going to buy anything, why would you?

This evening on my way home from work after my kinesiology/Chinese Medicine session that I LOVE and look forward to every 3 weeks, I walked past the little Indian place again, and had the same thought; "yum yum vegie samosas", only tonight, I turned around, walked in, and bought one.

I walked home, sorted out my "coffee meditation" (my enema) that I'm currently doing daily, before later sitting down to try one of the crispy samosas I had looked at through the shop window everyday for over 2yrs (a part of me wondered if it was a little counter-productive to do so after an enema but admittedly I didn't really care).

A cooked vegie samosa for a girl that eats raw? Well yes. And why not? Today felt right. Oh how cliché yeh? But for me that’s exactly it. It felt right. The minute I turned around and spoke to the Indian man, it felt right. Almost a 'mothering' energy to what I was doing. I know that the catalyst for change was largely due to the kinesiology session I had – and the horrendous migrane I suffered from last Monday and Tuesday.

Whilst couch-bound last week I watched a DVD on food, nutrition and the links they have with Chinese Medicine. Fascinating! Fascinating!! Omg! Chinese Medicine is something I’ve only very recently gotten into but it’s definatley something I will be furthering my knowledge in. So in watching this DVD, the first topic they spoke about was, believe it or not, MIGRANES. A lot of people look to avoiding certain foods that might be causing migranes (traditionally alcohol, chocolate, bread, dairy, tomatoes, mushrooms – everything I don’t eat bar the last two), but in Chinese Medicine they look more at the cravings one might be experiencing prior to a migrane surfacing to help find the cause; if you're craving coffee and spices then your body is in excess, where as if you're craving sugar, sweets and carbs then your body is deficient.  Interesting point numero uno.

Furthering that, the spleen is like the KING organ in Chinese Medicine, and closely linked to migranes. I remember the DVD talking about warming foods, nothing raw and nothing cold to help with any spleen issues. Chinese Medicine on the whole is against cold foods - think about it, Asian cuisine is so tightly tied in with tea at every meal to help warm the body (amongst many other things).

So when I saw my kinesiologist this afternoon and told him I wanted to look at my headaches and migranes (which for me are clearly 100% stress based – hello migrane came first day due back at college!!), when issues with my spleen came up I was not in the least bit surprised. Adrenals also cropped up – again, no surprises there.

Your spleen cleanses your blood. And your blood carries all nutrients around your body of course. So if your spleen isn’t doing it’s job; either not enough blood is getting around your body (including your head) or not enough nutrients are getting around your body (including your head) which yes… could possibly be resulting in headaches! Interesting point numero due.

Additionally, if you think of your spleen as your wok and your kidneys as your fire, cold raw foods are seen as damp logs on the fire – these foods won’t cook very well in the wok. Warmer foods will. Cooked foods will. Interesting point numero tre. Food for thought...

In my case, there are also (more often than not of late) issues with my adrenals. These babies are located just above your kidneys and in a nutshell, they are HUGE in relation to your stress levels. If you’re stressed your adrenals will be feeling it (Reishi tea I’m coming for you honey!). For me – I could’ve ticked that box before I went in. I’m the first to admit I make mountains out of molehills and am forever trying to reach up to my high high expectations of myself, and wanting/trying/feeling the need to always be doing so so much! CAUTION: ADRENAL FAILURE right there!

So to put it in a pretty picture – high expectations, stress, and wanting to always achieve lead me to over-thinking, worrying, and a hell of a lot of time spent in my head going here, there and everywhere… (as for lying in bed EXHAUSTED at night but UNABLE to sleep… adrenals!!) This literally up-roots my energy, pulling me away from the Earth so I’m not grounded at all. Vicious cycle coz not being grounded only makes things in my head go even more coo-coo. A lack of blood getting around and/or a lack of nutrients being carried in my blood means there’s less of it or less goodies in it getting to my head, which of course would be impacting on the frequency and severity of my headaches and migranes.

But back to the samosa…

The thought of warm nourishing wholefoods has felt good recently. The thought of it even feels very earthing. And I’m an Earth girl suffering from a lack of Earth right now! It almost feels like something I need to go back to for a bit to see how things unravel. My body is never wrong. My mind often can be, and others’ minds often can me wrongly influencing mine. But my body never lies.

So after my appointment this afternoon, and a light day of juices (new one invented - you gotta try pear, lemon, ginger and beetroot OMG), nuts and seeds, I was walking home past the little Indian curry place and I had the same thought; “mmm vegie samosa”, and then something changed and I turned around and walked in.

“One vegetable samosa please” with a big grin on my face. And it felt perfect. It felt nourishing to do so. A little surreally perfect infact.

And so after my coffee meditation, I enjoyed it. It was pleasurable. Meditative. Delicious.

Every. Little. Bit(e).

And that's exactly how a migrane is so totally related to eating a vegie samosa  :)
Everything is inexticably linked...

I think too much

Well I was gonna do a post on the dreaded C word -

I’ve read a lot about it in the past. In text books, magazines and online blogs. I've watched videos and documentaries, heard it thrown around conversation at college and at work, even at home. It's something that not alot of people would associate with a raw food diet ...

So it might come as a surprise to you that I have infact been living with Candida this past week. Yep! The big bad C-word noone likes to talk about. Which is kinda funny as I think 9 out of 10 females have had it at some point – if not regularly, and I don’t think I’ve ever read a blog post from someone saying “I’m suffering right now!” so here you go!

Whilst I was away in Cairns I was eating loads of fruit and not nearly as many greens, I was also drinking delicious espressos which I don’t normally do, and munching on some amazing handmade vegan dark chocolates -  more sugar.
Nikki’s house mate Chris was suffering from cold and flu symptoms whilst I was staying with them, so when I began sniffling, and coughing and getting headaches I figured I had just caught something from him…

Until I returned home and had SEVERE sugar cravings! Not just the “oh I feel like something sweet” (for me – that means a date or two stuffed with coconut oil)… it was more like “god damn it give me all the sweets available to man kind right now!!” I’d get out of bed and just want sugar; fruit and more fruit for brekkie followed by a dozen dates or so and then raw choccie, wanting even more… which is no problem for some people but knowing I don’t usually eat and crave that much sugar rings alarm bells.

And then there came the dreaded itching - you know what I mean girls. I had enough symptoms by now. So one morning whilst doing a few things online I decided to Google “candida diet” to see if anything showed up that I wasn’t already aware of… did you a blocked nose and headaches are also signs of Candida! I had no idea. I put those down to my “cold/flu/thing”…
Now I’m left wondering if I ever had a cold-flu-thingy? Was it just Candida all along?

It’s hard to say as for the past 4 days I’ve had splitting headaches come and go – a symptom of the flu, but also a symptom of candida. Hmmm… and what I'm hoping was the grand finale, last night I was HIT HARD with by far the WORST MIGRANE I have ever suffered in my life! And I've had a few. This was 100x the worst no exaggeration. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. And I had never actually been sick from a migrane but last night I was in and out of bed running to the porcelain bowl 6 or 7 times which only made trying to sleep even harder.

It's in my nature to try and work everything out and why things might be showing up the way they do; I like nutting it all out like a human puzzle, but one thing after the other lately has been driving me bonkas trying to understand!

What the f*#k is going on? 


So the twist...I began this blog a couple of days ago and wrote out my list of things to help with yeast infections and candida… but it doesn’t feel right to roll out that list now. I’m feeling more a pull to write about how I'm feeling right now. And looking after myself. Holistically. I’ve come to realize that I’m forever striving for PERFECT HEALTH. Not such a bad goal in reality – but I think my end goal in getting to such a destination is preventing me from enjoying the JOURNEY along the way.
I love my work, my studies, my blogging, my exercise, my kitchen fun… I'm doing, and doing and doing and feel (it’s all perspective right?) that I don’t often have time to just chill out. On the odd morning where I can actually have a sleep in, I still decide to bound out of bed to do yoga or go to the markets early. Clean the house or just get going! I'm a morning person and don't like lying in bed (much to the dislike of my partner on that odd day we do get a lie in together). When I’m given opportunities of rest I don’t take them. I know this. I've never taken the opportunities and usually suffer because of it.

Admitting there's a problem is the first step to recovery though!

Life always throws me something like a migrane when I literally have to rest (and desperatly need mind-rest) – no if's or but's (last year I suffered a pinched sciatic nerve after over-training and was on a walking stick!! Try working with that - I had too). I can’t even lie in down and read today. I've just gotta lie. I’m on the couch right now and have been snacking of red grapes, apples, and nuts which I'm happy to have kept down. My tummy is starving but my head is saying no to everything. Wanting all available energy to do the healings up top no doubt. Good body :) I've been watching day time TV (ie. no brain function needed) all day and now slowly slowly typing this up.

It's clear to me I needed rest but after a week in Cairns (rest capital) I had to wonder if it wasn't something else. Maybe it was? Maybe it wasn't? Who knows? Who will ever? Who cares? Noone but me obviously. It is what it is. Acceptance. Maybe now it will go...

So in all my ramlings and around-about-way at looking at things... I hear the old cliches in my head -

Life's a journey; it's not so much about the destination. I think of rushing to get somewhere to find out it's not what you expected and you've missed everything on the way. I'm a pretty darn healthy chic, I've just gotta believe it more. Be grateful for where I am and my health more and things flow. I know. I've been there. But it;s easy to get caught up in the yuckiness thinking everything could be better... only to later realise that's exactly when things started going down hill...

Food for thought...

as the afternoon sun is beginning to rear its head :)

Paradise in Cairns Part 2

The produce there was INCREDIBLE!

At RUSTYS MARKETS !! The 3-day markets that are on in the middle of town every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I absolutley LOVE this place! I literally spent 3 days there!

A short drive from Nikki's place, after we had our green smoothies and did our walk, we got out shopping bags and headed on in. Rusty's is un under-cover market selling mainly fresh local fruit and veg, but you can also find organic cheeses and yoghurts, coffees and teas, home made cakes, olives, hot food, books, clothes, even massage beds!  I was in Heaven!

Kang Kong! I had never seen it anywhere before and I LOVE it!

Organic bananas

So many beautiful apples - although I didnt buy any! I went all out on the troical fruits though :)

We wandered up and down the aisles as Nik showed me all her favourites stalls; where she usually gets her delicious bush grown local tomatoes from...
where she sometimes grabs a slice of cheese or two for some nibblies with her partner...
her favourite (and best priced) avocado guy (who lets you taste some sprinkled with a little chilli salt and a squeeze of lemon) omg...
We were tasting everything else as we walked around too coz all the growers have things cut up to taste which is AWESOME coz then you end up buying what you like the best!
But what I loved most was how Nikki was telling me about her weekly ritual when she comes down to the markets - after her initial wander to check out prices and produce, she grabs a vegie samosa with date and tamarind chutney nice and hot from the Hari Krishnas, having a short chin-wag with the beautiful woman that works there... Then she goes to Billy's (who's positioned perfectly next door) for her rice milk mocha and a laugh with him and the girls, before plonking her bum down to read the paper and watch the world go by...

So Nikki got her samosa, got her coffee, I ordered a short black from Billy, and we plonked our bums down watching the world go by...
I loved that :) I love rituals full stop! I love that they make us so happy regardless of what they are...

I know I loved my walk to the espresso bar for my quick shot and short Italian verbal exchange when I was living in Italy... I love that Thursday mornings is gym class at 6am coz it's my absolute favourite - regardless of how many others I do (or don't do), that one is my favourite... Getting down to the markets on a Sunday, followed by yoga (or post-beach when its warmer)... And for the past 2 weeks I'm really excited to say that one new ritual of mine is DAILY yoga, every morning before brekkie. That's huge for me! And I'm LOVING it!

The friendly exchange

We bought greens, fruits, vegies... chatted with local growers about their produce, whether or not they use chemicals (alot don't which is awesome!), tried and tasted their scruptious offerings, and had our thinking caps on over-drive as to what delicious creations we were going to come up with when we got home...

Cabbage and kale salad alongside one very very spicy papaya salad with lots of avo

Kang Kong salad baby!! Great Friday night movie dinner!

One of our green brekkie bowl/smoothies

Banana, coconut and brazil milk thickshake!! So good!

Fresh brekkie smoothies mmm

(We didn't make all that on Friday just so you know... these are our creations over a few days hehe)

Saturday morning instead of doing our own yoga at home we went to a class Nikki goes to each week in town. It was in a beautiful open room, the teacher was wonderful and very thorough in her instruction. After just over an hour of long held stratches, bends, and inversions, Nikki and I wafted out with a few organic passionfruits in tow... on our way to Rusty's again (I was ready for my espresso from Billy) ! I got me a BIG coconut as well (I think the coffee hurt my head a little - not surprising when you're not used to drinking it)

We bought more produce, did some more sampling (you can't resist), more smiles and laughter shared, more people-watching done, more love around... : ) It was my final full day in Cairns so for dinner we had a last minute ENTHUSIASM to do something different!

Nikki has a HUGE basil bush in her back yard... and eggplants growing... we had bought amazing local tomatoes... any ideas so far?
Well we decided in the afternoon sunshine beaming through the kitchen windows we would begin mucking about and come up with some sort of a lasagna/moussaka/layered vegie dish that would taste AMAZING!! (I've had cravings to make one for ages now - you can check out other throw-together ones I've done here and here)

Step 1 - throwing tomatoes, garlic, onion, bit of basil, splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt into the blender = napolitana sauce!


Step 2 - throw copious amounts of basil leaves from the garden into the blender along with garlic, macadamia nuts, olive oil and salt... to find nothing happens... (Nikki doesn't have a food processor)... and then move it to the mortar and pestle to grind it down with alot of loving elbow grease = pesto!

Pesto getting smooshed

Step 3 - an avocado with lemon and chilli mashed in a bowl = guac!

Step 4 - sliced garden eggplants marinated in olive oil = well, marinated eggplant!

And VOILA!

Add some sliced broccoli, kale leaves, whatever you fancy and layer it all together! Nikki whipped up a cheesy sauce using nutirtional yeast flakes, drizzled it ontop. I threw together a side salad using our kang kong and extra brocc, then we took pretty picture before adding extra cheesy sauce, extra napolitana sauce, extra basil pesto... haha THE WORKS!

And god it was good! The perfect end to a brilliant week - but not before a quick last minute dash to Rusty's Sunday morning for coffee and some more fruit to smuggle back home !!

Paradise in Cairns Part 1

The Esplanade

This morning I was sitting in the living room with my trakkies and dressing gown on, slippers on my feet, heater warming the house up, sipping warm water with ginger and honey, feeling a little under the weather. Now I'm in a singlet, heater off, doors and windows open, fresh air flying around with the sun shining (this time with licorice in my warm water). Having just returned from a week up in Cairns visiting my big sister there for the first time, I could go so far to say I might just move there! Lucky for me I get to re-live it all again in blogging to you guys (and if you'd like a totally different spin on the series of fortunate events check out Nikki's blog here).

Morning walk down the Esplanade

Happily on college holidays right now, I was more than ready to get away for a week! The flight only takes a couple of hours and the views on flying when you get there are breathtaking! Over HUGE mountains that literally drop to nothing at sea level and snake around the coastline to what is Cairns. It's a very flat place which makes for great bike riding and walking tracks. Nikki greeted me at the airport early Monday morning, with great big hugs, warm sunshine, and an organic Cairns banana (noone knows you like your sisters). After a long-way-round-drive back to her place to take in the esplanade, we dumped my things and then ... well just chilled. I suppose that's all we did all week!

No real agenda set for the day (or any other), we ventured out to find fruit and veg! I wanted to see all the local organic places, stock up on supplies and start from there. The markets are on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays but having arrived on Monday (note to self - next time fly in on Friday and stay till the following Monday for 2 weekends of markets), we had to shop at the local stores. And when Nikki took me here - um well exceitment central (she looks pretty excited too)!!

Nikki at Neils Organics

We stocked up on greens, kales, spinach, cabbage, vegies, and delicious fruits - dragonfruit, papaya, persimmons, pineapple, avocadoes, bananas...and later made a salad with a few bits n pieces...

But not before we drove to check out the "Fruit Bat"; a little side-of-the-road vendor a small Thai lady operates. Her prices are great, her produce even better, and when I spotted these babies I was close to hysterical!!

BLACK SAPOTES!

I had only ever heard amazing things about this fruit but never seen or had one myself. I am a HUGE fan of mamey saoptes which are in the same family so was sure I'd like these. They weren't ready to eat but that didn't stop me from buying half a dozen to wait until they were... until they turned BLACK!

Black Sapote deliciousness

And then OMG! The texture is like a mamey - which is kinda like an avocado. So it's really soft. Although a little softer even - like a really really ripe avo. It melts in your mouth.Think chocolate mousse. Nicknamed the "chocolate fruit" you can see why. It even smells a little like chocolate when it's ripening. The taste is probably as close as a fruit could get to tasting like chocolate, but having said that, it tastes nothing like a block you'd buy from the store. I was in Heaven slowly scooping out mouthful by mouthful...

Then decided to make somthing a little spesh for Nikki and I to enjoy for brekkie. I've made similar versions loads of times before but wanted to show Nik how quick and easy it is - whether it's brekkie, arvo tea or dessert - chia pudding is a staple recipe I use all the time, mixing up the fruits, spices, and added extra yummy bits I've got on hand to amke it different everytime.

Layers of chia-brazil nut milk-gel, cacao nibs, goji berries, sliced bananas, and BLACK SAPOTE!

The rest of our week was filled with warm weather, rain patches, and  starting our days with yoga each morning, then making green smoothies pondering where our day would take us...  We lazed about reading, and chatting in afternoon breezes that gently swept through the house when it was raining outside... We laughed hard about stupid little nothings that sisters do so easily when they've spent way too long apart... We got busy making amazing salads with new ingredients, experimenting in the kitchen with backyard produce (more to come!!)... We walked 'round town (to the point where I now know my way 'round town - sure sign I'm a local)... and spent quite a bit of time blissing out on locally made dark chocolates (ginger bark mmm, lemon myrtle buds, chilli warming chocolate pods omg, even cacao-covered-cacao-beans!!) whilst drinking coffee... wait what?!?!

(yep - you heard me - I said drinking COFFEE! Now neither Nikki or I drink coffee really. Well once in a blue moon for me, maybe a teeny bit more often for Nik, but on the whole it's very rare... despite my forever long deep immense LOVE for the stuff, and having worked as a barista for years... personally I have pros and cons in regards to coffee; alot of pros, and alot of cons, but whilst in Cairns with amazing local organic coffee, it is a bean after all, I only drink it straight up and black, we both indulged and loved loved LOVED our little coffee fixes every few days - one certain coffee fix took us down memory lane of our travels overseas and had us laughing so hard, we had the shop owner laughing with us, 5 shots of coffee between us and 2 or 3 hours later...).

We had lunch at The Lilypad mid-week (amazing little hippy cafe serving loads of colourful food, stax of vego options, an awesome hand painted tables, chairs and artwork floating about) and my taste buds were blissing out on this monstrosity of a salad splashed with an amazing soy sesame dressing. Nikki had a delicious lentil burger that you can see she thoroughly enjoyed also.

We took a road trip up the ranges to Kuranda and Mareeba on Wednesday I think... The drive is round and round, and turning, and a bend, and around...

we had to stop mid way to re-callibrate our brains, and take in the breathtaking views of course...

Looking down into Cairns 

When we got to Kuranda we got out to stretch our legs and have a wander. It's the cutest little town (rather touristy though). Small gift shops, local honey, markets, and everything (stereo)typically Australian to munch on - crocodile, emu, and kangaroo burgers and pies, anzac cookies, lamingtons, even banana mango smoothies! Yay for the fellow fruit munchers!

I was happy with my nashi pears and a few nuts, Nikki with a hot vegie pastie as we sat in the park, but it was kinda cool to see tourists really enjoying the local food - Aussie girl through and through, but I don't think I've ever seen an emu burger in my life!

We tried some honey (garlic infused!) and bought our favourites (avocado honey!) before we set off again, stopping at Coffee Works plantation for a sticky beak (they grow, mix, roast, pack and serve many different varieties of coffee along with some of the best tasting chocolates I've ever had the pleasure of tasting considering it's hard to find great vegan choccies). But a girl can't live off chocolate and coffee alone... and yes, we did try :)

Next stop was Skybury; a huge farm that grows papayas and bananas, as well as coffee (ever watch Farmer Wants A Wife? One of the farmers from the last season owns this joint - mum was a big fan).
We drove along a red dirt road for a bit, passing rows and rows and rows of beautiful papaya trees. There seemed to be noone in coo-ey it was so quiet when I stepped out of the car to take some piccies. Fresh country air and warm afternoon breeze...

We were only a 2 minute drive from the farm but I suppose mid-week there's not laot of people about (perfect). We parked the car, did the whole tourist stretch thing on hopping out, and headed over to the entry; already knowing we'd be spending time there. We wanted good coffee, some arvo tea, (which sure you can get anywhere) but we chose Skybury mainly for the view.

Not a bad spot to stop for coffee hey?

Not bad scones either I believe

On the way out I had to grab me some lady finger bananas and hand picked papayas - I mean at $2.50/kg how could you resist? I loved how they were sitting there in boxes with an old-fashioned scale and an "Honest Box" to throw your money in once you did your own weighing and calculations. I picked a few un-ripe-er nanas for late, but made sure I got a few ready-to-eat-me-now nanas too, coz (as expected) once I got to the car, it was nana time! Creamy, soft and so delicious!

But that's certaintly NOT where the banana fun stopped! When Friday morning rolled 'round it was MARKET TIME in town and boy-o-boy was I excited! You all know how much I love my markets! I live for markets! I could spend everyday at a different market I LOVE them! Only pity is I don't always have the time to get 'round to them all in Sydney.
And with fresh produce from local growers, buzz and chatter, conversations with friendly folk, tasting everyone's bounty they are more than happy to share... why wouldn't you love markets?

So I'm going to save them for another day! They deserve all the attention they can get (along with the delectable dishes we made from all our produce)... Keep your tongues in. Recipes to come...