My favourite things to do in Sydney

Last week I was lucky enough to get down and visit my home in Sydney - even if it was to pack up my entire life into boxes at my mums house before she leaves and rents the house out (think 25yrs of stuff needing to find a home in a box - manic!). I arrived to beautiful weather and amongst my mad-packing that I knew I had ahead of me, I made sure I had time to fit in a few of my favourite things whilst there...

Views of Sydney Harbour are like no other, and my dad was staying at Kirribili for the weekend so I had this magnificent view to oggle over, before Thai lunch with everyone - my big sis Nikki was in town for literally 2hrs between international flights, so we tee-ed up lunch with dad; who has always been overseas for work the weekend of October 19th (his birthday), mum and my little sister Lisa; both who hadn't seen Nikki in months; our step-sister Amy who lives hours away from everyone and our little nephew Callum, who has never met Nikki! So in the short meal we shared before Nikki had to bolt back to the airport, we all had a ball.

I went out with mum on Sunday morning to the Frenchs Forest Markets which are my absolute favourite!! The colourful buzz about, fresh produce abounds, juices, smoothies, Asian foods, natural lotions and potions, superfoods, baked breads, cookies and treats, elixirs, honey, massage, coffee and more! Everyone walks around saying hello to people they know, munching on their weekly favourite and grinning ear to ear. I got the organic green juice I love, we tried new organic raw honey, got the best macadamia nuts in Australia (Hand N' Hoe Organic Macadamias), and the most delicious raw apple crumble from Flawless Foods. These girls are amazing and their food will have every taste bud in your mouth having a party! Their goodies are sold at the Supafeast stand, and what's even better, is that they change things up every week!

After  my market fun, my girlfriend picked my up  for my all-time favourite yoga class; a 90 minute vinyasa power flow yoga class in St Leonards. My yoga teacher, friend, and mentor is the instructor for the class, and after sweating, stretching, twisting, flowing, bending, balancing and calming my thoughts, I leave on top of the world! I'm blessed that I could see him twice more before I left Sydney too!! (if you're interested and near by, he is offering a free-week pass to new students here)

Later on I caught up with all my old work girls for afternoon tea and chit chats before a relaxing evening at home, happy that 90% of my boxes at home were packed :)

My 2nd last day was pre-planned weeks before and that was to spend the entire day with my two best friends; the creative kitchen geniuses behind the Simply Raw bars. I drove over to beautiful Bondi at 730am after yoga and stopped to take in the stunning ocean and breathe in all the fresh sea air I could, before heading over for brekkie smoothies at their place.

Bondi Beach

Me feeding the chickens across the road

We fuelled our bodies with delicious juice and smoothies and sat all morning catching up on everything that's going on in our lives. And for lunch, we were going up to Earth to Table - Sydney's first raw vegan cafe! I know I'm not alone in shouting out FINALLY! We're a bit behind the 8-ball. But it is here; well it is there (in Sydney) and every time I visit now I've got somewhere I can choose anything off the menu to eat, enjoy it, LOVE it, and leave feeling amazing! Julie Mitsios from Conscious Choice is the wonder-woman behind this little gem up on Bronte Rd, and has decked out the place so it is simplistic-elegance. But you'll have to be patient and wait until my next post for all the mouth-watering pics and food reviews, as it wouldn't do it justice meshing them all in with this post.

We spent the rest of our afternoon lazying around on the beach, getting some sunshine, laughing and being silly before the "see you later's" instead of the dreaded "goodbye's". I'll be back in Sydney in less than a month! And the morning before my flight, mum and I both managed to have time free to grab some brekkie together and have a nice long (proper) girly chit chat :)

My girl Janine and I chillin' at Bondi Beach

Brekkie out with my beautiful mum

Remember to stay tuned or sign up for email alerts for the upcoming post and food-porn pics from Earth to Table; Sydney's first raw vegan cafe.

Until then... Love and Light :)

What's been happening up Far North

Here we are now in October – wow hasn’t this year gone so fast! As a kid it never seemed to go fast; if anything it was all really slow. As I get older, it fly’s by. Why is that? Am I having too much fun? Or simply have too much on. Both? Whatever the reason I’m not really all that fussed, I think I easily fall into these habit-forming-sayings due to people around me saying them. In fact I LOVE Christmas so bring it on!

Since my last post where I left you tempted by FNQ's CACAO fruit, I’ve had a fully loaded schedule (and thus no blog posts). Here are a few of things that have been going on:

The Organic Experience

A day trip back to the grass roots of local organic farming, and to our food source as nature intended. When I first heard about this I definitely wanted to go. And with good reason. What a day! We began in Cairns then drove up the range to Kuranda, where The Real Food Network shared information on the importance of how locally grown and ethically sound food can build a stronger community, help local farmers secure a reasonable income, ease the pressure on farm lands and bring healthy food to our dinner table. 

Back on the bus we were then off to Kaizi’s coconut oil farm - Australia’s only Indigenous, Torres Strait Island producers of Pure Coconut Oil. Whilst slurping fresh coconuts, munching on grated coconut, and devouring the most amazing coconut treat, we discovered the marvels of this fruit including the methods of production, how to use coconut oil as your preferred oil to cook with and some of the different traditional dishes using coconut, it's topical uses, and its environmental impact.

 

Kaizi’s Coconut Keai (freshly grated Coconut with chopped dates, Coconut juice and Keai sprinkled on top) WOW!

Kaizi labelling his coconut oil jars

Off again, this time to stunning location up the top of Hallorans Hill in Atherton where we had a Thermomix demonstration and had our lunch prepared fresh in front of our eyes. 

And last, but certainly not least, we were at a lovely couple’s place near Lake Eacham, just outside Yungaburra, where they lead a self sufficient lifestyle. Most of their food is produced using biodynamic and organic practices, including growing fruit and vegetables, rearing livestock for meat and milk production, rearing poultry for meat and egg production, cheese making, bread making, bee keeping, making preserves and cooking great food. Brock and I were very interested in this - these guys do the lot! Home made scones with home made butter (both of which were made with ingredients from their farm) and tea were on the cards, as were big chunks of gooey delicious honeycomb. Yum!

Dairy cows on the sustainable property

Inside the veggie-herb-green house

Daintree Getaway

I took a week off work after working double my usual shifts for all of September. We wanted to drive up to the Daintree and just chillout for a bit. Lazy days, swimming holes, lots of fruit eating, beautiful locals, and we found the most amazing places to do our daily yoga practice as well.

We saw this guy jump off the cliff on our drive up; just before Port Douglas

Daintree tea plantation

Hottie in the jungle

The first river we came across

Typical scenery when driving through - not bad ey?

House Sitting

Ok so maybe not a big deal, but it was for Brock and I as our friend owns a mansion on top of City View (the suburb name – for obvious reasons). We did our yoga, swam everyday, ate all our meals overlooking the city, and really only left when we had too. A bliss-full long weekend that was.

Little overcast that day but we weren't complaining! Best yoga spot ever!

Bloom Womens Health and Wellbeing Event

I was at this on Friday night and from the first time I heard about this (from Emma who also organized The Organic Experience) I couldn’t wait! It was held at the beautiful Shan-gri La at the Marina and on arrival ladies were greeted, welcomed with drinks and healthy canapes, there were goodie bags, loads of exhibitors with their products; be in natural skin care, massage, mineral make up, natural organic food products, pregnancy and doula information, meditation workshops, chemical free house hold cleaning products, the list goes on! The main ladies included Bec for a local radio station doing the MC-ing, Jessica Ainscough from The Wellness Warrior got up and spoke about her cancer healing journey and her tips to live a holistically balanced life, and Kim Morrison fwho has written a book titled Like Chocolate For Woman. This woman had me at Hello! She is absolutely beautiful and her presence and energy, and just herself is what had me so enthralled. You know those people you either meet, or you just hear speak and you know that they have something (or alot of things) that you need to learn from them. Not a chance encounter type thing. That's what I felt when listening to Kim speak on stage. Her business is centered on self-care and empowerment for women – something I’m finding myself drawn more and more too day by day and I can’t seem to get enough. She spoke for an hour perhaps and I wanted more. Which is why I immediately signed up for her Aromatherapy workshop the following day, which I went to yesterday.

SPArkle Aromatherapy Workshop

This was just divine. A small group of less than 20 women and again, Kim had my full focus instantly. We went into more depth with the range she sells, and spoke a lot more about self care; it’s not selfish – it’s essential. This is where I am being drawn to most, where I know I need to focus more attention, and where I am seeing the biggest changes when I do so. It was beautiful. Very much the feminine energy I've been craving. We had our cups of tea and our raw balls and enjoyed an afternoon together surrounded by yummy smells, trying on skin care, passing 'round oils... 
I do want to make mention of one thing Kim spoke about that really struck a chord with me and instantly it felt so real to hear -  
Kim started talking about the many many women all over the globe who complain about their appearance – we all know one if we're not one ourself. I’m one of them. I don't complain out loud to girlfriend or colleagues, but I do have a whinge every now and then to my partner, and I know too-well the continuous stream of dribble-drabble that plays like a broken record over and over in my head, most of the time. Kim continued and went on to say that if we are a woman who dislikes something about her appearance, we’ve got 1 of 2 options – and she didn’t care which one we took.

(1) Step up and commit to change; changing our diet for the better, getting out to exercise or signing up to a gym, wearing clothes we feel good in, whatever it may be. Say affirmations, and day by day our bodies change. Our mindset will change. Our thinking will change. It might be tough work – Gwenyth Paltrow said in an interview when asked about her appearance that she works out 6 days a week for 90minutes a session, she eats certain foods and not others…her list went on, but she said she deserved the body she works so damn hard for. And it’s true! 

(2) The alternate option was to stay where we are because it’s comfortable, familiar, and not scary. And a lot of us do stay here, even though we THINK we so badly want to be elsewhere. So we keep eating cake and cream or whatever it may be … and this is where it got real... "but you have no right to whinge about how you look. No right! And everyone gets sick of hearing it, so if you’re not going to do anything about what you’re always whinging about, you’ve no right to whinge about it! You've made the choice to do nothing about it. Would you be complaining about your boobs and saying they’re too big, too small, or too saggy to someone who’s had to have hers removed? Would you whine about how you dislike your legs to someone sitting in a wheelchair who can’t stand up let alone walk like you can? How would you feel if you were saying "oh gosh I really hate my hair" to find out the lady beside you was going through chemo treatment?" 
These questions are very powerful and easily put everything into perspective. 

I do exercise. And I do eat well. But it's my mindset and negative thinking that creeps in and sabotages it all. The best food in the world won't do shit if your head is in the wrong place. Even with nutrition my passion, I truly believe that. I've seen it in my own life for years. It's my self-care and self-worth that I'm not prioritising. Why? Because when you go there it's scary and confronting. It's very easy to change a bad habit if it's easy to do. What about trying to eat better if there were no emotional attachments - might not be so hard. Think about self-worth issues - it's all the tough emotional stuff. Straight up, on the rocks. I know exactly why I've avoided it for so long! It's no fun, but the rewards are well worth it!

As for the change bit, and the self-care – I've learnt that time and money are no longer excuses. Prioritising is what it’s all about. And when we do so, self-care is fun!

So I took a lot away from yesterday afternoon (including a great book and one oil blend to get me started) and cannot wait to start implementing what I learnt. I also highly recommend reading some of Kim’s website if you’re into self care and aromatherapy. I'll definitely let you know how I go working with all this :)

A few other things up in Cairns:

- The Paleo cafe opened a few weeks ago and so far has great reviews. I was initially excited having never seen one before, until it sank in that every other cafe in town offers meat protein with veggies on a plate! Not so new. I will get excited though if they use the space to really educate people about the benefits of food as close to its natural state as possible; even if this does include the use of meats. That is one big plus with all the Paleo followers cropping up left, right, and centre. They're all really amping up the colour on the plates and buying fresh produce. A step in the right direction for anybody.

- College is going great; 99% for my Advanced Anatomy and Physiology exam :) Another reason the blogs have not been at all consistent. And I've just begun Pathophysiology and Symptomatology this week - say that with a mouthful of Sao biscuits! 

- Brock and I are in the middle of a 40-day Yoga journey together following Baron Baptiste's Book, who's training we LOVE and so we're feeling AMAZING! I LOVE yoga so committing to a daily practice that gets longer each week (going from 200mins to 90mins) is complete self-care for me. I feel so much better. My head's clearer. I worry less. My thoughts ramble less. I'm much more aware of my surroundings and less in my future. I look better. I love love LOVE it!

- And we moved into a new place, sharing with another guy we get along with famously and we’re loving it! A 15 minute walk to the Botanical Gardens and the well-known Cairns run, The Red Arrow. A 15 minute bike ride into town. We are surrounded by bush with a little creek at the bottom of the block, and we have a great balcony amongst it all that we are loving doing our yoga on. Happy days :)

I jet down to Sydney in 2 days to pack my childhood home (see my best mates, do my old-usual-weekend-highlight-yoga class and catch up with my teacher, visit my favourite Sunday markets, have girly catch-ups and dinners with my little sister, see my baby nephew, and so much more!). I cant wait! 

Until next time...

And ps. my apologies about the incredible array of font styles in this post - my computer has deiced to do its own thing tonight ?!?!

Australian Cacao Fruit

The other week when my mum was up here visiting, my sister and I took a drive with mum up to Port Douglas for the day. The drive alone is stunning - golden road bends overlooking vast ocean seas, palm trees and pebbles on each opening we passed, and blue skies stretching as far as the eye could see.

The markets were on when we were there, and I was over the moon when I found a lady selling raw chocolate bars, blocks and pieces, along with cacao pods and nibs - from AUSTRALIAN CACAO FRUITS!

I'm not suite sure why I never stopped to think whether cacao could or was being grown in this beautiful country of ours; assuming it was all overseas. So you could imagine my excitement! I have since found out that there are 4 or 5 plantations of cacao up here, all making their own chocolate. HELLO WILLY WONKA!! We'll definitley be planning a little adventure trip to suss them all out soon enough that's for sure!

But when I saw that this woman was selling cacao beans that she had herself taken straight out of the cacao fruit, and dehydrated to dry... I was sold. The fleshy fruit was still hanging on the outside of each bean. And this makes for a totally incredibly different taste sensation on eating...

It's fruity and tropical with hints of sweetness and tang. But once that disappears you're left with the bitterness of the cacao bean. It's Mother Nature's perfect combination...

And afternoon tea's perfect snack.



The following week my partner went on his own adventure up to the Daintree and brought me back that big cacao fruit above. Indeed. Yep. A whole fresh intact cacao fruit. In it's entirety. In Australia! I was speechless! Well no not really, that's a lie. I was jumping up and down in excitement (once again - could I really be that predictable around food?).

This is what it looks like inside - incredibly soft flesh and not much of it. Enough to keep the beans soft and moist. When you bite into a bean when it's like this, it is not hard as you may have had before. It's almost a little chewy. But a little powdery too. I know how odd that sounds and no doubt hard to imagine, but trust me, its' delicious.

The beans are purple inside, not chocolate brown, and you would be hard presed to just sit there and eat many more than just a few. We had fun adding them to smoothies too, believing we were getting an even better, fresher, bigger, richer hit of antioxidants from these babies! Hehe.

So I will be sure to keep you updated on our cacao hunting trips up here! In the meantime, I'm keeping myself very busy with work at the health food store which is great, college work piling up on me as I was in bed for about a week with what I think was a nasty case of influenza running around up here, and trying to rest and get myself back to my usual bubbly self :)

Peace, Love and mung beans xxx

Birthday Brunch and Cairns Catchup

So I know I said I would write a more detailed explanation as to why I'm eating eggs again, but to be frank, I can't be bothered. I had begun a long post about it; my thought, initial objections, feelings, my first egg brekkie again, and then of course all the nutritional benefits I am now getting from them (how could I not indulge myself on that one?)... but un-ironically so, in true adrenal fatigue fashion, it no longer interests me to explain it all to you.

I'm eating eggs again 'coz I want too. I'm enjoying them. I feel good eating them. And that's that!

As for the adrenal thing; I've actually had one morning this week where I woke up and DIDN'T feel like death! YAY!! I actually felt GOOD! I did have one evening where I was totally wired tho which wasn't so fun in my attempts to fall asleep (typical tired and wired adrenal types). I've been reading loads more in a new book I just got which is proving to be very valuable indeed.

Asides from that, I've got a new job at Go Vita which is a health food store and I'm LOVING it!! I write down everything I wanted from a new job and I got it! Working with cool people, great pay rates, flexible working hours, laid back uniform policy... haha Loving it! My college studies have begun also and that was great too. I've only had one class so far, and spoken to a few people, but in a small class of about 15 of us, I'm sure I'll get to know them all pretty quickly.

Rusty's Markets, Cairns

I get over-excited to get down to Rusty's Markets every Friday morning, even tho it's open all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The organic kale lady sells out on a Friday so I make a bee-line straight to her. The other week I got all this organic (or chemical free) produce for only $27.50... This much would cost me at least double if not triple that in Sydney. And whilst chatting to locals, sampling seasonal produce, grabbing a coffee if I'm feeling like one, perusing second-hand books, jewellery, home made soaps, candles and more... who wouldn't get excited?




My partner arrived last week which was very exciting, and my mother also flew up to see my sister and I. She timed it perfectly for my birthday :) And I had found the perfect place I wanted to go too...




My mum, my sister, my man and I all went up the mountain together to a little hippy town I love called Kuranda, where there is an amazing cafe I wanted to visit. It is nestled in and amongst the Rainforest Market which winds up and down, around, through and within the rainforest, other shops, hidden gems, stairwells and trees. It's absolutely beautiful, very peaceful, really chilled and easy-going. Loads of tourists flock there daily but it's stilled brimming with colourful locals.

We sat down in the sun, deciding what to order whilst eye-ing off all the goodies in their display cabinet. Their list of smoothies and juices was what instantly had my attention - from Green Goddess, to Cacao Maca Buzz... Scent of Summer, Kiwi Zing and Golden Glow... it was hard choosing only one.

So B and I ordered 2 to share; Kiwi Zing green juice, and a Green Goddess (banana, pineapple, ginger, something else, with green superfoods) smoothie. Once we had drinks underway, our food choice was easy - the Raw Power Plate.


This was delicious! It's piled with whatever salads are available on the day, with almond falafels and a sweet tangy tahini dressing. We had green salad, an incredible Coconut Raita which was coconut flesh shredded ever so finely, and tossed through with red onion and herbs, giving it a light and refreshingly fluffy texture that was amazing. I've never had anything like it! Our taste buds also sang tunes to the marinated beetroot and the quinoa tabouli.

Delicious living colourful lunch

Queensland coconuts are hard to pass by, and once all the juice was slurped out, we had it smashed in half to some fleshy eating! Mmmm :)

My sister and my man

And a few others photos of life up here...

Organic salad one day - with homemade saurekraut

Cruising the Cairns inlet in the dingy

Driving through Redlynch - a stunning part of Cairns

ALIVE IN A NEW CITY, SLOWLY GETTING MY FOOTING (and energy) BACK

So here I am. Sitting with a black sapote and a licorice tea up in Queensland's Far North Cairns. It’s not the typical hot sunshine drenched day you might ponder in your thoughts today, but nonetheless I am still in short and a tshirt – a far cry from my thermals, trakkies, ski socks, ugg boots, scarf and dressing gown I used to wear around my place in Sydney only last week. Yep I’ve made the big move and such explains my absence from here. Well that and trying to finish last assessments, cram for exams, see people, pack, clean, the list went on.

Saturday Night Potluck Feast

Saturday night was the last raw food pot-luck in Sydney as we've known it, as the wonderful woman behind it all has decided to step away for the time being due to health issues. Every month she would organise events at different locations, get lucky-door prizes sorted, and much more, so it will definitley be sad to see her go, but the much needed rest she is after will do her the world of good I'm sure. And who knows - someone else might step in and take over and we'll have more Sydney pot-lucks in the future... And maybe I'll begin organising them up in Cairns when I get there - more about that soon.
I took loads of piccies of all the amazing food as usual, so will keep the word content short and sweet so your eyes can do the talking as you scroll through the mouth watering morsels that were our dinner.

First up - My big plate of everything piled up ontop -now what exactly is all this??

Carrot Falafels with Tahini Sauce

Cauli-Brocc-Dill-Avo-Orange Salad

The most delicious Garden Salad - with macadamias! My fav :)

A yummy Cabbage and Veggie Salad - walnuts tossed through for extra crunch

My dinner highlight - Raw Dolmades!! Wow these were incredible!

Cabbage Slaw - one of those great dishes to soak up the goodies scattered amongst your dinner plate

Veggie Salad with colourful Greens

Chunky Creamy Curried Vegetables

Salad spread

That scrumptious macadamia salad again

My guacamole and the creamy cauli-brocc salad

Most of the dishes on half the table - I got so excited to see so many colourful salads!

Two different sauces for the Zucchini Pasta

Little blob of babaganoush on the left there - that was incredibly and delectably smokey

We absolutley polished every salad dish off with next-to-nothing to spare! That's how good it all was. But a pot luck is never complete without desserts, and often there are so so many you make yourself a little sick, so I was quite pleased to see less than usual, and most based on fruits not cacao (now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my cacao, love love LOVE it, but too much does make me feel ill, and too much is an easy thing to let happen at a pot-luck).
So for the desserts...

Pear Baklava Crumble deliciously moist with pistaccio's smothering the top

Mmm ooey gooey goodness!

Fruit Salad with Crunchy Mature Coconut

Soft and sweet Carob-Banana-Coconut Balls - had myself a few of these babies

 And the grand finale...

Strawberry Ganache Fudge Cake - YUM!

I had an absolute ball seeing everyone again - people I know, people I was yet to meet. I love the banter that goes on a pot-lucks where everyone shares what works for them in relation to the food intake, what doesn't, things they've read about, hints and tips for things, connecting like minded people, enjoying fabulous food and company!

So as I mentioned above, I might start this sort of thing up in Cairns! Yep it's official I am moving to Cairns! I've made little mention of it in previous blogs as I decided exactly what I wanted to do and what was in my best interest for my studies. With all that (and more) in mind, I have made the decision, booked my flight, and will be leaving Sydney for Cairns July 18th! I will be continuing my Nutritional Medicine studies, but doing modules in class as oppose to via distance education as I have been doing. I'm very much looking forward to the warmer weather, spending time with my big sister who lives up there, meeting new friends, and study buddies, and living in a different city. I can't wait to go, but as I still have so much to do before the big day, I'm quite content with the days passing slowly!

Until next time... a quote to keep you inspired...

"The food you eat can either be the safest and most powerful form of medicine, or the slowest form of poison" 
- Ann Wigmore