Winter Highlights and Indulgent Delights

Yes! Finally Winter is upon us. That means another year older for me, grey skies, frizzy hair from drizzle, eating without consequence- just add another woolly layer and none the wiser and it also means making an effort to accept the seasons and the impact it has on your energy, mood and motivation. The moody blues have a way of lingering like the grey skies, but as someone wise keeps telling me, don't fight it, work with it. Great time for indoor tasks like fashion scrap booking, baking treats, watching great old movies and inspiring documentaries and sewing and knitting your winter wardrobe. Very true, for if it was a sunny day, you would just want to go outside and play. Well, lucky for me, the sun did stay for two whole days while it was my birthday (I have it over two days just to be greedy as I was born late afternoon, so hey, that counts to start the 24 hours from there doesn't it?) 

So, after more months than I care to recount, I got up on my birthday chilly morning and put on the best 80's inspired aerobics outfit I could muster half asleep and actually went for a run to kick start my ageing motor. And even though at times I felt like my body would be found flat on the sidewalk from wheezing and the realisation I am still not fit, I kept at it, and saw the most delightful sights along the way with the beautiful light and autumn leaves still hanging on for dear life.

I also knew that what waited for me at the other end, was an indulgent, lets put the fat back on breakfast of Gluten Free (yes folks, birthday present of diagnosis of being a Coeliac Sufferer confirmed) Corn Bread French Toast with cream, maple syrup, cardamon, cinnamon and Honey Dew melon. Yum!

One should always try and co-ordinate their nails to their crockery, or just be glad when it happens by accident!

No thin spreads of jam for me- I like to see ripples! 

Nature never lets you down providing beautiful blooms from the garden to brighten the table.

The lesson here is to always look up! If you spend your life looking at the ground, or checking your phone while walking (you know who you are people), you will miss such magical delights like finding the most beautiful array of coloured birds sitting on top of the trees already glowing the most intense colour. It certainly was a birds eye view!

Everyday sights like traffic lights always look better in the late Winter light!

Two interesting signs I came across. Pity someone didn't do a spell check on the Internet before they sprayed this one, but I kinda like it, even though they did tarnish my favourite yellow wall. And two things not to be in life I guess are Boring and Stupid. Enough said.

Missing my cat terribly on my birthday, I was so excited when this new short haired stripey variety turned up in my letterbox. It looked pretty happy to me, but glad it came with instructions on how to look after it! 

And I'm not a fan of missing out on things that I love, so even with a Coeliac diagnosis, you can still eat delicious birthday cake! This orange flourless cake courtesy of my sister was so moist, it actually tasted better than heavy wheat ones. Do you think we put enough cream? 

I hope you all enjoyed your first week of Winter here and treat yourself with all manner of things that make you happy and nurtured. As for the Northern Hemisphere, well, I could celebrate my birthday on the 1st day of Summer had I been there, but you all have suffered through a long winter, so shed your layers and soak up that sun and kiss the waves and the sand for me till I meet them next!
xx

Autumnal Delights

The last few days in Melbourne has seen a dramatic change in the weather to the likes of a snap winter. With it has come freak storms, heavy rain, grey skies, and the amazing by-product of all that atmospheric activity- a cloud show spectacular! It's a clickers delight, as in, your finger never wants to leave the click button on your camera as nature marvels all her adornments on you from above. Autumn is the best time of year for showing off such diversity in not only weather, nature, fashion, food and thoughts of nesting and snuggling in begin to awaken.

Quite the delight to come across an average pole in the city street of Melbourne and see that it too felt the need for nesting and comfort and a nice woollen accessory to brace from the bitter chill.

And with that comes thoughts of warm breakfasts in bed. A bit of a favourite is my Quinoa porridge with rhubarb, cranberry maple syrup, chia seeds, walnuts, raisins and a sprinkling of cinnamon and cardamon to jump start the tired motor in the morning.

Followed by a late brunch of gluten free bread with mashed avocado, sauteed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes with a garnish of fresh basil leaves from the garden.

One of the foods I thought I would have to miss out on now that I am a gluten free eater is pizza- but, I'm happy to say that is not the case. With everything in life, it is learning to make do with what you CAN have. So, with a pre-bought Gluten Free pizza base (From Freedom Foods) I believe I might have made the best pizza of my life! And I have made a few! There was so much flavour in it, that the thought of missing out on a wheat base never crossed my mind. Here's a little tip for you- get yourself a tiny jar of baby food pumpkin puree (if you can't be bothered whipping some up yourself) it is pure as baby's like it, and spread it down on your base then sprinkle some cracked pepper, cayenne pepper and any other spices you may like. This makes the crust so tasty and moist, plus, you have added another vegetable to the mix without trying! I've included lightly pan fried eggplant, mushrooms, leek, baby spinach, then topped with mozzarella and fresh basil leaves and parsley. Delightful!

All that's left to do is make yourself an espresso. When the weather is uninspiring to leave the comfort of home, I like to treat myself as if I was out at a cafe and pull out a lovely tea set and indulge. This is a favourite 1950's set I scored at an op shop years ago for $5, which included dinner plates, side plates and the cup and saucers. My good taste and thriftiness was delighted when I found the exact same set in a 1950's collectors book. Makes me feel extra special when drinking out of them knowing how unique they are. Accompanied by a gluten free piece of chocolate hazelnut fudge, cold days in can be a great way to nurture yourself, surprise yourself with your cooking skills and dream of crafty projects. How do you like to spend a chilly day indoors? All this food talk has made me hungry again. I think I'm going to make some sticky date pudding and then go and yell at my misbehaving wardrobe. She needs to learn a lesson or two. More on that later. Happy snuggling :)