Remembrance of things past

Today I am taking a break from the food pictures and I thought I would share some of my photos from my wonderful trip to Italy last year.
In September I headed to Rome for a fabulous fortnight with one of my girlfriends who had just finished up a contract in Armenia (I know, long way from Brisbane but she is an adventurer!). We spent 10 glorious days touring Rome, Florence and Venice. Between the gelati, the cheese and the incredible history I couldn't help but fall in love with Italia and I can't wait to go back again.
In order to remind myself why I go to work everyday I have turned my little beige box of an office into a photo montage of all the trips I have taken over the past few years.
Here are some of my favourites from Rome.

Taken at sunrise on my first day, went for a morning run and stumbled across this cemetery. So beautiful in the silence of the waking morning.

F-E-N-D-I spells H-O-M-E!

The Colosseum (well, kinda obviously). So amazing that I got to stand in (and touch!) this piece of ancient history.

Views over Rome, from St. Peter's Basilica.

The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II at night.

Italians are known for their perfomance vehicles. Perhaps this was a Ferrari in a former life?

Time for me to sign off and go to bed after my run today I am a little tired.

Tomorrow I'll share some more photos of Italy, this time on to Florence (my favourite city).

Amy

Celebrating Roast Vegetables!

Today I managed to pick up a copy of 'Wholefood' by Judy Blereau. Turning the pages after unpacking our fantastic haul from the local farmer's markets and listening to the rain outside I was inspired to cook up a big batch of roasted root vegetables with some amazing but simple seasoning; warming to the body and the soul.

I peeled and chopped - washed potatoes, butternut pumpkin, sweet potato, parsnips and carrot and tossed them in olive oil, dried time, and dried and powdered sage and sprinkled them with rock salt.

I also roasted some chickpeas after coating them in Morrocan seasoning and a little splash of olive oil.

One of the many great ideas in 'Wholefoods' is roasting a head of garlic inside a piece of baking paper twisted at the top. I usually use aluminium foil but the paper worked much better.

All together my lovely meal looked like this:

This was a lovely naturally flavoursome meal, perfect for silencing the hunger monster that was the result of my 14.4km run today.

Thought for the day (from page 91 of 'Wholefoods') "Care about what you eat: absolutely insist that it be delicious and true".

My city in the rain

Our weather has turned once again and today rain has been our constant companion turning the sky to a grey canvas and softening the lines of the city.
I always feel like I am living inside a watercolour painting when the weather changes this way, like all the hardness and graphic lines have been washed away, leaving pastel people and buildings in its wake.

Dessert

I don't usually have 'dessert' every night, but generally I will have a little snackin' (or a lot of snackin' depending on the day) but tonight I felt like something a little more than my usual cranberries and piece of non dairy dark chocolate or peanut butter on a corn cracker. So my easy variation on peach crumble came to life!

Take 1 glorious but nearly expired peach (or nectarine or whatever is screaming at you from the crisper) and dice. I left the skin on to get maximum fibre and nutrients but you could peel it if you have the patience (clearly I do not).

To that glorious peach add 1/2 tablespoon of pure maple syrup and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Stir.

Spoon this into an oven proof ramekin and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of untoasted muesli (you could use toasted or even just plain oats if that is what you have in the house).



Here are my pretty ingredients all in a row!

Ready to go into the oven. 15min at about 180 celsius or until your peach is soft and warmed through.

I served mine straight out of the oven with a little drizzle of soy milk just to give it a slight creaminess and it was heavenly. Perfect for a healthy mid week dessert!

Thank God it's...Thursday?

Ah, Thursday, the day after hump-day, the day before the day before the weekend, for so long you have been defiant of classification amongst all the days, today you became the longest day of the week and I can't wait to go to bed tonight and wake up to a nice definable Friday.
Excuse my little whinge.
Today was extremely busy and it isn't over yet.
I woke up at the usual 4:45 this morning and was straight into the day with an hour long run containing 6 sprints, in keeping with my training for my first half marathon later this year.
Then it was off to work where my day was spent between meetings and paperwork and database problems. Then home, quick dinner:

Delicious and quick! Mix of half can of kidney beans, chopped yellow pear tomatoes, canned corn, sundried tomatoes and canned baby beets sprinkled liberally with some gorgeous walnut and cumin dukkah

Now I have about another 2 hours of work to do before I go to bed.

I am not complaining (much) but now that I look at it I know why every Friday afternoon feels like a birthday present!

Here's to the weekend, and hopefully a nice baking post (with recipes as I realise I have been lazy with these).

Amy

Learning to Balance

Today I woke up to this:

Even though seeing this meant that I was up before most of the neighbourhood I felt so blessed to be able to witness the glory of nature before the noise and stress of the world started. These are the moments that carry us through the rest of of the day and bring us the quiet that we need to remember when the white noise of our daily schedules becomes a roaring tide.

Today I also learnt a lesson in balance. I admit that this is somewhat of a daily battle for me as I may not be a perfectionist in many areas but when it comes to my fitness and healthy eating I struggle to give myself some slack sometimes. This afternoon I was very excited to attend a boxing class, I felt the need for some change as I am currently about to start training for a half marathon and have been running as my main form of exercise for quite some time. The class was fantastic! I felt really released at the end of it, all my frustration from the day had melted away. I then headed to the treadmill to go for a run, but I knew five minutes in that I didn't have the energy left for my usual run so I opted to turn off the machine and go home for dinner. In the past I would have been so disappointed in myself for not pushing through and doing the run. Today I gave myself permission to go home and be proud of the class I had finished and to know that I will go running again tomorrow, to celebrate the fact that I had exercised and enjoyed it and to remember that life is all about the balance between rest and action.

Delicious Dinner

Well, there aren't any photos of my dinner tonight. Truth be told it wasn't the most photogenic of meals. It was however extremely delicious.
I grabbed a leftover whole wheat tortilla, added a massive pile of hoummus, some sliced baby beetroot, roasted sweet potato slices, red onion and tomato and lettuce; wrapped it up and took the first bite hoping all the flavours would meld in my favour.
No, I was not disappointed in the slightest.
In lieu of not having a photo of my delightful degustation I leave you with a photo I took late last year on my way home from work.

I have a particular fondness for autumn leaves, and living in the semi-tropics we don't get that many, so this seemed a special gift for me when I spotted it one rainy late spring day. There was nothing special about the way I took the photo but the colours make me smile whenever I see it.

Amy