So, I went back to work today after being on holidays since Christmas . It was great to see everyone again and a lot of people commented on my TV appearance last week.
I didn’t sleep well last night though after late-night cocoa consumption, so after lunch time I got really tired. I pulled through thanks to a big bottle of freshly squeezed vege juice, another big bottle filled with green smoothie and a big bowl of fresh cherries .
Biking into work went well, biking home, well, that was a lot tougher. Into work there’s only 1 up-hill, but 3 down-hills, back home it was the reverse. I stumbled into the house slightly sore from the incline up our street. Then I allowed Tracy Anderson to torture me for a bit, but I gave up after the first few leg workouts. Next time after my bike ride I’ll go straight to the upper body workout. Tomorrow I will go for a run with Paul after work. I hope my legs won’t give up .
So for dinner tonight I had nori-wrapped carrot balls with apricot-tahini-miso dressing
It was satisfying but the nori filling needs some work .
After getting a bit of air time on TV, I thought I better start blogging again .
Yes, a lot has happened in the last few months which kind of prevented me getting enough time to keep up this page. Since about August/September there have been many changes in my life:
1. I have finally found my calling and decided to start a little (huge) adventure by opening my own health food/vegetarian/vegan cafe here in Wellington after finishing university. This is a giant step and I am absolutely scared but at the same time, it is my dream to share my love for food and my passion for healthy living with as many people as I can possibly reach and to create a place for a community of like-minded people in this city. I have not set a definite date yet as everything is still in my head but the planning will start on paper shortly as I am riding on a real wave of motivation at the moment. So watch out for plans, dreams, news and ideas .
2. I applied for Masterchef New Zealand (amateur reality TV cooking show), got accepted and you can watch episode 1 here (6 parts in total):
My audition recipe can be found here (it is worth trying ).
3. My brother came to NZ for a working holiday in November on the day of my first exam just before I headed to Auckland for the Masterchef auditions. I had to sit my exams 2 days earlier to be able to go to the auditions. Still got alright marks ).
4. In December, we bought our first house together. It is the perfect house and I couldn’t be happier. It is new (4 years), warm, dry, safe, sunny and has a huge property. Problem: the section is steep and covered in native bush. We are clearing a bit so I can have a vege garden as much as possible. Until then it’s herbs on the window sill and I am about to start growing wheat grass. On the weekend, Paul and I will plant lavender, rosemary and thyme in the front yard .
5. After Christmas I flew to Sydney to meet my parents and aunty. We spent New Year’s there with fantastic fire works and lots of sunshine. Oh and a lot of ripe mangoes . Then we flew back to New Zealand to explore the south island for 3.5 weeks followed by a week up north in Russel. It was a fantastic long holiday with lots of green smoothies for mum and myself, a lot of ripe cherries, peaches, apricots and plums and plenty of sunshine.
So today I finally arrived in Wellington again, ready to really move into my house (Since 17 December I spent about 2 weeks here in total). I am going back to work tomorrow, wondering what people will say about my latest “vegan weirdness” on TV . But hey, my colleagues, well, I love them dearly. They happily try all my food, all my cakes and will be perfect food critics for future cafe food.
On 1 March (3 weeks – uaaaa) I will start uni again for the last trimester ever . Well, until I decide I want to become a somewhat important Dr. of some sort . No thanks, let’s get into the real world and make a difference, reach out to people, help, support, cheer them on, connect, become friends and make this world a better place.
I have a lot of ideas in my head, a lot of passion and a lot of hope that change will come. And while all these ideas are taking shape and are becoming reality, I will keep cooking and uncooking in my new kitchen with all my fancy gadgets that I love so dearly, with all the great produce that I am addicted to and I hope that one day someone will say, Eva made a difference in my life.
So before I get to sentimental, here’s to a great tomorrow and all those days after that.
The 8 hours sleep, well some nights it’s 9 hours, some it’s 7, but I am making a real effort.
I have embarked on a smoothie adventure, so for the next little while I will blend all my meals, making them easy to handle for my body. And, of course, involve lots of greens .
Exercise, well, my right hip is still sore, so I have put a warm wheat pack on it last night and this morning. It seems to be getting better but I am swapping running and instead am biking around to put less stress on it.
Yes, cooked, not raw. I have to admit I have had way too much cooked foods recently but I am hopping back on the Raw Bandwagon as of tomorrow, September, 21st! I am determined.
I know I said that in the past, but I really want to turn this around. I have sampled all the baking creations that I wanted to sample so now it is time to focus on my health, my well-being and on losing those 5kgs that I still want to say good-bye to. Those stubborn silly love handles and that slightly wobbly tummy, well they have to disappear. I will release them into thin, skinny, healthy raw food air!
I want to focus a lot more on the signals my body sends me. And listen to them – and act according to them.
I talked to my mum who introduced me to a new method of making use of what my body knows is best for it. I don’t quite know the appropriate terms in English, but anyway, you basically get your body to show you its way of saying “yes” and “no” and then you ask questions and see what the reaction is.
Sounds like hocus-pocus? Well, I truly believe that we instinctively, deep down inside ourselves, know exactly what is best for us. We just often ignore those signals and act impulsively, putting our wants before our needs and end up feeling worse than we would if we had just listened.
So now I am embarking on this journey of listening to my body and actually asking myself some questions when faced with decisions. I will see how that goes. I am often guilty of not making time for myself. For example, I want to do yoga every morning and evening, but then I am too tired, it’s too late, etc. and that’s just not good enough. I have to make enough time for myself because I AM WORTH IT.
(Can I borrow someones 24hours each day? hehehe).
So here it goes…
- 8 hours sleep each night
- 5 min yoga each morning and evening. More is better, but let’s take small steps.
- RAW food all the way
- exercise regularly: bike and run
- relax and shut down the laptop at 8pm
I am hopeful . So I will do whatever I can to be the best I can be!
I also wanted to provide you with this link to a very interesting discussion…
It is about certain raw foods that people have cut out of their diets because of how their body responded to it. Very interesting, especially if you’ve been experimenting with raw foods for a while or have found that you’re just not feeling as awesome as you did in the past and you can’t find the reason for it.
It’s been a busy weekend over here. A “Pirate Party” on Friday, a “Food of Origin Potluck” on Saturday and a dinner with my friend tonight. I feel sluggish and desperate for a few days of green smoothie cleansing.
That’s what I will do from tomorrow. Two Green Smoothies a day and munching on vege sticks for the remaining “meals” as I have noticed in the past that some crunch is certainly necessary for me. Gosh I can’t wait to get back to raw foods. I am lacking energy and vitality this weekend.
Went for a run every day since Friday. Friday’s run was good but I took it easy as it was the first run after having the sniffles for 4 days. Saturday’s run was awesome. Today, well it actually sucked. My legs felt so heavy and sluggish. Maybe water retention due to salt intake being much higher than normal (potluck dinner).
So cleansing is in order and a return to raw food 100% until Friday. Another birthday party… But it should be fun and it’s going to be at a Thai restaurant where there are vegan options so that’s great.
Bought heaps of fresh produce on the market today. LOL I bought 2kg of grapes (that’s over 4lbs) because currently I am addicted to them. I could eat a hole bag of grapes in one session .
Tomorrow I am back to university after a 2 week midterm break which actually seemed quite long and relaxing. I went on a little holiday trip to Auckland and worked quite a bit at the office. Did some baking, some running and was sick for a bit. Didn’t do much study at all. Should have but couldn’t be bothered .
Well actually I am not going to uni tomorrow because I don’t have classes on Mondays and Thursdays. But I am working tomorrow from 8.00-12.00 and will have to sort out some uni stuff. Then there will be study and finishing an assignment if I can figure out how to (It isn’t worth any points but I must hand it in, so if I absolutely cannot do it, I just hand in half of it, i.e. the stuff I have so far hehe).
On Tuesday classes are back on. I am looking forward to it but dreading it at the same time. Dreading it because I realised that accounting and commercial law are just not my passion and in the end, those 2 majors were really just a “responsible” choice, not one from my heart. On the other hand, I am looking forward to kicking off the final 6 weeks of classes for this year. Then next year I have 1 more trimester and by the end of next June I will finish my degree. Thank heavens!!!
How is everyone else doing? Who of my readers is raw? How are you finding it? Tell me a bit about you guys
How is everyone doing this week? I’ve had a good start to the week with a shared dinner at Chow with some friends. Yesterday, due to developing a cold, I started my detox with a “water fast” on hot lemon, ginger and honey. Yes, I have started eating honey again, so what does that make me? An “Api-Vegan”? Or a “Beegan”?
I don’t care about labels quite frankly.
Anyway, so my fast was good and this morning I woke up refreshed and feeling light. I think my body liked having that break and managed to attend to that cold so that I am a lot less sniffly than the past 2 days.
Today I continued my journey back to a higher amount of raw food (so many social commitments and tempting cooked vegan recipes lately…) , by having a green smoothie for breakfast, a big salad for lunch, 2 apples for snacks and not sure yet about dinner. I think it will be nibbles: carrot and zucchini sticks, celery, grapes, kiwifruit. Yum!
It’s the second day of spring and we had lovely sunshine all day. lots of wind though. There’s a forecast for another chilly few days as a last breath of winter. We’ll see
. It was great to see everyone again and a lot of people commented on my TV appearance last week.
