STRESS LESS MAN

What a journey this year has been so far. Allowing health to become one of my top priorities has had such an immeasurable impact on every part of my life. Not just health in terms of the food and exercise but mental health as well.

Modern society looooooves stress. Sometimes it feels as if stresses are the blocks our society is built on. Work deadlines, busy schedules, relationships, lack of sleep, not taking time for ourselves. Stress has become such a normal part of our lives that its so easy to forget how damaging it can be. I should know. I am a self professed stress head. If I am inhaling or exhaling I am probably stressing about something. To say it was taking its toll on me would be putting it mildly.

Don't let stress pull you into the darkness.

BUT, I'm working on it, and I've been working on it for a while now. Things have been shifting in my life for some time and I feel that the fog is lifting I am finally starting to find true balance & some inner peace. Putting the brakes on my run away stress mobile has been a big part of that, and I have a whole handful of wonderful people in my life that help me. 

Take some time out just for you.

So if you are like me and even the simplest of tasks has your mind and your stress mobile running a million miles an hour please take heed. Find even the smallest time out in your day where you can be completely relaxed, wether its a short walk in the crisp morning air to start your day or finishing your day with a cup of tea and a good book for half an hour. Make sure you take some time to yourself to recharge your batteries, you might not know they're running low until you completely run out.

Be kind to yourself,

Kitty xx

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT

As my absence may have indicated it has been quite a busy time around the Dearest house. I don't even know where to start to catch you up on all that has past since I last typed an entry. So…I'm just going to give you the cliffs notes version of my past 4 months.

Mick, Peanut Butter and I are all moved into our new humble abode. It's a very quirky old converted shop. We have concrete floors, pressed tin ceilings, two stories, a spiral staircase, a fish pond and a bigger backyard for our little furry munchkins. Yes munchkins plural. We now have a second furry edition to our family, the squishiest of squish face dogs, Mr Humphrey the British Bulldog came home with us from out latest over seas trip. 

From the first day I met the little fellow, the day we brought
him home & hanging on the couch with big sis Peanut.

We recently journeyed to the ever green north island of New Zealand. Where we attended a tattoo convention before indulging in a road trip holiday around the island. We saw snow capped mountains, geothermal hot springs, geysers, caves and what felt like a million cow and sheep inhabited rolling green hillsides. New Zealand has definitely been one of my favourite holidays so far, everything is so picturesque and there are countless outdoor activities to partake in everywhere you go.

Mount Taranaki, Hells Gate geothermal pools,
road trip view & Huka Falls from the jet boat.

It feels as if the time in between entries has sped past me and I'm already looking down the barrel of the holiday season and it would seem that the Dearest house is already filling up with Christmas cheer. The decorations are up, the candy canes are out and the live Christmas tree is filling the house with the loveliest scent of pine. 

I hope all of you are getting into the holiday spirit however you chose to celebrate.

Kitty xx 

HIP HIP HOORAY FOR TEMPEH!

If you happened to peruse my last blog entry you will already be familiar with my new found love of winter cooking. I am especially fond soups and stews, they are such a great way to get my 3 serves of vegetables a day and make sure no vegetable ever goes to waste in our house. So I thought that I would share one of my favourites of the season.

TEMPEH AND AUTUMN ROOT VEGETABLE STEW

ingredients

1/2 cup orange juice

1 tbsp orange zest

1 tsp tamari

2 cloves finely chopped garlic 

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tsp honey

4 tbsp canola oil

1 packet of tempeh (about 300g I think) cubed

2 carrots sliced 

1 cup diced potato

1 cup diced sweet potato

1 cup diced turnip

1/2 cup diced parsnip

approx 2 cups of vegetable stock

1 can diced tomatoes 

2 whole start anise

1 cinnamon stick 

1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2tbsp water

salt and pepper to taste

chopped coriander

method

1. combine orange juice, zest, tamari, garlic, ginger & honey in a bowl and set aside.

2. in a massive post heat oil over medium heat, add tempeh and brown on all sides.

3. add orange juice mixture and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

4. add vegetables & the tomatoes with their juice and then enough stock to almost cover them.

5. add star anise and cinnamon & bring to a boil.

6. reduce heat to low & simmer, cover, until vegetables are tender, for about 30mins.

7. uncover, increase heat to high, add cornstarch-water mixture & cook for 1-2mins until stew thickens

8. season with salt, pepper and additional honey as desired

9. serve with fresh coriander.

ENJOY!

Everyone in our house seems to be getting into the spirit of winter this year. Both Mick and I have spent many a day pottering about the house fixing things up and generally making our house a home, and there is no doubt that little Peanut Butter is enjoying the extra company on the couch snuggled up amidst a sea of throw blankets. 

I'll leave you with a photo of Peanut Butter strutting her latest winter wears. My last jumper cost $4.50 from the op shop near work, Peanuts cost $50. Go figure. I love her more than me.

Kitty xx

HOME SWEET CARDBOARD JUNGLE.

Goodness gracious me! What a crazy past week its been.

Mick and I have been hard out on the house hunt for the past few months with very little popping up in our price range that suits our needs. Having only found 2 houses, that clearly didn't work out, we weren't feeling too "glass half full" about the matter. So even with our friend Randy from Germany staying with us after Sydney, we had to keep looking, and against all odds we found a super nifty converted shop online that ticked almost all our boxes. Begrudgingly & without getting our hopes up we got up much too early for tattooists and battled the traffic across town to inspect our potential dream home. To our surprise and delight the house was even more lovely than its photos online, which is so rarely the case. We promptly handed our application forms and dwindling hopes to the real-estate agent and left for work to begin the waiting game. Two days later we got the phone call we had been waiting for and surprise upon surprise, we had been approved and the little converted shop was ours for the taking!

Photos from instagram...

Because I don't know the location of my camera.

This past 4 days we have packed our little victorian cottage, loaded our lives into a removal van, driven across town more than enough times, unloaded our lives into a new house, cleaned our old home to the brink of sterile and watched potential tenants walk through the house where we started our journey as a little family. 

So much has happened in our little house on Roseberry street. Two beautiful fur family members have come into our lives and one has left, we've bickered and we've snuggled, we've become a tight little team under that rickety roof and I may have shed a tiny little tear as we drove away for the last time. But we've outgrown our little 2x1 and we're moving up in the suburban world. 

Bye bye little house! Thanks for everything!

I can't wait to see what adventures our new home will hold. After we clear the cardboard jungle that is.

Kitty xx

BUILD ME UP PEANUT BUTTERCUP.

So as most of you know, not long ago Mick and I lost our beautiful British Bulldog pup Winston, and I've had a particularly hard time dealing with it.
Although I know all too well that nothing & no-one can ever replace Winston, the opportunity for a darling female French Bulldog came up and we just couldn't say no.
I've been through a roller coaster of emotions with the decision to get another puppy, and ultimately wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, but he she is, and here we are, back at square one with a brand new puppy.
I will always hold Winston on a pedestal in my heart but I know that there is plenty of room in there for a new fury friend. So with no further ado, please welcome Peanut to our family. Weighing in at mere 2.5kgs, her favourite activities include eating, sleeping, making guinea pig like noises & running around in circles.
Please be kind to her, she has some very large shoes to fill.

I grow more confident each day that she and I are going to be the best of friends.
Kitty xx