whareroa farm

saturday was a bit of a disaster for me. i won't speak much about it except the following: torn jeans, too small knitted hat, bad haircut. done.

sunday was much much better. after a leisurely morning we made our way to whareroa farm, which is on the kapiti coast. it is an actual farm, with lots of walking/biking tracks. we did a 5-6 mile hike and saw some scenery and things. check it out:

flat part of the trail happiness

do not stop! a boulder or a cow may fall on your head.

stunning views

happy boy

exercise bug

anyone who has seen my pinterest account recently, probably already knows... i have been cleared to exercise to my hearts content by my now ex-physio, glenn.

my left ass muscle is now offically stronger than the other (and i will continue to do dips on both legs to maintain strengh). but now i can slowly go back to running 10k (about 6 miles) whenever i want. i started the bridge to 10k app again this week and am excited to build up to it. the first run with the app was run 10 minutes, 1 walk minute (4x). this sounded easy enough, but it really kicked my rear. it is nice to have a running goal to work towards again, and the weather is starting to become nicer and nicer.

another thing: i've been wanting to start doing yoga. not the chanting, philosophical kind, but the moving sweating, gaining balance, kind. there are so many different types and resources...i'm feeling overwhelmed. does anyone have advice (without spending tons of dough on classes?)

random photos

 

cabbage trees through aaron's sunglasses. i was trying to be artsy. eh?

the amount of produce we bought in one week for our family of 2. this is pretty average and doesn't include the canned butter beans or the frozen blueberries (1kg). it makes me feel better about the bacon, sausage, and whipping cream that we also bought.

napier

we went to napier last weekend. pardon the delayed post...but the computer is in a room with no heat. it makes me less than motivated to post. you understand.

friday we drove the 4 or so hours to napier, and mostly hung out after that. bought some groceries and settled in. we rented at "self-contained unit" from the bayview snapper holiday park. it was cheap, clean accommodation with a little kitchenette and private bathroom. nothing fancy, but got the job done.

view from our "scu" right on the beach

saturday morning we explored downtown napier. did some window shopping, visited the farmer's market and had some yummy italian pizza. in the afternoon we did some winery visiting. we went to sileni, abbey, trinity hill, and unison and purchased our fair share of bottles.

the bells in downtown napier

sunday, we got up early and drove 2.5 hours away from napier to te urewera national park, to see the sights and get in a nice hike. our hike in took about an hour, and there was an empty cabin shelter at the end near a lake. at this point the wind was blowing, and the rain was falling, so we went in and made some lunch and took a nice break.

serene lake we sighted along our drive

a nice viewpoint along the way

the dense rainforest we hike through

making lunch in the shelter

 monday we had to head back. i start work at 2.30 on mondays, so we got up relatively early, had some breakfast and then we were on our way. wait. no, there was another viewpoint. but this one was my favorite of the entire trip so i'm glad we went a bit out of the way to get there. it combined topography with lambs. neat-o!

lambs at the viewpoint

accurately depicts NZ landscape

meal planning #4

phew! i'm exhaused. this morning began in napier (4 hours away from wellington) and i closed the library at 10:30pm tonight. that my friends, is a long day.

so obiously we went to napier this weekend, which threw a wrench into the meal planning for last week. this week should be a little more normal and will look like this:

tuesday: baked falafel with lemon tahini sauce
wednesday: leftovers
thursday: szechuan chick stir fry (jamie oliver, recipe. i heart jamie oliver)
friday: leftovers
saturday: white pita pizzas with red and green prosciutto salad (healthy, yummy, and light)
sunday: leftovers

blog and pics about napier coming up!

main street

i have wanted to read main street by sinclair lewis for quite awhile. sinclair was from a little minnesota town called sauk centre, which is where the fictional town of gopher prairie was based. my grandmother was born and raised in sauk centre (she was actually born in 1920, the same year the book debuted) and her family had lived in the community since the 1860s. the book stirred quite a bit of controversy due to its portrayal of small town living as full of gossip and hypocrites which went against the typical view of small town life as moral and "wholesome". the book was banned in several small towns across the nation, and the sauk centre residents felt resentful.

the main character, carol, marries a small town doctor and moves to this hometown of gopher prairie. she initially is full of good intentions and wants to bring culture and beauty to the small town, but finds its inhabitants are not interested in these efforts. the book spans about 8 years and follows carols relationship with the town and its residents from her initial enthusiasm to her gradual hatred and resentment of the town. she eventually comes to terms with gopher prairie and appreciates it for what it is - but without giving up on her ideals.

coming from a small town myself, i found the book really resonated with me. i did the opposite of carol; i was born and raised in a small town and moved away. when i moved away, it was somewhat reluctantly. however, whether it is being older, or being away for awhile, i do not think i could move back to such a small place permanently for many of the same reasons that are portrayed in this book. but my small town played a very important part in my childhood and i'm proud of my small town roots.

meal planning 3.0

another week, another set of meals. here we go. 

sunday: spaghetti all ceci (never got to it this week)

monday: leftovers

tuesday: ham, split pea and lentil stew with homemade bread

wednesday: leftover soup

thursday: german sausage sizzle (remember how our order got doubled?) with jalapeño potato salad

friday: leftovers

saturday: baked falafel with lemon tahini sauce

also a few snacky pins from pinterest. 

baked radish chips. the last time i tried radishes i was about 8 and i hated them. i want to like them. maybe now that i'm all grown up. 

baked sweet potato chips. this isn't really a gamble. pretty sure these will be yummy. 

the baked artisan bread from last week? turned out real good. it's kind of weird to have a pile of dough in your fridge all week. but real convenient to know you can have homemade bread at any time.

i made a quilt. it only took forever.

about 8-9 months ago i pinned the following quilt:

Pinwheels in the Park by: SewMamaSew

i decided i was going to make it.

"but, barbs," you might say, "you don't have much experience sewing." true. but i figured it was all straight lines. how hard could it be?

there was blind enthusiasm. i didn't understand a lot of the terms in the pattern, but i thought i would just take it step by step.

first, i bought my fabric:

this is a bad photo, but shows the colors. yellow, gray, white, black. in various patterns of flowers, dots, and paisley.

next i cut the pieces out. so far, so good.

then, i made the pinwheels (no picture), twelve in total. this part was pretty easy too. i felt real confident after that part was all done. quilting, it turns out was a cinch.

oh, wait.

after that it got much harder. i hadn't bought enough white to piece in between the pinwheels. when i went to the fabric store, i couldn't find the exact shade of white that matched. frustration.

after a lot of putting it down and taking weeks at a time breaks. i finally got the front made. phew! then it was time to sandwich the top, batting and back pieces together and quilt.

arg! i hated every moment of this part. in typical barbie fashion, there were tears and exclamations of how i hated sewing. aaron pushed me on. he made me a martini to sip on while i plowed through it.

ok. hard part done, right? the next part said "use your preferred binding method."

oh. ok. yea, my preferred binding method.

i didn't have a preferred one (or any one). there was a lot of youtubing. i found out (horror of horrors) that i had to actually hand sew the entire binding in place.

i finally got done today. it isn't perfect, but it is amazing to me.

and now i can finally knit without thinking "you should really finish that quilt". also i can start another project. one that might not take me 9 months. like a skirt. or a headband. or something like that.

big muscles

each year there is a family fantasy football league. this institution was founded in 2006 and involves some intense competition. the past winners include:

2006 - barbs
2007 - karla
2008 - justin
2009 - rachael
2010 - justin
2011 - karla

my team for 2012, formerly known as the bogue bruisers, now the...

big muscles

quarterbacks
tony romo
philip rivers

running backs
maurice jones-drew
matt forte
demarco murry
shonn greene
roy helu

wide recievers
roddy white
hakeem nicks
steve smith
robert meachum
anquan bolden

tight ends
jermichael finley
jared cook

defence
ravens
lions

kicker
dan bailey

meal planning #2

are you ready for more meal planning? you are, right? if not, scroll below and find our trip to auckland. it's more entertaining.

this week the recipes come from both 365: no repeats and express lane meals both by rachael ray. both classics in our household

sunday: lemon artichoke risotto with shrimp (this got delayed because of the auckland trip)
monday: risotto leftovers
tuesday: smokey sweet potato chicken soup (adapted for kumeras instead of sweet potatoes, but essentially the same)
wednesday: leftover soup
thursday: philly cheese steaks
friday: leftovers
saturday: spaghetti alla ceci (spaghetti with chickpeas - it's a roman dish)

i'll also be attempting two of my food "pins" from pinterest...

artisian baked bread - no kneading required, the fermentation process that takes place in the fridge does the work for you.

and

roasted cabbage. it must the be eastern european in me. but it sounds really good.  The grocery store did not have bacon bits. I looked all over, and then swallowed my pride and asked. He asked "what are those" - I told him cooked pieces of chopped bacon. Then he asked what in the world I would use it for. Sigh.

come on ride da train

this weekend we took friday off and took the train from wellington to auckland. aaron found a good two-for-one deal, that also corresponded with a cheap $50 flight from auckland to wellington. so we decided to take advantage.

our time in new zealand is quickly coming to a close, so we thought we needed to finally start seeing some of the sights.

the train ride was simply gorgeous. we tried to take pictures, but they do not really capture it the way it was.

notes about the trip:
1. we were quite the anomaly on the trip because we were about 30 years younger than the average couple. 
2. it was an 11 hour train ride. so besides staring at gorgeous scenery we also napped, knitted, played cards, and drank champagne.
3. during the ride aaron discovered the order at the german butcher was accidentally doubled and we had been charged for $375 of german meat. which is funny in hindsight, but not at the time.

in other news i have a weak ass

quite a few months ago i noticed a continual soreness in my left hip. eventually i noticed a correlation with days i ran and the pain. i ignored it for a bit, it wasn’t bad, mostly irritating, perhaps it would go away on it's own.


eventually, aaron convinced me i should go to the same physio he went to for his knee. i was a bit sceptical at first. i think of physios as serious sports doctors for real athletes. marathoners. nfl linebackers. ultimate frisbee players, etc. i do not consider myself an athlete. basically i work out because i know i'm supposed to (like flossing my teeth) and that is about it. was this an actual injury? was it all in my head?

i eventually went. my physio, glenn, had me do some exercises, asked me some questions and did some stretches. he almost immediately diagnosed me with hip bursistis. this was caused by two things 1) apparently i have a weak left ass cheek 2)the weak left ass was caused by “amazingly” flexible hips (he even asked me if i was a dancer or gymnast, alas!) that apparently allow my body to not use my left bum muscle. this apparently has been happening for years…

for the last 5 weeks i’ve been doing 2 exercises to try and get strengthen this part of my body. tt’s not overly hard, just tiresome and not fun. although i shouldn’t complain…others have it lots worse off than i do. and the exercises do seem to be helping, along with icing after my 3.4 mile runs. today i had my 3rd visit with my physio, and i was hoping he would tell me i was completely cured, but no. he confirmed that i’ll need to continue both sets of exercises every day for the next 4-6 weeks. the good news is that once this muscle is built up, it will not wither back down to nothing and my body will begin to actually use it when i run, instead of the weird hip thing it does now.

other things about my physio:
1) he had told me several times i don’t need to do things “a million miles per hour”
2) he was quick to tell me i seem to have “little to no body awareness” (in that i probably run in to doors and what not, check)

meal planning

i'm endeavouring to start a somewhat regular feature here. somewhat because, well, you all know i just had a 8 month blogging break. any hoo...

every sunday i plan our meals out for the rest of the week. i have been told that most people do not do this and that this is one of the things that makes me, me.

i'm going to try and blog what things we are eating this week. this probably will not bring hords of new blog readers, but i figure it will be a meal diary of sorts, which might turn out handy at some point and time in the future.

any "keeper" recipes i try to post on my purely recipe blog, somewhat regularly. this again is less for other people, and more for myself. wherever i go, i will have my favorite recipes with me (tagged for conveience). most of them are not original recipes, so i always cite my source (like a good librarian)

this week, most of the recipes are from one of my most used books 365 no repeats by rachael ray.

sunday: cumin-lime crusted pork chops with spicy creamed corn (this was supposed to be a pork tenderloin, but the store demanded i be flexible)

monday: leftovers of above

tuesday: beauregard kumara with chili and feta cheese (recipe found here)

wednesday: leftovers stuffed kumaras

thursday: spinach goat cheese chicken rolls with pan sauce

friday: leftover chicken rolls

saturday: lemon artichoke risotto with shrimp


what are you having this week?

i'm back.

i seem to have abandoned this blog last year. i'm not sure why. it' wasn't too much work to keep up. but i guess i'm lazy, and the longer i went without updating the more work i thought it would be to catch up with everything...the longer it went untouched.

as a compromise, i'm picking it up again, but don't expect to get caught up on the last 7 months. too much as happened (but nothing major).

i'm picking up from this weekend.

on saturday we had what we call a productive day. we bought our niece her 1st birthday gifts and  went looking for a spare tire (or spare tyre, as they are known here). our spare tire was stolen, oh, about a year and a half ago. we still haven't gotten around to replacing it, yet. they are very expensive new, and such a chore to get second hand. but we tried this weekend, so we get a finger badge*.

*a finger badge is a made up reward system, by me. it's like getting a gold star, except you can actually give and receive it. aaron rolls his eyes and pretends to not like the finger badge system, but i know deep down he loves them as much as me.

to reward our selves for such a fine job, the next morning after a skype convo with my folks, and some amazing breakfast burritos, we headed off to the pinnacles.

what are the pinnacles? good question. i'm going to answer by saying really pretty geologic rock thing. it was also featured in a movie called the lord of the rings.

there. not too bad for the first post in 7 or 8 months, right?