dedication

This blog is dedicated to my beautiful, big-hearted baby sister and her valiant, generous hubby, who are helping me to eat better and live loved.

maiden beer

My first beer in Australia. Yup, you read it right. I haven’t had a beer since I arrived in Sydney over a year ago. Reason? SImple. When you are living on AU$8 a day (after paying off rent, utilities, internet and phone bills) with a Princess to feed, you are not going to indulge in a $9 bottle of beer are you? I was on budget survival mode for an entire year, it was tough, but a wonderful learning experience. Now that I have a lordly sum of $20 a day to play with, I can afford healthier food for Lucy, so I still will not indulge in the things I used to take so much for granted, even things I grew up being used to. Beer and other alcoholic beverages are now far from my daily routine, and just as well too, apart from red wine, they are not exactly healthy fare. This is not going to become a habit. But I just felt like giving myself a little treat tonight, a little post exhibition cheer!

a taste of home

“char bee hoon” – fried vegetarian vermicelli, Singapore hawker style

Today was a perfect autumn’s day. Sunshine, cool dry air and a cheery buzz around Paddo. Miss Lucy and I had a great time with her Whippet friends Sonia and Ivy, whose dad has a stall at the Paddo Market, selling beautifully handcrafted leather pouches and handbags. (There was one ever so darling soft patent leather and suede shoulder bag that was calling out my name, but I had to ignore it because I don’t need yet another handbag and I cannot afford it anyway!)

While at the Paddo Market, I picked up two fat red capsicums from the veggie stall, at $3 a kilo, it was a steal! There were some bean sprouts there too, and I was suddenly hit with a pang of nostalgia for the cheap, hawker stall fried vegetarian rice vermicelli that is common breakfast fare back home in Singapore.

back in action!

budget pizza!

OK, the Bunny’s back in the kitchen today! I haven’t cooked anything much lately, been snowed under by work and physical lows. Today, after a few days of dreary rain, the sunshine is back. It’s a great day to get back into the kitchen for more budget bites.

Home made pizza dough for budget pizza! Coles tomato paste (use up quickly because this doesn’t keep well even in the fridge, it gets mouldy!), frozen spinach, the last two slices of bacon (precooked), cheese and olives. Sorry, Lucy, you can’t have this. But I did make doggy tuna biskies!

And be prepared for more repeats, there is another one waiting to be devoured in the ovenette. But who’s afraid of repetition? Not me. No, sir, not this Aspie Bunny!

evening snack

boiled egg, bacon, mayo & olives

Late night snack. Boiled egg, bacon, mayo and olives. Not particularly healthy, but better than a Maccas burger, non? I love the creamy texture of mayo, it helps the egg yolk go down better. (Dislike the flaky powdery texture of boiled yolk!) I cooked two eggs, but Lucy wanted some too so I gave her one yolk and half a white, sans mayo etc.

This was good, since I didn’t have dinner, and we both slept well too, though Miss Princess decided to wake up an hour early, at 4am, instead of 5am! Still, an early start to the day means more hours to play with. And yes, the sun is shining today – YAY! What’s better than a sunny summer’s day? A sunny autumn’s day in Paddo!

greyhound nose art

Lucy’s nose art

Lucy’s nose art

It’s been wet, cold and miserable the last few days. I’ve kept the window curtains drawn close most of the time. Yesterday morning, I threw open the curtains, and Lucy bounded to the window and tried to look out, but it was foggy and she couldn’t see too well. So, she created nose art! I wonder what it feels like to have a greyhound nose and rub it on a cold, damp window pane? It must be an amazing sensation!

I’ll end today’s blogging activity with two samples of Miss Lucy’s greyhound nose art. Beautiful. And not just because she is my baby!

scraping the bottom

avocado and bacon sammich

leftovers snacking

Running out of food. Not entirely yet. Some tinned tuna, eggs and a few slices of bacon, a bit of rice, a few packs of rice vermicelli, frozen spinach, some cake, half a container of yoghurt, and one tin of tomato soup left. That’s quite a lot, considering many may be starving, not so far away from where I am now. I am determined to make the most of this lot of food and not be tempted to run off to the shops to stock up, not just yet anyway. I already blew my budget on fish and chips last night. I was just too tired to cook, it was cold and wet, and I was walking home feeling miserable after yet another apartment viewing attempt.

Breakfast was bacon and avocado sammiches. One with mayonnaise the other without. Both yummy. Simple pleasures! Lunch was just too terrible to make a visual record of – I had bacon with rice vermicelli, that was it. Then there was a teatime snack. A slice of cake with yoghurt and the leftover chips from last night’s fish and chips.

warm heart

Princess in the red snoodie coat

I was asked today whether I would make the special snoodie coat that I designed for Lucy, for a pair of whippets. The lady who asked me remarked that I could start a mini handcraft business making greyhound/whippet/iggy specific clothing. I told her I am no professional, I am very particular about presenting good workmanship, and because of that, I don’t think I could do this as a business just yet. But I am willing to try making a few and donating the proceeds, after costs, to greyhound rescue efforts, or to the homeless with dogs?

warm hands

The Gentle Girl in the Red Cape

My Princess Lucy is a magnet for certain kinds of people. She doesn’t love everyone. There are some people she just ignores politely by turning her regal nose away from them ever so gently. But there are some who reach out to her and she meekly allows them to cuddle her and hug her and fawn over her. Even before her favourite shop opened across the square, she liked to hang out at the churchyard, where they serve free breakfast and a cheap lunch to the down and out. And she has acquired a few friends among the homeless folks in the process.

warm tum

avocado & wasabi-anchovy

chapatizza with vegemite

dinner on a cold, wet day

What started out as a bright morning, albeit nippy, gradually turned into a cloudy, then rainy and cold afternoon and evening. Lucy has become more hungry lately, perhaps it is the colder weather setting in. She wanted dinner a little earlier today. And since I was feeling rather peckish too, I acquiesced. I am not usually a soup person, but the cold weather does trigger a desire for something hot and full bodied. Dinner was a tin of Heinz tomato soup with added cream corn, bacon and cheese. Two slices of linseed and soy bread, and a slice of Madeira cake and yoghurt. Very filling. Warm tum on a cold, bleak day.

off

Blegh! After last night’s sensory nightmare of auditory and olfactory assault from the roadworks just outside my window, which began at 9pm and only ended around 4am, I woke up at 5.30am with a feeling of malaise. Not good. Just “off”. I usually have a big hearty breakfast. This morning, I just didn’t feel like eating. I just had my usual weird mix of coffee and milo. Miss Lucy has had her meal and is snoozing quietly on her day bed. The laundry is in the machine. That laundry room is another experience in olfactory assault – it smells of sewage. Yes. Ugh. Lucy hates that room too.

Anyhow, here is some healthy foodie inspiration from Lazy Girl Fitness: Quinoa and Sweet Potato Salad. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed. The photos look delish and yes, I shall try it, soon as I am more revived from this ‘blegh’ state of body and mind.