Photo Post

Reinforcing the concept of lift at Scienceworks.

Scienceworks

More about aerodynamics

Art and Craft show - refashioning a pair of pants

This lady was such an awesome help.

Embellishing a jacket

This is where his love of the sewing machine began

The final product - a bag made from a tee shirt. The only thing YM didn't do was sew the zip

A wasabi peanut competition - who could eat the most at one time!

 

It was a hoot! (I didn't join in!)

I think we got to 15 wasabi peanuts at one time!

Organ Pipes National Park

Climbing up quietly to see what was in the box

Jackson's river (I think from memory) at the NP. We got to see some fairy wrens we had previously learnt about which was pretty exciting.

Asparagus and Edamame Bisque

Tonights dinner was dee-lish! It came from 1000 Vegan Recipes (p. 167).

I LOVE soups. Mostly because I am lazy and love to just throw everything into one pot and  sit and wait. Yesterday we had Corn and Potato Chowder (p. 165) and I've got another 3 soups planned (I already have the ingredients which makes things even simpler) for the next few meals.

Baby has been playing with the camera. Sometimes the kids manage to get a good photo.

I've also been playing with the camera. It happens every now and then. (Isn't my lil man handsome!)

We were all outside enjoying the Melbourne Autumn sun doing some homeschooling. LOVING homeschooling!

Tahn

It's here!

My copy of Ani Phyo's new book 'Ani's Raw Food Essentials' has arrived this very morning!

It was $19.98 from The Book Depository (with FREE delivery!). Don't pay more than that, fellow Aussies (it will be interesting to see how much they put the price up here!).

Will let you know what I think of it soon (no chance to do more than flick through it as homeschooling comes first!- I liked what I saw when I flicked!)

Tahn

I'm a proud mama!

I've got two new babies! I'm very happy! It has been a while since we have had any pets and I just LOOOOVE kittys!

So this proud mama is very, very proud to introduce our new members of the family:

 Biggles

Trim

Aren't they beautiful?? Ok, so like any parent, I may just be a little biased! 

We chose them from Lort Smith Animal Hospital on Sunday. They were in a cage together and I didn't want to split them up so we took both! (Poor Popeye is allergic to cats, but we are hoping that he will get used to them). I was under the opinion that they were brothers, but I think I must have made that up as their DOB differs on their documents.

Popeye named Biggles, after the famous literary aviator. We all agreed on Trim's name. One of our homeschooling stories was about Matthew Flinders' cat, Trim, who was a very intelligent cat. We are hoping our Trim is as smart as the cat he is named after. So far, he is very shy. He jumps at the slightest noise. Biggles, on the other hand, is very friendly and loves the attention. It's good to have that balance of pussy personalities I think.

Fortunately for us, both cats are toilet trained. They will also be exclusively inside cats mainly because we live on a VERY busy road with a VERY busy car wash business as our neighbour. Cats and cars are not a good combination. Also, I have a bit of an issue with cats killing wildlife outdoors. so inside cats they are.

Baby can't keep her hands off them!

YM can't wait for them to settle into our house so he can play with them!

Now having two gorgeous additions to our family has produced a DILEMMA for me. As a vegan, I am having a hard time having animal products in my house for the first time in over 2 years. I do realise that cats are not really made for vegan eating but I would love some ADVICE from my fellow vegan blogging cat owners - What do you feed your cats? 

My initial, uninformed thoughts that I should continue feeding my kitty's on kitty food until they are 1. Then I was hoping to be able to introduce a bit of vegan food into their diet and maybe mix it in with their food. Something to research.

On a change of topic, my two home educated babies (the human kind not the kitty kind) have started a blog page called 'Adventures of our homeschooled superheroes'. Their first post was about the kittens and it is fabulous for their writing skills. I'm sure they would love it if you checked it out and left an encouraging comment (this will also help their understanding of writing for an audience).

Meow for now (oh, I feel a Super Troopers moment coming on meow)

Tahn

My new book and a COOL comment

Today 'Ani's Raw Food Kitchen' arrived! It is funny that 2 days ago I was frantically writing out recipes before returning the book to the library in case I had a long wait from The Book Depository. But they get the books out to you so fast. I am excitedly waiting for her new book 'Raw Food Essentials' out in a few weeks.

I got an awesome comment yesterday from Ani Phyo herself!!! (well, ok, so maybe it was one of her 'party' but I feel good thinking it was really her!)

This is what she had to say about my blog post yesterday:

Seitahn, thanks so much for enjoying my books and for the post and photos! I'm so happy you're having fun making easy raw recipes. hope you'll enjoy the new one, out june 1...unless you're in LA. first event is tomorrow (3 weeks early!). more recipes and info on my website, along with cooking videos: http://www.AniPhyo.com. thanks again for the post and your support doll. 


How cool is that!




Chuffed,


Tahn

Ani Phyo - Portobello Steaks on Brazil-Broccoli Mash with Mushroom Sauce

I mentioned in my last post that I had ordered a couple of Ani Phyo's raw cookbooks from The Book Depository. Excitedly, I received one today, Raw Desserts. Obviously from the title of this post this recipe did not come from my new acquisition. But I was lucky enough to borrow her Raw Food cook book from the library without too much of a wait. It was due back today, but I was unable to renew it as there is a bit of a list of people wanting to borrow it. So I quickly wrote out a few recipes to keep me occupied while I sit and wait patiently for my own copy to arrive!

Tonight I made the Marinated Portobello Steaks, which was really simple - the hardest part was waiting the 1-2 hours for the mushrooms to marinate and soften. The mushrooms sat on top of a bed of Brazil-Broccoli Mash. Another simple dish. A quick throw in the food processor. And lastly, the mushroom sauce - just a momentary mix in the blender. Voila!

It was delicious! The Brazil-Broccoli Mash was an interesting flavour. Definitely one that needed 'something' to go with it and it was perfect with the mushrooms. The kids did not like it by itself, but as a part of the combination it was great. The mushroom sauce around the edge was tasty and I ended up adding quite a bit more to my plate. I am really looking forward to trying a lot more savoury raw meals as I tend to stick to the sweet stuff.

Other recipes from her book I have tried are the Almond Mylk which is so easy and delicious and no straining required. A couple of her 'puddings' were yummy, 'Luscious Lemon Pudding' and 'Almond Pudding' usually we ate them at lunch and they kept me full for a good three hours.

I also made her 'breakfast pancakes' made primarily with flax seeds. I made the blueberry syrup she recommends and topped it with bananas. Very nice and filling.

Can't wait for my copy of her cookbook to arrive, especially her new one out VERY soon.

Enjoying the RAW,

Tahn