Wannabe Australian Bada**

Now I'm not really sure what the protocol is on bringing food into different countries. I'm pretty sure that it's okay to bring packaged foods with you, but I still felt like I was smuggling these Luna Bars into Australia. How could I go without my lemon zest? Sometimes being a bada** comes down to the little things. I had one for a small lunch while studying yesterday.

We took a break to get an early dinner, & went to this sketchy Japanese place at the recommendation of James' friend Joel. While the combo of a vegetable sushi roll & veggie udon noodle soup was cheap ($10 AU), I was a little irked by the sight of some floating hot-pink-dyed pieces of gelatin in my soup.

Don't worry that's not fish eggs on top, just some weird sauce.

Dinner was a bit funky but it kept me full for a long time. I munched on some chili limi cashews before bed. These were not the Trader Joe's kind but almost as good.

This morning I woke up bright & early and walked down the street to go to my daily coffee provider- The Paddington Grind. I had a soy latte w/ 2 equal & some Vegemite on turkish bread.
Yes there was butter on that bread. Yes I ate it. Bada** I know.

Like a true wannabe Australian bada**, I put some more vegemite on that turkish bread when I got home.

Afterwards, I put on my wettie (wetsuit), headed down to Maroubra beach w/ the Bra Boys, and jumped in the surf.

No way! I am not that big of a bada**. I watched James & his friends surf for a while until it started drizzling & headed to a nearby cafe to enjoy my new Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged and a soy chai latte. This chai latte was $5.40 AU can you believe it? redonkulous.

By the time the boys got out of the surf it was lunchtime so James & I headed to Nando's in Maroubra. I had the veg pita w/ no mayo, and hot peri-peri sauce. The little flag says "for the adventurous heat seeker".... guess that's me.

Close up

Look at all of the sauces that ended up on our table! I'm such a bada** that I'm sure you can guess that I dipped my pita in the extra, extra hot peri-peri sauce. My mouth was on fire afterwards!

Memorial Day Weekend

Coffee!!!

Breakfast- Smoothie w/ strawberries, 1/2 banana, almond milk, ice

Memorial Day Weekend = lots of beach time. I'll be black by Tuesday.

Kettle cooked potato chips, the nutritional info on these was pretty good surprisingly.

Rather than eating a 'real' lunch I just decided to keep on snacking once I got home. I had some garden veggies straw from Costco w/...

some red pepper hummus & humguac from TJ's. Humguac is equal parts guacamole and chickpeas w/ seasoning, I know it's brilliant idea. All I need now is BBQ hummus and i'll be set for life.

My mom had some friends over & had the below amazing spread, so once again I snacked for dinner. Mostly hummus & stacy's pita chips, dates, and lime & chili cashews.

Afterwards I headed out for a night on the town in Laguna, we went to the Royale Hawaiian where there was an 80's cover band playing and then down to the Marine Room.

Ari, Raveena, and Me

Showing my affection for Rav.

Today I skipped breakfast and just went straight to lunch. I had a tofurky & arugula sandwich w/ hummus, avocado, and soy cheese on a 100 calorie whole wheat roll.

Open Wide!

This did not fill me up so I had some soy nuggets w/ ketchup too.

I shopped all day & got clothes for my upcoming trip, and picked up a GRE study guide from Barnes and Noble.... time to crack down and study soon : ( I was also able to visit my grandma who is finally out of the hospital yey!

We brought home this enormous edible arrangement for Issy because she took a pretty bad fall earlier in the day and bumped her noggin on the pavement. She had to go to the hospital and get a CAT scan. She's okay though, just a minor concussion.

Milk chocolate dipped strawberries & pineapple, white chocolate & milk chocolate dipped banana and marshmallows. Craziness- I nippled on some strawberries & grapes, I'm not a fan of chocolate plus it has dairy in it.

Issy loved the chocolate though!

For dinner I dipped slices of tempeh first in TJ's Island soyaki and then dredged them in flour and baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Then I added the tempeh to a big bowl of arugula w/ 1/2 avocado & raw broccoli.

This was the first time that I had marinated the tempeh in soyaki and it ended up being delicious.

Heart of Sparrows

Big ice coffee for Brekkie as usual...

Paired with a peanut butter cookie Luna Bar...

and some sliced cantaloupe from the hospital.

I was still in the hospital around lunchtime visiting my gma w/ the rest of the fam, so we decided to wander down to the cafeteria to grab some grub. I wasn't expecting much, so I was very excited when I saw that they had a big salad bar.

This salad included mixed greens, broccoli, chickpeas, cucumbers, carrots, corn, & peas

I also had some vegetarian chili which was very tasty.

Afterwards I picked up Issy from the bus stop and we had a fun day of riding bikes & playing at the park. I'm surprised I even remembered how to ride a bike, it's been awhile.

I hung out w/ my friend @ the park who just happens to be a tree and have a heart filled w/ red sparrows.

After the park we stopped by Cafe Vienna to grab some drinks before picking up Emma & Summer from the bus stop. Issy slurped down some chocolate milk

and I had a blended vanilla coffee. It was supa yummy, but gave me a brain freeze.

Later on in the afternoon as I packed the girls lunches for the next day & made dinner, my friends Dru & Cami stopped by to have a glass a vino w/ me and watch the sunset.

We dined on a smorgasbord of snacks. Above are chili and lime cashews, olives, dark chocolate covered pomegranates, & yogurt covered pretzels.

Strawbeezies

mmmm.... hummus, olives, pita, and more lime and chili cashews.

On top of all of the snacks (mostly lots of pita & hummus, olives, and cashews) I also had a salad of steamed broccoli, arugula, brocslaw, baby tomatoes, & herb croutons w/ balsamic vinaigrette. Look at the beautiful view from my balcony...

and the koo koo ladies I got to share this snackage & view with.

I ended the night staying up late and watching Nurse Jackie & United States of Tara w/ Cami, sooo good!

Playing Mommy

A sad turn of events has led my grandma to take a trip to the ICU where she is currently staying for hopefully only the next few days. Ironically she is going through a very similar thing that I went through during Christmas time so I completely understand how miserable she is feeling : ( Because my grandma is in the hospital my mom has been playing mom to my grandma and taking care of her while I have been holding up the fort at home w/ my sisters & all of the animals.

Yesterday was a snacking day for me while I ran in between the hospital visiting my grandma & taking care of the kiddos.

First I downed some coffee...we ran out of soy creamer so I had it black

Then I snacked on a peanut butter Luna Bar in the ER waiting room...

Then I came home & made myself my version of a "snack wrap". Arugula, hummus, a sliced roma tomato, vegenaise, jalapenos, & mustard wrapped in tortilla...

Post wrappage & snackage

Somewhere in the day I snacked on lime & chili cashews...

Afterwards I took Summer & Isabella down to the beach and we munched on some hummus & tortilla chips while we read and sunbathed...

Summer reading Anne Frank in my sunnies

Issy & me snuggling in the sun

For dinner the girls and I dinned at my favorite local Thai food restaurant Laguna Thai By The Sea. It is really tiny and usually packed but we got there at the perfect time & did not have to wait. Issy wanted to wear a satin pink dress, a faux fur shawl, & pink lipstick. I just went w/ it.

When mama's away the cats will play

I had the Yum JJJ (not a typo) salad. Soft grilled tofu tossed in spicy lime, cashews with glass noodles and vegetables.

Afterwards I went and took dinner to my gpa & madre in the hospital & came home to take care of the girls.

This morning I woke up bright and early to visit my gma in the hospital & bring her mother's day presents. Thankfully she is doing much better today & loved her presents from me and the girls. I then dragged my mom out of the hospital (she had only slept an hour the night before) and we met the rest of the family at my mom's favorite restaurant where we have spent the past 4 mother's days.

Ricardo's in San Juan Capistrano.

At 9'am in the morning the last thing I wanted was Mexican food again, so I only ordered a mimosa and black coffee.

As soon as everyone else's food arrived though my love for Mexican food kicked in and I stole food from everyone's plates, including a tortilla w/ salsa, beans, & guac...

Hasbrowns...
and of course chips and salsa.

Now i'm feeling completely stuffed and am laying in bed taking a nap w/ mi madre celebrating mother's day by napping.

Please send all of your prayers & thoughts to my Grandma for a speedy recovery.