Kirbz is 25!

First up yesterday, I made Kirby a birthday cake whic turned out smashing! I have never used a bundt tin before but the cake cooked perfectly

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Then it was off to our lunch destination, up in the Adelaide hills...

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Mount Lofty Ranges Vineyard to be exact...

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Stunning views!

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Kingfish and scallop entree...

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My octopus main...cleaned my plate!

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Bri had the poached chicken...

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Gus and Kirby had the beef, all delicious!

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Fresh hills srawberries, sorbet and cream - flavour explosion!

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This was red licorice icecream, chocolare mouse and chocolate brownie crumble - again wow!

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One tray roast...

We thought we'd give Rachel Khoo's roast a go - the trouble was finding quail - I think Gus and Kirby went to 6 different butchers around town until they found some poussin, grown locally at Gawler, at the Central Market!

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My first job was to get some bread rolls happening...

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Next, prep the veggies...

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Stuff the birds with a mix of pork sausage, lemon skin and parley, salt and pepps...

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Rub the birds with grated lemon rind, S&P then pour over a marinade of lemon juice, honey and a stubby of Crown Lager...

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Prep the greens...

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One hour in the oven covered with foil, breast side down, followed by 30 minutes uncovered, breast side up and basted with the marinade.  When done, the pan juices are placed in a pan on the stove and cream and seeded mustard are added and the sauce reduced.  Serve over the poultry... 

Et Voila!

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Four dear little chickies, roasted to perfection!

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Bri thought it was finger-lickin' good!

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We had Maggies icecreams for dessert, watching Walk The Line...I fell asleep as usual!

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Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Joolz juices...

So after a few weekends of this beautiful food (dinner with Kirb at Andre's Cucina) I decided I need to clean up my act...

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No more pub grub! Deep fried and colourless! 

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I was gifted some lovely fresh, picked straight off the tree cherries by the girls dear old neighbour, Mario.  I think we have him confused because we come and go like we live there but then we take off again!   Gus gave him a jar of my apricot jam so we reciprocated with the cherries. Dear old guy!

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So my first smoothie out of my NutriBullet was a banana, cherry, almond milk, organic honey and maca powder...soooo good!

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I bought these additives - cacao for a chocolatey hit, LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond) for liver cleansing and cholesterol reduction and maca powder for energy, increased mood and libido and health...

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I bought this great little book, packed full of yummy juice and smoothy recipes - Lola is a sweetie!

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I'm trying to cut bread out of my breakfast and lunch...

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A veggie and fruit juice to start the morning...

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Then a smoothie to get me through until lunch time.  
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This one was quite thick and maybe my knob of ginger was a bit big - it was quite spicy! 

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crispbreads with cranberry sauce, avocado and turkey...

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Fresh stir-fry ingredients...

Sweet and spicy pork...

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Oh, my feet have been aching lately! Nothing like a good old soak in my foot spa with an effervescent peppermint foot cooling tablet from The Body Shop!

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This juice was called Love Elixer - beetroot, strawberry and apple! 

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I went to MtG to have my sleep machine data taken and normally I'd sneak a cheeky cheeseburger in for a snack...not this time! I bought a fresh fruit salad...

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...and this delicious wrap - fresh chicken breast meat, carrot, spinach, lettuce, bean shoots, red onion, slice of cheese, balsamic dressing - gosh it was good!

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This smoothie is Piney Tropicana - frozen banana, fresh pineapple, mango, spinach, coconut water, coconut oil and chia seeds - delish!

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Another salad plate, this time with skinless, boneless salmon, four bean mix and my own beetroot...

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Banana and cherry smoothie - this kept me going until 1pm yesterday.  I believe all the bread I used to eat only made me hungrier sooner.  I could have two poached eggs on 2 pieces of toast at 8.30am and be hungry by 11am!

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Kirb and I were going to go out for a quick dinner night but instead chose to make nachos instead.  Not really healthy but a small portion - ya gotta live!

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Today, I am making Kirby a birthday cake for tomorrow and some Chocolate candy cane cookies for her to take to work. She loves them and I didn't get to make any last year.

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We are hoping to replicate Rachel Khoo's one tray roast for dinner if we can find some quails...

Stay tuned!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Share the Dignity...

This is a charity which is so deserving and when I saw the notice on Facebook, I just had to donate a bag.  Can you imagine having to choose between spending your last few dollars on food or sanitary items?

You can go on the website or Facebook to see drop off points for other states.

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A lot of these items were in my store cupboard (items I have bought at half price so it was easy to get started) ...

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I dropped my bag off at the lingerie shop listed in Mt Gambier and I was the first bag. By the next day, Share the Dignity said on FB that they had 9 bags to pick up from there. Job done!

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If you can spare a few of the items listed, grab a handbag that is just sitting in your cupboard and fill it with stuff that we take for granted. 

Give some love from one sister to another...

Cheers - Joolz xx

 
 
 

 

Joolz has sleep apnoea...

It's been a while since I blogged - we've been a bit busy travelling to and from Adelaide - 3 trips in 3 weekends!

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Last weekend it was for the AC/DC concert for Gus and Brianna - which was so disappointing for Gus because of the sound quality. He hated it! Other than that, it was a nice weekend spent with our girls.  

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I bought a Nutri-bullet blender...which I have been giving a workout!...

...and a Yonanas frozen dessert maker (which I still haven't taken out of the box yet!). 

More on these later!

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Anyhoo, on the 16th Nov, I received my results for my Sleep Apnoea (SA) test which I did back on the 4th and they were not good!  Jen, who did my testing was quite alarmed and suggested I come the following day to be fitted for a machine.

Basically, I have 'very severe SA' where I stop breathing during my sleep. The stats showed I had 72 episodes (of not breathing) in 1 hour and one of those episodes was for 61.8 seconds - over a minute not breathing.  Hold your breath and try that!

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 So this bad boy is my new room mate - along with over a meter of tubing ...

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...and this highly fashionable piece of aparatus, known as a full face continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask...

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Nice, eh?

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I have been struggling to find comfort wearing this blasted thing - it is not wearing the mask that bothers me, or the soft whooshing noise it makes as I breathe in and out -  its the fact that at some points during the night, it begins to leak air so it has to be adjusted - sit up in bed, turn on light - adjust looking in a hand mirror, oops forgot to have a drink of water for dry mouth before doing so, settle back down to bed, leaks again in half an hour, rinse, lather repeat!  I have not been sleeping well and most nights only tolerate the mask for 2-4 hours before turning it all off!  Then I sleep...but do I breathe??

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I know it will get better but gee, its hard!  The machine has an SD card inserted in it so each week I am taking the machine back to the chemist who does these tests and they upload my data to see how long I use the machine and how many episodes I have per hour.  The episodes are way down from that initial 72 to sometimes 9 an hour so the machine is doing its job - its just not letting me sleep a whole lot!

 Okay, stop whining Joolz, you're not dying!

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Are there any readers who have a CPAP machine - every one I talk to knows of someone who does. I'd welcome any tips and feedback.

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Cheers - Joolz xx