What have I been eating lately?

Here’s a little photo documentation of some of the meals I’ve made over the past month:

Minestrone soup (recipe courtesy of Jamie Oliver). A rainy night essential.

Breakfast with all the stops… pancakes, bacon, eggs, coffee, and fresh fruit. My ultimate luxury.

Asian chow mein noodle stir-fry with tofu, BC corn, and edamame. Easy peasy – I now know why I grew up eating so much stir-fry on week nights.

Last night’s dinner…my latest obsession: gnocchetti with pesto, blistered tomatoes and chicken. Among the fastest and easiest in my dinner repertoire. Sautee gnocchetti in olive oil until slightly browned while halved grape tomatoes roast in the oven with olive oil, rosemary and balsamic. Toss in a bowl with pesto. Done. This is a bit of a cheater meal considering the gnocchi and the pesto are store bought, but it’s extremely satisfying after a long week. As an end of the week treat, I also popped a new bottle of red wine (a recommendation from my sister), the Campo Viejo Rioja Tempranillo 2012.

To the next deliciously simple meal,

Grace

Things I’m Currently Loving

Here is a little list of things I’ve been enjoying recently:

1. Chris Lilley

Chris Lilley as the characters in Summer Heights High: (From right to left) Jonah Takalua, Mr.G, Ja’mie King.

Chris Lilley is an amazing aussie comedian who really appeals to my sense of humor. I first discovered him when my sister introduced me to Summer Heights High last fall.

Summer Heights High is an australian TV show set up as a mockumentary, which makes me immediately love it. (Side note: One of my favourite mockumentary movies is Best In Show, which if you haven’t seen you must.) The show chronicles the lives at school of the 3 main characters, Mr. G, a drama teacher, Ja’mie, a girl from private school who is spending some time at Summer Heights to experience public school, and Jonah, a polynesian troublemaker.

Chris Lilley does serveral different series with the same format: mockumentary style where he plays several of the main characters. His other shows include We Can Be Heroes, Angry Boys, Ja’mie: Private School Girl, and Jonah From Tonga (which is his newest work that started airing in May, I have yet to see this one). I think all of his series are fabulously hilarious, but I’ve recently started rewatching Summer Heights High with my best friend, Anna, who had never heard of it before but is also loving it.

2. Reading

Since summer has started, I’ve been trying to cut down on some of my screen time (normally I’m a ridiculous Netflix junkie) and I’ve been really enjoying spending afternoons reading. I’ve mostly been reading fluffy, quick-read books that I can rip through.

I just finished reading Across The Universe by Beth Revis, and, I know what you’re thinking, Isn’t that some terrible musical movie about the Beatles starring the guy from 21? Yes, there is a movie called Across the Universe, but this book is in no way even remotely related to that. This book is fantastic!

I’m not a huge sci-fy person, normally I find it too weird and far fetched, however, I’m a huge futuristic dystopian society fan (I loved The Hunger Games, both the books and the movies).

At first, I was a bit skeptical about this book, but after the first chapter I was totally hooked. The plot circles around a girl who was cryogenically frozen with her parents, so that they could be part of a mission to colonize a new planet. They are supposed to wake up 300 years later when they arrive at the new planet, but somehow she is abruptly awoken 50 years before the ship is scheduled to land because someone tried to murder her. The story follows the girl as she trys to find her killer and adapts to life on a ship which is lead with secrets and lies.

The only thing I didn’t love about this book was that it is a young adult book, so I felt like I was reading something written for a younger demographic.

However, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a captivating, but quick summer read.

Another young adult I read a month ago while I was in Mexico was Panic by Lauren Oliver, which I also thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend highly.

 

3. English Muffins

This is a strange one but I’ve been having an english muffin almost every morning with breakfast lately, and I’ve really been enjoying them. They’re chewy and better than toast but just as easy.

 

4. My Brother’s Jawbone Mini Jambox

Ever since he got this (and has been generous enough to let me use it a lot) I’ve been listening to music on this most of the time I’m at home. This thing is seriously cool. It is a speaker that can wirelessly hook up to any bluetooth device (but can also be used with an AUX cable). Not only is it loud enough to fill a room with music, it also has incredible sound quality with great bass. It has has a rechargeable battery that holds something crazy like 30 hours worth of power, and it’s incredibly easy to take anywhere (especially the Mini Jambox). I can not say enough awesome things about these things, except for their price tag (which is worth it). I have lots of friends that have either the mini or the normal one and they never have a bad thing to say about them.  A Jambox is definitely on my list of things I need to save up and buy. If you’re in the market for a wireless speaker and you’re willing to take a hit to the wallet to et something really high quality, get this.

There’s my random list of current favourite things! Cheers!