Lately..

So the post-holiday blues kicked in shortly after the jet-lag subsided and within a week we felt like we'd never left home. 

Back to the grind has brought a very busy season at work for both of us. The weeks are flying and Christmas is right around the corner.... Scary! 

 

So as promised, I said I'd report back on my success with the Sarah Wilson "I quit sugar" book. Well, I've just about turfed the idea. I like her concept and believe in most (key word-most) of her philosophy, I do have some reservations though. 

1. I found the book really vague. I have since realised I got the 8 week program book which is not the first if her IQS series. I don't know what the first book contains but I'd hope a hell of a-lot more than the one I've got. 

2. I will never believe in cutting out natural foods like fruits and some vegetables. I do agree with philosophies around times of day to consume certain fruits etc, but certainly not cutting them out completely or dramatically limiting yourself. 

3. I was a bit put off about how much she recommends extremely high protein content until I realised that she is sponsored(? Paid. Supported. I don't know the term) by a meat association. Things like that to me lack credibility, and leave a bad taste in the readers mouth- perhaps literally after major protein coma. 

4. It's extreme. I'm a big believer in making time to create healthy meals and to schedule your exercise in etc.. But I feel like to maintain this 8 week plan you'd need to be a full-time housewife with the luxury of purchasing a heap of expensive food every couple of days and having endless hours to prepare it all. Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury. 

So, I am taking the book with a grain of salt. Sarah does share some great recipes that I'll certainly be using- in short- I just don't buy what she's selling (except the book). 

In other news I did buy this book which is amaaaaazing! So many delicious recipes I'm sure I won't get bored for a long time. 

Not to mention looking at him while cooking is kinda alright! Haha. 

I was actually wanting to share one of his delicious recipes that is super easy and a great take on a huge classic in our family.. 

We substituted the fish for chicken and served it up with vegetables for an easy, healthy dish! This recipe is also super easy to just guesstimate and add more of what you like. It would be super easy to play around with herbs of your choice to add here too! 

I buy my organic ingredients from Goodness Me Organics at Adamstown, however you can find most if them at your normal health-food shop, or even the supermarkets carry a decent range these days. 

Ingredients 

200g Quinoa Flakes 

50g shredded coconut

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons coconut flour

2 tablespoons buckwheat flour

3 eggs (lightly whisked)

600g fish fillets (or chicken) 

Sea salt

150ml coconut oil

Method

1. Mix the quinoa flakes, parsley & coconut in one bowl. Mix the two flours in a second, and the eggs alone in a third. Set up your schnitzel production line.

2. Dip in the flour, followed by egg, and lastly the crumb. 

3. Melt the coconut oil in a shallow fry pan until it reaches a medium heat. Shallow fry the cheju ken until crispy. If it requires extra- place in the oven for an extra few minutes to allow to cook through. 

I actually served Samuel this chicken along with a pre-made (store brought) chicken schnitzel and his response was (while holding my chicken) "can we buy this one more often? It tastes like crispy strips" -am I impressed? Yes! I fed two very picky boys with this and they have asked for it most nights since. That's a win in my books especially when it's so easy to prepare, and can go with anything! 

If you haven't already got the Healthy Everyday cook book do yourself a favor and get one. My only wish about this book would be that Pete provide a 'basics' shopping list for those things you'll need to keep the pantry stocked with. Apart from that I'm 100% sold! 

-K

Dubai

We arrived in Dubai bright and early with our flight landing just before 6am. Not being able to check into our hotel until 2pm, we took advantage of the desert heat and dropped our bags en-route to Wild Wadi Water Park.... I was pretty annoyed to realise when we got there that the GoPro was dead, but it certainly didn't ruin our day. 

We had so much fun riding all of the water sides and managed to keep cool at the same time. As we hadn't slept we we exhausted by the time 2pm rolled around and we checked in for a nap before dinner and a well earned long sleep. 

On our second day in Dubai we had pre-planned to have high-tea at the world's only 7 star hotel, the Burj Al Arab. To dine here you must have a reservation well in advance, and show your booking to even enter the gates to the hotel, there is strictly no entry unless you are a guest, or there with a reservation. We arrived early to have a look around, and ensure our window seat. The hotel is amazing, so decked out in everything you can ever imagine. The walls in the lobby are fish tanks, & there are fountains everywhere. Just the lobby helps you understand how this is the world's best hotel.. 

On arrival to level 26 you are asked to take a seat and wait. Once your name is called you are ushered to your table. We were very excited to see that we had a window seat which overlooked the Palm islands, and the map of the world islands in the ocean... We could also see Atlantis! I had seen multiple reviews of this high-tea, and had very high expectations and we both agreed that it did much more than deliver. 

We were greeted with a champagne cocktail. 

First course was berries on shortbread. YUM. 

Second- Roast. more YUM.

This is the interior.

Third- Finger Sandwiches which came in a variety of flavours. My favourite was the salmon and Dean's the beef. We were so full by the end of the third course, but the deliciousness of the rest made it easy to power through. 

Fourth- Fresh warm scones, mini sweets & creme brûlée. WOW. 

Fifth- Lychee Sorbet with Sugar Rose petals. I forgot to photograph this one.. But here's my delicious strawberry iced tea.. MMMM

Not to mention that through this entire sitting you are allowed whatever tea (there's a menu that has about one hundred different tea's) and coffee you wish. Also, if you are still hungry you can have more of whichever was your favourite. 

This 'Sky High-Tea' did set us back around about $140 AUD each, but it was so worth it! And, looking at the menu and the other dining options in the Burj Al Arab i'd be willing to place a hefty bet that this is your cheapest way to visit. 

It was so sunny I couldn't open my eyes.... 

After our delightful afternoon tea we headed back to the hotel for a costume change into our casuals and headed to Dubai Mall for some shopping before our booking for the Burj Kahlifa- the world's tallest building.

I think Dubai has the world's best, biggest, highest everything. On arrival at the mall we walked straight into the world's biggest (I sound like a broken record, or maybe a circus MC? "The worllllld's greatest... " *drumroll* & que the DA DA DA DAAAAH music) piece of Aquarium glass/ perspecs (?). 

Yes, in the shopping centre there is an Aquarium. With fish. Big ones. 

We viewed the Burj Kahlifa from outside and watched the Dubai fountains.. I have never been to Vegas (it's on the list) but I do wonder if these would rival Ceasar's palace?? Or maybe they are not the world's biggest? 

We lined up for our turn to take the elevator 124 floors up to the viewing deck, only for Dean to be super disappointed that the 124h level isn't at the top, or really close to the top at all. We read that the building has over 200 levels so we are guessing you get to go a little more than half way. The view was still great and it was really high, even though it wasn't the full 828m. 

The next day we had a rather large sleep in until 1pm.. whooooops! Luckily we had a late check out. I started by day at the Salon next door getting some Henna done, while Dean went to the men's salon (strictly gender separated) to have a cut throat shave. The Henna was really cool, I showed her the one I wanted and she drew it on free hand within about 10 minutes. If you can imagine a pipe that you'd pipe something onto a cake with, that's what it was, except she piped some mud looking stuff onto me, let it dry and then scraped it all off. I was amazed at the process and it would take some serious artistic skill to be able to free hand something so intricate onto skin. 

This was when I first got it.. 

This is it now... It has gone a really deep brown/red.

I imagine that it somehow dyes your skin? It's supposed to last for 10 days so i'm trying to take good care of it. 

We checked out of our hotel and headed to the Dubai Mall of the Emirates for some more shopping before we had to leave at 11pm that night. We walked into the mall and immediately seen the indoor snow park and booked ourselves in for a snowboarding lesson. They were pretty strict that unless you were a seasoned boarder or skiier, you were only allowed on the slopes with an instructor. 

They even had live penguins that you could play with in the snow.. it was expensive though so we skipped that part. 

Dean really enjoyed the snowboarding lesson, I did too but I think i'll go back to Skiing which is much easier. 

It's pretty surreal to walk out of the slopes absolutely freezing, out into the desert air and be instantly sweating. 

We headed to the airport, did some duty-free shopping and boarded our 14 hour flight home. Luckily we had a spare seat beside us so we had quite a comfortable flight home. As you can see...

We were greeted at Sydney Airport by my wonderful Mummar and Par who drove us home. Thanks again! The dogs were absolutely ecstatic to see us, i'm pretty sure we were just as excited as they were though. 

So, since we have been home we have caught up with friends and family, and done a whole lot of nothing. Jet-lag is absolutely killing me, yesterday I was awake for 6 hours... Yes, I slept for 18 hours... crazy. Dean & I both have the flu which isn't making things any easier. Back to work tomorrow, I'm happy to get back into routine actually..

I bit the bullet and purchased Sarah Wilson's book "I Quit Sugar" today, I'm planning on reading it this week and then starting my own 8 week sugar quitting program. I'll be sure to log my progress for you all on here and keep on blogging :)

I'm also trying to convince Dean to write a guest post about his perspective of our holiday, I'll keep working on that one.. 

Take Care x

Ciao Roma

Our last day in Rome we headed back to Piazza Navona for one last gelato.. We walked around our favourite places and Dean finally got the one thing he has wanted this trip...... Yes, believe it. 

Family day

Our second day back in Rome and we took the early train for a day full of activities in the very famous, huge city of Montaquila. Just kidding, it's tiny.

We started the morning meeting the beautiful miss Sveva who was very shy but greeted us with an adorable "Welcome Karla & Dean" sign. Then, we headed to the local town centre where there was a festival being held, with lots of markets and music and people. We met Zia Rosina & Maria Grazia also who were in town looking around at the festival, but left shortly after to head back home. 

We had a lovely lunch with Roberta, Chiara, Zio Pietro, & Sveva- who by this stage was Dean's new best friend united by their mutual love of blowing bubbles & saying "chin chin" and cheersing before each sip of their drinks.

Next, Montaquila. We arrived and were greeted by our pre-planned Itinerary, organised all the way from Charlestown, NSW. Our first stop was Maria's house where luckily, the other cousins came to us to say hi. We had a lovely walking tour of Montaquila following that and then met Zio Emilio & his lovely wife.

Last, we headed back to Zia Rosina's house for a drink & sit down. Thank goodness for Chiara (thanks Chiara!!)  because Montaquila language is waaaaaaay beyond my Italian capabilities. Maria Grazia pulled out some old photos for us to look at from her visits to Australia.. Zia Rosina kept talking to Dean in the corner and wondering why he couldn't understand... Haha. The rest of us laughed at him just smiling and nodding. 

After all if the visiting we went back to Roberta's place to say Hi to Paolo who had since gotten home from work and one last play for Dean & Sveva. She made him some play-doh crossiants for the train ride home. Cuuuuuute. 

A big giant thanks again and again to Chiara for being our translator & Zio Pietro for being our chauffeur for the day. 

Nice

After a about 6 hours & three trains we arrived in Nice. Right about now you should be hearing the intro to "Holiday" by Dizzee Rascal in your head (ba ba ba ba bum bum ba ba ba ba bum bum) so you can zoom into the "I take you to the south of France" part. 

We spent our first Nice afternoon doing a little shopping, a nice dinner & an early night as we planned to head to the beach the following day. Unfortunately, it was cold the not day. Dean did go for a swim, I didn't. Given that we had a pretty easy day we decided we would head to Monaco that night to visit the famous James Bond stomping ground of Monte Carlo Casino, and so we did. 

The casino outside is beautiful, and the cars parked out the front are pretty awesome.. I'm sure if Dean was writing this he would have a whole lot more to say about them, but well, he isn't. We paid our €10 each for entry and were pretty disappointed when we walked in. For your €10 you are given access to one room that had a bar, a lot of pokies & only 2 tables open. The tables were €5 min roulette or €25 min black jack.. Not much good for the average tourist. There was also zero atmosphere as I guess most people probably had the same feeling as us. We got a drink each and pretty much blew he budget on that alone. No winnings unfortunately.  As we walked outside we noticed a door to another casino place that was 10000000000X better. 

This car was my favourite... Matte black Maserati, with polished trims. 

After dinner down the street (somewhere way more affordable) we took a taxi to the train station where we realised there were no trains. Just to back track for a moment... Being tourists and not having any knowledge of the area Dean went to thre reception desk to ask for train times and advice.  As you would, right? Well, we took that advice and found ourselves stuck in Monaco at 11pm. Yep. Our only option to get back was an €85 cab, needless to say that but a bit of a downer on our night and we were pretty pissed at being given the wrong information. 

The next morning we addressed it with the girl who gave us the wrong info and nicely told her that it had cost us €85 for a 15 minute drive, she literally laughed in Dean's face and said "not my problem" which naturally made Dean absolutely furious. 

Luckily the manager was a little more understanding and we eventually were offered a free meal which was nice of them. 

We spent the rest of the day at the beach. I don't think Nice beaches are really for swimming.. I would say 90% of the people on the private beach we chose did not swim, but rather ordered bottles of champagne, re-applied their lipstick, while staring everyone else down. We did swim once, it was so unbelievably painful to get in and out that we decided it was a one time event. 

Needless to say as beautiful as Nice is, we were glad to say goodbye and head back to the old faithful aroma. 

We ended our day in Campo Di Fiori for a lovely dinner & walked back via the Jewish Ghetto & Piazza Venezia/ the Collosseum by night. 

There was this awesome show on that was projected onto the old Roman Forum.. The statues aren't real they are just projections.. So cool. 

Oh, I almost forgot. When we arrived in Rome and got to our hotel we went to the supermarket next door to get some prosciutto & cheese for lunch. I ordered 200 grams of prosciutto and ended up with 500.... I have no idea how because my Italian isn't THAT bad. Dean being Dean ate probably 400grams of that 500...... Yes. 400 grams. This is towards the end when he started feeling the affects.

R&R

Today we laid at the beach, ate delicious food, hired a paddle board, and had massages.... Welcome to the good life! 

Dean was much better at it than me... 

We are headed to Nice tomorrow for more relaxing :)