Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight | Video on TED.com

This is not the usual food topic but food for the soul. I talk about food most of the time but a healthy body begins with a healthy mind.

At some point in life everyone experiences some sort of awakening, or at least we are given the opportunity to experience it. I can somewhat relate to her experience (not the stroke though) . On a few occasions, I have had the same kind of "la la land" feeling and everytime it's a realisation that changes my perception of the surroundings and my connection to all beings.
Jill Bolte Taylor's experience here, for me, is an answer to happiness.

This video was sent to me from a friend and it is worth sharing this with you. For love, happiness, peace and gratitude.

It's all happening in October!

October will be the busiest month of the year for me and for many other vegan bloggers (I assume) as well. I’ve decided to take up the challenge of joining the VeganMoFo this year. VeganMoFo means ‘Vegan Month of Food’ and it’s about writing as much as you can for the month of October about vegan food. The idea is to post every single weekday (or a least 20 days in the month). It will be my first time participating. You can sign up if you want (before October 2nd) at Kittee's blog. You don't have to be vegan to participate but you just need to blog about vegan food for the month of October.

But not only that, I also joined the Daring Kitchen up for the Daring Bakers and the Daring Cooks challenge this month!

So, loads of grocery shopping, cooking, photography, blogging and of course best of all eating! I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with all this plus work and college but I’ll sure keep up with the eating bit!

I'm very excited to see what bloggers will be posting!

Birthday Presents

Two weeks ago was my birthday and it was my first birthday here in Ireland in our new apartment. Boyfriendlovlie and I moved to a new apartment 3 weeks ago and we both love it! It's much more spacious and bright. Good size kitchen with enough natural light to take good photos! Nice balcony too! I can't wait to start growing a little veggie garden!

A while ago, I was thinking that I don't actually own a single vegan cookbook. I actually did get a vegetarian one as a present from a couple of friends but no vegan one. So, for my birthday, Boyfriendlovlie got me one! Yay! I actually saw this book a while ago in the bookstore and was very attracted to some recipes in it. Boyfriendlovlie secretly recorded my fondness for the book and went to buy it. :D It's Now Vegan by Lynda Stoner. I will review or adapt a few recipes in the coming weeks or (more so) months!



I also got a mug; this one I wouldn't have guessed! No, it's not just any mug; it has one of my designs printed on it. You will surely recognise it!



And flowers! Lilies, my favourite!



Coming up in the next post Nasudengaku recipe (Eggplant grilled with Special Miso paste) that I adapted from the Now Vegan book.

A little treat for me!

While I love cooking a lot, there are some days that I just need a break! And for those days, there’s BoyfriendLovlie who’s more than eager to exert his chef skills! He is usually ousted out of the kitchen when I’m cooking lest I’d be distracted with him monkey-ing around. Well, there are days that we do cook together and it’s very fun. Yesterday, however, BL decided he would treat me to a lovely dinner!

Stylishly, with a beer in one hand, he did all the chopping, slicing, frying, stirring and voilà! He made this fantastic fried noodle dish with cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, tofu, spring onions, soy sauce, hoisin sauce and his secret ingredient that he later revealed – maple syrup!

I ate more than I usually could (because it was so good!).

Hmm, maybe I should take days off from the kitchen more often!

Best Wishes!

Wish you all a very Happy New Year 2009! And besh wishes for less cruelty around the world so it becomes a better place for every creature to live in.





On New Year’s Eve, I had pizza (and chips – I thought I’d allow myself some ‘less’ healthy eats on this day, well they weren’t that unhealthy as they were oven chips). It was a quiet night with BoyfriendLovlie. I called my family who are in Mauritius and 5 hours ahead of us to wish them a Happy New Year!
Time really flies; when I think that I spent the New Year last year under the tropical heat in Mauritius! Speaking of, it’s apparently unbearably hot over there this year.

Then, BL (BoyfriendLovlie) and I watched a movie – What Dreams May Come. It’s the 5th time I’m watching that movie and BL’s 2nd time.

Now I’m off to make some chickpea patties for dinner tonight!

Apples and Lovlie

Ok, I've got loads of apples at home and I'm short of ideas about what to do with them! Mum brought them home as they aren't selling very well these days at the market. (Mum and Dad are fruitsellers by the way! You get the idea why there's so many fruits in my baking!)

So help me before they go off, what are your favourite apple recipes? I've made some apple custard tartlets so far.

Sidenote: I made the illustration above at work today. I practically had no work today, so I spent the time making this!

Thank you for my health back...

Health is wealth indeed! I have been ill these past 3 weeks with a flu that's just been playing hide and seek with my immune system! You know the kind that makes you feel ill for 2-3 days then you feel slightly better. And then again just when you think you're getting better, it comes back mightier than before! The air-conditioning on top of my head at work wasn’t helping much either!

Anyways, I’m much better now and I’m always so grateful for getting my health back! Hopefully, I should be able to enjoy my precious yoga time as from this week again.

So when I came back on the Blog-Planet, I found out I have been nominated for the Brillante Weblog Award! It was nice to be nominated and this reminded me that I do have quite some readers out there and I can’t give up on you, my lovlie vegans and also the non-vegans who enjoy veggie food!

Well, here goes…First, I must put the logo on my blog. Here it is:



Second, I must link to the sweet person who gave me this award. Thank you Mathika from Madcap Cupcake for nominating me. Very sweet of her!



Then, I must nominate seven other blogs and provide links to them. I like all of your blogs and would nominate all of you as I enjoy all of your blogs. Hopefully as this Brillante Award gets passed on, everyone will have a chance to be nominated! So here goes my shortlist for the Brillante Weblog Award:

ANI phyo - I have recently started reading her blog. The author of Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen. I haven’t bought her book yet but this is on my list of vegan books to buy next!
Two little vegans – nice and simple recipes with some nice little tips as well.
I Eat Food - Awesome recipes! Just looking at the ingredients photos makes me hungry!
Vegan Dad – mouthwatering desserts and creative recipes!
Two vegan boys – Simple and homey ideas and recipes and Arthur, the cute little fella!
Commune tested city approved – Lively blog with lots of interesting food ideas that I love!
The Domestic Vegan – Cool blog with some yummy desserts and other treats!

SisterLovlie is impatiently waiting for the computer (that we share), so I’ll leave you here for now and I need to get some quality sleep too tonight!

Pineapple, sweet pineapple!

Pineapple simply is my favourite fruit. And these ones I had yesterday and today for lunch simply were gorgeous! So sweet, they made my cheeks go numb!

Pineapple juice is my favourite juice too. When I'm on the wagon (which is almost always now!) and meeting some friends at the pub, pineapple juice mixed with lemonade is what I have. (Uhh, yeah that's right!).

Celebrating Earth Day 2008!

Today is Earth Day. I personally believe every day should be Earth Day as I don't think there should be just one specific day to sensitize people about caring for the environment and saving the planet.
Well, from my part and everyone at home, we have started to grow some greens and herbs in the back garden. There's not much space but it is still a start.


Some coriander seeds just thrown on the soil have given birth to these little baby coriander stems; they have just started to see sunlight.




Some spinach… my favourite green!




A horrible snail is eating all the spinach! I’d be happier if it would eat the weeds!




The baby papaya tree is so cute! I'll have to wait for a while, I think, before this papaya tree bares some fruits!




Lemongrass is always nice in greens soup and Chinese dishes.




The turmeric plant. Turmeric is very good for infections and acnes. I use it as a natural facial mask mixed with oats and sugar.




I’m impatient for them to grow!