It Looked Like The World Was Covered In A Cobbler Crust Of Brown Sugar And Cinnamon.

2 ripe bananas
2 free-range eggs
1 cup almond meal
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup broken walnut pieces
pinch of cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 180oC
In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients, pour into a silicon muffin tray, and top with some sesame seeds (for extra pizzaz). Bake until nice and golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Makes 12 littlies. (Mom’s recipe BTW)

What is it they say? Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life! HASHTAGblessed. 

Playing pizza pretend at work.
For my next DYKWTI (Do You Know What This Is?) Savvy Tokyo article: kinako smoothie bowl – stay tuned! 
Every guy thinks that every girl’s dream is to find a perfect man…WRONG, every girl’s dream is to eat anything she wants without getting fat!


Guess what? Mandy says vegan waffles coming to Utopia Hot (Christchurch Farmer’s Market) very soon! Though these regular organic waffles were the shizz as well – served with Black Boy peach and blueberry compote, whipped coconut cream, caramelized walnuts, and melted dark chocolate – yes, I may or may not have requested everythang.

Mona Vale is so beautiful. Thanks to my amazing brother-in-law for suggesting we walk it after the market. So lovely. So autumnal. So romantic.

Speaking of Autumnal, here’s a super easy seasonal activity for your little munchkins: collect leaves, decorate! 
And for Mother’s Day? An easy peasy tea-riffic (see what I did there?) 3D tea cup card made from a corner piece of a round egg carton and a curled pipe-cleaner. 
“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” (Washington Irving)

To Be Creative Means To Be In Love With Life

Stewed Black Boy Peaches are one of my most favorite foods and they’re truly perfect for crumble.

Filling:
10-12 Black Boy Peaches, peeled and chopped random
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp pure vanilla essence
2 tbsp runny honey

Crumble:
1 cup gluten-free jumbo oats
1/4 cup of buckwheat flour
1/2 cup of chopped raw nuts of choice
1/2 cup of raw seeds of choice
1 tbsp cinnamon
a pinch of each ginger powder, nutmeg and cardamom
1/3 cup of pure maple syrup or runny honey
1/3 cup of melted coconut oil

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

Place the filling ingredients in a pan with 2 tablespoons of water and cook on medium heat with the lid on. Once the peaches have softened remove the lid to allow the liquid to reduce – we want a fairly thick consistency – I believe the secret to a crunchy crumble is a relatively “dry” filling so that’s what we’re aiming for.

Once ready, transfer the peach mixture to a deep oven-proof dish.

In a large bowl, combine all crumble ingredients together until nice and sticky then assemble on top of stewed peaches.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden and crunchy. Enjoy!

A super easy rainy day craft idea for little monsters featuring the fatal potato (far left).

Clever little zine I came across on my lunch-break at work.

Happiness is picking up your library requested books! Thanks for the book suggestion Rick, already LOVING Deep Work. 
Oh my sister and I were so naughty today. We went to Le Panier Boulangerie !

Another kids fun activity idea: we made wands from felt pipe cleaners and used detergent to blow bubbles.

Yummy healthy snack idea. Raw chocolate energy balls. Recipe HERE.

Do you know what this is? Check out my new Savvy Tokyo article HERE to find out more.

Figure Out Who You Are Then Do It On Purpose

See! We and Prince of Persia really DO share the same tablecloth! PS if there’s one advice I can give for making perfect pancakes, it is using a non-stick crepe maker. THIS one in specific. It has been and continues to be, my most prized possession – after the yellow rose Soroosh gave me on our first date. 
My dear friend and follower, Randy yesterday commented to say she misses Akiko, Lifa and Ozzy. Well, lookie here! Look who is thinking of me! Thanks guys, my heart is bursting.

The Origin (95 Westminster Street) is a new entirely vegan CHCH eatery. And, it is hands-down, nothing short of amazing! The food and the coffee, oh my. You’ve been warned. I can’t wait to go again. In fact, I’m gonna go today. 
Bet you’ve never taken a #muffinselfie. Or have you?

Oopsie. Must use bigger oven. Of course, my mother told me off for this. I did not try to argue that it was her who suggested and by suggested I mean forced me to use the toaster oven for my baking experiments in hope of using less electricity in the first place.

Combine the following in a large mixing bowl, 3 free-range eggs, 1/4 cup runny honey, 1/2 cup natural yoghurt, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 ripe banana, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar. Mix well, then gently sift in 1 cup buckwheat flour, 1 cup almond meal, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1 tsp baking soda, a large handful of chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, then mix thoroughly. Drop the mixture in to 12 greased muffin tins. Bake at 180 C for about 15 minutes or, until an inserted fork inserted comes out clean. Yummy yummy.

Japanese Diet Pudding

Do you know what this is?
Check out my new Savvy Tokyo article on “Japanese Diet Pudding” HERE. 

Do You Know What This Is?

My second DYKWTI article is up on Savvy. Check it out. Cook it up, and share it with EVERYONE. Sorry did that seem aggressive? It was meant to.

There Is No Such Thing As Arrival

Slow slow, day by day.

If you’re wondering about the 8th picture, it is preparations for a temaki sushi dinner. Which is basically, hand-rolled sushi/make-your-own sushi. Sort of like Mexican taco-night but with small square-cut nori (seaweed) sheets.

 

 

Okayama Table Terra

For my little sister, Juri’s birthday, my Japanese parents took us to Okayama Table Terra. And oh my goodness. This place was SO delicious. I could not believe it! I wish I had discovered it earlier.

Terra is two storey and the interior is gorgeous. White chairs and dark wooden tables. Big mirrors, open kitchen, wonderful service and pot plants. Perfect for any occasion. Especially a couple date! EEEE

We had the chef’s choice set menu and it was to die for! WOW! I can’t wait to go back. Is the chef single?! Can I marry him? More details HERE.

Because I can’t fluently understand Japanese, I can’t give you the exact description of each dish, but what I can say is we started with an antipasti plate (featuring zucchini bruschetta), followed by a variety of vegetables served with an anchovy dip, then cold new season cream of potato soup, next delicious eggplant pizzas topped with cheese and mince, next pizza margarita and last but definitely not least (because it was our favorite), a vegetarian zucchini and soy-bean “bolognese”. WOW it was so delicious I wish I could eat it for lunch today. Heck, also dinner.

At Terra, we also had coffee and a little cake. At home, we had tea and a big cake (gluten, dairy and refined-sugar free) – which I made. Recipe HERE. Except for Juri, I doubled this recipe: made two cakes, placed them on top of one another and spread an all-natural raspberry jam in the middle of them. Mama Mia.

My Favorite Healthy Sweet

Raw, vegan, gluten-free and refined-sugar free orange chocolate truffles. Have you tried them yet? Recipe HERE.

Stewed Prunes: More Than Just A Constipation Cure

I made stewed prunes – really easy and not just a constipation cure but also super tasty. And no, I did not just tell my 3000+ (yeah I’m bragging) followers I’m constipated though I don’t know how you can not be in Japan, consuming all that white rice, noodles and “bread” everyday. Thankfully, I don’t follow that diet.

1 bag of prunes
1/2 lemon
1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
water

Place prunes, lemon half and maple syrup in a small pot and cover with water.

Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.

It’s done when you want it to be or when the water has thickened into a syrup – though it will continue to thicken once refrigerated.

Serve with granola and/or yogurt.

D-lish!

PS I don’t know if I should be proud or embarrassed of my momma’s pop-culture savviness (see below).

Zucchini Banana Cake

I don’t often see zucchinis in Japan and when I do they’re imported and so super expensive. Though recently, my local farmer’s market/shop has starting selling 3/4 zuchinnis for the equivalent of $2 which I think is really cheap. I wished I had one of those zoodle machines (the ones that make noodles out of carrots, cucumbers and zuchinnis) to make a fancy salad with rice noodles and peanuts but it’s okay because I turned my zucchinis into the most delicious cake.

To make the recipe free of gluten, simply use GF oats and GF flour.

2 free-range eggs
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 ripe banana
3/4 cup oat flour (oats made into flour using a blender or food processor)
1 tsp pure vanilla essence
2 tbsp wholewheat flour
1 tbsp almond powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 zucchini grated
granola to top (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients together.

Pour batter into a greased loaf tin.

Top with granola (optional)

Bake for 30 or so minutes.