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.

Call Me Fran

The Nanny (2016)

Granola recipe HERE.

Muffin recipe HERE (sub blueberries for blackberries).

Couscous salad recipe HERE.

Beetroot salad recipe HERE.

Japanese Cookbooks Be Like…

A morning spent in the school library….

These adorable creatures are made from hot-cake mix and tofu.

hashtagonlyinjapan hashtagcuteoverload hashtagicanteven hashtagkillmenow hashtagshocute!

Inside Out: A Movie Review

If you’ve been following my movie reviews, you may have noticed that I like it when films mean stuff; touch an emotion in my heart, relate to my daily-life…etc. That said, of course, I enjoy entertainment as well. Inside Out has both.

Inside Out is Pixar’s newest animation. Pixar, animation, for kids right? Sort of. You see, this movie is all about the mind. In particular, Riley’s, an 11 year old girl who has just moved with her parents to San Francisco from Minnesota. Though Riley is not the main focus of the film. The main focus is her mind, an entirely other world (aren’t all our minds?) where Riley’s anthropomorphized (given human qualities) emotions, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust control her life. Reminding me of this wonderful quote by ‘Abdu’l-Baha:”The reality of man is his thought.”

I don’t know about you but I really think Pixar hit the nail on the head (excuse the pun) with this one. So often, maybe more than I ought to, I find my mind full (not to be confused with mindful) and my emotions driving my life. It is as if something up there is in conflict with itself or something else or missing, or lost. Which is exactly what happens to Riley. Her driving emotion, Joy goes missing from Headquarters causing her perception and reasoning to distort.

Though in the end (trying not to spoil it too much for you), both the film’s characters and the viewer (adult and child) receive a psychology lesson to cherish for life. Which is, the world ain’t so black and white: there is no joy without sadness and vice versa. In Carl Jung’s words, “the word ‘happiness’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”

Thank you for making such a heartwarming, thought-provoking and witty flick, Pixar.

100/5