“Nothing Is Permanent” + What I Ate Wednesday

Hello people

How has your week been going so far?

As I was saying in my last post, I was actually feeling down about the whole thing about uni starting again and yet feeling so unconfident and lacking in passion.

Today, when I was thinking of how quickly my mum’s stay over here in Sydney would pass away and be over, I felt like a pitch dark hole would be waiting for me, and that I would have nothing to look forward to everyday. That I would be living everyday, struggling with uni work, with no particular motivation.

I thought I’d be unhappy everyday.

But now through many months of emotional roller-coasters, I’ve learnt that all feeling pass eventually.

Nothing is permanent.

As long as I live, I know I will be able to find light in something. Just that I don’t know what that is yet.

This thought pulled me out of complete devastation this afternoon.

Just wanted to share this with you guys here, just in case any of you felt that way recently.

Remember that nothing is permanent. All struggles, emotional or physical, will eventually pass. You may feel like you’re drowning with no direction sometimes, like there is nothing good to look forward to. I just want you to know, that maybe you don’t feel like it right now, but the sadness and pain will always disappear at one point.

Anyway, I thought I’d also share with you all What I Ate Wednesday as well today

Head over to Peas and Crayons for more WIAW from all over the world

Here’s mine from yesterday….

Breakfast: Udon with shimeji mushrooms, tofu, kale stalks and konnyaku (a jelly-like substance made of a starchy vegetable, often used in Japanese dishes), in a soy sauce and dashi base soup.

Mum made this for me because I wasn’t feeling too well Tuesday night…love you mum <3 Tasted great, just like her cooking always is.

Lunch: Classic felafel pita wrap from yummba, an Isreali felafel place inside Bondi Junction Westfield (with hummus instead of tahini).

I fall in love with yummba each time I get a wrap from there! Not the usual food court sort of food. Seriously so good.

DInner: Chick pea salad with zucchini, red capsicum and celery with coriander paste and honey mustard dressing.

An unphotographed cinnamon swirl with some strawberry bliss chai green tea,  in my new Darcy teapot from T2 <3

I am absolutely in love with this teapot

But yeah, that’s pretty much all I have for today.

What did you eat out recently that made you go omg-so-good-I-could-eat-this-every-week?

-Asuma xxx

Weekend & The-Monday-After Photo Log

Here goes…

…wholemeal pasta on cooked spinach, topped with tomato relish…

…apartment hunting; still nothing…

…breakfast on the go – cooked oat bran, chia, lsa, cinnamon, egg whites, milk, vanilla with stevia…

…trying out types of fruit i typically don’t buy…

…refreshing…

…my usual peppermint tea…

…indulging in wholemeal sourdough with fig cinnamon jam….

Some thoughts residing in my head right now:

• These simple iphoneography tips on fat mum slim are easy enough to incorporate into daily snap shots, even for someone like me! Thanks Chantelle, for sharing with us
• I don’t mean to sound like an obnoxious smartpants by correcting other people’s grammar, because I’m sure I certainly make tonnes of them myself, but it bothers me that so many people use the term “awhile” in place of “a while”. In short, “awhile” literally means “for a while“, so when people say “for awhile”, they’re saying “for for a while”. Get it? When you’re not using the word “for”, simply say “a while”, for example, “it will be a while until she gets here”. You get the idea.
• 4.5 good days were followed by a day and a half’s failure. I don’t feel miserable though, and I am not going to call that 1.5 blah day a failure anymore. Looking up and moving on.
• I haven’t been to yoga or pilates for a while (and not “for awhile” ), since I’ve been more into weights lately. Maybe I’ll go back when I feel like it on rest days.

 

Sorry for the incoherent post! Wait, “incoherent”, or “incohesive”? Now I’m getting paranoid about my language

Anyway, tomorrow’s my birthday so I want to be excited!! Hope this blah mood will just go away.

Love you all

Asuma

 

Sunday before an Assignment Due Date + Recent Eats

Hello

I hope you’re all enjoying your Sunday!

Though I do wish that the weather would be a bit less gloomy than this…like even yesterday morning was 14 degrees outside! Really, is the winter almost here?

Anyway, I guess it’s good for me right now because it’s keeping me inside to work on my assignment.

Yes, I’m still working on it.

And yes, it’s due tomorrow morning.

Maybe I’m being a bit too optimistic here, but I know I’ll get it done and it will be good (probably…hopefully…) so I’m not actually worried about it.

Guess it’s a good thing for my mental health that I’m not too anxious these days.

Anyway, I’ve already gone to my Pilates class today, so I can just blog procrastinate work on my report now.

As soon as I finish this post. And eat some granola. And look up recipes on Pinterest. No no no, as soon as I’m done writing this, I’ll get working again. Promise.

By the way, today’s Pilates class was so full I barely had any space to place my mat. Somehow found some sort of a spot in the back to squeeze in…though I couldn’t stretch my arms fully sideways in one move. At least I didn’t have to kick my neighbours’ heads so it was all good

I usually don’t attend Pilates on Sundays so I’d never attended today’s instructor’s class before, but it was quite good, because I just wanted a good stretch with a little bit of core strengthening today. The other instructor focuses more on core abs work, which I usually prefer. But because I wanted to rest my muscles a bit after yesterday’s workout, this class was just what I needed.

On a completely different note, I cannot stop reading and literally laughing out LOUD at this tumblr page!!!!! Absolutely hilarious. You HAVE to go and check it out, now. (Sorry if you’ve known about it for ages and you’re like “pfffft, Asuma, you really didn’t know about it until now? Loser!”). But it’s just so funny. Usually I don’t get stuck on just one LOL-type website for a long time, but this one…needs to stay on my home page

Anyway, I’m going to end this post with a few photos of my most recent eats (no salad photos as they tend to look boring even if they taste amazing!!):

Blueberry Oats Chia Pudding , from Angela’s blog Oh She Glows. (Recipe here).

Leftover Cauliflower Pizza Crust pieces, with cauliflower + zucchini + asparagus sauteed with egg.

This was actually just another basic oatmeal, but I wanted to show you my new huge mug-type bowl and spoon

Kefir yoghurt with probiotic. I actually like this milk and honey flavour! Not overly sweet. From a local health food store. I tend to have it with granola, puffed kamut, banana, blueberries, chia, etc., rather than just on its own.

The said yoghurt, with granola + banana (I should have probably sliced the fruit but couldn’t get bothered so just smashed it in the mug with the spoon…).

Edam cheese + almond butter sandwich on wholemeal & seeds bread.

Brown rice + banana + skim milk + cottage cheese + cinnamon. Another easy breakfast creation! Probably going to be repeating this for breakfasts throughout the week with leftover rice.

Easy peasy chirashi sushi – brown rice + steamed broccoli + smoked salmon avocado with soy sauce and a cup of peppermint tea.

Yes, there was brown rice underneath all those toppings!

Okay then, hope you’ll all make the most out of the rest of your weekend!

                        – Asuma

Oatmeal with Sweet Potato

A warm bowl of oatmeal makes for a perfect breakfast

Oatmeal with Sweet Potato

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/3 rolled oats

1/3 cup homemade yoghurt (store-bought ones are just as good too) or milk

1/3 cup water

1/2 medium-sized sweet potato

a pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

a dash of cinnamon

1tbsp LSA mix

maple syrup

almond butter

Directions:

Put the rolled oats, yoghurt or any dairy / non-dairy milk of your choice in a pan, mix, and place on medium heat. Stir occasionally, and cook until a thick creamy consistency is attained. You can add more water if you like your oatmeal to me more fluid. This process should take about 5 minutes on heat.

Meanwhile, chop the sweet potato into small pieces and place them in a microwave-safe container (you can either peel the potato or leave the skin on – I personally don’t mind the skin so usually just leave it on). Microwave on high for about 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the wattage of your appliance, until soft enough to be mashed easily when pressed. Mash them slightly with a fork.

Add the mashed sweet potato into the pan with the oatmeal and stir well. Add the salt, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and LSA mix. Stir well, then remove the pan off the heat.

Serve warm, topped with some maple syrup and almond butter. Yum!!!

Oats and Almond Butter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favourites in my breakfast repertoire – oats!!!!!!!! I like having rolled oats uncooked with milk or yoghurt too, but I’m a 120% cooked oats girl It really warms you up on cold winter mornings too I basically cook about 1/3 cup rolled oats with the same amount of homemade yoghurt and water each, adding in some ground cinnamon, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Bananas are still expensive here in Sydney because of the cyclone, so I often whip in some microwaved pieces of sweet potatoes. Yum! Generally, I just top it with some maple syrup and almond butter (I honestly think whoever came up with the idea of almond butter is a GENIUS), but when I’m feeling a bit fancypants, I go ahead and top it with stuff like fruit conserve, granola, dried fruit, cereals…the possibilities are endless!!!

 

 

With a cup of tulsi tea, in my “the world’s greatest sister” mug from my baby brother

 

And now I shall be off to MSY for some HDD shopping with Lachlan and Shaun