{Late night dinner with husband – I’ve been lacking inspiration lately}
{A Sunday afternoon in New York @ Yankees Stadium}
{Best fro-yo from a truck}
{About to go up the Rock}
{Waited 40 mins in line to sample the burger and shake at Shake Shack @ Madison Square Park}
{New coloured jeans for summer}
I haven’t really missed home since we arrived, I miss family and friends but luckily Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc make it easy to keep in touch so I don’t feel very far away from anyone. But I do miss our fully renovated kitchen.
We went from this.
To this 
We were going to have a mid-winter jaunt to the Bahamas, then it was South Miami but we ended up in Philadelphia for two nights…And although we weren’t lying on a beach drinking cocktails it was great to get away for a few nights (the only thing we were missing was a tan). As it turns out Philly has a lot of historic sights to visit but one of the best things about it is that it is small enough that you can literally walk everywhere (which certainly gives us some perspective regarding the size of New York city).
{Friday night basketball game with the Philadelphia 76ers v Dallas Mavericks}
{Delicious crepes for breakfast at Reading Terminal Market}
{Visiting the Rocky Statute and running up the stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art}
{Hands down best coffee in the USA}
{Getting our history fix at Declaration Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed}
{We didn't try a Philly cheese steak - I hope we didn't miss out?}
{Philadelphia was once the capital of the USA and has some amazing architecture}
{But some of the buildings need a little TLC}
{On Sunday we drove back to the city via Princeton - it is just stunning}
{It reminded me of England}
Day 3. I woke up really hungry on the final morning but I’m down to my final 6 juices…
{The final 6 juices in our fridge}
I’m on the home stretch and it feels like my stomach is kind of flatter but you’d expect that since I haven’t eaten for 48 hours.
The first juice of the day, the green juice – the one that makes me gag – is going down fine, it doesn’t have that overwhelming cucumber flavour anymore. We did some housework. Ok truthfully, Tim did some housework (he’s the clean freak in the relationship) and I drink juice #2. This one is my second fav behind the cashew juice #6 so it’s easy to drink. To get out of the apartment we went out for lunch. Whilst I down juice #3 – the carrot juice, Tim has a lovely looking bean salad and I have a cup of tea.
{The Rooibos Chai is delicious even without milk}
Juice #4 (the beetroot juice) and juice #5 (the green juice) go down well. There was no gagging involved or cries that “I can’t drink anymore liquid” and surprisingly the green juice is tasting better and better each time I drink it. Finally I drink juice #6 and it’s all over. I’m not really sure what I was expecting but there certainly were no fireworks. We go to bed early and I dream about what I can eat for breakfast in the morning.
Day 2. I’m still drinking the juices (I’m over half way through – yay!) but the most noticeable difference was that I actually had a lot more energy than I did on Day 1. Went for a walk down to Soho to go to Bloomingdales. Needed new facial moisturizer. This is my favourite at the moment.
{My skin seems to love it. Source: http://www.kiehls.com/}
Then stopped in at Club Monaco and Zara for a sneaky peak.
{Feel in love with this Zara combined blouse. Source: http://www.zara.com}
Oh and these shoes.
{Zara I basic sandal. Source: http://www.zara.com}
I struggled around 5pm when I was really really hungry and contemplated exactly why I am doing this since it was Friday night and I’d love a glass of wine with some cheese and crackers instead of the green juice? In the end all I’m hoping for are two very simple things (1) that I can stick to it and finish the three days without eating/drinking something I shouldn’t and (2) that my body with thank me for it…somehow (and somehow will result in a flatter stomach??).
Oh and look what Tim brought home with him…
{My absolute favourite Aussie chocolate bar}
Day 1. I woke up hungry – this is not a good start. How am I going to survive not eating for three whole days and only drinking liquids??? Anyway, the 18 juices are in the fridge ready for me to drink so I’m not going to waste them. Here I am, first thing in the morning drinking juice #1…
{The look sums it up}
Don’t you wish we woke up looking like they do on TV??? Anyway, the juice doesn’t taste like much but maybe that’s because of my head cold…probably a good thing since husband says it tastes very green, like cucumber.
I spend the morning at home glued to the computer (I’m job hunting) about 2 hours later I’m starting to feel hungry again. Time for juice #2 – I can’t really taste it either, but it is like drinking sweet water with a hint of pepper.
To get out of the house I decide to take a walk down to Tribeca and back again. I never realised how many families with children live in Tribeca – did anyone else know this? Saw this gorgeous painted wall in the West Village.
{Love wall art}
Although you can’t tell in the picture, it’s such a beautiful day!
Back at home juice #3 is pleasant enough, tastes like carrots (not surprising since it’s the main ingredient). With nothing planned for the afternoon I have a ‘kindy’ nap since I am feeling really lethargic and headachy. Woke up a few hours later, time for juice #4. It’s actually ok (beetroot and ginger, who would have thought??).
Did some washing and drank more tea…time for juice #5 (the green juice again)! OK this makes me want to gag, not because it’s unpleasant but I’m just sick of drinking….eeek I haven’t even got through day one. A friend on Facebook told me to chew the juice, I’m trying, it kind of helps as silly as it sounds. What keeps me going is juice #6 – cashew, cinnamon and vanilla – mmmmm and yes it is as good as it sounds although maybe it’s all relative, drinking vegetable and fruit juices all day, anything sweet is going to taste good.
At the end of day 1 I’m not feeling hungry at all but full of water. I’m pretty tired but it’s late so time for bed.
{Source: http://www.catalystcleanse.com/}
I have always wondered what it would be like to do a juice cleanse (it was the same kind of wonder I had about half marathons before I attempted to run one). So when I saw a three-day Catalyst Cleanse being offered at a discount on Rue La La I thought it is now or never! I signed up for the cleanse and after procrastinating for a while, today the juice is delivered and I start tomorrow. As I have discovered it’s not as easy as just waiting for the juices to be delivered and drinking them (silly me for thinking so simplistically). Before the cleanse I need to limit my intake of the following vices and completely eliminate them by at least two days before:-
*Caffeine
*Alcohol
*Processed foods
*Meat
*Dairy
So far I’ve managed to limit my intake of processed foods (we don’t really eat many processed goods anyway) and eliminate alcohol and meat. I’m struggling with the dairy (I love yoghurt) and the caffeine (I heart coffee) – I think it’s a matter of going cold turkey with these two.
Here’s what I’ll be drinking – 6 whole juices a day!!
{Source: http://www.catalystcleanse.com/}
I’m particularly looking forward to juice #6 – sounds yummy doesn’t it?
The thing that really scares me about a juice cleanse is being hungry. I’m hopeless when I’m hungry – I get dizzy, tired and very very cranky. So I will become a hermit for 3 days to ensure no friend of mine is subject to my crankiness (except of course my loving husband but that’s part of his job isn’t it?) and that I do not succumb to temptation.
Wish me luck!
{Source: http://www.clipartpal.com/}
P.S I thought it would be fun to share my experience of the juice cleanse (and it might also help me stay on track) so this is the first instalment of a series of posts over the next few days. Stay tuned for day 1.
{Pretty places & spaces}
I finally got myself an invite to Pinterest (thank you to an old friend for helping me out) and I absolutely love it! Like a lot of us I have an archive of pretty inspirational pictures saved on my computer and pages ripped from magazines sitting in my cupboard and this is the perfect place to combine it all in one place (without taking up valuable cupboard space). Food, fashion, interior design, whatever your little heart desires you can create “pin boards” of any topic. You can check out all my boards here. I hope you enjoy as much as I do!
{Party ideas}
{For the home}
I have started to gather a small but great selection of cookbooks since arriving here and one of my favourites is the Momofuku Milk Bar. This cookbook is a baker’s dream, every batch of cookies I have made so far have turned out as gloriously sweet delights. Although I should say that these are no ordinary cookies and that the recipes do call for a little more work than usual. The book has also inspired me to bake with imagination – using corn flakes, pretzels, chips and marshmallows (whatever you have in the cupboard) and to not worry about failure in the kitchen because ultimately you will create something wonderful. My first attempt using a recipe from the cookbook was the cornflake crunch and then the cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow cookies. I’m surprised that I actually got some cookies out of the batch since the cornflake crunch and the cookie dough is good enough to eat all on its own.
Making the cornflake crunch
Mixing all the ingredients together
Out of the fridge ready to bake
The final delicious product
Since these I have made a second batch with the pretzel crunch rather than the cornflake crunch and I think that they turned out even better than the first!
Going back to our days in London Tim and I have always loved cooking up a brunch on Saturday and Sunday mornings. If you have ever been to New York City you will know that New Yorker’s LOVE to brunch so our dilemma every weekend is do we brunch out or brunch in? Given that brunch to a New Yorker is around 1pm (which I think is technically lunch) we get to have the best of both worlds. Cook up a brunch at home and then go out to brunch with friends where we eat ‘lunch’. This weekend was no different and on Sunday we cooked up the produce I picked up at the farmers markets on Friday and then went out with friends in the East Village for a late lunch.
{Semolina bread}
{French pressed coffee and herbal tea}
{Roasted tomatoes}
{Asparagus I picked up for $2 a bunch}
{The final product}
