Goodbye processed yumminess, It was a good ride...

So it's the end of January and I have been the most stereotypical version of any female in the New Year - I went on a health kick. All I am now is a January cliché.... AND I LOVE IT. Unlike my fun-loving counterpart Philippa, who is living up the New Year partay shtyle with her January Juice containing Champagne, I have chosen to be clean and boring (but it doesn't have to be is what I'm slowly discovering).  My new roommate from Budapest (woohoo, free apartment when I visit) is a real slave to the clean eating trade. She has introduced me to so much. I thought that because I was going clean in the New Year that it would only be for a short period of time to shed those xmas fatty blues and put my love of cooking and food aside with it. This is just not, not and NOT the case. There are so many amazing clean eating blogs out there to get inspired from! So many new ideas to work with. And soooo many new ingredients to shovel into your face. My new favourite, almond butter!!!! (4 exclamation marks because this thing is OHMYDEARHOLYMOLYFANTASTIC!)



who needs friends

So I know I sound all preachy and holier than thou with my new clean eating lifestyle, but let me tell you, I have struggled. Oh have I. This guy I know (i.e. my boyfriend) came to visit me in the land of the Riviera recently and I was all "I only eat this now" and "Do you even know what you're putting into your body right now" etc. etc. During my self affirming rants about the goodness of coconut oil in your food AND on your face I decided to take him to have the best croissant in Nice. Now, as I write that sentence I understand IT MAKES NO SENSE. Why did I choose to do that? Nevertheless, I did. And so I began to fully understand what it would feel like to be in Hell. The interaction after be bought the croissant went a little like this:
 
Boyfriend: Jesus, this is feckin' delicious
 
Crying on the inside Emma: Haha, oh yeah, looks class, yeah, I might have a handful of berries
 
Boyfriend: It's like crunchy on the outside and soooo buttery on the inside
 
Dying on the inside Emma: BUTTER? Can I smell it...?
 
It went on like this for a little while, it was painful. But I prevailed (okay...I had the end of the croissant...literally smaller than my thumb so it was fiiine...) Anyway, moving on from my shortcomings when it comes to buttery pastries.
 
This month is Juicin' and Jammin' It in January and I am making a yummmmy smoothie pudding clean dessert type of thing. It was originally meant to be a green smoothie, but as only two supermarkets in Nice have fresh spinach and I had no spare change to get the tram to either of these, I improvised...well not so much as improvising, rather I just left the spinach out. Sure look.
 
As I said, it was meant to be a green smoothie...which changed to a normal clean smoothie...and then when the final product came out I decided this would be a lovely pudding like dessert also. So, digest it as you wish, as a smoothie or a pudding... doesn't matter it's still deliiish and everything in it is clean clean clean.
 

Smoothie/Pudding Ingredients

 



Now, what we have here is a handful or two of frozen berries, a tablespoon of almond butter, chia seeds, bee pollen (new to this one...but heard it just really good for you, right so!), 3 medjool dates, 1 pot of non fat plain yogurt and a realllly ripe brown banana (freeze the banana beforehand for extra creaminess...probs better for the pudding option.)

how brown is your banana?

 

Smoothie/Pudding Steps

 

Step 1: Throw everything in a blender, and blend

 

Step 2: There are no more steps

I lied... Step 3: Pour in fancy glasses and sprinkle with chia seeds and pollen (careful on the pollen though, it does weird things to your tummy if you're not used to it I'm told, I guess I'll keep ya'll posted on this....)

***CAUTION*** If you do not invest in a good blender, it will crack under the pressure (literally) and look like it pooed out your delicious smoothie.

how rude

Good luck to all of you on your clean eating ventures, should you choose to join us folk. If not, good luck to you and please eat extra butter for me. I'm off to eat a stick of celery now.

















Delusional Dusk

Hi gang!

With 2015 in full swing we reignite our blogging torch with a fresh theme and culinary challenge for this month. We call it Juicin' and Jammin' in January. Our challenge is going to be to find the most bizarrre/strangest shaped fruit or vegetable and make juice or a preserve from it AND pick a song (or jam, if you will) that best describes said juice/preserve. Philippa is kickstarting this month with her post and her sincerest apologies for the amount of time it has taken her to gather her thoughts and actually string a few simple sentences together. Feast your eyes on her post below. 

Ah January, we meet again, old buddy old pal. January,  January,  January.  Christmas day seems like many moons ago at this stage, a distant cry, a hazy memory. It was a low key day here in New York. A light breakfast of poached eggs and salmon and buckets of coffee (top tip: give me coffee in the morning or I will die). We watched movies and cooked food (accidentally left it so late to order a turkey that we ended up with a 14lb bird...which I should point out we quickly finished cause we're animals), nattered (house full of 4 girls), skyped home to see just how much they were missing us (surprised they got through the day if I'm being honest...not really though. They were probably thankful the resident klutz wasn't there- I once broke a guitar that Santa left for my sister Paige a mere 2 hours after she had opened it. Soz.) Before hitting the hay we went down to our 'stoop' and asked an innocent passerby to take a picture of us so we could remember our first Christmas away from home. Say cheese.
Speaking of cheese, I am learning a shit ton in my job. It's great. The cheese is great. The people I work with are great. You're great for having read this far. Please do continue. Where was I?
Ah yes, January. January, January, January. Typically a time marked with hopeful promises of change, a chance for new beginnings, an opportunity to drastically reform one's life with resolutions such as hittin' the gymnasium on a regular basis, avoiding those devilish carbohydrates or givin' up the auld gargle. Well, I say NAY TO THAT. So instead of a healthy cleansing, vile-tasting vessel of mush, I present you instead with an alcohol fuelled cocktail that will fog all of your judgement and cleanse you in other ways. I picked ingredients inspired by different aspects of my life ( I didn't intend for that sentence to sound as obnoxious as it did ..lol?) Here they are along with the tantalizing tale behind each one:

Champagne- Flash back a few weeks to the eve of the New Year (also known as New Year's Eve). We had made grand plans to go out for dinner, have a few cocktails and polish off a bottle of bubbly. Glam, I know. But with work being so hectic and having spent the last few weeks burning the candle at both ends (wahey!), it seemed like a golden opportunity for a quiet night in (WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH PHILIPPA? I hear you ask). So, snuggled up in my jimjams (that's the jammin part of this post), armed with an ice cold beer and a delectable cheese board (see photo), I rang in the New Year in the borough of Brooklyn,  far from the bright lights and commotion of the city. Shortly after midnight, I lay my head to rest on my fluffly pillow to awake early(ish) the next morning fully refreshed and ready for the year ahead. It took a solid two days for us to realise that the cork on the bottle of champers had not been popped. So, it rears it's fizzy head in this recipe.

Rhubarb bitters: I cannot describe just how cold it is here in any sort of magical way. 'Tis unmercifully bitter, as the fella says. I walked the highline a few days ago (cause yanno, it's always a good idea to go to higher altitudes when its cold) and I thought my face would fall off BUT New York did look mighty fine from up there (again photographic evidence provided below). I have started to wear socks above my ankles (an unprecedented yet necessary move). I have taken to wearing two coats and have contemplated buying a balaclava to protect my face from the bitter wind. I should add- I'm probably exaggerating. Apparently last year was worse but coming from a fairly mild climate, this weather makes me feel like Jack Dawson (when the ship went down...and he was floating in the icy water...and his lips were blue...)  SO the rhubarb part of this beverage is an homage to watching Titanic whilst eating a warm rhubarb crumble with a mountain of whipped cream and a cup of tea in front of a roaring fire with my dogs (ma bishes if you will). You thought the tangled web of words I created wouldn’t make any sense,  didn't you? Fear not,  ramblings my game. 

Raspberry Juice: I played a game with a gentleman in a bar recently (STRANGER DANGER) where we had to ask each other what your favourite such-and-such was and you had to answer straight away or you lost (yes, this is my idea of flirting). Anyway, he asked me what my favourite fruit was and I immediately screamed raspberry. I panicked. It's not my favourite fruit. Rhubarb is. Nevertheless, add raspberry.

Mint & Rosemary: Americans pronounce most things differently to us Celts. Like calling coriander cilantro and rocket arugula and pronouncing basil like baaayzil and droping the h when saying herbs BUT at least we can all agree on rosemary and mint.

Salt: for the rim of the glass- yes, a rim job.

Gin: The End.

Method: make it a double,  barkeep!

And so the cocktail 'Delusional Dusk' is born/presented/poured/chugged/gracefully sipped.

Tune in next week for more shenanigans and remember kids, hashtag never ever drink and text.

Pip x