I can’t believe I have reached day 30! Eating the Whole30 way has become so natural and enjoyable. It has been an absolute super challenge, life changing for me. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. But before I go on about what I have achieved, let me share week 4 with you.

This week started with a social event. I was invited to a birthday party, a barbecue (know as a braai from where I come from) Now this is very easy to do on the Whole30 program as it is just meat and salad. So I took my own meat with me and some nuts in my bag. The host, whose birthday it was, knew I was doing the challenge so she encouraged me to make a fuss over how to cook my meat and to make sure it did not touch the other marinades. So the men, who always do the out-door cooking in my culture, teased me a bit but followed my instructions. My dear friend had also been following my photos on Instagram and roasted veggies and made salad that I could eat. I was so touched. It was a totally delicious lunch. Thanks Nina!

That same day I was honoured to see that the Whole30 had reposted one of my meal photos on their Instagram page. Suddenly I had a whole bunch of new followers. If that is you reading this, thanks. It is great to encourage and inspire others with my food and lovely to feel motivated to keep going with your ‘likes’ and comments.

I made my own version of creamed spinach this week, without the cream. Just cauliflower and spinach blended together. It was lovely. I love playing with my food, something you are always told not to do but its more like experimenting and having fun. The more fun I have prepping my meal the more I enjoy it.

I had quiet a hectic week at work so I knew I had to be prepared with snacks as I knew there would be some serious temptations put in front of me. I was not wrong. Lots of chocolates, sweets and sugar loaded treats right there. I had to just walk away and eat my healthy snack, and I was fine. I also think my roller coaster of hunger has calmed down. I don’t swing to such extremes any more.

Another friend of mine took up the whole 30 challenge herself this week and I have really enjoyed encouraging her. It is great to be able to tell someone to hang in there as the best is yet to come and it is well worth the wait.

So the lessons I have learnt over the 30 days: Be prepared. I planned all my meals out on a weakly basis and filled my fridge with fresh ingredients. I cooked breakfast, lunch and supper every evening to save me time the next day and so that I could eat when I got home from work and not grab something to tide me over. I also carry protein and fat snacks with me, for the days I feel really hungry. This also helps when you see others eating a sweet treat and you feel you are missing out. I could just grab my nuts or meat cubes and eat them and feel better.

Support has been great too. My friends, who knew I was doing this challenge, have been a big help. Not offering me temptations, providing fruit at tea dates instead of cake, having picnics where we bring our own food instead of eating out, coming round to dinner at mine and eating whole foods were just some of the encouragement they provided.

Read packaging! Not that I buy a lot of thing in packets, but there were a few. Many dried fruits have hidden ingredients, the same goes for the nut butters. I am a huge fan of chorizo and only in week 4 did I manage to find one that was pure and not full of nasties.

So, What are my thoughts 30 days later? I am so happy! I started this because I wanted more energy and I got what I wanted. I have not felt tired, sluggish or down at all. I have been sleeping well and waking up not feeling TIRED! My most common thing out my mouth for the last few years has been ‘I’m tired’. I hadn’t wanted to get out of bed. Now I have energy and I don’t need 3 alarm clocks to get me up in the morning. I even have energy to go run and walk after work. All of these are amazing achievements for me.

Having had food allergies I know that what I eat often disagrees with me, even if I’m not allergic to it. I get bloated and aches and pains and often have to find the nearest loo. I have not had that experience at all during the whole30 (Except for the day in week 2 when I ate olives from a packet) It feels great to feel normal.

At the start of week 4 I put on my jeans only to discover I needed to tighten my belt! I was so excited! I couldn’t believe it! And every time I put my hands on my hips, it felt like less was there. So I was very excited, and nervous, to measure and weigh myself at the end of this challenge. But I was not disappointed. I lost 3cm round my waist, 6cm round my hips, 2.3cm round my thighs and 1.8cm round my arms. I happened to put on 0.3 round my ankles, but I’m okay with that. The scale was the next test. I had to weigh myself twice just to make sure it was correct. I lost 5.5kg! I could not believe it, with out even trying that hard and eating loads. It just shows you that eating well is so good for you! My finger nails are also getting stronger and longer, normally they tear and break and are the first thing to go when I am stressed.

This month was so different from the month when I just gave up sugar. When I just gave up sugar I still had terrible cravings and still felt like I needed treats. So I would look for treats in other things, like nuts, crisps/chips and fruit. But during the whole30 I didn’t have those cravings or need for reward or treats. Amazing how food affects us. When we eat whole foods, that God created, fresh and organic our bodies are happy and when we eat processed, man-made food our bodies get addicted and then freak out when we stop. I always thought I was addicted to sugar and that when I ate it I could not lose weight. I knew sugar had some sort of effect on me and now I know for sure that it does.

So where to from here? I have decided to just carry on eating the way I am at the moment. I will be strict when cooking and preparing for myself but when I am eating with others I will try to just make the healthiest choices. My paleo cookbook should arrive this week and then I’ll read up more about that way of life. But for me I just don’t want to lose the energy. If I start feeling tired or sluggish or anything else I don’t like, I will stop straight away. I also want to up my exercise regime more as I only fit in about 2 days a week at the moment and would like to do a few more days. The whole 30 will help me achieve this. I do however have a birthday next week and months ago I planned and booked a very special tea so I know there won’t be anything paleo or whole30 approved that day. So I apologise in advance if you follow me on Instagram. Look away!

I still love baking. If you look at this blog you will see that. I am the cupcake queen. So everyone wants to know what I am going to do? That is why I want to know more about paleo. So keep watching this space, as I don’t have the answer yet.

If you are toying with the idea of trying the Whole30, just DO IT! It will change your life!

Looking forward to tomorrow… and the day after that… and the day after that….and the day after that…

So let me tell you about week 3. I was super prepared for exercise this week. I had pre-gym snacks and post-gym snacks. I did a mammoth work out at the gym, because I had the energy to keep on going and I got sucked into watching a show on the tv screens and had to wait for it to finish before I could leave. Hey whatever works or keeps me working can’t be too bad. I felts great but paid for it later when I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 8:30pm.

At the start of the week I felt like I had hit a meal rut. I just didn’t know what to make that was different. Repeating some meals is fine but I didn’t want to just repeat them all. Thank goodness for inspiration and the internet. I made cauliflower mash with coconut milk for the first time. It was nice, but think next time I will try it without the coconut milk as my brain and taste buds weren’t too sure if they liked it.

I have been waking up nice and early which is amazing for me. No more 3 alarm clocks! But hunger still seems to be a roller coaster. I worked out that if I don’t eat enough breakfast I am hungry all day no matter how much I eat. At the start of the week I had such a day and by the time I got home I was shaking and felt faint. It probably didn’t help that I paced it up the hill carrying a heavy bag of groceries. That night I spent a good deal of time in the kitchen prepping the next few days meals, making sure I had enough food to keep me going.

And with the hunger roller coaster comes the energy coaster. Don’t miss understand me here, my energy levels are really high. Like I said above, I wake up with ease. It’s the end of day energy that changes. Some nights I can stay up late and some nights I fight to keep my eyes open before it even gets dark (daylight savings, means it gets dark late where I am, I’m not going to bed at 6pm!) I will have to see how the roller coasters looks in week 4.

So as I start this 4th and final week I am starting to find out more about the paleo way of life and working out what life after week 4 might look like. Can’t wait to see how life on day 30 compares to day 1!

Yay! Another week done! Now I am half way…and how do I feel? GREAT!!!! My plan for week 2 was starting to exercise and there were learning curves with that too. More on exercise later. I celebrated the start of week 2 with a special treat – Philadelphia cream cheese on a delicious fresh bagel…no, that would be another food dream I had. I haven’t had any since. But I do find it funny that chocolate and fresh bread, which normally are wonderful treats, feature so strongly in my dreams. I did however attempt 3 breakfasts on day 8. One was a complete flop! Two was the most perfect omelette, with no flavour! I just couldn’t force feed it to myself. So third time was the charm. I’ll stick to savoury omelets in future and keep fruit for ‘dessert’. Another challenge at the start of this week was baking for friends. Baking delicious banana bread, that I could not eat. But I was feeling too good to let that bother me! I found my support team on Instagram a real treasure at the start of this week! The world will poke holes in your ideas, people will think you are weird, strange, even crazy. You might be thinking that now as you read this. That is why it is so important to have like-minded people to encourage you.         

Day 9 started with exercise. The book said to start with a snack just to warn your body that something is coming. So I had a snack and then went for a run. Now you would think because I listened to the book’s advice on ‘before exercising’ I would follow their post exercise advice too. Nope! For some crazy reason I decided I knew better. The book clearly says to eat(a small meal) after exercise and then an hour later have a meal again. So me, I just ate breakfast when I got back and proceeded to be hungry all day!!! Big mistake! I fixed that problem the following day when I went to gym, but as I exercised later in the day, I found I wasn’t hungry after eating dinner.

As far as hunger goes, I feel like I am on a hunger roller coaster. There are days when I am starving by the time I get to work and others when I am not hungry at all, even when meal times come. No day is the same so I am now just always prepared with snacks to get me through, incase I have a hungry day. Being super prepared helps me to not reach for the wrong thing when I am hungry.

I am not really into drinks, except for water. I am more of a social drinker. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy drinking tea, coffee, juice, wine etc… It’s more like it’s just not on my radar. I have trained myself to drink herbal green tea in the morning, which I do quiet enjoy. But on the whole30 all of that had to go. What they did recommend was Red Bush tea, known to me as Rooibos. Yay for my South African roots, as I grew up drinking Rooibos, so this was not new to me. I also normally drink it without sugar or milk, so drinking it while doing the Whole30 has been easy. What I was not prepared for was how often I would be drinking it. For someone who only drinks one cup of tea a day, pretty much only at work, I am drinking 3 cups a day!

Week 2 ended with an interesting development. I ran out of olives for my salad. But I had a snack pack of olives in the cupboard, so I just threw them on. After lunch my stomach was telling me it was not happy and I felt so bloated. The only thing I had eaten differently were those olives. When I checked the packaging it said they contained preservatives which none of my normal olives do. So now I am carefully reading labels because it may look whole but it doesn’t mean it is. Lesson learnt.

I am feeling great! I have so much energy! I wake up early and don’t have to hit the snooze button. I have some nights where I am wide awake till late and others where I am tired and need an early night (most of those are at the end of the week). A sign for me that I have energy and feel great is that I catch myself singing. I enjoy singing but over the years I have noticed I only do it when I am happy and relaxed, normally on holiday. But now I am singing while I prepare food. I am so looking forward to week 3!

I just want to say thanks to my friends, family and new Instagram friends who have been such a support and encouragement to me over these 2 weeks.

              

DAY 1

I woke up, as usual, and went for a run. Nothing major to report there. I came back and had my first Whole30 meal – an omelette with mushrooms, tomatoes, avo and strawberries. This covered my protein, fat and vegetable intake for meal one. I then headed off to the shops to buy all my food for the week. Carrying heavy bags of healthy food up a hill is a work out in itself and by the time I got home I had a headache. I had met a lady on Instagram who also started her day 1 the same day as me. She has done the whole 30 before and told me it was so worth it. She asked how I was doing and I said fine but I have a mild headache. She told me it was very likely the toxins in my body coming out. She then posted a funny guideline to week 1 – Day 1 What’s the big deal? Days 2-3 The hangover, Days 4-5 Kill all the things, Day 6-7 I just want a nap. Well it wasn’t quite like that for me. My body did its detox super fast. My headache got so bad I wanted to scream and no matter how much water I drank it would not go away. I eventually had an early night to try get rid of it. I refused to take pills for it as I felt that fighting toxins with meds was not a good idea. But the food that day was delicious, chicken salad for lunch and steak for dinner. I added crushed nuts to the steak and vegetables which provided a tasty crunch. I would not have done this in the past.

Day 2

I felt a lot better. My headache was at normal strength. If that is what a hangover feels like I don’t know why anyone would drink that much. It was bad. Day 2 was filled with delicious food with a little tiredness on the side. Breakfast was scrambled egg with mushrooms, ham, peppers and avo. I love avo, it pops up a lot! Lunch: salmon salad. Dinner: steak with fresh broccolini, butternut and macadamia nuts. I also had fruit on the side of both breakfast and lunch.

Day 3

I felt great! I thought this would be a serious challenge day as it was my first day at work since starting the challenge but it went so well. I have to add that at this stage I had not felt hungry at all since I started the challenge and it was more a process of force feeding myself. Breakfast was a nightmare. I was not use to eating so early, so much and such different food. But with small bites I managed. My Whole30 support group on Instagram assured me that breakfast will get easier. I didn’t have a craving all day. Breakfast: smoked salmon, mushrooms and avo. Lunch:  salad, which I forgot to photograph so all that remained was the peal from my fruit. Dinner: butternut steak with olives and roast veggies, another strange combination and yet, it worked.

Day 4

The theme for day 4 was water. I love water and I drink it all the time. I have a bottle next to me where ever I go, but this was water day. I was drinking masses. I had finished a 500ml bottle by the time I got to work. Lots of drinking means some uninterrupted sleep due to bathroom visits. Breakfast was still a struggle. I don’t think I will be able to stomach smoked salmon for breakfast again. Breakfast – Boiled egg, butternut, avo and left overs from day 3′s breakfast. (I just could not eat it on day 3)  Lunch – Chicken salad. Supper - left over steak cubes on roasted veggies.

Day 5

Hello Hunger! After not feeling hungry for days I suddenly got my appetite back on day 5!  It was time I started thinking about taking healthy snacks with me to work. Breakfast was so much better today. I know why bacon is called the breakfast meat. It was so easy to eat! Breakfast: butternut, bacon and avo. Lunch: chicken salad with olives and broccolini. Dinner:left overs, scrambled egg, salmon, mushrooms and tomatoes.

Day 6

The end of week one was approaching and I was feeling great! I remembered to pack a snack to take to work, which helped so much at around 5 o’clock. Breakfast: sweet potato, bacon and avo. A real winner breakfast! Lunch: egg and bacon salad. Dinner: roasted brussels sprouts with bacon and sweet potato.  Hmm it was a bacon themed day!

Day 7

I ate Chocolate!! No I didn’t, I just dreamed that I did and I was so disappointed I ruined my challenge. I woke up feeling relieved. I am a big foodie, but I can’t ever remember dreaming about eating food. So this was so so weird for me.  I also dreamed I couldn’t fit all the food in the fridge, which is actually my reality as I am constantly playing tetras with things in the fridge. I was so excited about dinner! Another lovely lady I have met on Instagram had made burgers using mushrooms for the buns. I just had to try it. It was the most delicious meal! My burger was out of this world! I could have pressed rewind and eaten the whole meal from the start again! Let me not forget to mention I did have a massive mood swing, so unlike me, today. I was in a ‘don’t cross me, I bite’ kind of mood. Amazing what stress and tiredness at the end of a week without sugar can do to me. Don’t worry I didn’t bite anyone and the mood passed. Breakfast: left over vegetables made into a frittata.  Lunch: smoked salmon salad (forgot to take the photo, I was hungry) Dinner:  homemade beef burger on a mushroom with avo and sweet potato chips.

Finishing the week I  am feeling great! I have met a great support group of strangers (more like friends) that motivate an inspire me. I have had the weirdest dreams all week, like a movie playing in my head. I am starting to have more energy, there were days my feet felt like lead. Mostly I am enjoying what I am eating. My meals are delicious! The big thing I have learnt is being prepared. I prepare dinner, breakfast and lunch in the evenings so that I am covered for the next day and don’t reach for the wrong thing when I am hungry. I am looking forward to week 2! Bring it on!

I have mentioned before how much I am completely addicted to Instagram and back in January one of the ladies I follow posted a sugar-free challenge. Well I burst out laughing at the thought. ‘I would not do that!’ I said to myself. But the thought would not leave me –  Why not? Why could I not do it? So I decided to step up to the challenge. I found the blog where the Sugar-Free February challenge was set and saw there were options – 2 weeks or a full month. So I stepped up and cut all sugar out of my diet except for 2 pieces of fruit a day. I had very supportive friends who bought me fruit instead of sweets which really kept me going. It all went well until half way through the month I discovered that my very healthy breakfast oats contained sugar! Oh no! But I carried on. The problem was I still craved a ‘treat’. So I went looking for that hit elsewhere, in crisps/chips and nuts. So at the end of the month when everyone asked how  much weight I had lost, I had lost nothing. But the purpose for me of cutting out sugar was to show I was not a slave to it, I could cut it out. But that was it really.

Recently on Instagram I have seen a few posts about this book ‘It starts with Food’ by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig and again I was intrigued. I wanted to find out more. So I ordered their book online and as soon as it arrived I started reading. The more I read the more I wanted to read. It was fascinating. As a person who suffers from a list of food allergies I was fascinated by what they had to say about each food group. I wasn’t even half way through when I decided that I would take part in their Whole30 challenge. The testimonies of the people who had followed this way of eating was just too amazing to ignore. It helped people with asthma, seasonal allergies, blood pressure, cholesterol, heartburn, tendonitis, cravings, improved mood, diabetes, weight loss, increased athletic performance and so much more. But what really spoke to me was, better sleep and consistent energy.  For a few years now I have struggled with energy. I wake up tired. I have tried to up my vitamin B intake and this has helped a bit. But here was something that had my attention. Could changing the way I eat, change the way I feel?

So I am excited to see what is going to happen over the next 30 days! Now this is where it starts to sound crazy, but bear with me. I can’t eat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, grains and legumes. I can however eat meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruit and good fats. You may have heard of the Paleo Diet, and through my reading I am learning more about it, but this is even stricter then that. 30 days of eating whole good unprocessed foods. What I love about the book is they are realistic, they don’t expect you to cut everything out of your life forever. After 30 days you can start to reintroduce banned foods back into your diet and see for yourself how you feel. The 30days is about pressing the re-set button for your body and forming healthy relationships with food.

So I am excited and nervous. I think breakfast will be my biggest challenge as well as snacking at work. But I am ready to take this challenge on. I will be blogging after each week, sharing with you how I am feeling and what I am eating. So if you are interested keep on reading.

If you want to find out more about the Whole30 click here!

Another great cake club done and dusted! I set the theme as colour this time round as I really wanted to make nougat. I love nougat and it would work well if my colour was white! I even ordered all the rice paper to make it but then I saw the cover of the BBC GoodFood magazine. On the front was a rainbow cake. I chuckled to myself thinking that they, and I, had colour on the brain so I bought the mag. After that the idea for a rainbow cake just stuck and I thought when else am I going to get a chance to make such a cake. 

The recipe was incredible easy to follow and I loved that I could put everything in the blender and simply turn it on. I used the colours I already had in my box of tricks, I had 4 so I just bought yellow and orange. Icing the cake was so much fun. I used a cream cheese frosting which was so delicious – I licked the bowl! 

I think I could have done with a little more frosting as I had one or two gaps in my icing and a few of the colours shone through. I could not wait to cut into it and the gasps from everyone when the colour was revealed made me smile. 

I did enjoy eating this cake. The layers were very dense and  the frosting really made the cake! Someone compared the cake to play-dough, which I was a little taken back by, but with the colour who could really blame them. I think a lighter sponge might have been better, but still I had no complaints and it was greatly enjoyed.

I was not the only one who made a rainbow cake. My baking buddy Erna made one too.  6 brightly coloured layers with a butter cream frosting. Her outside was definitely prettier then mine. She chose a rainbow cake as she may bake one for a her daughter’s birthday and she too had not made one before. 

She used her normal vanilla sponge recipe, which I love, so her cake was light and fluffy in contrast to my very dense one.

Ash was inspired by the Great British Bake Off‘s surprise challenge, where they had to create a cake that had a picture inside of it. She said the one contestant did a sunrise so she used that idea for her lemon cake and coloured each layer a different shade of yellow. I love lemon cake and her cake was light and fluffy with a lovely lemon flavour. She was a bit disappointed in the yellow layers, as the bottom was really bright but the middle and top layers were similar. 

Mariette made a custard cake. I love custard and it tasted just like custard. The flaked almonds gave it a nice crunch and the cake itself was light and fluffy!

Marna and Lizeli did a joint effort of cupcakes. What I love about their idea was that they refused to use food colouring. They used only natural colouring that they themselves could make. So they used blueberries, raspberries and limes to colour and flavour their cupcakes and cream cheese frosting. My favourite was the lime and blueberry – so refreshing. 

If you want to try this one for yourself then their tip is to just be careful when you add the mashed up berries as it makes the icing very runny.

Megan made multicoloured meringues! They were totally delicious and gooey in the centre – a favourite of mine. Megan used her up and coming wedding as her inspiration to colour her meringues in her wedding colours.

Jenni made a wonderful bright pink fridge tart which everyone enjoyed. It had a biscuit base and the filling was made of condense milk and strawberry yoghurt. She also added a little pink colouring and some pink sprinkles to decorate. The interesting thing about this tart is that you cook it in the microwave and it sets.

Bronwyn also used pink as her colour and made strawberry swirls. These were great biscuits with a really crunch. She not only used colouring but flavouring too. Bronwyn was a little unsure how the dough would stick together as there was no liquid in the recipe but the trick was hard cold butter.

Roz made panda bread. If you look carefully you can see the panda’s face. She coloured the bread with cocoa and green tea powder. Through no fault of her own this bread was not a success because it called for 3 table spoons of salt which is way to much! We all tried a little block and all you could taste was salt. Strangely the three slices she did cut were all eaten by the end of the afternoon.

The standard of cake this time round was incredibly high! Everything tasted so good that I found it really hard choosing what to have for seconds. I look forward to the next cake club as the bar is being raised so much each time!

So what happens to the left overs? Well personally I think a rainbow cake is wasted on adults. It’s kids who will really love it, so I took my rainbow cake to some friends who I knew would love it. I just didn’t realise how much! J was so excited he ran off and came back with candles! Every child loves blowing out the candles and they blew them out a few times. The cake was also perfect for a boy and girl, as he ate the blue and she ate the pink and both were very happy.

A holiday has to be celebrated in my house with baking! Now for those of you who know me, I am sure you are asking why I would choose to bake something I can’t eat, as I am allergic to cinnamon. I can’t explain it. I had a craving, a desire to bake cinnamon swirls so I just did. It is very difficult to bake something you can’t taste so I had to rely on my taste testing team, who are always very willing to be guinea pigs. The end result… I would make them again but I’d add more cream cheese frosting and bake for a slightly shorter time. Also next time I’ll use All Spice so that I can try them. I loved that the whole house smelt like cinnamon!

I love Cake Club! I love picking a theme and working out what to bake. I love hosting, preparing, tasting, sharing, talking, drinking and learning with other bakers and eaters. 2013′s Cake Club had a very different theme. As it is the New Year and most people have set resolutions, with the most common being lose the weight they but on over Christmas, I decided to set a savoury theme. My life has been very hectic these last few months and I didn’t have lots of time to plan what I was going to make, then again I aways set a theme and never know what to bake. So I decided to keep it simple and bake something I had made a few times before – bacon bites. These are incredibly easy as all you need is an egg, flour, baking powder, salt, milk, bacon and rice – yes rice! These little bites use cooked rice so I like to think of them as healthy. I tried to cook them in a heart-shaped tin but they kind of did their own thing in the oven, so only the base was heart-shaped, which isn’t really evident in the photos.

Roz baked cheesy sun-dried tomato and basil muffins.  They also had pine nuts in them. Sadly due to the strong cheese she used, I was unable to eat them thanks to my allergies but they must have been popular as there were only 2 left over.

Michelle baked a quick and easy tomato tart. The tart consisted of thyme, balsamic vinegar, tomato pesto, tomatoes and puff pastry. She baked it like an upside down cake. It was really tasty and not surprisingly it was also almost finished.

Erna made 2 bakes. Parmesan and chive scones and cheddar cheese cookies with an apricot centre. She was clever because she used her normal scone recipe, which is totally delicious, and then just added what she liked to make it savoury.

Signe’s dish had two influences. The first being her Greek heritage and the second being her parent’s feta – Gourmet Greek in South Africa(nominated for a food award). She made a spinach pie with feta (local feta, not the one from SA), parmesan and ricotta.  It was delicious! I think I must have had 4 helpings. She also made a cheese pie with feta and yoghurt. Below you can see a photo of her spinach pie with the cheese pie in the centre.

Jess stated that she is not a baker but she is adventurous and a bit of a risk taker. She made her cheese biscuit/scones without a recipe and only using what was in her cupboards. Now that’s a fun Ready, Steady, Cook or MasterChef challenge. Unfortunately the cheese was Cheddar, so I can’t tell you how they tasted.

Another great Cake Club done…now for the next one! I can’t wait! But I sill have to decide on a theme!

Where has the time gone… my last post was months ago and I have been trying to catch up but with no luck. 2012 ended with a snow ball effect, everything just seemed to happen at once and before I knew it 2013 arrived! Packing boxes filled my waking hours, as I moved house. Moving house is stressful! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. On top of that I had to find a place to live and there was a week between moving out and moving in. Needless to say Christmas 2012 was a non event. If it wasn’t for some wonderful friends who invited me to join their celebrations, which was just the best, Christmas would not have happened at all. I plan to make up for it in 2013! But before I can embrace 2013, there are just a few things I missed sharing with you all in 2012. There are two posts I must still write, they will appear later, but for now here are a few photos, above, I snapped with my phone from the last few months. I think I’d be lost without the camera on my phone.

Starting at the top: Greenwich market, I love a food market / Raspberry and white chocolate muffins – I found a fantastic muffin recipe where you can pretty much just add anything / coffee cake, baked for my housemates birthday / before and after shot of my blueberry muffins – delish! / Croissant and chocolate bread and butter pudding, a favourite of mine for winter evenings / roasted butternut and feta loaf, I am so going to be making this again even though it erupted in my oven / winter drinks / travel coffee, to keep me awake though changes in time zones / breakfast in Singapore – fresh fruit followed by a dessert of waffles and french toast with maple syrup, yum / blueberry cheesecake for a new housemate’s birthday / Disney cookies from Singapore / Another Singapore treat from Matt and Nat, poached chocolate, totally indulgent / mini microwave popcorn for one, thanks to Graze / South African Tennis Biscuits to make a special pudding / the special pudding, Peppermint Crisp Pudding / Salted caramel, so fun to make / my favourite Christmas time drink, honeycomb hot chocolate / saffron and garlic mayonnaise, a food fair find / choc chip cookies, this has to be the recipe of the year 2012, thanks Marna / a gift from one of my students, Christmas cupcakes, this mum was very talented, she also made Oreo cupcakes for the class party, mouth-watering / I gave edible gifts as Christmas presents this year / the best spoon ever, all the way from Australia and the Lint Cafe, to stir into hot chocolate  / Christmas snacks / Christmas eve coffee dates / funky wine bar in Singapore.

So many things baked, cooked, bought, tasted and eaten in 2012. Now for 2013! I can’t wait. I am excited for this year. My theme word for 2013 (yes I have a theme word, New Year’s resolutions are so last season) is MOVE! Maybe it is because I moved house with in the first few days of January, but move feels like a great word… get moving, get going, get growing, start living life to the full and making the most of each day! I can’t wait! I also feel that RED is this year’s colour for me…maybe its time to make a red velvet cake then… or use more raspberries, cherries, chorizo, paprika, chilli, peppers and saffron, hopefully not all in the same dish.

Hello 2013!

The final cake club of 2012 had to have a good theme. Winter, we had done and Christmas was too narrow, so I decided on Spice! There is so much baking you can do with spice and so many different spices. The possibilities are endless. I thought most people would turn to cinnamon but strangely cinnamon was not popular, ginger was. I decided to make ginger slices, a recipe my mother gave me, promising it was delicious. She was very very right in that statement. They were incredibly delicious. I did lick the icing bowl. 

Suzette and Lydie really impressed with their spice infused strawberry jam, incased in a curry cupcake with lemongrass-coconut frosting. (I hope I got that right Suzette) I actually thought they were joking for a second, but no they were serious. The taste was no joke either, everyone agreed that they were totally delicious! Well done Suzette and Lydie for being adventerous. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next time.

Ash also chose ginger and made ginger cornflake snaps with beautiful red cherries, making her treats look very festive. I am quite a fan of ginger so I enjoyed trying these snaps. Stand back rice crispy cakes, you have competition. 

You can never go wrong with chocolate and Marna had great fun creating a new brownie, a ginger-nut brownie. She added broken up ginger-nut biscuits to her brownie mix and the end result was scrumptious. It also sparked a whole conversation on ‘what is a ginger-nut?’ Thanks to google I found out that it just means a ginger biscuit or snap. Lizeli baked a spiced pumpkin loaf, which I was so tempted to try, as I have made butternut cake before and loved it. But one of the spices she did use was cinnamon and as I am allergic to it, weird strange peculiar I know, I had to watch everyone else enjoy it. 

These photos were all taken with my phone as I forgot to charge my camera, silly me.

I have so enjoyed hosting cake club this year. It has been great fun to share my love of food and baking with those that share this enjoyment too. I can’t wait for the first cake club of 2013…it’s going to be great!