What's on the Menu & Exam Freedom!

I cannot believe, my first year of university is over! Don't get me wrong, I have loved studying this year and I look forward eagerly to the rest of my degree (and post-grad, and whatever else, I'm an Arts student haha), but it is such a relief to be free of study for awhile. I have so many little plans for the summer break, and I've been counting down the days until I could free myself from the oppression of exam writing. 

This upcoming week I have plans to throw myself completely into the Blog With Pip course. I have been looking forward to it for months, but I am already behind! 

On another note, happy World Vegan Day! While Chris and I are still omnivores, we are still interested in occasionally eating and cooking vegan food. This morning we wondered down to the Melbourne Showgrounds for a festival showcase in honour of the day. It was great to get out of the house and try some of the delicious offerings available. Plus we had the best veggie burgers from Vegilicious catering. A bit of wondering further down the showgrounds resulted in us coming across the Masterchef kitchen (I completely forgot it was there!). I suspect we weren't meant to walk around the barrier and up the building, but we did anyway. I was in absolute awe of the herb gardens surrounding the building.

As for the week ahead and our foodie plans, here they are. Yesterday I was off at a last minute baby sitting job, so I was stuck with take away Thai for dinner. Chris, on the otherhand, apparently cooked an amazing chilli con carne with beans for himself. Nothing beats homemade food.

1) Tonight, keeping with the World Vegan Day theme, we tried out Janella's Tofu and Gado Gado Pies. With a delicious homemade spelt pastry and peanut sauce, they were pretty freaking good!

2) That lemon and calamari risotto from last week never eventuated due to a lat minute dinner date, so it's on the books again this week.

3) Dumpling soup is in order to use up all the wonton wrappers in our freezer!

4) Chicken and Pumpkin Laksa. 

5) A quick and easy frittata to use up a massive bunch of kale we scored at the market on the weekend. 

6) On my way to the gym the other day I came across a giant collection of rosemary stems and a sign saying they were free. So I gladly helped myself, and Chris has decided that this calls for a roast to use some of it up!

Expect to see me around a bit more in the coming weeks! I'll be sure to pop around the blogosphere as well.
What's on your menu this week?
Reanna.

Life Lately

Chai tea, Criminology readings for uni, and bed // Spring = fresh flowers around the house! // Asian lunch date while exploring Footscray the other day. Chris was in the midst of chewing when I snapped this, so I cropped his face out! // Whipping up some homemade nibblies // Chris is attempting to make kimchi! Fingers crossed it works.

Life seems so busy this semester, I can hardly keep track of time! Today was my last day of class at uni before finally getting a week off. Well overdue! 

I've been dreaming up recipes to try out and blog, but none have come into fruition. I will endeavour to try some over my week off! I tried to make a vegan jelly slice - completely of my own creation - so disaster ensued. It was edible, but a complete failure otherwise. I guess that what you get when you try make your own recipe from scratch. I will try again though!

Tonight I am heading out for dinner with a couple of friends to celebrate making it to the semester break, then I'm off back to Gippsland to visit the family for the weekend. So no meal plan this weekend, keep an eye out for it on Monday though!

How are things in your neck of the woods? Had any kitchen disasters lately?

Reanna.

What's on the Menu & Snapshots

I find myself lacking in words a bit today, so here's a few snapshots from my week. 

Moroccan feast, featuring homemade hummus, chermoula and pita bread // Trying out a braided crown for something different // Studying in the non-studying library at uni, so reckless. 

Here's what we are eating this week:

1) The Fakes (essentially lentils, vegies and spices) soup we had planned for last week never eventuated, due a lovely dinner request from a relative. So we'll try again this week.

2) Jamie's Southern Indian Rice and Seafood Soup sounds pretty good!

3) Moroccan grilled chicken skewers. Just something pretty simple, as we are both pretty busy the first few evenings of the week with work, meetings and interviews.

4) Vegan MoFo bloggers are still producing loads of delicious recipes, so I'll try these Walnut-Crusted Tofu. Something different!

5) Spaghetti bolognese. Can you ever go wrong with bolognese?

6) Braised Beef in Rich Peanut Sauce from my slowcooker cookbook. Again, for our busy start to the week!

7) Lamb steaks with leek sauce.

Today I'm off to have lunch with my dad and his wife. Should be good to get away from study for a bit! I have a History assignment on the horizon, and it's a bit daunting. 

How has your week been? What are you cooking?

Reanna. 

Boyfriend Friday & Other Musings

When this post from Meet Me At Mikes popped up in my bloglovin feed yesterday, I couldn't help but smile and join in. Chris wasn't exactly sure what was going on when I showed him the post and promptly began to raid his wardrobe! I settled on this Vespa tshirt, which I actually only recently bought for him. 

In other news, this week has seen my second semester at university start up. So I'm back to carrying around my giant backpack, fighting my way through the lines at Union House to use the microwaves, scoring free beers, avoiding the Socialist Alternative, and crying over my keyboard as I try write assignments. It's actually not that bad - I love uni and everything that it has to offer. 

This semester I am studying subjects from psychology, criminology, history (I have a feeling I may regret this one, I already have an enormous amount of reading to do!), as well as a subject called Sustainability in Developing Communities. It's a subject drawn from a range of disciplines across the university, and there is under fifty students in the class. We will be working in groups to create projects for this challenge run by Engineering Without Borders. This subject, while sounding incredibly interesting, looks like it will offer much more opportunity and experience then your usual information based subject. It also looks to be a bit of a challenge, so I can't wait to see how it plays out!

Tonight, I am visiting family back in freezing old Gippsland. Then it's back to the city to try and get ahead on uni study while I can! 

What's been happening for you this last week? Joining in on #boyfriendfriday?

Reanna. 

Planning & Dreaming

Semester two of university begins today, and I am actually excited to be starting again! University holidays go forever - don't get me wrong, I love holidays, but after awhile one can get pretty bored (especially when your part time job consists of selling bread and you don't have many hobbies). I love having structure in my life, and the feeling that I am achieving something doesn't go astray either.

While in Auckland, Chris mentioned to me he was thinking of setting a few goals for the upcoming semester. I often try and set myself goals, but I usually forget about them or give up due to not making them very achievable. However, this time around I've put in a bit more thought and I think they are all attainable. The fact that Chris has made goals too, and we've both stuck them on our desk in plain view, is also a bit more of a motivator. Fingers crossed!

1) Get involved in an extracurricular activity at uni or elsewhere.

This one is probably going to be the hardest to achieve. I'm not overly outgoing, but I would love to be involved in a club or society at uni, or join another social group. Even a sporting group! I think this is the most important goal I've set, as I really need to develop some stronger social links up here in Melbourne. 

2) Establish a more consistent exercise regime - run and do weights at least three times a week.

While I do try and keep active quite a bit, my lack of routine often results in me being highly inconsistent with my exercise. Some weeks I'll run nearly everyday, while others I might not get out at all! I'm hoping to try and develop a bit more concrete routine this semester, and allocate time to get out and move.

3) Increase my grade score average.

I've got a bit more of a hang of this uni-thang now, so hopefully I can work harder and more efficiently this semester.

4) Make friends within the blogging community.

While I'm still learning the ropes in this whole blogging world, I'd love to try and meet new people with similar interests. That's one of the main reasons I started blogging! I often find the amount of blogs - and how big the readership of some blogs can be - quite daunting, so hopefully I can gain a bit more confidence and develop my networking skills. 

5) Find a project for the summer holidays.

If I thought this semester break was long, then I'm in for it big time when it comes to the end of this semester. I think I worked out I get about... four months off uni? While I'll do the usual amount of part time work, catching up with friends and family, and hopefully get away for a bit, I'd love to have a project to work on during the break. I'm considering looking into doing a language course, or another short course in the city. Any suggestions?

So there we go - somewhat achievable, I think. There's only one way to find out! I'm eager to see how this second half of the year is going to pan out.
Have you set any major goals recently? Or are you part way through some already?

Annnd I thought I would just leave you today with a little Dr Seuss quote. I absolutely adore his work, and find his writing to resonate extremely well with life. So much so that I have a tattoo based upon a quote from the Lorax!

Reanna.