YuM PuD!

So here we are on the 10th day of January… the 10th day of a New Year. We have been so busy at work that I honestly feel as though the New Year was several weeks ago! Not a mere 1.5 weeks ago!
The New Year hasn’t made a massive impact on me as yet, however is it safe to say the year is nowhere near over?

One thing I am proud of this year is making a homemade dish for the first time ever…. successfully! One of my favourite foods is YuM ChA! And traditionally when we go out to have it, we like to end it with either Mango Pancakes or Mango Pudding. Notice a trend here? LoL
As we have found a fantastic local restaurant right here in the Illawarra that does YuM ChA on weekends only Jasbelle Restaurant has made us VERY happy locals. However as their menu is limited no matter how divine their dishes are, they unfortunately do not make either of these dessert dishes. So instead of missing out, I thought I’d give it a try. And I successfully made Mango Pudding! It was so simple to make & so devilishly awesome to eat! I do believe it is the first time I’ve ever heard my fiance make a “noise” when placing a spoonful of food into his mouth!

So here is the Recipe I followed:

Mango Pudding

2 Mango
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk (replace some or all with cream or skim/full milk)
3 Teaspoon Gelatin

*Remove all Flesh from Mango.
*Place into Food Processor (or equivelant) & pulse briefly a few times.
*Place water into saucepan & bring to light boil.
*Whisk in Gelatin until dissolved.
*Add to water mixture the Sugar & whisk until dissolved.
*Add this mixture to Mango in Food Processor.
*Add Milk then pulse briefly 2 or 3 times.
*Pour into ramikins for individual serves.
*Chill in fridge for no less than 2 hours, the longer the better.
*Enjoy!

Couldn’t be easier?! Please give it a try for yourself!

Leave me a message to let me know your thoughts xx

Olli's Christmas Message

So it has been a very long time since I last posted & typical story.. life just keeps getting in the way! Haha.

We have some goals set for this year which are financially going to hurt us, but are necessary for the better of our future.
Dean has surgery due around the beginning of March in which we need a few thousand dollars for. Then once he has recovered, we are back on the Infertility train. We will be attempting our first try of IVF, using PICSI. We are needing to pay up front roughly $9000.00 of which we will get a fair whack of that back from both Medicare & our Health Fund. But it’s finding the money to begin with that is going to be the struggle.

On a brighter note, I am now working at My Baby Warehouse in Wollongong. I have been wanting this job since we moved to the Illawarra & applied for a position in the store a few times. I am a Casual employee, however I m getting plenty of work.

We have 3 birds as pets now in our household. Each of them I will blog about at a later date. Olli however, is pictured above wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas 2011!

As it’s now the first week of 2012 & indeed almost smack bang in the middle of Summer in Australia…. however the season has only just raised it’s head! We have the aircon on today & leading up till now, this Summer season of 2011 was very slow & quite cool. The New Year has brought the warmer weather. We have a good position where our house is situated, which brings the sea breeze in the afternoon & dies down enough to enjoy sitting outside during & after dinner in our outdoor area.

I wish everyone a safe New Year & hope that 2012 brings lots of fun & excitement to all of you.

Breakfast: Vanilla shake, Berrocca.

Lunch: Optifast Choc Bar & Benefibre.

Dinner: 2 cups of thick veg soup (zucchini, carrot, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, Garlic & Ginger) & 1 Optifast Berry Crunch Bar.

So as for today……
Had a nice sleep in & a quiet morning. Then Mum, Mum in law, Dean & myself went shopping at Stocklands  Shellharbour. Mum & I had haircuts, then continued on with a little retail therapy. Bought some new clothes for mum. Lay-byed a new Tshirt & Nightie for myself. Went to the food court so the others could have lunch (which I suffered through for the first time in this journey) then purchased seafood for tonight’s dinner.
We came home to relax & watch the V8s on tele & were shocked at the incident that occurred at Ipswich Raceway where a Mini hurtled into the crowd injurying 2.
Dean & I began preparing the meal for the household – Shallow-Fried Spice Coated Squid & Fresh Prawns with oven cooked homecut chips & Salad. Lynda doesn’t eat seafood so I coated strips of chicken thigh fillet in Chinese Five Spice & Cornflour. Apparently these were all nice, however of course I ate my 2 cups of salad without too much complaint(!) & hoped that the rest of the family enjoyed theirs.
After dinner we went upstairs where Dean, Mum & myself relaxed in the lounge watching Avatar for the first time. OMG! We were so blown away by it & loved every minute! I even asked Dean at the end if we could watch it yet again LOL. We can totally understand what all the hype was about it, though we never realy expected it not to be exciting.  We do however regret not going to see it at the cinema. Now I am ready to settle down for the night before spending time housecleaning tomorrow in preparation for next Thursday. Only a few days to go now!!!!

Today:
Breakfast: Strawberry shake.

Lunch: Optifast Choc Bar & Benefibre.

Dinner: 2 cups salad (Baby Spinach Leaves, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumber, Green Capsicum, Alfalfa Sprouts with soy sauce) & 1 Optifast Choc Bar.

I’ll bet you get carried away once you realise you can!

1) I am updating my site with a few small but significant changes

2) I have been using Entrecard to drop cards on others’ blogs & these are a select few of my favourites that I enjoy on a regular basis

3) I would like to share these sites with others.

Over time I will add more of my favourite blogging sites. It does not matter whether they are Entrecard users or not. If I find it an interesting site & it makes me come back often for a read, then it will be added.

Here are the 4 new featured sites on my Blogroll, which you can find on the right hand side panel of my site.

Lightening’s Garden

Our Great Southern Land

Cromely’s World

Alive

THANK YOU to each & every one of you for the efforts you put into your blogs each day. Your hard work brings joy to my day & offers me challenges, advice & topics of conversation to enjoy with others.

I was sent this clip in an email many years ago & have often referred to it for a giggle.

I am getting ready to go Ten Pin Bowling with SK. We have joined a league with Shellharbour Bowl & even though SK has experience playing both league & tournament in W.A. for years, this is my first experience outside of a social game with family &/or friends. I am very excited & a little nervous as I get embarrassed easy at my poor *ahem* ball skills. However whilst waiting for dinner to finish cooking & before we go out, I decided to hop online & find the video to keep my spirits high. Here I share this video with you guys.

Hope it gives you as much enjoyment as it has me in the past, the present & I’m sure well into the future  )

I Stumbled Upon a website called netdisaster & found myself quite amused by the offerings from Denis.

Basically in the fields provided, you type in a link of a website you want to “disasterize”. Try with your own to begin with. Then you select the method of disaster to hit your site. Depending on your choice, you may be given some other options as well. Click on Go then watch your desired site get “disasterized”! (There is no damage done to your chosen site at all of course, however you can view the Disclaimer on the site to relieve any worries if any caused).

I have experimented with a few options on how to watch my site get “disatserized”. I’ll bet that once you add your own site, you’ll try several disasters before realising how time realy does fly when your having fun!

Have fun!