Maple Almond Butter

Recently I have been eating a lot of almond butter. Its like peanut butter, but made with almonds. I saw on another blog that she made her own almond butter from scratch. I loved this idea, especially because you can control what goes in it. Today I made maple cinnamon almond butter and it was delicious!! It takes awhile to really ground the almonds in a food processor but it was worth the wait in the end.

I baked a little over a cup of raw almonds in the oven with 1 1/2 tbsp of organic pure maple syrup at 325 for 15 minutes, stirring frequently so the almonds didn't stick and burn. After that I allowed them to cool for about 7 to 10 minutes. The almonds eaten just like this would be a treat in and of itself really.

Then I put the almonds, a little more maple, cinnamon and salt into my food processor. To get to a smooth consistency it took about 15 mins , and was super noisy in the beginning and you need to scrap the bowl a few times during the process. It goes from ground almonds to chunks to creamy. I ate it on an english muffin for breakfast and it was so good. I have lots of extra and have already gone back for a few tastes today!

p.s. I dropped my camera and can no longer see through the screen when I take photos so sorry some of these are not centered, I tried my best!!! I need a new camera asap.

Lululemon

I just got this new pair of lululemon pants and I am in LOVE with them. I can not rave about them enough. They are their Groove Pant, and the charcoal color is perfect. I wear a lot of lululemon clothes to work, but these are by far the most comfortable and flattering pants I have bought from them! I may be living in these for the foreseeable future.

Justin and his plants

Justin was pruning away this morning on his lime tree. It seems that we have been invaded by caterpillars and no matter what we do they keep coming back. They are massive as well, and have eyes! Our chili tree has also caught some sort of disease which is rather unfortunate. We have tried to salvage it and will have to wait for the results in due course. Turns out the Nicolson's are not the best farmers.

Fun Night Out

A few weeks ago we went to the opening night of a new club here called Tanjong Beach Club. It is a very cool place. It is all outdoors, there is a pool and it is right on the sand by the ocean. It was a super fun night out. They are throwing a big 4th of July party for all the American's next weekend which I am really looking forward to.

Engagement Photos

Today I picked up some canvas prints of our engagement photos. I have had credit with my photographer to order these for quite some time but just got around to ordering them about a month ago!

Looking at the pictures makes me laugh about what a day our engagement shoot was, it was anything but glamorous!! The day starting out with a normal Cessna melt down while getting ready. Growing up my sister and I were known to have complete panic attacks about what to wear to school and having our hair done badly before dances, you know the typical crises that teenage girls face. For the engagement shoot my photographer recommended a makeup artist to do my hair and makeup. She was reasonably priced, and since I don't normally wear a lot of makeup I thought it would be a nice treat so I gave her a try. Big mistake!!! Literally, I looked like a clown. I guess it was partially my fault because I just said to her that I liked natural makeup, which I guess can be interpreted differently by different people, especially different cultures. I looked in the mirror when she finished with the makeup and I had pink and purple eyeshadow and bright pink lipstick. I died! Without trying to offend her too much I made her start over. Long story short it turned out fine in the end and I learned a valuable lesson for my wedding day of how specific you need to be when having hair or makeup done by someone else.

Justin and I met the photographer in the afternoon at a park called Fort Canning, which is beautiful but SO humid. Right away we were sweating bullets. Then we start taking photos and Justin gets nervous! If you know Justin you know he usually prefers to take funny photos where he is making some type of face, and is hardly ever serious around a camera. When we first met it was so annoying when I would try to show my friends pictures of the guy I had a crush on and in every photo I would have to explain he doesn't really look like that, or he's just being silly again! In his defense he knows how much I love taking pictures and does give me good poses when I ask nowadays. Ok, back to the story, you could tell right away Justin just didn't feel comfortable. We didn't know our photographer very well at that point and it is kind of a weird situation to try to smile or gaze at each other while a stranger snaps away. After about a half hour we both loosened up and started feeling more comfortable in the different poses, but then it started to rain! We made the best of the situation, and of our clothes getting wet, and finished the shoot under cover. In the end the photos turned out great but the day was just one disaster after another. Originally we had a guest book made with our engagement photos for our wedding as a fun way to keep notes from friends and family, but I'm glad we finally have prints to hang up as well. Can't wait to get them on the wall!!!We have a pretty relaxed weekend ahead of us which I am looking forward to. xoxo

Happy Father's Day Dad!! xoxo

Weekend Recap

We went out everyday day and night this weekend! I still feel full after all the consuming, but we had a lot of fun doing it!

We ate at our favorite restaurant eM, it is walking distance from our place and is right on the river! We love it there.Saturday night we went to one of our favorite seafood restaurants called Red House. It is also a great setting right by the Singapore river.After dinner we went to watch the first 2 games of the World Cup at a local bar. Later that night I met up with girlfriends for a few drinks and lots of dancing!!Sunday we woke up early to go for a swim. There are lots of kids in our complex but if you get down to the pool early enough it is very peaceful and quiet.After our swim we went to brunch with some friends at the Hyatt Hotel. Brunch is a big deal in Singapore, they are every Sunday at most hotels. They are buffet style and free flow champagne for 3 1/2 hours. It always ends up being an extreme overindulgence, but never fails to be a fun Sunday.Throughout the brunch, the waiters kept going to tables to sing happy birthday to different people. They sang a really funny version of the happy birthday song, and we all kept cracking up!! Justin out of everyone seemed to enjoy it the most. When we were not paying attention our friend Michael told the waiters it was Justin's birthday, and we all lost it when they brought him cake and sang to him. It was so funny, even though it wasn't his birthday.Only two weeks left of the World Cup! We have some fun plans this week to watch the US and England games. Hope you had a good weekend as well!

Banana Coconut Flax Pancakes

What could be better!! High fiber pancakes from scratch!! I found this recipe on one of my new favorite blogs The Edible Perspective. One ingredient in these pancakes that I have never used is Coconut Flour! I was surprised I found it in the grocery store here, but was so happy when I did. Coconut Flour is a good source of protein, high in fiber, gluten free and low in digestible carbs. I followed the recipe exactly, and used Almond milk instead of coconut milk!

Banana Coconut Flax Pancakes
• 2T coconut flour
• 2T ground flax meal
• 1/2t baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 3/4t cinnamon
• 1/4c + 3T coconut milk [coconut milk is fairly thick, so if you’re using skim, almond, or another thin milk, decrease by 1T]
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 ripe banana
• 1t vanilla1. In a blender, blend eggs on high for about 30sec.
2. Heat + grease a large pan on medium/low heat. It takes longer, but will give you evenly browned, well cooked cakes!
3. Add other ingredients to blender and blend on medium speed for about 30sec.4. Let sit for a ~5 minutes [important step, so batter thickens] and then pour into the pan.
5. Cook for a few minutes on each side until evenly browned.I topped my pancakes with sliced banana, and fresh blueberries that I microwaved for 30 seconds! AMAZING way to start the day.

I just realized all my posts are about food, Justin or travel. It's not hard to see what my interests in life are! Have a good weekend.
xoxo

Cuzza, cuzza!!!!

Dus loves curry!! LOVES! When we first met I used to tell him I thought curry was gross, but I had actually never tried it. After he convinced me to taste curry, I have to say I fell in love as well. Little known fact about me I love anything and everything spicy, the spicier the better. And, I love sauce. Yep, that's right sauce. Whether that means a friendly condiment to accompany a sandwich, dips or a saucy curry I can't get enough of "sauce". When Justin is feeling like a curry he will usually chant "Cuzza, cuzza" to give his lovely wife the hint of what to make for dinner. When we lived in New York, we used to call Monday nights Monday night cuzza instead of Monday night football to make sure he got his weekly fix of curry. Anyways, this week was a CUZZA filled week. I made two back to back dinners that were curry inspired. Super delicious, super easy and a must try! First night was chicken curry pitas. I found this recipe on cookinglight.com. All you do is mix grilled chopped chicken, plain yogurt, curry powder, curry paste, spring onions and raisins. Put the mix into a pita with a little lettuce and tomatoes. So tasty, and seriously takes less that 15 minutes if you are having to cook the chicken. I opted out of the pita that night and served it over rocket. Delicious.The second night was a Thai fish curry. And since we just came from Thailand, I can tell you it is as good as any curry we had there. I don't normally toot my horn when it comes to my cooking, but seriously this deserved a toot toot. And since my husband is a cuzza connoisseur and LOVED this also it a must try. This recipe is a little more complicated than the one above, so instead of listing everything just click here to get the full recipe. I used half the amount of coconut milk that was requested and added a little water in the recipe to save on calories and don't think it hurt the taste at all. I also added fresh chopped chili since the yellow curry paste I bought was mild. I served it with steamed jasmine rice and steamed Chinese baby kai lan. YUMMYThis has nothing to do with cuzza, but this morning while heading out for a bike ride a little baby lizard ran into our apartment. Look at how small he is!! We captured him and put him in a garden outside.World cup starts this weekend, and I bet you are not as excited as my husband. The England game starts at 2:30am our time Sunday morning, and we will be out in full force to support. I probably should be supporting the American team, but since I don't really care about football (aka soccer) I am jumping on the England bandwagon. Have a good weekend :) xoxo

No Bake Cheesecake

I was elected to make a birthday cake for my boss today. I asked her husband what she likes, and he said nothing chocolate. I was kinda stuck on what to make since my specialties are brownies, cake and cookies that all include chocolate so after discussing some ideas with a coworker she recommended making cheesecake. I found a super easy recipe that requires no baking, and it actually turned out really good so I wanted to share. Beware, this is not healthy at all. But then again not many desserts are! Justin snapped some photos of me preparing it this morning, don't mind the sweaty mess that I am in, I had just finished a spin class.You can find a link to the recipe here, if you try this I didn't make the sauce topping so not sure how that tastes but the filling and crust is delicious. Enjoy! :)

My new favorites

I am always trying to add nutrients or use healthier ingredients in our meals without compromising taste. I recently found a great organic food store here that I LOVE that carries so many fabulous products. My 3 favorite items right now are agave nectar, wheat germ and apple cider vinegar. Ok, none of these sound that "fabulous" but trust me they are!! Agave Nectar is a natural sweetener. It is in a liquid form so you can add it into teas or coffee, I also add it to my apple cider vinegar but I'll get to that in a sec. I prefer it to adding sugar into anything. Wheat germ is flaky and has a nutty taste. I add it into so many things, it is similar to ground flax that I mentioned in an early post. It is a concentrated source of several essential nutrients including vitamin E and is high in folic acid and many other minerals like iron and zinc. But most importantly it is a good source of fiber. I use it as a bread crumb substitute on many meat dishes, I also add it to shakes or oatmeal and cereal. And lastly apple cider vinegar!! This is my newest addition. This stuff has SO many benefits its crazy. Here are just a few that I copied from a website

• Reduce sinus infections and sore throats
• Balance high cholesterol
• Cure skin conditions such as acne
• Protect against food poisoning
• Fight allergies in both humans and animals
• Prevent muscle fatigue after exercise
• Strengthen the immune system
• Increase stamina
• Increase metabolism which promotes weight loss
• Improve digestion and cure constipation
• Alleviate symptoms of arthritis and gout
• Prevents bladder stones and urinary tract infections

You can take 1 to 2 tablespoon in a glass of water mixed with a little honey or agave nectar in the mornings. It is vinegar so the taste is strong, but diluted in water and with a little sweetener it is drinkable. It really isn't that great, so you can also use it in salad dressing or anything else you would use vinegar for. Try them!! You won't be disappointed. xoxo

Sailing

Last week we spent 6 days and 5 nights sailing around Thailand. We had a 43 foot sailboat that we shared with our good friends Anna and Bambos and our Skipper Chris. We learned SO much about sailing. The nautical language alone was hard to grasp, and tying all those knots was a whole different story. It is actually pretty hard work to hoist and lower sails, switch directions due to wind, hook on to a floating buoy, steer the boat in the correct direction so the wind gives you the most momentum etc. We still need a lot of practice before we can skipper a boat alone, but we are more than enthusiastic to continue learning.

Every night we docked at a different island. There are no "docks" at the islands we visited so we would anchor out at sea and then we had a motorized dinghy that we would jump on to have dinner or go out at night. We started and ended in Phuket and visited several islands, the most well known being Krabi and Phi Phi Island. Our days consisted of waking up early and going for a swim, then setting off to a remote island where we would stop for lunch and snorkeling, and then sail again to the destination we would anchor at for the night. Some nights we cooked dinner and stayed on the boat, and other nights we would go ashore for Thai curries and drinks. Here is a map below of the area we covered over the week, the marina we left from in Phuket is on the east side of the island so you can get an idea of the route we were on. Below are a few of my favorite shots of the week!!On our first night we docked in lower Phuket. We sailed up to the cove we were staying at at sunset and this giant Buddha statue was an incredible sight.
This was the sunset on our third night when we docked in Phi Phi Island.
We went on land that night. After we had dinner we walked around the beach bars that were full of locals doing fire dances and tricks with just about anything that they could light on fire.
Some of our favorite times were during the day when we would anchor to have a dip and snorkel. The water was so clear, and the coral and fish were beautiful.This was our last shot of the trip!
Justin and I absolutely loved every second of the week. It was one of the best vacations we have been on. Sailing will definitely be apart of our lives in the future. We are already planning our next sailing trip and plan to join the sailing club of Singapore to practice our new skills. To see the rest of our photos click here!

This trip was courtesy of Justin's parents as a Christmas present last year. They are always so generous and this was a gift that provided us with memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you Sheena and Thomas!!