food | Liz Niland

Week of Eats: New Year’s cheer in Melbourne

January 11, 2015 6:45 pm , Leave a Comment , lizniland

Before we get into the ins and outs of the eats, I have an exciting announcement to make following our Melbourne trip…

Yay! Michael proposed as we were strolling around Melbourne’s King’s Domain Gardens and I excitedly accepted! Stay tuned for further developments & planning 🙂 For now though, back to your regular scheduled programming.

While we still made it to our favourites, our eats in Melbourne on this trip took us to a couple of new spots. One of the standout new-to-us eateries was BARRY. A short tram or taxi ride (we recommend tram if your taxi driver smells anything like ours did *shudder*) away in hip Northcote, BARRY has a creative menu full of inspiring food and drinks which are well worth the 20-minute wait for a table.

Living in the coffee hub of Newcastle, it takes some impressive bean work to get us excited but this coconut cold brew was a winner. With an accompanying bottle of coconut milk for a dash to taste, it’s a refreshing take on caffeine.

It’s not all about the coffee here though: once the food landed on the table, it’s easy to see why this place is packed to the rafters at brunch o’clock.

Benedict eggs, slow braised free range ham hock, apple cider hollandaise and granny smith apple on a potato hash brown; don’t mind if I scrape every last morsel of it from my plate! Anyone cafe can do an eggs benny but this one was next level – creativity and quality produce are a killer combination.

Cumulus Inc is a long-standing breakfast favourite of ours in Melbourne but, while we’d sampled the wine list in the classy-but-cosy bar upstairs, we hadn’t been in for a dinner service. With no room at the inn downstairs, Cumulus Up had four stools free at the bar overlooking the kitchen for us and our two friends – jackpot!

Now I know how much I love duck waffle, foie gras and prune. We feasted on most of the menu – including (but definitely not limited to) the steak tartare, the ricotta dumplings, the roast potatoes – and loved every mouthful.

Another favourite is, of course, Movida. It was lovely to share dinner there with our uninitiated friends. We revisited a couple of dishes (the menu doesn’t change a whole lot over time) but this Ajoarriero – salted cod roe with potato and piquillo pepper – was a delicious tapa I hadn’t tried before. And you can bet I kept it all to myself.

We totally indulged with the dessert menu too. I managed to post the almond parfait with lemon curd ice cream on Instagram before we forked in.

Fun fact: Aussie model Abbey Lee Kershaw was dining with us at Movida. Sure, she was at another table, but we knew who she wished she was chowing down with.

Late breakfasts and deluxe dinners resulted in low key lunches most days. A picnic of (bun-less) Grill’d is always an easy option, especially when you’re trying to find food in bustling St Kilda on a sunny day! Mmm sweet potato fries…

And sneaking in as the last entry in this round of Week of Eats, we have takeaway long blacks from Brother Baba Budan (left) and Cup of Truth (right).

Both coffees were quality but bonus points go to Cup of Truth for the hidden location – I had no idea where Michael was taking me when we were getting to it! It’s tucked away in the Degraves Street subway station so don’t rely on your GPS knowing where the devil it is.

Hope you had a fabulous festive season!

Posted in: Eats, Latest eats , Tagged: coffee, food, love, Melbourne, travel

Review: Nourish by Lorna Jane Clarkson

January 10, 2015 11:17 am , 1 Comment , lizniland

It’s becoming increasingly apparent, through whatever wholefood-focused eating plan you follow, that low-fat dairy, wheat-based filler and low-calorie pre-packaged snacks are old news. Nourish champions a movement for less dairy, meat and simple carbs and more veggies, fish and healthful fats like coconut, avocado and olive oil.

While it’s not groundbreaking stuff for those who’ve spent some time moseying around a paleo-inspired path, it’s a promising sign that young girls looking up to the designer of their tights and crop tops will fill up on more than just air and apples.

Proving she’s got the chops for much more than dreaming up tank top designs and fitspo slogans Lorna Jane Clarkson’s recipes are mighty tasty and most are simple and quick to whip up. I’ve had this book for quite a few months now and it is a top shelf favourite.

Assuming you’re down with chia seeds, all up on gluten-free whole grains and hip to your nut “mylks”, Nourish is a totally accessible cookbook and healthy living manifesto which goes well beyond green smoothies and salads.

The recipes on the highest rotation are the frittatas and the Breakfast Smoothie (don’t tell Sarah Wilson what’s in it though – hello banana, honey & mango!). That smoothie gets varied depending on what’s in the fridge (I’ve subbed the banana & spinach for avocado & it worked a treat) and we usually eat a couple of eggs with it for added protein too.

The frittatas are a great way of using up leftovers too – an excess cooked chicken thigh, some sagging greens and scrapings of a forgotten jar of pesto have all made their way into this recipe. They’re those special recipes that, once you nail the basic format, you can choose your own adventure.

This Christmas our young teenage nieces got a copy of this book. They’re at an age where the food they eat now will shape what kind of food they eat when they move out of home & have to fend for themselves. The girls are keen to learn about new foods and taste test different things so it’s a great time to get them excited about real foods.

The thing I like most about Nourish is, as the name suggests, the focus on nourishing your body – not on eating to a particular label or restricting anything in particular. By filling yourself up with good food and focusing on having things that your body needs, you can stay healthy without it becoming an obsession.

Lorna Jane is becoming a healthy living juggernaut but I couldn’t be happier with the message she’s peddling. Inspire away, LJ!

Posted in: Eats, Review , Tagged: Cooking, food, lorna jane, review

Week of Eats: Chiang Mai edition

December 15, 2014 11:00 am , 1 Comment , lizniland

If ever there was a week of eats worthy of a Week of Eats post, this most definitely would have to be up there! So as I mentioned in my Chiang Mai cooking school post, some of the best food I ate was what I cooked for myself. But, lets be honest, that’s a big some in a very delicious week!

I have a friend who is mortified by even the concept of a three-second rule and slathers hand sanitiser on religiously before meals. It is these friends that will struggle in Thailand. I took the above photo while waiting for the below food… and that pad thai was an absolute ripper.

While it can feel a bit strange to eat food from a kitchen like this, if it’s good enough for the locals, it’ll be perfect for you. When I was in China for a few months in 2008, those of us that ate local food avoided any hint of an off belly. Others that tried to find western-style food for most of their meals were the ones who struggled to maintain their delicate digestive balance.

On our first night in Chiang Mai, we weren’t quite sure where everything was and we were quite keen to find whatever food was easiest so we could just go sleep away the plane trip. We found a busy street-side restaurant (busy with locals is the key to success!) and I chowed into this simple fried rice and a mango & coconut milk smoothie – it was heaven to our bleary eyed selves!

I’d looked up a few cafes before we left on the trip and one that kept coming up as a winner was Free Bird Cafe. A fundraising arm for the not-for-profit Thai Freedom House, this cafe had vegan treats, coconut milk smoothies and coffees. Everything was delicious & pretty creative too: Michael got a coconut that came with an espresso which you’re encouraged to tip into your coconut. He was impressed!

The Inpoo Food Shop became the #PNTHAILAND14 headquarters by the end of the trip. It’s where we had day 2 of our cooking classes and was across the road from our accommodation. Som is one talented lady in the kitchen. We’ve since tracked a tom kha gai down at a Thai restaurant back here in Newcastle but it just makes us miss Som’s version.

Another notable restaurant was Cherng Doi Roast Chicken. Recommended by Nom Nom Paleo, this restaurant was the host of an all-in culinary ninja feast. I think a lot of chicken was probably harmed in the feeding of our group. It went to a good place though, a good delicious place.

Given we were in Chiang Mai at the same time as the Yi Peng Lantern Festival, we got the opportunity to sample even more street food than what would normally line the streets of downtown Chiang Mai. Meatballs, grilled chicken and sausages galore were all on offer and made for good dinner fare.

But my favourite of all the things on skewers in Chiang Mai was undoubtedly the grilled banana. Served with a take-it-or-leave-it creme anglais dressing, these bananas were fascinatingly tasty – not squishy, barely caramelised and not too sweet. Food van people of Australia: get on to these – I want to eat them when I wander the markets here too!

Posted in: Eats, Latest eats , Tagged: chiang mai, food, travel

When in Chiang Mai: Fresh food markets

December 13, 2014 10:22 am , 2 Comments , lizniland

On a Culinary Adventure with Paleo Nick and Steph from Stupid Easy Paleo it’s probably not surprising to know that we never strayed too far from food-focused activities.

The fresh food markets dotted all across Chiang Mai were really interesting – not just for the photogenic subject matter, but also for the many different items on offer & the characters working there.

There’s no Coles, Kmart or Woolworths – this is where you buy your food whether you own a restaurant or are just cooking for the family at home. Som, our chef-friend from the Inpoo Food Shop, often buys her curry paste fresh from the markets, along with all her other produce, to save time.

As westerners accustomed to often frozen but at least refrigerated, pre-packaged fresh food it was a little off putting to see piles of fresh meat and fish on display.

The thing is though, the fish is so fresh it’s still flapping about first thing in the morning and the meat is snapped up almost as soon as it’s put on display. The demand for produce seems to far outweigh the fresh food ready for purchase.

Chiang Mai is blessed with so many different types of fruit. Dragonfruit, jackfruit, the infamous durian, bananas, pineapple, papaya: the list goes on.

While we didn’t go near a durian, I tried dragonfruit and jackfruit for the first time and probably ate my weight in pineapples and bananas while I was in the country!

The fresh food markets of Chiang Mai are almost inescapable but they’re certainly worth exploring. It was such a great opportunity to learn more about the food and culture of Chiang Mai.

Check out my Chiang Mai tag to read my other posts about my Culinary Adventure.

Posted in: Eats, Life , Tagged: chiang mai, food, paleo, travel

When in Chiang Mai: Cooking classes

November 27, 2014 11:00 am , 7 Comments , lizniland

There was no way a Culinary Adventure to Chiang Mai with Paleo Nick and Steph from Stupid Easy Paleo was going to go down without a cooking class or two! We ate plenty of delights while we were in Thailand but honestly, the most delicious things I enjoyed were those we made for ourselves during these cooking schools. (Commence the tooting of our own horns!)

Cooking School #1: Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School

Situated a little way out of town, the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School is a very snazzy purpose-built treehouse with picturesque semi-rural surrounds. With access to all the bells and whistles (or utensils and gas burners, as the case was) we learnt how to make a whole menu of delicious Thai dishes and even got a cookbook to recreate the magic at home.

While the food was all super tasty, this class certainly wasn’t paleo – Nick’s face at the mention of soybean oil in a hot wok has akin to that of a small child after a fall, in that quiet moment of realisation before they let out the epic scream. There was soy sauce, seed oils, refined sugar and rice products galore. I thought that Thai food wouldn’t be too far from paleo but we quickly came to the conclusion that, just like back home, unless you make it yourself, it’s pretty hard to know exactly what’s in your meal.

Case in point was this fried noodle dish… but just quietly, it was one of my favourites! It’s not something I can see myself trying to recreate at home so it was total guilt-free vacation food. I’m not much of a pizza and cakes kind of girl – give me a random interesting dish like this that’s totally different to my everyday eats & I’m there.

This involved frying a little pile of sauced-up rice noodles until they started to crisp up together into a pattie. It was then set aside while the pork and vegetable mixture hit the wok. See, somehow I don’t think this one will be the same if I attempt to paleofy it with zucchini noodles!

The closest-to-paleo dishes at this school were the Chicken in Coconut Milk Soup, the Red Curry with Fish and the Papaya Salad. By switching to coconut oil and using a good clean curry paste, the curry has already found its way into my kitchen and I’m keen to try out the soup soon too. I may just have to post up my recreation!

One of the fun things about this cooking school was learning how to prepare ingredients in the Thai way. We learnt all the ways to slice green onion and how to cut a chilli depending on your heat-preference, as well as some kitschy decorative skills. In the vegetable dish above the curry, you’ll be able to see my green onion art and possibly make out the star I carved atop my mushroom, while below, note my attempt of a tomato rose. I haven’t cracked these out on my home dinners yet but I might just have to at least get a tomato flower into a salad sometime soon!

Originally, we were going to have 2 days out at this cooking school but, while we learnt a lot about how the flavours of Thai food work and what the foundation ingredients are, we weren’t so fussed on learning how to make more food we’d have to paleofy so much to cook at home. Enter the Inpoo Food Shop.

Cooking School #2: Stupid Easy Paleo Nick Cooking Class

Across the road from our accommodation was a small restaurant named Inpoo Food Shop. Fronted by a roadside kitchen (wo)manned by Som with occasional assistance from her tuk-tuk driving significant other Payut, Inpoo was a deliciously easy favourite with the ninjas. Nick befriended the couple on day 1 and by the time we needed a second day of cooking school, Som graciously let us take over her restaurant.

We broke up into small teams to tackle a dish from a menu Nick created. I joined with Jose and Jen to become the Friendship Curry team. Using what we’d learnt at the first cooking school but applying paleo principles, we put together a list of ingredients and hit the markets to shop for what we needed.

Lucky for us, Som made us a fresh batch of curry paste to use (as well as a plate of her pad thai for us to taste-test!) so we didn’t need much more than some eggs, pork, coconut milk and a couple of fresh vegetables.

And didn’t it turn out pretty! To boost the protein, Jen had the brilliant idea of decorating the top of the curry with boiled eggs. I was sceptical at first but I loved the finished product – both the flavour and the texture of the eggs really complemented the spicy curry. I’m keen to try doing this in my own kitchen now too.

Our team was pretty special – we were the only group with each person from a different country! I’m Australian, Jen is from Malaysia and Jose resides in the U.S. We thought that was totally appropriate for a team taking on a Friendship Curry.

It wasn’t all about the Friendship Curry though – the other dishes that made the final feast were chicken satay skewers, laarb with cabbage leaves for scooping and wrapping, an epic fruit salad served up on a banana leaf and a spicy papaya salad. We invited Som & Payut to dig in first and then we all finally got to sample each others dishes. The feast even lured in some hungry Canadian backpackers so they piled up a plate too.

It was such a fun challenge at the Inpoo but I think we really needed the first day’s cooking school to be able to know what we were doing once we were on our own. Even just knowing what all the different vegetables were at the markets would have been difficult without a bit of education. Being able to take on the Inpoo kitchen with Som really solidified the skills and techniques we learned at school #1. Even though it was a bit of an unplanned change, I thought our whole cooking class experience was great fun and totally beneficial for my expanding my cheffing abilities.

Have you seen my other posts about Thailand? So far I’ve posted about why I went to Chiang Mai, the amazing Chiang Mai lantern festival and the elephant park and ziplining adventure. It was a great trip!

Posted in: Eats, Life , Tagged: chiang mai, Cooking, food, paleo, travel

Quick wins for a better life #1: Hold out for lunch

August 19, 2014 9:54 pm , Leave a Comment , lizniland

#1: Hold out for lunch | Quick win for a better life| lizniland.com

Original photo by By Rayi Christian W

It’s 11.15am. You had a good breakfast, even downed a coffee an hour or two ago, but now you’re hungry. Legit hungry. Hungry like that fruit bowl/emergency nut stash/co-worker’s lolly jar is not looking like it will survive much longer.

Thing is though, lunch is coming. You know you only need to hold out for another hour and you can chow down on your beautifully balanced, nourishing lunch.

Can you wait? Can you make a cup of tea or refill your water bottle and just hold off eating until lunchtime?

Of course you can.

You might not want to believe it, but you can. If you can keep doing continuous power cleans until the bell, if you can keep running until you reach the end of the street, if you can keep nodding and smiling through that horribly awkward dinner date; you can wait another hour for lunch.

It’s that well-known battle of mind over matter. With our instant gratification culture, we’re always wanting more before we’re done with what we’ve got. Yeah you could scarf a handful of nuts (healthy fats right?) or get a treat from the fundraising box (it’s helping the children, afterall!) but really, what’s another hour?

Stick to your plan.

Sarah Wilson does good words on why unnecessary snacking is bad news for both body and mind. She refers to it as “pre-eating” saying:

“…it could have a lot to do with being scared of restraint and lack. Many of us fear that feeling of missing out and the feeling of ’emptiness’, for a whole quagmire of really messy reasons. We shove food down on top of hunger, hoping it will silence all other emptiness or flutteriness we might be feeling.”

If you’re ravenous all the time though, that might be another story. Steph from Stupid Easy Paleo has great tips for making sure your diet is doing its part of the deal.

This week I’m working hard to actually be hungry when I show up to my meals. I’m making sure I’m hydrating adequately and checking in with myself to make sure I’m really hungry (& not just stressed or bored). It also gives me an incentive to put more effort into making sure my meals are worth the wait.

Are you a snacker? Or do you prefer to stick to three solid meals. I used to graze constantly but since moving to a paleo eating template and upping my protein & fat intake a bit, my blood sugar seems to have really evened out which helps me avoid the dreaded hangries.

Posted in: Life , Tagged: food, life, Lunch, paleo, quick wins, sarah wilson

Week of eats: A batch of winter breakfasts

August 13, 2014 7:49 pm , Leave a Comment , lizniland

Breakfast is my favourite meal. There, I said it. Like a mother declaring the favourite child, here I am announcing where my heart truly lies – let’s hope karma doesn’t make me ruin my dinner now!

I’ll start this round up off with the only brekkie here that I didn’t make: a beautiful vegan rice porridge from my favourite weekend haunt, One Penny Black. Accompanied by a long black and a good tabloid newspaper, it was a delicious way to start off my Sunday! Michael’s doing a 10,000 steps challenge with his work at the moment so after we chowed this breakfast down, we went for an epic walk. So epic, in fact, that he doubled his goal for the day!

Three, sometimes four, mornings per week I train at Gritshed before the sun has even sensed that its alarm is about to go off. I don’t eat before I work out so by 7am when I get home, I’m ravenous! I’m never satisfied with just a smoothie, especially on a training day, so I decided to start serving one up with some quick fried eggs topped with a scoop of homemade sauerkraut. This is a fun colourful breakfast that is guaranteed to keep my belly happy.

It’s been almost a year since I cut out the grains and dairy but I’ve recently been introducing buckwheat into my morning meal to great success. I find soaking it overnight & then warming it up with some creamy coconut or almond milk in a porridge is a beautiful way to kick into gear on a cold morning. Give my dairy-free buckwheat, chia & maca porridge a try for yourself!

If I have oven space & a few minutes to spare on the weekend, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find me putting a batch of granola together. I always experiment with whatever flavours I have available. This one was made with coconut flakes, buckwheat puffs and a few other scoops of fruits and seeds. If you haven’t made one for yourself before, give my Grain-free fig and hazelnut granola a crack and then start experimenting.

Want some more breakfast ideas? Here’s my round up of squeaky-clean paleo breakfast options.

What’s your favourite thing to have for breakfast? While I love my eggs & savoury brekkies, I’m really enjoying a good porridge lately – I blame winter! A guy I work with can’t even stand the thought of breakfast – that could never be me!

Posted in: Eats, Latest eats , Tagged: Breakfast, food

Pork Ewe Deli + Endive, fig & root veg salad

August 3, 2014 10:16 pm , Leave a Comment , lizniland

An epically delicious wagyu bresaola at our favourite Spanish restaurant, Barrio 2304 (post to come!), led us to check out the new-to-town charcuterie, Pork Ewe Deli on Saturday morning.

Situated on Maitland Road, Mayfield, this deli brings the best flavours from around Australia and Europe to Newcastle in the shape of amazing cheeses, cured meats, terrines, pate and pretty much any other deli-cacy (see what I did there!) you can imagine.

We snaffled up a slim wedge of Beaufort cheese (a French raw cow’s milk cheese) and a pile of freshly sliced capocollo (dry-cured pork neck) but wow, everything in the cabinet looked absolutely delicious.

While we certainly would’ve been happy to kick back and chow down on our purchases straight up for lunch, in a bid to get some more nutrients into the mix, I put together a hearty salad to accompany our unpasteurised French cheese & mouth-wateringly awesome-sauce deli meat.

Recipe: Endive, fig & root veg salad

Root vegies of your choice (parsnip would be great, potatoes, turnip, swede & onions will also work a treat)
A bunch or two of baby endive
~10 fresh mint leaves
Handful of dried figs (sliced & soaked in a little bowl of water for 20 minutes)
Dressing: 1 teaspoon of pomegranate molasses + juice of half a lemon + olive oil + salt & pepper

Roast a pile of whatever root veg you have floating around – I opted for chunks of sweet potato & swede with a sliced red onion for good luck. I find that you can never roast too much veg – I always try and roast double what I think we’ll need and it never seems to go to waste.

Sprinkle your favourite selection of seasonings on top – I went with olive oil, sesame seeds, ground cumin, hazelnut meal, some dried thyme & dried chilli flakes – before throwing it all in a hot oven to soften up & crisp nicely around the edges.

While the oven is doing its thing, slice your dried figs and get them soaking. When they’re in season, fresh figs would be ideal here.

For a dressing, I kept it simple with pomegranate molasses, lemon, a crackle of fresh salt & pepper and a good glug of olive oil. Whisk it until combined, or better yet, put your ingredients in a little jar & shake it like a polaroid picture.

Once the veg is done, toss everything together in a bowl & serve it up.

While I’m sure the French would be shaking fists that such a delicious cheese be served without a baguette, I can report that making a little taco out of your capocollo and filling it with tangy endive is a sure-fire way to keep your tastebuds onside.

If you’re a Newcastle native, or even in town for a visit, be sure to support this new local superstar. Pork Ewe Deli is definitely a new favourite of ours!

Posted in: Eats, Latest eats, Recipes , Tagged: food, local favourite, Lunch, newcastle, Recipe, salad

Darwin must-do: Mindil Beach Markets

August 2, 2014 5:51 pm , Leave a Comment , lizniland

If you’re visiting Darwin in the dry season (& from what I hear about the wet season, you definitely should visit in the dry) a trip to Mindil Beach Markets is a non-negotiable.

As you can probably gather from the above photo, the big attraction here isn’t necessarily the markets. While the sprawling collection of (mostly food) stalls is hard to beat, they’re merely there to fill your belly while you wait for the real show.

The markets are held on Thursday & Sunday evenings with hoards of locals and tourists alike hitting the beach from around 5pm onwards. We spread out a tarp between families building sandcastles and tucked into a ripping good laksa (which you may recall from my Week of Eats Darwin round up) and a few cheeky rice paper rolls.

It’s a reasonably long beach so as long as you get there early enough, there’s plenty of room to spend the afternoon relaxed with friends and family, regardless of how many kids are flicking sand about. Tip: Don’t forget your sunnies! Otherwise you’ll have stinging retinas until sundown.

I took so many photos as the sun was setting – it was tough culling a handful down to put in this post! Watching the sun set over the water is probably the most magical thing about Darwin.

You don’t realise how different it is to our east coast sunsets until you’re sitting there watching the fire in the sky gradually slide into the ocean.

With the tide all the way out, there were some amazing photo opportunities and I certainly wasn’t the only one lining up my camera on the sand! For any DSLR camera users, the settings that I found gave the best results for the sunset were shutter speed of 1/15 (this was when it was on the tail end of the sunset), aperture of f/16 and an ISO of 100. The only photoshopping the above image received was to shrink it down to size – things don’t really get more photogenic than that!

Darwin really gave us so many back-to-nature experiences (check out our Litchfield National Park trip) and this was definitely the most impressive sunset I’ve ever seen.

Have you witnessed a Darwin sunset? What’s you tip for best ever sunset?

Posted in: Life , Tagged: adventure, darwin, food, nature, travel

Week of eats: A taste of Darwin

July 23, 2014 11:01 pm , 2 Comments , lizniland

As I type with frozen finger tips, I definitely know I’m back home in the winter weather & no longer holidaying in Australia’s sunny ‘Top End’, Darwin. We flew in late last night & are still stepping over half-emptied bags and laundry piles.

Until I get all my photos sorted & some more thoughts organised, I thought I’d share some of the stand out food moments from Darwin’s restaurants, cafes & much-loved markets.

It has to be said: it’s hard sticking to our primarily Paleo eating template when there’s crocodile burgers to taste. This trio from the infamous Humpty Doo Hotel was our inspired grub of choice en route to see the jumping crocs – pics to follow, don’t you worry!

The Asian influence on the food scene in Darwin is particularly noticeable at the markets which pop up throughout the surrounding suburbs right across the weekend in the dry season. This laksa most definitely lived up to the recommendations we had from both locals and previous travellers. I got this at Mindil Beach Markets but apparently the favourite laksa-vendor to many is to be found at Parap’s Saturday markets.

The Asian influence (especially South East Asian) is not limited to market food – there are plenty of restaurants in Darwin dishing up rice paper rolls, creamy curries and spicy seafood. Chow was a notable favourite.

Good coffee in Darwin is notoriously hard to find but newcomer The Pearl offered one of the better beans (we ranked it 2nd behind Pierre’s long blacks at Rawgasm Cafe in the mall). Being from increasingly cafe-saturated Newcastle though, we are pretty snobbish with such things! While the coffee was certainly above the local average, it was the inspired cafe food that grabbed our attention. This Arabic rice pudding was a feast for the senses.

Have you been to Darwin? What were your thoughts on the food options?

I’ll be sharing more from our Top End adventure over the coming week – stay tuned!

Posted in: Latest eats , Tagged: Asian-inspired, cafes, coffee, darwin, food, restaurants, travel

Les Mills 21-day Nutrition Challenge

March 10, 2014 9:35 pm , 1 Comment , lizniland

Les Mills, the genius people behind my beloved Grit, has a 21 day challenge which basically involves going squeaky clean, low-carb paleo (with the addition of a post-workout shake) for 21 days.

I’ve been thinking of doing a Whole 30 or similar lately & when this was raised at Gritshed, I thought it would be an ideal way to reduce the number of sweet potatoes I was ploughing through & have a break from my nightly ~~dark chocolate~~ anti-oxidant habit.

Normal paleo rules are in play but there’s also guidelines around portion sizes and timing of meals, as well as reducing your starchy carb intake.

Here’s the lowdown from Les Mills food dude Corey Baird:

So who’s with me?

I’m kicking this off on Wednesday March 19th & will be rolling through until Wednesday April 9th. For those clever cats playing at home, yep, that’s 22 days. Why is that? Well, it’s our anniversary in early April & we have a deluxe dinner booked at our favourite local restaurant Subo. While they do the most deliciously delicate meals of mostly locally sourced ingredients, I’m not missing out on a decadent feast due to possible traces of starchy carbs.

That’s my declaration of my only off-the-plan meal. I’m making the choice here to indulge in something I’m planning & totally looking forward to. This is vastly different to chowing into a block of chocolate at 9pm, or devouring a parcel of hot chips for a lazy dinner. And this is the secret to staying on the clean-eating bandwagon.

We’ve all had our slip-ups, felt like crap & ate our feelings.

The difference we want to develop with this challenge & with eating going forward is that you can & will be able to make a choice about everything that goes into your mouth. This isn’t about being hyper-aware of calories or ‘bad foods’, it’s about making choices. If you genuinely want that piece of chocolate, or that 7-course degustation in my case, & it is a choice you are consciously making, get in there & don’t feel guilty, enjoy it!

If you do fall victim to a carbalicious convenience food or a stray pile of deep fried business, get over it & get straight back on with cleaning up your act ahead of your next meal.

Don’t wait for the next day. Don’t wait for the next week. Don’t give up.

Until launch day, I’m going to be posting a bunch of tips & bits to help you prepare for the challenge. Preparation is a big part of eating this way & even though it might seem like a load of work to start off with, you’ll get used to it pretty quickly & find the best way to make it work for you.

Once things are underway, I’ll still be posting regularly both here & via Instagram to share my experiences & delicious discoveries.

Let’s change the game.

Posted in: Eats , Tagged: 21 day challenge, food, grit, health, les mills, paleo

Week of eats: 16 Feb 2014

February 16, 2014 9:50 pm , Leave a Comment , lizniland

Every Sunday, I plan out & shop for the majority of our meals for the week ahead. Here’s the best-of last week.

To kick things off on this rainy Sunday evening, as promised here’s the Creamy Chicken & Tomato Pasta from Let’s Eat Paleo by The Merrymaker Sisters. I added in some zucchini & served it with sweet potato noodles & it was super tasty. Quick & easy to put together, this dish has already made the menu again for this week.

The recipe was for four people so we both enjoyed leftovers for lunch the next day. A few cherry tomatoes, a handful of baby spinach & a sprinkle of some leftover pomegranate seeds & it was the second best lunch I had all week.

While I put together the Creamy Chicken & Tomato Pasta dish, I let a pot of Chocolate Chili simmer ready for a speedy heat & eat dinner the next night. A day in the fridge to sit and flavour-mingle is the key to getting the most deliciousness out of a dish like this I reckon! This recipe is available online but I totally recommend Well Fed 1, the cookbook this is also in. (And FYI, the leftovers of this one took out favourite lunch of the week)

Breakfast seems to be the biggest gripe new-to-paleo people post about online: “How do I do breakfast without Pop-Tarts, Coco-Pops & Wonderbread?” Behold the whatever-is-in-the-fridge scramble: sliced up leftover tomato-y meatballs, a handful of kale & 2 eggs scrambled with a plop of coconut milk. I’d have that over some sugar-laden cereal any day!

One of the best cookbooks of last year would have to be Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi. We’ve made a lot of awesome dishes out of it & I was surprised we hadn’t given this particular recipe a spin yet. Braised Eggs with Lamb, Tahini & Sumac was an absolute ripper of a dish which Michael could not get enough of. Toasted pine nuts & pistachios tangled with spiced-up mince & roasted tomatoes, topped with eggs: Sold.

Finally, although Valentine’s Day is a bit of a non-event in this household, I couldn’t resist making a chocolatey extravaganza for dessert on Friday night. This Coconut & Chocolate Tart was simple to put together & when topped with some figs & crushed macadamias, went down a charm with my Valentine. (Pro tip: drizzle coconut butter on top… Yeahhhh)

Hope you’ve got some delicious things planned for dinner at your place this week!

Posted in: Eats, Latest eats , Tagged: Breakfast, Dinner, food, Lunch, Merrymaker Sisters, paleo, Yotam Ottolenghi

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Tag Archives: Food

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We’ve all had our slip-ups, felt like crap & ate our feelings.

Don’t wait for the next day. Don’t wait for the next week. Don’t give up.

Week of eats: 16 Feb 2014

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Tag Archives: Food

Cooking School #1: Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School

Cooking School #2: Stupid Easy Paleo Nick Cooking Class

So who’s with me?

We’ve all had our slip-ups, felt like crap & ate our feelings.

Don’t wait for the next day. Don’t wait for the next week. Don’t give up.

Post Navigation

Hey friends!

I'm Liz & this is my life, in words & pictures.

Looking for something?

Recent posts

@lizn on Instagram

Pin me, I love it!

Browse by tags