SUICIDE BY MACAROON LAMENT

Am I committing on-line suicide if I confess that I am getting a little sick of seeing macaroons everywhere? First frozen then defrosted and placed in display windows of "boulangeries" everywhere in Melbourne and the greater spread of other Australian capital cities. Do they know how awful it is to have one such piece?
Is nothing sacred?

Melbourne Winter.... Detox Soup

I am settling nicely in the Melbourne winter. It is so beautiful. So beautiful that I don't even feel the cold. The flaming red leaves of an elegant japanese maple drape my bedroom window, framing a view of emerald green camellia leaves. In the background of this garden view are golden yellow leaves, turning and waving in the winter air, in anticipation of separation from their trees that line my street.

Having returned from a trip up north, from the land of the stockman, cattle, coal and cotton, where I met sun-lined foreheads softened with heart-felt smiles, I decide to spend today at home. How restorative, reconstituting and necessary. I take refuge in my warm wintery home, dark and comforting.

Having prepared it last night, today I continued to consume my special "detox" soup, starting at breakfast time. The expected effects occurred without too much discomfort or disruption. By mid afternoon, I could not help but marvel at my newfound glowing complexion, "de-puffed" eyes and sense of energy and lightness. Don't get me wrong! This is not a strict detox regime. I have had my cups of milky coffee, a delicious slice of fig and walnut cake for afternoon tea,  brown rice and lentils for dinner and a handful a dry cracker biscuits.  However, instead of the usual breakfast, lunch and desperate lunchroom cookie jar snacks, I have consumed a super-nourishing vegetable soup, with a hint of spices . My 'detox' soup has no salt but is flavour-enhanced with a plant based, chemical free, vegan organic bouillon powder. Now, as late evening becomes night, I feel sleepy yet ready for the days ahead. The main difference I feel after my soup is a sense of lightness, free of excess fluids and associated heaviness. It makes me wonder - How much fluid retention do I carry daily? It makes me marvel at the wonderful things, the simple and delicious things that nature provides for us.


MY DETOX SOUP RECIPE

Ingredients
(all vegetables chopped)
3 zucchini
4 carrots
1 white onion
1/3 white cabbage, finely shredded
1/4 lemon, peel and all
1 large bottle of unsalted, unflavoured tomato cooking sauce
1.5 litres of water , cold
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
1 cardamon seed
cumin powder
white pepper

Add all ingredients to a large pot and cook until the cabbage and onion are transparent. (Minimum 45 minutes)

When serving, add to each bowl, 1 teaspoon of MARIGOLD BRAND Swiss vegetable Bouillon powder (vegan) to taste and
Freshly ground black pepper

Keep refrigerated.
If not consumed after 3 days, discard.

A beautiful autumn day in Melbourne

After what started off as a crisp Saturday morning, the day revealed itself to be (with a wink through the autumn gold leaves) bursting with sun, warmth and a lightness of heart.

This perfect Saturday started off with husband and youngest son, 11yo A, at the local Laurent Boulangerie in Balwyn. Relaxing with a bowl of milk coffee, a pain au chocolat and a quick read of the weekend edition of the Financial Review, I could not help but commit some self-conscious mirror glancing at my not-so-perfect, uncoiffed hair. I am a devout weekly in-the-salon blow-dry lady. However, after a gruelling week of work and preparing my home for an up-coming auction, I was unable to keep the three (3) hair appointments I made this week. The vision I saw of myself in that boulangerie mirror was that of a blow-fly rather than a styled beauty. The irony... whilst I feel unkempt, I was flattered by a youngish man in his Porsche, another at the boulangerie and a few other "looks" throughout the day. Was my estimation of ugliness seen by others as relaxed, maybe?

I believe I was once an attractive female, but now, a year and a bit after my 45th birthday, I feel time, tension and attitude are mapping and documenting themselves around my forehead and eyes. I am trying to embrace ageing with dignity, grace and bravado.( I am too scared to botox as I have been disturbed by visions of friends and acquaintances who have had the botox jab, the skin stretched after a kniving and a litre too many of fillers in cheeks and lips). Not that I condemn such things. I will soon, after my house auction, go in search of a doctor who can botox without making me look like I've stepped off the set of AB FAB.

I am new to blogging but after discovering so many enchanting women who take the time, I feel that I have found many windows with delightful vistas. I have dared to start my own.. a window that I can open, to air my soul, sing out aloud and let in fresh air. I will find my way around..... but until then, I apologise for the rawness and crudeness of these, my first entries.

...... I am listening to beautiful old Spanish love songs on the internet, broadcast by a Parisian radio station TSF JAZZ

Cool nights to stay warm in bed...... chamomile tea, fluffed pillows, vitamin C to ward of impending colds beckoned by exhaustion, a weary mind, pounding head...... the result of a working life. To manifest the movie in the mind, to roll out the dream, to have the dream in the first place. This is my job. Welcome to my blog.