Lovely food for a loving home =) - Our Quinoa and Chickpea Salad

Yummy dinner for us two tonight =) ...

Home-cooked, fully organic, simple and fresh! Mmmmm ... A cosy couch, some home-made red wine (not by us =p) and an crazy documentary on UFOs - another perfect night ;).

A mix-up of delicious goodness all in one bowl! I'll call it, the

Quinoa and Chickpea Salad -Tossed with crumbled falafel, grated carrots, bok choy, cucumber, broccoli, eggplant, tofu, onions and raisins; topped with hard-boiled eggs, chopped tomatoes and avocado. ~ Dressed with: Freshly squeezed lemon juice, sesame oil, salt and pepper. 

Amazing raisins add such a pleasant surprise when my tastebuds find them! 

Long name! Well, it's in summary - Tangy, sweet, savoury and rich all in a mouthful! 

We had our chickpeas soaking overnight. These yellow babies filled our whole warehouse up with the aroma of CHICKPEAS while they boiled.

Falafel!

Next came the quinoa - I always have the fire up to hot, causing overflow and mad bubbling ~ smell of burnt quinoa that escaped on the hotplate =( . Next up - boiled eggs! I left them in the pot to cool while I went on to lightly stir-fry the rest of the ingredients:

rich avocado goodness - creamyyy =)

Half an onion

3 falafels

Half a broccoli

Tofu slices

Eggplant slices

Bundle of bok choy

Raw ingredients:

1 carrot

2 avocados (=)!)

Cucumber slices

Raisins

One tomato

Dressing:

One lemon - juiced

Approximately 2 teaspoons of sesame oil

Salt and pepper to taste 

The grapeseed oil we used to stir fry added a nice, buttery feel to the dish. mmmmmm yummy, filling and clean. Felt great after that! And I am so happy with my new present!! Japanese zori!! =D <3 <3 <3!

pretty zori ! =)

The weekend of preservation & exploration ... + SUN! =)

Preservation ... with Instinctive Defence

The first of many more scheduled to come - our Instinctive Defence Workshop. The two hour workshop which went on a little longer than expected, with the overflow of new and exhilarating ideas and practice, was good fun and a learning experience. It was comprehensive and interactive - open to questions and everyone had a go at our P.I.E.S.. Overall, we received positive feedback and some useful comments on how to improve ~ very exciting! =) 

course material =)

Instinctive Defence, presented by Practical Defence Solutions offers a real life solution to self-preservation issues faced. With focus on simple to follow instructions and practice, we find that this method will help participants assimilate their own Self-Defence Action Plan into everyday life. It's not everyday one gets to venture into their instinctive, almost animal-like self when it comes to preserving yourself and others that you care about ;) . But at least one has the tools and knowledge now to do it!! 

The course covers matters of awareness and preparation, avoidance of a threatening situation, and if caught in a difficult risky situation - how to remove yourself from it safely.

I personally found the course very enjoyable and insightful. It was amazing watching people reconnect with their instinctive nature - lots of fierce, frightening women in the room!!! haha =). 

More info at the Instinctive Defence website  and photos from our workshop day! 

Exploration ... with the Origins of Consciousness workshop

More sun on Sunday! =) It was an amazing day at the Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne. Felt lucky sitting in the Community Room listening to inspired individuals sharing their experiences with psychedelics and deep exploration into life and consciousness. Felt even luckier being there with a loved one =). Some sections of the talks were very emotional for attendees - tears, sobbing, and emotional sharing of stories. We arrived late that day from classes in the morning. The Convent was packed as usual on a event day - queues of people at every cafe and toilet. Lucky for us the sun was out and blasting! We enjoyed a bit of the warmth during the 2.30pm break, munching on our veggie sandwiches, both quiet from the amazing talks just passed. 

Graham Hancock 

Dennis McKenna and Graham Hancock were simply astounding! Such great speakers and story tellers. Dennis' story of his ayahuasca trip, being inside a leaf and experiencing the photosynthesis process was so vivid that I am sure more than one of the listeners were "experiencing" it too just from listening to his delightful voice. Graham and his heartfelt story about his marijuana 'addiction' touched a few souls in the room. He presented a very interesting slideshow on the history of fairies,aliens, shamans, cave painting, psychedelics and many more supernatural related topics. Lots of questions were asked during his session - people getting though provoked and asking for solutions to the epidemic of humanity.

Dennis McKenna

A very inspiring weekend. Lots of learning and reflection. Felt relieved when Dennis McKenna got us laughing on the 'voice behind his left shoulder' telling him that 'us monkeys wouldn't get away with destroying Mother Nature'... Went home and cleaned the house haha! Motivated to cleanse out mess and nonsense. Had vivid dreams that night (the both of us) on shamans ... ;) The deep forests of Brazil is definitely a destination on my mind now... <3 

Orgonite making...

Sunday ... 

Our sunny and very windy Sunday was spent juggling a jar of sticky (yet slippery!!) activated resin, arranging tumbled stones and adoringly filling up our moulds with aluminium shavings. We were curious to try our hands at making these structures of supposedly incredible powers. 

There's expectedly mixed reviews on the effectiveness of the orgonites, but we thought it would be a fun activity to try for ourselves! 

The basic theory behind the orgonite: 

Orgone, proposed by Dr Wilheim Reich refers to universal energy or etheric energy. He found that by combining certain materials together, etheric energy could be attracted and the negative/deadly orgone repelled. An orgonite is a combination of catalysed fiberglass resin (organic substance), metal shavings (inorganic substance) and quartz crystals. 

Our materials for the day! 

Aluminium shavings, moulds, catalyst, casting resin, lubricant..

 and... our tumbled crystals!

We first sprayed lubricant onto the moulds and then mixed the casting resin with the catalyst. Unarmed with measuring cups, we squinted with mouths ajar counting the number of drops of catalyst. 

We then stirred the mixture with a wooden chopstick - slowly! As it traps air bubbles =)

We also decided to  pour in the catalysed resin in stages, finding it quite surprising when it all sank to the bottom of the mould.

We layered our aluminium shavings and crystals ... resin and then more of the rest... diligently watching as the resin sank, and gently poking the top layer with our chopsticks to aid the resin and the levelling of the orgonite's would-be-base.

After all the fun or filling up our moulds, they were now left to dry overnight.

Our filled up moulds!

 Ending the day with some homemade zucchini, carrot and apple cake... =)

Monday... 

Another sunny day greeted with successful orgonites! YAY! =D haha.. the one in the cone mould popped out surprisingly into my hands when I tipped it over.. the rest took longer to dry.

Our orgonites! =) =) =) 

The resin still smells very strong at the moment ... letting them dry out a little more! =D Am excited to see their effects! 

tower buster! =)

Some interesting and more detailed information from the net on orgone and orgonites : 

The theory behind it ... 

On Don Croft ... 

More information on organite making ... 

A day in the sun and baths..

Monday, the 8th of September 2012. This "weekend" was much looked forward to since the busy days of  planning and organising an important event. It was such a rejuvenating two days out of Melbourne city; really allowing for time and quietness to reconnect and rebalance ourselves.  

Beautiful old, weathered bark.

One of our first stops, the National Rhododendron Gardens in Olinda, Victoria. We were actually in search of a hiking trail but failed to find one and ended up in this beautiful garden. It turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. =) The garden grounds were of good size and beautifully maintained. Now that it's springtime, flowers were in bloom and the leaves, young, green and crisp. Gorgeous. We wondered how busy it would get on weekends, but that Monday, the gardens were tranquil and very peaceful. The insects and birds were happily buzzing along in their home, undisturbed. 

Innumerable number of brightly coloured blossoms and flowers We also got some time to sun on the warm grass-beds and admired the wispy clouds =). Vitamin D! 

After lunch at Olinda (oh no, the bakery was closed =( No scones!), we headed to our retreat in Montrose to check-in. We got lost along the way with our GPS wanting a holiday too, but got there eventually! Driving along Mountain Crescent Road in search for the number 14, the Japanese Mountain Retreat almost unexpectedly pops up. Trees, dirt road...trees.."GPS signal lost"..massive pothole..trees..OOOOO! =D 

Bamboo fencing, sleek black walls and rock gardens. 

We were greeted by the Deborah, who we later found out owns the retreat. She ushered us to our room and welcomed us to the stunning place. Tatami flooring, shoji screen doors and a beautifully laid out welcome drinks (wine and beer) and chocolate!

Spa area in the retreat

Japanese instrumental music was playing softly in the background and incense had been lit. The teapot was ready to go as well =) ! Stunning. I was really impressed by the authenticity of the space. A perfectionist effort was placed in creating this retreat.  

our room =)

And my favourite part - the bath! =D It was amazing! A deep bath tub/jacuzzi with complementary Japanese bath salts. The natural slate tiles and our own garden to admire =) BEAUTIFUL! Mmmm the smell of the bath salts in the sauna-like environment... It was a great detox. Our skins hadn't felt so smooth and clean. The toiletries provided were of high quality and we loved our yukata! Tealight candles, hot Japanese green tea and a hot, rejuvenating bath - so perfect =). 

the spa/bath!

The room came with DVDs and music CDs. The kitchen area was fully functioning and well-equiped: Cooking utensils, food (we were to cook our own breakfast), snacks (crackers, dip, drinks, pancake mix), an array of Twinings tea, Nespresso machine and two lounge chairs. We were greeted in the morning at 8.30am with a warm, freshly baked loaf of bread =). It was such a refreshing morning site - a warm wrapped up bundle in Japanese inspired cloth. 

We spent the morning lying in bed and then went out for more sunning. We also wandered around the grounds. The retreat lies on a 5 acre property and still has much room to grow with Deborah's visions. The Balinese retreat looked amazing as well. This time we didn't get into the onsen (hot springs) but will in our next visit! 

Breakfast time! Provisions were provided in the kitchen for a continental breakfast - eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, hashbrowns, milk and cereals, to name a few =) The bread was so yummy!!

the view outside our retreat

 A great "weekend" of lots of sun and baths. =) =)

<3