From 2017 to 2018: Reflections and aspirations

I am not a fan of stereotypical New Year's resolutions, but I do like to use January as an opportunity to reflect on the year gone and the year head. Last year I outlined six goals, which I return to below. This year I have identified four. Before getting to those, here are some general comments on 2017 and a summary of key events and highlights (also some lowlights).

Somerset (March)

2017 was our first full year as parents and I returned to work from maternity leave. We started and ended the year with visits from my parents, and also welcomed my mother-in-law in spring and my sister in summer. We traveled to Somerset and Suffolk. Goodreads tells me I read 40 books, which is less than I'd have predicted (I read 67 in 2016) but is probably an accurate tally. I am fortunate to have reading time on my commute to work, but these days I have little time to read at home. We didn't visit the cinema but watched 19 films at home (10 fewer than in 2016).

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Christmas week

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with lots of laughter, love and good food. Life has been busy in the Bite-Sized Thoughts household for all the right reasons - my parents joined us from Australia on Christmas Eve and we have been soaking up their company after not seeing them for a year. Mini Bite was 5 months at their last visit and is almost 17 months now, so they are catching up on all her changes too.

We have enjoyed Christmas and ventured to some new local and semi-local sights - picture highlights below.

A present pile (and toy storage) all for Mini Bite

More presents (the walker wasn't one of them but was within the photo anyway!)

Our Christmas table

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Life with a 7-month-old, baby led weaning, and four adult and baby friendly recipes

I have noted before that I have no intention of moving Bite-Sized Thoughts to a baby or family-focused site. However, it has been 4 months since my last baby-related post and much has changed since then. I thought I would share some updated reflections, as well as experiences to date with baby led weaning. For those of you who aren't interested in either topic, I also share four recipes that would suit adults and babies equally well - porridge fingers, carrot-chickpea mini pancakes, chickpea scramble with turmeric and paprika, and a simple avocado salsa. Simply scroll to the end if you want to skip ahead to those!

Chickpea scramble

In November, I spoke of the enormous adjustment that pregnancy and parenthood had required. My expectations of both were completely off and I will readily admit that the first three months of motherhood were, for me, hard going at times.

Fast forward to March and things look very different. It is probably obvious that life with a 3-month-old (as Mini Bite was in November) is different to life with a 7-month-old, but I didn't understand what those differences would look like until I navigated through them. These days, Mini Bite is a mini person as much as a baby. She is interactive, knows what she does and doesn't like, will smile and giggle, and shows great interest in her surroundings. I find the days infinitely more enjoyable now that this is the case - we are no longer in a loop of feeding, changing and settling with little feedback from her except basic cries. I take genuine delight in her laughs and smiles. We have a structure to our week, with most mornings featuring an activity (baby swimming lessons, parent/baby groups, parent/baby fitness classes...) and this makes a difference too.

Courgette noodles with avocado salsa 

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Reflections on 2016 and looking ahead to 2017

I have tended to post reflections and aspirations around this time of year, as one 12-month cycle draws to a close and another stretches out ahead. Last year I did not set goals or aspirations because I was in the early stages of pregnancy, and figured that (and the associated arrival of Mini Bite in August) would be challenge enough for 2016. Indeed it was. The ongoing adjustment to parenting may well provide sufficient challenge for 2017 too, but I am keen to look beyond motherhood and consider other things that I would like the year to hold.

Recent snowy scenes

First, though, 2016. Mini Bite's arrival was a momentous occasion and I have already posted some of my reflections on that adjustment. However, the year also involved other events and milestones. I acted up into a higher level at work (and then thanked my workplace for the privilege by going on maternity leave...); we had family visit who we hadn't seen since leaving Australia in 2014 (my mother-in-law in April; my brother-in-law and his partner in August; my brother in October), as well as a return visit from my parents; we had a week in the Forest of Dean; and we explored more of the countryside around our new (now new-ish) home in Kent.

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Reflections on pregnancy and new parenthood: Modifying expectations, emotions, vegan eating, exercise, body image, and lessons learnt

Bite-Sized Thoughts won't be changing to a parenting / baby-focused blog, but I did want to write one post summarising some of my thoughts and experiences with pregnancy and new parenthood. In large part this is self-indulgence, as I wanted to organise my thoughts and this is a way to do so. However, I hope the content may be relevant to others too, even if they are not my regular recipe-focused readers. This is a long post and so I have organised it by the headings included in the post title.

 

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Christmas and 2015 reflections

The year is drawing to a close and what a year it has been. I may post again before the year is fully over, but it felt right to combine reflections on Christmas with thoughts on this year as a whole.

First, Christmas. It was lovely. I was getting a cold, which was less lovely, but it was our first Christmas in our new home and we enjoyed a relaxed and laid back day. There were lots of presents, lots of food, and just the right amount of effort to make it special. There is something to be said for a Christmas where you do everything just the way you want to.

 

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How to save money in the kitchen

I think we all like to save money where we can. This may be so we can spend money in other areas, to prevent debt, or to save up for holidays or other big costs. I am fortunate to eat in a way that isn't too costly (unless I go to Whole Foods...) but still like to cut costs where I can. This allows me to periodically buy vegan desserts and chocolate (which any regular reader will know I value!) and put funds towards things that matter to me and Mr Bite.

There are lots of money saving tips out there and this isn't meant to be a definitive collection of ideas. Instead, it is a collection of things that I find worthwhile and which I find easy to implement.

I would love to hear your ideas too!

1. Have a few easy, cheap meals in your rotation.

I don't routinely calculate per serve costs for our meals. However, I am aware that a few of our regular meals are very cheap to make. Basic legumes and carbohydrates work particularly well and the following key examples come in at around £1 ($2) per person:

• Jacket potatoes with baked beans and salad
• Chickpea flour pancakes with vegetable-bean fillings (I have a few versions of this dish)
• Italian roast vegetables and beans
• Vegetable soup with homemade stock and lentils

Chickpea flour pancakes with vegetable-bean fillings 

Estimated saving: If you have at least one cheap meal per week, £3 to £15 ($6 to $30) per person per month.

2. Look out for end-of-day discounts. 

Many bakeries and chain stores discount products at the end of the day. In the UK, Boots is particularly generous and often marks sandwiches, salads and other prepared meals down to just 50p ($1.00). This is a whopping discount from the £2 - £3 they cost at full price. Of course, you need to be able to eat the meal quickly but if you want an easy, light dinner they're an incredibly cheap option.

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One year in London

Friday was the one year anniversary of our move to London. It seems an appropriate time to reflect on some of the Australia / UK differences I've noticed. Interspersed are some recent photos from day trips out of London, to Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

England is not a new country to me, but there are things you only really notice when you live somewhere for an extended period of time (and to that I might add, live somewhere for an extended period of time as an adult). Here are some of them for me;

1. Different words, phrases and pronunciations. 

There are the obvious words for food bloggers, like aubergine instead of eggplant, and courgette instead of zucchini. Then, there are the words that it really matters to get right, like trousers instead of pants (which in the UK are men's underpants) and flip flops instead of thongs (I suspect no explanation is needed).

I've converted to pronouncing 'yoghurt' as yog-urt (instead of the Australian yo-ghurt) and am working on the English pronunciation of 'room', which is a mix between 'room' and 'rum' (in contrast to Australia's longer pronunciation of rooom). Most of the time I remember to say 'jacket potato' instead of 'baked potato'.

I don't think I'll ever say that I feel 'poorly', but it no longer sounds odd to hear others use it in place of 'ill' or 'sick'.

In a broader sense I'm better now at identifying accents from different parts of the UK, and London accents sound normal to me. When I hear an Australian, either on TV or on the street, their accent is simultaneously familiar but out of place. (I do appreciate I still sound Australian myself!)

Ickworth House, Suffolk

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Farewell 2014 - reflections on the year and my final photo-a-day images

Oh, 2014. You have been a memorable year. A year of excitement, adventure, change, challenge and reward. A year, in short, of living life to the full. I started it in the city I grew up in, working with people I'd known for years, and filling weekends with familiar sights and people. I am ending it in a new country, with a new job that was not known 12 months ago, learning new cultural references and visiting new places.

As with all years (all things), there have been downs as well as ups, but I wouldn't change a thing.

2014 in pictures - 365 of them

As with previous years, I set some goals for 2014. I like looking back at this time of year and considering how my intentions panned out. The eight I had for 2014 were...

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Tips for a vegan breakfast on the go

In Australia, I rarely ate breakfast at home during the working week. This was largely due to a preference for early work starts, and my gym being located adjacent to one of my two workplaces. As I prefer early exercise too, it made sense to go directly from gym to desk.

Incaberry oat breakfast bars

If you'd asked me 6 months ago, I would have said that breakfast at work was no harder than breakfast at home. It is only now that I can eat breakfast at home during the working week, thanks to different work routines in my new job, that I realise my old breakfasts weren't always that great. Smoothies, buckwheat porridge, cooked porridge, pancakes, vegan French toast...none of those featured on my Australian workdays. It is more limiting to have breakfast out of the house, and if I did it again now, I would try harder to ensure my work-based breakfasts were more enjoyable. That includes the way I eat breakfast, not just the content.

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Australia to England - 2 months in

Today marks 2 months (by date) since we arrived in London. This week also marks the start of my new English job. It seems like a good time to pause and reflect on our move, and the things that have gone as expected, as well as those that have as not. For good measure, I'm throwing in some recent photos too.

I love the cat's expression in this painting (seen in The National Gallery)

As some of you may remember, Mr Bite and I bought a flat in London 2 years ago, aided by a great Australian-UK exchange rate, and spurred on by ridiculous property prices in Western Australia. Having somewhere to move to obviously made our shift much simpler, and meant we didn't need to navigate an unfamiliar rental market. I feel very fortunate in that regard, especially as London house prices have since sky rocketed. The other big plus for us was having an existing English bank account (with HSBC), something we set up when buying our property. If you are planning to move overseas, I'd really recommend trying to arrange a local account ahead of time. HSBC made the process easy for us.

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Random Thursday

1. It rained this morning. The last time I experienced water falling from the sky was, I think, in early December 2013. On a hot humid morning, running in rain drops was blissful.

There's no actual rain in this image, but it captures this morning's sky

2. I just finished two Australian books: Eyrie by Tim Winton, set in Fremantle, Western Australia, and Peace, Love and Khaki Socks by Kim Lock, set in Darwin, Northern Territory. I rated them both 4 out of 5 on Goodreads and recommend them highly whether you are Australian or not.

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365 project: February photos (plus ballet at the quarry and bouncing stonehenge)

Having done a post summarising my January photo-a-day photos, I thought I would continue on and summarise each month as the year unfolds. Here, obviously, we have February.

Featured in the February photo set are snapshots from two outings not yet mentioned on the blog. The first was our attendance at the Western Australia Ballet company's Ballet at the Quarry. Mr Bite gave me tickets for my birthday last December. It was the first time in a long time I had been to the ballet, and the first time Mr Bite had been at all. The modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, set to Radiohead music and appropriately titled Radio and Juliet, was a good choice for both of us.

Ballet at the Quarry - amphitheatre seating

The Quarry Amphitheatre is an atmospheric place, with grass tiered seating surrounded by towering limestone walls. We took a picnic and the hot day transitioned beautifully to a cool, clear evening.

The second outing was our visit to the 'Sacrilege' bouncing castle, part of the Perth Festival activities. It provided a full-scale bouncing version of Stonehenge, and was free for children and adults alike. We had enough of bouncing after about 5 minutes, but it was very fun!

Bouncing Stonehenge

Activities and outings explained, here are my 28 photos for February...

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Simple delights {February 2014}

It's been a while since I've done a 'loving this week' post or similar. I've been missing them! Sometimes it is the little things that make or break a week, and remembering to focus on simple pleasures can make a big difference to my overall contentment.

Recently, I have rediscovered corn on the cob and I am quite besotted. I have the cobs completely plain, hot or cold, with a meal or for a snack. They are sweetness and sunshine in a mouthful.

I've also been enjoying pomegranate, which I bought to make vegan pomegranate chocolate mousse from Oh My Veggies.

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Out and about in Perth #6 - Subiaco Common

At the end of a scorching Saturday, Mr Bite and I visited Subiaco Common to soak up the setting sun, sea breeze, and cooler temperatures. The common is a man-made park and lake set against modern housing developments, tucked into a quiet corner of the leafy Subiaco suburb. It's not far from us, but this is the first time we've explored it fully.

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Fitness Fridays - Cycling into the new year (plus blog house keeping and the winner of the Paul's warehouse voucher)

Last year, I started 2013 with a leisurely 25km bike ride. As I wrote about at the time, it was a lovely way to bring in a new year. So lovely, in fact, that I decided to repeat the experience to welcome in 2014.

I left home a little later this year than last (7.30am instead of 6.30am), which means I saw more people on my outing and didn't quite have cycle paths to myself. However, the sunshine was equally sparkling and the scenes I passed were equally beautiful.

Scarborough beach cycle path, ~8am

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Good bye 2013

Like last year and the year before, I've spent the last few days out of Perth with Mr Bite's family. Six adults, three children and one dog in one house is a recipe for minor chaos, but it is chaos of a good for you, Australian, summery kind of way.

To finish off this year, here are some snaps of the calmer moments.

I think tee-pees are under-rated as outdoor accessories.

Western Australia's south-west forests

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Reflecting on 2013 - considering the year past, and looking to the year ahead

With Christmas over, it's suddenly that time of year again. You know, that time, where summary posts, "best of" recaps, and resolutions / aspirations abound. I like to save my blog-related summaries for March, where the anniversary of Bite-Sized Thoughts falls. As we've seen, though, I do like this time of year for reflecting and goal setting. 

I had 10 aspirations for 2013. Let's revisit them.

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Fitness Fridays - Running on my 30th birthday

Being a Thursday, yesterday was one of my running days. Being the 5th December, it was also my birthday. I know some might struggle to understand why, on my birthday morning, I left my sleeping husband at 6am to go running. I can picture my mother saying "But wouldn't you give yourself a break and sleep in, on your birthday?!".

I wrote this post because I am so glad I did go running. As I ran, rejoicing in the trees, the sparkling sunshine and the not-yet-hot air, I thought. And as I thought, I was grateful.

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Fitness Fridays - Exercise and mental health (a research post)

Every now and then, I think I'd like to do more posts that draw on my research background. There are lots of research areas I'm interested in that don't quite fit in my work role, and I imagine that lots of you don't have time to trawl through research databases or determine what the latest recommendation on Topic X is.

Usually I have these kinds of thoughts and then don't find the time to follow them through, or I worry that no one else will want to know about Topic X anyway. Recently, though, the idea of research posts has been coming to me more and more often. I get frustrated by popular media stories that make claims without supporting evidence. I'd like to try and make science more accessible - and, I'd like an excuse to delve into all those  topics I'm curious about.

So, today, we have the first such post. In this case, it is an integration of research with my recently neglected Fitness Fridays initiative. The images (because all posts must have images!) come from our recent camping trip, which I've been wanting an excuse to share and which fit vaguely into the exercise focus.

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