5 months old today!!!!

'A new baby is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities'.- Eda J. Le Shan

Hi all

So, its the 24 and the Love of my Life has turned 5 months today!!!!! My beautiful baby girl makes my morning so pleasant, my days filled with new surprises and my nights longer. Her smiles lift my heart and her laughter is truly magical, every time she laughs we all want to know what is so funny. And boy can the girl 'talk'. She can tell a story!!!!!! She gets so excited when she 'talk's. Her whole face lights up. Its like she has been waiting for such a long time to be able to express herself. She is truly the apply of her grandparents eye and such a little darling to everyone she comes across. Below are some pictures of my little miss. 

My fav smile

Staring deeply into my eyes

My little Angel 

Cuteness

Smiling for oupa

Maya and her favorite guy

Out at an open air concert

Dressed for the weather

My princess

holding her own bottle

Trying out her seat for our bikes

Unsure but safe

Ready for the pool?

Floating butterfly

On the bus

Hi!!!!

Sitting comfortably

Kisses to Blessing (her doll)

Lady in Pink

Ohhh, I am on it!!!!

Ready for winter

I think I am warm enough people!!!!

Smiles in a box

My mini me

Feeding herself

With uncle Mike

Dinner time

 Yum Yum Yum

What you looking at?

See that curly hair?!!!!! I can't wait to play in that hair. 

At 5 Months Maya can
- Roll Over very well
- Sit by herself for a little bit
- Loves exploring with her hands
- Very expressive
- Babbles, giggles and laughs
- Let you know when she wants your attention.
- Extremely social
- Has been to an open air concert (loved it and even sang)
- Very easily distracted (works well, when I am putting on her clothes)
- Has her own sense of humor
- Feeds herself
- Has certain food preferences (  puree - sweet potatoes Yes, broccoli No!!!! )
- Very good eye vision
- Favorite toys
- Favorite songs
- Sleeps very well at night (not so good during the day)
- Yoga may be in her future

All in all, a wonderful 5 months have we had with Miss Yemaya, cant wait to see what else she holds over the next few weeks and months. I still cant believe that I gave birth 5 months ago. I am still in awe. Wonderful bliss.

Peace, Love and 5 Months of Bliss

Stockholm metro art: Thorildsplan

'The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude'.- Friedrich Nietzsche

Hi all

New week, new metro stations!!!! And I present to you Thorildsplan. This station has tiled walls inspired by pixelated symbols of computer games and iconic computer symbols - Pacman anyone? These were created by artist Lars Arrhenius in 2008. 

When you get to the station you find a beautiful warm greeting by way of a huge sun relief which is behind the tracks. This was done by Huck Hultgren in 1975.   Onto pictures

The station

Sun relief

 Beautiful passage

Awwwww

PacMan?

Going into the passge

Happy clouds

Rain

Going through from the other end

I love this entry way

Exclamation point

Question mark

Message sent

So sweet

This is such a happy station, I mean all these bright colors and happy images. It was my first time to get to this stop and I couldn't believe all these fun little icons. I will hopefully go back for another quick stop.

Peace, Love and Art 

Supper for tonight: Vegetarian stuffed cabbage rolls and pan fried chicken with caramelized onions

'You learn to cook so that you don't have to be a slave to recipes.  You get what's in season and you know what to do with it'.- Julia Child

Hi all

So I am going into my last few days of my master cleanse and I am 8 kgs lighter, not bad. The real hard work comes afterwards. Continuing to go down, I still want to go down 12 more and staying at my ideal perfect weight which is 55kgs. Not a lot when you realize how small I am. I am 1,50 cm so 55 kg is about right for my height. I plan on cycling till the weather wont allow, continue with yoga, juicing, smaller portions, more fruits and lots more water. 

Anyhoo, I made this for my family. Vegetarian stuffed cabbage with pan fried chicken and caramelized onions. They loved it!!!!! 

What I used

- Small cabbage

- 2 onions (1 for my tomato sauce, half for my cabbage rolls and half for my chicken)

- Can chopped tomato sauce which I cooked down to get the strong 'taste' out of the tomatoes

- Celery (a stalk)

- Red pepper (quarter)

- Can of kidney beans

- Rice (small portion)

- Balsamic vinegar

- Salt (to taste)

- Garlic (for my tomato sauce)

- Thyme ( tomato sauce)

- Carrot (but I opted not to use this)

- Spice for Rice (bought in Namibia but has turmeric, paprika, coriander, nutmeg, celery, dried sage,  dried origanum)

- BBQ Spice (bought in Namibia but has paprika, coriander, black pepper, celery, pimento, cloves, nutmeg, dried chillies, garlic powder, dried thyme, sage, origanum and salt)

- Chicken thighs

Onto my many many many pictures!!!! 

My ingredients

Spices and Balsamic viniger 

 Beans and Chopped tomatoes

Cabbage, red pepper, orange pepper, onion, garlic, celery and carrot (which I didn't end up using)

Rice

Chopped onion for my tomato sauce

Added tomato to my onions and oil

 Rice in the rice cooker

Crushed garlic for my tomato sauce

Mix

Then went in my pepper, salt and Thyme 

Chopped red pepper, orange pepper, celery and onion

Onion and Celery first in my pan to brown and soften

My kidney beans

Yummy

Next went into my pan with my celery and onions, I added my peppers

Next was to marinate my chicken

I used salt and ready made BBQ spice 

Then Balsamic vinegar 

All ready to be pan fried

Nice and softly caramelized 

Cooked rice

Into my pan it went

I then added Spice for Rice

Stir'd it in

Next my beans

Stir'd that in just to warm through the beans

This as a side dish would also work

My cabbage

I decided to peel it one by one

All done

 My cabbage leaves went into boiling salted water till they began to soften which took about 10 minutes

 My spiced chicken and onions frying away in a bit of oil

Soft and cooling cabbage leaves all ready to be filled

I then cut out the core hard bit

Better angle

Rice mixture into my cabbage 

I put a little into the corner to make a little pocket then I rolled the sides so that nothing falls out and rolled it to a ball

So far good little rolls

Some were longer rolls

Next was my chunky tomato sauce and off to the oven to bake

My chicken is all done

Cabbage rolls baked until ready

Easy peasy meal

Perfect yummy meal.

This was also another first for me. I have never done stuffed cabbage rolls. I had tried them with mince. I decided to use a vegetarian base since I had already during the week cooked some mince and I had chicken on hand. Plus I wanted to use what I had (cabbage, beans) and finish the peppers and celery.

This is a bit time consuming but well worth it, I am told by my family members. Another one for my recipe cards!!!!!

I saw on YouTube a mushroom creamy sauce for the cabbage rolls instead of the tomato sauce, so I may give that a try next time.

So that's it for my meals.  Next week, its back to my Metro stations.


Peace and Love