THINGS THAT HAPPENED ON BIRTHDAY WEEK

• A friend got me a rare story book and a rare Japanese KitKat!
  I love story books. I love chocolate. And I love rare things.
  I found a quiet space and read the book while eating the kitkat. It was bliss. 

• Another friend got me a bag full of yummy food. Seriously, she know me too well hahaha.

• Went to a French Market + French film screening in Takapuna with a couple of friends. It was such a good evening. So much laughter. J baked some amazing fig & walnut tarts. They were so amazing that we wondered if she had just bought some from the market while we weren't looking. Oh and the films themselves were really thought-provoking. Really good.

Clockwise from top left: Very edgy cancan dance performance; Outdoor film screening; Revive salad and AMAZING fig and walnut tart that my friend baked herself; Salad bits that got stuck in the seat; Stranger with a cute jumper. 

• A friend who knows that I like beans and nuts, made this super sweet card. I was smiling all day after I got this. I'm still smiling.

• Another friend shouted me lunch. It was a nice afternoon.

• Lastly, I caught up with one of my friends and she broke my heart. She told me she is moving to Sydney. I cried like a baby. I haven't cried for over 4 years so it was really awkward. Why are tears uncontrollable? :( I'm so upset but I'm also really happy for her. She will do well in Sydney. 

Went to the post office with her to send some documents. I want to be sent away too. 

NUT GANGS

A few days ago I munched through a 400g bag of mixed nuts in two days.

I promised myself I would restrict my nut intake for the rest of the week.

But today I happened to walk past a grocery store and ended up getting a 150g bag of mixed nuts. There was a 750g bag on sale. But I bought the 150g bag. Self control.

I even bought a pack of zip-lock bags so that I could divide the nuts into sensible little portions – just like they do on Pinterest. Those middle-aged women know what they are doing. 

But no. My plan failed.

I ate the whole bag on the bus ride home.

Thank god I did not buy the 750g bag.

I learnt my lesson.

Portioning does not work with nuts.

I should not buy large volumes of nuts.

People should be asked for identification when buying nuts.

And they should record it on a world wide database and restrict purchases to 30g per day.

Then nut-addicts would form an underground black-market, trading nuts.

There would be nut-gangs.

I would probably join the pistachio gang. Maybe the almond gang.

But the macadamia gang would be where all the money's at.

NOT GOOD

My parents had a row this morning.

I got stressed and I munched through a whole 500g bag of cashew nuts. (Note: the recommended daily serving size is 28g)

My parents are okay now.

But I'm so not.

PISTACHIO FRIENDS

Had a lovely Sunday morning with my pistachi-bros.

Oh, and of course my Sunday morning began with a stroll around the Takapuna Flea Market.

WALNUT SEASON

That squirrel is me.
Except it didn't take me 2 weeks.
I ravaged through 2kg of walnuts in two days.
I regret nothing.

I was deprived of walnuts during my month in China. I think that's why.

MUESLI NO MORE

Mum bought muesli. I sat down and picked out all the nuts and seeds and ate them. The muesli only contains boring old oats and fruit bits now. I hope no one notices tomorrow morning.

ZOMFG DARK CHOC PEANUT BUTTER

100% NUTZ. A New Zealand Peanut Butter brand that makes amazing peanut butters.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. Genius.

And the natural peanut butter flavour is completely amazeballs.
The only ingredient is peanuts. So simple, but not.
It's all fluffy and dreamy and nutty. It's more like peanut mousse.

Haven't opened the sea-salt flavour yet.

Ohmygoodness.
Goodbye skinny jeans.
Goodbye world.
Goodbye.
Bye.
I'm off to peanut-butter-land.
Off to fulfil my duties as the senior peanut muncher at the Peanut Butter Institute.

WALNUTS, WE MEET AGAIN.

Beautiful little walnuts just sitting there, all round and walnutty (Photo was taken before I began eating).

Dammit. Just ate one month's worth of walnuts in one sitting.
I seriously think I have an addiction problem with nuts. 

The first step to recovery from any sort of addiction is admitting that you have an addiction problem.
So yes, tick, I've taken the first step.



**Update**

I've just read through the "Twelve Step Recovery Program" from Alcoholics Anonymous and "Addiciton Recovery Steps and Strategies" by Dr. Phil. I will apply it to my nut addiction. 

Here is my very own Seven Step Recovery Program for Nut Addicts (for people who may be in a similar situation):

1. Admit that you are powerless over nuts
2. Make a decision to stop all addictive behaviour – this includes nut munching, peeling, cracking, roasting, picking...etc etc – anything that involves nuts
3. Find what triggers your need to eat nuts and make a note of "danger zones" e.g. time of the day, particular locations, people. 
4. Develop alternative coping skills 
5. Understand "Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome" - be aware of your thought patterns and watch out for "addictive thinking"
6. Seek guidance and rebuild your relationships. Understand that it is possible to build relationships with people as you start to break away from your relationship with nuts
7. Reward yourself (but not with nuts)

LIST OF TREES I WANT

A definitive list of trees and plants I want in my backyard when I grow old:

• pear tree
• peach tree
• lemon tree
• feijoa tree
• avocado tree
• hazelnut, almond, pistachio, macademia trees
• chestnut tree
• red grapefruit tree
• mandarin tree
• persimmon tree
• olive tree
• magnolia tree (this is not a food tree. Just for looking)
• golden ash tree (also for just for looking)
• black poui tree (also for looking)
• lavendar plant (for smelling and looking)
• maybe a rose bush, but not sure. They are a bit too mainstream.
• if possible, a watermelon plant

I'll probably have to live on some orchard when I am an old lady. That would work out well actually – because then I would be able to finally have miniature pigs as pets. They are so cute!

And if, by any chance I die young, I would like to be buried next to one of the non-food trees on this list. Or under an olive tree would be okay. But there would have to be a warning placed on the tree letting people know that there is a person buried under it. Oh, and under a pohutukawa tree would be good too, since it is illegal to cut down pohutukawa trees in NZ.


**Update**
I think being buried under a fruit tree will work out quite well actually. I will get lots of visits from birds. 

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

I read a quote somewhere that said "You are what you eat".

Okay, I am a pistachio-peanut.

Last week I would have said I was a watermelon. (During the past month I probably ate upwards of 10 whole watermelons. It was to the point where mum would worry about leaving me home alone if there was a watermelon in the fridge. I am sort of starting to get over them now).

Yesterday, my inner-nut-munching-monster surfaced again and I went on a pistachio-cracking-and-munching rampage. Today I cleared my way through a whole cup of peanuts. Dammit.

I just hope my dry-roasted almond addiction doesn't return.
I don't want to be a dry-roasted almond.

SPIKY CHESTNUTS AND FLUFFY COWS

I found photos from my visit to a chestnut farm a couple of years back. I want to go again.

I shall go in April when the chestnuts are all big and nice and ready to be picked. I hope the cows are still there!

AN ODE TO NUTS

Almonds, cashews, hazelnuts
Pistachios and walnuts too
All crunchy and all nutty
I love to devour you

Sitting in my studio or
When I'm on the go
Nuts are so nice to munch on

Peanuts are pretty average though (Unless it's ground up. Then it's sort of okay)

Hmm munching is not the right word
Actually, I nibble bit by bit
I must eat as though I'm a little bird
because nuts are so calorific

Funny-looking, small and curvy
A special kind of delicious
I just wish you weren't so fatty
(But it's okay) – apparently nut-fat is quite nutritious

North America should be glad

That I am not a squirrel

Because if I was, I would have

Eaten/hidden all the nuts, until there was no more

NUTS

Apparently it is recommended that you eat 30g - 60g of nuts everyday.

I ate around 200g - 300g of nuts almost everyday for the last few weeks.
Oops.

I'm still grateful that I'm not allergic to nuts. Life without nuts would be horrible.

CRAVINGS

Before and during Easter I had such a huge craving for hot cross buns. And of course, I satisfied those cravings by eating plenty of hot cross buns.

And now, all this stuff about Anzac day is making me crave anzac cookies. Must go and get some tomorrow morning.

Oh and I'm eating so many almonds. I'm like an almond-addict.
I visit the Nut Shop everyday and buy 100g of almonds and eat it all within that day.
The shop owner remembers me now. Today when I walked in the store she said "I think I know what you want". I'm so embarrassed. I'm not going to go tomorrow.


 Oh, and today I bought a special, pretty, glass bowl just to be used for my almonds.

BAD HABIT

I have a bad habit of looking through food blogs at night. It makes me super hungry and it leaves me in a crisis of having to decide if I should eat something or wait till the next morning.

I usually end up forcing myself to sleep. I do this thing where I squeeze my eyelids shut really hard, then after a few minutes I realize I don't have to squeeze my eyelids so hard for them to remain shut. I also curl up into a ball so I only occupy a quarter of the mattress.

But tonight I have to finish a lot of work. I can't go to bed for another couple of hours.

I have a massive craving for pastries right now. Oh my god.
Pancakes.
Almond croissants.
Brioches.
Banana banoffee.
Cinnamon rolls.
Oh god.

I shouldn't have skipped dinner.

BUTTERLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Made really quick peanut butter cookies.

Ingredients:

-1 cup crunchy peanut butter (made of just peanut and salt)

-1.5 tablespoons of cocoa powder (the bitter unsweetened sort. NOT chocolate milk powder.)

-1 tablespoon raw sugar

-1 egg

Then I just baked them for 10 minutes at 180 degrees. 

A bit brittle, but will stay together better if you let it cool down for about 30 minutes.

It tastes ok. Not fantastic but just ok. The important thing is that I cracked an egg properly all by myself! Pat on the back for that.

OATMEAL! YUM!

Yummmmmmy oatmeal with nuts, apple pieces and honey.
No soy milk left, so I had to use milk. Still yummmmmmm.