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Recapping January
Throughout our travels, I really enjoyed putting together the “Big Trip Monthly Summary and Statistics” posts. It was a fun way for me to reflect back on the last month that Mac & I had spent roaming around. Although our current lifestyle is very different nowadays, I wanted to continue the trend this year. Starting with: recapping January!
Writing
Here’s what I posted on the blog this month:
Big Trip Summary & Statistics: ONE YEAR (P.S. How has it already been a full year since we left Canada? Craziness!!!)
As you can see, it was a mishmash of topics this month. I know the lack of travel/adventure-related posts is quite the change from my usual banter, but I’m really enjoying branching out and writing posts on topics that I am so passionate about.
Reading
I read 9 books in January. I won’t list them all here (I’m planning on doing a similar Book List post for 2016), but I will highlight some of my favourites!
Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf – Could NOT put this down! Very Jodi Picoult-esque
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult – An ACTUAL Jodi Picoult novel that yet again lived up to its praises
The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer – Such an interesting read about how our society fears the amazingly simple act of asking for help.
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin – I’m not 100% done this book yet, but after 5 chapters I’m already LOVING it!
Eating
Here’s a glimpse of some of my favourite eats we’ve had this past month!
1. An awesome dish at a local Thai Restaurant (De Grand Thai in Epsom) // 2. Making bread like you wouldn’t believe – so far I’ve followed recipes from these posts: Vegan Richa, Minimalist Baker & AllRecipes // 3. Summery Quesadillas from Happy Herbivore // 4. Big Kahuna Carrot “hotdogs’ – also from Happy Herbivore // 5. Queso Cheese Sauce (made from Zucchini & potatoes!!!) from The Vegan 8 served with easy vegan burritos // 6. Black Bean Brownies with a peanut butter swirl from Chocolate Covered Katie. We had these for Mac’s 25th birthday and they were AMAZING!!! // 7. Noodle Soup from The Vegan 8 – this was a perfect meal for when I was under the weather for a few days. So comforting! // 8. Baked Spaghetti with Tofu Ricotta by Hummusapien – WOW this dish was awesome! // 9. Healthy Zucchini Muffins from Gimme Some Oven. I veganized these, and have made them several times – they’re so easy to customize!
*Not pictured, but worth a mention: the Pizza Salad with tempeh pepperoni from The Salad Samurai Cookbook is AWESOME!
Doing
I have yet to write about it, but Mac & I did some more exploring of our own ‘backyard’ (loose term… we had to take a bus there). We found an awesome scenic & secluded park, and a coastal walkway that was more water than walkway!
We took advantage of one of the days we were both off during the week after the holidays to venture downtown and see a movie! The Auckland Library has an affiliation with Academy Cinemas next door, and every Wednesday they have $5 movies. We saw Spectre – not my favourite movie of all time, but still a good, classic Bond film.
Taking advantage of another day off together, Mac & I headed to the Auckland War Memorial Museum (located in the Domain). It was free entry for Auckland residents, so that was a major bonus! The main exhibit at the time was celebrating Air New Zealand’s 75th Anniversary. It was interesting to see how the planes & air travel have changed in the past 75 years. We also wandered through the Animal exhibit featuring NZ’s famous flightless birds, dinosaurs, & sharks. The Auckland War Memorial Museum is definitely worth a stop if you have a free afternoon!
Every Thursday this month, I’ve gone to New Lynn (a suburb in West Auckland) to help my friend Shasha with her food stall at the weekly night markets. Night markets are pretty popular in Auckland (there’s one every day of the week in various locations across the city!). Shasha’s business is called Nusantara Indonesian Tea Cafe and she makes insanely delicious Indonesian vegan food. We’re the only stall that’s fully vegan and I’m so happy to say that we’ve sold out of food every single week. It’s been so awesome meeting so many cool people, and I love having non-vegans try (and LOVE) our food!
Anticipating
Heading to Wellington for one of the two long weekends in a row & going to the Rugby Sevens Tournament! Rugby sevens is similar to the rugby that most of you are probably familiar with, except that it’s played with 7 people instead of 15. This makes for much faster-paced games (more running), and quicker games too! We have tickets for the afternoon and we’ll likely get to see 5+ games! I’m also eager to check out the city of Wellington – Mac was there for a semester in 2010 and it sounds like such an awesome place!
I’m also looking forward to heading to Rotorua for a weekend in February! It’s a hot spot for geothermic activity (pun absolutely intended), and I’m eager to see all the sights!
How was your first month of 2016? Do you have any exciting plans for February?
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