no-bake peanut butter bars

Heeeello everyone,

I hope you're all doing well! July has been such a quiet month for me. June was hectic, but July has been very relaxing. I've kind of just been sitting around the house and reading the occasional book. Overall, I've been pretty lazy to be honest.

Today, though, I was in the kitchen! I was making these bars  decided to write today about these bars that we sometimes make in our house.

They are no-bake chocolate coconut peanut butter bars. I mean, if I was reading this post, the no-bake alone would have hooked me.

So there is chocolate in this but you could always exchange that for cocoa powder, or leave it out all together. On top of that, if you use the golden syrup over the honey, this dish becomes vegan. However, I'd say the honey is probably the better option. 

I'm not sure though, if anyone knows please correct me. I don't know, maybe these bars are really actually bad for you... but they have healthy ingredients! So logically the end product must be pretty healthy too.

Ingredients

1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tbsp golden syrup or honey
1 cup unsweetened chocolate chips
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 1/2 cups large-flake rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (and about 2 tbsp more for on top)
1 tbsp hemp seeds

Method

1. First, grab a large saucepan and melt the coconut oil, golden syrup/honey and chocolate over medium-heat.
2. Once that's all melted together, turn the heat right down and add in the peanut butter.
3. When the peanut butter has melted in, take the whole pot off the heat and mix in the remaining ingredients (as in, the oats and the hemp seeds)
4. Pour the mixture into a shallow dish. I use a 9x9 one. I also normally use an oil spray to spray the dish before, but you can also use parchment paper, either will stop it from sticking.
5. Add coconut flakes on top
6. Let the bars cool in the dish before putting them into fridge to firm up.

dinner on main street

Hi everyone,

The weather in Vancouver is starting to get very hot again, after a week or so of some rain. It's nice, but it's also difficult to do anything - including going on a trip to the place that serves the "best mac and cheese ever" according to Instagram and my friend, Justine. So, yesterday, Justine and I went to try this place. We decided to walk and, this may be TMI but my dress was damp due to the amount I was sweating.

Once we got there, lucky us got the... Winking Waiter. You know, the waiter who winks so much and you can't decide if he's genuinely flirting or just wanting you to buy more drinks? (it's always the second one, by the way)

Either way, I guess it worked because I got a Mojito. After asking for the Mojito, the waiter replied, "Sure thing *wink*" and asked if I wanted a flavour (with another wink). I got strawberry, but honestly... is there any point in putting flavour in it if it's still gonna taste like mint? I mean, there was no hiding the fact that is drink uses mint. Nothing masks it, especially when there is there is like 70 million mint leaves jammed into the glass (that was an over-exaggeration... there was probably only like 5 mint leaves in the glass)

We also went to 49th Parallel Café, which was further down the street. These pictures were taken at about 7pm but summer, man, I love it. The sun stays out for hours.

We wanted ice cream, but also wanted to try these donuts because we've heard they are good (from Instagram). So, we got a donut but also an iced coffee for the coldness. 

The only problem was that the coffee was pretty weak. Heads up for tourists, it is actually hard to find good coffee in Vancouver. On every street corner there's a different coffee shop but each one's coffee is as bad as the next.

Although, they are all very photogenic.
I mean, look at this place. So cool, right? You see, Main Street is kind of the... hippie district in Vancouver. It's relatively close to Strathcona, which is definitely the hippie district in Vancouver. They all look fab over there, cycling their bikes to their heritage-looking houses.
I remember an old friend and I once babysat for a family in Strathcona. Their parents practised free-range parenting so the kids only ever wore tutus and had never met a hairbrush. No judgement though, their kids were more polite than most kids in the suburbs.

2902 Main Street, Vancouver

sweet quinoa oatmeal recipe

Quinoa seems to be one of those healthy foods that are just accepted. They're a staple in every vegetarians diet, right? So, I'm not going to sit here and list reasons why you should try it because you probably already know what it is and why it's good. 

With that out the way, I find it difficult to make quinoa... taste nice. You need lots of flavours to soak in to it to have it taste like something other than a plain, mushy, rice thing. Because of this, I normally eat quinoa in my stir-frys at lunch because then there are vegetables and stuff to make it taste better.  When I have a lot of time (and when I can actually be bothered), I will make it for breakfast.
So, today, I wanted to share the recipe I use for those (rare?) days.

Oh, and, confession: I actually suck at measurements.
It took me a long time to find out what ratio works for oats and milk, and even more for quinoa and milk. These measurements seem to work for me, but you may need to tweak them.

Ingredients
1/3 cup of quinoa - wash it before cooking
1 cup of milk - I use almond milk 
handful of dried fruit - I use cranberries/blueberries
handful of nuts - I use cashews
sprinkle of brown sugar - I use more like a handful...

Method
1. Add quinoa to pot, with milk, and bring to boil.
2. Cook for a bit on high heat then bring down halfway. Make sure to mix often so the milk doesn't burn (my problem).
3. When the little tail bit is showing, your quinoa is ready. Drain out excess milk and (optional) place back on heat for a minute to soak up anymore milk.
4. Plate up. Add your dried fruit and nut of choice along with the brown sugar.

granville island

Hi everyone!

Yesterday, I went to Granville Island with my aunt, who is visiting from Australia, and my sister, Orla. 

Right now, Vancouver is in the middle of a crazy heat-wave (seriously, like 30 degrees Celsius) so it started off as a good day and rapidly went downhill past 1pm. So, a lot of my photos were taken when we first arrived. I also took all the pictures on my new phone because the camera is pretty good! It's an LG G3, which is kind of a nobody phone (as in, nobody seems to have it.)

Recently, I have been ultra obsessed with France and French things. To the point that it's probably getting annoying to the people around me. One of my New Year's resolutions was to learn French but it wasn't until April that I really started to read and learn about the French lifestyle. 

So, for lunch, I suggested that we eat like the French and buy a baguette from this baker's and buy cheese from one of the stalls and share it while listening to the guy play the accordion outside. We also got a Polish sausage but that isn't French so we won't talk about it. 

The only thing missing was wine, but we still had a good time. 

To get to Granville Island, we took the mini ferry that goes across. It's cheap and costs $3.25 per person.

We got it from English Bay and I have never noticed how blue the water is there! For everyone outside of Vancouver, English Bay is right next to Stanley Park and they are both pretty central and busy spots in Vancouver. 

The pictures are back to front, but this was us walking to the ferry. The route we took meant we had to walk past all the shops we would normally spend the whole day. Of course, the day you can't go in, it seems like everywhere has sales on. 

Well, I hope you liked some of the pictures. I should be taking more pictures now considering the nice weather and the storage amount on my new phone. I'm also down to only 1 class at uni, which is on Mondays. I also got a new job but I've only actually been working weekends until now, so though the summer I think I'll have a lot of spare time. I suppose we'll see if I use it to blog or sleep!

1669 Johnston Street, Vancouver

simple banana bread recipe

I can't believe it's June, can you? I feel like summer will never come and yet we are pretty much halfway through the year. I just wanted to say that but the rest of the post has nothing to do with time and how slow it passes.

Today, I wanted to share an easy banana bread recipe with you which we make pretty often in our house. This recipe was passed down from my mum and it's fail-proof (because I can do it, ha!).
You can use this as a base recipe and add things into it like chocolate chips or dried fruit or whatever else you think might work -- but I don't normally add things because we don't have stuff like that lying around the house. Tough life is mine.

I also converted the measurements from ounces to cups (to make it easier for us in America) and, let me tell you, it took such a long time -- more than it should have. I can't do math to save my life. Anyway, enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup self-raising flour

5/8 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter

2 mashed bananas

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream together sugar and butter, add flour, and eggs and then add the bananas.

3. Put in greased pan and bake for one hour.

- 

Iona

19

Happy 19th birthday to me!

I can now legally drink in Canada which is fun, so I am going downtown Vancouver on the weekend. Fun fact: I havent tried alcohol before. Okay that's a bit of a lie, I have had a couple sips of cider.

I don't know, through school I just never really had the chance. That's what happens when you have under 5 friends, I guess!

My aunt from Australia is over visiting, which is fun. We hardly ever get visitors so it's always nice when we do. That's really the only downside to living in Canada -- we don't have any family. Although that's also a positive sometimes, haha.

I hope you are all having a great Wednesday!

- Iona

my 2015 resolutions

Hello everyone,

I have no idea what my 2014 resolutions were. I know I made one or two but I don't know if I stuck by them because I really don't know what they were. So, to both keep me on track and because everyone else is doing this sort of post, I will write them here...

1/ Mind my own business
This is something that I have actually been actively doing for the past few months, and I want to keep it up in 2015. Earlier this year, I would have loved to sit and gossip but slowly I've been realizing that it really... shallow. Focusing on what is going wrong in other people's lives to make me feel better isn't a healthy thing to do. There are plenty of things to fill my mind with and my classmates relationship status should not make that list.

2/ Practise mindfulness
I am guilty for always looking into the future. I am perfectly aware that I do it more often than I should and I hate it. However, it is really hard to get out of the train of thought once you've entered it. In 2015, I want to live in the present. I know it is going to be difficult - especially now that the family have been discussing a... big movement to take place within the next few years. Nevertheless, I know it will make me feel happier and calmer overall.

3/ Learn French
... Enough to get by, that is. Next semester I am taking a beginners class in French because I haven't spoke it since I was twelve. I ultimately want to become fluent, but this year my goal is to know enough to have a decent conversation. A hypothetical conversation because I don't know any French people to have the conversation with... but I will be able to, at the end of this year, if the opportunity arises.

4/ Drink enough water
The last and probably easiest of the bunch; drinking more water. I used to be good but wow it has become a problem for me. Everyday I want to be drinking at least... three water bottles full. It shouldn't be too hard but we'll see.

Those are my four resolutions. I know that 'keeping up with the blog' should be up there since I'm pretty crap at it but I know I will probably just be disappointed with my self this time next year! I will try to keep up, though. I am no longer working so I am just focusing on my studies... and blog, I guess. 

-

Thank you so much for reading and still following this blog even though I don't regular update it! 

Iona

I Will Survive, hey hey!

Hi everyone and happy December!

I have officially finished my first semester of university! I am so happy, it was such a tough semester, but I completed my last exam last week and I AM FREE

... for a couple weeks. I'm scheduled to work pretty much everyday, though! My manager has even asked me to work Christmas Day! I have no clue how I'll get out of that one.

I was refreshing my student account ever since I got home from my Archaeology exam, and they were finally updated today.

Honestly, I don't even care that the grades aren't A's -- I passed!! And I have an exact 2.00 GPA so no academic probation for me WOO HOOO!

I just wanted to write a little post to update you all. I am so happy to be done this semester, I've definitely learned a lot (such as "I never want to take another Archaeology class" and "watching Netflix during lectures doesn't result in failing"), and it's been fun albeit very stressful. I've never had so many nervous breakdowns. Especially in that psychology class. I actually cried at the bus stop last month after seeing my results for my midterm. There really is a first for everything!

- Iona

pictures from edinburgh

Hi everyone,

In November of 2013, my family and I went back to Scotland (for the 2nd time in 6 years!) for my cousin's wedding. Since we were there for two weeks, we decided to do something we didn't do often when we lived there; sight-see.

We took the train to Edinburgh.
It was Milo and Coco's first time on a proper train.
In Vancouver, we drive or take the bus as the trains in Vancouver aren't like the trains in Britain. I mean, don't get me wrong - there are lots of trains in Canada - but most of them are used to transport things and not people.

Notice the red cups. Of course we had to stop off and get our Starbucks because;
a) it was freezing and,
b) we're Canadian. Canadians love their Starbucks.

And, yes, that is Coco, the three year old, in a pram. If there is one thing you should know about my sister Coco, it is that she is one lazy article.

These pictures are in/around the castle.
The first one is of all my siblings. I don't know where it came from, but Coco was really obsessed with her doll 'Dolly' (a very unique name) on this day and wanted her in all the pictures with her. So the face she is pulling is a 'is Dolly in the picture too?' sort of smile.

I love the shops in Edinburgh - as in the way they look. It's such an old fashioned city. It was weird because even though I have visited before, I felt like a tourist. It wasn't even a bad thing -- it mean't I didn't feel embarrassed when taking pictures of everything!

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Thanks for reading!

Iona

september, october & november

Hi everyone!

I have been busy over the past few months. I keep thinking "I haven't made a blog post in soo long" but in reality it's only been, what, 3 months? The summer was a relaxing period for me and I had a lot of extra time to write posts (even though I didn't do that). Ah, HOW I wish I could go back to then...

SEPTEMBER //
I started working on the 25th of August in a... favourite Canadian fast-food restaurant (can I say the name? It's Tim Hortons). Work is work. I don't like working but there is nothing wrong with where I work. Oh well, now I don't feel so guilty when I drop $10 everyday at Starbucks so that's a plus.
I also I began university on the 1st of September. I began university and working in the span of a week and I think it was a bad idea. So university. No one told me how utterly boring university would be. I'm studying Archaeology. Maybe that's why.
Archaeology is... probably not for me. I have taken to watching Netflix and BBC iPlayer instead of listening in lectures. I watch Parks and Rec in my Human Origins class and I catch up on EastEnders in my Intro to Archaeology class. As you can probably assume, I am not doing that well in school. Hey, as long as I pass.

OCTOBER //
I sort of mentioned him in one of my last posts but I have a new baby brother. He was born in June and his name is Enzo. So I have the perfect mix of two sisters and two brothers. how lucky I am. Enzo is now 6 months. It's been weird how easily Enzo has fit into our family. Even the first week of him being here, I couldn't imagine our house without him.

I was invited to a few Halloween parties but in the end took Milo, Coco and Enzo out trick-or-treating. What can I say, I'm boring -- I mean a family person!
On the down-side, everyone thought I was the mother. It aways makes me feel uncomfortable...

NOVEMBER //
and now we're in November. I am finishing my semester at the end of this month (then exams!) and then I will be working all through December.
I don't think November will be a particularly busy month. I have a surprisingly small amount of assignments due. However, I have a few plans with friends to go downtown at the end of the month.
Hopefully I will be confident to take pictures in public and post them here.
I also think I will finally post some of the recipes I have been keeping in case I have no idea what to post because I just need to get into the groove of blogging again.

Okay! So this was a short but completely accurate recap of the past 2 months of my life. Have any of you been doing anything (or nothing) lately? I'll be back soon - surely sooner than 3 months.

- 

Iona