Let's just summarise: I had a negative experience at the organic shop. I elected to walk my credit card right out of there, went home in tears and amused The Programmer and his workmate by Google Talking him the message: I have broken up with the organic shop. They were having a work conference around his monitor at the time.
Henceforth all my organic shopping love shall be bestowed on The Liberty Market and Piko, where people are nice to customers. And that's - all - there - is - to - say about that little drama.
As an equilibrium-restoring exercise, I decided to make some muesli bars.
The Programmer eats a lot of muesli bars; he runs on carbs. Much of the time I'm not thrilled with either the contents of supermarket bars, nor the price of better quality ones. Natures Path are really good, but also $9 a box.
Consulting Chef Google, I found this recipe and then, as usual, proceeded to follow it but loosely. I did not write down what I put in there, but the basics are: four and a half cups of various dried ingredients stuck together with 100g butter, half a cup of honey, a little sugar and, in my version, some nut butter. The recipe on the link explains the technique. It's very easy and there is no cooking at the end, although I did pre-toast the oats, chia seeds and ground almonds.
From memory, my dry ingredients were:
* Dried apricots
* Oats
* Chia seeds
* Ground almonds (roughly mashed in the mini mill)
* Raisins
* Roughly cut dark chocolate
The chocolate completely melted when I poured the butter/honey/sugar/nut butter mixture in there. I think if you want choc chunks the idea would be to press them into the top when the bars have partially cooled.
So far, judging by the rate they are disappearing from the fridge, these are meeting with taste tester approval. I've never had Chia seeds before. To me they taste just like sesame seeds, at least in this recipe.
I think I'll need one of these to continue with the current missions in my life. These include:
- Sorting out postgrad study (yes.. still.. don't even get me started)
- Cranking out a zumba workout
- Deciding whether or not buy this android phone, the LG Optimus P970. Sad story, but my iPod is irrecoverably dead (short version: never try to replace the battery in one, it is life-threatening surgery). iPod deprivation is quite trying as I use it every day for yoga podcasts and german lessons. My phone was an ultra cheap little thing that I regretted buying from the moment I first tried to look at the screen in a sunny place. I want to replace both with one device, but not an iPhone. Does anyone have an Optimus P970? Do you love it, or is it 'meh'? The salesperson was so excited about this phone that I thought he might wet himself. I'll make sure that guy gets my commission if I buy it. He made my day.
- The continuance of Project Big Cleanup.
You know that phase where you have to make room to put things away and this just makes more mess???
- Dispatching a load of kiwi stuff to the ex-pats:
Miss J and I have a couple of silly traditions, one of which is the regular shipment of decorated Marmite. I think purple and sparkly should meet the requirements and get me Aunty points.
- Get the business ready for us to be away for a week in Aussie.
So, that's me sorted for at least until we fly out on Sunday.
If you are in the mood to comment (and I love to hear from you!) here is what I'm keen to know:
Can you advise me on the purchase of an android phone? Is the Optimus P970 a goodie?
Do you have a favourite muesli bar recipe?
Will you come and clean my house for free while I'm on holiday?
Your new phone is cool. I was playing with one just yesterday!
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