Archive

Tag Archives: cooking

ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present the second installment of nayou’s documentary series. this one is about a topic dear to all of our hearts – food. we were inspired to shoot a food documentary after nayou started concoting all kinds of recipes in the kitchen a couple of months ago. he has made us some delicious infused waters (some of which we sold from a stand outside our house), some great roasted vegetables and many other weird and whacky dishes. it was clear that he loves to play in the kitchen so we decided to film his antics and share it with the world.

so without further ado, here is the world premiere of nayou’s food documentary. bon appetit!

here i am, finally breaking another drought of posts. it has been a rather busy time for us lately. i’ve been shooting off my resume to various and sundry companies to see where my next job is going to land us. school finished and all the kids are on holidays so there has been a steady stream of them in and out of our house. the rainy season has started in earnest so we have been making sure our house is keeping us dry (which it is). luckily brenda has been keeping up with her great ipod touch photos, so i’ll post them all here for you to feast your eyes on.

first up are two shots from a store called revolucion del sueno (revolution of dreams). its a super funky boutique run by a french couple whom we befriended the first time we were in sayulita. they bring a hip twist to the vibrant mexican imagery and colour palette, and its always a pleasure to go into their store and check out their wares. definitely worth a visit if you are in these neck of the woods.

IMG_3346

IMG_3356

these ones were taken by brenda at a beach called carricitos, about a ten minute drive from sayulita. its usually deserted, and very, very picturesque. we like going there because there are lots of beautiful shells as well as hermit crabs. the sun sets right over the ocean. for me its one of those magical places where just being there makes you so grateful to be alive.

IMG_3407

IMG_3435

but onto more important topics – nayou. our little guy has been doing a lot of eating and growing of late. he’s been bumping his head on countertops and other ledges that he used to walk under without any problem. brenda and i have watched his body grow taller and leaner, and his energy levels are high. which is to be expected from a five-and-a-half year old i suppose!

experiments abound in our house right now. nayou is always taking random dishes, tupperware, cutlery, duct tape etc for one thing or another. this is a great shot of the mad scientist about to embark on some new investigation.

IMG_3470

he is still very much into finding insects and other creatures. check out the size of this ant he found in our front yard. we think it must be a queen ant who got displaced with all the rain:

IMG_3507

this is our breakfast spot on our front patio. i love sitting here and welcoming the day with a nice strong cup of coffee. we found this local, organic brand of coffee called capulin which is just divine. its turned me into a coffee snob because all other coffees pale in comparison to the taste of these beans. notice also our “watermelon cake” – one of chef nayou’s breakfast inventions.

IMG_3479

on most afternoons this family sets up a trampoline in the plaza and you get fifteen minutes for ten pesos (about $1usd). there used to be a bouncy castle as well which was the hot favourite, but the trampoline is pretty good too.

IMG_3443

just in case you weren’t convinced that brenda is the best mama ever, here is something to seal the deal – she converted this space we have in our backyard into an outdoor bedroom! there have been about three outside sleepovers to date, and i’m sure many more will come as well. the space is really cosy and every time nayou has slept out there he was out all night like a rock. we’ve watched some movies out there at night and its good for that too!

IMG_3482

its also a nice chill space during the day:

IMG_3497

some days i have to get my practice in however i can. this was a pretty rainy day and our old foster doggie came in for a visit soaking wet. he really wanted to lay down on our palm frond mat, but i made him stay in the yoga room until he was dry. when i wanted to start my practice he refused to budge so i just began with him on the mat. then nayou saw us both in there and after that any hope of peace and quiet was dashed forever.

IMG_3526

we met this great guy from canada called vasant (“was” as in calm for short) who stayed in sayulita for a month. he bought a bunch of indian spices with him and taught me how to make pav bhaji. he was generous enough to leave the pav bhaji masala with me so every now and then i have been satisfying my craving for indiand food by cooking it up. it is delicious!

IMG_3527

we need to get this kid and agent and retire.

IMG_3535

another cool thing about having a big backyard to play in – waterfights! even better – nekkid waterfights!

IMG_3578

after the success of nayou’s bug documentary,  we have started shooting another one. this time its about food and cooking. we haven’t got very far yet, but hopefully we will get around to finishing it soon. watch this space. brenda made nayou the apron he is wearing out of oilcloth!

IMG_3592

nayou snacking on the sayulita-famous chocobanana (full disclosure: he didn’t really like it).

IMG_3599

IMG_3607

this was so cute – nayou and brenda found a hole in the wall of our neighbour’s carport where a snake was hiding. the next day one of nayou’s friends came over so they took a bunch of stuff over to the hole to stake it out. these photos were taken before the mass of extra stuff arrived. i love this shot of them just sitting there in the driveway chatting away waiting for the snake!

IMG_3613

IMG_3617

nayou is in love with his new yellow frog umbrella. it gets lots of use as a sunbrella and also for playing in the rain.

IMG_3619

IMG_3623

IMG_3626

nayou did his first photobomb with style:

IMG_3627

our good friend sondra went back to santa barbara after four months in sayulita. we met her the last time we were here and ended up coming back more or less at the same time! it was sad to see her go, but i’m sure we’ll bump into her again somewhere… probably sayulita. these are some photos from her going away gathering at the beach.

IMG_3639

IMG_3644

IMG_3661

the tiny photobomber (with bonus canine) strikes again!

IMG_3671

crazy thing #314 you can do in mexico and get away with: chuck your kids on the roof of your suv and have them hold on for dear life while you drive (moderately slowly).

IMG_3683

IMG_3684

our friends are running a summer camp for kids at the beach. one of the activities they are working on is to build a surfboard out of plastic bottles. i’m very curious to see how they plan on tying the bottles together. if we end up with something wave-worthy, then i am going to build a stand up paddle board with the bottles! here is the beginning of the layout.

IMG_3766

 

the fruit and veg you get around here is insane. especially the mangoes are just divine. this was the bulk of our haul today. it looks like there is a lot of variety, but its mostly just a huge pile of mangoes!

IMG_3789

and to finish off, here is yesterday’s sunset in sayulita:

IMG_3731

 

 

 

all kinds of things have been happening in hot hot sayulita. here is a quick recap, as told through the lens of brenda’s ipod touch. if you follow her on instagram then these may all be old news. sorry!

the biggest event was brenda’s birthday on the 6th. she (voluntarily and with pleasure) made herself a super yummy carrot cake out of coconut flour which we devoured in record time (thus no photos). we spent most of the day out at punta de mita catching some waves and relaxing on the beach. i was a bad boyfriend and neglected to take any photos of the birthday girl. shame on me one thousand times!

IMG_2960

not to make this all about me, but my hair is crazy.

IMG_2962

we hit up this cute surf bar on the way home – we’ve only been there twice but the food and views are amazing. definitely one of our favourite spots in the sayulita area!

IMG_3029

IMG_2994

nayou got a greek salad all to himself. the waiter looked at us strangely when we just ordered a salad for him, but nayou devoured it!

IMG_2990

i love this kid.

IMG_2970

once we were fed, lots of funny birthday shenanigans ensued.

IMG_3001

IMG_3037

these ones are my favourite.

IMG_3017

IMG_3020

IMG_3024

IMG_3025

there has been another surge in the number of private yoga classes i’ve been teaching. its supposed to be the low season but people are definitely still passing through. last week i had a wonderful lady from texas for a few classes and she invited the three of us to lunch at the four seasons in punta de mita. the place was as swanky and as awesome and you would expect it to be. basically there are beverages and snacks coming around all the time, and you don’t have to look very far to find someone who is willing to do whatever it is you need them to do. want a towel? no problem. need water? no problem. want to hang out by the beach? they’ll get chairs, umbrellas and beach toys ready for you.

jena and her two daughters were wonderful hosts, and i am so thankful for them for giving us a chance to live it up like rockstars for a day. so generous! i guess its one of the perks of being a private yoga instructor… karma perhaps?

IMG_3083

IMG_3082

IMG_3077

brenda has been taking some rockin’ photos with her ipod lately. this is nayou with his friend perla. they used to hang out as two year olds when we did our first stay in sayulita. look at them now!

IMG_3047

IMG_3043

IMG_3040more cuteness:

IMG_3144

nayou has been doing lots of experiments with flour, food colouring, water and other random things he has been scrounging from the kitchen. here is the mad scientist at work:

IMG_3213

in addition to his science experiments, nayou has also proven to be a bit of an entrepreneur. this morning he made some agua fresca by infusing some limes and oranges into some water. he and brenda then set up a stand outside our house. one cup cost 5 pesos (~50 cents), but people loved the drink so much they ended up paying an average of 20 pesos per cup! those are some nice tips.

IMG_3220

IMG_3236

IMG_3238

also nayou asked me if i wanted to do some yoga with him today! that was pretty cool. he led me through some of his poses, including his very own “love pose”. its not the one we’re doing in the photo, so we’ll have to get a shot of that some other time.

IMG_3243

i’m going to stop whining about how long its been in between posts. it seems like every time i sit down to write, i start off with something about how long its been. from now on, i’m gonna just write what’s up and leave the excuse making alone 🙂

things have been pretty cruisy lately. nothing major happening, but lots of day-to-day fun. we’ve been enjoying the small stuff this “winter” (sydney winter is like a wellington summer) – going to markets, playing at home or at parks, digging (nayou’s new obsession), reading, that sort of thing.

oh yeah, somewhere in there brenda and i did a ten day juice fast. compared to the lemonade diet that we used to do, it was super easy. i felt amazing afterwards and we have continued on with the juicing in the mornings. here is nayou getting acquainted with the fruits and veggies.

this photo is amazing because it was taken on the front lawn of the house i used to live in back in high school! we stopped by took look at the house on our way back from a market on the north shore, and the owners were super nice and gave us a tour. they are in the midst of a huge renovation – essentially a new house – so i was just in time to see our old kitchen cabinets before they went off to where old cabinets go to die. the owners also found an old box of books that we had left in the attic 17 years ago so we scored some pretty awesome new reading material too!

yep, its that time again where i’ve left it too long and have lots of photos to post, so i’m just going to whip through them and let the pictures do the talking.

first up some photos from august 1st, swiss national day. nayou has been really into each peach pear plum, but couldn’t quite relate to plum pie since he had never seen or tasted one. so grandma made one!

100810_016

100810_030

100810_018

100810_052

that evening we went to the village get-together, but went home before the fireworks because of poor weather. on our way there i noticed that my parents and i were all wearing these earthy tones, as if we had coordinated or something. it reminded me of the outfits that the vampires wear in the twilight movies, so we did a little photo shoot to commemorate this amazing coincidence.

P1030401

P1030402

twilight

we also had the privilege of having a look into my mum’s two beehives. because of errant weather her honey harvest this year was dismal, but apparently its a lucky thing that the bees are even alive and healthy. we still managed to get 2+kgs out of one hive, although it wouldn’t last long if nayou got his hands on it!

100810_105

100810_115

P1030569

100810_165

last week we did an overnight trip to grindelwald, a town three hours drive from geneva. its classic swiss setting has made it a huge tourist attraction, especially for the japanese, but it still looks more or less like the village it has been for centuries. its located deep in a glacial valley which affords spectacular views, but unfortunately we were greeted with clouds and rain on our first day and more greyness on the second. still, it was fun to check out the town and its environs. this place is truly stunning, even when you can’t see much!

P1030468

here we are in the gondola on our way up the mountain. we were planning to hike along a trails famous for its marmots, but had to cut it short 15 minutes in because of torrential rain.

P1030413

our clothes got absolutely soaked, and since we didn’t have any spares, my mum and i hit the town in our sexy wear, reserved for only the most special occasions.

P1030459

at least nayou had some proper rain gear, courtesy of our neighbours.

P1030424

thankfully the beds in our hotel were warm and cosy!

P1030481

the next day we voluntarily got (a little bit) wet when we hiked along this rather precarious path bolted into the stone. it was cool though – it was a reminder of how powerful the force of water is!

P1030498

this weekend brenda and i went up to montbovon, another town up in the mountains where my friend layth lives. layth and i know each other from high school and there were a couple of other friends from that era there. it was very awesome to see them again! the only bummer was that i forgot to take a photo to commemorate the occasion. got some nice ones of our hike though.

P1030553

P1030557

P1030562

the view of mont blanc on the way home was gorgeous too:

P1030565

grandma found these fairy wings and she has been playing fairies with nayou for a couple of days now. we also found a matching tunic to go with it (at h&m no less!). soooo cute!

P1030520

100810_137

100810_129

100810_151

nayou and jiji discover the joys of the ipod touch:

100810_060

and that’s about it for now. time for bed!

100810_174

100810_172