Steve and I have been craving some foods from the UK so I've cooked a couple of roast dinners to remind us of home and lazy Sundays. The first time I did it was a bit stressful as we've only got 1 shelf in our oven so there was quite a bit of juggling with different baking trays and dishes! But the second time I just threw everything into a huge baking dish and it came out just as good, if not better! Plus we've discovered a new way of cooking broccoli after watching my new fave food guru Alton Brown's show and it's so tasty and good! I've posted up the "recipe" on my food blog (http://mandysmunchies.blogspot.com) as well as other stuff I'm trying out here.

Well now we've had a taste of the old Heinz Baked Beans we want more! So I walked all the way up to the British food store (You Say Tomato) and stocked up with 4 cans of beans and 2 cans of Ambrosia custard (which will go nicely with the Irish Apple Cake that I made for Steve's birthday as it's less of a cake and more like a pie). A word of warning, don't go to the British shop on Mondays as it's closed, which I found out yesterday after I'd walked all the way there in the boiling sun (yes it's still lovely and hot here!) only to be greeted by two firmly closed doors!

Anyway, I packed all the tins into my rucksack and heaved it onto my back. I then went to the Whole Foods store which is just up the road to get the spuds for the bangers, mash and beans super-combo. I really like this store as it's a lot like Bi-Rite as they have loads of lovely looking fruit and veg, but the store is bigger and sells frozen foods and dry goods etc. It is nice shopping at the Farmers Market but sometimes the fruit isn't that great or you can't buy things that aren't grown locally. For example I tried some gorgeous mango and pineapple in Whole Foods as they had loads of samples out and I was really tempted to buy some but I seriously couldn't carry anything else - I think the weight of my bag was akin to what they use for army training exercises!

So anyway, I grabbed my spuds and thought the young guy who was fondling the apples to test their firmness was funny as he seemed to have a guilty look of pleasure on his face. Then I hauled everything back home so it took me about an hour just to get some beans! I could have got the bus but I figured I need the exercise and trust me, it's good exercise walking up those hills! I've only been to the gym in the apartment building once and that was the day before Steve's birthday which is probably why I was so knackered. Oh I'd also done yoga that day too!

Yes I've become a bit of a yoga bunny thanks to a game called "Let's Yoga" that Steve got for my Nintendo DS. It's actually really good for a complete novice like me and here's a little review for anyone who's a DS fan (Lindsey!!). It's far superior to "Quick Yoga Training" in so many ways, but it's main advantage is the soothing voice which instructs you on how to manipulate your body into all the poses. You still need to look at the screen to understand some of the moves, but having the voice really does help when you're trying to emulate Houdini escaping from a straight-jacket. There is also an animation which helps you control the timing of your breathing which is really important to get all that revitalizing oxygen into your system!

The game is divided into 2 main sections. One is Lessons from the Master, which are gradually made accessible as you progress thru the game by doing more yoga each day. The other section gives you the option of doing Short Sets which are 5 minute exercises based on either the Mind, Body and Beauty or you can do Random Yoga where you can set the time and difficulty level to create a workout. The game is really suited to beginners as you can only unlock more advanced poses when you've completed the basics.

The first time I tried it I thought I should ease myself into it and did lots of different Short Sets but I got a bit carried away and ended up doing 50 minutes of yoga. It must have been the rush of endorphins my body experienced from stretching and awakening muscles that had been redundant for so long. However I really didn't think that would be enough to make me ache so much the next day but it felt like I'd pounded the treadmill for an hour! But it was worth it as I'm starting to see the results already as everything is looking and feeling more toned, so I'm going to try and do some yoga everyday - I'm hoping to be a lean, mean yoga machine!

So I'm keeping myself busy with the blogging, yoga and my hikes to the shops and of course doing laundry - yuk! hehee it's actually not been too bad here, which reminds me I must go and see if it's ready for the dryer!

Bye for now!