July 3, 2016

Juggling June

I spent all of this month writing up my paper. I focused on writing my discussion for the first two weeks. Soon after I started writing, I realised, there were other small things I needed to finalise as well, like how I wanted my tables to look, supplementary information, etc. Getting everything together and trying to tie up loose ends has been harder than I imagined, but having some experience with systematic review write up (from last year) was sort of helpful. I was also trying to juggle a few other things on the side (more about this later). 
Overall, it was a super intense month for me, but things are looking better now because I can almost see the finish line! The good news is that I’ve managed to meet the deadline I had set for myself, so I’m happy (for now).
In other news, I was doing ‘Junk Free June’ this month which is an initiative run by Cancer Council Queensland that encourages people to give up a junk food for the entire month. I picked my top 3 snack foods which were chocolate, chips and biscuits. To be honest, it was quite difficult because I’ve never restricted myself from any food before. Biscuits and chips weren’t that hard because I don’t eat a lot of those but staying away from chocolate was hard! But I’m really glad I did it because I discovered some other substitutes which worked just as well as a distraction (dates and nuts were my top choice). I’m looking forward to devouring some chocolate now, in moderation, of course :P
Here are all my June eats :) I also went to Khaybar Restaurant and saw Vivid.
Recipe is up for Moong dal and pumpkin curry.
Pear and almond cake
Banana pancakes

Red lentil and pumpkin soup
Pasta with mince and Brussels sprout
Hokkien noodles with zucchini pumpkin (plus leftover lamb and cashews)
Curried chicken, pumpkin and sweet potato soup
Eggplant, zucchini and pumpkin curry
Moong dal and pumpkin curry
Roasted pumpkin and capsicum with dukkah

Roasted capsicum and tomato soup
Carrot, zucchini and feta slice
Roasted salmon, beans and Brussels sprout
Eggplant and sweet potato moussaka 
Couscous with orange, date and walnuts
Baked kibbeh with mixed veggies and pine nuts