Year: 2014

Why we all need a Family Investment Bucket

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Hey, have you heard me say this before? We all need to be forced to create some tech boundaries for ourselves and our families. But, as you know by now, we can’t wait for “someone” to solve this tech-driven disconnect; we have to do it ourselves. Yes, we must. This shit is making us sick and weird and annoyed with each other.

Sass and Bide's Heidi Middleton has this Family Investment Bucket xxxx
Sass and Bide’s Heidi Middleton has this Family Investment Bucket (details below)

There are things we can do. Many of them are dinky and unsophisticated. But are we that surprised that a swing to the rustic and tangible might just be the fix to our tech addictions? What do you think of these ideas?

1. Leave the phone out of your bedroom. Der. EMFs in your head. Read about this here). Get a battery alarm clock.

2. Use the “Do Not Disturb” function on your iPhone 9pm to 7am. Your phone will automatically stop all calls and alerts within the scheduled time. Every day. (You can still allow calls from “favourites” to come through, if you do want to make sure you’re contactable in an emergency.)

3. Have a Family Investment Bucket. Heidi Middleton, co-founder of Sass and Bide does. The whole family puts their

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A beautiful word: saudade.

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I think the most beautiful words are those with no English equivalent. Perhaps it’s the fact we have to conjure them without familiarity that makes them more alluring. More creative. More ephemeral.

IMAHR Saudade (1899), by Almeida Júnior
Saudade (1899), by Almeida Júnior

For me, though, it’s the fact that these words generally point to a moment so potent yet subtle that no single English word can possibly sum it up. It’s the potency and subtlety, of course, that I find beautiful.

Hygge is one word. It’s the art of creating intimacy. So it’s an act as well as a feel – a verb and an adjective. Hygge is also something you consciously strive for…it’s about connecting in a cosy, elegant, unfussy way. It’s about weaving friendship and intimacy with ease.

Mamihlapinatapai (from the language of the people of Tierra del Fuego) is another. It points to a look shared between two

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How to be sustainable with your coffee habit

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I drink coffee. I love the stuff. But I have to say I’ve been wondering how mindful I’ve been about it lately. I decided to dig around a bit and get informed. I’ve adjusted my habit accordingly. Feel free to do so too because every little bit of care counts.

We have more than one kilo of undigested plastic in our systems from ingesting our foods via bourgeois accoutrements...
We have more than one kilo of undigested plastic in our systems from ingesting our foods via bourgeois accoutrements…

 

1. Don’t do disposable coffee cups. Just don’t.

You might already know that it takes at least 400 years for a coffee cup lid to decompose (actually, we don’t know this; every bit of plastic ever created still sits somewhere on the planet, increasingly in the guts of whales, fish and our children, and it’s possible that it will never break down), and that most of the cups themselves are also lined in plastic.

We also know that most of the lids contain BPA, a known endocrine disruptor (linked to breast and prostate cancer, early puberty, obesity, autism and fertility issues) that has been banned in many other products.

Disposable cups are a travesty for anyone with autoimmune disorders, too.. When the hot liquid passes through the plastic lid as you drink your coffee, it has been shown BPA is drawn out of the plastic by the acidity levels and the heat. BPA is a known thyroid/endocrine disruptor, a tedious

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Fire up, then lighten up.

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My wonderful assistant Jo sent this to me over the weekend. She sends me things like this when she thinks I need it. By the way, turns out Jo and I celebrate four years working together today. There you go.

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This is not about “finding your passion and giving everything to it”. It’s about giving everything to everything. “Finding your passion” suggests you might only have one or two. But all of life needs to be plunged into.

I guess I expand on the above by adding that once you’ve gone all the way, you can then release and lighten up. There’s no need for rigidity or force, just meaningful intent. Dive in deep, then float.

As I like to say, where the mind goes, the energy flows.

Do it like you mean it. Eat like you mean it. Love like you mean it.

Start everything like you mean it because this says to the

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I’ll give $10… if you have a dinner party

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Do you know how many people tell me they wish they got around to hosting more dinner parties…because they’re tired of doing the same old thing every weekend…but find it all too hard? Lots. That’s how many. Why don’t I make it sexy for you?

Image via rikshawdesign.blogspot.com
Image via rikshawdesign.blogspot.com

Sustainable Table is running a Give a Fork! campaign – where you host a dinner party using sustainable or leftover food – to get us all fired about about food wastage. I reckon it’s a fab idea. So I’m going to help out.

I’m going to provide a menu of really fun meals that use up leftovers for you.

Plus some great conversation starters.

Plus I’ll share pictures of your shindig.

And then I’ll donate $10 for every dinner party shared.

Yeah? On board?

How to host a Sarah Wilson Sustainable Dinner Party

1. Simply sign up as a Give a Fork! host and register your event, setting a ticket price – $20 per person would be fair. This money goes toward ensuring Sustainable Table can keep educating us all on this stuff.  I’m an ambassador for Sustainable

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Is I Quit Sugar the same as Paleo?

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I Quit Sugar is often compared to our Paleo brethren, thanks to a few shared principles like eating whole, unprocessed foods and (obviously) cutting out sugar. But while we share some things, there are also a few core differences we’d like to explain further here.   1. What is Paleo anyway? The Paleo diet has … Read more

Can I quit sugar and eat fruit?

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When you quit sugar, it’s pretty much expected that you’ll keep the Coca-Cola and Mars Bars to a minimum. But what about fruit? Don’t worry – despite our name, we definitely don’t want to cut out nutritious fresh fruit! At least, not for long. If you’re thinking of quitting sugar on our I Quit Sugar: … Read more

How to train your troll (seriously gold advice from Benjamin Franklin)

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Apparently there’s such a thing as The Benjamin Franklin effect. It goes like this: Once upon a time, Our Mate Ben was faced with a troll who tried to tear him down. Ben thought quickly: tame him!

Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest

The troll was a posh literary type. So Franklin sent him a letter if he could borrow a specific scarce book from said hater’s library. Flattered, the hater sent it right away. Troll cornered! Franklin then returned it a week later with a thank you note. Nice finishing touch! Troll totally tamed!

From then on in, the troll was a fan, forever ready to do another favour for Franklin.

Various people have written about this phenomenon – why and how it works. American psychologist David McRaney writes

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Here’s my beautiful pimped bike (an indulgent bike porn post)

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As reported last week, I had a bike stack. I’m feeling much better now, thanks! My main concern, however, as I got lifted from the road by lovely strangers, was for my bike.

Pablo and I with my new bike. Pimped out in yellow and chrome.
Pablo and me with my new bike. Pimped out in yellow and chrome.

My bike is the most valuable material possession I own, apart from my couch, if we’re talking from a financial POV. From an attachment POV, my bike is number one by a mile.

I’m attached. The reason is this…it represents a story and a process. Allow me to share the story (it does have a point).

My bike started out as a frame bought from Paris five years ago. It’s a Barale, which is a seriously rare bike built in San Remo, Italy in the early 1970s. It’s super light. A friend’s partner helped me do it up, strip it back and paint it, adding spic

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My sweet and sour kiwi fruit gelatin goobs

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I’ve been on a gigantic gelatin journey the past few weeks…tweaking and finessing different ways to stir up this amazing healing product (for guts, nails, inflammation) into convenient snacks and breakfast foods.

Kiwi fruit
Image via Pinterest

Last week I posted my coffee almond gummy squares recipe and previously shared My latest gut health obsession: gelatin post. Given the interest, I figured I’d share another recipe…my favourite combo to date, and one that some say can’t be done.

Yep, in my obsessed reading on the subject, I came across gelatin devotees who somehow think the acid in kiwi stops the gelatin from goobing correctly.

I beg to differ. Massively. These things wobbled out a treat; I added an extra tablespoon of gelatin powder…which suits me fine

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