The Adventures of Ella James

UNEXPAND

theadventuresofellajames — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 23:46:49 +0000

Ok, twitterers, we are using the hashtag #UNEXPAND.
I am not one for numbers, so there is no way I will be telling you my starting weight, and I’m not one for sharing ‘oooh, I found a new way of making diet tim tams’….this will be done with respect and huge doses of humour. I am using Lance Armstrongs site www.livestrong.com to record everything I eat, and all my activity…until told otherwise by the Dr the site is free. Happy travels all. xxx

Tickled by Tickell

theadventuresofellajames — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 23:12:51 +0000

Yesterday at the EXPAND conference in Canberra, I accepted Dr John Tickells offer to strip me of 20kg in 6 months. This is where I will keep you updated on our success. After all the EXPAND team are sponsoring me $20 per kilo to be donated to the Guide Dogs Australia

I have no real idea where we go from here. I just ran into John at the airport and he’s going to send me a book to get me started you know what that’s like! The waiting! But in the meantime I resisted the urge to leap onto the luggage scales at the airport so I guess like he said it all starts on Monday! I’ll give you my account as we go. Thank you for all your support. I’ll tweet results and also post here on this blog. For all of you coming on this journey, let’s do it as a team….it won’t be easy but it will be worth it! Love Ella xxx

DYSLEXIE

theadventuresofellajames — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 07:48:02 +0000

Dyslexie: when a golden retriever named Lexie blocks every move you make in your own home, thereby preventing you from going anywhere except by stepping over her.

I am minding this 12 month old GR through DON’T FRET PET while her owners are away on holidays. And in 24 hours, she’s reminded me why I miss my dogs so much. They have all gone to heaven, and I haven’t got another because I travel so much, but this minding thing is great as I get all the pleasure of having a dog around, without the responsibility.

But she has done wonders for me already. For a start, I have quadrupled my exercise. She makes me walk faster, and I take her out more, not to mention the games of catch in the garden. More people talk to me in the shops and the park because I have a dog so a big tick for communication. Last night she woke me at 230am by leaping up onto the bed. I should tell you, I used to have small dogs, Maltese and Headphones was the size of a corgi, so having a retriever leap up on the bed kinda wakes you up. She sat, right next to me, and offered me her paw. I wasn’t sure if she was lonely, or if in my dreams, I was dancing again and had said ‘shake’…or ordering a martini. Love her to bits.

Comedy on the Edge

theadventuresofellajames — Wed, 25 May 2011 09:05:56 +0000

Being funny comes naturally to some. Being a comedian is not the same thing. Every audience member is different, and making sure what YOU think is funny is something THEY think is funny can be really hard. Just saying. Some times it comes together, and sometimes you die. I’ve died. And last night, it came together. I think it was because it was such a great room, and the audience was there to laugh. Now that the night is over, it’s onto the next. Names I friended? NIcholas Simon Capper, Jeremy Keast, Arnie Pie. Comedy can be tribal. You meet people you really enjoy…their style, their work. I love that about Comedy.

I didn’t flip their work because I didn’t know them enough to shoot them…but here is me!

What would you like in your mouth?

theadventuresofellajames — Fri, 20 May 2011 10:02:40 +0000

Neutral Bay has turned into a shallow haven of trendy restaurants with uncomfortable seats and questionable dining.

I’ve been going to Neutral Bay for aeons. Because I’m old. Well, not old. But anyway, I used to go to Chaos, and Delante, and Woolies, and the Natural Food Market. And then I discovered a world of new eateries west of Young Street. A virtual Shomz Elise-eh of glittering fairy lights between the overpriced but glad it’s there Firefly and the favourite Kyushu. A vast array of interchangeable restaurants have established over the last months, and trendily dressed, I ventured out last night to see what was on.

Jeans and boots, check, useless but beautiful scarf, check, hungry friend, check.

Two glasses of sangiovese at the aforementioned Firefly later….oh, and a bowl of olives…a rich tapestry of colours and sizes…oh and did I mention I ordered the Sangiovese like a 50+ post retirement traveller to Italy who has returned to Sydney and now speaks fluent Austra-Itie! “Son-geeo-vayyyyyyy-say please’ and when the cute waiter returns I flirt with saying ‘gracia’ but say thanks anyway…

Turning left…The Garden? Empty, and not surprised…went there once and the best thing was the lychee martini..perfect…but the food (tapas style…..WTF with tapas style???? small serves, highly priced???????..when it’s done well, fabulous..when it’s average..it’s like going to a bulimics for a nibblies afternoon)
Blue Plate? Like a scene from Mad Men, 40+ male with 30+ female nearly wrapped around him smoking on the lounge outside and skulling (sp probably, but it will kill them so appropriate)..something…

Enzo Pizzeria….looks nice..but full. Outside seating plentiful, but how good is the service going to be and it’s cold outside…baybee..

The White Hart. Old English Pub? mmmmmmm Not quite. Very friendly service. My vegetarian mate would rather I didn’t have the oxtongue, pork belly, or lamb shoulder, so I join her in the risotto with Heirloom tomatoes and zucchini flowers, with an iceberg and stilton salad.

I order risotto because it’s something I don’t make at home…standing around stirring something is not something I’m good at…so I quite enjoy it when I’m out, but geez louise it’s hard to get right…

In this case it was a splodge of al dente rice in a glug with non carbon dated cherry tomatoes (heirloom??????) and deep fried zucchini flowers x 2 on top. The zucchini flower when done well (Fratelli Fresh) is a beautiful thing…..stuffed with cheeses lightly dipped in something and quickly fried it is crisp, flavoursome, and oooh ahhhh fab. But in this case it was a couplaveg deep fried and oily and soft and sitting on top of the al dente risotto like a couple of dead somethings.

No one had ordered the iceberg lettuce before….the lettuce was brown and moist instead of crisp and clean…so we sent it back….no thanks, we won’t have another.

The service was very good, attentive staff..but the food was just sooooo average. When I go out and pay $24 for a splodge of rice I expect something tasty and quite wonderful and this just wasn’t.

So now I’ve eaten at Firefly (previously) and The Garden and The White Hart Pub…and there’s nothing to make me go back. Oh and did I mention Charlie’s…..it’s like bakers delight with coffee. Everything prepared somewhere else and stuck in an oven on the premises with claims of ‘freshly baked’. The morning I went they had run out of fresh fruit and the backpacking baristas call out your name…so expect your coffee by the Irish Barista to be cold by the time some Swedish chick has called out your name that the French order taker has written down as Heller. The more she screamed out “heller, heller, heller” I just wanted to join in with “heller to yer toooooo’ then I realised it was my flat white that was languishing………

Tonight? Home. Grilled eye fillet and steamed broccolini with mashed pumpkin, and a glass of shiraz.

One place I will be going back to is the Central Depot Bakery in the laneway between Firefly and Enzo. Beautiful breads baked daily, great coffee, pastries I can’t try, but really really nice people run it.

But I wanna know. What do you like when you go out? What type of food do you want to eat? Do you want things you can’t eat at home? Or things you can cook but can’t do as well? tell me EVERYTHING.

Status Anxiety

theadventuresofellajames — Wed, 18 May 2011 07:58:43 +0000

The fear you get when you have failed to blog about anything for some time…a lot of time. So this is a more than twitter update…
Raw diet…not for me..got quite sick (see previous statement about not updating….I was SIIIIICK, fully sick)
Comedy. Appearing May 24, Comedy on the Edge, Abercrombie Street Chippendale, the Shannon Hotel from 8pm. Great people on either side of me, so a big night. Entry by donation.
Can’t brush teeth due to pilates on Monday, so typing is hard…please forgive xxx

Cashew Nut Aioli

theadventuresofellajames — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:50:24 +0000

I had a friend for lunch yesterday and he was tasty! Just kidding bahahahhaha. No seriously, I made a selection of dips to start, including the old favourite guacomole, but the garlic cashew nut aioli was one to share. I halved the recipe, but this is the whole. Serves 4

Juice of 1 lemon, about 2 tablespoons

2 cups cashews

3 stalks celery

1/8 yellow onion (although I used spanish)

2 tablespoons thyme leaves

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup water, as needed. Stick it all in the blender. I served it with crudites of celery, asparagus, carrot and red capsicum.

For the mains, I did steam some perch, served with a greek salad and radicchio leaves in balsamic.

I’m hunting for recipes for watercress juice…any suggestions? I see you aren’t supposed to have it on it’s own as it’s quite powerful.

MORE ON RAW

theadventuresofellajames — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 04:28:19 +0000

It seems many of my friends are now getting into eating Living Foods, or Raw foods. I had heard of it through the Leslie Kenton, a book given to me years ago, but didn’t really get into it. I thought a salad was raw, and that was it really. But my body always really responded when I ate salads, and I felt good when I reached for a stick of celery or an apple when I was hungry. On a recent trip to LA I was taken to Erewhon, a health food store and cafe on Beverly Boulevard and the food there ‘spoke’ to me. Hippy moment!!!!! Then I met a British comedian, Gina Yashere and she told me how she’d changed her diet to Raw. Within an hour of meeting her, I knew I had to get to Erewhon and buy a bag to make my own Almond Milk, and start doing things the Raw Way. Later that week, Gina invited me to lunch at Planet Raw in Santa Monica on Hollywood and 6th, and I was then a convert. Lunch started with dessert, and it was chocolate cheesecake, with dehydrated flax seed base, and made from almonds, cashews, avocados and carob. It was delicious in it’s own right, but I couldn’t tell it apart from usual cheesecake, except perhaps it tasted better. I also had what is called a medicinal salad, although the restaurant’s owner Juliano subsequently told me I should have had something far more interesting! I subsequently went to the restaurant on the Saturday morning before I left LA to do his cooking class and learnt so much about preparing RAW food. I still go to restaurants, and I am aiming for 50% raw at the moment although probably at around 90%. My fridge is full of nuts, macadamias, cashews, almonds, walnuts..all raw…fresh fruit and vegetables and frozen blueberries. I had pasta and sourdough bread when I was at restaurants this week, but apart from that no rice, pasta, bread, cereals or legumes. I’ve eaten spatchcock and tuna, and will probably still eat meat once a week. I don’t know. It’s a journey. I’m working out of two cookbooks now. Ani Phyo and Juliano’s RAW the UNCOOK BOOK. I’m less hippy and more gourmet. I don’t have a dehydrator, which is going to restrict me, but my blender and juicer are getting a work out. I am losing weight, and I just feel really good. I am sleeping well, and apart from a hideous headache this week caused I think by an extraordinary heatwave in Sydney (40 degrees) no jetlag. So let’s see where this takes me. I hope we can share ideas and recipes. Let’s see if I can go from Raw to Phwoar!

RAW

theadventuresofellajames — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:44:50 +0000

I’m just back from a sensational 10 days in LA where I showcased at the Comedy Store and Flappers in Burbank. I also discovered raw food and trying to incorporate it into my life. Today I made almond milk for the first time! One cup almonds, soak in filtered water for 3 hours, strain. Add almonds to blender with 3 cups of filtered water (new water) and blend the bejaysus out of it, then strain add a little vanilla and kaboom! Almond milk! All set for smoothies!

Queensland Floods

theadventuresofellajames — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:21:12 +0000

http://www.qldfloods.org/

Words are not enough.

xxx