I’m Back! (and an easy acai bowl)

Heyyyyyy!

It’s been a while since we last spoke. Ok, it’s been ages. 

But like, ughhhhh. Moving is the worst. THE WORST.

Our move to London didn’t go totally as planned. On top of the normal moving BS, we were temporarily…displaced? Yeah we were homeless for a hot sec or two. And then in the thick of it I had to go help my friends at Lifebox run their Jamie’s Big Feastival stall (we saw Jamie, he’s kinda losing it but I still would). Moving + Festival = Beat/Spent/Done. All my healthy stuff went out the window. Not totally, but enough that I was feeling pretty shitty.

At the beginning of the month I could barely lift my arm. And we still had a thousand boxes to unpack, walls to paint, furniture to build and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed. Luckily we got a little help from some of D’s fambo (thanks you guys!) and got ourselves together – although it took way longer than either of us were expecting. 

And because we tend towards the masochistic, we decided that during all this unpacking and trying to sort our lives out, it was a good idea to get a kitten. You guys, meet Florence. 

 

 

I’ve wanted a kitten for a really, really long time now and almost died when D said he was getting me one for my bday, with the stipulation that we had to wait until we moved to the new house. We got her the day after we moved in. 

So, a week and a bit after we moved in we’re kinda starting to find our feet. I’ve been all up in the kitchen, making up for all the shitty meals we ate during moving time and getting in as much veg as possible. (I got some sweet new knives for my bday too – shout out to M for hooking me up!)

I’m also getting back into the things that help make me feel healthy and sane, like my daily meditations using the Headspace app (currently doing the focus package because I’m all over the shop) and checking out different classes. yesterday I went to a hot pilates class, what even is that???

Now that all the stress of moving is behind us, I’m really excited to start checking out all the cool stuff London has going on. In other words, I went to Wholefoods. But also Topshop. Last weekend I even dragged D to Kew gardens too. It was a nice day OK??

Anyway, back to Wholefoods. While I was in there, I found packs of frozen acai and was instantly all about it. I haven’t seen frozen acai since I was living in the states but was pretty into the idea of making some acai bowls.

Ok, let’s clear something up here. Acai is pronounced like this: ass-eye-EE. None of your ‘ah-kay-ee’ or whatever. The real word has a bunch of accents and stuff on it, but never mind that. Just say ass-eye-EE and you’re good.

Acai had a ~moment~ a few years ago, but because everything here is a bit behind, it’s only getting popular in the UK now. You can get it in all the trendy juice bars like Raw Press and even an all acai pop-up cafe. Or, you could stay home and save £10 by making it yourself (instructions to follow).

So, wtf is acai. Well it’s a little berry from South America that is like, hella potent in terms of antioxidants and those good purple chemicals, anthocyanins. Although there aren’t a ton of studies on acai in actual people, there are some reports that acai can help stabilize blood sugar levels, that it’s anti inflammatory, and can help reduce pain in people with arthritis and similar conditions.

I first came across acai bowls when I was in NYC. I remember it well, not because it was the most amazing thing I had ever eaten, but because it was summer and the city smelled like garbage. Anyway, acai bowls are basically just a smoothie that you put in a bowl, add a bunch of tasty crap on top of, and eat with a spoon. You can sub the acai part for any smoothie really. Sometimes I eat them for dinner using my green smoothie recipe. #breakfastfordinner, yo. Oh, and they are pretty yummy as it goes.

So here’s what you gotta do. Get yourself some frozen acai packs. I used these ones that I got from Wholefoods (let me know if you find them anywhere else). Freeze a banana and some blueberries (or whatever berries you got, strawbs are good here too), and blend all that good stuff up with some unsweetened almond milk and put it in a bowl. Should look a bit like this:

Then, you get to let your personality shine and really make it your own, you know?

JK, it’s only b’fast. Cool it.

Picking the toppings is kinda fun though. I went for some of my salted maple pecan granola, some Pip ‘n’ Nut, and some white chia seeds. But, add what you like, coconut curls, fresh fruit, some superfood business, flax. Totally up to you. 

Ok, who’s tried an acai bowl before? What did you think? Pretty yum, right? What would you put on top of yours?

Have a chill weekend you guys! I’m going to buy a new pair of jeans because chubrub is real and I go through jeans like nobody’s business. Anyone else have that problem where they have a perfectly good pair of jeans except from the inner thigh? Let’s start a petition to Topshop to get them to add in more fabric!

L x

P.S. Leeds friends, I have not forgotten you: check out this healthy guide to Leeds I did for Welltodo London as part of their Jetsetter series. Spreading the good word down London Town.