Adventures in the USA part 3 - Animal Kingdom, Disney World Florida

Day 2 of exploring in Florida, and we're at Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Unfortunately, we went there on a day with shorter hours (closing at 5pm), so there are things I would have liked to have seen but I missed (things that I've seen in the past though).  I think that this time though, I had a larger appreciation for the wildlife aspect of this theme park, especially with the recent killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, the conservation and protection of such majestic and special creatures is even more important.  You may question if you should support Disney's Animal Kingdom or not out of concerns about animal welfare, but from what I can currently tell, the organisation takes good care of the animals, allowing animals to not be on display to the public if they seem distressed, keeping them at a safe distance from the public, and keeping the park's closing hours early to give the animals some peace and quiet.  If anyone reads this and disagrees about Disney's treatment of animals, please send me links to educate me in the comments.  Now, onwards to my top 5 of things to see and do at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park:

• Festival of the Lion King – This indoor attraction has been a family favourite for many years now. It’s a sing-along, acrobatic celebration of The Lion King.  In preparation for the show, audience members are invited to learn the sounds made by lions, giraffes and warthogs, and learn the Swahili names of the main performers.  As puppeteer-controlled moving platforms carrying Simba, Pumbaa, Timon and a giraffe move into the arena, the festival begins with the use of the previously-learned sounds to greet the animals.  With favourites such as The Circle of Life, Can You Feel The Love Tonight (with a dancer flying in the air as Nala) and Hakuna Matata (complete with a hand-jive from the acrobats), you'll be singing like one of Simba's pride in no time! 

• Kilimanjaro Safaris – It probably hasn't been my favourite part of the Animal Kingdom park before, but it certainly seems like it this time.  On this tour that takes about half an hour, you are driven with other visitors in a safari bus into the depths of the park, where you can see a wealth of animals from a safe but relatively close distance.  During our mini-safari, we saw elephants, giraffes, a hippo (completely out of the water, which is unusual for an animal that spends most of its time below the water's surface in order to stay cool), zebras, flamingos and lions, and although I am currently non-vegan (but still trying to cut back on my animal product intake), I did find myself looking at and taking photographs of these beautiful creatures and wondering why anyone would want to harm them and other animals. 

• Flights of Wonder

• Kali River Rapids – Kali River Rapids is a water ride where you sit in a circular raft complete with safety belts and a central compartment for the storage of bags and valuables during the ride. This was the first ride we had a Fast-Pass for, which made waiting time MUCH shorter. Fast-Passes can be organised through the My Disney Experience app available in the iTunes and Google Play stores. I’d suggest to ride on Kali River Rapids quite late in the day, as you WILL get wet!
• Maharajah Jungle Trek

If you've not already noticed, I find taking the time to eat breakfast every day very important - especially if you're going to school or university or work - to keep your mind and body nourished and energised for the day ahead, and a day at a theme park should be no different.  After all, you'll be running around to go on as many rides as possible and see the animals.  This recipe for a "banana breakfast dog" is one I found on disneymickeycheck.com, which identifies it as a nutritious option for kids.

Ingredients

whole grain hot dog bun
peanut butter (may use sunflower butter as nut alternative)
sunflower seeds (shelled)
banana
low-sugar jam

Instructions

1. Open the whole grain hot dog bun and spread peanut/sunflower butter on the bottom half.
2. Sprinkle sunflower seeds onto the spread half.
3. Peel a whole banana and place on the bun.
4. Add a small amount of low-sugar jam on top of the banana, add the top half of the bun, and enjoy!

Look back next week for part 4 of my Adventures in the USA series, in which I share my favourites from the Universal theme parks in Orlando!

Adventures in the USA part 1 - Washington DC

A few weeks ago, I finally went off adventuring again (friends of mine on Facebook will have recently seen a photo series involving flowers, food, Colours Ball, bowling with friends, and things I've been up to while fighting a wanderlust of just over two years), and this time it was to the USA with my family.  We had two stops, Washington DC and Walt Disney World Florida, which I will cover in a series of posts which should last well into September.  The first of posts will cover our time in Washington DC.  We spent 4 days here, in which we saw memorials to several presidents, a few of the Smithsonian museums, and the White House.  Below, I share my favourites of the places we visited and a couple of top tips!

Top 5 places to visit in Washington DC

1. Franklin Roosevelt Memorial - Out of all the presidential memorials that I saw (including Jefferson and Lincoln), the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial was my favourite.  It felt like an endless road of walls filled with inspirational quotes and punctuated by small waterfalls.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


2. World War 2 Memorial - With a view of both the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial in the background, a granite pillar adorned with a bronze wreath to represent each of the United States, and a large central fountain and pool, the World War 2 Memorial in Washington DC could be a great place for reflection and expressing gratitude. 
   

   

   The World War 2 Memorial in Washington DC.

   
   
   A "Freedom Wall" holds 4048 gold stars, each of which represents one hundred American service personnel who died or remained missing in the war.  The 405,399 Americans dead or missing in World War 2 is second only to the 620,000 Americans dead or missing following the American Civil War.
   

   

   The Freedom Wall.

3. White House visitors center - Since I'm one of those people who can easily go around a small museum reading stopping at every artefact and reading every sign, the White House visitors center is definitely somewhere to keep a few hours for.  In this mini-museum (everything is on one floor in one big room), you can learn about the role of the White House and Washington DC since its inception in 1790 as the capital of the United States of America, different presidents, hear audio clips from presidential speeches, learn about the role of the First Lady and the First Family, and see both original and replicas of items found in the White House and used by past presidents.
   

   

   The back of the White House.

4. National Air and Space Museum - From the first hot air balloons to the early aircraft models similar to that flown by the Wright Brothers to Federal Express planes to modern passenger aircraft, you can see and learn about the history of the flight of man.  You can also see spacecraft, including modifications of the Hubble Space telescope.
5. 4th July fireworks - As we arrived in Washington DC on the afternoon of Saturday 4th July, we were able to see the evening Independence Day celebrations (there were celebrations throughout the day, but we only arrived in the early evening).  Our hotel gave us timings of the fireworks display being held behind the Washington monument, where to see it from, and informed us that they would be holding a barbecue at the hotel afterwards.  Despite arriving at a patch of grass near the Smithsonian museums about half an hour to 40 minutes before the display was due to start, this patch of grass was already packed with American viewers decked in red, white and blue (I, meanwhile, had spent the flight in black and white), with rumours that some of them could have been waiting there for the 9:15pm firework display since about 3pm.  Given the nature of the firework displays that I had seen in Florida in the past and would see in Florida in the following week, the Washington DC fireworks display for Independence Day wasn't very spectacular, but I still think it was good to experience a part of the Independence Day celebrations.

Independence Day fireworks behind the Washington Monument.

Top Tips

1. Fill up at your hotel's breakfast buffet (if they have one) and take extra food from the buffet to eat later in the day.  This can mean saving the time and money you would spend on lunch.  For breakfast each day, I ate a bowl of dry Raisin Bran, 2 slices of jam toast, and a big bowl of fruit (this is the equivalent of my typical breakfast, lunch AND fruit snacks when I'm at home), and then took fruit to eat later in the day.
   

   

   Extra fruit from the buffet which we took to eat later in the day instead of stopping for lunch.

    

2. Unfortunately for us, breakfast wasn't included in the hotel price, but I managed to save $4 on breakfast each day by having a continental breakfast buffet (described above) instead of a cooked breakfast buffet.  I therefore spent $12.95 on breakfast and lunch combined each day instead of $16.95 each day as the rest of my family did.
3. On the first morning, we went to Starbucks and since we could only see the water in glass bottles at the time, we asked the man at the counter where the plastic bottles of water were.  He then offered us ice-cold tap water in a plastic cup for free, so we had more water to take with us and it was so refreshing and cool.

Stay tuned for part 2 of my Adventures in the USA series, in which I will reveal my top places to visit in the Downtown Disney shopping district at Walt Disney World Florida!

Toasted Chocolate Sandwiches

So this is my first post as a 20 year old (i.e. no longer a teenager), but that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be sharing complicated and "grown-up" recipes yet, especially as I have no intention of learning how to cook meat.  At this point, fairly simple is still the way I'm going.  In the end, my birthday did not involve an outdoor archery session (*cries*), but I spent the morning listening to the Rent soundtrack in bed while starting sewing a Winnie the Pooh cross-stitch pattern, and then spent the afternoon in the kitchen listening to Hilary Duff while preparing the ice cream cake from the recipe I shared last week.  And for a special breakfast treat, I decided to make myself a toasted chocolate sandwich using the recipe I found in Coffee Bites by Susie Theodorou.

Ingredients (to serve 1)

2 slices of thick-crusted white bread
30-50g (1-2oz / ½ cup) dark (dairy-free) chocolate

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius fan-assisted (or 425 degrees Fahrenheit, or gas mark 7) and preheat a baking sheet.
2. Chop the dark chocolate and place the pieces in the centre of the pieces of bread.
3. Toast the sandwich in the oven for 5 minutes, turn and bake for another 3 minutes.
4. Let the sandwich cool, then slice to serve.

Raw Granola with Raw Banana and Cashew Yoghurt

Last Thursday was the Health and Wellbeing fayre at uni, marking the launch of a new initiative to promote and sustain health and wellbeing amongst students and staff at the university through food, exercise, relaxation, and services such as the university's counselling service, the mental health charity Mind and NHS services.  There were various stalls with leaflets or, in the case of the Sustrans stall, a bicycle fitted with a blender which you could ride and make your own berry smoothie (which will next be available at uni on Wednesday 25th February for the Food Festival), as well as a quiz which you could complete with the chance of winning various prizes including month-long gym memberships.  At the stall at which you could register your attendance and maybe also receive a goodie bag (which contained a stress ball in the shape of a lemon, lip balm, hand sanitiser, a pedometer, a hand warmer and a few leaflets), you were encouraged to write on a post-it what you would like to see this initiative do for the university.  Being an advocate of food and looking after yourself, I took three post-its and wrote:

1. Introduce compulsory timetabled sessions on yoga/relaxation for all students.
2. Encourage students to eat breakfast everyday.
3. Encourage students to get enough sleep each night.

That second option is what I have a post on for this week.  Breakfast.  The most important meal of the day, or so they say.  The meal that should not be skipped in favour of sneaking a bit more sleep in before a lecture.  One of my friends was talking about wanting some granola a few days ago, so I felt inspired to look up a recipe for granola.  I found one in the January 2015 of the Asda magazine, but I've adapted it a lot by making it into a raw version by not cooking the granola mix and topping it with raw banana and cashew yoghurt, in accordance with this recipe for raw banana and cashew yoghurt from Choosing Raw.

Ingredients (to make 4 small servings)

1 cup cashews, soaked for 2 hours or more, then drained

2 large bananas

1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2/3 cup tap water or coconut water

1 pinch sea salt

200g rolled oats

raisins, to serve

blueberries, to serve

 

Instructions

1. For the yoghurt, blend all the ingredients together until the mixture reaches a smooth consistency.
2. Mix together the rolled oats and raisins.
3. Scoop some of the yoghurt into the bottom of each glass.  On top of this, add a layer of the oat and raisin mixture.  Add another layer of the yoghurt to the glass.  At the very top, add another layer of the granola mix.
4. Add some blueberries to serve.

Blackberry Compote

In the last few weeks, my views about breakfast have become so much stronger.  I find it so important to have breakfast in the morning.  Every morning, within ten minutes of waking up, I'm always in the kitchen pouring myself a glassful of tap water and preparing myself either a bowl of cereal (without milk) or a slice of marmalade toast.  I'll then be dancing around my bedroom to some CD or other to rev up my energy for the morning.  But I'm now learning that although breakfast is so important, a lot of my friends seem to skip it.  They wake up too late to have breakfast before lectures, they prefer to have breakfast later in the day, they're too busy for breakfast, other reasons.  It shouldn't bother me so much, but it does.  I see breakfast as one of those foundation blocks for staying healthy as it gives you energy to concentrate for the morning, especially if you have 9am lectures like I do.  I know that what I described above for breakfast is quite small, but that's what suits me.  However, sometimes at the weekend or in the holidays, I might have a larger breakfast of crepes as a treat.  Usually, I'll eat them with sugar and lemon juice or with honey, but this blackberry compote, which I found in the September 2013 edition of the Tesco Food and Living magazine, also seems like a sweet and fruity choice to spread onto my crepes, pancakes or even on my toast.

Ingredients (to serve 4)

100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) orange juice
1 teaspoon cornflour
100g (3 1/2 oz) caster sugar
200g (7 oz) blackberries, some left whole
a pinch of ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of the orange juice with the cornflour.  Stir until smooth and set aside.
2. Put the caster sugar, berries, spices and the remaining orange juice in a medium pan and heat on low until simmering (this should take about 1-2 minutes).
3. Stir in the cornflour mixture, lower the heat and cook for another 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool.  The compote can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 4 weeks.

Breakfast Salad

It's always fun to try out new things, so instead of having my usual bowl of cereal for breakfast this morning, I chose to make myself a slight variation of this breakfast salad that I found at Natural Delights.  Although this salad is very simple, preparing it took much longer than preparing my typical bowl of cereal, but it's the summer holidays for me and I'm glad that I used that bit more time to make an enjoyable breakfast.

Ingredients
2 oranges
1 banana
6 dates

Instructions

1. Peel both oranges and separate into segments.  Places orange segments into bowl.
2. Remove the seeds from the dates and chop the dates into pieces.  Add to bowl.
3. Top with slices of banana and enjoy! 

 

 

Bircher Muesli

Over the past month or so, I have become a regular reader of the wonderful Australian blogger Ally Sheehan's adventures on Tumblr and Instagram at agirlnamedally. My first post on this blog was one for her vegan-friendly banana and blueberry ice cream (Ally has been a vegan since late 2013, and she often offers advice about being a vegan to her readers on Tumblr), and I have learned through reading her posts that she loves bircher muesli and breakfast in general. So, adapting her recipe as a guest on this blog Happy Little Veganmite, I made a bowl of bircher muesli with what I could find in the kitchen at 11pm at night (when grocery shopping hasn't yet been done ...)

Ingredients (these have not been measured, but just poured into a bowl)
Rolled oats
Sultanas
Sesame seeds
Dark chocolate, chopped
Dates
Water

Method

1. Pour the desired amount of rolled oats into a bowl.
2. Top with sultanas, sesame seeds, chopped chocolate and anything else as desired.
3. Pour water over the mixture in the bowl and leave to soak for a few hours or overnight.
4. Top with dates, grapes, blueberries or anything else, and eat!