Spring Cleaning 101

So its that time again. Spring is here and everyone is scrambling around doing their "spring cleaning". For the most part people just clean they way they usually clean just with a little more elbow grease. Two weeks later and we are right back to our pre spring cleaning ways. 

I do spring clean but, I "spring clean" about four times a year. I think I may have OCD but I love to change furniture around, buy organizing products, change the contents of my kitchen cupboards. Trust me it's weird, but I always feel like I get more done and function better when my home is freshly deep cleaned and functional. 

I will be sharing my Spring Cleaning adventure with you but here are a few things  to consider in getting started. 

Where to Start 

We all stand in our homes, look around and think to ourselves ... "oookkaayy so where do I begin?" ... I always start in my Kitchen. This is where I start because the Kitchen is the hub of every home. It's the most frequented area by everyone in the house and those kitchen drawers tend to be the most "junky". After I get done with the kitchen I move clockwise to each space. 

What to Do 

So what is "Spring Cleaning" ? I think everyone's definition of Spring cleaning is different, there is no right or wrong. My Spring Cleaning is a complete overhaul even a few cosmetic touch ups sometimes. Normally I pull out everything, sort through them, throw away what I don't need clean off what I do and find a place for everything. When everything in your home has its place your home tends to stay cleaner. 

What You Need 

For me a good fleet of all purpose cleaners, rags, garbage bags, and boxes do the trick. If I need anything additional I cross that bridge when I get to it. 

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So lets do it ladies! Spring Cleaning Time!! I promise at the end we will all feel refreshed and ready to take on the world! 

Foodie Friday! - Guilt Free Pasta Recipe

Its Foodie Friday!!! Today we have a recipe from Nykki Sawyer. Almost everyday her facebook posts of her vegan dishes makes my mouth water! She sent us this delicious recipe to share with you all today. Comment and let us know how it came out if you try it. 

Zucchini Pasta with Mango Salsa and Sun dried Tomato Vinaigrette

This is a Guilt Free Pasta dish (gluten free, low calorie, no carbohydrates and full of fiber) 

Ingredients:

Zucchini 

Grape Tomatoes

For the Mango Salsa:

Mango

Tomato

Onion

Green Bell Pepper

Lime

For the Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette:

4-5 Sun dried tomatoes

2 tbsp fresh basil

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2/3 cup olive oil 

Salt n pepper to taste

Peel zucchini and slice into long thin strips to make the zucchini pasta (or use a spiralizer).

For the Mango Salsa, dice all the ingredients together, then lime and season with salt. 

For the sun dried tomato vinaigrette, place sun dried tomatoes, basil, garlic in a food processor and pulse for a very seconds until ingredients are roughly chopped, then add balsamic vinegar, turn food processor on and drizzle in olive oil until it is well incorporated, that's it add salt to taste and pour over the raw zucchini pasta! Bon appetite!

Has the Integrity of Women gone away?!

    Apart of the reason I started this blog was to write my thoughts out that were too long to be a facebook status. Something popped up on my time line this morning that got me thinking and wanting to vent. 

    Has this generation of women completely lost their integrity? Have we no morals anymore? Do we not think we deserve more? 

    As I sit and think about what I was taught about what it meant being a decent young lady, I look around and wonder hmmm did no one else get that memo? 

With the new craze of realty television we see women fighting, screaming, cursing, I mean whatever happened to women should be seen not heard. In Love & Hip Hop we see beautiful women fighting over one man who clearly doesn't care enough about either of them because if he did they wouldn't be in the triangle they are in. In Housewives series and Basketball wives we see Married women fighting each other, I mean these are women with kids!! How do you behave this way then not expect your kids to do the same?!?!? Why do these women continuously let men and trivial things get them to the point of throwing fists (and other objects) at one another?

    In entertainment women are more and more naked for performances and videos. Is talent not enough? Do we have to take our cloths off to top the charts and get the media talking about us? Do we not think we are talented enough that we don't have to take our cloths off and sexualize everything we do? For example Miley Cyrus recking ball video. I mean really why was she naked? It was not even a sexual song!!! Since when is it necessary to be naked and licking a hammer in a break up song?

    Now this gets me thinking, are we just buckling under pressure? Do we have self esteem issues? Or are we just not being taught the morals and standards we used to? 

     SO what do we do about it? Or does nothing need to be done? Maybe this is just where the world is going. I personally cant stand it ... while the reality shows are a guilty pleasure of mine the way these grown women act is still annoying to me. How do we fix it ... well I will start buying saying the following: 

LADIES!!! 

It is not cute to walk around with hardly any cloths on .. please leave something to the imagination. YUCK

It is not cute to fight with "your mans" sweetheart .... girl if he was worth fighting for you wouldn't be fighting the women he cheated on you with! 

It is not cute to make a spectacle of yourself in public... you look SILLY 

You shouldn't be proud to post about how you beat someone in the club last night 

Stop giving yourself up to every man you meet... No man who is looking for wife wants a women who all of his friends has slept with. 

This is all I can think of for now ... hopefully one young lady out their reads this and changes her ways. 

One can always hope. 

    

Foodie Friday! Guest Blogger Chef Simeon Hall Jr.

Its Foodie Friday!!!!! Today our guest Blogger is Chef Simeon Hall Jr. Not only is his passion for food clearly noticeable once you have a conversation with him about a recipe or restaurant but he's a pretty cool dude and has become a good friend. He is taking us into one of his mornings as a busy Chef and it sounds delicious and like a whole day! Enjoy! 

Chef in the Garden

“The Life of a Chef - How my Mornings Begin”

It’s 4 a.m. and the rambunctious siren of my Blackberry’s alarm reminds me that my 

commitment to success this year far outweighs my need to rest. My second alarm, my 

just in case alarm, shakes off the last of the wooziness and it’s time to get it cracking. 

My days are long and my nights are short. My sisters, who often double as my life 

coaches, remind me of how demanding the road ahead will be. They also continue 

to stress that each day will be met with more blessings and more requests; more 

opportunities and more items to complete. Whether it is finalizing content for my 

website, perusing designs for my kitchen studio, preparing recipe after recipe, editing 

my cookbooks or simply updating my blog - my days are filled with hard work and 

preparation, all in advance of the abundance of rewards to come. 

Five a.m. rolls in and after my daily devotions, I am left feeling fueled for the next leg 

of the day – my Sean T 25 minute workout. This includes 25 minutes of jumping jacks, 

squatting and twisting 15 years of eating like most Chefs do. This is not the easiest or 

the prettiest task; but I get it done. 

Normally a shower would not be a significant activity, but for me even this early morning 

ritual reminds me of the culinary arts and what I live for. This is the time of the day that I 

test my coconut oil, brown sugar, thyme and rosemary bath wash that I am developing. 

The rising sun meets me in my laboratory – my kitchen – where I had planned to make 

a breakfast of callaloo and a one yolk-three egg white omelet, with mint compressed 

watermelon, sorrel, fresh squeezed orange juice and star apple punch. But, my email 

inbox forced me to adjust that spread to a power-packed strawberry, quinoa, chai and 

green tea smoothie. With drink in one hand and the mouse in the other, I stumble upon 

an email from my friend D’Vanya who’s obviously becoming a successful blogger. She 

informs that Vanzblogs Foodie Fridays is requesting a blog from me by tomorrow and I 

haven’t the slightest clue what to blog about. 

Hmmm….I can’t in good conscience speak on my culinary experiences in Grenada, 

where I am currently researching the food culture of the Eastern Caribbean as that story 

is slotted to be published in The Bahamas’ Nassau Guardian this weekend. Nor can 

I share insight regarding my cookbook chronicling my travels around the world. Nor 

do I have the time to speak on how over the last 8 weeks I have studied how to make 

yeast from the air alone, cured egg yolks or made my own anchovies. To me, my life 

is a kaleidoscope of interesting tidbits which I hope will someday interest and influence 

Mid-thought, my 6.30 alarm reminds me that it’s time review my lesson plan for my 

lecture today at a local Community College where I have been volunteering. Today, I 

have the second half of the first year students that I taught on Monday - a group that 

is the most impressionable, yet seemingly least committed to their craft. Today we are 

going to make the perfect chicken stock – 8 pounds of roasted chicken bones, 1 pound 

of carrots, celery and onion and 1 gallon of distilled water. Slow roasted in the oven then 

simmered on the stove. Strained and portion in ice trays for the perfect stock cube when 

they need it. Usually a simple process for me, but a challenge when there are 19 feisty 

Maybe, if all goes well, I will show them how to turn 3 cups of regular flour and 4 whole 

eggs into the most amazing fresh pasta and allow them to experiment with my beloved 

Italian pasta machine and keep my fingers crossed.

All things Local a True Garden Salad

Being reminded again of the time, I stop my revision to review and send some pictures 

of my favorite dishes to my Web Designer – a mammoth task for someone with an 

appreciation of foods and tons of pictures. 

Grenadian river crayfish! - split peas and crayfish bisque/ on ice/ crayfish scampi 

a study of all things "peasy"- ten different kinds of peas 

cooking pasta with the students- fettucine left to dry

Well its 7.30 and I guess I will get my day started!

Finding a Babysitter

     

Time is winding down and its almost time for me to go back to work. I'm like ALREADY!?!?!? Nooooooo I'm not reeaadddyyyy! My older cousin came and took my little heart string the other day for only about 3 hours and I didn't know what to do with myself. How am I going to make an 8 hour day and how will I find someone that I actually trust to watch him? 

    How does this work? I'm finding it hard to fathom leaving my baby with a total stranger! UGH But what can I do; I don't really have a choice. I have heard so many stories about babysitters who didn't work out ... I don't want to go through trail and error I want to get it right the first time.

   In trying to find this babysitter I have a loonngg list of the type of person I want and what I expect them to do. I am worried that I wont think anyone is good enough and I'm left not having anyone to watch my baby. 

I have also found myself looking for surveillance systems that I can connect to the internet and be able to check in on him from work. Does that make me overprotective or crazy?

Anyway moms out there please leave a comment and let me know how you dealt with this or if you have any sitters you want to recommend. I would love to hear your experiences. 

Until Tomorrow

Much Love, 

D'Vanya (Vanz)

 

DIY: How to Plan Your Wedding on a Budget

This week on my facebook timeline it seemed as if everyone is either getting engaged or married. Love is definitely in the air. While we all would love to have that magical dream wedding where we can blow a ridiculous amount of money and just "pick and pay" you and I both know this is not a reality for most of us.

I learnt very quickly when planning my wedding that what you want more often than not does not agree with what you have in your bank account. 

My Husband and I REFUSED to borrow any money from the bank for our wedding. Why on earth would we start our marriage in debt for one day? The fact that we were committing ourselves to each other was more important to us then our guests having lobster and steak at the reception. 

With all of that being said here are some money saving tips to consider when planning your special day. 

Guest List  

So that list of 300 people you have written down; check it again. How many people are you actual in contact with on a regular basis? Hmmmm..... bet that took off at least 150 people. When putting together a guest list we tend to get carried away, we want our best friend Ashley from 5th grade who we haven't seen since our Primary school graduation there... OK that may be a slight exaggeration but you catch my drift. Try to keep your guest list confined to CLOSE family and friends. Hey if that means cousin Al who you only see at family reunions doesn't make the cut then so be it. I had Aunts and Uncles that didn't make the cut .. they are okay truthfully I haven't seen them since I got married anyway. Trust me if anyone gets upset they wont be upset for life and remember its your day not theirs. 

Time of Day 

When you are planning what time to have your special event keep in mind that Breakfast is the cheapest meal to pay for. My wedding ceremony started at 9am. I had to start getting ready at 5 but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make! 

Reception

Now this idea will require you to think out of the box. Instead of having a three course dinner where you are paying $50 and up PER PLATE ... how about doing an upscale cocktail reception/party? Here are the ways you will save. 
1. You will pay less for decor because you wont have a bunch of centrepieces 
2. You will save on food! Instead of paying $50 and up per plate you will be buying platters that will feed at least half of your guest each 
3. You can save some of that food budget for more cocktails and who doesn't love more cocktails? Your guest will probably even forget they didn't have a full dinner! 

The Gown 

There was no way I was spending more that $1,200 on a wedding gown to wear for ONE day NOPE wasn't gonna do it. I couldn't justify spending more than that on a dress that I would only wear once. There are many beautiful gowns out there that wont cost you a down payment on a house. My dress was a Maggie Sottero gown .. it cost me $1,000 and it was absolutely beautiful! 

Entertainment 

Entertainment?? There are so many things that come with a wedding reception like toasts and throwing of the bouquet and garter and the first dance there really is no need for entertainment. Everyone may not be as lucky as we were but we had a pretty special group of groomsmen who decided they would do a little impromptu performance for everyone. Not only was it hilarious but our guests enjoyed it ... and guest what ... It didn't cost us a penny. 

I hope these few tips help you with your planning. Remember all that matters at the end of the day is you are marrying the Love of your life.

Foodie Friday - Guest Blogger Amelia J

Its Foodie Friday!! And who doesn't love hearing about where to get the best food or how to make delicious meals at home? Today our blog is coming from my good friend and fellow blogger Amelia J. She on a regular basis makes me hungry with her food posts on instagram and facebook. Check out her blog at http://www.ameliajamoury.com/! 

Hidden Gems in Nassau’s Restaurant Scene

Hi my name is Amelia, and i am a food blogging addict. I constantly get angry comments on my instagram ( @isthatameej ) feed from hungry belly friends who are suffering from a serious case of “food envy,” when they (i assume) are probably staring at a cup of noodles, or some mundane meal. I thrive on the weekends, a resident Nassuvian, i endeavour to try all the newest restaurants, and have began building up my credits on Tripadvisor.

So I saw it fit to feature my top 3 favourite restaurants in Nassau, some underrated, and some so busy they don’t even take reservations.

1. Seafront Sushi

This has to be my all time favourite restaurant. Not only is the food AMAZING, it’s affordable, and you really can’t get a better deal for fresh sashimi ready fish. “Sushi with a flare” is how i best describe this place. Atmosphere wise, this place is great for a hot dinner date, or sharing a huge table with family. Although you may have a bit of a wait ahead of you, i promise, it will be worth every minute. My recommendations are the Sashimi Martini, the Volcano Roll and the Seafront Crunch, all of which i have never had someone say they didn’t like. True Story.

2. Wok n’ Roll

A real underdog, but so amazing. I happened upon this place with my boyfriend a year or so back, and ended up being pleasantly surprised with amazing food, intimate atmosphere, and great service. Not only do they provide excellent deals and specials, but their wait time is fast, but not in a rushed way at all. My recommendation would be the Black Bean Conch or Chicken! The sauce is to die for.

3. Mahogany House

This place is a bit of a drive, located in Lyford Cay, but for a special occasion date, the ambiance, portions and flare totally pay off for the long commute. When i first went here, i thought it looked like someones house, but once i got inside, i discovered an elegant modern feel that was refreshing. Not to mention the food is pretty amazing (try the Risotto, and the fried calamari). They also have a charming wine shop available that is worth the splurge, considering you are already out there, so might as well grab a good quality bottle of vino.

Whiles there are many other great restaurants, for me these three make the cut for top 3.

I didn’t choose the FoodBlogger life, it chose me.

Signed Amelia the Foodie

That sounded delicious. If "Mels" says its good I am there! Keep checking us out for more food fun every Friday! Thanks Amelia J. Remember to check out her blog at http://www.ameliajamoury.com/ and if you want to be jealous or inspired follow her on instagram @isthatameej