Wearing: Swedish design

I guess a more apt name for this post would be 'Wearing and Sleeping in:' as it features something a little bit different today.

Craving: Bananas and Vanilla

Over the weekend I tried Eleanor Ozich of Petite Kitchen's banana thickshake recipe.
Woah. It's most definitely worth investing in organic milk for this one, trust me.

Photo: Eleanor Ozich

I've modified it slightly below, but for the original recipe pop over to the Petite Kitchen blog.

In a blender combine:

1 ripe banana

3/4 cup organic milk

Vanilla seeds from 1 pod or 1tsp vanilla extract

1 date

pinch of Himalayan rock salt
pinch of cinnamon

Drink with absolute decadence and delight.

Lou x

Vietnam through Lou's lens

Growing up I never had much thought about Vietnam. I saw it as simply one of many South East Asian countries, and one who's culture I naively was not very aware of . Yet increasingly over the past few years I've become more and more interested in this nation, and in January I was lucky enough to visit it from top to tail, well as much as we could do during our eleven day trip.

It was one of the best cultural experiences I've ever had. The chaotic streets of Hanoi, the dreamy canals of Hoi An and the energetic bustle of Ho Chi Minh were perfect opposites during our trip, but above all the people are amazing. Most work twelve to fourteen hour days, seven days a week and their is an expectation that if you're not working then something must be wrong. Ha , try telling that to the Ponsonby mums at barre class.

The food was outstanding and the vibrant colours, wafts of spicy scents and street food scenes were enough to make me seriously consider dropping out of uni and cancelling my ticket home. Alas, I'm back in Christchurch now, but still dreaming fondly of this nation. I'm already planning the next trip back.

Lou x

Ps. More photos are over on Instagram, sorry for posting like an annoying Kardashian but there was so much to take in I felt like 'gramming was the best form of documentation.