What Mel Wants

We all have those moments when we just really want dessert. It could be actually dessert time, or just time for comfort food. Perhaps it's a midnight snack after a long day of meetings. Or perhaps you are having friends over and want to look impressive. Presentation is the key to fun food. My favourite marketing experiment is the one with pudding. It was a taste test with two groups. The first group got plain white vanilla pudding. The second group received vanilla pudding with brown food colouring mixed in. The second group were convinced their pudding was chocolate, even though it was the same food. That's the affect of presentation. With that in mind, my desserts are suddenly a little bit prettier. Because YOLO. First, get a small glass - the sort you would normally use for table water. The smaller the glass, the better the diet-friendly portion control. Squeeze some chocolate sauce around the edges of the glass. Plop a scoop of ice cream in. Chop up a strawberry, and th

I have a confession to make. I just bought a blender yesterday. This is such a necessity in newfound independence. Perhaps I was born yesterday. Living alone requires a bit of creativity. Why not go a little bit fruity? To be honest, commercial juice places make smoothies look ultra complicated. Everything has sorbet, a 'summer blend' of fruit, and sometimes protein. They make it look like rocket science. Anyone can make a perfectly yummy smoothie without all the sugary ice creams and reconstituted juices. DIY versions are more real. You know exactly what ingredients are going in. What did I do? I just threw in a few strawberries, then chucked in some scoops of yoghurt. Clever!

We share quite a bit on Facebook these days. I tend to keep people in the loop about the bigger newsworthy things in my week. Surely some readers would wonder what I'm doing the rest of the time, when my life isn't lived on social media. Celebrities often write 'normal day in the life of....' articles. I am no celebrity by any means. But each one of us has a public image to represent. I enjoy sharing bits of life with friends who take interest. With that in mind, here is a normal 'day in the life' of Melanie: 6:30am: Make breakfast. Normally pan fried tomato, mushrooms, and eggs on an English muffin or bread roll. No oil in the teflon pan. This takes a lot of discipline early in the morning, but keeps me going. It's the most important meal of the day! 7am: Get ready. Checklist: Shift dress, big necklace, flat shoes, Macbook, iPhone. Done. 7:30am: Catch the bus. Flick through social media, emails, and news headlines on 10 minute bus. 8am: Get longer