Sandi Sieger’s guide to what’s hot and happy(ning) this week. Eat, drink, buy, try, visit, read, be merry – iso style.
EAT: Roll’d Family Meal Boxes
Admired for abundant fresh ingredients, minimal use of dairy and oils, the perfect balance of herbs, spices and lean proteins, traditional Vietnamese food is the one of the healthiest cuisines in the world.
The balance of sweet and spicy flavours and contrasting textures ensures a variety of delicious meals that are not only beneficial for the body, but will leave you feeling satisfied time and time again.
Enter Roll’d.
Avaliable now, the Roll’d Meal Box is a ready-made kit that will include all the pre-portioned essential ingredients for FOUR different fresh, tasty Vietnamese soups for your friends and family.
The best bit? You don’t need to shop or think. The Roll’d Meal Box is available for pick up from your local Roll’d store or can be dropped straight to your door via contactless delivery. Boxes are $50 each.
To order, click here.
DRINK: Ray Hard Seltzer
Ray is the new hard seltzer range from the Footscray brewery, available in three flavours: Watermelon & Mint, Lemon & Lime and Peach.
Ray is brewed like a beer with cereal grain and a two to three-week fermentation process. Hops are used early in the brewing process before the fruit is added late in fermentation. Each flavour is derived from real fruit and no added sugar, tasting like a refreshing sparkling water with a hint of the sweetness from the fruit. It makes for a great low-calorie alternative to beer or pre-mixed drinks.
The team behind ‘Ray is Footscray brewery Hop Nation. They saw the rapid growth of the US hard seltzer market and decided to put their own Melburnian twist on the trend with ‘Ray (named after the suburb in which Hop Nation resides).
‘Ray will be stocked in independent retailers nationwide and online, as well as 80 Dan Murphy’s and BWS stores in Victoria.
For more info on Ray, please visit their website.
BUY: Such Skincare’s Bum Mask
Such Skincare is an Australian made and owned brand, hailing from WA. They have a 100% natural, no nasties, cruelty free and vegan approach to business.
To be honest, I didn’t realise my arse needed a mask until I used one. Hoo boy, what a game changer.
The preservative free green clay goes from exfoliant to mask and leaves skin detoxified, firm (but still incredibly soft) and suuuuuper smooth. It smells incred. Like an Australian summer. It’s so damn good, I also put it on my face! I’m genuinely considering slathering it from head to toe…maybe give me a few more days in iso. So the verdict? I bloody love it. For my booty. For my mug. Might even give it a whirl on the jugs.
Get your butt buff here.
TRY: Urban Crush Smoothie Sachets
With so much uncertainty around the pandemic, Australian’s need to ensure their immunity is strong and in tip top shape.
To keep our immune system functioning to its highest standards, we must ensure that we’re consuming our required daily intake of our fruit and veg. With frantic day-to-day errands and stressful workweeks (yes, even during iso) many of us tend to struggle with fulfilling these vital dietary requirements.
Why are fruits and veggies good for your immune system? They’re packed with antioxidants and vitamins that boost immune function.
Cue: Urban Crush.
With no added preservatives, sugars, flavours or colours, Urban Crush is a quick and easy smoothie that’ll bring you one step closer to striving to your daily five.
One sachet along with one minute of your time is all it takes – just pour the powder into your water bottle and shake away!
For more on Urban Crush, click here.
VISIT: Get Fizzi-cal With Rosé Rosé
Rosé Rosé Goes Virtual Presents: Dance with Gabby – Let’s Get Fizzi-cal! Offering absolute Beginners and intermediates a FREE online commercial dance class on the 18th of September from 7:00-8:30pm. The event will happen via Zoom. When you sign up via Eventbrite you will be sent a zoom link for access to the event. You can have your camera on or off, it’s up to you! Limited to 100 spaces – so get in quick!
2020 has been tough to say the least. This free event is to bring some love and Fizzi’ Good Times to people from the comfort of their home. Invite your besties to join in the class with you!
Register here.
READ: Poly by Paul Dalgarno
Chris Flood—a married father of two with plummeting self-esteem and questionable guitar skills—suddenly finds himself in the depths of polyamory after years of a near-sexless marriage. His wife, Sarah—a lover of the arts, avid quoter of Rumi, and always oozing confidence—wants to rediscover her sexuality after years of deadening domesticity.
Their new life of polyamory features late nights, love affairs and rotating childcare duties. While Sarah enjoys flings with handsome men, Chris, much to his astonishment, falls for a polydactylous actor and musician, Biddy.
Then there’s Zac Batista. When Chris and Sarah welcome the Uruguayan child prodigy and successful twenty-two-year-old into their lives, they gratefully hand over school pick-up and babysitting duties. But as tensions grow between family and lovers, Chris begins to wonder if it’s just jealousy, or something more sinister brewing…
A searing and utterly engrossing debut, Poly is a raw, hilarious, and moving portrait of contemporary relationships in all their diversity, and an intimate exploration of the fragility of love and identity.
Written as a reality-check on the literature about polyamory, Paul Dalgarno explores key themes of love and trust in relationships, sex and marriage, jealousy, guilt, betrayal and the normality of a not-so-normal modern family. The book also touches on mental health and masculinity in crisis (all but two of the adult males have mental health issues e.g. anxiety, depression, personality disorders). Poly is an honest look at polyamory, from someone who is—Paul Dalgarno and his wife are in an open relationship.
Paul Dalgarno was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and immigrated to Australia in 2010. In Scotland, he was a senior features writer, columnist and Deputy Weekend Features Editor with The Herald and Sunday Herald newspapers. In Melbourne, he was a launch editor, Deputy Editor, Arts Editor and Science Editor of The Conversation website. Paul has written for many publications including Guardian Australia, Australian Book Review, Sunday Times Scotland and The Big Issue. His memoir, And You May Find Yourself, was published in 2015 (Sleepers Publishing). In 2016, he was awarded a Varuna Residential Fellowship to work on his second book. When not writing, reading or parenting, Paul loves to cycle vast distances. Poly is his debut novel. He lives in Melbourne.
Poly by Paul Dalgarno (Ventura Press $32.99) is out now.
