Plasma donation

Today I donated plasma at the local blood bank. It's a different process to donating whole blood and if we want to get all technical and fancy, the term for it is apheresis. 

I was given a pamphlet explaining apheresis so I thought I might type if up for you guys:
Apheresis is the process of collecting blood components, like platelets and plasma, using a cell-separating machine. Blood is drawn from the donor and is mixed with an anticoagulant solution to prevent clotting of withdrawn blood. The machine (called a centrifuge) separates the desired components by centrifugation (spinning) and the remainder of the blood is infused back to the donor. This draw and return cycle is repeated several times until the desired collection volume is reached. 

It wasn't written in the pamphlet, but after each cycle, they pump in some saline to replace the lost volume. 

Luckily for me the process went smoothly and I was able to donate a pretty decent amount of plasma which was required from a person of my weight and height. The nurses there were so lovely, and I enjoyed having a chat to the volunteer and other donors in the dining area after the donation. I strongly urge everyone to roll up their sleeve and donate. It's truly a life saving donation and the world will always be needing blood and blood component donations. The plasma donation takes a bit longer than whole blood, but you'll be out of there in about an hour and 15 minutes. 

To make an appointment, hop onto the the Australian Red Cross Blood Service website, or call 13 95 96 :)

I will point out that the cannula (needle) they insert seems quite wide, but it has a bevelled tip (slanted) so it doesn't hurt that much at all. I think have this fear that they will get a huge thick needle jabbed into them, but really it's all designed to be as painless as possible. 

I took some time to reflect after my donation and I thought back to my primary school days where I would cry at the sight of a needle. I don't know at what point between then and now, but I managed to dispel my fear of needles. Either that or I just grew a pair :P I then got thinking about a lot of the other things I was scared of when I was younger and I realised that I'm no longer frightened of them anymore. I've learnt over the years to really try and own fear. Of course it's still a work in progress, but I've become somewhat obsessed with trying to be the best version of myself and being courageous and facing all my fears is one of those ways I can achieve this. For me, it's all about self talk and and learning how to not fill my mind with scary and negative images. Everyone deals with their fears a little differently, but sometimes everyone needs a little support. Even if you're not ready to face your own fears, I hope everyone out there is prepared to hold someone else's hand as they face theirs. 

I got a cool glittery sticker!

Perth's Big Cake Bake Off and Ace Pizza in Mount Lawley

I found out about a fundraising event for the Red Cross out at Ascot Racecourse from the Perth Weekend Notes website and was quite worried that it was going to rain like it has been for the past couple of days. Yesterday in particular had very heavy rain fall and strong winds. But luckily for everyone who went out today, the weather was beautiful. The sun was shining and there was a lovely slight breeze. Perfect weather for the Perth's Big Cake Bake Off. 

The cake entries were very impressive. The novelty cake exhibition was my favourite. The talent was just amazing! After the cakes had been judged and the winners announced, you could buy a slice of cake for a gold coin donation. 

The popcorn was made out of marshmallows!!

My favourite :)

There was quite a lot to see and do, especially for the little ones. There was a petting zoo with pony rides, a bucking bull, bouncy castle, candy stall, a kids dance competition, a men's dart competition, clothes and jewellery stalls and food for sale. We tended to gravitate towards the candy and fairy floss stall :P

Little Batkid on the bucking bull. So cute.

There were also lots of goodies being raffled as well. We bought raffle tickets for a giant Toblerone and 10kgs of Cadbury chocolate in a giant novelty box. So cool...but alas, we didn't win. It's probably better that way because we already overloaded on enough sugar for one day.

All of us had never been to the Ascot Racecourse, so that was another new thing for today. No matter where I go, it's always a great time when I'm with my girls (plus my brother today) :)

I also did another new thing for today and had dinner at Ace Pizza on Beaufort St in Mount Lawley. I've seen a lot of good reviews on Instagram and so we took our friend there for his birthday. 

The restaurant was very spacious and had a very modern look to it. The walls were dark and the lighting was dim, but it all added to the nice atmosphere. The place was very busy, so it was lucky we made a reservation. 

My friends ordered two pizzas and I got the beetroot salad (minus the ricotta cheese). Unfortunately the pizza dough was not vegan friendly, but it was OK because the salad tasted really good. The serving was huge, so I was very full by the end of dinner. What I enjoyed about this salad was that it had both cooked and raw beetroot. The cooked beetroot added a lovely sweetness, while the raw beetroot added crunch. There was rocket and walnuts in the salad as well. It was just delicious. 

For dessert my friends ordered the soft serve which came with salted caramel topping, chocolate ice magic, crumbled biscotti and honeycomb. Are you drooling yet?

This is definitely somewhere everyone has to check out at least once. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

Fundraising baking

My whole day was full of baking :)

Ruth had a great idea to bake and sell muffins at the hospital she works in to raise money for our Red Cross Warrior Dash event this coming Saturday. 

We decided to bake three different types of muffins: white chocolate and raspberries, choc chip and vegan vanilla muffins with strawberry frosting. 

We used Donna Hay recipes for the non-vegan muffins and a recipe that I found from a book called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (check out this blog too). I've never tried any of these recipes before and luckily the muffins turned out perfect! 

The house was filled with the most delicious aroma and they tasted amazing (well I just tasted the vegan ones but apparently the others were yummy too). 

The thing I find with Donna Hay recipes is that if you want them to turn out well, you have to follow the directions exactly. Don't mess about with estimations or substitutions (unless you are a pro at baking). We decided that because these muffins were for sale we had to make them perfect so we used all the exact measurments and ingredients.

And what a success it was! Ruth told me that the muffins sold very well. There was even one gentleman who couldn't eat eggs and was eccstatic that there were vegan muffins available :) That makes me so happy to hear that no one missed out. 

If you're interested in donating to Ruth and I, please hop onto our fundraising page and spare some dollars: http://www.redcrossfundraising.org.au/reez_and_ruth 

For more info about The Red Cross, visit their website: www.redcross.org.au/

White chocolate and raspberries

Choc chip

Vegan vanilla muffins with strawberry frosting

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