JOY

I'm out of town at the moment, but due to the miracle of pre-organised blog posts, I bring you...

..things that have brought me joy lately.  There's a lot to be grateful for, that's for sure.

Birthdays and Aunts that send a different scarf every year (such skillz!)

Nieces that love music and insist on dancing, even from the other side of the world

Friends that bestow home-made beetroot chutney

Kitties that oblige with just the right facial expression

Coconut milk icecream, flowers from my mum and a new coffee machine (woohoo!)

Nature. It's such a gorgeous time of year. Winter, but there are still autumn colours everywhere.

Sauerkraut, winter veges and cooking moroccan lamb for people I love.

Long walks with my new lens

Cats that just want to cuddle.. even if it's only my foot.

What's bringing you joy lately?

Breathing Again..

I'm not gonna lie, the last 6 months have been a challenging time for me on a personal / mental level. There I was, feeling like life was all perfect and - wham! - stress, pressure and craziness from every direction.  I'm sure every reader can relate to times like this.  Life just does it to you.

Being human = doing time with messy, wild, unpredictable earthly life.

Woohoo?

After several months of living with a desperately confused mood, watching my health suffer, falling behind on my work and uni stuff and spending most of my time feeling veery close to the edge, finally... a better day.

It's kind of funny, the way these things work.  Just when you think it's the loneliest day, a new friend arrives from nowhere.  When you think you'll never find the path, suddenly the fog clears.  It's like taking a breath after holding it underwater for a little too long.

Am I being vague? Yes, deliberately. That's because my particular situation is not important. Every life has challenges, and if you hang in there, eventually you get through it. Or, at least, a half-way resting point. ;) I'm one place or the other, although I don't know what changed.

I . feel . better.

Finally.

Isn't this a health blog, you say?

Ok then.  One of the things I've leaned on in this stressy time is my, by now deeply ingrained, healthy habits. There may have been rather too frequent red wine consumption (allegedly*), but there have been plenty of veges, lean protein, healthy fats and a daily multivit. Just the routine of shopping and cooking is quite therapeutic for me. I enjoy it, yes, even the shopping part!  I'm weird like that..

I've persisted with walking at least four times a week, even when I really wanted to just hibernate  under a duvet (mid-winter over here!) and I have done a bit of yoga. This weekend I am attending a yoga retreat. By Monday, I hope to be a happy noodle.

Cooking (and therefore foodie blog photos) has been super basic. Last night before my Anthroposophy reading group, I threw a few things in the pan. 

Fish, broccoli, mushrooms, sauteed in coconut oil. So easy.

Then I grabbed my camera and new lens (ooo yeah) and decided to take some pics by the river before  attending to the hefty and usually incomprehensible words of Rudolf Steiner. I love that guy, but did he take forever to get to the point?  Yes he did.

This lens is F1.8, and the same focal length as your eye. It has no zoom, so basically you see through the viewfinder what you would see with no camera on your face.

However, it is really good in low light. I was having so much fun that I committed the sin of being 10 minutes late. Then I traipsed across the room, looked down, realised my boots were absolutely covered with river mud and had to make a shamefaced retreat to stash them outside the door.  

Ooopsies.

Here are some of the pics from last night. I didn't take a tripod, so most were too badly out of focus to be blogworthy. These are completely unedited. Enjoy!

* definition of a true friend: one who goes to their grave without letting slip anything revealed during a drunken Skype, phonecall, Facebook chat or email.  Yup. You may reveal all once we are safely on the other side. 

Don't know what you're doing with your Saturday night, but

I got invited to a two person Skype party.

That's me losing it to Olly Murs bottom right. Miss J has a celebrity crush on that boy.

When she was two and three, Miss J would help me exercise by issuing instructions. Her favourite was to involve herself in my yoga by demonstrating the poses and then saying: 'do it like this' (does extremely bendy thing) 'you must TRY HARDER'.  If I pushed her in the stroller, she would yell 'faster!' (and then, once a German speaker, 'schneller!', which was even more frightening).

Today, we were mincing to what must have been very loud sounds on her end and she would interrupt the session to yell: 'do you know this is good for your body, Tante Sara?', then 'it's good for your BONES, you have to exercise for STRONG BONES'. I'm so proud. ;D

It was a fun ten minutes and now.. back to the research report. ;) Hope your Saturday is also fun (and productive?).

10 Years Ago.. I Had a Birthday

And, I had one again this year. It was last week .. you know, I'm busy.
 
My birthday 10 years ago was much cooler.

I was sitting in an ancient, tiny pub in York (I think it was called 'The Alley Cat'), upstairs, looking out the window, and this bard saw me looking out the window and yelled 'Juliet!'.

Then proceeded to ... orate (?) for about 20 minutes. He just didn't stop. I've had a secret crush on him ever since. ;)

The Pasta Masta #2

After all that hard work, we got to the important bit..

Cheers!

Actually, yes, that IS a chunk of blue cheese on top of the gnocchi. My cholesterol levels began begging for mercy ;)

The seemingly unlimited Pinot Gris was included in the price of the course. The Italian course seems a bit pricey (I think about $250), but I've owned textbooks that cost more, and I ask myself: which is more enjoyable?

We didn't make this, it just turned up, like magic. Unfortunately my stomach had rolled over in defeat and happy surrender
by this point and I only managed a spoonful.

The Pasta Masta Part#1

Oopsies, you'll have to excuse lack of updates. I'm in that 'batshit crazy' part of the semester and blogging time is veeery limited.  Last weekend I took a Pasta 101 class at Jo Seagar's.  As I got up at 6 to get an assignment finished, please try to ignore the 'baggy under the eyes' look that I'm rocking so well.

Dog tired or not, the class was well worth it.  This is Jo. I found her to be an incredibly warm person, and surprisingly well informed on aspects of research science.   Before devoting herself to cooking and writing, she was a nurse and involved in the British Regional Heart Study. Between that, and a shared enthusiasm for all things 'Italy', we had a lot to talk about.

The course was about making pasta from scratch.  I don't eat pasta often, but when I do, it had better be face-explodingly amazing. This method delivers the goods: pasta that takes you right back to backpacking in Tuscany.

The secret is ratio of eggs to flour (half high grade / high gluten wheat flour, half semola). For good pasta consistency, you actually want gluten. Of course this won't stop me trying to reproduce it with a gluten free flour.  Buckwheat might work.

Mixy mixy... a wooden board is the authentic thing to use (according to 'Mama' - the heroine of Jo's Italian cook book).

Rolling and cutting the pasta. I actually have one of these machines, and now know what to do with it. In the background, Miranda is using the KitchenAid Artisan mixer, which did the same thing, only five times faster.

"I am so Italian right now"

The parparadelle is done. We are ready to tackle the ravioli.

The filling was spinach and cheese based. Very tasty.

Gnocchi.  Ingredients: potato, flour, salt. Very simple. Apparently it also works with kumara and/or pumpkin, and I'm keen to give that a bash.

The class gnocchi effort, ready for cooking.  Some people got fancy with the fork decoration and some just made 'pillows'. We were encouraged to just go with our feelings on that one.

Obviously, those that read regularly will have picked up that there are so far, many things about this class that clash somewhat with the way I usually eat.  Nightshades, for example, are usually completely absent from my anti-arthritis diet, as is gluten.

But, the thing is.. when you are healthy, it truly does not matter if now and then you decide to biff the rules.  The healthy human body should be robust enough to deal with it.  This food was quality, it was fresh, it was made and eaten in a fun, social atmosphere, and it only did me good.

The next step was sauces and the all important eating phase. Click Here to drool over part 2.

Have a great weekend!

Need Motivation?

Music is such a powerful force.  The right piece can change my mood from 'just can't do it' to 'Not only can I can do this, but I can do anything!' in a few seconds.

This always gets me started (as does the vid at the bottom of this post... check it out if you need some funnies in your day).

Recently, I went ahead and purchased a violin. It's old, Austrian, and has a few chinks, but the sound is gorgeous.  It has been at least 20 years since I last played, but I used to be quite good, so am hoping those skills have just gone to sleep, not vanished completely. 

Sadly, the bow was broken, but once I get that sorted over the weekend, I'll get right back to it. I'll aspire to the level of Salvatore Accardo in.. say... 30 years? 

With daily practice? 

(I wonder how long Razzy will put up with being my audience.  He doesn't like it much when I practice singing.... puts his ears at a sideways angle and gives me the 'are you done yet?' look).

... 40 years.

Do you play a musical instrument?

Apart from the violin, I can play the flute relatively well, and strum a few chords on the guitar relatively badly.  What I would love to do is master the piano.  Unfortunately, I don't have one right now, and even when I did, I never really connected with it.  I dream about being a fantastic pianist, but even with lots of practice, I never got to a position of ease with it. It's fun to keep trying though..

Here is another song that gets me in a 'bring it on!' mood.


Do you use music to get yourself in the right mood for the task at hand?
If you have any favourites, please link it up in the comments.  There is nothing I like better than connecting with someone through music that we both like.

Of course, if you REALLY need a boost. There's always Tough Love (it's short and well worth a watch).

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Tomorrow, there may actually be some food on this food blog.  In the meantime, if you are looking for eats, check out the recipes and meal ideas tab.  Time to crank up the Vivaldi and bake a vegan fruit crumble? Yes, I think so.

Piccy Post - Shadows

What I love about this time of year is the amazing shadows that come out to play early in the evening.   Not too much shadow, but just enough to make things seem more lovely.

.. something to think about, yes?