Things to love, simple things and a recipe

TURQUOISE SEA, rock pools, sandy beaches, seashells, sandcastles, sea spray, ice lollies and ice-cream. Dangling feet over a sea wall while eating fish and chips out of paper, salt and vinegar, the sound of seagulls and the smell of seaweed on a summers breeze. Simple things.

When I was a kid we moved a lot. Once we lived in a big stone house with gardens. I used to collect caterpillars, watch butterflies, pick raspberries and hide in a pigsty. There were bell pulls in the bedrooms that hadn’t been used for a long time. There were window sills with cushions on them, a mangle in the kitchen. The kitchen had a terracotta floor and big table. Memories. I think we lived there for about 6 months then moved to another village, into a modern house with a garden that had fossils in it. The village had a church, a pub, a sweet shop and a chemist. I helped paint the church bells once. Had to walk up a long ladder for about 5 minutes, to reach the bells in the tower. They were HUGE. On the way down the bells chimed. My little 8 year old body clung to the ladder while my hands wanted to cover my ears. The drop was hundreds of feet. I didn’t fall. I didn’t go up again either. Then outside the sun was shining. Walking past the pub I remembered how much I loved chipitos, and bought some through a window onto the street with the money I’d earned painting the bells. I remember the smell of old beer, and tobacco smoke as it unfurled itself into the air around crates of bottles in the entrance. There was a bench in the entrance too, where old men sat, some smoking pipes. Pipes and beards were a bit of a 70’s thing. Life was a different pace at the end of the 60’s and early 70’s, one where there was time to know yourself.

photo by Bananayota — pixaby

As the 70’s progressed it was as if the world took a different turn. I think maybe geopolitical decisions were made early in the 60’s that were based on fear, and this has led to life playing out in a way that has led us to today’s global challenges, underpinned by decisions and systems rooted in endless distrust and fear. These are the emotions of the left brain which Dr McGilchrist has shown believes it needs to fight for survival, is always right, can’t do nuance and so views everything in the world as for or against it.

I listened to this conversation yesterday, and I thought, ummmmmm, maybe, the times they are a changing. Perhaps life doesn’t work in straight lines, perhaps it wiggles this way and that, as we change our collective karma.

And then I thought about how radical it is not to live by fear, and how important it is to manage stress for that to be possible. Which is why these posts will always be a place where you can come to be nourished, through food, your senses and perhaps over time, you will feel the nourishment from my heart to yours.

The three ways we feed ourselves — through the food we eat to nourish our body, the relationships we have to nourish our heart, the things we consume through our senses to nourish our mind — are what fuel our health. For Ayurveda it takes healthy balanced minds to create a healthy balanced world.

Get these three things right and life is, oh so good. You don’t need lots of money to do this, and so anyone can join in. It just takes the openness to try a few life changes. Of course, this can be the hardest thing.

Things to love

Last night, I spent a good hour before bed looking at pictures I love, like the one at the beginning and below.

They travelled with me into my dreams. I was feeding my mind through my senses, and it didn’t cost a thing.

Recipes

Here’s a recipe to feed your body, mind and heart.

Roasted beetroot purée, simple butter risotto & carrot

This is a simple but tasty lunch. Add in your favourite protein, or serve as part of a small plate platter. I roasted the carrots in toasted sesame oil. Here are the recipes for the purée and the risotto.

Roasted beetroot purée

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups roasted beetroot

• 4 cloves roasted garlic

• A glug of olive oil

• Enough water to blend

• Rock salt and black pepper to season

METHOD

Blitz the first four ingredients in a food processor and season.

RISOTTO

INGREDIENTS (per person)

• 1/3 cup arborio rice

• 1 1/2 - 2 cups stock

• 1/4 cup white wine

• 2 tablespoons butter

• Zest of 1/2 a lemon

• Rock salt and black pepper to season

METHOD

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and stir the rice into it for a couple of minutes. Then add the wine and once absorbed add the stock little by little — add a little once absorbed add a little more until all is added. Then stir in the lemon zest and other tablespoon of butter, and season with salt and pepper.

Serve with the roasted carrots and beetroot purée.

Last thoughts

As day turned to night, the world in my neighbourhood folded itself away. Tucked itself up for the night and slumbered into the fading light. I thought about owls waking up, while our neighbourhood robin slept in the tree bush outside my window, and the big tree out front disappeared into black velvet. There was peace, as little lights in windows across the road warmed up the velvet darkness. And here, just one lamp lit as I, well-fed on images of the things I love, swooned into the thick, deep silence and made my way to bed.

It’s the ordinary things.

Till Sunday,

Lucy x