With apologies to From Pyrenees to Pennines who also used this title today, I had this in mind when I got up this morning:
Juice: Beetroot, Apple, Pear, Carrot, Lemon, Cucumber, Romaine Leaves and blend with Frozen Cherries, Mixed Berries, Banana & hemp seeds. And if that doesn’t cover the full gamut of the electoral spectrum, I don’t know what does!
Here in the UK, it’s General Election Day. Universal suffrage was a hard fought right, don’t waste it.
Wherever your political loyalties lie
GO OUT & VOTE!!!
There are people waiting in polling stations to collect your vote, who have been up since 5am and won’t get home much before midnight – my husband is one of them – so don’t leave them sitting there twiddling their thumbs:
This is such a positive response to the news that Donald Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement, seen here as an opportunity to take personal responsibility for your carbon footprint and its effect on the environment. What can you do to help your planet? What goals can you set so that our children and grandchildren will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, clean food to eat and a vibrant environment in which to live?
We don’t use the car much, I think when we changed cars recently, there were only 6000 miles on the clock after 3 years. My husband cycles a lot and we are fortunate to have everything we need literally around the corner, including dentist, doctor and optician. The only flight was when my hb went to his niece’s wedding a couple of summers ago. Plastic is a big deal in our house. We used to use miles of cling film and tons of bottled water (years ago now), but no more. We recycle everything we can in whatever way we can. He is vegetarian and I vegan. We use energy-saving lightbulbs, switch off lights and appliances at the plug when not in use, cook one-pot meals and use triple layer steamers for vegetables. We grow some of our own fruit and veg. There is always room for improvement, but we do what we can manage and taking small baby-steps is better than none at all.
The United States has backed out of the Paris Accord. Not surprising given their president’s world views. Rather than calling this event an environmental tragedy, take the situation for what it is- an opportunity. This is a chance to open up a discussion about climate change, the environment and consumption with your family, friends and children, because ultimately, nothing has changed.
The people still hold all the power. With every product you purchase, with every watt, kilojoule or BTU of energy you use, you are voting. In buying shampoo, you’re saying “Hell Yeah!” to Proctor and Gamble, each time you drive your car, it’s a message to Exxon “Keep up the good work” and by charging your phone, depending on where you live, it’s like slapping a small invisible bumper sticker to your tush that says “What’s that lovely smell? It’s natural gas”.
We had beautiful scorching weather recently, into the high 20s Celsius. After hb had forced his creaking knees to comply with a tidy up of the garden, revealing lots of spaces where the forgetmenots and bulbs had died off, we bought some plants. This is typical Bank Holiday behaviour in the UK, oh and decorating and DIY, all of which we planned for the weekend. Then -also typically – the weather forecast was weekend storms. The plants took refuge under the garden table. We waited for the downpour and the winds. All we got, however, was a freshening breeze, drop in temperature and a few light showers!
Not complaining, we needed some rain and it certainly made it more comfortable at night.
So here are some photos of the gardens after hb’s hard work and also of the irises in the front garden which are in full bloom now, they make me smile every year – oh and some avian visitors and the feline neighbour who not only scares them off but also usurps my place!
We had our first dinner of the year outside, too. For those of you of a curious nature, I had spiralised carrot, cucumber and courgette tossed in a lemon, avocado and pine nut dressing on a bed of watercress, rocket and babyleaf spinach with baby plum tomatoes. All vegan and organic. The photo looks sharper on Instagram, in fact all of them do, not sure why.
The green smoothie in the photo of the irises I’m afraid I didn’t record, but from memory I think it was banana, blueberries, moringa powder, coconut water, chia seeds, live plain soya yogurt. There might have been some romaine in there too.
Now, a question for all you green-fingers out there: we foolishly allowed one wild aqualegia to take root at the back of the garden under the acer 2 years ago and now they are everywhere! They are growing in amongst the rocks, all over the patch to the left of the acer, in the cracks between the crazy paving up there at the back of the garden and under the forsythia near the house. They have made a lovely display at the top of the drive where nothing else will grow because the it’s choked by ground elder coming from our neighbour’s garden, but we don’t want our entire garden full of it. The roots are too hard to pull up from the stone once established and we don’t like using chemicals. Any ideas?
Here’s a better photo of the robin, this time paying an evening visit. I took it through the window with my iPhone after I’d written this post, but it’s sharper than the earlier one:
We had a pomegranate and some spinach in our organic veg box that needed using, as well as some homegrown mung bean sprouts,* and this is what I came up with.
This is such a colourful, nutritious and satisfying salad, full of antioxidants, protein, fibre, B viamins, minerals and healthy fats.
Vegan, Gluten-free, Organic where possible.
Ingredients
Romaine lettuce leaves
Thinly Sliced Cucumber
Grated Carrot
Sliced ripe Avocado
Spinach
Tinned Mixed Beans, drained and rinsed
Mung bean sprouts (or any other sprouted beans or seeds, but not the commercially packed long beansprouts)
Arrange the torn Romaine leaves around the plate, leaving a space in the centre
Place the thin cucumber slices, then the grated carrot and avocado slices on top around the circle
Lightly warm the beans, stirring gently to prevent them sticking or over-heating, and gently wilt the spinach – this releases the iron in the spinach and makes it more bio-available.
Arrange them in the centre
A few twists of black pepper over the salad
Pour over some Tamari & Olive Oil Dressing
Scatter the Pomegranate Seeds around the beans**
Top with beansprouts
**To remove the seeds, gently roll the whole fruit between your hands, cut in half, invert over a bowl and whack the end with a wooden spoon. If it’s ripe, the seeds should fall out. Otherwise, scoop them out with a metal spoon. See The Healing Powers of Pomegranate + Recipes for the health benefits of this bejewelled fruit.
This may seem a strange question on a health and wellbeing blog but bear with me.
This morning, I was woken by such a commotion in our front garden which seemed to then moved and down our drive. I could hear children, adults, a dog barking, someone shouting to a cat and a child calling to someone or something else and a lot of running back and forth. It took me a while to process it all. At first I thought the neighbour’s dog must have escaped again. I couldn’t hear my husband so I hauled myself out of bed and opened the curtains.
Rabbits! Two of them. Scampering all over, children chasing, adults cajoling and admonishing, a cat and a dog being restrained, utter chaos. I didn’t recognise half the humans running amok on my lawn, jumping over the newly blooming irises. I reluctantly went downstairs and found my husband completely oblivious as he was making juices and hadn’t heard a thing.
I went back upstairs, looked out and one of the fathers gave me a smile and a thumbs up! I assumed that meant ‘success’ and ‘thank you!’
We went about our morning tasks, I had a shower and washed my hair, husband finished juicing, and when he took out the compost discovered that the rabbits belonged to the son of our newly-widowed neighbour, a birthday gift for her older son. But they were back in their hutch, locked up and she was going out, not being any the wiser as to how they had escaped. It appears it wasn’t the first time, and her son gets so distraught when they do.
Not half an hour later, husband goes outside only to discover them sitting at the top of our drive where the young apple trees and tomato plants are, the cat from next door keeping a nonchalantly watchful distance. We had no idea what to do, neither of us having the first inkling of how to entice a frisky pair of bunnies back to their home, nor being sprightly enough to chase after them!
Picture the scene: I am standing holding a towel not exactly sure as to when it would come into play, my husband is wandering about looking clueless and wishing his phone would magically conjure up the neighbour’s number, but we don’t have it.
I suggested he at least shoo away the cat – it doesn’t take any notice of me but doesn’t like him at all – and then he remembered he had neighbour number 2’s number in his cycling book (really) from when we rescued her escaped dog (do you see a theme developing here? We have also in the past rescued former neighbour number 3’s ducks, neighbour number 4’s chickens and neighbour number 5’s two daft senseless dogs from being run over!).
It turns out, number 2 doesn’t have neighbour number 1’s number either, they communicate via Facebook, but does have new neighbour number 3’s (who lives in former duck neighbour’s house, are you keeping up?).
To cut a 2 hour long story short, we got the rabbits coralled behind our shed, hemmed in by wheelie bins and a fireguard.
The end of the line, nowhere else to runGotcha!
Throughout the entire procedings, the robins kept a beady eye on us, their nest is nearby and they interrupted their collection of nesting materials.
Then the cavalry arrived – or rather by the wonders of bush telegraph, the local neighbourhood rabbit-whisperer!
She wrangled them into a plastic recycling box which was quickly covered with my towel and lugged them back to their home. Which, it soon became evident, was falling apart and all they had to do was lean against the door and the catch fell down, and out they romped.
The grandad had been so excited at making the hutch himself for his grandson’s birthday, but unfortunately the wood near the catch was rotting and the screws were loose. These rabbits were very nifty and not short of a few brain cells.
My husband made a temporary repair, the catch was tied up and a box leaned against the door. An hour later, they were still ensconced in their residence looking a bit out-witted and not at all happy, but safe.
Back home
We had all been worried that their young owner would come home from his school trip to find them gone – there are several dogs adjoining our garden, including a Jack Russell and a Retriever, so it could have been very dodgy – it would have been too much so soon after losing his dad, but hopefully he will be none the wiser.
His mum came home and thanked us profusely. She is going to buy a more secure hutch.
What I wanted to say here though, was that out of a potentially disastrous and emotional situation, a new friendship is building.
I have never said more than hello to our neighbour as she passes by on her way to or from school always in a hurry, but since her tragic loss, we have offered help in the form of using our drive for all the visitors coming to support her and her son has begun chatting with my husband when they see each other on the drive: it seems he has a keen interest in cycling, as does my husband. Today was my first proper conversation with his mum as I explained what had happened with the rabbits. She was so grateful and so relieved and as we chatted about her son, she mentioned that she wasn’t sure she had the confidence to take out the two boys on the bikes by herself. I immediately offered my husband’s assistance and she looked really pleased and suggested that perhaps he might take the older son out on the bike track some time. I said he would be pleased to, and he later agreed.
It was a good feeling to have helped saved the day and prevent the family from having to face another loss, as well as finally getting the opportunity to meet properly and offer our friendship if she ever needs it.
Postscript: This episode was particularly poignant on this day when news was coming out about the awful slaying of young children and their waiting parents and grandparents at the Arianna Grande concert in Manchester. It felt good to feel useful and to do something positive for our young neighbour at a time of helplessness in the face of such an atrocity.
Last summer, in Magnificent Trees, Olympic Medallists, A Czar & Some Sheep! I took you on a tour of our National Sports Centre at Lilleshall and gave you a potted history in among the photos of the beautiful grounds. Many of you have liked this post and those of a similar ilk, and I am so thankful to be living in the vicinity of these grounds, I thought I’d share these photos of Lilleshall in Spring. Unfortunately, we only had an iPhone, so some of the ones taken at a distance are out of focus, the zoom is really bad. I hope it doesn’t spoil your enjoyment.
These were taken on a gorgeous sunny midweek afternoon – these gardens really are breathtakingly beautiful and the trees are just overwhelming in their majestic beauty. Whatever season you visit, the colours are just stunning. The amazing thing is that it is always quiet and peaceful. During this visit, there were people from Rugby England (the sport not the town) on some sort of course; the England gymnasts and archers train here as well as the footballers, but local people can visit and use facilities, my husband has sports massage there and benefitted from their treatment when he had his bike accidents.
Get ready to be in awe! The rhododendrons take your breath away, there are at least five different colours, as well as yellow honeysuckle and bluebells.
These wrought-iron gates are generally locked and the trail inaccessible, but this time they were left open invitingly. It led through a cool woodland with bluebells and yellow honeysuckle.
When you come out of the woodland and back onto the trail, you’re confronted by this striking maple tree which stops you in your tracks. It reflects the light and displays so many shades of red, brown, orange, russet, burgundy .
There was a lot of clearing going on near the mansion house too (which is a hotel, restaurant and wedding venue). I don’t know if it was all the result of Storm Doris or if they’re planning another structure:
While driving down the long, tree-lined drive on the way out, we saw a pair of pheasant, just I pressed the shutter the female flew off, again the zoom spoiled the photo:
We are so lucky to have this wonderful playground on our doorstep. The young grandchildren love the freedom and space, we collect giant fir cones and spot rabbits, squirrels and pheasant.
It’s a wonderful place to recharge your batteries for an hour or two.
And all for free.
(Also posted on Haddon Musings 52 Weeks of Thankfulness)
Because I think it’s important to show the disasters as well as the successes, here’s a quick post to show you things don’t always go as you expect in a health/food blogger’s world:
Here’s what happened to my dinner last night:
It was supposed to be a fruity/spicy quinoa dish, with cumin, ginger, mushrooms, dates, sweetcorn and some veggies on the side, but even the most dedicated foodie can get distracted by the cycling at the Giro d’Italia! It practically needed a chisel to remove!
Here’s what I actually had!
Unfortunately, I lost the mushrooms as they were in with the quinoa and there was no time to redo it as the steamed veggies were ready, so the chopped dates and some pinenuts were added to the steamed carrot, leeks, sugar snap peas, asparagus and sweetcorn, with a little alfalfa on the side. It was surprisingly good.
But justto make sure I wasn’t going to be malnourished I had a lovely banana chia pudding afterwards 😉
I forgot to take a photo but the ingredients were:
banana, a little coconut water, chia seeds, soya yogurt, baobab powder, ground cashews, all blended, and served with a sprinkling of chopped medjool date, chopped cashews & dessicated coconut. Yum!
Here’s a video showing you how to cook perfect quinoa (although it’s a little overcooked for my taste, I don’t like it so soft and mushy!).
Quinoa is a complete protein and can be used in savoury or sweet dishes, you can also buy quinoa flakes for muesli-type breakfasts or smoothies. It needs some spices or sweetness added to give it flavour, or you can cook it in vegetable stock. It’s also gluten-free.
This is a bit of a mish-mash of a post resulting from a spur-of-the-moment decision to take advantage of a sunny (but chilly) afternoon to buy some plants from the local nursery. On the way back we did a little detour (of course!) to look at the ruins of an Augustinian abbey, the idea being to see if Mum would at least be able to make it inside the site, if only to sit on a chair rather than walking around. The sky was stunningly blue and so clear, the moon was easily visible. You can just about see the white dot in the top left and bottom right photos. The photos are a little deceptive as there was a fairly strong cold wind blowing when you were out in the open, but a couple of hours in the sun and fresh air was just what I needed after a difficult few weeks (see here). I took deep breaths and absorbed the tranquility of the place in its wide open spaces. We were the only ones there, apart from the cows, and even they were still and silent.
The shapes in the bottom right photo are the graves of the abbots. The right column of the entrance in the first photo used to be higher and there are spiral steps up to it where my husband and young grandsons once climbed up and had their photos taken right at the top. Sadly, the entrance is now fenced off and it looks like the tower has crumbled somewhat.
The abbey is surrounded by farmland and these very young calves were in the field by the lane. I thought this one was an unusual colour, it was nervous and very wary.
The others couldn’t care less!
Here are the some of the plants we bought, still waiting to be homed:
Last weekend, my brother and sister-in-law paid a visit during their farewell tour before emigrating to the US. You can read about it here. We had lots of fun and lots of food, all homemade apart from the Persian Christmas Pudding, courtesy of Heston Blumenthal at Waitrose! Remembering that I had caused him to sample rather too much cacao last visit*, I suggested to Paul that we make a different and simpler breakfast smoothie using tiger nut milk, which they had both sampled and approved the previous evening.
This is the result:
And this is the recipe:
We used the larger Froothie UK Optimum blender and it made enough for the three of us.
All amounts are very approximate!
Rich in protein, calcium, antioxidants, B vitamins, omega oils, potassium and other minerals, vitamin E, prebiotics and probiotics for a healthy gut, fibre.
Vegan, organic, gluten-free.
Ingredients
2 Bananas
Large handful frozen Mixed Berries
2 Heaped Tbsps Golden Linseeds
2 Tbsps Chia Seeds
1 Medjool Date
2 Heaped Tbsps CoYo Live Plain or Vanilla Coconut Yogurt
500mls Homemade Tiger Nut Milk (see here for recipe). Add more if you want a thinner smoothie.
Blend on fast for 60 seconds.
The chia seeds will thicken it if left to stand for a couple of minutes.
Remember to drink water when consuming chia seeds as they swell and form a gel which helps create a healthy gut and clear the digestive system.
*
The morning was just warm and fine enough to sit outside and listen to the birds. The garden has come to life now, with forget-me-nots and aubretia really showing off while the bright pink Japanese azalea (below), not quite in full splendour, was doing its best to compete.
Oh, and meet Slugger, descendant of Bruiser, we know this (not really!) because they both had/have white patches on their head and back. They are so-called because they see off all-comers and take no prisoners! Mrs Slugger is busy with their newly-hatched offspring.
How to cook "with visual instructions" "using familiar ingredients from your local grocery stores" healthy, traditional and delicious Japanese dishes!!
We had a pomegranate and some spinach in our organic veg box that needed using, as well as some homegrown mung bean sprouts,* and this is what I came up with.
pearsnotparsnipsdotcom 
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