A quickie and a little cry.

This is such a quick and satisfying meal, a bit like (a lot like actually) a creamy risotto.

I do adore risotto, full of butter and garlic, wine and parmesan. My favourite is with scallops and prawns. And that is a treat, occasionally.

This one is for any time, no guilt, delicious taste, lovely feel, satisfaction all round. And it is fast.

I made enough for two using 1/2 a medium sized cauliflower which I pulsed along with things I had in the fridge, these turned out to be (yes, that’s what it is like in our house 😉

hang on, the ‘I wasn’t expecting that’ song is on, about to have a weep, I need to turn it off….

…and I am back but I didn’t. There were not many tears but they were hot and heavy with sadness; sweet release of tears held in since the latest in a long line of parental rejection, even at my age it hurts and we learn – if we are lucky – to to put it in context rather than in a box waiting to burst open so that, for me these days, I only have a few hot fat tears rather than fountains from years gone by.  We need to release!

Put a sad song on, let yourself go, weep it all away, it is not wallowing, it is cleansing -obviously it can be temporary if you don’t cleanse those emotions and back logs deeply but not everybody wants to or knows they can. But it is really, very beneficial. Just one song though otherwise it could turn into a wallow and who needs that? Not us. Then jump up, spin around, run up and down the stairs, think of something funny, change your posture, stand tall, smile, smile, smile and get on with your day.

Anyway, back we come – so I pulsed half a cauliflower with half a red pepper, a fat spring onion, a lone mushroom and a few sprigs of coriander.

I tipped it into a bowl and then (without washing the food processor bowl) I put in half an avocado, some cashew cream I had left over from something or other (yogurt would be good or the rest of the avocado), a drop (about 2 teaspoons) of cider vinegar and whizzed it up.

Then I stirred it into the grainy mix in the bowl and served!

Ridiculously easy, creamy, non grain/dairy/cook risotto!

Round pegs, square holes revisited!

I wrote a critical post the other day, which I removed after a long chat with someone who made me think again.

I’ve actually had some really good feedback from it too, it struck a cord with many people but I want to qualify something.

One comment I made was this – ”

Imagine a fairy aura with all its shades of pinks, lilacs, blues and greens – if that was put under a sterile strip light, how ever modern and effective it was, the hues and shades would be flattened, you would hardly even see the glow.”

The criticism was of people wanting to question what I think and feel about my new business …. the point she made was that they have to do that so they understand me, if they didn’t understand me how could progress happen.

I had become defensive and didn’t see it that way at all, hence the post (very slightly in my defence, it has to be said we have all experienced people not wanting to understand or help and thinking they know best, but when I think about it now the difference was that they probably didn’t ask questions or listen!).

The moment I really GOT what this special and clever friend was saying is when she said,  “The people questioning what you are thinking and wanting to do actually questioned because they want to give your fairy the biggest, brightest, prettiest wings ever”.

Now that was talking my language ( she is very good at that) and it really hit home.

Im really glad she took the hour and a half of talking to help me remember that we have so many different languages because we are all motivated and affected by different things, sometimes we have to listen, translate and replay a few times.

Whats that metaphor – don’t tar everyone with the same brush I think?

And round pegs sometimes will squidge nicely into square holes!

Paint ‘n’ onions…

OK so its not your usual combination, its not tripe n onions (yucky) or anything edible, but it is brilliant.

I have a really bad reaction to strong paints, to lots of chemicals really – I am sure most of us do but we get used to it, which is not good. Anyway, even having used ‘good’ paint the woodwork paints still smell strongly to me.

Onions are a treasure, did you know that if you put a cut one in a room with someone who has a bad cold/ flu/ bug, the onion absorbs the germs so you have less chance of being the next one with your nose in a hankie? Also if you put one next to your bed with the above, the duration of the illness will be reduced? Apparently so.

So, as you may know, we  (with a little help) are working madly to finish off the renovations to our house to open our healthful, restful, rawful retreat. It’s been a long job but we are really getting there now.

The first day of painting I suddenly had that burning sensation (which I had forgotten about, it was a bit of a shock) and I rushed to put cut onions out …. hopefully.

I went out and when I returned, quelle surprise!, the smell had dramatically reduced and no burning sensation in my wind pipe!

So today with 6 doors  and a long corridor painted I have onions in each door way and carefully placed up the stairs.

Eau de maison à la paint ‘n’ onions – lovely!

Paint ‘n’ onions!

Know your onions!