Wonderful Wednesday #224

 {First picks:  the tiniest tangle of baby sweetpea blooms - i couldn't resist!}
Oh hello there!  I'm here reporting for duty #wonderfulwednesday -ness still feeling as tired as i did when i finished work last Friday for a few days off.  How can that even be?!  Do you ever feel like you're sleeping fine - you're getting the hours in but you're busy-sleeping?!  ie:  You're waking up from your solid eight hours only to actually feel not very rested at all.  Well hands up if that's you this week 'cos it's most definetly me!  I think it's mental exhaustion as appose to the physical kind.  What has helped it the past few days has been some dry weather and time out on those magical two wheels after the wettest most grey weekend!  Not only does riding several thousand laps of our sweet park physically tire me out but the time spent focussing on not much else apart from my breathing and the gulping great big lungfuls of fresh air also helps my mental state - no question.  SO predictably just as i'm starting to feel more rested.....it's time to go back to worrrrrrrrrk !!!



Here's hoping a great dose of #wonderfulwednesday listing sorts out my frown...
   


1.  Alone time!  Something that's such a personal thing.  Some people are their happiest surrounded by others and in company and don't need nearly as much alone time as others.  For me personally i really and truly relish my own time and space and find if i don't get enough of it i almost feel a little flutter of panic in my chest.  I find it helpful to be alone with my own thoughts regularly - it almost makes them not so hard to digest and to sort out{?} even.  I use my alone time to think, and sometimes in quite the opposite way:  to not think at all and just to be.  Whether this time spent by myself is intentional - so a really long good few laps of our local park by myself on two wheels - or unintentional:  My twenty-five minute walk home from work no matter what the weather throws at me, {i'm very proud to have never caught a bus home in the whole two years we've lived outside of the city centre even if i have arrived home covered in half a hailstorm, several blizzards or even just well and truly soaking wet on many occasion!} or the ten minutes sat eating my breakfast in the morning or taking off my make-up and having a bath or shower on an evening.  It doesn't matter how i get it, just know that with it I.  Just.  Feel.  Better.  And i've stopped feeling bad about that!  This week i've felt like i've really treasured being able to have a Monday off work and some time with just little old me!


2.  Exercise.  Sort of, kind of linked to the above BUT with a little 'less-than-best' feeling self comes the urge to get out and move in fresh, blustery, 'blown-each-way-and-that' kind of weather.  Even if riding my bike in said gazillion  mile per hour winds on Monday might not have been my very best idea this week {hello when it hurts to bend down and hurts even more to get back up again!} the ten minute ride to our park; plus the six blustery laps of it {my usual is around and about three} and the uphill ride all the way home again made me feel on top of the world!  The fact that i struggled to get a brush through my hair on arriving home was more than worth it.


3.  Really rather ripe bananas.  This week smooshed onto toasted rye sourdough with a great big zig-zag of runny peanut and coconut butter, toasted coconut flakes and a little pink salt.  Or sometimes positively devoured after a really painful 'twisty-turny' sort of a ballet work out.  Caramel-y sweet and oh-so-yummy ripe bananas are my absolute favourite!


4.  Stretches.  Whether it's the first one i do lay in bed on my back in the biggest star-shape i can manage OR the other few i do in the early hours as the kettle boils for a little warm water and lemon.  Stretching really helps set me up for the day.  Does that sound weird?!


5.  Watermelon and lime.  Best.  Combo.  Ever.  Or not least one of them and actually up there with peanut butter and raspberry jam; tea and biscuits and rosemary and potatoes {nb:  this list could go on for a long, l-o-n-g time!}.  But as a summer pick you up?!  Just the bees knees.  I cut it up into bite-sized chunks and just squeeze a great big wedge of lime juice over the top.  If i'm ultra organised i add in some torn up mint leaves for extra freshness.  Top tip:  If it's really hot, watermelon is the bees knees frozen in chunks.  You heard it here first.  Go forth and be refreshed my friends.


6.  Listening.  But to the insides.  I think i'm quite good at this but as with everything there's always room for improvement.  I try to always listen to my body when it comes to eating.  I can have such an irritable tummy and i know what will aggravate that if i'm feeling less than my best.  It's never been a case of food intolerance for me but much more about my mental state when i eat.  I like to think that my body 'asks' for what it needs when it needs it and that the key to a more...peaceful {?} tum is balance.   If i'm really craving something, i have it.  I believe that my body is craving something for a reason and the key to really enjoying your food, apart from the balance aspect; is to feel fully satisfied in what you eat and not forever trying to curb those cravings.  They're there for a reason!  This week has been all about listening to my tummy even more and feeling the benefits of that.    


7.  Charred baby gem lettuce.  Quite possibly THE most middle class sentence i might have ever typed.  Also by me telling you that i have wanted to try charring a lettuce for SO LONG, will you judge me?!  Please don't because it is ALL kinds of delicious!  This idea has mostly been born from the fact that i am trying to stop buying bags of lettuce.  There really isn't any need since a) {i hear..} that growing your own salad leaves at this time of year is a doddle {i'm sticking to my flowers this year, but next?  I'm all over those leaves!} and b) you can so freely buy actual whole lettuces - tons of kinds come this time of year in the U.K.  The thing is with fresh lettuce, i always find that i use up all of the outer leaves in a jiffy and are left with the bitter, core {?} part and it usually just gets tossed in the bin or dunked in a tub of hummus.  Baby Gems have always been one of my favourites.  They've got back bone you see. You can pile individual leaves high with anything and everything {i love smoked salmon, creamy cottage cheese and loads of fresh dill and a squeeze of lemon} and kind of use them as a non-bread sandwich if you're feeling like you've eaten a bit too much bread lately.  You can use them for dips.  Hells bells they're even delicious diced ever so finely and stuffed into pittas, burger buns and the like.  

{This is SO GOOD i needed a paragraph pause}

So where were we?!  Oh YES CHARRING THEM!  It's not rocket science and so easy you could do it with your eyes closed {but you know, don't!}.  I warmed up a dry frying pan on a medium heat.  Sliced a baby gem down the centre and popped in both sides; flat side down.  I moved them about a bit here and there and just let them char as much as i wanted.  Then i popped them onto the plate and zig-zagged them with tahini, salt and black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.  I'm also going to try them marinaded face down in a little tamari first, and then topped with tahini, chopped chilli and toasted sesame seeds.  Such a yummy side for any meal and something you definitely could play about with.   



 8.  Home.  I'm such a home-y person.  I love nothing more than pottering about here at home and being cosy.  Or when it's warm, just sat in the garden with a mug of tea and my book.  Even though i like going away, visiting people and seeing lovely places; i always feel grateful coming back home.  There's nothing better than having a safe haven and place that you can feel totally relaxed.  Especially if you're feeling just a little bit frazzled!


And that's a wrap:  Sat, thought and listed-out for another week of #wonderfulwednesday goodness!  Go, go, go forth and hop to  Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, and Peta's and Ellie's blogs and catch up with their very own #wonderfulwednesday posts! 


Have the most wonderful of weeks!