I’m sitting at the kitchen table writing this while a chicken is roasting in the oven, lemon stuffed inside, drizzled with olive oil, well-seasoned and sprinkled with tarragon. We’ll eat it with all the green veggies which need to be used up: broccoli, leeks and lightly sautéed courgettes. I’m then going to make bone broth with the carcass afterwards. I put it in a Crockpot and add an onion, red or white, a celery stick with the leaves, a carrot, a couple of cloves of garlic, the broccoli stalk, flat-leaf parsley, a splash of apple cider vinegar, seasoning, and then fill the pot with filtered water. On a low heat, it slowly simmers away at least until the morning, maybe even lunchtime. Certainly 10/12 hours – but it really doesn’t need to be precise. Drain through a sieve, sort through the sieve removing every single bit of bone, and then mash the veggies and last possible bits of chicken together and feed to your dog! My two spaniels think they’re in heaven when I serve them this. Cool the strained broth in a jug or bowl and then refrigerate. This precious liquid is amazing. It can alleviate joint pain and help maintain healthy bones, it is beneficial for gut health (helping to heal a leaky gut), it can boost the immune system and help with shiny hair and good skin. I just gently heat some up and drink it. You can keep in the fridge for up to five days. Yum.
Earlier last week, my lovely friend and I met at the local leisure centre for our first training swim together, hopefully leading to the open-water swim I mentioned before. I was so looking forward to it, not least as it would help to favourably increase my fitness/movement during the week – so good in so many ways, including helping with stress and sleep, two things I really need to pay attention to.
Well, bearing in mind my eldest daughter’s encouragement and instruction to not worry what I looked like in a swimming costume, that I looked fine and not old (and she was right, no one cared at all), I met up with my friend, we hugged and got in the water. And swam 50 lengths. In a full size pool!!! It was wonderful and I wasn’t even all that stiff the next day. Just a bit of water in my ears from doing backstroke, which just went away. So it just goes to show that sometimes we stop ourselves from doing things because we’re too busy, have self-doubt or a lack of confidence, or have lost our way a bit from when we were full of youthful invincibility. We just need to dig down to find our “power” and get it back. It’s so easy to lose the sense of who we actually, actually are. A daughter, wife and mother, yes – but our essential, capable selves too.
Next on the list this week, therefore, we’re planning another pool training swim and an early morning visit to the sea to experience the waves, the absence of anything to hold on to, and the cold – well, cold compared to an indoor pool, but warmer than it will be over the next few months!
Things to be grateful for:
Sunshine and the beautiful English countryside:
The ability to swim and swim for 50 lengths without suffering later and in the company of a very cool chick.
Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Feel-good movies in great locations, making me laugh and cry. What’s not to like?
My oldest daughter’s boyfriend also loves my kombucha!!
That I’m still alive even though I haven’t done any ironing this weekend!
Raindrops On Roses 