First blog post EVER, which is a huge thing for me as I’ve never done anything like this before and am so new to all this technology. The best place to start, though, is at the beginning and now!
I want to write about all the things in my life which enrich it, and try to find better ways to deal with the stuff that drains me. As a woman “of a certain age”, I’m very aware that life can be wonderful, can also have many horrors, is passing so, so quickly, and that we only get the one opportunity to live it and make it matter.
So what have I done this week to begin my new challenge of making the most of my health, improve my mood, and have a good time?
I fermented!! I have been making my own kefir and kombucha for a while now – much to the dismay of most of my family. My only supporters so far are my eldest son and my younger daughter’s boyfriend, who happily (or kindly) sample both. Neither drinks are attractive to look at while they ferment away, I can see that, but they are super good for us. All the experts out there tell us that good gut health is vital and a healthy gut leads to better mood, clearer skin, less inflammation, and so on, and an unhealthy gut can lead to all sorts of trouble.
So over the last couple of days I have made new batches of kombucha, which is a fermented tea, sauerkraut, a fermented cabbage, and kimchi, a fermented vegetable Korean side dish. All will be teeming with good bacteria which should improve digestion and so improve me! There is literally so much written now about how eating fermented foods is good for us, I’d be here for months detailing it all. My two main health gurus when it comes to gut health are Liz Earle and Jeanette Hyde who write about it and sing its praises on social media. It’s much cheaper to make it than buy it in the shops.
I haven’t made any kefir this week as I’m resting my grains for a bit. The weather has been so warm, they were multiplying faster than I needed them to. Also, in this weather a chilled glass of kombucha, maybe with some lemon or raspberries adding to the flavour, is lovely and refreshing and could easily replace the rosé!
I’ll write on here soon about how to get started making these yourselves with the recipes I use, if people are interested?!
My kombucha, sauerkraut and kimchi:
I also played tennis on Monday night with our lovely friends (great fun) and will be swimming lengths tomorrow night, starting to train for a big, big (open water!) swim – hopefully! So two good sessions, helping to improve my weekly moving/fitness. Dog walking can always fill in any gaps.
Things to be grateful for:
Friends, especially the ones who are always there, whatever.
Grace and Frankie (a wonderful newish sitcom on Netflix about female friendship – Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin at their absolute best! Might review it on here at some point).
Not having to cook supper tonight – what a treat – thanks to my youngest daughter!
Raindrops On Roses 