Poetry and 5kg of Hummus! ~ Mariella

What could hummus and poetry possibly have in common? Well, today, Me!

On Wednesday evening I received a phone call after the MidWeek Market asking for Hummus for the Annual Vernissage Art exhibition in Plettenberg Bay.

http://showme.co.za/plett/events-entertainment/vernissage-v-a-celebration-of-life-creative/

A few things blossomed in my mind simultaneously, firstly, that I hadn’t made any hummus that day because of the ominous weather forecast, that I am no caterer, and that I’d wanted to apply to contribute a poetry performance to the next Vernissage which was now squarely upon us.

Was I too late?

As I was working for the rest of the week and had no chickpeas in the house I passed on the number of a catering supply company for the hummus and inquired about possibly submitting a poem for approval to perform at the exhibition. I was told the evening’s schedule was already carefully choreographed but I could bring it along and see what happened.

Did I have anything appropriate? was the question. Yes, yes, was my reply, omitting that it could be found neatly filed away in the recesses of my mind.

The brief? Woman’s day, drawing the female form, art. 

I had some work to do.  

As it turned out, the caterer couldn’t provide hummus by the deadline and there was no where in town which would have the amount they needed and so I offered to make it, I was then told they needed 6kg!

‘6kg !’, I said, ‘Are you sure? That’s a whole lot of hummus’. 

We got it down to 5!

After much phoning around I ordered Chickpeas from the same caterers and had a friend pick it up. That was yesterday, and the exhibition is tonight, so guess what time I went to bed~!

Quantity is a funny thing; I can now tell you how to make roughly 7 kg of hummus and enough chickpeas to make chickpea dishes for the next week! 

I should just have googled it! 

1 kg dried chickpeas yields roughly 2 kg cooked.

I returned home by 6:00pm and dumped 4 kg of chickpeas in water, waited four hours and then boiled them for an hour and let them cool overnight.

This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, all the while walking around with a piece of paper in my hand reciting a poem I may not perform!

I drained the chickpeas and ran them through the Oscar, it took hours off my prep time.

http://www.freshearth.co.za/store/p-2179-oscar-juicer-da-900-chrome.aspx

I seperated them out into batches

To a 2kg patch of minced chickpeas I added about 400ml water

4 cloves of garlic

A quarter raw onion

1 Table spoon ground Cumin

1 Table spoon ground Coriander

1 Table spoon ground Paprika

Juice of 6 tiny lemons

4 Table spoons Tahini

A Cup of Olive Oil or close to that!

Salt to taste (I added 3 teaspoons)

And then blended it all up using a hand held blender

I would say it took me less time to write the poem! 
But it was fun and not a little strange to know that I’m contributing to the food and maybe the entertainment too! Creativity finds all sorts of ways to express itself! Wish me luck and here is my poem:

Eyes on her
Pricked at her skin
Tickled her toes, ears, waist
Eyes on her
Inescapable 
But not those eyes 
That want
Appraise
Condescend
Disregard
These eyes invited, redeemed, enjoyed
These eyes saw
The curve of her spine
The shallow dimples at its base
the easy character of her hair
her expression, 
how it oscillated between focused thought and void

in a vast suspension of time
They saw the parts she loved
And the parts she hid
And in these places found a playground, battle ground, holy ground 
for their hands to render 
A stolen hiatus on paper
The sound of their tools like soft traffic over her
They pressed and coaxed and lifted her form

from the tips of their pencils
And she felt the pressure of it on her skin and in her soul
Pressure like a turning hand to her cheek drawing her attention to some vital message
I am woman, I am perfect

About those Chickens.....~ Mariella

Remember how excited we were about our new little chicks? 

Well….things don’t always go as planned on the ranch, especially when dogs are concerned. A week after we got Star and Chomp, I came home after work and walked down to the house to drop my basket and goodies and then go up to bring the little chicks in. My son sweetly offered to take my basket down for me so I went straight to the chickens.

http://freshearthorganicfood.blogspot.com/2013/03/we-have-chickens-mariella.html

I got there just in time to find a very self-satisfied Alsatian with a feathery submissive looking parcel in his mouth sauntering off to find a pleasant spot to conclude his snack! I’m sure they heard my screaming in Plettenberg Bay! He dropped the chick and it bolted, suddenly revived, into the fynbos.

I was so grateful that I’d trained them to come to me using the same call every time I fed them because even after having them for so little time, Star came running out at me from bushes like a trooper when I called. With no feathers on the lawn to mark her demise, we've deduced that Chomp, the stronger of the two, made a run for it and is lost to the great wilderness forever. The kids were a mess and I was troubled, as we were due to leave for a Crystal show in a week and what oh what to do with the surviving chicken?

After much deliberation we organized to take him back to his old farm to hang out with other chicks until our return and that he would live in our house for the rest of the week with daily outings to his earthy box. 

‘In our house’ soon became ‘In our laps’ which led to ‘On my shoulder’ and so the week went on, me feeling like a farm yard pirate and Star slowly healing from a dropped wing. Suffice to say we got attached! It was a dog show when we dropped Star off before we left, and even more so when we were told that Star is a Rooster! 

Anyone who has roosters will tell you that they do not, contrary to popular belief, cock-a-doodle-doo before sun up. They do it whenever it suits them, on the hour twenty fours a day to be more precise, which is the reason we didn’t want one, the chicken hok being so close to the Grandparents house and all.

So, with a very heavy heart, we bade Star goodbye and he has grown to be the biggest rooster in the hen house!

Moving along, we went ahead with reinforcing the fig cage, a seven meter cage which stops birds from ransacking the very fruitful fig trees. We sank steel mesh we bought secondhand from Birds of Eden thirty cm into the ground (see what the mongeese say about that!) and built them a cute little chicken house with a ladder and everything! We will be painting it this weekend, will update images once it's done.

We decided on koekoeks, which are a breed developed in South African. 

The Research Council of South Africa has the following to say about them:

http://www.arc.agric.za/home.asp?pid=2706

We have six, and got them at six weeks old instead of two. They are so fascinating to watch, incessantly peck-pecking as they do, but they don’t sit on my shoulder or fall asleep on Rocket, the non-hunting dog. They are not the Star in my night sky but they are strong, safe chickens and I can’t wait to hunt for our first eggs!

About Hopes and Dreams ~ Mariella

Hopes, dreams, aspirations, delusions of grandeur ~ those wispy tendrils of impulse that crawl their way into and out of your everyday thoughts. They tease and cajole and taunt and creep sadly away when ignored, only to rage another day, perhaps during moments of discontent, when you can least tolerate them!

~Am I following my heart? 

~I have one life, am I being true to me?

~Is this what I want to be doing right now opposed to……the thing is, if you are having a phenomenal time at work, the weekends would not seem so desperately alluring!

~The final stanza in the poem ‘The Road not Taken’ by Robert Frost rings in your head

‘I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.’ 

If these sing and ring and ping impatiently in your heart, perhaps it’s because you are not following it!

Bronnie Ware released a book called ‘The top five regrets of the dying’, and which regret do you think tops them? I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. In our ‘liberated’ modern society it goes further than that, we have expectations of ourselves, we expect to not be able to make a living by pursuing our eccentric mad dreams so we end up chopping them up into thus far acceptable slices through prearranged avenues, or we claim them as hobbies instead of plotting a new course.

The problem with unrequited dreams is that they make you restless. They bite at your ankles, whisper through your days and yell through your nights, be brave!

https://www.facebook.com/ShotgunTori

Presently I’m listening to 'Be Brave' by Shotgun Tori, whom I went to see recently, she’s singing as loud as the customers in my shop will tolerate, ’Throw caution to the wind, be brave!’ but as responsible mortgage paying members of society we may have a hard time running off in different directions pursuing dreams as concrete as wind but her words speak of not waiting another day to turn your sail in the right direction. 

A wise friend once said to me, ’If you spend just 10 minutes everyday working on your dreams, you’ll be further than you were the day before, and a year from now you’ll be glad you started today!’ 

The world needs a workforce, but what it needs more are people alive with the creative light of following their dreams, the electric buzz of excitement when standing up and doing something that means so much to you that you have goosebumps on your goosebumps, its more contagious than flu, it’s enviable and addictive to the point of continual and welcome repetition!  

Home made Cream Cheese ~ Mariella

I love cheese, cream cheese especially. But I’m not mad about the preservatives and additives that come with it, especially as many of them are known to aggravate existing allergies. So in other words they turn mild intolerance into adverse reaction! 

And you thought it was the dairy! 

I now make my own cream cheese and its so easy!

First you need to make yoghurt:

http://freshearthorganicfood.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-make-your-own-yoghurt.html

I find that it works out well to make the yoghurt in the evening, leave it overnight and prepare the cream cheese before work so that it’s ready by the time you get home.

Step 1:

Separate the curd and whey - Tip the yoghurt out into a clean cloth. The easiest, tidiest way to do this is to lay the cloth out in a colander in the sink, tip the yoghurt into it and close it up with string to make a little bag. Then tie up the bag above a bottle to catch some of the whey which can then be used in smoothies and cooking. If you’re short on time you can leave the bag in the colander and place a heavy weight on top, placing the colander in a bowl to catch the whey.

 

Step 2:

Turn the cheese out into a bowl. Depending on what consistency you like, you can leave it as is and stir in some salt and pepper/chives/Cayenne pepper etc and serve straight away or bottle and store in the fridge (remember to sterilize your bottle) or you can add your flavourings and blend with a handheld blender to make it smooth.

That’s it! It practically makes itself!

No place like your family home! Now plant a Tree! ~ Mariella

The culture shock upon arrival in Gauteng for another Gem and Mineral show is lessened by the knowledge that we get to play catch up with family. And my family home is the stuff of dreams, well, my dreams anyway! The image above shows my parent's house from the front, don't worry, I can't see it either! And the entire property is like this. When my parents moved onto the land in 1982, there was a house with a fence around. They started planting trees and established a vegetable garden almost immediately.

Yip, that's me on the right, with the pigeon-toed cowboy boots on! The open range you see in the distance is now well developed. Good thing they don't keep cows anymore!

Their vegetable garden is now smaller, but they still eat out of it everyday. Lettuce is a Winter crop but the birds are so hungry for fresh young leafy greens that my parents cover their crops with shade netting, leaving the sides open for quick access.

If I were to think on what eating habits I have most impressed on others, it would have to be the size of my salads! Every night, for dinner, we all ate a salad of fresh lettuce and herbs out of the garden roughly the size of any other family's family salad!

They also planted an orchard. I have great memories of climbing peach, apricot, plum, lemon, pecan nut trees in season and eating them warm in the garden. If we all planted fruit trees on every property we lived on, whether we were renting or not, we'd all be picking naturally grown, fresh, healthy fruit from our own gardens. 

My mom's lemon trees hang heavy every year and my daughter decided to make lemon rind to sell at my Food Market in Plettenberg Bay. 

http://oldnickmarket.weebly.com/

This is a hibernating apricot tree, it's huge and still bares enough fruit for my mom to make enough jam for a year at a time! 

Spring is on it's way and this Nectarine tree is clearly feeling optimistic. There is an old Chinese Proverb which says it all: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” 

Sugar Free, Gluten free, Gelatine free pudding ~ Mariella

I felt like something sweet, a puddingy thing of sorts, something deliciously creamy, so I dug around in the fridge and cupboard and came up with an experiment, and it worked! I'm not about to say that it is a healthy pudding! 

It's rich, decadent and not low fat by any stretch of the imagination! But it's something I can eat and my family seems to like it! It's a work in progress but I'm so excited about it that I had to share it with you! 

If you have any ideas on how to improve the recipe please comment!

700ml fresh cream, raw if you can find
Big handful of Almonds
1 Free range egg
Half tea spoon baking powder
A splop of Natural Vanilla
2 table spoons xylatol or more to taste
Cinnamon

Serves 6. It's so rich that a little goes a long way

Blend together until frothy and pour into a metal container and place into double boiler for as long as it takes for the egg to stall. I've been wanting to try steamed dishes so that is why i chose to do it this way but i'm sure baking it under low heat with a lid on would do the trick.

I placed it in the fridge as that seemed to stall it more and then served still slightly warm, but do as you wish and let me know!

Here comes the Sun this Winter ~ Mariella

SAD or Seasonal Affective disorder is seen as a lethargic, depressive state experienced by those in countries which get very dark and gloomy in Winter and it does not occur to us that we could be in danger of feeling the effects of less light. Funny, how people who spend time outdoors are a great deal more active, vibrant, energetic than those who elect to spend most of their time indoors. It’s the chicken and the egg story, am I lazy because I don’t spend enough time outside or do I not spend enough time outside because I’m lazy?

This Winter my husband has implemented an ‘Anti-SAD Routine’. And he fervently plans to stick to it…sounds cold!

Here's why we’re kicking the couch and getting out there, even though we’d rather stay indoors with a hot chocolate and a good book:

~Vitamin D. Research indicates that Vitamin D may be the one Vitamin which truly has disease fighting properties and combats everything from osteoporosis, through calcium balancing, to cancer to depression to heart attacks and stroke. Vit D can help combat Type 2 diabetes! It assists the digestive system absorb nutrients like calcium and phosphorus, strengthening bones and immune system, it prevents osteomalacia and rickets, regulates blood pressure, reduces stress and tension, relieves body aches by reducing muscle spasms, helps heal respiratory infections, fight depression, prevents preaclamsia by improving kidney function, reduces hyperparathyroidism by reducing parathyroid numbers, hypophosphatemia by controlling the phosphates in the body, hypocalcaemia by preventing abnormal deposition of calcium, and reduces renal osteodystrophy by regulating calcium content and fibromyalgia.

~Chances are you’ll get more exercise which makes you happy! Researchers at the University of Essex in England are advancing the notion that exercising in the presence of nature improves self-esteem and mental health.

~Improved concentration. Children with ADHD have been observed to focus better after being outdoors. Ever notice how, when you’re trying to think about something, you turn to face the window!

~You’ll heal faster! Hospital studies have shown spinal surgery patients experiencing less pain and stress and requesting less pain medication during recovery when exposed to natural light.

The good news is that you get all of this for free, by spending time in the sun. Here is an interesting thought though, there’s a theory that the eyes are the Vitamin D portal for the body and you mess with that when you wear sun glasses! I only wear mine while driving. Remember you weren't born with sunglasses strapped to your head!

If you’re in the sun for your daily dose of Vitamin D, hold on the sunblock too! It takes only 15 min to get what you need and you don’t need to cover up for that, especially during Winter. Go lie in the sun this weekend, hot chocolate in one hand and a hot water bottle in the other! It’ll be good for you!

Post March Against Monsanto Pride! ~ Mariella

What an incredible day! We have 250 signatures from Saturday's March Against Monsanto. I know that doesn't sounds like loads but it's a great start for our little sleepy town. And...we made it to the Saturday night 7:00 SABC News!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0D3VWhcuVI&feature=share

Here are some images from the day taken by Vinthi Neufeld...

https://vimeo.com/66968452

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVn_dK77iXc&feature=share

http://durbanknights.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/mamdbn/

I felt truly part of a community which cares for it's future, it was a great day!

If you missed this Global opportunity to be part of the change you want to see in the world, there will be another World Wide March in October. Lets save our seed!

http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/ 

March Against Monsanto! ~ Mariella

This week it's all about Monsanto! If you feel like your news feed has been hijacked along with dinner conversation, chats at the market, interactions in the supermarket, then rest assured it'll all be over soon! 
March against Monsanto happens tomorrow, Saturday 25th, everywhere!

March Against Monsanto hit the webwaves in April 2013 and they haven't stopped since, with over 470 events in over 50 countries and over 200 000 participants, they aim to change the World.And who are they marching against?

 

Monsanto is a Multinational Biotechnology company which opened its doors in 1901. They are not all bad, being the first to mass produce LED's, but they are also the same people who brought us polystyrene  and other synthetics, DDT,saccharin, PCB's, Agent Orange, Recombinant Bovine Somitotropin otherwise known as rBST, the growth hormone used in cattle production. Not a fantastic legacy to pass down to your children, or the rest of the children on the planet for that matter. 

The cherry on this multi billion dollar cake must be GMO's, having been linked to tumors, growths, allergies, infertility, did I mention tumors? Their business ethics alone are worth protesting against. In recent years over 120 000 Indian farmers have committed suicide as result of being promised a 'magic cotton seed' at exorbitant prices which not only still required pesticides but much more water than traditional seed. Official Monsanto response to this went something along the lines of how suicide is part of rural life in India and that the rains were low that year. The crops failed twice. They said nothing of the 1000% price difference between their seed and traditionally used seed, or that some government seed banks banned traditional seed so that farmers had little choice, all of this resulting in mountains of debt. 

All in all there is much to question about Monsanto.So what can you do about it? I, along with fellow upstarts shall be hosting a Peaceful protest tomorrow in Plettenberg Bay. But with so many events all over the world, you can easily find the one closest to you. 

http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/p/blog-page.html

So to take the absolutely wonderful Jo Austin to heart, 'Get up, dress up and show up!' The plants, animals, birds, bees, farmers, children, earth beneath your feet need you! 
Time: Tomorrow 
Place: Everywhere!

It's Jerusalem Artichoke Season, ooooh yum! ~ Mariella

Jerusalem Artichokes are intimidating strange looking vegetables! But once you get the hang of preparing them, they are so delicious, with a strong nutty flavour which suits everything. They are actually part of the sunflower family, which is obvious once you’ve seen the flower, they take over the garden with their two meter high bushes and are sometimes referred to as Sunchokes. 

The harvest season for Jerusalem Artichokes is now and we have so many in the kitchen, we will have to be inventive and fast, for there is more in the beds begging to come out! The trade off for having access to such delicately delicious fare comes in two forms, the one is that they are a pain to clean and warrant the purchase of a veggie scrubbing brush, and the other is that the Inulin present can lead to a bubbly tummy. The remedy for this? Eat more of them and your body will get better at digesting the Inulin!

The best way to cook Jerusalem Artichoke is to not be scared of them and treat them as you would potatoes, they take about the same amount of time to cook. I suggest not peeling them and instead, cooking them as soon as you purchase them to ensure their freshness. If they aren’t plump and firm, they are not fresh and then I would recommend boiling them whole and squeezing the soft contents out to use in your cooking instead of peeling. Peeling them is torture fit for someone with lots of time on their hands! These are my favourite ways of preparing them:

-         Oven grilled in a Veg bake with Rosemary, remember they take as long as potatoes so cut them finer than the other ingredients.

-         Grated raw in salad. This works only when they are fresh, grate them and then allow them to marinade in a little lemon juice which you prepare the rest of the salad to reduce any starchiness.

-         Slice fine and add them to any soup, especially potato and pea, lentil, butternut soup.

-         Oven grill with Aubergine, onion and garlic and then chuck in the blender with olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, fresh oregano to make a divine tapenade.

-         You can also steam them and do the same as above.

-         Delicious in pasta sauce or any Italian cooking.

And not only are they Uber-Yum, they are high in Iron, Potassium, Vit B1. So, the next time you walk through a farmer’s market or supermarket and see these strange creations looming from baskets and boxes, you’ll know what to do with them! 

Last word on Afrika Burn 2013! ~ Mariella

Please forgive me if I carry on and on about AfrikaBurn, but take pause for a moment to imagine if you will a place where a vast harsh environment and creatively minded people meet to create magic! 

Where strangers hug and trust and build amazing beautiful things for the sake of expression and feeling alive with creativity and you give without expecting anything in return and therefore you are given to. Given lunch, cake, showers, pretty things, art to see, music to dance to and friendships formed beneath a sublimely golden Tankwa Karoo sky! 

It also has a very serious aspect to it, of sustainability, environmental impact and thoughtfulness when accumulating possessions. The learning curve is steep. There is much work to be done in terms of education as the quantity of new comers this year meant that there were many who were not in the habit of thinking about their MOOP (matter out of place) It will improve with time and impact the way they see responsibility when they return home. 

I thought that, perhaps, you'd had enough of my AB ramblings, but that it would unfair of me to not share a few images of Afrika Burn 2013 with you by my friend, Robyn Luyt, and then I’m done talking about it! 

....'til next year!

Camping Food~ Mariella

There are bits of ribbon, feathers, thread, leather and sequence all over the floor, costumes finished, bags packed, I am ready for AfrikaBurn 2013! The clothes were the easy part, the food, a little more complicated. We have one small gas fridge to share in a camp of 15 people so I prefer to not hog space by including too much food which requires refrigeration.

If you’re insulin intolerant, as I am, sticking to a grain free, sugar free (yip, that includes fruit) diet  when camping is a challenge and you have no chance unless you plan ahead.

This is what my menu looks like, but keep in mind; I spent more time working on my costume than on the shopping list!

Breakfast:  

See http://freshearthorganicfood.blogspot.com/2012/08/home-made-gluten-free-breakfast-cereal.html

By far my toughest meal this time as I usually depend on Yoghurt, I will be taking some with and I’ll see how long it lasts.

Snacks: The key to sticking with your diet choice is to not let yourself get hungry, so I’m making a point of keeping snacks on me like a basic trail mix,

http://www.freshearth.co.za/store/p-3898-soaring-free-foods-trail-mix-200g.aspx

Home made chocolate,

http://freshearthorganicfood.blogspot.com/2012/07/super-easy-healthy-snacks-on-move.html

which will be more like a messy melted moosh, as coconut oil melts quick in warm weather, slices of carrot, cucumber, red pepper, sprouts ~ dipped in organic peanut butter or Tahini, with slices of cheese. Pre-Dry roasting your desiccated coconut and sunflower seeds ads flavour, I do it at home so it’s ready to snack on and add to quick salads.

Lunch: Bean salad. A bean salad made from tinned beans takes as much time to prepare as a sandwich but, as tins are lined with BPA,  a plastic which breaks down easily and leaches into food, leading to health problems like impaired immune system, changes in brain chemistry, behavioural disorders, early-onset puberty, breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, insulin intolerance and obesity; we try to reserve them for camping only and prefer to cook up and freeze large quantities under normal circumstances. When camping, sprouts can really be your best friend.

http://freshearthorganicfood.blogspot.com/2013/02/keeping-healthy-with-sprouts-mariella.html

They don’t require a cold place, just fresh water twice a day so our salads will include lots of sprouts, avos and other vegetables that don’t mind being warm, like tomatoes, bought a little green and cucumbers.

Snack: Hot chocolate, made with cocoa, rice milk powder (my one calculated cheat) and stevia. And same as above.

Dinner: Our camp has the dinner thing waxed, we team up, depending on numbers and take turns cooking, so I plan dinner for one night and bring everything I need for that night, the day I’m on duty is also my keep kitchen clean and tidy day. That means that it’s my job to wipe the table whenever I walk past the kitchen on that day. That way, we all feel like we’re on holiday and have dinner served every night save one. It also means you do only one big load of dishes!

And most important of all is the water, we take Five liters of water a day per person. Two to Three liters for drinking and the rest for washing and cooking. There’s lots of tea in between and like I said, the home made chocolate in the tub helps, I am already calculating Sunday’s Pancakes by our trusty neighbour Nina as a rule breaker, and I’m very contented with the idea! With a little planning, I’m hoping the next week is not going to be all about food! See you on the other side of the dust! 

I'm excited about Afrika Burn 2013! ~ Mariella

The Dust By Jonx Pillemer

It’s that time of year again, when everyone you know who is going to AfrikaBurn is driving you mad! After sheepishly waiting for the excitement to hit amid a flurry of ecstatic friends, the bug has finally bitten…..today!

It was an arbitrary photograph of a particularly wind swept day on the playa with flags fluttering and downright tearing to smithereens in the gust of wind that did it! The thick swirl of dust making mud of the sunlight and condemning all who braved it to a week of scratchy eyes. Something about that picture man, it just hit home!

                               

And now I’m excited! But what’s so exciting about Afrika Burns? Well there’s everything I’ve already written.

http://freshearthorganicfood.blogspot.com/2012/08/afrika-burns-2012.html

But every year it gets better, like fine wine! Looking back on the first year, so much has happened and I’ve changed in so many ways. I’ve always taken an active role in Tankwa Town as team member for The Waike and then Domain, an interactive live venue to do what ever tickles your whiskers. This year, I have gracefully bowed out of any stress inducing activities and am going as more of a spectator than ever before. To go as a complete spectator is no good, and creates a vacuum in the eco-system that is AB, but my gift for this year is little and will be fun and quick to do! And so it feels like I’m going on holiday!

Looking back on 2009!

Next week I’ll share with you what food I plan to pack for the week, for a place with limited fridge space, and air that instantly ages skin and dries anything out in the open to crispy perfection within hours! But for now, I am simply allowing myself a moment to take it all in and remember and get excited!