Coffee Date?

 

Yikes Belisama

I fell off the edge of the world, like literally just walking to work one day clearly not looking where I was going and I just stepped off into the abyss.

I’ve been floundering around here in no mans land for a while but I have managed to find the rock face at the edge of the earth and I’m slowly climbing my way back onto solid ground. I’ve found a perch to rest on a while so I can send you a quick message to show you how life has been in the abyss.

Firstly I’ve missed you, a lot.

There’s not a whole lot to do in the abyss but sit drinking coffee and pondering which direction to go in,  one thing I really miss is being able to text someone midday requesting an after work coffee date.

Pretty miserable huh? Yeah so during one of my solo coffee dates I got a grip of myself.  Unless I buy myself a chopper and you get a heli pad installed these impromptu coffee dates aren’t going to happen so I got all inspirational quote on myself and decided that I had to focus more time on things that make me happy, and as there’s not that much in the ol’ abyss I decided that much of that happiness would have to be self made.

Therefore, my last few months I have been doing all those things that make me happy, cooking, reading, drawing, learning and I’ve allowed myself to do all of these things without any pressure of an outcome and it has been goooooood.

Belisama welcome to my abyss.

Chick Pea Bread

Everytime I make this I like it more and more. The recipes are usually huge and there’s always more than we need for one meal so I put the leftover batter in the fridge and they make a great quick breakfast. Here are my favourite recipes:

http://inpursuitofmore.com/2012/11/12/recipe-authentic-italian-chickpea-flat-bread/

http://powerhungry.com/2015/01/chickpea-flour-quiches-vegan-grain-free-gluten-free/ – For this one I used broccolli and sun-dired tomatoes and served it with a rather yummy jar of chutney I forgot we had. I also found that they cooked much better in my iron skillet than in muffin tins.

Chili

 

I found myself with a lot of leftover beans and a tin chipotle peppers so I HAD to make chili. Except for some sauted onion and garlic and the chipotle peppers  I didn’t add any veggies just lentils, beans and bulgar wheat, also cinnamon because cinnamon makes everything taste better.

No Knead Bread

 

I used to make this bread ALL THE TIME but I got out of the habit and found myself relying more and more on store bought bread which is expensive, full of weird ingredients and doesn’t really agree with my digestive system these days, it also uses a lot of plastic bags which I hate so I decided it was time to drag out the old KitchenAid Mixer and get back on it.

Here’s the recipe I use, I add more water depending on the consistency of the dough I end up with which seems to change every time.

http://www.jocooks.com/bakery/breads/crusty-bread/

 

I did attempt to start a sourdough starter but it went rancid almost immediately – homesteading fail!!

Sunflower Seed Cream

 

Maybe you already know this, and if so, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME????

But all those cashew nut based sauces can actually be made using sunflower seeds which are so much cheaper and easier to come by where I am.

I’ve been using it to make my mac and cheese and to make pasta cream sauces, the picture above shows the remnants of coronation chickpea sandwich filling….crazy delicious.

The ratio I use varies but I start with 1/2 cup of water to 1 cup of sunflower seeds and add more water depending on the consistency I’m looking for.

You need to soak the seeds as you would the nuts but if you forget you can boil them for 15 minutes to soften.

This discovery was life changing Belisama, life changing.

Farm Co-op

 

We joined a farm co-op, in fact we joined two and now twice a week I get a bag of organic local veg. As you know good quality vegetables are hard to come by and expensive here so I’m sure you can imagine how excited I get when I know the bag is coming. I’m also determined to not waste any of it. The above juice was made using some kale and cilantro stalks, apples, cucumbers, lemon and ginger.

 

Sometimes the bag has stuff in it that I’ve never cooked before…hello rhubarb.

I’m not a particularly big fan of rhubarb and there were only a few stalks of it so I decided to make some of that quick jam using chia seeds to thicken it rather than sugar or pectin.

This jam won’t keep but there was so little of it that it didn’t matter.

You boil your fruit as you usually would but once the fruit has broken down stir in sugar to taste (I added a tablespoon but rhubarb is slightly bitter so I would add more in the future)

Take the fruit off the heat and stir in 1 tablespoon of chia seeds and then leave to stand for 15 mins to thicken.

Lemon and cinnamon are also great with rhubarb.

 

And sometimes you fail.

I had high hopes for these little fellas.

I don’t like radishes but I thought that they would be great pickled

However, they have a shorter shelf life than I thought, maybe I didn’t store them correctly but when I came back to them a few days later they looked more like cranberries.

Lesson learned.

Enough about food

 

The sunsets over at tiny towers are incredible and the sun sets right in front of our living room window reducing visibility to zero so we have been taking this as a sign to get off the couch.

Taking our evening coffees down to the beach is the new going out, or staying in.

Books

 

Here’s what I’ve been reading.

I would like to pre-empt this with I didn’t choose these books they chose me. One way or another they landed on my nightstand and I have to say that I loved each one in it’s own way.

The Help – I thought this was going to be schmaltzy written for Hollywood sentimental poop, but it wasn’t. There was a brief moment when I genuinely experienced the fear these women felt. And I cried, I’ve only cried at two other books in my entire life. (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and February)

Slammerkin – Emma Donoghue is a literary genius. I’m crazy impressed with her ability to get a characters voice. In Room she wrote from the point of view of an infant and in Slammerkin she is an 18th century prostitute.

The Lost Art of Gratitude – On the cover of this book someone describes Alexander McCall Smiths books as literary herbal tea and I think this is the perfect description of his writing. I love a good strong bitter cup of coffee but every now and again I like to curl up with a relaxing chamomile.

Fall On Your Knees – This is one of those epic novels which crosses generations of a family which I always think seem uninteresting but I COULDN’T PUT THIS DOWN. It completely absorbed me.

IQ84 – I’m on the fence about how I feel about Haruki Murakami. His books are so well written I can’t help but pick them up but sometimes his stories are a little bit to ‘out there’ for me. I’m only one book into this at the moment but I’m totally hooked however, in the last few pages we slipped down the Murakami rabbit hole. I have no idea where this is going Ill report back when I get to the end.

The Perch 

 

 

 

As with all long over due catch ups this has gone on way longer than I had planned but who doesn’t love an long, catch up over coffee. Here’s the view from my perch so you can get the full effect.

I miss you and love you

Galene x

 

 

 

 

Strikes and Gutters

Galene,

Blah.  Was missing in action…  I apologise.  So I will try to keep this post from turning into a mini auto-biography.  I have been high and low since we last typed.

 

Over St Patricks day holiday we ventured to Barcelona (which we all pronounce complete with Spanish accent and mime playing the castanets!? That’s normal, right?)  What a groovy city.  We literally went from planning lunch during breakfast, to stumbling upon coffee shops, to mooching round shops, and then (the whole point of being alive) dinner.  Tapas style of dining really suits me.  I like that it eeks a meal out over a long period of time We visited one or two ‘areas of interest’.  The most spell binding was La Sagrada Familia.  It literally took my breath away.

When you stand and look up at this, you realise humans are brilliant

 

Since we have got home life has been busy busy busy.  And that, as you well know, is not a good thing.  Not for me anyway.  Because when I doing things I want and I am passionate about them, I am not ‘busy’ but my life is full.

 

I read the most beautiful book.  (I know, she complains of busy-ness, but reading is next to eating right?  I mean they aren’t optional?)  It’s called A True Story Based On Lies, and I literally felt like I was in a web, held delicately but gripped so hard by this tale.  It is written so beautifully I landed on every word and paused there for a split second.  Read it.

 

I haven’t picked up a needle, thread, or piece of fabric in about a month.  No joke.  I have just felt the need to be still whenever I have the opportunity, to not make more things.  Interestingly a guy was asking me about massage.  He said, do you find it tiring, and I am being honest when I say, no, I don’t.  It gives me such a buzz.  I think the presence of mind and focused breathing does something to chemically alter my brain.  So he asked me how I came down, and I said I played the piano.  That’s the sort of energy I need in my life right now, creative energy that doesn’t create anything.

 

I went to a completely raw food lunch.  It was a proper lunch, so taking photos at the dinner table was just plain old bad manners.  But it was ASTOUNDING.  So delicious.  Beautiful salads, sprouted buckwheat cracker breads and a raw cashew chocolate that was one of the nicest things I have had in my mouth to date.  And my mouth has eaten more than most 😉  I has oficially ‘nailed’ kale chips in the dehydrator.  If death by kale is possible I am in danger.  Shall maybe post the recipe and method, it’s not of my creating, but I want to evangalise the kale.

 

Why did I wait to write this post?  Writing to you is the best form of therapy.  It makes me trust the chaos, and feel like nothing cannot be repaired.

 

Yours, faithfully

Belisama xx

 

March 12 2015

 

My Dearest Belisama

 

Let me start by saying I can not give you back that amazing August last year where cotton, silk and wine were are main concerns but here is a little picture as a reminder of the rock and roll fortnight we spent together 🙂

 

And it segues nicely into what I’ve been up to since moving into tiny house. I’m essesntially carrying on our tradition but I’ve had time to contemplate it, justify it and give it a name.

 

As you know The Buff Mounty and I have no problem spending every single moment together, we met in Asia and we are both somewhat introverted so neither haS need of large groups of friends. When we lived and travelled abroad we would spend all day bumbling around with each other and the only time we weren’t by each others side was when we were working or studying and we loved every minute of it, there have been times where I have had to travel back to England without him and we don’t pine and whimper for each other we don’t spend hours on the phone to each other either but being apart doesn’t make us happy.

 

Since we’ve moved to Canada I have mainly stayed home while he has gone out to work, which in the giant house was horrendous because I was miserable when we lived there and, well misery loves company, right? But now we live in tiny house and I’m starting to get my enthusiasm for life back I have developed a little habit I like to call ‘singles night’.

 

I loved being single Belisama I really did,  there was a period when I was about 30 when I suddenly felt that i should probably find a husband and settle down which had me in turmoil because after all those years of dating I still hadn’t found anyone that I thought was the perfect guy which got me to believing that there was no such thing and that I would have to make some compromises and, and this thought actually went through my head at one point ‘perhaps this is as good as it gets’. Fortunately I’m quite a strong minded girl and that thought didn’t last long because I realized that if that IS as good as it gets then I’d rather be alone and dumped the guy I was with (5 months later the buff mounty rode into town and literally swept me off my feet, but thats another post). Anyway, my point is I loved being single, and while I wouldn’t change my situation for the world I can’t help but indulge in some me time when boyfriend is out. If/when a girlfriend is in the area singles night could well consist of me and her hanging out but more often that not singles night is me home alone being grateful for the time alone so I can indulge in life’s little pleasures without fear of judgement (while my boyfriend knows what my indulgences are, knowing something and seeing someone indulge are two different things). So my night usually consists of some sort of comfort food instead of a real meal, wine, a netflix binge and a craft project that will take up my entire front room.

 

This weeks singles night looked something like this (my current netflix binge is nip/tuck).

 

These nights are my most productive nights ever and go someway to convincing me that I really am an artist who just needs to be left alone to work on her craft. Singles night is the current highlight of my calendar so when I know I have a singles night coming up and I’m completely exhausted  I’ve two tricks to help energize me so the night will not be wasted.

 

1) I lie down, on my back, completely still and try to relax every muscle in my body – essentially I take svasana – I admit that this is something that takes practice but after years of yoga I can put myself into svasana pretty quickly and I’m always amazed by how energising it is, theres sometimes a little jump as if I’m falling asleep which wakes me and then I know its done, my work is complete  can get up and get on with my night.

2) My second trick if I’m not feeling particularly tired just perhaps a little unmotivated is to get up and do some small menial task, wipe down the surfaces, hang some clothes up, put a load of washing on. I promise myself I only have to do one and then I can sit down, which sometimes I do, but then I get up and do another which invariably leads to another and another and then

bish,

 

 

bash,

bosh

 

I suddenly get a rush of ‘i can do anything’ and I’m ready to take on the world – or just another craft project.

 

Now your turn, I know that there is so much change happening for both of us I can’t wait to hear what’s been happening with you.

 

I loved how in your last letter you had come to terms with both your personal and knitting project unravelling, life lessons from craft projects, who the fuck needs guru’s?

 

I love you

 

Galene x

 

 

 

 

Feb 27th 2015

Galene,

When you are comfortable doing something, it just happens: I don’t have self-doubt, or worry, I just do it.  And that’s how this blogging will be.  At the very least I get to celebrate the most special of friendships through writing to you, and that, just the process of sitting down and writing to you is a special sort of therapy.  Because I can hear you listen while I silently speak what I type.

Listening is a dying art because people are falling over themselves to be heard.  So I hope this blog makes me a better listener.

I feel a shift coming my way, and I keep telling myself that it’s ok to let yourself unravel and fray a little before you weave in new life patterns and changes.  It feels like a perfect time to pause, see what comes forward into the rest of my life, and see what it is time to leave behind.

This weekend, which I await with bated breath, I am going to honker down, and just look after myself.  I have a couple of massage clients, but around that I have plans all about me.  I am completely obsessed with a new podcast:  The National Gallery Podcast.  It’s really excellent.  I am going to haul my dehydrator out of the cupboard and make Kale Chips.  And try and make a good bit of progress with Ravi cardigan.

I made a mistake on the upper yoke and just have been in denial about ripping out all those rows and re knitting.

Japanese Short Row technique

Longing for those hours in August sitting on our sofa knitting.

I’m spending my first weekend as a non-drinker.  I am cleaning my house which is mega dusty after having builders in.  I am playing my piano, a beautiful arrangement of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and a wee tune by Francois Couperin.  Both of which I play terribly, but love playing, because it is all encompassing and it draws my awareness completely into the moment.

This is a good thing.

Belisama x

Feb 26th 2015

 

Dearest Belisama,

It’s very difficult to live so far away from someone whom you love so absolutely dearly, there are at least a thousand incidences a day where i want to share something with you and you’re just not there. An age difference between friends is unremarkable but a time difference between friends can be fathomable. If Ive just woken up and want to chat before work, i realize that you are already at work. When I finish dinner and want to chat with you before I go to bed I realize that you are already in bed. Not having your bestie’s around you at all times can make life very difficult having to calculate the time difference to decide whether its an appropriate time of day where you are to be receiving pictures of my new sofa really takes the fun and spontaneity out of things, and then after a while you stop sharing, but when you stop sharing sometimes you forget to appreciate things at all, and thats when the fun goes, so Ive decided to start a project where I take pictures of all the things in a day that make me happy.

When you last visited we had just moved into a large 3 bedroom house with deck garden basement, the works. My boyfriend has landed a well paying job and everything was tickety boo. As we’ve learned many times before a well paying job does not necessarily mean you are going to love your job and within 12 months I actually feared for the buff mounties health he was so unhappy at work. When his work changed his work conditions to something neither of us could imagine living with we decided it was time he left. He had a part time project he had been working on and we decided that we would put all our energies into that. The project took longer to get off the ground than we ever anticipated and we quickly ran out of money, I began working 7 days a week and the big 3 bedroom house became a constant source of anxiety. I started to scour the classifieds for a new home but anything cheaper than what we had was situated in someones basement, I realize that i wasnt really in a position to be choosy but living in someones basement was an abolsute last resort living in a basement was non negotiable i just couldn’t do it, so i continued my search, and i was right to, the universe heard my plea and sent me ‘The Beach’, the tiny house by the ocean that was even cheaper than most of the basements Id looked at. We secured the lease and started to downsize, our furniture sold almost immediately and so we lived out of the spare room until we moved (almost two months).

But we are here now and we couldn’t be happier, financially we are not out of the woods but its easier and we have more space to think and develop our ideas for our businesses. And when we do get overwhelmed theres the ocean, filling our entire front window. Our first day here I sat on the sofa and watched the ocean almost the entire day.

We didn’t downsize very well and we still have more than we need so there are still boxes and piles of things stacked up until we decide what we really need and what we don’t but areas of the house are starting to come together and I often stop and look at something and think yes this is exactly what i wanted my house to look like.

Here is my current favourite part of my house, if you remember the giant house had a rather unattractive stone fireplace in it that i just hated, here i have this beautiful white mantel which i just love to look at covered in greenery. Pinterest tells me Im not the only one who is soothed by the aesthetics of interiors.

Ive also started to read again, and just earlier this week I was able to sit down and lose myself in a novel, i devoured at least half of it in one day. Its been at least two years since i last read a book cover to cover, it really is the most devine feeling and makes me less guilty about the enormous pile of books which i absolutely refuse to part with until  i have read, as now there is real hope that i will actual finish a few of them.

I must dash but I can’t wait to hear your news, tell me EVERYTHING

I love you

Galene x