Slowing down

After being all ready to go on Monday, things have taken a bit of a downturn. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but workload has suddenly decreased for the next few weeks and I'm trying to figure out what to do with my time.

For the last few days, the miserable weather has meant I've been mostly confined indoors and so, perhaps understandably, I've been a restless and slightly disoriented.

This is when I'm grateful I've been working on building good habits: I'm still moving to some degree each day (weights circuit Monday & Wednesday, a short jog on the treadmill Tuesday, and stretching/yoga each day), eating plenty of produce, and learning what I can with Portuguese and Corporate Finance courses.

Speaking of produce, I had my first run at cooking with okra.

It's furry, slimy and a touch gloopy. Cooked down though, I must say it's pretty delicious, adding an extra element of flavour and texture to the West African beef curry I was creating. Maybe it's time to try a few more dishes with this interesting and new-to-me ingredient.

The last two days of the week ahead. They've just installed a new boxing bag in the gym downstairs so I'll probably play with that for my workout today. I'll find a yoga flow to ground myself and finally get my hair cut again tonight (it's been well over 3 months since I last tended to it). 

Experimenting with Meals

I’ve lost count of the number of blogs I’ve started then stopped after a few months (apart from EdiblePosts which is still trudging along with a lonely post every month or so). Started because I really just wanted to write. Stopped because I had too-high expectations of how often I would write and internal conflicts on what I should write about. So the remedy is to simply write about what pleases me. That generally revolves around food, fitness, travel and all the hobbies that are baubles that hold my attention for a brief period of time (or quite a long time if they’re especially shiny).

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a master of nothing, but an experimenter in plenty of different fields. Which is what makes life fun to me.

One such example, after reading a few of Michael Pollan’s and Mark Bittman’s books on eating and cooking, my newest experiment is to eat vegan before dinner, then eat without food-group restrictions for dinner. I’m on Day 2, and the experiment is somewhat contaminated already by a lapse in vegan-ness in breakfast for Day 2.

To be honest though, breakfast was still vegetarian (eggs) and M cooked it for me I have no reason to complain at all. So far though, my ‘as according to plan’ meals have been looking like this:

Breakfast: oats in flaxmilk with berries, nuts and flaxseed + a vegan protein powder and greens smoothie

Lunch: massive salad with vegetables, grapes, and beans

Dinner: a meaty stew (as a nod to the cooling autumn weather)

All supplemented of course by a steady supply of coffee and (new!) teas. Tea shops are my candy store. Farmers Markets are too, but that’s a different story.

I’ll be travelling for work for 2 days starting tomorrow though, so I’ll keep on track with both food and workouts as much as is sensible. Life is a balancing game of good nutrition, movement and managing stress though, so I refuse to let myself be stressed out if I ‘slip-up’ in any way. 

Small things

The work week can sometimes drag can't it? It's only Tuesday but already I'm counting down till the weekend again. Times like these, I need to be grateful of the small, and not so small things, and really stop and smell the roses (or the home-cooked food in this case). 

Yep, definitely grateful I can cook. Super grateful for fun yoga flows too! This daily practice thing is a lot easier when it's actually something enjoyable. Lucky.