Of course, I'm moving back in with fresh eyes. I'm going to be very honest here and show just how terribly messy my little space is.
On this gorgeous day, I got in from a morning of errands with no leftovers in the fridge and realized that whereas last year I was often having smoothies three times a day, I've only had one smoothie since I got back from the residency three weeks ago. This is partly because it's been so cold and wet, and my smoothies tend to feature quite a lot of frozen fruit because quality and quantity of available fruit is so variable here, so it's been a chilling prospect.
Frankly, I've also been begrudging the couple of minutes it takes even to throw a smoothie together! I've been eating a lot of cold boiled potatoes, undressed salad greens and carrots. I haven't been wanting to stop for anything, so it was good to talk with my ND today and have it
With the sun shining and no cold potatoes as an excuse not to play with the Vitamix, I grabbed two big handfuls of spinach from the garden, and added several handfuls of various kinds of fruit, including some frozen grapes and watermelon and some of these blackcurrants.
These currants grow wild across the bay and are really unique. They're sweet and tart as blackcurrants should be, but they also earn their nickname of 'stinkberries' with a slight overtone that tastes kind of like, well, skunk odor!
I also added about a teaspoon of pea protein powder and a teaspoon of Amazing Grass powder.
A lovely lunch for a belated summer day: it was sweet and juicy with just a hint of tartness from the berries and a tiny overtone of that wild skunkiness. Sweet to fix the colors in my soul before they leave through the taste route also.
How do you talk yourself down when you get overanxious/frenetic?
Have you enjoyed any wild or unusual fruits lately?
I can see discernible piles, Ela, so it doesn't look so bad to me. :) Also, no fair comparing the clear space in a home that is multiple times bigger than yours. I see a lot of cabinets in that kitchen to store things away in.
ReplyDeleteI live in a studio apartment with minimal cabinets and only one real closet, so I know what it's like to live in a small space, and I know the challenges. I have recently - over the last year and a half or so - cleared out a lot of books. I looked at what I really believed I would read again, and then even with the ones I might want to look at again, I thought about whether I could get them through the library. In the end, I sold what I could on Amazon, and gave the others away - either to individuals or to the library. I went from three large bookcases to two :).
I'm glad your ND helped convince you to take better care of yourself. Just remember if you don't take time to eat well, you might have to take even more time to be sick and then get better again. Your smoothie looks good. I wonder if it would help to let your fruit sit out, defrost, and warm up a bit before you use it? I saw some recipes from a woman who used warm herbal tea to blend her green smoothies in the winter. It could be tasty with say, apples and cinnamon and defrosted spinach for your greens :) .
I ALWAYS get the cleaning bug when I come home from a really neat place. Part of just having moved is that the clutter is still packed up and I kind of like it that way. Who needs it! I had a similar bookcase situation there and I'd say either get rid of books or get more bookcases!
ReplyDeleteYes I just tried some passionfruit--never had it fresh before. Very good! The stinkberries I'd try. I hope one of these days I can get to Alaska.
Talk myself down? Well, it usually works to just distract myself for awhile. Try to focus on something else or just breathe and wait until it goes away. I've had a lot of anxiety lately so I can relate. I hope it gets better for you.
We've got our share of clutter around here, too, mainly kid stuff. There are entirely too many toys in this house. But, the kids have fun with them.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, if you want warmer smoothies, you could plan them in advance (easier said than done). Then, you could give the fruit time to thaw first.
Thank so much, Mindy--thawing fruit out pre-smoothie making is a great idea, and now you mention it, I remember I used warm herbal tea in my smoothies last winter. Had forgotten all about that!
ReplyDeleteThanks too for your compassion about the small space clutter.
We purge books semi-regularly (Phil doesn't value them much, thinks of them as 'expensive wallpaper') but having books is actually an important part of my feeling nurtured, of acknowledging myself as a writer and a bibliophile even if I have always lived in tiny spaces. I suspect that I'm going to start going the e-book route at least for some of my books fairly soon. I also don't feel the need to hang on to fiction very often (more so nonfiction and poetry) so there are several novels that are earmarked 'read and pass on'! Just need to fit them in with all the rest that I have to read.
love
Ela
Thanks, bitt-- I hope you make it to AK too! Oh, passionfruit is lovely, isn't it? If you have enough of them, you can make a lovely lemonade by squeezing the pulp through a nutmilk bag and adding lemon and sweetener--and water, of course ;)
ReplyDeleteI sometimes find that distracting myself makes my anxiety worse, but getting distance from myself and watching does seem to help.
love
Ela
Thanks, Shannonmarie--good advice!
ReplyDeleteI think a house full of kids' toys generally looks like a fun playground, a happy kind of chaos. Maybe if I could see our piles that way, it would be a good thing!
love
Ela