The Kitchen Spa (and a decidedly un-spa-like dish, too delicious to decline)
Feeling like a lump of day-old bread? I have solutions for you, and for an actual day-old lump of bread if you happen to have one lying around
Truth be told, I’ve felt strangely energized since the start of the year. I’ve been getting up long before the sun and diving straight into work with a kind of flow I haven’t felt in ages. One day I was on my computer by 4:45 a.m., and so engaged in what I was doing that, by the time I looked up, three-and-a-half hours had passed and I hadn’t noticed a minute go by. As a result, a project that I’ve been tinkering with for about six years is at long last taking shape. More about that another time, but I share the tidbit as encouragement in case you’ve been in the same predicament with a venture. Never give up on something you believe in just because it seems to be taking forever to move from conceptual state into concrete form. All things in their own good time (and at their own pace, apparently).
The temperatures around here have been bitterly cold. Normally, not a day goes by without my going for a run or at least a very long walk to clear the cobwebs, but I turn into a wimp if the thermometer plummets to anything like -10°C or below. I can still do yoga indoors, and do, but there’s something about fresh air that can’t be beat. Also, being inside all the time with the heat cranked up is no elixir of youth, let me tell you. Twice this week, I’ve got up, turned the kettle on for tea, noticed that my face felt stretched like the skin on an old drum, and resorted to the bottle of olive oil by the stovetop for relief.
Olive oil as a skincare routine gets mixed reviews, so I’m not entirely sold on it, even if it can come to the rescue in an emergency. Still, there’s no denying that there are plenty of ingredients in the kitchen that work just as well as anything from the pharmacy when you’re in need an impromptu spa treatment. Days too cold for venturing out are a perfect chance to test a few, which is precisely what I have done, with very happy results! (And I’ve got a recipe for you, too — the ideal sort of lunch for after, say, a sauna and a plunge into a snowbank.)