My year of more and less: month seven

I'm starting to realise a major benefit of not shopping this year. I no longer have to try and find space for new purchases. No more trying to squeeze one more item in the cupboard. I'm also become much better at just going with what I have. I needed a new phone case and rather than buy a new one I just grabbed a pink fluffy one (purchased by my mum but never used) out of the car boot sale box. Ok it's not totally my style, but it does the job and is easy to find in my bag.

July goals

My July goals were to give blood, clear 5 items from my 40 for 40 list, and get in with my letter writing ebooks. How did I do?

• I looked into giving blood, and got lots of useful advice from friends about bring nervous. I can't give blood at present because I have some lingering cold sores, and the blood.co.uk, which had lots of useful information indicates I have to wait until these have sorted themselves out. I'm hopeful I might make an end of September donation session, and what better excuse in the meantime to take better care of myself than I have been.
• I've did a couple of items on my 40 for 40 list but am feeling less rushed about the whole thing. I don't currently have 40 items on it, and if it takes me until I'm 49 to do them all so be it. The important thing is to keep doing new things and not to be put off by fear of the unknown.
• I've decided on the sections/chapters for my ebook, and written notes for what the content in each section will be. I just need to start doing the actual writing.

My three day rotation through my goals wasn't as effective as I hoped. I'm not certain if this is because it just doesn't work for me, or if being overwhelmed by all the other stuff in my life interfere with things.

 

August goals

I was away for a few days at the end of August and failed to do my usual big picture, and mini goals planning for the month. I intended to do it on my return and was struggling to come up with some not too exhausting sounding goals. I was pretty horrified when I opened my planner to discover that at some previous point I'd written in some energetic goals and decided on effort for my word of the month.

 

Happily I usually write in pencil so I took an eraser to my words, and replaced them with:

• Sleep more
• Read more
• Clear niggling tasks

My word of the month is no.

 

I think a month of rest (relatively speaking) will do my lots of good and allow me to get on with new exciting things in future months.

 

Wishing you green ink and good food,

Annastasia

 

 

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What's in my lunchbox? When I grow up I want to be a sandwich

It's that glorious time of the year. The market is full of produce. Friends drop by with food to share. Lunches are easy to prepare, and eat.

The man at the vegetable stall added a few extra aubergine to my purchases. So I roasted them on Sunday morning. The form this basis of this lovely sandwich ingredient salad. For best results you should add the olives, tomatoes and bread while the aubergine is warm. However I can't say that waiting until it was cold has impaired the flavour. The sourdough bread is softened by a morning in a tub with the fresh vegetables but remains chewy. This works well against the other softer textures.

 

I was a bit surprised by how well this combination worked. I suppose though it's only a Brie, grape and celery sandwich minus the bread and Brie. Sweet and savoury. Soft and crunchy.

To read: Real World by Natsuo Kirino

Does one enjoy Kirino's novels? I was drawn into Out, and the same is true of this one. Maybe it's something about the way the characters feel as if they are acting out their own lives. The ways secrets are never secrets. The glimpse of Japan that isn't the exotic Western view. This had a David Lynch feel in the way the actions of one character impacted on a community.

 

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