You are what you eat – our food journey

James and I have been reassessing our diets lately. We already cook most of our food from scratch, since it’s cheaper and healthier, but we’re taking the next step. Lately we have switched from White sugar to Rapadura (deliciously caramel flavoured); we have tried unpasteurised butter (so yummy); and we have switched from table salt to Pink Himalayan Salt. Why? Because it’s better for you! I have also been researching the process of making sour dough bread extensively. It is the most confusing thing to read about ever, but oh my goodness is it tasty. Are you aware that you’re meant to soak your grains in water and something acidic for the night before you use it? Especially with whole wheat flour, it starts the digestion process for us ensuring that our stomachs have an easier job to do. If you avoid whole wheat breads because it’s too hard to digest and feels like a rock – try this way!

Here is an over view of the processes sugars go through before we eat them, and maybe you can see why we switched to Rapadura! –
Muscovado, Demarara and Organic Raw Sugar are all refined. They are heated, clarified (usually with chemicals but sometimes through pressure filtration), the cane juice is dehydrated until crystals form, then it is spun in a centrifuge to separate the crystals and the syrupy juice to create molasses. The crystals are then reunited with molasses in artificial proportions.
White Sugar is created with raw sugar which is washed with a syrup solution, then washed with hot water, clarified to remove the impurities (see above), decolourised, concentrated, evaporated, reboiled until the crystals form, centrifuged, and finally dried. In short all the goodness has been removed and it is pure sucrose. In fact it even takes vitamins and minerals away from our food.
Brown Sugar is white sugar mixed with molasses.
Rapadura/Organic Whole Sugar is made from the cane juice which is evaporated over a low heat, then sieved to produce a grainy sugar. As it has not been cooked at a high heat and spun to change it into crystals, the molasses haven’t been separated – and the molasses contain the nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Making it healthier sugar than all the rest.

Source: Quirky Cooking

And here’s what I’ve been learning about milk:
Pasteurised Milk is heated to make it last longer. This distroys the nutritional value as it destroys ben beneficial bacteria, the nature enzymes, and the chemical make-up of calcium.
Homogenised Milk destroys the natural butterfat by trying to separate and hide the cream from us consumers. European studies (although I don’t know which ones) have linked it to heart disease.
Raw Milk is unpasteurised. It still contains the vitamins, proteins and minerals. It has 20 of the standard amino acids, and up to 80% of the proteins are easy to digest. Some are complex antibodies.

I have yet to try unpasteurised milk, as we haven’t made it to any of the local farmers markets yet but judging from the unpasteurised butter we were given it’s going to be delicious! Anything unpasteurised has to, by law, say that it is unfit for human consumption on it – which is crazy as people have been drinking the stuff for years and years. Apparently unpasteurised milk is creamier but less heavy than full-fat milk. You know what else I’ve been learning? Fat is good for you In the 70s there was a craze where all the fat was taken out of food, and replaced with sugar… what’s worse, good fat or bad sugar?!! Haha. Anyway, until we started replacing our fat with sugar, we really didn’t have much of an obesity OR diabetes problem… and now? We do.

Anyway… we’re on a food journey, and we’re very excited about it! Care to join us?

Mansfield Park

It’s been a while since I have a) written on the blog and b) done a book review. So here’s me killing two birds with one stone!!

Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen was my least favourite book of hers up to a few months ago. I tried to read it once in collage and found it immeasurably boring, but since reading Lord of the Rings for the first time I thought I’d give it a go. And… it’s now one of my favourites!
I love the slow moving pace, and I love that so much happens with nothing at all actually happening. It is the perfect book: it combines domestic boredom with wit, vivacity, and a deep understanding of each characters, well, character! And alongside that the ending is perfect, with the heroes ending in happiness and the villains being given a suitable dose of sadness. I’ll leave it up to you to decide who the heroes and villains are though.
I have compared the book to the Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller film… and I, perhaps unsurprisingly, found the film wanting. Where Fanny Price is meant to be reserved, quiet, proper, kind and shy, she is almost the opposite in the film! (Yes I know that Fanny Price sounds like a prositutes name, but get over it, it’s 1870 something for goodness sake ) She is kind, good, and a little reserved in the film, but as you can’t convey the inner thoughts through the medium of film, it’s understandable that they would want to change her character. It’s not understandable that they would want to add in scenes of a provocative, and even sexual nature. Or change the storyline at all. I mean the story about Sir Thomas’s indiscretion with the slaves in Antigua? Give me a break, that’s there just to add to the drama, and it has nothing to do with his character in the book. He is a GOOD, but flawed character. And don’t even get me started on Mr Crawford and Maria Bertram Rushworth’s scene in the bedroom. It makes me angry that a story so beautiful has to be ruined by film makers who are labouring under the impression that no one will watch their film unless they have some nudity in it.

Gosh.

Good book though I recommend it.

And I’m stopping before I give more away or get more angry. Stupid film. (I do like the film though… just not the bits that are wrong )

Ps. This review from IMDB pretty much sums up my views, why did I even bother writing?!!!

“So, I’m a modern script-writer who doesn’t like the novel, it’s pre-occupations or even Fanny Price. What do I do? I completely re-write the story to take a possible minor sub-text (slavery) and turn it in to the driving narrative force. I then take smart as a whippet, stubborn yet passive Fanny and turn her into a ballsy version of Bridget Jones. With an attitude. I then string together a couple of scenes from the book with a few invented bridging scenes to advance the romance. Et Voila! I have a completely different story!

I don’t know what this film is, but it isn’t Mansfield Park. Enjoy it on its own terms, but don’t ever get the idea that your watching Austen on the screen. But, jeeze. I think that if you’re going to adapt a novel for the screen, you ought to at least like the source material; Otherwise, what’s the point? If you don’t like the main character, you shouldn’t be able to completely re-invent her. Or if you do, you should have the decency to be a little ashamed.”

Iced Coffee

Lately I’ve been having an ‘iced’ phase, which is a little odd since it’s currently a little cold here! Annie recently posted a recipe for Iced Tea on her blog (See here) which I tried and was delicious. The tea, by the way, gets better with age. Little tip for anyone who wants to make it themselves.
It has inspired me to move on and try making my very own Iced Coffee, which actually worked out really well. I found a recipe here, but didn’t properly follow it!! Here’s what I did:

I soaked a couple of tablespoons of coffee granules in cold water for almost 24 hours, then strained it through a sieve and some coffee filters I had lying around.
I then combined half milk, coffee, a tablespoon of demerara sugar and some ice cubes for a yummy cold drink on this fine cold morning.

Next time I make it I think I’m going to use the cold coffee mixture to make some coffee ice cubes and wizz it up in the blender

Anyway – I recommend it. Maybe in the summer though

Finally, here’s a little picture to amuse all those who hate junk mail (and Barclays) as much as we do!

Diary of a Mission Trip – Saturday 31st March to Sunday 1st April.

James and I just returned on Tuesday from a 10 day mission trip to France. I’m currently writing up the diary I kept during the trip, and I decided that at the same time I would write it up on my blog too as I hope it will inspire others for mission.

The trip was organised through World Horizons, and there were 9 of us in all. 2 leaders – Joshua and David – and 7 others of us who came too – James and I, Annie, Natalie, Bex, Joa, and Lizzie. We left home at 5am on Saturday 31st March, driving all the way to Strasbourg in a bright orange Land Rover. We drove down to Dover, where we caught the ferry to Calais, then drove through Belgium, Luxembourg, and part of Germany until we finally arrived in Strasbourg at 10.45pm local time on the Saturday evening. That totalled 17.5 hours of journey time in all.

On the ferry the team were all given postcards written by some of the World Horizons team who had all been praying for us. The postcards had words of encouragement on, and it was a privilege to receive them since they were written by strangers, but strangers who really cared for us. On the drive through Belgium and Luxembourg we had a time of prayer for each country which were inspiring. I found it really difficult to pray for Belgium as tiredness had started to overwhelm me, but I found praying for Luxembourg really invigorating even though I know absolutely nothing about the country.

It was a really long journey, and the Land Rover benches in the back weren’t the most comfortable of seats, but that didn’t dampen any of the enthusiasm and excitement felt by the team. Everyone was positive and encouraging, and there was no grumpiness whatsoever. A little tired and achy though of course When we arrived at the campsite in Strasbourg we created one huge tent out of the Land Rover and a tarpaulin connected to it, and slept under it. I say slept… but really most of us didn’t really sleep. You see, it was 0 degrees, and there was a church nearby which chimed very loudly every quarter hour. So sleeping had to wait. Surprisingly everyone (including me) woke up (or just got up) feeling positive, excited, and happy still! Odd.

Anyway, on that Sunday 1st April we went along to a church called EBS which was amazing. As we went in we could see that some of the people there had drawings of fishes stuck on their backs. Apparently the 1st April is known as the Poisson Rouge, and you stick fishes on each other. A couple of us even got fished! Although the service was all in French, it was an incredible experience. It was eye-opening to sing some familiar, and some unfamiliar songs in French – it really makes you think about what you’re singing. I think I understood about a quarter of the talk, but what I did understand got me thinking and I expanded on it in my own mind, so I went away feeling really encouraged by the talk. And afterwards the French people were very welcoming and happy to have us visit. We all got invited to do their internship year next year as well, which was a big compliment. And Yann, the worship leader, thought one of the group (Joa) was French and said to her that he was glad to meet another French person as the place is swarming with the English, to which she replied “but I’m English!” He then ran over to us and told us he’d made a big mistake. It was all very funny!

After the service we had lunch, and then went into Strasbourg to look round and have a coffee. We visited the cathedral which was amazing, but so sad that instead of helping the poor the Catholic Churches decided to make their cathedrals spectacular. It was both beautiful and overly decadent. Outside the cathedral was a busker who had the most amazing voice ever. He could sing as high as I could (if not higher) whilst also going a lot lower than I ever could. It was an incredible range.

Anyway, that’s all I can write, I’ll try and write up the next few days soon

Nestlé ruined my life.

Maybe the title is a little over dramatic but I have my reasons. You see I really dislike the taste of milk, but I know I need to get more milk in my life so I decided I needed to flavour it. When I first married James we tried Crusha, which works like a dream. The only problem for me was finding anywhere within walking distance which sells it! I went on a mission, and came home with strong white bread flour but no Crusha. So when I found Nesquick I had a quick think. I knew that I tried the banana flavour in the past, and that I liked it as far as I can remember. The only problem was that Londis only had strawberry and chocolate flavours, so I compared them. The chocolate one actually had chocolate in, whereas the strawberry one was all flavouring and yucky sounding stuff… and the chocolate one was cheaper than the strawberry flavour. Okay, I chose the chocolate flavour Nesquick and I bought it home.

I got out the milk, and made the concoction… and I tried it. And I was disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t taste AWFUL. It’s drinkable. But it’s not delicious, and it doesn’t make me want to drink milk any more than before.

The reason why Nestlé ruined my life is because they don’t deliver. They draw you in with false hopes, and leave you with shattered dreams and a cynical outlook in life.

At least it’s affirmed my hatred of Nestlé and their unethical ways.

Guest blogging and a gig review

It’s been a while. Almost, but not quite, a month. In fact, definitely not a month. Life has become even more busy, if that’s even possible, and cumulated in getting ill. My husband got it first, then I caught it from him only worse. And now my nose has flared up from all the tissue it’s seen lately, so I’m not liking seeing myself in the mirror much I guess I got man flu! I’ve been off uni for a bit, so if that’s not a good excuse, I don’t know what is.

Anyway, during this time I wrote two articles for an awesome blog called THE STUDENT, which is Grace Church Nottingham’s answer to, I don’t know… life! It’s great anyway. You should check out my articles, but then you should read the rest! There’s a hilarious video of a 82 year old woman trying pop rocks for the first time in her life, and a great book review of the lovely bones, and some sound theology.

My first article is all about my favourite tea shop EVER: http://thestudent.org.uk/?p=944 (for some reason I can’t link it, but that’s the URL)
My second article is all about a café where I may or may not have participated in their open mic night once.. http://thestudent.org.uk/?p=1118

James and I will be writing about marriage, events, and places to go in Nottingham. So keep an eye out

Speaking of events, whilst I was still quite ill I went to see The Civil Wars live. I dosed myself up on ibroprofen, and only had one coughing fit, and that was during the warm up act. They were incredible to see live, not that I could really see them, being quite short and all! Joy and John Paul have an amazing ability to have so much fun on stage, whilst getting really into the music, and giving it all they’ve got. The result was pure magic, and I was in awe of the way that they played songs I know so well, and made them completely new and captivating. They interacted well with the audience, even making awkward heckles funny. I had a great time, and it was so worth missing out on well needed sleep to see them making music magic. Here’s a picture taken by a friend with an iPhone:

The Lord of the Rings – a belated book review

It’s hard to know where to start with Lord of the Rings… at the beginning doesn’t quite cover it!! I loved the books. I found it very difficult to put them down and actually do my uni work. (Don’t tell my teachers..!)
I love when books are well written, sadly it’s something I rarely come across unless the author is now deceased. Jane Eyre and then Jane Austen were my introduction into the world of well written and witty literature, and since then I’ve never looked back. Don’t get me wrong: I love books aimed at children and teenagers, none of which are very well written, (cough Twilight cough) but to find a book which is well written in language AND plot is a rare gem. And in the case of Lord of the Rings I found four (I’ve included the Hobbit) very well thought out books, all of which were so well written I was in heaven. I enjoyed the poetry he injected throughout the books alongside the story itself: intricate and sometimes slow moving, but at the same time very gripping. It has been a long time since I last watched the films, so when I started to read the books I could hardly remember the plot, which meant that I read the books with fresh eyes, unclouded by the films.
Tolkein must have been such an interesting man! I would very much like to sit down and have a conversation with him.
I’m afraid that this is a short book review because I need to go to bed if I’m not going to be a zombie tomorrow morning, (I wonder what Tolkein would have made of our zombie fascination?!) but I hope it gets across some of the essence of the books. I really enjoyed reading them, and I thoroughly recommend you read them too!

To take up or to give up, that is the question!

Pancake Day: the start of Lent. I love Pancake Day… you can eat as many pancakes as you possibly can without feeling like you’re breaking the unspoken women rules about not eating too much (although I don’t abide by that rule much anyway!)

Do we even remember why we celebrate the day though? Just like Easter, Pancake Day has been reduced down to food: firstly you eat a lot of food, then you give up some kind of food you love. Many people use it as an excuse to start that diet to lose weight, or try a new food regime. One year I went vegetarian over lent… and 5 or 6 years later I still don’t eat red meat. Parents: watch out for scheming children like me. They will ruin your culinary life! Many other people associate it with the failed New Years’ Resolutions they’ve swept under the mat, embarrassed and yet hopeful since Lent gives them the second chance to succeed.

For me, I like to try something a little different than the usual giving up of chocolate or crisps. I like to try and take up something. Like smoking! Not. (Seriously, I’m not taking up smoking, yuk!) “They” say that to make something into a habit you’ve got to do it 15 times, although it may be 40, I can’t quite remember. What better time of year is there than Lent to put into place an awesome new habit?! This year I am going to take one of my New Years’ Resolutions and try again with it. I don’t feel like I’ve failed by not doing one or two of my Resolutions, I mean I had 27 so I was expecting some to get forgotten about… but I have a whole year in which to do them so I’m still going to achieve them all! For Lent I’m going to try and read my Bible everyday for the WHOLE 40 days. I’m pretty bad at remembering to read my Bible and to spend time with God, and so I aim to sort that out.

But first I’ve got some pancakes to go and eat. NOM!

What have you given up / taken up for Lent?

Musical Friday

I have two songs I’d like to share. The first song was written about a cup of tea. It’s called You’re The Reason and I think it’s just so true. Nothing beats a cup of tea! The second is a collaboration between The Civil Wars and Taylor Swift. The Civil Wars are one of my all time favourite bands, and this song is beautiful. It was written for the upcoming film The Hunger Games, which is a favourite book, so it’s good on many points!! Here you are:

Confessions of a Daydreamer

I realised the other day how much I daydream. I walked right by a friend of mine, on the same side of the road and everything, without noticing him at all. I only know this because he later told me that he saw me, but was in a hurry so didn’t have to stop and break into my reverie. And actually I think I do this quite a lot!! I have developed (or maybe I’ve just started to notice it!) a tendency to think so hard about a subject on my way to uni, that I hardly notice the people around me. Sometimes I do the same during conversations, or when there’s a pause in life and I’m sitting alone. I can switch of my surroundings and focus on a book I’m reading, or a film I watched, or how beautiful the trees looked in the cemetery today, or even how I’m going to finish my quilt… any subject will do! I’m assuming it has something to do with the fact that I’m an INFP – I find social situations quite difficult sometimes, as I am actually quite shy (at first..), and so I think the tendency to switch off and start dreaming is quite tempting.
On another note – I was reading up about INFPs, and there was a bit about criticism which is SO TRUE! Especially of James and I.

“One real problem area for the INFP is their intensive dislike of conflict and criticism. The INFP is quick to find a personal angle in any critical comment, whether or not anything personal was intended. They will tend to take any sort of criticism as a personal attack on their character, and will usually become irrational and emotional in such situations. This can be a real problem for INFPs who are involved with persons who have Thinking and Judging preferences. “TJ”s relate to others with a objective, decisive attitude that frequently shows an opinion on the topic of conversation. If the opinion is negative, the TJ’s attitude may be threatening to the INFP, who will tend to respond emotionally to the negativity and be vaguely but emphatically convinced that the negativity is somehow the INFP’s fault.”

Hehe )

Does anyone else find themselves living in their own little world a lot? Please tell me I’m not the only one!!