Friday 8 January 2016

Day 5 - 2016


Hello, it is now 12.38hrs and it is the first time I have had a chance to sit down at my laptop and catchup.

After a good nights sleep, I woke up at 8am and consumed my usual supplements.  I must saying that after 4 days of taking my acid reduction tablets my stomach does feel better.  This could also be down to eating 'cleaner'.  

Breakfast consisted of an avocado, tomatoes, slices of cucumber on 2 slices of toasted sourdough gluten free seeded bread with some vegan mayo and lemon juice.  I also added a sprinkling of sprouted alfalfa.  Very tasty.  Today is the first day that I have consumed bread of any kind and it felt fine, no reaction from my stomach.




The morning has been spent catching up with a couple of neighbours (after nearly 4 years of living in this neighbourhood).  It was a nice chilled morning as well as taking some time to act like a big kid playing with a 2 year old.  I guess we all need kids in our lives, even if we haven't actually given birth to any, to act like a big kid and simply play thoughtlessly!

I came back home to make lunch at 11.45am.  I decided to make a quick rice dish.

Lunch:  I boiled up some white rice and added some broad beans and dill weed and had this with some yoghurt.  This is a lovely Persian rice and anyone who knows Persians, we pretty much eat any rice dish with plain yoghurt or yoghurt mixed up with cumber and mint.  Very tasty and simply.


Bhagali Rice (Broad Bean Persian Rice)

1 cup of white basmati rice (organic if you are going to have white rice as it has less sugar content)
1 cup broad beans (fresh or from frozen, peeled)
1/2 cup fresh dill week or 4 tablespoons dried
1/2 teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of olive/sunflower oil
A pinch of saffron (soaked in about 4 tbsp of hot water)

I am going to give you the instructions of how to make rice, good rice, the Persian way :)

Put the rice in a saucepan.
Wash the rice thorough with cold water and then rinse.
Add 2 cups of cold water to the pan with the rice in.
Add 1 tbsp of oil and a pinch of salt.
Bring the rice to the boil (keep an eye on it as this will only take about 5 minutes).
Once the rice has boiled, rinse the rice out in a strainer (with small holes as you don't want any of the rice to escape).  Pour some cold water over the drained rice.
In the same saucepan, add the remaining oil (2 tbsp) and half of the saffron water.

Layering of rice:  
Slowly, cover the bottom of the pan with a layer of rice.
Sprinkle some dill week & add a layer of broad beans and a pinch of salt.
Again, add another layer of rice and repeat the above process until all the mixtures have finished.
Return the mix to a high heat whilst add 1 tbsp of oil over the top and the rest of the saffron water and another pinch of salt.

Wrap the lid of the saucepan with a clean tea towel,turn heat to low **(so towel does not burn and cause a fire hazard)** and then put the lid on top of the pan.

This tea towel allows the rice to gently steam away and cook thoroughly without becoming mushy and soaks up the extra moisture from the rice!


Bon apetite!

This afternoon will be spent catching up on the laptop business planning.  Until soon.......

It is now 10pm - this afternoon I had a little set back with my back.  After a very productive afternoon, I started to prepare for a couple of catering jobs for next week and after lifting a little too much, my back started to twinge and ache.  Fighting through the pain, my mum and I decided to go to Argos to pick up a microwave oven that we had ordered.  As soon as I got into the car I felt my back wasn't right, it was started to twinge and ache where it shouldn't.  I struggled to get to Argos which is now based at Homebase not more than 5 minutes away and as soon we got there, I struggled to get out of the car.  After a little stretching, my mum pulled over a trolley which I used as my support and I struggled in the shop, got the oven and struggled back to the car.  My poor mum had to lift the microwave into the car (she is now 76 bless her and so much stronger than me but too suffers with her own ailments) and we got into the car, me with much pain and I started to pull off.  

After what seemed like a journey from hell, where my back was continuously seizing up on me, we got home and I aimed straight for bed to lay down.  I took some painkillers and crashed out for about 90 minutes (from about 6.30-8pm).  Having got up, skipped dinner, feeling groggy, my whole body was aching, all my muscles as if I had just completed a vigorous workout.  I think this was simply my muscles reacting to the pain inflicted on it earlier in the day.

Now I am resting, updating my blog and completing my diary and going back to bed to rest and see what tomorrow brings.  Please let tomorrow be pain free!  Good night x

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