MakeCookGrow.com – Some gardening, cooking, creating and everyday suburban life

Early Onset of Myopia and a Quick Lunch

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Myopia and Children

Myopia, short sightedness, is increasing at an alarming pace in children. Globally, the rate of myopia rate tripled between 1990 and 2023, according to the British Journal of Ophthalmology. In fact, the World Health Organisation predicts that by 2050, half the world will need glasses. Ten percent will be high myopic which can result in severe complications and even blindness.

Myopia increases the risk of ocular disease. This includes cataracts, glaucoma, plus retinal detachment. Alarmingly, the greatest rise in retinal detachment is amongst young patients. One third of all people suffering from myopia go on to develop macular degeneration. This leads to visual impairment and eventually, blindness.

It’s estimated percentage of children in Britain with myopia is 15-20%. East Asia and Singapore are way ahead in data collection. In Singapore, the ‘myopic capital of the world’, 80% of adults are myopic. Myopia affects around 96.5% of 19 year old males in South Korea. Typically, East Asian children start school earlier, work longer days, do far more homework and spend very little time outdoors.

Why has this happened? Put simply, children are not spending time outside. Daylight is thought to stimulate the release of dopamine in the eyeball, inhibiting eyeball growth and distortion. The other critical change is the amount of time children are spending in ‘near work’ on screens. The recommendation for children to prevent myopia is 20/20/2, that is for every 20 minutes of near work, spend 20 minutes focusing on something in the distance, and the most important part, spend 2 hour outdoors every day.

Leisure activities have changed for children, too. China has the highest rate of video gamers (12.4 hours a week) and myopia in the world. Screens are blamed for the massive increase in myopia. Jonathan Haidt, who wrote the best seller The Anxious Generation claims the wide adoption of smartphones since 2010 plus the gradual erosion of outdoor play has resulted in a catastrophe of poor teenage mental health and higher rates of suicide and self harm. He refers to the current generation of teenagers as ‘anxious, sleep-deprived, narcissistic, and susceptible to terrible influencers and the rest.’

All images in this entry Pixabay

Children need to avoid myopia. It can’t be stopped or reversed, so best avoided all together. Apparently, the best way to avoid myopia is put down the screens and send children to play outdoors.

baby cos lettuce with Pesto dressing

After twelve weeks of attending appointments we had a little break. All my husband’s post radiotherapy scans are now back, as are blood tests. Good results. Next week he starts immunotherapy. One of the problems with spending hours at the hospital was the food available. It was pretty grim unless I went to the Childrens Hospital. Although that added several thousand steps to my step count, it also took a lot of time, even though I didn’t sit down to eat.

So I’ve mastered quick meals I can make. My new favourite was so easy! I just washed and halved a baby cos lettuce, then drizzled vinaigrette over it. The dressing was simply 6 dessertspoons of olive oil and 2 dessertspoons of vinegar, then a grate of black pepper and a sprinkle of salt. I added a dessertspoon of pesto, shook the jar, then poured it over the lettuce. The second time I made this salad, I added slithers of preserved lemon to the dressing and would do that again. I crumbled sheep feta over the lettuce, but if you were eating at home you could add smoked salmon, tinned tuna or shredded chicken.

Added a spoonful of pesto to the vinaigrette, shook until it blended in, then poured over the lettuce. Crumbled feta on top.

My husband’s sense of taste has not returned although sometimes he can taste tea, but it doesn’t taste like tea! Today I made a buttered chicken curry. I was heavy handed on the spices and chopped the chicken pieces into slithers when I served my husband. He can taste the heat but not the flavour. Fingers crossed this improves with time.

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Pesto, Nutrition and Sharpening Knives

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making pesto

It’s that time of the year when the tomatoes are mostly finished but the basil is still thriving. So I make pesto. You can buy the basil if you don’t have any growing but make sure it’s not an Asian basil which has a slight aniseed flavour. The leaves should be medium sized and green with no yellow tips or black spots. Wash the basil then collect the other ingredients.

PESTO

45g toasted pine nuts (about 5 minutes in the oven, don’t let them burn)

1.5 cups basil leaves

60gm pecorino or parmesan cheese

5 tbspn olive oil

2 small cloves of garlic

Process the basil, pine nuts (cooled), garlic and cheese, then drizzle the olive oil in a steady stream into the machine. Purists use a pestle and mortar, I use a food processor. Scrape into a jar when you’re happy with the texture. Coat with a layer of olive oil to prevent oxidisation.

Pine nuts can be replaced by pumpkin seeds or walnuts. I’ve been reading Norman Swan’s What’s Good For You. ( He also promotes the usual; daily exercise, avoiding processed foods, getting enough sleep and maintaining social connections) Based on years of research he recommends following a Mediterranean diet. Pesto ingredients get the tick of approval. And it tastes amazing!

I use sheeps pecorino because I like the strong flavour. I only made a small amount this year as my husband can’t taste anything at the moment. I stir a spoonful into tomato pasta sauces, a smear on cheese and tomato toasted sandwiches and a drizzle on cheese on crackers. If I was making gazpacho I’d drop a teaspoon of pesto into each bowl. Enjoy!

a nutritionist’s hints for well being

Laura Southern, a nutritionist, in this week’s The Australian Weekend Magazine writes about optimal gut health. She says the way we combine foods can increase the absorption of nutrients and antioxidants and help good bacteria to survive the digestive process. Here are her six top recommendations.

Add honey to Greek yoghurt. Honey’s prebiotic properties feed and support the probiotic in the yoghurt as it is digested. This can reduce infection and inflammation.

Image Pixabay

Eat black pepper with turmeric. Research suggests turmeric has anti-inflammatory, antioxident and anti-cancer properties. It is also thought to strengthen the intestinal barrier, balance the microbiome and also aid digestion. The piperine in black pepper can increase the absorption of curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric by 2 000 percent.

Drizzle olive oil on salads. The antioxident properties of olive oil to lower bad cholesterol and raise levels of good cholesterol is well known. Now there’s evidence showing the polyphenols in olive oil can be absorbed by the intestine, increasing beneficial bacteria in the gut. Eaten with green salads, olive oil helps balance the microbiome.

Image Pixabay

Miso paste and bok choy. Miso paste is made from fermented soybeans and grains. It is packed with millions of probiotic beneficial bacteria which nurture the gut. To feed the good bacteria, add bok choy or seaweed flakes.

Stir cinnamon into stewed apples. Cinnamon increases the anti inflammatory impact of polyphenols in apples. Their soluble fibre, pectin, is also a prebiotic.

Image Pixabay

Sprinkle seeds on porridge. Betaglucan, the fibre in porridge, acts as a prebiotic. Adding chia seeds and flax will supply vitamins, minerals and cancer protective antioxidants and stimulate gut movement.

sharpening knives

Blunt knives are really annoying. I like to keep ours well honed. I use a whet stone to sharpen them regularly. The name derives from the actual process of sharpening the blade, called ‘whetting’, using a whet stone. The whet stone needs to be submerged in water until bubbles stop rising.

I place the stone on a hand towel so it doesn’t move then hone the blade in smooth motions along the stone. I start using the coarser side then finish with the finer side. Quick wash and it’s all done!

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Beef Stew and Other Food, Plus Making a Notebook

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really good beef stew and other food

If you live in Western Australia where it is still really hot, you’ll wonder why I’m making beef stew. Last November my husband was diagnosed with Parotid Salivary Gland cancer. Initially he was going to have it surgically removed but a PET scan showed the cancer had spread. What followed was radiotherapy, usually five days a week, plus frequent visits to the radiologist, the oncologist, a dermatologist, a speech therapist, a swallow specialist, a dietician, three different sorts of dentists all orchestrated by the wonderful cancer co-ordinator. Immunology and three monthly PET scans to follow.

He can now swallow soft, finely cut real food! He has no sense of taste but was tired of meal replacement drinks, scrambled eggs, chicken soup, Weetbix mushed into milk and cool, easy to swallow but tasteless icecream. I stumbled upon this stew, called Martha Stewart’s Beef Stew on https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/martha-stewarts-slow-cooker-stew/ I made it in the slow cooker and then stored portions in the freezer. It is a really wonderful, easy, quickly reheated stew and I can slice or mash the pieces so he can chew and swallow. No flavour, as he has lost the sense of taste, but he enjoys eating real food again. So I keep making it despite the heat!

I didn’t have diced tinned tomatoes with chili so used plain tinned tomatoes and I didn’t add garlic, either. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. I think the vinegar ensures soft, fall apart meat but also makes the gravy really delicious, too. I used Apple Cider Vinegar, but the recipe suggests any vinegar will work. I cooked it on high in the slow cooker. Easy, tasty, ingredients on hand. No one knows when or even if his sense of taste will return.

Meanwhile, I made myself a feta and spinach pie. I had thawed the spinach, diced the onions and crumbled the feta, left the eggs to reach room temperature and went freezer hunting for the roll of filo pastry. Found it, but instead of sheets of pastry I found shards of broken, shattered sheets of filo. It had reached the end of the road! So, as I have done before, I used some shortcrust pastry. Tasted good but I missed the crunchy, crumbly, buttered flavour of filo pastry. Also, my usual recipe makes three meals for the two of us, so I was really tired of it! To use it all I had it for lunch and dinner for three days. Enough!

I’m still trying to eat at least thirty different foods every week. I wasn’t meeting this goal in the last fortnight, at all. Cooking for myself came last on my To Do List. Trying to make smaller meals to eat over a few days. Made ratatouille and added shaved Massadam cheese both times I had it. I don’t make big pots of it as my husband doesn’t eat it, anyway. This has resulted in a greater variety of foods, but not thirty different ones!

making a notebook

I write in a journal everyday and have done for more than thirty five years. I buy notebooks from the newsagent, cover them and add marbled papers as inner lining pages. So when I saw an advertisement for a notebook making session I was quick to enrol.

We were shown how to stitch the signatures (pages in sets of five sheets, folded in half to make ten pages and stitched down the spine.) how to sew and knot them together, glue a mull, or fabric strip, along the spine, then glue on a ribbon page marker. Next the outer fabric cover and finally, the lining pages front and back. Lots of cutting and gluing and I’m really pleased with the outcome and hoping the class will be offered again. I loved it!

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Bookmarks and Reading, Tomatoes and Plastic Utensils

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bookmarks and reading

Tidying up and sorting through your Christmas and Valentines Day envelopes, do you wish you could recycle some of the very pretty envelopes? Me too. I read a lot and often scramble for a bookmark. Now I’ve made a few from leftover envelopes. You could use coloured or patterned envelopes to make the bookmark. Gather a few envelopes and a pair of scissors and you’re ready to create.

1. Cut a triangular corner off the envelope. Glue down the flap at the back. Let it dry.

2. Fold the triangle in half longways.

3. Cut an arc shape from side to side. You can pencil the arc before you cut.

4. Viola! Pretty heart shape bookmark.

If you lose it just make another one.

I’ve read four books lately. Three ‘whodunits’!

An engaging book, but not of the happy ending genre! This Australian author writes clever and rather scary books.

I enjoyed this clever story so much I recommended it to my husband. Then I borrowed another one of her books and suppose I will enjoy it when he’s finished it! Complex plot and an ending I didn’t see coming.

This starts off as a nice story about two women living next door to one another and how they became friends. It finishes with one of them in prison and the other hiding the truth and bringing up the prisoner’s children. No happy ending here !

Not a murder story, but an account of one woman’s life as a wife and mother. Anne Tyler is a prolific American author. She has a wonderful way with words and is keen observer of women’s lives. A reviewer whose column I enjoy recommended this book as one which had stayed in her mind for 20 odd years. I ordered the book. It began well, with typically lyrical descriptions of the main characters, but then, when the family was at the beach one day, the wife just walks away and hitches a ride to another town and starts another life.

Set in the late 50s, she successfully flies under the radar for a few months. She narrows her life to eating, sleeping, working and not much else. She doesn’t seem to miss her husband or children. When a family member finds her she pleased to hear news of her family but doesn’t return to her hometown.

Eventually she returns for her daughter’s wedding. It’s a total fiasco and she resorts to feeding everyone and cleaning up, just like she did before walking away. She decides to stay. A puzzling plot.

tomatoes

Tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, chopped red onion and basil. Delicious.

Sadly my tomato crop is coming to an end. Fresh, warm, thin skinned truss tomatoes are delicious! I have saved the seeds from one of the biggest, reddest tomatoes to plant next summer. These are heirloom seeds which are true to the parent plant. There’s no genetic modifications and the fruit is always predictable. I actually planted some seeds for another tomato this time, as well, and they didn’t fruit. Disappointing. So I just stay with the seeds I got from my Mother.

These truss tomatoes are reliable and explode in your mouth, releasing sweet flavour and no tough skin. At the end of the tomato season I chose a really luscious tomato, cut it in half and squeezed the seeds onto paper towel. When the seeds and remaining pulp was dry I wrote a label on the paper and stored it in an envelope in the laundry cupboard ready for the next tomato season.

Some growers suggest leaving the scooped out seeds and adhering pulp in a jar for a few days so they ferment. Apparently this prepares the seeds for germination. I have never done this and have always had great germination rates.

The tomato process is save seeds from the best tomatoes, plant the seeds, watch them grow, then paint the tomatoes and finally, eat the tomatoes.

plastic utensils

First we were told to throw out plastic utensils, particularly black plastic utensil, due to toxic chemicals. This still remains good advice, as concerning levels of cancer causing flame retardants are present in black utensils. One recent report has ‘corrected’ the probable risk of toxic chemicals but emphasize the risk is still concerning.

Meanwhile, the sales of stainless steel utensils increased by 13% last year . During the same period sales of silicone utensils increased by 70%. Do your own research and decide if you need new utensils!

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Pet Ownership and its Many Advantages

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pet ownership

Do you have a dog or a cat, or maybe both? The majority of people in Australia do, with similar numbers of ownership across all developed countries. Whilst the biggest surge in ownership occurred during Covid, the rates of pet ownership has continued to grow. There are about 29 million pets in 6.9 million households in Australia. This figure includes dogs (48%), cats (30%) then fish and small mammals, such as guinea pigs and reptiles.

People who grew up with pets are more likely to owns pets themselves as adults, with the greatest growth in pet ownership amongst 28 – 35 year olds worldwide. This group of younger people will spend about 150 euros (AUD 264) a month on their pet. People over 65 are less likely to own pets.

Australia ranks behind the US and China for pet ownership. Most pets now live partly or full time indoors. Pet food and accoutrements is a growing market. Demand for premium pet food is growing rapidly. Many Australians consider their pet a member of the family and, as a result, the pet industry is growing rapidly. Clothing, accessories, care, training, tech items and even therapy sessions are popular.

Luxury brands are hot on the pet trend! Amongst other things, the luxury brand Celine offers a lambskin bowl and a plastic toy featuring the brand’s monogram (160 euros), Dior, Prada and Louis Vuitton offer collars and leashes. Dolce & Gabbana have launched a dog perfume (100 euros). Other luxury brands offering dog or cat merchandise include Gucci, Hermes, Ralph Lauren, Barbour, Moschino and Versace.

Pet owners say their pet offers good company, affection and comfort. Owners of dogs say they prompt exercise. There is a social aspect about visiting the local dog park. I’m having coffee tomorrow with someone I met at our dog park 24 years ago. I also have lunch with a group from the dog park occasionally. Good company, a beautiful park, lots of exercise on grass amongst the trees and lots of amusing antics provided by the dogs.

benefits of dog ownership

Then I opened an article called ‘How Your Dog Can Help You Worry Less and Live More’ (Link) Every dog owner knows the joy of arriving home tired or frustrated to be met by an enthusiastic pet. They’re very pleased to see you and keen for a cuddle and attention. All they want is some play time and then to cuddle up with you. In fact, research shows dogs can help us manage stress and anxiety. There’s no judgement, no tricky questions and no need to explain. This is the concept of Angelika von Sanden’s book, ‘Sit, Stay, Grow. How dogs can help you worry less and walk into a better future’. The author is a social worker and therapist, so was often told by dog owners how their dog gave the owner a sense of purpose, the need to carry on, ‘the shoulder to cry on, the one steady, unjudgemental being in people’s lives.’

She writes that daily walks, playing and even just observing your dog can ‘relieve negativity, find happiness and live more meaningful lives. Von Sanden suggests we need to treat ourselves with the same love and kindness we extend to our dogs. ‘We treat our dogs with so much more love and patience than we give ourselves.’

Other studies she refers to support this claim, showing dogs can lower cortisol levels, increase oxytocin and also lower blood pressure levels. Patting a dog can trigger regions of the brain associated with social bonding and relaxation. The author also claims dogs can teach us to be more intentional by paying attention to their behaviour, such as curiosity, joy and intention. She says ‘ a dog is an amazing example and teacher to help us be in the present moment. No phone, just you and the dog.’

The daily dog walk is an opportunity to observe your dog. Focus on what the dog looks at, sniffs, just being present in the moment. The author suggests beyond companionship, dogs, through curiosity, loyalty, playfulness and their ease can help their owners to enjoy these behaviours, too.

We’re currently without a dog. We had intended to do a lot of travel this year, so were postponing getting another one. Reading this article reminded me of the time spent at the dog park over the last 20 years. Our dog park is green with mature trees, views of the river and delightful dogs and their lovely owners. I miss going to the park!

All images Pixabay.

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Making, Cooking and Other Things

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making

The collection of beads used to make a new necklace. The (sadly) broken white bead was right at the front.

When I was a junior primary teacher, my necklace made from these faux pieces of licorice allsorts was a bit of a hit. Not so much now when I go out to mahjong or shopping and certainly not at yoga! Then I bought a black and white striped shirt. Eying off my necklace collection inspiration struck and I knew I could reuse some of the licorice allsorts pieces and bigger beads from a necklace I dropped on the floor. One of the pieces broke on impact. I wore that necklace often, so hunted down a replacement. Now I will reuse pieces from the original.

Put the large beads from the broken necklace and pink pieces of licorice allsorts and smaller black pieces together. Changed things around a few times. Then I made the new necklace. I already had the string and the catch for this new necklace. There may be more soon. My elderly neighbour can’t be bothered with necklaces or earrings anymore and has given me several necklaces made from glass beads. Very pretty and ripe for reusing.

sourdough

I’ve been making sourdough bread years. My first sourdough starter died when we were away for a long period but the replacement has been bubbling away happily for a long time. Until it didn’t look sprightly at all. Read lots of articles abut reviving runny starter. Followed the instructions and fed it twice, using more flour than water, let it rest between each feeding and it’s back to normal. I will make a loaf tonight and bake it in the morning.

Most online examples of sourdough loaves are boulés, round balls, and are baked in a Dutch oven. I make my loaves in a loaf tin as this results in slices of similar size, which I prefer.

Sourdough baking appeals to a wide range of people. Reading some of the advice was daunting but I found an easy method which worked. Sourdough bakers who post online are totally passionate about their bread and jump through all sorts of hoops to make it and some, like me, use the same recipe and are happy with the outcome.

The newly ‘recovered’ sourdough starter made a very good loaf of bread.

There’s so many recipes for using the discard from feeding the starter and so many for adding things to the bread, too, but what really caught my attention was the names people give their starters! One blog lists 160 potential names, some very funny. Another list included Must-Tang-Sally, Lazarus, Doughkey Pokey, Festus and Sour Seymour. Mine is called The Flour Child!

other things

I’ve read two books this week. I spend quite a bit of time waiting while my husband has treatments and also, there’s not much on TV. Currently we are watching on ABC iview The Secret History of the English Garden. Monty Don is the commentator and it is one of many programs about gardens he’s has visited. It is very interesting and he is a born storyteller. Really enjoying it and learning a lot about the role of gardens in history. Also seeing some amazing gardens.

The first book I read was The Night We Lost Him written by Laura Dave. Like her previous book I wrote about The Last Thing He Told Me, this is a book about lies, intrigue and the secrets of successful men. The families left behind struggle to find out what really happened. A great read.

The second book written by Nadine Williams, an Australian journalist, is about her third marriage (having vowed to never marry again) and how it led her to France. From France With Love, A Story With Baggage details how she met Oliver, how they traveled together to France and then try to sort out their cultural differences on a road trip around the country. I seem to be attracted to books about visiting France, living in France, renovating in France….I enjoyed this book . It is funny, sad and informative. I am looking online for her second book.

Tim Spector’s book Food For Life which I wrote about a few weeks ago makes alot of sense. A diverse diet results in a healthy gut but I’m struggling to eat thirty different foods every week. I was relieved when I read spices and herbs count as different foods as that got me a bit closer to goal. Close but not perfect.

Meanwhile, I have picked my first tomato of the season. Two days later there were many ripe ones. Delicious. Do you grow any food?

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Weeding Books and Paper Rubbish

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bookshelves and weeding

We are a family of keen readers. We are not so keen on throwing things out, and even likely to have a good ‘weed’ of our book collection. When we built the house we have shelves built from the floor to the ceiling on one wall, plus on another wall with windows and a half height return on a third wall. Over the years the shelves have gone from neat and tidy to books two layers thick, books poked in horizontally on other books and books overflowing onto other furniture in the room. Time for a change!

Two days later and about third of the shelves are done.

Our son was here for the long weekend. After breakfast the sorting and tidying began. We packed the discards into boxes to take to the Save the Children Book depot. So far it has taken two days but we will persist. The big bonus of this exercise is discovering forgotten books, in my case, now all shelved together. It became apparent I like to read autobiographies written by people who have lived in foreign lands. I found and am currently reading Marjory McGinn’s Things Can Only Get Feta. Along with her husband and crazy Jack Russell they move to a remote town in southern Peloponnese.

Seventeen boxes done and ready to go.

Marjory has had a passion for Greece since she and her family arrived in Australia from Scotland and her assigned ‘buddy’ at school was from a Greek family. In her twenties she worked in Athens and speaks enough Greek to organise a house, get a car and settle into life in rural Megali Mantineia. There are few foreigners in the area. They soon meet the locals and the scorpians and the hornets. This is a humourous and engaging account of their experiences in rural Greece and some of the hot spots, too. She and her husband decided to stay for a second year despite the difficulties Greece was experiencing during the austerity years.

I really enjoyed this book and set off to see if she’d written a second book about the next year in Greece. Found there are seven more books. The titles all suggest McGinn and her husband, both freelance journalists, stayed in Greece for some years. I will be trying to get some of the other books.

rubbish recycling

Are you still sorting through post Christmas or holiday paper, cards, envelopes and cardboard? All these products can be recycled easily avoiding landfill. Recycling reduces deaforestation and the impact of the processes required to manufacture new paper based products.

Effective recycling relies on ensuring only products suitable for recycling go in the paper/glass recycling bin. Contamination spoils clean paper and means all the materials are sent to landfill. Typical contamination is related to food stuffs, such as pizza boxes and oil stained paper bags and wrapping. Recycling paper means a reduction in landfill gases and reducedCO2. It’s easy, too.

Image Pixabay

WHAT SHOULD YOU PUT IN YOUR PAPER RECYCLING BIN?

Brochures, even if they are glossy, but not ones treated with plastic laminate, plus glossy and matte packaging
All envelopes, even if they have a small plastic window, as the processes involved sort them out
Shredded paper so long as staples and paper clips have been removed before shredding
Cardboard boxes, although waxed or greasy boxes are not suitable
Magazines, newspapers, advertising brochures, childrens’ used exercise books if the staples are removed.
Due to the materials used to line paper cups and fruit juice containers, they cannot be recycled.
Recycled paper is used to make more paper for printing on and writing on, cardboard, bags, gift tags, tissues, toilet paper and napkins. Recycled paper is processed to sterilize and remove dye. Paper can be recycled up to seven times before the fibres become too short and too weak to reuse.
Image Pixabay

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Cook, Grow, Read

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cooking

I need to be well prepared this week. Our days are full of appointments and other jobs. A quick survey of the fridge led me to using up most of the eggs. That involved a crustless quiche. I have made this in the past following recipetineats.com Crustless Quiche recipe and it was very good. This time I based my quiche on her quantities, sort of, but added chives to the spring onions, a tomato for some colour and used sheeps yoghurt instead of cream. No ham left from Christmas! I also used a Spanish goat and sheep cheese (El Hidalgo) because I had it in the fridge.

Aiming for 30 different foods a week.

There were leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch ( I love leftovers for lunch). After lunch we set off to the shops with a rather long shopping list. I like semi-emptying the fridge and getting everything fresh again and have a fair idea what I’ll be preparing this week. I also made a sourdough loaf but that’s going very quickly! I also bought watermelon, because what’s summer without watermelon? It lasted one day.

Image Pixabay

grow

Although I don’t have a big garden I make use of all the space I have available. I have a lime tree in the centre of the front courtyard which fruits at a different time from my neighbour’s lime tree, hanging over the fence. Fresh limes are wonderful!

Then I have a side courtyard and a back courtyard. I like fresh flowers in the garden all year round but I also like fresh herbs and vegetables. All my herbs and vegetables are grown in pots. This includes perpetual spinach, which can be added to almost anything savoury and a lot of herbs plus spring onions. At the moment, the entire side and back area are a bit overwhelmed by tomatoes! I have two sorts, one a cherry truss tomato my Mother grew forever and the other an unknown tomato. My friend gave me a tomato to taste when she was given a bag full and it was very good. I harvested the seeds and they are thriving. So, of course, I grow a lot of basil, too!

read

Do you keep some books because they were really engaging and you know you’ll read them again, one day? I have a few books in the category, one I reach for about every six years if I get a cold, and two I’d forgotten about but really enjoyed rereading now. The first book I referred to is Lisa St Aubin de Terran’s A House in Italy. The author is English but loves all things Italian and writes with great affection plus a little frustration about restoring a palazzo in Italy. She writes about her treasured collections being sent from England, Scotland and a few places she’s rented throughout Italy. Amusing to read, but no so funny to experience!

My other two books are both by Karen Wheeler, who writes articles for glossy magazines about beauty and health. After discovering her fiancé was otherwise engaged when he was away on work, she takes some time to consider her future. She travels to France to visit a friends and buys a derelict house in a small, rural town and sets about renovating it. This is a slow process as she still travels to interview famous designers, perfumeriers and grand hotels and spa resorts. It’s called Tout Sweet, Hanging Up My High Heels For A New Life In France’. Very entertaining.

Her third book Sweet Encore, A Road Trip From Paris to Portugal Via Northern Spain. ( I cannot find the second one in the series. All that tidying up!) is about driving through France, Spain and Portugal with her 16 year old niece who lives in the Caymans. A real travelogue. Whilst in Portugal she visits the grave of her long time boyfriend who died as the result of a car accident. She describes Portugal as warm, beautiful and very affordable, and Spain as the exact opposite!

I sympathise with her views on Spain. Even before we lived overseas we liked to travel and have been to some very underdeveloped areas. In forty plus years of traveling independently, Barcelona is the only place someone tried to mug me! I’m sure I’ve been overcharged and my poor language skills have annoyed, but I have never been attacked like I was in Spain. We packed and took the next train to Zurich.

The other book I have read is Kate Atkinson’s Big Sky. If you enjoy a gritty, fast moving ‘who dunnit” this is for you!

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Blue Zones and Other Wellbeing Research and Reading Books

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Did you begin the new year resolving to improve how you eat and wanting to exercise more? I’ve just watched the documentary Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones on Netflix. Although the ages of some of the people interviewed in the series have since been questioned, the film shows evidently older people living well within their communities and always in their own homes, generally surrounded by family members.

Images Pixabay

The factors resulting in healthy, engaged older people had several common attributes. In every area studied, everyday living involved a lot of walking, and other activities like chopping wood, tending to gardens and preparing food from scratch. Most areas involved steep steps to get around. The only community investigated in this series where people created opportunities to exercise was in Lomas Linda, where a large group of Seventh Day Adventists live. Several of the communities studied identified devout and regular church attendees.

Image Pixabay

Social connections seem to be important in getting to old age with few health challenges. Most people interviewed lived with their families or very close to families and were involved in daily social activities. There were examples of morning chats, eating, singing and dancing together. Everyday contact with family, friends and neighbours was a common factor. Times to rest from work were well defined.

The diets of each community differed depending on the region being studied, but all the Blue Zones studied ate mostly plant based diets with everything made from scratch and often grown nearby. Seasonal produce was grown near to home and tended to, harvested and prepared by family groups including the older members in the studies.

Image Pixabay

One of the interesting comments by the researcher was that none of the people in the study showed signs of dementia.

Investigating the latest research into healthy eating led me to Dr Tim Spector, a British epidemiologist, medical doctor and science writer who researches and writes about the relationship between nutrition, the gut biome and health.

He backs all his dietary advice with a lot of research. One of his strong beliefs is eating 30 different fruit, vegetables, fermented products and nuts and seeds every week. I quite like a challenge stareted recording the fruit, vegetables, fermented food (yoghurt, cheese, some pickles) and nuts and spices I ate in a week and fell short. It was easy to begin with, but I really had to focus on adding to the list towards the end of the week. I’m trying again this week.

His recommendations

1. Commit to a ten hour window when you eat, then fast for 14 hours.

2. Reduce or avoid UPF, ultra processed foods.

3. Adopt mindful drinking, minimal tea, coffee and alcohol, lots of water.

4. Forget counting calories, just eat healthy food.

5. Eat more plants, but eat meat, too, in modest amounts. Meat eaters have better gut flora. Aim for 30 different vegetables, fruits, nuts, herbs, spices and fermented foods each week.

6. Don’t obsess about protein and learn to estimate the amount you should eat at each meal. (Spector suggest 1.6gm meat/kg)

7. Seek quality snacks, such as nuts, fruits, wholegrains, all good for insulin sensitivity and improved gut flora.

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Reading

At the beginning of the year I was impressed by a reviewer whose New Year resolution was to read 100 books. She wrote that she’d tried before and failed, so this year she is aiming to read 85 books. Inspired by her goal, I thought I’d try to read 100 books this year, too. Two and a half weeks into the year I’ve read eight books. We’ve spent time sitting around, waiting for appointments and also keeping cool. I hope I can maintain the momentum.

Have you set yourself a similar goal? I’d love to know!

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Reading and In The Garden

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reading

Are you a reader? This time of the year is good for reading book reviews. Every book distributor, every newspaper and magazine literary editor has reviews of newly published books and old favourites. Interesting to scroll through the lists and see so many ‘old favourite’ authors have new books, but also the long lists of new authors whose books are recommended. Great if you buy from a list you’ve made of ‘interesting books’. Also useful if you belong to a bookclub or like giving books as gifts. I try to get most of my books from the library.

One reviewer, Laura Hackett, Deputy Book Reviewer, for the Sunday Times.UK, writes about her New Year Resolution, made every year, to read a hundred books. She isn’t always successful and thinks she’ll aim for 85 books this year. I gave up on New Year resolutions years ago, but I also read a lot of books, so have decided I’ll try this, too. It’s the first week of January and I have already read two and a half books, so feeling optimistic!

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Hackett also refers to the Book Cover of the Week. Apparently,’ you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover’, but I do like a great cover! Although I scan titles and authors’ names on library shelves, I’ll often pull the book out to read the blurb on the back of the book but also then check out the cover. The font and the images used can suggest a lot about a book, too.

in the garden

It’s a bit hot to spend time in the garden during the day, but really very nice in the evening if there’s a breeze and the fountain is running. I’ve planted two types of tomatoes this year. I don’t know the names of either type because the tiny truss tomatoes came from my Mother years ago and the large bush tomatoes came from a friend. I don’t have very much space so I grow the tomatoes in pots. When you consider the cost of potting mix and fertiliser needed to grow them in pots, it’s probably not so economical but the tomatoes don’t have hard thick skins and they taste of sunshine. I’ve bought lots of tomatoes this summer which haven’t tasted wonderful at all. I stagger planting times to ensure supply over a longer period.

There’s also a pot of perpetual spinach. It’s what it’s called, a cut and come again spinach. I toss a handful of washed leaves in so many savoury things we eat. The wilted leaves add colour and flavour. The more I cut off, the more it grows. Good.

These cannas came from the farm. They just flower and flower and add masses of colour. The Gloriosa Lily is a Himalayan Select and came from a friend. It flowers in the middle of summer but the bloom only lasts a few days. Every year when it reappears, there’s an additional plant. I don’t remove the tubers in winter but it’s recommended in the northern hemisphere. I’m obviously a bit hit and miss removing tubers/corms/bulbs, anyway, as I thought I’d sifted out all the old dahlia corms from a pot I planted tomatoes in, but the tomatoes have company; two dahlias have appeared too!

Gloriosa lily

The outdoors table is a sheet of travertine on a wrought iron frame. The glue holding the top on had begun to fail and the top felt loose. We took the top off, used a flap disc to remove the old glue and rust from the frame. I picked, poked and peeled the glue off the travertine. New glue, top back on, scrubbed it clean. Now stable and back in use. Lovely sitting out there in the evening.

Flap disk for removing old glue and rust. Very efficient.

Metal frame cleaned of glue and rust, wiped down. Later we reapplied glue and positioned the travertine top and left it to dry.

Scrubbed the travertine. The table was back in use the next day.

If you’re interested in growing some herbs that flourish in full sun, plant thyme, basil, rosemary and mint. Coriander will just go to seed until it is a little cooler. Except the rosemary, all my herbs are planted in pots.

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The hydrangeas are thriving, too. I hope you’re enjoying your garden, too!

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