Friday, 21 September 2018

poké bowls...

...are better than shoes! Let me tell you all about them ☺️

On a warm evening of a beautiful summer day this last July, a day which with hindsight was one of the highlights of my whole summer, I discovered the pleasure of savouring a poké bowl. Now, for those of you who don’t know what that is, Google’s your friend but I will give you an idea... imagine a bowl where you put some nice sushi rice at the bottom and you top it up with chopped raw fish and a variety of other ingredients of your choice, such as vegetables, beans, seaweed, seeds and stuff. My favourite one contains, apart from the rice, edamame beans, wakame, salmon, avocado, surimi salad, wasabi mayonnaise, orange massago and chopped roasted almonds. Are you salivating yet?!

This delicious dish comes to us all the way from Hawai and in a way to me it is a bit like deconstructed sushi and so I could not not like it, being the sushi fan I am (I ate only sushi for ten straight days the first time I went to Japan, I simply love it!) but it is also different in the sense that the rice may be slightly lukewarm and I find it more fulfilling than sushi which usually leaves me wanting more... well, maybe that’s just me... The poké is fresh, light, not greasy, very healthy I think and just so, so, sooooo tasty!!

I cannot deny that that specific day when I first tried it at that little place in the food court just in front of my house, was perhaps the best day of my summer... I was really on seventh heaven back then and it is possible that I love eating it ever since because it reminds me a bit of the joy I had in my heart that day... it is possible... Oh, well... even if life took a different turn (as it so often does...) and that day is just a sweet memory now, I still have my little poké bowls to enjoy every now and then and I urge you to try them too! 

Wednesday, 5 September 2018

hugs...

...are better than shoes. And I could just leave it to that but, I being I, will elaborate.

Think about it... think about all the moments in life when a hug is just the most appropriate gesture: when we are happy, when we are celebrating, when we are congratulating, when we are proud, when we are sad, when we are grieving, when we are sick, when we get well... the list goes on and on.... at weddings, at parties, at birthdays, at funerals (yes, sadly they are part of life too...), when we haven’t seen a friend for a while, when we need support, when we are angry and we need to calm down, when we need to be comforted, when we cry, when we laugh... when we love...

I love hugs... I wasn’t always like that, in my teens I was not at all into human touch, even in my early twenties as my dearest friend A would definitely confirm, I was not into “touchy feely stuff”... maybe because of my childhood... who knows... what I know is that I had been missing out! And when I changed, because I did change, and I got to understand the importance of it, when I realised the healing powers of a simple hug, this gentle exchange of positive energy between two human bodies, the warmth, the love that it can convey, the genuine smile that it can put on our face, oh, I became a fan! And now, whenever I can, I try to make up for all the wasted, hug-less years of my life!

And I tell you this: nothing can replace a hug! Give hugs to the ones you love, to your friends, to children, to your parents, to anyone who looks like they could use one! Accept to be hugged! Accept to be held, accept to be supported, everyone needs it now and then... don’t shy away from them and don’t be stingy with them! Give generously as they are one of the best things in life... they are the definitive “better than shoes” thing in your lives! Trust me! 😊