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! 

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! 😊

rain showers...

No, not the actual rain which pours down on your perfect hair day and ruins both the hair and your suede Chloé scalopped pumps, goodness no!

I mean those marvellous shower heads that let the water fall on you like rain ☺️ I love those! Surely they need to be under some strong water pressure and definitely backed with a second shower head just to make sure you don’t get those first bursts of cold water right on your head when you turn on the water, obviously... but then, after you got the right water temperature and you switch to the rain mode, aaaaa, bliss!

My favourite time of the day when I’m on beach holidays is getting clean after a full day by the sea, after I have enjoyed the sand and the salty water and I’m covered still in sunscreen and I come back to the hotel room (or house or whatever... don’t get stuck in the details...) and I finally wash up my face and take a shower! Mmmm... though I can put up with all that on my skin and hair during the day, at about 6pm or 7pm  I’m ready to get rid of it all and feel clean and fresh again and ready for the evening! And if I’m lucky enough to have a rain shower where I happen to be, oh, I’m the happiest puppy ever!

Then, after my shower, I’ll pamper myself with face, hair and body creams, put on clean clothes or just a bath robe and sit at the balcony with a cold drink, stare at the view for a while and then catch up on the news on my iPad or check the new shoes’ arrivals at my favourite online stores... yep, this is the best time of the day! So, ok, maybe what’s really “better than shoes” is that end-of-beach-day ritual but surely a rain shower just takes it up to the next level, you know what I mean, right? 😉