solstice

Yesterday's adventure saturated our brains with a big hit of dopamine, serotonin, and a bit of oxytocin for good measure! It was hard to let the little creature who brought those chemicals leave, but I kept reminding myself that I don't want a cat (I love cats but don't want another one!). In some way it seemed that she was a gift to bring us out of our doldrums and that we were meant to keep her, but maybe the focus has to be that we saved a little life and sent her on her way to a better life. And remind myself again that I don't want a cat!

I've spent way too much time in the last month indulging the negative thoughts in my brain, but it's time to get cracking and refocus on positive thinking. It's easy to say things are hard and that I'm tired, but honestly all that does is reinforce those misery pathways in my brain, making it easier and easier to get overwhelmed. Now I have to do the hard work of paying attention and stopping/redirecting those errant messages. It's time to say 'I feel better today than yesterday', that I'm on the mend, that things are going to improve. 

With that all said, today is a busy day in the kitchen. I've already cooked a pot of chickpeas and transformed them into hummus and a bowl of crunchy roasted snacks. A bunch of bones are in the instant pot making bone broth for gravy. I just finished walking for an hour. Now I'm going to make a cranberry cake to take to our family Christmas dinner on Tuesday. I have to dig the turkey out of the freezer and figure out where I'm going to defrost it! We picked up 3 boxes of frozen meat for the dogs yesterday and stuck it into the freezer in the garage… tomorrow we'll transfer what's left in the small chest freezer downstairs out to the garage to consolidate for the winter. The laundry needs to be done as well as some tidying to get ready for the house cleaner tomorrow.

It's now past 8pm, supper is done and the dish washer is running. I made our 'traditional' solstice meatball & cabbage supper which is loosely based on a traditional Scandinavian meal. I didn't start cooking until past 5… 1 3/4 hours later… For the cabbage I sauteed garlic & chili peppers then tossed in chopped cabbage, half a red pepper, and a handful of cherry tomatoes. When it was all tender, I removed it from the heat and added about ¼ cup of grated parm. I made the meatballs from scratch from an old favourite recipe that I haven't made for a few years - yes, I actually cooked meat! It was all super time consuming but I have leftovers in the freezer 😀 

Awesome!

"perfectly crunchy roasted chickpeas"

"winter solstice - the sun is coming back!"

"an old favourite recipe"

"dogs sleeping quietly"