{Insightful Sunday} Learning to let go.

Inspired by my bestest, Charlotte, doing Motivational March, over on her wonderful blog, The Tea Drinking English Rose, I have decided to start Insightful Sundays!

Although I am entirely out of the working loop, what with having resigned last May & essentially living as a vagabond ever since, I can't say that I get the gloom wash over me on a Sunday evening, in preparation for the Monday morning return to work.  However, I know that for a large percentage of people, this is the case & so, rather than end the week on a glum note, I wish to end on something positive & insightful.

Through a combination of words & inspiration from my Pinterest boards, I shall attempt to lift your spirits, so that you may start your working week on a happier, more enlightened note!  Enjoy!

At the beginning of the week, I had the great honour of guest posting on Charlotte's blog.  The post was to coincide with her Motivational March & offer a positive message, about how we can choose to overcome our adversities to triumph & fulfil our dreams.  At least, that was what I was attempting to convey.

Mère brought me up believing that you can't plan life, because ultimately, things will simply unravel as they will, whether you try to control them or not.  For someone who likes to be in control, such as myself, I found this quite exasperating.  However, over the years, I've learnt that she's actually quite right (not that I'm thrilled to admit it).

If I think of all the times I've tried to force a situation & it's fallen spectacularly apart, or how I've clung so fiercely to routines & plans, only for boulders to come rolling in & everything to crumble around me.  The thing is, when you actually start to let go & just accept these changes, you start to see that everything kind of happens for a reason & ultimately, things tend to work out far better than you originally planned.  Take my life right now as a prime example!

Whilst I still struggle to entirely 'free flow', I do at least relax a little more about things now.  When something seemingly negative arises, I take a step back, accept that it's most likely occurred for a reason & try to find something positive in it.  If nothing else, it stops me screwing up into a ball of negativity & most of the time, things generally do turn out for the better.

Plus, if I have learnt nothing else in this life, it's that shit happens (I now have this tattooed on me to remind me of this fact).  You've just got to keep positive!  I know it's not always easy, but sometimes the rockiest roads take us to the best destinations.

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{RECIPE} The Ultimate Vegan Scones

I don't think there's anything more quintessentially British, than the great scone.  For me, they remind me of childhood days out with mère, to the little village of Alfriston, where we would feed the ducks, down by the lake & go for a cream tea afterwards.

Now, ideally, any decent scone should be buttery, a little bit crumbly & adorned with an oversized dollop of clotted cream & strawberry jam.  However, returning to my vegan ways, this setup isn't quite feasible & so, I have had to do some experimenting & have come up with...

The Ultimate Vegan Scones

Ingredients

225g self-raising flour

1/4 teaspoon of salt

50g vegetable margarine

25g golden caster sugar

125ml soya yoghurt

4 tablespoons of milk (rice, soya, or whatever you prefer)

You can also throw in some currants, for a fruity version.

 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7/fan 200C.

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl & add in the salt.

Pop in the margarine & rub it into the flour, until it becomes a crumb like consistency.

Now add in the sugar.

If you fancy a fruity version, now's the time to throw in any currents.

Make a well in the middle & pour in the yoghurt & the milk.

 Time to get your hands dirty!

Work the mixture, until it starts to form a sticky dough.  Be careful not to overwork!

Knead the dough 3-4 times on a lightly floured surface, working out the cracks.

Roll out the dough, until it's about 2cm thick.

Then, using a 5.5cm round fluted cutter, cut out the scones.

You should get about twelve out of this amount of mixture.

Pop them on a sheet of baking parchment on a baking tray, in the middle of the oven & bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.

Then devour them with margarine & lashings of jam.

Parfait!

I'd quite like to try making them with coconut butter, instead of margarine, for a healthier, slightly less processed version

How do you like your scones?

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Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.

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So, I survived my first ever BlaBlaCar experience!  After an eight hour car ride, with four French men, all of whom did not speak English, I managed to make it to Limoges, with all my money & dignity in tact.  To think of the times our mothers told us not to talk to strangers & there I was, in a car with four of them, being trusting enough to have a doze in the back seat.  Oh how things change.

My favourite friend Kate & her husband Cheese, came to collect me from Limoges train station, dogs in tow.  I was so happy to see them.  Traveling is a wonderful thing, never let that be denied, but darn is it tiring, especially when you're on your lonesome.  Having the opportunity to just chill for a while & spend some time with friends is something I really appreciate nowadays.

For two whole weeks, that sadly sped right by, we baked our way through Google, watched every new release film we could find online, took daily dog walks through the countryside & snuggled up in front of the log fire, chatting & bursting into tears of laughter, usually over some ridiculous meme, that predominantly seemed to involve cats.

One evening, we decided to attempt to make quinoa vegan meatballs.  Unfortunately, I was in charge of cooking the quinoa & it turns out I lack portion control.  Having a lifetime supply of cooked quinoa on our hands, we took to Googling recipes, in an attempt to use it up.  This resulted in; Quinoa Apple Spice Cake, Quinoa Pancakes & Quinoa Chili, among other things.  Let's just say, I'm now an encyclopaedia of quinoa recipes.

We also took to baking something sweet & delicious everyday & it had to be everyday, because we would make something so yummy, that we would devour it all in one night.  Scones, brownies, chocolate fudge cake...My purist healthy eating regime took a bit of a detour, it has to be said.  I'd gone from cutting out sugar almost completely, to wolfing down numerous cupcakes, smothered in chocolate buttercream icing on the reg!  Damn you sugar & your deliciousness!

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One weekend, Kate & I took a mini break to her friend's house in Angoulême & we all went out in the evening to the local cinema, to watch 12 Years A Slave.  Having not been to the movies since Christmas, it was a really nice treat to go.  Handy that they had it in Version Originale too.  Upon our return, with the weather being cold, wet & miserable, we took to watching copious amounts of films online.  American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, The Wolf of Wall Street & five others.  I do love a movie night!

Everyday, we'd take the dogs out for their stroll around town.  Most days were wet & cold & both the dogs & my Hunter wellingtons tended to come back muddy.  My new pink coat from Zara, took a beating too & is now in dire need of a dry clean.  (Perhaps I was too optimistic in busting out the pastels.)  We did have a couple of relatively warm & sunny days though.  I honestly cannot wait for Spring!  The feeling of warmth on my skin & the sight of bright blue skies!  Oh when will it come!?

All in all, I had a lovely time with my friends & I was genuinely sad to leave them.  I shall deeply miss throwing on my 'stretchy pants' & snuggling up on the sofa, bowl of crisps to hand & watching a movie with Kate & SamIAm the cat, curled up on my lap.  I'll miss chowing down on Cheese's fresh baked bread, toasted in the mornings, with lashings of honey & smothered in margarine with our lunchtime soup, & I'll especially miss the dogs, & their overexcited morning greeting.

Just in case they start to forget me, I left them with Nigel the nectarine tree, who will hopefully do me proud & provide them with plenty of fruit in the summer…in time for my return.

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