TAG! You’re it!

About a month ago I got in my car and, looking out the front window, saw something pinned under my windscreen wiper. I got out and found a pack of ten blank occasion cards with butterflies on them, along with this card…

On the front it says: Smile! You've just been tagged! Experiments in Anonymous Kindness is the name of the game and now... YOU'RE IT!

I did smile! I love random acts of kindness and I love butterflies :)

So, I had just been tagged in a game of happiness spreading ‘it’ - FUN!

On the back of the card were the words “Someone reached out to you with an anonymous act of kindness. Now it’s your chance to do the same. Do something nice for someone, leave this card behind and keep the spirit going!” It also had the web address www.kindspring.org and the Gandi quote ‘The fragrance always remains on the hand that gives the rose’.

Visiting the website, I found out that Kind Spring is a project from an organisation called 'Service Space'. Service Space is a volunteer organisation that believes in the inherent generosity of people and creates an online network where kind hearted folk can connect, supporting each other in their happiness spreading endeavours. Their site says “through our small, collective acts, we hope to transform ourselves and the world”. What a nice concept that is and true to one of my favourite quotes: ‘No act of kindness, however small is ever wasted’.

The project has over 43,000 members worldwide and has lots of lovely stories on their site from people sharing their adventures in kindness and smile spreading. You can read them by clicking here.

Nothing like a few stories of kindness to help you see the good that exists in the world!
I think it is vitally important to be aware of bad things that are happening and not live in your own bubble, but if you only hear the bad it’s easy to get dragged down. Immersing ourselves in some of the good that is happening in the world can give us hope and confidence that our actions really can make a difference and that, even though we are only one person, we can have a positive effect.

 These little stories of kindness won't make it onto the news, but they do make a difference, not only to the people directly involved but to those who read them. Go on, try it now! Reading these Kind Spring stories, seeing these simple acts of kindness and the effect they have is beautifully heart-warming. It brings you optimism and a sense of unity with other kind hearted people. Likewise, watching a video this week of people saving animals from various dire situations they had found themselves in brought a huge smile to my face and a tear or two to my eye recently!

So next time you’re losing faith in what is happening, find an uplifting video or article account about a gentle soul doing something good. It will make you smile!

Right, now it’s my turn to tag someone to spread some kindness and smiles…


TAG! YOU’RE IT!


Go make someone smile! :)

Happy veg box day to me

Recently I watched a documentary called Food Inc. This hard hitting reality check of a movie is about how the demand for low cost food has a high cost for people, animals and the planet. It was so crammed full of information that it warrants a re-watch, notebook in hand, to do it justice and it deserves its own post. Here's the trailer.

To give you an idea if you haven't seen it, here's some thought provoking lines from the end of the film. These simple, powerful words about how our actions can change the way things are really inspired me.

Here are the lines that stuck with me:

You can vote to change this system three times a day.
Buy from companies that treat workers, animals and the environment with respect.
When you go to the supermarket, choose foods that are in season.
Buy foods that are organic.
Know what's in your food.
Read labels.
Know what you buy.
The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to the supermarket.
Buy foods that are grown locally.
Shop at farmer's markets. 
Plant a garden (even a small one)

You can change the world with every bite.

It's true! Also, my ever optimistic self also appreciates these kind of 'can-do' comments about people power.

So, with that mantra resounding in my head, I decided to get a locally sourced organic veg box this week. On twitter (I'm @hazeloftheshire) I was following Goldhill Organic Farm (@GoldhillOrganic) and knowing them to be locally based providers I gave them a call and put in my order.

Yesterday: IT ARRIVED.

Here's what I got and what I'm probably going to do with them:

Spring onions (stir fry)
Lettuce (salad)
Chard (stir fry)
Basil (salad/pasta)
Tomatoes (salad/pasta)
Potatoes (boil 'em? mash 'em? put 'em in a stew perhaps?)
Runner beans (...still thinking)
Green chillies (stir fry)
Garlic (so many things - including warding off vampires of course)
Celery (celery and cashew nut soup - sounds weird, tastes amazing)

It's like having a vegetable based birthday! I'm looking forward to cooking all these delish veggies. I've already had some tomatoes and they tasted amazing. In fact, I am so in love with this veg box malarkey it feels like a good time to throw out my best (only) vegetable based chat up line.

Here it is:

If you were a vegetable, you'd be a cutecumber.

Sorry...I'll get my coat...

Any outlandish ideas for the runner beans? Let me know!

The best banana bread recipe (vegan)

I have never liked bananas.
In my baby book, detailing the beginnings of my life, my mum wrote the following:

My favourite food: Most food
Foods that I do not like: Bananas

Both comments remain true to this day. If for some reason my life depended on eating a banana I could attempt a really under ripe, green tinted bitter tasting specimen, but the minute they get a speck of browning? Forget it. I buy bananas with the best will in the world, intending to convince myself of their vitamin filled energy packed goodness. Every time, without fail, they end up just sitting there.

So, what to do with them?

This recipe has been a blessing and a curse. It provided me with the most delicious use for these overripe fruits that would otherwise cause my stomach to churn, but the recipe is so good I now deliberately let the bananas go to ruin and end up eating loads of cake.
Ok, I lied. Having to eat lots of cake would probably be my favourite curse ever.

The good news is, you can have your cake and eat it and be gentle too. This yummy recipe is vegan. I'm vegetarian, but trying to learn about and enforce limitation on my animal product use and consumption all the time. This has been an important part of my gentle living quest so far and my diet is predominantly vegan now.

I am under no illusions about the healthiness of this cake though - it's a squidgy, moist, sweet, indulgent banana based treat that would have King Louie jumping for joy.

See, told you!

Here's the recipe. It's originally from the BBC Good Food website and their member who submitted the recipe has my eternal cake loving thanks. It's so beautifully simple to make and was a real hit at a friend's birthday tea party recently. If you are vegan, it's a good one for showing just how great cakes can be without dairy and eggs.

Banana Bread recipe (vegan)

Ingredients:

• 225g Plain flour (if you use self-raising flour, reduce this to 2 heaped tsp)
• 3 heaped tsp Baking powder - don't heap if you loaf tin is small...as I found out
• 100g Brown sugar
• 3 tsp Cinnamon (or Mixed spice)
• 3 large very ripe bananas, mashed
• 75g Vegetable or Sunflower oil (weight)
• 50g Dried fruit or nuts (optional) - I usually add dairy free chocolate drops
  
  You could also add 3 tablespoons of peanut butter...just saying.

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celcius.
   
2. Mash the peeled bananas with a fork. Mix well with oil and sugar.
3. Add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon, and combine well.
4. Add any additional ingredients.
   Now's your chance! Add chocolate and peanut butter, quick!
5. Baked in a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin for 20 minutes, before checking.
   Cover with foil, if the loaf cake is browning.
   Bake for another 40 minutes (approximately).
6. Allow to cool a little before slicing. It's delicious freshly baked but even yummier when it goes gooey the next day! She is soooo right.
   
   
   There you have it! Here's some pics of the one I made yesterday...

Hope you enjoy making and eating it. In the interests of kindness to your fellow humans, you could even share some with family, friends, colleagues, strangers - anyone! Remember: everybody loves cake.

Please let me know how it goes if you do! :)

In the infamous words of Gandalf

I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure.
Preferably more than one person. In fact, the more the merrier.

Admittedly, this isn't a sword wielding dragon slaying adventure: I can't promise you hoarded gold, but I do hope you find some little precious things of interest along the way.

Some time ago I realised that I was disconnected from what I thought and said in life and what I actually did. I felt I wasn't living as gently as I wanted to.

With this in mind, I'm trying to reach a point of greater awareness about things, especially the consequences of our actions. For the sake of other people, all animals and species (not just the super cute ones) and the environment, I want to do my bit.

This is not a revolutionary idea; I know loads of people care worldwide and are living gently. You may be one of them - high five to you! I'm here to share my little personal efforts in trying to do better as I learn more about myself and the world I live in with all of you fellows.

So, if matters like effective charitable giving, the best recipe for vegan banana loaf and campaigning for what you believe in are your thing, I hope you'll join me. You can also expect attempts at witty observational comedy thrown in for good measure.

Let's do this!

Way to go Bilbo