Meatless Monday {2020

So here we are: week 31 of Meatless Monday 2020… The beginning of a new month of #newnormal and the week we went on our summer holiday to stay in my husbands Aunty & Uncle’s chalet on the Norfolk coast… feeling so blessed for the opportunity it was a lovely lovely weekend away 🙂

Here’s what we wore:

Me: Tops: Jigsaw (thrifted) and vest: M&S, Skirt: M&S (thrifted) Sandals: Clarks

Boys: Leggings: New on eBay, Wellies: Mothercare, T-Shirts: Various sources/gifted/thrifted

What’s in my ears:

I’ve wanted to listen to this book (Where’s my Happy Ending?)📙🎧 for a while, since listening to @mother_pukka & @papa_pukka 1st book in fact. I think their take on life and flexible working and parenting and modern realistic relationships is both fascinating and relevant. This book they wrote separately until chapter 10 apparently when they decided they would read 📖 what each other had written and researched and carry on from there, I’m really interested to see how it unfolds. I’m finding it really real, true, and insightful so far 🙂

Here’s my week in 4:

I’m dedicating our whole week in 4 to our holiday in Norfolk this week, as it was too wonderful not to share with you

Mission of a journey with a happy ending: It was an absolute mission to get there on Friday afternoon; took 5 hours from Bedfordshire to Norfolk and should have taken half that, so lesson learnt, I think we’d go down on a Thursday evening next time, and then when we got there and to the beach it took forever to queue up for fish and chips, but all of it was so worth it! Fresher than fresh fish and chips on the beach and a stunningly beautiful sunset soon after, really was the perfect ending to the beginning of our holiday 🙂
Ask the locals: One advance of being stuck for ages in fish and chip queue that first night was I got talking to the locals about where to go the next day, this is always a good shout, if you get the opportunity as no-one knows any area better than someone who lives and works there, I’ve found that with anywhere I have been in the world in fact. This one particular local recommended we went to Happisburgh, Norfolk, and it (though the car park was a bit of a nightmare on Saturday, the locals there said it never usually is) was stunning! The beach was just beautiful and the sand was so soft and the sea clean and pretty warm by British standard, so again somewhere which I look forward to going back to again and again!
Beach is another one of my happy places: This leads on from my last point, but just to say that once we got there and the boys got changed and we were running in and out of the waves it just hit me how much of a happy place I was in and how lucky I was to be able to be somewhere so stunning and the kids be so happy! It’s just such a magical thing when you get that feeling in any specific location, you just feel like you are exactly where you are meant to be and where speaks to your soul – just magic!
Sand sand everywhere!: We did literally get sand everywhere but I just revelled in their childhood joy and innocence, it was just so beautiful and I just love that they’re now of an age where they will really remember this weekend for years to come. 🙂

Video(s) of the week:

Alanis is back <3 with this stunning new song to her children – it resonated so much with me I had to share it with you <3

The first time I heard it was on on Jimmy Fallon, as shared by Nicky Elidge Brown of Naptime Empires:

Here are the lyrics for your reading pleasure:

[Verse 1]
First thing that you’ll notice thing that you’ll notice is some separation from each other
Yes, it’s a lie, we’ve been believing since time in memorial
There was an apple, there was a snake, there was division
There was a split, there was a conflict in the fabric of life

[Verse 2]
One became two, and then everyone was out for themselves
Everyone was pitted against each other, conflict ruled the realm
All our devotions and temperaments are pulled from different wells
They seem to easily forget we are made of the same cells

[Chorus 1]
To my boy, all that energy, so wild
Love your hues and your blues in equal measure
Your comings and your goings-away
My mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze

[Verse 3]
Second thing you’ll notice thing you’ll notice is that often we think that there’s not enough
It might feel dark, it might feel lonely and you’ll wonder why you’re here
You’ll be overcome with darkness and a sense of hopelessness
But it won’t matter if you keep the core connected to the oneness

[Chorus 2]
To my girl, all your innocence and fire
When you reach out, I am here hell or high water
This nest is never going away
My mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze
[Bridge]
And this cord is unbreakable
This pilot light is there in your pocket
And this bond, beyond unshakeable
Even if we all forgot, all at the same time
If we forget at the same time

[Chorus 3]
To my boy, my precious, gentle warrior
To your sweetness and your strength in exploring
May this bond stay with you through all your days
My mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze

[Chorus 2]
To my girls, all your innocence and fire
When you reach out, I am here hell or high water
This nest is never going away
My mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze

[Outro]
(To my boy) First thing that you’ll notice is that everything is temporary
(To my girl) Next that you might know is that we will always be a family
(To my boy) My mission is to keep the light in your eyes ablaze

What we ate this week…

Breakfast:

I had my first tea and did a Yoga with Bird video, then the boys came down and we had breakfast together which consisted of toasted teacakes and fruit and milk and tea for me.

Lunch:

I was recovering from an upset stomach this past weekend and so my food choices throughout the day were very much based on what I fancied eating (as I believe in the old adages “a bit of what you fancy does you good” and “everything in moderation including moderation” especially when you’ve been poorly). So I had for lunch a packet of squares crisps, 4 slices of marmite toast (this is always my go to after being ill to get back into eating and so I find it very comforting as a result), a cuppa (hubby joined me for this), a flat peach, a handful of sweets and an apple, along with copious cups of water.

Dinner:

By dinner thank goodness I felt a bit better. I did the weekly shop after work, to one of those huge hypermarket style supermarkets, and came away feeling a bit sick of the mass aisles of raw meat, I just saw it and knew it had been produced in a factory and it all just seemed wrong and like we’re all missing the point, and the world is still getting this all wrong. I came home and discussed with my husband which lead to some googling after he didn’t think it was majority factory farmed and we came across the following statistic from 2017:

Whilst it is often claimed that the UK has the highest standards of animal welfare world-wide, around 70% of the UK’s farm animals are kept in factory farms every year. British farmers are under growing pressure to use more intensive methods to produce huge quantities of cheap meat, eggs and dairy.
Compassion in world farming website

The point is, and this is my honest belief, it makes a difference for everyone to try and make a difference to this figure, and it doesn’t mean that we all have to go vegan, it means that we have to start thinking and considering what we consume and if we are ok with our choices.

I, for example, do Meatless Monday once a week, but try to do several meat-free meals a week on top of that – easiest for breakfast and lunch I find, but the occasional dinner too. And when I do buy meat, I do free-range where I can/ local/ welfare if nothing else, I use all that I buy, for example I buy a whole organic, free-range chicken and then I roast or casserole it and then use it for at least one leftover meal and usually boil up the bones for stock after too, which I freeze in jam jars in the freezer for future meals. I feel good about all of this and making these choices with the options which I have. I also know though that I would unlikely be able to kill any animal in order to eat it, but I live in a society where I don’t need to, so I do what I can with what I have to make a difference whilst enjoying the food I enjoy. I hope this resonates with you too and makes you consider what you do and how you do it going forward. I’m going to look into buying the meat we do have from a local butchers going forward, I’m not sure if that will mean by default it is free range, but I am interest to find this out and see if this is a better way to buy our meat going forward.

I came away from this food shop with these thoughts, and several more vegetarian meals, one of which was this delicious Meat-Free Spaghetti Bolognese which was far better that I thought it would be and I would definitely buy again. I also had a packet of frisps after food shopping whilst it cooked, had some Innocent Summer fruits to drink and a cup of rooibos tea and some dark chocolate with orange for afters.