Procrastination smack down part deux- Christmas edition

Joyeux Noël, Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad to you and yours! Now, I must express that the original setup was to post on the blog on a fortnightly basis [which still is the plan] but because of my start date last week the next post fell on the 23rd of December. I not only had to hit the iron whilst it's hot for the sake of keeping momentum; I also didn't want to release a Christmas tip laden blog two days before the big day. Not only would that exclude the more organised people who planned in advance and by then would be marvelling at the gifts they'd wrapped in advance and the turkey defrosting in the shed, over a cup of tea looking at their perfectly and proportionately designed tree (envious snarl;) I also didn't want to add to the list for those who will be frantically elbowing others in hot pursuit of brusselsprouts that no one [but grandma] will eat and putting on the last of their decorations to their lopsided tree...my people!!! 

I'm currently stuffing my face with this wonderful and healthy selection of snacks including yoghurt, apples, satsumas and a flap jack as I write to you all. Happy to report that all my gifts are wrapped (in the most askew and barely aesthetically pleasuring way possible with a lot of exposed tape might I add) I'm listening to music and winding down from a busy day of Christmas planning. There is still so much to be done but I had to take some time out and put something out into the blogosphere before Christmas so I hope you enjoy this post!! 

Speaking of food, I have dug deep into my recipe files and got two of my easiest and funnest recipes for you to wow your party guests with and enjoy healthily and organically leading up to Christmas. 

I happen to have bad Gastro-oesophageal reflux and frequent Gastritis attacks and have been on daily dose of Omeprazole for years. This makes stuff like commercial, shop bought mulled wine an enemy to my stomach. As it's very sugary (borderline saccharine) and concentrated it's not even enjoyable enough for me to deal with the consequences afterwards! 

I've been looking in my little book of recipes and I've found a mulled wine recipe which can be made organic, fuss free and you can whatever you want to it. It's been a good substitute for me and friends have loved it over the years.  Last year I got the chance to hold a mini workshop at a ladies' luncheon at my church at taught the ladies how to make the mulled wine and a canapé. [pictured below] this year I thought of share it on the big old interweb for a mild and organic alternative to the usual mulled wine! 

 2 studded [with cloves] oranges halved
 2 cinnamon sticks

 3 star anise
 A glug of honey (more to taste later)
 2 apples star cut and wedges kept on the side
 2 litres of water 
Squeeze of lemon and extra honey to taste afterwards
 
Put all ingredients together and boil for 15 minutes, simmer for 5 and strain. Put all fruits and spices in separate bowl for decorating later. Add fresh lemon juice and honey to your taste and ladle mixture into glasses. Add garnishes upon serving i.e. Cinammon sticks (fresh) or fruit wedges from earlier. 
Or
 Cool down for a few minutes Pour everything into a punch bowl for more theatrical presentation where u can see all the ingredients.

For a bigger crowd add a whole carton of grape or pomegranate juice to serve for the colour and sweetness. Suitable for everyone; kids, pregnant women, drivers and people wanting an organic alternative! 

Canapés: 

Above pictured is an example of how you can wow your party guests with a range of canapés. Instead of a plate I opted for a slate which can now be widely sourced. In the picture we have mushroom galettes (puff party topped with a duxelle of mushrooms. Satay chicken, avocado and prawn sushi and a red pepper and goat's cheese crostini. 

Not to overwhelm  you with a list  of recipes for things in a language foreign to us both I've included a a fun and simple recipe which requires minimal prep and can be served hot or cold.  This recipe has served me well and works well to get the kids involved in the cooking and hosting process and it's something they will enjoy eating. 

Mini posh pizzas! On a toasted baguette  with a simple Italian tomato sauce and can be served with a mild cheddar cheese for kids or goat's cheese for the adults.  Here goes the process! 

Baguette cut on a bias into little disks- drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt n coarse black pepper and put in a preheated oven (gas mark 6- 200C) for 10 minutes

Tomato sauce
1 medium onion
I can of chopped tomatoes 
Bunch of fresh basil + more to garnish
3 cloves of garlic 
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt+ pepper


Fine dice+ sweat onions in olive oil with the garlic crushed until translucent. Add tomatoes and half the basil and simmer on a low heat till it reduces to half and season with salt n pepper. And stir in the rest of the basil.





Assembling - spoon a teaspoon on to bread disks and spinkle grated cheese (cheddar cheese for kids and richer goats cheese for adults) place under grill for a minute to melt cheese and serve! 

So to the newly empowered hosting novice or the enlightened hostess with the mostess looking to cut corners enjoy Christmas! I hope these recipes will be of use to your modern day Gatsby-esque festivities!!! 

So I went ahead and did my hair for Christmas!! Well I needed to do it anyway! It's been a rough year on my body and I've been on every drug from painkillers to anaesthetic and have been under a lot of stress with my health playing up and so many changes. This left my hair in distress! I would run my fingers through my hair and leave with a chunk of hair my braids were falling out from the root and my scalp was tender and painful. I felt, for lack of a better word, UNPRETTY and lost a lot of hair especially in the middle and edges of my hair. However and amazing cousin who is cosmetology school and already an extraordinary hair dresser came to the rescue and fixed my hair!! It was a very long process but the feeling I had after was priceless and I'm so grateful for my confidence being restored evey day through the internal work I'm doing on a daily basis and the external makeover we did! 

I already had some good hair lying about the house, any weave wearing sister knows the difference between good and not so good hair!! 

Before my cousin came on board to sew the weave in for me I went about treating the hair (Remy virgin hair) which has been used before. 

I mixed 1tbsp conditioner, 1tbsp castor oil, 1tsp coconut oil with some warm

Water and put in the microwave (in a disposable Tupperware tub) for 1min 30secs. 

Dried it in the airing cupboard overnight, reversed the bundles and dried for another couple of hours. 

I then straightened it per track and rebundled it (left straight). The process wasn't over! 

We (she did all the work really) then bleached it using Clairol naturally blond hair lightener. I wanted a new and different look. I thought I'd never gone blonde or red before so either way the hair processes it'll be a welcomed change to the status quo of my hair! 

 After a full sew in with a middle part this was the result!!! 

It would have been nice to go all the way blonde because blondes do have more fun but at the hour mark, this is as much processing as my minuscule peroxide level box lightener could offer. Not to worry my edges are grateful!!! I feel like a new woman and along with all the love and prayers, this has been my strongest week and the amount of medication I'm taking is dwindling by the day! It's a great feeling feeling your miracle slowly but surely come into fruition. This trace is proving no to be for the swift and every day I get to appreciate the progress I'm making in my mind, body, soul and spirit. It's all the more rewarding!! I want to encourage anyone else going through health issues and feeling frustrated that you aren't recovering as quickly as you would want to recover. There will be a day when you will be completely healthy, healed and whole but that day you will wish you had all this time on your hands again. Bittersweet but true, I say this to encourage you to use these times to do something your future self will thank you for. Be it keeping your spirits up and not letting yourself hit yaw pits of depression. Or writing down goals and dreams, doing any possible planning so that you stay ready and when your time comes to do what you are longing to do now, you will be ready this is what this blog is to me, a way to have some control of my life and to be able to express myself with my words when my body had and has been failing me. I hope and pray you also find an outlet to make you feel useful, purposeful and alive which will allow you to dream again. As you should feel anyway because you may hold the answer to someone's issue one day with the very thing that lies within you as inspiration. Don't count yourself out because of a temporary set back. I don't know who I'm encouraging but I just felt this strongly on my heart as I encouraged myself and a friend going through something similar, we will be just fine and so will you!!  

Christmas can drive you to drinking at the best of times with the over commercialisation of the whole holiday. All the colours screaming for your attention, the nostgic music from original iconic centuries old versions to pop music misinterpretations hauntingly blasting out of every speaker. Not to mention the weather which is enough to make an Eskimo feel at home with the added bonus of unpredictable bursts of rain, an enemy to every woman's hair, it can be tough. This is not at all including the vast array of errands and to do lists long enough to clothe Santa Clause himself! I know I've had the least active Christmas prep buying all my gifts online and being a shadowing member of the cooking crew as I physically cannot take over the kitchen and make a feast as I've done in years past. 

It's been all about the music this year. Away from the Christmas carols I'm made to listen to by mother blasting out old Bing Crosby and Sinatra CDs I've been up to some music listening myself. 

Here's my top 5 tracks I've listened to most this Christmas period: 

Jhene Aiko- Bed Peace

Anita Wilson- More of you

Pharell Williams- Happy 

Tye Tribett- He turned it 

Thank you- Busta Rhymes ft Qtip

I haven't heard much from the readers, please feel free to leave a comment with your top 5 music this Christmas I would love to hear from you!!!

Right! That's all I had on my heart to share with you before Christmas. I will be going back to the original format of posting every other week and posting any random and riveting tidbits in between blogs if anything happens or I do anything interesting that's worth noting! 

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas :)

Lots of love

Kymmiisha

Xo