I had a wonderful few days in Altea, Spain, at the beginning of this month, meeting up with a dear friend and exploring the town.
Just along the coast from Benidorm, Altea has a beautiful old town with the church of La Mare de Déu del Consol at it’s centre, perched on the top of the hill overlooking the bay.
La Mare de Déu del Consol (Our Lady of Solace) church, with it’s sky blue domes in the centre of the old town, Altea
The labyrinthine, cobbled streets with white washed houses and small squares are home to some beautiful Mediterranean plants, including olive and orange trees, climbing jasmine, hibiscus and bougainvillea.
Lots of cobbled steps lead to this colourful mural
Olive grove
Bougainvillea and mural goals!
Orange tree at the heart of a small square
I think the locals must have thought me strange as I was more interested in taking photos of the plants than I was in the usual tourist hot spots!
Hibiscus
Cypress trees
Beautiful jasmine arch
And of course, I couldn’t resist a paddle in the sea! It had been cold, wet and windy the first few days and by the last day, when most of these photos were taken, it was beginning to brighten up. The sea actually felt quite warm (compared to what I’m used to, which is Cornish sea temperatures🥶) and maybe if I’d had another day or two there I’d have swum, but I was content just to get my feet wet ☺️.
The nights are drawing in, the mornings are getting darker and the car windscreen needs clearing before it’s safe to drive. All these things make me think about it being cold outside but cosy inside, and one of my favourite dishes to have for breakfast to get me warmed up in the morning is porridge.
Image courtesy of Black Velvet Styling
This recipe happens to be vegan, not that I am vegan (or even vegetarian) but I’m not a massive fan of milk (love cream, cheese and butter though!). You wouldn’t know it’s dairy-free because to me it tastes like lemon cheesecake, I think it’s the oats thickening as they cook that gives it a creamy consistency. It also uses two of my favourite seasonal ingredients – apple and cinnamon.
I hope you enjoy it, let me know how you get on and what your favourite way of eating porridge is.
Lemon Cheesecake* Porridge
Makes 2 generous bowls
1 cup oats
2 cups water
Juice of 1 lemon
1 apple, cored & grated
1 tbsp maple syrup
Ground cinnamon, to serve
Soak oats, water and lemon juice in saucepan overnight – optional but optimal.
Add the grated apple and maple syrup to the pan.
Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until bubbling, thick and creamy.
Divide between two bowls and serve with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.
*As mentioned above, this recipe is dairy-free, there’s no cheese in it, it just tastes like lemon cheesecake to me.
My first guest blog from my dear friend Barbara Goodall. She’s an aromatherapist, gardener and foodie so I couldn’t think of anyone better to write about growing and eating your own lavender. Head on over to http://www.timeout-for-you.co.uk/ for more about what she does.
Lavenders thrive in full sun and well drained soil… Mine loved the conditions this summer!!
Grow your own…
Two species of lavender are growing in my garden, giving a long flowering period for my pleasure as well as providing nectar for many butterflies, bees and other insects.
True Lavenders such as Lavandula angustifolia ‘’Hidcote’ (height c. 30cm x spread c. 30cm) provide a high quality essential oil. This compact plant has blue/green narrow leaves and intense, dark blue flower spikes from late spring to early summer. I also love the effect and simplicity of the vertical stems before the flowers open!
Hybrids such as Lavandula x intermedia ‘Grosso’ (Ht 90cm x sp 90cm) are slightly less hardy, have long, loose spikes and flowers a month later..
By cutting back my lavenders after flowering, just above the woody stems, I leave some green tips that will have at least a month’s growth to protect the plant from the frost. In the spring, after the frosts I give them a wee trim back to keep them neat and compact.
Lavender Field in Wiltshire
In Cooking…
Adding fresh lavender to my shortbread and scone recipes is a gentle way to enjoy the therapeutic effects of the essential oil and is a reminder of warm sunny days…
I grind a few chopped lavender flowers (maybe half a teaspoon), in a pestle and mortar for a floral taste and smell, or finely chop the leaves for a more balsamic earthy flavour. See below for the recipe.
So many therapeutic qualities to choose from…
Julia Lawless gives some wonderful descriptions in her book Lavender Oil, Nature’s Soothing Remedy.
An excellent essential oil for skin care, a valuable soothing remedy and a good analgesic, its regulating effect on the nervous system is unique.
Its nature is balancing and harmonising and is neither yin nor yang in the extreme and tends to increase the overall effectiveness of a remedy when used in combination with it.
Lavender is a supreme adaptogen. It can have a restorative effect in cases of listlessness or weakness, yet has a calming effect on those prone to hyperactivity or agitation.
Lavender Shortbread recipe
190C/Gas mark 5/6 for 10 to 15 minutes
Makes c.24
Ingredients:
200g butter
100g icing sugar sieved
200g plain flour
100g cornflour
Pinch of salt
½ to 1 tsp finely chopped lavender flowers
Caster sugar for sprinkling
Method:
Chop butter and soften
Beat in icing sugar
Add flour, salt and lavender little by little kneading well to form a smooth dry paste, initially with a flat bladed knife and then with your lightly floured fingers
Turn onto a floured worktop and roll into a sausage shape, say 5cm in diameter
If you are patient, wrap in greaseproof paper and chill in the fridge for an hour
Slice into discs and place onto baking trays and sprinkle with caster sugar
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so depending how golden brown you like your biscuits.
Leave on your baking tray for 5 minutes before you transfer them to a cooling tray
Hello, I’m Bess* from PeaceWellbeing and today I’m going to show you how to do a really simple sinus drainage massage, which can help when you’ve got a cold coming on, when you’re in the middle of a cold, if you’ve got a sinus headache or maybe if your suffering from hay fever.
So we’re just going to start just above the collar bone, just stroking down, little strokes working up the neck. Keep stroking down, until you’re underneath your jaw here, either side of your windpipe, stroking down.
And then go from the corner of your nose, down to your jaw. You can do circles or you can do strokes, whichever feels good for you. You can use one finger, two fingers, different two fingers, whichever feels good.
And then we’re going from the inner corner of the eye, circling here. This is where you’ll start to feel, and probably hear, if there is any congestion in there, it will all start to move about. And what you’ve done is you’ve cleared the way downwards for it all to drain out. Circles from the inner corner of the eyes, to about the corner of your nose, between your nose and your mouth.
And then we’re going to do circles along the eyebrows, starting at the inner corner of the eyebrows. Circling along with the pads of your fingers, to the outer corner of your eyebrows. This is a good one to do especially if you’ve got sinus headache, as it can be quite tender across here. Keep massaging until that tenderness goes.
And that’s it. That’s a really simple sinus drainage massage, to help clear blocked sinus and help with sinus headache as well. Thanks!
[Blooper]
I’m going to show you how to do a very simple signage drainage massage. Signage? Nope!
*My name is Bess, not Beth as it says in the subtitles. If anyone knows how to change that from an iPad please let me know!
This is my first ever volg, can you tell?! I don’t think it’s great, but it’s good enough. If I wanted it to be perfect it wouldn’t get published.
Hand-processing linden blossom wasn’t the only activity we got to be hands on with. We also got to distill our own lavender (which is long gone, but used with care), using Len and Shirley Price’s home-grown lavender and their own still. We packed in the flowering tops, lit the fire beneath and waited with excitement as the steam and oil condensed and separated.
We stayed in a beautiful, rustic old monastery, on the side of a hill with amazing views of the valley below. We ate delicious, local French food outside in the courtyard, soaking up the sun and getting to know our fellow aromatherapy fans.
On a visit to a botanical garden in the hills, we learned about different healing plants, not just the ones we use for aromatherapy. The garden was laid out in a way that made you want to explore it, to see what was hiding around the next corner. It also had beautiful views of the surrounding highlands, and was where I took the photo of the old still at the side of a field in my previous blog post.
Seeing how the oils were processed and packaged was also fascinating. As aromatherapists (and general consumers), we normally buy essential oils in bottles of 10ml, so to see them in 1 litre (and bigger) bottles was amazing. I wonder how long it would take for me to use up 1 litre of peppermint oil?!
Essential oils in bulk
The picture below shows how St John’s Wort base oil is made. The process is called maceration, where the flowers are soaked in a vat of sunflower oil in the sun for a few weeks. The picture doesn’t really do justice to the deep red colour of the oil, which comes from the flowers when they’re bruised. Neither does it do justice to the beautiful French man who gave us the tour of the factory 😉.
St John’s Wort being macerated
The whole week was an amazing, unforgettable experience and has given me wonderful memories. It wouldn’t have been possible without our fabulous guides, Shirley and Len Price and Kate Nellist. I wish I could do it all again!
Seeing how the oils were processed and packaged was also fascinating. As aromatherapists (and general consumers), we normally buy essential oils in bottles of 10ml, so to see them in 1 litre (and bigger) bottles was amazing. I wonder how long it would take for me to use up 1 litre of peppermint oil?!
Peacewellbeing.co.uk 