Filling your time with food and wine

I think most of us have had to adjust to the amount of TIME that this new situation has granted us. We're used to living our lives at 100mph. Running from work, to socials, to hobbies, to family gatherings, and everywhere in between. We need holidays after our holidays because we jam pack them so full of activity and socialising. We never really have time to breathe. But now, when faced with that time, what are we doing with it?

This is absolutely not a plea to 'maximise your calendar' and 'do all the things you never had time to do before', although obviously those are great aims. If you find yourself full of the fire to write that novel you had always kept on the back burner, then by all means pick up your pen and scrawl away my friend! Or if you suddenly realise your lifelong dream of working your way through the entirety of a cookbook...firstly, good luck getting flour, and secondly, good on you! But I also want to make the plea for time as it stands. Time for time's sake. An Ode to Time.

Now I for one am hugely hypocritical here. I like to plan and map every minute of my day - especially my weekends that have taken on a rather dreamlike quality. I wander through Saturdays in a haze of empty activity. But it's also important to ensure we have time to do nothing very much at all. Time to sit in the garden - if we are lucky enough to have one. Time to go through old photos (digitally or physically) and laugh at the way we used to look or that hairdo we used to think was cool. Time to just be. But also - and perhaps more importantly - time to eat and drink.

Food is something that once again is often forced into its little corner of the day. Partitioned into whatever time we can have to grab something on the commute, wold down between meetings or rustle up when we're home late, exhausted, and a little tipsy. But now, we have a glorious opportunity to relish in...well, in relish. And in sauces, soups and souffles! Okay, our ingredients may be somewhat defined by the gaps on our supermarket shelves, but doesn't that just present itself as an opportunity for experimentation? No one knew that cannelini beans and peanut butter were meant to go together...and perhaps they are not (do not try this at home!), but what I am saying is, if you're a foodie - like me - then use this time to luxuriate in that food. Bathe in that babaganoush (not literally, please) and smother yourself in spiced lentils. Clear out that store cupboard and get creative.

And - the other key piece of advice that goes hand in hand with this...always have a bottle of wine at the ready. I mean, I'm not advocating drinking every night. I for one try to drink at the weekends (when the desire to fill my time with food and wine is that much more pressing). But basically, wine is good. Not only in and of itself, but if your experiments prove a little less Heston Blumenthal and a little more dog's dinner, then at least you can wash your mouth out with the holiest of holy spirits. The timing of this blog post could also not be more apt, as my Majestic Wine contact (yes, I have a contact now) just called to announce the imminent arrival of our new case of wine this coming Monday. I fear I am dragging my housemates down with me...

So that's my advice for how to get through this - food and booze. I mean, obviously take this with a very large pinch of salt (again, my terrible culinary advice takes over...). What I really want is for people to enjoy the little things. For me, that's cooking something tasty, and drinking something equally tasty alongside it. But for you, that might be something completely different. It might be styling your hair in that way that takes like 2 hours, but now you HAVE those 2 hours you should totally do it! Or experimenting with your new camera. Or getting through that box set that has been staring at you since Christmas. Or even snapping photos of your dog in a variety of ridiculous headgear (yes - thank you Mum!). Whatever it may be, the little thing that gives you a little ounce of joy. Do it. Do it every day, every other day, once a week or once a month. Whenever the inclination takes you. And never feel guilty about doing nothing. Or something. We just have to go where our heart leads us in these obscure and eccentric times. So cheers to us, to you, to me, and to finding joy in the every day. x

p.s. I hold no responsibility if you don't fit into your summer wardrobe after following my generally fairly dreadful advice. But also, you should love yourself whether you fit into that bikini or not. Your body is a temple, and it deserves a plethora of exquisite offerings every single day.

p.p.s. please keep watching my comedy sketches too (not that I want to sound desperate)...as that's another little thing that keeps me happy. And another little way in which I'm dragging my housemates down with me.