Building new habit(at)s

 Assalamu aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh :) weekend is here!

We woke up to a call that our balcony furniture is on it's way. Alhamdulillah! I'm so happy we can now hang out in the balcony too. Also got 80 liters of soil to fill the pots and the long planter outside the windows. Excited :) I also went to market and made soup for both of us. For hubby with meat, and then rice to go with it, and for myself I made some vegetable soup. Good day.

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I've started thinking to become a part time vegetarian/vegan. Now some of you might think why not to go fully vegan anyways, well, let's just see where this goes. Have to start somewhere. I feel like it's lot of work to cook always two different meals, so probably I'll try to eat vegetarian foods when it's easy. For example if I cook jollof rice (Blogger's dictionary wants to say "jolly" rice hehe), and I bake some chicken for my husband in the oven, it's easy to put few slices of tofu in the oven too. Or if we eat tomato sauce, I can take some of it on the side before I add the meat. And if I eat eggs sometimes, can make an egg sauce and take some of it aside before I add the beef. It doesn't need to be difficult. Also, with this big batch of soup, I can freeze some so it will be an easy dinner for some other days too. 

And maybe I can revive some of my favorite foods. I haven't eat Mexican foods for ages. I was craving home made corn tortillas/flatbreads the other day. And pizza is always good, I might have to buy some cheese for it though. Also I haven't eaten noodles or any sweet and sour dishes for a long time. I don't want to say Chinese food, or also Mexican food, because I just make it how I can so it's not really authentic. But I mean, all these nice comfort foods, which are easy to make (lacto-ovo)vegetarian or vegan.

Oh, but I do like honey. Maybe I won't go vegan just yet. I have to think about this. And the occasional cheese too.. I buy all eggs organic though. Sigh. I know I'm just being vain with this. Part of me wants to do this properly, part of me wants to take it easy. 

But I guess every step is an accomplishment when it's directed to the right direction. I'll start with small steps and see where this will go. At least I have now a kettle of veggie soup and a pack of tofu in the fridge. :)

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You see, I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian when I was young. I think I started when I was 15 years old, and then quit when I was around 21-22 years, if I remember right. It was the time I was getting really ill. I was also very skinny. I mean, in hospital, where I ended up to, they weighted me and my weight was 43 kg and I'm 170 cm tall. So it wasn't healthy at all. And it was a time of trials, there was a lot to cope with, so it was just easier to try to be normal. 

I tried to be normal for some years. Now I have gotten older, and "normal", whatever it means, doesn't matter anymore so much. I don't like to be weird or outcast, how I often feel, but rather I just want to be me, peacefully. So if you see me being strange somewhere, let me be, hehe. Probably I'm just happy.

But I do miss some things from my youth years, and one of the things is confidence. Also the vegetarianism, and being this free spirited hippie and anarchist. There's things I wish to leave in the past, but it can also be a source of inspiration.. both personal past and then past generations and decades, and not only fashion wise. If our memories wouldn't matter, we wouldn't have them. We can always learn, reflect, and revive what we know from experience is good.

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So yes, some things going on now :) building a balcony garden and building new dietary habits. The balcony takes still time, I can't really plant anything yet because next week is gonna be cold. But I have time to plan what I want to grow in sha Allah. 

And our Suttis got some sunshine outside too :) it's still a bit too cold for him to be on the balcony, but today was so warm I wanted him to enjoy it a bit. I will have some of the flower pots on the floor, so he can chill close to the flowers in sha Allah :) I have some cress seeds, and the flowers are safe for Suttis to eat. 

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Now I will make still one cup of tea, and maybe I'll have it on the balcony. Thnx for following my days, and I hope your weekend will be fun!

Later then,

Aisha