Body: Feet and the wonders of Olive and Jasmine essential oil

Feet

A bowl of warm water, Olive oil, Jasmine oil
and tired well worn feet :)

There is so little that can be said to do them justice.

I'm grateful to have them carry me, balance me, move me.

I like their shape but never really look. And when I do - look - like this morning, I feel bad for them, I owe them a treat.

There's nothing in the bathroom that looks like foot-anything so the kitchen it is.

I find:

Olive oil and a tiny bottle of Jasmine essential oil.


Olive Oil is perfect for feet because it is a nourishes the skin and has anti-inflammatory properties as well as anti microbial benefits. Meaning that if my feet have any problems like: dry or hardened skin, or open blisters it will soften, feed and heal them.

Jasmine Essential oil I choose because it is a cicatrisant, in other words it makes scars and stretch-marks while also being an anti-sceptic and especially good for dry and flakey skin. Another reason I'm attracted to it is because it also is an emmenagogue which means it can help with period regulation, onset of menopause and painful periods.

I mix a good slosh of Olive oil into water that is not too hot but nice and warm and add some five drops of the Jasmine essential oil. I sit with my feet in the warm water, smelling the Southern hemisphere, warm...

... ... ...

After their Olive and Jasmine essential oil bath, smiling,
smooth and clean 

When the water has cooled I clean my nails and cut them. The warm water has made the nails and cuticles soft and the pores are open.

I don't dry my feet but rather massage the oil into the always hungry feet and lower legs while still damp.

I have to say it was so easy, cost me nothing and felt great!

Oh No! And so we come to a new beginning.

whatever possessed me but all of it is deleted... ...a moment of madness... ...

All the thoughts on what a Recession Kitchen is, about how my grandmothers did it. Women who looked after families in times when society didn't look after those who had little. And they did it... ...they made their budgets no matter how little and their ingredients no matter how limited work for them... ...they had to...but maybe it needed a different approach.... ...what's done is done so here we go, again... ...

There was a book I borrowed once written by a mother in the '80's recession. With a budget of next to nothing she fed her family amazing meals. She based all that loving and caring around the baking of her loafs of bread. The recipes were simple but required the magical ingredients time and focus.
Her focus was on keeping her family fit and healthy. The book inspired me to look at cooking and shopping for food differently. Budgets are strange things...and seasons give us different ingredients.

And the further I went the more it became about what was available rather than what I felt like eating. The Recession Kitchen is now exactly that. How tasty can I make whatever it is that we have to cook with? A little like in the Ready Steady Cook programs presented by Ainsley Harriott...a limited bag of goodies, not what I was dreaming of but what is available.

As it happens eating what is available (in season) is way better for you then eating processed foods.

So yes, it is sad that the old posts are gone...have been eaten by the big bad memory eradicator but maybe it is time to give a new start to a much loved, seen in a different light many times, topic. And hopefully I'll find other cooks and books, blogs and sites that deal with cooking with what we have rather then with what we want even though the recession is coming to an end.

Recession cooking not from scarcity but from abundance.

Wish me luck.