Life Musings and This Week’s Yummy Recipe: Hemp Hot Chocolate

I have to admit that I’m posting today’s recipe because I’m imagining that those of you in the Northern hemisphere are probably in need of something lusciously warming and cosy.  From speaking to my family and seeing my Facebook friends’ posts I know that Spring is beginning to awaken in the UK, and I’m remembering the feeling of seeing those new buds and blooms after the dark and cold of winter. What joy!

Spring

The idea of a UK Spring feels quite surreal to me now, as I sit under coconut palms listening to the waves landing on this white sand beach in Honduras, but my memories of spring in England are tinged with fond nostalgia.

Mark and I haven’t experienced any real cold for well over a year a now, since we first entered Mexico in January last year. How strange!! The days have been consistent in terms of daylight hours too; no long dark nights and short days, or super-early morning light and late summer sunsets. I have friends who have moved from the UK to live in the tropics and they miss the seasons – that wave of light, heat and nature’s annual life cycle that marks the passing of time for us Northern and Southern planetary dwellers. It hasn’t hit me yet, and maybe that’s because we are travelling often – always seeing new and beautiful places, or facing new and unexpected challenges… no time and too distracted to notice the lack of seasons.

Home

We talk about coming home sometimes, when the moving feels never-ending or another mechanical issue with the van threatens our sanity. But then we remember to take stock. We are mostly in shorts and shades, regularly swimming in  warm seas, rivers and thermal pools. We work as and when we want to. We get to hang out with each other all the time (and, yes, there are plenty of fights!! And plenty of time for loving and laughing too!). We’re learning Spanish, seeing beautiful landscapes and meeting amazing people.

And I’ve found a new channel for my workaholic tendencies. Apparently, given the choice, ‘binge working’ is my preferred modus operandi  – short sharp bursts of insane productivity, followed by rather long periods of not much work at all 😉  We make the rules, right?

Pinch

I have to remember to pinch myself. This really is my life. For how long, I don’t know, but it’s important for me to remember that life ebbs and flows, like the seasons. We must soak up every precious moment and see and appreciate the good and beautiful in our lives. It appears that mundanity and complacency happen no matter what kind of life you lead; a life of daily newness, like ours, doesn’t change that. The newness becomes mundane too, and the complacency sets in. WAKE UP!! That’s what I want to remind myself every day.  LOOK AROUND!! Be here, in this moment – eyes, ears and mind open. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL WHEN YOU LOOK IT STRAIGHT IN THE EYE!!

And to you, my dear friend, enjoy the hot chocolate!

This Week’s Yummy Recipe: Hemp Hot Chocolate

I love the combination of earthy hemp seeds, rich sesame and cocoa in this recipe. If you don’t want to do the straining thing with the milk, use tahini (raw if you have it) instead of the sesame seeds and hulled hemp instead of the whole hemp seeds, then combine them with all the rest of the ingredients in one blitz in the blender.

¼ cup of whole hemp seeds
½ cup of sesame seeds
250 ml/1 cup of cold water

Blend your seeds and water. Strain through a muslin or nut milk bag.

½ teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 small pinch of mineral salt
1 tablespoon of raw cacao powder
1 tablespoon of honey/raw agave syrup (optional)

Blend your seed milk with the rest of the ingredients. Pour into a heated mug and top up with boiling water.

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