i thank these hands

i used to curse them...
the stubby fingers, deeply lined palms, thick knuckles
i thought they were ugly
these hands
silly with rings adorning the fat fingers
unfeminine, boyish, child-like, tiny

and then
i fell in love with my hands
small but strong
forceful and gentle
feeling

i can hover over skin and fascia and muscles and feel them
even before i move deeper
my little investigator hands that feel heat and energy and break adhesions and provide relief and facilitate healing
i realized - realize every day - with gratitude
how blessed i am to have these small, strong, stubby hands
where energy and strength travel over a short distance in the briefest amount of time
and feel
feel it all
and i am amazed, blessed, thankful
these hands i thought ugly
are unexpected gifts

useful
communicate, clean, move

loving
touch, embrace

healing

strong
and i thank my hands
after every treatment i draw them together and feel their sympathetic and wise energy
and i am grateful that they provide
they know
have purpose
i thank them for guiding me
for making good intentions real
facilitating health
restoring
blessed

and now
my chubby little hands are beautiful
their range humbles me
i am thankful
and i remember to thank them
for providing me with my life's work
two small strong stubby hands at a time

leftovers casserole - chicken

it was a bit of a bbq kind of week and as often occurs, we bbq more than we can physically eat.
ah leftovers
once bbq-ed chicken just isn't the same re-heated which means time for a re-invent (a lot of hyphens going on around here)

my kitchen is often not supplied with all the ideal ingredients to make a gourmet remake of leftovers. so this is another make-do-with-what's-in-stock...


2 leftover cooked chicken breasts pulled into small pieces
2 sweet potatoes sliced
1 can tomato soup (condensed)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp mexican chili spice
1 medium sized cooking onion chopped
1/2 packet taco mix
cheese if you please on top (i just added a bit at the end, after cooking)

- i spray with cooking spray then layer

- mixed the soup, garlic, mex spice, and taco mix together then added on top of the sweet potato, onion, chicken

- have a nice 350 oven for a slow bake around 40min

the boys both ate this. so did dh and me. pretty simple flavours but good simple flavours - and moister than a reheated chicken breast would have been

from instant to pho

i took an unexpected break from the blog
back with one less job (i quit), and no additional free time (upped the hours in the work i LOVE)

so...on those days when i have no time to conjure up a feast for myself, i try to improve something in an instant.

in the case of instant soups, i buy them in chinatown. i buy rice noodle versions, and a bit of chili paste, and whatever leftover meat to make it into a pho-style soup (i try to have bean sprouts on hand, but didn't this time.

so for this version, i had a chicken/rice noodle instant soup, added 1/2tsp of red chili paste and 1/2 leftover chicken breast from the bbq, sliced thinly. prepped the soup (boiled water...tough, eh?!), added chicken slices and done

tasty, easy and pho-like