Hello beautiful souls.
This is Barbara and welcome to An Amazing Night's Sleep.
Thanks for being here for another in the series of Bedtime with Barbara written by June B.
Join me as I explore my culinary expertise as we travel on our journey to sleep.
Let's begin.
So get into your favorite sleeping position,
Making sure you are comfortable.
Close your eyes,
Relax your muscles,
And slowly imagine yourself melting into the bed.
Now let's go to your breathing,
Slowing down the heart rate,
And let's take some nourishing breaths together.
Breath in,
Breath out.
Breath in,
Breath out.
Breath in,
Breath out.
Breath in,
Breath out.
Breath in,
Breath out.
Breath in,
Breath out.
Breath in,
Breath out.
Last time.
Breath in,
Breath out.
Settle in now.
Get comfortable.
Let go of everything that happened today and let's relax together.
Let yourself focus on my voice.
If your mind wanders,
It's okay.
Bring it back to the sound of my voice.
Keep your breathing slow and steady.
Let's go on our journey together.
It is time to have a meal with my family and loved ones,
And I have to plan and prepare it for everyone.
It is my turn to host,
And I have taken on the mantle of diving into all this weird and wonderful dietary encyclopedia that I have to figure out before everyone gets here.
So,
Looking way back,
Once upon a time,
It used to be so easy.
You just put a meat option on the table,
And everyone either ate it or had the veggies only and was happy with that.
Nowadays,
It's become a whole production,
And man,
It is confusing and somewhat challenging.
Firstly,
I have my beautiful husband who is a simple carnivore.
He eats literally everything,
And if I stood still too long and he was hungry,
And if I stood still too long and he was hungry,
Well,
Needless to say,
I don't like my chances in that case.
Then there is my eldest son who prefers white meat,
Which means a whole lot of chicken pretty much,
Or even turkey and some non-fatty pork.
Then there is his partner who is a vegetarian,
Which is great because she eats loads of veggies and some eggs and cheese wouldn't go amiss,
Although no meat,
So quite easy to cater for,
Right?
Now,
I am a lover of veggies,
My favorite being broccoli and asparagus,
Steamed and with a sliver of parmesan cheese and a drizzle of truffle oil.
Ooh,
How tasty.
Then there is my younger son who has celiac disease and cannot tolerate gluten of any kind,
So things have to be very specific for him or he would get really sick.
Every single label at the supermarket has to be thoroughly scrutinized.
Luckily,
All wines are gluten-free because of the way they are made and can be included in his diet,
Which basically means we could drink all night.
Then there is his partner who is a vegan.
Now,
That is a whole new kettle of fish.
Oops,
Oops,
No fish for the vegan.
Oh man,
I'm so confused.
All jokes aside,
Nothing that comes from an animal.
Vegans can't even use honey because it comes from bees.
I used to be vegan for a few years and gave it up because it was so difficult to eat out without getting sick.
Now,
There are so many options in the supermarket,
Which makes it so much easier to get good tasting food and stick to this fairly strict dietary regime.
Then there is my sister who is a pescatarian,
Just like me,
Which means fish and no other meats.
Now,
I love fish and eat most types of fish,
With salmon being my favorite one.
And lastly,
Her daughter who is also vegan,
Although even stricter because she is on a raw vegan diet.
So that means she doesn't eat anything that is cooked,
So pretty much grass.
Grass.
Well,
Actually,
When I researched it,
I saw some raw pasta,
Which is a version of spaghetti bolognese that is made with zucchini noodles.
You spiralize the zucchini and then make the sauce with spiced walnuts and cherry tomatoes.
Then you can top it with cashew parmesan.
It has an amazing texture and is packed with flavor without ever having to turn on your stove.
For some,
That could be a win-win,
Right?
Oh man,
What a challenge it is having to put all these dietary requirements into one meal.
So,
I go to the supermarket and get all my supplies.
I did have to do a bit of supermarket hopping and ended off at Whole Foods for the final bits.
I can guarantee one thing,
I won't be doing this again anytime soon.
Next time,
We all go out to a restaurant and let them have the stress of putting it all together.
Although,
It is so nice to have everyone at home.
So,
Now that I finally have everything on the table and my family are arriving,
I made sure I splurged a little and got some fancy name tags for all of this food,
So everyone would know what is there and there would be no confusion about who has to have what and so forth.
One thing is for sure,
I bought some organic vegan wine so everyone can have a drink and relax and enjoy the meal together.
It is so seldom that I manage to get everyone together for one meal and this may not happen again for a while.
As I look over at everyone meeting and greeting each other and having a laugh,
I am so filled with love and gratitude for the family I have,
Despite the tremendous lengths I have to go to to make everyone happy and fed.
Well,
As I go to sit down with everyone and get in on the jokes and conversation,
I say a little prayer and know how lucky I am to have all of these amazing people in my life.
It was all worth it,
Every single thing I had to do to make everyone happy,
Because I am the mother,
Mommy,
And it is my job to make sure everyone is okay.
And so it is.
I'm not sure about you.
I'm getting sleepy even thinking about it.
So I'm ready to let go fully and surrender to sleep.
Thanks for joining me tonight.
And as you slowly drift away,
Have yourself a great night's sleep.
I'm looking forward to seeing you again for another in the series of Bedtime with Barbara,
Written by June B.
Ah,
Good night.
