21: Five Happy Things

photo credit: @ceryslowe_1 via Unsplash

Happy Friday, friends! I am taking a leaf out of Elisabeth‘s book today and will dip my toes into her weekly “Happy Things” practice, in an effort to focus on the good things in life. I enjoy these posts and would probably benefit from making them a more regular occurrence on my own blog. So, let’s get into it.

NABLOPOMO

May I reiterate how happy NaBloPoMo has made me this year? Not only has it provided me with an opportunity to “force” myself to re-engage with my blog and this community more, I also feel so much more connected. I missed that. I know, writing daily and trying to keep up with everyone is always a little bit daunting, but I never regret the effort. And it’s been such a pleasure to see some old and new faces. I am always amazed that new people keep finding our little community. Thank you all for being here!

PEPPERMINT MOCHA CREAMER

I mentioned last week that Elisabeth was raving about the Silk Peppermint Mocha Oat Creamer again that is available in Canada during the holiday season. On my grocery run today, I saw that they had two Silk Oat Creamers (Oatmeal Cookie and Maple Brown Sugar), but no Peppermint Mocha. So I picked up this Chobani Creamer instead to try (and I am very positively surprised).

A GREAT RUN

I slept in a little bit and then ran errands all morning. I almost skipped the run that I had planned for today. Luckily, I tend to stick to my plans, and I am so glad I got outside. I mean, it’s November 21, and it was 62 F and sunny this afternoon, and I went out for a glorious run. Not all runs feel good (as you know, if you’re also a runner), but today everything felt so easy. I might have experienced a little bit of the sometimes elusive runner’s high. There’s nothing better than moving your body outside!

MY FAVORITE WINTER SOUP

Yeah, yeah, this soup is not the most photogenic dish (I will admit that), but I’ve been singing the praises of this soup for years (?) now and I really need you to make it sometime. (You’ll have to come back tomorrow when I’ll share the recipe.) It’s so healthy, filling, and, have I mentioned, delicious? It has all the goodness of a bunch of vegetables (onion, celery, carrots, potatoes, lentils, peas, butternut squash, and kale) and the fact that I even got Tanja (who claims to despise celery, lentils and kale) to love this soup, should be all you need to know.

FRESHLY BAKED BREAD

As you probably know, I bake my own (sourdough) bread (almost) weekly, and I love it so much. I have baked bread on and off since I moved to the US (because I am German, and I need my bread, and the bread I wanted wasn’t available here), but I got into more serious bread baking (like so many) during the pandemic. I received an established sourdough starter from a friend, started baking with it, and have been keeping it alive for the last 5+ years. Baking with sourdough is really not as scary as it might seem. I wrote a little bit about the different kinds of sourdough breads here. I usually bake a rye-spelt-wheat mix, so it’s not the type of sourdough that you usually think of here in the US (= crusty white bread). Rye and spelt breads seem less common, but they’re usually healthier than white breads. If you’re interested in knowing more about this type of bread baking, I am happy to answer any questions.

Share a happy thing from this week with me! It can be anything!

 I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. #nablopomo2025Links to the Participants List. Happy Writing!