Roses On The Rock

02/03/2026

Planting Hope

This week feels quieter here. Heavier.

Our beloved cat Bluebell is missing, and if I’m honest, we are feeling heartbroken and more than a little lost. The not knowing is the hardest part, the gaping space between hope and despair, where your mind drifts to all the places you don’t want it to go.

But today, I planted seeds.

A small, unremarkable act really, tiny seeds pressed into cool soil, and a few garlic cloves tucked into their compost beds, already beginning to send up tentative green shoots. Fragile. Hopeful. Alive.

There is something quietly defiant about planting in the midst of doubt. About tending to new life when your heart feels bruised and your stomach feels sick with worry. It doesn’t fix the ache. It doesn’t answer the questions. But it is a small act of faith, a way of saying that even in the midst of uncertainty, we will keep nurturing something good and hoping for a brighter time ahead.

So this week, we are planting HOPE.
In soil.
In small green shoots.
In the belief that not all stories end the way we fear they might.

If you are the praying kind, or the hopeful kind, we would be grateful for a little of that too! If you are neither of those, then please just share her missing poster. Thanks SO MUCH!

23/02/2026

Luscious crunchy crispy onion rings!

Super simple, gluten free flour, Carlsberg lager (not gluten free), salt and pepper, all mixed to thick batter. Dunk really big thick slices of onion in it and deep fry until golden.

We were super impressed with these! Chalk that one up to a win!

Oh and you get crispy scraps too....who needs the chip shop?!

23/02/2026

My YouTube algorithm seems to be alerting me to the dangers of visceral fat lately. Visceral fat is the deeper, metabolically active fat that sits around our internal organs . It has really got me thinking about how important it is to reduce it, because it can be key to lowering chronic inflammation and stabilising blood sugar levels.

For me, this feels especially relevant. Living with PCOS and insulin resistance means blood sugar regulation isn’t just about weight or willpower, it’s about biochemistry. Elevated insulin makes it easier for your body to store fat (particularly visceral fat), it is harder for your body to access it as fuel, which then feeds back into a frustrating loop of inflammation, cravings, energy dips and hormone disruption.

There’s growing research showing that lower-carbohydrate approaches (not zero carb, not extreme, just lower and smarter) can help:
• Reduce visceral fat
• Improve insulin sensitivity
• Stabilise blood glucose and insulin spikes
•Reduce inflammatory markers, in turn.

Much of this professional and scientific research is easy to explore if you like to go down the rabbit hole as I do. There are particularly great studies looking at low-carb or carbohydrate-restricted diets in insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and PCOS.

I also picked up a book Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Cookbook - Low Carb Recipes For The Whole Family by Vickie De Beer and Kath Megaw, which is packed with useful hints, tips and recipes…all of which attracted me because they are gluten free too. Making it a twofer book for me!

So… rather than making dramatic declarations or “starting a diet”, I’ve decided to gently experiment and try new things and see how I get on with them. Fewer refined carbs, more protein, good fats, vegetables… and crucially, food that still brings me joy.

That experiment has meant shopping for things I never used to buy:
✨ Psyllium husks
✨ Coconut flour
✨ Almond flour
✨ Ground chia seeds

Slightly off-piste pantry additions, but fascinating ingredients when you start playing with them. I’m especially excited to try my hand at homemade low-carb bread, because if I’m changing how I eat, I want it to be sustainable, nourishing AND delicious. Watch this space for the results!

And speaking of delicious… Last night I made the most amazing gluten-free onion rings. Unbelievably crunchy and crisp, golden and deeply tasty and satisfying. They were absolutely worth the effort and proof that gluten-free doesn’t have to mean deprived or joyless.

This isn’t about perfection for me. It’s about following the path of curiosity, supporting my body's needs rather than fighting them, and seeing what small, consistent changes might do for reducing inflammation, improving energy and stabilising blood sugar over time.

If you’re walking a similar path with PCOS, insulin resistance, metabolic health, or just wanting to feel better in your body, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! I’ll keep sharing what I learn, what works, and what I burn in the kitchen along the way 😄

06/02/2026

I promised an update on the colour change of the garlic. It is not quite as dynamic as the last lot but still. It’s still green. When it turns the brown colour, it’s ready and the raw smell will have dissipated to something much more mellow.

02/02/2026

A little kitchen alchemy this week — fermented garlic.

I started with 18 whole heads of garlic, peeled and gently chopped in the food processor — fine, but not puréed. Then I added 2% salt by weight, just enough to draw out moisture and create the right conditions for fermentation to begin.

The garlic was loosely packed into two sterilised pint jars, leaving room for air and movement as the natural fermentation worked its magic.

One of the most fascinating parts of fermenting garlic is the colour change. As the garlic cells are broken down, enzymes react with naturally occurring sulphur compounds and trace amino acids. This creates pigments that can turn the garlic a vivid blue-green — completely natural, harmless, and a sign that the chemistry is doing exactly what it should. It can look a little alarming if you’re not expecting it, but it’s all part of the process.

Over time — usually around 3–4 weeks, though it can be sooner depending on temperature and conditions — that bright colour softens and deepens into a muted brown. That’s when the flavour really comes into its own: mellow, savoury, deeply garlicky without the harsh bite of raw cloves.

Fermented foods have been part of traditional diets for centuries, valued not only for flavour but for the way they support digestion and gut health. Fermentation makes nutrients more accessible, introduces beneficial bacteria, and can make foods easier to digest.

Fermented garlic, in particular, retains garlic’s natural properties while mellowing its intensity. It’s gentler on the stomach, wonderfully savoury, and still full of those compounds we associate with garlic’s long-celebrated benefits.

We use it endlessly — stirred through butter for extra-garlicky garlic bread, added to spag bol, soups and stews, or mixed with oil to season chicken and fish. One simple process, so much flavour, and a quiet reminder that time transforms ingredients into something even better.

02/02/2026

It’s that time of the year when the fermented garlic is running out. 19 heads of garlic later…. I will share my process later!

02/02/2026

Yesterday’s glimmers in the mizzle. I can’t believe the elder is not only putting out leaves but flower florets too!!!!!

28/01/2026

Today, I have been thinking about the small things. The glimmers, those tiny pockets of joy that quietly exist alongside us, even on the hardest of days.

These glimmers may not shout for our attention, often they are simply a whisper. Like the freshly budded hyacinth earlier in the week, just beginning to open, promising that unmistakable fragrance. The simple pleasure of a seasonal and long awaited, blood orange, the vibrant colour and those glorious first drops of juice on your tongue.

Sometimes, a glimmer is a person. A beloved friend who sees what you need before you have even found the words yourself. A gentle, uplifting message, a check-in at just the right moment, and a precious reminder that you are not moving through the world alone.

Even on the worst days, especially on the worst days, these magical moments still exist. They don’t fix everything, but they might just soften the edges. They certainly give us something to hold onto and something to be grateful for.

Maybe the practice is simply this:
Slow down long enough enough to notice them
Let them land
Allow ourselves to feel thankful
Appreciate the small, ordinary, quietly beautiful things that carry us through

26/01/2026

The Joy of Waiting.

There is a quiet, almost forgotten joy in waiting.

For ten days now, I have been patiently waiting for a potted hyacinth to do what it will do in its own time. Daily peeking at those tightly held buds slowly swelling, knowing that one morning soon the tiniest florets will open and the air will change. Today is that day and how welcome that aroma is.

That unmistakable fragrance… so familiar and yet so elusive. There is no essential oil that captures its essence, and fragrance oils always seem to fall short, they seem like echoes of Hyacinth rather than the real thing. Some aromas, especially spring flowers, simply refuse to be pinned down, and that’s part of their magic.

It is what I have waited ten patient days for and it is utterly delightful.

Tomorrow should be even better.

At this time of the year, the same is true of a blood orange. I just LOVE waiting all year for them to come round in the shops, or like last year, buy a box full!

Just the beauty of it in the hand, the speckled fragrant skin. That pivotal moment when the knife breaks the skin for a sudden burst of scent, bright, refreshing and alive.

Nothing quite prepares you for those first juicy drops on your tongue, sharp and fragrant and utterly vivifying. It is a small, perfect moment in time to slow down, pay attention and focus gratitude.

This afternoon I opened the window to let Bluebell out, (yet again), and was met with another scent that fills my heart with utter joy … the distinctive aroma of coal slack smoke. It smacked me up the nostrils and had me with my head hanging out of the window, breathing as deeply as I dare. It totally stopped me in my tracks and bought glimmers of joy.

It’s one of my all-time favourite smells, rich with memory and atmosphere, and one that is becoming rarer and rarer as coal fires disappear from our lives. It is a treasured aroma, a moment to be grateful, hopeful that it is not the last time I will smell it.
Perhaps, that’s why these moments today feel so precious. These scents — fleeting, unrepeatable, impossible to reproduce — remind me that not everything is meant to be captured, bottled, or hurried along. Some things are meant to be waited for, breathed in deeply, and cherished while they’re here.

23/01/2026

Why Unbreakable Is So Bloody Incredible
(And Why I’m Only Just Getting Started On Extolling Its Virtues).

There are books that you enjoy reading, fascinating books you learn from, and then there are surprising books that quietly reorganise how you see your body.

Unbreakable by Dr Vonda Wright did the latter for me.

I didn’t start out reading it looking for a miracle, or for any new sets of rules to follow, (because we all know that rules in my life were simply meant to be broken).

I read it because I wanted reassurance after years of chronic health issues that strength, vitality and resilience weren’t things I’d somehow just waved goodbye to during nearly three decades of brain fog, fatigue and pain.

What I found instead was something far more powerful: a reframing of ageing, particularly female ageing, that felt grounded in her truthfulness, science-led and deeply respectful.

Frankly, that's rare.

Strength Is NOT a Phase We Grow Out Of

One of the reasons Unbreakable hit so hard for me, is that it challenges a narrative many women have simply absorbed without ever agreeing to: that fragility is inevitable.

We have assimilated that decline is natural, and that we should quietly adjust our expectations.

Dr Wright does not accept that premise. (And now, neither do I)!
Instead, she makes a clear, evidence-based case that women are meant to be strong across their entire lifespan — not just in our twenties, not just before our hormones shift and not just if we are genetically lucky in the DNA lottery.

Strength, she argues, is a biological REQUIREMENT.

Muscle is not cosmetic. Bone density is not optional. Balance, power and resilience are not indulgences. They are what allow us to live our lives well, independently, and with confidence as we age.
That message alone would be enough. But she goes further, deeper into the message.

Oestrogen: Not Simply A Footnote, But A Stable Foundation

What Unbreakable does beautifully, is place oestrogen back firmly where it belongs. Not as an embarrassing “women’s issue”, deeply tucked away in menopause chapters, but as a central, and pivotal, player in:

Bone health
Muscle repair and recovery
Joint integrity
Brain function
Metabolic health

When our oestrogen declines, as it inevitably does, the body doesn’t just change aesthetically, in the way it looks but it also changes structurally. Our bones lose density much faster and our muscle mass becomes harder to maintain. We might find that injuries take longer to recover from.

We need to recognise that none of this is a personal failure, and none of it is random.

Understanding this is oddly liberating.

It enables us to shift the conversation from “What the bloody hell is wrong with me?” to “What does my body actually need right now?”

Why This Isn’t About Perfection or Punishment

Another reason I love Unbreakable is that it isn’t punitive. There’s no obsession with leanness, in fact the opposite! There is no glorification of exhaustion and no overly moralising food.
Instead, the emphasis is on support:

Supporting muscle health through resistance
Supporting bone health through impact and load
Supporting hormones through nourishment and recovery

It’s not about doing everything, every day. It’s about doing enough, doing it consistently, and more than anything, doing it with a basis of understanding and targeted intention.

That philosophy aligns perfectly with how I want to live.

Three Easy Ways to Start (No Radical Overhauls Required)

If this all sounds like “something to come back to later”, here are three genuinely simple ways to begin incorporating Dr Wright’s core tenets right now:

1. Eat for muscle at least once a day
One well rounded meal with a clear protein source — eggs, yoghurt, lentils, tofu, chicken, fish. Not perfectly measured. Just intentional.

2. Load something on purpose
Carry shopping. Sit and stand without using your hands. Do a few slow squats or calf raises at the kettle. Strength doesn’t require a gym membership to begin.

3. Respect recovery
Sleep, rest days, gentle movement all count. Strong bodies are built between efforts, not just during them.

That’s it. Start simple and build up. No guilt needed here.

This Is Just the Beginning For Me

I’m not done with Unbreakable, not even nearly and I suspect I never will be.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be exploring more of its ideas here, from hormone-supportive nutrition to realistic strength for real bodies, real joints, and real energy levels. I’ll also be sharing recipes and rituals that support this way of living, because resilience isn’t built on theory alone.

For now, this is my starting point:
A book that reminded me that strength is not something we have to lose, it’s something we must continue to choose, nourish and protect.

And that philosophy and change of perspective to me, is pretty bloody incredible.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unbreakable-Womans-Guide-Ageing-Power/dp/1785045652/ref=asc_df_1785045652?mcid=bb6559a724df32ac811a0d11ce9b03ef&th=1&psc=1&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=733287295865&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11853253493533430368&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045475&hvtargid=pla-2429720494794&psc=1&hvocijid=11853253493533430368-1785045652-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1

Unbreakable: A Woman's Guide to Ageing with Power

19/10/2025