As of writing this article, the weather is hot and the UK is in the middle of a heat wave which certainly brings some challenges. Even to every day tasks, couple of these being watering the Garden for the new plants my brother put in at my parents house through to cooking. The heat can make cooking a simple family meal difficult given that, like other house holds we don't have air con. The UK today as of May 2026 has experienced the hottest day since 1944 with some people saying its hotter in the UK today than parts of Spain. It gets you thinking and the signs of climate change, other countries adapted long ago to the heat and seem to still carry on. Some people prefer the Spain like conditions in the UK.
The hot weather is nice, don't get me wrong, sleeping at night I'm adapting to, even as writing this article i have my window closed, curtains drawn and fan on. But some jobs still have to be done regardless of the heat like the watering and eating. The watering you kind of adapt to the hotter weather and a little bit of music whilst doing it really puts you in the dancing mood. You may ask how does this relate to this article well, food for the soul doesn't just mean eating physically but doing things that reward your soul and make you feel better. Whilst i don't know the difference between two plant species i understand that some look different from others. But watering them each day and seeing them flourish is food for the soul. Whilst i may not have planted the plants i still really appreciate nature and the beauty of it. Like physically eating its important to eat the right things which makes you feel energised and better within. In coding terms garbage in garbage out and this is so true. up until about a 3-4 weeks ago i was having on average 5-6 take aways a month. Sure it seems quick and easy, but i started to realise this is not the best food i could eat for my soul. So i decided to cut out takeaways and fast food. Not as some getting in shape and looking like a body builder but to feel better and healthier for myself. I even cut down how much I have been eating and how much sugar im consuming. Don't think of just drinking fresh orange juice and other healthier drinks as lots of them contain a huge amount of sugar. I was also finding that fizzy drinks were giving me terrible acid indigestion so they had to go.
Something that I've always loved is food the tastes and not just your standard UK food, i like to try food from different cultures as well again feeding your soul by trying something that makes you feel better. Food really helps people to connect with friends and enjoy a shared experience in one moment again leading to feeling a lot healthier mentally and all three things help if they are in tune, the mind, body and soul.
What i love about being in nature and sunlight, you get such a calm sense of peace and happiness, in todays digital world, its still important to connect with nature and it doesn't have to be expensive. When i was growing up, my parents didn't have a lot of money, so we had enough fuel in the car but didn't spend money in restaurants when we visited the seaside we would take pack up with us. If you've never done this would highly recommend it. Through difficult times i learnt something more valuable than money, those shared connected experiences again Good for the Soul. Unless your playing monopoly, bound to cause arguments lol.
I've always enjoyed cooking from a young age, baking treats at school and bringing them home. But its wasn't until, through difficult circumstances my love for cooking grew. Like my mum, she doesn't need a recipe book i just know how to cook good food. Having made sauces from scratch, they are so easy once you know how to do them honestly are and i think the more you cook from scratch to a certain degree the better you feel and it doesn't have to be expensive either that's the common misconception. I don't use fancy cuts of beef or extra matured meat or fancy ingredients but just basic ingredients often the best ideas and inventions come from difficult times. For example, one day, many years ago, i fancied a sweet treat, but we didn't have much in apart from some digestive biscuits and some golden syrup. So i thought, what would happen if i combined the two, so i created the digestive golden syrup biscuit sandwich.
Sure you might ask, have i made bad food, sure I've got things wrong, bit of trial and error but its all building blocks. Even some of the best chefs in the world try new things and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but they don't give up its all experience. Like i mention. ed above tonight's tea was with only a few ingredients in the house and i find these make you more creative in cooking food. You kind of ask your self the question, does this work with that and its the same with digital drawing for me, sometimes some pieces i create work and other times they don't but its all trial and error.
I am fortunate that i get to do a hobby as a day job, like with cooking, coding is very much putting different bits together to see the end result. Some times it works and others it doesn't so like with cooking you rework your code until its right and has the right outcome. Same with cooking, i tried making a pizza on my gut instinct and it didn't come out as well as i expected. But did that put me off no i still want to make a pizza. I find it so rewarding doing things that feed the soul like with cooking, fishing, drawing, coding and many other hobbies. Its so easy to think, try something and give up, but i would say keep going at what you want to do in life. You only have one life to live so enjoy it.
