Do you have comfy pillows? Unfortunately I don't. I used to, but now I don't. I haven't got a clue why, but I suddenly started having a feeling that my pillows are not delivering what I used to enjoy - quality sleep. I used to be a sound sleeper, but I find myself adjusting my pillows several times in the night these days.
I was watching a Japanese science(ish) programme on Youtube (nothing better to do today). They did a little experiment to find out what the most relaxing position of your neck is by getting someone to float, completely in a loosened-up position, in a very salty water like in Dead Sea. They took a side image of this body, analysed it on the computer, and measured the best angle between your cervical vertebrae and the flattish mattress. Apparently it's 15 degrees.
They use a well-used cushion (soft but quite hard for a pillow) of about 3-4 cm in thickness and put a folded towel on top. Two layers of towel, they say, measure about 5mm. You can do some minor adjustment by adding or taking away a few more layers of towel, but this angle of 15 degrees is supposed to be the best for more or less everyone because this way cervical vertebrae are straight, whichever you turn, and not squashing the discs in between them. What happens if the discs are squished? The nerves that are going down to your shoulders and arms get compressed. Not good.
Mmm... I'm a complete sucker for this kind of scientific explanation (probably because I can't really get my head round what really is going on in science). I've already tried this cushion and towel combo just now. As they say, one layer of towel makes a huge difference, or so I feel. I'm gonna try this one tonight. Would I love this new pillow as much as I love myself? We'll see.
Spring supper for one today.
Ingredients (for 1 person):
(for the lamb)
2-4 lamb chops
1 clove of garlic
a handful of thyme leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon olive oil
(for pea and salami)
a small bowl of mixture of frozen peas and broad beans
100g thinly sliced salami or pancetta, roughly chopped
Strip the thyme leaves from the stalk and finely chop them with garlic. Mix them with olive oil and lemon juice in a glass dish which can have the lamb chops in single layer. Rub the meat in this mixture well. Put a cling film on the dish and leave to marinade for about half an hour. Season the lamb with salt and pepper and grill until the fat is nice and brown.
Put a knob of butter or olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the salami (or bacon) and add the peas and beans. Season the beans.
Tip the beans on your plate and top them with nice lamb chops. You can squeeze some more lemon juice as you eat the meat.