It's a Vision Thing

"I've got real problems, don't I?" I said to the lady at the DMV this morning.

"I'm afraid so," she said.

She sounded cautious, as most people are who deal with the public when they have to give bad news. I recognize the sound because I sound that way sometimes in my line of work.

My wallet was stolen on Monday. I haven't really wanted to say much about it because it was stolen at school. From my office, from my purse, that was in my tote bag, that lives on the floor next to my desk wedged between the wall and side of the desk. Was it stupid for me to leave it there? Well yes. But I still haven't wanted to say much because I still want to protect the image of our school as safe place. But of course any public place...any high school...any school at all for that matter...is going to have this kind of thing happen.

I noticed it missing Monday around lunchtime but didn't report it until Tuesday because I wanted to make sure it wasn't home or in the car or wherever. But I finally reported it, the School Resource Officer made a report, MB and I cancelled my two check cards and one credit card Monday night. No harm done. Except for the missing $40, his movie gift certificate the youth at church had given him, my Olive Garden certificate from my boss...nothing else had any value. Well, the wallet itself had some value to me. It was a $32 Vera Bradley wallet.

I know my friends can't believe I'd ever have something as fem-my as a VB wallet, but it was black & brown. As un-fem-my as I could get. But it had GREAT FEATURES! It was just the right size, had just the right crevices. Everything.

Oh. So the DMV.

I had to get a new driver's license. I couldn't renew mine online because I had a CDL...commercial driver's license. So I went to the DMV and told them I wanted to surrender the CDL and just get the basic license again. My physical certificate had expired a couple of years ago and I never intend to drive those kinds of vehicles again, so why not? This was the first gingerly-spoken bit by the lady:

"Well ma'am, that means you'll have to pay $25 because we'll have to surrender this and start with a new license."

OK.

"And take an eye test."

OK.

And now we are at the beginning of this story. Yup. Couldn't pass it. It's the left eye. Did I not notice this coming on? No, not really. Sure, my eyes have seemed a tiny bit blurry in the past little bit. But they always do this time of year when stuff starts blooming. Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis. Get some Patanol eye drops from the doc, I'm all fixed up.

darnit.

Well, I have an appointment for Monday at noon at the guys' optometrist. (Mine is not available until March 25.) It seemed like I shouldn't wait that long. And he'll probably have to give me a contact or something for the time being. Then I'll go to the guy who did my Lasik in 2004 or whenever and see about having and enhancement done. Sheesh!

I also bought a new Vera Bradley wallet while I was out putting Charlotte drivers in mortal danger. I found the same design, but the fabric is nowhere near what I'd like. All bright, shiny colors with flowers and crap. A bit too fem-my.

So that's how I've spent my furlough day. A day in which I did not work at my job, did not get paid for the time off, and moreover shelled out and will shell out more money.

Morning Stretch

I began the day with Kundalini, my favorite energizing yoga style. On a good week (by that I mean a week where I get up early enough), I'll do kundalini 4-5 times. I have a recorded set I follow in the early hours, mainly because my brain is not turned on enough to read directions. We're talking 4:30 a.m. folks.

But today is FURLOUGH DAY! So I got up at 7 and started in on a practice that I picked out from my book. After a series of spinal warm-ups, I decided to follow a kriya that is supposed to "awaken the ten bodies." I don't have time, so I won't go into what all that means.

But the first pose, which I've done a few times in the past, just about sent me back to bed to hide under the covers. It's this one depicted above (I stole the photo from the Anmolmehta website. Thank you Anmolemehta!). The Stretch Pose. Looks simple doesn't it? WELL! IT'S NOT! And this fella doesn't seem to be doing Breath of Fire either, which my book instructed me to do. You're supposed to hold it 2 to 3 minutes while doing Breath of Fire. I'll explain that in another post sometime too. I ended up doing just one leg at a time and then held both legs up for about 10 seconds. I think I should maybe try to do this every day for a while so I can see if I can build up some strength.

So that's what I did. And a few other poses. And then I reset the security on our wireless router, cleaned up my desk, and now I'm going to get my new driver's license (which, of course, was in the wallet that was stolen on Monday...sheesh!), meet buddy Nannette for lunch, and shop for a new wallet (to replace the one I loved. I think I'm just going to go back to the same place and see if I can get another just like it).

And that's my day. Yours?

One Day, Two Creepy Movies

I don't actually watch these kinds of movies very often, so it's even more odd that I managed to watch two in one day. Joshua is about this little boy who is older than his 9 years, and whose parents have a new baby, Lily. Joshua is a gifted pianist and is very close to his maternal uncle.

Remember that Twilight Zone episode with the little boy Anthony, who could control an entire town with his thoughts? "It's a Good Life" was the name of the episode. This movie reminds me of that.

People around Joshua are going insane and animals...well...animals are experiencing something a little more permanent.

Good movie.

Then I watched "Knowing." This one has Nick Cage in it and it's pretty good. I'm glad I didn't pay to watch it in a theatre, though. It reminded me of "Sixth Sense" a bit. Little boy Caleb hears whispers and it turns out that a little girl at his same elementary school heard those whispers too 50 years ago. But these are whispers of truth and that little girl is hearing of events that will happen over the course of the the next 50 years. Caleb's dad is a professor at MIT and figures out what is happening. And of course is going to try to stop some of those things from happening.

It's a pretty good movie. A bit predictable, though.

Spring is Springing!

It's about noon on Sunday and I'm sitting on my patio grilling turkey burgers for my guys. Even though we've lived here over 7 years, I still can scarce believe it when I can do such a thing in March. It's a gloriously sunny day and should hit the low 60s. I'd like to go on a jaunt this afternoon. We'll see. We've had a very long run of nasty weather lately. Just five days ago we had snow piling up.

We are going to start the garden planning in earnest in the next couple of days. Our plan is to crew up with YogiLiz and garden on her property. Because...she HAS property! We don't really have a good situation for gardening here. Liz likes to garden but it's too much for just one person. MensaBoy offered his services as slave so why not? He'll prep the soil for us, with the able assistance of Riley and Taylor, and we hope to plant a big enough garden to sustain both families and put up some things, like tomatoes, for winter.

However, MB has a caveat. He wants us to plan moringa plants. And he's ordered the seeds already. Apparently this plant is a miracle. You can read about it here. Could be interesting. At the very least it looks like a pretty plant! I guess it's actually a tree but you can prune it to more plant-like. Stay tuned.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

PeanutButterChocChipMuffins
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

These are actually called "Only-Kids-Need-Apply Muffins" in my muffin cookbook, "Gloria's Glorious Muffins."

But frankly, I wouldn't waste these on kids. I used my $5-a-bag grain-sweetened chocolate chips in them. And my all-natural peanut butter. I doubt those galutes would appreciate the commitment I made to these!

We had a 2-hour school delay this morning so it seemed like the perfect time to bake.

1 C whole-wheat pastry flour (I used white because that's what I have right now)
1 C whole-wheat flour
1/2 C unbleached white flour
1/4 C toasted wheat germ
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Sift together those together in a big bowl. Toss in
1 1/4 C carob chips (my grain-sweetened choc chips. and I only had one cup)

Set aside.

1 C hot water
1/2 C chunky peanut butter (I used smooth)
1 C soy or cow's milk (I used vanilla soy)
1/4 C canola oil
1/4 C honey, warmed slightly

Blend those together in a smaller bowl. I used my immersion blender.

Pour wet into dry, mix just until mixed...no longer than that!
Spoon into muffin cups or tins. You're supposed to get 12, but I got 14.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. Cool in baking tins for another 10 minutes.

Tostadas with Homemade Refritos

It was a decadent meal last night. That's what it all boiled down to. It just was further proof that a vegetarian diet holds many delights that you never thought of before.

It began Saturday afternoon when I soaked the pintos. I intended to make the refried beans and do tostadas Sunday but got sidetracked and made this DELICIOUS Hungarian Mushroom Soup instead. I wanted to get those mushes out of the fridge and into the pot.

Back to the refritos: Yesterday I came home from work to change before going for a massage. I put the beans on to simmer while I was gone. (leaving Taylor with instructions to turn them off then the timer went off)When I got home the beans were cooked to a fairly good tender stage. If I'd been here I would have given them a little time, but I felt they were done enough to avoid any gastronomic upset. I sauteed onion, garlic, a little red bell pepper, cumin and salt in a big frying pan and then dropped in the beans. I then mashed the whole shooting match with my potato masher.

And here's the really decadent part: I fried fresh corn tortillas. I remember when we were kids Mom used to do that. At that time pre-fried or baked and shaped taco shells weren't on the market yet. Oh man! Nothing does it like freshly-fried tortillas.

And so I fried, and the three of us built, and we had a fantastic meal.

The refrito recipes is from the New Moosewood Cookbook, of course. I really enjoy Mollie Katzen's tips on how to eat a tostada:

"Take a crisp tortilla and place it on your place. add a spoonful of refritos, and spread them imaginatively in place. sprinkle on some grated cheese, followed by an elaborate mound of assorted accessories, the height of which considers the dimensions of your mouth. Ladle on a little sauce, or spoon on some salsa. Now you are ready to make a noble attempt to eat it daintily. Keep your plate under your chin to catch what falls or drips."

Given my guys and their addiction to all things sandwiche, they just used two tortillas and made sandwich tostadas. And then we ate them with forks for the most part.

Grace Under Pressure

"They couldn't do the surgery," my friend J told me this afternoon. The pancreatic cancer had spread further than they thought and so J, whose husband passed away from the same cancer one year ago today, was told that surgery was not an option for her sister.

J's sister L is quite a bit older than she and I are. I believe the difference is something like 16 or 18 years. L and her husband D have been close to my heart since shortly after we moved here to Indian Land. L had breast cancer some years ago and was going through the same fatigue symptoms from her medication that I was going through at the beginning of my menopause journey. Often she and I would look at each other in church and just sigh, knowing that we each understood how the other felt and both too tired to really talk about it. Hubby D has been my de facto big brother, in almost every sense of the word. I know he would turn himself inside-out to protect me and he also likes to patronize me in the same way a real big brother can. He's always as quick with a hug and backrub as he is to tease me about my wine drinking.

We don't know what is in store for L. Ever the optimist, I'm told she is still positive tonight from her hospital bed. It's too soon for her to go, I'm thinkin', and I'm concerned for J, who has lost so much.

And yet, as J told me this news today, we hugged, she told me she loved me, and she asked me how I was. This is a very special family. A very grace-filled family.

A Day That Could Only End with French Fries

I had a big bowl of french fries for supper. yup. me. I rarely do that, but today was that day. Since I have no guts and I'm heavily medicated, I can't really blame it on pms. I blame it on this realization I had today: I am quite certain that there is NO WAY that one person can get everything done that I need to get done by the time school is out.

When I realized this, at approximately 9 a.m. today, I stopped breathing. Well, I was actually breathing, but not really efficiently. Just sort of short, shallow breaths, and not very many of them. I'll need to pull out all the stops at home to keep body and soul together. Or rather to put body and soul back together. Because every weekday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. my body and soul will be sucked of all life.

I started back on my Qi Gong DVD today after work to see if that would help. I think it will. I hope to continue it every day for 21 days to establish the habit. I've never done the entire DVD, and I don't really plan to. I plan to do 20 minutes at a time until I learn all the movements. I then went to yoga.

It was after yoga that the french fry frenzy started. During which time we also watched Monday's "24" episode.

Just Call Him "Animal"

Riley stopped, panting, in the doorway of my room.

"Bob is an animal!" he said.

And then he proceeded to tell me about their cross-country run after work today. "I had to stop a couple of times," he said.

I told him about following Bob up Crowder's Mountain last fall. "I suggested once that he maybe just PRETEND he was breathing hard."

We are now eating sweet potato pancakes (The New Moosewood Cookbook," of course). And bacon. They are eating bacon. I tasted a bit the size of my fingernail. Nah. Not really appealing. They are testing various toppings for the pancakes. Like a science experiment. "I'm thinking butter and sugar," one says. "I don't know, I think the maple syrup is the best," another says. "Why not creole seasoning?" (this from Taylor, of course.)

Whatever. As long as they are happy. And they get to stand up while eating around the counter. Why do guys like to eat standing up?

Change: Inevitable, Embraceable

The Five Remembrances

I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

A version of the Buddha's Five Remembrances, offered by Thich Nhat Hanh in The Plum Village Chanting Book (Parallax Press, 1991).

To read more about change and dealing with it, take a look at this article in Yoga Journal.

Lentil Walnut Burger

Lentil Walnut Burger
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Ever since my encounter with a Hempnut burger at the Laughing Seed Cafe in Asheville, I've wanted to make and have another one here at home. I'd done a little googling around and I've also looked around a bit for ingredients at Earth Fair. I did actually find Hempnuts there but they were about $6 for a bag of them! Yiikes!

But then I stumbled on this recipe in my New Moosewood Cookbook. You cook lentils in water for about 30 minutes until the water is gone and then mash them with a bit of cider vinegar.
Saute minced mushrooms, walnuts, onion, garlic, spinach (optional but I course I went for that), salt, pepper and dry mustard. Add all that to the lentils and then put in either 1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs or wheat germ. I had wheat germ and am always looking for ways to use it so that went in.
Cool the mixture for an hour, shape patties and fry in a little oil or put under the broiler. The recipe says to make the patties 4 inches in diameter. Mine were a little bigger and I still got a lot more than the 4 to 6 servings they mention. I froze about 8 more patties and we ate three for supper.
A serving suggestion is to put a slice of ripe tomato on top along with some aoli. The aoli definitely would fit the flavor profile better than the onion, mustard and ketchup I used, but it was still delicious.
The guys loved them! Bob said he really like how full for flavor they were, with many different flavors coming through. He's right. I'll definitely make these again and I'll use the frozen ones when the guys want hamburgers.

When Taylor first saw them he said "I thought you said we were having HAMburgers!"

I corrected him. "No. Think about it," I said. "I said we were having BURGERS!"

Here's a link to the author's website with the recipe. They were a little time-consuming with all the mincing but you can get all that done and the sauteeing while the lentils cook.

Listen to this. Haunting. Beautiful. Uplifting. I've been listening to this a lot in the past few days.

Libera - Locus Iste (Sanctus)

Sanctus

Sanctus, Sanctus

Benedictus qui venit in Domine

Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabbaoth,

Pleni sunt coeli et terra Gloria

Benedictus in nomine

Qui venit in nomine

Here's a close translation:

This place was made by God,

A priceless offering.

Holy, holy

Blessed, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

The holy master/lord, God of Hosts -

The heavens and the earth are full of his glory.

Blessed is he who comes in his name, in his name.

Ash Wednesday

So it's Ash Wednesday. We did not go to the service tonight. Didn't even talk about it. We haven't gone in a while. I think I wish we had. I generally like the service, but I am not really interested in having the ashes placed on my forehead. It's a day of mourning and in ancient times the ashes on the forehead were a way to express repentance. I'm not certain why we do this tradition now. When I was growing up it was just the Catholics that did it. They would go to early morning mass and the kids would come to school with the ashes still there on their heads. I'm not really a fan of that kind of public display. I don't judge it. It's just not for me.

Much is discussed about what people are going to "give up" for Lent. Traditionally it's meat. When I was growing up the Catholic kids would have fish on Fridays. People today like to give up something during this period, but I suspect it's for another reason than the original penitence reason. It seems like now people use the period for a challenge or to try to establish a new habit they would like. Or to abolish some old habit they dislike.

Yogi Liz decided to become vegan for Lent. She's vegetarian so this is a bit more of a stretch for her. Mindful eating and culinary adventure are her two main reasons. But in her classes she's also talked about ADDING something during lent. A daily walk, a daily meditation, a daily asana. Something that is adding rather than taking away.

I like that.

Having just finished 6 weeks of vegetarianism and no refined sugar, I'm not really inclined to do something more for lent. But all this is food for thought.

La Vie en Rose

This weekend I watched La Vie en Rose, which is about the life of Edith Piaf. I'd never actually heard of Piaf, but ordered the movie because it was probably mentioned to me.

A fantastic, tragic, riveting story! It was done in that annoying manner, though, where they jump from present day to past and back and forth and back and forth? I've never really had a great appreciation for that technique.

Piaf was raised in a French bordello by her grandmother, who ran the place. Her mother was a street singer and her dad a circus contortionist. She was discovered by a cabaret man while singing on the street and made her way from there to New York and then to Hollywood in the 50s. She suffered a car accident in 1951 that left her addicted to morphine and barely able to move.

Amazing movie.

The Vegetarian Experiment is Over

And I think it's going to become a lifestyle. (yes Mom, I can actually HEAR your eyes rolling)

It's been a great 6 weeks. A very easy 6 weeks, actually. Well, except for the memorable pork roast incident. Other than that, I've really had no desire whatsoever for meat. Not. Even. Bacon. NOPE!

So I'll keep it up. But I'm leaving the door open. If meat appeals to me, I'll eat it. If not, I won't. I'll continue preparing it for the guys and plan to do something slightly different for myself. But I think I'm going to try spending more money on meat for the guys and buying free-range poultry and grass-fed beef. I figure since we'll be eating so much less, we'll be saving money anyway.

One of the things I've really enjoyed during this time is exploring my New Moosewood Cookbook and some of the recipes by Martha Rose Shulman on the New York Times website.

Another experiment also about to become a lifestyle is not consuming refined sugar. There is no denying that the inflammation in my body has reduced considerably. Yes, it's true that it could be the sugar, it could be the vitamins I started in January, I could be the three-times-daily meditation and breathing I've been doing...it could be all of those or any one of those. But cutting the refined sugar has done the main thing I wanted it to do: It made me a more mindful eater/snacker. I've found some great dessert recipes with honey, molasses, maple syrup and agave, and have found some nice snack bars with evaporated cane sugar or beet sugar. I've even found chocolate with no sweeteners at all that is quite good! I've received chocolate from people in the past six weeks...people who know that I like it and want to give me something...and I've just accepted it enthusiastically and then passed it to someone else. It's been very simple.

And so that's my recap. Tonight for supper Taylor, Erin and I had samosas from the Moosewood cookbook and on the counter are two loaves of 'Cracked Wheat' Bread from NYTimes.com. The "cracked wheat" is in quotes because Shulman actually used bulgur instead of wheat. And so did I. I haven't tried it yet. Because we are still finishing a half loaf of Wheat Germ Honey Wheat bread I made yesterday.

Blueberry Corn Muffins

BlueberryCornMuffins
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I have a muffin cookbook I received years ago and I've used it so much that it's falling apart. The book is called "Gloria's Glorious Muffins," by Gloria Ambrosia. The book is comprised of muffins made with no refined sugar and lots of whole grains, fruits and nuts. They are NOT intended to be low-fat muffins, but they are definitely nutrition powerhouses.

So this morning, inspired by Yogabuddy's facebook post yesterday about blueberry muffins, I whipped out the book and subsequently these muffins.

Blue Morning Muffins
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

3/4 C whole-wheat flour
1 C unbleached white flour
3/4 C blue or yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt

Sift all these dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Toss in:

1 1/4 C fresh or frozen blueberries

Stir them around to coat them with flour so they won't bleed too much into the rest of the muffin.

Whisk together in a smaller bowl:

1/2 C applesauce (which I made from two apples that were getting soft...I just peeled them and simmered them with a little lemon juice, adjusting the sweetness with a little agave--because one was a Granny Smith apple)
1 C milk-soy or cows
1/4 C Canola oil
1 egg-a nice, fresh yogabuddy chicken egg, I might add...
1/2 C blueberry or grape all-fruit preserves
1 tsp vanilla

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until all the flour is moistened. Do Not Overmix!

Spoon the batter in equal amounts into paper-lined or greased muffin tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin for another 15-20 minutes. Brush the tops with a little Canola oil.

Brownies

Brownies
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This is the brownie recipe I made Friday night. I found it on the 'net a couple of weeks ago but can't remember where! If you recognize it, please let me know so I can credit the author and website.

I found this recipe while googling for brownies made with no refined sugar. I added the rest of the grain-sweetened chocolate chips I'd bought for the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I made a couple of weeks ago.

2 eggs
1/2 C honey
t tsp vanilla
1/2 C maple syrup
1/2 C butter
6 TBSP cocoa powder
3/4 C whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Whisk together the eggs, honey, syrup and vanilla.
Melt butter and then stir in the cocoa until well-blended.
Blend into the egg mixture (just to be sure it's not still too hot, temper the egg mixture by whisking in small amounts first)
Sift together the dry ingredients
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix just until blended and all the flour is moistened. Do Not Overmix!
Pour into a greased 8 x 8 baking pan
Bake 30-35 minutes (however, mine took almost 45) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle come out clean.

Iced In

So we have been pretty much iced in since yesterday morning. Not totally. The guys and I went out to Showmars for lunch yesterday (we were heading to the new pizza place, Amici's, but it was closed), and then to Target. It was pretty nasty and slow going. I took advantage of my status as resident female and made them drop me at doors so I wouldn't have to slog across slushy parking lots.

Showmars was dead enough that Erin was able to sit and visit with us while we ate. That was nice. We don't get to see her much when Nate's not home. Target was devoid of shrieking toddlers and their equally-shrieky mothers. And I popped into Ulta to get more foundation and blush. I hate going in there because their employees must be screened for a high level of grouchiness before they get hired. But it beats going up to Southpark to the Bare Escentuals shop.

I made brownies Friday night with a recipe I found that uses maple syrup and honey for sweetener. I then dropped in the rest of the grain-sweetened chocolate chips that I had left over from the peanut butter cookies. They have been delicious, if perhaps a bit TOO sweet, and made a delightful breakfast yesterday as well as a pre-bedtime snack last night. There is only one left. I really should shoot it and put up the recipe. I'll do that.

The "no refined sugar challenge" is working pretty well. I did snap Friday afternoon when I came home from school. Mensa Boy brought back some "extra sauer" gummy worms from the Frankfurt airport. Taylor ate some and left the rest on the counter. I love those things. With just a millesecond pause I opened up the bag, dug out a red one, and popped it in my mouth.

Grapefruit. What a waste! Serves me right, I guess.

Yogabuddy Liz wrote on her facebook page a moment ago that she is making blueberry muffins. I have a TON of blueberries in the freezer. I dug out my favorite muffin cookbook and there is a recipe in there that calls for all-fruit jam as a sweetener. It wants blueberry or grape. I have two jars of apricot. I wonder how that would taste? I'll have to think about whether I want to do that or not. They are cornbread blueberry muffins.

The vegetarian challenge is going even better. I have absolutely NO CRAVINGS for meat. I've had fish once and crab once. The tuna casserole was just "ehhh." The artichoke crab dip at Big View Diner was so artichoke-y that I couldn't even taste the crab. Last night I made salisbury steak for MB and Taylor for supper. I really didn't have anything similar to make for myself. Hmm...I didn't think of it at the time but I could have made "salisbury mushrooms." I have leftover 'shrooms in the fridge that need to be used. Well anyway, I had leftover pizza and a salad.

So that's it. Lots of resting and movie watching and book reading yesterday. I have bread in the oven this morning and probably will cook something this afternoon. The bread is wheat in the middle and white on the outside. I had an odd amount of wheat dough leftover so just "cladded" it in white.

WoYoPracMo Jan 20 Post

A Little of This, a Little of That.

I'm still doing yoga every day, even if it's only 10 minutes. But honestly, I think my minimum time is more like 20 0r 25. I think, to be honest, I'll be glad when WoYoPracMo is over because then I won't be all OCD about WRITING about it! Doing the yoga is not the issue.

"Why not just stop?" you say.

Hey. It took me 46 years to be able to put down a book I hated instead of soldiering through to the end. "Finish what you start" has always been my one big thing! I only have 10 days of WoYo blogging. I can do it.

I haven't written about the Yin weekend. And I should. I think I'm still processing it. It was pretty mind-blowing, and not really about the yin itself. It was all the other life lessons we had along the way. It was definitely more than I bargained for. Was it fun? Well, kinda. I'd say it was more "cool" than "fun."

More on that later. I'm baking up a pizza pie for my guys before heading out to yoga.

WoYoPracMo Restoration, Meditation, Pranayama

Days 11 and 12

Lying Around in the Woods

This is kind of a typical hanging-out style for me and yogabuddy Liz. This afternoon we were on some rocks in a creek shooting photos. I don't know why, but we always seem to be lying around somewhere!

The light was great for about 45 minutes this afternoon. Liz is much better at seeing photo ops in this kind of condition. I tend to need flowers or color or something like that. She'll no doubt have a few good ones from this afternoon, even though all was brown with a little green.

WoYoPracMo Jan 10 Post

Yin Sunday

WoYoPracMo Jan 8 & 9

Two Classes to Warm Up the Day Saturday

WoYoPracMo Jan 7 Post

Something

Just about Snapped!

Last night as we walked into the kitchen after yoga, we were greeted with the most delicious smell. Pork Loin roasting in the crockpot on a bed of (by then) caramelized onions! Oh. My. Gosh.

I told Liz it was just so so tempting.

"Me too," she said. "I've always been a big fan of roast pork."

That made me feel better. She's been a veggie for more than a year.

I lifted the meat and onions into a container for the refrigerator. Liz tipped up the crock to pour in the pot liquor.

Neither of us licked our fingers.

yiiiikes!

Roasted Vegetable Stock

VegStock1
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This is my favorite recipe. It's from the new Joy of Cooking (although there might be an even newer one than the one I have).

400 degree oven. Lightly oil a roaster. Drop in whole mushrooms, cut up turnips, carrots, garlic, onion. Cut them all big. Smash the garlic. Roast for an hour. The veggies should be browning around the edges.

Put the veggies in a crockpot. Deglaze the roaster with a little water. Pour that into the stockpot. Fill up with water. Add celery tops, red pepper flakes and some herbs. I put some dried thyme in a teaball and dropped it in (I don't have any fresh herbs right now), along with a couple of bay leaves

Simmer for an hour. Strain and refrigerate/freeze.

WoYoPracMo Jan 6 Post

Restorative Class-FAIL!

Fish Decision Deferred

I haven't decided whether or not my 6-week foray into vegetarianism will include fish. As of 6:45 last night I had decided it would not. I pulled some frozen flounder that was lurking in the bottom of the freezer and put it in the oven to bake. Intention: big salads with a nice fillet on the side or top. We all like salads with salmon fillets but there was no fresh salmon to be found at Harris Teeter. By 6:46 the decision was reversed with yogiLiz showed up to take me to a restorative yoga class. I ran out the door throwing instructions for dinner completion over my shoulder.

Today at lunch I thought I'd have the leftover fish and a salad. It was gone, taken by Mensa Boy to work in HIS lunch! I'm quite delighted that he enjoyed it well enough to do that.

So I'm still fish-less. And undecided.

The Initiatives

I said the other day that I would write out some resolutions. But I prefer to call them initiatives. Why? Mainly because everyone calls them resolutions and I hate to be average. Also because the word "resolutions" makes me think of the usual stuff like lose weight and de-clutter, which usually lasts about a week and then are forgotten. I don't need to lose weight and I de-clutter all the time (it seems to be a never-ending process). But also because the word "initiative" just sounds important and somewhat inflexible and, most of all, self-driven.

So. The 2010 Initiatives

1. And this is the biggest: Go vegetarian until February 14. At least until then. I came up with that date because, for as long as I can remember, my mom has gotten rid of sugary-snacks on January 1. Why? To lose weight. I don't know how she actually did with that...I guess we should ask her. But she has always said "On January 1 we are all going on diets and there will be no more cookies and fudge and candy and all that around."

So I've been around "THE BIG ANNUAL FOOD CHANGE" a lot. And I do it myself still. I continue that tradition by purging the house of sugar on January 1. This year I figured if I was going to be doing that, I might as well give vegetarianism a go too.

I started thinking about it in early December. My yogabuddy Liz is a veggie and we love to cook together. We've played with our food, and I've enjoyed working on new vegetarian entrees that would pass muster with my guys. So I figured why not do it full-time for 6 weeks?

In a nutshell, I'm not going vegetarian because of the animals. Yes, I do feel badly about them and how we do terrible things to them in the name of mass food production. But I still see the value of meat...and firmly believe that God intended us to be omnivores. No, I'm going vegetarian to flex my culinary muscles. Can I keep it up even when there don't seem to a lot of quick choices in the house? Some days when I'm tired I like to just zap a pound of burger, boil up a pot of macaroni and toss it all together with some tomatoes. We'll see. (by the way, when I was thinking about doing this, I asked Mensa Boy if he wanted to think about it too. "No." He said. Didn't even pause)

2. No refined sugar until Valentine's Day. That goes back to #1, I know. But it's a little harder. Rather than just stopping with all sugar until V-Day, I've decided just to forgo REFINED sugar. This will also flex my cooking brain. I will have sweet, but it has to be sweetened with honey, molasses, fruit, agave or what have you. Only natural sweeteners. Tricky, huh? I think that will allow me to make it all the way until V-Day. I never have before. I've gotten close...

3. Waste Not. This is also about food. And water. I end up throwing away eggplants that I bought and forgot. Or half a head of cabbage or leftover meatloaf. It's ridiculous. And water...that's just crazy. I think we run about 3 gallons of water in the kitchen before it gets hot. And I think that's a pretty conservative estimate.

So my plan is to take a look in those crisper drawers every morning. Scope out the contents. Noodle around with that during the day, and then cook from there at night. ALSO...I'm doing a pantry purge right now. I found 4 half-empty bags of various kinds of beans in there. They will all get eaten. Four kinds of rice? To be eaten.

The water situation. The only thing I can think there is to actually run water into the teakettle and bring it to a boil on top of the stove to add to the dishwater. But then I'm using gas on the stove instead of gas in the water heater. My main plan is to get an under-sink point-of-service water heater before the year is out. (note to self: mention this to MB. I think I've forgotten to do that)

4. Yoga every single day. No time limit. Could be 5 minutes, could be two hours. Could be by myself, could be in a class. Could be any kind of yoga. I never understand when people say they don't have time to do yoga. 5 minutes? That's brushing my teeth twice! Gimme a break!

5. Back to the camera. I wish I could say I'll take at least one picture a day. But then I end up at 8:15 p.m. thinking "I need to shoot something, quick!" That's not real. But I will try to photograph more. Kind of a lame statement, I know.

I just realized this embodies all my hobbies and in every one I say I'm going to do more. More cooking, more yoga, more photography. More fun!

That's all. There might be more but I can't remember them right now. I don't think there are more. If so, I'll post again.

WoYoPracMo Jan 5 Post

Side Attraction

WoYoPracMo Jan 4 Post

Meditation & Yoga Nidra

Yoga on Top of the World

crowdersheadstand
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Well, as close to the top of the world that you can get in Gastonia, NC...

So after we huffed and puffed our way up to the top (Well, actually I was doing all the huffing and puffing. Mensa Boy never opened his mouth for breathing purposes. "Can't you at least pretend you're out of breath?" I asked. "I feel like I'm drowning out all the nature sounds."), I asked him if he'd take some photos of some yoga poses.

"As long as it's a safe spot," he said. (I'm going to assume he was concerned for MY safety!)

So I did a half-moon, which pretty much was awful. The photo is on Flickr but I'm not posting it here. I'm not extended in the middle and my hips aren't stacked. It's an all-around pretty bad pose, actually. (But not nearly as bad as the wheel, where I just looked like I was doing a reverse tabletop. No arch whatsoever. THAT one is NOT on flickr) But in my defense, I was pretty cold and sweaty from the climb...it was about 38 degrees by then...and my human shutter pusher didn't know enough about form to correct me. AND he kept shooting and saying "oops," which had me kind of distracted. OK?

Where was I? Oh yeah, the safe spot. We moved away from the edge, but were actually at the highest point here. A nice, flat spot. Good thing we did move from the edge because see those rocks behind me? I fell backwards on to them during the first try. Nope, no bruises. I managed to control my descent pretty well and got my boots down on the rocks and flicked my hands out to save my wrists. Just landed with a slight "oomph" on my back.

It was a fun morning. We climbed up and back down in about 90 minutes. A little over 3 miles of straight up and down. Then we rewarded ourselves with Olive Garden for lunch (THANKS MOM & DAD!).

Back to work tomorrow. Four days left of this semester and then the second semester will be a DOOZY!

WoYoPracMo Jan 3 Post

Kundalini

Vegan Chocolate Bundt Cake

Vegan Chocolate Bundt
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner with friends this year and I was charged with desserts. The crowd included my own sweet-toothed family, two vegans and assorted diabetics. So on my list was a vegan dessert, a sugar-free pumpkin pie and a regular sugared pumpkin pie.

I saw this recipe in the December, 2009 issue of Yoga Journal and knew immediately that I had to try it. I didn't know if this held true in the other family, but I know in ours the standard dessert fare at Thanksgiving and Christmas never includes chocolate. This is simply amazing, considering the rabid choco-holic my mother is, but there you have it.

The bundt turned out as beautifully as the photo in the magazine. This is my own photo, which I'm not absolutely delighted with, but I gave it a shot, anyway (pun fully intended).

And so here is the recipe:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-or10-inch bundt pan.

1 3/4 C freshly brewed coffee
2/3 C unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 C granulated sugar
1/3 C Canola oil
1/3 C applesauce (we made ours out of a pink lady apple simmered in a couple of Tablespoons apple cider)
1/4 C cornstarch
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 C whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp confectioners' sugar

Heat the coffee in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Turn the heat down to low and whisk in cocoa powder until it has dissolved. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside to bring to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, oil, applesauce, and cornstarch until the sugar and cornstarch dissolve, about 2 minutes. Mix in the extracts. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled a bit, stir that in as well.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Beat until the batter is relatively smooth.

Pour the batter into a prepared pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake's center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 20 minutes. then invert the cake onto a serving plate and cool completely.

Once the cake is cool, sift the confectioners' sugar over top.

We also enjoyed drizzling chocolate syrup over the cake. And whipped cream or soy whip. I'll make this one over and over, for sure. I think the only thing I'd LOVE to change about it is to change out the granulated sugar for something un-refined, like agave.

Thank you, Yoga Journal!

WoYoPracMo Jan 2 Post

Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun

WoYoPracMo

Hello. As if I don't have enough to do online already, I've joing WoYoPracMo, which is an online community of yogis that have committed to practicing more yoga. Specifically during the month of January. WoYoPracMo stands for "World Yoga Practice Month."

When you join the community, you are given a page on which to write about your progress. Here is a link to my first posting.

I have stuff to write about, but will not do it now. It's already 9:50 p.m! Those of you who know me know that this is more than an hour past my bedtime. So I'll get to it tomorrow. I have actually come up with a few initiatives for 2010. Most people call them RESOLUTIONS. But I don't want to. I want to call them INITIATIVES. And so I will.

Stay tuned.

WoYoPracMo Jan 1 Post

I'll post links each day to my WoYoPracMo blog. Do I get credit for posting here each day then?

It may very well be the only blogging I do some days.

Allow

Half Locust Pose

LocustPrep
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This is one of Bear's Christmas gifts. He started out afraid of it (mostly, I suspect, because the guys were squeaking it madly and loudly in front of him when they showed it to him at first), but now basically just eschews it. We think it's the rubber smell.

I noticed this morning as I walked by it that it appeared to be in half-locust pose. The pose is perfectly executed because the rubber boobs assist the bird in staying up in a wonderfully straight line.

I'm not sure I feel the need for silicone boobage to assist in my locust pose.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

monkeycup
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

So we stopped at the grocery store today and Yogi Liz said, "Good. I'll pick up a lemon for my detox."

Of course I had to ask about that.

She told me she juices half a lemon, stirs in a Tablespoon or so of molasses and a couple of dashes of cayenne pepper. "It kind of flushes out the liver or something," she said. "But mainly, it warms me up. My hands are less cold for a while."

NATURALLY I had to try it. And what better vehicle to use to stir up said concoction than my new, adorable monkey espresso cup that Mensa Boy gave me for Christmas?

I didn't die. And my hands ARE warmer. Uh huh...

Uh. Ew! What is it?

landsfordshootout3
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

We are thinking maybe a fungus was among us at Landsford Canal State Park. Would anyone like to weigh in?

Entertaining Wrap

ChristmasWrap
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

If there were prizes on Christmas Eve for the most imaginative wrapping, Taylor would have taken it. The rest of us just put wrap on the gifts or tossed them into gift bags and called it a day.

Not my boy. He took the time to illustrate some boxes, either outside on the wrap or inside on the box. Here is Riley holding up a gift he unwrapped from Taylor. I have no idea what "kthxbai" means.

Here is one of mine. I guess "FTW" means "For The Win."


Oh! We are never sure if he spells stuff this way because he doesn't know how to spell, or if it's just bug us. We suspect it's the latter more than the former.

A Merry, Slippery Christmas!

SockSliders
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

The guys got socks from Grandma Goetsch and the first thing Riley (center) did was put them on and slide across the kitchen. I think he might have actually been headed to the bathroom and nearly broke his neck. That's when he announced this wonderful phenomenon. They spent the better part of half an hour sliding up and down the kitchen.
"These are great," Nate said. "My feet are warm, but not sweaty!"

We had a wonderful evening last night. Beginning with Swedish meatballs and culminating with the sock slide. The only sad part of the evening was the Taylor's gift had not arrived. And we hadn't noticed. I ordered him a video capture card for his Playstation in mid-December and it never arrived. But I thought it had. He had ordered a device from Amazon about the same time using his birthday gift certificate from the Bullers. When that came we wrapped it up thinking it was the Christmas present. We finally got a shipping confirmation this morning from the other company. So he'll have another gift day next week.

We are about to head to a friend's house for Christmas dinner. My Vegan Chocolate Bundt cake will be a hit...I'm sure of it.

Merry Christmas everyone! Whether you are shoveling snow in the midwest or building an ark here in the southeast, we wish you a safe and happy day.

Teeth and the Medicaid System

"When was the last time you saw a dentist?" I asked Riley last night.

He did not remember.

I asked because Nate had his 6-month check last week and it reminded me that I'd not thought of that for Riley. Riley seems to be okay tooth-wise. They look good, he doesn't have bad breath, but still and all it's not good to go years between dental checkups. Although many students do.

The questions was interesting in its' timeliness. About 2 hours later he broke one side loose on his retainer. It's a permanent retainer that is bonded to the back of his lower front teeth.

And he turned 19 today, so his Medicaid runs out.

A couple of friends at church (that's where we were when it happened) suggested a dentist in Lancaster. Apparently he does lots of Medicaid work. I called there this morning and got a VERY UNHELPFUL person with VERY POOR GRAMMAR.

I explained his situation and mentioned that this dentist had been the one to do the retainer oh so many years ago.

"Nope, he's not our patient," she said. "He ain't in the computer." (at this I gritted MY teeth and took a breath)

"Well at any rate, is there any way you can squeeze him in today to either fix the retainer or pull it the rest of the way off?" I asked.

"No," she said. "We don't got no more appointments before the first of the year."

Now here, gentle reader, picture me using a tiny bit of my training in pranayama...breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out... and pulling on my knowledge of ahimsa (non violence)

"Hmmm...," I said. "Do you have any suggestions for me with this type of EMERGENCY?"

"No," she said.

Well, fortunately I am a woman with a network. I called our family dentist in Charlotte, who referred me to a dentist/orthodontist in Pineville. They do a lot of Medicaid work and were not at all concerned about navigating the system for me. I took him there at 11.

I sat in the dentist office with Riley for a while folding cranes, trying not to be sick about how much it could cost. The receptionist verified that he still has coverage through December. And they could bond the retainer back on. But that wasn't covered. Could I pay the $72? Yes. And I made an appointment for him to have a checkup on December 29. Now we have to get the paperwork done so he can continue with Medicaid after the month runs out.

I've baked his birthday cake (yellow, with cream cheese frosting. Yuck. He's getting plenty of grief about this boring combination), and tonight we'll order Chinese (his favorite). Right now there are LOTS of noises coming down the stairs. I have Nate, Taylor, Riley, Mitchell and Ryan up there. It's fun listening to them.

The Boys are Back in Town!

collegelaundry
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

...as my laundry room attests.

MensaBoy Joseph

BobNativity
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

MB made his acting debut last night as Joseph in the live nativity at the Billy Graham Library.

King of Sharpies

He: "The paint is coming off my glasses and the place doesn't think they can do anything about it."

Me: "Isn't there a warranty?"

He: "Apparently not."

Me: "Well, you're the king of Sharpies. What's holding you back?"

He: "I already tried that on Taylor's and it didn't work."

My Mat & Me

MyMat&Me
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

First let me begin this post by acknowledging that some of my readers will be convinced that I have gone off the deep end. But I'm counting on the few I know that have some yoga experience to understand what I'm talking about.

My yoga mat, even though this one is brand new, is my own personal clubhouse.

And I am the only member of the club.

I'm the only one that steps on my mat and I have a entry ritual too, just like any other club might have for its' members.

I unroll my mat green side up. It doesn't have a top and bottom per se. It is actually intentionally reversible. The bottom is a light blue and has a different texture to it. But when I unrolled it for the very first time last week I knew immediately that the green side was the "up" side. This is a permanent decision now, because when I washed it I draped it over the shower rod in the bathroom and later when I pulled it down the blue side got a snag from the shower curtain rings. I felt slightly sad when that happened but not a lot. It was sort of like when you get a new car and get that first scratch in it. It's over then. No more worrying about the first scratch.

So I unroll my mat by flipping it out and then I straighten it. If I'm fortunate enough to be on a surface that has no lines then the straightening is pretty simple. But on surfaces where there are lines, like edges of linoleum or wood or some other flooring material, I have to straighten the mat so that it lines up with those lines.

I never, ever step on my mat with shoes on. So I remove my shoes and lay them aside and put my red shawl and my strap within arm's reach. I also put my socks there in case I need them during svasana.

When I step on my mat, the world around me dims. It's kind of like bokeh in a photograph. A good photographer will adjust their aperture to put the subject in focus and then blur out distractions in the subject's background. Really cool bokeh, really strong bokeh, will cause the background to have very little definition...sometimes you can't really even see what the items in the back are. It's like that when I step on my mat.

The amount of dimming is controlled by me. If I am interested in the other students, I'll tune in my ears and open my eyes to what is going on around me. If I'm not, I will tune in only to the teacher's voice or the music playing. Much of the time I will go a step further and close my eyes.

When I'm on the mat it's just me and the asanas or pranayama. I work out my body and think about how grateful I am that it serves me so well. Sometimes I get frustrated with it. The Foot of Doom really caused endless trouble not just with my body but also with my mind and spirit as I struggled to do asanas and fought through pain and frustration. All of that happened on my old mat. I find it interesting that the pain left right as the new mat arrived. It's like a whole new practice right now.

Yesterday I wrote about using Yogi Liz's mat for a while. Her mat has affirmations and signatures on it from various teacher training things she has gone to. As I used the mat I would read these writings and feel affirmed myself, even though I knew they were intended for her. It was sort of like staying at friend's house while they are out of town and then rifling through their correspondence. A little weird.

I do not always practice with a mat. Especially at home. But when I use a mat, I use my own. It is like my own special home. I succeed and fail on it. I am happy and joyful and sad and frustrated and angry on my mat. It is my clubhouse.

(Re)New(ed) Feet on a New Mat

Feet on Mat
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

So you've all been listening to my ENDLESS whining about my "foot of doom," as my jazzerbuddy Terri calls it. No? Then you must not be reading me on Facebook.

Lucky you. I'm a champeen whiner!

Anyway.

First I broke (a stress fracture) the 3rd metatarsal on my left foot. In the process of having that taken care of, the "ultra-fashionable" boot they had me wear caused my somewhat dormant Plantar Fasciitis to come roaring on with a vengeance.

Well, I think I'm close to declaring myself HEALED!
Yup.
No.
Pain.

How did this happen? Well, the treatment ranged from Earth shoes (x2), Super Feet insoles, distance Reiki healing, prayer, laying on of hands, acupressure massage by my massage therapist, athletic tape, very old Birkenstock sandals, icing and...a thicker yoga mat for those times when one MUST be barefoot...yoga!

Yogi Liz graciously allowed me to borrow her personal Jade Harmony mat for a bit to see if the thicker mat would benefit. You'll see in my next post why I felt particularly touched that she would allow me to borrow her mat. Mats are very personal, somewhat intimate items and to loan it to someone else...well, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't let just any old tom, dick or harry use mine.

But the thicker mat really helped keep me in yoga during the last couple of very painful weeks.

The Jade Harmony is a rubber mat. Quite thick and quite heavy. And the rubber smell never really goes away. To wash one is a major commitment as they can take days and days to dry.

So I decided to order a thicker mat of my own. While I like the Jade mat, Liz was able to order me a Kulae (pronounced coo-lie--long 'i') wholesale. So I was able to get an $80+ mat for about $36. The Kulae is made of TPE or Thermo Plastic Elastomer. It is a composite material that is 100% biodegradable and recyclable, and is 100% free from PVC, Chlorides, Dioxins, Latex and Rubber (free from allergens). It's a resilient, highly elastic material that is composed primarily of styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymers. (this whole last bit was stolen directly off the Kulae website. I'm pretty sure they won't care.) I bought the Kulae Ultra, which is almost 1/2-inch thick. Pretty spongy.

So now I'm breaking in a new mat. The hardest part is getting it to be not slippery. I've washed it once already and will probably have to do that again another time or two.

But my feet don't care. They are HAPPY!

Backyard Headstand or "Dump-the-Migraine-Pose" or "Look Mom! No Feet!"

headstand11.16.09
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I posed the question whether one should go to Jazzercise for a migraine or do yoga.
Yogi Liz suggested headstand, shoulderstand, plow, svasana and alternate nostril breathing first. If I felt like Jazz after that, go then.
Well, I was so relaxed from laying in the backyard watching the birds that I skipped Jazz after all.
But I did get Taylor to take this photo. I'd been wanting a photo of my headstand. He popped off about a dozen shots. After about 8 he was ready to leave, and then I decided to try straightening just a little more. I'm glad I did. My legs were probably at about a 330-335 degrees in those photos. I'm much happier with this. Maybe tomorrow, if it's not really cold out, I'll get him to shoot Wheel pose.

Too Ugly to Photograph

But this has got to be the BEST potato soup I've made to date!

1 large leek...chopped
1/2 large onion...chopped (just to add a little bit of a sharper onion flavor)
2 cloves garlic...smashed, chopped
BUNCHA BUTTER

Throw that in a pot. Keep it low because you don't want the butter or the onions and stuff to brown. Salt liberally, Red pepper flakes liberally, cracked black pepper liberally. Once the leeks start to break down, pour in some vegetable stock that you forgot you had open.

While that simmers for a bit:

3 large potatoes, peeled and cut up
3 or 4 carrots, peeled and sliced thick

Put that in the pot. Add stock until you have the amount you want in there. Add dried basil, bay leaf, and then adjust salt and peppers. And then? If you think it needs just a little more richness, add the rest of the butter that you were too scared to put in the first time. Or maybe cream, or just some milk. Whatever.

Simmer until the potatoes and carrots are done. Smash them around a bit with your potato smasher.

Eat it.

WHOA! A great post-yoga late supper.

Strozzapreti with Roasted Tomatoes

Strozzapreti with Roasted Tomatoes
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I made this recipe the other night for supper. It's from the New York Times: a series they call "recipes for health.," I've tried a couple of the recipes now and I have to say I'm hooked! I'll try to go back there every week and see what's up.

Anyway, strozzapreti is a hand-rolled, hollow pasta. In Italian the word means "priest choker." Rather than summarize the origin of that, I'll past the Wikipedia story about it here:

"There are several legends to explain the name "priest choker".

One is that gluttonous priests were so enthralled by the savory pasta that they ate too quickly and choked themselves, sometimes to death. Another explanation involves the "azdora" ("housewife" in the Romagna's dialect), who "chokes" the dough strips to make the strozzapreti: "... in that particular moment you would presume that the azdora would express such a rage (perhaps triggered by the misery and difficulties of her life) to be able to strangle a priest!" Another legend goes that wives would customarily make the pasta for churchmen as partial payment for land rents (In Romagna, the Catholic Church had extensive land properties rented to farmers), and their husbands would be angered enough by the venal priests eating their wives' food to wish the priests would choke as they stuffed their mouth with it. The name surely reflects the diffuse anticlericalism of the people of Romagna and Tuscany."

Ha! I do have to say that the explanation about choking the dough to make it is pretty accurate. And it is a very thick, chewy pasta. So as a food it is highly choke-able. At any rate, it was fun to make and the guys immediately volunteered that we should have it again. I do have to say, though, that it took about an hour to make the pasta. I suspect each time I make it, it will take less time. I had a pretty good rhythm going by the time I was half-way through the batch so it went a lot faster. It doesn't really make a huge pot of pasta. But it's so thick and filling that it was plenty for the three of us with another small serving left for my lunch. The recipe says it serve two, but I think you'd be uncomfortably full. Also...I almost forgot...another reason I like this recipe is because it calls for fresh tomatoes, which I love. But fresh slicing tomatoes are a no-no in our house when they are out of season because they taste so plastic. Cherry tomatoes, however, are pretty good and available all year around.

Strozzapreti with Roasted Tomatoes

SAUCE:
12 oz (about 22) cherry tomatoes, halved
3 T olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 C finely grated pecorino or parmesan cheese
1/2 C firmly pack fresh basil or parsley leaves

PASTA:
1 C grano duro flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
Salt

First the sauce:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, gently toss the tomatoes, 1 Tablespoon of the oil and 4 of the garlic cloves. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet, cut sides of the tomatoes up. Roast until soft and collapsing, about 45 minutes. Do not allow them to dry or brown.
Meanwhile, in a food processor combine the remaining garlic clove, cheese and basil or parsley. Process until very finely chopped. It will look granular. When the tomatoes are done, immediately spread the cheese-herb mixture on top of them and mash them lightly with the back of a spoon so the cheese melts. Drizzle with 2 more tablespoons of olive oil and set aside.

The strozzapreti:
Mound the 1 cup of flour on the counter, make a well in the center and drop in the eggs and flour. Using your hands, mix the eggs in the well, gradually pushing in more and more flour to make a pasty dough. Add more flour if needed, but don't let it get too stiff. You don't want it to be too sticky to shape with your hands and you don't want it too stiff and dry. Think about play-dough. Make it a little bit stiffer than that.
Roll the dough out onto a floured surface (wooden surfaces work best) until it's as thin as you can make it. Be sure you have enough flour down that you can pick up the dough easily. Cut the dough into strips about 1 inch wide and 3 inches long. Don't worry about being exact.
Pick up a strip and wind it around a skewer. Bamboo would best but I just used a metal kabob skewer. Squeeze it onto the skewer (choking the priest) and then slide it off the end. It takes a little practice to get it down, but after several you'll figure out your own technique. Lay the strozzapreti out on a plate until you are all done.

Cook the strozzapreti in a large pot of boiling salted water. You want the pasta to be tender and slightly chewy, but cooked through. When it's done, drain it and pour into a large bowl. Immediately add the tomato mixture, tossing quickly.

Fixing the New NewsFeed Feature in Facebook

I'm sure they meant well.
But it's really annoying.

I found this link on Chris McGinn's FB page. It is courtesy Michael Monahan, who is not my FB friend, but is for sure a regular one! Thanks Michael! Michael was frustrated because he couldn't see all his Mafia Wars family updates. He's not my friend on FB, so I sent him a message when I couldn't make his first fix work.

Here is what he wrote:


First, if you're looking for the video tutorials for fixing the News Feed in Facebook, they are now on YouTube. There are two you absolutely need to see to undo the new changes that lets Facebook decide who you see in your news feed. Here are the video links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hub70yn5u84

This is the updated original video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8BzznYT5Dk

This is the additional video. You need to do this to manually make sure that all of your mafia/friends are showing up in your feed. Even after doing all of the steps in the first video, Facebook was still not showing all of my friends, including a member of my top mafia!


If you've seen the video, and you're still having trouble, please check the following:

If you have NO edit link at the bottom, you have to HIDE one post! Pick something other than mafia wars, hover your mouse to the right and select hide. Now go back to the bottom, and see if you have the edit link.

If after following all the steps, you have the edit button, but it isn't showing the "edit news feed" box, but an edit box that simply allows you to hide or unhide friends or applications, the fix is to go to the top of the home page. Click on NEWS FEED. As soon as that finishes loading, click back on LIVE FEED. Now go to the bottom and click edit.

Make sure that after you clear cookies, you LOG OUT of facebook! Log back in then follow the rest of the steps in the video.

For help with other browsers, follow these links to clear your cookies, then follow the other steps in the first video.

For Safari go here:
http://support.verio.com/documents/view_article.cfm?doc_id=4069

For Google Chrome: go here
http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95626

For Opera go here:
http://hdc.tamu.edu/reference/documentation/?section_id=792

For IE 8 go here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278835

For IE 7 go here:
http://hdc.tamu.edu/reference/documentation/?section_id=788

For IE 6 go here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/customizing/clearcache.mspx

Shroom? Condos?

Shrooms101109
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

A friend refers to this as a photo of mushroom condos. They do look a little like some sort of multi-family housing, don't they? Aw. Sure they do. Use your imagination, for pete's sake!

It's finally cooling down here in the Carolinas. We are wearing SHOES. And SOCKS. And even the occasional JACKET. Yup. Of course, that doesn't mean we might not have an 80 degree day on Halloween, but things are definitely seeming rather fall-like here.

Mensa Boy is busy trying to put new rubber coating on the dishwasher rack. We had noticed brownish spots appearing on some of our dishes...the edges. Finally he decided to get to the root of the problem and discovered that the coating has started to come off in spots and the bare wires are rusting. New rack: $75. Bottle of rubber coating: $6. Keeping Mensa Boy busy and happy ("I'm sure having fun doing it!" he crowed.): PRICELESS.

Next project? Finding a way to replace the passenger rearview mirror on Big Green. I sideswiped a garbage cart last week. Photo to follow.

Time to retreat upstairs. Turns out that bottle of rubber coating stuff has a bit of an intoxicating aroma.

Operation Foot Rehab

Operation Foot Rehab is underway and I think I'm making progress.

This summer I sustained a stress fracture of the third metatarsal of the left foot. The ensuing treatment, which involved a special shoe, caused the plantar fasciitis to flare up to epic proportions. It was bad enough that my friend Terri actually dubbed the foot the "Foot of Doom." It caused real psychological problems for me, as it not only hindered by jazzercise, but also my yoga practice, and intermittently caused me to double over in pain as the heel would seize up suddenly and go into spasms.

Now, due to the miracle of prescription drugs and Birkenstock and Earth Shoes, I think I am working my way to normalcy.

But I am also working on my stance. I tend to pronate, which contributes to the arches falling. So I have put on a stretchy bracelet I bought from the Dorcus Widows Fund and I use that to remind myself to keep standing so that my weight is evenly distributing among all three points of each foot. I'm also working on making sure my feet are parallel and pointing forward. The bracelet reminds me to check. I'm starting to notice I'm doing those things more automatically now.

The prescription anti-inflammatory runs out in about a week. We'll see how the pain is then.

Squash Soup

A squash recipe I plan to try. I like roasting it but it's time to branch out!

Savory Squash Soup

Shrooms

Shrooms101109
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I went stomping around in the woods today with Yogi Liz and her young son Jared. We had a great time! And didn't really get lost. Not much. Just once for a few minutes but we found the trail. Jared is a real trouper. We were out there a couple of hours and he never flagged. I took my camera with me--the first time in many months that I've taken photos. It felt good to have it out looking for things to shoot. Jared did some shooting too. That kid can really see stuff. And Light! He shot a photo of me in a log and mentioned that he thought it would be good shot but "a little dark by your eyes." He was right! I can't tell you how many times I've failed to notice how the light is playing on someone's face, only to discover it when I got home and loaded it up.

We walked around on an 85-acre patch of property that is currently being held in trust by some bank or something. One of the creeks... maybe six-mile?... runs through it, although it is pretty dry right now. And there are woods and meadows. Four-wheelers have been running around in there and we found some paths that had been mowed and/or bush-hogged through there. We speculated that perhaps the paths were cleared so that potential buyers could get around to see the property. It doesn't matter. We enjoyed the paths, both man-made and deer-made, and had a great time.

I came home and did a nice yoga practice that involved backbends and inversions. For the second day in a row I was able to do a headstand in the middle of the room and stay there for a little more than a minute. I'm pleased about that. I'll try to do one each day for a while I think. Yesterday in class we did a twisted head-to-knee pose (Janu Sirsasana) and I think I'll also try to do those for a while. It did great things for my side ribs.

Call a Spade a Spade, Why Don't Ya?

I hate props. In anything. Especially in yoga. I like to have my hands empty in life and on the mat. Heck, I don't even like to carry purses! Will I ever be a backpacker? Probably not. That would involve carrying my house on my back. The word "carry" is just not part of my vocabulary. I like to roam through life with my hands swinging free and unencumbered.

I'm only willing to use a strap in yoga because the one I have is cool and soft and just the right length and feels good on my bare feet. It's silk. And yeah, it's helpful at times. But I still only use it when I have to.

So today we were doing extended hand-to-toe pose (Utthita Hasta Padangustasana). Here's a photo. We were using straps to hold our feet up. I did fine standing on the left foot, which is weird because that's the foot that's been bothering me. But I simply could not find my balance on the right foot.

"You could move to a wall," YL said.

"Yes, but you know I'm too stubborn," I said.

"You could let your ego go," she said. (or something to that effect)

Argh. She's right. I do have an ego thing in yoga. I am more flexible and also have quite a bit of strength. When I am unable to do some pose, I'm not likely to admit it.

"You know I hate props," I said.

"Well, girlfriend," she said. "You might as well lose the strap then too!"

yeah yeah yeah. She's right.

DARNIT!

Cold Busters

Everyone has their own way of coping with colds. Copious amounts of orange juice, hot tea, water, chicken soup, over-the-counter-medications, sleep, etc.

I get bored. At least my taste buds do. I get tired of having my mouth taste like the bottom of a birdcage for days. Orange juice and birdcage taste don't really work for me as a winning combination. I like hot tea but there's the whole caffeine thing. And of course I put sugar in there. So between the sugar of the orange juice and the sugar AND caffeine in the tea, I end up feeling kind of worse. Chicken soup is good, but can be a bit dull on the tastebuds too.

I pretty much don't use any otc meds for colds unless I absolutely can't sleep at night. I've always ascribed to the theory that letting the cold run its' course is better than beating back some of the symptoms only to have them rage back worse than before. Sinus stuff is notorious for that.

I stopped using sinus stuff a couple of years ago when we got hooked on neti pots. We each have our own (mine is a special one...green ceramic...theirs are plain white boring ones). Here is a link on WebMD about them. My Dad has used salt water to clear his sinuses for as long as I can remember. But he puts table salt in his palm, adds water, and sniffs it up. That's waaaay more painful. I like to use sea salt in my neti pot. For some reason it seems to be milder on my nasal passages. Mensa Boy adds a little baking soda to his with the salt. But I think he still uses table salt. I use the neti pot whenever I'm stuffed up or if my nose is running and I feel like I'm sniffing a lot. I could be wrong, but I feel like I'd rather rinse that junk OUT than sniff it IN. So when I start sniffing, I do another rinse.

This time I've also taken to using a sinus rejuvenation oil that came with my pot. It was there in the box and I just never seemed to think I needed it before. Last night as I got ready for bed I decided to give it a try. BETTER THAN VICKS! The oil contains green myrtle, inula graveolens, rosemary verbenone, eucalyptus dives, peppermint, spike lavender. I don't know what the second stuff is, but I don't care. You just tip the bottle on your fingertip and then touch just inside each nostril with your finger. You get a menthol-type of feeling down your nasal passages at first. I was able to get to sleep quite well with my nose clear and unclogged. Drug free, too. The bottle says you can do it 3-4 times a day so I've done it each time I've used the neti pot today. The oil is by a company called Baraka, which is the company that made my neti pot.

I've also switched up the tea drinking. Instead of just black tea, I've been drinking some Yogi tea that Yogi Liz gave me yesterday. She gave me two teabags each of the Cold Season and Throat Comfort teas. The Throat Comfort tea is very nice, but I wouldn't say that there is anything that sets it apart from the Twinings herbal teas, which are less expensive. But the Cold Season tea...now that's a different story. The blend of cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and clove really give the tea a heat that helps with the bronchial and nasal discomfort. I liked that. But dang, that stuff is expensive. I seem to remember that it's about $7 a box! Another tea I like, that Yogi Liz also hooked me on, is Stash's chai green tea. This tea also has that winning combination of cinnamon, cardamom, clove and ginger, along with some other goodies.

So all this got me to thinking that it might be time to try the Yogi Tea recipe in the back of a Kundalini yoga book I've been reading. Here is the recipe:

• 2 quarts water
• 15 whole cloves
• 20 black peppercorns
• 3 sticks of cinnamon
• 20 whole cardamon pods (split the pods first)
• 8 fresh ginger slices (1/4" thick, no need to peel)
• 1/2 teaspoon regular or decaf black tea leaves (approximately 1 tea bag)
• Dairy or soy milk and honey or maple syrup to taste

Preparation:

Bring two quarts of water to a boil. Add cloves, cardamom, peppercorns, cinnamon, and ginger. Bring to a boil, then pull back the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, add black tea, and let cool. Strain and store in the refrigerator. Reheat when you want a cup and add milk and honey to taste.

This is great stuff! Whole cardamom can be hard to find. I buy mine from Penzey's online (because we don't have a store), but I'm thinking you could probably locate it in Indian or Asian grocery stores. Also, Yogi Liz suggests keeping the spices that you strain out. She makes another smaller batch with that as a way to stretch the bucks. I've put all but the ginger slices into an old Penzey's spice jar in the fridge.

So that's what I'm sipping as I write this. I think the black pepper really kicks this up to a whole new level of immunity-boosting. I don't add milk. I may try that. But I'll add it one cup at a time.

So. The soup. The chicken soup I've always made when someone has a cold has always been just run-of-the-mill. Simmer a bird, add onions, celery, carrots, bay, salt, pepper. Then add noodles or rice. blah blah blah. If your mouth already is bored, this soup, while good, is not really going to wake it up.

So I went back to the ginger. Mensa Boy hadn't gotten home with the ginger root for the tea yet, so I pulled out the minced, jarred ginger I have in the fridge. I whisked in a good heaping teaspoon-worth. Then I crushed up three big cloves of garlic and tossed in a pretty good-sized helping of red pepper flakes. I could actually TASTE this soup. This time we just poured it over basmati rice in our bowls. I didn't bother with the carrots and celery. I didn't hear any complaining!

So that's what I did today. Oh, and the sleeping. Lots of sleeping. And the cookies. Did I not mention the cookies? I end up munching on cookies periodically through the day when I have a cold. Birdcage-mouth, you know.