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!