Resolutions Revisited!

It is May!  Four months have passed.  I've been meaning to write this post for such a long time, but many things have happened since the thought first crossed my mind.  April has been an adventure to say the least, like spring in the midwest where winter and summer fight to win, not quite meeting in a happy middle.  A rollercoaster ride... But such is life.

I had been thinking about my resolutions and whether or not I was actually making the changes in my life that I had set out to do, and whether or not they have impacted me in positive ways. 

1.  Vermicomposting.  Worms still terrify me.  BUT, I am happy to say that my worms have survived the brutal shock of starting up in a new bin.  they are happy and creepy as ever, eating the organic waste and pooping out a fine rich compost.  I should probably be better about mixing the bin and giving the worms more sustenance than coffee grounds and egg shells.  other than that, they seem to be multiplying and making their slimy little noises.  I feel as though there is less trash that I take out so that is one thing I have been successful at keeping up. 

2.  Whole 30.  D and I did it once.  Will we do it again?  probably.  We felt great and it was such a great change of pace from our normal eating habits.  I learned a lot about myself and developed an appreciation for the foods I consumed. Honestly though, the moral of the story is always eat good food, in moderation.  When people complain about calorie in and calorie out, I am still struggling with how to explain to them that it's about the quality of the food you eat.  1000 calories of potato chips and soda do not equal 1000 calories of fruits and vegetables.  And the way your body metabolizes these foods is so different too.  Anyway, after those first 30 days of struggle and triumph, D and I have reverted to a diet similar to what we had been consuming before, except I have been snacking less and definitely eating more vegetables.  I am an overconsumer of chocolate and that has definitely blossomed after finding out that the local food co-op always seems to have chocolate sales..... (so bad but so good!!!!!)  We are thinking about repeating the whole30 challenge, especially since that now most of our hard set academic obligations are slowly melting away as the semester ends.  I know how I respond to certain foods, so I think the second time around will be much easier.  It'll give me a chance to expand my repertoire of cookin skills!  Overall, I would say that I learned a lot from the challenge, and the experiences I have learned are helping me guide the decisions I make about what I buy at the grocery store and how I think about my meals.

3.  Yoga.  I am still keeping up with this marvelous adventure.  Let me tell you, adopting yoga as a lifestyle has made such incredible changes in my life. How has yoga changed my life?  Let me count the ways.  I can feel myself getting stronger.  My core is getting stronger, and I can tell whenever I go run.  Returning to running has been slow going, but the short runs I've done have been awesome.  My body wants to go and it wants to go fast and feel the ground flying below me and I can to a degree.  Still gotta ramp up slowly so I don't injure.  Things are just not as big of a deal anymore.  I approach adversity with much more calm and composure (or i like to think that i do this) than before.  I mean, some days, I still fall back into my emotional ruts but I have found that I can manage my emotions much better.  I am happier.  I have met a stunningly amazing group of people who embrace thankfulness and mindfulness and befriend you without judgement because they believe that everyone is good and kind. Life is a celebration and being thankful for the life you have is a choice you can choose to make.  

4.  Languages.  I dropped the ball on this one (kind of).  Duolingo, sorry, but you've only captured my attention for a short two or so months, but my infatuation with you still comes and goes.  I finally enrolled in a basic medical Spanish extracurricular course which was a great experience.  While I have been bad and have not reviewed the vocabulary, I think just being re-exposed to Spanish and also being exposed to new medical vocabulary is a step in the right direction.  This summer, for sure-- I will review more medical Spanish. 

5.  Read more.  This is not a problem.  EVER. Reading is fun, writing takes more discipline than I have.  I've been reading a lot recently.  I recently finished My Stroke of Insight, The Alchemist, and some others that I guess haven't captivated my attention. Currently reading Cloud Atlas, Salt Sugar Fat, A Suitable Boy, and Uncommon Grounds.  All are very good so far, and I would say I read books similarly to how I enjoy foods:  A taste of every flavor makes my meal complete, eat regularly, and indulge in what is delicious.... as long as it's good. What I should have changed this to was WRITE MORE.  Maybe that way, my thesis will magically be completed.

So now that my resolutions have been revisited, what will I do?  probably keep on keeping on.... and write more. 

There's much adversity ahead of me (wah wah life is so hard blah blah blah) but after my recent adventures at the American Physician Scientists Association meeting, I was inspired to keep going.  Never give up.  Good things will happen.  Opportunity is knocking and I just have to go answer the door.  Work hard, live hard, strive for excellence.... and all that jazz.  Maybe 30 years from now, I'll be as happy and fulfilled with my life as all these people were.  But right now, I just have to keep my head up and keep moving forward.

Til next time, eat well be well and live well.

On Celebrations of Life and Death

A few days ago, I checked in with  myself to see how well I was adhering to my resolutions.  It is already April, 4 months into the year and it's spring.  I love spring because of what happens:  the cold of winter and the dead bareness of it suddenly seems to go away.  The sun is out, the days are longer, the flowers emerge, the trees shake themselves slowly awake and start presenting the softest of soft leaves to the sun.  Spring is also an interesting time of year, especially in an academic timeline.  Classes are winding down and students are suddenly aware that there is life outside of the library, and campus is suddenly bustling with activity.  Spirits lift and there is a renewed hope because of the liberty and heat that summer will bring. 

My spring has been dampened by a few things, one of which is the passing of my grandma. Two years ago, as trivial as it sounds, my mom's dog died suddenly.  Three years ago in May, my grandfather passed away.  When I found out about the death of my grandfather, I was heartbroken.  And it was even more heartbreaking to call my relatives over seas and to hear the grief in their voices.  I feel as though in the states, death is a solemn time and you grieve silently.  Other cultures express the passing and grief of loved ones in very different ways, through ceremony, vocalizing their grief, wailing, feasts, celebrating.  It was such a shock to me to suddenly be bombarded by the cries of my aunts and uncles and grandma, it drove me to tears.  When I heard about my dog's death, my mom called in hysterics and it had sounded like one of her children had died.  The thing about pets that make their going so heart wrenching is their unquestioning love and devotion to their families.  My dog was annoying and loud and quite a handful, but nobody would ever doubt that she held a special place in all of our hearts for all those years she was in our lives, dependent on our charity and love, the secret morsels of dinner we snuck to her, and all our hugs and kisses. 

Today, after hearing about my grandmother's passing, I felt strangely conflicted.  How do you  mourn someone you barely knew?  After 96 years (97 by the lunar calendar), death should be a celebration of life, shouldn't it?  I started writing a post years ago when my grandpa passed away and it was a list of things I had written, as a note to myself that life should be celebrated.  I remember starting the entry, and the tears wouldn't stop.  I couldn't write anything meaningful as if the words just refused to come out.  Articulating my thoughts and feelings were too hard, so the only thing I was capable of doing was making a list of things that were good in life.  After the explosions at the Boston marathon the other day, these things really made me wonder and think about what it means to be alive, what it means to be good and kind, and how we can live every day as a celebration of life. 

I am writing an open letter to my grandma.  I wonder if she'll understand it now that she's not in a place that's barred by language. 

Grandma,

I wish I could articulate the things that I feel in my head and my heart today.  You were a mystery to me.  I know so little about you besides the fact that you were born in 1917.  I can't even imagine what you have been through, your life and everything that's happened in it.  I have no idea what you looked like in your youth, what your hobbies were, and what you enjoyed eating or cooking.  Things have changed so much since then.  I don't even know when you first stepped on American soil and what you thought when you emerged in a country where you could not even begin to understand the language.  What was it like?  To uproot yourself and suddenly go from house to house, babysitting your grand children, your great grand children?  What was it like to not even be able to communicate with them? 

When we were little, I remember the days that you spent at our house.  We were reckless and messy, toys all over the house.  But you never said a negative word and patiently cleaned up after us.  I remember when you would meticulously cut and peel fruits for us to eat.  I was always so amazed at how sure your hands were with the sharpest knife in the house.  I remember your shoes.  They were always those cute SAS brand shoes.  And for some reason, someone (I don't remember who) told me you loved the red ones.  So you would go from beige shoes, to white, and back to beige, but you'd be happiest with the red ones.  Things seemed so simple back then.  When I saw your red shoes at the doorway, you might be home napping and I could come pull the blanket up to cover you.  Or you'd have a plate of pears, peeled and ready to be eaten.  Then there was a period of time where you disappeared, probably to be where your great grandchildren were.  Somehow, newborns and youth always bring a certain life and happiness to the elderly.  And I remember at one of our family events, they put one of your great-grand children into your arms and your face lite up.  The adoration, the happiness-- they truly are bundles of joy. And then there was a period of time when the grandkids all went to college.

Over the years, when you went into the assisted living/nursing home facility, I saw you less and less.  And sometimes, I felt like you didn't really know who I was.  But that was OK.  I would give you a hug and I'd tell you my name, and you would suddenly remember the stranger that was before you.  And every time I saw you, you'd always tell me that I've grown up so much, immediately followed by a question asking when I would get married and have kids so she could hold my children.  That was when I would laugh awkwardly and distract you with the cookies and snacks I'd pick up on the way.  Someone told me you loved the Asian crackers with the little bits of sea weed baked into them.  I love them too.  They were crunchy without being offensively crunchy, they were sweet.... not offensively sweet, but delicately sweet like the way life should always be.  Sometimes I'd bring you the shelled chestnuts and we'd tear through the bag.  The funniest time was when you insisted on feeding me the chestnuts even though I had a handful of my own.  So we laughed and fed each other peeled chestnuts. 

I'm not sure when you went from being able to walk to using a cane to being wheelchair bound, but I guess it's the same way that I'm not sure when you went from having greying hair to a soft fluff of white on your head.  I KNOW you didn't have curly hair, so someone out there carefully permed it every so often and it was cute that you'd show up to family functions rocking your red SAS shoes and a neon pink dress suit or outfit, with your makeup carefully done by maybe one of the aunts.  I loved the pink or bright red lipstick that you wore.  Sometimes I wondered if you applied it yourself or if you chose the color and someone else applied it for you.  Always showing up in fashion.  Always smiling.  Always present.  I remember someone telling me that you had said your time was limited and that you wanted to spend time in everyone's household this year.  But I guess time was not gracious enough to allow you that. 

You were always there in our thoughts, and I think that you will continue to be there.  We exchanged a handful of words.  Language barriers are awful, but somewhere deep down, we understood each other and we communicated well enough.  It's strange to think that I have only known you for a fraction of your life, considering how long I FEEL like I have been around.  I wish I had known more about you and your life, but sometimes I don't need to know. I like it better thinking that I can imagine you in my mind as a bright and smiling youth, growing up to be a bright and smiling woman, growing up to see your children become adults, growing up to be a bright and smiling grandmother, holding your grandchildren--so full of potential, eventually growing up to be a bright and smiling great grandmother, leaving a legacy of change and adaptation, strength and happiness.  I don't know that I would have been as close to my cousins or seen aunts and uncles as often as we did if you hadn't been around to be the common denominator and the glue bringing us all together.  And again, in your passing,  you bring so many people together again.  I hope that maybe the gripes and grudges of the past might finally be let go so that we can honor you and your life in the way we remembered it to be. 

I am carefully crafting a beautiful life for you in my head.  The trials and tribulations are there, but what comes of it is a story of a family-- one that is continuing and will continue. 

Thank you, Grandma.  You have touched the lives of so many people.  May you rest in peace.

strange.

do you ever appear to be like a calm pool of water.... but you're a roiling mess of turmoil beneath the surface? 

how do you calm the turmoil?

maybe another piece of chocolate.  

Ashtanga Tuesday

It never fails to disappoint.  It's awesome to see improvement every week.  It's only been like, 6 weeks since joining the new studio and I've seen so much improvement already.  I've been having some trouble with my knee so it was easy to modify poses so that I didn't stress out my joints too much.   It's surprising though, to see how yoga has become a lifestyle, and that the people I am surrounded by in the studio are just so calm and at peace.  They are MINDFUL.   That mentality is what has been missing for so many years throughout my training as a researcher.  Being able to meditate on your problems and to step back and observe the bigger picture, to be able to remove yourself is a good thing.  Academics can seriously benefit from practicing yoga.  I wish more people would be open to trying it and entering the practice without bias and insecurity.  Yes, it's difficult, and yes, it's scary but it just takes practice, patience with yourself, and an open mind and dedication just like any other thing in life. 

It amazes me when people hold so many assumptions about yoga-- especially about personal injury and the dangers of it.  This article in the new york times came out last year:  how yoga can wreck your body (click to go to article).  I can see how yoga can wreck your body, but that is a problem of the ego.  It shouldn't be a problem of the practice.  One thing that practicing yoga has helped me to better understand was to more closely listen to my body.  To practice without ego and to hear what your body is telling you is so important.  The best way to injure yourself is to force your body into a pose when you aren't ready physically or mentally, to ignore the sharp shooting pain or to ignore your breath and your muscles.  You injure when you practice carelessly and when you push beyond your abilities.  But that's the case for anything.  Running-  you injure yourself when you push faster than your body can handle (i am guilty of this), without proper training and form you can injure your knees, ankles, hip, back.  Cycling- low impact, but again, you can injure yourself when you push faster than your body can handle.  your knees are so sensitive to repetitive motion, impact, and use and to abuse them because of an ego just seems silly and unnecessary. Any sport.  Swimming, gymnastics, soccer, wrestling, you're prone to injury.  Hell.  you're prone to injuring yourself when you're walking down the stairs, getting in your car, walking down the hallway, wearing heels, sitting in chairs too long, working at a keyboard. 

But anyway, lets be mindful.  lets practice with with an open heart and lets be happy and content with life and all its intricacies. 

Whole 30 Reflections

It's been a bit since I completed the challenge, and what has happened? (this might get long)

1.  This is the first time in 3 years that I am back down to my pre surgery weight.  I've lost over 10 lb during the challenge.  I used to run a LOT.  then had surgery on my ankle.  and couldn't run for almost an entire year.  I was depressed, gained 15 lb, and could barely fit into my clothes.  When i was able to run again, I did it with gusto but continued to eat immensely.   three years later, I still had only shaved off 5 lb of the surgery weight.  Even when training for the marathons, I never reached my pre surg weight despite running 30+ miles a week.  I felt great, but I thought I had settled into my new "normal weight" and lived with it.  After the challenge, I practice yoga more frequently, don't run nearly as much due to some tendinitis but i'm more careful about what i put in my body. 

2.  I felt good.  My sleeping seems to have improved.  I still have some trouble staying asleep the whole night, but there have been improvements in the quality of the sleep I got.  I woke up less tired and was actually able to get out of bed and start my day with less agony.

3.  I was not as tired.  The 2 oclock afternoon slump reminds me of those 5 hr energy commercials.  And I used to hit it hard.  The lab would frequent the local coffee shop and we'd all go for our mid afternoon pick me up coffee break.  During the challenge, I didn't have to do this.  2 oclock coasted by with no problem, 3 oclock coasted by with no problem, and I found myself also cutting back on coffee.  My morning coffee is a habit.  It's a part of my routine.  Whether or not i actually finish my coffee depends on how deliciously it is made.  On a normal day, I would have my coffee in the morning.  Maybe one with lunch, and of course the obligatory afternoon coffee break.  I gave myself a limit, however-- no coffee after 5 pm.  I have enough trouble sleeping as it is.  That rule helped me sleep.  But with the challenge, I would make my morning coffee.  It would become unpleasantly cold before I could finish it.  I might have some coffee with lunch.  Again, it would become unpleasantly cold before i could finish it.  and if i ventured for an afternoon coffee, I would hardly touch it.  I found that drinking the afternoon coffee made my uncomfortably jittery so I would just use this opportunity as an excuse to socialize.   I still enjoy my coffee, but it's become more of a ritualistic gesture of a former life than a necessity. 

4.  I was not hungry.  Even though I didn't snack, I never felt the desire to snack.  I used to reach into my snack drawer and grab something to munch oh, but I found that i didn't need to.  Our conference room was always loaded with cookies and chips and brownies but I had no desire to eat it.  It was easy for me to just say no.  there was no craving to eat things.  But when i ate,  I thoroughly enjoyed every bite of what i ate. 

5.  I felt happier and more stable.  Maybe it was because i wasn't hitting the hangry lows and maybe because I actively made yoga an integral part of my life, who knows.  But something was working. 

6.  I saved a lot of money by not going out and not drinking.  need i say  more?


So what am i going to do now?


My first weekend liberated of the challenge has been almost shameful in acts of gluttony!  I celebrated with wine, cheese and a chocolate.  decadent.  I probably overdid it with the mega deluxe chipwich ice cream cookie sandwich.  and felt sick to my stomach for the entire night.  yeah.  lets not do that again.

I think some lasting changes will be cutting down significantly on refined sugar and processed foods.  I won't make an effort to make it 100% cut out sugar because that just seems sinful, but I will probably not go out of my way to purchase those kinds of processed foods.

I am eating A LOT more vegetables and fruits.  i think that is a good thing to continue.

I am not eating breads and gluten containing foods as often.  I never really ate bread to begin with, so it wasn't really much of a big change for me.  Even with pastas, I'd only eat them on occasion.  So that probably won't change much.

I will cut down on the meats.  It's too hard eating that much meat.  I haven't found an appropriate protein source to replace all the meats.  I can't decide if i'll go back to all pescatarian or if i'll occasionally indulge in the warm blooded. 

I haven't been smart about reintroducing things into my diet, but i have sneaking suspicions that peanuts and yogurt do not agree with my body.  i'll have to continue exploring this.  I've also noticed that my mood has been dropping since the end of the challenge but I'm not sure if this is because of the change of foods i've been putting in my body or due to external things or both.  So I should stay mindful about these things.

All in all, the challenge was a great experience.  It was fun and I learned a lot.  Would i do it again?  maybe.  if i had a chunk of time to dedicate to really doing it right.  :-)

til next time. 

Day 30--CHALLENGE COMPLETED!

today= last day of the challenge. 

A recap will follow shortly. 

Tomorrow, I'm excited to enjoy a piece of chocolate.  I'm excited to teach, I'm excited to yoga, and I'm excited for photos.  I'm excited for a LOT of things. 

life is good.  it is very good. 

Day 29 of 30- Gyros!

Tomorrow is already the last day of the challenge.  I remember thinking on the 3rd of 4th day, "OMGGGGGG THIS IS GOING TO BE THE LONGEST 30 DAYS OF MY LIFE" and agonizing over the foods I wouldn't be able to eat.  I stressed about my meals and what I'd make and if I'd feel full and if I'd feel gross after eating so much meat.  There was a turning point some time after the 10 day mark.  I'm not sure what happened.  Maybe my cooking got better.  Maybe i stopped thinking about things I couldn't eat and started thinking about things I WANTED to make and try!  I think that might have been it.  Recently, I rediscovered EVEN MORE delicious sounding recipes and it made me consider making it a WHOLE 31! or 32.... or 33....... and then I decided, no.  I'll just keep to what works for me and reintroduce and see how that goes.  I know I definitely won't be going back to my previous ways of eating.  I'll be more aware of the foods I put in my body, and I think I have become better at creating in the kitchen, on my feet, on the go, with limited ingredients.  With so many things you can't eat, there's so much you can do to make what you CAN eat infinitely better. 

I love food, and all the flavors of it.  and this challenge really has helped me realize that food in it's most beautiful and unadulterated state can and is amazingly delicious.

My most recent kitchen endeavor has been to make gyros.  I had leftover ground lamb and beef from the shepherd's pie, and I didn't really know what to do with it.  The magical thought of gyros crossed my mind and I immediately banished those thoughts from my mind because I was somehow under the impression that they were IMPOSSIBLE to make!!  But, I looked it up and found that it was actually really reasonable.  on a whim, at 11pm last night, i decided to make it. 

Gyros

Ingredients

Ground lamb (1/2 lb)
Ground beef (1/2 lb)
2 cloves garlic chopped
garlic powder
crushed rosemary
thyme
salt
pepper

1.  Preheat the oven to 350F. 
2.  Knead the meat and warm it up a little, adding the chopped garlic.  (it helps if you break it up into smaller pieces of meat and knead them separately before mashing them all together)
3.  Add the garlic powder, crushed rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper and continue kneading until the spices are mixed in well (I didn't measure these, but I would approximate 1/2 t salt, 1/2 t pepper, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp rosemary and 1/2 tsp thyme.  Next time I make it, i'm definitely doubling the spices and adding more salt.).
4.  Take the ball of meat and throw it firmly on the counter top/cutting board for about 10 minutes.  Somehow, doing this helps create the proper texture.  They say it makes the fats break down?  I don't know, but it worked.
5.  After tossing the meat, pat into a tight ball and flatten slightly to compress into a miniature dense loaf.  Some people may want to take a rolling pin and press it further.  Mine wasn't too big so i just kept it the way it was.  you don't want it to be thicker than about 2-3 in deep. 
6.  Bake in a baking dish (I used a greased 9x11 loaf pan) for ~1hr

Test the meat with a meat thermometer to make sure the inside gets to at least 160F to make sure that the meat is thoroughly cooked and safe.  After you take it out of the oven, let it rest for about 10 minutes or so before slicing into fine strips.

Wooooo out of the oven!

It smelled SO fantastic out of the oven. There was a delicious dark coat and the juices spilled out of the loaf, it seemed wasteful to throw it away.  I snuck a few tastes of the gyros and it was so yummy.  Zorbas in my mouth FTW.  Gyro dinner was a couple slices of gyro, sardines in olive oil, olives, and shredded raw brussels sprouts salad with lemon garlic aioli.  Delicious.  Dessert was coconut date bars from the co-op.  again, delicious :-) 

Tomorrow is the 30th day.  WHAT DO I DO!?!?!?!/

I know that on Saturday morning, I will eat a standard breakfast.  and subsequently enjoy a glass of wine and a frango chocoalte.  That's about as far ahead as I have planned.  and i can't wait :-)

til next time, eat well and be well!

Day 28 of 30- Baba ganoush

I don't know how nature does this, but massive temperature swings have been a fantastically recurring theme this year.  Yesterday was in the 60's.  Today's high was at 10:05AM at 53F, and tonight's low will be 18F.  not cool.  COLD. FREEZING COLD.  This makes preparing to bike a nightmare.  Dressing for the 50's is very different than dressing for the 10's in terms of temperature. OH WELL.  gotta deal with it.

My roommate just told me about the most AMAZING THING ever.  LEGO kits to understand transcription, translation, DNA replication, protein folding..... EVERYTHING!  omg.  THANKS MIT for your brilliant minds.  check this out HERE .  I seriously wish that i had this growing up as a kid.  It would have been so fun to play with in science class and it would have been such an easy and fun way to learn the basics.

Today is a simple and delicious recipe.  I've greatly  missed having hummus and dips and stuff in my life, so baba ganoush is the next best thing :-)  Tahini is still a debatable ingredient, and I think it adds a fantastic layer of flavor.

Baba ganoush

Ingredients

1 large eggplant (try to get the narrower ones) or 2 japanese eggplants
2 T tahini
1 lemon's worth of juice
olive oil
salt
pepper

1.  Cut eggplant in half and roast in the oven 375F, cut side up until eggplant is tender.  Broil briefly to get the nice charred and smoky flavor
2.  When the eggplant is fully cooked, scoop out of the skin and place in food processor
3.  Squeeze in the lemon juice and scoop in the tahini and a drizzle of oil

Next time, I would also roast some garlic and toss those in.  and maybe some olives too for MORE FLAVOR!!!!  Overall, I'm happy with this.  the texture isn't quite the same as hummus, but whatever.  It is a fabulous substitute AND delicious with almost anything!  I dip carrots in it, pour it over my cauli rice, scoop it directly into my mouth and all that jazz :-)

Two more days until i can enjoy my wine and frango chocolate.  Two more days of culinary adventure :-)

til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!!!

Day 27 of 30- Almond Crusted Salmon

IT'S ASHTANGA TUESDAY!  It was in the 60s today in JANUARY..... wtf global warming??  Never the less, it was kind of a grumpy Tuesday.  They've been working on the building I work in and today was exceptionally terrible.  Jackhammering and banging and drilling on the roof just above our desks.  Since we work on the top floor, there's little to buffer us from the loud noises.  It was like some terrible conditioning experiment.  Everyone in the lab was so grumpy and irritable. But of course, there was relief come the lunch hour and then again at 5. Thank goodness for the predictability of union workers...... i guess.

To distance myself from the stressors of every day living, of course it was yoga time.  Today we did our sun As and Bs largely unguided, making us really pay attention to our breath, even inhales, even exhales, matching breath with motion.  inhale, exhale, practicing our ujjayi breath.  I would say that I have seen significant improvement since my first class.  And it's so awesome to see that work put in = results out.  There are so few things in research that actually improve the more you work on it.  It sucks that so much of it is chance, luck, and the stars aligning as pigs fly.

I noticed that I really struggle with some of the poses that involve stretching the quads.  My knees just don't bend that way and my muscle groups just get in the way.  Pulling gastroc out of the way to make room for my hamstrings just isn't enough.  All that running has made my long leg muscles super tight.  And while I may have some strength and stability, I definitely lack the length of muscle and flexibility.  THAT is something I would very much love to improve on.  I can already tell that over the past weeks, my hamstrings are less tight and my shoulders and torso are also more limber.  I found myself getting into binds that I couldn't do last week, and it felt like i had just passed a level onto the next.  so fun.  I'm really digging this new lifestyle.

Recently, I feel like I have been consuming WAY too much meat in the past week.  I think it was because my meals were very red meat heavy and for the life of me, I STILL do not and cannot enjoy beef unless it's doused in some ridiculously delicious sauce or deep fried and still doused in some ridiculously delicious sauce.  I don't like the texture.  I don't like the taste.  I really don't like steaks, but for some reason i endured it.  Gosh, no wonder i just stopped eating red meat all those years ago.   Today was mostly a non warm blooded animal kind of day and I was grateful.  I feel much lighter after eating a meat free lunch and enjoying a hearty salmon for dinner.  I'm definitely cutting back down on the meat consumption after this challenge is over.  It's too hard to spend all that effort digesting animal proteins.  This recipe i'm putting up will be modified from what I actually made.  I attempted to make almond milk over the weekend which means you just blend a ton of almonds and squeeze out all that is delicious then you're just left with the fibrous remains of what used to be delicious almonds.  I tried to dry the crushed almond remains and convert that to vanilla bean flavored almond butter but failed miserably.  It tasted great, but it was just missing all that lovely white flesh.  I decided to use this semi fibrous gritty almond mashed paste thing to coat my salmon and it turned out fantastic. 

Almond Crusted Salmon

Ingredients
Salmon filet
handful of crushed almonds, ideally lightly salted and toasted
salt
pepper
oil

1.  Rub the salmon with oil and sprinke lightly with salt and pepper
2.  Press the salmon into the crushed toasted almond mix unti you get a wonderful coating of nuts.  I would probably try to put on as many almonds as possible.  In my case, i just scooped a ton of the weird paste and caked it on the salmon.
3.  Bake at 425 for 15 min, making sure that the almonds don't burn
4.  Quickly broil the fish to get the nuts nice and toasted (i had to broil mine a lot to get the paste to be toasty and crispy)
5.  Serve with generous helping of veggies

looks uggo, but so delicious!!

I had my salmon with cubed sweet potatoes that i cooked up in my skillet with some brussels sprouts and fennel with a handful of grape tomatoes.  Loved the colors.  Loved the flavors.  Loved the textures.  And it was super filling and delicious.  I love food and all the flavors of it.

til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!

Day 26 of 30 - Squash and Crab Bisque

Today was an indulgent day of eating.  I guess I still can't help myself when there's such delicious food in front of me.  I had leftover shepherd's pie and I made this fabulous Squash and Crab Bisque..... definitely went for seconds with the soup.  definitely didn't need that second bowl.  but...... definitely worth it. 

I neglected yoga all weekend because of unforseen circumstances.  This week threatened to prevent me from going to class, but after some coaxing and finagling, I am having my cake and eating it too.  Today was hatha monday.  I'm not used to hatha so i was really nervous.  It was challenging to hold poses for longer than i was used to, not to mention i haven't quite broken in the new mat yet so it's still a little slippery.  Makes the jump ups a *little* tricky with the looming threat of slipping.  I got a fantastic workout just trying to maintain good form in downward facing dog.  Today's class was based on concentration.  Concentration in your practice, focus in your practice.  We did a lot of balances, focusing on a single point, used that focus to drive our bodies to practice something a little different in our transitions. 

One thing that really struck me was the way your body has preferences.  The way you cross your arms-- is it right arm on top or left arm over?  The way you cross your legs, the way you clasp your hands, flexibility in your shoulders, open-ness of your hips.  The instructor asked us to cross our legs the opposite way to have equal opening, practicing with our legs crossed one way and making sure to do the same with our legs crossed the other way, the same for the clasping of our hands.  It brought a lot of attention to the way certain things felt so unnatural one way, and natural the other way, and it really made me think about the asymmetry in our bodies.  I appreciated the balance in the practice, between theory, learning, and movement as well as the way we tried to concentrate on our bodies and it's symmetry or asymmetry.

foggy ride home

I've been at this new studio for less than a month, and it already feels like I've found such a great new home.  I love the people there, and it's been so warm and welcoming.  And of course, warm and welcoming was the theme of today's dinner.  It was a warm and balmy mid 50's today.  96% humidity = relatively dense fog.  i LOVE fog.  it is so romantic.  and beautiful.  and leaves you alone with your emotions and thoughts.  just you, your heart, your mind, and the fog.  I think the humidity really got to me though, because despite the high temperatures, I was still chilled to the bone.  Hence, the soup.

Squash and Crab Bisque

Ingredients
8oz crab meat
1 largeish acorn squash (any delicious squash here will do, actually)
1 med onion
3 stalks celery
1-1 1/2 c chopped carrots
3-4 c vegetable broth (or chicken broth or home made broth)
1 c coconut milk
1 1/2 T ghee
salt
pepper
water

1.  Preheat the oven to 375F.  Cut squash in half and place in a baking dish with 1/2 inch of water, cut side down and place in the oven.  Bake until the squash is tender to fork.
2.  While the squash is baking, chop the onion, celery and carrots and sautee in ghee until the onions are translucent
3.  When the vegetables are fully cooked, add the broth and simmer for ~15 min then take off the heat.
4.  When the squash is done cooking, scoop the flesh out from the skin and place in soup. 
5.  Blend the soup in batches until it reaches a consistency that you like
6.  Add cocnut milk and crab chunks and simmer briefly.  Salt and pepper to taste

so delicious!

I'm really excited about this soup.  It's really simple but it'll be easy to jazz up with any spices or to have with a salad or cauliflower rice.  This pot comfortably made about 6 servings.  I think I probably had 2 of those 6 servings today. oh well.  :-)

til next time, eat well and be well.

Day 25 of 30- Sweet Potato Shepherd's pie

Winters are so dreary sometimes.  Yesterday was a beautiful and sunny day.  Fiona's boyfriend came by and napped on the deck, curled up in a scruffy ball of cream colored fur.  today..... it was cold and wet and humid, the kind of cold that chills you to the bone, where even the hottest soups and the spiciest foods won't warm you up. I have no idea how the cats survive outside on gross days like today, or really cold days like earlier in the week.

Anyway, yesterday was so fantastic, and the thought of the warm sunny saturday afternoon's activities warmed me up.  A friend of mine from the program recently gave birth to a cute little baby girl.  My photography partner in crime and I went over to her apartment to take some cute photos of the 2 mo old baby, and it was tons of fun.  I have no idea how the couple do it, barely sleeping, trying to figure out what each of the baby's cries and sounds mean.  Complete mystery to me, but all cries, diaper changes, and fussing aside, baby K is cute as a button.  I look forward to taking some family photos out in the park when it gets warmer out :-)  picnic style!

cute little baby K :-)

It's been a while since I did a shoot, so this was a great breath of fresh air.  Babies are also a new photo subject, so that was a  new and exciting challenge. 

Today's recipe is a modified shepherd's pie, with a sweet potato crust.  It is so earthy, filling, warm, sweet and delicious.  The perfect combination of sweet, savory, and delicious.

Shepherd's pie with sweet potato

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground lamb (from the local farm!)
1/2 lb ground beef (we saw that ground grass fed beef was like, not THAT much  more expensive than whatever ground beef they sell at the grocer)
1 large leek
1 med onion
large handful mushrooms
1/2 green bell pepper
carrots
celery
1/2 c vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk
2 medium sized sweet potatos
salt
pepper
rosemary
parseley
thyme

1.  Chop the sweet potato into small sized chunks and roast in the oven until tender (set oven to 350 or 400 and turn down to 350 when baking the assembled dish)
2.  While the sweet potato is baking, chop the vegetables.
3.  Mix the ground lamb with the beef and season with salt and pepper, rosemary and thyme and some parseley
4.  Heat a big skillet/frying pan with some ghee and cook the meat until fully cooked.
5.  Toss in the vegetables and sautee with the meat until fully cooked.
6.  Add in the chicken broth and half the can of coconut milk and simmer with the vegetables until some of the liquids boil off.  Move the meat and vegetables to a glass baking dish until the mash is prepared
7.  When the sweet potatoes are fully cooked, process them in the food processor with a splash of broth and the remaining can of coconut milk.  Season with salt and pepper
8.  Scoop the sweet potato mash over the meat and vegetables in a nice layer and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes
9.  Set the oven to broil and broil on high for another 10 minutes

Serve:

A hot messy mash of veggies meat and potatos

I'm trying not to let days like today get me down.  I had an entire weekend devoid of yoga, and it's strange how down i feel.  I'm trying to find a happier place in my  mind and looking forward to hot summer nights when I look to the sky while biking home and see the sky like this:

Til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!

Day 22, 23 and 24 of 30- Garlic and lemon aioli

Less than a week to go.  On Feb 2, I will be free to reintroduce foods into my diet again.  Exciting!

It's been a couple days since my last post-- it's been kind of a crazy couple days mostly because it was my birthday :-)  and I had too much fun celebrating and being surrounded by amazing people.  I was so impressed by the thoughtfulness of people.  awesomely notable gifts would be the orchids my parents sent me, many thanks to D for picking them up from the flower shop!!! and the secret package my dad sent (a super cute HOT pink wallet, with a nostalgic and embarrassing photo of me haha) and this awesome yoga anatomy book from D.  It was truly a trifecta of awesome:  Yoga, Anatomy, and BOOKs!  It's so cool to know what muscles are involved in each pose, the way you can engage certain groups, and with my basic anatomy knowledge, seriously, best idea ever!  I'll know my poses inside and out :-)  Lastly, I can't even express the kind of joy that washed over me when this last gift was handed to me.

I had been eyeing this awesomely cute new Manduka yoga mat.  It was a beautiful light blue/turquoise, and it called out to me almost every day.  Who knows how many times I'd look at the bin before and after class to make sure it was there and silently and not silently telling myself that as a gift to myself, I'd get myself a new mat.  I was SO EXCITED to buy it.  But before i could get to it, my amazing yogi friend Kat had gotten her hands on it first.  She reached behind the counter and pulled out a monster pink tissue paper wrapped gift and was like, happy birthday!  I was so overwhlemed when I saw that she got me the mat!!!!!!!!  So much so i nearly cried.  I'm such a baby sometimes.  Apparently there had been a whole plan to get me to notice that the mat was missing from the bin and they wanted me to be sad about someone buying it and then i would have been presented with the mat.  I was planning on looking for it and buying it after class, but this surprise was so awesome.  And from afar, I got a cute little bag from two very very amazing people M and J. It's like the perfect size to fit my camera + lenses and I'm so excited to take it around with me.  I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many thoughtful and caring people, it really made my day.  I'm excited to grow inside and out and I really hope that this year brings a lot of great things.

my new baby :-)

I hope that I can return all the thanks and gratitude in more ways than one, and make everyone's day a little brighter just as everyone makes mine a little brighter! 

I haven't been cooking as many exciting and involved dishes, they mostly have been quick stir frys and salads.  But this week, I am going on a culinary adventure:  making almond milk, shepherd's pie, and beet salads. 

D and I went out for a birthday dinner to one of the local restaurants.  They focus heavily on locally grown and organic goods, and we found that their menu was very amenable to our challenge. One thing they also did fantastically well was help us realize that O.M.G...... there are OTHER WAYS to cook and eat our food!  Some inspiring things were fried Brussels sprouts with a white truffle and lemon aioli, beet salad, root vegetable mash (since mashed white potatoes are a no go, i think roasted root vegetables are AOK), and just getting even more creative with how we eat and present our foods.  Of course this isn't the best time saving method, but I am sure that once in a while, cooking fancy and trying new things is fun.

So here's to new tastes, trials, and tribulations in the kitchen.

Dinner today was awesomely fantastic:  shepherd's pie, beet and fennel salad with garlic and lemon aioli.  The co-op carried some beets, and I grabbed a bunch of normal red ones and then a mystery beet. When i cut it open, it was just such a beautiful work of art!  I don't even know what kind of beet this is, but it was such a decadent treat for my eyes :-)

Beautiful Beets!

Beets with fennel!

Garlic and lemon aioli

2 cloves garlic
1 large egg yolk (warmed to room temp)
1T fresh lemon juice (about all the juice from half a lemon is good)
1/4 c olive oil
3T vegetable oil
1t whole seed mustard

1.  Chop and crush garlic with a sprinkle of salt
2.  Whisked the egg yolk with mustard and lemon juice until it becomes a thick consistency
3.  slowly drizzle in the oil, not letting it separate
4.  When completely whisked and a nice thick consistency, add the garlic.  Add salt and lemon to taste

delicious aioli!

We wanted ours to be more lemony, so we ended up adding a LOT more lemon juice, and a dash more salt.  I had truffle salt laying around so i was sure to use that the entire time.

It was FANTASTIC.  like, BETTER than what we had at dinner on thursday.  I just wish we had some brussels sprouts to fry up and eat with it!  There's so much i want to write about, but i'll have to save it for another day :-)

til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!!!

Day 21 of 30- Broccoli beef stirfry

Many exciting things happened today.  Namely-- an awesome pharmacogenomics workshop for a wonderful collaboration that the university has with the mayo clinic.  I really hope that something awesome comes of this for the medical students especially!  We have great ideas and we are probably the best equipped to be thrown into the clinical arena with research expertise!   I loved how enthusiastically the physicians and researchers visiting from Mayo wanted to collaborate.  It was such a breath of fresh air to see scientifically minded people actually willing to share their overly abundant mountain of knowledge and resources with those who have the ability to help.  So inspiring.  Times like these rekindle my love and joy for science and medicine together.  After the Individualizing Medicine conference back in October, I really felt inspired and excited.  That tapered off relatively quickly as various obligations took over my mind, but having them come and visit again was really a great way to jump start and refuel the love of learning.

After all this excitement, I felt like I had to try something new-- with my newly acquired coconut aminos!!!!  I had been trying so hard to try and do asian type dishes without the use of soy sauces or sesame oil.  Coconut aminos seem to be the next closest thing, and I found that the Co-op carries a nice and reasonably priced bottle of it!  yay!  WIN.  Today, we experimented with vegetables.  It was a fantastically tasty and quick dish to whip up, espeically with the superb pork roast of crispy carnitas to throw in with the veggies and to soak up the sauce.

Broccoli with meat (sorry for the gross sounding dish name)

Ingredients

1 medium crown of broccoli
1 small onion
large handful of mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
coconut aminos
pepper

1.  chop the vegetables into desired sized pieces.
2.  In a deep frying pan, add some water and heat to boiling and toss in the broccoli and garlic to quickly cook and steam.
3.  Throw in the mushrooms and onions and season with pepper and coconut aminos.  You don't need much of the aminos, two hefty splashes were enough flavor for me.
4.  Add crispy carnitas.

If you are going to cook a meat separately, say, beef!  You can slice the beef into thin strips and cook them up with some aminos and pepper and add them to the cooked veggies.  I might have to try this variation at some point.  The meat that the co-op carries has been so fantastic, it's a shame I haven't tried more cuts yet.

til next time, eat well and be well!!!!  especially be well in this cold. 

Day 20 of 30

2/3 of the way ALREADY!  It feels like I just started the challenge not too long ago and it's already zipping by so fast.  It's funny how my attitude towards this new lifestyle has changed so dramatically.  I dreaded the days in the first week, and I resented not being able to eat what I wanted to eat, but now.... it doesn't matter.  I feel really good inside and out, and I know for a fact that my mood has just been significantly more stable despite external stimuli.

I used to go through these crazy ups and downs and my emotional landscape was like an unexplored minefield.  Part of it had to do with my hunger and low blood sugar and just busy days and a lot of stress, and part of it had to do with personal things that affected me in many negative ways.  I felt like it was a crushing burden, and sometimes it still feels that way, but I think with the combination of the whole 30 challenge + the adoption of a yogic lifestyle, I have found that I can manage my demons a little better.

Today is a day of reflection.  I enjoyed my casserole, tossed in a little bit of the crispy carnitas and warmed it up.  Munched on some deliciously sweet bell peppers and tomatoes and topped off my meal with a satisfying small handful of sweet sweet grapes.  The flavors of food.  The textures of food.  It's amazing how much we miss all of it when it's buried under all those artificial sweeteners and preservatives, when it's so processed you can't even pronounce half the ingredients.  I definitely have a new found appreciation for what makes those natural life giving calories so delicious.  I'm curious to see how my taste buds will react when I crack open that box of Frango dark chocolate mint that I've left on the counter since the new year.  I'm curious to know if I will relish the sweet semi bitterness of the chocolate and bask in the sugary goodness of the morsel, or if I'll be overwhelmed by the sweetness and immediately feel sick to my stomach.  hm.  maybe I should wait on that.  I don't want to ruin my return to chocolate!

So on this ridiculously cold day, I wish you all a warm night-- a soft fluffy kitty by your side, a huge warm all enveloping down comforter, or a person you can cuddle up with to keep each other warm.

til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!

Day 19 of 30- Spicy Chicken casserole

Today's weather was outrageously cold.  It's amazing how things can survive in such cold weather.  Checked on the worms and they are chillin with some moldy friends.  I didn't realize i had to cover them with some dirt and stuff that doesn't generally  mold to prevent that from happening.  so far, i hope things are ok?

Only time will tell!

Today's recipe is a bulk meal item for the rest of the week.  D made some crispy carnitas and we did a food exchange of two meal's equivalents.  I'm excited.  the crispy carnitas are delicious and the chicken casserole is spicy and filling.

Chicken casserole

Ingredients
Chicken breast (sliced into 1in cubes)
1 large sweet potato
2 carrots
large handful mushrooms
1 onion
1/2 can coconut milk
1/2 c chicken broth

paprika
garam masala
chipotle chile powder
cayenne
garlic powder
salt
black pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.  Chop the sweet potato, onion, carrots, and mushrooms.
2.  Rub chicken breast with paprika, chipotle chile powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper.  When oven is preheated, bake the seasoned chicken for 10 min in a large glass baking pan.
3.  while the chicken is baking, heat fat in a large skillet/frying pan and cook the chopped vegetables until mostly tender, adding paprika, garam masala, chipotle chile powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and salt to taste.  Add chicken broth and milk when vegetables are done.
4.  Add the vegetables in coconut milk and broth to to the chicken and bake at 400F for an additional 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and chicken is thoroughly cooked.

This is pretty spicy mostly because I tend not to measure spices and herbs when i cook.  I think i might have over done it with the chipotle and the cayenne, but it has some good heat to it that would go really well with some cauliflower rice.  I'm excited to have this for dinner because it's also a pretty flexible dish that can be adjusted to be tasty in any number of ways.

til  next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!

Day 17 and 18 of 30- Chorizo boats

so two things for this weekend's post:  1.WORMS! I got a split of worms today!  Vermicomposting begins..... TODAY!  and 2.  INVERSION WORKSHOP!!!! awesomeeeee!

so remember back in early January, I wrote about my resolutions?  vermicomposting was one of them.  I am terrified of worms, but I felt a great desire to become a hippie this year, pursuing things such as yoga and composting.  but not just composting, vermicomposting!  so yeah. worms are gross.  But my friend Kat (click to see her blog) had a fantastically ready to split bin of worms.  we sorted through her super rich bin of digested materials and picked out some worms and partially composted materials and i scored a great handful of worms to start my own bucket.

It was amazing how rich and beautiful the dirt was.  You would also think that since it was just a ton of cardboard egg cartons, coffee grounds, fruit and veggie peels and egg shells, that it would smell really gross, but actually there was no smell at all.  if anything, you just got a really nice rich and mildly peaty smell coming from the pile of dirt on the ground.  As for the worms, armed with two plastic bags covering my arms, i managed to sort through clumps and handle the worms with relative ease.  Mind you, i have been mentally preparing for like, months.  haha.  anyway, I finally FINALLY drilled holes into the giant bin i bought and threw in all that organic waste i was saving and tossed in my little army of red wrigglers.  I feel like a new proud parents.  I can't wait for my worms to get comfy.  since tomorrow and the day after threaten to be like, 10F, i decided to keep them indoors so they can generate enough heat to move to the garage when it warms up on Wednesday.  I hope they survive the night.  *fingers crossed*

Second thing:  Inversions workshop!  SO much fun!  Inversions have been difficult for me because of a huge mental block.  I am not confident in my body's ability to support my weight using my arms, and I am not comfortable being upside down.  Breathing becomes difficult, blood rushes to your head, and your mind just scares itself.  But it's strange.  Headstands are ok.  and I've been working on my forearm stand, but handstands were terrifying.  We talked about a lot of things, but bottom line was:

"NO FEAR.  YOU DO"

You just do it.  You do the best you can, and you just do it.  So we did.  And we all somehow found ourselves upside down.  balancing on these small surfaces of our hands and forearms, legs stretched up above our bodies, trying to reach the sky.  It was difficult.  I really struggle with some shoulder flexibility in my right arm due to some minor rotator cuff injuries in high school, so getting my shoulders, arms, and back stretched adequately was quite a challenge.  We worked doing some partner yoga, working on ways to support the inverted yogi, and also worked on helping each other feel the way our shoulder blades were supposed to make room for our neck and the way our arms were supposed to spiral.  It was a LOT of fun-- mentally challenging, physically challenging, and emotionally uplifiting, but honestly, it's just practice and getting over the ego and the fear.  so I'm glad i went and i'm excited to keep finding places in my practice to work on inversions.

but anyway, it was a really fun weekend of surprise parties, tutorials, research, yoga, grocery shopping, and eating, I feel like the weekend flew by without me having a chance to really even think about what i should put up today. Today, during one of the tutorials, a student said to us, "these tutorials are the best things ever.  I LOVE them.  thank you so much."  and it made my day.  I am really glad that we have a group of dedicated students already.  It's so fantastic to see familiar faces and to see that what we do gets them excited about medicine.  It's helping me learn so much too.  I hope that it really helps me next year and into the future.

Chorizo boat with baked egg in an avocado

Ingredients

chorizo (man, i honestly love this stuff from the local farmer.... it is fantastic)
chard
onions
carrots
garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 avocado pit removed (with a little extra flesh removed to make an egg fit)
1 egg

1.  Preheat the oven to 425F.  In a small round cast iron serving bowl, press the chorizo into the sides to make a bowl.
2.  Sautee the chard, onions, carrots and garlic lightly, adding a sprinkle of salt and pepper and place into the chorizo bowl
3.  Scoop out the avocado from the skin and place into the sauteed vegetables, making sure the vegetables also come up around the side.  It might help to put the avocado in first then fill in the gaps with vegetables, but you get more veggies if you put some veggies in first
4.  crack an egg into the hollow of the avocado

Before the oven

5. Bake until the egg is firm and the chorizo shell is cooked.

Some changes i would make to this would be to cook the vegetables less and also change the way i cook the chorizo.  I would heat the cast iron on the stove before popping it in the oven and then broil it so that the egg and avocado don't dry out too much.  It was amazingly delicious and the avocado was so creamy.  I wished the egg was more over easy or over medium in terms of cookedness, but i will have to work on that a little next time. At least i was able to enjoy a delicious breakfast.  Look at those colors!  I love food. 

Don't forget your veggies

Avocado boat, deconstructed

This coming week, I'm trying a new thing.  Rather than do a variation of CHICKEN! with A GLAMMED UP SALAD! I'm venturing on trying to cook bulk food items and do meal trades with D.  Just so we can jazz up our week of food.  A sneak peek: chicken casserole, squash (and maybe crab) bisque, and crispy carnitas are coming up soon :-) 

til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!!

Day 16 of 30- Coconut ginger curry chicken

We are now past the half way point.  I am really proud of myself and my partner in crime D for making it this far.  We caught mistakes early and fixed them, changed the way we ate, the way we lived, and the way we approached the challenge.  I think after two and a half weeks of doing this, it is a lifestyle that suits all walks of life.  It takes effort, and a lot of discipline, but like i said at the start of the challenge, it's only 30 days.  what you do after the 30 days is up to you.  but I'm glad I gave it a shot.

Tomorrow is going to be an inversion workshop at the yoga studio. I'm really excited.  Inversions are basically any time your legs are above your heart.  headstands, handstands, legs up the wall.  you name it. Maybe i'll walk away comfortable enough to try this:

yeah right.  i wish.  haha

It's different being upside down.  the world is strange and your breath is strange, and all the blood rushes to your head and your brain feels strange.  But the fear is just in my head.  Here's to tomorrow.

Something that I recently realized was that i haven't been utilizing is the awesomeness of making my own salad dressings.  I've been too lazy to make any dressing besides splashing some oil and vinegar on my salad.  But i decided to make a whole seed mustard mayo dressing with some apricot vinegar and it is fantastic over a bed of lettuces, egg, tomatoes, SPROUTS (my new favorite salad addition!!!), grapes, you name it.  throw it in your salad, drizzle some of this creamier dressing on it, and man.  you'll never miss ranch again.  

Tonight's recipe is kind of a fun one.  Today I was largely meat free, enjoying a small piece of chicken today for dinner.  Every so often, my body gets tired of these meats so a day without meat is a very welcome treat. 

Coconut Ginger curry chicken

Ingredients

Chicken (leftover curry marinated chicken worked fantastically)
1T ginger, chopped
2 cloves garlic
carrots sliced into coins
mushrooms (i used dried shiitake mushrooms)
coconut milk

1.  Cook the chicken or warm up a precooked chicken in a skillet.  If you are cooking the chicken in the skillet, make sure the chicken is pretty much finished cooking before you add the other ingredients.

2.  Pour in some coconut milk and a splash of broth if you have it, water is fine if you don't, and throw in the garlic, ginger, and carrots.  Let simmer in coconut milk, addingmore water ifyou want it to be a little more runny

3.  When the carrots are just undercooked, throw in a handful of the dried mushrooms and continue cooking until they are rehydrated and softened.

I served this up with some sauteed green beans using some of the fat that came off the chicken, ends trimmed, tossed with ginger.   I really miss the flavors of sesame oil and soy sauce because the salt i added to the beans weren't quite exactly the same.  either way, it was fantastically delicious.  The mushrooms just soaked up the sweet coconutty flavor and the chicken was tender and delicious.  I don't generally like cooked carrots, but hey, I tricked myself into eating ALL of my carrots!  wooo!

the weird mass on the bottom right is the chicken.

So yummy.  Tomorrow for breakfast, I decided to try making chorizo and chard boats with avocado, baking an egg in the middle of the avocado.  yum?  or yuck?  we shall find out soon!  I'm really excited to be using my new mini round cast iron servers! 

til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!!

Days 15 of 30! HALF WAY THERE!

I was so swamped yesterday, that day 15, the fantastical half way point came and went without being noted in history! 

Day 15:  a recap

What a day.  Half way through the challenge and it was pretty action packed.  It's been a pretty hectic week especially since getting the tutorials started up and yoga studio membership signup.  I've probably already got my money's worth for the month.  Despite the craziness, I think it's been so great to be working with such a fantastic group of people and I'm trying to stay optimistic about our surgery interest group endeavors.  Without the effort and time volunteered by the peer instructors and without the dedication of the students who attend and participate, there's no way we'd have ever gotten this going.  I'm so excited to see where this goes and I hope it becomes a part of the med school culture here.

But, it was also a big milestone in a lot of ways besides academics.  Half way through the challenge i've noticed a few things.

1.  I'm less tired during the day.  There's not much of a mid afternoon crash anymore.  I make my coffee in the morning because it's the only amount of time i allot to pack my lunch and it's part of my wakeup ritual and drink some of it.  I don't need the afternoon coffee run.  If i go, it's just an excuse to socialize with people because I don't usually end up drinking most of it anyway.  Coffee consumption:  down.  Energy: up. Sleep:  probably close to the same as usual. Even on nights when i don't sleep well or get many hours, I still feel significantly better with better attention and focus.

2.  They tell you you're not supposed to weigh yourself during the challenge.  I had no intention of doing so, but I can tell that the holiday weight I gained is rapidly melting off.  It's only been two weeks and the combination of yoga has made me feel fit and spry.  my hello jello is also decreasing in jiggliness and I feel stronger and more centered during yoga.

3.  I would love to say that my skin is clear and glowing and i've seen improvements in the shininess of my hair or the strength of my nails but i haven't seen any changes in that. so, i'm sure it would benefit some.  i'm still waiting

4.  It's easy for me to say no to others, but it's hard to say no to myself.  Practicing due diligence with this challenge has been interesting.  Both in the way my friends perceive it and in the ways they support me and in the ways that I perceive it and the ways i support myself.  I haven't told a lot of people about it, but those i have told have been great and supportive and encouraging and considerate.  Even going out and hanging out at the bars, it's been easy for me to say no thanks i don't want to try your beer.  And have a fun time chatting with people and catching up.  Someone told me, if you don't like hanging out with your friends when you're sober and they're drunk, then why are you friends with them?  The hardest parts of resisting have been internal. example: when i go to seminars or buying and setting up snacks for our surgery interest group events.  There's a huge abundance of cookies, candies, chips, crackers, drinks...... telling myself no is hard.  sometimes i just want to take a nibble.  I want to taste the snickers bar or eat an oreo cookie.  but then the urge goes away pretty soon after that.  I'm just adding things to my list of FOODS I WILL DEVOUR AT THE END OF THE CHALLENGE!!!!! or just take one bite of each. 

No recipe for day 15.  It was a day of thoughtful reflection.

til next time, eat well and be well. 

Day 14 of 30- Curry marinated chicken

Today has been exhausting.  For a lot of reasons externally and internally, so less blab, and more recipes!

My daily mantra before I eat goes something like this:  "I love food and all the flavors of it." and today's dinner was no exception.  It was another chicken + salad combination.  But I've become highly proficient at making salads go from bland to GRAND! 

Curry marinated chicken 

Ingredients

Chicken
curry powder
olive oil
pepper
anise seeds
garam masala
a splash of lemon juice

1.  marinate the chicken in all of the above.  I made mine the day before and it was sitting in juices for quite some time before I cooked it up.
2.  Preheat the oven to 425, preheat a cast iron skillet (if you don't have a cast iron, any baking dish is OK too), heat up a standard frying pan and rapidly sear the chicken a few minutes on each side.
3.  Transfer the chicken to the cast iron skillet, skin side down if it has skin
4.  Bake for 20 min at 425

When the chicken comes out of the oven, it is crispy, juicy and delicious!  slice it up and serve it over a bed of greens.  My salad portion consisted of a heaping pile of boston red lettuce, a hard boiled egg, olives and sliced sundried tomatoes.  delicious!  so many colors, so many flavors!  drizzle with olive oil and splash on some balsamic vinegar and there you have it.  DINNER!

A delicious and filling salad.  Just look at that crispy skin!

I was thinking about what my first meal would be at the conclusion of this challenge.  And I have no idea what I would eat! (well, first i would grab a nice cold beer or a glass of wine.... ).  At the start of the challenge, I craved sweet things and starchy carby fatty salty things, but now it's easy.... easier.... to turn it down.  I might continue a modified and less stringent version of the Whole 30, but I'm still not even half way through (almost but not quite!) so we'll have to see what happens later.

Til next time, eat well and BE WELL!

Let thy food be thy medicine, and they medicine be thy food!

Day 13 of 30- Apple cider vinegar chicken with Califlower rice

Ashtanga Tuesday.  There's a joyous ring to that.  The Ashtanga primary series is pretty intense.  Here's a link to a video led by K. Pattabhi Jois and his students.  It is supposed to be a cleansing practice, where you align your breath with movement, clearing your mind and also bringing attention to the muscles in your body and how it works with your breath.  It's almost painful to watch and as a beginner to the primary series, I've found that it's just a little tricky to tie yourself up into a little pretzel and balance on the point of your butt and somersault backwards back into chaturanga.  Uh..... definitely got stuck the first time i tried.  But overall, it's a challenge that I am very excited to face.

This class however, was my second go at the full primary series, and I realized that today was markedly less difficult, more familiar, and also more challenging than last week.  Because I spent less time trying to figure out how to position myself and spent more time focusing on all the alignment and breathing, I got more out of this practice than last week.  I also found myself able to bind in ways that were unavailable to me last week, and perhaps it is due to the rigorous regiment of yoga class attendance these past couple weeks!  My muscles have been aching, my body twisted and turned, pulled and stretched in so many ways, it's remarkable how good I feel!  Mind and body together, I would say we are going on an exciting and new journey.  Maybe this will help me think less about the exact date that the PhD will magically land in my pocket, and think more about the ways I can make the most of my time in research before moving on to clinical obligations.

Stock photos of yoga are always a person's silhouette with a sunset in the backdrop, balancing on some object on one leg..... It always looks so serene.  the opposite of what today was.  haha

If only practicing was like this every day. 

But less about yoga, more about food!  One thing I have missed terribly since starting this challenge, has been RICE.  I LOVE RICE.  like, LOVE.  LOVE. LOVE it.  It's been a staple grain of my diet since before I was born.  Finding recipes that are delicious to eat without rice has been a little tough, BUT-- I randomly came across this recipe where they used caluiflower to mimic rice.  I decided to give it a whril (haha in my food processorrrrr!!!!) and see how it would taste, and goodness gracious, it is AWESOME!  I enjoy eating raw cauliflower, but man, cooking it up really brings out a delicious sweet flavor, and it seriously has the consistency of short grain white rice.  I may be in love again. It was so simple to whip up and dangerously easy to get a generous serving of vegetables without even feeling like you ate vegetables.

Also, chicken is great because you can spend 5 minutes preparing the raw chicken in a delicious marinade/sauce and it'll feed you for days.  

Apple cider vinegar chicken and Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients

For the cider chicken
Chicken thighs, de fatted
Apple cider vinegar (~1/4-1/3 c?)
2 tsp whole seed mustard
lime juice
paprika
salt
pepper

1.  Marinate the chicken in the vinegar and mustard with all the spices and lime juice.  I put it in a bag and tried to squeeze the air out so that all the juices will co mingle with the chicken.  Let marinate for......... i dunno.  30 min?  I threw it in the fridge because I made it the night before, so that's ok too.

2.  Preheat the oven to 425F, warm up your cast iron (if you don't have a skillet, a baking dish/pan/whatever is totally fine too), and a non stick frying pan.

3.  When the frying pan is hot, sear the chicken thigh, skin side up for about 3 min, and then flip to sear the skin side for about 3 min.  Transfer the chicken to the skillet, skin side down and throw into the preheated oven.  Bake for 20 min or so, until the chicken is fully cooked.

Usually, while I have incubations like this, I like to whip things up really quickly.  During the chicken bake, prepare your RICE!

Cauliflower rice
1/2 head of cauliflower (this will make 2 generous servings)
garlic (or garlic olive oil-- just a drizzle)
shiitake mushrooms

1.  Cut up the cauliflower into smallish pieces and put in the food processor.  Pulse until the pieces are about the size of short grain rice.

2.  Cut up the mushrooms.  If the mushrooms are dried, reconstitute them in some hot water for about 5 minutes and they will soften up nicely.

3.  Sautee the cauliflower crumbles, drizzle lightly with garlic olive oil or toss in the chopped garlic, and add the mushrooms.  Sautee for about 5 or so minutes, until the crumbles are soft and tender and sweet.  Salt to taste (I don't generally salt my food much, but just a dash here really brought out the sweetness of the cauliflower).

RICE! made of cauliflower with perfectly seared and baked chicken

These two piled up on top of each other were seriously a filling and delicious meal.  (sorry about the crappy photo, I couldn't wait to run and grab my real camera so my iPod was the closest thing i had at hand.  All the cauliflower is piled up underneath the chicken and on the side.  Sweet, savory, and satisfying!

Til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!

Day 12 of 30- Salmon salad

This past weekend I made the commitment to join a yoga studio.  After the 20 dollar unlimited week, I decided that the people there were awesome.  The studio is great and the atmosphere is fantastic. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it felt like a huge commitment and a huge step forward in one of my resolutions.  Tomorrow is Ashtanga Tuesday, so we'll see if there's any improvement since last week :-)  I'm pretty excited.  I feel like this is a lifestyle that's been waiting to be embraced, and I hope that I can improve myself and let that improvement help others around me.

In addition to the yoga studio, I feel like my colleagues and I have accomplished an incredible feat this weekend and into today.  We began our surgery interest group tutorials this past weekend, and it was such an amazing experience.  Talk about curriculum development, preparation, and execution-- I think we managed to nail it.  We were able to integrate functional anatomy with embryonic development, gut rotation, physiology, nutrition, radiographs, clinical correlates, and demystify inguinal hernias.  The students loved it and really truly appreciated all the neat clinical cases and presentations related to their anatomy class.  Honestly, it is such a rewarding experience for those who participate-- the students and the peer educators both.  I hope it continues to go on as a successful venture and will also cross over into future years.  It's been a challenge trying not to step on toes, cross lines, and keep things under the radar, but in the end, we are students helping students help students... and nobody should try to stop that.

Meals today were pretty interesting.  And it was a fanatasically whipped up delicious treat, especially after a really long day.  Many thanks to D! Just look at all those beautiful colors!

Salmon Salad over a bed of lettuce with sliced carrots

Oven baked chicken coated in mustard and spices on lettuce with baked yams, oil and vinegar dressing

Today's is a variation of the crab salad recipe..... but made with SALMON! and much tastier :-)

Salmon salad

Ingredients

1 can salmon (remove bones etc.  removing skin gives you a prettier colored salmon salad)
1 lemon's juice
celery, chopped
green onion, chopped
dill
curry powder
2 hard boiled eggs
MAYO.

1.  Hard boil eggs.  Remove bones and all things ugly from the canned salmon.
2.  Break up salmon and eggs into small pieces and mix with lemon juice, mayo, green onion, and spices.  Salt and pepper to taste.
3.  EAT.

This salmon salad is deliciously simple and very tasty.  The tang from the lemon, crunch from the celery, flavor from the curry and dill.  it is perfection.  Serve a dollop over greens and make it a satisfying salad!  like I've said before, don't be afraid to be creative!  explore flavors!  textures!  colors!  As much as I complain about wishing I could eat that snickers bar or munch on some salt and vinegar chips..... this challenge has really forced me to TASTE my food and MAKE IT TASTY (not that it wasn't tasty before ;-D)

til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!!!!!!