Time to Breathe

Hey Ya'll,
I know it's only been about  9 days since I last wrote, but for some reason it feels as though it's been so much longer. Maybe it's because my last post was short and more apologetic than forthcoming in nature. Life for me is taking some interesting turns these days; a lot of travel for both work and pleasure, plans for future travel, trying to stay on top of my classwork. Since my last full post I have been to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Dallas, Texas three times over, and Waco, Texas twice over. To be honest I don't really mind traveling, in fact I love to see new places and experience new cultures. But work travel lately has me going back and forth to the same places and I don't think my personal vehicle is appreciative of the extra mileage. Hmm, maybe I will start renting a car to travel for work. Only trouble with that is even though I get reimbursed I still have to have the money before hand to actually rent the car at the time..... We shall see what I can workout for myself.

My husband and I have decided to make a family trip an annual priority for us. We are making the conscious effort to see new places together and I am so grateful to be blessed with a man who wants to simply make me happy. All my life I have just wanted to see the world and absorb all the culture available to be shared with me.With my personal travels recently I was able to visit the a coastal city that I never really thought much about outside of old "Spring Break" style movies. Fort Lauderdale, Florida actually turned out to be a very nice experience. Come to find out this city has a highly affluent residential population. There is even a segment of housing (if you can call it that) along the waterfront called "Millionaires Rowe". We did have a little difficulty finding local establishments to eat while we were there. But I feel as though that was mostly because we were without personal transportation to go exploring on our own. So we stayed closer to the beach and paid higher prices to eat tourist fare, but I won't deduct any points from the city for our inability to search effectively. 

Life has become exciting and I no longer feel as though I am drowning. I know that sounds melodramatic, but I feel it's the most I honest I can be with myself about how life was going for me for quite some time. I still have a lot of water to tread to get to comfortable, but at least my head is above water at this point. Hope continues to flood my heart and new ideas continue to arise. Even though I am not currently in the physical, professional, or financial status that I want to be in at this point in my journey with IIN, I am most definitely entering the frame of mind that is needed for a life long path to peace, stability, ability, and acceptance of my own life. I know that my deepening understanding of food will be the catalyst for the profession of my dreams. I know that I will never trap myself into a job that stifles my wandering spirit again. I know that I will love myself and my body enough to actively and enthusiastically take care of Me. I know that I will release anxiety and depression for good. I know that I will embrace love and my own sexuality to last my marriage until our very last days. I know that I will be able to breathe and center at will. I feel my zen approaching and I plan to "step into the light" and embrace it full on. 

If you like, feel free to join me in my exposed life's endeavors. These are the things that make me happy and I intend to pursue: Love, Travel, Food, Knowledge, Peace, Movement, Culture, Prayer, and all the ties that connect one to the other. Be happy. Be Loved.

Namaste Ya'll

To Be Continued....

Hey ya'll,
I'm just checking in to let you know I haven't forgotten about you out there. I have been traveling for both leisure and business over the past two weeks and now I am trying to keep from getting sick. Once I am feeling well enough to focus on a whole posting I will tell you all about my trip to Fort Lauderdale, with pictures!

Here's to calm tummies and sound sleep,
Namaste Ya'll

Pepitas!

Hey Ya'll,
I know everyone is finished carving pumpkins by now, but I wanted to share our pumpkin seed roasting success. I read a few different postings from other people on their techniques and found the common tone in successful roasted seeds was low and slow. So that's the route I took.
We managed to get about 3 cups of seeds from our 3 medium and 1 small pumpkins. The most tedious part of the entire process was separating the seeds from the pumpkin guts. It seemed to take forever and created a virtual sensory overload. The smell of wet grassy pumpkin, the feel of sticky slippery stringy pumpkin innards, using the fine motor skills needed to pull each little seed from the confines of the muck. But in the end it was actually fun.
I soaked the seeds in salted water overnight after making sure to carefully wash away any remaining pumpkin first. After soaking I dried the seeds out on a kitchen towel for a few hours tossed them in a bowl with about 2 tablespoons of oil, sea salt, and chili lime seasoning (I felt adventurous). Roasted in the oven at 300F for about 45 minutes, stirring the seeds every 15 minutes.
The seeds came out crisp enough to eat the whole seed instead of needing to shell them first. But what I did find was that some of my seeds were on the verge of being overly toasted on the inside (otherwise known as almost burned). So I think maybe next time my oven will be set to 275, it seems to run a little hot. My seasoning was nice, but my personal tastes would prefer more salt on the seeds. I also thought up more flavors to try, but I don't plan on gutting anymore pumpkins anytime soon.
If anyone knows of a way to Quickly and efficiently shell pumpkin seeds, I would love to know. Shelled pepitas are so versital and I have an idea for a breakfast treat while I have a bag full of seeds in the house now. Next time I'll be reporting back with tales from Florida vacation. Until then...
Namaste Ya'll

Trick or Treat

Hey Ya'll!
Happy Halloween/Feliz Día de los Muertos/Happy Fall Harvesting
I think those cover my primary basis. I took The Munchkin only partially around the neighborhood this year; mostly because she wanted to be home by dark. Yea I know, but my baby is still scared of the dark, so all the "Tricks" people pull on Halloween are not fun for her. To be honest I was absolutely fine with going home to pass out candy. Especially since the weather made a shift and now we're back to warm humidy air after a lovely week and a half of Fall worthy weather to tease me. (if you can't tell I'm a little bitter about the returning heat)
As you can see in the picture after hitting only a few houses, maybe 15-20, the kiddo collected a rather decent stash for herself. I think now that my generation are the candy passers the selection is getting better. I don't think I saw more than a couple pieces of no name hard candies in the pile. Which leads me to wonder did the candy passers of my youth simply give what they enjoyed as children? Or were they just cheap? As giggle at the thought of some woman saying to herself "why buy the good stuff for kids I don't even know?" I would like to know what you looked forward to finding in your treat bag. I had a small gang of Princesses Power Rangers express their excitment about my house passing out Milky Way candy bars. Without thought and debate about the ethics of the holiday it brings me so much pleasure to see the little ones having so much fun and feeling safe in their neighborhood. As I wrap this up I am contemplating having a Tootsie Pop for breakfast...But I won't, I'll behave.
Namaste Ya'll

First Time for Everything

Hey Ya'll,

I have been without my computer for days now, but I didn't want anyone to think I forgot about writing more regularly. So I figured I would try this blog via text feature that blogspot offers.
Here goes, my daughter and I went to the Farmer's Market this past Saturday and we found some lovely green tomatoes (amongst other tasty treats) but I realized that my kiddo up to now has never had fried green tomatoes. The classic Southern side that can be eaten as a meal sometimes. So we took a pint full of firm round light green little lovelies and today I sliced them up, soaked them in buttermilk, seasoned and coated them in cornmeal and pan fries them. Like a good Southern-girl she was instantly in love. The crusty crunchy exterior mingled with the softened slightly tart interior perfectly. At first she questioned the difference between a red tomato and a green tomato. Once she had a taste she understood immediately, that's my girl! I'll have to make sure she gets to experience these more often. After all, I am obligated to develop her young impressionable palate to its fullest capacity. Alright ya'll I hope this post takes, let's see.
Namaste Ya'll

Edited posted: Apparently my picture made my text too large to post on my blog. But posting from my email on my phone worked brilliantly. Namaste Ya'll

The Ultimate Local

This post is part of the Food Day posts for the #FoodDayBlogAlong! organized by Mary Makes Dinner and Notes from Maggie's Farm

 

Hey Ya'll,
So, there were many directions that are available for the Blog Along but I chose to write about eating locally. Now when eating locally is mentioned I immediately think of farmer's markets and hipster cafes that serve seasonal fruit salads and whole grain pancakes with farm fresh eggs. This of course is lovely all on it's own. But I decided to take my eating local experience to the next level, beyond my Go Local Austin card. I decided to bring local eating as close to my table as eating. I decided to start my own vegetable garden. Well, miniature container herb/veggie garden anyway. I made a promise to my daughter that we could try our hand at raising some of our own food, plus I kind of wanted to see if I had what it takes to be a small time farmer. I have actually always kind of dreamed about growing a huge garden (small farm really) and raising a few small animals. Well I figure this is the first step in determining if I have what it takes to live the life of a woman of the land.
I imagine that if everyone, no matter how limited their space, took the time to grow at least a few vegetables of their own they could save money, reduce waste, increase their nutrient options and provide some time in the sunshine taking care of not only the plants but ultimately themselves.When you live in even the poorest of the poor neighborhoods and you have even just a container of soil that can grow a small bunch of carrots to call your own, a ray of light shines down on each day that you get to breath in the pure oxygen produce by your very own personal garden.
Let's talk container gardening and keep in mind this is my first time with anything larger than a Kindergarten bean sprouting project. But, it really felt kind of natural getting my hands in the dirt and transplanting my plants.

My first Box of Herbs and veggies

 So the nice young man at the Nursery was really pushing the Spinach today so I took that as a sign that I needed to eat more leafy greens thus my first plants of Spinach and Kale. I also picked up some Sweet Peas because the nice young man showed me how to place bamboo stakes in my container to run the peas upwards and allow for more bushy plants that sit low in the pot.

 YAY for Herbs!! I chose Parsley Cilantro and Thyme mostly because they are my favorites and also because apparently they grow really well during this time of year in my neck of the woods. The thyme automatically smelled of my favorite recipe of roasted chicken and rosemary potatoes to me. I was so excited. As we planted the cilantro my daughter asked "May I eat some of the cilantro? It's my favorite."  Being from Texas we love our TexMex food and since she had teeth in her mouth my daughter has loved a fresh Filipino-style cucumber tomato salad with cilantro. Needless to say there will be plenty of that this Summer.

Calliope Carrots and Buttercrunch Lettuce to pull together my Fall salads. Now if only I had a Pecan Tree....Hmmm, maybe when we purchase our first home. The niffty thing about the carrots is they are going to amaze my daughter when it's time to harvest. They grow into like 4 or 5 different colors. She is going to absolutely lose her cute little mind. I'll have to take video and share that here when the time comes.

 So I actually only managed to get one of my 2 containers filled, turns out I needed way more soil than I anticipated. The sweet peas, spinach, kale, and some of the lettuce went into the first container. I will be purchasing more high quality potting soil from the nursery and finishing my second container with my herbs, carrots and remaining lettuce seeds this weekend. But I wanted to share my local eating adventure in time for Food Day.

Last but certainly not least I would like to thank Jeremy who was so much help and had pity on me once he saw me wandering around the nursery lost and unsure of myself. Jeremy helped me understand where to place which plants and how to give them the space they needed to grow. Thank you Jeremy.

Happy Food Day all know where what you eat comes from and try to get it as short a distance from farm to table as possible whenever you can.
Namaste Ya'll

Unfinished Business

Hey Ya'll,
We are currently in a testing bye-week so to speak in classes right now. So at the moment there is no homework and there are no lessons to speak about, just time being given to us to take our first test and get caught up on any work that may have been neglected. Since I last shared about how school was going I have gotten myself all caught up and am feeling accomplished. With not much occurring on the academic front for me for now I will venture into other topics today.

I am fully aware of the fact that there are many, and boy do I mean many, projects in that I have started but never finished. Yoga challenges, Juice cleanses, workout regimens, knitting projects, sewing projects. Heck even my degree is a hodge-podge of courses that originally belonged to the ideas of 4 separate degree plans I once thought I wanted to pursue. Fortunately, the college I went to basically had a generic health degree that I fit into and was able to graduate with rather than run out of financial aid while I tried to find myself. The honeymoon phase of any new job wears-off quickly for me because I have yet to place myself in a role that feeds my soul. My passions are very specific but for some reason I have convinced myself that I could never make a decent living fulfilling them. Well, now I realize the only way I will be successful is to do work that I love and am willing to be part of every single day that I wake up. With anyone who takes the time to read this as my witness I will live my dreams:
I will make food the center of my profession
I will service pregnant women and their babies (maybe I will doula or lactation consult)
I will write again...and enjoy it again
I will live in my dream home on the outskirts of town with my small livestock and my large garden.
I will see the world and speak its languages

And I will share all of these experiences with you all right here. Of course I have started with my IIN journey and will continue the whole way through. Earlier I was a little down on myself for failing to make this blog what I originally set out for it to be; sharing my love for food and my walk into yoga. But then I thought, this blog was never meant to be so one dimensional. This blog was meant to expose my overall journey into peace and into truly loving my life and who I am in this life. I have finally begun to do that. Now is the time to open up and share my food adventures with those of you who choose to stop by and read. My first real food post will be an Eat Out Loud post for Food Day, which is officially October 24, 2012  It will be complete with pictures and descriptive words, the whole nine yards. Thank you all for baring with me as I gain my footing in this sometimes frighteningly open world and learn to love who I am enough to honestly share myself with anyone willing to listen (or read). I look forward to evolving this blog into what it was always meant to be and doing it with love rather than my own impatience for perfection.
To anyone who may actually read this thank you for doing so, until my next exposure.
Namaste Ya'll