fantastical recipes from outerspace?! Why, what a faboo idea. What I've been eating lately:
1. cheese sandwiches. How faboo can a cheese sammich be you ask? Uber-faboo, I reply. Jennie's current favorite cheese sandwich recipe FROM OuterSPAAACE (echos)
Take 2 slices good bread. Jennie is currently partial to Safeway O Organic brand seeds and grains bread. Spread one side of bread liberally with Annie's organic horseradish mustard, the other piece of bread is slathered in mayo. On the mustard side put on sliced, fresh mushrooms, thin slices of green onion, thin slices of red bell pepper, and a nice fat layer of Tilamook medium cheddar cheese followed by mayo-side of other piece of bread. Sliced pepperoncinis, radishes, and avocado are also quite faboo on this lovely lunchy sammich.
2. ginger and cardamom tea
in a pot add 2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled, and finely chopped
10 cardamom pods, smooshed
6 tablespoons brown sugar (don't worry, it dissolves, you'll never know how much sugar you are consuming)
4 cups water
bring all to a boil, let simmer 15-20 minutes. watch out, it's gingerific.
3. Stir-fried eggplants with tomato and parmesan cheese from OUTER SPAAAACCCEE
1 eggplant (1pound), cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, lightly crushed and peeled, but left whole
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 good sized tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped, or about a cup of canned peeled chopped tomato
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
soak the eggplant pieces in 5 cups of water with a tablespoon of salt dissolved in the water for 40 minutes. It helps to put a plate or bowl on top of the eggplant to keep it submerged. Drain eggplant and pat dry on a clean kitchen towel
Put the oil in a large frying pan or wok on high heat. When hot, put in the garlic and eggplant pieces. Turn the heat down to medium-high. Stir and fry until the eggplant pieces are lightly browned all over, about 5 minutes. Put in 1/2 tsp salt plus the other spices. Stir to mix, then add 1/2 cup water. Cover and turn the heat down to low. Let it cook for about 10 minutes, or until the eggplant is soft.
Uncover, add the tomato and some ground black pepper to taste and turn the heat back up to medium-high. Stir and fry for 1 or 2 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the parmesan cheese. Toss, check for salt, and serve immediately. I love eating this over couscous. Serves 2 hungry people one meal, or one hungry person 2 meals!
This recipe is from outerspace because eggplant is my arch-nemesis. Over the years I tried to make eggplant dishes and they always turned out weird. I consider myself to be pretty accomplished in the kitchen, so eggplant must be the problem, because certainly it isn't ME! This was the first (and, well, only) successful recipe involving eggplant. I've made it more than once, I like it so much! It must be from outerspace...how else could my archnemesis be foiled?
4. Indian spicy mixed pickle and rice or indian spicy mixed pickle and bread (naan). This was dinner tonight...not that nutritious, I know, but well, sometimes I get in weird OUTERSPACEY food moods, and just want to get a little naan and pickle. so there. harumph.
5. popcorn. It is so good, it must be from outerspace. Not that weird microwaved kind, the kind you pop on your stove in a big pot with a little bit of oil. Add some salt and/or parmesan cheese on top, and hello salty goodness.
Ok, so maybe this isn't a blog about my life, but maybe it is. Maybe the food isn't from outerspace, and then again, maybe it is. I'm having a weird day, a draining bad boundary work day. A 'I can't believe I've been spending so much evening time on work stuff and I have a work meeting tomorrow night, and will be there until 9pm, and I am SO going to take Monday off next week' kind of day. maybe outerspace food is exactly what I need, where's the dehydrated icecream when you get the mood, anyway?
Monday, January 28, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
return to the blogosphere
After a very long hiatus, I am going to try to re-commit myself to blogging. The past months, I've been ignoring the blog. I've been 'too busy'. Well, duh, I'm always going to be busy! But I was carrying around a lot of emotional baggage, and doing a lot of putting-others ahead of me.
Some of the baggage I've let go of:
1. The lousy tenants were evicted on January 2! YAY! This was the biggest time-suck ever. The amount of physical time, emotional space, and mental energy this whole nightmare took up was incredible! So finally, after months of not paying anything, these people were removed from my house. I feel sad that they got themselves into a position where they couldn't pay rent, but I am pretty certain they moved in knowing they couldn't pay, and knowing they could work the system to stay there for a while rent-free.
2. The alpacas are all sold. All the alpacas that were for sale got sold. The bulk of the herd was sold to some wonderful people not too far away from where I live, and they picked up Maya, Angel, Kombucho, Amiya, and Samsara on Dec. 26. The check for Brinca (another giant time/mental/emotional-suck) was finally hand-delivered to me mid-day on December 31. I decided to keep Mr. Dash, and moved him to my neighbor Lynley's place on January 1.
3. Work boundaries. A new semester has started, and I find myself working crazy hours again. This has left me exhausted and a little burnt out. One of my employees left in November, and her replacement started the first week of January. In the interim, I was doing 2 jobs. I did get a teeny tiny stipend for this, but not nearly enough to compensate for what it did to me physically. I now have a full staff again, and I'm re-establishing boundaries around my time doing 'work'.
So here we are in 2008, time to take a look at goals and hopes for this year.. I know, I know, we've been in 2008 for nearly a month already! But, like I said, it has taken me a bit to work up to this point. My big goal for 2008: taking better care of ME.
What taking care of Jennie looks like:
1. regular exercise. For a little over a month, I've been pretty consistent about getting my big butt to the gym at 7am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I am also going somewhat regularly on Saturday at 8:30am. So here I am, putting it in writing...taking care of Jennie means Jennie consistently exercise 3-4 days a week.
2. going to bed by 10 on school nights. This means I have to set better boundaries around staying up reading, knitting, watching Buffy, talking to friends, etc. Going to bed by 10 doesn't mean starting the getting ready for bed process at 10, but actually turning out the light at 10 or before. How else can I get to the gym by 7am and be well-rested?!
3. seeing/talking to my friends regularly. Ok people, here is Jennie's biggest self-aggressive place. I am bad at keeping in touch with the people I care about. Seems like a no-brainer, right? How hard is it to call the people I care about? Apparently, very hard. There are a bunch of people that I really want to see and talk to on a regular basis, and there is some internal obstacle that keeps me from doing this. I know I do this. So I am going to work on whatever my obstacle is, and just pick up the phone and call my friends!
4. Eat breakfast. Drink tea. Make smoothies and lassis. REGULARLY!
4a. For a long while, I was really great about eating breakfast. In the last month, I haven't been doing a good job of eating in the morning, and I've gotten that pukey feeling at the gym on multiple occasions. I need to eat breakfast. My body needs to eat breakfast.
4b. Drink tea...well, I do this every day. I've been a bad girl lately, and have started drinking more coffee. Jennie's body doesn't respond well to coffee--she knows it. Jennie just needs to drink more tea. Besides, yay for tea!
4c. Make smoothies and lassis regularly. Goodness are these yummy. And they pack in a bunch of good-for-me things like fruit and dairy. For an amazing dairy treat, make a rose or mango lassi: Put in a blender 1 cup plain (not vanilla) non-fat yogurt, 10 ice cubes, 1 Tablespoon sugar (yes, I know that is a lot), and either 1 shot glass of rose water or 1 cut up mango. Blend, drink, enjoy, smile!
5. knit knit knit. I do love the knitting. It is relaxing (except for sometimes when I'm starting a new project), and I can be crafty and make beautiful things. knit, jennie, knit.
Ok, I guess I could go on and on, but 5 seems like a good starting place. Being realistic about what I can do and what I can take on is a big part of self-care. Over extending and over-committing are not good for the Jennie. Perhaps referring to myself in the third person is also not good for the Jennie...oh well, it amuses Jennie to do so.
Some of the baggage I've let go of:
1. The lousy tenants were evicted on January 2! YAY! This was the biggest time-suck ever. The amount of physical time, emotional space, and mental energy this whole nightmare took up was incredible! So finally, after months of not paying anything, these people were removed from my house. I feel sad that they got themselves into a position where they couldn't pay rent, but I am pretty certain they moved in knowing they couldn't pay, and knowing they could work the system to stay there for a while rent-free.
2. The alpacas are all sold. All the alpacas that were for sale got sold. The bulk of the herd was sold to some wonderful people not too far away from where I live, and they picked up Maya, Angel, Kombucho, Amiya, and Samsara on Dec. 26. The check for Brinca (another giant time/mental/emotional-suck) was finally hand-delivered to me mid-day on December 31. I decided to keep Mr. Dash, and moved him to my neighbor Lynley's place on January 1.
3. Work boundaries. A new semester has started, and I find myself working crazy hours again. This has left me exhausted and a little burnt out. One of my employees left in November, and her replacement started the first week of January. In the interim, I was doing 2 jobs. I did get a teeny tiny stipend for this, but not nearly enough to compensate for what it did to me physically. I now have a full staff again, and I'm re-establishing boundaries around my time doing 'work'.
So here we are in 2008, time to take a look at goals and hopes for this year.. I know, I know, we've been in 2008 for nearly a month already! But, like I said, it has taken me a bit to work up to this point. My big goal for 2008: taking better care of ME.
What taking care of Jennie looks like:
1. regular exercise. For a little over a month, I've been pretty consistent about getting my big butt to the gym at 7am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I am also going somewhat regularly on Saturday at 8:30am. So here I am, putting it in writing...taking care of Jennie means Jennie consistently exercise 3-4 days a week.
2. going to bed by 10 on school nights. This means I have to set better boundaries around staying up reading, knitting, watching Buffy, talking to friends, etc. Going to bed by 10 doesn't mean starting the getting ready for bed process at 10, but actually turning out the light at 10 or before. How else can I get to the gym by 7am and be well-rested?!
3. seeing/talking to my friends regularly. Ok people, here is Jennie's biggest self-aggressive place. I am bad at keeping in touch with the people I care about. Seems like a no-brainer, right? How hard is it to call the people I care about? Apparently, very hard. There are a bunch of people that I really want to see and talk to on a regular basis, and there is some internal obstacle that keeps me from doing this. I know I do this. So I am going to work on whatever my obstacle is, and just pick up the phone and call my friends!
4. Eat breakfast. Drink tea. Make smoothies and lassis. REGULARLY!
4a. For a long while, I was really great about eating breakfast. In the last month, I haven't been doing a good job of eating in the morning, and I've gotten that pukey feeling at the gym on multiple occasions. I need to eat breakfast. My body needs to eat breakfast.
4b. Drink tea...well, I do this every day. I've been a bad girl lately, and have started drinking more coffee. Jennie's body doesn't respond well to coffee--she knows it. Jennie just needs to drink more tea. Besides, yay for tea!
4c. Make smoothies and lassis regularly. Goodness are these yummy. And they pack in a bunch of good-for-me things like fruit and dairy. For an amazing dairy treat, make a rose or mango lassi: Put in a blender 1 cup plain (not vanilla) non-fat yogurt, 10 ice cubes, 1 Tablespoon sugar (yes, I know that is a lot), and either 1 shot glass of rose water or 1 cut up mango. Blend, drink, enjoy, smile!
5. knit knit knit. I do love the knitting. It is relaxing (except for sometimes when I'm starting a new project), and I can be crafty and make beautiful things. knit, jennie, knit.
Ok, I guess I could go on and on, but 5 seems like a good starting place. Being realistic about what I can do and what I can take on is a big part of self-care. Over extending and over-committing are not good for the Jennie. Perhaps referring to myself in the third person is also not good for the Jennie...oh well, it amuses Jennie to do so.
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