Sunday, July 3, 2016

June: The Month of Recipes

June was technically the Month of New Recipes, but it could also be called the Month of Eating Well or the Month of Trying New Food.

I will list all of the recipes at the bottom of the post, but my favorites include the shakshuka, bahn mi, khachapuri, Mexican street corn, and cinnamon rolls.  

The only two recipes that didn't work were the rosemary Parmesan crackers (didn't stick together) and the raspberry balsamic meatballs (they burnt in the crockpot).  


This is what cracker failure looks like.


On a grading scale from A through F, how would you rate this?  Did you accomplish your goal? 
A all the way.  
While I did enjoy scouring the internet for new recipes, my favorite part was getting recipes from friends and family.  I put out the ask on Facebook and I had a lot of people send me their favorite recipes.  I even had a few people offer to show me how to cook or offer ingredients.  While that didn't work out, it was amazing to see how food can bring people together.  I plan to try all of the recipes sent my way in the coming few months.

Did you do this each and every day? 
I didn't try to do it daily (I was out of town and had some busy days!) but I did do a total of 30 new recipes.

Will you do anything different moving forward?
Yes.  This was a great reminder that the world is full of interesting and tasty food.  It's pretty easy to get into a cooking rut, but it's also easy to get out of it.  I used quite a few ingredients I had never worked with before, including some from international grocery stores. Cooking and eating should be fun, not boring!

This was also a good reminder that my kids are getting older and don't HAVE to eat at exactly the same time every night.  Some dishes were more complicated and our family ate later.  It was a bit stressful for my schedule-loving self, but totally worth it for the end result of the meal.

I don't think we spent more money on groceries than usual, mostly because we ate out less. 


And now, the big list 'o recipes!
Coming up for the month of July...weird poses, lots of stretching, and mindful breathing.  That's right, I'll be doing a month of yoga.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

May: The Month of Language






You get a combo introduction and recap post, as I didn't think that a month of doing a foreign language app was that interesting.  

Oh yeah, spoiler alert:  I spent the month of May learning Spanish through the duoLingo app.  I gave myself a bit of a break and didn't get overly ambitious: no extra language classes, no listening to Spanish language podcasts.  I only used the duoLingo.  That said, according to duoLingo I am "6% fluent" in Spanish right now.

I don't necessarily believe that, but I do think I've got the equivalent amount of knowledge to 1-2 semesters of high school Spanish.  IN ONE MONTH!  I have a natural boost:  I have a strong background in romance languages.  I took 6 years of Latin compressed into 5 (so I could do independent study of ancient Greek my senior of high school.  NERD ALERT), 2 years of high school French, and 2 years of college Italian.  I used to love languages and I was pretty good at them.


On a grading scale from A through F, how would you rate this?  Did you accomplish your goal? 
A+

I had low expectations going in but I love duoLingo.  It forces you to repeatedly revisit what you learn to make sure it stays in your head.  Oh, and it's fun!  This reminded me how much I used to love learning languages, figuring out how to construct sentences, conjugating verbs... When I was in high school, for a bit I wanted to attend Georgetown and go to their School of Foreign Service.  The lure of cheap college and staying close to my then high school boyfriend won out, but this reminds me of that passion.

Did you do this each and every day? 
Yep. 

Will you do anything different moving forward? 

Heck yeah.  I plan on continuing using it, and when I do the entire app, I want to continuing learning Spanish in another way.  

Monday, May 9, 2016

April: The Month of Letters, Part II. Belated.


Did you think that I forgot about this? 

No way!  I spent the entire month of April writing nice but incredibly awkward letters.  I averaged one per day.  I wrote letters to 14 authors, 6 celebrities, 5 organizations, 3 politicians and 2 podcasts teams.

On a grading scale from A through F, how would you rate this?  Did you accomplish your goal? 
I’m going to give it a C.  
This was an exercise in kindness without reciprocity, without an agenda.  When you say something kind or compliment a stranger, you are at least going to get a smile back.  Sending letters felt different.  It's sending missives into the wide universe with no idea whether anyone would actually read the message.  In a lot of ways it was very unfullfilling.  On the plus side, it made me think a lot about who and what I admire, and why, as well as forcing me to put that into words.
I have currently received three responses.  2 stiff form letters from St. Louis Bread Company and Aldi, and the amazing response above from Margaret Atwood's people.  

Did you do this each and every day? 
Not every day but I did send 30 letters.  Well, 29.  I have one international one that I still need to send but it's written and sitting in my purse.

Will you do anything different moving forward? 
This is a strange side effect: I'm going to encourage my daughter to write to the people that she looks up to.  It felt very powerful to put my admiration into words.  I wish I had written a lot of those authors when their works said the right thing to me at the right time in my life.  I do believe that a hand-written letter is so much more powerful and weighty than an email, and I would like her (and my son, when he gets older) to experience that.  


So, now what?  I'm more than a week into May, and I'll give you a hint:  Hola!  Estoy aprendiendo espaƱol.  I'm taking the month of May one Spanish lesson at a time, once a day.  

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

April: The Month of Letters



You have never experienced true awkwardness until you attempt to write an unsolicited fan letter to an organization.

"Dear Aldi,  You are super cool and you have great prices."

That's right, folks.  For the month of April, I'm going to be writing hand-written letters to people and organizations that I admire or have made a difference in my life.  I've created a list of authors, politicians, celebrities, musicians, podcast hosts, and other notable people; plus some organizations and institutions.

Some rules:
  • I could easily spend this entire month writing to my family members, my mentors, and the local leaders that I so greatly admire--but I decided to focus on those people or organizations that I don't have any close ties with.
  • I plan on averaging a letter a day.  I may skip a day or two but will make it up later in the week. 
  • I'm not writing with any expectations.  I'm not doing it to get an autograph, or free stuff, or even a note a back.  I'm doing it just to let someone know that they made a connection or an impact somewhere else in the world. 
 
I'm only a few days in and the process is a lot harder and awkwarder than I ever imagined.  It's really difficult to sound level-headed and sane when writing a complimentary hand-written note to a large corporation.


"P.S. Don't ever change, Aldi. Hugs and kisses to you and your organic produce."


Sunday, April 3, 2016

March: The Month of Meditation, Part III. Namaste.


Besides taking three classes on meditation, I also used a few different aps on my phone.  

1. Headspace

One of the quotes on the Headspace website brags that “Headspace is helping cause a cultural shift in how we think and talk about meditation.”  It seems to be meditation rebranded for professionals—it concentrates on how mindfulness can be helpful for stress and focus. 

Headspace wasn’t for me.  It felt too antiseptic, too removed from anything even vaguely spiritual.  But it would be a great place to start for someone who is kind of uncomfortable with the idea of meditation.  
 

 2. Buddhify

This one had a cool feature—a color wheel of different situations and different types of meditation.  I used a few of them and really enjoyed the variety.  I even tried to do it at work once but I felt too self-conscious.  


3. Calm

This one was my favorite.  It’s the first one I tried so perhaps I'm just unfairly biased.   I did a lovely “Seven Days of Calm” program.  It has programmable background noise (I love the ocean one!) which is helpful in my loud, creaky house. 






And now.....monthly recap! 

On a grading scale from A through F, how would you rate this?  Did you accomplish your goal? 
I’m going to give it a B+.  
I loved the classes, mainly because they were so outside of my comfort zone.  They gave me an extra facet of understanding that I wouldn’t have gotten if I had tried to do it all by myself. 

Did you do this each and every day? 
Mostly.  Skipped maybe three or four times all month. 

Will you do anything different moving forward? 
Yes.  I'm filing under important tool for dealing with stress.  I could see myself getting in the regular habit of it if I was particular worried or stressed about something.
I’ve also caught myself concentrating on the way that I breathe—when I’m tense, falling asleep, or even just waiting.   I’m going to keep Calm app on my phone and try the “21 Days of Calm” next.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

March: The Month of Meditation, Part II


I’ve always viewed meditation as, well, kind of boring.  I knew that there were tons of positive psychological and health effects related to meditation.  But I barely have time to exercise and eat right.  In an ideal world I would meditate…but in an ideal world, I would also floss regularly, clean my baseboards, and not crave McDonald’s french fries when I’m stressed.

Despite my admittedly low expectations, this month has been incredibly interesting.  I’m not necessarily getting the most out of it (more on this in a later post) but it’s forced me do some things that are completely and utterly out of my comfort zone.

One would assume that mediation is meditation is meditation.  NOPE.  I tried three different classes and my experience with each one was radically different. 

As a disclaimer, I’m describing my experience of these classes with the understanding that just because something didn’t work for me, it doesn’t mean it’s not a good fit for someone else.  I found all of these through the very elaborate method of Googling “meditation St. Louis” and picking three with times and dates that work for me.

 
Class 1: The Meditation Lounge, The Healing Arts Center
This one was located in the basement of a strip mall off of Manchester.  The Healing Arts Center does mostly Reiki, I believe.  I used the bathroom before the class started and instead of soap, there was salt.

 I did eventually locate the hand soap.

The meditation room was large, with no windows and an altar at the front.  There were a variety of jewel-colored cushions and blankets set up on the floor, with a choice to have your back against the wall if necessary.   There were about 8 other participants, male and female, ranging  in age from late 20s to early 40s.  It was the first time there for about three of us.  

The woman that led the class sat with a variety of large crystals surrounding her mat, including a crystal ball in her lap.  There was incense.  At the end of the class, she mentioned that she was a clairaudient and clairvoyant Spiritual Consultant.
  
That probably paints a very specific picture of this meditation, but you know what?  I liked it.  It was a 40-minute guided meditation with visualization, with the guide suggesting step by step of what to picture.    Every once in a while, a phrase would trigger my inner eye roll and I would have to force myself to not get hung up on it.  Despite this not being my scene, I still dug it.

Cost: $10.  Would recommend for: Someone that has a high tolerance for hippies and wants to try meditation in a low pressure way.  
 


Class 2: The Zen House
This is located in a Webster Groves residential neighborhood.  It's a Soto Zen center.  The introductory class is focused on people interested in learning more about Buddhism and meditation; plus, it’s a required experience for students taking college level comparative religious courses.

Before the class, you are sent a ton of material, covering everything from Soto temple etiquette to background reading about sitting zazen and learning more about Buddhism.  I read it all. 

As I was reading, I stumbled upon this quote. “Fathom the unfathomed state. How do you fathom the unfathomed state? Fathomless! Such is the essential art of zazen.”  It was at that point that I realized I probably stop reading and just try it.

There were only two other people in this class, one computer programmer and one student.  You leave your shoes outside in an enclosed porch, and let yourself into the house.  There are two adjacent rooms with black cushions set on the floor.  You begin in the first room, with a younger Buddhist monk (student monk?  I'm not sure of his title) giving an introduction to Buddhism and Zen meditation.  You then move to the adjacent room, and the abbot/Reverend of the Missouri Zen Center joins the group and leads a 20-minute meditation.

Unlike the other meditation class or even the apps that I’ve been trying, this was done in total silence.  Facing a blank white wall.  It was right at dusk, so the light in the room got progressively lower.  It felt purer, in some ways, as I had to actively manage my mind when it wandered.  It was also a lot more difficult. 

After the meditation, the Buddhist monk talked a little more about Zen and answered questions.  I understand about a third of what he explained, mostly because I know so little about Buddhism.  A couple bits of this evening still stick out to me, and I keep thinking about them. I think I'm going to do it again some time.  While Buddhism isn't necessarily for me, I do think that the method of meditation is worth pursing. 

Cost: Suggested $10 donation.  Would recommend for: Someone interested in the religious side of meditation or interested in Buddhism.  Or anyone open to trying something completely new.



Class 3: Sahaja Meditation
This class is held at the St. Louis Public Library.  That alone makes it automatically a bit awkward-- lots of background noise of doors slamming and kids crying.  There was only one other participant that day.

We sat on plastic chairs in a rather sterile meeting room.  The guide lead us through a series of exercises designed to balance your energy.  It was a lot of touching your different chakras and quietly saying things like, “I forgive myself.”  Then you are supposed to place your hand about an inch from the top of your head and see if you felt warm or cold air or anything.  The guide was also avidly interested if we felt anything in our hands.

While the guide was super nice and you can tell it worked for him, at one point I was convinced that he was going to have me pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time.

Cost: Suggested $10 donation, but he didn’t take my money.  Would recommend for: Someone not that interested in the breathing side of meditation but interested in a convoluted routine?  Sorry, I’m not selling this one very well.  I guess checking in with your body and taking time to go slow is good for anyone.