Early Bird

I think I've already mentioned my slightly irrational love for early mornings... you know, morning. That time when it's still dark outside and most people are still sleeping? Love it. When I go to bed at night I actually look forward to my morning routine - it's nothing special, but it's one of my favorite parts of the day, partly because I haven't had time yet to think about all the crap I have to get done later on. This is what my typical morning looks like:

6am: Alarm goes off.
6:00 and 5 seconds: Snooze alarm (I leave enough time for this on purpose)
6:05: Alarm goes off again. Get up for real.
6:05 - 6:30: Turn on MPR and listen to the news while I putz around the kitchen, do some dishes from the day before and make my coffee. Lately I've been using these beans:

Dogwood just opened up near my apartment and wow do they sell some delicious beans. They aren't cheap (these were $15 a pound) but still way less expensive than going to Starbucks every day like I used to.

French Press ... the only way to go. And a giant St. Olaf mug. Um Ya Ya :)
6:30 - 7ish: Get dressed, pack my bag for school, drink coffee, continue listening to news/music.
7:10: Catch the bus, enjoy the warm cozy bus ride (I will REALLY miss taking the bus, especially in the winter)
7:30: Arrive at school, hole up in a small study room with all of my stuff and get to work!


From 7:30 to 8 or so (when I usually have a meeting or class), I'll usually work on blogging, Immersion homework or school projects, and enjoy my breakfast (overnight oats) and some tea (provided by CVE!). Always nice to find some good music to accompany solitary work:


... new Radiohead album helps with that...awesomeness. Track 6 (Codex) is my favorite and I also like Lotus Flower (track 5) partially because of the name. I'm mildly obsessed with lotus flowers and am also wearing a lotus flower necklace today... yay :)

So that is my uber exciting morning! You're welcome for all of that useless information, but I leave yo with this tip - If you really want to enjoy your mornings I would highly recommend getting up early enough that you aren't rushed, and give yourself at least a few minutes to just sit with coffee, tea or another warm comforting beverage of your choice and think about how great life is. Then go attack your day with a renewed sense of calm and confidence that you can respond to the 50,000 e-mails in your inbox, make all of your meetings, get your immersion homework done and still make it to choir on time.

The weather outside is STILL frightful....

It has been snowing nonstop 27 hours, white stuff is still coming down, and for some reason they STILL did not close the University. I drove up to my parents house again last night to avoid snow emergency parking rules... I really do love coming up here, it feels so cozy and it's nice sometimes to not just be alone in my apartment.



My mom and I made some Trader Joe's multigrain cereal for breakfast, I did work for a few hours and then for lunch I had some roasted squash and onion salad from the Missisippi Market co-op that was leftover from my potluck birthday party. One great thing about hosting parties is the leftover food and beverages that come along with it - I have two delicious salads, curried hummus, a little bit each of Humboldt Fog and Mango Stilton cheese, and five bottles of wine. Both cakes (my chocolate cake and Amanda's delicious almond pear upside-down contribution) were devoured quite early on.

Please ignore the decorative shoe-pile... and I just noticed that the blinds on my living-room window are TOTALLY CROOKED. Fail.

I will write more in-depth about the immersion and some more recipes, but I'm just too wiped out from everything this weekend and I have a midterm tonight so I'll get back on that tomorrow (and Linz I will post a picture of the cake :) ). Hope you all had wonderful weekends :)

Two Birthday Recipes: The greatest chocolate cake ever, and finding balance in all things

Since I spent most of my actual birthday doing homework and getting my car fixed, I was glad I decided to wait until the weekend to celebrate - I'm having some friends over tonight for food, drinks and general good times. Although, not too crazy because this is the second immersion weekend and tomorrow I have to be up bright and early and ready to yoga.

At the last immersion we talked a lot about Spanda, or the vibration of the universe. According to Anusara's Universal Principles of Alignment, all life pulsated=s between two grand extremes of contrary compliments. This is illustrated in light/dark, innhale/exhale etc. In terms of the physical yoga practice we talk about mucle energy and organic energy, both of which are needed to achieve balanced action.

In this spirit, I'm blogging two recipes to day - one that's quite healthy (for your body and your pocketbook), and one that is totally indulgent in every possible way. Either would be a huge hit at a party and both are personal favorites.

First - the healthy: I actually don't know where this recipe originated but I got it from Lynn at One Yoga during a session on Ayurveda. All I know is it's totally delicious, full of asian flavors and just has that different special something that makes it stand out from other hummus-type dips. Personally I think it's the almond butter that really puts it over the top.



I really am a firm believer that the ingredients make the recipe. You could be the greatest cook on earth but without good ingredients, you won't get good results. The nice thing about this recipe is that you don't need to spend a lot, even on excellent ingredients - even organic chickpeas don't cost that much more than regular, and if you buy dried and cook them yourself it's even cheaper. This whole recipe cost me less than $4, not counting the staples like oils and almond butter that I already had on hand.


Then put it in a pretty bowl and chill until you're ready to serve.


GINGER SESAME HUMMUS
- 1 c. cooked chickpeas
- 1.5 T rice vinegar
- .5 T sesame oil
- 2 T tamari or soy sauce
- 1/3 c almond butter
- 1/2t garlic powder or 1 clove fresh garlic minced
- 1 t. minced ginger root
- 1.5 T minced cilantro
- 1 T walnut, sesame or canola oil
(add a little water to thin as necessary)

First grind the chickpeas in a food processor, then add the oils, vinegar, tamari and almond butter and process until very smooth. Add the garlic, ginger and cilantro and blend again. Boom. Done.

OK now time for the fun. I apologize in advance for the utter insanity that is to follow. This cake is unapologetically indulgent... I actually hesitate to even call it a cake because in principle I feel like the flour content for a cake should be more than one tablespoon. Yes, you read that correctly. One tablespoon. And five eggs. And 200g each of butter and chocolate. Sometimes, blind trust is necessary in baking - this would be one of those times.



Earlier I mentioned the importance of key ingredients - with this recipe it's ALL about the butter and chocolate. In every recipe, there are a couple/few ingredients that really make or break the end result. Figure out what these are, and make them your "splurges". High-quality butter and chocolate are not cheap, but trust me, in this case it's worth it, especially for the chocolate - the cheap stuff will not get you the same result. This is how I think of it: splurge on the stuff that's important, save on the stuff that isn't.


Hello gorgeous. I can't wait to chop you up in to little bits and melt you in the microwave.

As long as we're just being ridiculous, you might want to pour yourself a glass of wine while the chocolate and butter are getting to know each other in the microwave. And light some candles. And watch Gossip Girl. And try not to eat all of the batter directly from the bowl.


GATEAU AU CHOCOLAT FONDANT DE NATAHLIE
From Orangette via The Corner Kitchen
7 oz (200g) high-quality dark chocolate
7 oz (200g) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1-1/3 c granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1 T unbleached all-purpose flour


Preheat the oven to 375 and butter an 8 inch round cake pan. I highly recommend using a springform pan as the cake will be MUCH easier to transfer even if it sticks a little... if you're using a regular pan you might want to line the bottom with parchment.

Chop the chocolate into chunks and combine with the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat the butter and chocolate and stir together as they melt (or if you're feeling fancy you can use a double-boiler, but I liked the idea of only using one cooking vessel for the entire recipe). Add the sugar and stir to combine, then add the eggs one at a time, using a whisk to incorporate completely before adding the next egg.

Stir in the flour using a wooden spoon or spatula. Contemplate the ridiculousness of a cake with five eggs and only one tablespoon of flour. Then go about your life as if everything were perfectly normal.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 23-25 minutes - while this is baking, finish your wine and snack on some of the leftover chocolate.

When it's finished, the cake should still be a little jiggly (but not TOO jiggly). Keep an eye on it because a lot of this depends on your oven - mine actually took more like 27 minutes. The cake will deflate slightly as it cools - when it is completely cool, transfer it onto a plate, keeping the crackly-side up. I slid one of those very thin plasting cutting boards under the whole cake, picked it up and slid it onto the plate...but if you're using a non-springform pan you can't really do this, so then I would suggest...just flipping it and re-flipping it very, very carefully.

I will post a pic of the finished cake once I have it nicely plated on cute dishes :)

Now that you're finished, I guess you could do some dishes. Or you could watch another episode of Gossip Girl, pour another glass of wine and curl up on your couch with a blanket. And then maybe eat some of that hummus dip for balance :)

Happy Birthday to meeee

It's my birthday! I am 28... officially way closer to 30 than 25, but I firmly believe that age is just a number.


Here's what I've done so far on this day, 28 years after the day I was born:
- Forgot it was my birthday
- Left the house super early to take my car in to the repair shop so they can determine why it sounds like it is dying.
- Remembered it was my birthday when I got a text from Ben at 6:22am that said "Happy Birthday!"
- got to school in time for my 8am meeting
- Finished my entire thermos of coffee before arriving at said meeting, so went to Starbucks to get another coffee. Hey, it's my birthday I can be overcaffeinated if I want to!

Have you, like me, noticed that you are increasingly likely to forget your birthday as you get older? Does that imply senility or just that adult responsibilities are taking up all available brain space?

Managing Expectations: overnight oats and my living room chair saga

One valuable thing I have learned in my MBA program is how to manage expectations - this basically means slowly changing someone's mind so that they realize what they're getting is not what they originally throught, but also making sure that they do not have kittens over it. For example, if you're working with a client who says "I want you to save the world!" and you know you can't realistically do that, you slowly brainwash them with pictures of adorable puppies while trying to tell them no without ACTUALLY telling them no, and hoping they will end up thinking that what you give them in the end was actually what they really wanted in the first place.

I digress.

SO, OVERNIGHT OATS.

About a year ago I started coming across this mythical food-miracle in the blogosphere known as "overnight oats." Everyone was talking about how amazing and they were, so I figured that they were probably totally delicious, and also contained the cure for cancer or at the very least would endow the eater with magical wizarding abilities like Harry Potter. So I made some.

And I thought they were totally gross.

I actually didn't finish them and went to buy a pastry from Starbucks instead...true story.

But I am being unfair to overnight oats - because now I really like them. See, I'm just trying to set the bar low and then impress you with a realistic endorsement of something I used to think was nasty. The following are some facts about overnight oats:

1) Overnight oats do not cure cancer, nor do they give you magical powers. Fact.

2) Overnight oats are NOT OATMEAL. I think this was my first problem - I expected them to taste like oatmeal, and prepared them as I would normally prepare oatmeal... of course they turned out watery and tasteless. It was like biting into an olive thinking it was a grape. Overnight oats are really more like soggy cereal, and need to be thickened up a bit. For this I would recommend yogurt, coconut milk, or both. It sounds weird, but trust me, it makes them way more yummy.

3) Overnight oats are extremely convenient. When I have an 8am meeting and have to catch the bus at 7, I really do not want to have to make breakfast for myself because it inevetably makes me almost miss the bus. Thus it is quite nice to have something homemade-ish already sitting in the fridge and ready to be tossed in my bag.

4) Overnight oats should be kept in a container with a very secure top. The downside of just tossing them in your bag is that this sometimes has adverse consequences for your textbooks and notebooks. I highly recommend something with a screw-on lid, such as a small mason jar. Highly recommend. Highly.

5) As long as you expect them to taste like soggy cereal, they are actually quite tasty. Also fact.

Remember last week I promised (or rather, threatened) a post about moving furniture around in my apartment? This is that post. It is the totally boring story of my failed attempt to move my giant pink chair from my living room into my bedroom. See now it's not even suspenseful because you know how it ends.

Anyways, I have this pink chair in my living room. I found it outside of my building shortly after I moved in - once I deduced that a) no one wanted it, b) it was free and c) it had only been outside for a few hours, I decided to claim it. Ben and I carried it upstairs, plonked it in my living room, and there it has stayed. It's nice to have for extra seating, but it doesn't quite fit with the color schema....

... but for a while I've thought it would work perfectly in this sad, lonely and empty spot in my bedroom next to the radiator....

...and so began my endeavor to move my chair about 30 feet from one end of my apartment to the other. The chair is really damn heavy, so in order to move it anywhere I had to slide it, which is not so awesome for the wood floors. Luckily I have a couple of towels that have been relegated to "sweaty yoga towel" status:

Getting it through the first door was a little tight, but it worked out OK. The second door was another story altogether - people in the early 20th century must have had really, really tiny furniture... either that or whoever designed this biulding had some crazy sadistic streak. Either way, despite my best efforts and use of yoga-muscles, that door was not having it.

Just for contrast, here's the chair in the first door:

...and the second door:

...and so the chair is still in my living room. But I have other plans for the empty bedroom space...stay tuned.

Valentines Weekend Recap, part 2!

Happy Monday! After a 6am Vinyasa class this morning, I drove up to my parents house to pick up some materials I needed for my Healthcare class, and lo and behold I am still here :) I helped my mom dismantle the tree (I mean LITERALLY dismantle... we chopped it into pieces and dragged it outside. My dad always picks out the tree and each year it gets progressively more gargantuan... yet somehow he always gets out helping take it down... but with his new hip he has no excuse right??)

I also almost hit a deer on the way up...this is not an unusual occurance, as deer tend to frolick about quite frequently in these parts. I stopped to avoid it and then waited for about 20 seconds as the deer ran around in circles trying to decide how, exactly, to get off the road. Going back the way he had come did not seem to occur to him. Deer are not the smartest... I digress.

So the second day of our valentines weekend started out with whole-wheat muffins and chocolate hazelnut strudel! The chocolate hazelnut strudel is probably my favorite of Teri's pastries (that and the little orange-flavored rolls...mmm...). I don't even want to know how many sticks of butter are in them, but in this case ignorance is definitely bliss. Besides, everyone knows that the whole wheat in the muffins cancels out the butter and chocolate.




The red plates and glasses were gorgeous, and the mango mimosas were...mmm yummy. Never to early in the day for Prosecco.

The main course was... I'm not even sure what to call it but wow it was good. Also no dearth of butter in this guy... some sort of bread-pudding benedict type concoction. Delish.

Before we hit the road we picked up some sandwiches from Water House for the road. I picked the Desdemona (ham, cheese and rosemary mayo on sourdough...real ham too, no fake deli-sliced ham here), which is probably my new favorite sandwich. I will have to figure out how to re-create it at home :).

The last stop was at our favorite wine shop - turns out when you've bought 12 bottles you get one free! So I left Lake Mills with 3 wine bottles and a six pack of beer....the only way to go out.

I figured the same concept that applies to pastries also applies to beverages, so I got some tea to balance out all the wine. Totally logical.

Now back to reality... I have three assignments due this week and I need to figure out what to cook for myself so that I actually have lunches to bring to school with me, AND I need to figure out what to make for my birthday party on Friday... chances are good that my B-day present from my parents will be involved :)

Valentines Weekend Recap, Part 1!

When Ben and I realized we were most likely going to end up going to graduate school in different states (long story...), we immediately decided to decide on a mid-way meet up spot. I'm not entirely sure how we found Lake Mills, Wisconsin but I think it basically started with us browsing through B&Bs in southern Wisconsin (about halfway between Minneapolis and Bowling Green OH), and going "hey this one looks good". So now, every couple-few months we drive to Lake Mills to spend the weekend at the Sweet Autumn Inn. Since September of 2009 we've gotten to know Teri the innkeeper, who is an AMAZING cook...and she now forces us to tell other guests the story of how we got engaged in India... and we're recognized at most local haunts.

We got in on Friday in time to make it to the Blue Moon for dinner... I die for their pulled pork sandwich...and then watched a movie at the inn. Saturday's breakfast started out with coffee (obviously), and valentine-decorated apple strudel:


Follwed by CHOCOLATE FRENCH TOAST..... this is something I need to learn how to make ASAP!

The rest of the day was basically homework. I had a lot of reading to get done, and Ben had some revisions to do on his thesis (he defends in two weeks!) so we holed up in the room with tea and our various study materials.


See how happy Ben is writing his thesis?....yes..............
Eventually we got bored of being in the room and decided to take a walk downtown... we saw several neat ice sculptures on the way (Including a GB Packers sculpture...booo... we won't be posting that one on the blog...)


As per usual, we ended up at our favorite coffee shop and sandwich place, Water House Foods. Water House is a great little place, and a nice organic/whole foods foodie haven in the middle of a town full of fried fish (not that fried fish doesn't have its time and place, but it's nice to have something different too). They make their own house-made granola, baked goods (lemon bars are to die for), and artisan breads....AND all their sandwiches are named after characters from Shakespeare!
We sipped on tea and finished up our work....

...and as we were getting ready to leave the owner of Water House mentioned that they were having wine and dinner specials with live acoustic guitar that night. Sold! So a couple hours later, after showering and relaxing, we ended up back at Water House for dinner and some Malbec.
We met a really sweet couple who classified themselves as Water House "groupies" (I think Ben and I might fall in that camp, too!) and gave us some other restaurant recommendations in the area. After hanging out at Water House for a while we headed to the local microbrewery, Tyranena, for more live music and some beer.

The band was called Brown Derby (I think...). They're from Madison and they were really good! We had fun dancing with the people we met there, and Ben and I split a pint of "Shaggin in the Wood", a bourbon barrel aged scotch ale. Yum! I also met a new friend... I have no idea what her name is but she was EXTREMELY drunk and insisted on smooching me (luckily we captured this moment on camera), giving me life-advice for about 20 minutes, and telling me and Ben she would totally trust us to sublet her place if we ever wanted to. We had known her for all of 5 minutes at this point. Here's a pic of me with my new bestie:

I look truly overjoyed. She was totally squishing my face.

After fun times at Tyranena, we drove back to the hotel blasting Bollywood music and had some wine by the fireplace. A great pre-Valentines date evening :)

Back tomorrow with part 2! Hope you all had a lovely weekend :)