Tag: gratitude

Gratitude, Day 23: Walter’s Mother’s Gremolata

NOTE: I am a fan of 30-day challenges, and November is traditionally a time of two: National Novel Writing Month, and 30 Days of Thanks. As I am not a fiction writer, this year I have chosen to publish a daily blog for the entire month, expressing my gratitude. This may not be entirely food-focused, but expect recipes aplenty. Feel free to join me in the comments below. What are you thankful for today?

A ray of sunshine.
A ray of sunshine.

Today is the day before my daughter’s ex-boyfriend’s birthday.

I know. It’s weird.

But I really liked this kid. Smart, polite, funny, clever, and a caring human and good boyfriend.

Tomorrow is Walter’s birthday, and I still think about him.

I know. That’s weird, too.

Why they broke up is none of my business, but what is my business is the fact that just three days before things ended we all went over to Walter’s parents house (me, Sicily, and Sicily’s godparents, Mark and Kerry, and their two boys) and had dinner.

And I LOVED Walter’s family.

Funny, kind, liberal, warm, welcoming, open, honest. All of them from both kids to the parents and all the way back again.

I am not the most social of people, but Walter’s family went out of their way to make me feel comfortable, or at least that’s what it felt like, which is what good hosts do.

Walter’s mom, Susan, made me feel immediately at home as I walked in with my salted caramel cheesecake pie. I told her that I break the cardinal rule of potlucks every time, which is don’t make something for the first time for a potluck, and the cheesecake pie was no exception.

“Oh,” she said, “I did the exact same thing and always do.”

#KindredSoul

After the kids broke up, Susan and I emailed a couple times, hoping to get together, but nothing came of it, and maybe that’s as it should be (or maybe not. I am still hopeful).

I did come away with the recipe for the gremolata she served on the steak that night, and I have made it several times since that dinner.

Today I am thankful for that Walter’s mother’s gremolata.

I miss Walter and his family, but we’ll always have the gremolata.

Walter’s Mother’s Gremolata

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups packed mint leaves (I used half mint, half parsley)

1/2 cup shelled, roasted pistachios

2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse to chop. You are looking for a pesto-like consistency, not a paste, so don’t overblend.

Serve on meat, chicken, crackers, toast, whatever. It’s fucking delicious.

What are you grateful for?

(image source)

Gratitude, Day 22: Living Creatively

NOTE: I am a fan of 30-day challenges, and November is traditionally a time of two: National Novel Writing Month, and 30 Days of Thanks. As I am not a fiction writer, this year I have chosen to publish a daily blog for the entire month, expressing my gratitude. This may not be entirely food-focused, but expect recipes aplenty. Feel free to join me in the comments below. What are you thankful for today?

Things you might see if you have time to notice.
Things you might see if you have time to notice.

I have worked a job since I was 15.

On my 15th birthday, I went out and got  a job at Wonder Book and Video in Frederick, Maryland. This was back when you had the option of renting Betamax and VHS tapes, but the bookstore itself was deeply embedded in my childhood. My father, brother, and I would wander the aisles many Sundays, reading comics and used books, possibly to give my mother a break.

Since that job, I have had exactly two months of time when I have not somehow been gainfully employed or otherwise productively occupied with a full-time volunteer gig (with Americorps/VISTA in Seattle) or full-time school (one semester of graduate school, after which I got a job and the honeymoon ended).

Even as I moved from place to place, the first thing I would do in every town is register with a temp agency and be at work within a couple days.

I have a strong work ethic.

All of this to say that I am thankful for what life has to offer me right in this moment.

Today, I am grateful for the creative life that allows me time to rest.

Today I woke up, talked to my sweet girl in France for a bit, then settled in to work on designing yoga classes for the week.

I wrote a little, paid a bill, then set off to teach yoga to some seriously stressed out folks at Johns Hopkins’ School of Medicine.

When I came home, Khristian was here. We went for a walk, getting free coffee at MOMs in Hampden and buying a cone of shame for Gatsby who is suffering from seasonal allergies that are manifesting themselves in the form of him chewing all of the hair (and most of the skin) off the base of his tail.’

Around three, Khristian went off to teach Lego kids, and I went off to teach yoga to very, very young children.

I came home, poured a beer, and got some soup started. Now I am on the couch with an unhappy Cone of Shame’d dog and a man who is creating art in the next room.

This is a typical day –  a little bit of rewarding work, a little bit of companionship, and a little bit of solitude to create and think and wonder.

I don’t really have targets to reach – unless I set them.

I don’t have to be anywhere in particular – unless I schedule it.

I have time and flexibility – mostly – and my schedule is my own.

It has been a long time coming. I was a public school teacher for 13 years, and then I opened my own school. Seventy plus hour weeks were more common than not, and the rest of the waking time was spent shuttling the kid to travel softball games and practices. Weekends were filled with errands and chores and home repair.

Like most of the country, I was firmly entrenched in the culture of busy.

I knew that it wasn’t what I wanted.

But I knew that from my last year of undergraduate when I had three jobs and finished two years of school in one year. Sure, sometimes you have to grind to get it done (see previous mention of opening my own school, a joyous but time-consuming task), but honey: that ain’t living.

These days I sweat the bills a little, but it’s a trade-off. The work I do nourishes people, in their soul through yoga and in their bellies through the food I make each week.

I get to see the sun come up and really pay attention to it as it moves across the pillow.

I can monitor the allergic dog and the cat who just got vaccinations.

I can wake up and make scones if I damn well feel like it.

I can see that this time to reflect has its own season; when my kid comes home things will change, as there is another human to track and shuttle around and make room for.

I am always looking to add to my earnings and am actively continuing to do mercenary writing as well as working on my own stuff.

But today, as I walked around my neighborhood in the middle of a sunny but chilly day, I realized how lucky I am to be able to craft a life that allows me to step off the wheel.

Maybe something compelling will cause me to step back on the wheel; maybe I will have periods when I have to be more busy for a variety of reasons.

Today, I have everything I need, and for that I am grateful.

What are you grateful for today?

 

 

 

Gratitude, Day 21: My Teachers

NOTE: I am a fan of 30-day challenges, and November is traditionally a time of two: National Novel Writing Month, and 30 Days of Thanks. As I am not a fiction writer, this year I have chosen to publish a daily blog for the entire month, expressing my gratitude. This may not be entirely food-focused, but expect recipes aplenty. Feel free to join me in the comments below. What are you thankful for today?

So I realize that this is a day behind, but what happens is a double dose of gratitude today.

This is from yesterday.

gratitude

Today’s post still pending.

What are you grateful for?

Gratitude, Day 20: Easy Like Sunday Morning

NOTE: I am a fan of 30-day challenges, and November is traditionally a time of two: National Novel Writing Month, and 30 Days of Thanks. As I am not a fiction writer, this year I have chosen to publish a daily blog for the entire month, expressing my gratitude. This may not be entirely food-focused, but expect recipes aplenty. Feel free to join me in the comments below. What are you thankful for today?

These are a few of my favorite things.
These are a few of my favorite things.

There is pretty much nothing better than hot, fresh-baked goods on a cold Sunday morning, and today is no exception.

This day I am grateful for easy, always successful, super adaptable scones. This morning I made cherry ginger almond and ate two as soon as I pulled the pan from the oven.

It’s the little things.

Cherry Ginger Almond Scones

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour (regular works here, too)

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick of butter, frozen

1/2 cup plain, full-fat yogurt

1 egg

1/2 cup chopped unsweetened dried cherries

1/2 cup unsalted toasted almonds

1/4 cup chopped crystalized ginger

Turbinado sugar for the tops (optional)

Method

This can be done easily in a food processor, but I like to make these by hand.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (375 on convection).

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.

In a smaller bowl. combine egg and yogurt and whisk to thoroughly incorporate egg with yogurt. Set aside.

Grate the full stick of butter into the dry ingredients and use your fingertips to crumble flour into butter. It should resemble cornmeal.

Stir in add-ins, then add wet ingredients to dry and stir until clumps begin to form. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until all of the crumbly bits are incorporated.

Shape into an 8″ disk then use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut into 8 scones. Sprinkle each scone with turbinado sugar, then place on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until scones are golden brown. For a traditional scone, let them cool completely before eating, but I bet you don’t make it that long.

You can add pretty much anything you want to these: chocolate chips and walnuts, other dried fruits, coconut, different spices. I think cooked and crumbled bacon would pretty much through these over the top, specifically with the same dried cherries and maybe a little maple glaze.

What are you grateful for today?

Gratitude, Day 19: Horses

NOTE: I am a fan of 30-day challenges, and November is traditionally a time of two: National Novel Writing Month, and 30 Days of Thanks. As I am not a fiction writer, this year I have chosen to publish a daily blog for the entire month, expressing my gratitude. This may not be entirely food-focused, but expect recipes aplenty. Feel free to join me in the comments below. What are you thankful for today?

horse

I got my first horse when I was 36. Sadie was a 20-year-old retired racing thoroughbred and dressage school horse.

Although I had read nearly every book about horses growing up and then added to that knowledge volunteering for Save The Horses in Georgia for three years before I adopted her, Sadie really taught me what it meant to own a horse. She was patient while I made every mistake known to horses and never let me down. She taught me how to be a sensitive rider; as a dressage horse her sides were very sensitive, and as a race horse her face was, too, so for the first year I rode her with by legs away from her sides and the reins loose.

Across all of the changes in my life in the past decade, Sadie was a constant.

She died last year at age 31, well-loved until her very last breath.

Today I am grateful for horses. 

Everything about them – their grace, beauty, and acceptance. The way they can teach you about yourself, if you’ll let them, and how willing they are to be your partner.

I have thought about getting back in the saddle, so to speak, but every time I look for opportunities to volunteer or ride it reminds me of the loss of Sadie, from my life when I had to leave her in Georgia first, and then finally from this world just a year later.

What are you grateful for?