Moving Around

I'm back in the blog world again!  The holidays are the best at breaking routine and keeping me away from the internet.  Now, I'm back in Chicago and having a good time on my new laptop!  Yup,  I was (happily) regifted a MacBook Air.  There is a pretty amusing story behind it, but the short version is that my mom found out that she was going to get a laptop from my dad that has an arabic keyboard and made it clear that she didn't want it and would not use it.  It was already bought and brought from Dubai, so, with many tears of joy and a melted heart, it was handed to me on Christmas day.  I'd been wanting a new, light, laptop for a couple of years now, so this is a jem.  It will allow me to bring my laptop with me to more places more often.  And it can actually fit into laptop cases and backpacks.  My old laptop is a 17 inch Mac Book Pro from 2006.  It could only fit into one backpack it is so large.  I initially got it for video editing for college.  I still love the big screen and the editing capabilities of course.  It just made it a bit more of a challenge to casually bring it places to do work etc.

 Every Christmas Eve my family visits my cousin's place and we have a Swedish Smorgasbord.  My cousin dresses like Santa for the their kid and we drink hot spiced wine together.  It has become one of my favorite traditions now.  I hope we can keep it up by continuing to visit with each other each year.

Christmas Day begins with a more decadent than usual breakfast, in this case my dad made his famous pop overs and I made vegan pancakes, and moves on to present opening.  We then spend a good part of the afternoon playing with our new gifts and relaxing.  My brother got Halo 4 and he was enamored.  I'm pretty sure he still is.  Then it is time for us to prepare dinner for us and my cousin's family.  My brother bought local lamb leg from the farmer's market and my mom made a traditional yogurt sauce in her middle eastern glory.  I made the lentil walnut loaf, a shitake gravy, truffle mashed potatoes, and a peach, blueberry, whiskey pie.  It turned out to be the best pie crust I've ever made.  I was proud hehehe.

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I flew back to Chicago the next day and spent a few days in Woodstock with my boyfriend's family.  They are such wonderful people and made me feel like family.  His step-dad has been working on improving the house with amazing renovations and electrical work for quite a few years.  It looks great and is an admirable project.  Woodstock is a cute town and we were even able to get some vegan chocolate chip cookies! Groundhog Day was filmed there too!  Very cool!

I hope all of you had and are having a great time this holiday season.  I'm moving things forward with the blog and it will be in a new location soon.  More details to come and I'll let you know when it changes homes.  I'm still working on setting up the website.  My brother is an amazing web wiz and he gets all the credit for the move and the ability to do it!  Thanks brother!

Have a very happy new year and I'll see you there!

Link Love!

It's been pretty mellow here these days.  My brother is arriving home tomorrow after having spent a good long time traveling around and living in South Korea.  He'll finally be home!  We are all very excited.  My dad has been in and out of doctor's appointments unfortunately, so my peppy mood hasn't quite been there.  I'm trying to spend time with him and enjoy calm afternoons together over hot chocolate.  Today was just that and it has been my favorite day so far.  You really can't replace the joy of laughing with family over a warm foamy cup of cocoa. And then we both took naps hahaha!  Great day indeed.

I'll be heading into NYC tomorrow evening to spend some time with my friends from my job at the Waldorf=Astoria.  I'm looking forward to it, and I do hope my energy level and mood picks up for the holiday party I'll be attending.  Whether I leave early, or party all night, I always have a great time with these guys.

In honor of the mellow day, aside from watching Step-Up Revolution (so fun!), I'm doing a "what I've been reading" post.  These are just some great articles and things that might strike your interest as well.

The theme is, of course, wellness!  In the wholesome sense.  These are some great resources and links for you:

A Vegan Diet Seems To Be The Best To Keep Cancer Away

The title says it all I think.  It's short and sweet.

10 Tips to Being Happy

Again, obvious title.  It's always nice to have a reminder.

The Happiness Advantage

This is a great Ted Talk that really hits home and encourages you to realize that you have the choice to be happy.  Please choose that.  It's much more pleasant (happier one might say) living a happy life than an unhappy one.

The Passion Whisperer

Another really inspiring video from Kris Carr.  This one can really get you going about finding and pursuing your passion.  Watch it!

Taking a Moment

I wanted to have a post to thank all the people who care.  There have been so many posts, tweets, facebook blurbs, and other actions to draw attention to what happened here in Connecticut.  I am saying thank you not because I was directly associated with the families, community, or school, but because my heart broke too, just as so many of your hearts did.

Seeing the compassion extended by so many to a small community relatively far away, makes me grateful for the good in peoples' hearts.  Even one of the yoga studios I work with in Chicago is hosting a fundraising yoga class to help the families here.  Such unnecessary actions make me grateful.

My heart goes out to those directly affected by the consequences of a terrible decision.  Humanity shares a heartbeat at times like these.

Astoria and New London

Speaking of seeing old friends, I visited a greta high school friend of mine on Friday evening in Astoria!  For those of you who don't know, Astoria is an area in New York City.  It is cheaper to live there, but still a nice area to live, so a lot of people choose to live there and work in Manhattan.  My cousin lived there before and I had visited his apartment, but I was younger and didn't really explore the area.  When I visited D, my friend, we went out for dinner to a Venezuelan place that specialized in Arepas!

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Arepas are made from a fine corn flour like Masa and are cooked and cut in half.  They are then filled with all sorts of yummy things!

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So they're kind of like a sandwich, but so much better!  I got one with black beans, avocado, and plantains!  Then D's roomy and I shared one with delicious mushrooms!  I'm determined to find a spot like this in Chicago!  I'm sure there is one.  If you know of one, do let me know!

I still don't know how I feel about living in New York City again.  Part of me likes the idea of giving it another go, but another, more insistent part, wants to go somewhere a bit greener and more mountainous with fewer stressed out people.  I hope to explore more of the city again with my friend, though.

I spent the night in her incredibly snuggly bed and enjoyed some tea and breakfast and wonderful catch-up conversation!  I love seeing my old high school friends.  They are still my closest friends after all these years.

My mom wanted to meet me for coffee before my next social engagement, so I drove back to Connecticut and we caught up and chatted about the men in our lives!  It was fun as always.  My mom and I have a wonderfully close relationship.

Then, off to meet an old friend Andrew in New London, CT.  He lives up in New Hampshire, and my mom didn't want me driving that far, for arguable reasons this 24 year old isn't going to get into.  So After many discussions we compromised and sort of met halfway.  He came down and I came up.

New London is a cute town.  An ocean-side spot with lots of stuff near the water and a great natural foods co-op that just made my weekend!  We met there and proceeded to look for food at 4:00PM.  Not too many options.  Everything was either closed, to reopen in an hour, or it was closed for the day! Shops and bakeries and cafes closed at 2PM!?  I'm guessing it is seasonal hours, but who knows.  It was kind of creepy empty too for a Saturday night.  We found an open restaurant, Thai, and just hung out there for a couple of hours and chatted about everything.  It was so nice!  The food was very mild tasting without much flavor, but in small town connecticut you wouldn't necessarily be enjoying the traditional tastes of far away cultures.

Dessert, after much walking around, brought us back to one of the only open places, Fiddleheads, the Co-op.

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They had vegan thumbprint cookies and amazing dark chocolate covered cashews with sea salt! They rocked my socks!  We ended our reunion here over chocolate.  I met Andrew in Switzerland when I was studying there.  We have stayed friends ever since, though we don't have the opportunity to see each other very often.  We share many a silly memory from that time!

Any fun plans to go to new places and see old friends?

December Goals

Yes, I am a bit late with my goal setting, but I usually don't realize the new month has arrived and need time to reflect and then look forward.

So reflection time!  

November Goals and how I did:

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1. Reduce my sugar intake - I did this one well.  I didn't eliminate, and had some weeks better than others, but overall, I reduced.

2. Sustain a regular sleep schedule - I stuck with this one, and set my alarm every morning and went to bed around the same time each night.  I started waking up after a good 8 hours of sleep naturally and didn't need the alarm anymore.  Yay!

3. Bike through the cold - Ok, I got lucky with this one. Any Chicago people out there agree.  It hasn't been very COLD yet.  It's been chilly, but not yet frigid, so I got through this one like a rockstar.  Layers. Thin layers, and warm sunny days.  We even had a 70F Degree day in there!  That's 21C for my non US readers out there.

4. Rock out my November cooking workshops - This was mostly true.  The cooking workshop ended up being a bit more work than the dessert workshop and I definitely could have used an assistant for cleaning up and doing some of the repetitive stuff so I could talk and teach.  The dessert one went well, and I'm happy about it.  I did do mostly raw desserts, which I didn't intend on.  I'd like to work on getting more cooked desserts in and doing an actual workshop where the people get to do some of the work.

December Goals:

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December is a bit of a funny month for me.  I came home at the beginning to spend some time with my family and reconnect.  So I'll be out of a schedule until January.  There will be plenty of celebrating and seeing old friends.

1.  Stay active!

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By this I mean go to yoga or do some kind of physical activity each day.  I signed up for a $30 for 30 days at a really wonderful yoga studio, Kaia Yoga,  and have gone almost everyday.  They have 2 locations, one in Westport, CT and one in Greenwich, CT.  I took a day off yesterday mostly because I have an over-stretched hamstring, and took a Zumba class with my mom!  I LOVE Zumba now.  As in cravings and obsessive thoughts.  It really is like going to a party.  Me and a bunch of middle aged mom's.  Partying together.  Getting wild and crazy.

2. Learn Wordpress

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I actually have a domain and wordpress already set up on it, but I have no idea how to use it, and I want to move the blog over there eventually.  I have a book on how to learn it and I'm going to do it!  It intimidates me, which is why I procrastinate.  Yup, I've had my other site for over a year.  I'd like to get more on top of this and when is better than now, especially with all this free time I find myself with.

3. Connect with old friends

I've already set myself up for this, contacting people I haven't seen in years.  Hopefully some of it results in actually seeing these people.  I'm meeting one on Thursday next week already!  I've realized, over the years and through many new friendships, that people like to stay connected.  People often look back and wish they had put more effort to stay in touch with their old friends.  I decided a few years ago, that I'm actually going to keep up that effort.  I had an ex who was really great at keeping in contact with people, and I learned from him.  People appreciate the effort, and someone has to do it.  There is really no benefit in playing the game "well I contacted her last time so now it's her turn after 3 years."  The people who never follow through, I extend the offer to meet up when I'm around and then it is in their hands.  If they don't, then I know I tried, without putting excessive effort or stressing myself out.  I know who the flakey friends are, and who the reliable ones are, so my expectations don't typically result in frustration or disappointment.

4. Eat lots of greens

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This is actually harder than I expected, but I realized why.  The apartment my parents live in is freezing!  In Chicago, the apartment is kept really warm by the land lord or whoever is in charge of the heating.  We have no control.  It's the temperature that determines how raw I'm going to crave my food to be.  I am just not at all motivated to have a green smoothie in the morning or a salad in the afternoon.  If I do yoga or dance around the apartment (I do do this) then I'm warm.  So, when I'm home, the temperature goes up so I can stay healthier.  I also want to be more active when it is warmer in here I've realized.  Amazing.  So if you need this little bit of motivation to stay well, then up your thermostat.  

What are some of your goals?  I'd actually love to hear what you want for yourself.

Quick Camping Recipes

I recently sent the Boyfriend a care package full of cookies and other treats.  2 small bags were filled with freshly ground cumin and a great curry blend I picked up at The Spice House in Old Town.  I'm trying to make his time out in the wilds tastier.  So I e-mailed him some easy camp friendly recipes and thought I'd share with you.  I'd love it if he sent me some pictures if he does make these (hint). Before I get to the recipes though I have one more little bit I need to share.

CHILDHOOD OBESITY

On another note.  We all, especially the Americans (and even Brits) reading this, know that childhood obesity is becoming a bigger problem that reduces life expectancy.  It also keeps kids from being able to do so many activities in life and can cause a lot of pain and suffering for years.  It isn't a disease, it is lifestyle habit.  There is this competition for methods to prevent or reduce childhood obesity.  It'd be a great help to people's lives if you took a couple minutes to vote on which is your favorite.  I'm very much a fan of teaching kids about the hows and whys and introducing good things to them so that they can take this knowledge to fight their own battles and also know where they can turn to for help and information.  I like the National School Garden Coalition, but choose as you agree!  Thanks for your help!

Enjoy the recipes - as I sent them to him:

1. Basic Lazy American Thai Curry

The quick and dirty way is to start by sauteing a bunch of chopped onions with oil and a good amount of curry powder and cumin on medium heat.  You want the onions to take their time cooking here and not burn or brown, but just become soft (this is ideal, but you can always cook'em quick if you're in a crunch).

Once the onion is cooked through, then you add a variety of veggies to the pot/pan and raise the heat, adding a splash of water or broth to help steam the veggies through.

Add soy sauce and an acid like lemon juice or rice vinegar and a sweet like honey, sugar, or even sprite .  White wine is great too, but I'm assuming that isn't really an option. (optional add-ins- ginger, hot peppers, peanut butter, coconut milk , mini corns, fish sauce, tofu, etc.)

Serve over rice or noodles.

2. Easy Indian

This is a great one pot meal option. Start the same way, with a lot of chopped onion in oil and curry powder and cumin.  Allow to simmer slowly to cook the onions through.

Add frozen or canned peas (or fresh obviously), chopped carrot (or frozen or canned), a drained and rinsed can of chickpeas (or more than one can for your throng of young people - rinsing is better, but not necessary - for the chickpeas not the people, though I suppose it also applies to the people)

There should be a nice hearty volume of things in the pot.  Add some crushed tomatoes (canned works again, but you can ALWAYS choose to buy fresh though the tastes won't be great fresh this time of year), bring to a boil/simmer, and season to taste

Serve over rice, or you can always boil potatoes and chop them up and actually mix them in.  

Add cayenne or other chili as a heat option.  Try to serve with pita bread or Naan, for an authentic experience.  Easy heating - if you have a grate over your fire, or if you're using a stove, place the bread directly over the fire and flip continuously until heated through and slightly toasty.  Otherwise, wrap a bunch in aluminum foil and stick in the fire pit at the start of the cooking process.  You can also bake potatoes this way obviously or make garlic bread etc.

3. Arabic Goodness

One of my favorite ways to use Cumin is in Arabic food.  It also adds depth to Mexican food, and can be added to Indian food to accentuate the Cumin flavor often already present in Garam Masala - a base for Indian food that I did not buy for you.

Saute onion in a pot with oil, a lot of cinnamon, and cumin.  Add dry brown lentils and sauté until all sizzly and smelling wonderful.  Add rice and water.  For every one cup of lentils, you need 2 cups of water, and the same applies for rice.  Cover pot, bring to boil, then to a simmer.  Cook until done and water has been absorbed (about 20-30 minutes depending on variables like amount, size of pot, and altitude). DO NOT ADD ACID OR SALT until after the lentils are done cooking.  They will stay crunchy otherwise.

This is your foundation.  You can stuff peppers with this, wrap in aluminum foil and bake (each person can do this, or you can just hollow out peppers and wrap in foil, bake and each person can add the rice and lentil mixture into their own pepper.  You can always add spinach and nuts for a more well rounded bowl, top with a garlic lemon yogurt, maybe put into a pita with chopped romaine and tomatoes.

You can omit the rice, add broth on top of the water, and add spinach for a lentil soup that my mom makes, seasoning with fresh lemon juice.

4. Make it Moroccan

Let's do a pasta.  Easy.  Make pasta.  In another pot, saute onions in oil and cumin and cayenne, add garlic, then add a plain tomato sauce and chickpeas.  Mix together.  Yum.  Serve with love and smiles and maybe a nice salad on the side for green goodness - chop up a bunch of parsley and tomatoes to give it a Mediterranean feel.

My Anti-Virus Soup Back East

I'm back on the east coast!  Yay!  I've missed home quite a lot recently, though I haven't been home, I've been with family in Long Island.  It's nice to be with family in a familiar setting regardless.  And I love my baby cousin!

They took me to get groceries at Whole Foods, one of my favorite past times, and I made them a delicious soup for dinner last night as a thank you and to help them fight a mommy baby cold that is harassing the family.  Oh, and the Whole Foods here has local Vegan Truffles at their truffle bar!  Louise, my cousin's wife, a lovely Swedish lady he met in school in Switzerland (the same school I went to) bought me some as a welcomed treat.  My cousin, for reference, is a charismatic arab, so you can see where the baby gets his beauty!

Though sick with a cold, they enjoyed this soup and hopefully it helped with boosting their immune systems too.

3 cups of veggie stock
1 medium sweet potato
2 small golden potatoes
2 large carrots
1/2 onion
2 inch knob of ginger - peeled
Juice of 2 navel oranges
2 Tbs unsalted cashew butter (roasted for a deeper taste)
1 cup fire roasted corn
Sea salt & white pepper to taste

Put stock and cleaned and chopped potatoes into a pot on the stove on high heat.  Bring to a boil and add chopped carrot and onion.  Cook through.  Chop the ginger and add that with the orange juice and cashew butter.  Cook for about 3 minutes and puree.  Season to taste and then add the corn.

Stay healthy this season with lots of veggies and variety!

Favorite Chicago Spots

Sunday was my last day teaching at the Chiropractic office, and as I biked by one of my favorite bakeries, I thought I'd share my love of it and the other little spots I have come to love here as well.

So this little spot on Diversey is called Fritz Pastry.  Why do I love it?  Because it carries vegan pastries of course!  Yes, Bleeding Heart Bakery did too, before they closed down, but Fritz's has the best vegan doughnuts I've ever had.  They also make scones and muffins!  It is a small quaint space, with a clean and professional interior.  I only recently realized that I bike by it every Sunday! I discovered it months ago by accident and never went to it again. I have since, of course.  It supplies the next spot on my list.

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Worm Hole Cafe.  I've written briefly about this Hipster hot spot before, but I wanted to touch on it again.  They have since remodeled the inside, the Back to the Future Car is still there, and it looks great.  It feels a lot more spacious but retains its cozy, hole-in-the-wall ambiance.  It's on Milwaukee Ave in Wicker Park, and whenever I get the opportunity, I go there for the tea and scones!

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On a visit to Wicker Park, I discovered a great Barber shop called Floyd's 99.  They also have a nice location closer to home in Lincoln Park.  It is a punk/rock and roll themed barber shop, and the hairdressers there are very skilled.  I like fun and crazy hairstyles, so this was the obvious choice.  They have never failed me.  Speaking of hairstyles.  I needed a physical change to reflect the external changes going on (we all do this right?) so I took scissors to hair.

I did this job in my bathroom, not at Floyd's.  Roomy caught this shot of me.  I don't usually spend my evenings hanging out with stuffed Mario.

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Swim Cafe.  I like cafes.  I love that Chicago has so many small independent ones too.  I very recently discovered this place when I was helping my friend Teresa pack, and by help her pack I mean play with her baby so she could have a bit of time to do things.

AHHHH!!  Too adorable!

When I arrived there, Teresa and her hubs hadn't had anything to eat so they sent me to pick up some vegan almond loaf from accross the park at Swim.  Intrigued I found it and loved the place!  I tried the vegan oat bar and it blew my mind it was so good!  It is a cute little cafe with lots of vegan and gluten-free options.  Not a lot of vegan AND gluten-free together but of each category, yes.  I'm determined to go back!  It is right on Chicago in West Town, so just down the street from the studio!  I think I'll bring the boyfriend when he gets back here.