And another Tea for the Road

I came across a wonderful quote today:

"The fragrance of adventure and poetry endlessly pervades each cup of tea."

Henri Mariage, Mariage Freres Tea

I've written before about the power of tea, but then it was about creating space and allowing mindfulness. This quote sets us on a different path toward tea: that of adventure.

What's so swashbuckling about a cup of tea, you say?

If tea makes you think of an afternoon feasting of cucumber sandwiches amid older ladies in the British Empire, I quite see your point.

But.

I came across this quote in an old issue of Saveur (July 2003), because I've been on another magazine decluttering kick recently. It may have something to do with the fact that my rent was just raised and I'm thinking of moving again... at any rate, I've been able to keep a feeling of accomplishment going recently, through completing various activities: emails, meetings, meals, purchases, purges. From these past couple weeks:

Discovery #1: Accomplishment is not synonymous with adventure, but because these activities, these efforts at simplifying, are in general aimed at achieving a greater goal, something of the majesty of that goal is injected into each baby step of a task.

Discovery #2: Accomplishment can never take the place of adventure, if you've got that kind of spirit, because if the activities do not get you closer to an ultimate goal, they quickly become empty, joyless actions.

Source: fitsp0.tumblr.com via Margaret on Pinterest

I see my cups of tea shared with friends as my own personal Board Meetings, the purpose of which is to keep me focused on the greater adventure, that is, ultimately, a Life Well-Lived.

Tea, or my support system, symbolizes the Road to Adventure, the road that I am on now to create my own lifestyle. It's this support system that will keep me- and you!- on the right road. Discovery #1 may not hold up all the time, but for right now, I'm enjoying feeling like I'm making progress!

So bartender, if you please, it's one for my baby , another tea for that road!


What keeps you focused on your greater goal, your 'bigger picture?'

Are you racking up accomplishments but wondering where the adventure went?

How can Taste Life Twice help get more adventure into your life?

Ramping up the Delight

For all you locavores out there, this post is a bit embarrassing...

For me, that is.

Yes, those are ramps up there. Ramps, as in the trend-du-moment harbinger of spring ending and summer beginning. Since we had an awfully long, drawn-out spring (who's complaining? not me), and a peek-a-boo summer, things may have been a little mixed up. And they were. But it's still a bit late to talk about ramps.

But that's ok, I'm not giving a recipe. I'm actually highlighting a delightful observation I made at the time of cutting up the expensive, farmer's-market, little darlings:

I matched my food!

As I looked down and the penny dropped, I felt happily content to be so in tune with the season that I had on a purple top and green shorts- ha!
The ramps went into a lazy-man-scramble with some early tomatoes, and were paired with those all-stars of the sustainability world: anchovies. More specifically, marinated white anchovies, a specialty which the Spanish call boquerones, and the Greeks call gavros. I first met their ilk at Estadio, and later bought these at Vace, an Italian deli-and-pizza stronghold in the Cleveland Park neighborhood.

It was a simple, filling, and nutritious meal. Eggs and anchovies = good proteins and fats; tomatoes, ramps, and herbs = 2 fruit and vegetable servings for the day. And that's pretty much how I do my food accounting. It's not overly complex.

Moments when you match what you're chopping... now THAT's ENTERTAINMENT!

I'd love to hear how you all entertain yourselves with your own passions. These types of stories sustain us as we follow our dreams. So do be a peach and tell us a story, eh?

I am currently trawling for students for my next cooking class, possibly next week. The armchair travel theme is Southern Italy (oh, aren't you dying to see where I went? Soon!), and the menu will be different from the last one- modified to include Pizza, as only southern Italians can make it. (And those who have learned from southern Italians, of course!) Send me a message if you or someone you know may be interested!

**Sincere thanks to all who have like the new Taste Life Twice Facebook page! I'm delighted to have another way to connect with people, and look forward to enjoying the recipes, stories, and opportunities to be shared.

Mind-Swimming and Mind-Diving

Things have been pretty crazy 'round here.

Shady Shot of Caramelized Cabbage & Roasted Roots!

I had the first test-run cooking class on April 5th, and the second on May 3rd. Both menus showcased Scottish cuisine, and were a blast to put on. I also hosted a little dinner party on April 13th, between a work trip to Memphis and another to Omaha, and oh- let's not forget that I was in DC for my birthday (April 20th) before jetting out to Italy for a week's vacation.

"A little month," as Hamlet says.

I've been in a state that I call "Mind-Swimming," inspired by the feeling that I am awash in details, projects, and ideas. My mind literally feels like it is navigating water because it is so crowded in there!

Last Saturday though, I had a day of "Mind-Diving," meaning I chose one topic for a "deep dive." I woke up at 4 AM after a dream and decided to jump into some behind-the-scenes blog work that I've been wrestling with (with the happy assistance of friend and blog coach Ethan Waldman of Cloud Coach). It continued until about 5 PM, and I made some good progress.

This swimming/diving metaphor is another way of expressing Emilie's (of Puttylike fame) concept of the Three C's: that there is some technique involved in organizing your time according to the type of activity. Is the activity one of creation, consumption, or connection? This concept sort of blew my mind a few months ago, and I've been using it as a touchstone for getting things done in a way that doesn't burn me out- highly recommended.

Speaking of burnout, while I've been doing all this 'swimming' through ideas, and projects, and research, you may well ask what sustains me? The answer to that, and what gives me confidence that this venture will be a success, is that I keep doing it.

That's right. I'm using the insanity to prove I'm not insane.

Of course, what I mean is that if I didn't enjoy the cooking, hosting, planning, researching, why would I keep doing it? It gives this introvert energy, and that's the secret of following your bliss, folks.

It'll probably change and evolve, since that's what multipotentialites do, and that's okay! I'll be keeping a weather eye on the horizon, a firm hand on the rudder, and I'll adapt.

But for now, this is the hot ticket! :-)

I invited two couples of friends over for this Friday night dinner, and I knew when I did so that it needed to be creative. One of the husbands is a fancy cook. He had also previously commented on there not being enough food at one of my dinners, by which he meant the main dish. Lesson learned in my book, and so I wanted to be a little more impressive this time.
I started with sweet potatoes, as I often do (love this Ode to the Sweet Potato from Tasty Kitchen). I added paprika. I roasted with olive oil and salt.

I bought taco shells and shredded (the horror!) jack cheese, thinking of a potential different recipe, but collapsed them into a topping/stuffing/filling bar instead: with this red cabbage with apples recipe being the long-simmered and aromatic star.

I combined some unusual bedfellows when composing hors d'oeuvres: Saltines, black olive paste, and boquerones (marinated white anchovies).

The boquerones, by the way, were inspired by the tapas at Estadio- also delicious- but bought at Vace, an Italian delicatessen at Cleveland Park, much less expensively. Score!

There were a lot of choices in little bowls around the table, which was a little awkward to pass, but tasted good in the mouth. The husband previously referred to said that it was unusual to offer red cabbage as a taco filling.

Good observation.

We like doing unusual here.

Do try the red cabbage recipe- it's a smash hit, as well as cheap and easy (earning it a place on my next Favorites List). Let me know if you like it, or find good variations, in the comments!

TLT Cooking School Now Open for Business!

Yes, you read that right.

As part of my Creative Endeavor Year of 2012, I am pursuing my passions for teaching, guiding, cooking and travel... by offering cooking courses!

 

I have been ever so excited about this since January, but managed to keep mum as I planned, prepared, and conducted two trial runs, one with friends, one with friends-of-friends whom I didn't know (I hosted strangers!).

Both trial runs went very well, and my lovely guinea pigs gave me great feedback for how to tweak this or that aspect, which I have incorporated into my menu and planning process. I am SO READY.

The theme, and the way I incorporated the passion for travel into this activity, was Scotland. Ah yes, you do remember, I was a little obsessed with it last year? Well, it didn't go away. Apparently I'm marked for life.
And it's not just Scotland. While I had a marvelous time pouring over books of Scottish cultural history and traditional receipt-books, I am just as excited to do the same for other locales I have visited and have some connection with, such as Turkey, Ireland, France, and let's not forget... Italy! (coming soon)
But for now, it's Scotland. The menu reflected traditional peasant cuisine, with some shortcuts for practicality and taste.

Menu:

Hors d'oeuvre: Oatcakes with Cheese, Preserves, & Honey 

Vegetable Accompaniments: 'Neeps and Tatties,' Fresh Green Salad

Main Course: Herring Sauteed in Oatmeal 

Dessert: Millionaire's Shortbread

The shortcuts, you will observe, involve the toppings for the oatcakes, and the millionaire's shortbread (a bit of an anachronism when considered in context with the other dishes, but I didn't hear anyone complaining).
I was aiming for good, peasant food that used some different ingredients and techniques than the ones we are used to here in the U.S.
I searched out local, seasonal, organic ingredients, and got most of the way there on most of the dishes (let me know when the eastern U.S. gets back in the sugar business, though). All in all, it's been a thrilling and rewarding experience to be able to pass on some knowledge learned about a place I love and a cuisine I am very much interested in. Win-Win, all the way.


And so, I am putting out the good vibes to all you who may stop to read here from time to time. Do you know people who live in D.C. that are interested in cooking and travel? Do you live in D.C? Are you looking for something to do on a weeknight other than go out to eat or get Thai take-out?



I would love to host you and your friends, or you and your soon-to-be friends, for an evening of cooking, baking, learning, and of course... EATING! Because let's not forget the primacy of the eating experience, and that it is what brings us together so often, in so many ways. Mangia!

And to finish, the gallery of pictures of Millionaire's Shortbread, the rich man's Twix Bar (shortbread, caramel, and chocolate)... how can you NOT want to gobble it all up??
If you're interested, email me at Margaret's email or twitterpate me at @tastelifetwice where I like to pass on others' great content on food, life, and travel as well.


See you here (subscribe by feed / email) & there (Twitter)!

NOMNOMNOMNOM

Try, Try Again

I admit it.
I often try to do things that I consider virtuous and aligned with independent living values, not always because I aspire to be a pioneer woman (ahem), but because I like being able to opt-out of the modern food system, which I feel is not serving us well in the long term.

One of those Things I Do is try to make beans. I have failed several times - undercooking, overcooking - and succeeded a time or two as well. But it seems a hard thing for me to get a hold of. These complex legumes want to keep their mystery from me! Nevertheless, I keep trying.

Last weekend, I rinsed, I soaked overnight, and I left the house to meet a friend for the afternoon, leaving my Jacob's cattle beans (purchased at my local Bloomingdale Farmers' Market last summer) with their aromatics (bay leaf, onion studdded with cloves) in the oven at ~290 F, from this recipe. I met my friend Yasemin at the metro, and we went on a mini-adventure (for me, not for her) to the Turkish grocery/ convenience/ dry goods store a few minutes away (Attila's on Columbia Pike). I saw, for the first time in 6 years, products that made me squeal with delight- soup mixes and pretzel sticks, ayran and apple tea powder. It was like visiting a locked room in my mind.

Afterwards, Yasemin graciously had me in to her house for tea and snacks, and we talked and talked and talked...and of course you remember I had beans on at home? Well, the fact had fled from my mind, until I realized it was past 5 PM and had a shock of 'Oh I hope I didn't ruin my pan!' We postponed the forthcoming Turkish coffee and I sped home to survey the damage.

None! Still cooking away! Phew. Aren't beans grand?
I settled down with a movie and looked up an hour later to see that the beans were all crusty and had mostly dried up except the ones under the onion.

Sigh.

Like beans, running is something of a pioneer sport: no money down, no fancy equipment, just gumption, persistence, and determination. If you mess up once, no matter, you can try again next time. Tomorrow is my Try Again.

See you under the cherry blossoms.

where she admits Spring is here

What a disappointing winter...

The height of DC's snow: Shaw Recreation Center on Feb. 12th

I repeatedly humored the so-called winter weather, preferring to think that all the mild December and January temperatures presaged a violent dumping of snow to occur in mid-March or *gasp* end-of-April (birthday). But the climate appears not to have heard me. I think I can finally declare to myself that Spring (and temps in the 80s) are here to stay. Cue groaning about DC humidity here...

Unfortunately this gives me a good excuse to gripe about my running schedule as well. Progress in training this week has been irregular, and I am comparing myself to the early-peaking cherry blossoms in reproach. It's not ME! It's the CLIMATE!

That's okay, though. If I've learned one thing from my mature years, it is that one dip does not mean the end of the streak. No, we shall just go bumping along, like many other fearless creatives who are risking it all for their happiness.

Well, folks, it's been a tough week, with the runs falling a bit short, and having to face several goals that are not being met (pages written, healing accomplished, enlightenment achieved). One morning, I woke up decidedly against running. Daylight savings had it completely dark outside during my usual run time, and I was tired from the time change. I didn't want to run, so I decided...

To Bake.

That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Maybe not. Well, it's like this: my body didn't feel like running, but my mind craved the satisfaction, the sense of accomplishment, that come from putting in the effort toward a worthy goal. So I made these cookies, from the blog, Coconut & Lime. They were pretty good. And I got to conduct a science experiment.

Ingredients:
6 oz semisweet chips

3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, at room temperature*

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, beat until fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, the spices and oatmeal. Mix until well combined. Fold in chips. Place tablespoon-sized blobs of dough on the lined cookie sheet about 1/2 inch apart and bake for 12-14 minutes or until they look "set" and the bottoms are just golden. Carefully remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

The experiment was this: you know how some cooks recommend you squash down the tops of drop cookies before baking? What's that about? Instead of Googling it, I did half spheres and half smooshed spheres of cookie dough and observed their behavior in their natural habitat.

Squished on the left, Round on the right

The smooshed spheres of cookie dough burned on the bottom faster than the regular spheres, which even got an extra minute in the oven. After combing the Googels extensively for 20 minutes, I found this article that stresses the amount of baking soda as key in how much a drop cookie will spread when baking (more soda, more spread). However, I'm having difficulty finding the cause of the tradition of flattening the drops of dough. Does anyone out there in Blog Land have an idea? Please let us know in the comments- your help would be much appreciated!

The cookies were gobbled up to general satisfaction, but it will be good to get back to running.

Will Run For This Soup

Full [seven] times hath Phoebus' cart gone round
Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground...

...since last I wrote anything here. It has been BUSY!

Lentil Roasted Garlic Soup with Chard

Not necessarily with cooking and baking, but with writing and dreaming and planning (also good things). Oh, and running. Yes, there has been an awful lot of running around here lately, due to my winning the lottery of DC runners: Cherry Blossom Ten-Mile Race on April 1st. In the spirit of spontaneity, I put my name in for the race in December, and heard back a couple of weeks later that I had gotten "lucky," and would have the rare opportunity to run 10 miles before most people had gotten out of bed on a Saturday morning. So I have been training, and the arm incident did not stop me for long.

As of this week, I've gotten up to 7.7 miles at a stretch, which took me 1 hour and 24 minutes. So, I'm getting close!

If I take a moment to reflect (tasting life in retrospection, as it were) on what voice inside me made me put my name on that list, I would say that running a race is a great example of setting a goal, devising a strategy, challenging yourself to meet your own expectations, and, I predict, feeling elated upon conquering what might have looked like an unconquerable mountain mere months before.

It's good practice, is what I'm getting at, for launching other types of efforts.

Consider this your encouragement from me, and let me know if you'd like more!

Now I see why they're called 'aromatic vegetables'...

Since I've been paying more attention to my digestion and eating habits lately (advisable when you rise early and run before eating), I've decided to try to go as vegetarian as possible in these last few weeks leading up to the race. In that vein, I made this recipe from The Daily Soup Cookbook, which has been bookmarked with a sticky note for-ev-er:
Lentil Roasted Garlic Soup.
The ingredients and procedure are below, modified for my special scaling-down (some in the fridge, some in the freezer) and wasn't-in-the-cupboard (only a puny amount of Puy lentils left, and didn't want to mix them) techniques:

• 1 whole head of garlic
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 teaspoons 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 2 1 Bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pound 1/3 cup of french lentils
• 8 cups 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 half of one 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes, drained and chopped
• about 3/4 cup chopped chard
• 3 Tablespoons 1 rough tbsp tomato paste
• 2 Tablespoons 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 Italian Parsley, chopped

Pre-heat your oven to 450 degree F. When it comes to temperature, loosely wrap the head of garlic in aluminum foil and place in oven for 15-20 minutes, allowing it to roast. Remove from the oven, and let cool long enough to skin the cloves, placing the cloves into a food processor. Pulse to a near-paste. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a stock pot. When nice and slithery, add the onions, celery and carrots. Allow the aromatic vegetables to cook in the pot for 5-7 minutes, adding a slick more oil if necessary. Add the rosemary, bay leaf, salt and pepper, incorporating them into the vegetables. Allow to cook for 2-3 more minutes.
Add the lentils, broth, tomatoes and tomato paste to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and partially cover with a lid. Allow to simmer for one hour.
After the hour, stir in the chopped chard, roasted garlic paste, the minced garlic and balsamic vinegar. Simmer for 5-7 more minutes in order to have the soup incorporate the new ingredients and wilt the greens.
Remove bay leaf and serve.
Serves 5-6.

3-2-1...Cast-Off!

Well, hello there.

If this is your first time visiting, you might want to catch up before you continue reading. I fractured both of the arm bones in my right forearm while ice skating in January, which curtailed some of my adventurous living for a few weeks, but now I am back.

The date for the Cast-Off, as I liked to call it, was Valentine's Day, and it was as good a distraction as any... plus a big positive step in the right direction! Now I've got a removable brace and physical therapy exercises, which aren't too bad at all.

This being my first time with a broken bone, it was pretty cool seeing how the process went. It was painfully obvious that the technician did a dozen of these a week, but it was new to me, and fascinating. So of course I took pictures. Cackhanded.

 First he used this mini-circular saw, powered by what looked like a shop-vac (see top picture) to cut through the fiberglass part. It tickled a bit, and gave off some heat. Me? Worried?

 

Then he used a pair of surgical tongs to widen the strip, and then surgical scissors to cut through the under-layer of gauze. I had been wondering what kind of super-sensing machine could saw through it all without nicking your skin for 4 weeks, so I was somewhat relieved that there were graduated steps to this process.

 When the cast came off, my skin felt weird. Old. And that makes sense, when you think that skin under a cast doesn't have a chance to slough off in its natural course, so I needed to exfoliate it. Ick.

What was surprisingly painful was the range of motion. I was kind of assuming that when the cast came off, I would be able to move my arm normally again, if carefully and with caution. Nope. What you see here is as far as my wrist would go backward and forward, on its own. Whoa. They said it would feel 'stiff,' but this was nuts! It got much better after 24 hours though, and now I'm chipping away at it with the PT. I'm very grateful it was a clean break and I didn't need surgery. Whew!
Now I am pretty much back to my old tricks...

Yaki Soba noodles and spice packet, but with pre-chopped vegetable mix from Trader Joe's (new item, and not something I would buy with two good hands)

Linguine with Smoked Trout, with fennel and onion broth (using up leftovers, frugal foodies can rejoice!)

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

What's not to love? I was having fun with the microwave reflection in this as well. Because if you can't have fun with your peppermint chocolate chip cookies, what can you have fun with??

More to come on those action steps from the Tea Klatsch, including social connections, skill cultivation, and balance. Do any of those jump out at you as something you're working on, or might need to focus on? Leave a comment and join the group!

Far Better to Be Brave

Quote for Today

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt, speech at the Hamilton Club, Chicago (10 April 1899)

(discovered by me today through Jonathan Fields' Good Life Project pitch)

The First Literary Tea 'salon'

If you read this blog fairly regularly, you may have noticed a gap over the last month.

Not too much content.

Not so big on the typing of words.

Not even pictures for a distraction!

Distracting.

This may be all the more disappointing after the momentum I had built up in December. Sorry, folks, for dropping the ball. I don't think the fractured arm completely accounts for it, either. I switched gears from an external, writing-focused effusion about upcoming changes in my life to an internal and social-based incubation of projects to prepare for those upcoming changes. So the stew is still stewing, I just turned the heat down and put the lid on- ya follow me? (another metaphor?!)

So, what have I been doing with my time? Not much cooking, unfortunately. I probably could be doing more, but that would entail visualizing each step of the cooking process in advance and then arranging for someone to do the parts that I can't manage (chopping, mixing, jar-opening, etc.) ahead of time, which is just too much planning, even for moi.

Mujaddara

I made mujaddara (found first here, before it became a celeb and was posted here), a dish long on The List, and appealing in its super-easiness. Highly recommended.

Braised Fennel with Balsamic

And then a couple of weeks ago, I had to follow through on an idea I had back in November, involving a fair amount of cooking and advance shopping. In this case, I did have to ask a friend over to chop some onions and fennel and wash some dishes... The reason I felt so committed to hosting this soiree was that its goal was to raise some funds for a non-profit that was having real difficulties financially. It was founded by a good friend of mine and three other education reformers who were looking to take stock of where we are in the U.S. and around the world, and make education systems better for all those involved (donate here if you believe in the importance of this cause!).

I had a great theme for the party too: a Literary Tea. I was reading about bygone food cultures when a tossed-out reference to Literary Teas of the 1960s caught my imagination. It described them as cocktail hours for the New York publishing world, another pushy scene where writers and agents and publishers acted out the social version of Darwinism. Ech. Not my crowd. But 'Literary Tea' had promise, and I crafted my own theme, reclaiming and repurposing the name for better use.

I had grand plans for cooking soups and baking breads and whipping up desserts, but in the end, I admitted it was not realistic to think I would make all these things for 9 people- the max that would fit in my living room!  So I did some make-ahead things (twice-baked shortbread, Saltine toffee bars) and then relied on 1) fire-under-the-feet inspiration, fueled by 2) clean-out-the-refrigerator spirit. It worked out great! The stew (main course) that resulted included the following ingredients, roughly in order of throwing in:
onions
vegetable broth
chopped carrots
tomato paste
cooked butternut squash
microwaved sweet potato
Trader Joe's precooked lentils
hot Italian sausage (farmer's market find!)

I asked my friends to contribute what they would have spent on bringing something to the dinner party, since I was taking care of everything (and replacing wine with tea, an AWESOME idea), and they went far beyond that, which was amazing. I was proud to contribute the amount that my friends had pitched in, topping it off with my own contribution, which amounted to $355. Amazing.

Along with the food and drinks, this salon was literary-themed, meaning:

I broke the ice with softball questions about favorite books of all-time and current books being perused. That went pretty well. After that, we dove into a long, involved round of The Origin of Expressions, which I was very excited about for this group. The game requires 1) the ability to bring forth useless factoids of world history and/or 2) the ability to fool people into thinking you know what you're talking about. Perfect activity for all these friends from grad school days, where you hone both of the above skills. One round was enough because of the complex scoring process, then we were on to Boggle, which a friend had brought- several lightning rounds ensued, and in closing, I can't believe I never played the game before. Awesome.

I hope you didn't think I've been idle. I hope you knew there must have been some close-to-the-heart reason that kept me from updating this blog more closely, because there was. But my Literary Tea was a success! and soon there will be lots more where that came from.

**cast coming off in 1 week! Happy Valentine's, indeed!**

Creative Endeavor Year

 What a delicious last couple of days.

Beet greens rescued from limpness, crisped up with bacon goodness

With New Year's Eve on a Saturday and New Year's Day on a Sunday this year, some may have groused about losing days off work, but I made the most of the celebrations not being smooshed into a few tired late-night hours, only to be confronted with the office coffeemaker the next morning. Ha!

I successfully kick-started my Creative Endeavor Year! I've stated lately what I'm interested in, and how differently I want to orient myself, so you maybe have an idea what I'm talking about. No? Ok, then I'll go first with activities from the last few days, and then would you please chime in?

Lists. Yes, I made lists, in different places, on different-sized scraps of paper, and with overlapping topics. Maybe a little overzealous, but now I get to synthesize! Places I want to travel, places I might want to move, key areas of focus for my new work, my annual review, and goals. Totally exciting, right? Well it is for an introverted organizer.

Slowly Scrambled Eggs (you're allowed to zone out while scrambling!)

Writing. Yep- as the new tagline indicates, I'm going to let writing take up a lot more space in my life this year. The focus will be on this blog, as I navigate the transition, and on the novel, which will give me a product and some experience in creative process (little out of practice).

Outdoors. A long run, several moderate-length walks in the cool air- clearing the clutter that tends to clump onto my brain if I spend too much time inside. You know what I mean: meant-to-do's, errands, shoulda-coulda-woulda's. Unless these get out and on a list, they just hover over my shoulder and make me unproductive or regretful. For me, moving at some speed outdoors tends to banish these thoughts. I return refreshed, like my brain had been through a permanent press and spin-cycle!

Apple, cinnamon-sugar, and perhaps a little butter was involved

Back-to-Basics. Return-to-Roots. (I like alliteration, OK?) On NYE, I made my first loaf of bread in the bread machine I received for Christmas, and have been finding ways to appreciate the simple white slice since then. Today, I tried out my first batch of plain yogurt in the new yogurt-maker, and await the results tomorrow morning. While there are a lot of blogging cooks out there who know how to combine many beautiful exotic ingredients for amazing dishes, I like to take the more minimalist approach. Because really, life is what you make of it. So if you don't have pimenton de vera or spelt flour or fresh cilantro when the urge to create in the kitchen strikes, don't fret. Take what you've got, and figure out how to honor that. In fact, I think that'll be the philosophy for this Creative Endeavor Year.

Stale croissant, melted chocolate = uncomplicated souffle

I've been cooking pretty simply in the past month, both because of the desire for wintry comfort food and the need for something simply being enough. Call it an overworked metaphor if you like, but here are a few photos to inspire you to take a stab at this philosophy. Whatever you've got, honor that.

You may see several of the items listed in my Favorites List, which is no accident. What's on your List?