New Year New You

“New Year New YOU!!!”– this is what women’s “health” magazines love to say in their January issues.

But we know better, that is, we know that you’re always gonna be the same person. Or are you going to always be a different person? I’m pretty sure it’s one of those two options.

Still: I love change; I love growth; I love improvement. And it does happen. Where does it come from?

When was the last time you experienced significant personal growth? No, not the “spurt” kind. The kind that took even you by surprise, you know, where you say, “How on earth did I manage to do that?” Now think about that time. Where did it come from. Did you make a conscious attitude adjustment? Or perhaps you reacted to something someone else did to do? Or maybe you started hanging out with a different crowd and just picked up their tricks.

Now I’m curious. Where did your personal growth come from?

Think and Do

With so much free time I go crazy.

Thinking, feeling, being, knowing– these are not enough. My life runs on action.

Here’s the plan, to be carried out in baby steps:
1. Think
2. Do
3. Evaluate
4. Repeat

First recorded thought: “I spend way too much time on Facebook, but it doesn’t really enhance any of my core values– not really even fun.” Action? Deactivate my Facebook. Evaluation in progress.

Second recorded thought: “I need to work.” Action? Do.

Recipe: Chickpea and Vegetable Massaman Curry Soup

And now it’s winter vacation. That means being home for the holidays and enjoying nose-nipping weather. Here’s a soupy stew to warm you up.

Winter Vegetable Massaman Curry Soup

2 yellow onions, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
2 potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
2 sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
2 cups kale, chopped
1 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 15-oz cans of garbanzo beans
1 can (12 oz) lite coconut milk
3 Tablespoons peanuts, chopped
3-4 cups water
1 Tablespoon Better than Bouillon paste (Haven’t tried this? You’ve been missing out. Near the bouillon in the grocery store.)
2-3 Tablespoons curry powder (or see my recipe below)
salt

Curry powder (Measurements are approximate. Use your nose as your number one flavor guide!):
1 1/2 teaspoons coriander
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon cloves
dash celery seed
dash nutmeg
cayenne pepper to taste (start at 1/2 teaspoon if you want a little spice)

1. Prepare vegetables as indicated. Take 2/3 cup of garbanzo beans and mash with a fork to make a loose paste, to give some thickness to the soup. You may mix the paste back with the whole garbanzo beans.

2. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan (and then some) in a big pot. Add onions and stir for about 5 minutes, or until just starting to brown. Add curry powder and stir for ten seconds.

3. Add potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, whole beans, and bean paste, and mix with onions to coat. Add water, Better than Bouillon, and coconut milk and bring to a boil.

4. When water is boiling, add cauliflower, then cover and reduce to simmer. Cook around 7 minutes until vegetables are fork-tender.

5. Add kale and cook for two minutes more or longer if you really don’t like kale. Salt to taste.

We had this with some homemade bread (Thanks, Dad!) and salad. Enjoy!

Thanks all around

I feel all bundled up with love and kindness. Thank you to friends and family for making this a great year!

On a related note… isn’t it funny that we do this? Hey, I heard that on this day many years ago, you emerged as a wiggly little worm-baby. So I will bring you gifts and send you appreciation in the form of a song and/or catchphrase.

A wonderful tradition! Who would have it any other way?

The Power of Place

I’ve been living a relatively nomadic life this year, with four homes in one year. It is a lot of fun, and I am so grateful for having the opportunity to see so many new people and explore different places!

But I’ve been thinking more about location lately. Places aren’t completely neutral– they quickly develop traits and can evoke emotions. In the case of Los Angeles, they can probably evoke depression and violence due to excessive lead levels. But anyway, aside from “NOT IN LA” I have no idea where I am going to be as of June 2011. And I get to choose! I am fortunate enough to have a college degree and a solid amount of resources, meaning that the world may in fact be my oyster. This is preposterous. [Side note: Why on earth does that oyster idiom make sense? Can anyone explain this??]

Choosing a place, I know, is more than choosing a house. It is choosing a home, which is made mostly of people and experiences you have with them. Still, people dear to me are only becoming less and less concentrated in one spot. And I know that there are still many people I do not yet know who will become dear to me.

Last May, in preparing to leave Thailand, I felt like the previous five months had been a garden that I had really taken care of. I had planted seeds, watered, even pulled out weeds. To leave felt like abandoning this wonderful garden I had made, leaving it to wither away and dry out.

Now as it turns out, this is a perfect metaphor. Not everything dies without watering. So while eventually I will have full, lush garden, for now I just have to plant trees.

Recipe: Pumpkin Swirl Blondies

The Saturday night party was a great success. But some Friday night baking with Alli produced these delicious goodies– easy and autumnal.  This recipe is an adaptation of the Cooks Illustrated blondies recipe. Here it is:

PUMPKIN SWIRL BLONDIES

1 cup pecans
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla (!!!)
1 cup white chocolate chips (Ghiradelli)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2  teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 cup nonfat greek yogurt (such as Fage)
approx 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toast pecans in the microwave (thanks to Alli for this easy trick): place in bowl and heat in bouts of 30-60 seconds, stirring after each microwave session. Repeat until nuts are aromatic and toasty. Coarsely chop nuts.

2. Find a 13 by 9-inch baking pan and line it with tin foil. Allow the excess tin foil to hang over pan edges. Repeat with a perpendicular piece of tin foil (making a cross). This will make it easier to remove the blondies when done, because they will be soooo moist and delicious.

3. Mix melted butter and brown sugar until combined. Whisk in eggs (vigorously so the eggs don’t cook!) and vanilla. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and mix just until combined; do not overmix. Fold in white chocolate chips and nuts.

4. Pour about 2/3 of batter into pan and spread around. Keep remaining 1/3 of batter in same bowl, and add pumpkin, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Mix until just combined, then pour this pumpkin batter into pan. Spread pumpkin batter over blondie batter, swirling just a little bit.

5. Bake until top is shiny, golden, and cracked, about 20-25 minutes. Underbaked is better than overbaked! Cool for a while. Remove from pan using tin foil.

6. To make the icing: whisk yogurt with powdered sugar until smooth. Add powdered sugar to taste. Once blondies are COMPLETELY cooled, spread thin layer of icing. Cut into squares and serve.

May days

It’s been a crazy few weeks… between final papers and final exams and desperately trying to have as much Thai fun as I can before I skip town in less than a week I have been somewhat preoccupied.

Last week several friends and I took a well-appreciated trip to Koh Chang, that marvelous, peaceful island about 5 hours from Bangkok (where I previously went with Kaitlin and Alex). Thankfully the island is still relatively undervisited, at least in the humid slightly rainy season. We stayed in bungalows just a minute from the main beach, a swooping little cove with ridiculously warm, clear water so salty you float like a fun noodle. The only unfortunate part of the beach is the meter of sharp rocks you essentially must cross to reach the heavenly water. Everyone’s feet got a little scratched up, but as I tend to say, a little scarring is the mark of a good vacation…

Bathing suit and beach read in hand we headed to the water, and lay on the beach and swam for one afternoon. Though I could really never tire of this, others seemed to want to actually do things, so the next day we went to a beautiful waterfall on the island, a nice stream of water flowing off dramatic cliffs into a pool of water so black it seemed bottomless. The water, too, was cold, an amazing feeling after you’ve been sitting in bathwater for 6 hours.

Mikael and I went exploring on the South of the island, to this beautiful little beach next to a colorful fishing village. A perfect place to take a beachside nap and watch (yet another) amazing sunset. There were maybe three people at the beach, plus a bar/restaurant which boasted a Thai woman exercising to upbeat aerobic videos. In fact at this particular establishment there were more dogs than people. They roamed in packs of course, but a few smart ones came over when we ordered food, and stared lovingly for almost an hour just waiting for some pad thai remnants (not that these dogs were anywhere near underfed…). The dogs also tried to attack three monks walking home from somewhere at sundown. Don’t they understand monks are nice?

The next day some people left but six of us went kayaking out to some relatively close islands. Except actually the island we chose wasn’t near at all, oops distance estimation. Maybe my arms started to hurt by the end, but I felt at least a little accomplished. Turns out this island didn’t have anywhere suitable to dock, and didn’t look great for snorkeling, so we headed to another island, one with a visible beach. It turns out this one wasn’t so great for snorkeling either– Haisun, Christine and Martin had already left this outpost. But we tried to expedition through the jungle to the other side of the island, in search of some better waters. No success. So I went off to try and work my way around the rocks to the other side, while Julissa and Mikael rested on the beach eating tropical fruits. The other side of the island was rocky and tumultuous, a real ocean compared to the quiet lull of the beach side. But alas only crabs on these rocks (still very cute).

But speaking of tropical fruits. They are in season. Mangosteen are delicious, creamy, and sort of funny-tasting at the same time… and rambutan are just plain delicious– gummy, just a little sour and not too sweet. Neither fruit looks edible. Julissa was very good at keeping tropical fruit in constant supply.

Another fews days on the beach left me tan, relaxed, and happy happy happy. And covered in bug bites — seriously I think I have over 60. Yummmyy.

But I will miss this. Less than one week left in Bangkok?