Transformations

It's been more than a year and a half since I last wrote.  "Architecture of Another Form" was a doomed venture from the start I think, started because everyone was starting a blog and I wanted in.  Now though, I actually have a purpose. Now, I might actually keep this thing going. Now, I actually have something to write about and this will help keep me accountable to my new adventure.

I have been struggling for years with my ever slowly increasing weight.  At 5'-0", I topped out at almost 160 lbs, which is quite a bit on such a small frame.  I noticed how much harder it's been to move and to do the things I love, but I've also noticed how much easier it is to say "yes" to being lazy or eating foods that I know don't sit well with my body. I've tried a number of different approaches, but mostly beat myself up for not being disciplined enough to exercise enough to lose the weight. I never called myself the three letter "F" word, but I was miserable.  I told myself that I simply wanted to be stronger and happier, which are still true, but the truth is, I know at the heart of all of this is my weight. It's at the heart of many of my self esteem issues, my movement issues, and my energy issues.

I've changed the name of this blog, and the focus, to chronicle my next adventure: a 12-week journey to reform my diet and change my lifestyle.  For 12 weeks I will adhere to a strictly Paleo diet to reset what needs resetting, heal what needs healing, and get me on the right path to feeling the way I want to.  I think I've known that this was what it'd come down to: truly committing to a significant diet change so that the increased exercise has the best partner it can.

Here's to the next 12 weeks of eating meats and veggies and healthy fats, and limiting fruits, dairy, and grains and to seeing some of the elusive changes I've been working toward. And it all starts tomorrow morning.  For now, I will thoroughly enjoy my bowl of Pecan Praline Granola from my favorite grocery store and prepare to truly embrace the Paleo lifestyle.

New Year, New Resolutions...

...NOT. I have decided that New Years Resolutions are the quickest way to demoralize yourself in the new year. No, I've decided that instead of making resolutions that, funnily enough, look a lot like last year's resolutions and disintegrate in a couple of days when I've forgotten them, I'm going to make decisions.  I've laughed too little and eaten too much, moved too little, knitted too little and cried too often.  I've been under more stress than I care for and spent too little time focusing on my work in meaningful and dedicated ways. So I'm deciding to knit and crochet more.  I've decided to learn to quilt and to finally open my Etsy store which I created a couple of years ago and never populated. I've decided to move more and remind myself to eat the things I love (which also happen to be pretty damn healthy, so Huzzah!). I've decided to cook more and savor each bite, to pack away the portions I don't need to eat so I eat only what I really want to be satisfied and not more because it tastes so good (I may have housed entire pots of curry or boxes of mac and cheese because they were so damn tasty...).

I've also decided to be happier. Yep, you heard me, I'm just going to BE happier. Because, after all, don't we all deserve to be happy? I had a moment today where, out of the blue, it happened.  I felt AMAZING. I was walking maybe 30 feet across a parking lot (out of a hardware store after having purchased a replacement part for my toilet of all things) with my jacket open, my hair blowing in the wind, winter chill on my cheeks.... I felt beautiful. In that moment, no instigation, I just felt awesome.  It was pretty cool to just be happy with no provocation. I wanted to xerox that moment over and over so I could come back to it again and again.  

So the short of the long of it is, decide to be happier.  Don't promise yourself you're going to work out and lose that holiday weight, decide to move more and eat less. Decide to love yourself a little more and indulge in the things that make you happy while giving only what you need to, to the things that don't.  Make the decision to make your life more yours and a happier place.  

Dinner Alone

For the past 15 months, I have lived alone, in upstate New York, trying to figure out how to successfully cook for one. I've come up with some pretty crazy combinations, trying to minimize the waste in my fridge, And being miserable about the lack of a compost pile. I've been piss-poor blogger, and far more focused on everything else that was happening in my life. With summer, and summer classes, on the horizon, I'm going to try and keep the promise I need to myself to keep this little blog going.

Food has always been one of my deepest obsessions. It has consumed my life from the time that I could competently help in the kitchen through the present. I chose not to pursue culinary for my career, and instead chose to focus on cooking for myself and my loved ones. As it is, I'm going to write a cookbook… Just as soon as I find all that copious free time people tell me about!

Tonight, I cooked something that was absolutely out of this world: Peppered mahi-mahi on a bed of farro (made with peas, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and cilantro), topped with a cilantro-pea purée. Sadly, the purée was not a concoction of my mind, but it's a great jumping off point for my own purée recipe.

The recipe for the pea puree can be found from Kitchen Confidante, and directions for cooking Farro can be found here.  The farro recipe calls for salted water; I accidentally over-salted mine, but when mixed with the veggies (which were cooked without additional salt), the farro ended up being spiced well and wasn't too salty. 

New Obsessions

In my infinite wisdom, I've picked up a new obsession to feed an old one. I've decided I can have my cake and eat it too, and I'll tell you how. See, I'm obsessed with cooking. I do mean that, I live for it. I'm not happy if I don't have half a dozen recipes fully or half formed rooting around in my brain, waiting to be made. I live for it, but I never wanted to be a Chef; the hours are horrid, the atmosphere is demanding in a way I don't prefer, and progression through the levels of the kitchen aren't particularly fun. That's why I decided to become an architect/engineer, maybe something in between. I love engineering, I love buildings, I love design... I could go on for hours. So my newfound obsession is Pampered Chef. I know, I know, everyone has their own opinions on the subject, but I love it. I thought the stuff was junk: cheap-o quality, flimsy, gimmick-y.... But I love it! Before I signed up as a consultant, I had the opportunity to play with the garlic press (clove goes in with peel on -- mind blown), the knives, and the bar pan.

The knives I think were what really drew me to PC.  They had this fantastic hand-feel, which I think can be attributed to the fact that the tang extends through the entire handle.  This means that the blade metal extends in one solid piece through the handle offering a comfortable weight and heft to the knife. That, combined with a great edge and the lifetime guarantee had me sold.  I wanted one and I wanted it bad.  

And there it is, the one I lust after... Oh how I adore santoku knives........... Ok I'm back from lala land.  

I think this may end up with more cooking and knitting on it than anything else, but hey, that's life.  Currently, I'm running a virtual show for my Pampered Chef "open house" but I think I'm going to have to get very creative about finding clientele.  I think I'll leave you with my favorite recipe so far from PC.  The original recipe can be found at the link below:

1	package (10 ounces) refrigerated pizza crust (or make your own)
1	small onion, sliced into rings
1	medium zucchini, sliced
2	plum tomatoes, sliced
1	cup mushrooms, sliced
2	garlic cloves, pressed
1	cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1	cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1/4	cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1	teaspoon Italian Seasoning Preheat oven to 400°F. Using lightly floured Baker's Roller™, roll pizza crust into a 14-inch circle on Large Round Stone. Bake crust 7 minutes. Remove from oven; place on Stackable Cooling Rack. Using Ultimate Slice & Grate fitted with v-shaped blade, slice onion, zucchini and tomatoes. Slice mushrooms using Egg Slicer Plus®. Using Garlic Press, press garlic over crust; spread evenly. Sprinkle mozzarella and cheddar cheeses evenly over crust; top evenly with onion, zucchini, mushrooms and tomatoes. Grate Parmesan cheese over vegetables using Deluxe Cheese Grater. Sprinkle with seasoning mix. Bake 15-18 minutes or until crust is golden brown; remove from oven. Cut into wedges using Pizza Cutter. Yield: 8 servings Nutrients per serving: Calories 210, Total Fat 9 g, Saturated Fat 5 g, Cholesterol 25 mg, Carbohydrate 21 g, Protein 12 g, Sodium 450 mg, Fiber 1 g Diabetic exchanges per serving: 1 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 meat, 1/2 fat (1 carb) Cook's Tips: For best results, layer vegetables over the pizza in the order as directed in Step 3. Prebaking the pizza crust will help keep it from getting soggy when topped with vegetables that have a high water content. Sprinkling some of the cheese on the crust before topping the pizza provides a barrier between the crust and the moist toppings. Fresh zucchini is available year-round at most supermarkets. Select small zucchini, which are younger and more tender than the larger ones. Choose zucchini free of blemishes with a vibrant color.  http://www.pamperedchef.com/recipe_search/recipe.jsp?id=9680

Wisconsin Adventures

Slowly but surely, I will turn this blog into something readable.  Sadly, like my education, I haven't been able to choose a single theme; happily, they all work together in some amount of harmony.  Having spent most of my summer cooped up in classrooms, trying to hasten my most recent academic endeavor of an engineering degree, I decided vacation was in order.  So off I traipsed to a "far off" place I've never seen before, for a week of good food, good drinks, and amazing fun.

Here in this wonderful vacation spot, I am being hosted by my friends E&N and their cat & rabbit.  Two days ago, they took me to some beautiful (free!) gardens and an attached conservatory where they were married.  Guaranteed good weather for a tiny ceremony... I'm thinking they have the right idea!  Too bad I have a HUGE family; when the time comes, I must have a space large enough.  Either way, this beauty stopped to be admired and photographed as I was leaving the conservatory:

Since before my grandmother's death a few years ago, and certainly after, we've released Monarch butterflies to celebrate her birthday and Mother's day.  Whenever I see them, I always think of her and have to imagine that she's checking in on me and making sure I'm ok.

 

After playing in the conservatory with the butterflies, grouse, quail, canaries, and other assorted critters, we stepped out into the gardens.  Up until we left the reflecting pool, we had E&N's friends C&D with us, but as C has some special circumstances, they left us to enjoy the gardens on our own.  

I loved the reflecting pool, especially since the end of the enclosed garden it resides in has a small fountain that produces the most lovely sound.  I'd love an enclosed garden like that: full of fun plantings and water features and high hedges to keep out cars and things... Ok, back to reality (I'll design my gardens eventually, first I need the house!). 

We continued our jaunt through a rock garden, an herb garden, a rose garden, and finally into the exquisite Thai Pavilion garden.   This pavilion was truly stunning.  You approached along a walkway made with pavers arranged in a stylized dragon that led you over a bridge whose railings continued the motif, through a foliage dense path, and finally opening onto the pavilion.  Along your approach, glimpses of the pavilion through the trees provided a teaser before you could truly see the structure in all of it's splendor. There is a rock covered reflecting pool in front of the pavilion, as well as carefully placed plantings around and behind it.  The entire structure is gilded and the ceiling boasts a gold star on crimson background motif.  Everywhere you look there's something to examine or discover.  It truly took my breath away, and anyone who knows me, knows this is a feat of astronomic proportions!  I could have stayed longer, but in leaving, I noticed some elephant statues that are likely to end up in someone's x-mas present!

In coming home, we decided some fun was in order.  First, we stopped by the most amazing little pet supply store.  They were having an adoption event, so there were kitties to pet, and some of the most awesome cat trees I've ever seen! We also stopped into a local bakery, and then went to a local custard joint where we got oreo frozen custard with various toppings.  When we arrived back at E&N's apartment, we MEANT to make white sangria and take it poolside.... We never left the living room, but as mundane as Big Bang Theory and Sangria sound, it was the perfect end to the day.  

Our sangria most certainly was the best sangria I've had.  It was filled with lemons, limes, pluots, peach, nectarines, strawberries and raspberries!  It was more about the fruit for me than the wine, but the combination was pleasantly delicious and refreshing.  We used Chablis and White Zin, but I'm thinking White Zin plus some ginger ale might make amazingly tasty sangria!  I'll have to find someone to help me drink it if I make some this week... It's supposed to climb back up to the 80's and I'd like something to help beat the heat!

 Yesterday, we played at a neat cave complex!  The caves were small but beautiful, and so much fun to go through!  The formations were normal cave formations, but it's always fun to see what the water and minerals do in different caves.  I wish we'd spent more time looking at the grounds surrounding the caves, but I did get to crack my own geode!  That was totally awesome, and I'm looking forward to coming back and doing another!

 

Well, gee, I'm very good about keeping a blog aren't I?  How about I kick off a new attempt to actually write about my world, with a promise to write frequently regularly?

I will update my last post with photos, once I figure out what I've done with said photos.... There may be additional backlogging, because let me tell you, I've got plenty to share and some good shots to show! (Even if I did take them with the camera on my phone...)

The three most important things that have happened since I last wrote, can be summed up in as many words: cat, garden, pickles.  I have acquired a new feline friend who was a godsend.  My original cat Matthias (Matti) has been a right little hellion from kittenhood on, and within three days his new friend Cricket had him smitten.  Anymore, they're inseparable, which means I no longer get savaged as a result of play nor do I have the experience of walking by the kitchen table and being sneak attacked.  Those antics were cute, but now that Matti has a friend who will play with him to his heart's content, I can pretty much leave them to their own devices.

In January I chose to return to school for a BS in Mechanical Engineering (my 2nd undergrad degree), despite the crazed looks my friends all gave me when I suggested it.  It is quite odd being back in school especially amongst people who are several years my juniors, but I know the eventual payoff will be worth it.  Plus, a grad degree should only take an additional year and hopefully I can find someone to help fund that endeavor.  

Returning to school meant moving into a 1 bedroom apartment.  More often than not, those don't come with a balcony and thus, no place to garden.  Last summer I had plants growing riotously in the yard at my boyfriend J's house, but this summer I am reduced to a 48" fluorescent industrial troffer and an attempt at an indoor garden.  It's growing slowly, but well.  Herb production is all I'm getting at the moment, but I expect come winter, the plants will finally produce tomatoes, squash, etc.  Why in winter?  Because this blasted apartment is right next to the boiler in my building and stays a nice 70 degrees or worse all year round!  I'm lucky if i can get it down to 60 by throwing the windows open in the winter.  Granted, this past winter was more of a California winter than a NY one, but I'm sure the same things will apply come November of this year.

Finally, I discovered an AMAZING farmers market only minutes from my apartment.  The produce is incredible, and I've been buying pickling cukes like no tomorrow.  My neighbors and friends all love the bread and butter pickles I've made thus far, but I'm going to try a more savory pickle today since I'm just about sugared out!  I also played with pickling Cauliflower, and that turned out very tasty.

I finally broke down and bought a 21qt canner, so today, the pickles I'm planning to make will get processed and will keep on the shelves til I'm ready to pop the top!

Turkey Time

Hopefully I'll be able to update this with photos in the days to come, but Solish/Siegel Thanksgiving went off smoothly this year.  Though I'm not sure anyone actually reads this, I will weave a story for you that reaches back to Thanksgiving 2010.

I arrived in San Francisco at about 10pm Monday night, having left Corning at 5pm after working for most of the day.  My flights went off without a hitch, my spirits were pretty high, but I was crispy fried and ready for a bed.  I'm not very good at sleeping when I fly west, at least, not the first night.  I usually come home, munch something tasty from the fridge, and then end up reading, on my computer, or "cleaning"/rediscovering things in my bedroom.  My sister and I stayed up until about midnight, her reading a book for school, me sorting through bags and boxes from my last visit home.  I kept at it for another hour and finally fell into bed.

A quick caveat about my bed:  it's wonderful.  It might only be a twin, and the mattress might be the one I got for my original "big girl" bed, but there's a quilted mattress pad that makes it soft and cozy.  On top of that I have delicious Pure Beech sheets (this time in a soft green), and a down comforter.  Over everything, I have a hand sewn quilt bought at a craft fair in Maine, a gift from my aunt Jo and uncle Sam.  It's blue and done in the log cabin style.  I love it.

The next day my mom and I drove my sister to school, after eating breakfast with my dad.  My mom had some work to finish up and at about noon got frustrated enough to throw in the towel for the day.  I'd been buzzing around the house, cleaning, exploring, knitting, etc.  We drove to Filoli Estate but they were closed for the season.  We then decided to conduct a driving architectural tour of the area near our house, with a focus on seeing the Woodside Store.  This place is one I remember from my childhood; a 3rd or 4th grade trip on which we learned about tin-punch lanterns and striking redwood shingles using a "froe".  I'm sure we also used the 2-man saw with a lethal blade, patterned to sweep wood chips out of the cut!  We continued to explore, and then went to pick up my sister.  My mom drove me up the peninsula to meet one of my dearest childhood friends, Daniella, at Copenhagen Bakery.  Bakery, coffee, food... delicious!  She had a banana surprise (chocolate covered banana on top of cream, jam and a cookie/biscuit!) and I had an almond croissant.

When my father came to pick me up, she gave me a bottle of home brewed mead, and my dad and I hit the grocery store to grab things for dinner.  Dinner was amazing.  Mashed butternut squash, pork loin, corn and pepper cakes, and roasted root veggies.   The next day I focused on getting ready to ride to the Ranch, and getting crafty things around.  I picked my sister up from school around noon and we stopped at a great local, authentic Mexican restaurant for burritos!

We arrived at the Ranch around 6pm and had vegetarian pasta with bread, butter, sauteed broccoli, and salad for dinner.  Thursday was a bit subdued, as we were remembering last year.  We made Turkey, a roast, amazing chestnut stuffing, pies, and most importantly, Grandma's vegetable soup.  I couldn't go without it.  Last year, she was very sick, but she waited until everyone had eaten dinner before she decided it was her time to leave us.  Thankfully she was in little pain until the end, and the only person who was late was aunt Jo who couldn't get away from work easily.  It was very hard and everyone was a blatant mess about it. Of course, flights were changed/cancelled, there were tears and a hush over the house.  I'll never forget how her breathing would stop for a few seconds longer and Papa would look up with tears in his eyes, struggling not to go with her.  His heart was breaking for all of us to see and parts of our hearts were breaking too.

So this year, we made her turkey, and her roast, and her vegetable soup using her good dishes and celebrated family and her life.   We had Thanksgiving the way we have had it for many many years (the roast added after she developed an avian protein allergy).  We spend much of Friday, remembering her.  Papa has spent the last year, cleaning the garage and working on projects with his newly clean space to celebrate Grandma.  He's created a beautiful arbor with benches, a fountain, a magnolia tree, a rock (waiting for a plaque), and holes for grape vines to be planted in.  He's thought up mosaic projects to honor her and written a beautiful poem that he shared with us at a ceremony we started in that special memorial spot at the Ranch.  We said a prayer and read his poem and words from my mom, and then proceeded to the cemetery to say Kaddish, more words, place Ranch stones, and to release monarch butterflies for her.  We feasted afterward with fish and chips at our favorite place, The Little Hut in Morro Bay.

Dinner was Vegetable soup (which I can now make for Jake, having successfully made it without Grandma telling me what to do), and then dad and Elena and I headed back to Palazzo San Carlos so I could fly out at 7am.  It was a hard but beautiful Thanksgiving with everyone there (Sam and Jo too!), and I came back to NY in time for the Shaw/Bloise Hunters dinner and Indy playing sax in the Parade of Lights on Market street.