Glitch

Not sure why a post I made in August just decided to appear. There seems to have been a glitch in the system. It's fall, I know, but save the recipes when summer rolls around again :-)

Summer eatin'

I'm not going to go into the fact that in the last year and a half I have been hard pressed to be consistent in my blog entries....I'm just not. So, let's just move on :-)

I am so inspired about the following summer recipes I have had the pleasure to try in the last few weeks, that I had to tell you about them! Thank you to the wonderful women in my life who made them and injected my taste buds with the wow-factor, bigtime!

This salad was found in an Oprah magazine a few years ago....and will move to the number one spot of your summer sald repetoire. Like Tom Shane, I guarantee it. It'a a watermelon, feta, mint salad that is unbelievable. Wait, you say...ah yes, I've had that before....no, this has kalamata olives, parsley, onions soaked in lime juice...I'm telling you what...make it, but print the recipe, because everyone will ask you for it.

My new favorite main course, is a Scallop dish with corn and nectarines.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Scallops-and-Nectarines-with-Corn-and-Tomato-Salad-242982

The combination of flavors is really inspiring and makes you want to think of other interesting combos that will surprise and delight! Serve this with an Israeli cous cous topped with roasted tomatoes and voila...amazing.

Lastly, the Paula Deen Peach Cobbler recipe to just hit it out of the park. What? Do you think I'd let you get away with a deliciously healthy meal without a little butta? Top it with fresh whipped cream you whip yourself, and send everyone home in their food coma.

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/print_view/513/

Good stuff.

Best of all, it's the people gathered around the table, the stories told, and laughs felt deep in the heart that make this food that much tastier.

I never knew cozy could come in a dish. Oooooohhhhhh my word. Thank goodness I live up the street from Tavolata, an Ethan Stowell restaurant in Seattle, because I'm tellin' you I might fly cross country to have this meal. Gnocci alla Romana...Gnocci alla HEAVEN!! I always knew gnocci as the small potatoe dumplings....honestly not my favorite, never had a flavourful gnocci dish...and then I met the Gnocci at Tavolata. The skies parted. These are giant tennis ball sized gnocci made from Semolina and covered in an amazing sauce with oozing mozzarella and served piping hot.

When you live in Seattle the weather can get you down...but this dish makes you almost wish for a blistery winder day.

Let it rain!

A Beautiful Day

On the heels of Thanksgiving and the start of the Holiday Season, I wanted to touch on the power of Gratitude and how amazing the thought of being grateful for what you have in your life can heal your soul and breathe new life into you.

Ending this year of a never ending rollercoaster of emotions, ending a marriage, navigating my new life with the ups and downs that naturally brings, I have been faced with many days in that proverbial “funk.” Days of sadness and loneliness have not been hard to come by. I know this is all very natural and healthy to feel and sit with. It would be unhealthy to put a fake smile on every day and pretend that my life is peaches and cream. I have also had some really EXCEPTIONAL days and am grateful for that.

However, I was reminded that feeling grateful and starting the day (or ending it) with a conscious thought of what I have to be grateful for, can really make a shift in your soul. Things become clear and you are able to move forward with contentedness, happiness even!
We are all faced with the down times, whether it is in relationships, work, children, you name it, and it can get us down. Many of us are on that treadmill of life and we feel like we have to finish, accomplish, prove, posture, etc… and we lose sight of ourselves. What our heart is saying, what our dreams are and what truly makes us happy. Is it that job that you have to stay 3 more hours at work for in the evening while things at home seem to crumble, is it the worry of how your children are developing, coping, transitioning to school, and how that impacts us as mothers and fathers, is it the relationship with friends, spouses, lovers that feel unconnected and unfulfilling or have gone awry?

All of it, can be consuming. None of it should. I am reminded that if I move my thoughts towards gratitude for what is good in my life and connect with my heart on what is REALLY my goal in life not what is expected of me, I inherently feel peace. Since I don’t practice a strong faith in god, this morning before I got out of bed, I clasped my hands and held them to my heart and I said, I’m grateful for this warm cozy bed, I’m grateful for my healthy, smart, funny children, I’m grateful for my thoughtful friendships, I’m grateful for the job I need to get up and go do, I’m grateful for the rain even! Makes Seattle beautiful!

Another couple really great things I learned from dear friends this week:
“I am the creator of my life, the artist, and I need to decide what kind of collage I am creating.” And this, “When the intellect is detached from the light and love in your heart, loneliness sets in. A calm heart manifests into a calm mind.”

The last thing I want to share on this is a song that I heard today, “A Beautiful Day” by India Arie. The words just lift me up and if you really digest them, they will lift you up too!
I love that this song reinforces the fact that I take risks in life and sometimes those decisions have consequences of heartache…but I don’t regret a dam thing, because I know I’m always striving for truth, honesty, sincere connections and love in my life and I know I will have it, I have them NOW! If life was easy all the time we would never grow…it’s just up to us to learn from the hard times and take life by the horns and make it what we want it to be! Don’t be a robot and look back and say, wow…how did this happen to my life.

Life doesn’t “happen” to you, MAKE it great!!


Listen to song
A Beautiful Day:

Life is a journey,
Not a destination,
There are no mistakes,
Just chances we've taken
Lay down your regrets cause all we have is now

Wake up in the morning
And get out of bed
Start making a mental list in my head
Of all of the things that I am grateful for

Early in the morning
It's the dawn of a new day
New hopes new dreams new ways
I open up my eyes and
I open up my mind and
I wonder how life will surprise me today
Early in the morning
It's the dawn of a new day
New hopes new dreams new ways
I open up my heart and
I'm gon' do my part and
Make this a positively beautiful day

Life is a challenge not a competition
You can still smell the roses and be on a mission
Just take a moment to get in touch with your heart
Sometimes you feel like you've got something to prove
Remind yourself that there's only one you
Just take a moment to give thanks of who you are

Early in the morning
It's the dawn of a new day
New hopes, new dreams, new ways
I open up my eyes and
I open up my mind and
I wonder how life will surprise me today

Chicken Marbella

When fall arrives I start thinking of cozy evenings in and tasty warm home cooked meals. Only problem is I don't have much time for these home cooked meals, and at the moment I don't have anyone I'm going home to cook for!

So I've recently had two dinner parties for girlfriends that gave me a reason to cook and it always reminds me that a lively dinner table with good food, good wine and laughter can make any form of the blues go away instantly.

It's a well-known recipe, but I had to share it with those of you who don't know about it:

Chicken Marbella from the Silver Palate Cookbook is one of the first dishes I want to make when the leaves start turning to orange. This dish says Autumn. At first you may think, prunes and olives with chicken? I'm telling you the flavors combined are a treat for the taste buds. Throw some roasted butternut squash next to it and you're done!

Make extra, it's even better as leftovers!

Enjoy!

"My father yells what you gonna do with your life?"

Here's something I was thinking about today. I was thinking about 8th grade, we had just moved to Fairbanks, AK and I’m on the school bus (my father was in the military and since birth we had moved every 2-3 years of my life until I went to college). I was new to a school (again) so didn’t know anyone yet, and what gave me comfort was my first walkman and my first tape…Cindy Lauper –Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

It got me thinking that everyone has a soundtrack to their own life. For me it starts with Cindy Lauper, but went to Janet, Miss Jackson if your Nasty, then came the Depeche Mode and Tears For Fears years. Let’s not forget who followed, Bel Biv Devoe and some of those one hit wonders like that kid Tevin Campbell – “Round and Round”!… come on that was the jam first year of college! Lots of party music of course ensued for the following 4 years and for all those boyfriend love’s and breakup saga’s…nothing beat my girl SADE (she will always be in the running for my all time favorite) and anyone who knows me knows I ADORE (and stalk) John Mayer and I marvel at how he can go from this pop music geek to down right dirty blues man that makes love to that guitar like no other…nevermind his wacky personal life- we all have issues!

My point is, isn’t it fun to think of that ultimate “Mixed Tape” of your life. If you had the time it would be a fun little project to actually create that disc for you to reminisce to or to school your kids on what cool (or dumb) music you were into.
To this day I’m creating that soundtrack to my life…albeit I use Pandora and the like to find the music, but there are certain songs/lyrics that stand out to me and will go in my mental library of songs that fit that time in my life.
Right now it's more of the moody type songs, Sara Bareilles comes to mind or even old school favorites like Peter Gabriel.

If you have the time, I’m just curious…what was your first tape you can ever remember owning and loving, and what is the current song of your life?
Either respond to me by mail or post a comment below this blog entry.

Whine or Wine?

Have spent the last few days of my trip in Burgundy, just 2.5 hrs from Paris and you are in the country with rolling hillside vineyards- everywhere. Splendid, quiet and peaceful.

Have had time to reflect on my life, my divorce, where my life is headed. It's all quite overwhelming at times. Plain and simple- I'm a planner, I like to know and create my future- but now I'm in a state of uncertainty. I saw this quote once that spoke to me, "The future doesn't have to be uncertain if you create it." I need to control what I can and accept the things I cannot change- accept them and move on.

Reading a helpful book right now to support that thought called "Loving What Is." One of the very helpful anecdotes I keep reminding myself of is: Wanting to change something that is the way it is, whether it be the way someone behaves, something that happened in the past, or a circumstance you wish was different...that's like demanding a cat to bark like a dog! It's just not going to happen! So do you waste your time and energy fretting about how you can change something or wishing it was different, or learn to deal with how things are and move forward in life? It's difficult to do, but I hope the more I practice, my brain will follow more easily.

All of my thoughts that sometimes appear in rapid fire sound a little like this "I'm sad my marriage ended (even if it was for the best), why couldn't it have been different, I'm scared my kids will suffer, I'm scared not to have a loving partnership in my life, I'm scared about finances, why did my parents have to move away, why did a friend of mine say that hurtful thing to me." Bottom line is: can't make that cat bark

I'm trying. It's not easy. Need to strike a balance of controlling what I can: loving the kids, work, who I spend my time with, staying on a happy, healthy path etc. The other stuff: guilt, worry, fear, emotions that I need to try and let go of, and let life unfold the way it's going to.

Will be biking through the Burgundy countryside today, soaking up all the fresh air and sun like the beautiful grapes all around, I can only hope that I too get better with age like they do.