Unexpected Calamities

"When you are afflicted with troubles and unexpected calamities, thank God for their existance, too. Know full well that He will protect you and that He wants you to extract a lesson or two from them." -Swami Chidvilasananda

Saturday night I was alone on the couch, Ramon was in London picking up an award at a film festival. Thunder cracked and lightning lit the night sky, rain poured down. I sat huddled and cozy in blankets, watching the German version of American Idol. I hardly took notice of the raging weather outside, after all I was warm and safe in my home.
The next morning, the neighbors knocked on the door. "The cellar is flooded," they said. Oh well, I thought at first, no big deal. We filled bucket after bucket with water, dumping it outside, then took to sorting through masses of wet boxes with ruined things and lugging them upstairs. It was quite a process, but I wasn't sad because nothing of value had been ruined...or so I thought.
I came to the last box, the wettest one, way down at the bottom, and my heart sunk when I saw that Ramon's sketches and paintings from art school lay inside. I cried as I lay them out flat on our tile floor. I didn't know what to do. These were nothing one could just go out and replace. Finally I decided to call Ramon and tell him the news. "What paintings?" He asked. I sobbed and explained. "Oh, don't worry about those, all my favorites are safe and dry at the office." I let out a sigh of relief and wiped away my tears.
After emtying out the whole cellar and cleaning the floor, we surveyed the piles of wet belongings stacked outside our building. And amazingly, I felt refreshed. I thought about it all being trucked off to the dump, and actually felt....GOOD.
And so, from this calamity, I took the lesson of letting go, and looking for the good in a situation that may at first seem negative.
Also, most of Ramon's paintings still looked fine once they dried. Yay!
WHAT HAS BEEN A BLESSING IN DISGUISE FOR YOU?

Our New Addiction: Pitzas!

Ramon and I are in love with this healthy alternative to pizza. Put pita bread in your toaster and preheat oven to 400°. Open the toasted pita bread halves and spread with pizza sauce. Then pile on the goods! Our favorite toppings are:
-Chopped sundried tomatoes
-Fresh tomatoes, sliced and seeded
-marinated artichoke hearts (drained of oil and patted dry)
-low fat mozarella
-kalamata olives, pitted and halved
-roasted bell pepper
-raw zucchini sliced paper thin
-garlic salt
-onion powder
-cubed chicken or turkey breast
-lean turkey sausage
-finely sliced mushrooms
Then sprinkle with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, and stick in the oven til the cheese starts to bubble. It's so delicious, and if you put on the right kinds of toppings, it's a really filling, healthy meal.
Buon Appetito!

Gratitiude

"Remember all the love you have received in this universe, all the people who make your life shine. Remember Nature who has taught you many lessons and given you divine hints about yourself. Don't think about what you have not achieved. Remember the things that have come your way-some asked for, some not. God's grace is given freely. It is immeasurable. Let gratitude wash away all the tiredness, all the impurities, and all the karmas. Remember all the goodness that permeates your life."
-Swami Chidvilasananda

Sometimes it's a struggle to live in the moment. Have you ever had this, too? Sometimes all I can think about are my plans, what I want to happen, material things I want to aquire, places I want to see, things I want to experience. I get impatient with myself, and in the end with God. I worry that things won't go the way I plan or want. This is when it is important for me to read words of wisdom, or find wisdom in my own heart while sitting quietly in nature. I hope Gurumayi's words are in inspiration for you, they are for me. When I think about all the infinite ways that God's plan has proven to be so much greater than anything my own mind could muster, my faith and enthusiasm are restored.
Have a wonderful day!

"Recipes Just Have To Taste Good"

One of my favorite magazines is called 'Cook's Country.' There are two fabulous things about it: One, there are old, heirloom recipes included. And two, there is a whole team of cooks who try out dozens of different ways of cooking and baking things until they have found the perfect combination of ingredients, meaning we readers are guaranteed satisfaction. The founder and editor, Christopher Kimball, writes great introductions, and I want to share the newest one with you all because it spoke to me:

"An egg-rolling contest may seem old fashioned, even archaic, but in the country, the line between past and present is thankfully faint. Every summer, our family still attends the Washington County Fair, where I check over the blue-ribboned glass bottles of silage, the summer squash monsters, the cake and pie exibits, and all the rest: pole climbing, log hauling, rock throwing, baby crawling, and hog calling.
So when folks say that traditions have been lost to the past, well, they just don't know where to look.
It's easy to look at the past and think of it as quaint or somehow separated from the present. Sure, I grew up with neighbors who still baked cookies, biscuits, and bread in a wood cookstove and who remember to this day how to use a side hill plough and are apt to say that they prefer horses to tractors, since 'You always know that a horse is going to start up on a cold morning.'
But around the dinner table, there are no modernists. Green Bean Casserole is still the most requested recipe in America. New or old, recipes just have to taste good.
So for those who still love to cook-and I mean really love the cooking, not just the eating-it's nice to know that some things never change."

My Little Songbird

I've discovered that one of the little bird who eats the sunflower seeds from my feeder has made his home in our apple tree. Sometimes when I'm eating breakfast, I'll notice that he's perched on a branch, watching me with his cocked head, tweeting every once in a while. I always know what it means: "Excuse me, don't mean to bother you during breakfast, but would you mind putting out some fresh seeds?" (I always imagine him with an english accent, isn't that funny?) Ofcourse I always get up and head to the kitchen window, and he swoops down and waits, balancing on the rose bush while I faithfully spread seeds over the bottom of the feeder. I read something in a Barbara Webster book which I found so sweet:
"Still unexplained is the coin we found one morning in the bird feeder. Was it meant to be a tip? Has anyone else ever been tipped by birds? A battered, dirty quarter, it looked as though it had been passed around from beak to beak."
Anyone who feeds birds knows that feeling of connection and commeraderie one has when your little neighbors depend on you and give you meek glances of gratitude. Songbirds are such shy, benevolent beings. At the local cafe, dozens of finches prance about the courtyard, dining on crumbs. A friend of mine noted, as we tossed tiny tidbits, that when a finch took a crumb from you, it would make a squeak before fluttering away. "They always say thank you," my friend said.

Contentment

"It's the little things that count. Winning-the-Lottery type happiness is short-lived. Even a trip to Disney World or a new car won't do it for the long term. It's the little things in life: play with your cat, plant a garden, take your kids to the park, bake a pie, take time to BE a friend. Keep putting the little moments together and they'll turn into contentment."
-Susan Branch

Hi Gals!
Had a wonderful garden party with Ramon yesterday, we invited friends and family over and fired up the grill. One table was dedicated entirely to desserts! I hope I can put up a photo of that soon.
I just want you all to know...I wish you could have been there! I love you, you are all in my heart. In the spring sunshine, with the lilacs blooming and the birds singing....I think of you all and send you my love.

Sample Diet

Here's a day's worth of meals that I would recommend for a woman who wants to shed fat and gain lean muscle mass:
(If you do cardio or strength training at some point in the day, follow it with a sugar-free and low-carb Nutrition shake.)

Breakfast:
1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal cooked with water
1/4 cup blueberries
1 packet Splenda
Woman's Multivitamin
Omega 3 fish oil (2 or 3 capsuls)

Lunch:
chicken breast (grilled, baked or broiled)
2 cups fresh green salad with
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil or flaxseed oil and lemon juice
1 cup tea (green or herbal)

Midday Snack:
sugar free yogurt
1/2 apple or pear
10 walnuts or almonds

Dinner:
wild salmon (grilled, baked, or broiled)
1 cup steamed veggies
1 grapefruit
as much tea as you like

Evening Sleepy Snack:
Caffeine-free Chai with skim milk and Stevia to calm your nerves and pamper your tummy.

Note: If you plan on using this diet as a guide for the rest of the week, only eat the salmon once. On the other days, substitute with some other lean protein source (turkey or chicken breast, seafood, egg white omelette made with two egg whites, one whole egg and veggies, or tofu.)

ALSO: DRINK TONS AND TONS OF WATER. IF YOU FEEL HUNGRY, IT COULD BE THIRST. IT'S BEEN FOUND NOW THAT DRINKING WATER WITH YOUR MEAL HAS NO EFFECT ON YOUR BODY'S ABILITY TO DIGEST WELL, so DRINK UP!

FRIENDS...

"Friends: They are kind to each other's hopes. They cherish each other's dreams."
-Thoreau

Thank you all for being my friends.

Top Ten Get-Fit-For-Spring Tips

Days are gettin' warmer, gals! My biggest get-fit motivation this year is my wedding in October. Here are the things that have really helped me kick-start my fitness program. I hope they help you out, too!

1) Gear up with comfortable, ankle-stable sneaks, and work out clothes you feel cute and shapely in.

2) Make yourself an inspiring, fun cardio mix for your ipod or walkman, and update it regularly.

3) Eat VERY CLEAN six days a week. What does 'clean' include? Lots of fish, chicken, and tofu; vegetables galore (steamed or raw, plain or with a teaspoon of olive oil or fat-free dressing); apples, pomegranates, pears, grapefruits, and berries; brown or basmati rice (what fills your cupped hand is the perfect amount of this), beans, oatmeal, one avocado a week, and low-fat dairy products. 'Clean' does not include white flour, sugar, and hydrogenated fats.

4) On your seventh day, eat WHATEVER you want, breakfast lunch and dinner. This is your chance to bake and roast and fry, go out with friends to that delicious restaurant, or cuddle up on the couch with chips and sweets. Don't feel guilty, because this is keeping your metabolism high and active by not allowing it to get used to the same low-calorie meals. Also, life is about enjoying. This way, you can enjoy your favorite foods and still look just the way you want. Plus, at the end of your 'free day,' you will be glad to get back to clean eating, trust me on this.

5) On those six clean days, try to eat like a cow, the key phrase here being: GRAZE. East four to six small rounded meals a day. Try to include a portion of healthy carbs, protein, and non-saturated fat in each of these meals.

6) GET MOVING. Start with power-walking sessions from forty-five minutes to an hour and the pounds will melt off. As you get fitter, start to take jogs once in a while. These jogs will slowly but surely turn into runs. Believe me: I started out walking for an hour, and now, two years later, I am finally able to jog for an hour. It's amazing to experience your body's strength and adaption! Other great work-outs: jump rope, tae-bo, dance, swimming.

7) Use your own body weight for strength training (sit-ups, push-ups, crunches), or join a gym and hit the weights. If you only do cardio, you will lose weight but won't change your form. In other words, if you are a pear shape, you will just shrink into a smaller pear shape. Using weights, you can sculpt your body to be balanced and lean.

8) Meditate. Keeping a clear mind and a strong heart will help you let go of habits that are holding you back from becoming the person you have always wanted to be.

9) Drink tons of water. Hungry? Drink a couple glasses of water first. Also, make herbal tea with lemon, or caffein-free chai with skim milk. (Limit your intake of fruit juices, which are mostly sugar and will just make you hungrier. Instead, if you're craving it, eat whole fruits, which will fill you with fiber.)

10) This may hurt at the beginning, but it helped me: take a 'before' photo of yourself (or have a trusted person take it of you...Ramon took mine, what a guy.) In nothing but a bikini, pose standing with your hands on your hips and your feet hip-width apart. This is going to give you a 'YIKES!' experience at first, but remember, this is only temporary as long as you do something about it. And one comforting thing: your before photo could be someone else's AFTER photo! Be thankful for your body, that you are able to walk, run, jump, stretch. Now, go out and make use of those abilities!

Comforting Words

"If you are not happy with the conditions of your life, you can change it in two ways: either improve the conditions in which you live, or improve your inner spirit. The first is not always possible, but the second is."
-Tolstoy

It's a gorgeous, sunny day here in Purkersdorf. Ramon and I just took a jog, admired the emerald green that has swept over the rolling hills of birch trees, and the white and pink blossoming fruit trees. What beauty! We are thankful for winter, which teaches us patience, and faith in Mother Nature's wheel of change. The gift of spring has finally arrived!

French Dressing

I've been using this dressing for my salads since spring burst its green and white and pink all over our little village. It's so delicious! Yesterday I made a salad with butter lettuce, tiny cucumbers and crisp radishes. It was divine. Even Ramon, who is very suspicious of anything green, gobbles down salads when it has this dressing over it. It was created by the wonderful children's book author Tasha Tudor, who wrote (and painted the most darling illustrations for) classics like Pumpkin Moonshine. She made a cook book that I treasure, "Recipes and Reminiscences from Corgi Cottage." I want to be just like her 'when I grow up!'

Tasha Tudor's French Dressing

1/2 cup oil
1/8 cup cider vinegar
1 small yellow onion, peeled and left whole
3 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
3 Tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon Coleman's dry mustard
a few drops tabasco sauce
a few dops Worcestershire sauce
thyme, chervil, tarragon, and basil (added for flavor, do not chop)

Combine all the ingredients in a covered pint jar. Shake well and keep at room temperature until serving time. Remove onion, gerlic, and herbs before pouring the dressing on the salad.

A Cuter Place

When you're feeling down, put on a floppy sun hat, a flowered cotton summer dress, and paint your toenails pink. Spritz on a delicious, fruity perfume, slather on coconut lotion, and don huge jackie-o sunglasses. Do your part to make this world a cuter place. Even if you're sad, offer people a smile, remember the blessings in your life because they are numerous. Be an inspiration to the people you love. Memorize good jokes and tell them with gusto. Surprise a girlfriend with flowers. Give that nice waitress at the coffee shop a big tip, chances are she needs those few bucks more than you'll miss'em. Call your mom and thank her for everything. Call your dad and tell him about the good things he has taught you. Play fun music with french or spanish lyrics and make up your own opinion what the songs are about (how wonderful chocolate is, how sexy a plain white tank top can be, etc). Feed the birds. Be happy. As Paulo Coelho says: "We are a part of His dream, and He wants His dream to be a happy one."

You Know You're a Grown-Up When...

Ever have one of those moments when you suddenly realize, "Oh my gosh, I'm a GROWN-UP!" Here are a few of my 'woah' moments. I'd love to hear yours!

You know you're a grown-up when:

1) You open your fridge and see things like a jar of marinated roasted peppers, asparagus spears, or chicken stock

2) The kids at the park say "Hello, Miss!" (you turn around to see who they're talking to... and guess what, it's YOU!)

3) You meet a seventeen year old and realize you're ten whole years older than her

4) You say things like, "Yah, it's a nice house, but kind of far away form the local kindergarten"

5) You wake up early to meditate or take a jog

6) You see amazing shoes, try them on, and don't buy them because they're not comfortable enough

7) Your dad says, "Boy, I'm really looking forward to being a grandpa. When's that gonna be?"

8) A car goes by banging techno and you say, "Geeze, kids listen to the worst music these days!"

LUCKILY, THERE ARE ALSO MOMENTS WHEN YOU KNOW YOU WILL ALWAYS BE A CHILD AT HEART:

1) You do a little dance when you eat a cupcake

2) You crouch down to look at ladybugs

3) You want hot chocolate when you come home on a cold day

4) When you channel surf on a Sunday morning, you stop on the kid's channel to watch some classic Bugs Bunny and still think it's one of the most entertaining things ever

5) You get giddy when it's time for cake at a birthday party

6) You still love Dr. Seuss books

7) Sometimes, you would like nothing better than to sit down with a coloring book and some crayons and just GO FOR IT (after all, you are finally able to draw within the lines, which used to be a really big deal, remember?)

The Good Eating Philosophy

"Good eating is a philosophy. I know a French lady who muses, 'I am the keeper of my sacred body. I carefully guard everything I put in my mouth.' She eats entirely by the seasons."
-Alexandra Stoddard

Yes! Eating by the seasons is a wonderful philosophy indeed. Eat asparagus and tender salads in spring, come summer endulge in melons and berries. In autumn, bake pies chock full of harvest-fresh apples or pumpkins, and boil sweet ears of corn. And when Jack Frost comes knocking, warm your tummy with hearty soups, crusty breads, and home-baked cookies.

Raspberry Shrub

An Old-Time Favorite Beverage from Grandma's Day

Mix and cook together in saucepan for ten minutes:

3 pt. raspberries (washed and hulled)
1/2 cups sugar
2 cups water

Strain and cool. Add:

1 cup lemon juice
2 quarts water

Serve with ice. Makes ten servings.

Wanna Know Your Birthday Cake Type?

"What is your birth date? What star shines on you? Here are jewels and flowers and birthday cakes, too!"

JANUARY flower: carnation, gem: garnet, birthday cake: A cake with white frosting, moist snowy white coconut, and red carnations on the top.

FEBRUARY flower: primrose, gem: amethyst, birthday cake: Chocolate cake pink frosting, trimmed with cherries, cinnamon hearts, or peppermint candy.

MARCH flower: voilet, gem: bloodstone, birthday cake: Angel cake with delicately tinted icing and a bunch of violets in a glass vase in the center hole.

APRIL flower: easter lily, gem: diamond, birthday cake: A layer cake spread with a luscious, fruity filling (drained pineapple or marachino cherries, chopped and added to filling), sprinkled with chopped nuts, and tinted frosting swirls for candle holders.

MAY flower: lily of the valley, gem: emerald, birthday cake: Chocolate cake with a dark frosting. Tie up tiny bouquets of lilly of the valley with emerald green ribbons and place around cake.

JUNE flower: rose, gem: moonstone, birthday cake: an oblong cake with cooked white frosting and fresh strawberries folded in. Trim with whole berries.

JULY flower: sweet pea, gem: pearl, birthday cake: Frost a yellow cake. Tie up little bunches of sweet peas with satin ribbon. Place around the cake and give to women or children guests when cake is eaten.

AUGUST flower: gladiolus, gem: sardonyx, birhday cake: Three layers of cake with filling and soft icing and individual flowers of assorted gladioli attractively arranged around cake.

SEPTEMBER flower: morning glory, gem: sapphire, birthday cake: Cut layer cake in two. Place rounded edges together to form butterfly wings. Trim with white icing, sprinkle with colored sugar. (appropriate for twins birthdays, too!)

OCTOBER flower: dahlia, gem: opal, birthday cake: The birthday child's favorite cake with satiny beige frosting, toasted pecans and flaming red dahlias or autumn leaves around base.

NOVEMBER flower: chrysanthemum, gem: topaz, birthday cake: A rich white layer cake with lemon filling between layers and white icing on top and sides. Sprinkle with lemon and orange zest.

DECEMBER flower: holly, gem: turquoise, birthday cake: Trim white frosted cake with gay red musical notes and 'happy birthday.' Place red candles in red holders. Sprigs of holly are appropriate.

-adapted from Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book

Betty Crocker's Words of Wisdom

"Good eating brings happiness in two ways. First, there is the joy and satisfaction of eating delicious, well-prepared food. Then there's the buoyant health, vitality, and joy of living that comes from a wise choice of foods. Both are important to good health." -Betty Crocker, 1950

Emerson's Nursery School Prayer

"Thank you God,
this happy day,
for food and home
and friends and play.
For each new morning
with its light,
for rest and shelter
of the night.
For health and food,
for love and friends,
for everything
Thy goodness sends."

Lemon Sauce

This is my treasured, simple recipe for a lemon sauce that is delicious with cheesecake, pavlova, and pudding. Or, just pour it over fresh berries!

INGREDIENTS:
1 egg, beaten
1 cup sugar
juice of 2 organic lemons
zest of 1 organic lemon
1 tablesoon butter

DIRECTIONS
Cook all except butter over low heat till thick. Add butter, and stir till butter is melted. Serve warm or cold.