Cooking Simplified

I wish I had thought to take a picture of dinner last night. I made a Chicken Provencal and the chicken with the fresh parsley and kalamata olives on top looked lovely. (If I may say so myself.) Not that I can take full credit. My sister got me a new cookbook for Christmas. This cook book is a slam dunk. It is from the editor's of Cook's Illustrated and is called The Best 30-Minute Recipe. Not only do the recipes generally stick to the 30-minute rule (and sometimes, *gasp,* less), but there are also hints like, while the broth boils chop the onion and garlic. After working all day I love a recipe that tells me when to do the different tasks. Also, it has tips on the best way to bread pork chops and shred chicken and pan sear shrimp...I feel like I'm learning as I use this which makes it even more delightful.

I started thinking that it felt like I was cooking a lot of new recipes this year from this cookbook, so I decided to sit down and actually jot down what I have tried so far. This is every recipe I have made from this cookbook so far (1 month) and they have all been delicious:

• Carrot Ginger Soup
• Tortilla Soup
• Chicken Provencal
• Pozole
• Spicy Thai Basil Stir Fry
• Pan Roasted Chicken Breast with Potatoes (20 minutes! Shocker!)
• Chipotle Lime Glazed Shrimp
• Parsley Lemon Butter Shrimp
• Curried Chicken Salad

Just thought I would brag a bit, give kudos to my sis and spread the word about this wonderful cookbook. Do you have a favorite cookbook that consistently performs well? If you buy this, let me know how you like it or your favorite dishes. Plus that way I will know not to give it to you as a gift....

Internal Switch

Last week in Toronto, I bundled up and went for nice long walks in the snow. After a full day trapped in meetings, it felt great to wander the metropolis, to window shop and to listen to the crunch of snow and ice underfoot. While in Toronto I heard myself refer to the weather as "brisk, but totally walk-able." The temperature at the time was single digits Fahrenheit.

Now, I'm happily back in Austin and my internal switch is once again set to Texas. I just stepped outside to go grab the mail and thought it was very chilly and did I really want to leave the house..The temperature? It's a solid 51 degrees. Nearly 40 degrees warmer, yet it *feels* colder to my walk-ability checker.

Sure, in Toronto I didn't step foot outside without properly bundling and here I am a bit more lax with scarf and gloves. However, I feel the bigger difference is in my switch setting. In Toronto I am set to "Chicago" which activates my "stronger than thou silly weather" impulse. I see the bright side of 8 degrees. Immediately upon my return to the Southland, my switch switches back to Texas...Home in Texas I expect to feel warm sunshine and am annoyed with crisper temps. Can I trick my brain into still expecting Toronto cold and feeling "warm" at 40's and 50's? What other switches are unknowingly tripping up my ability to fully enjoy my moment wherever that moment finds me?

Drinking in Toronto

I have not had a single Molson on either of my trips to Toronto. Some might say I am falling behind on the Canadian experience. I beg to differ. I'm officially here for work, but wanted to check in on some of the more important finds of this trip -- namely a few local brews.

For added flavor, here is a small anecdote for how my trip started... I had a quick layover in Houston International and upon touching down in Toronto I realized I had left my outer Gortex shell in the Houston Terminal. That first night I layered long sleeves, cardigan and fleece and headed out to meet some friends for a drink and dinner. That night was well below zero on both the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales. The kind of cold where breathing makes you cough and speech gets slightly slurred from numb lips and face. (I swear the slurring was the cold...) I found my friends at a pub, Hemingways, seated next to heat lamps. I defrosted as I sipped my first beer of the trip a Mills St. Original Organic. Very smooth German Pilsner. Yum.

Thankfully, my pitiful coatless state inspired a taxi to dinner. I got another recommendation for a local beer; this time the winner was Sleemans Honey Brown. This lager is described as having "clover honey notes," I just know it was deliciosa! Sleemans is actually brewed in a small town outside of Toronto called Guelph, but that still counts as "local" to me.

Tomorrow night we are having our office party at the Steam Whistle Brewery, so I may have another addition to Drinking in Toronto. On my last trip here, I discovered one more local - the blonde by Amersterdam Brewing. There are plenty of brews out there that I am not crazy about, but so far all the Canadian beer has been excellent.

For the worry prone: Never fear, the coat was 15 years old and though I am still hopeful that it will turn up and make its way back to me...I definitely got my money's worth out! Also, my boss has leant me one of her extra down coats and I am far warmer in her loaner, than my wayward Goretex. It all works out.

Floating to 2011

One of my Hanukkah presents was a 3 hour spa gift certificate. I scheduled this for Dec. 30th thinking it would be a lovely way to wrap up the year. The certificate was for a session in a salt water flotation tank and a hot stone massage. Ha cha cha, I was excited.

I had heard of flotation tanks and had always been intrigued, but never had the opportunity to try it out. What is it you ask? A chance to float in complete darkness. Best savasana ever.

Think of a space pod about 8 feet long, 3 or 4 feet wide and about 4 feet high. The bottom is filled with 10 inches of salt water heated to skin temperature (93.5 degrees if you must know). This water has 800 lbs. of epsom salt dissolved in it, so you float buoyantly. You step into the tank, sit down in the water and then close the door behind you. You stretch out like laying down in a bed and the salt water pushes you right to the surface, like a cork.

My tank was set up with under water speakers, so I had music for the first 10 minutes and then 50 minutes of silence with music returning to let me know when my hour was up. When I first stretched out, I was a little kid. I tried lifting my arms out of the water like a synchronized swimmer to see if the water would still support me... yup. I swished about the tank like a very happy fish and finally chose to have my hands behind my head as I tried to fully relax. At one point I sneezed and having forgotten I was in water, was a bit of a surprise as it lapped and swashed about. When the music came back on, all I could think was "too soon." I started to move very slowly, rotating my fingers and feeling the ripple move across the tank. It was glorious to feel weightless. To be completely stretched out, but have zero pressure on my body anywhere. I wonder what I would be like if I could float for an hour every day. It seems that the world at large would be happier if we all had the ability to withdraw, re-charge and totally relax on a regular basis.

I emerged, showered off the salt (which quickly dried into a dusty white film) and headed for my hot stone massage. Did I mention that life is good and all is well with the world? I had never had this type of massage before. It combines traditional massage with stones heated in water that is 120 degrees. The stones are used as part of the massage and then left at certain points like natural heating pads. A-ma-zing.

Having relaxed to the point of puddling, I got up and got dressed and Kristi, the woman who owns Zen Blend, offered me tea. I went and sat (i.e. zoned) while she prepared the water and then suddenly she presented me with a bowl of individually wrapped dark chocolates and my choice of either herbal tea or yerba mate.

I have no idea what could have made this experience any better. I hope your new year has some wonderful firsts and some amazing moments of joy and relaxation.

Curious about floating? Here are some FAQs.
In the Austin area and want more info about Zen Blend?

Canadian Yoga

Hooray for my Canadian boss who whisked me away at the end of a day full of lecture to attend an advanced Iyengar class with her. The class was mostly standing poses, which we knew in advance. The focus of the class, which we did not know ahead, was on broadening the sit bones and rotating the groin. Keep in mind I've only met my boss face-to-face in the last 48 hours. I'm sure groin comes up in most people's professional relationships...Luckily, she is an extraordinarily cool woman, so there was no weirdness. We did have a good laugh though.

At the begining of the class we were focusing on standing forward bends. The teacher kept telling us to pull the hip bones in. I had no idea where or how to pull my hips closer together, but I knew I wasn't succeeding because the teacher kept repeating the instruction (slightly louder each time). She was clearly exasperated with many of the students, and I know I was very frustrated because no matter how loud or how often she asked me to do this one action...no matter how simple the words were...I had no idea how to do it. My muscles gave me the equivalent of a blank stare...you want us to do what? There was a part of me that wanted to throw up my arms and say, "That's it. I'm leaving. I have no idea what you want and I don't want to deal with one more thing in my life that I don't understand..." But when I heard the pettulance of my own inner tyrant I thought in a new direction.

What if my life is presenting me with problems that appear unsolvable in the short term so that I can accept and find ease in each moment. I realized I didn't have to "succeed" at this class by getting every pose "Perfectly Right." In fact, I could give myself permission to "suck" in the eyes of the Persnickety Perfectionist within (and maybe even the eyes of this teacher) and just see where the class took me. My breathing evened out and I felt 100x calmer.

Evidently, permission to suck is a powerful tool.

PS-There were snow flurries today!

The Great Canadian....

Herein lies a few tales from Toronto:

My flight from Houston to Toronto was on a puddle jumper of a plane, with a 2.5 hour puddle to navigate. It was one of the bumpiest rides I've been on, but I managed to not spill my gingerale...Points to Mindy.

Upon arriving we got to take stairs down from the plane to the tarmac. I consider this the height of fun since I associate it with Cary Grant movies. I needed big sunglasses and a gossamer scarf for the occassion. On the long walk to customs I passed one restaurant. Only one. And no stores... What the what?! Have I left consumerism central? However, the one eatery I did see made up for the otherwise lacking culinary landscape.

The

Great

Canadian

Bagel

?!

Nothing against Canada and definitely nothing against bagels...but together? I never would have seen them paired off? Did eHarmony come up with this?

In case you were wondering, rush hour traffic on the night of a hockey game is indeed quite impressive. Regardless, I made it and had some wondering time last night.

My hotel is located in the Fashion District and my co-workers had raved about a couple of shoe stores, so I was a woman on a mission. I found a pair of shoes by a company called Groundhog which I heart very much. I have been looking for this pair of shoes (i.e. flats that can dress up or down) for over a year, so thank you Canada!! I was a bit too late for most of the boutiques to still be open, but there were lots of fabric stores, button stores, hat stores, ribbon stores... I have a picture to share, but that will have to wait.

This morning I went for a city walk in the chilly rain. Toronto reminds me of Chicago...maybe it is just the cold, downtown with lots of smokers...

I'm off to work, but hopefully there will be more episodes coming soon!

Town Called Panic and/or Toronto

Hello, hello...

I just had to give an e-shout out to the Belgian movie A Town Called Panic. One of my new favorites. A bunch of plastic toys hopping about a claymation world figuring out how to best deal with the conundrum of having over-ordered bricks online. 74 minutes of bliss if you ask me.

Headed to Toronto this week and I'm hoping to be a bit better about blogging. I've never been and I'm looking forward to what I've heard described as a cleaner more polite NYC. What's not to love, eh?

Any suggestions for my northern travels?