Piece of advice #476 (or #1): Don't try to save food

Just eat it, or give it away... its not worth trying to save, conserve, preserve, whatever it will just end in a mess and you will lose more than just the food, but the container it was in. My friends recently left me behind some potatoes, onions and garlic in a sealed plastic container (smart, right?) Well here I am opening it 3 weeks later (food that will keep, mind you, or so it seems...) and I am greeted by an overwhelming pugnance of old man breath and BO all at once... the potato is inflated and has this weird mucus coming out of it which all of the other food has been sitting in for weeks. The kitchen is repulsive. I ran the veggies outside in the rain to dump out the potato mucus and transfer the other stuff to a plastic bag to save the plastic container. Of course I had to touch the stuff with my bare hands and have not clipped my fingernails in weeks. Double Of course even after washing my hands I decide to eat a piece of broccoli and stick the contaminated fingernails into my mouth. I now permanently taste, and smell old man sweat and BO. I washed the container out 4 or 5 times but I'm afraid the potato mucus has seeped itself into the cracks, and thus I throw the container away. RIP.

Sorry, I'm home alone and all worked up about this so I had to blog.

Thanks for reading. Always.

Yours disgustedly,

Charlotte

This post is called: I Just Bought a Printer for $49.95!

I sound like I should be on a commercial or something... running into a house waving my paper-light new printer over my head for everyone to see. I may have just been taken advantage of in my first adulthood consumer scam, or I may have just made one of the best decisions of my entire life (not to be melodramatic).
I have this book of coupons from "Bronco Bash" the student organization fair at Western Michigan University with some awesome deals in it, and because I am in Kalamazoo and out of school, I have made it my mission to "utilize my coupons" before the expire on December 31st. Ah yes, the great irony of spending money to save money... I'm living it.
Last year one of my dear hall-mates left our school :'( and in her "will" bestowed upon me her Epson Printer. This printer has served me many triumphant days until the ink ran out. Today I learned that the cartridges for this particular printer must be replaced, and cannot be refilled. Yikes! So here I was standing at the Cartridge World Counter about to have my debit card swiped to replace all three of the color inks (because the freaking printer won't print black and while unless all of the cartridges are full) for $39.95 after learning that I can't even use my coupon because it's for refills only (devastating), when the cashiers eyes light up, and she says: "Now dear, I realize that you're about to spend nearly $40.00 just to replace these cartridges (mind you we had already bonded over the pain of this price total for such a small amount of ink), so I can't help but bring to your attention that you can buy an entirely new printer WITH ink that can be refilled (so i could use my coupon! :D) for just $10.00 more!"
I braced myself for the moment I had known would come someday in my big-girl life, when someone would try to sell me a piece of crap and make it sound super appealing. But, being the softie that I am, I followed her around the corner and inspected the lone, un-boxed (seemingly sketchy, but I let it slide) printer.
And she won me over! I felt like I asked all of the right questions... like So why is this printer so cheap? and So what exactly does a 30 day guarantee mean? (it means if anything goes wrong in 30 days you can bring it back) and How outdated is this printer, and will is stay up to date? In the midst of all of this I could not find a reason not to spend $10.00 more and get what I was already buying plus an ENTIRE PRINTER!

So, I have a new friend sitting on my back seat. Now the tables have turned, and I'm going to become the sneaky, stealthy salesperson on some lone website trying to make my dysfunctional printer look as appealing as possible to sell to someone else... I'll let you know how it goes.

These are a few of my favorite things...

My phone is such a funny thing to me, and a remembered this as I whipped it out today wanting to photograph real waves on Lake Michigan! I went to South Haven today with two really cool seniors, Ellen and Emily, and one of my favorite faculty member Alison Geist to meet some key players in the Farms to Cafeteria movement. I left with a free lunch, 3 free bottles of milk, a free bumper sticker and so much free laughter and fun! It was great. On the ride back I was scrolling through my old phone pictures in my mad rush to get it out and photograph the lake realizing that it is my only reliable form of memory to capture random unexpected pleasures, whether it's making a list or just taking a picture of something I want to remember I always have my phone. I'm conflicted about how to feel about this... on the one hand it makes me want to drown my phone and appreciate my life for the small opportunities and pleasures that come and go (except thats not funny because I really did drown my phone last spring and it was miserable... rice doesn't work just for the record), but on the other hand it really makes me cherish this small 8 Gig device that can store anything I want. Wow. So here are a few of my faves:

An irresistibly perfect rainbow I saw on a warm, quiet night in the Senior parking lot in High School, it took somewhere really important to be not to run off and find the pot of gold.

This positively adorable foreign looking tree in my dear friend Emily Saninni's backyard... I think Ali convinced me to take a picture of this as we laid around on the hammock just enjoying each other before we departed on our summer adventures.

Three of my most favorite people at a farm near my house during one of their country fairs... we bought this pie (blueberry I believe?) sat down on the grass, opened it, and ate it. I have done this two other times in my life... it's the BEST.

The most masterful cappuccino I'm pretty sure I will ever encounter, made by Emily S. in the kitchen that is inside the house that was behind that tree a few pictures ago. I forget what the circumstances were but I was very tired, and Emily cured that instantly. Apparently this is her best cappuccino, so she asked me to take a picture.

My freshman year dorm room... I texted this picture to nearly all of my contacts on like day 3 or something... it only proceeded to get messier. Gosh I love that room and miss it and my beloved roommate, Amanda Mancini very much!

My teammate at school, who made my fall quarter so much more fun and comical, Caroline sporting one of the spiffiest golf outfits of all time. Who isn't intimidated by that (if you can't see the stitching on her socks matches the orange shirt)? And she whacks the ball between 200 and 300 yards every time. Caro is the best dressed golfer I know.

The birthday "cake" Amanda and I made foe our hall-mate Bree a few weeks into school. I showed it to her on her birthday this year, and we had just made so much progress (having a wine and cheese feast with 2 cakes- pumpkin cheesecake an chocolate with peanut butter icing).

I live for real food! But seriously, this wheel is everything important to me in one. Ok, we're done getting to know each other... that's all you need to know about me :)

An incredibly artfully decorated sign of my favorite (huge understatement) restaurant in kalamazoo. I went to eat there an embarrassing 34 times last year and spent all of my money... I've cut back a lot since then, and funnily enough, going there he's become much more special... funny how that works.

A Raspberry Valentines Day Pie (it turned out to be just as good as it looks) that I just had to buy from this beautiful bakery on the Mall in Kalamazoo which turned out to be one of my favorite off campus homework spots, it's sadly closed this year :(

The world was coated in ice for 3 days in Kalamazoo and classes were cancelled for 2 days with no power. It was crazy!

If I ever write about a "selfie" which I did in my first or second post as I was re reading them today and cracking myself up (is that weird?) this is what I mean!!! I'm sure she's turning red... but I just kind of found this on my phone and chuckled.

I love you Maddy!!! One of my favorite people, bags packed to jaunt off to Niagra Falls... or somewhere fun. This picture was proceeded by one where she is looking around confusedly, and followed by one where she looks ready to launch, legs braces and fist in the air... to infinity and beyond!

The three most precious children I know, Grace (4) and Charlotte and Patrick (2) who I am lucky enough to hang out with over the summer. They make every day unbearably endearing!

My (dear?) friend Hagop... one of the bravest people I know because he was the only one to accept a chapping to bob for apples in this terribly deep container (as you can see- he is practically upside-down). Don't worry- he got one... eventually.

This CUTE squirrel was out hunting for nuts in the rain! So what does it do to stay dry? Uses it's tail as an umbrella... Duh.

THIS IS THE WALL OF A MASSIVE BUILDING. I know... covered in art... one of the most amazing pieces I have ever seen. One of the most amazing buildings I have ever entered... The Park Trade Center in Kalamazoo.

15 pieces of gum I chewed for 3 hours during finals week.

Lake Michigan... WITH WAVES! Seemed impossible to me but it was (and this was today that I was referring to) and there was even someone surfing!

So there you have it... a chronological string of my favorite photographs. Wow, phones are great.

Goodnight moon, I photograph you in the rainy snow with my minds eye ;)
xoxox

What's at YOUR core?

Wow, hello again, world! I don't really have anything to say for my neglecting of my blog except that I couldn't make time for it. In a way knowing this frustrates me, but at the same time I know that because I couldn't make time for it, I made time for a lot of other awesome things and special people. It was a pretty awesome fall... stupendous, spectacular, radical, and insane all at the same time. I had some firsts, and some lasts, and many things in between, and now here I am with no school until New Years, and lots of blogging to be done. Over Thanksgiving I was asked about my radio station fro last year... many times... most of them mockingly (thank you Jason, I need someone to make my life into more of a joke), but this is filling that void for me.
The summer before my Junior year of High School, I did a 2 week outdoor experience called Outward Bound. It was kind of the essence of everything you think of when you hear those words... no showers, lots of hiking and activity, resource conservation, wetness, sleeping outside, a 48 hour "solo" experience alone in the woods... it was quite a trek- literally. Something that I learned on that trip which I have taken with my into my every day life is the most efficient way to eat an apple. Because we had to carry around every last bit of trash we produced, we learned to eat most of it including the apple cores, by eating apples from the bottom up, including the seeds (which so many people say have arsenic in them?!? I guess we'll find out...). This is something that is so easy for me to do, and feels like it makes a big difference, and has given me enormous appreciation for the complexity of an apple core! They're very hard to eat without getting some sort of hard edge stuck in my teeth, or having to daintily (?) pick the fibers apart with my front teeth. Eating apples has illustrated how much the core of the apple founds the entire rest of the fruit.
Now for the corny moral of the story: Even though I have been told countless times, somehow it has not gotten through to me until today... our core is the most important part of the human being. It defines how we carry ourselves, how we appear, and most importantly how we feel. In a mix between a short term slump of discouragement with my skating, and a long term understanding that there is no way I will ever be good enough to compete at a note-worthy level, my core has been my missing link to feeling satisfied with my progress. It defines everything I hate about myself as a performer: my uncertainty, my sloppiness, my just all around amatuerity at something I have poured my heard and work ethic into. But at the same time, its everything I love about myself as an athlete: my abs, my upper body strength, my plank position, my pushup form, my ability to walk into a gym and look like I belong there. So how can this one concept work so much against itself? Maybe it is just out of desperation an frustration of how I stand out when skating with my teammates, or maybe it was just hearing it for the 1,745th time, but having/using my core is a choice, and finally coming to the realization that I have not made that choice, and that it is inhibiting me. It is the essence of me, and I choose to ignore it. My core founds my posture, my disposition, my confidence, and I need to feel it in order to exhibit all of those things. It's not just an ornament to performance, its a way of life. More meaningfully, it's the essence of who I am, my foundation and stability when I lose myself or others, and I need that stability both physically and metaphorically. So I'm going to spend the next five weeks with my core, just the two of us, forming bonds and connections that I will choose to tap into in other facets of my life, ideally all of the time

Bust seriously... know your core, love your core. If there is one physical activity you are going to do in your whole life, let it be for your core. You need it!

Five fun ways to do core:
1) 8 Minute Abs (favorite lines include "THIS WIL NEVER HURT YOU!" and "see you in 24 hours!) It doesn't get much better than this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWjTnBmCHTY
2) Walking with your head held high and a book on your head... I'll buy you a den pop if it doesn;t make you feel like British Royalty
3) Pat your hard and rub your tummy (your core needs some TLC too...)
4) Do a plank hold in a large group and go around saying your favorite ice cream flavor or toothbrush color (or more R rated things) Shout out to Lake Placid Camp!
5) Look at a picture of Taylor Lautner with his shirt off and visualize (visualization is key in major body structure changes)

Five reasons to do core:
1) Because there is no better feeling than having someone touch your abs and tell you they're "so solid dude, rock on"
2) Because you could have a self-induced six pack
3) Because it will increase your range of motion and physical ability to do EVERYTHING
4) Because all of the cool kids are doing it. But seriously, all of your friends probably are, or should, and you can do it together!
5) Because it's part of being good to yourself.

Anyways, there's some food for thought... goodnight moon, please keep me safe all alone in this giant house!
xoxox

This post is dedicated to the Food and Community House "Drop everything and eight minute abs!" for teaching me the camaraderie of core. :)

The Meaning of Life

Wow, I haven't paid attention to this in a long, long time. And you know what? It's even been on my mind SO often, I just haven't had the extra grit to sit down and write. That is such a foreign problem for me to have, because I feel like that is such a huge part of who I am in all of the other parts of my life: I just do it. But not with this, something has to coax it out of me... and believe me I've had a lot of epic posts pop up in my head (or at least I think they're epic), and I let them slip away. Again I don't know why, but I have to believe they will find their way back into my life.
So of all times that I feel like its do or die with blogging is on one of the busiest days of my whole life... I don't get it. I have literally gone non-stop since 5 AM, which happens to me a few days a week, but today was especially much. The reason I am sitting here blogging when I should be doing my homework that's due at 8:30 AM tomorrow, probably sacrificing about an extra half hour of sleep, is because I feel truly satisfied, and I want to honor this moment of life, because its moments like these that will get mixed into the past as I look o my future. I do feel kind of checked out from my school work so I guess it might be a ploy to have a few more minutes of procrastination, but when I feel this way, I know that I am fulfilling what "the meaning of life" is to me, and it's satisfaction.
So I don't like to complain, but sometimes you just have to. Everyone knows what it feels like to go non-stop, and this is what my non-stop looks like: woke up at 5 AM and DRAGGED myself to the skating rink, which I hate because I always love love love it once we're 15 minutes into practice, its getting there that sucks... practiced for an hour and a half then ran a 2 mile interval workout at the track with the team. Went home just in time to catch my ride to my service learning program tutoring adults at the Goodwill (we have to complete 3 hours for my general psychology class), came back and closed my eyes/finished reading for my class for 10 minutes, went to class, reserved a room for our farms to K phone bank tonight, sat in the training room for like an hour waiting to get this sore spot on my foot looked at. ate quickly, had the phone bank, drove up to visit a teammate who lives at the top of the hill and talked about the meaning of life (the whole drive behind this post) and am now sitting in my beautiful, cozy living room doing homework and blogging with my housemates.
Now looking back on this day, I felt anxious so many times, but sitting here now I feel in control, and I feel love. The two things that motivated me the most today were the phone bank we had, in which another Charlotte from NJ had 200 people in Kalamazoo call Senator Stabenow to ask her to support the Fair Farm Bill. K-College was toe last calling site and we got to make the final calls to put our numbers over our goal. It was invigorating and empowering, and I feel so lucky to have been ale to make a difference like that and feel so good about myself. The second thing was going to see some of my favorite people in the world on my skating team who get together every night and talk about life. Now this was probably the 2nd to worst decision of my day, was going to see them when i have a ton of other stuff due, but it made me want to blog, so here I am.
That is really what life is all about to me, feeling satisfied. This must be weird to read as you are obviously not shirring this moment with me, but that's really all I'm getting at, is feeling satisfied... Maybe that definition of my feelings will morph and change, but that's truly what it is all about for me right now, and I have too many warm fuzzies after a day like today not to feel satisfied. This morning, I was not a happy camper, but little things throughout the day (like the rain which gave me a bit of extra time to shower, and caused golf practice to be cancelled) went my way, and here I am sitting and thinking... I love life.

I want to write more about my year and my revelations and smiles and laughs tat I've had, but that's for another time, potentially when I'm looking at another second night in a row of 5 hours of sleep. Who knows?

Good night moon, thank you for the amazing people in my life!
xoxox

Bikramage

Here is a picture from the top of my 41st 46er that I climbed on our family vacation this summer, Mt. Seymour. It was 17 miles and took us 7.5 hours and some of it didn't even have a marked trail (gasp!) but we found our way by following footprints :) Just wanted to throw that in because I didn't last time...

I really can't ignore the fact that I have miserably failed to post... again... over the past few weeks. I want to just admit to myself now that there is no way this is going to last once the school year gets going, and just quit because chances are I will find 10 minutes of sleep more valuable than arranging my thoughts into a nice little parcel for those people that read them (who I really, really, appreciate).
BUT, I also need to admit, well not quite admit but rather DECLARE that I am going to live my life with ease and with an abundance of time and support, every day. So, if that plan goes as stated, even still I think I will take cooking a nice dinner for my housemates interactively rather than electronically blogging (which is still interactive, but in a very different kind of way), so I will only be blogging at least once a week, in order to keep it manageable and not too much of a burden. As planning goes I have envisioned that I will blog every Sunday, but who knows how things will pan out, and if something exponentially exciting happens to me during the week, I think it would be best to write about it while it is fresh in my head.

I had so many topics in mind for this post because I have been so moved lately! Today, I went to see the Movie "The Help" with my mom and felt like a melted puddle on the floor when it was over... melted by its charm and warmth and emotion that just rolled right into my heart. Going into movies that come from books that I love, I always feel as though I am the only true fan in the theater, and as though I am the most excited and feel the most personal connection to the film over everyone else in the room. Which, 1) I'm sure is not true, and 2) I'm sure a good handful of people feel the same way, especially going into the Harry Potter and Twilight movies. I felt a special connection to The Help, and hubris over the other very equal patrons in the theater because this is one book in probably 5 years that I actually got motivated to read (well listen to on tape), finish, and LOVED. And, it was a recommendation from my grandmother so it was gutsy of me to try in the first place. Now I am deep into a book called "The Dirty Life" (a farm tale... no, I know what you're thinking), so maybe the summer trend will continue. Anyways, I had incredibly high expectations, and they were surpassed. It is my new favorite movie, before Letters to Juliet (although now I can't remember why I liked that one so much), and will be for a long time. Books have the power to connect readers to the stories, emotions and experienced of characters so different but just as important as themselves, and movies rarely display that charisma, but this movie did. I wanted to hug every single character, and have them over to my house so we could chat some more. It was absolutely phenomenal and made me re-appreciate the different walks of life that everyone is in.

Also new this week is Bikram Yoga, a type of vigorous flow yoga practiced in a 100 degree room. My brother Jason, just out of the Marines is home for the summer, interning in the NYU hospital, and found a studio near our house. As general guidelines for our relationship, Jason is very "tough love" and goofs around a lot, preferring to be seen with us in public as little as possible, and when it is unavoidable, making comments and walking significantly behind or ahead of the group of us women (mom, me, lily, frances). So I was very surprised when one morning he emerged form his room complaining about our noise, and then inviting all of us to attend his intense, highly ettiquette-driven yoga class. Of course we gaggled and giggled in the car and worried ourselves to pieces about getting too hot, and what happens if we can't do something while he grunted over the directions on the way there, but once we entered the room, it just kind of happened that we all separated and each took the experience for ourselves. It was also cool to see Jason in the midst of something he so believes in for his health and for him to be able to share it with us.
The whole idea behind it is cleansing your pores and sweat purification because you sweat A LOT. At first I just thought that I would get flushed and be warm through the whole class, but it turned up fast, and you just start pouring sweat, without even realizing. It got to the point where if you saw me next to a pool you would think I had just gotten out of it after swimming. I mean, you get soaked. Towards the end I felt incredibly fatigued and was having trouble moving from exercise to exercise, like those commercials where you see the man crawling through the desert towards the sweating ice cold high-fructose corn syrup beverage that has magically appeared next to a cactus. I didn't think it was possible to feel the need to move so slowly... it was crazy. I love the idea of cleansing myself, and apparently if you do it enough, your sweat begins to lose odor! So I'm going to go again tomorrow and hopefully continue in Kalamazoo.

Today, I would like to tribute my post to a person, someone who I know has really impacted me because they will not be a part of my life next year in the same way that she has been in the past. You know you will miss someone when you can look ahead and think, wow, my whole lifestyle will be a little bit empty without them. Maddy has become one of my closest friends at school, but won't be coming back next year.
At this point, I have come to understand that it's not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, it just is, and it's ok to be sad about it. She has helped me to realize that people who come together have for a reason... it's not their absence that has to preoccupy us or worry us, because if they're meant to be a significant part of your life they will continue to be one.
There is a difference between the evolution of time and the parting of ways that comes with moving along with your life, like leaving for college or switching schools, starting a new activity. But it's harder to fathom when your life will go on being the same, and someone who had a huge influence on the way you think and spend your time will be gone.
It's not that my life will be different, I will just miss her energy and presence, and the place she created for me when I was around her. I will miss how she embraces my quest for life, though I know she won't stop, and we will meet again if we're meant to. I will miss how she loved to do the same things as me, and how we did them together and made everything so much fun, and such an opportunity. She is one of the best things that happened to be this year, but I know she will be on to such amazing things in the future.

Tomorrow starts a busy week, and then I'm off to Michigan to skate on Wednesday! Lot's of fun things to write abut coming up, I hope everyone has been doing well :)
Quote for thought of the day, from the movie (from the hero's mother to the hero):
"Sometimes courage skips a generation, but I'm glad you brought it back into the family"

Let's not let any virtuous qualities skip a generations! Of if they have not yet started, plant the seeds.

Goodnight Moon- I'm so glad "Help" has such dynamic meaning these days, and no longer refers to a group of people. Thank you.
xoxox

The Steele family Saga: Part 1

Sorry I have been out of touch for the last week and a half... coming home for me means going non -stop all day and getting 5 and 6 hours of sleep each night, until I make it successfully to Ohio for the Synchronized Skating Training Festival 2011. Whew!

I love this picture because of Margret's face, I love her so much :)

For those of you who don't know, I am on the Western Michigan University Synchronized Skating Team, a sport that I am competitive in as a part of my college experience. It is something that has found me and become a huge part of who I am. I'm sure I will blog about it much later when we are traveling around the country, but it's just some context for now. The festival I am at is for any skater who wants to train with the top coaches from Team USA for a weekend, and it is one of the most educational times of my life! I just love it. This is my third year going.

We recently took our annual trip up to the Adirondack Mountains and I knocked off another high peak on my list of way to becoming a 46er (hiking the 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks, all over 3800 feet). Seymour mountain took my Dad, Lily and I 16 miles and nearly 7 hours to climb, but it was so worth it.

While up, we began telling old stories, and I would like to share one that is particularly pertinent to my childhood, and as they occur to me, will continue to share them in different "parts" of the Steele Family saga. (It's not really a saga, I just chose that word for alliteration...)

Once upon a time, there were two parents and they had three little girls, Charlotte, Lily and Frances. They were fairly close in age, and all pretty young, maybe 5, 3 and 1 year old (Frances being in a high chair). Some of the scariest times of their childhood took place around the dinner table. Dinner was at approximately 5:00 each evening. The girl's mother would not let them drink cows milk when they were younger because of the added hormones. So Charlotte drank rice milk, Lily drank Soy milk, and Frances drank goats milk. This little particularity captures the Steele girl's eating habits perfectly. However, because they were not getting the calcium they needed from "cows milk" their mom made them eat dark leafy greens" (spinach and chard to make up for it). But you can't exactly put these veggies on a 3 year old's plate and expect her to eat them, so she would puree them into this weird green pudding in the food processor and mix them with applesauce... supposedly this made it taste better. So, each night with dinner, the girls would get their very own bowl of pureed vegetables and would have to eat the WHOLE THING. No excuses. Now, easily defeated, logically minded mothers would motivate their children to eat their pureed vegetables with some kind of reward like dessert or money or something. (actually easily defeated, logically minded mothers wouldn't feed their kids pureed vegetables in he first place...) But this brilliant, ever determined mother would do no such thing to outweigh the value of the delicious side dish she required her children to eat. So, in order to persuade her unconvinced toddlers, she would become "witchy witch".
"hehehehehehe...." she would say, in her witchy witch voice, hand mangled around the spoon with a big bite of green applesauce spilling off of it, "My name is witchy witch and I'm here to make sure you eat your pureed vegetables" between the mangles hand, her protruding retainer neglected teeth, high cackling voice,  and the occasional witch hat with blue hair that she would put on for effect, our mouths would drop robotically and gobble down the vegetables, but they were NASTY. I mean, easily gagged upon, but they just wanted it to be over they would gobble them down anyways. Now, just for a moment, imagine that you were a gusher-feeding mother, walking in on this scene. I don't know about you, but I might call diphus. I would be a little freaked out by the hovering mother, cackling in her kids faces to get them to open their mouths to shovel in applesauce flavored spinach.

That's all for now, folks, more stories to come, sorry for the rushed-ness, but we have full days here in Ohio... I have learned so much today and met so many great skaters. I can't wait to bring what I am learning back to my team. Thanks for reading!

Goodnight moon, please give any other veggie-feeding mother witches into a bit more sanity!
xoxo

How to Successfully Poach an Egg!

Something that by nature seems so intimidating and scary, is actually quite simple. I'm finding that with most things these days. I seem to be under the impression that I have to "learn how" to do things that I could easily to by following simple instructions, or instinct for that matter.
The scariness of poaching eggs made me feel like Julie Powell, from Julie and Julia... but hey, that's one of the most followed blogs in history, so maybe this post will get me off the ground!


So I can't take entire credit for this feat because it is really the detailed description and photos of this person's encounters with poached eggs that allowed me to be successful, so I'm just going to add in my commentary and maybe make a "how to" video at some point. The bottom line is, if you are someone who shys away from this because you don't feel capable, YOU ARE! and you should try this because it is one one of the fastest cooking and most delicious breakfast delicacies.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/how-to-poach-an-egg-smitten-kitchen-style/

^ This is the person with real skill...their directions were so succinct and specific. So, based off of their expertise, this is how you poach an egg:

1) Fill a medium sized pot with 3-4 inches of water. It's not bad to have it full, because then the egg has more room to float around, and won't get suck to the bottom of the pot as much.

2) Bring the water almost to a boil, the point where there are bubbles shooting up, and even some are bubbling over. The other instructions say to bring the water to just before a boil when the bubbles are stationary on the bottom of the pot, but I found that this wasn't quit warm enough because then you then mix the water, some of the heat escapes, and it brings it back down again, so I would keep the water at just boiling. Of course, if the water is hotter the egg with cook faster, and cooler it will cook slower, and I thought I would prefer the egg to cook slower, but then it fills with more water and there are more opportunities for it to fall apart. So, if you're comfortable, hotter is better.

3) While the water is boiling, crack a preferably farm fresh ;) egg into a small bowl with slippery sides. This will ease the process of dropping the egg into the water rather than having to crack it on the spot, which is the stressful part.

4) Hold the small bowl with the egg in it in your left hand and begin stirring the summering water (again, just barely active) with your right hand (or the opposite if you're left handed) using a spatula. Mix at a medium speed in a uniform circle to being a whirlpool in the middle of the pot. The mixing should be fast enough so that when you remove the spatula, the water continues to whirl. Do this, and then slip the egg into the center of the whirlpool so that the water naturally begins to wrap the whites around the yolk.

5) This was one of the most important parts for me: DO NOT PANIC AT THIS POINT. The egg might look like a whispy mess of floating foam, but it will reform! While the egg is in the water, gently nudge the sides with a rubber spatula or spoon, and let the egg take care of itself. They're not all going to look the same, and they're not all going to be perfectly wrapped, but if you keep your composure and be calm about it, it will naturally poach.

6) After non chalantly pushing the egg for 3-4 minutes, you will notice that the egg is congregating around the yolk. You will also notice that some of the egg white is floating around in the water: this is non reclaimable egg, and at this point it is better not to try to round it up with the rest. Using a spoon with holes in it. remove the egg and poke it... it should be firm but give a little bit in the center, and if you like your yolks hard, leave it for longer because in that case you really can't overcook it.

7) Once the egg seems cooks sufficiently, serve with salt and pepper, or on a piece of toast! Enjoy the soft oozing of the yolk s you cut into it, and let it melt in your mouth. If you are making many to serve later, lower them into warm water for a moment just before serving to warm them again. You can also re use the same pot of water for many eggs over. Once finished with the first egg, wait for the water to come to a simmer again as you will have released a lot of heat while pushing the egg around.

Some important things to remember: the first poach egg will be like the first pancake on a newly hot griddle... trying to find its niche in a warming space, and probably not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen as a result. Don't be discouraged! The second egg is often much easier as the water has now found unity with its cooking candidate, and is much more cooperative. Give yourself a few eggs to get used to it. Remember: anyone of anyone can do this! Give it a try! It's a quick, delicious, and oil-less way to egg up your life.

No goodnight for now because it's bright and early in  Galen and Zekiah's world! I woke up this morning to a nice rendition of "It's 6:30 and it's time to wake up!" Over and over again :) love them.
With that, oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, waffles are cooking for breakfast it's gonna be a great day!

A Meeting of Friends

I've just finished remodeling my blog, hopefully it will be easier to read now. This new design is per recommendation of the Rick, the blogger who inspired me. He is an accomplished writer, community member, global humanitarian, father, husband, and just human being in general. His latest post is an elaboration of his thought which he shared out loud today during our Quaker meeting.

So yes... I went to my first Quaker meeting! And what a meeting it was. It exceeded my expectations, and evaporated the presumptions I was realizing I had. No Quaker Oats man greeted us at the door, no hard wooden benches that make your bottom go numb, no Salem Witch Trials happening in the next field over, (yes, I know that the trials were an issue of the Puritans, not sure how this happened in my head...) and no black top hats and shoes with buckles on them! Quite the contrary, actually, a nice old, very normally dressed woman greeted us at the door, and lead us into a very cozy, living room style circle of chairs and couches (yes couches- part of the reason why I began nodding off- keep reading), where other very normal and actually quite lovely people greeted us and made small talk, and after a moment, the room was in silence- staying that way for one hour. All eyes closed, all spirits and hearts open and communicating.

After doing some reading last night, and talking to Sarah and Rick, this is what I have come to know and admire about Quakerism. Every person at the meeting has his or her own agenda and own relationship with the "God" or "Divine Spirit" (I don't quite know who mine is yet- of course for most quakers this is "God") they are worshipping. In such a meeting, God is revealed inwardly and channeled through what the person may be asking for/praying about/thinking about at that time, relying on this spirit for guidance and power based on where they are in their life at that time. There is no preaching, reading, singing, standing or kneeling, only meditating and communicating inwardly. Then, if someone is feeling passionately, and like they have come up with something insightful to share, (as Rick did), they might say it out loud, but expect no response from the rest of the Friends, as they do with the thought what they may, and either use it to guide their thoughts or decide it isn't worth pondering. Rick's insight about the weather raised many different questions about society and re-triggored all of the many things that I have been thinking about lately in terms of what we really need to live a quality life and make us happy. I highly recommend that you read his post.

The Quakers are a Religious Society of Friends. They live simply, but not under law, do not discriminate, believe in non-violence, are open minded to new values, beliefs and opinions, and value truth as it exists in terms of personal morals. The Quakers strive to find the good in everyone, and wholeheartedly believe that it is there.

This is the sect of religion that feels the best to me thus far, it feels the most forgiving, but has the guidance which I already use for myself. When I want a mold to curl up into, or a chameleon skin to put on, it seems like a good candidate, so I had high expectations for the meeting. I thought I would use the time to mull everything over that had been cooking in my head, and follow a suggested agenda in one of the pamphlets I had read the night before: thank God, enjoy his presence, hold up other people or situations for God to ponder, and then listen: but it proved to be harder than I thought.

Like I said before, I was sitting on a cushy, cushy couch. That was mistake number one. Everyone's eyes began to close at the start of the meeting: 10:31. I started out with lots of things to think about... I was being thankful, I was looking to the past, the future... and the coolest thing was probably that I could feel a strong spiritual presence not only with the people around me but with the spirit or God that had entered the room, I knew someone was listening. I did a good share of talking, letting my stream of consciousness guide me. Then, I tried to listen. After a few moments I couldn't hear anything, so I peeked through the teeniest hole possible in my eyelids, at my watch: 10:52. Immediately I scolded myself and decided I wouldn't do it again for the rest of the meeting, but slumped my shoulders at the thought of 40 more minutes of listening. Eventually I began doing that thing you see old women do where I was starting to doze in an upright position, and my head would fall back until I snapped it back up. I tried to stay awake, but my eyes were closed... I felt a bit option-less. Finally I gave into resting my head on the back of the couch, and I was gone- a little morning doze. I awoke to Rick's insightful comment, and resented the fact that I had not thought about such intellectual ponderings and had wasted 40 valuable minutes. Ah well, goal for the next meeting: be a better listener!

We finished the day berry picking... those delightful things hat I told you about before, thimbleberries, have now made their way into 3 jars of tastebud-melting jam. Tell me you're not jealous. If I could bring one thing to a dessert island with me it would be thimbleberries. The jam is multifaceted... I couldn't stop licking our cooking equipment, and Sarah suggested that I replace my pint of Ben and Jerry's with it on lonely nights. hey, if you need your fruit serving... I totally would.

Better than butter!

Good Night Moon... please grow me some thimbleberries in New Jersey?

xoxox

Thimbleberries

Sounds like a fairy tale right? Well every day I'm seeing that fairy tales aren't just fantasy. Thimbleberries are my new favorite fruit... we ate them today along the railroad tracks coming home from the swimming hole. They look exactly like raspberries and literally melt upon contact with humans, meaning consumption and even picking them. They taste like pie. Like everything that a raspberry is in pie filling with butter and sugar, only all by itself. It's heaven.

I also had one of those meals that there are no words for, only smiles, today. It was our "mid-day" meal on the farm, and we had been putting heavy beams up on the roof of the addition to the cabin all morning, and Chad (the handy builder man) was over helping, so Sarah cooked a beyond extraordinary meal for us.
It started with bread, which I just copied down the recipe for. This bread is like nothing you have ever tasted before... it is like flatbread but so chewy and warm, and dressed with olive oil, herbs, and lemon and garlic powder. It's hypnotizing.
She then had homemade pasta with scape pesto and parmesan cheese which was to die for. I would have eaten like 4 platefuls if I could have. Love was just emanating from everything, and it felt so warm and cozy to eat it, my belly was to grateful at the end. This is the kind of food that gives us warmth and life, and I intend to make it for people! (note: the only other meal I could think of that rivaled this one was a Mitnick meal of that marinated steak... OH MY GOSH)

I definitely worked my arm muscles today, hoisting massively heavy beams onto the roof with Rick and Chad, but also learned that anything building-related is possible, it doesn't even matter how big or strong you are. Leverage makes anything possible. Thanks Chad (great guy-- kept saying "Beautiful" with each hoist of the beams, and "eh?" after every other sentence)!

I had a nearly internet free day... slowly weening off... going to go reply to some emails now...
wahhhh

Good night moon, take good care of Rick's roof tonight!
xoxox

Dirty Digging, and Dancing

The rest of the day was absolute bliss, starting with planting in the rain, getting all muddy and then sitting in the hot tub to watch the rest of the storm. Ah! why don't I relax more again? I then had to FORCE myself to go on a run (my first one in a month!) which I hate, hate, hate to do, and couldn't have been happier when I passed a park ranger who told me I had to stop IMMEDIATELY because there had been a mountain lion sighting in the area! I didn't see it, but sure was glad to have the excuse to walk :/

I came back to do some 8 minute abs, and took a long hot bath, a nap, and then couldn't resist the warmth of the decomposing grass pile (I just love that thing)! so went out for another load. On my way over the fence, I stopped at the top of the ladder and just gazed out at the incredible scenery for about 45 minutes.

Came into the house to meet the adorable boys I have heard so much about, and finished the day with a bowl of buttery popcorn in front of Dirty Dancing with Sarah and Rick... my new favorite movie... I am getting so cultured here!

Love it :)

Goodnight Moon, please bring me more baths, ladders in meadows, mountain lions, and must-see movies?

xoxox

The Pecking Order

Lesson of the morning: if I am ever homeless in the winter time (or through any cold weather for that matter) I will seek warmth in a pile of decomposing mown grass> all other potentially homeless people, take note!
Loading the grass into a wheelbarrow to put on the garden beds, I nearly burned myself! The grass was warm, fluffy and smelled like a flowery meadow. It was all I could do not to dive into the into the middle and just sit there with grass up to my neck, waiting for someone to notice my absence and come feed me.

Today I am sooo hung over from my crazy night last night. ugh... I just hate that. (just kidding...) Rick and Sarah have gone to get Galen and Zekiah from Victoria and I have the day to myself on the farm. There are lots of things I would like to do, but I started with the chickens because they were in need of food, water, egg collecting, and well, just some talking to.
I'm a little permanently freaked out because I definitely saw the dark side of these violently pecking buggers (one of Sarah's favorite words) today. First of all, we moved eight new chickens into the bigger coop with the other chickens last night, and when I opened the door this morning was the first time that they saw their new roommates in the daylight. It wasn't pretty. It took about 5 minutes to coax the outsider from their roost in the corner, they were so scared to plunge into the new society. Once they finally emerged and were being semi-social, the rooster who isn't used to having them began chicken bullying them: chasing them around and pecking at them, which he has continued to do all morning. Apparently there's not much I can do.

Meanwhile, I let those guys make friends, and went in to feed the little chicks, who appeared to be very hungry as there are many of them, and only one little feeder for them all. So that they would calm down while I filled the feeder, I sprinkled a small pile of feed into the middle of the box as an appetizer. This was a horrible mistake, and when I pulled back the curtain to replace the filled feeder, there was the outline of a chick who had been trampled into the ground by his siblings, his feathers matted and damp, clearly having kicked the bucket (figuratively).

I can't get that image out of my mind!!!! I need happiness!! ahhhhhh

It's about mid-day now and I'm off to the garden to do some more planting/weeding.

Monks in Mayhem and Muff Diving

When your hands smell like Lemon Balm and garlic, you know it has been a good day... and especially a good birthday.

Opening up my computer to over 200 wall posts makes me feel warm and fuzzy!!! I feel so loved! Thanks everyone!
The beer I just had at the pub in Duncan (legally... might I add...) is icing on the cake. **thanks Sarah and Rick! I could not have celebrated more appropriately! We had sushi and then went to the pub, and then came home to perform a 19th birthday canadian tradition known as Muff (women's pubic hair) Diving. It involves a plate of whipped cream with liquor in the middle and no hands... enough said. I'm glad I could be exposed to this respectable aspect of Canadian culture :p

When we came back we moved the big chickens that were in with the chicks over to a different coop so the chicks could spread out. It felt kind of like smuggling, but we needed to do it in the dark so that they wouldn't freak out and start pecking each other. Funnily enough in the morning when they find new friends they'll just assume they had been there all along.

Something I have never realized is how much fun it would be to share my birthday with someone, and today I did. Sarah and I were both born on July 12th, and what a July 12th it was. Starting with a massive strawberry shortcake for breakfast (thanks Rick) we were referenced to as the "birthday girls" for the rest of the day. I spent most of today harvesting: fava beans, and peas both for chomping and shelling. I then tied lemon and mint (hence the DELICIOUS smelling hands). The only embarrassing part of the day was chasing Bella, the only white rooster in a full 360 around the chicken coop, freaking out that she will run away only to bump into Rick and realize that she is the only one that can fly, frequently spending her days outside!

The other thing that I appreciated about this birthday was community. The visitors and little gifts that Sarah received today were priceless, yet so, so meaningful. I feel so luck to have been able to share it with her, and have gained a lot of new perspective today about what a gift and a celebration really means.

I am so, so thankful for all of my friends, but I'm not allowing myself enough facebook time to go through and "like" every single post... in fact there will be no more facebook time for me for the rest of my trip, except to post the link to these blogs.

Other things:
Sarah's mantra is: I live my life with ease and I have abundant time and support to get through each day (or something like that). I am adopting it for myself :)
I haven't decided where I land on the scale of completely conscious living versus wasteful and passive living, but everything I'm learning here is contributing to my decision, so stay tuned.

Goals for age 19: to live my (Sarah's) mantra, to be in a relationship (with a great person of course, granted they come around), to be more carefree and upbeat, and to have faith that I am capable of doing everything I have signed up for, and then some.

Good night moon, please cast wide beams onto my 19 year old path :)
xoxox

Chicken Wings and Kamboocha

Thanks Rick, for the name idea, with special side note that maybe my post would come up for people who are googling chicken wing recipes :p

Chicken Wings gained new meaning for me today, meaning clipping chicken wings, of live chickens. This seemed like a torturous task at first, but grabbing and then clipping the chickens (with garden sheers, I might add) wasn't even that mean, or that hard! I had some trouble at first being authoritative to the chickens and just grabbing them without being scared away by their flapping wings, but by chicken number 3 I had it down. We clipped the wings of the chickens so they can't fly over the top of their pen and get eaten by raccoons (one of which we are trying to catch and drown D: ) or other pesky animals because 28 have been eaten already! I also mucked out their coop today which was quite shitty... literally (maybe if I start swearing in my blogs I'll start doing it in real life?). I shoveled out all of the old, stinky newspaper and replaced it with fresh paper which was very satisfying after the back breaking work was over. It was hard because the coop is so small and the shovel was so long I would end up running the end of it into something or me and just making it hard to move.

There are a lot of kids here, which I love, and I can't wait for Galen and Zekiah (Sarah and Rick's kids) to get back from their trip. Rick and I had dinner alone tonight as Sarah was out with "the girls" celebrating her birthday, and we cooked up a delicious soup from some things that were laying around. After dinner came the Koombacha. Now, the only reason that this name sounded familiar to me was that my crazy mother drinks it. We had to make and steep the tea and then add it to the fermenting bacteria which is this large jelly-like disc called a scoby which makes the tea much more sour and bubbly. It's quite an interesting process, and though I really respect Koombacha as a beverage, I can't see myself drinking it more than every once in a while, but I have the recipe now!!

To finish off a great first day, Rick and I went in the hot tub and then jumped in the col shower and back in the hot tub again. I felt like a dessert: maybe a warm brownie with cold vanilla ice cream, and my skin was my tongue experiencing the two temperatures as they bounced off of one another.

Other info:
I am getting a zit on my chin.
I feel really guilty about not exercising today, but I just couldn't find the time... snoozing my alarm was the worst decision I could have made :(
Quaker is the religion that intrigues me the most right now... I am really excited about exploring it more
Second hand stores are the best!! I was to buy all of my dishes and kitchen supplies there when I'm older... I wish we had more in the states. Sarah bought some lamp shades today that she is going to cover, and a hideous needlepoint she is going to cut the fabric off of and make a chalk board out of a frame. She is also in the process of making a "family tree" shower curtain... she is so creative!

Also-- When we were in the city for the wedding, we went to see a former Smithsonian exhibit at the JP Morgan Library about Lists, and I have decided I am going to set up my life in lists because they capture important things, and summarize what is on your mind. I just love making lists! So, I would like to finish with my most recent list:
How to get to Wildside Farm on Bench rd. in Duncan, BC:
1) Wake up SUPER early (3:50 AM), necessarily early for a 6 am flight, but get to the airport and realize your flight doesn't leave until 7 (story of my life)
2) Struggle to get comfortable on the plane (because you absolutely need to sleep after only getting 4 hours last night) and finally give up, spending $3.00 on a paper thin blanket and a blow up pillow (yes, I was resting my head on a balloon)
3) Sleep most of the way and start Soul Surfer just as the plane is landing, but fast forward through the part where the shark bites her arm off (once in my life is enough to watch that part)
4) Get flustered at customs during the interrogation, even though I'm doing nothing wrong
5) Buy a bus ticket, eat a bagel from somewhere that starts with an H?
6) Board the bus to Victoria and listen to the entertaining family behind me (young couple and 2 year old son from Georgia)/play with the baby a little bit
7) Bus gets on ferry, wander around wishing you had people to talk to, try to sit outside before deciding it's too cold, complyingly look at the Killer Whales after an announcement is made on the loudspeaker and wonder why you're not more excited about it
8) Board the bus again and arrive at a teeny tiny station in Victoria
9) Book greyhound to Duncan (doesn't leave for 2 hours), ask the lady if you can store your bag, and when she says no defiantly drag it around Victoria
10) Buy and eat Chocolate Covered Marshmallows, a dark chocolate Mogul (caramel/almond/chocolate cluster) and 2 scoops of gelato on a cone
11) Take pictures of random scenery, contemplate taking selfies but feel dumb
12) Drag suitcase back to the bus station and ride to Duncan
13) Wait around at the bus station, but are finally greeted by two of the most warm people you have ever met
14) On the ride home find out you and Sarah share the same birthday, and have Rick offer to take you to the bar since you will be legal ;)
15) Arrive at Paradise

Sarah just came in and gave me a birthday hug after her night out... it is nearly 3 AM in NJ after all. She said her friends all made wishes for her, and even though she is turning 42 they said they hope this is only half way through their friendship together. I know they will be friends until 84, she is everything wonderful. I hope I have friends like that.

With that, as my good friend and mentor at Lake Placid Synchro camp would say: Good Night Moon, and Cailin, if it's ok with you I would like to sign my blog this way...

Good Night Moon-- it's a wonderful life :)
xoxox

Last day to be 18

I guess this is appropriate, to be starting my blog on "my last day to be 18" as my mother so lovingly reminded me on the phone yesterday... but somehow I never get nostalgic over these things.

So welcome to my blog. Bienvenidos, glad you could make it, I hope you find it entertaining/insightful or worthwhile. The name, Pomegranates and Passersby is one that very few people understand, but one that will always be with me and part of my identity as the name of my Kalamazoo College radio station this winter. I had my own station, and I think now I have my own blog, because there's too much in my head and I need to get it out there. I feel better already! Pomegranates and Passersby represents the unexpected nuances of life that could make your day or week... silly things that make you happy (Pomegranates), and the incredible people that make up this world, so many that we will never get to meet, but how we are a collage of everyone that is important to us, with our own hearts and souls at the core of course (Passersby). The two works together just mean: anything and everything in this crazy mind of mine. It just moves too fast.

This was also supposed to be my week without phone or internet, but that's so hard to manage these days. I am staying on Wildside Farm for 10 days on the Vancouver Island, with Sarah and Rick Juliusson and their two sons. I had this romantic fantasy that I would be able to pack up all of my electronic devices and retreat into solitude from my contact with the outside world, but alas: my ethernet cord plugged in next to my bedside table has mysteriously found my computer, and I have checked both email and facebook twice on under 24 hours (gasp). I am unsure how I will regulate this for myself now that I have set up such an important connection with the outside world (you, through this blog).

Basically I have come to terms with a few things... that it is very possible to live simply (homestead, as Sarah and Rick have done), and include internet in that life. I can totally wipe my butt with cloth wipes and update my facebook status in the same day. It really works. It's the obsession and anxiety I have created over myself in terms of the amount that I rely on electronic devices that I am trying to break. I am really struggling with that!

So yes, today is my last day to be 18... and what a year it has been. In a way I have entered a really strange, scary, questioning place in my life, one that definitely came from going away to school and just trying to figure out who I am, but I'm hoping that by turning 19 I can become more comfortable with myself and settle into my identity... except that there are so so many things still cooking in my head that I don't know how I feel about! So, so many things. But they are coming clear to me, slowly but surely, and one of them has today and yesterday.

I have witnessed true love, and true love in a marriage an family... true love that I want to emulate. Until now I have had no faith in marriage, and thought that one simple label could really ruin everything that two people have together. It's not necessarily the fighting and the conflict that causes this to happen, but just the distance that people tend to create with one another through marriage and family, and their inability to retain the initial excitement and inseparability that comes with the climax of love (or movie love at least). I know that every couple had that: that time when they were absolutely obsessed with one another, but I don't know very many couples that have kept it through the house-buying and baby-making, through the carpools and financial troubles, but Sarah and Rick are still "madly in love" and they're right at the peak of their family, and when I'm in a serious and possible married relationship, I want it to be like theirs. And you know why they are like this? It's because they see each other all of the time, and talk about almost everything, and know how they differ, and embrace it light heartedly or make fun of each other. The constantly embrace one another, or tap each other on the nose lovingly, to maintain their fascination or appreciation that they have for each other, and I know it will never go away. So: good news, I know it is out there, it just needs the right lifestyle and effort and mix of personalities to achieve it, but how do I get there?

Today, Rick made me aware of my punctuation use, especially exclamation points, because he READS THEM AS THOUGH I'M TALKING LIKE THIS!!!!! So here is a quick summary of my text-talk:
I want to go to the beach. (neutral, and a little regretful, but just solemn and normal)
I want to go to the beach! (just with a little more excitement and optimism... nothing too overwhelming)
I want to go to the beach!! (kind of more like a "pick me, pick me!" kind of approach)
I WANT TO GO TO THE BEACH!!!! (so so excited, like I really, really want to go)

I don't really know if that was necessary, but here's to a great day 1 of blogging, and being at Wildside Farm, and a great day 365 of being 18.

xoxox