Moving On

"She made wings of love letters and cherry blossoms"
Amanda Blake

January is has come and now it has gone, not a good month for me, a difficult month really in many ways. But we shall not go there, moving on to brighter days, literally.
I have two new recipes that I want to share that I can't get enough of it seems.
The first is a dish called Nishimi, which in Japanese means long cooked with little water. It's super easy and super good for you and super tasty as well, win/win/win. I adapted the recipe in the book The Kind Diet by Alisha Silverstone..

Ingredients:

• 1 large diakon root
• 1 small Kombocha squash diced into roughly 1 inch pieces, you don't have to peel a kombocha.
• 1 large carrot
• a few leaves of kale cut up into smaller pieces, I use the darker and flatter dino kale in this dish.
  
• 1 piece of Kombu 1 inch in size (seaweed)

In a medium size pot, I use my enamel coated cast iron pot, layer your veggies starting with the diakon, then carrot then kombocha pieces. Throw in the kombu. Add about an inch of water. Less water the more sweet it will be.
Bring to a boil and then simmer covered for about 45 minutes or until everything is soft, add the kale close to the end, maybe 15 minutes before it's done. I also take the lid off for a few minutes at the end too. Stir together and any remaining water will turn into a nice gravy like mixture with the veggies. I add a little sea salt at this point. So good and deeply nourishing.

Lima Beans and Avocado Dip:

• 1 cup steamed lima beans
• 1 soft avocado
• a little garlic powder or fresh garlic
• dash of sea salt
• dash of lemon

Puree everything in a food processor for a moment and enjoy, this is simple but really yummy dip.

I love discovering new recipes, veggies and foods to enjoy that are healthful and satisfying. I've reduced and cut out most sources of sugar in my life in the last 4 weeks, well actually the cutting out part has been going on for a long time, I just stepped things up a bit here lately. It's an experiment really. I haven't had any chocolate in weeks. The only sugar I'm getting is fructose from some banana and berries in my morning smoothie and whatever is in my veggies. Can you say Sweet Potatoes! No refined or processed sugars including honey, maple syrup or agave. I want to see how this makes me feel, my energy, my stomach and digestion. I know that if I eat certain fruits my stomach hurts, a lot. So it's good, not particularly hard but not easy at times either when I hunk of dark chocolate seems like it would make everything better at least for a moment or two. I haven't really noticed any dramatic changes physically or mentally at this time though, but any changes may have been masked recently by some healing going on in my body. It is true though that replacing sugars with healthy fats curbs the cravings. Coconut seems to work for me. I do think that when riding season is truly here that I will need some form of simple sugars, fructose for energy while riding. Rice syrup may be my go to sweetener in the future for my home made power bars, it's a slow burner. And in the riding side of things my bike got some serious love lately too. Some new parts to make her run including a new 32 Fox Float, she's so pretty and plush.

Winter Abstract

Light on snow

Cobbles

Reflections...

of stars..

Everywhere

snow seat

Chipping away

Bits of spring hiding in winter

Rusting away..

Lately Faces & Places

Christmas Eve Sunrise facing North

Ringo!

We received almost two feet of fresh snow on the Winter Solstice. Awesome!

Our little Christmas tree. We topped a tree on our property as usual.
The fabric tree skirt is an old seasonal tablecloth from my Grandmother and the winter village was a gift from my Mom years ago.

Oh, in early December we visited my Sister and her family in Virginia. These cute little goats were at a nearby farm. So adorable.

Miss Amelia.

We found our way to Harper's Ferry West Virginia too. I love history, especially living history.

My sister in the middle, Amelia in the stroller and myself.

Getting ready for the Christmas parade which Aaron was in, he's getting so big these days.
I hope your holidays were kind and restful.

Simply Being

Timekeeper by Betsy Walton

4 Weeks, just a little over, since the accident. But who's keeping track, right.
Life moves on as it does. I'm healing quickly in some ways and slower in others. I can ride my bike, which is now involuntarily a single speed for the time being due to the accident. I can't run, I tried the other day and had to stop mid way through. Too much pain, discomfort in my abductors/groin and abs. But being able to ride my bike well enough to get out, especially since my accident was on the bike, is a ironic twist of joy. I need work, my bike needs work, I'm working on both of those. I stretch every single morning for 15 minutes now, it is firmly a habit at this point and a good one that took me too long to do.
The shift away from situation normal has been good though, the pin point clarity of what is and is not really that important has been recognized, you always have this abstract idea of that anyway (one would hope) but it is driven deep into your being when something happens, something changes your reality. I feel it's healthy to push yourself but it's also healthy to know when to not push yourself, to step back, set a limit and to come prepared to a gun fight so to speak. Now I am going forward, life goes forward and I am very good with that.
On a side, I've discovered a new favorite dish lately to make in place of a grain such a rice. It's naturally GF, DF and full of fiber, Cauliflower Rice.
In a nutshell you roughly chop up some cauliflower and place in food processor to dice up into small rice like texture, just pulse for a minute. Place in a pan with ghee or butter and saute with mushrooms, leeks, greens and some sea salt, you could add a protein too. Oh so good and savory and simple.
Simply Being.

Murmuration

This is absolutely magical and overwhelming, there is so much beauty and playfulness in life.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Zingy

"You are the sky..everything else is just the weather"

Pema Chodron

Healing, heealinngg, heeeaaaalllllinnng.
Slow and steady. Head is good, stitches out, back and hip not good, not good at all, grindy, zingy, sharp pain, pain. Rehab has started, super focused, ice, heat, stretching, walking a bit, PT tomorrow. I will get there, slow and steady. Stretching for that balance in my body again.

Alley's

Spent some time on tour recently around Colorado, small towns, riding, exploring, resting outside under the autumn sky. Here are some alley shots and some smaller parts of greater wholes.

This tour started out great and ended on the rough side. I hurt myself good testing out gravity a bit and yes it's still a fickle bed mate. More on that later perhaps. Still wondering and evaluating and licking my wounds. You know how cats are when they hurt, you find them under a bed or in the closet somewhere waiting for better days.