Bind & CrEATe

Today is my 27th birthday. Last night, I honored myself by making black-bottom cupcakes. It took me 27 years, but I finally baked cupcakes from scratch.

In honor of being only three years shy of 30, I’ve put together a list of 27 things you may not know about me. Birthdays are the perfect excuse to remember the past and be self-absorbed for a minute. Don’t you think?

27 Things

1. I never eat cake batter while baking. But last night, I did.
2. When I was barely two years old, I drove a car for the first time. I put the gear shifter into reverse from my car seat.
3. For the past several months, I’ve had no desire for fruit.
4. When I was young, my friend Becky and I used to perform radio shows. Tiffany always topped the charts.
5. I got a tattoo during Spring Break 2005 in Alabama.

6. My first name isn’t Rose.
7. I didn’t really take an art class until graduate school.
8. I’ve never had a manicure, pedicure or massage.
9. I am terrified of open closet doors. When I was a kid, I would make my father double check for robbers, ghosts or spirits every night before I fell asleep.
10. I was 15 when I had my first kiss. It was near a bridge.
11. I chew ice obsessively. Sometimes, I worry about it. Mostly my teeth.
12. I rarely change my bedsheets. I’m really aiming to change that (just bought new ones!)
13. I hate showering. I do it every day, but I don’t enjoy it like most people. I just want to be ready already.
14. I got straight D’s in Geometry.
15. I’ve never taken a sick day at my current job.

16. I hate summer clothing. Therefore, I really don’t like summer.
17. I studied at Cambridge University in England for a summer. It was not hot there, and I liked it.
18. I drink exactly 12 ounces of coffee every morning, usually iced.
19. Sometimes I don’t like running at all. Sometimes, it’s all I feel like doing. Either way, I still think I’m a runner.
20. I was voted “Most Respected” in the Senior Superlatives in high school. Ha.
21. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.
22. Once in a while, I wonder why I got a cat. Then Scone looks curious and cute and rubs up against my leg, and I remember.
23. I worry too much about what people think of me.
24. I cheated my way through Math 101 online in undergrad.
25. I listen to this station in the car, KISS FM (96.1). It’s so terrible. It’s the worst music that could be playing, and I tap my feet to it.
26. My first concert was Kenny Chesney, for free, in a field somewhere in western Pennsylvania.
27. I’ve felt like I was 27 since April. I always round up.

Happy Birthday, to me.

When I need mind clearing, I attend yoga sessions at BYS Yoga. There is an instructor there that always seems to make me feel at ease, even when I’m tightened up in knots. Sometimes, she will teach workshops at other locations. On Sunday, she held a mantra workshop down at School House Yoga in the Strip District, and I attended.

This workshop in particular was for anyone who was looking to get “unstuck.” The instructor found an appropriate mantra (Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha), and the classroom was full of positive-looking people. The energy there felt soothing. I found a spot in the corner, the mantra was explained, and then we progressed to do a series of light yoga moves. We then wrote down our intention of some obstacles we wanted to remove.

For a while, I’ve been thinking about how I want to better embrace my own passions, so that is what I jotted down. I know what I like to do, but so often I squander time doing things that don’t bring me value (i.e. my obstacles). I spend time stressing and worrying. I watch too much TV occasionally. I forget I have a beautiful backyard where I can sit. I’ve also seemed to “lose” that part of me that likes to truly experiment in the kitchen.

We chanted the italicized phrase above for 30 minutes. This is a long amount of time. Recently recovering from a cold, I found my throat dry and my nose congested at different points – but I stuck with it. Eventually, I laid down and took in the noise from others around me. Suddenly, all I could think about was food. Carrots, cabbage and lettuce in particular.

I was amazed at the amount of time I spent during workshop thinking about food. I know that it was more than just being hungry. I think it was my body’s way of telling me 1) it needs better nutrients and 2) I need to embrace my healthy-living and cooking in a more fully because it brings me joy.

When I once complained about how things are “different now,” someone told me to examine my past life and look at what’s missing. I wouldn’t say that the good food is missing. I wouldn’t say that the exercise is gone. I would say that my passion for the things that used to bring me joy has dwindled, and I’m not quite sure why. Maybe it’s because I’ve become more of a social animal and spend less time educating myself. I’m not sure.

Last night’s soup was a big step in the right direction. I followed my heart and created something wonderful. I just hope I can continue to remember what’s important to me and follow my heart in terms of what I want to be doing.

It feels like Fall. It’s not even September yet, and I feel like wearing a sweater. It’s already getting darker earlier, and I just can’t wait for Fall foodage to take effect. I’ll take the foliage too, when it comes.

I saw this soup on Jenna’s blog days ago and fell in love with the burst of orange. I’ve never made a soup like this before in my life. I was inspired by the recent small carrots poking their heads out of the ground in the backyard garden. Although no carrots made the dish (they were reserved for chicken soup for the ill, i.e. me – last week), this still turned out to be supreme.

Every single time I make a new soup, I wonder why I ever bought soup in a can. I wonder how I survived those years of preservatives and that awful tin taste that sometimes leaves its mark on our goodies. This took no more than 30 minutes (as Jenna promised) and resulted in something beautiful for my belly.

Yesterday, I took a mantra workshop where we focused on getting “unstuck.” While chanting, I daydreamed of carrots, cabbage and lettuce. I’m so thankful I took that reverie of orange to the pot and gave this dish a chance. It’s one tasty delight. Thanks, Jenna.

More on the mantra workshop soon. Fall is the season of change, and I am feeling it. I hope you are too.

I’m almost ashamed to write this post. At first thought, it doesn’t seem to make sense to write a post about a food you’ve created but never eaten. But maybe that’s the point of cooking. Sometimes we really, really win. And sometimes, we just really lose.

Cat and I had a ton of zucchini and yellow squash from the garden. It was truly on its last legs. Neither one of us could imagine wasting such delicacies, so we decided to make this ridiculously easy casserole. Sliced zucchini and squash, a bit of salt and pepper, chicken broth and cheese on top. We thought this would be a winning dinner for us to eat throughout the week.

I am so ashamed to admit that I threw this directly into the garbage last night. For whatever reason, we left this dish completely untouched in the refrigerator. From my end, I actually don’t like zucchini and squash that much (unless they are in something else). I think the recipe was also so easy and simple that it was no longer appealing to either one of us.

Lessons Learned:

• Don’t make something for which you really have no desire.
• Make things hard on yourself. Sometimes the easy recipe has no appeal whatsoever. I’d say it’s better to put the time and energy into something you know will be delicious.
• Don’t assume that allrecipes.com has all of the answers.

This summer I think I became so sick of tomatoes that I actually started liking them. For years these little buggers would cause me nothing but stomach aches and acid reflux. Now that I know how to control my insides a little better, I’ve almost taken a liking to tomatoes. I’m not going to start eating them in slices like my mother would (love you, mom) but I can tolerate them in sauces, on pizzas and in salads.

The roommate’s dad helped her plant her garden. She thinks he may have confused her with her sister, who adores tomatoes. Neither Cat nor I are in love with them, but we sure do like making our own use of them. On Sunday morning, I walked out to the garden, picked everything I saw that was red and threw it all into a pot.

Honestly, I still don’t know how to can. I don’t have one of those fancy canning pots like my grandmother, but I think this will work just fine. The recipe is simple and basic, and I can’t wait to toss this on some noodles and call it dinner.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 lbs of tomatoes, your choice
• 1/4 c. red wine
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• fresh basil
• fresh oregano
• salt
• pepper

Directions

• Slice your tomatoes.
• Place into a food processor.
• Add to pot.
• Add all the other ingredients.
• Slow cook it until it tastes mighty fine.

It’s easy and most importantly – delicious. Also, a pinch of sugar was suggested by a friend. I didn’t do that, but have it, my friends.