I'll Write What I Want

Prologue: Am nesting in our new apartment a block away from school (two blocks from the water!) to get some work done. Thought I didn't have internet last night, because I don't, but this morning discovered a generous linksys user with faster internet than the kind I pay for at home! I'll be riding this wave for a looong time. And there goes a sailboat (on the real water).

And now, the main event: The time has come for me to write the 15 page paper associated with this little class I've created, and I now have a complete understanding for where the term "crunch time" had it's origin. But after talking with my teacher, Chelle, on Monday about my struggles and the war that rages in myself between head and heart, as well as hitting a handful of roadblocks while trying to write with a more practical traditional slant, I've reoriented myself. Here is my formula:

I'm going to write from here:

A place of comfort.
photo from here

And write about this:

Pure loveliness and delight.
photo from here

And feel like this while doing it:

So good and utterly satisfying.
photo from here

Quite the rigid formula, I know. But I think it will do just the trick! After all this dreaming, may the struggle begin (I'll be referring back to this post for inspiration).

Definitely in Progress,

Lacy

Not So Everyday

Today I started moving things into our very first apartment--the first home of many (but hopefully not too many?) for the rest of our lives. That's big. That stuff doesn't happen everyday. And as I started to unpack the first of our wedding presents, it simply felt right. It's where I'll be finding my hope over these next few busy weeks (and where I'll be writing endless pages of papers too--how's that for a Christening?).

+

=

home.

In Progress,

Lacy

The Value of the Mindless Task

So I didn't blog on Sunday because I was Sabbathing, or at least attempting to Sabbath. And I didn't blog yesterday because my day was so busy that I only remembered after I had turned off the computer and the light. It seems like I'll have a lot of days coming up like that over the next few weeks. And when I say a lot, what I really mean is everyday. Today for instance, I was away for twelve hours, with only enough time for a shower before I crash on my bed. Reading would prove to be a worthless attempt, so I'm being kind to myself and not trying.

With all this busyness it's easy to think to myself "If I only had one moment." It seems all day I'm either going or my mind is. But today, as I was working in the bookstore, I realized that my day is sprinkled with moments--with breaks from going going going both physically and mentally--if only I pay attention to my present. As I was stocking candy and soda, angry that I was having to stock candy and soda and even more angry as my mind looked forward to the work that looms over the weeks ahead, I heard a voice in my head that made me pause "savor this mundane moment." This moment where you are where you're meant to be, doing what you're meant to be doing, and you don't have to think about a thing except for stack, stack, stacking the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups one by one by one. The realization was so freeing, and the task so routine.

Photo from here.

So I ask myself: at what times in my day do I participate in mundane tasks that I learn to see as a break? And even upon identifying those moments in my everyday, will I allow myself to stop--both in physical speed and in mental analyzations--and savor and remain in the present?

That is a great question, self.

In Progress,

Lacy

Signature Dish: Exhibit A

I had some friends growing up whose mother made the best chocolate chip cookies. They were so great that we always requested she make them for any get together we had, which in a small town means a lot of get togethers. I've always wanted to have something that people always wanted me to make for their get togethers as well: a signature dish, per say. I've been working really hard on my homemade pizza--from the dough to the sauce and beyond (many thanks to Jamie Oliver)--but for the lighter affair, I like to consider my signature dish homemade salsa, picante style.

Courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com

Now to give credit where credit is due, I originally got the amazing and simple salsa recipe from my friend from New Life Ranch, Teresa McKinney, but I eventually lost it (or rather, it fell between the refrigerator and the counter, never to be retrieved again). I remembered most of it, but went scouring on the internet to fill in the blanks. After all, this was one great find--it was delicious and made plenty for a party.

In sweeps the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, to the rescue. Her Restaurant Style Salsa recipe is practically the same, with amazing pictures to boot. I live out the jalapeño, because it's just not my fave, but I follow the rest to a "T"! So I do confess that it's more of a secondhand signature dish, but don't tell anyone.

However, I hereby give you permission to make it yours too. Here it is, straight from the Pioneer Woman, pictures and all:

Restaurant Style Salsa

thepioneerwoman.com

Ingredients

• 1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice
• 2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
• ¼ cups Chopped Onion
• 1 clove Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin
• ¼ teaspoons Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Cumin
• ½ cups Cilantro (more To Taste!)
• ½ whole Lime Juice

Preparation Instructions

Note: this is a very large batch. Recommend using a 12-cup food processor, or you can process the ingredients in batches and then mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like—I do about 10 to 15 pulses. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.

Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour. Serve with tortilla chips or cheese nachos.

_______________________________

Don't forget to leave some at home for you! I'll be eating mine everyday until it's gone.

In Progress,

Lacy

A Complete Delight

Just saw this film and am in awe:

Read about it here.

I've only ever seen one other Woody Allen film and can only claim to have read one of the authors that appears as the main character steps back in time, but being a sucker for nostalgia, I have a great plan to read more. Which is all a bit ironic, of course, because as the film sweeps you away to past golden ages, it brings you back to the reality of the present and the truth that hope is stagnant when placed in the past. Because the past has passed. But I still want to roam the streets of Paris at night, running into Hemingway or Picasso... and then my mind skips to Funny Face and Audrey's fascination with that French philosopher. Oh nostalgia (and European cities)... I can only count on dreams to take me there. And on that note, I bid you bonne nuit.

En plein, avancé,

Lacy

A Delicious Experiment: Pasta and Then Some...

Yesterday I was really wanting to have some pasta, yet the only kind I had was the spiral kind. And I had no pasta sauce, so that was out of the question. However, I had a few ideas up my sleeve. I once clipped a little recipe from Whole Living about pasta with raw garlic. I didn't bother to dig it out, but I think you basically tossed the pasta with some extra virgin olive oil and some raw garlic. I also just got Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook, My Father's Daughter, and recalled a recipe of similar fashion with a lot of parmesan cheese. I didn't technically look up the specifics of that one either, but I knew I had plenty of parmesan cheese, plenty of extra virgin olive oil, and most certainly plenty of garlic to use with my lonely spiral pasta.

Photo from here.

So! I began cooking it up. And then I thought, "Oh, no. I need to eat a vegetable. Ah, I'll toss it in!" My original choice was peas, as they are my go-to frozen vegetable, but apparently I used the last bit and didn't tell myself, because there were no peas to be found. My only option: asparagus. Now let me say, it was a great choice--very serendipitous to say the least. I cooked it a bit, snipped it up, and once the pasta was ready I tossed in the olive oil, the garlic, my splendid asparagus, and plenty of shredded parmesan cheese. Delightful. But! Something was missing. I could just feel it. So I reached into my cabinet and grabbed the crushed red pepper--and let me just say, I'm not necessarily a big fan, so this move was significant. Needless to say, voila! It was exactly the thing to finish off my little creation, in both taste and aesthetics.

Photo from here.

I know. You want to make this now too, right? So here's a recipe-ish. But don't forget, I made it up, so take all the liberties you need! (PS--sorry no photos. I dream about being Ree Drummond, but I am not yet organized enough nor do I have the energy to load them on my computer. Plus, it's all gone, so there's no hope in getting a picture anyway.)

Taken from here.

Pasta-that-is-yet-to-be-named 

(I've got to think of a good one--maybe Italian, and perhaps after a village)

some pasta - any pasta!

some garlic - maybe 2 cloves, or three

plenty of shredded parmesan cheese - i shredded to the rhythm of "Pomp and Circumstance" as I hummed along, and that's no lie. perhaps because it's graduation season? good try.

vegetable of choice - you could be wild and use vegetables of choice too. i know.

extra virgin olive oil - just enough to allow for an easy toss

crushed red pepper - a sprinkle or two. it's flavorful.

1. cook pasta and veggies separately

2. while those are cooking, mince garlic, shred cheese

3. when pasta and veggies are done, drain, return to pot, add a bit of evoo (as Rachel Ray would say) and toss with the cheese and garlic

4. now the cheese will probably melt, so for good measure, i like to add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to the top after the toss. don't forget to sprinkle the crushed red pepper too!

Voila! A creation. And dinner.

Bon appétit!

In Delicious Progress,

Lacy

On My Bookshelf: Sabbath

I'm going to start calling my book reviews "On My Bookshelf" because I'm really liking more specific categorizing as of late. So, on my bookshelf this weekend was Dan Allender's contribution to The Ancient Practices Series (I talked about the introductory book to the series here): Sabbath.

Buy it here.

Dan's book brought entirely new insight to my notions of what Sabbath was meant to be. I think growing up "remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" simply meant to me that I should go to church, which I did quite easily, so that wasn't really pressing. Over the past five years or so it's morphed into a day free of work, loosely based on inspiration from Lauren Winner's book Mudhouse Sabbath. The Sabbath Dan describes, however, is all based on one thing: delight.

The Sabbath "is meant to be an encounter with God's delight," Dan says, and continues: "The Sabbath is the kind of delight that leads to life" (p. 12). God didn't necessarily need rest on that 7th day. Rather, what he wanted was to delight in his creation--a perfect creation, at that. Dan adds that the Sabbath is a day where we pretend we are living in God's perfect creation--completely immersed in his kingdom come--and delight in it. It is a day when we set aside the things that kill and haunt us and fully embrace only the things that give us life--the things that are, consequently, holy and of God.

In reading this I was overwhelmed that one single day could be full of such hope--it felt like a gift that I was undeserving of. But Dan is sure to emphasize, too, that it is God's commandment that we celebrate the Sabbath. It is his gift to us and he commands that we receive it. I mean, if I have to.

Not that it's easy. It is definitely a spiritual discipline and a daily practice, especially when school beckons. And not just school--work, life, my mind... truthfully, that will be the hardest thing to set aside, because it's often my mind that's inviting the death into my life. Ooh, that's touchy. Aaanyway, Dan encouraged the practice of ritual Sabbaths durning the week--times that remind us of both what has passed and what is to come--so I am enlisting. I'm calling them bookend Sabbaths, because they will start my day and finish it. And sometimes they might involve books. But really, here's what I'm committing to: the first and last hour of my day will be times of Sabbath. They will be filled with delight, they will be filled with life, and they will taste so, so good.

In Progress,

Lacy