ADVENTURE

The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure "
— Joseph Campbell

Five days into my January Juice Adventure.  Several things I imagined would be challenging aren't at all.  Like not having a lovely glass of wine with dinner. I actually don't miss it a bit, but I guess that makes sense because you're drinking dinner anyway.  Several things that I didn't imagine would be difficult are.  Like remembering and actually being hungry enough to drink four quarts of juice a day.  Interesting.   Some of this process is second nature to me because I prepare juice blend cleanses several times a month for clients and already consume about a quart of green juice daily most days.  Yet just five days in and even I am astonished at how at ease I feel not only with the process, but most importantly in my own skin again. It reminds me how much we can anesthetize ourselves in so many small (and not so small) ways each day.  Just consuming juice for one's nourishment takes away everything that you can hide behind.  Very Clarifying.

So far I've been following through on my intention to practice each morning and suddenly what I came to feel was so daunting; waking up at 5:30 to practice before Victor, my trusty RASA Cleanse and Food prep assistant, arrives, has actually been seamless.  When did waking up to practice, a cornerstone of my own self care, become so difficult?  Well somewhere between the last juice cleanse I've done for myself and our weekend, bleeding into weekday habit of enjoying Il Buco or Terroir or some other such place that beckons.

Most importantly, so far, I AM REMINDED that life is about BALANCE.  There is nothing wrong with the glass of wine or enjoying gustatory pleasures.  Trouble begins to brew when we become unconscious about when and why we are choosing to do, go and consume.  So for me this JUICE ADVENTURE is as much about reclaiming Consciousness as anything else.

BLOOD ORANGE-POMEGRANATE BLEND

simple, refreshing and delicious

yields about a quart (amounts are approximate)
3 blood oranges, peeled
seeds from one pomegranate
1/4c goji berries, soaked for about 15 minutes (optional)
a couple of clove buds (the spice)
a dash of raw honey, if desired
a splash of flax or hempseed oil
pinch of Himalayan salt
filtered water

Place all ingredients, (including the goji soak water) except filtered water, in blender.  Cover with filter water (plus a little more if you don't like it too thick).  Blend from low to high, strain and drink up!

SHAPE SHIFTING IN 2011

2010 has been quite a ride.  I almost think that's enough said, but I do like to blather on so: 2010 was the year of letting go.  Lot's of what let go was necessary, but isn't always easier to walk away first?  That way at least you feel like you had some CONTROL.  Well ladies and gentleman maybe I will finally begin to wrap my mind around the truth that there is nothing to control.  We don't control our lives and in fact the more I try to do so the less my life seems to "work", by that I mean flow.  This year I said goodbye to friends, colleagues and clients, savings and LOU.  A clean slate.

 

This year instead of writing resolutions,  I am focusing more on what my intentions are for the year ahead.  These intentions will shape the year of 2011, but also reflect how I want to anchor the bigger vision of my life path.  These intentions arise from the understanding that I can no longer try to manifest the MAHA or BIGGER -THAN-ME reason that I am on the planet unless I step back and take some time for RADICAL SELF-NOURISHMENT.  Simply said, in 2011 I want to take really good care of myself.   Instead of making a list and checking (and ignoring it) twice,  I’m going to focus on three intentions geared toward radical self care. THREE: BODY, MIND and SPIRIT.  Rather than burying my intentions in one of my many journals (that way if I slip up no one will "know"),  instead I’m sharing them here and I am also planning a to spend a good portion of New Year’s Day creating a super-powered Vision Board.  This is something I’ve been wanting to create for a while and as I am learning from my reading of the WAR of ART (Big Holler to James Abel), “procrastination is the most common manifestation of resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize”.  This way I’ll be reminded of the three pillars that will serve to  uplift my life each and every day, in 2011 and beyond.

BODY : There are two intentions here, but they go hand in hand, and I need one to kick start the other.  First I have committed to undertake a juice feast, for at least two weeks and up to the full month of JANUARY.  I prepare and guide cleanses for people several times a month, so many people think this will be a natural for me, but I have found (as I believe many people in the healing arts do in one way or another) that it is actually much easier to care for others than it is to care for oneself.  The more ongoing intention, one that will be carried through 2011 and beyond is that I am recommitting to my own personal asana practice and (gasp) I am actually going to hold that paramount to booking clients.  It’s not that I am going to let it get in the way of my teaching, quite the opposite.  These commitments to myself will help replenish the well from which I can draw and share my teaching from.

MIND: This one goes hand in hand with the Juice Feast I am embarking on. (So I didn’t really slip an extra one in, as many of you know I do like to take on a little too much).  I am not going to go this journey alone, so I have engaged the guidance of a very experienced Juice Feast coach.  In fact he is the “creator” of the JUICE FEAST process.  This gentleman is David Rainoshek, MA.  David and I will speak every day to support not just the process of the juicing, but more importantly, how this process will peel back extraneous layers of ideas I have held about myself (who I am /what I do) and how those concepts may be keeping me back from shining more brightly in my life.  This MIND part and these coaching sessions are about the intention of deep self reflection.

SPIRIT: This is the intention to saying “YES”.  Saying Yes to my life and saying Yes to leaning into things that might not feel entirely comfortable, simply because I don't identify with them.  Instead of digging the same groove (samskara) more deeply I want to choose to lean into the possibilities that life is presenting. So saying YES to the letting go so that I can say YES to the opportunity that reveals itself in the space that the "letting go"created.  If I am going to learn anything from 2010 it’s that life really does REQUIRE that we "let go and let GOD".  Above all saying “yes”  opens me up to my life and all the people and experiences that remind me that LIFE IS MAGICAL.

THE ART OF GIVING

“Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”



What does it mean to give?  This is a question on all of our minds in some way or another this time of year. 

I was just with my father and family on his side to celebrate his 70th birthday. It was wonderful to be with his siblings, 4 of whom are now officially in their 70‘s, as well as our cousins and their kids.  Everyone contributed something to the meal, especially my brother Guy (who also has generously gifted much of his time and gifts, over the years, to my work via his photographs) and my sister-in-law Kate. This love of sharing stories and laughter around a meal is the gift I have received and continue to receive from my family.  It seems to be my calling to to pass this on to others.



Birthdays and holidays are always a time when we think about giving.  But I have always sensed (and to a large degree practiced) that Gifts and Giving are really two separate things. The first consideration is the fact that a gift is a noun and giving is a verb.  Gifts always come wrapped in paper and bows of some sort. They range from lovely confections of elaborate and extreme means to the thing haphazardly purchased and wrapped because we felt obligated to give a gift. Yet the act of giving comes in many different guises.  For me the distinction is that when you give, there is always something from the heart of yourself extending toward the heart and well being of the person who is receiving.  In the best circumstances, it’s a co-creative process, because you are actually being inspired by the other person to share something with them.  The GIFT then almost finds its way to you. 



After the party Kirk and I went to the Long Valley abode and set up cozy camp.  We made dinner together, the highlight being a few choice pieces of fresh venison. This meat was something we were GIVEN from a friend who hunts.  Venison is not something I would normally buy, for many reasons, but being given some fresh meat was a nourishing gift.  We savored the venison with a celery root pure, fresh cranberry compote and mustard greens.



In the morning after all good intentions to sleep as late as possible I finally succumbed to being awake and went downstairs to greet the day.  I curled on the couch with a mug of tea and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  I was very moved by his PASS IT ON initiative.  In the book Jamie asks each person to learn a recipe from each section of the book and then teach it to someone else with the intention that they will in turn "pass it on".  I love this idea and the truth of it and also believe that it is a NECESSITY.  So much of the time in the act of giving what we are really doing is consuming, but think about the possibilities and doors and windows and landscapes you could open up if you were to share a skill you had, teach another person a useful and sustain able skill.  Where does the effect and depth of that gift end? 


This practice of " pass it on" also brings me back to my yogic roots. In the yogic tradition the student is ultimately receiving lessons from the guru.  The Guru, literally the remover of darkness, is the teacher or the guide who lifts the veils Maya, or illusion,  to illuminate highest potential that exits within each and every one of us. It is vital that each of us begin to recognize that this inner teacher is here to guide us on this journey and hopefully begin to use this awareness to guide us in the choices we make about our every day life. Then we begin to understand the powerful influence the choices we make every day have toward creating effective and lasting change in our world.  It is imperative that we not only begin to understand this, but to take action.  

If we apply this to the practice of giving or gifting we can extend ourselves in many ways.

So, this Gifting Season,  I invite you to take a few moments to think well on what experiences, people or teachings have moved you personally and find a way to share or gift that to some one near and dear or with someone you are just beginning to know.

WINTER SLAW

1 head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
Celtic Sea Salt
1 cup mung bean sprouts

5 scallions, thinly sliced
1 chili pepper, seeded and finely diced
2-4T ginger, finely diced   
¼ cup hemp seeds
2 tbsp black sesame seeds

Sesame-Miso Dressing

1/4 cup sesame oil
2T shoyu

2T white miso
filtered water as needed

½ cup cilantro, chopped

Place the cabbage in a large bowl and salt with course Celtic sea salt.  Massage the salt in to cabbage and let stand for about 15 minutes to help soften the cabbage.  When softened to your liking, rinse well and drain. 

While the cabbage is standing blend the dressing ingredients.
 

Combine the cabbage with the mung beans, scallions, hemp, black sesame seeds, chili pepper, and ginger. Pour the dressing over the slaw and toss the cilantro leaves in.
 

SQUASH

Roasted Squash Soup with Coriander-Spiced Yogurt

1 butternut squash, (about 2 lbs)

2 cloves of garlic

a small handful of thyme sprigs

2-4T extra virgin olive oil

2 leeks

1 medium bulb of fennel

1.5 qts light vegetable stock or filtered water

Celtic sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place a few sprigs of thyme and 1 garlic clove in the hollow of each squash.  Place cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet and roast until tender. 

While the squash cools, slice the leeks and thoroughly rinse to remove any grit.  Cut the fennel bulb in half, core and thinly slice.  Heat a small amount of oil in a 3 quart pot, add the leeks, cooking until translucent, then add the fennel and cook for another 5-7 minutes.  Scoop out the flesh of the squash and add the saucepan.  Add about 1.5 quarts of water or light vegetable stock and simmer lightly for 10-15 minutes, allowing the flavors to mingle. Meanwhile prepare the coriander-spiced yogurt.

When the soup has cooled, lightly puree in a blender.  Gently reheat adjust the seasoning to taste and serve with a dollop of the coriander-spiced yogurt and grate some fresh nutmeg on top.

Coriander-Spiced yogurt

1/2 cup whole milk yogurt

1-2 teaspoons ground coriander

Celtic sea salt to taste

Fresh nutmeg

Whisk the yogurt until smooth.  Stir in about a half of a teaspoon of coriander and a pinch of sea salt to taste.

CARAWAY

According to The Spice Bible, by Jane Lawson, caraway is "thought to be the oldest cultivated spice plant from Europe".  I find the sharpness of this aromatic, warming spice to be a wonderful foil for the sweeter qualities of cool weather vegetables like winter squash, turnips, beets and carrots.  Caraway seeds were valued by ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures for both their culinary and medicinal uses. Caraway is in a family of spices, along with fennel and ajwan,  known as a useful remedy for digestive trouble and indigestion. It is, in fact, often combined with foods that are known to be difficult to digest, such as cabbage, and fatty meats, like pork and duck. I have also recently read that, in Elizabethan times, apples were baked with caraway as a stomach soothing dessert

CARAWAY DIGESTIVE
Bruise a teaspoon of caraway seed in a mortar and pestle.  Pour two cups of boiling water over the seeds and let stand for 15-20 minutes.  Sweeten with a little raw honey if desired and take about a half cup 3-4 four times during the day to settle your digestion.


I've taken to tossing it with sweet carrots and shallots for a satisfying autumn side dish

Roasted Carrots with Shallot and Caraway

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
Gather about 12 4" long carrots, I like a variety of colors, ranging from crimson to yellow and deep purple.  Cut them in half lengthwise, not too thin, but cut in half again if they are very thick.

Peel and thinly slice 3-4 shallots
Toss the carrots and the shallots with some fruity olive oil and season with 1/2 t salt and 1 t of caraway seeds.  Add a bit of freshly ground pepper if you like, but I often do that after they are roasted.

Roast for about 20 minutes or until you are able to pierce with a fork.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice.  This is also delicious with a crumble of goat milk feta

AUTUMN EATS

Squash.  Persimmon.  Figs. Concord grapes.  Kale. Walnuts. Cauliflower. Fennel.  Keith's Rocambole Garlic. Turnips. Pears.

The list goes on.  Most of these foods I source from the Union Square Farmers Market, some are not native to the East Coast, but so evocative of this time of year, that I know adding things like figs and persimmon to some meals is as good for the soul as choosing my greens from the market is for the local farmers. And anyway, Keith, of the eponymous, Keith's Farm, did grow some miniature persimmon last autumn.   The yield was so low he actually limited you to two or three on any given trip.  But the fruit was so distinctive of musk and that fifth flavor, umami-fleshy and ripe, you were happy to get the few mouthfuls available.

This Autumn I've been enjoying the fruit in a very different way at Il Buco, a place that has become a second home over the last 15 years.

Here is my riff on their Persimmon Salad

For Two
Choose one slightly under ripe Fuyu or Hiro persimmon, slice into 1/8" rounds.  Drizzle with cold pressed olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of Himalayan salt.  Next core and cut a bulb of fennel into 1/4-1/2" wedges. clean some mint and reserve some fennel fronds. Toast a small hand of hazelnuts or walnuts.  Finally toss the persimmon, fennel, walnuts or hazelnuts with a bit more olive oil and a dash of champagne vinegar.  Top with a few shavings of Parmesan cheese and  mint and fennel fronds.

AUTUMN WEEKEND

We were able to grab a rare weekend by ourselves in the Hamptons this past weekend.  The weather was glorious and we spent the days doing things that we wouldn't normally do in the summer months, when the crowds are fierce.  On Saturday we went to the North Fork to check out some Long Island wineries.  We drove into Sag Harbor and took the ferry to Shelter Island then hopped the North Ferry to Greenport. After orienting ourselves at the Southhold visitors center we promptly found The Northfork Table & Inn.  This lovely spot is owned and run by Claudia Flemming and Gerry Hayden.  While I worked at Gramercy Tavern, Claudia was the award-winning pastry chef there.  We were able to catch up with Claudia outside their newly launched Lunch Truck, her version of a roadside stand, tucked behind a lovely mural of the kind of old fashioned pickup truck she was looking for but could not find. Kirk  took a fabulous lobster roll for the road. There is no better treat when it is done right in the Hamptons, and this one was. He was in heaven. Claudia suggested we visit McCall Vineyards in Cutchogue. Although they have been growing and harvesting Pinot Noir and Merlot grapes for close to 15 years there, they just bottled their first eponymous wines in 2007.  Compared to some of the more established vineyards, they have just started tastings in their converted barn. The simplicity of the space was perfect. The wine was beautiful too. We tasted their 2007 Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir Reserve and Merlot. We enjoyed a bottle of the 2007 Merlot that evening with Lava Lake lamb rib chops, grilled eggplant and spicy mustard greens. 

Sunday we drove out to the surfer's beach at Ditch Plains and soaked in the warmth and wind, the beauty of the changing light, waves and surfers.  Later we drove to Gosman's Dock had some steamers and went to the fish market there to pick up some local day boat scallops.  The scallops were destined to be grilled for dinner.  I served them with a beet and red cabbage salad loosely adapted from a recipe by Fergus Henderson. We finished the meal with a simple salad of green figs, fennel and parsley and a bit of Le Chevrot. McCall's 2007 Pinot Noir was a lovely accompaniment to this meal.

Beet & Red Cabbage Salad with Crème Fraîche
adapted from “Beyond Nose to Tail Cooking” by Fergus Henderson.
Serves 4-6

For The Salad
2 beets, peeled and shredded in food processor, or grated by hand
¼ small red cabbage with its core cut out, very finely sliced

1 small red onion, peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced

fresh thyme leaves
2T capers in salt

For The Dressing
Extra-virgin olive oil
A modest splash of sherry vinegar

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

For Plating
a few spoonfuls of crème fraîche

a handful of parsley leaves

Combine all the elements of the salad adding a generous sprinkling of thyme leaves.  Add a few splashes of olive oil and a modest splash of sherry vinegar.  Toss well and allow the flavors to mingle for a bit.  Taste and season with a few generous grinds of fresh pepper and a bit of sea salt, if needed.  I find that the salt from the capers adds enough on its own.

To Plate: place a pile of the salad on the plate with a healthy spoonful of crème fraîche and a sprinkling of parsley leaves.