Tag Archive | avocados

Inspiration

Jan19
The chicken that’s been nourishing me all week getting carved by the chef.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: A homegrown chicken is one of the best gifts. I honor the chicken’s short but happy life, and the women who raised it along with its flockmates with love and care, in a wholesome free-range setting. I’m grateful for the ongoing gift, which has made several sandwiches, a bowl of picked chicken ready for salad tomorrow, and the carcass simmering in the stockpot on the stove right now for future soups. It may be that my experimental commitment to vegetarianism is winding down. I’ve been eating meat when it’s offered but not buying or cooking it for myself, so in almost two years I’ve eaten meat only a few times. I’ve got to come to terms with the fact that I feel more energy when I eat a little meat.

I’m grateful for this sandwich even without cheese. Grateful for avocados!
And grateful for this nifty avocado keeper which has a space for the pit, to preserve the heart of the fruit. I run the cut side under cold water for about twenty seconds (how grateful I am for tap water!) and then close it into the container. It can last a day or two with hardly any oxidation this way.

I’m grateful for flow in the kitchen, using up a chicken day by day, or using up the last several meals by combining the last of the bread with the last of the avocado and the last of the Brie… and grateful for the luxury to live day by day with sufficient food that keeps coming into the house and moving through the fridge, pantry, freezer. When you stop and think about it, it’s a miracle.

I’m grateful for a fulfilling and meaningful week. For all the love and connection with friends and family in various contexts, for old friends and new, near and far; for teaching a motivated and engaged class the transformative skills of mindfulness and meditation; for access to inspiring talks, interviews, and creative efforts of people around the world.

One inspiration I’m especially grateful for this evening is the story of a stuntman gone horribly awry. After working all day I sat down to rest this evening and watched “David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived.” This is a documentary of the tragedy and resilience of the young man who was Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double in the Harry Potter movies for a decade, from the initial Sorcerer’s Stone to the Deathly Hallows part 1. During filming, an accident broke his neck. He’s found the strength, spirit, and courage to reinvent himself as he’s struggled through the years with ongoing complications. Though comparisons can be detrimental, they can also inspire a healthy perspective: In the same way that David recognized that many people he met along the way had it far worse then he, his story inspires me to resilience with my own physical challenges and limitations. I’m grateful for inspiration.

Wren is grateful to her Aunty Melinda for a beautiful new red parka! She feels inspired to romp about in the snow. Isn’t she the cat’s meow?

Homemade Tortillas

Dec1

While I am in general grateful for Mexican food, it would be pretentious to claim that’s what I make. I’m grateful for the hodgepodge meals I make that are inspired by Mexican cuisine. I’m grateful to finally be getting the hang of homemade tortillas. They’re a quick and easy base for almost any kind of toppings. Yesterday I had a hankering for something like huevos rancheros to try my homemade salsa verde on, but no tortillas; so I whipped up a batch with masa and warm water. But first I had to cook something like refried beans, so I mixed up an onion, garlic cloves and spices, a dried paprika pepper, and the last of the garden tomatoes with two cans of black beans, and cooked the mush down while I made corn tortillas.

Though I only had a supermarket egg and broke the yellow yolk trying the trendy method of cracking it flat on the counter instead of on the side of the pan, I approximated a semblance of classic huevos rancheros that satisfied my craving. The meal could have been improved only with a ripe avocado.

Philip delivered avocados, more sour cream, and a couple of other groceries this afternoon, and I enjoyed bean tacos for lunch. So simple, so delicious! I’m grateful today for Philip’s kindness, the luxury of simple, hearty food, the treasure of avocados in winter, and homemade corn tortillas.