Mussels.....

I'm not sure why I waited to so long to try mussels.  It wasn't a food I grew up with, and frankly, I wasn't sure exactly how to eat them.  Were they slurpable or did you dig into them with a fork?  And, those mussels that didn't open?  Well, they scared me a little bit.

This summer, I tried them, loved them and tried them again.  The best I had were at a restaurant in Boyne City, called Cafe Sante.  I had them Portugese style in a sauce with tomatoes and smoky paprika.  Here's a recipe I found on food.com that I modified slightly.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons olive oil

6 tablespoons onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp spanish paprika

1 piece chorizon sausage, sliced

2 fresh red chilies, deseeded and chopped

2 cups tomato puree

3 lbs mussels, cleaned and debearded

6 tablespoons white wine

6 tablespoons basil, shredded

fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic, cover the pan and leave to sweat for 2 minutes.
2. Stir in the paprika and continue to cook, covered, for 5 minutes.
3. Add the sliced chorizo and the chili cooking for a further 5 minutes.
4. Pour in the tomato puree and simmer without the lid, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes until thickened.
5. While the sauce is cooking, heat the remaining oil in a heavy-based pan over medium-high heat.
6. Add the mussels and white wine. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until the mussels open. (Discard any that do not open.)
7. Pour the tomato sauce over the mussels, and add a twist of black pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes to heat through.
8. Add the basil and pour into a bowl. Serve immediately.

Meditation.....

I first became aware of meditation many years ago when my dad had a heart problem.  My mom bought a cookbook by Dr. Dean Ornish.  He was pretty famous at the time because he had figured out a way to reverse heart disease using diet, exercise...and meditation.  Over the years, I dibbled and dabbled in it.  I took a class once and stopped going after the second time.  I read books about it, tried it a couple of times at home and stopped.  But, I never stopped thinking about it. This year, I decided to give it an honest try.  The benefits of meditation (lowered blood pressure, better sleep, less anxiety) just seemed too good to pass up forever.

I started by attending a free meditation class at Yen Yoga Fitness in Traverse City.  There, I found out the most basic way to meditate:  you sit quietly, you breathe in, you breathe out.  When your mind wanders, you bring it back to your breath.  Sounds easy, right?  It's one of the hardest things I've ever done!

The benefits don't come quickly.  There is a discipline required: 20 minutes a day is recommended at the minimum.  I've been practicing for about 2 months now and I am starting to see some subtle changes.  When I'm doing something, I'm less distracted -- I'm actually doing the thing I'm doing rather than thinking about 10 other things at the same time.  The insomnia I have struggled with for a long time is lessening.  When I'm in a situation that used to get my adrenaline coursing, I now start breathing and the anxiety goes away immediately.

There are many other ways to meditate and, if you're interested, you might want to read the book "How to Meditate" by Lawrence LeShan. He wrote it in 1974 and it's full of good information and tips. 

And Bananagrams...

On Christmas Day, I played Banagrams for the first time.  For those of you who haven't played before, it's a word game similar to scrabble where you are dealt word tiles and have to make your own personal crossword.  Throughout the game, you get more tiles that have to be added to your puzzle.  When all the tiles are gone, the first person to have used all of his/her tiles in the puzzle wins.

To be honest, I thought I'd be really good at this game, but I kept getting beat by this guy named Jim.  I would come so close to winning, but then be stymied by one tile that wouldn't fit into my puzzle.

After a few games, Jim shared his secret.  "You have to remake your puzzle", he said.  Remake my puzzle?  Just when I got it just right?  "It's the only way to win.  You have to be willing to scrap what you've done and start over."

The next day I started thinking about how that strategy could be really useful in life.  How many times have you gotten things just the way you wanted them in a project or in your life only to be thrown a new situation that just doesn't fit?  If you've tried to make it fit, like I have, you've probably had a fair amount of frustration.  It has never occurred to me that remaking this life puzzle might be the key to incorporating it all into a better whole.  As discouraging as throwing a plan away can seem, it might be the only answer to creating a plan that is better.  I've already used this strategy for a situation that has been nagging at me for a few months.  I started over...and I came up with a better plan.  If you're frustrated and facing a situation that just isn't working, Banangram it!  It's worth a try!