At home all day long

In all beginnings dwells a magic force for guarding us and helping us to live.

Happy New Year

When you are at home all day long, you start thinking differently. This quote is from a poem called “stages” by Hermann Hesse. At every new year we think about things we want to change or we want to achieve or at least take a little time to review and reflect. And in this pandemic times, where being at home all day long is a kind of new normal, this also gives us a new possibility to really see every day as a new start. It’s not just a curse, it is also a chance. As a Yogini this concept is not new to me. But to really live by it, day by day, is a different thing. Everything is Yoga, it means everything you do is your Yoga. Whatever you need to bring to life, your thoughts and yourself into balance. Being in the moment, being present, being aware right now and what it means for me:

Being at home, being Yogini and a Baker and a blossoming cook.

Lol. But stay with me and I explain. OK folks…The Covid pandemic hit in March 2020,  and I have basically spent 90% of my time at home, like the most of you, I guess. To be at home all day long is basically hard for me.  I have always been somewhat a free spirit. I have a flexible teaching schedule as a Bikram Yoga teacher, I take classes  in the studio as much as I can, and I was rarely eating home, because I was always on the go, either alone, or with my Yoga family, or my friends.

Being at home all day long means also a lot of time to… eat, for example. What do I want for breakfast. AND let’s plan dinner TOO while we’re at it….

My calling in the kitchen

In the past 5 years I have started to find my calling in the kitchen. I think I am a really good smoothie and salad maker.

And over time I have figured out how to make a smoothie with whatever is in the refrigerator or freezer inclusive of juice, water, ice kale, banana, peas soy milk and string beans. I have been known to also throw in some ice cream into a smoothie. Not quite the healthiest, but yummy.

Yesterday I made a smoothie with organic orange juice, water, wild frozen blueberries, a frozen banana, soymilk yogurt, kale and string beans. It was absolutely delicious.  All you need is a blender, some vegetables, fruit, water and ice.

Margie’s salads 

Before the pandemic, we would go to eat at friends’ houses.  I would usually ask what I could bring. It was always “please bring your fabulous Margie salad”. I actually love making salads!! My salads start with Pinenuts and raisins, cherry balsamic vinegar, Meyer lemon olive oil, chopped up scallion, tomato, cucumber, and other healthy little bits and pieces at the bottom. Sometimes avocado chunks to. I mix these ingredients together as my base and then I throw in spinach arugula and Romain lettuce on top of it to get tossed later,  when it’s ready to eat.

Making the base of your salad dressing with all kinds a goodies before you toss it is a wonderful way to have it perfectly fresh when you are ready to serve it. To be vegan has many benefits. But I like my scallops, shrimp, lamb, and chicken too much to give up. I don’t remember the last time I ate three meals a day while at home.

So here are a few of our favorite dinners.

Rice pilaf, kale salad, and chicken (grilled or baked).

Sweet potato chunks, string beans, and scallops sautéed in a butter, Lemon, and chicken soup broth sauce.  Following a recipe is much harder than taking a Bikram Yoga class, so I am known to mix and match the spices and while cooking  by instinct and intuition. Occasionally I have to throw something out, when it becomes not chewable.

My baking is comical

Being at home all the time also means I record my cooking and baking adventures and send it to my daughter. Every time I do something funky, especially when baking, my daughter wishes it was on video, as it she thinks it would go viral.

Somehow, I have broken a handheld blender, when I forgot to add to liquid ingredients. Or once I have taken the blender out of the bowl to soon and got cake batter all over the walls. I have tried to mix stuff up in a leftover dish in which the cover flew off, and I ended up wearing the batter in my hair and face and clothes.  My daughter thinks there should be a show call “Margie ‘s comical Kitchen.”

Recently I went to a virtual baby shower, in which the event was baking Fall season cupcakes. It was attended by the mama to be, her, and 20 other people from her life.  The night before I had to make the cupcakes, the fondant, and the icing.  I bought 6 plain cupcakes, Duncan Hines icing, and the fondant was somewhat premade with beautiful colors for the decorations.

Here’s the sample our pastry chef did.

 

Mine looked like this!

How does all this relate to Bikram yoga

It’s all about recipe. And Love. Bikram yoga is a 90 minute prescription! It has helped millions of people heal their broken body, mind, spirit or heart.  It’s 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises done in a hot room of 105° with 40% humidity. The postures are basically beginner postures.  It’s the heat, humidity, and mental focus that makes it extremely difficult to survive each class.

The instructions are very specific, thus the foundation of “The Dialogue Works” it is an ongoing dialogue. As a Bikram Certified Teacher, we all went to nine weeks of training, 6 days a week, with the focus to learn the prescription.  Some of us learned “the prescription”, or should I call it “the recipe” , better than others.  I was lucky enough to connect with the best Bikram yoga Teacher in the world, who not only helped me learn the words,  but the reasoning, motivation, technique and specific nuances, of how people had to be baked.   After 20 years of studying Bikram Yoga and 15 years of teaching it, I can honestly say I feel really good about being a Bikram chef who loves helping people by the brilliant recipe, that works every time!!

So, being a cook or being a baker or being a yogini or being whatever you choose to be is wonderful. You bring the effort, you know what to do, how to do it, and the effect of doing it AND you do it from your heart – then you are just exactly where you need to be. And so many great things come out of it.

Bon appétit.

Love, Margie