The turn of the Earth means…

Spring

So this is the season for re-discovering our first loves. I have returned to my first form of exercise: road cycling/biking. And today I have found the most breathtaking place in the world.

My hybrid bike can handle dirt!

It is Sims Road at 7 o’clock on a Sunday evening, in the spring. The sky is a blue bowl with the inside scraped by orange, purple, and pink clouds of all forms. Four white-tailed fawns prance in a weedy field and bob their heads at me, the stranger in a plastic red helmet. Horses graze stoically and unseen birds sing their evening lullabies. The breeze dances with a thousand dandelions and smells of fresh-cut grass and wild garlic. Lazy roads roll over hills and carry me up, down, around. A black cat crouches in a ditch, unsuccessfully trying to be inconspicuous.

This, all in a 10-mile bike ride. I felt like I entered a corner of heaven. But, no, it is just the turn of the Earth.

A quiet Saturday sunrise ride through the back roads is equally breathtaking (perhaps due to the morning chill).

If you don’t ride bikes, just step outside at night, and let the crickets serenade you as you stargaze.

The Walkup House at Sunset

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My Birthday

When I wake up on the first day of spring (Tuesday, March 20), I will have woken up for the 6,209th day of my life: 17 years. I will breathe the fresh air of spring mornings through my screen window and I will be happy to be me. There is no more longing for the past, for the 15-year old me who could wear size 0 nor for the 16-year old me who could run 6 miles. (As far as “superficial fat” goes, it is so much better to be fat and happy. Trust me.)

So, I’m ready. Ready to face the world as the person God made me to be: real and totally myself. Ready to be 17.

Bradford Pear trees on Walkup Road

Pappadums and Vegetarianism

Two “wow” moments from today:

1. Reading “Why I Stopped Being a Vegetarian” by Laura Fraser
It’s an essay that is both a personal explanation and an argument against vegetarianism. She writes why she became and remained a vegetarian for 15 years, providing the most popular reasons (health, animal rights, environment). But throughout, she hints at the shortcomings of the lifestyle, at least for her. After trying meat again, she realized she had never been satisfied with carbs: “All of a sudden I felt like I had a bass note playing in my body to balance out all those soprano carbohydrates.”

Also, in hindsight, she realized that she had been selfish and rude to hosts, etc. I agree: I tried to be a vegetarian my freshman year, but I soon bid that label goodbye because it interfered with my relationships with my family, and it was just easier not to stick to it. So now I eat meat maybe once a week. I wasn’t trying to be ascetic; I just don’t like eating meat.

She also writes: “Meat is good. From a culinary point of view, that’s obvious. Consider that most vegetarians live in America and England, places tourists do not visit for the food. You don’t find vegetarians in France, and rarely in Italy. Enough said.” She’s an American who lived in Italy, so she should know. Honestly, I could count on one hand the meat dishes I’ve had that I truly enjoyed, and maybe the problem is the cooking in this country?

2. Making Indian pappadums (puppodums? poppadoms?)

These are Indian appetizers/chips/curry-dippers. I fried some this afternoon—watching them expand from round, flat pieces of dried dough to giant alien-looking chips was really cool. Click for picture.

Saw this on Tumblr; made my own–the concept is similar to Operation Beautiful. Print it, cut the strips at the bottom like telephone number tear-offs, and put it somewhere random. Make someone smile.

Digital Scrapbooking: China 2010

Below are the proofs (ie. almost-final draft) of something I’ve been working on pretty obsessively for the past week or so. Created using A&I Book’s software, it’s a digital version of a China 2010 scrapbook I started in January. I decided to finish it this summer, but I was only as far as the middle of Boot Camp when I gave up the paper-and-scissors, traditional method of scrapbooking.

So, all my design-minded friends, and my teammates, tell me what you think. Would you correct, add, subtract, etc.? I already see a few things I could tweak, but I would really like your opinion (and knowledge, teammates–I consulted my notebook from the summer, picture EXIF data, and Beth’s team reports, but I’m not 100% about all the facts). Due to the cost, it may be while before I order the book to be printed… but that doesn’t matter as much as preserving the memories of last summer as well as I can.

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Don’t mind the low-res and the watermarks! Also, I want to be the first to point out that this is a really personal project, so that’s why my face is on every other page. I have included journal entries from throughout the trip, but it’s nothing new. I pulled nearly all of it from my blog.

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Sesame-Crusted Peanut Tofu vs. Wings

Sesame-Crusted Peanut Tofu Stir-Fry

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Recipe adapted from Healthy. Happy. Life.

2 cups diced tofu, extra firm
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp water

1 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, chopped or grated
1/4 cup white sesame seeds
3 Tbsp peanut or olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped or grated
3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp agave syrup (or maple)
1 lime, juiced
fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish

1. Add peanut/olive oil, garlic, peanut butter, syrup, and lime juice together with a pinch of sesame seeds. Sauté on medium-high heat for a minute.
2. Chop tofu into cubes and marinate in soy sauce and water for at least 5 minutes.
3. Add tofu to pan with the peanut mixture. Stir/toss over high heat for a minute to coat tofu. Turn heat to medium. Cover, constantly moving pan around to prevent burning.
4. Uncover pan and check for doneness of tofu. It should be fluffy and cooked through. If the mixture looks dry, add a tablespoon of water and a teaspoon of soy sauce; re-cover.
5. Once the tofu looks fluffy with a few browned edges, turn heat to medium-low. Sprinkle in red pepper flakes and gently toss tofu a few times. Pour in sesame seeds. Allow the seeds to stick to the tofu. Add more or less if necessary to coat about half the total surface area of the tofu. Sauté sesame-crusted tofu for a few minutes, uncovered. Sesame seeds should be lightly toasted.
6. Serve over a bed of fresh-chopped cabbage or with steamed veggies and brown rice. Garnish with cilantro.