Book Review: Talking Stick Diaries: Embody Your Power Vol 1

It has been a bit since I have posted. I am currently going to school full time and working full time, so I have less availability to dedicate to posts. However, I am about halfway through, so hopefully I can post more frequently.

One thing I have been doing in my snatches of free time is reading. As you well know, I love me a good book. I have recently read a book that could be categorized as “self-help.” Now, if you know me, you know I do not read this kind of book often. I will sometimes read how-tos for things I want to do, but rarely do I pick up a self-help type of book.

Here is part of the cover – look for the beautiful yellow mandala. 🙂

The book: Talking Stick Diaries: Embody Your Power (Volume 1)

The Author: Rebekah Gamble, Holistic Practitioner

Overall, my reaction is that it is a very interesting book that really speaks to me on a deeper level. I was a bit skeptical when it was recommended at first, since I feel many in that genre go through the “this is what it is,” “this is why your life sucks,” and “this is what you do” routine. I don’t do well with that kind of literature.

This was different. This is a series of prompts leading one through and encouraging self-exploration. It deals with physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I found myself reading and considering all of the prompts without feeling a specific dogma is being forcibly shoved down my throat. Sure, energy is discussed, but so is a range of emotions and experiences.  Religion, archetypes, and historical figures were included. I enjoy the holism of the book. Some of the prompts were harder for me than others, but I think it was a very well-rounded little book.

This is one of many favourite quotes:

From within yourself, there are no walls. There is no physical illness or physical limitation. There are no external forces controlling or manipulating you.

There is only endless possibility.  (p.121-122, electronic version)

In the end, I really did feel empowered and open to possibilities. It has helped point out tools I already had in my little self-toolbox and guided me in expanding my use for them. I am thinking of going back and actually journaling off of the prompts instead of just reading and pondering them. Yes, dear readers, I am thinking of going back and not only re-reading it, but doing the journaling. It is that great of a book.

I think the coolest part is that it is not only encouraging a conversation within the self, but the book feels like a conversation with the author. The author comes across as a non-judgmental friend. The language is very personable, and far from high-handed or preachy. The author speaks to the reader instead of at the reader. The author seems like a person who actually cares about the hurts and scars from the past, who wants to help the readers see themselves in all their own personal glory — even if she never actually reads the journals or hears the reader’s side of the conversations. The book highlights successes and positivity. Even when discussing difficult or negative topics, kind  and positive words are used. I always felt encouraged. And, despite 55 prompts (which kinda sounds like a lot), I never once felt like it was too difficult, long, boring, etc. I enjoyed all 55 of them.

I actually look forward to exploring the rest of the books, as they come out.  I will also be purchasing copies for others and hope to help build them up as well.

Rating: Highly Recommended

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

No, really. I am getting ready to fly out of my home country to another, which has a completely different language and culture. I have my passport together, and some of the accomodations and transport tickets, and am getting ready to depart.

Stay posted for new adventures.

Experimental Cooking: Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cookies

I can’t follow directions very well, we know this. Halfway through making regular chocolate-chip cookies I was inspired to add more chocolatey-goodness. So I modified it. Results below:

Chocolate-chocolate chip cookies
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 1/4c flour
• 3/4c brown sugar (packed)
• 3/4c white sugar
• 1c butter
• 2 eggs
• 1t vanilla
• 1t baking soda
• 1/2t salt (to taste)
• 1T corn starch
• 3T cocoa powder
• 1 bag chocolate chips (about 2c)

Utensils/other:

• Large bowl
• cookie sheet
• cooking spray
• electric mixer with beaters (if you have them, makes it go faster)
• plastic wrap

Directions

1. In a large bowl: Mix butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla and cream until light-colored and fluffy
2. Add the baking soda, corn starch, salt, and cocoa powder, beat/mix until well incorporated.
3. Add flour (slowly!) and beat/mix
4. Add chips and beat/mix
5. Shape into balls and put in the fridge (covered with plastic wrap to keep moist) until completely chilled (this helps them not be all flat and crunchy. Skip or shorten time if you like them that way)
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
7. Put cookie balls on greased/cooking-sprayed cookie sheet
8. Bake for 10-12 min (depends on size)
9. Let cool on the pan for a brief moment to prevent breaking, then place on wire rack to cool. (skip if you just have to have them right out of the oven)
10. Enjoy!

So, really, all I changed was adding 3T cocoa powder to the mix, but that is okay. It made for really rich cookies! I didn’t actually measure the vanilla (unless you know what a splash and a half is and can correct my “measurement”).   I hope you enjoy! 🙂

Update — How Thanksgiving went and upcoming events

Oh my! I realized I forgot to update you guys about how my Thanksgiving meal went! Silly me!

It was a good meal, overall. It was my first time cooking a turkey… which was definitely an adventure! I decided to butter it with an herb-butter containing the herbs sage, thyme, rosemary, and chives. For a bit more flavor, I added garlic. The end result looked like this.

Garlic-Herb Butter

It was really good! My husband and I enjoyed it many days after the feast. The last of it disappeared when hubby accidentally melted it all, which was an ooey-gooey mess of deliciousness that we were dipping our rolls in like crazy. I mean it. Delicious. I will be making it again. And again. Mmmm…

Anyway, I was making the turkey by my mother’s fool-proof recipe:

1.  Gather your ingredients and turn on the oven to 350 degrees. Move the rack to the bottom (I didn’t know the second half to this step until it was too late. Oops.)

2. Thaw turkey and remove the neck/gizzards they put inside, then rinse insides and outsides well.

3. Butter the turkey all over (this is where we used some of the Garlic-Herb butter), and get some under the skin.

4. Put the turkey in a brown paper bag, which should be in a roasting pan. Yes, a brown paper bag. This is the same idea behind the plastic baking-bags you can buy at the store, but the original version.

5. Butter the bag all over, and very generously. I would recommend not using the herb-butter, as your herbs will burn.

6. Bake for three hours.

When it comes out, it will look like this.

The turkey in the brown paper bag, post-baking.

The bird, after opening the bag.

Because I didn’t move the rack, the breast was kinda dry.  Oops. the meat was falling off the bone, it was so tender. As you can see, the breast meat in the photograph above, to the right, is literally falling off the bone. I ended up fishing the dark meat out of the broth.

I also actually made gravy for the first time on my own. I used gluten-free baking flour and potato flakes as a thickener. (It was a gluten-free, chicken-egg-free meal day… at least, for my cooking). I was very proud of myself I actually made good-tasting gravy, and with the right consistency, too!

I also made cornbread dressing (stuffing? I don’t know the difference!), which was also gluten-free and chicken-egg-free. It did not go in the bird, so I guess it was dressing. Anyway, I started by making the cornbread myself. That way, I would know for sure that there was no contamination! I think that one will be in a separate post.

I now most definitely respect and am in awe of men and women who cook the entire feast on their own every year! I only did the turkey, gravy, deviled eggs, mashed butternut squash with butter/cinnamon/brown sugar in it, and stuffing. I can’t imagine doing the veggie tray, rolls, and various potato goods on top of it all. I am grateful my family pitched in to bring those items. And cheese puffs. That was my three-year-old nephew’s contribution. Haa.

Now I am prepping my house for Christmas. I don’t think I will be having a Christmas at my house, unless my friends and I decide to plan a holiday gathering around New Year’s. However, this is my first time having a house with a fireplace, so I am having fun looking for mantle-resting stocking holders. Christmas shopping isn’t done yet, but I will hopefully be finishing up before next weekend. We shall see if all the presents come in on time. Online shopping can be awfully convenient in the sense that you don’t have to go walk around looking for the perfect gift. However, I think that shipping times are the main concern, here. Some of the artists I ordered from might be scrambling with so many orders!

Next post: Gluten-free, Chicken-egg-free Cornbread Dressing! 🙂

Experimental Cooking and other things…

So tonight is more experimental cooking. I am mixing beef, yellow curry mix (with Jamaican flair), onions, orange bell pepper, frozen mixed veggies, cream, and flour (thickener) and making some kind of curry-ish-gravy to put over rice. I am not sure yet how it will turn out, but I have faith it will at least taste somewhat good. 90% of my experiments do.

Looking ahead, I will be hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday at my house. First, I will be going to a shindig for his side of the family. With my mother, father, and youngest siblings away for Thanksgiving, I will be hosting the meal for those of my siblings who couldn’t go, my husband’s immediate family, and my small family (hubby, me, and our two cats). I don’t want to make your traditional turkey dinner, but I think I will still do turkey. I want to do an herbed turkey with rosemary, sage, chives, and thyme. And butter, of course. I will be brown-paper-bagging it like my mother always does. I am going to do a gluten & chicken-egg free cornbread stuffing. My mother-in-law is going to do the potatoes, and siblings are bringing rolls and regular stuffing. I am going to make deviled eggs. It will be interesting t see what the meal turns out to be. This year, it will just be slightly different. Next year I want to make a quite non-traditional meal. 😉

Forward!

The BEST bowl of malt-o-meal EVER

Okay,

So I know this isn’t the best topic to start with, but I can’t get it off my mind. Tonight I am home sick, and didn’t feel like making a proper meal. The only thing that caught my eye was the box of malt-o-meal in the pantry. Oooh, that sounded good. I loved malt-o-meal as a kid.

So I started to measure, per box directions, the proper proportions of liquid and dry ingredients. I decided to go with some milk and some water, instead of all water, to make it creamier. The box makes that suggestion and it sounded great. As I started to heat the liquid ingredients, my eyes fell on the brown sugar. Just a smidge, I tossed some in. I followed it up with some cinnamon. I love me some cinnamon. As the mixture heated, I looked in the pantry again. My eyes lit on a large jar of organic, local, raw honey. I tried to open it, but it was sealed too tight for me. I spotted the smaller jar of honey, which has a taste kind of like a honey-vanilla marshmallow. That one I could open! Huzzah! I swirled a spoonful of that in.

Wait… there are some important differences between organic, local, raw honey and the kind you find in little honey-bears in the store.

1. store-brand honey has been pasteurized and “purified,” and this takes any impurities out of the honey, and there are sometimes preservatives, flavor-enhancers, etc.
2. organic honey has no additives
3. Raw honey has all of the pollen (considered “impurities”), which helps people with allergies adapt to the pollen around them
4. local honey will have local pollen, same idea as number 3
5. Local honey hasn’t been shipped across long distances, and reduces ecological footprint

Also, did you know that honey will take on different flavors depending on the type of nectar the bees feed on. For some reason, the one in the smaller jar has a distinct vanilla-bean/marshmallow flavor. The larger jar, from a wildflower environment, has a mild floral flavor (imagine that). I got them at the local farmer’s market, from a vendor whom I will be visiting again and again.

Anyway, I let that liquid mixture warm and bubble. It was boiling when I stirred in the dry malt-o-meal, swirling it while it cooked to reduce clumps. After it was cooked and thickened I had to take a taste. It was delicious, but needed some cold milk. It cooled it down and brought the flavor to a new level. It was amazing. I will have to do it again.

Busy busy

It’s that time again. Another post!

I have been picking up extra hours at work, still, apartment hunted, apartment found, moved, and had a computer kaput… now that I have one I can frequently borrow, I have one I can use to post.

Just a short update. 🙂 More soon!

Tickets Acquired

I make no secret of it. I am very interested in going to Japan, and almost studied abroad there while I was in college. I unfortunately did not have the funding to do so, nor had I taken the proper classes to be able to take the semester off. So? I was stuck stateside while dreaming of going abroad.

Fast-forward. It is currently 2011, and Hubby and I have been talking. We should go to Japan. But when? Let’s plan it for our 10-year anniversary year! Okay. 2014 it is! So, we planned, and thought, and decided. Spring 2014, before the weather gets really nice and Hubby has to work.

Sad fact: you cannot buy plane tickets more than 11 months in advance in most places… So we waited. This spring, we purchased the tickets. Yep, dates are decided, and we are going to Japan! I am calling on my friends that have lived there and those who have been frequently to give advice on places to go and things to do… but on a budget, of course. Come on, I am not a part of the 1%, here. I am lucky enough to be able to go on the trip!

I look forward to it, but am slightly overwhelmed with all the details: lodging, raising money, getting my passport, the fact I will be on a plane for 10hrs+ when I am afraid of flying… yeah, it would appear that there is a lot to do when going abroad, even if it is only for two weeks. Le sigh. But, tickets acquired. 🙂

Not-too-sweet Strawberry Biscuits

It is fresh strawberry season here in the Pacific Northwest. A local burger joint has their fresh strawberry shakes, shortcakes, and smoothies on special right now. My father-in-law purchased a half-flat (6 quarts) of strawberries recently, and needed them to be used up.

Solution? Experimental cooking ahoy! Originally, I wanted to make strawberry pancakes, but I had pancakes yesterday and it didn’t sound so good to have again. I decided, instead, to try my hand (again) at strawberry biscuits. This time, I had better results! 🙂 I made a double-batch (large family), so I cut everything in half for the version posted below. I actually kept measurements this time! So you can recreate it. 🙂

Not-too-sweet Strawberry biscuits
Yield – 8 large biscuits

Ingredients

• 1 quart fresh strawberries
• 2c bisquick (or similar. I used a combo of bisquick and jiffy baking mix)
• 1/2c sugar, plus some for sprinkling on top
• 1/4c water -or- milk

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees (F).  Spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray (or grease it)

2. Remove the strawberry stems and dice into desired size pieces. Varying sizes is better, since some will get smashed up and some will not, so I recommend a variety in the smallish range.

3. Put berries and bisquick in a large bowl and mix together. This will take a while, since the bisquick will draw moisture out of the berries and eventually stick together in clumps.

4. Add sugar and stir well. This will create an almost-dough consistency, but still a touch dry.

5. Add 1/4c water, or enough to make a dough of usual-biscuit-dough-consistency. Stir thoroughly.

6. Drop by large scoopful onto the greased baking sheet, sprinkle with desired amount of sugar.

7. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. There should be very faint browning on the edges and any particularly high ridges.

8. Scrape off the cookie sheet and enjoy!

Finished strawberry biscuits on the baking sheet. As you see, they are big ones. 🙂

 

I prefer to enjoy them fresh-outta-the-oven warm, but you can put them on a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container for later. Make sure, if you store them, you let them cool completely first. Otherwise? The heat will make them soggy.  Soggy biscuits are no fun.  😦

 

If you want to make smaller biscuits, go for it! Just make sure you don’t over bake the biscuits, or they will be all dry and crumbly instead of moist and delicious. 🙂

Fluffy, moist, warm, strawberry-rich inside of the biscuit! Doesn’t that look amazingly delicious.

Now, remember I said they were big, right? If you look at the graphic on the right, you will see just how big! I am holding half of one in my hand. I wanted everyone to see how great they looked on the inside. Notice how the pieces visible vary in size, and the dough is tinted pink. This is normal. It is just the strawberry juice that was drawn out earlier. I think it makes it a really pretty food item. 🙂

There you have it, another experiment-turned-success from my kitchen to yours. I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to make it sweeter if you wish. I was having it with scrambled-egg-super (eggs, peppers, sun dried tomato flavored roast turkey breast, a bit ‘o cheese). I didn’t want anything overly sweet with it. The 1/2 c sugar doesn’t actually make it really sweet, surprisingly. It adds just enough to compliment the berries, but doesn’t overwhelm. Yay! To make it into a dessert? Add a bit more sweet stuff and top with whipped cream and more fresh berries. 🙂

Happy cooking!

~N

It’s My Daddy’s Fault…

I blame my Mother for so many things, but some are really my Daddy’s fault. He has taught me so many things since he joined the family. I smile every day when I think how blessed I am that he chose my mother, my sisters, and me. I have learned the following, and more, from this wonderful man.

For the record: After my biological father left, my mother was single for a goodly time. My then-not-my-Daddy was dating my mother when my three sisters and I held a meeting about him (mind you, our ages were 8, 6, 5, and 4… I am the eldest). We decided to ask him if he would be our Daddy. He didn’t answer right away, and told our Mamma what we asked. Well, shortly thereafter, they were engaged. It has been a long road since, but he has been there the whole time. He loved us so much that he legally adopted us. He has also done everything in his power to remind my mother, always, how wonderful, beautiful, kind, caring, and amazing she is.

He really showed me how strong a parent-child relationship can be, despite not being a blood relation. He entered our family with open arms. He even does the Daddy things of lecturing us when we make poor choices, wiping our tears when we cry, hugging us when we need it, and being there no matter what. He walked me down the aisle, cried at my wedding, and is eagerly awaiting grandchildren from my husband and me. Your chosen family is just as important and close as your birth family, sometimes closer.

He showed my how important it is to be fully committed to your family, and to take relationships seriously. People’s hearts are not games. People who enter your family are your family. There is no such thing as discounting a child’s siblings just because they don’t share the same blood. Siblings are siblings, and family is family. My mother’s family is the same way: my auntie is till my auntie despite my uncle having crossed over to the heavens.

He has been very patient with my as I learn my own path. He took me to ice-cream as a child when he had to discuss something difficult: bad grades, poor choices, concerns about my then-boyfriend, etc. The ice cream did soften the blow, but I think it was more to have an important conversation just the two of us… away from other people’s ears, and in a more confidential manner. The strangers at Baskin Robbins didn’t count. I learned from these encounters that private matters should be discussed privately, with as few people involved as possible. It is important to make sure the person feels safe and comfortable when discussing difficult things.

He was also very patient in my “learning years,” i.e. 11 to… well… I am still in the midst of them, aren’t I? He dealt with my impossible know-everything-teens, my early-college my-life-is-my-own self, and now he puts up with me as I blaze my own trail forward. When I have children, I will have to take that deep breath that he took… and he is going to laugh at me as I go through all the steps of parenthood. At least, human-child parenthood. I have my two cats, but I hear that doesn’t count.

He showed me that a man is a man, and what he does is masculine. My amazing Daddy can cook, clean, sew, garden, do laundry, iron, bead, make jewelry, braid hair, have his toenails painted by his daughters. I don’t know very many dads who can/will do that. He taught me how important it is, whether you are male or female, to be able to do these things and take care of yourself.

He knows hit song lyrics before I have heard them, he tells funny stories. He makes sure I feel included and loved in any situation. He supports my in my endeavors (even if he thinks they are silly). He tells me what he thinks, and is honest with me. He colors with me. He never wished I was a son, or treated me like I can’t do things because I am female. He always expected the best from me, and acted like I single-handedly made the sun come up over the horizon whenever I accomplished something. He always believed in me. I hope someday to be a parent like him.

He taught my that knowing my roots and culture is very important. He encouraged Native American dance lessons, learning the language (which I have failed at), learning the ceremonies, and connecting with the community. He even did the sewing and beadwork for my Regalia. It has enriched my life so much.

And more! He is always teaching me new things and always helping me become a better person.

Thank you, Daddy. For all you have taught me.

It is your fault.