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Be your best Valentine

2012-02-14T12:18:02Z

So we're on the cusp of one of the biggest commercial holidays of the year, the big holiday full of overpriced flowers, guilt, candy, loneliness, and apparently love. Call me a cynic, but romantic love is only one brand of love. I've just been thinking a lot lately about the unsung hero that is loving yourself.

It's always been my belief that love is what happens when you gain acceptance of where you are, acknowledge that there is still work to be done, and you've happened to focus your gaze on something besides chasing it.

Someone told me to "take care" the other day in passing, and it gave me an 'ah-ha' moment. Taking care of yourself is extrememly powerful, and only recently have I learned how it's given me more energy to give love to others as well as my passions.

Five months ago, I made an agreement to myself to spent more time working out, and in order to make good on this promise I had to make some big changes. First, I needed to reset expectations with myself. It's okay to not be home to cook dinner and it's not okay to lazily watch media all night. Then I had to ask for help at home, which I did by requesting to agree on a few nights a week where my boyfriend would "cook" or fend for himself. Luckily, I'm fortunate enough to have someone special in my life that realizes the value of my time investment in myself. Which is perpetuted attitude, my health, and my ability to be more present in my life with him. Finally, I had to make good on my promise to myself to be disciplined in my schedule which is something that's very hard for me, but was accomplished by finding some classes that I enjoyed going to and have ramped up from 1-2 days a week to 3-4. The sweating, laundry, and public showers aside it's interesting how vibrant new relationships can be formed when you involve yourself in a community of people with like interests. I've made new friends and perpetuated healthy habits with current ones. Needless to say the way I feel and my patience with life's inconveniences has improved drastically.

In my experience, there are a million reasons why you should put yourself last and only one great reason not to. When you're last on your own list you limit your own ability to give to others, and you send powerful signals to everyone else that you're not even worth your own time. At the end of my days, I'd like to reflect back on my life and enthusiastically choose to be the main character in the life I built. If the routine of your daily grind is wearing you down, you might consider falling ever-so-optimistically for yourself.

To everyone reading this, whether your single or committed consider the benifits of giving the gift of attention and love to yourself. Happy Valentines Day.

A Gluten-Free Year in Review

2012-01-01T16:00:53Z

CC image from flickr compliments of somecanuckchickJust last week my brother-in-law recounted the cutest story about his niece asking Santa for a gluten-free dog for Christmas. You may choose to laugh at the innocent mistake of this young girl, but it is a response much larger feeling many with gluten intollerance, allergies, and celiacs disease can on some level understand.

When people ask me about being gluten-free I can sum it up in two words.

Life changing.

As an adult, changing your behavoirs is incredibly difficult. No matter what age, remembering to investigate almost everything you put in and on your body can be exhausting. (Everything from salad dressing to shampoo).

As a child, showing restraint, being singled out, and understanding the importance of the impact of the decisions you make about what you're eating can seem all-consuming.

For me, I've been obsessed with photographing, documenting, and sharing information about gluten-free living. though I'm sure it affects each of us differently.

(I suppose this applies to adults, too.)

No matter what your age, our choices impact our lives greatly. Its no wonder that many people, identify and differentiate ourselves as individuals from what we choose to eat. Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescetarian, Omnivore, Locavore, and all others that have chosen or prescribed dietary restrictions can find ourselves in the spotlight of conversations. Often educating others about what it is we're choosing to eat and why. There are so many very personal and political reasons for wanting to choose to eat this and not that. While I'm could drone on and on about food politics, that it for a different series of post.

For me, going first wheat-free and later gluten-free has changed many aspects of my life. My energy levels are at an all-time high, my sleep schedule is more normal, and I can feel the difference in my ability to focus and think clearly. I know that last one sounds like a jump, but I used to feel foggy brained in the morning, most people could equate this to the 2:30pm coffee zombie feeling. So looking back over the last year, I can empathize with a request for a gluten-free dog from Santa.

This year I count myself luckier than the last, healthier, happier, and more focused on envisioning things I'd like to accomplish in 2012. Keep a look out for more gluten-free recipes from "eat", art and movie reviews for the "see" section of the site, and some tech goodies for "surf". I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2012, Cheers!

Cookie Monster strikes with Gluten Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2011-11-05T21:25:00Z

Out of all things I miss most about my gluten-free lifestyle, baked goods come in third behind fresh baked focattia bread and pizza. While I no longer crave them often there are a mirad of cookies that I have fond memories of munching.

Here is my list of all time favorite cookies

peanut butter cookies
oatmeal rasin cookies
chocolate chip and chocolate, chocolate chip cookies
snicker doodles
sugar cookies
coconut macaroons
french macaroons (allergic to tree nuts, sad times)
italian wedding cookies
ginger bread cookies
oreos -- the peppermint oreo cookies are my fav!

If you'd like to share your favorite cookies in the comments below I'd love to hear what your favorite cookies are.

Given that peanut butter and oatmeal rasin cookies top my list of most missed cookies I decided to make the gluten free Oatmeal Cookie recipe from the back of the Trader Joes's gluten free rolled oats bag. Since it called for peanut butter it also satiated my peanut butter cookie craving. Here's the origial recipe and the adapted version, since I'm incapable of following a receipe to the letter I cut it in 1/2 because I didn't want so many cookies hanging out at the house and I added a couple handfuls of regular and golden rasins to add to the chewy texture. This recipe is the full version, you'll have cookies out the ears if you make a double batch. *All adaptations are denoted with the astrist below.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe

1/4 cup butter

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup gluten free Trader Joes rolled oats

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

6 oz chocolate chips* (omitted used rasins instead)

1/2 sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts (I used chopped cashews, because I had them handy)*

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine sugar, brown sugar, and butter until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, and baking soda and mix well. Stir in oats, chocolate chips* and nuts. Place a tablespoon of dough on a lightly greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 10-12 mins.

These turned out great, I'd definately make them again! Next time I'll make a full batch and freeze half.On another note, they're tough cookies the next day, but soften up nicely when they're put in the microwave for 15-20 seconds or the toaster oven. Happy munching!

Art matters when...

2011-09-28T18:03:48Z

It moves others to see, act, feel, or think differently than they did prior to interactiving with it.

There are few times in the history of culture where there is an opportunity to reclaim their national identity. This photo project attempts to do just that by negating the ruler with the visual language commonly associated with propaganda. This truly inspiring work from JR points to the opportunity we all have as part of a collective to represent our selves as well as our nation.

I also recommend checking out his work in Israel/Palestine and head over to insideoutproject if you want to participate in this work.

3 Tips for Stove Popping Popcorn

2011-09-22T12:10:47Z

image by a.g.photography.I never realized that stove popping popcorn could be a difficult endeavor until I mentioned this to some of my work colleagues, who mentioned the issue of burning it. I suppose there is a secret technique to set you up for sucess, follow the recommentions below and show Orville Redenbacher you know what's up.

Choose your Fat

For those of you that like to nerd out about food, here's a chart of the smoke point of various fats: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/50/Smoke-Points-of-Various-Fats. Butter will work, but you'll need better temperature control because it can easily burn/oxidize if you're not watching your heat. I personally like to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil because it has the highest smoke point of the fats I typically have in the house and I prefer the taste.

Heat your oil first

This is what's most often missed when popping popcorn on the stove. If you don't heat the oil first you're more likely to burn it. I'll typically drop the oil with my seasonings (peppers, spices, or sugar) depending on my mood. This will usually take about a minute or so with the stove on. Then drop your kernels, keeping in mind a little bit goes a long way.

Shake above heat source

Once you start popping pick up your pot and make sure to create a little bit of distance between the heat source and the popcorn. I'll usually leave about half to a quarter or an inch from the burner, I've done this on both a gas and electric burner and it works great.

Think about campfire Jiffy Pop and shake your pot like a Polariod picture just above the burner. Once you're popping, just like the microwave kind take queues from the popping frequency and pull it from the heat source as the kernels slow down in popping frequency.

In my most recent batch, popped yellow popping corn with Tumeric, Paprika, and a dash of salt using extra virgin olive oil. It whad a wonderful a smokey citrus undertone, and ended up being a perfect snack to bring to work the next day because the fat was real it didn't get strangely mushy like the microwave type.

Sweet Experiments in Preserving

2011-09-21T13:53:00Z

While most of the time my ambition gets the best of me, particularly in the kitchen, I recently managed to coordinate two individual experiments in freeze-canning. I'm not one for arduous processes but I particularly love the near-zen act of standing in my kitchen slicing, so the simplicity of freezer canning appealed to me.

I followed a simple recipe for the nectaries I purchased by the basket at Russo's the day prior. Picking up only a flat of 8oz jars, a collapsible funnel(praise to be sung below), and a can of ball fruit pectin specifically for canning. The whole process only took me about an hour, and I had four 8oz jars of nectaries. All I needed to do was cut up the fruit, which in my humble opinion was the most delightful. I find prepping fruits and veggies a centering activity and am convinced that in another life I would have been a fantastic sous chef. If you visited the recipe link you'd note that the process was as simple as cutting the fruit, adding sugar and pectin, stirring, and spooing it into the cans while leaving about 1/2 to 1/4 of an inch for expansion. Voila!

Recommendations

So I've had a bit of time to play around with my preserves, and I have to say adding them to greek yogurt has been particularly delicious. I went light on the sugar when canning so I tend to sprinkle on bit more sugar to cut through the tartness of the greek yogurt. It was a sweet and crunchy trifecta when I paired it with my homemade granola. The fruit gives the yogurt a fuller mouth feel, similar to the fruit on the bottom cups but firmer and the granola brings an almost savory balance with the cashews and pepitas. If you missed the recipe for the granola it's here: Gluten & Tree-Nut Free Granola.

If you attempt canning of any kind buy this colapsible funnel, it's worth the money on the first use and stores flat. It made getting my nectaries from bowl to can so much cleaner.

Wielding the web with proactive alerts

2011-09-12T11:31:00Z

Most people use the internet as a vehicle for email, social media, and maybe some finance or light shopping. Very few understand how to use free services to monitor thier online reputation, follow content from artists/speakers they enjoy, or even look for jobs. Those that understand how are at a serious advantage, because they're not just using free services - they're weiding the internet. So you want in on the secret?

Weidling alerts is really a fairly simple process. First understand how to do advanced searches in google, if you need help with this here is a link: http://bit.ly/g-tips. Remember to be as specific as possible in your searches, you can always go back and refine as results appear. However, if you are too general on the onset you can set yourself up for failure by being overwhelmed with results and giving up. Also ensure that the frequency of the alerts and place where you look at them sets you up for sucess. If you get overwhelmed take look at the results that are helpful and think about what characteristics of phrases they contain, on the converse you can also filter out unwanted results using a minus sign in the search.

In order to truly get started you need to have an idea of what you'd like to monitor. The most classic example is using your full name in "quotation marks", but think of this as the begining. While you might think that only people in Public Relations would need to do online monitoring, this can be applied for both professional and personal use. Below you'll find a list of things that I specifically look for on the internet to align yourself with getting in the know about things you're interested in.

Personal Use

Your full name - make sure you know what people are saying about you on the internet.
Your favorte bands & name of your town so you never miss a show. e.g. "favorite band" + Boston
Your favorite living authors for book tour or newly released books e.g. "favorie author's full name" + book tour or + new book
Keep an eye out for your dream house going on the market or find out when houses in great neiborhoods are for sale.
Track forclosures on your block, so you can better understand how this will affect your home value.
If you're renting put a search out on your own address, especially if you have sketchy landlord. I've actualy had a friend that found out her landlord was in foreclosure after being contacted by the new owner's laywer. Trust this is not a good place to be in.
Put a search out for sales, if you're looking for a specific piece of furniture, equiptment, or item let these results come to you.
Do you want to keep up on certain types of social events in your area, put a search out using the name of the event or more generic terms. That way you're never at a loss for a low cost good time.

Professional Use

Keep an eye out for careers you're interested in. There's nothing wrong with keeping your mind open to new opportunites. Search for your dream job title + name of your city or a city you'd like to move to.
Feed leads to your sales team and become a champion of information in your organization. I'll often use job searches for our industry inorder to give warm leads. e.g. job or career + "competitive intelligence"
Be known as the go-to person for highly actionable information for individuals in your organization you want to build strong relationships with. I from time to time will send highly relevant case studies and news information to people in Director and VP levels highlighting the pages and paragraphs in which would be of most interest to them. If you do this don't spam these people, keep in mind that these insights should only be actionable and well thought out.. Pushing every whitepaper or news article to them would waste thier time and make you look like a suck-up.

You get the idea...

TL;DR

In short, set up google alters to help you better stay on top of things that are important to you. If you get frusterated by the volume of results refine them until they're managable, by using the advanced searching techniques.

Three Steps for balancing priorities

2011-08-25T12:00:23Z

Balancing lady by orangebromptonIt's often easy to give into the idea that the needs of a household, relationship, or job trump all else. Only recently have I discovered how much easier life is to balance if you apply two easy principles.

Be prepared

Think out the problem, what is it that you really need and how can it be obtained? Allow me to give you a personal example, I've been putting off joining a gym recently. I've given myself the excuse that I'd do it, "as soon as I moved apartments and our offices moved."

I've been in my new apartment since mid-July and in our new office since the second week of August, currently there were are no excuses! Though I never cease to amaze myself with my keen powers of persuasion in the area of procrastination, I only put it off two weeks because the end of the month is when you get the best deals on gym memberships, right? This was the proverbial mounting of excuses that typically get me in trouble. Slowly they cloud my mind with, I'm too tired, I'm too hungry... yada, yada, yada.This is where being prepared is key, if you know what the excuses are, you're perfectly prepared to overturn the objections of your own persuasive logic.

Overturning Objections

I'm a master at convincing myself into believing things that foster laziness and procrasitnation. That's why it's good to flex my inner sales woman by practicing overturning my own objections. Your own inner dialog may sound different but the principle of motiviting yourself remains the same.

e.g. Too tired? = Exercise gives you more energy. Too hungry? = Eat a piece of fruit and get your ass to a yoga class. Don't feel like it? = You enjoy the feeling of the soft couch on your flabby bum, don't you?

The last few days, I've on a mission to get addicted to how working out makes me feel. It's sort of like when I finally figured out that wheat and gluten where making me exhausted. There was an initial boost of energy I noticed, and when I slipped up everything came apart at the seams. That's why I'm focusing my mind on removing obstacles and channeling my personal guilt for giving quality time to myself. While it feels weird to admit that I feel guilt in this area of my life, I know I'm not alone. Which leads me to...

Asking for help

Okay so this component is particularly hard, especially for those of us that like to feel pride in not thinking that they need help. In my household, I do most of the cooking and I'm often prone to giving in to other people's bio-rhythms. For example - if you're hungry, I'll eat. Hell, I'll even make you a killer sandwich! Such is my obsession with food, I approach it with a nearly religious attentiveness. Knowing this about myself, I need to do everything in my power to keep myself from choosing unhealthy habits. One of the ways I've learned to do this is to ask for prep help. There's nothing wrong with being the mastermind in terms of meal planning - it's actually a beautiful thing if you enjoy it. However, a little bit of equipment and/or the ability to ask nicely for help from a second set of hands is extremely important.

I'm lucky enough to live with my boyfriend who works primarily from home. He's a developer and is fortunate in that he makes his own schedule. This morning, I made a quick marinade for a pork loin and popped it in the fridge on the way out the door. I later sent a chat message requesting help with the rice and pork loin and let him know approximately when I would arrive home. Given my spoor stills and giving an appropriate estimate for my time of arrival, overall it was a success. I came home to someone excited to share about what happened during their day, I worked out, felt amazing, we shared a bottle of wine and a great meal. What more can you want? If you don't have a second set of hands I'd recommend a rice maker with a timer or using quick recipes for during the week dinners.

At the end of the day, getting your priorities strait is about determining what's really important, removing obsticals for yourself, and fully comitting to asking for help when you need it. Today I'm happier for asking for help and removing a feeling of deep obligation for something I typically enjoy. It's often our own inablity to ask for help, recieve it, or give up control that perpetuates our own inablitly to prioritize the things that are most important to us.

What allows you to maintain balance in your life? Have you ever felt guilt over putting your own needs first? Please share your experiences with me in your comments below.

Get Naked, Fresh Gluten-free Pizza

2011-08-11T20:00:19Z

A couple weeks ago, prior to my vacation in Chicago I spent an hour at the Coolidge Corner Naked Pizza shop touring, talking and tasting. I had tried the gluten free pizza once before but I can say that it was really nice to get an opportunity to hear more about the concept and check out the facilities. First off, the owner Peter, his business partner, staff, and Wendy who works on the company's PR were all very hospitible. It's pretty cool that the concept was very health focused, something that's atypical for what you might consider 'fast' food. Given the good, fast, cheap, Venn diagram it would certainly be the exeception to this visual rather than the rule.

I was surprised not only about how technology forward they were, but also how efficent and tidy everything was. My first experience was a good one, I ordered from my iPhone because Luke and I just moved in to our new place and we didn't have food in the house or internet service *le sigh*. Luckily, the process was quick and easy, I had my two pizzas in less than 30 minutes and they were delicious.

As far as gluten-free goes, I was impresed by the lightness of the dough. Since the crust is made from rice flour rather than garbonzo bean it doesn't make you feel like a lard-butt sloth after you eat it. The texture sort of reminds me of a delecate thin crust which is softer style. I mean this as a compliment as the flavor that isn't so far removed from pizza that you automatically know that it's gluten-free. That said I wonder if the cook times were teaked just slightly for the gluten-free crust it would seem crispier.

Thus far, I've experienced the Superbiotic (twice) one of my favs and a must-try if you're a fan of cilantro (if you're not a fan it can be made sans the soapy flavored cilantro for the herb haters). I also really enjoyed the greenhouse with lots of veggies. If you check it out, let me know what you think!

For non-gluten-free peeps my boyfriend said that he liked the thin crust but prefered the regular, his exact quote was, "It's hard to love any thin-crust pizza after you've had Stella's" (For watertown peeps, http://stellaspizza.com is a must try too.). Since we're in a new neighborhood Naked is a fine local choice, I have to say that I've had my share of gluten-free pizza in Boston and I really like Naked's style.

That said, I'm off to grab a slice right now! NOMS!!!

5 Tips for finding & keeping your footing after moving

2011-07-23T14:00:12Z

Chicago Subway - Image by Lindsey Mark CC-BY-NCFew events in life have the ability to rattle, dishevel, and make one flounder in the same way that moving your life to a new home can. Whether your move is across town or across the country up rooting is one of the most difficult things to do while maintaining balance in life and relationships. Most advise published on the topic of moving is centered around planning and preparing, what they often neglect to cover is what to do after you get there.

Speaking from the experience of someone who has moved across state lines 4 times and temporarily over summers over 4 times, I've had more than enough practice seeking footing in unfamiliar surroundings. No doubt the moves that required 5+ hours to reach your final destination are the most disorienting, I'll try to not discount those that are packing-up to scoot their belongings across town as this has been my most recent experience.

Metaphorically speaking, moving is like being in a boat during a major storm. You're busy readying yourself, taking steps to baton down the hatches, all while being tossed around by the waves. Some of my personal tips for staying afloat and avoiding total capsizing are the following.

Pack a keep bag of items you can't live without, including important documents.
Similar to when you fly, it's wise to pack an extra set of clothes in your carry on. For those instances when the airline loses your luggage, you don't want to have to go through the process of buying new underwear in unfamiliar surroundings. This should include things like your personal office inbox, laptop, medications, passport, and birth certificate. If you have a creature comfort you're a little nuts without, pack that too. For some it's lip balm, for other's it's bedding, if it is reasonably portable and makes you sane drag it with you like a honey badger -what other people think of you is none of your business.
Take the move as an opportunity to make lifestyle changes.
Especially if you're moving farther or close to where you're commuting to work, nothing is more difficult than changing your behaviors. Leverage the move as an opportunity to foster small changes that will make a positive impact. My personal effort is to go to be earlier, I struggle with sleep issues either too much or too little at different points in my life. Recently it's been too little, I wasn't missing out on anything by staying up past midnight, so I've been putting my phone in airplane mode at around 10:30-11pm. The extra sleep has done wonders.
Build your friend base
For social cross country movers the isolation alone is enough to throw you into a fit of depression. If you're starting from scratch reach out to friends that may know people in your new town and make plans with them. Go to meet-ups, get on the social networks and sign-up for other interest based activities. It's taken me about three years to get a good friend group together here in Boston, so hit the ground running. Life is more fun when you have other people to laugh with. Even if you're moving to another part of the city, try to make friends in your neighborhood. It's interesting how many opportunities unfold when you allow yourself to be part of a community.
Don't sweat the small stuff
Things will get unpacked and life will go on, no sense in beating yourself up or driving yourself into the ground because everything isn't perfect in a couple of days. Make a plan for accomplishing milestones for unpacking and pat yourself on the back every time you acomplish one. Organize and put away everything for a specific room of your new home, then take yourself out for fro-yo. After all you're awesome and you deserve it.
Hone your awareness of your new surroundings
If you didn't do this before you chose your new location tour the neighborhood and get your major street names down pat on google maps. Take note of sketchy alleyways, board-ups, or other potential stranger-danger. We always hope nothing bad will ever happen, however getting your bearings is an important part of settling in. There's nothing worse than feeling terrified after moving in or getting mugged your first few weeks of being somewhere. I've had a few friends that have had issues getting mugged for thier personal belongings right after moving somewhere new, be careful and prepare yourself by getting aquainted with your surroundings.