Synchronicity

When I was trying to follow The Artist's Way a couple of years ago, one of the things Julia Cameron talked about was synchronicity, which I remember as being essentially coincidences.  If I could find the book, I would write a better definition.  Anyway, I have had 3 synchronistic events lately that were hard to miss:

1.  A couple of weeks ago, I rode on the Don Valley Parkway in the Heart and Stroke Foundation's Ride for Heart.  And it was the worst day (well, if it had been snowing it would have been worse, or a lightening storm perhaps).  Anyway, it was rainy and cold.  But as I rode up to York Mills, I thought, this isn't so bad.  It is wet but I'm warm enough from the climb up.  No big deal, I thought.  Until I went back down the hills to Exhibition.  And my feet got soaked.  So soaked, my shoes made squishing sounds on the downstroke.  It seems that going downhill through puddles kicks up a lot of water.  Then I felt cold.  Really, really cold.  About 5 km away from the end, I started singing in my head some lyrics to the Bastille song, Pompeii, mostly the chorus and, more frequently, the lyric ... "how am I going to be an optimist about this?"  Anyway, I finished the ride and, feeling quite a bit like a popsicle, made it back to the car where my husband was waiting to drive me home, changed in the parking lot (hopefully there were no cameras and if there were, I really didn't care), started the car and what came on the radio?  First song.

2.  This morning, a co-worker was telling me a funny story about an interaction with another colleague who I have never met and and never thought I would meet.  This afternoon, I was on a conference call and who was one of the presenters?

3.  This morning on my way to work, I was listening to the podcast #Herstory which is a series of 50 podcasts talking about inspirational women.  The podcast this morning was about Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who I had never heard of before.  Tonight, while finishing dinner, my husband and I were watching Jeopardy (further evidence of my geekdom) and who came up in one of the clues?

Back to the Start

I still really like the idea of cooking the world.  Getting waylaid by the broken foot put a damper on the idea and then I just got distracted by other things.  So I'm trying again.  Since my random globe trot lacked focus, I decided to start at the beginning with Afghanistan.  Mostly.  By that I mean, there was a little move away from 100% authenticity but I'm ok with that.

The bread and the meat portion of the meal were from Flatbreads & Flavours, a book I've had for many, many, many years and rarely cooked from.  

The bread ... Afghan Home-Style Naan was very good.  It tasted like most whole wheat flatbreads so wouldn't say it distinguished itself in any way.  But it was good.  And looked fancy with the cuts in the centre of the dough.  The downside ... there were sesame seeds everywhere and, despite best efforts to clean them up, I'm confident we'll be finding them around the kitchen for a while yet.

The chicken ... Chicken Street Kebabs with Mint and Yogurt Sauce.  Very tasty.  One of the things that kick started me back into this project was that a number of recipes I was finding in various cusines made use of the grill.  Since warmer weather is here, somewhat, the grill is getting a good workout and I'm always looking for ideas that depart from the same old tried and true recipes.    

Finally, I turned to Global Table Adventure (which I don't want to copy in this project but am going to use as a resource and possible source of some ideas ... why let all of her hard work go to waste!), for Burani Bonjon, or Spicy Braised Eggplant, a very tasty eggplant and tomato combination.  While I enjoyed the whole meal, I would have to say that this was my favourite part.  

At this point, a little bit of cheating happened in my Afghan menu.  At around 5, I got worried that I didn't have enough food.  Since our friends were arriving at 6:30, I didn't have a lot of time to research another recipe and get to the store to buy the ingredients.  So honey roasted carrots came to the rescue.  I rationalized that carrots and honey are part of cuisines the world over and found both in google searches of Afghan recipes.  Also, for dessert, I couldn't pass up the fact the rhubarb is in season, is sprouting in my garden and grows in Afghanistan.  So Rhubarb Crisp it was!  

So while not 100% authentic, most of the meal was as close to "real" as possible.  It tasted great and I'll be making both the chicken and the eggplant again.  

The Lemon Squeeze

There is that saying about lemons and lemonade that I'm constantly reminding myself of as I go through the broken foot journey.  The lemonade I'm trying to make is awareness through paying more attention to the world around me.  And what have I learned and observed?

1. I have learned to have a little more patience.  Like most people in the big city, I'm generally in a rush to get where I'm going.  A broken bone will not be rushed to healing.  Particularly when you are 40-something.
2. I have learned to pay more attention to my surroundings - there is that other saying about smelling the roses.  It is easy to point yourself to where you are going and ignore everything in between.  When you are one of the people being knocked into when others are on that journey, you appreciate the impact of that attitude on the world around you.  
3. I have learned that not all mobility issues are visible.  People talk to you when you have a cast on your foot.  And you learn about their injuries (the lady also recovering from a broken foot but about 4 weeks ahead of me so in shoes but still limping), the lady I used to sing in a choir with who told me after we got to our destination and after she had given me her seat, that she had a knee replacement.
4. I have learned that it can be tricky to get around Toronto when you need some degree of accessibility.  I am at least mobile on two feet but try to get into a taxi with a cast on your foot when you have to jump over a snowbank to get there.  Or, when you are having trouble walking and realize that the elevator is pretty much at the opposite end of the platform from the accessibility car on the train or it is out of order.  I'm not sure what someone in a wheelchair does when that happens.
5. I have learned how kind people can be.  There are the many people who have held doors, the people who have given me seats on the train, the bus driver who got out of the bus to clear away the snow that the city couldn't be bothered to have dealt with and then held my hand to help me out.
6. I've been reminded of how much I love being outside.  I have been pretty housebound in this snowy, icy winter and am really missing my long, weekend walks.  I already appreciated these walks but will now do so even more when I get back to them.
7. I have yet another reminder of the benefits of being fit.  I don't know how I would have gotten around the first several days with the foot if I hadn't been strong and fit.  Never mind leveraging myself in and out of the bathtub.  At least the quickly acquired stool installed in our basement shower has made this easier but I still need to do a lot of one-legged squats in my morning routine.  This realization has kept me exercising through the injury.  Thanks to the Nike Training app for the Ab routines and previous bouts of personal training that have taught me what to do with free weights. 
8. I appreciate the Canadian medical system.  Sure it might take a little longer to get through the process and I wouldn't mind a few more minutes to chat with the doctor than he has had time for,  but the system has been really good to me through my injury.  Sure I had to wait in the emergency room but the only thing I had to pay for was parking and the removable boot.  I could have had a plaster cast for free but really???
9. I have learned that you can get a lot of knitting done when you have a broken foot and need to spend a bit of time lounging in chairs with your foot up.  Nine projects and counting.

I do miss my car.  And curling.  I can't wait until I can drive myself around so I'm not so trapped in the house.  My husband has been a fantastic chauffeur but he hasn't been here 24/7 so I've had to amuse myself in the house a bit more than I'm used to.  Another big contributer to #9, above.  It's a good thing there has been a lot of curling on TV.  It is a bit harder to watch when not playing but at least I'm hopefully absorbing some strategy I can use when I get back on the ice.  

 

Vietnam Part 1

First off, I really need to figure out how to take pictures of food.

Secondly, since I'm essentially trapped in my house due to the broken foot, I look for any excuse for my resident chauffeur to take me somewhere.  The other day I got a coupon via email from Indigo … buy one book, get the second 50% off.  Road trip excuse found.  I pulled up my Indigo wish list full of cookbooks, created in hopes of winning the "win your wish list" contest and I was on a mission.  And sadly the contest is over and I did not win the wish list contest.

The first choice was easy.  How to Eataly is a book I've heard about, read about, seen various places and the library doesn't have it.  One look and I was smitten.  A lot of that has to do with the layout but it also has good articles on Italian ingredients and tasty-sounding recipes.

The second book took a little more looking.  Other than 3 for Christmas, I haven't acquired a cookbook all year so this was a real treat.  I looked at a bunch of nice books and rejected them all for one reason or another, mostly due to close enough similarity to books already in my library.  Then I spied The Slanted Door by Charles Phan.  This is a book that really appealed to me when I borrowed it from the library.  It is also completely different from others I own and in line with my International project.  In the cart it went.

Of course, I was then itching to make something from one of these great new books.  Since the amount my foot tolerates being stood on is finite, I am not able to embark on anything too ambitions.  So this has been my main recipe search criteria.  Several recipes in The Slanted Door fit the bill.  I've thrown out the bread and cookies goal for now and concentrated on a salad and a main.

The salad was Jicama and Grapefruit Salad and was delicious.  I have never had Jicama before and I am absolutely going to be eating it again.  Along with cabbage, candied pecans and grapefruit, there is a reason this is one of the Slanted Doors most popular appetizers (as it says in the recipe intro).

For the main course, we had Shaking Beef, the signature dish of the restaurant.  I must confess that if the picture hadn't looked so pretty (much prettier than mine, hence the need to figure out food photography) and if it hadn't been the signature dish, I think it might have completely escaped my notice.  But I felt like beef, it didn't require a barbecue (too cold outside to be interested in barbecuing) and off I went.  It is simple to make, the ingredients are all on my shelves, add some beef, onions and watercress and … wow!  So very, very, very tasty.

In terms of the broken foot, I'm now two weeks in, four weeks to go.  I'm really hoping the soft callus is forming nicely and I'll be back to curling before the end of the season.

Detour

My plans to include a couple of international cooking nights over the holidays took a bit of a nose-dive down the stairs on Saturday.  The resulting break in my foot and the related new footwear do not combine to make standing on my feet a very attractive option at the moment.  Hopefully this will improve as the weeks of recovery march on.  

So in the meantime, I have not been cooking extensively.  Still throwing some things together and significantly curtailed a dinner party to a Korean noodle stir-fry.  Since I stumbled on the recipe when looking for something easy, I did not even do sufficient research to determine if it was influenced by the North or the South.  So I'm not sure if this dinner really counts.  Given that we combined the noodles with a pre-mixed Asian slaw from the grocery store and cookies from the freezer, I'm pretty sure that when I have stopped feeling sorry for myself, I will discount this as a meal in the quest.

I am finding time to organize magazine recipes and knitting patterns.  And finally got my home access working for the office so I don't have to lug a laptop around with me.  I am also catching up on TV episodes on Netflix, re-watching sappy romance movies and reading.  

So, while I am really missing my walks, curling and general active-ness, I have at least found some distractions.  I just hope that I don't gain 20 pounds over the 6 weeks I'll be sitting on my butt!

Another thing I have had more time for is surfing in which I found a couple of good articles:

 - Bone Fracture Healing Explained.  Very interesting.  

 - How to Survive a Broken Foot .  I have already tried some made up reasons for my foot.  While skydiving (bad landing) and rappelling (banged my foot on a rock) are two that instantly came to mind, I also think hang gliding as a variation of the skydiving could work too.  There is the soccer injury but, while I have not played soccer since I was about 10, given the number of people who do, this might actually be believable and therefore not as entertaining.

So onward.  Five more weeks and counting.