Small (and Tasty) Wins

I love cheesy grits. I'm not sure when I first discovered this love of mine, but it's a love that has endured for several years now, and I've always wanted to learn how to make them at home.

For some reason, I always thought that making grits would be super hard, so I put off figuring out how to do it myself.

I'm not a total moron in the kitchen -- though my previous statement about grits being a tough dish to make might suggest otherwise...because it turns out making grits is incredibly simple.

Also, did you know grits and polenta are the same darn thing? Really, I swear I'm not a total idiot in the kitchen.

Grits = Polenta. Who knew?!? Oh, YOU knew??? Smartypants!

Late last week while perusing Pinterest, I found a delicious sounding recipe for Basil Parmesan Polenta via a zippy, fun and healthy little website called The Slender Kitchen. So, I decided to make it, thus checking off #11 of my 2015 List to make grits. #goals

From the stove top to my gullet. Omnomnom!

The basil parmesan grits were a delicious accompaniment to the bone-in strip steak that B made and the phenomenal bottle of Horse & Plow 2013 Farmstead "Old Vines" Red wine (thanks for the recco, South Lyndale Liquors), all served up while binge watching Aziz Ansari's equally delicious, uber insightful, new original Netflix series called Master of None. We are party animals.

I wanted to get the TV in the background showing our Netflix selection, 

but the TV glare....and my lacking iphotography skills...oy.

Hey Aziz, in the extreme likelihood that you stumble open my blog, just wanted to let you know that you're invited to our humble abode here in MPLS ANYTIME for my Basil Parmesan grits, bone-in steak, mid-priced vino ($20 range) and semi-intelligent conversation on human truths, theories and observations. Also, do you like cats? Meeow!

Always In Transition

"Humans [are] transitional beings - beings who are neither fully caught nor fully free but are in the process of awakening...I'm in the process of becoming, in the process of evolving...I'm creating my future with every word, every action, every thought."

- Pema Chodron

I love this excerpt from Pema Chodron's book, Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change, which I'm currently reading. It's a powerful reminder that we are all transient; nothing about our lives is permanent nor guaranteed. 

I find a mix of both peace and apprehension with the knowledge of my own fluidity. It's easy to cling to certain perceptions and ideas we have about ourselves, both good and bad. It's a clear cut solution to set very specific goals and begin the steadfast march along a specific course of action. My natural tendency, my go-to inclination, is to attempt to control and corral the world around me.

I don't think I'm alone in this desire to want to control, to keep things fixed and comfortable. The irony is that, in that effort to control everything, when the world inevitably throws a wrench in our carefully laid plans, we often feel anything but easy breezy.

While it is scary and challenging to "let go" and "just be," I am learning that it is extremely empowering to grant myself the freedom to flow, to change my mind and views as I gain new insight from the world around me, to lean into the obstacles and explore new routes rather than resist them simply because they were unexpected. I am learning to accept the world as it is (in all of its infinite chaos), and me as I am (and my infinite chaos), while inviting in the room to evolve, to grow, to change.