A challenge, in and of itself

What u talkin bout?

posted by Melissa Baumgart
How's the running going, everyone?

I ran today, and I kicked up the speed a notch.  Yep, that's right, I ran my fastest mile yet.  I made it under eight and a half minutes at 8:27, a speed of 7.1 mph.  That is a 2.89% increase (I challenge you to check my math to see if it is correct.) over my previous best of 6.9 mph.

I have to admit, though, that I did not run yesterday.  I let all those excuses I mentioned in my previous post get the best of me.  I flopped my body on the couch for the entire second half of the day and watched television.  I really missed that during Homesteading month.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again: Living up to my own expectations is one of the hardest parts of this blog.  One one hand, I completely agree that being OK with having a down day is acceptable and can even be inspiring for another person to read about.  It might make it more real and less like I am some perfect Super-Mom (totally am not!) that does everything I set out to do.  Within that framework, other people may find solace and comfort in knowing we all fall short sometimes.  And that we can pick ourselves up and start all over again, maybe even faster and better.

On the other hand, I hate not following through with a challenge.  I want to be someone that does what I said I would do, no matter how tired I am, no matter how many things stack up against me.  No one gets anywhere in life sitting on the couch for 8 hours a day watching TV!

That's life.  It's a dichotomy, a puzzle, a challenge in and of itself.  It seems it can be so hard to find our own inner voice without falling prey to the negative self talk.  That voice can be so seductive.  So pervasive.  Maybe that should be a month for the blog; journaling the internal negative voice, and burning every last scrap of those papers.

But I do believe that there is a future for us all, in which we are humble enough to acknowledge that everyone has these vulnerabilities and yet, self-possesed enough to know where to draw the line between our true selves and the false assumption that there is a part of us that is never good enough.  Maybe it comes with age, maybe it comes with self exploration.  Or maybe it just is there, always waiting for us to witness it.

peace,
Melissa

Safest food in the world

posted by Melissa

There's the kim-chi, right on top.

Kim-Chi
I did it.  I ate the kim-chi.  It has been sitting in my fridge for days now, and I expected it to become one of those things that I get to throw away after homesteading month is over.  But today Amy came down for a lunch/blog meeting and after I re-heated yesterdays veggie-quinoa dish, I suggested we just do it.  Put that kim-chi right on top and eat it.

Yesterday while using my essential computer time researching things for the blog, I listened to an audio interview, Noble Rot, on the New York Times website.  It was with Sandor Katz, a self proclaimed fermentation revitalist.  He has authored two books, Wild Fermentation and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved.  The one line that stood out to me was that he called fermented food the safest food in the world.  It gave me a little confidence in my own fermentation enterprise.  (Although my stomach is quite gurgly at the moment.)

It tasted good, and was a nice touch to the veggies and quinoa.  I think next time I will add more crushed red pepper flakes, or maybe even some chopped jalapeños.  It needed more kick in the spice department.

Pasta
The other day, I watched this video of Jamie Oliver making pasta (say it like he does).  He made it look extremely simple.  For real, watch it, he put together a creamy pasta dish in less than 7 minutes.  Start to finish.  So, when my neighbor stopped by wondering if there would be enough food for her Italian potluck that evening, I offered to make some pasta.

My mess.

It was a mess.  I had semolina flour everywhere.  I didn't want to use semolina at all, because the true italian recipes call for 00 flour.  What is that?  I can't find it anywhere!  There I was slipping on the semolina, adding more eggs, kneading and kneading the damn dough.  And then came time to try the new pasta maker.

If knitting makes Amy angry, then pasta is my knitting.  (Truth be told, I don't like knitting either.)  This flipping dough looked like Swiss cheese coming through that machine.  I kept trying again, cranking the machine over and over again.  Shoving the huge chunk of dough toward the rollers.  Unbelievably, it started coming together!  At that point I could barely muster any enthusiasm, as I was already quite deep into frustration mode.

I folded it all up, just like Jamie says to do.  And sliced it so I could toss it into pretty, fluffy, thin tagliatelle, just like he did.  But it just all stuck together in clumps.  I felt so defeated.  No, Jamie Oliver, it wasn't all Rattle rattle rattle rattle....huh, huh huh huh, wee ee ee ee.... for me.  And thank god my friends weren't watching me, I would have impressed no one.  

I threw it all into the compost and I sent my Jamie to the market to buy a box of pasta.

Success!

Bread
I had my second day of successful bread making in a row!  Yesterday I tried baguettes made of spelt and wheat.  They turned out OK, but were not as light and fluffy as I would have liked.

Today I tried a French bread recipe I found online.  I think it was the best bread I have ever made.  Definitely consistency-wise, with a nice crusty outside and light inside.  I would add more salt next time.  But I did add a little on top of the butter when I had a piece, steaming, right out of the oven.  mmmmmm

-Melissa