11 for 2011

I'm going to make a statistical generalization and say that a vast majority of New Year's resolutions wind up in the garbage (or the cookie jar depending on the resolution) by February.  Instead of a resolution or two, I've made a list of goals for this year.  So here are my 11 for 2011:

1.  Secure a commission in the Navy

This is first and foremost.  I've put much thought over the past few months on what my next step in life will be after I graduate university and I've repeatedly arrived here.  I've got a lot of work to do, but I'm ready.

2.  Set monthly fitness goals

While a ridiculous amount of flopped New Year's resolutions are fitness related (gyms and book store featured tables across the country can attest to this), having routine goals is more realistic.  For example, my January goal is 20 minutes of exercise every day (this is in addition to karate).  Furthermore, I've found another running program to work with that I really like, so this is completely doable.  Next month I intend to re-evaluate where I'm at and what I need to do to get better.

3.0  Add some happy hip hop music to my repertoire

Yes, miss classic/hard/gothic rock is actually branching out.  I have slowly come to realize that not all hip-hop is obnoxious and the "happy" variety makes me, well, happy.  It's also great workout music! (For the record I still abhor rap music, just had to put that out there).

3.1  (Because, well, 3.0 needed some more substance.)  Get better at sending greeting cards (i.e. actually do so).

This is a general correspondence goal.  I'd like to start sending actual cards/notes/etc.  Who says my generation is losing touch with "old fashioned" communication?  I intend to fight this gross generalization! 

4.  Tackle an MFA reading list

Okay, start tackling one (most are hellas long).  It's going to be a while before I'm going to be able to go back to school and get another degree, but someday I'd like to consider getting an MFA in creative writing.  In the interim, there's nothing like rounding out my reading to develop my writing skills. 

5.  Go skiing again

I tried skiing for the first time over my Christmas holiday and had a blast.  I intend to hit the slopes again this year. 

6.  Write a blog post a week

While I'm stealing some of my goals from my reinvention list of a few months ago, it's something I want to bring into 2011.  A second part of this is to chronicle my goals as I work towards them.  Writing material!

 7.  Expand my container garden

Last year I cultivated some pepper and cilantro plants, nothing too fancy but it was a success.  As soon as the frost is clear, I intend to start it up again.  I'm looking into what other plants I might add.

8.  Collect my favorite recipes into one cookbook. 

I've mentioned Ree (Pioneer Woman) and her blog a time or two in the past few months.  Someone got the hint and I received her cookbook for Christmas.  I've already found a few recipes that, after rigorous testing (i.e. taste testing!) I will add to the book of life accordingly.  In the mean time, I intend to locate the recipes for my favorite foods.  Many of these are either recipes from my mother, her mother, etc. and recipes that I've happened upon over the years and/or have created (modified) myself.  The bottom line is to have a collection of those tried and true, yummerific foods (it's a technical term). 

9.  Thrift shopping for funky clothes

Again inspired by a blog, this time New Dress A Day, I'd like to hit the estate/garage sales/ flea markets/etc. and try my hand at revamping some old stuff.  This is both friendly to my budget and my personality.

10.  Take some shooting courses

I'm not too shabby at target shooting, but practice never hurt and I'd like to look into some more action oriented courses.  At the very least, if I get to the range more this year I'll be a happy camper.

11.  Karate

I will make my final point in a moment, but before then enjoy this long introduction to my finale!

One thing that scares the living day lights out of me is that my home base will be changing a little over a year from now.  While change is the only constant in life (I really despise that saying, for the record), I have always been a creature of habit who detests said habit to be interrupted.  I'm talking about major stuff such as where I live, where I go to school/work, etc.  I'm the kid who cried at the end of every. single. school year from oh maybe 2nd grade on because I didn't want a new teacher and new classmates.  I feel comfort in what I know (most people do, I suppose).  Well that's all changing again as I shift from student to career woman (that's scary), which in my case will involve a geographic change.  For the record I am bound and determined to get through said change with as few to no emotional breakdowns as possible, I have to grow up sometime... Ahem.

FINALE:  One of my most beloved aspects of my current home base is karate, and I'm going to miss it terribly next year.  I could very well have one of those breakdowns if I think on this too long.  In short, my final goal for 2011 is to (continue to) work as hard (and harder) during the time I have with karate. 


So there it is, my 11 for 2011!  Here's to a great year full of life, love, and growth. 

Cheers,

RF

Putting the "running" in Running Fish

I'm generally an optimistic person, but even I have to admit that the past year or so seems to have had more downs than ups. 

My parents are still duking it out from a rather nasty divorce from last year, my beloved Grandfather died unexpectedly, of the three dogs in our family we had to put two to sleep, my dad got assaulted at his house, I had to cancel study abroad plans to Ireland because we just plain can't afford it, I still can't find a job, and the overall stress factor in my house is threatening to hit the ceiling. I have repeatedly found myself asking "why me?" Yes I know there are people worse off than me, yes I know I should be thankful for what I do have (I am), but that doesn't change the way I feel. Call me selfish, whatever. That's just where I'm at.

I'm usually like every other student who grasps for the last dregs of a break, be it a long summer break or the week at Thanksgiving. For some reason, however, I was chomping at the bit to get back to classes this semester. I wonder why. *insert sarcastic eye roll* 

The eternal optimist in me prevailing, I told myself that this fall was going to be better for me. Attitude is half the battle or something like that, right? I can't change my family structure, I can't bring people back to life, and short of winning the lottery I can't pull my entire family from our financial sink hole. But I know I need to take care of myself if I'm going to do anything at all.

That's about where I was when I first started this *shudders at the word* blog. I was inspired by a friend of mine who began a reinventing process. As I heard her talk about it, and write about it on her own *shudder* blog, it dawned on me that it might be a good use of my energies to think of ways to [improve, reinvent, whatever you want to call it] myself. I started this *shudder* blog with my new name, Running Fish (post 0). A little while later I made myself a list, because I'm a compulsive list maker. That was another post. Now I've been tackling some of those items in that list:


While I haven't been at karate class as much as I'd like in the past month, my focus for the rest of this semester is to really double my effort. Fortunately, the main point I'm working my way to will actually lend itself to this. So I'll come back in a moment... I've been writing when I can, but definitely plan to amp that up too, by time next semester starts I'd like to have a rough draft of one of my novels I've been mulling over. I've been experimenting with yummy recipes. My container garden is doing swimmingly, despite the rain storm the other day that nearly wiped my poor pepper plants out. I've made a  conscious effort to allow myself more time to read for pleasure. I even bought myself a pair of boots because, well, they make me feel like a rockstar.


Finally, the biggest thing I've been tackling is one that encompasses my desire to do better at karate and to improve my mile time (i.e. to actually have a mile time to begin with). I found a running program online that's designed for novice runners. The idea is, over a 12 week period, to develop a more active exercise habit. I've found from my exercise history (i.e. my whole life) that I need goals or I won't get anywhere. I've tried over and over again to start running, only to come to a grinding halt after despair and fatigue set in. I'd tell myself I wasn't running long enough or far enough. I was nothing like my dad, who might run upwards of five miles in a week. I would get sore after a few days. I didn't like getting winded. The excuses went on... One way or another I came across this program I'm doing now and I have to say, it's working for me. I realize that anyone who is even remotely athletically inclined is going to look at that running plan and laugh. I know, it's not like I'm out running two miles in one sitting. Like I said, novice runner. But it's a goal I'm working towards, even if it is small in comparison to what some of the instructors at my karate school are capable of doing. But they're just awesome, so I digress.


Every day there's a walk/run workout (I realize my use of the term "workout" here pales in comparison to most definitions). The first day started simply with a fifteen minute brisk walk. The next day was a five minute walk and one minute run alternated for three sets. And so on. There are "heavy" and "light" days which alternate. As I finish each day's workout, I highlight the box to see my progress. 


Not surprisingly, week two has been a little more challenging than the first. When I saw the "walk five minutes, run three, repeat for a total of 21 minutes" I thought, hey no big deal. Well, for me three minutes of straight running turned out to be a bit of a "big deal." Hence the more challenging aspect of this week. The first day I had this set, I got through the first three minutes fearful of the second three I had to run five minutes later. But man I did it. I kept telling myself "keep going, keep going, keep going." I made it to the end of the second three minutes sweaty and out of breath and just basically feeling (and looking, I'm sure) awful. But I did it.


Today was the same set, but it was more challenging than last time. 


In karate class recently, one of our instructors said something to the tune of: "Limitations are like fears, more often than not they're just illusions." If we tell ourselves we can't do something, it's too hard, it's too far above our ability, we're not strong enough, and so on, we can almost certainly expect to fail. But those fears are almost always an illusion. We end up creating the limitations that hold us back. So if I tell myself "I can do this," I'm more likely going to be able to do it than if I tell myself, "You're too out of shape, you can't do this."


This came in handy when I went rappelling recently. I hadn't gone for years and there I was harnessed and ready to walk backwards off a perfectly decent cliff with a good hundred feet below me before I'd reach the ground again. Every sense in my body was saying "stop" and "you can't do this." But I took a deep breath (okay, many deep breaths...and some shallow ones too), said in a tiny voice in my head "You can do this," and took my first step. Voila. I made it. I even went again, down a taller, more advanced cliff. 


Today I found myself saying over and over again, this time in a louder, more self-assured voice in my head, "You can do this. You can do this. Keep going. Keep going." I could do it. I did it. 


Okay so it was three minutes, not thirty. But it's another step in the right direction. Like I said, I'm goal oriented. If I have a goal set in front of me, I can put myself in the mindset to reach it. That's what I'm working for each day, little by little. Each workout is my short-term goal for the day. I don't know where I'll be in about ten weeks when this program will be behind me, but my goal is to at least finish. So here I am, putting the "running" in Running Fish. 


Signed,


RF

To do: save the world

I know I said I wouldn't write a list, but I lied. I'm writing one anyways. I can't help it. I'm a compulsive list taker.

This is my list (as of now) of things I plan to include in my branching out/ reinventing the way I live process as I explained in my first post. If you're not bored to tears with that can of paint analogy, think of each bullet as a can. If you are, promptly erase that last sentence from your short term memory and move on.

1. Keep working on martial arts. I've been training in the Isshin-Ryu style for a year this August. It's a form of karate. I love it. It challenges me. It gives me something completely new to learn. It's something I can't learn from wikipedia or books, though books help round out the history knowledge. It's something I will never be "done" achieving because it's a life long discipline but with the same hat it's something I will have with me forever. It's something I can't fully explain how it has changed me.

The water goddess of Isshin-Ryu also known as the Mizugami. There's some debate apparently about the name Mizugami, some call her Megami and claim the former is incorrect. My Sensei, whom I have the utmost respect for, calls her the Mizugami. That's enough for me, people can debate all they want. She's painted on our dojo wall and quite frankly, I think she's kick ass.

2. Train up to run a mile, nonstop. When I get there, run two. And so on.

3. Write a novel. In the mean time, just write. Write write write write. I love to write.

4. Write a blog post at least once a week, minimum of 100 words or about in length. This idea is manifold, one being it's a way to keep the blog up and moving, it's also a way to develop my writing (practice makes perfect, right?), it's a creative outlet, it's an excellent reflection tool, it's fun. The word limit is because I know it might get difficult once I'm back in the swing of things with my classes to take the time to write for pleasure. I'm going to do it anyways. Thank you Lakota for this idea.

5. Creative cooking! Try new recipes. Try old ones. Experiment.

6. Get thrifty! Be on the look out for old clothes and accessories. Try repurposing some things most would never wear again.

7. Break out those water colors again. One of my favorite sections of my art class in high school was water color painting. I still find myself, especially if I'm driving at dawn or dusk, staring at the horizon and thinking about how I'd mix my water colors to get the right colors and the right contrast and depth in a painting.

8. Container gardening. I've already started a small container garden complete with two pepper plants and a cilantro plant. I have plans to incorporate other veggies and herbs but for now my goal is to keep what I have alive. This should be interesting as I've never been successful with keeping plants alive. I bought a cute yellow mum and stuck it in a fun red pot to brighten up my dorm a few years ago. Suffice it to say, a month later the pot was in a box, empty, on its way back to home base where it has sat ever since on the back porch. There's a first time for everything!

Here's my little garden now. I bought them already partially grown as it's too late in the season to start from seed. That will be next year's endeavor, with close advising from Momma and the internet. I have a pepper bud on each plant and my cilantro has already grown a good 1/2 inch!

9. Archery. Tapeworm recently came to me and said he wanted to take up archery as a routine activity. I couldn't agree more. We're both experienced with archery from years of Boy Scouting and Venturing. I learned a little from Girl Scouts, as well. I will say that this sport is surprisingly expensive to get into, given that you pretty much need just a bow and a set of arrows. I suppose one could even shoot off arrows in your back yard, depending on its size and as long as you live in a place that doesn't specifically prohibit it. Then you'd need a target. I live in an unincorporated part of the county and as such, we have no city ordinances to obey. Yay freedom! But jeepers, bows are expensive! This will be a sport that will take some time to work up to.

10. Learn to shoot (better). I've been shooting guns for a fair number of years now. At this point I own one and reload the ammo. I love target shooting. My favorite thing is to go to a steel plates range. The targets are set up similarly to the creepy fuzzy critters that are lined up in rows at various amusement parks and arcades, where people throw balls at them to knock them down? Think that only there's steel circles instead of fuzzy critters, one row instead of three or four, you're at a much further distance from the target, and there's a gun involved. It's great fun. I'm content with indoor ranges though, too.

11. Take up biking again. Tapeworm and I usually bike quite a bit in late fall before it gets too icy and early spring before it gets too hot. There's a trail nearby that follows a river and it's lovely, except in the dead of summer (now) when the air is saturated with moisture and bugs. As fall is approaching, I will be taking this up again.

12. Go camping more. I haven't really gotten the chance to camp much in recent years. This makes me sad as I used to be an avid camper. I have all the gear still for this. Just need to actually go!

13. Photography. I love being creative with photography. I joined a photography club my Senior year of high school. I loved it so much, my parents got me a Nikon D40x that year for Christmas. I freaking love that camera. She's sitting with me right now.

14. Take a road trip. Take two. And so on. Go anywhere. A few hours or a lot of hours. Just because. Alone or with a friend. With two friends, maybe. Spend some money along the way or don't. Just go, see what I find. Take the camera along.

15. Read all the books I've been meaning to (some are re-reads) but haven't. They've piled up. Some include:

-To Kill a Mocking Bird

-I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

-The Lovely Bones

-Screwtape Letters

-The Great Divorce

-The Chronicles of Narnia

-Alice in Wonderland

-Till We Have Faces

-The Shack

-Abarat

16. Listen to the sermon more closely on Sundays. If it helps, take notes. Crack that bible more during the week. Read up some things that are "spiritually stimulating."

17. Do things that affirm to myself that I'm beautiful. Remove such words as: calories, fat, too fat, pudgy (and the like), heavy, weight, diet, etc. from my daily vocabulary, or at least in reference to me. Go through my wardrobe and take out everything that I don't wear anymore because it's too small. I've been the same size for about two years now. Put the items that I still like and I might wear again someday in a box. Donate the rest. With the remaining items, play around with different combinations. Make some new, funky outfits! Do a "glamour shot" photo shoot either alone or with friends. Strike some funny poses. Experiment with fun eye make up. Find a new perfume to try. "Dress up," i.e. wear something besides a t-shirt and jeans, a minimum of three days out of the week- be bold! Try new hairstyles. Say "you look pretty today" to yourself instead of "ew, my hair looks gross."

That's all for now. There will be more in the future.

College student by day, closet cook by night

In spirit of my new "take life by the reins" (or whatever) attitude, I made a spur of the moment decision the other day to make a pie. Stay tuned for the story and the pie making itself. If you just want to hear about the delicious pie (it was delicious) then just scroll your happy self down a bit. For those who are left, here I go.

This post is actually a recycled post I wrote to feature as a guest writer on a friend of mine's blog. At the time my own blog was naked and shivering in the nether lands of the web and I didn't feel like retrieving it. I've since reconciled myself to the idea of blogging and thus my blog is nice and toasty on my bookmark bar.

Yes, cooking was one of those "cans of paint" I've been admiring (see my previous, and first, post). It's actually something I've done sporadically, without a whole lot of thought, for a while and I have to say I feel that I can hold my own with most recipes.

About a month or so now, said friend (the one with the blog?), we'll call her Lakota, introduced me to the website of a woman known as the Pioneer Woman. Her real name is Ree Drummond and her full story can be found on her site. Do me a favor, take that link really quickly...bookmark the site and tag as "awesome site I will get addicted to"...then return here. PW.com is chalk full of recipes and gardening happenings and all sorts of other goodies and it will take positively hours, nay days to get through it all. Okay weeks. Don't even get me started on her real life love story. Oh. my. It's going to be a book, apparently. She also has a cookbook out. It can be found at Barnes and Noble and most other retail book stores. I just like B&N. This post should only take you a few more minutes to read. Then you can go sell your soul.

(time for said link following, bookmarking, and redirecting, possibly more link following to explore the cookbook dets, and then another redirect)

Back? Okey dokes. So Lakota and I were at our favorite coffee shop down by the river the other day. Pie day, coincidentally. She had been raving about this Raspberry Cream Pie that Ree had on her blog, which L tried and well, it was apparently amazing because she still hasn't shut up about it (I say this in an endearing sort of way). During the course of our discussion, one of us suggested that other berries could be subbed into the recipe in place of the raspberry-ness. An avid strawberry goer myself, I was at the market getting the items I didn't already have before I knew what was happening.

The rest of this post is my adventure with my modified version of the Pioneer Woman's recipe, though I can hardly call it "my version" as I think most people who can differentiate a fork from a cooking pot can figure the adjustment out. Anywho, here we go:

Enter the guests of honor: sugar, strawberries, heavy whipping cream, butter, vanilla pudding, strawberry yogurt*, Oreos, AND of course, Ree’s website tuned to the Raspberry Cream Pie recipe.

*I happened to only have white chocolate strawberry yogurt in my fridge. I was concerned for all of five seconds before realizing, what’s wrong with more chocolate? So there you go.

The first part of the recipe called for precisely 25 oreos. As this was said to be very crucial, I followed the recipe exactly. Here’s the first one.

Now two.

...and three. Oh you get the point.

Here's the 25 count mark!

Ahem.

Here we go, everyone present and accounted for.

I smooshed them all in a ziploc bag. PW suggests a food processor, but mine bit the dust eons ago. I also don’t know where my rolling pin is, as PW suggested alternatively. A can o’ green beans sufficed. Smash smash smash. PW's Oreos were blended very nicely while mine came out chunkier due to my method. I feel the taste was the same, so no harm done.

To the already gloriuos mixture, I poured the melted butter. This created a substance so heavenly that I could have sat down right then with a spoon and a marathon of America’s Next Top Model and be content as a cucumber. Alas, I did not.

BAD camera focus! I even dragged out my SLR cause my point and shoot decided to hate me. This wasn’t one of my SLR’s best shots, but we’ll chalk that up to operator error and digress. This is the glorious concoction. Isn’t it glorious?

While the crust was baking, I was anxious to continue (plus I had someplace to be in approx 1.5 hours time so I was in a bit of a hurry to keep things moving along). So I began smashing my strawberries.

Ladies and gents, this isn’t as easy with strawberries as it is with raspberries, I discovered. Future reference: this is another time a food processor would be handy in this recipe. I suggest a super low setting, however, as you don’t want to puree your fruit. If you’re food processor-less like me, I suggest strawberries that are almost too ripe for consumption. Your wrist will thank me someday.

One hazard of going it my route is flyaway fruit. My three legged dog, however, didn’t mind this. Like most dogs, he’s a garbage pail. So fork away!

Next I mixed the white chocolate strawberry yogurt and the instant vanilla pudding together. Again, this flavor yogurt was a fluke. I’d suggest the logical route of going with just plain strawberry yogurt as a sub for the raspberry variety called for in Ree’s recipe.

The pie crust finished baking at some point around here. Ree is clear to wait until the crust has completely cooled before continuing with the rest of the recipe. Again, I was in a hurry, and I hate to wait anyways. So I popped this puppy in the freezer. Yes, I cheated. NOTE: I waited about 5 minutes first so the pan wasn’t just out of the oven hot AND I put a hotpad underneath to protect my freezer shelf. I am not responsible for any freezer damage caused by this pursuit in any of my readers (I say this as if tons of people are reading this. Oh when will I ever stop dreaming? Never!). I’m just saying what I did.

My cats disapproved of this shenanigan. Note the second cat’s tail towards the right. Goofballs.

Next I added in the heavy whipping cream and whipped the crap out of the mixture. I pride myself in being a thrifty college student so when I was at the grocery picking up the cream and the Oreos I didn’t have, I was inclined to purchase the $1.29 regular whipping cream instead of the $1.99 heavy whipping cream. I did however opt for the “fancy” version as I was intent on sticking to the PW recipe as much as possible. This of course was nixed when I discovered the yogurt situation once I returned home. Oh well. This part at least was right.

I added the sugar to the berries that I had forgotten to do pre-mushing, waited five minutes of the fifteen suggested to let the berries soak in the sugar, and plopped them into the cream mix. Plop... This. Smells. Amazing. By the way. And tastes good too. I had to get a new spatula for the next step as I licked the first one clean.

Now nicely cool, I retrieved my pie crust and dolloped the cream filling stuff on top. I don’t have a spiffy pie plate like Ree does, so I couldn’t make the crust climb the sides of the pie as nicely as hers. Oh well. I smoothed the mixture out evenly and made sure it was nice and flat.

I retrieved another oreo and sacrificed it to the green beans can. I would like to add a disclaimer that approximately 29 oreos were indeed harmed during the making of this treat (I confiscated more than the prescribed one, for quality control reasons you understand).

In plenty of time to go fight hunger, I topped off this delicious pie with that last Oreo’s crumbles. Magnifique!

Before dashing out the door, I left this note to my fellow house dwellers. There would most likely have been no pie left had I not written such a note. I should add that I wasn't fighting hunger at all. That would have been a good way to spend my evening. No, I had a Disney movie date with a friend, Belle I shall call her (that is intentional and a complete coincidence here).

The complete pie went to the freezer, where it literally chilled for a few hours. After returning to my sleeping household, I slipped it into the fridge where it hung out until the following evening when it was enjoyed by my very happy family. They appreciate my spontaneous pie making endeavors.

Thus I made my world (and my family's, for that matter) a little brighter with this rather easy to make cream pie. Props to Ree Drummond the Pioneer Woman for the inspiration and for just being awesome.

Signed,

RF the closet cook