Mary Makes Dinner

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: Asia

Day Eighteen

It just makes sense that sooner or later I give a big "thank you" to the continent that has fascinated me with its food and culture for so many years.  I've had an unlikely tie to Asia all my life.  For starters, the house where I spent my most precious childhood years was a tudor designed by a Japanese Architect.  

His son came to visit us once when I was very little.  He wanted to tour his father's favorite house, the one he called "The House of the Setting Sun".  When the house was first built, you could see the whole New York City skyline from the living room's picture window.  Every evening, the sun would set right behind it, painting New York in a heavenly glow of pink and orange.  By the time I arrived, Yonkers and the Bronx had been built up with many more tall buildings, obstructing the view quite a bit.  It was still a beautiful sunset though.  If I could move back in to that house tomorrow, I would.

As a kid, my Dad would take my little sister, Heather, and I out for sushi whenever we went to work with him.  It was a real treat to run loose in his office, spinning desk chairs, and raiding the snack machines, but sushi lunch was a big part of the attraction.  I felt so adventurous while slurping up the slippery raw fish.   Sushi remained a favorite food of mine, and in my late teenage years I started working at a sushi restaurant.

I've told the the stories of my Japanese restaurant years and my time in China before, so I won't repeat all that.  But did you know that Pearl S. Buck is one of my very favorite authors?  I've read just about everything she ever wrote, at least everything I've gotten my hands on.  

Religion is probably the area where the great Eastern continent affected my life most.  My parents have always been rather experimental when it comes to their faith.  My Dad, a recovering Catholic, has been everything from Born-Again Christian to Zen Bhuddist over the years.  He's lately settled into Unitarian Universalism, which seems to really suit him well.  My sisters and I accompanied him through these explorations of faith, and our paths continued to wind even after his had paused for a while.  I was fascinated by pagan religions for a long time, during which I became involved with a vast community of wiccans, druids, and the like.  The lustre eventually wore off though, and again I was set adrift, wondering what it all meant.  Over the past few years I have begun to realize that of all the faiths, religions, and philosophies I have studied, the one that has always stuck is Buddhism.  Nothing comes closer to describing the ideals and outlook that I have come to at this point in my life.  

I've spent a lot of time lately reading up on Buddhism, in preparation for starting a family.  Being adrift spiritually is a path that I don't exactly regret growing up with.  In fact, I'm thankful that my parents encouraged us to find our own truths rather than handing us a religion.  I think that it forced me to become a more introspective person, and that is something I value about myself.  However, after a lot of consideration (and a lot fof debate with my husband, a devout athiest) I've decided to raise my own kids (when they finally get here) with the guidance of Buddhism.  Hopefully, having a philosophy to refer to will help make teaching them things like morality and spirituality easier than it would be without it.  We'll see.

So, thanks, Asia!  I hope to explore you in person a little more during my lifetime.  India is definitely on my list, as are Japan and the South Pacific.  Hope to see them all soon!

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: Keeping Busy

Days Twelve to Seventeen

I've fallen a wee bit further behind than I really should have on my 30 Days With a Grateful Heart Project, so to catch up, I'm going to fill you in on all of the wonderful things that have been keeping me too busy to blog about them.  

Christmas shopping for these guys:

We are up to eight nieces and nephews, EIGHT!  It's an amazing blessing to have so many wonderful kids in our life.  They are some of our favorite people in the world, even though most of them are still awfully small.  Happy Holidays, R.J., Andrew, Lucas, Bridget, Oliver, Gia, Nico, and Anthony!

Squash

I just can't quit eating squash.  First it was spaghetti squash, now butternut. I'm loading up on beta carotene, and having a blast experimenting with this savory yellow stuff.  I'm pretty grateful that I gave it a try, because it is quickly becoming a favorite food.  Here are some of my recent adventures in squash:

• Curried Squash Stew
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Spaghetti Squash Lo Mein
• Spaghetti Squash with Garlic, Wine & Tomato

Holiday Baking

These are Magic Bars.  I got the recipe from Christy of Epicuriosities.com.  They are made from layers of grahm crackers, candy, and coconut, and I am looking forward to gifting a huge batch of them to family, friends, and folks at my dear hubby's office.  Baking has always been a little bit tricky for me, so I'm grateful to be getting over it, one sweet treat at a time. 

Quilting

Another thing I lacked patience for in my youth was quilting.  I've always liked to sew, but I was sort of a renegade.  I hated patterns, detested rulers, and avoided any and all reason when I approached a sewing machine.  Though I still have an aversion to following patterns, I have developed a liking for order.  There is something mysteriously calming about making rows of patchwork.  For a perfect rainy afternoon give me some beautiful fabric, a pair of speakers blasting an estrogen packed playlist, and a series of empty hours.  Me and the machine will happily hum along. 

New Winter Traditions

You know that feeling you get when you meet someone and get along immediately, as if you'd grown up side by side?  You don't always know it right away when you meet your best friends, but sometimes you do.  Sometimes you arrive in a place for the first time and get hit with a wave of backwards nostalgia.  That's what it was like visiting The Zilker Christmas Tree last week.  I couldn't help but imagine my future kids spinning around under the lights until they fall over, dizzy and giggling.  I get that feeling a lot in Austin.  My bones feel at home here.

My Saucy Mustache

Don't they always say that something comes along when you stop looking for it?  It was certainly true when it came to my latest Etsy project.  I've been crafting and selling on Etsy since it launched, way back when.  My first shop was called Fiberfly, where my sister and I sold hand dyed yarns and roving.  Later, I opened Green Dreams, a bath & body shop, and just after that, Scribble Nation.  Scribble Nation was my longest running shop.  My friend and I crafted a huge variety of intentionally silly things, and even had a web site full of tutorials and kitschy crafts to go along with it.  During our moving and shuffling around the last couple of years, I took a short break from Etsy, than came back with Gora Handmade, now called Mary Makes Pretty, where I sell little bags and pretty things that my Mom and I make together.  Though I enjoyed working on all of these shops over the years, none of them ever enjoyed much notable success.  That is, until my latest project began earlier this year.  

My Saucy Mustache was invented by my younger sister, Caity.  I ran with the idea with the intention of rustling up a little extra spending money.  I didn't give the whole thing much thought, but perhaps that was the magic touch the shop needed.  This holiday season I have made, literally, hundreds of mustache beer markers.  It has been insane.  I've even made enough money to invest in a die-cutter to take the shop to the next level.  Who would have guessed?  People love mustaches. 

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: My Day Job

Day Eleven

I bet you didn't know that in addition to writing about food, I also write about skin care.  In fact, writing about skin care, formulating DIY recipes, designing kits, and marketing ingredients is what I do for a living.  It's not a bad gig, and the best part is that I get to do it all from my home.  That allows me to make my own hours, giving me plenty of flexibility so that I can focus on all the things I love, like cooking, playing music, and making funny little mustaches.  

Tahitian Black Sand

I've worked for From Nature With Love, a family owned skin care and soap making ingredient supplier for many years.  During my time with the company I have done anything and everything from running their warehouse to working in their bulk divisions sales departments.  Long before I began working on their blog I was melting cocoa butter, packing boxes, answering telephones, and tagging along at trade shows.  It was only after I made a commitment to myself to start working creatively full time that I found my true niche in the company. 

Jelly Bean Lip Balm Kit

So, in August 2007, I began working from home as a natural skin care blogger under the pen name, Emmy.  I'd been formulating recipes on my own for years, and working hands-on with the ingredients had given me a deep familiarity with them.  I studied, and wrote, and experimented every day, and over four years later I can say with confidence that I have become an expert on the topic of natural and handmade skin care.  I can "cook" up just about anything from my kitchen, (and lecture you on the benefits of whatever ingredients I'm using while I'm at it).  Along the way I became a better writer, and a much more advanced photographer.  I've learned the ins and outs of social networking, and I even taught myself to use Adobe design programs.  

Bath Tub Whoopie Pies I have a habit of creating food related skin care recipes. Coincidence? 

So my time during the day is well spent, sharpening skills that I use to pursue my passions, and providing me with a constant creative outlet.  These days it is lucky enough just to have a steady job.  Having one you actually enjoy?  That's worth some extra gratitude. 

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: Hmmf

Day Ten

What am I grateful for today?  To be honest, today I am sort of bumming out.  I'm feeling a little bit mopey, a little bit insecure.  I feel like if I started waxing poetic about something that it might feel forced.  I like to keep things genuine, as this 30 day project seems to be turning into a diary of sorts.  

Here's how I feel this morning.  I woke up later than I had planned, which always puts a damper on things.  Waking up to the day already running late makes you feel like defeat is just around the corner.  Anyway, I tried to shake it off with hot coffee, a quick breakfast, and throwing myself into work.  But then I spilled the coffee and burnt my bagel.  I find no relief from the gloom in my email either,  or even in long term projects.  Everything today seems frustrating, harder than it should be.  

How easy it would be to let the haze of mope envelop me.  I could just call out sick and lay in bed counting the imperfections in myself and in my life, but where would that get me?  I would be in the same place tomorrow, now wouldn't I?  So in the spirit of this challenge I must find a silver lining to this cloud called Thursday.  But what could it possibly be?  As I am typing the answer has come. 

Friday.

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: Unexpected Challenges

Day Nine

It was the evening before Thanksgiving when my cell phone rang.  Our friend who was supposed to be roasting the twenty pound turkey for the next day was sick, and had to withdraw from the festivities.  I'd never roasted something so large, at least not at home, on my own.  The closest I had come was during school, but with a horde of other eager students' eyes to rely on, that wasn't really the same thing.  

For a moment, I wondered if we should just let it go, but my friend, Lauren, and I were determined to save Thanksgiving.  We met up that night and dressed the bird together, stuffing herbs and butter under its skin, rubbing it down with salt and pepper, stuffing it with garlic, and plugging it up with a gigantic orange.  When we were finished we gawked at how fancy it looked and shoved it back in the crowded fridge.  The next morning, my husband and I got up early to start roasting the turkey.  It took hours and hours, far longer than our calculations estimated.  But when it was done, it was the juiciest, most tender and flavorful turkey ever.

Sometimes the best challenges are the ones you don't see coming.  These are the things you don't have time to hem and haw over.  There's no room for over analyzing when a twenty pound turkey lands in your lap.  You just trust your gut and get it done, and after it is all over, you can sit back to enjoy a big plate of satisfaction.

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: Mexican Breakfast

Day Eight

Migas w/ Cheese & Bacon @ Amaya's Taco Villiage, Austin

I love me some migas.  This morning my husband and I met up with my sister and her mister for breakfast at Amaya's Taco Villiage.  Every Sunday my husband and I go to a different Austin restaurant for breakfast or brunch.  It's a weekly ritual that fills my tummy with joy.  Particularly today, when I polished off some tasty Migas with cheese and bacon. 

We've been to a lot of places for breakfast over the last several Sundays.  Some were great, others not so much, but it has been loads of fun trying out new restaurants.  Luckily, there is no shortage of breakfast in Austin.  (Just another thing that makes living here totally awesome.)  We've been on a Mexican kick for a while, and so far we've eaten breakfast at: Curra's, La Reyna, Amaya's Taco Villiage, La Fuentes, El Alma, Fonda San Miguel, Polvos, Sazon, and Taco Deli.  Our favorites so far have been:

• Fonda San Miguel - Their Sunday brunch is amazing, but at $50 per person, it's a little hard to swallow.
• Curra's - They have a huge breakfast menu, and their food is really great.  We tried the Huevos Mutelenos and the Chilaquiles.  Both were great.
• Taco Deli - Best tacos ever, and their breakfast tacos are both tasty & unique. 
• Sazon - We really like Sazon, so we weren't surprised to find their breakfast to be delicious!

Huevos Divorciados @ Sazon, Austin

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: Simple Dog

Day Seven

I'm teaching her to owl. (We had to start on something very low. I tried to get her up on a picnic bench, but so far she's not having it.)

She can balance clementines on her head.

Instead of walking, Gracie prances.

She's an optimist by nature.

She gets her kisses where she can.

She enjoys a good nap.

She'll follow me anywhere, but she'd prefer to lead.

She's my best buddy, and I'm very thankful that she found her way into our lives.  She's a good friend, even if she is a simple dog.

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: My Body

Day Six

Obesity seems to be on everyone's minds these days, and as a result, on everyone's lips, in every newspaper, on every television, pretty much everywhere else.  Though I am, of course, concerned with the health of my neighbors, and the sad state of our food supply here in what is supposedly a first world country, I have been feeling a certain itch whenever the subject is brought up.

This is me.  I'm not a small person, but I don't think that I am alarmingly large either.  I would consider myself on the large side of medium when it comes to my figure, or maybe the small side of large.  I'm not skinny, but I don't have to shop in the plus size section.  I'm chesty, curvy, and big butted.  I have been since I was in middle school, though in my younger days, what I considered to be fat, was actually quite a foxy figure.  I would love to be as "fat" as I was then.  It's boggling how diluded self image can be.

Health and happiness are important to me, so I try to stay active and to eat a healthy diet of whole foods, rich in varied vegetables and whole grains.  I indulge in sweets now and then, but try to keep a cap on things like snacks, alcohol and dessert.  I meditate.  I use vitamins, supplements, and juices to make sure that my body has everything it needs to keep up immunity and care for itself.  So, I consider myself to be fairly healthy.  I could stand to excersise a litte more, and maybe lose a few pounds, but I'm hardly a victim of national obesity, at least I don't consider myself to be.

So why do these conversations on obesity rub me the wrong way?  Why do news stories of overweight kids being taken from their parents unsettle me?  I guess it's because the obesity issue is starting to feel to me, a little like a witch hunt.  It's not illegal to be overweight, and really, it's not anyone's business if you are.  I feel like our culture has begun to really villaify overweight people, and it just doesn't sit right with me.  Does skipping the gym too often make me a bad person?  How about eating that second cupcake?  When we start to put people on a scale of worth based on their appearance, we are regressing.  And really, we don't have very far to regress.  It was only in this past century that Women and African Americans gained equal rights.  Our culture has barely overcome racism and sexism (and by barely, I mean not even close), so it isn't a far stretch to believe that people would wholly embrace "fatism".  It seems to be human nature to knock someone down so that you can feel taller.

There is a lovely post by Lindy West that really sums up how I've been feeling about all this.

Anyway, all of this obesity talk has left me more than a little insecure in regards to my looks.  I'd like to take today's moment of gratitude to thank my body for carrying me around the way that it does.  No matter how esthetically pleasing it is or isn't, it does a pretty good job, and I literally couldn't live without it.

• Thanks, body, for staying healthy, and allowing me to live another day.
• Thanks, muscles.  You've carried me up mountains, across towns, and over ocean waves.  Without you, my life would have been far less of an adventure.
• Thanks, guts, for fearlessly breaking down whatever I seem to throw at you.  I know that not all guts can handle such a wide variety of things, and I'm grateful that you can.
• Thanks bones, for remaining unbroken despite my clumsiness. (Except for you, right index toe, you need to get with the program.)
• Thanks, hands.  I could never express my gratitude for you, nor could I list the things you've made, or the times you have spoken for me on keyboards, pianos, or in simple gestures.  Please know that I treasure every finger, despite my apparent efforts to cut or burn them all off.
• Thanks, eyes, for allowing me to experience the beauty that is all around me.
• Thanks, ears.  If music is the food of the soul, you've fed me well.
• Thanks, mouth.  You've been a source of trouble as much as pleasure, and I wouldn't trade you for anything.
• Thanks, head.  You are a fortress of solitude, a wonderland of imagination, and a keeper of dreams, worries, and hopes.  At times, I may have lost you, but only figuratively. 
• Thanks, hair, for being an ever changing palette of reinvention.  I've cut you, dyed you, burnt you, and knotted you up, but you keep coming back.
• Thanks, curves, for being a part of who I am.  You attract some, and repel others.  Sometimes you make me feel sexy.  Other times you make me feel like a hot mess, but no matter my dress size, you never leave my side(s). 

Times are tough, and people are looking for someone to blame.  The obesity issue shouldn't be about hating fat people, it should be about taking a hard look at our nation's food culture, and it's food standards.  Healthy food in schools, yes!  Making education on nutrition and cooking available and affordable, yes!  Raising food safety standards, yes!  

Running anyone with a higher than average BMI out of town with torches and pitchforks, NO!  

Be kind to each other, people, and be kind to yourselves.

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: My Path to the Kitchen

Day Five

I haven't always been a good cook, a fact that my husband will happily attest to.  In our early days, before I understood anything about cooking, or my husband understood anything about eating, our meals were pretty sad.  I grew up in a vegetarian household, long before being a vegetarian was either trendy or convenient.  Most of our vegetarian meals consisted of overcooked vegetables and beans served over egg noddles or angel hair pasta.  My Mom claimed that it was a special dish she learned at the restaurant she worked in, but we kids weren't big fans.  We called it "Vegetable Mush".

When I got older and began working in restaurants, the only place that would hire an under aged, loud mouthed, back talking hoodlum like myself was a Japanese place one town over.  My days at Sushi Yoshi expanded my horizons quite a bit.  The owner, Richard, was a complete jerk, but a great cook, whose approach to Japanese cuisine was certainly ahead of its time.  Of course, the plumbing was hopeless, and there weren't enough dishes to serve a full house of customers, but hey, a job is a job, or at least it was back then.  Richard would often come up short on pay day, and to make it up to his younger staff (the ones he could put off paying) he would serve us lavish dinners after the restaurant closed.  Filet Sukiyaki, Toro Carpaccio, and all the sushi we could eat.  After dinner he would give us the keys to lock up, and ask us not to have "too much" fun.  There were nights when we drank ourselves silly and woke up the next morning in the tatami rooms with awful headaches.  

After getting jipped on tips or paychecks one too many times I moved on to a slightly more conventional workplace at Kabuki, a Japanese Steak and Sushi House in Danbury, CT.  Though my new boss, Tokiko, paid us on time, the restaurant had its own share of quirks.  I spent nearly ten years there, off and on, waiting tables, tending bar, and learning to cook whenever I could.  I tried for years to become a cook there, but the chefs and owners were old fashioned.  Being a woman, and not being Japanese, were just too many hurdles for them to jump.  So I spied instead, and learned to cook everything I could at home.  Of course, I never learned how to brew my own ponzu or teriyaki.  Nor did I ever get to practice breaking down a fish, but there is still plenty of life for me to live.  I'll get it one day.

Though I had been fascinated with Japanese food for a long time, it wasn't until I gave up my restaurant job that I began really cooking at home regularly.  It was actually more a matter of thrift than it was a passion for cooking that kept me in the kitchen back then.  Scott and I didn't make a whole lot of money, and we were in the process of trying to build a better life for ourselves.  We'd moved out of our dilapidated rented house, and into a cozy little condo, free from critters, vermin, or drafts.  We both had steady jobs, and we'd learned to pay bills on time and to budget our income.  We were really growing up, and cooking at home was a big part of making that all work.

What happened next was purely fate.  Just as we had gotten a hold of ourselves for the first time in our lives, an opportunity struck.  We decided to trade in our safe little life for a chance at something really exciting.  Scott joined our friend's band who had just been signed to a Chinese record label, and agreed to move overseas so they could tour hard for the following year.  We quickly got married, then packed up our life and crossed our fingers.

Though it didn't work out as we had imagined, and we ended up coming back to the U.S. only after three short months, our time in Beijing changed our lives in many ways.  For one thing, it banished any and all food perimeters that we had left by forcing us to eat what was available, for better or worse.  Mostly it was for better, since the food in Beijing is pretty amazing.  Of course, we couldn't eat out every night, and buying processed or pre-made American style foods was incredibly expensive, so I had to learn to cook anything we wanted to eat from scratch using one burner, a couple of hand tools, and a wok.

When American cooking became too frustrating I decided to take some Chinese Cooking Classes.  After all, I was surrounded by Chinese ingredients, and Chinese cook ware.  When in Rome, and all that.  It was during my first class, Dumpling Making, that I realized just how much I liked to cook.  Every time the teacher asked a question I knew the answer.  Every time a challenge was made, I gleefully accepted it.  It turned out, I was not squeamish about raw meats, nor was I afraid to get my hands dirty when kneading dough, or cracking eggs.  I was not afraid of knives, not even giant Chinese cleavers.  Handling flaming woks was thrilling, more thrilling than I could have imagined.  I loved to cook.  How could I not have known it, all those years?

And so, after that I never stopped cooking.  I enrolled in a culinary program shortly after returning from China, and started blogging right away.  When my husband and I were deciding where to go next, Austin made perfect sense.  Food and music, both of the things we love, are in abundance here in our new home.  I'm grateful for having ended up here, and for the path that brought us.

Want to see more photos of things we ate or cooked in China? 

30 Days With a Grateful Heart: Austin Farmers

Day Four

It isn't easy to grow food.  It takes long hours, tiresome work, and a persistent heart to make it as a farmer, especially when you are growing your food sustainably.  These days, the majority of America's food comes from gigantic factory farms.  Though they produce on mass, the impact they are having on our environment and our health is pretty scary.  Between dissappearing honey bees, ecolli contaminations, and GMO seeds, food is beginning to feel unsafe.  Throw in the use of commercial pesticides, soil erosion, and animal cruelty, and the thought of eating can turn your stomach.  

Beautiful, locally raised Rainbow Chard

But it doesn't have to be that way.  You can find access to small, family or community owned farms in almost every city in America, and the folks at these farms work hard to produce food that is raised with the kind of care that just isn't possible on a factory scale.  These farmers rise early and work hard every day, and it shows in the quality of the food they produce.

With factory farmed and processed foods becoming more and more dangerous, I'm awfully thankful that small farms exist in my community.  I'm grateful for being provided the option of safe, whole food, and I'm proud to support the honest work of my neighbors.  

Austin is especially lucky, as cities go, to have so many wonderful farms, markets, and CSA's available.  If you haven't had a chance to get involved with our local agriculture yet, you are in for a wonderful surprise.  Here are some resources to help you get started.

Saturday's visit to the SFC Downtown Farmer's Market

Edible Austin's List of Area CSA's CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  These programs work just like subscriptions.  You sign up with a local farm or CSA service, pledge a weekly or monthly amount, and receive a share of the farm's crop on a regular basis.  This guarantees you a fresh, seasonal supply of produce on a regular basis.

SFC Farmers' Markets The Sustainable Food Center hosts weekly farmers' markets at three locations: Sunset Valley(Saturday), The Triangle(Wednesday), and Downtown(Saturday)

Hope Farmer's Market The East Side's eclectic Sunday market with farm stands, local artists, and artisans.

Barton Creek Farmer's Market This market is held on Saturdays behind the Barton Creek Mall

Boggy Creek Farm Located on the East Side, Boggy Creek Farm keeps a stand open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, filled with tasty organic goodies.

LocalHarvest.org A valuable resource that can help you find farms, markets, and CSA's anywhere, not just in Austin!

Saturday's Farm Market Bounty: Chives, Dill, Squash, Chard, Beets, Eggplant & Broccoli