Month: September 2017

Sweet Potato Stir Fry

Fall is finally here! It rained the other day for the first time in god knows how long. Seattle has this reputation for rain, but it’s pretty dry in the summer. The smell of autumn rain has always imbued me. There’s something about the smell and grey that brings out these subtle yet deep moods. Even my cat friends want to snuggle up closer for warmth!

Because we are now getting less sun, I have to be extra diligent on limiting sugar intake and instead focus on eating super healthy and exercising often. The last thing I need is to exacerbate the ol’ seasonal depression like what happened in New Zealand. I also start getting into denser foods when the weather cools down. While I prefer lighter and fresher foods in the summer, once the weather starts cooling down, my body starts craving heavier produce, like root vegetables and tubers. It’s a common thing for many people.

This sweet potato dish here has carbs and protein that keep you going longer with energy. We’re still waiting for squash to arrive. Then again, fall has just started, so we will need to be a little patient. In the meantime, I do have some root vegetables and sweet potatoes that need to be used. My favorite kind of cooking is one where I can just throw ingredients together, and 99% of the time, it comes out pretty good. I do measure things out the first time I make something. The second time I make it, I adjust to taste. It’s foolproof. 

Here, you have some options. You can use black beans or chick peas. You can either mix them in or have them on the side. If you can’t stand beets (and I know some of you do), then feel free to leave them out. But kale and sweet potato are two things that just go together.

Did I mention the colors of the veggies are very pretty?

Sweet Potato Stir Fry

Ingredients: 

  • 1 sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1 beet
  • 3 cups of chopped kale
  • 2 Tbsp of coconut oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1 can of drained chick peas or black beans

Heat oil, and then sauté onions until caramelized. Add the salt, which will help draw the water out of the onions. Add minced garlic and stir for 30 more seconds.

Add the chopped sweet potato. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring every other minute. Then add the beets. Cook for 5 minutes. Then add the kale. Keep stirring until the kale breaks down enough (about 3 minutes or so), but don’t overcook it.

Add the dried herbs and keep stirring to mix them into the veggies. 

Optional: you can stir in the chick peas or whatever beans you like. Or you can have them on the side. It’s totally up to you. Enjoy!

Of Changing Seasons and Infinity Mirrors

(Translation of “Song of a Manhattan Suicide Addict”)

Swallow antidepressants and it will be gone

Tear down the gate of hallucinations

Amidst the agony of flowers, the present never ends

At the stairs to heaven, my heart expires in their tenderness

Calling from the sky, doubtless, transparent in its shade of blue

Embraced with the shadow of illusion

Cumulonimbi arise

Sounds of tears, shed upon eating the color of cotton rose

I become a stone

Not in time eternal

But in the present that transpires

It’s the first week of September, which means that fall is practically here! But first, the Pacific Northwest had another heatwave to go through before the weather starts cooling down. We hope that was the last of it.

Seattle Art Museum has a special exhibition called Infinity Mirrors, featuring the work of Yayoi Kusama. It was my third attempt to see the show. Tickets sold out the other two times, so this time I waited in line since 7:30 in the morning. Dedication, bitches.

Being immersed in infinite reflections with lights, colors, polka dots was such a magical, unforgettable experience. Each visitor is allotted 20-30 seconds for each room. Every second almost seemed like a small eternity. There was something meditative about just being present and taking in all of art. This experience was an opportunity to learn something. I noticed that when I was lost in those infinite spaces, nothing else bothered me or even crossed my mind.

Currently, the season is changing and we have a smokey haze up in Seattle, thanks to wildfires blazing through Washington and Oregon. It is raining ash, and the smoke has been irritating everyone. The sun above has an eerie red haze like it’s the apocalypse, and it’s especially rough for those who have respiratory issues.

We hope rain is coming soon, because that will hopefully dampen the fires. We’re all relieved that the weather is cooling down, at least.

Speaking of change, even after a month of coming back from traveling, it’s still sinking in. Most of the week had been spent fighting anxiety attacks and the doldrums, maybe because I’ve been running out of medication and have been going through some terrible withdrawals.

The moods were sinking in, taking me with them. Then a voice cautioned, “now, you do have a choice…”

It’s like rock climbing or bouldering. Sure, you could let go and stay falling. I’m pretty sure some people would understand. Or you could summon your strength to move on and keep resting on that.

It involves staying very present. It’s supposed to be effortless, but at the same time it is deceptively simple. It’s like a muscle that has to stay flexed. It might get tired and it might give way a little, but that’s exactly why it wants to keep building. Making it a point to stay in gratitude, instead of focusing on what’s missing.

That confidence muscle gets tired sometimes. Medication withdrawals are no joke. But I try to find ways to let go of the resistance built up inside. It’s the tightening of the grip of my mentality and at the same time keeping the soul tender. I at least still have that soft and creamy center. Always do your best, as they say.

So, when I lost myself in the Infinity Mirrors show, it was a lesson that we don’t have to look so hard to enjoy what’s around us. Like the red sun in our Pacific Northwest skies, being obscured by smoke makes it hard to shine clear and bright. Being lost in thought leads to a very cloudy lens, doesn’t it?

Maybe we don’t have to fight ourselves so hard. I noticed that builds up more resistance. Maybe we could just focus on what is going right in our lives and rest on that.

I am starting to learn that staying present really can stretch infinitely.