Christmas Eve

One more day at the shop until I get a little winter break. From solstice to solitude with a work rush in between. I have never worked retail during the holidays. Catering, yes. Restaurants and film sets - sure, but retail - not once. This year I told the folks at the herb bar that I would help on the floor when things got hairy and it was both a joy and at times a challenge. Because that’s how humans are. We are both things. Something about the holidays intensifies that contrast though. Over the last few days I’ve felt utter love from total strangers and I have been chewed out in record time by some people I would be fine with never seeing again. It was nice to be in a place with life to not take it personally. To know that that’s their shit. What a gift it is to be able to shrug off other peoples shit. In the past I would have let those people ruin my day and then drank a lot about how “people are the worst” when I got off of work. Making me no better than them. there is always going to be a Scrooge. No matter the season. Holiday or not. Our job is to make sure that we aren’t playing that role. While I was gathering some last minute orders I was listening to a podcast of some analysts looking at Dicken’s Christmas Carol through a Jungian lens. It was interesting and I learned a few things. First of all I think I might like to befriend some analysts. Secondly I learned that the definition of Humbug is lies. I was surprised I didn’t already know this but what an apt year to learn it’s meaning. It’s basically the Not So Happy Holidays way of saying Fake News. Anyway, I hope you are all feeling cozy and grateful wherever find yourself in this moment.

Day 349: Freezer waffle Sandwich with peanut butter, bananas, pecans, pumpkin seeds, crunchy quinoa, a drizzle of coconut cream and a dash of spirulina. Bloobs on the side. Spirulina is incredibly good for you. This isn’t a full serving by any means but tiny doses add up throughout the week. I use a lot of powdered supplements as garnishes on my food. In the winter especially because I am less like to make myself a smoothie which is how I would normally ingest these things. Try it. However I do not suggest spirulina on popcorn.. I tried it and was not thrilled. I’ll be sticking with my nutritional yeast.

Spirulina aka Blue-green algae has protein, B vitamins, Copper, Iron, Potassium, Manganese, Magnesium.. it’s an MVP in the land of nutrition. It has well earned the title of superfood and you can find it in nearly every grocery store.

Eccentricities

I feel that in sobriety everyone comes to the fun realization that they are a bit eccentric. That’s probably one of my favorite things about the sober community. We are a surprising bunch. You never know what we will get into. As we regain our energy and find that we have more time on our hands we start to spend it in new surprising ways. I have friends who took up mambo lessons, opened a bike shop, or started making their own fireworks, guitars, guns, bread, caftans… Others who learned to speak mandarin, train dogs for a living, remodel homes, become MMA fighters, counselors and well, the list is just endless. I too have done a lot of things with all my new energy and time that surprised me. Things I maybe talked about but never followed through on. Some things that had never dawned on me before. I went back to school, I taught myself how to animate and then even took some classes on that front. I finished a series of paintings (depressive, still-life, shy nudes - I like to call them). I picked up my camera again and got to know my neighborhood really well and then… I started foraging. Weekly. Sometimes daily. If you would have told me I’d be nearly forty and roaming around my neighborhood with a big fat grin on my face shaking down and climbing up all my neighbors trees on the reg I would have felt very misunderstood but, you would have been right. This year I have come home with peaches, dandelion greens, blackberries, loquats, onions, pecans, grapefruits, limes, chives, mustang grapes and herbs that helped me survive the heat and any anxiety that was creeping around. Right now citrus is in season. These little satsuma oranges are sweet, easy to peel and to pilfer as it turns out. Before you wag your finger at me for thieving - I only forage things I see going to waste. A lot of people around here ignore their fruit trees. I’m simply filling the void and showing my gratitude for the abundance I live in. What grows in your neighborhood? What seemingly weird hobby have you picked up in sobriety?

Day 310: Sautéed kale, scallions, red potatoes, leftover steak, loads of garlic and serranos with pumpkin seeds, pecans and bloobs. I cooked it all with a little ghee and added some lemon at the end. The citrus helps you absorb all the iron in the greens and having been anemic back in my drinking days I do what I can to keep anemia at bay.

What is new and good? V

Welcome back for the fifth edition of What is new and good?

Mercury retrograde is over! If the last three weeks have felt like a long and not so funny blooper reel you’re about to get a break. As Mercury goes direct we can all look forward to better communication, fewer misunderstandings, less technological glitchiness and generally smoother times.

Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey donated $3 million to introduce universal basic income to several US cities that want to give the idea a go. It’s awesome to see someone with means give a crap about the wealth gap. High fives to Jack!

Today is Sir Patrick Stewarts 80th birthday! No, he’s not new BUT his longevity definitely falls into the category of good. He has done so much with in his career and so many awesome things with the celebrity it has brought him.

last but not least.. these Pecan flour pancakes are new and good. My best friend came upstairs for breakfast this morning and she is currently keto and I wanted to throw something together that she could enjoy without breaking her stride. We share a love for pancakes so I danced this keto friendly idea around. They were good but they could be better. I’ll play with the recipe and post it in the future.

Day 180: Pecan Flour Pancakes with yogurt, banana, blueberries, chia, pumpkin seeds, crunchy quinoa, honey and nasturtium flowers.

What is new and good? II

A while back I mentioned that all of my work calls start off with a little round of “What is new and good?” I want to turn that into Monday ritual here on Naked and Eggs. Kicking the week off with some gratitude couldn’t hurt. So let’s get into it! I’ll go first. What IS new and good?

1. I have taken on a few private clients as a health coach and they have all been a lot of fun to work with! This new line of work is proving to be even more satisfying than I originally imagined. I feel more optimistic right now than I have since maybe January. Can’t spit at that.

2. My handstand game is getting strong! It is amazazing what daily practice will do for you.

3. All my tomatoes are starting to come in and they are beautiful! I generally do not eat a lot of night shades. They can cause inflammation. BUT in an effort to eat more (or strictly) seasonally I’ve decided to just let myself enjoy all the tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and eggplants the world is dishing out right now with wild abandon. My gut tells me that the Mother Nature knows what I need to be eating and when so I’ll roll with it until I am given a reason not to. Come what may!.. As they say.

That feels like a good place to stop. I’d love to hear from all of you in the comments! Let me know what is new and good in your world.

Day 159: Kale salad with coconut oil and brags amino acids, cucumbers, zebra tomatoes (grown by yours truly), marinated tofu and sesame seeds. Not pictured: The banana I ate while I made this salad situation happen.

One Hundred

One hundred days in and while this isn’t exactly where I thought any of us would be in the spring of 2020… I remain grateful and optimistic. I cracked my gratitude journal this morning while I ate breakfast. Today’s entry went like this:

I am grateful…

• To have a safe space to call home

• To my family and community for the support, care and inspiration they bring.

• For my garden. For what it is and what it is becoming.

• To have found sobriety before this all hit. This situation would be extra challenging if I were still numbing my feelings and managing hangxiety.

• My past self who hoarded away a bunch of art supplies, tea and bath bombs. They are keeping me grounded and entertained.

• For all the odd jobs I’ve worked over the years.. for making me feel like I am capable of anything.

• Bananas… I just fucking love bananas.

Day 100: Grilled Ba-cchini sandwich with skyr and bloobs. It’s not the Mona Lisa but it was really fucking tasty. I had a hard time sleeping last night so I set out to make some banana bread. Thing was, I didn’t have enough bananas.. so then I redirected and thought I’d make some zucchini bread.. but there wasn’t enough zucchini for that either. Splitting the difference was a win. 10/10 would make a gain.