All Apologies

It has officially been a month of breakfast and here’s what I’ve learned..

Breakfast makes me like me more. It also makes me like you more.. I know intermittent fasting is all the rage but if we must, lets do that shit at night. When other people aren’t forced to interact with us. Since about a week into this little experiment I have noticed that I feel less anxious throughout the day. I roll with the punches and readjust with less effort. Also, I am far less likely to come to the conclusion that EVERYONE is the worst. Blood sugar is a legit thing, y’all. Take it seriously. So I feel apologies are in order. To anyone who has ever suggested that I need a snack, I am sorry. Turns out, I might have very much needed to eat something.

Beyond blood sugar levels, making myself breakfast means that my first efforts of the day are for me. Before work/life demands anything from me. It gets to be about me. Confession.. In my lifetime I have been prone to getting myself busy with what others need. At times I have done this whether they asked me to or not. Attending to their needs more than my own. People don’t like this. I didn’t like it either. So, I owe myself an apology too. Some call it co-dependency or self abandonment. Studies (and personal experience) show that this kind of behavior results in burn out and resentment. Double yuck. Waking up and checking in with myself as to what I need and what sounds good to me creates a trend for the rest of the day. It’s some self love stuff and it’s delicious. You could say eggs, oatmeal and waffles have become a new love language, for myself.

Looking forward to the next 334 days.

Day 31: HOT SALAD! Sautéed kale, scallion tops, tomatoes, romanesco with lemon, poached egg and spicy sprouts. Side of grapefruit.

Put the baby in the oven.

After yoga and a walk to the farm I was hungry enough to eat a baby. And that’s just what I did. Dutch babies are delicious and less fussy than actual babies or our traditional pancakes. Mix, pour into pan, throw in oven, wait. Success! Pillowy AND crunchy. I love it when things contradict themselves.

Day 31: Dutch baby, blueberry, kiwi and stolen grapefruit salad + cup of coffee

Try it for yourself.
1/2 flour
1/2 milk (whichever you fancy)
2 eggs
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp butter (for pan)

Blend ingredients and let them get comfortable with each other in the fridge for 15/20 minutes. preheat oven to 425. Heat pan. Melt butter. Pour in batter. Once it’s firmed up around the edges throw it in the oven for 15/20 minutes. It will deflate a little once it’s escaped the oven. Now you can put anything you like on top. Go nuts.

Hurrying ruins your vibe.. and your pants.

Typically I do not endorse eating on the run. Your body doesn’t really want you to multitask as you fuel up but, I failed to manage my time well this morning. So, I grabbed breakfast on the way to work. Moments after snapping this photo (more multitasking) I spilled my latte in my lap. Proving that if you need a little wake-me-up in the morning coffee is effective in any application. Drinking it is fine if you wanna gradually get that pep in your step but for instantaneous results (and inspiration for inventing new curse words) I suggest the pouring it directly on your crotch method.

Day 30: Avocado, egg and cheese taco + hot AF oat milk latte. * not pictured, one cinnamon sugar donut hole *

Ideal People?

Having a side of Sahdguru with breakfast this morning. Maybe you’d like some too?

Day 29: Steel cut oats, banana, blueberries and a lil maple syrup.

Soupin’

I love a cold cloudy day. It means there will be soup. As I gathered everything for breakfast I was pointing around in the fridge, firing off warnings.

“Later, you’re going in the soup!”
“I can see your future and.. it’s soup!”
“You, back there! I hope you can swim!”

Soup days are good days. Anything to help me release the rage inspired by Trump’s reality show State of the Union. Whoosah!

Day 28: Sweet potato, Anaheim peppers, leftover buckwheat & kale with fried egg & $avocado$

Day by day..

“…what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become.”

Last night was the Bartender’s Ball. I might be the only person in attendance that woke up today without a hangover. Years ago I was a bartender. Not a very good one. I was mean, forgetful and drunk a lot of the time. I hadn’t yet realized that I drank a lot to manage my social anxiety.. or that drinking has a habit of exacerbating ones anxiety. A viscous cycle. I didn’t know I was really unhappy or that what I was doing was making me more so. Life has changed a lot since then. Sometimes I fail to notice how much. I don’t drink anymore. I go to bed early and take care of myself. I know where all my shit is*. Keys, sunglasses, phone, debit card.. my car. I remember everything I said yesterday, and better yet, everything I agreed to. Ironically enough, today I started a new job.. in a bar. The Herb Bar! It’s the right kind of change showing up at the right time. Trading tequila for tea’s and tinctures. Here’s to becoming something different.

Day 27: Buckwheat with blueberries and bananas + seeds. Adrenalize Tea from, you guessed it - The Herb Bar.

*Big round of applause to everyone who put up with me back when I didn’t know where ANY of my shit was. Y’all rule.

A hermit and her cookies

Yesterday’s palindrome energy was weird. The whole day felt like two steps forward and two steps back. 02.. 02.. 2020. The feeling lingers. Anyone else with me on this? I’m moving it along though. Yoga. Coffee, Tarot. Breakfast. These two cards came out together. They illustrate my mood almost to a T. Part of me on guard so the rest of me can hermit away. Looking under all the proverbial rocks for the answers.. to anything.

Day 26: Fried egg over quinoa, sautéed greens, carrots and scallions + kimchi. Cookie on the side.
She who makes the cookies can have cookies whenever she likes.

Pain Perdu

Ooh la la! Oui, oui! Cul de sac! We have now exhausted my knowledge of the French language. It would be difficult, however, to exhaust the ways in which one can go about dressing up French Toast. Well, technically it is Roman toast but they seem to have let it go and we will too. Pain Perdu aka “Lost Bread”. Huh, maybe the Romans lost their rights to it during the conquest of Gaul?  I digress. You can make it out of any leftover bread.. or cake. Carrot cake is a win. Any old bread type matter will do. Encrust it in your favorite cereal, stuff it, make decadent breakfast sandwiches or go all Betty Crocker and shove it casserole style into the oven. It’s always cheap. Always easy yet makes you feel spoiled. Today I wanted to spoil myself. I put a teaspoon of Madhu Masala Chai in with the eggs. I’ll be doing this again.

Day 25: Chai French Toast with bananas, blue berries and almond butter maple syrup with flax, chia and cocoa nibs.

Madhu is made here in Austin. I highly recommend picking up one of their Cardamom (or better yet Lemon Coriander) chocolate bars. They’re amazazing.

Hot Potato.

This morning someone got on Wikipedia and changed the US Senate page, listing it as dead. Noting it died on January 31st, 2020, after “senators of the Republican Party refused to standup to a corrupt autocrat calling himself the president of the United States, refusing to hear testimony that said this individual blackmailed Ukraine in order to cheat in the 2020 presidential election.” Huzzah to whoever did this. This person rules. This person is my people. Changing some info on a website may seem insignificant but we all need to be heard when and where we can. This Mary Oliver quote comes to mind..

”Everybody has to have their little tooth of power. Everybody wants to be able to bite.”

It’s wild to think/know Trump will be acquitted. That the show will go on and his behavior will be found acceptable. Comfort yourself however you feel the need to.

Day 24: Baked sweet potato with kimchi, avocado, cilantro, 6 min egg, micro greens and seeds.

Classic

Did a little time traveling this morning. I was listening to a playlist created by my dear friend and once upon a time roommate, Michael. I believe it started out as something for his niece and nephew. Songs from when he and his brother were their age. It turned into a great project, Loose Standards. A coming of age playlist and memoir of the alt-era from one generation to another. It is insightful, well written and fun to sing along to. We will be putting this into heavy rotation here at Casa de Rue. It makes me feel like my younger self.. hence the classic myspace angle.

Day 23: One face sized blueberry pancake + Crab cake benedict + berries and bottomless coffee.

Consider the Banana

They don’t call it the worlds most popular berry for nothin’. Bananas are often the MVP of breakfast. They are sweet and full of potassium. They travel with ease and pair well with peanut butter. They’re perfect. Maybe too perfect. Turns out that bananas (being virtually seedless) are cloned. They walk alike. They talk alike. This means that they all stumble and fall alike as well. Due to our love of consistency and desire for perfection, banana plantations do not plant a variety of bananas. Just hulking plots of clones. This sets an expiration date for the whole damn production. If one clone gets sick there are no others around with genes that could potentially be resistant to whatever the threat may be. It’s stunning really. This common place fruit that’s equal parts loved and taken for granted doesn’t just kick off the day or gracefully rot on top of your fridge. It fuels economies of entire countries. And.. it offers yet another example of diversity being the solution.

Day 22: Smoothie featuring The Banana + kale, spinach, dates, almond butter & oat milk + Chia, sunflower, pumpkin & hemp seeds + Ashwaganda, alfalfa, spirulina, chlorella & moringa.

Pass the Prozac

I think I could put kimchi on everything. Imagine my glee when I stumbled across some kimchi ice cream the other night at Thai Fresh. Go ahead, make a yuck face all you want. I’m here to tell you it was totally delicious. Kimchi is magic. It’s like 10 Bill Murray’s showing up to your house party AKA the best time ever! It’s full of bacteria that effect your brain, nervous system, neurotransmitters, and stress hormones in positive ways. These good bacteria’s make us less reactive to stress. They also reduce anxiety and inflammation. Depression has been linked to brain inflammation. Kimchi is like Prozac. Stinky, spicy Prozac.. minus the “no fucking thanks” side effect of losing your sex drive.
Daily doses are recommended.

Day 21: Quinoa, kimchi, avocado with a fried egg on top.

This is fine.

A lot of my life is upside down right now. I am fighting with the state of Texas over it’s endless want to bring up old shit in regards to my driving record. I’m looking for a new, better fitting job. I’ve had some health issues that don’t seem to be killing me yet doctors haven’t been able to explain any of my ailments to me. They’re quite clear on the billing process though. Despite all of this, I feel good. Like that little meme dog, sipping coffee in the room that’s on fire, saying “This is fine.” And truly meaning it.

Day 20: Oat Groats (that’s fun to say) with berries, honey & seeds.

Straight outta bed and into the oatmeal

She’s learning (I’m she)

I am learning and now I get to prove it! Today, I have a test for school. Which is crazy. I haven’t been issued a test in years.. decades? The level of excitement I am experiencing is odd. Back in the day I would suddenly fall ill the morning of a test. I was the embodiment of that Shel Silverstein poem, Sick. None of that business today. I slept great. All my smarts are bumpin’ around in my brain. I am excited and rah-rah-ready!

Day 19: Banana Beet Bread with almond butter, berries & pilfered grapefruit + coffee.
Check it… I steeped some fresh ginger in my coffee this morning and it is A++

Give me convenience or give me death

On the list of things I’m grateful for, the taco shop next to my house. I’m fully consumed in an art project this weekend and haven’t even wanted to approach the stove. Thank gawdess for tacos.

Day 18: Basic bitch taco with extra cilantro. Papas, eggs and cheese.

There’s no place like home

If I were to ever get my knuckles tattooed they would read HOME BODY. That’s my vibe. The shoe fits. If I can just stay home I’ll never have to put that shoe on.

Day 17: Avocado and kimchi on a rice cake with ginger tea and berries.

Feelin’ Good as Hell

Confession.. I have just now begun to Lizzo. I am feeling it. Feeling myself. So, I’m gonna go dance the fuck around.

Day 16: Yesterday’s tofu over quinoa with kale & snap peas. Side of fruit, kumquats and the last of the carrot ginger juice..

Ya ya yee!

Rhyming’ and stealing’..

I take a walk every day. It clears my head, keeps me grounded and in love with my surroundings. There’s an opportunistic element to my strolls though. I often bring scissors with me and I’ll cut the poppies or rosemary right out of a neighbors yard. I’ll shake a tree or get a friend to lift me up. I’ll wear a big skirt so I can carry pounds of peaches gathered up in it all the way home. I would feel bad or fear it would further fuck up my karma but I see so much of it hit the ground and rot. Sometimes I tell myself it’s not stealing.. it’s liberating. Waste not want not, right?

These grapefruits are amazing and hard to acquire without assistance. The tree is right by my neighbors front door and the fruit is hung high. Luckily, gravity assisted me with this here grapefruit. It had hit the ground and was waiting for me when I walked by. It truly is an abundant world.

Day 15: Liberated grapefruit + yogurt parfait with berries, toasted quinoa, seeds and maple syrup.

Sacral Maintenance

A few months back I’d lost my creative stride. Inspiration was no where to be found. Someone mentioned that my sacral chakra could be out of balance. That felt right to me. So in addition to meditating and having daily dance party breaks, I did some reading on what foods could help right my sacral ship. I began adding more butternut squash, carrots, oranges and sweet potatoes to my diet. Once upon a time I found sweet potatoes to be utterly boring. They brought up memories of sticky, unappealing thanksgiving side dishes and gym-rat bros who only talk about “leg day” and survive solely on chicken, broccoli and tah-dah, sweet potatoes. That’s right, I thought sweet potatoes were a bunch of basic bitches. The results however have me feeling anything but. Ideas are pouring in. I’m coming up with new dance moves and staying up too late drawing. I also feel more..open. Patient even. Color me converted. I just love it when the solution is food.

Day 14: Sweet potato and mushroom hash, sautéed chard and broccoli on the side + farm egg

We are all one and there’s no such thing as death.

Out of nowhere I woke up with Bill Hicks on the brain. Maybe he made an appearance in my dreams or it could just be that kinda day. I would love to have breakfast with him though. Get him all coffeed up, read him the headlines of the day and watch him go off. It’s easy to believe he would be disappointed/pissed by the current state of the world. Nearly 30 years later and the issues are the same, only amplified. On the other hand he might find it all very entertaining. There’s no doubt that he would be mega stoked about the popularity of micro-dosing. Either way, his work is still so relevant. Enjoy.

Day 13: Kimchi over quinoa + egg & herbs
Protein, check. Probiotics, check. Green things, check.