Month: January 2015

Now let’s talk about Mardi Gras deliciousness.  I love making this traditional Galette de Rois for Mardi Gras season:

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I am each year perfecting my recipe for the round, yeast-based king cakes that we see more often here, and if I get it exactly right this year, I’ll post it.  Ah.  We shall see.

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The king cakes at Sucre are perhaps the prettiest, and they sell these as (completely delectable, oh these are so good) pastries during the year:

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From the WSJ: The Surprise in Your King Cake Might Be No Prize at All: For Safety, Some Bakeries Leave Out Baked-In Trinkets; Children Cry

Here, some antique (c. 1900) French king cake babies I saw on display at The Presbytere:

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Meanwhile, I’m watching The Kingcaker and Eater’s map.

It’s Mardi Gras season!

Tutorial for the feather and bead wreath:

and my favorite, MG ornament wreath (which I made in ’08 and *still* looks great!!):

…and there’s also this Hubig’s pie wrapper — framed in my kitchen:

On our way to Knoxville, we were looking for somewhere new to have lunch in Chattanooga.  In comfy traveling clothes and thus looking for something informal, quick, inexpensive, and hopefully new to us, a search on Yelp and UrbanSpoon agreed wholeheartedly (5* on Yelp and 96% approval on US) that we should dive directly to Taqueria Jalisco at 1634 Rossville Ave.

Perfect!

Really, it seems to be a food truck with two very small dining areas, the main one permanent where orders are taken and the other larger one walled in for colder weather.

Sope, tamale, guacamole — all excellent.  We really liked this place — exactly what we were looking for.  Fast, inexpensive, fresh and delicious.  We even made friends with one of the men working there, helping him put together one of the space heaters.  Will be back:

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Next time in Chattanooga when we’re looking for something more formal, this sounds divine:
TerraMae Appalachian Bistro — they have their own dedicated farm, and (what I’m particularly looking forward to), the ‘Appalachian Lunchable’:
Deviled Eggs, Pickled Shrimp, Benne Seed Bacon, Bleu Cheese Pimento Spread, Rosemary Biscuits,
Tennessee Country Ham, Pickled Vegetables. 

Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty.

(at Niki’s West in Birmingham)

Friends, I am so happy to be back to a regular schedule.  December was wonderful, and there was so much going on I felt as though I could really attend to things better in 2015 by taking a tiny break here.  I’m back, and have made a commitment to do regular postings here M-F.

Really, there are all kinds of commitments to start the new year.  The best Chanukah present Av got me this year was a subscription to Scribd, half a million books just a touch away on my iPad so I’ve been reading a lot, trying to learn a lot.  Here are some things I’m working on…maybe we can work on together…for 2015.

I’m thinking I may have gotten this list from Gretchen Rubin who studies happiness and well-being (and I’m starting to wonder: why haven’t we all been studying happiness all along? It makes us all so much more satisfying and terrific to be around).  I’m already a happy person, but who can’t be happier?  And I want to teach my children this while they’re young so they always know there are things they can do to set themselves up for happiness and well-being.  Tenets:

Strong Social Fabric
—I have a terrific family, close friends, and I keep in touch with old friends. I’d love to have more close friends. I’m proud of family we’ve made — and over winter break, we spent time in Atlanta with our BB/BS little sister and her family! Can’t even say how happy and in love I am of and for our Little Sister and Little Brother (our little brother will be graduating college soon!).  

Activities that fit Strengths
—My work at the magazine and my freelance graphic design work, so I’m good there.

Practice Gratitude
—I love to write thank you notes and send sweet texts and emails. Can do this more.

Optimistic Thinking
—Pretty good at this, but sometimes I can run into…say, a complete stranger…and let their dark cloud muddy up my sunshine.  So I need to work on being more resilient this way.

Volunteer
—I do lots of volunteer work (favorite? I’m a room mommy! (again!)) and I’m happy with that.  Also: I want to set new records this year with my food closet donations (I coupon a lot and can monthly turn $25 into a couple hundred in donations of food and toiletries).  There’s a group I’m thinking of starting too, for fun.

Perspective on Wealth
—Not sure what is meant here. Am I okay with not being a billionaire (yet)? haha, I guess.

Healthy Coping Strategies
—Work needs to be done here.  I can not just fall apart, but crazy-girl fall apart if I see an injustice or if someone close to me is hurting.

Focus on Health
—Never thought I would say this, and if you knew me circa 2001-2005 you might not believe it, but I work out for at least an hour 4-5 days a week (I’m not yet back to 117 but I’m headed there).  Each week, I do hot yoga, Sh’Bam, Zumba, Dance Jam, Stretch and Balance, and weights for strength.  I have a way to go, but can get to my goal this year if I work at it.  Okay, 117, you belong to me again this year.

Cultivate Spiritual Emotions
—Is this about finding more spirituality in the everyday?  I get in the zone easily at holidays and services, but I probably need to figure out how to imbue this — the emotion, not just the doing — more in daily life.

Have Direction/Strategy
—I think I’m okay here.  This sounds so beauty pageant interview, but I want to be the best person, best wife, best mommy, best friend I can be.  So I’m trying.  I probably do need to put some long-term goals on (digital) paper. 

Family
—My family is what I always wanted, and I’m working on making the very best experiences (special experiences/trips/etc plus everyday experiences — a comfortable, stable home life filled, filled, filled with love) for our children and husband.  

Also:
I want to keep our home *very* put together (I read this for motivation).  We have guests over a lot, so it never gets bad, but it could be even better.

I’m meditating with Headspace every day and trying to be more mindful.

For my next birthday, I want to do one of those projects where you do one good deed/mitzvah for each year of life.

I need to learn how to sleep better.

Annnnnndddd that’s just a start.  I hope you have beautiful plans for this year and we all enjoy a happy, healthy, mindful, well-read and well-rested 2015.  Oh, and ‘This Week’s Various’ will be back on Fridays (and I love hearing from you and learning from you (email me good things!) and you can always contact me here).  xoxo!

See you tomorrow! Happy New Year! xoxo!