because I love my hips

I’m all about trying new recipes, I love cooking! Most of the time, though, it’s something that can be baked. And is sweet. A week or so ago I thought to myself: “Self, I sure have a lot of coconut in the cabinet. Do you think I should make macaroons?” And my self said to me: “That sound delicious. I think Adrian would like some too.”

Of course, in retrospect, I could really have been wondering out loud and Adrian replied in his own self-interest. Completely understandable.

So, I looked around online at the many (dear heavens!), many recipes for Coconut Macaroons. I think it’s an Australian thing, but it really doesn’t matter. They’re delicious. And relatively healthy, considering the small amount of sugar in them. Shhh. I won’t tell if you won’t.

The first thing I did though, was try to make the recipe my own in a good way. I love the smell and taste of coconut, as well as the toothsome texture – it really is a well-rounded kind of food! I figured it would be really delicious if I added lemon to it, as well. But you know what would be even more delicious?

If we added CHOCOLATE!

So here’s my recipe for:

Chocolate Dipped Lemon Coconut Macaroons:

• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp. Almond Extract
• 1 tsp. juice from a Meyer lemon (try to use Meyer if you can, if not, regular is fine)
• zest from one Meyer Lemon (about the size of a small lemon. If using a honker of a lemon, use 1/2 the lemon for zest.
• 2 Tbsp. white sugar
• 3/4 cup Coconut flakes (I’ve tried with a few kinds: flaked, shredded – doesn’t matter, really.)
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients but chocolate well in a mixing bowl.
2. Drop tablespoon-sized dollops on a cookie sheet that has been protected with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.
3. Form with your fingers into low round mounds – all of the same size.
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until you see the edges turn golden brown.
5. Remove from oven to cool for two minutes on the baking sheet – remove and cool upside down on a wire rack.
6. Cover the baking sheet with a new piece of parchment or silicone, place in the refrigerator.
7. When the cookies are room temperature, spread the melted chocolate on the bottom and place them chocolate side down on the cold baking sheet.
8. Let the cookies firm in the fridge, then store them for up to a week in an air-tight tupperware at room temperature. Enjoy!

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three things:

1.  I’ve apparently neglected to realize that my links are no longer with me.  When my site was hi-jacked and subsequently MOVED addresses, and my entire blog had to be exported (thank you Thomas, hugs!), my links were lost.  If you’d like to be linked, email me or reply to this post.  I’ll get those up ASAP and sorry about not showing the love!

2. 30 Rock is the BEST show.  Evar.  Tina Fey (you may remember her as the teacher from Mean Girls) is an amazing writer.  The show is about writers for a tv show – and it’s so tightly written (and edited, I am sure) I am always laughing out loud.  Mouth wide open, collapsing with laughter.  I LOVE this show.  get on the downloading, people.

3.  I make one hell of a Valentine’s Cake for my baby.  Chocolate Red Velvet cake (a southern delight, as you know), and my own concoction for icing:  bittersweet chocolate butter icing.  there’s no telling what’s in there, but one ingredient is cayenne.  of course.

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Week Three, Baby

I haven’t really been posting all of my feelings lately. Among many reasons, it’s partially because I’m not sure how to express them. It’s not that I think anyone will label me as “Weird” (hello? been done already!). Mostly, I would say it’s because I’m still *ahem* ‘Working Shit Out’.

Initially, I asked for the 40 Day Personal Revolution for Christmas for a completely singular and selfish reason: I wanted a better body. That’s it. I just wanted to be sexier, to look better, to… well, …feel like I felt when I was 20. (As most of you know, this is a wish ANY woman has after she’s turned, say, 22.)

I went into the program only focused on the physical changes and nothing else. I even put off reading the introduction to the book until the end of the first week. I finally sacked up and took the book to work with me, forcing myself to NOT watch the Food Network while the kids were napping.

What I read changed my perspective. I read Baron Baptiste’s intentions for the readers/participants. I read the Twelve Laws of Transformation. I read the theme, or goal, for Week One: Presence. The act of being awake and aware every moment of every day. Not living in past memories or dreaming of an imagined future, but here. Now. Somehow, I began to understand.

I would say that being fairly Anti-Organized Religion, I’ve allowed myself the ability to be open to other option. Possibly, it’s only to spite someone who says that the Bible is the only way. But I feel that being open to possibilities is what has led me to where I am at this moment.

I really can’t begin to tell you how changed I feel, and I’m just entering week three of the six weeks. I’ve done yoga almost every day (out of the last two weeks, I’ve taken two days off), and sometimes twice in one day! I’m learning the Sanskrit names for quite a few of the postures (or asanas), I’m absorbing more knowledge about the gods and goddesses that yoga is involved with. On Sunday we celebrated Shivaratri, Night of Shiva (the god of destruction), in our Yin class and half hour meditation. I held a pose for ten minutes. TEN MINUTES WITHOUT MOVING! Alright, I twitched a couple of times, but it was because my legs was going to sleep and the pins and needles were causing severe pain in my calf. But really, it wasn’t so bad. *The real pain came when we came out of the pose!*

In letting go of any inhibitions or any ‘weirdness’ I felt in contorting my body and being aware of my breathing and cultivating stillness – effectively, submitting myself to a higher power – I felt like I became more aware of myself. More aware of my actions, my life, my surroundings. At one point, we were chanting along to the beating of a drum and I honestly felt transported. I had my eyes closed and my hands at my heart center and I was singing along with my part and all of a sudden I felt I was sitting around a blazing bonfire among a circle of people who were all bigger than me. I was this tiny little baby-sized person singing along with all these giants sitting cross-legged around the fire. It didn’t feel strange at all – it was actually strange to open my eyes and find myself back in the yoga studio with 40-something other people.

I’m still not sure what I’m doing. I feel so brilliantly positive some days, and others I still feel so awkward and gangly, like I’m not walking around in my own body.

I did do one thing that I felt was perfect and right this weekend, and I think it will be hugely positive and visible in my future. During our meditation, when everything was completely silent and still, in honour of his night, I gave an offering to Shiva. I offered him my Fear and Anxiety. My Guilt and my Obsessiveness. My Worry and my Self-Indulgence. I asked him to take these things from me and to crush them to dust, to destroy them until it is as if they never existed. In their place, I asked to be filled with love, peacefulness, acceptance and understanding.

This is Week Three: Equanimity. I hope to find all of those things in abundance. If I don’t find them yet, I know I’m sure to as I keep practicing.

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