I went to yoga Saturday morning and I did a headstand! I've been getting better at
tripod headstands on my own and in class I was brave enough to do a
regular headstand (supported on the wall, of course, but still!). Perhaps it only makes sense that I did so many headstands this week with my schedule getting turned all upside down like that.
I'm still afraid to
stay upside-down. I get my legs up in the air and my brain starts to panic about breaking my neck. So I let my legs fall down but, as soon as I do, I want to kick my legs back up because it's FUN to do new stuff you never thought you could do at all.
I never thought I'd get back into reading for fun. But now, I have so many books to read, it's exciting. It's good to have so much to read because sometimes I have a short attention span and I can easily switch books. So, I have a book about food in history, a Greek mythology book, and another food book called the Art of Eating. And yesterday I got five more books, courtesy of Grace, for my birthday. And they're fiction collection - the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. I'm terrible about getting fiction for myself so I'm grateful for such a gift. I usually lean toward non-fiction because most of the fiction in the best sellers racks at the bookstore are usually too freaking relationshipy for me. I really just don't care about who these made-up people are having made-up sex with so I usually give up looking for something fiction and side-step over to non-fiction. Or food :)
Food is good and candy is dandy. The dandiest I had today was the Peep inside a hollow milk chocolate egg.
OMG, go find one. I first saw it on some food blog and I found one today at Target. Yes, ONE. It was the last on the shelf. The Peep chick went to my mom because I know she loves them. When I gave it to her she said, "You know what this is? A candy
balut!" Gross, but so true! And the greatest thing is that if you split the egg in half carefully you're left with two egg-shaped chocolate cups ready to be filled with things like peanut butter! Or pudding! Or crack! Or more chocolate!
Today has really been a food adventure. Not only did I have candy balut, I ate beef tongue! I mentioned beef tongue to my parents a couple days ago after seeing a picture of some tender looking braised
tongue on Tastespotting*. I asked my parents if they liked tongue and they said it's really good. On the weekly trip to Grand Mart (the international grocery store) yesterday my mom picked up a tongue. I admit, it was scary looking while it boiled in the pot. All white and bumpy in places. I didn't look at it too long so I wouldn't gross myself out. Today, Ma had sliced it and made a tomato based stew out of it with potatoes, carrots, and thyme. Goo and I each had some and concluded, yes! it is good. But you could totally tell it was tongue. It's muscle, but squinchy and soft as if it was a cross between fat and meat. Which is a little unsettling. But the flavor is good, unlike liver and glands and such, and really just like regular meat. I don't think I'd have her make it again, but at least I've tried it and I wouldn't refuse to eat it if someone offered.
This is the longest post I've had in a long while.
I end my lovely weekend day (1 of 2! yay! sad, no? when you celebrate the fact that you have a two-day weekend) with another new thing. I'm making bread! It's the No Knead
recipe from the NY Times and all the food blogs. Just 3cups of APF, 1/4tsp instant yeast, 1 1/4tsp salt, and 1 5/8cups of water. All combined and mixed in under five minutes. Now it sits gassily in a bowl... in my room. Yeah, I know, weird, but I have an electric heater in my room and it's the warmest place in the house. Tomorrow I'll fold it over itself once or twice, let it hang out for 2 more hours and then I'll bake it for 45mins or so in a preheated dutch oven in a 450degF oven. And supposedly, hopefully, magically I'll have a loaf of crusty bread. Wish me luck.
*Note: When I saw the beef tongue link on Tastespotting, I didn't actually click on the link to the cook's blog. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the dish on Tastespotting is actually the same Filipino dish my mom made for me today (theirs has mushrooms and ours has carrots, but it's the same). Weeeeiiiirrd.
See? The towel kinda stuck to the dough when I was turning it out into the pot. That's the lid to the pot in the background. Unlike a Le Creuset pot, it does not have a plastic knob. Plus it was way cheaper at TJMaxx.
And here is the inside. It's very moist and tasty inside. The crust is super cripsy and fun to eat. And that's me in the background in the reflection of the KitchenAid mixer bowl. Hey, Goo is there, too.
