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The Myth of Chi
Dec. 7th, 2020 10:00 am
The birthday dinner came out pretty well! The scallops were just a bit overcooked but mostly perfect, so not bad for my first try with them. The filets mignon in the solidly medium territory, but still juicy and flavorful. And the risotto tasted so, so good. I think it could have cooked a little longer just to soften the texture, but the flavors mixed wonderfully. Note to self for next time: a bit less of the parmesan cheese will probably increase its shelf life as leftovers.
I had so much fun with the meal that I'm definitely excited to cook more varied recipes; I think I'm at the point I'd like to take at least one non-Blue Apron dinner to do something new/different. We could benefit from planning meals ahead of time, just to cut down on shopping costs and maybe take more advantage of the local vegetable/fruit seasons. This might be romanticizing things a bit, but I've always been taken with the idea of being more of a locavore, tailoring my meals to what's in season around these parts.
I've been more interested in being in sync with my surroundings in general. In meditation, I've been doing a lot of work with body scanning; it's definitely been awkward, but there's a benefit to training myself to be more conscious about my body. I've noticed the ways my posture has been doing me no favors, and a bit more sensitive to various aches and pains because of it. It makes me want to get more involved with physical movement and control, like tai chi or yoga. It would be wonderful to find a YouTube course or something similar that allows me to take a yoga/tai chi class virtually. It's a bit further down my list of things to do though.
I haven't baked much, but I would very much like to change that. This week I'd like to try my hand at another loaf of bread; hopefully this time I can be a little better about shaping the loaf so it doesn't have the Pepsi-logo curve. When you watch someone (especially a professional) doing it, it looks so easy -- but the feedback you get from doing it yourself is *so* different. It's hard to know how to get an even thickness with what you're doing, and I'm always worried about overworking my dough so it doesn't get a nice rise. The only way through that barrier, however, is practice.
We bought our Christmas tree over the weekend! Decorating will happen tonight or tomorrow, and I'm very much looking forward to it. The tree is the thing that makes Christmas truly real to me, and I *love* the way our apartment fills with the scent of the fir tree. R. and I get a little better at decorating each time we do it, though I think I should watch YouTube videos or do a bit more research on how best to do things. We might also need to buy more tinsel and lights, since we've had ours for several years now.
We're a little late getting started with Christmas cards and thinking about presents this year, which...is not a big change from any other year, alas. But this year it feels more important than ever to spread cheer and nurture the connections that have gotten us through the year. I know that I feel so, so grateful for my friends, especially the ones who have stuck by me through my increasingly flaky behavior and the months of...not handling things too well. I don't feel guilty about it too much, just because this has been an extraordinary year and no one has been at their A-game, but at the same time I've tried hard not to add to the stress of the people around me and I'm sure I haven't done that great of a job.
Work is hectic right now, which makes sense. The workload has been mildly frustrating, mostly because I'm working on something I don't know a whole lot about but suddenly I've become the point of contact for this little piece of Student Support. It's one of those spaces where you have to be able to respond quickly to fluid situations and I'm not naturally comfortable in those situations. I've had to learn how to process things a lot more quickly, but the different kind of stress has made me grumpy these past two weeks, and more exhausted than not by the end of the day.
Which means that writing hasn't really been happening. NaNoWriMo was a bust, and it's been difficult to keep any momentum I've gained during a particularly good writing session. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with my mindset -- I don't think of myself as a writer, per se, so when I sit down at the keyboard it feels like I'm just "pretending" to do something I can't really do. Sitting down with more confidence and focus -- being in touch with what I want to say -- feels like the place I'd rather be, but this whole year has frozen me into silence. I no longer trust my voice to be received well, and the pressure of saying something worthwhile often feels way too immense. Again, just like the bread, it'll take practice to get right.
I had so much fun with the meal that I'm definitely excited to cook more varied recipes; I think I'm at the point I'd like to take at least one non-Blue Apron dinner to do something new/different. We could benefit from planning meals ahead of time, just to cut down on shopping costs and maybe take more advantage of the local vegetable/fruit seasons. This might be romanticizing things a bit, but I've always been taken with the idea of being more of a locavore, tailoring my meals to what's in season around these parts.
I've been more interested in being in sync with my surroundings in general. In meditation, I've been doing a lot of work with body scanning; it's definitely been awkward, but there's a benefit to training myself to be more conscious about my body. I've noticed the ways my posture has been doing me no favors, and a bit more sensitive to various aches and pains because of it. It makes me want to get more involved with physical movement and control, like tai chi or yoga. It would be wonderful to find a YouTube course or something similar that allows me to take a yoga/tai chi class virtually. It's a bit further down my list of things to do though.
I haven't baked much, but I would very much like to change that. This week I'd like to try my hand at another loaf of bread; hopefully this time I can be a little better about shaping the loaf so it doesn't have the Pepsi-logo curve. When you watch someone (especially a professional) doing it, it looks so easy -- but the feedback you get from doing it yourself is *so* different. It's hard to know how to get an even thickness with what you're doing, and I'm always worried about overworking my dough so it doesn't get a nice rise. The only way through that barrier, however, is practice.
We bought our Christmas tree over the weekend! Decorating will happen tonight or tomorrow, and I'm very much looking forward to it. The tree is the thing that makes Christmas truly real to me, and I *love* the way our apartment fills with the scent of the fir tree. R. and I get a little better at decorating each time we do it, though I think I should watch YouTube videos or do a bit more research on how best to do things. We might also need to buy more tinsel and lights, since we've had ours for several years now.
We're a little late getting started with Christmas cards and thinking about presents this year, which...is not a big change from any other year, alas. But this year it feels more important than ever to spread cheer and nurture the connections that have gotten us through the year. I know that I feel so, so grateful for my friends, especially the ones who have stuck by me through my increasingly flaky behavior and the months of...not handling things too well. I don't feel guilty about it too much, just because this has been an extraordinary year and no one has been at their A-game, but at the same time I've tried hard not to add to the stress of the people around me and I'm sure I haven't done that great of a job.
Work is hectic right now, which makes sense. The workload has been mildly frustrating, mostly because I'm working on something I don't know a whole lot about but suddenly I've become the point of contact for this little piece of Student Support. It's one of those spaces where you have to be able to respond quickly to fluid situations and I'm not naturally comfortable in those situations. I've had to learn how to process things a lot more quickly, but the different kind of stress has made me grumpy these past two weeks, and more exhausted than not by the end of the day.
Which means that writing hasn't really been happening. NaNoWriMo was a bust, and it's been difficult to keep any momentum I've gained during a particularly good writing session. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with my mindset -- I don't think of myself as a writer, per se, so when I sit down at the keyboard it feels like I'm just "pretending" to do something I can't really do. Sitting down with more confidence and focus -- being in touch with what I want to say -- feels like the place I'd rather be, but this whole year has frozen me into silence. I no longer trust my voice to be received well, and the pressure of saying something worthwhile often feels way too immense. Again, just like the bread, it'll take practice to get right.
