Makeover Monday: A Banquet Partaken in Anxiety

A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
Aesop

I suffer from anxiety. I'm a very anxious person, but for the most part I keep it under control. When I was a teen I had problems with tachycardia... basically my heart would go into overdrive and I would start to panic. This rarely happens anymore... my mind and my body have matured and I can prevent a full on panic attack. When I was in college the doctors told me that I'd probably outgrow it... I'm still not sure if they meant that I'd outgrow my flair for the dramatic... or if there was some physical component to my problem that would go away when I reached a certain age.

But the anxiety... the anxiety... remains, and it rears it's ugly head as often as I let it. When do I get anxious? After a stressful day maybe? Perhaps when I'm stuck in traffic? Maybe I get anxious when disaster strikes and I have to go into overdrive to solve some problem? Actually... no. I may have a little flutter of stress when these things happen... but my worst anxiety happens when I'm having fun. Yep that's right I get anxious during the party times: summer vacations, birthdays, holidays, etc. You know... the times when I'm suppose to be having a good time.

This weekend was the end of my husband's summer vacation and also the celebration of his 40th birthday. We planned a big party, grilled some meat, had chips and dip on hand, invited over our best buddies and drank a few cold ones. It was loads of fun. Throughout the planning of the party and the party itself I had a wonderful time. The next day, however, I was a mess of stress. Did I have a hangover? No not really. Sure I had a few beers... OK more than a few... but I didn't wake up to a morning of hugging porcelain. I didn't even have a headache. What I did have was anxiety. I start picking apart every experience... I obsess about tiny details. It is no fun at all.

So what do I do about it? How do I vanquish anxiety from my life? Do I just have to quit having fun? Absolutely not. I think I might have stumbled on the answer when I was looking for ideas for my Makeover Monday post. It is something that I've known all along: Diet, exercise, rest, and staying hydrated are the keys to feeling good. When you're off on a vacation or having a fun time at a party, however, the fruits and vegetables tend to get pushed aside while the empty margarita glasses pile up in front of you. That is part of the reason why the early college years were so anxiety filled and why now I only stress out when I'm having a blast. Can I still drink beer and eat nachos? Certainly... but I should follow those nachos and beer with a glass of water and a piece of fruit... or maybe some whole grain bread and hummus and a cold glass of juice.

You are what you eat... and when you put crap into your body you are going to feel like crap...that is unless you follow it with a little TLC. So here it the plan... the plan to makeover my vacation depleted body and soul. First of all I'm going to take a break from the alcohol and drink lots of water. Second I'm going to start doing yoga again. And finally, I also plan to get more rest and start a diet rich in foods that are suppose to help with anxiety. Check out this article on Livestrong for ideas.After reading the Livestrong article yesterday I made myself an Elvis Special, peanut butter and banana on whole grain bread (I skipped the whole frying it in butter part), and I felt loads better. Those complex carbohydrates and foods loaded with tryptophan sure hit the spot! And yes that is a photo of Elvis looking rather anxious next to his famous recipe for a PB and banana sandwich (It is from the cookbook Fit for a King).

Foods and Beverages to avoid:
caffeine
alcohol
sugar and processed foods
saturated fats
simple carbohydrates
fried foods

Foods and Beverages to eat:
fruit
vegetables
nuts
soy
whole grains
lean proteins
LOTS of water

Thanks for stopping by... I'd love to read your comments...

Link up and let me read about your makeover ideas or tips... and be sure to stop by the Zany Housewife.

52 Weeks of Happiness:Mother's Day, Guest Post, and Blogging Award

Mother's day weekend was terrific and certainly a very happy time for me. We spent Saturday geocaching (treasure hunting) in a gem of a spot in Central Texas called the Benini Studio and Sculpture Ranch. It is a huge outdoor area with tons of stuff to see. Here is just a sample of what you can find there.

After a hard day of hiking and hunting it was nice to relax at a pizzeria and brewery in Wimberly... The kid ate pieces of pizza that were bigger than there heads and their parents enjoyed equally big beers.







A great time was had by all!

Jenn

I am doing my first guest post today. You can find it at Simply Kate. Swing by to read about my adventures in hair care and make sure to post a comment and wish her a happy birthday!

I also wanted to thank Pinay (In Texas) Cooking Corner for awarding me the versitile blogger award.
I would like to pass this one on to a few of my fellow bloggers... I will be posting my picks on tomorrows post.

Feed a cold... Starve a fever...

This is a photo of me Christmas morning with a fever of 102 (lovely picture I know... does that thermometer make my chins look big?)... Now 2 months later once again I'm feeling a little blue... but it is not the flu this time... it is a cold. No fever... just that crappy stuffy nose-chapped lips-sore throat kind of a thing... So last night I started thinking... Is it... Feed a fever starve a cold? or feed a cold and starve a fever? I couldn't remember so I looked it up on my handy dandy computer and low and behold.... I am suppose to feed a cold... Thank God! I was really in need of some chicken noodle soup! And apparently this old folk remedy isn't totally crap. While technically you are not suppose to starve a fever... you naturally experiences a loss of appetite during fevers that is part of your body's natural defense mechanisms... and as for feeding a cold... everybody knows that a good dose of chicken soup will have you feeling better in no time(but chicken soup lore is a post for another day). Check out Dukehealth.org for more about this common wives tale.

Since feeding is what this blog is all about I'll share with you just exactly how I fed my cold. I made a pot of good old fashioned chicken noodle soup and I baked a batch of beer bread. The soup had chicken in it of course... but it could easily be made vegetarian by using vegetable broth and substituting extra chickpeas for the chicken.

Chicken Soup

Cook 3 breasts of chicken in 4 C. of broth (veggie or chicken) and 2 C. water. While that is cooking you can saute 3 ribs of celery (chopped), 2 carrots (sliced), one small onion (diced) and 6 garlic cloves (mined)... pause for one moment to reflect on the many ways I just indicated that you should cut up your vegetables and then move on to the next step.

Once the chicken is fully cooked remove it from from the broth and cut it into small bits... return it to the broth along with the sauteed vegetables. Add a can of drained chickpeas (optional) and some fresh herbs ( I used rosemary since it is one of the only herbs that survived the recent freeze). Add about 8 oz of noodles in the last 15 minutes of cooking time... and salt and pepper to taste... mmmm Soup is good food!

While soup was cooking I made up a batch of beer bread rolls...

Beer Bread

Sift together 3 cups of flour, 3 t. baking powder, 1 1/2 t. salt, and 3 T. sugar...then slowly add the beer. I also added some minced rosemary and a couple of cloves of minced garlic to the mix.

After that you just plop globs of dough into a greased muffin tin... bake at 350 for about 40-45 minutes and wah-la.... beer bread. My family wasn't too fond of the bread. It had a bitter taste to it... I could have either been the type of beer I used or possibly the rosemary.... I will experiment further and let you know what I come up with.


If you are unfortunate enough to have a cold right now I hope that you can at least enjoy feeding it.

Jenn

Cold Water in Paradise

On the evening of our fifth day in Honduras we ordered a bottle (or two) of wine and dined on cheese and bread at a cosy wine bar not far from the central plaza in Copán Ruinas. We enjoyed an assortment of breads and crackers with smoked mozzarella, an aged Gouda, and a soft cheese with Herbes de Provence. It was all nicely presented on a cheese board with a handful of pecan halves. Other than the crackers (club crackers rather than water biscuits), it was something that you would find in a cafe anywhere in the world at at least twice the cost. It was a lovely place, and the perfect place to end a pleasant day.

The day started out with a wonderful breakfast at our hotel. Eggs and toast served with rich coffee in a beautiful garden by a friendly staff. We walked around town and caught the World Cup games. We even found a few cute gifts for our daughters. I couldn't have asked for more. Well maybe I could have asked for a room with reliable hot water... or at least someplace with electricity that didn't flicker out at even the suggestion of a thunderstorm. Dining by candlelight is romantic... but stumbling back to the hotel in a blackout, using snatches of reality seen through lightning strikes, can be a bit tricky... and taking a cold shower (or no shower at all) after a night of candlelight and wine can do a lot to kill a mood.

But that is Honduras. Things that most of the world sees as luxuries not only grow on trees... but fall to the ground and rot because they are so common... Beauty abounds and it seems that you could never go hungry with so much life surrounding you. But what if you get sick and need a doctor? What if you just want a glass of clean water? Or what if you want to do something as trivial as mail a letter, buy a watch, or make a phone call? That is when the rose color glasses come off. The lack of hot water in my hotel room is a petty gripe in comparison to the real problems that people face in a country that lacks infrastructure.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that Honduras isn't a wonderful place to vacation... In fact I think that you should go there and spend lots of money, if you are so inclined. Buy wine and cheese with abandon, get a good massage by the ocean, and shop yourself silly. Sure there are better ways to give money to those in need (and you should do those things as well)... and I'm sure most of the tourist dollars spent in Honduras don't go to those who need it most... But a vacation is to be enjoyed not something to feel guilty about. Go there and have a good time. Just remember that when you take that cold shower.... for god's sake have the sensitivity not to complain about it.... because things could be a lot worse.

The World Cup in Motion... or How to Drink a Heineken in Honduras

While planning our trip to Honduras I was delighted to find out that Honduras had qualified for the World Cup... The last time they qualified I was in braces... well I never actually wore braces... but if I had it would have probably been sometime around 1982. In this years cup they were underdogs for sure... but I was rooting for them all the same.
By the time we arrived they had already been eliminated... but there were still plenty of soccer fans to be found...and I was excited about watching soccer in a country where people actually care about the game. Due to the timing of our trip, however, the first day of the quarter finals was set to be on one of our day long travel days. We actually considered staying in Roatán one day longer just so that we could watch the games... but alas we decided to head for the mountains on our fourth day in Honduras and hopefully catch the games on the road.
We caught the first half of the Netherlands vs Brazil game on the ferry to the mainland. Thankfully the ride was smooth sailing compared to the stomach churning ride we had experienced just a few days earlier and I was able to watch the game. My husband was born in the Netherlands... and most of the people on the ferry were fans of Brazil... but it was a good natured rivalry with a lot of laughing and back slapping. Maybe it was just because Honduras and the US were both out of the running... but somehow I don't think that was the whole story. Honduras just seems a little mellower about their soccer than my World Cup experiences in Mexico.
The taxi ride to the bus station in La Ceiba was a bit scary. We were one of three fares stuffed into a small Toyota... honking, swearing and swerving down narrow streets. We stopped somewhere Central... and then made our way to the hospital with a girl with a broken leg...then finally we arrived at the bus station. We were able to watch a little more of the game on a small TV while we waited in line for our tickets... we got to see the Netherlands pull ahead... but we had to leave with ten minutes left on the clock.
It was hours before we arrived in San Pedro...and no one seemed to know the final score. We had a long layover in a room full of other people who had been on the move most of the day... While we were there we watched most of the game between Ghana and Uruguay. The room would fill and empty with each coming and going... Everyone trying to catch a glimpse of history in the making on their way to some place else. The game was just reaching its exciting conclusion...there had been a red card and the game was still tied after overtime... it was a shoot out and we had to board the bus. Thankfully the bus driver put the radio on so that we weren't left on pins and needles...It was a sad day for Ghana... but it was a beautiful day in Honduras.
For the next few days in Copan Ruinas we caught games at bars and cafes around town. We enjoyed a meal here... a beer there... the company of other travelers with jerseys supporting this team or that. It was a lot of fun meeting people and cheering with them or against them. My favorite world cup experience of the journey happened after one of the worst moments of our trip... it will be a story for another day... but let's just say when your staying in a finca in the mountains don't leave nothin' in your clothes. We returned to Copan a day early after a trip to a coffee plantation in search of a place to stay. The hotel we chose just happened to be owned by a Dutch Ex-pat... so we watched the Netherlands vs Uruguay while eating Dutch food and sipping on Heineken. Dutch food isn't all that great... and I'm not a huge fan of Heineken either... but it sure tasted better than the Honduran beer I'd been drinking for days...It also put a postive spin on an otherwise crappy day. It was nice to share a beer with fellow soccer fans and to let the negativity of a bad experience wash away in stream of Heineken. I enjoyed the moment under a canopy of orange and white streamers , marveled at what a wild and wacked out world we live in ,and lived to enjoy another day of travel.

Full Bodied

I was enjoying a glass of wine last night after the kids were in bed and I was thinking about why I like full bodied red wines rather than lighter white wines. It brought back a memory of a wine tasting video that I watched a while back. In the video they talked about people called supertasters. For someone who prides hereself on her cooking abilities this term sounded like some super power that I just had to have... Like I could sweep in and save the culinary day somehow with sensory prowess and sensitivity. Supertasters are not the ones you invite to your dinner parties, however. They tend to be picky eaters... because when you taste too much you can be overwhelmed by almost anything. A plate of spaghetti with a rich tomato sauce might make your head spin... so you might opt for the butter sauce instead. This is not who I am... I like my wine red, my beer bitter, my coffee strong, and my chocolate dark. I like my gumbo spicy and my curry... well... curried. I love intense flavors... but I'm not so sure that I want to taste them more intensely. Watching my 2 and half year old experiencing life makes me think about what it must be like to live in a world of hightened senses. It would be interesting for sure... but overwhelming in the long run. Me... I prefer to stumble through life half blind... eating my spicy foods and drinking my rich beverages and being just a little bit numb to the sensory overload that is this world.

The Beverages of Central Mexico

Agua de Frutas are everywhere in Mexico. They are served by the jarra (pitcher) or the glass. In street stalls they are served in bolsas (plastic bags) with a straw. Aguas are the beverage of choice with comida corrida. They come in a variety of flavors... lemon, lime, orange, jamaica, guayaba, pineapple, mango, papaya, strawberry... you name it. I have even had an agua with alfalfa in it. These are very easy to make... All you need is water, sugar and the your fruit of choice... Throw it all in a blender and wah-la!

When life gives you limas make limonada... We were incredibly lucky... while living in Mexico we had a lemon tree right outside our house that provides lemons year around... All we had to do is step out on the balcony and lemons were a short reach away... As a result of our good fortune lemonade was a staple in our house... Here is how we make it.
Take a bowl full of lemons, cut in half and squeeze out the juices until you have between a half a cup and a full cup... The amount depends on how tart the lemons are and how you like your lemonade... Pour this in a 2 liter pitcher with 1/2 cup to 1 cup of sugar... Fill the pitcher up with water, stir and garnish with mint and lemon rounds.

Guayabas... These are little yellow roundish fruits...that in my opinion smell just like cat piss... Sound appetizing? Well oddly enough they are... In the streets the aguas de guayaba are pink... but when I have made them at home they always come out yellow. I am not certain, but I am reasonably sure that some sort of a coloring is added to the street version.
To make Agua de guayaba you simply take 5 or 6 guayaba fruits, 1/2 -3/4 C sugar and put it in a blender covered with water. Blend until smooth, add mixture to a 2 liter pitcher and top off with water. Stir and serve.

Other Auga de Frutas... are made in the same way as the guayaba drink. Simply take the fruit of your choice and throw it in a blender with sugar and water. Some fruits, such as pineapple, are better if you strain out some of the pulp... The drinks here tend to be much thicker and textured than the juices in the United States, however. The seeds and pulp are part of the experience.

Horchata... is an agua made with rice. The rice is cooked and then soaked in water. The water is then drained and the rice is blended with almonds, sugar, cinnamon and more water. It is sometimes flavored with vanilla or chocolate. This is a cool and refreshing drink that tastes like a light malt or milkshake. It is great for a hangover.

Chocolate... is a popular beverage in Mexico. I have had it prepared two ways. One way is similar to hot chocolate in the states... You simply add chocolate tablets to milk while it’s heating and whip it into a frothy mix. I know that chocolate tablets from Mexico are available in most grocery stores in Texas... I am sure if you cannot find them there then a specialty market would probably have what you need.
The second way that I have had chocolate prepared is a drink called Champurrado. This uses a corn cereal or corn starch dissolved in water or milk (this mixture is called Atole which is also a wonderful beverage or breakfast cereal)... you then dissolve the chocolate tablets into this mixture. This beverage is often served with tamales and it will warm you to the core!

Alcoholic Beverages... When you saddle up to a bar in Mexico you will notice some key differences. Unless you are in a resort or coastal town it is unlikely that you will see the same varieties of alcohol that you see in most bars in the U.S. Ordering a whiskey sour or sex on the beach might get you some pretty strange looks. You will, however, find a new mix of interesting drinks.
One of my favorite discoveries here is a drink called a Michelada... It is an excellent drink for those days you are feeling a bit crudo (hung-over). It is similar to a bloody mary...but made with beer. Take the juice of a couple of limes, hot sauce (not the chunky kind, but the thin bottled stuff similar to tabasco), and a sauce that it similar to soy sauce. Place these ingredients in a salt rimmed glass over ice and then top with a cold beer...Very tasty!

Other popular drinks here are Mezcal and Tequila... These are both distilled beverages made from the agave plant. Mezcal is similar to tequila, but it is often considered to be of lower quality. What I have found, however, is that if you only have a small amount of money to spend a more expensive mezcal is often cheaper than and of better quality than a cheap tequila. Tequila is served in many ways. The most popular way is a shot served with a plate of limes and salt. A variation of this is served in three shot glasses... a shot of lime juice, a shot of tequila and a shot of tomato juice. ..The colors represent the colors of the Mexican flag. Tequila and mezcal are also served in a variety of cocktails. They are often mixed with refrescos such as fresca (not the watered down diet version available in the US, but a grapefruit soda that is really tasty) , squirt, or manzana (an apple soda). One of the most hilarious ways to drink tequila is a Che Cafe specialty...First you fill a shot glass 2/3 of the way full of tequila, and top off with a coffee liqueur. You then take the shot, swish it around in you mouth, lean your head back and ignite. Kids...don’t try this at home... and for gods sake don’t try it with straight tequila...you need an experienced bartender on hand to supervise.
One other drink made from the agave plant is called pulque... it has an interesting taste to say the least... I think that it deserves a whole story just for itself... so I'll save it for another day.

Do you like Pina Coladas? Well let me tell you about a great one that I had in Malinalco... After a wonderful meal of trout in mojo de ajo and potatoes we stopped at a little stand for a drink. The woman at the stand was making Pina Coladas in the shells of the pineapples. She took a pineapple and cut off the greenery at the top. She then took the top core and set it aside. She scooped out the fruit of the pineapple and put it in a blender with water. She blended it and strained out some of the pulp. The liquid was then placed back in the shell with ice, grenadine, cinnamon, tequila, rum and vodka (I was a bit concerned that the bottles were labeled rom and volka...but hey this was Mexico... what could possibly go wrong). It was garnished with a beautiful tropical flower and an umbrella made from the top core of the pineapple dipped in cinnamon.

Lift a pint of Guiness to the man who drove the snakes from Ireland...

It's Saint Patrick's Day... It's time to lift a pint of Guinness with your friends, pin a shamrock on your shirt, and celebrate....but why? Everyone knows that St. Patrick drove the snakes from his native country of Ireland... right??? And what about the time that he compared the lovely shamrock to the holy trinity?

Well the truth is that St. Patrick wasn't even Irish, he was English, and I'm pretty sure that Ireland was snake-free long before he hit the scene. As far as the shamrock/trinity story goes I don't really know if he said it or not... but wouldn't that make a four leaf clover a symbol of blasphemy rather than a charm of good luck? All that aside Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland (although he has never been officially canonized) because he brought Christianity to the pagans... and he did it in a unique and effective way. Instead of getting rid of pagan rituals and symbols he merged and transformed them into christian symbols... But enough of the man... this is not what I'm here to write about. There are hundreds... possibly thousands of articles about St. Patrick. I'm here to write about the BEER!

Am I the only one that thinks that Guinness is seriously overrated? I don't hate it... but I certainly don't love it. In fact when my husband and I were planning on taking a walking trip in Europe we decided against Ireland because after a long day of walking we couldn't imagine settling down at a pub and having the only choice be Guinness (the irony is that now we are traveling to a country with no real beer to speak of... but that's a story for another day). But maybe Guiness is an appropriate choice for a St. Patricks day beer. It is, afterall, surrounded by as many myths as St. Patrick himself.

For one thing... dark does not equal strong. In fact Bud light has more alcohol than a Guiness on draft. Maybe this myth is perpetuated by the fact that many people drink it in combinations with another famous beverage from Ireland... Jameson. On the plus side for Guinness... it's not really all that high in calories either. A pint of Guinness only has about 170 calories... less than most 16 oz coffee drinks at Starbucks. You can find a whole host of other myths surrounding Guinness here.

I don't know about you... but this Saint Patrick's Day I plan on baking a loaf of Irish bread... and doing something that the man himself did...No I will not drive the snakes from Texas or convert my pagen children... What I will do is merge two traditions into one... Yes I will drink a pint of Guinness... but after that I plan on celebrating St. Patricks day my own way. I'm going to drink a pint of the only true green beer I know... Sierra Nevada!