RetrEat!

I've had a grumpy afternoon: it slushed here all day and I wore the worst possible shoes for the occasion and so played host to two little puddles that came with me to a very pleasant book launch with yummy catered foods. But, trying to focus on the good, today I also gained a very lovely supervisor, with whom I'll begin working next year, and I got to enjoy some very tasty catered food. And the latter got me to thinking about the happy glow that good food generates in my life. This afternoon it made me happy despite my two in-boot puddles!

One of the components of this Blissology way of living--including different yoga routines and meditation focuses for each day of the week--is Food Awareness. The goal here, as I understand it, is to learn to appreciate all the steps between that food's development in nature, its harvest, possibly its transport and mixing with other foods from other sources; essentially, all the steps that have led to it being on your table, about to be consumed by hungry you. Another important dimension of this goal is a focus on "prana," which is yoga-speak for 'life-force,' in your food. Basically, fresh and homemade is the best option here, as I understand it. But term papers are rolling around, others' term papers need marking, the house continues to need cleaning, socializing must happen for my own relative sanity, and somehow I need to make time also to cook as much as I can. Now, don't get me wrong here: I LOVE cooking, baking (first batch of muffins made this past weekend with great success!) but I just don't have the time to cook every meal. So how do I go about being aware of my food? I've resolved to compromise for the time being. Fancy teas from Tealish and good, ideally single-origin chocolate are my main indulgences these days. I can definitely appreciate how much work it must be to harvest tea--back-straining, if not back-breaking, work--and it then needs to be layed out to dry, some of it is cooked in various ways, some is rolled in various ways by hand, some of it is mixed with other deliciousnesses or left in rooms with aromatic plants of many different sorts to perfume it. This I've read about and can appreciate. Single origin chocolate is similarly less complex and absolutely delicious.

I think it's a worthy goal, to appreciate one's food; to make, with a little bit of effort, each feeding also a little retrEat, and I'd like to put the "Eat" into my meals, but, as with many challenges, I have to find my own way in. But good food and drink definitely make me happy, and doing yoga and at least a bit of meditation each day give me a reason to really anticipate waking up. Finally, bit by bit, I'm getting into a habit of being functional and productive (i.e. dishes washed, garbage out, yoga done, 10 mins meditation done, showered, clothes washed, class responses written, etc. in some combination of those) before noon. Adding food appreciation will only continue helping in this "upward spiral." And, for inspiration, here's an image of one of my boyfriend's yummiest specialties: pasta with a homemade tomato-cream sauce. Yum!