tasting :: steamed lentils and beets with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
hearing :: fox confessor brings the flood and blitzen trapper.
smelling :: the change from the heater in the morning to the air conditioner in the afternoon.
seeing :: the sidewalk drawing above in front of my house. a sweet note from the neighborhood kids.
feeling :: relief our last bit of adoption paperwork has been sent off , gratitude for the wide open weekend and proud of myself for slogging through report cards friday afternoon instead of having that albatross hanging around all weekend.
wishing/hoping :: everyone experiences some space for absolutely nothing this weekend.
What about you?
What are your senses this Saturday?
Looking back, how was your week?
Leave a comment and tell me all about it. I’d seriously love to hear about your week. Now’s not the time to be shy.
Spring means that change is in the air, friends and with that there are some changes coming to TGBTS.
Monday is the new Sunday. The link love/best of the blogs I read feature In Case You Missed It Editionis moving to Mondays. It will still give you a weekly wrap up of articles and posts related to health, happiness, food, teaching, yoga and fashion.
Wednesday is the new Tuesday because Yoga+Music {notquite 365} is hitting your reader and in-boxes Wednesdays starting this week. Recipes are going to continue to be fast and healthy, however now they will have a new dairy-free slant. I’m still trying to figure this whole dairy-free living out, so I’ll be sharing what I’m learning.
Album recommendations (or at least what I’ve been listening to lately) will still be featured in this weekly post.
Yoga class updates can be found on Wednesdays and on the Yoga Class Schedule page.
If change isn’t your thing, not to worry friends! Fridays will still feature Song of the Day and the weekly show and tell Saturday Senses will still be posted Saturday mornings.
Thank you for your continued support! Be sure to click on the email subscription button in the top right corner so all the posts will be delivered to your inbox.
If you are on Facebook, you can “like” Teacher Goes Back to School and you’ll be privy to some FB exclusive content.
hearing :: your current adoption wait time: 2-3 more YEARS. {unless we switch to another country}
smelling :: nothing
seeing :: through a lot of tears.
feeling :: gutted, but well-loved and supported. super delicate and very much in need of a soft touch.
wishing/hoping :: for some time and space to just be sad. some clarity on what we will do. kindness to self and from others.
What about you?
What are your senses this Saturday?
Looking back, how was your week?
Leave a comment and tell me all about it. I’d seriously love to hear about someone’s week that didn’t totally suck. If your week sucked, tell me about it anyway. I’d love to have some company.
Home-cooking a majority of meals from scratch, buying lots of vegetables at the farmer’s market (and actually eating them!) and trying new recipes using ingredients in ways I hadn’t ever thought to use together.
Today’s recipe fits into each of those categories.
tasting :: a couple different fruit variations of the oh she glows green monster {no bananas for me thanks: frozen organic blackberries or mango for me please}. interested in trying one? here are a bunch of variations at the green monster movement.
hearing :: my favorite band in the world {old 97s} play live tonight at the fillmore!
smelling :: sweet potato fries baking in the oven
seeing :: my students starting to master 3rd grade standards. did someone say multiplication facts?
Well, as much as I can without driving myself completely crazy.
The first week wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The cravings weren’t as strong and the lack of caffeine was not as noticeable as I feared. Please keep in mind I was still using up some dairy products {milk and yogurt}, so it hasn’t been completely bleak around here. However, I did manage to give up caffeine, added sugars, {most} cheese, bread and regular pasta. Big steps if you ask me!
Which brings me to this week’s recipe inspired by Sarah at Pink of Perfection. She’s doing a detox diet this month too, so she’s got some great healthy recipes.
When I read Sarah’s post this week I decided it was time I try spaghetti squash with meatballs. {Click over to Sarah’s page for the recipe basics.}
I’d never made spaghetti squash so I decided to enlist the help of my friend Tari who can pretty much make anything tasty or beautiful. {She’s fancy like that}.
We made some modifications to Sarah’s recipe. Instead of steaming the squash in the microwave, I painted on garlic powder, salt, pepper and olive oil on the quartered, seeded spaghetti squash. I popped into a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes or so. It smelled absolutely divine while it was roasting!
After the squash came out of the oven, we let it cool before we started shredding it into the spaghetti.
Tari was in charge of the meatballs. They are diced button mushrooms, finely diced roasted red peppers, grated onion, sautéed in olive oil. Cool the mushroom mixture before you add it to the uncooked meat.
She added the mushroom mixture to organic beef, spicy Italian pork sausage, ground up oat meal, egg and spices together and rolled them into meatballs.
We baked the meatballs in the oven until browned and then stirred them into marinara sauce and let it simmer for a while.
Here’s the final product.
{don’t tell anyone I put a fine sprinkling of parmesan cheese on top}.
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What about you?
Do you have any secret no-gluten {sugar/dairy} foods you love?
Do you have any recipes to share?
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Today’s yoga brought to you by Madeleine’s Gentle class.
wishing/hoping :: today is my lovely friend, michelle’s birthday. wishing her the happiest birthday of all the birthdays and hoping her journey back from belize is a safe one.
I am looking at it as an act of self-care. I’m curious to see if my overall health will improve. I want to know if what I am eating contributes to my really bad hay fever and how I seem to catch every bug that comes in my classroom.
Partly I’m curious if I can.
I’m having a really hard time imagining my life without dairy. My love of France grew because of their 500 + cheeses. {sigh}
Changing how I eat this month is also an exercise in mindful eating. With all the restrictions, I’m going to have to really think about what I am putting in my mouth.
This month’s recipes will be free from sugar, dairy, soy, gluten, vinegars, and stimulants and will be new to me.
Even though this cleanse is totally optional, I will be complaining. Consider yourself warned.
3 cups chicken stock
1 fresh thumb-sized piece of ginger, sliced into thin coins {I didn’t have any, so we used powder}
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce {I didn’t have any, so we used soy sauce instead}
2 teaspoons agave nectar
6 ounces leftover chicken
1 cup mushrooms, rinsed, drained and sliced in half lengthwise
1 medium carrot, julienne {we shredded}
2 tablespoons lime juice {lemon works too!}
¼ cup fresh cilantro, minced
Directions
In a pot, bring chicken stock and ginger to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes
Stir in coconut milk, fish sauce, agave, chicken, mushrooms and carrot
Just before serving, stir in lime juice and cilantro
Serve
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What about you?
Would you give up for your favorite foods for a limited time to see if you felt better?
Do you have any recipes to share?
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Today’s yoga brought to you by Madeleine’s Gentle class.
We’ve been experiencing our version of Northern California winter with promises of relentless rain showers only to be slightly disappointed when they are intermittent at best.
But still, nothing says Winter Break like making soup and hunkering down on the couch with the Google Reader while it simmers on the stove. Plus, it helps with my lame food confession and in my quest for staying healthy during the winter so I can get out and have some fun over break.
Starting the school year out on crutches was a huge lesson in letting go of what you have planned to do and dealing with the situation at hand.
Lesson learned:
Be flexible and let go of expectations of how things “should” be or at least how I’ve always done them.
Got it.
See, this yoga thing is working….
Or so I thought.
Then I caught the Worst. Cold. EVER.
Exactly what life lesson is there to be learned from the cold that I think is going to kill me?
Last week I wrote about being sick. Convinced that if I just stayed home and took really good care of myself, I’d get healthy faster and be able to return to my regularly scheduled life of anniversary dinners (missed it), birthday parties (stayed home instead) and yoga classes (who wants old misses tissue-stuffed-up-her-nose on the next mat?)
When I finally called the doctor on Day 7 (because I seemed to be getting worse, not better) – he said this round of cold viruses is particularly nasty. Feels more like a flu than a cold (blah, blah, blah)… and really does run the entire 7-10 days of feeling completely like crap. Not 7-10 until recovery. 7-10 days of being actively sick.
Boo.
Since I’m still sick (day 10!) now I’m wondering if it was worth taking all that time off work and doubting whether self-care really does anything.
And I have noticed I seem to get sick more often and longer than other teachers. What is up with that?
Not just this year. Every year.
About this time every year I start to hesitate in making plans because I’m not sure if I’ll be sick or not.
Thanksgiving? Just a quick drive to the Bay Area for dinner and back – I hope.
Christmas? Fingers crossed!
New Year’s Eve? Probably not going to happen.
I am tired of being sick all the time.
I want to make plans to have some fun and be able to keep them.
Not coughing?
Yes, please.
Remember last fall when I got sick? When catching the flu during yoga teacher training almost sent me to the nervous hospital?
Who had infected me?
When would I get better?
Didn’t those damn germs know I had THINGS to do?
So what do I do?
Start wearing one of these all the time?
I can’t help but wonder what I’m doing wrong.
So dear readers, tell me what to do. I’m all ears.
Saturday Senses is a way to capture the spirit of each week.
tasting :: honey – a gift from one of my very sweet students.
hearing :: “your class was great!” – thank you class. thank you sub teacher.
smelling :: rosemary salt in the neti pot
seeing :: proud students and parents – first quarter awards.
feeling :: excited to be announcing the winner of the Spirit House Designs scarf later today and relieved I can fall back into bed and sleep until I feel better.
wishing/hoping :: everyone has the best version of their brand of Thanksgiving ever.
You’ve read all the tips on how to stay healthy and not get the latest virus going around. You’ve washed your hands and taught your little friends about coughing and sneezing into their sleeves.
But what do you do when your plan to avoid the plague has failed?
Inevitably most people will get some sort of seasonal cold or flu each year. Even teachers.
In fact, teachers get sick more often than most.
No really, I googled it.
When you think about it, it’s not surprising.
We’re surrounded by the little people in confined spaces who are not quite as adept at keeping their germs to themselves nor staying home when they are under the weather. Plus they tend to pick their noses and then touch our stuff – like doorknobs and pencils.
Well, this week is finally my week.
I’ve had little brushes with practice viruses that came in and out of my life so fast I now wonder if I was ever really sick at all. {Maybe it really was just allergies}
There is no question this time though.
Sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, body aches, congestion, muddy headed thoughts {ie I’ve been really slow lately} and the worst part – a sort of productive cough.
So what is a sick teacher to do?
1. Stay home.
I know writing sub plans is a pain. I know letting a stranger in your classroom is stressful. I know kids learn best from their regular teacher.
But really, it’s for the best.
Really.
For you and your students.
No one is going to die from having a sub teacher, but you all may feel like dying if you don’t get better.
And your adult co-workers will thank you for keeping your germy self out of the staff room. Remember they are fighting their own germ battles in their classrooms, so there is no need to bring it in the staff room too.
2. Rest.
Now that you are home, rest.
You don’t have to sleep, but there is no reason to get out of bed until you feel better.
You can:
– Invest in a little screen time – Netflix watch instantly for your favorite old movies or TV shows
– Catch up on your blog reading.
– Read a novel (a novel idea, I know!)
– Peruse your back catalog of magazines you haven’t had time to read since school started.
– Make a fort on the couch or in your bed and staying there until you feel better – doesn’t that sound nice?
3. Shower
The steam from the shower can help clear up some of the mucus (sounds gross even when you type it) and the warm water can also soothe your achy muscles.
4. Drink lots of fluids
Filtered water and weak teas have been my go to list. Add some lemon and honey – you are already working on homemade feel better remedies.
Sip all day – even if you aren’t thirsty. The liquid can help thin out the mucus and help you avoid dehydration.
5. Eat what makes you feel better
For me, I crave burritos the size of my head when I’m sick. No, I don’t eat it all at once. I do love the spiciness and how it helps clear out my nose.
Also, brothy pho and ramen hit the spot when I’m not feeling well.
6. Leave the cough medicine at the store
Try drinking grape juice (1 cup) and honey (1 tsp)
Try some thyme (1 tsp dried crushed) steeped for 10 minutes in hot filtered water – add honey – and sip.
Try mixing a 1/2 tsp of turmeric with honey and swallow.
Or make your own cough medicine at home.
Here’s to hoping we all feel better sooner than later…. Did I leave anything out? Please leave me your go-to get healthy quick remedies.
Fall around the Bay Area likes to take its time getting here. Just last week, in the middle of October, the temperature was hovering around 90˚ here in Oakland. But today, as I think my cold nose indicates, we might have finally turned the corner and left summer behind. As much as I appreciate the pleasant weather, I am eager to get on with autumn already. Because there’s nothing like a cool, crisp morning to enjoy one of my favorite breakfasts: jook.
Jook, sometimes known as congee, is Chinese rice porridge. It’s a dish found across Asian cultures, from Thailand to Korea. Jook on its own is meant to be a little bland; it works as a canvas for any number of toppings, which vary regionally and culturally. It’s simple to prepare and simple to dress up to your taste. It’s comfort food, a warm and soothing start to the day. It’s medicine for a cold and stuffy sinuses. It’s a calming remedy for a nervous or queasy stomach.
Growing up, I ate jook with traditional Chinese accompaniments: very thin matchsticks of fresh, peeled ginger, cilantro leaves, chopped green onions, soy sauce, white pepper, and a tiny drizzle of toasted sesame oil. But the options are virtually endless, and a list of ideas of how to top your meal follows the recipe.
So as I enjoy all things autumn– the refreshing air, the butternut squashes, the tiny pirates and ballerinas who will make their way to my front door in search of sweets in a couple of weeks– I will also be warming myself (and my cold nose) with a steaming, hot bowl of my favorite fall breakfast.
image: Vanessa Vichit-Vadakan
Jook
makes 4-6 servings
1 cup uncooked white rice, long or short grain (Basmati or Jasmine will work fine as well)
½ pound/8 ounces raw pork or chicken bones (optional)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
8 cups water, plus more as needed
Place all ingredients in a large pot (at least 4-quart capacity). Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Let it cook uncovered for about 90 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water as necessary.
That’s it!
The jook is ready when the rice is cooked to the point of falling apart. The consistency of the finished product is up to you. I like mine like thinned out oatmeal– hearty but brothy. If there is any meat on the bones, pick it off and add it to the mix.
Here are some garnishes you can use to top off your jook:
Image: Vanessa Vichit-Vadakan
soy sauce
toasted sesame oil (just a tiny bit!)
fresh cilantro
fresh green onions
fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into very thin strips
white or black pepper
a fried or hard-boiled egg
cubes of tofu
cooked, crumbled bacon or chopped Chinese sausage (lop chong)
fresh, hot chile peppers or hot pepper sauce, like Sriracha
fish sauce
lime juice
fried garlic, shallots, or onions
fresh spinach leaves
green peas
chopped green beans, broccoli, or bok choy
fresh carrots, thinly sliced
alfalfa, wheat, radish, or bean sprouts
seaweed flakes
toasted sesame seeds
togarashi or furikake
dried Chinese mushrooms (cook them along with the jook itself to rehydrate them)
pork floss
dried or fresh, cooked shrimp or fish
ground peanuts
bamboo shoots
shelled edamame
What are your go-to healthy foods?
How do you change your diet based on the season?
Send me your recipe and you may find yourself featured here!
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Today’s yoga brought to you by the home practice.
Today’s music is
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Yoga Teaching Update:
FREE Fridays at 4:30 with the new It’s All Yoga teachers (21st and X in Sacramento) – you’ve got to sign up online www.itsallyoga.com.
These classes are for every body – level 1/2. Bring your friends!
School teachers need an abundance of patience. Dealing with classroom disruptions, endless meetings, the bureaucratic nature of our jobs. And let’s not forget the endless repetition of hearing your own name thousands of times a day.
Since most of us need much more patience than we naturally have, I would venture to say one would make an absolute fortune should one find a way to bottle and sell patience.
Yoga can teach you patience.
Let me rephrase that: yoga has taught me to have much more patience and I think it can help you too.
Here’s an example of how yoga has let me practice learning patience: learning a new yoga pose gives me lots of opportunities to practice patience.
First, I have to come to grips with the physical and mental limitations of my body at the time.
My arms seem to suddenly be shorter than necessary.
My legs seem impossibly long (not in the good way).
My wrists are delicate little things when what is required is strength and flexibility.
My personal favorite: I’m tired.
Face it, some poses are just out of my reach right now.
I could get all caught up in the striving – must.do.it.now – or I can relax and understand with practice and yes, patience, I may find that pose becomes easier over time.
Tip #2 – Yoga Can Heighten Your Sense of Patterns and Deepen Your Awareness
In my first few years of teaching, I pretty much abandoned all activities that weren’t directly related to school.
Big mistake.
I thought by creating a laser-like focus on my job, I’d somehow skip over the learning process of becoming a teacher. Mostly, I just burnt myself out.
Since I started practicing yoga on a regular basis, my teaching has dramatically improved.
The time away has given me insights into how my mood, stress level and attitude is reflected in my students. I was able to see that I get back what I put out there.
Time on the mat has also freed up space in my brain to see behavior triggers and stop them before they become an issue.
It’s not that I’m spending all this time on my mat thinking about work either.
It’s like when you are working, working, working on a problem and then you get up to take a walk. You clear your mind and suddenly the answer comes to you while you’re walking. That happens all the time on my mat.
One last lesson I’ve learned from yoga about patterns:
Everything changes.
The good things are temporary.
The impossible-to-stand-for-even-a-second-longers are also temporary.
Tip #3 – Breathing Is A Good Thing
One of the many things I’ve been reminded of over and over during my Fred Jones Classroom Management training this year is the importance of two relaxing breaths.
Pausing to take two relaxing breaths before you take on any teaching situation can help everything (including you!) stay calmer.
According to Fred Jones, “Calm is strength.”
How has yoga or another activity helped you at work?
Teacher Goes Back to School 
