Week Seven: My Story
Question:
Tell me about yourself?
Have you ever been in an interview and someone asks, tell me about yourself? I usually have a panicked moment when I'm not sure if I should start with the fact that I carry a rubber chicken around when I travel, or that I find borscht soup repugnant. This post attempts to answers this question.
Books were habitually scattered about, small mountains of knowledge and realities I would step into, only to reluctantly leave later. Before allowing myself to dive into these various creations, I had to stealthily open the cover and examine the first line. Many will disagree, but the first line is the most important. It dictates if the book goes to the top or bottom of the stack. An exceptional sentence will pull you in like the aroma of comfort that wafts from a bakery; it hints at the delicious tale to come. But now, in this story of my life, I am left without a first line, so we will begin, quite eloquently, like this: I will never ask permission to go to the bathroom.
That anyone else would have jurisdiction over my bodily functions is simply ridiculous. Although this decision could be attributed to my extreme stubbornness, I will give the credit to being homeschooled for my early life and the freedom that it allowed. My life is a product of the days I spent reveling in the slow time of being young and discovering my infinite infatuation with knowledge and a good story.
Let us stop here and start once more at the beginning. How does one arrange the narrative of their life? Chronologically or otherwise? I was young, then I wasn’t. There was a short time I learned how to play fiddle in Sweden, a chunk in public high school, a year spent delving into the the relationship between culture and cuisine, eighteen months when I woke up before the sun and prepared morning doses of caffeine for the sleep deprived, a considerable portion where I fell deeply in love with the nuances of cooking, a point when I discovered how to carry big trays of food without mishap, spent a bit traversing the globe, shook dry martinis, took up the piano, and chopped up whole fish into smaller edible pieces.
When I asked my Dad for my first job at five years old, I experienced my first hit of delight from creating something that had value and getting paid; I’ve been an addict ever since. This addiction is the perfect fuel to propel myself down this path of discovery. Growing up, my parents bought, ran, and sold various businesses. I saw them succeed and fail, the sleepless nights, self doubt and the knowledge they gained from these tribulations.
Maybe this is why I consider myself something of a workaholic and feel the subtle allure of entrepreneurship. It’s why I spent three and a half years working from hostess, to busser, to server, to bartender, to line chef, to sushi chef just to unravel the many facets of restaurant life. It’s why I felt compelled to pay for myself to travel the world and uncover the person I am outside of my comfort zone. It’s why I had to feel the malaise of returning home after a journey of that proportion, just to realize the importance of never settling for the ordinary. And it’s why I applied to Praxis, knowing full well that it will challenge me in ways I don’t yet comprehend.
This brings us to the present. This piece did not flow out of me. No, I pulled each stubborn word from my brain, fighting as I typed it. I have no doubt that this next chapter and first line will contain similar and vastly more difficult tests. With the start of Praxis, I know that obstacles, struggles, frustrations and hopefully, refinements and successes, await me; I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Impact
In honor of those who went to burning man or anyone who needs a good laugh.
Create
COFFEE PECAN MUFFINS:
I need to start with a disclaimer. I grew up in Boulder, Colorado and healthy food is not a foreign concept to me. So, I apologize if you thought these muffins were some ridiculously delicious butter and gluten filled pieces of perfection, because they aint. If you want some tasty and seriously healthy morning munchies, this is the recipe for you. #glutendairysugarifyouwantgrainandhappinessfree
This was a quick morning project, first time using the time lapse video on my phone. I thought it would be an easy video to put together.
Ingredients:
Makes 8
Base: Here are the “base ingredients”. Everything else I add is just to spruce them up but you can make them with just these six ingredients.
-1 cup almond or peanut butter (almond is better, but peanut is far cheaper so it’s up to you)
-2 eggs
-2 bananas
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
Additions:
-1 TBLS apple sauce
-2 TBLS coffee
-Spices (I did a dash of cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg)
-2 tsp. maple syrup
-1 TBLS coconut oil
-1/4 cup chopped pecans (adds a nice texture)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 on convention.
Place the bananas, almond/peanut butter, and eggs in the blender and mix. Add the baking soda and salt and blend. Add all the other ingredients besides the pecans and blend for about 20 seconds until everything is incorporated. Add the pecans last and mix with a spoon, don’t blend it because we want the pecans to stay intact. Pour in muffin tins and cook for 12 minutes. At first, they may seem a little undercooked, but let them cool for 20 minutes and they will be perfect. If you bake them for too long, they can get a bit dry.