Happiness Machine

"Should a Happiness Machine, he wondered, be something you can carry in your pocket?

Or, he went on, should it be something that carries you in its pocket?"
                         -Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury

Amid this lovely, whimsical writing, is a story where the character succeeds in making a happiness machine.  But the machine makes everyone sad because it shows pictures of places that everyone should go, things that everyone should like, expensive things like Paris and those that make you crave more things - but the characters had not actually experienced them and in learning that they wanted, they cried.

He spent so much time and energy creating this machine that he had collapsed in exhaustion when finished.  He was chagrined to realize that his invention had failed.

But when he looks inside the front window of his house, he sees his wife cooking, his children reading and playing games... looking at his family, he realizes that it's his life that is the true "Happiness Machine;" it's his beloved family.  He'd had no need to put his energy into inventing the happiness.  It was there all along.

Happiness is found in the moments of life.  It is not around the corner - once we buy this or finish that.  It is here.  It is now.

The Happiness Machine is life, carrying us in its pocket.  It is the memories and experiences we collect, the people we choose to surround ourselves with, sunshine on shoulders, a favorite song, a cup of tea or a caramel mocha, a hot shower, a walk in the park, holding a baby, catching up with a friend, receiving a hug from a child, taking a moment to relax, a roof over your head.  Sip and enjoy.

Grateful

I am grateful to be on this new path of peace and healing.

According to The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, when you are on the frequency of following your true path – doing what you are meant to do - the way should be easy, effortless.  Opportunities appear that are pleasant because they are meant for you.

One opportunity that opened up is babysitting once or twice a week for a really nice family.  The three -year -old girl and six -year-old boy are bright, sweet, and adorable.  Last week, they were down for their naps and I sat on the back porch – sun on my shoulders, looking out at the lake and thinking, “This is my new job.  This is my new life.”  They pay me the same that I was making at my corporate job.  I could have been sitting in an office, forcing myself through my day.  Instead, I was playing with children and sitting in sunshine.

My largest expenditure that I felt unable to sacrifice was yoga.  Miraculously, help was needed at the studio, so I am now trading my time helping at the front desk for free yoga.  And I love working there because it’s something I believe in, a place that I truly care about and love to nurture.

Same with being at home.  As an introvert, I love the opportunity to spend the day by myself, thinking, writing, nurturing my home and my family.  I can honestly say that I’ve found so much joy in being home – in caring for my household, having time to do thoughtful things for my husband, cooking lovely, healthy meals, and helping with the family business - our rental properties.

All of these beautiful opportunities presented themselves because I was open, because I was searching for a way to truly be me.  And most importantly, because I believed that I would be guided with all of my heart.  It is the life that I visualized for many years.  And it was up to me to take the first step – all this time.

Laura’s Karmic Subs

My husband, Vida, and I love Dave’s Cosmic Subs.  Since we’re scaling back on the budget and have so many fresh veggies from the CSA, I decided to attempt them myself.  Okay, so obviously they are a bit overflowing.  If you don’t want it sloppy and have some to eat with a fork afterwards, use less veggies.  This was delicious!  Keep your napkins close!

They are Karmic because they’re vegan. 

Laura’s Karmic Subs (Serves 2 and then some to lick off the plate)

Foot long French bread, cut in two
½ avocado, large diced or strips – whichever you prefer
½ tomato, diced
½ pepper, cut into long strips
½ onion, cut into long strips
Fresh horseradish or a sauce without egg or cream
Handful of fresh spinach
2 romaine leaves
½ cup cole slaw (recipe below)

1. Saute the pepper and onions in light olive oil on medium heat until soft (about 5-7 minutes.) 

2. While sautéing, spread horseradish on both sides of the inside of the bread.  Add spinach, lettuce, avocado, and tomato. 

3. When done, add grilled onions and peppers. 

4. Top with cole slaw. 

5. Try to fit in mouth.

Feel free to make variations with your favorite veggies that you have available!  If you like mushrooms, those would probably be nice to grill, too.

Fresh Cole Slaw

½ head cabbage, shredded to bite-sized pieces
1 carrot, use a peeler to peel the whole carrot into little strips
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper
1 tsp ground mustard powder
Couple of dashes lemon pepper
1 TB garlic powder

Combine and mix.  Let marinate about 15 minutes.

Beautiful, Subversive Food

According to Michael Pollan, we should involve ourselves in the communal web of food production as intricately as we can:

“This food reveals itself for what it is: no mere thing, but a web of relationships among a great many living beings, some of them human, some not, but each of them dependent on the other, and all of them ultimately rooted in soil and nourished by sunlight.”

This community involves the farmers growing and laboring, the plants drinking in the sunshine and luxuriating in nutrients, the animals that have contributed to the soil or are part of the kind cycle, all the way to the person cooking and inviting loved ones to the table. 

Pollan also says:

“To reclaim this much control over one’s food, to take it back from industry and science, is no small thing; indeed, in our time cooking from scratch and growing any of our own food qualify as subversive acts.”

Go Geauga Family Farms!!  I am so proud to join your community web, where you “produce healthy foods, from healthy soils, for healthy people.”

Kohlrabi Slaw Recipe (Adapted from Food Network Magazine and changed Laura-style):
Peel 3 kohlrabis and cut into matchsticks.  Whisk the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill (Or 1 TB dry), 1/2 clove minced garlic, 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, and salt and pepper in a bowl.  Whisk in 3 tablespoons olive oil.  Toss with the kohlrabi and add more salt and pepper to taste.

Note:  FN's recipe calls for 1 kohlrabi and 1/4 head shredded cabbage.  I used 3 kohlrabi instead because that's what I had and it was delicious!

Sometimes being Kind is as important as being Present

Because I was trying so hard to focus on being present while my Type A family members were trying to rush from point A to point B while discussing point C, I found myself growing utterly impatient.  I wanted my companions to EXPERIENCE New York City since it was their first time there.  I wanted to “stop and smell the…” ok, in NYC maybe I didn’t want to use the sense of smell as much.

But definitely to linger, to soak it in.  I found myself getting rushed along and growing bitter.

However, I now realize that just because being present was important to me, it was still something that I was struggling with just a month ago.  How could I expect my travel companions to be open to it or even consciously trying to employ it when it was still so new to me and not at all a focus for them? 

What’s ironic and a little bit awful is that I was so critical of how we were losing our experiences in the present moment, that I spent a great deal of time in my head being angry, also losing my own experience.  What I missed was kindness and compassion.  And now I can never get that time back to experience travel with 3 of my truly favorite people who I love dearly.

I’d like to illustrate an experience to give you an idea of what I was facing - If only I had been able to giggle then instead of turn grumpy (another excuse: it was 95 degrees and humid…)

Ahead of time, my mom emailed: “I was told by the hotel that we must be sure we travel only in the YELLOW NYC TAXI CABS.  Not the black gypsy cabs.”  I acknowledged the email, saying, “yes, this is good advice.”

As we were exiting the airport, there was a sign: Ground Transportation.  As we were walking in that direction, my mom said to my aunt, “We must make sure it’s a yellow taxi cab.”  My aunt said to me, “make sure it’s a yellow taxi cab.”  While looking at the sign, my mom asked, “But does Ground Transportation mean they will have the YELLOW taxi cabs?” 

My aunt promptly found someone working at the airport to ask if “Ground Transportation was the way towards the YELLOW taxi cabs.”  We were told yes, go outside the door and you will find many yellow taxi cabs waiting.  As we walked outside, they were still reiterating to each other that we must find a yellow taxi cab.

The line was very long and I saw a sign for another taxi stand around the way.  I decided to go ahead and check it out.  There were yellow cabs lined up all around the corner and very few people waiting, so I ran back and told my mom and aunt to follow me.  The questions:

“Did you find taxi cabs?”  “Are you quite sure they are YELLOW taxi cabs?” 

Exasperated, I walked forward, wordlessly leading the way.  As they looked at the yellow cabs lined up around the block, my mom asked, “But are they New York City yellow taxi cabs?”  I pointed out that they said “New York City” on the side and that they were indeed very yellow.

As I looked around the city, my mom and aunt discussed among themselves how they had to be sure that all of our taxi cabs were yellow…

Looking back now with love, I can see that they were just nervous to be in a new city and they wanted to try to control the few things that they saw themselves able to control for their comfort level. 

The Experience is just as much about not judging everything that happens as it is about stopping to notice and appreciate the moments.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Delicious & Healthy Food

It's a thunderstormy afternoon in NYC and I'm reveling in my experiences with food.

Last night, we went to a restaurant called Josie's at 37th and 3rd.  It was one of the most delicious vegan-friendly restaurants I've ever visited.  I was thrilled to see a butternut squash soup (topped with roasted pumpkin seeds) that was not floating in heavy cream.  It was VEGAN, sweet, and absolutely delicious!

I was also very excited to see the Seared, Asian-Marinated Organic Tofu Salad.  It had spinach, tofu, chickpeas, zucchini, pepper, tomatoe, avocado, mushroom, and was tossed in a light but tasty balsamic dressing.  Vegan Heaven!

It was a lovely meal out with my mom, aunt, and sister.  NYC is really impressing me with the food!  Even in the airport (LGA), I ordered a salad and the dressing was homemade with lemon and fresh garlic!  It was delightful.  New York City really steps it up about a thousand notches from my usual Ohio dining.  Now these dinners out are much more worth it- it's a good thing I don't live here or I would be out of money in a week.  I love that no eyebrows are raised when I say "No cheese, please."

Today, we saw the Statue of Liberty and tonight we are going out for Italian and to see Mary Poppins!  This is my fifth time in the Big City, but really the first time I've been free to do really touristy things like sneaking off to drink wine in the hotel lobby.  Yeah, that's what I'm doing right now.  I'm sharing a room with all three lovely ladies and sometimes, a girl needs to blog whilst sipping wine...

Sunshine!

More organic veggies from the local farmers of the Geauga Family Farms!  From tomato:  peas and cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, red lettuce, yellow squash, green lettuce, rainbow chard, green onions, lemon basil, beets, and kohlrabi.  

Can anyone tell me how to cook the kohlrabi?  This is a new one for me!  I am going to try to make some beet chips tonight.  I also have some lemon basil soaking in olive oil to prepare for a lemony dressing for a summer salad that will feature the lovely yellow squash on the grill!  I've never seen a yellow squash so bright before and I'm really excited to eat it!

Today is the Summer Solstice - the longest day of the year.  The heatwave across the country proves that the sun is showing off!  So eat some lovely veggies and chew up some of the sun's energy.  And spend some time in the sunshine to revel in its life-giving power. 

Again - please let me know if you have ideas for that kohlrabi!  Or how to trick myself into enjoying the cauliflower- that's one veggie that I just can't seem to get along with yet.  Thanks!