Medi-taste

Yo, I know this is not really my forum for food, but I enjoyed writing out this recipe for my sister and find this process to be delightfully time consuming. Great activity for date night in my opinion. My favorite part is washing the rice and having an Amelie moment and feeling the cold water and grains on my hands. It's like a walk on the beach but in your kitchen. Some of the items are annoying for a 1 time deal, but hopefully you will like it enough to do it again!


Need:

2 packs Nori (each comes with 10 sheets)

Soy Sauce

Rice Vinegar

olive oil (or butter)

1 ½ cups sushi rice (try the bulk section of whole foods)

Avocado

Red Bell Pepper

Asparagus

Cucumber

Shiitake Mushrooms (about 2 handfuls)

Honey

1 bamboo sushi mat (amazon)

Optional: Wasabi, Green Goddess Dressing, pickled ginger

Rice:

Rinse the rice in a pot and swirl it around to wash off the starch, drain and repeat at least 3 cycles, it helps the rice become the right amount of sticky. Boil the rice about 20 minutes until soft, and add about 2 tablespoons Rice Vinegar (or more to taste). Add in about a tablespoon of honey (or to taste). Empty onto a baking sheet in a ½ inch layer to cool.

Prep:

Cut Shiitake mushrooms into thin strips and sautee with Soy Sauce, 1 clove garlic and olive oil. Store mushrooms in fridge until rice is at least room temperature and ready to roll! Cut the remaining veggies into thin strips and set in bowls/cups. I use a spiralizer to prep the cucumber.

Roll:

Have 1 bowl water handy for dipping your hands into to help keep them rice-free between rolls. Set bamboo mat down and put a sheet of plastic wrap on top. Then take 1 sheet of Nori (shiny side on mat, rough side up) and dampen your hands with water. Take 1 handful of room-temp rice and press it onto the sheet in a *thin* layer, thin is good! Take your veggies (don’t forget your mushrooms in the fridge) and arrange them in a row closest to you-thin is still good! Roll the Sushi, use the plastic wrap+mat to add pressure, making sure not to roll the mat/wrap into the sushi. Now you have a tube of sushi! When cutting the roll, use your sharpest cooking knife to slice the loaf. Allow the knife to cut without added pressure. Have a glass of warm water and towel nearby to dip the knife into and wipe clean between each cut. Serve on plates with soy sauce in ramekins, set out wasabi and pickled ginger if you like. I like to dip the sushi in Green Goddess dressing & soy sauce!

Self-Care

I admittedly took a "break" from active meditation. It certainly was not due to time shortage! I had the longest break in recent memory to spend at home in California where I was able to reconnect with friends and family.

It was a welcome juxtaposition to where I was emotionally/etc. the previous year and I reflected on how fortunate I've been to be able to actualize personal goals.

As a grad student I have had time to think and reassess what I want from myself on a micro and macro level. In and out of meditation I often consider the words, "Don't just do something, sit there!"

The "glorification of busyness" certainly had (has) power over me and I was reminded of that during nearly 6 weeks of unscheduled free time. I was initially/periodically restless but engaged with goals I found to be meaningful uses of time. As the weeks rolled by I was amused by the exponential projects I suddenly did not have time to complete!

Recently I watched the video Humans Need Not Apply. At the conclusion of the video, my boyfriend expressed optimism at the prospect of more accessible free time and enough food to sustain humanity. I was disturbed on multiple fronts, mostly on a social level. In the best case scenario, people will have more down time and I am not sure we will all make good choices. Unstructured time is the number one thing you try to avoid as a teacher in a classroom! Yes, people find ways to amuse themselves, just not always in a positive way. If you are like me, you are also frightened by the thought of a widened class gap, which is also disastrous.

What great job security in a way-assuming you are a leader in a soulful profession like ministry, exercise instructor, artist...

With more free time, will people redirect themselves toward self-improvement? Or will we be unable to look at ourselves with honesty and prioritize the mending of shortcomings as our highest priority?

Anne Sullivan (teacher to Hellen Keller) was the Valedictorian when she graduated from the Perkin's School. She has the following to say about "self-care"

"We can educate ourselves; we can, by thought and perseverance, develop all the powers and capacities entrusted to us, and build for ourselves true and noble characters. Because we can, we must. It is a duty we owe to ourselves, to our country and to God.

All the wondrous physical, intellectual and moral endowments, with which man is blessed, will, by inevitable law, become useless, unless he uses and improves them. The muscles must be used, or they become unserviceable. The memory, understanding and judgment must be used, or they become feeble and inactive. If a love for truth and beauty and goodness is not cultivated, the mind loses the strength which comes from truth, the refinement which comes from beauty, and the happiness which comes from goodness.

Self-culture is a benefit, not only to the individual, but also to mankind. Every man who improves himself is aiding the progress of society, and every one who stands still, holds it back. The advancement of society always has its commencement in the individual soul. It is by battling with the circumstances, temptations and failures of the world, that the individual reaches his highest possibilities.

The search for knowledge, begun in school, must be continued through life in order to give symmetrical self-culture.

For the abundant opportunities which have been afforded to us for broad self-improvement we are deeply grateful."