Learning to Swim, again

I've decided to take on a 'Give-it-a-try-tri', a small triathlon for beginners. It consists of a 400m swim, a 10k bike, and a 2.5k run. The bike and the run, that I can conquer, not a problem. I've been running and biking for a years now, all good there. Swimming scares the shit out of me. Seriously. Ok, I may be exaggerating, I can keep myself afloat with a noodle or life jacket and I'm pretty good at treading water but that doesn't get you to the finish line in Lake Ontario. I asked if I could bring my noodle, no response.

I grew up in land locked Saskatchewan, the lakes were too cold and pools weren't really on my radar. I tried swimming lessons with other kids but decided to retire at age 7.  Nothing too sporty was really my thing. I only played softball to get my Dairy Queen treat after the game.  I've never been a fan of balls flying at my face anyway. Mainly because I knew I'd never be able to catch them.  I finally, and thankfully, discovered the value of fitness in my mid 20's when the pints and fries at Louis' Pub on campus finally caught up to me. And when my family doctor said, "Maybe you could take up running?" Point taken.

Spring 2012 Age 30ish, out of retirement

So I dove back in to lessons this spring. First, I had to get my eyelashes tinted to avoid the racoon look in the pool, a beauty must, thank you Natalia! Then I found a suit to fit my long torso, not the most fun I've had in a day, but I ended up with a pretty cute one, if you're in to the reptilian look.  Back to the lessons: myself and five other adults learning how to be kids again. And learning how to move my arms in one direction, my legs in another while breathing underwater. Right. Arms and legs got moving together pretty well, but its the breath that has proved to be the most challenging. As an actor my breath connects me to my emotions, I am my breath, when you breathe you can do anything. That all goes out the window when my head goes underwater. But I keep going back for more! What did my mom always say to me, practise makes perfect?

Ok then, here goes.

This was written in my Progress Report at the end of the 8 week session:

"Nice swimming Tricia. 

Your strokes look great and 

endurance improved a lot. 

Keep it up and have a great summer"

It felt like I was 7 years old again!

Happy Swimming until next time

tbxo

Learning to find the joy (and cookies) in grief

And I'm back! April and May were a little quiet and a little sad over here. But don't get sad for me because some wonderful things happened as a result. Cookies!

The end of April was my Mom's birthday and then Mother's Day happened. My mom died a year and a half ago. Celebrating these 2 days in the past was always a good thing filled with a lot of joy and shopping. My mom would spend the day giving herself the "Braun Girl Beauty Treatment", which consisted of bathing languidly with a coffee, maybe a book, and doing her own mani-pedi. I dont think she had the patience to pay someone else to do it. After she was all gussied up with her face on it was time to hit the mall where she would find the perfect spring outfit. In later years this outfit would be worn to Mr. Rizo's, an amazing restaurant in Saskatoon, our go-to celebration spot. I was recently there with family in May and like many things, its a hell of a lot quieter without her there.

On April 23rd this year I had my own version of her birthday. I bought new lipstick and went to a blissful yoga class and came home to these flowers and this note from my husband:

I hope yoga was good

check the freezer

In the freezer was a good old fashioned Coffee Crisp chocolate bar with another note written on the No Frills receipt that said, "save half for me".  It was perfect! And, yes, I have cut out the refined sugar and all that other garbage but every now and again it is ok, in my books, to indulge a little, Gayle would have approved. 

As for Mother's Day, I was hoping it would come and go. I got home from teaching that morning to an empty house except for Bailey the dog and CBC Radio One with Stuart McLean hosting a Mother's Day special. It was like a a car wreck, I couldn't go by without having a listen. That's when it happened, the South Saskatchewan river began to flow in my kitchen. The tears continued for a while and through it all a wee dog about knee high, sat quietly and patiently at my feet. 

When it was all over, Bailey reached for her pink bone and turned to me, ready to play. Somehow she knew I needed her there and that I too, needed to play. That night she chilled out in the kitchen where I continued to play:

I took liberty with the most amazing Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe ever, from Nigella Lawson's newest cookbook, Kitchen. I used spelt flour instead of white flour and coconut sugar instead of white/brown sugar and a mixture of cacao nibs and white chocolate chips (I didn't have anything else, and it was a baking emergency people!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Nigella, adapted for me and you

Makes approx. 14 yummy cookies

Side note: Nigella is British, she bakes by weight, I was given a digital kitchen scale to use specifically with this cookbook, thank you Sue & Bob, many baking emergencies have been remedied with our new toy! Do yourself a favour and get one too, because I don't know the conversions.

150g soft unsalted butter

225g coconut sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, fridge-cold

1 egg yolk, fridge-cold

300g Spelt flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 x 326g package of semi-sweet chocolate chips (or whatever is in your pantry that is similar/healthier, which is the goal remember?)

*Pre heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

*Melt the butter and let it cool a bit. Put the coconut sugar into a bowl, pour the slightly cooled, melted butter over it and beat together.

*Beat in the vanilla, cold egg and cold egg yolk until your mixture is light and creamy. 

*Slowly mix in the flour and baking soda until just blended, then fold in the chocolate chips/healthy substitute - see above.

*Scoop the cookie dough up with an ice-cream scoop and plop onto the prepared baking sheet, plopping the cookies down about an inch apart. You may need to make these in 2 batches, keeping the bowl of cookie dough in the fridge between batches (out of sight).

*Bake for 15-17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks. Share generously.

this picture, it should be noted is from an earlier experiment, 
the version above got gobbled up too quickly!

So, I have learned how to laugh through my tears with the help of Bailey the dog and learned to bake my favorite cookies with coconut sugar and spelt flour, super yummy alternatives to the refined versions. Whats on your baking agenda?

Happy Baking, until next time

tbxo


ps.: I'm working on the bike fixin' and bread bakin', stay tuned!