Breakdancing

"You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. 
If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you." -Barbara Sher

I've been dancing salsa pretty regularly for the past year (actually, just over a year) and I've built some confidence in my skills and abilities. I can follow pretty well and dance in a social setting.

The idea of feeling bad at something is very uncomfortable for me. I like the idea of being competent and decently skilled at any particular activity. So as someone that has finished school, and have been doing a very familiar set of hobbies/activities for a long time, I haven't had that feeling of "being a beginner" for a while.

Anytime you learn a new skill - riding a bike, playing a new sport, playing a new instrument - its inevitable, you're going to suck at it - like be really really embarrassingly bad. "Sucking", at least initially, is a necessary step to eventual mastery of a skill. Embracing this attitude humbles us, and forces us to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. And that if we continue working persistently at it with deliberate practice, we can get a level where we don't suck as much - we might even become good, or great at what we do.

For me the activity I "suck at" is urban dance. I've attempted hip hop before, bad at it.  I decided to take up breakdancing after trying out one class and really enjoying the class, teacher, and moves we were learning (top rock, down rock and freezes - beginner class doesn't cover power moves like windmills).

If someone shows me a set of choreography, I'm relatively okay at replicating it. For the first few classes we did a "monkey see monkey do" routine. The instructor showed us some moves and we copied it. Very straight forward, very non-threatening and comfortable.

What REALLY pushed me outside of my comfort zone was when we tried applying what we learned in freestyle. Our instructor introduced us to breakdancing "cyphers" aka a dance circle. We play the bboy music and take turns trying out different moves we learned together. All of us are beginners (albeit 1 or 2 I'm PRETTY sure had bboyed before) but we encouraged each other, cheering or saying "good job good job" if one of us messed up.  When it was my turn, I went into the circle and did my thing, and I was HORRIBLE at it. I felt eembarrassed self-conscious... all really unfamiliar, uncomfortable feelings.  However in spite of this, I was absolutely delighted and excited - for the first time (in a long time) I felt challenged. I went home thinking about how much practice I needed before I would enter the dance circle again.

Healthy Poutine

Poutine is a very Canadian dish made with French Fries, topped with cheese curds and gravy. There are different variations of Poutine, including a pulled pork, "Canadian Bacon" and "loaded Nacho-like" versions of Poutine. I decided to make this recipe when my younger brother had asked for healthy poutine.

I had previously made poutine using low-sodium McCain fries. Upon telling my coworkers they convinced me to try making my own fries and so I did :)

Ingredients

• 5 Potatoes of your choice
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to Taste
• Grated low fat cheese of your choice (Mozzarella, Marble, Cheddar or Cheese Curds)
• 3 tbsp Low fat and low sodium beef bouillon powder
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 4 tbsp low fat, unsalted butter

Steps

For Home Baked Fries

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Submerge potatoes in cold tap water for at least 30 minutes, this helps to remove starch and makes it for an easier cut and bake. 
3. Slice potatoes using a sharp knife into 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch.
4. Put cut fries into bowl, add 1 tbsp and coat thoroughly.
5. Place fries on baking sheet, put in oven and bake for 30 minutes, turning a couple of times

For Gravy

1. Mix together butter, flour, water, brouillon powder in saucepan.
2. Cook for 10 minutes.

To Layer:

1. Fries, then cheese, then gravy. 

ILLUSTRATED STEP BY STEP DIRECTIONS »

Chocolate French Macarons

This recipe adapted from Delicious Everyday, Eat Live Travel Write and Stella from Bravetart - who has been making macarons using a tried, tested and true method. This is my second EVER attempt. Unfortunately my sifter broke half way, and I don't think I quite had the texture I needed. I'll continue to do more digging on good macaron-making techniques. It was a good attempt and I think I have the method (steps) down pat. 

Makes: 20 Macarons

Ingredients

Macaron:

• 57 g of almond flour
• 115 g of icing sugar
• 1 tbsp of cocoa powder
• 36 g sugar
• 72g of egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

* Its important that your ingredients are measured precisely.

Cream Cheese Buttercream used from a previous recipe. 

Directions

Preheat oven to 230 degrees Fahrenheit. 

1. Measure out almond flour, icing sugar and cocoa powder. Put in food processor, and pulse on high until while ground (~15 times). Sift TWICE into bowl that you will set aside.
2. Mix egg whites, sugar using an hand/standing electric mixer with a whisk attachment - and time yourself for this next part: 3 minutes on low speed, 3 minutes on medium, then 3 minutes on high. 
3. Now, add the salt and vanilla extract (at this point you would add food colouring or flavours, but we do not do that for this recipe) and bump the speed up to maximum for 1 minute (time yourself!). 
4. Your meringue should be very stiff. It should NOT be runny, and should clump in the middle of the whisk. If it doesn't, beat for another minute or keep beating until it clumps in the middle of the whisk.
5. Add the salt, vanilla extract, food colouring, cinnamon, tumeric, and allspice.
6. Now add the dry ingredients, and using a spatula FOLD the ingredients, which should take approximately 25 "folds" turns. 
7. Pipe 1 inch onto baking sheet.
8. Bake for 12 minutes, turn the baking sheet around after 6 minutes. 
9. Remove from oven. Allow to cool complete, then gently slide them off the parchment paper. If they are still sticking, put in freezer for 1 minute. 

STEP BY STEP ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS »

Apple Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Yet another recipe adapted from Canadian Living. I baked this for my boss's birthday. This was a perfect Thanksgiving/fall recipe and the aroma while baking was AMAZING.  My brother's verdict who is a taco-bites with occasional desserts kind-of-person was: "This is surprisingly good!". Sharing this at work, I got a lot of feedback that this actually wasn't too sweet, and smelt very good!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla 
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk with 1 tsp lemon juice allow to stand for 5 minutes)
• 1 1/2 cups of cake-and-pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp of ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg
• 1 medium-sized apple grated, drain juices (I used honeycrisp Apple). 

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Celsius. 
2. In butter mixture: Beat butter, and gradually add brown sugar. Add egg, vanilla and beat until well mixed. Combine buttermilk. Set aside.
3. For dry mixture: In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. 
4. Stir in dry mixture gradually (beating between additions) until well combined. Beat in apple mixture. 
5. Bake for 17 minutes, or until cake tester comes out dry. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (125 g, or 3 ounces) of cream cheese
• 1/2 stick (2 ounces) of unsalted butter
• 1 cups confectioner's (or icing) sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

** this makes just enough icing for the amount of cupcakes in the recipe above 

Steps

1. Beat together cream cheese and butter until fluffy.
2. Beat in vanilla and cinnamon.
3. Gradually add confectioner's sugar (half a cup at a time), beating between additions. Scrape down sides as necessary.
4. Ice cupcakes (once cooled down) with a 1M Wilton Tip. 

These were the honeycrisp apples I bought from farmer's market. 

STEP BY STEP ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS »

Bang Bang Ice Cream and Bakery

Today we had a high of 25 degrees in Toronto (really rare at the end of September) and we decided to go for ice cream in the Trinity Bellwoods area.  The owner of the Bakerbots Bakery opened up this store just a few months ago and its quickly becoming very popular. 

Their delicious ice cream sandwiches were HUGE. So we each ordered half ice cream sandwich. Eating these were challenging, as each bite caused ice cream to squish out the other side.

The lineup was the door, and we got inside eventually after about 25 minutes. It was well worth the wait.

Waiting in line for icecream :)

Ultimate Banana Bread

My co-worker Kinga bakes banana bread all the time, so when Terri forwarded an Ultimate Banana Bread recipe from Canadian Living, I had to try it. The result? A super-moist tasty banana bread, not too sweet. 

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas 
• 1.5 tsp of baking soda 
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1.5 tsp of baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 3/4 cup (or 170 g) butter (unsalted, room temperature) 
• 1 cup brown sugar 
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 1 egg

Optional: 1 cup chocolate chips.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

1. Mash bananas, baking soda and buttermilk together, set aside.
2. Mix together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl, set aside.
3. In mixing bowl, beat room temperature butter and brown sugar until well combined.
4. In butter mixture, add vanilla and egg. Then add banana mixture.
5. Stir in flour mixture into butter-banana mixture until well combined.
6. Optional: Add chocolate chips, stir in by hand.
7. Fill pan.
8. Bake for 60-70 minutes.

Fitness is a Journey

“The individual who says it is not possible should move out of the way of those doing it.” 

― Tricia Cunningham

I am now six weeks into Beach Body's T25 workout. This is actually the first time I've been able to stick with an exercise regiment schedule consistently for a month. When I examine why I am bent on getting fit, its really hard to pinpoint. I think life is pretty chaotic and unpredictable as is. My health is something I know I can control, and if I can have mastery over the habits and routines that I set about my body, this keystone habit affects other things: energy level, concentration, confidence, you name it.

In the past I've tried p90x, I had to stop after 3 weeks due to exercise burnout (actually advised by my family physician at this time when I started to feel fatigued, saw decrease in performance, etc.); and Jillian Michaels Body Revolution,  I completed, but the 90-day exercise program took me 6 months since I only completed it sporadically rather than following a set schedule.

So what was different this time? Well, I actually made the effort to establish a "habit" of exercise. I found it really difficult to exercise consistently just based on motivation only. Sometimes I don't always have the willpower to exercise. So I set out to do a couple of things:

• Switched my exercise routines to the morning: This freed up my evenings, and I no longer spent the entire day dreading my exercise routine once I got home,  and was tired from work and my commute. I just got up and exercised, and this routine became so automatic I didn't have to think about or "talk" myself into it. I've done this consistently for the past 6 weeks (x36 days), usually after a month of doing something everyday, its pretty solidified as a habit.
• Tracked my food intake using a calorie-tracking app: Simple, but calorie-tracking also forces me to be conscious of what I eat. I remember seeing a fitspo quote on Instagram about how its easy to exercise for 30 minutes a day, whats harder is controlling what goes into your mouth the other 23.5 hours. I actually find both very hard.
• Eating less quantity, more quality: I've only recently started calorie tracking (two weeks ago) and I've noticed that I'm eating less quantity, but more quality, nutrient-rich foods. I'm opting for healthier alternatives for junk foods. If I find myself craving something sugary, I stop by the grocery store and pick up 1 pint of fresh raspberries, and just munch on those like chips. A healthy alternative that doesn't make you feel as sluggish.
• I've budgeted in a "cheat day": My contingency plan for days I go out with friends, or if I go to a family reunion and there's a lot of "Food pushing" that happens, is that I have a "cheat day". Now I don't consciously go out and seek bad food. I allow myself one day a week where I might eat more than I normally budget for during the week. And thats okay, 6 out of 7 days a week I'm eating healthy anyway. No guilt. 

Classic Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are often served as a side dish, and make for great appetizers/finger food and are served cold. They are so easy to make, and require very little preparation time. The term "deviled" comes from spicy of "zesty" food with egg yolk prepared with mustard, pepper stuffed in a yolk cavity -Wk (sounds appetizing doesn't it?).

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• Optional: 1/8 tsp salt 

Paprika for garnish

Steps

1. Put 6 eggs, in cold water.
2. Place over stove and bring to a rolling boil.
3. Once it comes to a rolling boil, put the timer on for 10 minutes (which will give you solid hard boiled eggs).
4. Remove from heat, drain hot water. Then fill pot with cold, ice water. Set for 10 minutes.