Rum Ginger Beer: A Refreshing Summer Beverage (Adults ONLY!)

I fell in love with this Rum drink about five years ago when I found it in a copy of Gentleman's Quarterly Spring of 2009. I became a bit of a lush that summer while we were living the lives of ex-patriots in our own town of Albuquerque, NM as we remodeled our 1940's home. We are NOT commuters, and that summer and fall we were as we found ourselves living at the edge of town in a sweet neighborhood in the foothills of the Tijeras Mountains. The house belongs to dear friends and we were very happy in our little cocoon of their well-tended home, except we had to commute. Try not to laugh but commute to us means 15 minutes or more!

We moved here for Graduate School at the University of NM, loved University life, UNM campus and the lovely old neighborhoods that surrounded it. We biked and walked to school, outgrew or rental house next door to dear friends and bought an old Victorian in Downtown Albuquerque just five minutes from campus. Later we got married, had a kid and decided to upgrade to a beautiful Modern Ranch-style home in a rambling old neighborhood in the SE Heights called Ridgecrest--another five minutes in the other direction, but within biking, busing or walking distance. We love it here and still walk, bike, scooter, etc our way around our area of town.

Back to our new, old house. It had great bones as they say, but it needed updating. Belonging to an aging Bishop and his wife, for many years it had gone untended. We started by reclaiming the yard from Mother Nature. Then we remodeled the Main Bathroom. Several years later we tackled the backyard and pool. To our immense pleasure, our backyard became a sanctuary of leisure and beauty. That left the kitchen and another bathroom, A laundry room, major electrical upgrades and various and sundry other time-consuming and deeply inconvenient renovations still to make. It took years--- almost another ten of them---before we were ready to do it.

That brings us to the drink: Deeply required, refreshing and easy to assemble. I discovered this drink and was instantly transported to a island far, far away. Try it for yourself and see.

Postscript: our Remodel was completed in the Spring of 2009. Moving back in to our beautifully remodeled home was one of the greatest joys of my adult life--- aside from marrying my husband, and having my two children---but I still LOVE this drink!

Rum Ginger Beer


Ingredients:
Any Good Quality Dark Rum ( I have several favorites: Stroh, Meyer's, Kraken)
Jamaican Ginger Beer or Ginger Ale (like Reed's)
Fresh Mint
Limes, cut into wedges
Ice
Cold Pint Glasses


Fill pint glasses with ice. Pour 1-2oz of Rum over ice. Fill to the rim with Ginger Beer. Squeeze liberal amounts of lime into glass and top with a several leaves of bruised mint. Adjust to taste. That's it. Drink up. 

Let me know where you end up. Someplace tropical, on a beach, is always my favorite spot.
Love and light,
Holly

Summer Quinoa Salad

I't's so busy around here this time of year that I live on Quinoa (KEEN-WAH). For every party, event, quick supper this is what I contribute and it's always a hit (except with my picky kids!) It's whole grain, vegetarian, high in protein and cooks up fast! Like a painter's white canvas it'll take anything you want. Add, subtract, substitute to make your favorite. To get you started, here's one of my summer versions based on a warm quinoa salad by my dear friend April.


Ingredients: 

1 1/2 c. dry Quinoa

Olive oil

Balsamic Vinegar ( plain, cherry or fig )

Sunflower Seeds 1/2 cup. optional

Pumpkin seeds 1/4 c. optional

1 - 1 1/2 c corn kernels (canned or fresh)

1-2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced and lightly salted

1/8-1/4c (2-4 TBSP) fresh basil, chopped

1 large avocado, cut into small cubes and marinated in juice of 1/2 lime and 1 TBSP olive oil, a pinch or salt and pepper

Salt and Pepper

Juice of a whole lime or more

Directions:

1 1/2 cups of dry quinoa cooked according to directions yields approx. 3 c. cooked quinoa. 

(1 c. quinoa to 2 c. water, just like rice. Cooks in 15 to 20 minutes).

Fluff with a fork: Add 1-2 Tbsp Olive oil and 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar 

After cooling slighty,

Toss with salt and pepper to season the grain. To your liking. I always start light. Maybe 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper.

Next, add seeds and corn. Toss lightly and check seasonings. Add more olive oil or vinegar if needed.

Add chopped basil. Toss. 

Add Tomatoes, toss lightly. 

Add avocado and the juice of 1/2 lime and toss very lightly.

Additional Salt and pepper if needed. 

Leftover marinade for avocado can be added if needed.

The vinegar and lime juice add important acids to help keep the grain from disintegrating. Will keep well in the refrigerator for 5- 7 days. Enjoy!

Nuts about Nuts ( and other ingredients I want my kids to eat)

It’s been a long time coming with my kids, but I have converts. Finally I have kids who like nuts. I’ve tried every kind of nut you can imagine. Big ones , small ones. raw ones, salted and roasted ones, seeds and kernels. We’ve tried organic and horribly processed too. For years, the kids just thumbed their nose at them, “No Thanks, Mom.”, “Can you make Banana Bread with no nuts?”, and “I don’t like_______ (fill in the blank).”

But I persisted. I made Madeleines the old-fashioned French way with ground almond flour. I made Olive Oil Cake (another recipe based on an ingredient I want my kids to eat: olive oil) full of ground almonds. I made Banana Bread with (Flax), Pecans and Chocolate. I made it ALL the time. I made Ranger Chocolate Chip Cookies full of (oatmeal and) nuts. I added them stir fry. I made cakes and cookies, and anything reasonably appropriate for them,  CHOCK full of nuts and asked pardon, not permission. 

Ultimately I bought piles of the least objectionable candidates organic and raw and toasted them, plain. Intially we just added them to recipes. In our minds, toasted nuts make everything taste better. Before we knew it the toasted nut atop the Banana Bread were our family’s favorite recipe-- and the Olive Oil Cake, Madeleines, and Chocolate Chip Ranger Cookies were favorites too.

One school day morning there were bowls of extra toasted pecans and Scott tucked them into the kids’ lunches. 

That day my kids ate toasted nuts alone---and liked them. After prolonged exposure, something finally took. My 12 year old son said , “Mom put extra pecans in the Banana Bread.”, “Mom can you toast pecans, cashews, pine nuts, _______ (fill in the blank).”, “Mom would you toast more nuts?”

It’s been a long time coming, but I can say my kids like nuts. 

Now, onto the next challenge.

New Year's Resolutions---and all that, (sorry no food here!)

I’m sitting in a cafe keeping a date with myself. New Years Resolutions and all that to make more time to to clear my head through writing. I know what you’re thinking. Great! More crazy stream of consciousness from Holly’s head. It can be ugly, I grant you. Truth is my brain is always going. On no sleep today (it just happens from time to time), and with kids back in school, I worry. I jokingly dubbed myself the Neurotic, Control freak, Nazi “mom” this Holiday season. A lot of good it does me to want to control my world, because it’s a force all it’s own. And I know that’s news to you. I’m wise in 2011. 

It seems I have to re-experience this lesson over and over. I suck at stress and exhaustion. I ‘m terrible at tight schedules, severe discipline, and honest to goodness daily consistency. Now don’t misunderstand. I LOVE my schedule and really need structure in my life, but I also love tossing it out when the situation requests it. You might be asking yourself, what are the criteria for schedule changes? Seems it’s anything and everything. Internal, external, circumstantial, time of year, weather, mood, attitude, insomnia, and whim. Yes, Whim! The parts I can do something about are thrown about quite regularly by illness, injury and other circumstances beyond my control, like school schedules and homework. And if I’m honest it’s really easy for me to readjust it daily to suit me. That is a pro and a con. The part I can’t do a damn thing about is always there. The environmental allergens that give my kids allergies? All outside my home and completely outside of my ability to alter, fix, manage, control. You’d think I could contribute positively to the food they eat. Wrong. They are not allergic to food--technically--but sensory defensive and won’t eat hardly a thing that looks, smells or tastes like a vegetable or nutritious soup, stew or casserole. They should give up dairy completely to help reduce the histamine symptoms, but ...Hah! Other health factors like exercise are dependent on schedules. I usually get mine in mornings. Yoga, gym, a a dog walk, a family walk, a hike, but some days there are just too many demands on my time. Now I know some people who get up really early for this, but I can’t do it. My kids can’t do it. And my hubby--he can’t do it either. So it’s catch as catch can on the days when it’s not top priority. All complaints aside, there is a certain rythym to it all. When I can relax into it, it’s all good. 

So back to those annual resolutions and goals for 2011. If I had one goal it would be to surf the waves of my life. But, I’m not really a good surfer. After years of yoga, my hips are somewhat flexible and I can stand on the board. The challenge for me is paddling out--that’s a lot of work and timing the wave to catch it. My general propensity is to paddle until I’m exhausted, miss the wave and them get thrashed by the oncoming ocean or just diddle about on my surfboard waiting for my wave. I think I need lessons.

Now, I’m a complainer, but I also have immense gratitude for my life. My friend calls it being the “Lucky Luckies”. I certainly am one of the “Lucky Luckies” . No doubt about the fact that I have a lot for which to be thankful. Trouble is I find it hard to land there and stay there. I suffer from a crisis of faith. It’s true. Not necessarily the religious kind of faith or the ‘everything’s gonna be ok’ kind of Reggae attitude that permeates American culture. I have the kind of faith crisis that is a failure to hold onto the big picture. I ‘m about details. I’m good at details. I notice them. I see them. I worry about them. I’m fabulous in a crisis. I can problem solve, find solutions, important info, get to the bottom of it. I can direct people, research, analyze, sort, document, track and follow a set pattern or instructions. I can explain it, too. What I can’t do--especially under any stress at all--- is relax, get creative, ride the wave and see the big picture. I tend to knuckle under and get to work to solve my stress. Play goes out the window. The attitude is work--hard and more. Calling it like it is, that’s completely contrary to Ahimsa. A spiritual condition of Do no Harm, or Non-violence in Yoga. Ambition. Vanity. Ego. I keep trying to get it, seeing that pattern over and over again, but somehow I can’t hold onto that either. It slips away. It must be riding the perfect wave without me. I know that stress and fatigue are my enemies, yet I can’t seems to find the right balance between activity and rest. I know my back pain is affected by instabilty, but I can find--or keep--the yoga and exercise routine that will mitigate the symptoms long-term. Everything I do that is outside my twice/thrice weekly yoga practice (I know! Daily Home Practice! Another Hah!) seems to be too much. I know that a bias to external rotation on leg and internal rotation on the other is a major factor in my back health, but I’m still liable to overdo it somehow, sometime. I’ll be honest and say that I just can’t judge accurately: Stress and fatigue. I feel fine and I overdo. What the heck. Can someone get me a barometer for this stuff or something? The way I know I’ve overdone it? My back goes out. My head hurts. My eyes get red. I feel feverish--and I can’t sleep. Too late. Already overdid it. Grrr!

So how to catch the wave? Hold the big picture? Accurately discern my state of being? Use right action to approach the tasks in my life? Sigh. I was hoping you’d know. My detail-oriented, work-aholic brain is looking for relief. I go to yoga and exercise looking for emotional relief until I throw my back out. I do laundry, errands, dishes until I drop. The irony? Nothing is ever done!!! How can that be? I have two friends with OCD. They keep IMMACULATE houses. I have laughingly said more than once that I would love to buy an hour of that! Same with childcare. Can I buy a D? D being Divorce, just for a week. I want Wednesday night off and I want it to be Scott’s weekend so I can go play! Ok. I know folks are gonna kick me for wishing for OCD and Divorce. I can’t help it. I’m a work-aholic! I don’t really need chemical intervention or a lawyer, I need a twelve step program!

My twelve-step program is surrendering to swim the ocean of my full modern life without drowning--even I can’t surf. It’s making time for yoga--sitting, breathing, moving quietly, deeply through asana as often as possible, walking in nature, connecting with friends and family softly. No push, no rush, no hurry, If it doesn’t easily line up in a day I’m letting it go. My real New Year’s Resolution is to be nice to myself. It’s ok to skip that hardcore workout for rest, it’s fine to do nothing even if there is a ton to do, it’s essential to dial down the stress, soften the attitude and practice true AHIMSA (non- violence) towards myself. I complained that I keep relearning this lesson. It’s true; I’m thick. Yet, each revolution of the wheel brings me closer to my core, truer, more relaxed self. And the big picture comes from going to yoga, staying inspired by my teachers, writing, sharing myself with the world sometimes and selfishly staying in others. Cheers to a quieter New Year in 2011. I resolve to love myself first. Om.