Thursday, March 18, 2010

Yum!

Easy recipe idea (reflecting the last 3 meals at the Levin household!).

1. Chop a TON of veggies (I have something like what you see to the right.  I use the grid one so they're teeny cubed veggies.)  Mushrooms, yellow and orange peppers, eggplant, carrots, sweet potatoes... whatever is fresh and in season.

2. Night one: serve 1/3 of veggies, seasoned to your liking, on top of your favorite tomato sauce and whole wheat pasta.  Top with some yummy cheese.  (And, if you're us, dirty martinis!)

3. Night two: put the second 1/3 of veggies on the stovetop.  Add mushroom or vegetable broth.  Use an immersion blender.  Now you have soup!  Serve with some garlic bread, couscous, etc.

4.  Night three: take the final 1/3 and add to the stovetop.  Add (much less) broth.  Add a can of coconut milk and blend.  You will want to season differently because now you have a delicious curry!  Serve with whole grain brown or basmati rice.

Enjoy!  YUM!


I get inspired by veggies.  Is that wrong?

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

healthy living

I just had the most therapeutic kitchen mopping experience ever. Thank Gd. I had no idea how much the kitchen floor was bothering me!!!

So Omri and I know we're in a big learning process. And it truly feels like it some days. I'm learning how to manage a house, feed our little family properly, do errands. On top of that, we're adjusting to a new community and the major lifestyle changes that that includes... especially as neither of us grew up as religious Jews. Finally, I'm learning how to teach... as I do it. Which ends up in nights like last night: 3 hours of cramming over a fifth grade history book to get my head around the differences of the 13 English colonies. Then, once I learned it, how to teach it. Then creating the materials. Thank Gd I love my job but it is not always so easy this first year.

Well, I decided to add another learning curve. Which sounds crazy, but I find that the busier I am, the better I feel. And while this running-a-house-learning-to-teach-learning-to-be-married curve is progressing nicely, it's progressing slowly. In the meantime, I'm finding other things that are lacking.

The TED video I posted yesterday reminded me that we need to really prioritize finding a social group here in town. So hopefully this Shabbat, hubby will be going to the "young" shul in Passaic and I'll follow next Shabbat. That is a good step in that direction. Oh, and an awesome young couple down the road may be coming for a meal next Shabbat as well!

But I'm also less-than-satisfied with our lifestyle, health-wise. I learned at Tisch to love body work, exercise, and healthy living. I want to get back to that. I get all starry eyed walking through Sporting Goods stores and I had a near-religious experience in the Kripalu giftshop. But that's not sufficient.
But, BH, that's fixable! So my plan is to check out this amazing looking yoga studio in nearby Clifton next Monday morning.
And the second bit is where this blog comes in. I've heard friends and professionals go crazy over amazing diet changes that I just don't know anything about. I'm not talking crash diets. But, learning about whole grains, for instance. What qualifies? What does it do to help? What are best recipes to try? Or, what's so bad about caffeine? Or sugar? I love health, and I appreciate health. But I just don't know that much.

So, IY"H, I'm going to be using this blog to track the progress and report on my findings. Whole grains may have to wait, as Passover is coming and they'd get the short end of the stick. But here's the list I definitely want to start with:

Whole grains
Caffeine
Sugar
Alcohol

What else should I add to the list?
Alternatively, ages back I bought Dr. Weil's CD 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. Maybe I should start by doing his program and use the blog-part as a supplement?
Hm... leaning towards the latter.
What do you think?

Martin Seligman on positive psychology | Video on TED.com

Martin Seligman on positive psychology Video on TED.com

A must-see!!!!!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Smallest apartments in NYC...

I wish I could copy and paste in case NY Times takes this down but since I can't, here's a link to the article about Manhattan's smallest apartments.

The smallest one featured, the Hell's Kitchen abode, was my place for about half a year. I loved it. Here's the article.
And here's a video tour of the apartment.

Oh, and here's the guy from the NY Times article... and me (the day I moved out)!


Extra bounce in my step...

The more time I spend with Omri, the more I realize how much there is to be said for a simple, happy life. (Which, essentially, is why I married him. And why I named my blog "Bliss You.") Last night he convinced me to give up my fancy dinners and instead we ate (turkey) hotdogs and frozen veggies. It was simple, delicious, and most importantly FAST. It allowed me to take the time I needed to catch up on a lot of schoolwork after a week of being sick and everything falling by the wayside. And there's something about a really good hotdog that just feels like summertime and flip flops.

Speaking of, I actually WORE my flip flops yesterday! Outside! It was the most stunning day! And I have to give NJ props... if it wasn't for this harsh winter, I don't think I could have appreciated that day quite so much. My students and I were all antsy so we had a very high energy math class (laughing over fractions... good sign), a quick Social Studies review, and then a nice long recess outside in the beautiful sunshine. It was a fabulous day.

Meanwhile, VosIsNeias, a news website I often check out, seems to have caught the summer bug as well. Here are two adorable, uplifting news articles. Worth the read.

Manhattan, NY - Artist Fixing NYC with Legos -- VosIzNeias.com

Jerusalem - Oldest Man in The World Lives in Israel -- VosIzNeias.com

Enjoy!

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