Spider’s AltarLook how much this plant has grown babe!lovely shadows, I miss this catcher and remember it was really heavySunsets down at garbageThat sourgrass meditation I wrote a million moons ago, nom nom nomI miss that hanging succulent, I think we killed itYew! I love how the beads matched the sticks of fireShagadilla I want chickens babe
Welcome to this week’s Phone Dump, where I snag a few photos from my camera roll and explain to an OMie what I see. A great writing prompt for myself, a great way to share window into my soul, this week I give you a slideshow of photos that I am describing to my husband, Jawwwsh. Off I go, happy viewing 🙂
My staple diet includes corn tortillas, veggies, and the occasional vegan cheese. Hence, my experimentation with all three! I am a native San Diegan missing all of my usual spots to eat Mexican food. Yes, I can order to go, but I eat out for the environment and ambiance! Always have. I feel like I can cook better than most places I like to eat, but it’s the journey and ‘date night vibes’ that really excites me. Plus, I have food allergy contamination anxiety, so cooking at home is usually my go-to! Day 41 of this pandemic, however, and I am fixin’ for a CA burrito.
Call me quarantined, but I have made quesadillas in lieu of taco shells, indefinitely.
Thank you, Anissa, for teaching me how to cook tofu!
Anyone else epically fail multiple times at tofu and give up?! Me too! You aren’t alone. Every time I have tried to fry medium/firm tofu, I have epically failed. I love tofu dishes at my local Vegan restaurant. I order them religiously and have for years. Perhaps it’s this pandemic, or also the fact that tofu is 90% cheaper than BEYOND BEEF, that I have turned to friends for help!
Anissa set me straight and reminded me to DRAIN THE LIQUID. If there are any takeaways from this blog post, it is to PRESS your tofu for 10-15 minutes (if you do not have a tofu press, which you don’t because you’re learning how to cook tofu), and then continuously drain the liquid.
I was apprehensive because I cook in cast iron, and if your pan is not perfectly oiled and coated, foods like tofu and eggs can stick. I greased my cast iron, and pressed my tofu between two cast iron pans for 10 minutes, draining the liquid every 3-4 minutes.
If we were building a sandwich from the bottom up, think:
Plate, Tofu, Plate, Cast Iron Pan like a Cherry on top
I seasoned my tofu with Worcestershire, Sesame Oil, Olive Oil, Tamari Sauce, and Garlic Salt. IT WAS AMAZING.
Cheap eats, great vegan addition, and my skin feels great after. I have been wondering if soy upsets my skin, and so far, no reports 🙂
Teach me your ways,
Kelli
Want to support me and our collective? Practice chair yoga with me, be my friend on Instagram and Facebook, and take care of yourself 🙂 All levels yoga here:
Thank you Hanarahans for the plant and pot!Thank you bestie for stopping in the middle of our hike to swoop some free patio furniture
Greetings wildlings! I hope this time in isolation and quarantine is keeping you well, if you are reading this in real-time!
There are few things that I love more than repurposed, FREE, quirky items that find their way to me. An avid American picker, I will absolutely slam on my breaks for a pile of free opportunity!
My best friend and I were hiking in San Diego, doing our usual thing! Some hikes rural, some residential, this hike through Rose Canyon took us through some neighborhood streets. Lo and behold, a free outdoor iron table and chairs! A little rusted and dated, I had to have them. And so, we quickly hiked back to my car, a Camry at the time!, and after a few puzzle piece maneuvers, we fit the furniture in the trunk.
This plant never saw it coming! On a whim, Josh and I were wondering what pots we had that would fit inside of this sturdy iron chair frame. This plant was gifted to us by dear friends that moved to CANADA and could not take them along! We inherited a ton of amazing plants from the Hanrahans, thank you friends! This frothy chair is the greatest thing I have seen in my yard.
When two whatever items turn into magnificent greatness! I love when that happens! Thankful Thursday, my friends.
Speaking of chairs 🙂 If you need any chair yoga, I have your back!
Remember this silver shaka at the cliffs? I bet it fell off RIP
Dang
I made this catcher for Susana my teaching OMie! I got this pendant from my MILly
Dang. From our old place on Pennsylvania
The beebs on a cliff
Robert Plant at the Orpheum Theater
Remember this buddha head? Donated it to the yoga studio. Bye head
Gigantic catcher before I adorned it with diapers
I didn’t like this book as much as fight club and I want you to make me a cocktail with this grapefruit
Hiking with Lydia at Lake Murray- let’s do it as soon as we are not quarantined anymore! It’s a bird thing!
Need an activity to curbe your anxiety? PHOTO DUMP is one of my favorite writing prompts and activities that keeps my anxiety at bay. Once a week, not only will you:
-Clean out your camera roll
-Stay organized technologically
But you will also reflect on moments that you deemed photo-worthy. You’ll work on your memory recall, and exercise your writing muscle!
When you write about your ‘PHOTO DUMP, choose 10-15 photos in your camera roll. Then, explain what you see to a person. You must select a specific person.
For example, tell your coworker Sheryll about what she is looking at in the 15 photos! Tell your grandma about what you see! Tell your best friend! You take on different tones, depending on what you are describing and who you are describing it to.
I love this writing prompt and have been using it for years. Enjoy! Today, I am describing what I see to my best friend, Adrianna. See photo captions!
A lovely meal indeed- these photos are so special to me! When I need to meditate and travel elsewhere, I take myself to this very scene. Let me paint it for you!
In 2018, my lovely commune of 5 OMies, 1 dog, and 4 chickens was forced to disband, as we received an eviction notice from our landlord. Since then, this house has been torn down. We mourned for this house. Yes, we were sad that we had to disperse and go our separate ways, but we were also saddened by this historic house being torn down.
We felt honored to be the last people that lived in the house before it was torn down. She was celebrating her 100th birthday, as this house was built in 1918 and smelled, looked, and mimicked all other old houses in the Hillcrest and North Park area.
On one of our last mornings in the house, I cooked myself breakfast. I know it was the last time I sat at a table and chair and ate a meal there- as I am sure that we packed these bowls and mugs shortly after this picture was taken.
First, the food- SOYRIZO gluten free burrito bowl ingredients:
Soyrizo- cooked until crunchy and crumbly
–can of black beans
–a bed of Late July corn tortilla ships
–1 ripe organic avocado– none better than from here in San Diego!
-sauteed garlic, yellow onion and a few red/orange peppers
-blop of garlic hummus
I took my gigantic bowl of soyrizo, and my coffee (I wonder where that starbucks mermaid cup went….) and I sat down underneath a lattice-worked patio. The wisteria had beautifully bloomed over the house, an unexpected surprise. Blankets of purple, gorgeous smells, and whimsical winds whipped through our patio. All good things come to an end, and the petals started to fall. In fact, they fell into my food and my coffee, which prompted some research.
Wisteria is edible! So, when lovely purple flowers float into your meal space- EAT EM. I can close my eyes and sit at this patio, swaying with the plumey purple breeze and munching on this meal. To date, one of our most favorite meals. We make it once a week, I’m sure of it!
Thanks for reading. I love vegan eats and love suggestions! For today’s Thankful Thursday, I am truly thankful for the time to look back and reflect on old photos and memories. It has been very therapeutic, a great privilege, and an unforeseen benefit of this restorative pandemic. I will never take access to vegan food for granted! Thank you quarantine for humbling me and reminding me of how truly grateful I am for food. Let’s just say…I can’t wait to eat out at every vegan restaurant in San Diego when this is over! I miss the luxury of being cooked for. My musings….
Need free and accessible chair yoga for yourself, your grandma, your loved one, your next family dinner? Pull up a chair and join me!
A picture of my lap, as I wear all of my husband’s clothes. Feels like home 🙂I loved this sauce as much as I loved having these nails! Our gorgeous Rhodesian Ridgeback Black Lab Great Dane MIX Mutt, PineconeTastes even better than it looks, and tasted much saltier than takeout, but with considerably less salt! WIN!
Recently, we brought a cooking kit that taught us how to make Korean BBQ tacos! Totally gluten free and vegan, it was one of the best meals that I have had in 2020, hands down. Definitely top 3 best Beyond Beef recipes! Anywho…
For $19.99 full price, sometimes cheaper with a coupon, I cannot afford to cook Korean BBQ for two! I would rather go out to dinner and have someone else cook for me – *coughcough* Plant Power, Sipz….
I decided to make a different variation- I introduce to you: The BEYOND Korean BBQ BOWL! Servings: 4
Ingredients:
-black rice
-fresh green onions and garlic for garnish
-black sesame seeds for garnish (I found on amazon in bulk for $6; this will last our party of 2 for about 2 years!)
-Beyond Beef ground beef- 1lb (typically $9.99, I always buy when on sale for $7.99 or less)
– 1 bottle of SEOUL KALBI SAUCE ($4.99- Whole Foods Market)
So simple! Cook the garlic, onions and beef together until golden brown. Add veggies, stir. Add sauce, stir. Add rice, stir. EAT, stir it up, little darlin’!
Greetings, OMies! What a time to be alive. Quarantined for over 2 weeks, and another 4 weeks tacked on a la president, and I am so incredibly grateful for the gift of social media! Because I am a full time yoga teacher, I have been drastically affected by this shift. While at first, this shift seems negative, I am realizing the beauty that is unfolding before me!
This has been such an excellent catalyst for me to step up my game with a Youtube Channel. I have fantasized about having a channel for sooooo long, I can’t even begin to tell you. Like, Jenna Marbles and Kandee Johnson days. I remember when I first started watching YouTube videos, around the summer of 2009 when I was working at a clothing boutique in San Diego. I wanted to learn how to cut my Tshirts just like Kat Von D does in her television shows. I was elated to find a video of Kat teaching the audience on how she does it! I loved the intimate interaction that happens with what we now call vlogging. Needless to say, I have been recording a lot of yoga content for my current student base. I teach over 12 yoga classes a week, in studios, privates, corporate clients and with family. That’s a lot of YOGA! A lot of faces, a lot of Namastes, and a sacred ritual that seemingly was taken from me…
Until I shifted my drishti.
In our Yoga practice, philosophy, and lifestyle, we turn to the Yamas and Niyamas for inspiration on how to act, handle, and access the self. One of the Niyamas is called Svadhyaya and, long story short, we are learning to self-study, as a collective, in REALTIME. We are in a collective shift of awareness during this pandemic. We are studying ourselves, taking notes and research, and modifying as needed to keep our vessels at a steady ease. Self study can be deep, it can be lighthearted, and it can demand all your attention. Some chapters in life, we get to pick what we self study, and let’s just say we will never take this privilege for granted again! As you might be feeling forced into deep self-study in close quarters, I wanted to provide some of my favorite definitions of SVADHYAYA.
I believe that most Westerners that practice Yoga are familiar with a very privileged form of self-study. We get to choose when we want to self study- applying for grad school, taking on knowledge in forms of hobbies, leisure reading, and on our own time. However, this pandemic has forced self-study. Whether you like it or not, everything about your life has completely changed and we need to adapt and grow accordingly. The first step in adapting? Observation! How have you treated yourself and others during this trying time? Some excel, some drown, and some lose themselves before finding themselves. We accept all forms of expression as we are in this together, as one. How will you look back on your time of self-study?
Here are some of my favorite definitions of self study:
What self-study are you working on? For me, I am working on my confidence and camera presence, as well as how I react to my loved ones, and self, that are riddled with Fear. I am also weaving dream catchers a little differently, 8 weeks strong VEGAN today, and trying how the hell to cook tofu.
As you can see by the hysterical still-frame from my youtube, I have a long way to go. Right now, I have needed to upload content quickly and efficiently, so there are no bells and whistles to my videos.
I really look forward to continue my self study has I take this huge leap of faith and put my MUG all over the internet! All feedback, love, support, and special requests go a long way for me. Cough cough, my love language involves words of affirmation.
Greetings, OMies! It’s Kelli here, surviving the pandemic like the rest of us, in quarantine. I am loving that I have a routine to rely on. As a full-time yoga teacher, I drastically made a shift in the way that I work only one week ago. Last Monday, I had finished teaching two classes, in person, and had to assist my beloved yoga studio close down, for now, for the next few weeks. Wow, what a week in the collective consciousness and in myself!
I always planned on uploading my yoga content to youtube, but sometimes, it takes life-crisis, a pandemic, or the true NEED to be the catalyst. I am a fire sign, and when I have a fire lit under me, I will not stop! I am currently engrossed and invigorated by the practice that virtual yoga is bringing me.
As you can imagine, I am used to teaching dozens a classes a week, and taking a few weeks off of this is not great for my mental health. I have a community to serve!
Many of my Yoga videos are accessible through Hapa Yoga Ohana Online, which is a Facebook group that is designed for our clients and members.
I have also been recording content for my private clients! My office yogis still need their yoga, and my family has been requesting tons of different styles of yoga. It is amazing that despite how tragic this situation can be with COVID-19, we are able to rise together as a community and I have been able to create this avenue.
Does anyone else love a romantic cooking date with themselves?
I absolutely love hosting space for other people, cooking for le husband, and trying new recipes. However, I don’t think I realize how long it has been since I truly cooked for myself, and exactly how I wanted it!
Even if you are happily coexisting with others, it is still incredibly important to spend time alone. You truly do not realize how much you cater to other people and their needs until you take them out of the equation! It takes time and energy when you are constantly thinking, Does Linda like this hot sauce, is there enough food for two people, is there enough for seconds, When will Sam be hungry? These small and considerate thoughts are constant for an empath, and it is important to have scheduled times where you turn these thoughts off.
When Josh told me he was taking his brother out for burgers and beer, I knew it was time for me to cook my spicy, teensy tiny tacos, exactly the way I wanted them!
Totally and always, Gluten free, Dairy free, Vegan
-add corn, chopped cauliflower, 1 cup of your favorite salsa (15m)
-WARM UP YO ’tillas
-spread refried beans onto tortilla as GLUE
-garnish with: raw onion, raw green onion, red romaine lettuce, garlic hummus
Makes- 12 street tacos (about 3 full meals). This continued to be my lunch and dinner the next day!
My self-care routine always included the moving meditation of a homecooked meal for myself. A quick tap into the present moment, tangible work with your hands, and the love language of food- it calms me immediately!
Try to cook yourself exactly what you want when you are feeling anxious or worried. The repetition of chopping, stirring, and cleaning the kitchen really has been a powerful tool to take my mind off of my concerns and to dive deeply into the present moment. I am so incredibly grateful that I learned this life skill about 6 years ago. I had a fabulous therapist (miss you, Tabitha!) who introduced me to chopping vegetables to curb my panic attacks. My fear-based thinking wanted me to resist using sharp objects while anxious, but never in 6 years have a cut my finger during this moving meditation!
When the anxiety is brewing, clear off your kitchen counter and clean out the fridge. Chop and meal prep everything that you have. *also a pro-waste free tip* typically takes 20 minutes, and it is a total win-win for curbing your anxiety and setting yourself up for the week.
For me, I am working on my confidence and camera presence, as well as how I react to my loved ones, and self, that are riddled with Fear. I am also weaving dream catchers a little differently, 8 weeks strong VEGAN today, and trying how the hell to cook tofu.
Karma San Diego Podcast 