Health Happens

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are eggs healthy?, is In and Out healthy?, what does it mean to be healthy?

There’s talk around town of epidemics. We hear hushes of invasions and whispers of toxins. There’s rumors of plague, and tales recession and bulletins of dissolution. Calamity waits to strike at any moment.

And the life vest that can save us from all these terrors?

Well, Oprah retired, so I guess we’ve got to fend for ourselves.

Watch out people…you’ve got to focus on your HEALTH.

Finanical. Spiritual. Nutritional. Relational. Professional.

Eat this, Not that. Connect, Meditate, Get Away. Give, and Take. Balance your Budgets and Trim your wasitline. Sweat. Crunch, Zumba it up. Forgo Meat.  Ingest Chia. Take a hike. Go green. Cup up the plastic. Check your ratings. Do a criminal background check.

The message we are given over and over is that health isn’t a natural state. It is active. It is created and fueled by our actions. We have the power to make it happen.

What does it mean to be healthy?

My fundamental view of human nature is that we are inherently good and driven towards health and wholeness. In this age of scrutiny and easy access to information, it is difficult to discern what is “good” and what is not. A lot of information we access is down right inaccurate, some of it influenced by authorities who want our time or our dollar, and to be honest, information really isn’t inspirational.

I think a lot of us like health rules because it is one more way we can assert that we are  good. Good citizens, good eaters, good movers and shakers.

There are a few problems with this 1) rules change. We find out new stuff and prior beliefs are proved false (e.g. The egg was unhealthy 10 years ago, and now is deemed chocked full of awesome vitamins)  2) people TELL us what is healthy and it is really an external process and 3) these rules generally are how to decrease illness. NOT REALLY MAKE US HEALTHY

World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) definition of “health”

The most famous modern definition of health was created during a Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948.

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

The Definition has not been amended since 1948.

Health is about life. I think health is just that: constantly growing and reaching and searching to be authentically HERE. Sometimes I think that health is eating a hamburger. I noshed on In and Out on the day I was conferred by PhD. It wasn’t anything I did, more so, it was something I grasped. Health sometimes is sleeping in. It is recognizing that soft warm chewy cookies, and screaming your head off.

I think we don’t CREATE health, I think we fight against illness. But Health? Perhaps health is already there. Perhaps it is not something we create, but something we find.

In this month of new resolutions and tons of bleak warnings, I am turning off the external shoulds and should nots and instead listening to what I desire. what I want more of. and what i want to engender, not just prevent.

How is health happening to you?

Meet Ruby….K Cooks Kugelhopf

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alsace bread, best christmas present for your girlfriend, best household appliance, kitchen aid mixer, Kouglhopf, what to make your boyfriend for breakfast in bed

Love came in the form of household appliance this Christmas. Shinier than a diamond and more nutritionally sound, there really is no place like home when Special K and Ruby spend some quality time together.

The element of being surprised, of not expecting such a treasure, always disarms me a first. My initial instinct is spiritual: “I DON”T DESERVE THIS!” followed by comparative analysis: “Did I give you something AS good?”

But to be taken off guard that someone has witnessed a pure elation in you, has honored it, and given you a tool to produce more of it…

…without you asking,

that truly, felt….like “home” to me.

And home is where Ruby is.

I have great expectations of Ruby. I envision homemade whip cream, homemade marshmallows, high rise cookies, eat your heart out betty cakes, and do it myself spaetzle. Maybe even a sausage or two….who knows?

Up first: Santa’s choice….homemade oatmeal raisin cookies.  Ruby gets people practically rolling on the kitchen floor waiting for the dough to be finished so someone can lick it off the paddle. And she is SPEEDY. Little delaying of gratification here (do you remember the last time that you got something and IMMEDIATELY put it to use? I felt 9 again for at least 45 seconds!)

For its first TRUE whirl, however, I decided to FINALLY stir up the necessary dough batter for Kougelhof (from last APRIL’s visit to ALSACE). The mold produced some lack luster baked goods, and although I attempted  to make some cake batters in it (they were EDIBLE, in the end) I have always felt that the solid earthenware was waiting on this recipe to make its proper debut.

Ruby to the RESCUE!

Oh, look at that lovely dough hook!

Let me introduce you to: Kougelhof.  or Kouglof, or gougelhof, kougelhof, gugelhupf, kugelhof, kugelopf, or kugelhopf

(you can see the different territory battles that occurred in the land by the dizzyness of its name).

cooo-goul-hof

It is an Alsatian brioche, usually garnished with  raisins, and baked in a glazed earthenware mold that gives it the shape of a crown, or a turban.

Brioche? Well, it is a rich, yeasty milky eggy bread, baked since the Middle Ages in this large area that now is called Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Flanders, and parts of Germany, but Special K’s type a specialty from Alsace, because that’s the sort I’ve been exposed to.

This recipe produces a not very sweet brioche. It usually doesn’t last more than a day, but with just two of us part-taking, I rationed half of it out. The second day, slathered with my favorite Brummel and Brown spread, I swooned a bit after a 90 minute gym sprint.

Kougelhopfs are classically garnished with almonds and raisins,  but try this out with dried cherries and pecans, or walnuts and cranberries or coconut and pistachio. One day, I promise to make one scented with french rose syrup and candied ginger and orange peel. Tip toe away from tradition a bit and maybe add some small choco-chips and raspberry jam! YUMMY!

The most important aspect of this bread means getting a mold. ANd I am happy to say, with not a hint of snobbery, that I bought mine in FRANCE. My mold is pretty simple, and I seasoned it last spring. functional and simple. So NOT like my personality, but definitely how I prefer items I invest in.

The MOST important part after the mold, in MY VARIATION, (After RUBY’s magic!), lies in SOAKING THE RAISINS in BRANDY.

Top THAT!

A few hours later, this fragrant blossoming kougelhopf peeked out at me. Moist, pliable, with brandy soaked raisins and golden butter leaking from the inside. Dangerous as it is SO delightful, I HAD to pack it up and put it in my overnight bag to take with us for breakfast in bed on New Year’s Day.

It was such a perfect finger food after a night of swanky dancing, gorgeous fireworks, sparkling toasts and feeling as if I ended this year of amazement with wonderful friends and loves, some of them, who over 2011, I came to love.

Do you have a kitchen helper that makes you feel at home? Or a recipe spurred by love?

Special K’s Kougelhopf

- 300 grams (10 1/2 ounces) of flour  PLEASE WEIGH IT!
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
- 15 grams (1/2 ounce) fresh yeast (for other types of yeast, see substitutions)
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) lukewarm WHOLE milk
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon dark rum brandy (can use from the reserved raisins)
- 120 grams (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) butter, at room temperature and diced, plus a good pat for the mold
- a good pinch salt
- 35 grams (1/2 cup) sliced almonds
- 45 grams (1/3 cup) raisins and/or sultanas, soaked overnight in 1/3 Cup of BRANDY
- a few whole almonds or a little more sliced almonds for the mold
- confectioner’s sugar for dusting

This makes ONE 22-cm (8 2/3-inch) kouglof mold** (outside measurement at the rim), or a bundt pan. This WON’T be as good in any other baking pan.

Combine the flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, combine the fresh yeast with the milk and stir to soften. Form a well in the flour and pour in the milk mixture, eggs, and rum. Mix everything in with a wooden spoon.

Mix the dough vigorously for 10 minutes, add the softened diced butter, and continue working with the dough another 10 minutes or so, until it becomes elastic. Be warned that brioche dough is very sticky; if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, now would be a good time to use it. Add the sliced almonds and drained raisins, and mix again to combine.

Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise for 30 minutes in a warm spot of the house (I opted to place it on a kitchen towel on top of the radiator). After the first rise, punch the dough down and knead it briefly again.

Butter the pan generously and right up to the top. Place a whole almond in each groove of the mold (or sprinkle with more sliced almonds). Pour the dough into the mold and return it to the warm spot. Let the dough rise to fill the mold, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180° C (360° F) with a heat-resistant cup of water placed on the oven rack. Put the kouglof in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until crusty and brown, and until a knife inserted in the center of the dough comes out clean. If the top seems to brown too fast, protect it with a piece of foil or parchment paper.

Let cool completely on a rack, about 2 hours, before unmolding. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve with jam, honey, or maple butter. Kouglof keeps for a few days, tightly wrapped in a clean kitchen towel ; slices can be toasted to refresh their texture. You can also freeze part or all of the loaf.

He’s got the whole world…

Tags

He's Got the Whole World, how to cope with bad news

A lot of my job entails giving people bad news. News that changes their fundamental perspective of their basic hope that this “was just a passing phase” or “he’d grow out of it” or “if I changed his diet, things would get better.”

“I guess it is in God’s hands now” was one grandmother’s response to her daughter, who just received the most devastating news a person could receive: that her son may never show her that he loves in in the manner she craves, the manner she loves her own mother, the manner she dreamed about when she first learned of his existence.

The woman shirked back at her own mother and banned her from the exam room, and as her mother left, she tried to fix the moment by saying “you have to hope”

The comment reminded me of something my dad wrote to me years ago, forever shaping my sense of timing. Something along the lines of maybe when I feel out of control and that things are opening up for me that God hasn’t opened the door because I wasn’t ready to step completely through it yet. At the time, it gave me tremendous hope. And a few days later, what I thought was my life, what I believed I could fix, what I wanted more than anything, died. And I felt completely abandoned.

I think people say these sorts of things because they want to give comfort. They don’t understand, and it is comforting to offer that there is meaning behind the chaos, and it is  healing to trust, to believe, that what is meant to be, will be.

But to this woman it was disempowering. Further evidence that she was NOT in control and was rather helpless against forces bigger than her; that she was just always floating upon a sea of favorable currents until the tide turned and showed her who was boss.

I did something brash and said “so, is it your turn or mine to be God today?”

The mom laughed and in the moment, in that space where I allowed her to wallow and grieve, and simply share it with her, God happened.

That God-ness, of something precious, of something essential,  that not okayness inside of her that is screaming to feel as if she matters, and if she can do SOMETHING, anything, that might make a difference.

And I was feeling it as well.

I don’t believe in helplessness. I don’t believe he’s got the whole world in our hands and we just have to sit back and trust that it will all work out. Tell that to Mother Teresa. Gandhi, MLK…Oprah.

It WILL/might not/maybe already is worked out. I don’t know. I only fell.

That when we share in the triumphs and tragedies of life and when we inspire each other that our being here, our decisions, and protests, and crapping and crying and craving, well, they matter.

Dad was right. I wasn’t ready for the door yet at that moment years ago. But it didn’t open when I was ready, either. It came when I was completely preoccupied with living with flourish. When I refused to stop saving my life and start spending it.  When I  moved overseas, traveled widlly, started opening the bottle up after buying it the store, eating the streetside waffles,  wearing the shoes the next day….when I looked down at my hands and marveled at what they could do.

and questioned, praised about who made me this way.

It is not about control. It is not about trust. It is about refusing to spend our lives with illusions of what SHOULD be and start tasting, molding, crawling towards the truth of who you are.

“Today, I only have you,” she said as in a moment of connection, she embraced me with abandon.  And me? I said “he’s got the whole world, I am told.”

Me. Me. Me.

Where are you showing up in your world? and how?

K Cooks….Cooking Club of Cups!

Tags

beef wellington, cooking club recipes, homemade bread bowls, homemade chocolate cups, homemade parmesan cups, learning how to cook, mashed potato bowls

The Perfect Chocolate Cup

In mid December, the infamous trio banded together and made an entire meal based around “cups”…or courses where ingredients were contained inside each other. This was perhaps the most detail oriented and multi-stepped meal we have endeavored upon yet.  Not only did we have a practice evening of making chocolate cups (BUSTED!) and potato cups and parmesan cups, but individually we slaved away the evening before….and then spent 3 hours preparing the meal. Believe me, there were some bites beyond forgetting.

First Course: Salad in a Bread Cup, Salad in Parmesan Cups

I made the homemade bread and then molded it to an earthenware bowl.

Next time, to ease extraction, I will mold and bake it on a stainless steel bowl. The salad consisted of garlic roasted brussel sprouts, pomegranite seeds, walnuts and feldgreens, with a white balsamic creme

Cooking those parmesan cups was one DIFFICULT task. Like scientists, trial and error was paramount. First we didn’t think we shaved the parmesan coarse enough to produce a lace like pattern.

Then we figured that we didn’t shape them well on the hot pan. The first night, we only ended up with globs of hardened expensive cheese.

But BIG PINK saved the day and got the technique down to a science…including the time for flipping (like a pancake, you flip when the center bubbles) and molding to small glass bowls when piping hot.

Main Course: Beef Wellington

There were a TON of steps to this dish. BIG PINK made the key component, a marchu du vin sauce the evening before (and let me say, this sauce is heavingly rish and sumptuous). Then we chopped up the mushroom layer…

and had to roll filet mignons in pastry dough (the “cup” part) but maintain moisture in doing so, and adding the layers of pate and mushrooms on top.

The final product had a flaky exterior, but because we let the meat sit 4 minutes too long, we produced medium well meats instead of the desired more rare temperature.

See the side? Mashed potato cups with buttered peas.

And to top it off! Chocolate Cups!

Again, we failed, bursted and busted on practice night….laughing hysterically when one of my balloon popped all over my face, neck and walls and ceiling of my kitchen

Thank God the fella is tall!…and a big helper.

We tended to burn the melting of high end chocolate that first evening, and soaked it in too much Cointreau, which caused the balloon to shatter too quckly and the chocolate to be too transparent.

The trick was to double boil the chocolate, get a chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa, and slowly raise the temperature, before dipping it in the balloon.

Inside the cups was a red wine pudding.

Can you say my CUP runneth over?

I know we all did!

Santa Comes to Town…

Tags

cool christmas tree ideas, gluhwein, history of Christmas markets

Heidelburg Christmas Market

Okay, not Santa, but for 2 days one of my favorite family members met me here at my home to get a little German Christmas spirit to take with her in her pocket before traveling back home. I LOVE the way I feel in her company, and being a host to such an energetic, expansive character. Plus, another world traveler (we trapeezed around Provence together last summer) to take advantage of the sights and culture in the area around where I live.

I live in the Rhineland Pflaz area of Germany, closest to France (um, it WAS france on numerous occasions) and smack dab between the two big rivers (MOSEL AND RHINE) and thus, part of wine country.

First on our limited dancing card…staying warm at Christmas Markets. Almost every town hosts a market at least ONE weekend a year, but many stay open for 3-4 week during Advent. You can expect huts, with people selling products (ornaments, baked goods, candy, and artisan crafts) and gluhwein.  I personally like seeing how each market is decorated differently.

Kaiserslautern Market (see the decorations in the trees?(

But there is ALWAYS GUHLWEIN

Guhlwein

This hot, mulled wine is most famous in my part of Germany, where the French have had a strong influence. It can be strong or sweet. You pay around $3 a mug, and $2 more if you want to keep the mug (several people collected them).  And there’s always food!

Hot Rolls straight from the fire kiln

The centuries-old tradition reaches back to a time when regular seasonal markets took place throughout the year. Christmas Markets were a welcome occurrence during cold-weather months. They were joyful occasions for weary villagers and added a bit of light to long winter nights….To this day, locals get off work and have a few drinks before heading home. It’s the best happy hour of the year!

Goat Cheese Rosemary Honey Crepe

Besides Christmas market attending, we also visited Heidelberg, about 75 minutes east of my house. In the rain, we ate up all the history in the castle. Taking in the apothecary, or pharmacist museum (just think of how amazing these inventions are!) and a guided tour.

Plus Shopping!

Shoppers and the Baker in my favorite shop

Snacking

Beer and Pretzel (Made in an wood fire oven!)

a pedicure

Cute Feet!

and two delicious meals, one with a large group of my friends, and another just the two of us

Apple Struedel

Just a whole lot of treats that made it FEEL like the Christmas spirit, you know?

Who is your Santa this year?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!