Filled to the Brim

Me and my sister with our gorgeous Mom on her 60th Birthday.

I’m typing this from seat 24F on the plane right now, on my way back to Chicago after a week in New York City with my family. Isn’t technology wonderful? I love living in the future : )

I’m feeling great. I never feel more emotionally and mentally balanced than I do when I’m with my family. Or happy, for that matter. But physically? Well, let’s just say that after a week of some incredible indulgences (from diner fries and New York pizza to three-pound lobsters with three kinds of drawn butter and paella), I’m looking forward to some fish and steamed veggies for dinner tonight.

The paella that my Mom and I shared at Compass. So good!!!

While on my way to the airport today, I was thinking about how, years ago, after a vacation like the one I just had—where the majority of activities revolve around what and where we’re going to eat and drink—I’d be thinking things like “diet” or “detox.” Well, these days those are four letter words in my book. (Oh wait…detox has five. But still...)

That’s the beautiful thing about living a balanced life: I can go away, stuff my face with all kinds of great and greasy goodness, and not feel an ounce of regret. I know that when I walk into my apartment, I’ll just go back to life as usual—lots of produce, lean protein, yoga, and walking—and my body will balance itself out in no time. The other wonderful thing is that since my body and mind know that those are the things that make me feel my very best, I’m actually craving each and every one of them despite having drowned my face in decadence all week.

However, this isn’t to say that my family just sat around the whole time. (In fact, the only time we sat was probably when we were eating.) Manhattan is such an easily walkable city and, despite the heat and humidity, we hoofed it every chance we got. On Saturday, we calculated that we walked at least eight miles over the course of the day. We certainly had the dirty flip-flop feet to prove it.

What’s more, I’m returning to my adopted home with a renewed zest for healthy cooking. As a novice chef, I realized before I left that I had started to feel paralyzed in the kitchen. It was as if I hit a wall in my cooking abilities and had grown a little bored with the handful of meals I was replicating in one form or another night after night. Tilapia and greens again? Ugh. Until last week, I had only ordered takeout a total of two times in the two months that I’ve lived in Chicago. But then I ordered it twice the week that I left (partly for convenience—I didn’t want to toss leftovers or unused veggies and was tight on time—but also out of cooking ennui.)

Well, the Thai food deliveryman won’t be seeing me for a while.

My week in New York began with the most unbelievable backyard barbecue I have ever been to. My family shared a beautiful evening on Long Island with friends that my parents have known since they were my age. (They actually introduced the couple back in the day.) In all, there may have been about 10 courses and each one was better than the one before it. And the wonderful thing was that just about every food that passed through my lips came from the earth—some of it from that very backyard. Although a lot of the food was grilled (so yummy!) I know that I can replicate some of them in my own grill-less kitchen (clams with sundried tomatoes, breadcrumbs, and other deliciousness, for instance, or salmon with ginger, or sautéed wax beans and string beans with toasted almonds, or curry shrimp over watermelon and cucumber salad…) My tastebuds were totally doing the Macarena the entire time—everything was that good.

(Lori, you made the blog! Thanks for a wonderful evening and for introducing me to so many fantastic dishes!)

Spicy curry grilled shrimp with watermelon and cucumber salad

Another day, I spent hours with my sister in her kitchen, snapping photos of the insides of her cabinets so I can restock my pantry with some new staples (rice wine vinegar instead of balsamic in homemade salad dressing is a religious experience), and talking through recipes. We flipped through recipes and discussed how I could adjust them to feed one person or six or replace a protein or vegetable and get an entirely different meal.

One big thing that I’m going to do when I get back is buy myself a giant three-ring binder with clear sleeves to put inside. This way, I can rip out enticing recipes from the stack of cooking magazines I receive each month (Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food, Cooking Light, Bon Appetit and Every Day with Rachael Ray—btw, look for my articles in that one soon!) and file them in the clear sheets. Then, while planning my meals each week, I can leaf through it and pick out some new ones to try instead of feeling paralyzed by my limited repertoire. (Sure, I’ve met the concept of a cookbook before, but while I have looked through the recipes in the ones I own—including How to Cook Everything—a million times already, this binder will constantly grow so I’ll always be encountering new recipes while honing my chefing skills.) First, I just need to get over my aversion to ripping magazines...

All in all, it was a very busy, filling, and fulfilling week in so many ways. There’s nothing like family to make me feel recharged, refocused, and ready to take on the world…or at least my piles of laundry and overflowing inbox.

Oh, one more thing: My nails totally made it through the week! There’s a noticeable chip on my right pointer finger now (it was bound to happen eventually), but I’m going to go ahead and call my little experiment a success. I’m already picking out my next color!