I took my muse out for a walk yesterday on Mars:

Como se hace: Picadillo (Traditional Cuban Recipe)

PICADILLO

I'm excited to share with you the recipe for Picadillo, a traditional Cuban meal that was my favorite dish growing up. It is versatile, and difficult to mess up, so I encourage even you newer cooks out there to give it a go. Traditionally, it is served over rice, but I make a ton and sometimes mix it in with an egg and avocado for a hearty breakfast, or throw it into some corn tortillas for tacos. This is the recipe I use, and feel free to get creative if there is a certain spice you really like, or another vegetable you would like to add (hopefully I'm not being too sacrilegious here).

Cebolla

I always make a large batch so that it lasts a few days worth of meals. So; if you don't want to make a full two pounds of this, buy less beef and halve the recipe. This is an awesome dish if you are on a budget, because the ingredients are cheap and a little goes a long way. It's also quick to make, unless you don't have a food processor, in which case you'll be a-choppin for a while.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds grass fed/finished ground beef
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced (I LOVE GARLIC)
• 2 small tomatoes or one large one, chopped
• 1 small potato, peeled and cut into tiny cubes
• 1 teaspoon of capers
• 2 tablespoons Cumin
• 1 tablespoon Oregano
• Salt
• Pepper
• Butter, or coconut oil
• White rice. We use Mahatma (you can find this anywhere).

Directions:

1. Grab a large skillet and heat up enough butter or coconut oil to cover the bottom of the pan
2. Add the onions and green bell pepper. Saute on medium heat until it softens and the onions get translucent.
3. Turn the heat down to it's lowest setting. Add the garlic and stir.
4. Stir in the tomatoes. 
5. Add the spices. Now you have the sofrito, which is the base for many Cuban dishes.
6. Now it's time to add the beef. Mix the beef into the sofrito, cover the pan, and let simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes. 
7. Before the beef is fully cooked, stir in the potatoes, cover the pan, and let simmer until the beef is completely cooked. If you add the potatoes too early, the will get soggy, so make sure that's your final step.
8. While your beef is cooking, make the rice by following the instructions on the bag. 
9. Serve the picadillo over rice and be happy. If you really want to get authentic, pair with a simple side salad and fried or sauteed plantains. Best served around at a table full of friends and plenty of laughter, stories, and good wine. ALABAO! Que disfruten~

Thinking about Yoga Teacher Training? Read this first

It's late summer, and I've been seeing lots and lots of advertisements for Fall 200 hour Yoga Teacher Trainings. Maybe you are considering signing up for one. I know the feeling--you've been practicing yoga for a while, maybe it's even changed your life, and now you want to bump your commitment up a notch. The time feels right to commit and immerse yourself more than is possible in 90 minute classes and the occasional workshop, and teacher training appears to be the logical next step. Maybe for you, it is! I'll be the first to admit TT was one of the most growth filled, healing, positive experiences of my life. I just wish I'd been prepared for what happened after I got my certificate. If you don't ever have the intention of actually teaching, you can probably skip over this post; however, if you are like me and your yoga-colored glasses are at a nice day-glo shade of rose, you might want to take heed.

Here is my list of things I wish I'd known when I made the choice to become a yoga teacher, as well as a few tips if you are still gung ho:

1. Have some experience practicing yoga (pro tip: yoga is more than asana). I thought this was obvious, and then recently attended an informational meeting for a training I am considering. A person signed up who had only taken a handful of classes. Again--if you are taking the training with no intention to teach right away, this doesn't apply to you. All I know is this: $18 is a lot of money to spend on a drop-in class, so you can bet I'm going to make sure I'm getting my money's worth.
2. Find a teacher you actually like and respect, and who has a life outside of yoga. Ideally, this teacher shows you their faults every now and again, and can actually speak from experience. Even more importantly, this person can own up when they make a mistake. Be very weary of falling prey to a cult of personality or lifting someone onto a pedestal: you will eventually be disappointed. Just because someone can stand on their hands for ten minutes or throw their leg behind their head like it ain't no thang does not actually mean anything other than that they are flexible.
3. Perhaps you've found *your* teacher and they start talking about the upcoming training. Let's incorporate some critical thinking, yes? YTT is yoga teachers' bread and butter. I'd be willing to wager that often, the instructors are not actually invested in whether or not you ever become a teacher. This is another reason it is important to have an actual relationship with a teacher before you sign up. You want to study with someone who sees the value you will bring as a teacher and  uncover that value with the proper tools. Otherwise you run the risk of being a walking dollar sign.
4. Yoga is many things; if you choose to teach, one of the things yoga will become is business. Find out how much of the training is devoted to teaching you how to navigate the business aspect of teaching yoga. There is a lot more to teaching yoga for a living than waltzing in and teaching class a few times per week. Which leads me to my next tip:
5. Make sure there are systems in place to support new teachers. That might be mentoring with an experienced teacher. It might mean opportunities to practice-teach and get feedback.  If there is no indication that you will be supported after you graduate, I say run. 
6. Don't quit your day job. Ever. I hate to break it to you, but you probably won't start teaching right away. Scratch that-you DEFINITELY won't start teaching right away. The day might come where you are able to survive off teaching, but until that happens you will probably need something at least part time to cover your butt. The burrito budget only goes so far before you start fantasizing about the stability of your previous cubicle life.
7. When you do start teaching, don't get attached to teaching at a studio. Volunteer. Teach at gyms. Grow your skill in an environment where the expectations are lower and you can close the gap on the learning curve without any unnecessary pressure. 
8. Yoga teachers are not doctors, nutritionists, therapists, etc. I repeat, THINK CRITICALLY. If your yoga teacher says something weird that raises those little hairs on the back of your neck or makes you feel queasy in your gut, LISTEN to those messages. 
9. Supplement your knowledge. 200 hours does not make you an expert at anything. Read, take trainings and workshops across different disciplines, and be curious about different methods outside your chosen style of yoga. 
10. Most importantly! Feed your own practice. Continue to study and learn. Get support if you feel stuck. So many teachers start teaching, and stop practicing. Now that you are teaching, people will look to you as a source of knowledge and it's important that you stay connected to your center. Otherwise, you will forget why you ever set out to teach in the first place, or worse, you'll let it go to your head.

If you are SERIOUS about becoming a yoga teacher, please do yourself a favor and approach finding a teacher training the way you would approach going to graduate school. Would you enroll at a university where all the teachers had nothing but weekend certifications? Didn't think so. Do your research. Read testimonials--and not just the ones the studio uses to market the damn thing.  Enjoy the experience, and, keep your feet on the earth. I learned the hard way, so hopefully you won't have to.

What I learned from The August Break

For the entire month of August I participated in the August Break, a daily photography project hosted by Susanna Conway, where we took a photo each day based off a one or two word prompt. I jumped in last minute and had a fantastic time engaging with my surroundings in a completely new way. Here are some of the interesting insights I had along the way:

• The way I do one thing is the way I do everything. At the beginning of the month, I felt excitement and motivation, the project was on my mind at the start of every day, and I was actively looking ahead and searching my environments for inspiration. I noticed my thrill waned by the end of the third and beginning of the fourth week, to the point that I even posted a day late a couple times, or didn't even think about or look at the prompt until the sun had gone down and I didn't have much time left, or even posted photos I'd taken months ago but still fit the parameters. This is how I typically approach every new undertaking in my life: I start out strong, unwavering in my commitment; and then the halfway point passes and my motivation drops significantly. It made me see that even for things that I am choosing to do, and that light me up, I need to find a way to stay connected lest my creative juices become one more thing to muscle through or cross off the to-do list.
• I had a ton of fun. Ever since I've started giving myself more permission to explore my creative side, I have been enjoying my life so much more. From an outsiders' perspective, nothing has changed; I still have my routines, and my day job; I still have to cook all the food and wash all the dishes and clean all the clothes at the laundromat; I'm still on a tight budget and have to be very deliberate with my purchases; yet incorporating creative practices throughout my day has brought so much joy to all of that. It's fun to approach the mundane with fresh eyes; to create the extraordinary within the structure of everyday ordinary living.
• The work doesn't have to be "perfect" for me to share it. I can share things I create without being an expert, without knowing everything (in this case, about photography), without it even being good, at all--that's not really the point. Right now, the point is self expression; sharing my point of view; finding new ways to deliver my message with fresh eyes and perspective. This knowledge inspires me to be curious about other modes of self expression, something I probably would not have considered before. I'm thinking ceramics.

Here's a glimpse from tonight's sunset--this magical magical time in Northern California, where we finally get proper summer, just as Autumn is about to start. Incredible: