Photo of the sea

This unfortunate photo is the town in which I will be living.  Im so sorry it couldn't be more fantastic. Im contemplating sleeping right in this boat!  I plan to send a photo that I have taken of this very beach.  I'm beginning to get so excited.  I am almost finished with my final plans.  This has been quite a feat.  Selling my farm, placing all of the animals with loving friends for the time I will be away, which is uncertain.  It has been quite a feat getting the paperwork together not to mention the move and couch hopping until I get to school.  Getting ready for the Path Of love , the most fantastic workshop ever, and I have done almost every type you can imagine.  This year I will staff.  I participated last year and did some great healing work this year I plan to give some of that love I received and found back to the participants.  I am so excited that this journey begins with the love part. I am doing this in a different order than EAt Pray Love.  I attended a woman's kundalini yoga retreat in Arizona last week and it was a lot about pray.  The retreat was called Woman Heart.  A lovely experience and I forgot to take photos... So there I began the Pray part of the journey, with Path of Love I start the Love part then to Italy for the Eat part.  I have completed a prayer shawl that will double as a fashion piece for my Italian adventure.  I have been part of a crochet/ knit  group for a year and I just adore the women and our meetings.

I finished this in time for the full moon healing ceremony at Woman Heart.  During this ceremony we sat in a circle and meditated for 31 minutes to heal women in the circle, anyone we wrote onto out prayer lists and anyone else that came to mind.  We held the planet in our prayers.  what a lovely experience.  My wonderful yoga teacher in Corrales holds these ceremonies frequently and I just love them. She was the inspiration to begin learning to crochet.  She has been my teacher of crochet as well as my first teacher and exposure and encouragement with Kundalini yoga.  She is also the foster mom for my baby Bubba (my beagle). I love her.

Panna Cotta

Got this recipe from a foodie friend.  Made it yesterday and found it to be great and fool proof.

4 c Heavy Cream
1/2 C sugar (can use less for a more gently sweet dessert)
2 T vanilla or 1 bean
2 pkts of gelatin
6 T cold water

Heat cream and sugar to dissolve the sugar.
Add vanilla (if using the bean scrape seeds and add to cream mixture with the pod and let sit about 30 minutes for the flavors to meld- remove pod)

Spray 8 custard cups with non flavored oil
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let stand 10 minutes
Pour warm mixture over gelatin stir till gelatin is dissolved.

Pour into the cups and chill 2-4 hours
(will likely be set in 2 hours.)

Serve with berries in their own juices for a magical dessert

options:
*Add a bit of bitter chocolate 2-4 oz for a chocolate flavor. Melt it into the cream at the beginning of the recipe.

* also can serve on raspberry sauce, strawberry sauce, apricot sauce  or chocolate sauce.  everything is better with sauce!

Tea in the St. James Tea Room

What a lovely impromptu tea with great friend Guru Jivan Kaur.  We had a field trip to pick up some tea supplies and I needed to add to my travel pack of tea.  As it would happen we arrived and had the opportunity to stay for the tea service.  A wonderful display of foodie treats.  Ill have to practice taking pictures BEFORE I consume.  As a foodie friend calls it food porn.  Ill try to remember the before photo.    Each month there is a different theme.  so great.  enjoyed tea by the name of Atlantic city Jubilee.  Note the china with great words for contemplation.  Grace, Gentility, Beauty.  simply lovely...

Must not forget my tea obsession.

I have a tea obsession.  There are many things in life I enjoy and as we get along on this journey you will learn of them.  Today I begin with the tea obsession.  Particularly afternoon tea. Now afternoon tea doesn't necessarily mean that it involves a meal or scone related food item.  But there is nothing wrong with that. It can be simple, just a warm cup of something soothing during a quiet moment with little distraction unless it involves conversation with a friend.  For me it is the perfect time out.  A reboot for the day.  Years ago I had a Diet coke addiction (I still battle with this, I admit) and found that to do a similar thing but not quite as good or satisfying.  The reboot has become a necessary part of my day and the accompanying tea break has made it such a pleasant time for me that I hardly can pass a day without. Today it was Cream Earl Grey. Yummm.  you will see that a lot. I really enjoy the fragrance of the Earl Grey aspect of this tea.  This seems to work well for me in the afternoon particularly.

Did you know the steeping time for tea is crucial.  Black teas range from 3 to 6 minutes.  White tea is about 1 minute, Rooibus is about 3 minutes. Green tea about 3 mins.  They actually make timers for teas that tell you.  I recently saw one at a great tea place in Albuquerque called Mes Amis near the University area.

So the next time you find the afternoon blahs kicking in, take a tea break.  Time it and take the tea bag OUT of your cup after the allotted time.  Sit down, breathe and relax,  even for 5 minutes.

Down the road I encourage you to get a cute cup (or very manly tea cup if you desire, men) and make it a celebration, a time out a reboot.  The if you are really daring try loose tea in a tea ball (a small tea strainer thingy that holds loose tea) in a cup or pot.  Or pour a pot of tea for yourself and a friend pick your fancy cups have apiece of shortbread or some crackers and cheese.  Tell me all about it when you do it is a great thing to do.

And so it begins

So the first post... As I sit with friends and Blog tutor to get this ball rolling, we sip tea and crochet while snacking, yes snacking... and becoming technologically savy or at least connected.  Cant wait to begin the journey.  Actually it has begun.