I Make Myself

Farmer's Market

Inside the box

 

Out and about

Last week's highlights included doing a little bit of exploring, discovering a new farmers market (not only produce but plants included) and watching my sister's new collection hit the runway. 

 

Besides sharing snapshots of my salvadorean life I've decided to start sharing different things I find fun, inspiring, challenging, beautiful and well, interesting and worth reading.

They will come from different sources but mostly from other blogs I read.

If I can help spread the love in anyway darn it I will.

Here are today's first cool-amazing-heart-melting-awesome links.

Amanda from RunToTheFinish is nothing but unknown in the running/blogging world. Her passion and determination blow my mind. She was one of the first running blogs I started to read and now one of the few I continue to read. It's not the first time I've mentioned her here. She was one of the bloggers that inspired my marathon training. She has an amazing weight loss story that she has been kind enough to share with all her readers. It's definitely much MUCH more than "just" a weight loss story. You can read it here.

GrowSoulBeautiful is a place where yoga and photography meet.  They have a fun and very insightful Instagram challenge called #YogaADay.  The idea is to explore asanas and self-portraits and upload them to Instagram adding the hashtag and tagging @growsoulbeautiful. They feature a selection of the uploaded pictures but of course you can see all of them by searching #YogaAday on Instagram. For me the idea of self-portraits (and I think I'm not alone on this one) represents pushing myself out of my comfort zone into a vulnerable place and interestingly enough, that is what yoga has been for me. I think this challenge captures the essence of freeing yourself in the asanas right on. You can read about the challenge here

Through Instagram I found Win Wiley. A photographer from Nebraska who simply lights up my feed. He shared a few words and some out-of-this-world images about Brooklyn and Trevor. These photos will fill your heart with love and inspiration.

it's been a short while since I've been following Gena's blog Choosing Raw. She's a vegan and I'm not even vegetarian but that doesn't mean that I don't find very useful resources on her website. On the contrary it's filled with not only yummy recipes but also interesting (to say the least) information on nutrition (She is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist), body image and wellness. If anyone has ever come close to convincing me -without even trying- to go vegan it's her. She's smart, rational and very well informed yet humble about it. I recently read what she wrote about an article in Marie Claire called "The Vegan Myth". It's a very well written piece worth reading (Gena's that is). The Marie Claire article states that veganism is something that is supposed to be healthy but it actually may not. I've heard this debate before. It was in the yoga community (anyone remember that NYT article?) and since it's all in the past I will leave it there. Gena's words are very wise and -I think- come from an honest place. You can read them here.

Enjoy a good read!

A day in El Salvador

A friend of mine came for a quick visit. It was only for a few days but enough to do a little sightseeing. We took her to the San Salvador volcano. A place known as El Boqueron and we also went to Ataco. 

It was a relaxed weekend and we had a great time.

Although I'd love to talk more about it the truth is I have little to no words. The world seems crazy and unexplainable sometimes. By sometimes I mean right now.

I was raised in a Christian family but it was not until later in life that I made my peace with what I believe in. One of the questions that has always haunted me was HOW could we continue to state that God created us in his own image (Genesis 1:27) when there is so much anger, jealousy and resentment in our hearts. We have engraved our minds with the image of a loving God so where do all these evil feelings come from? shouldn't we be loving like Him instead? Shouldn't love be a more natural, first-response feeling?

What aspects do we actually inherit from our creator? What does his own image mean then? Does it mean having two legs? or two arms? come on! It has to be something more than that.

It took me -and still takes me- time to process these questions but so far I've come up with one answer that has given me hope. Yes, not closure but hope. I think that what we take after our creator is the ability to choose and decide.

We may not have control over the anger, sadness or frustration we feel but we do have the ability to choose what we do with it. 

Today, I don't want to talk specifically about Boston or Afghanistan, Venezuela or El Salvador. 

But when I see all the hatred and violence that is being poured into the world I can't help but wonder how I am contributing -or not contributing- to this madness. 

Crazy, crazy world.

I am

Now, the written version.

Normally, I eat lunch watching Grey's Anatomy reruns. I've started to think that this may not be the best idea. Even though I LOVE Grey's the truth is that each episode leaves me emotionally drained. After each episode ends I always end up calling Heinz to tell him how much I love him. 

I don't mind watching them when he's around. Thursday nights I have to teach a class from 7-8PM so by the time I make it home the episode (current season and not reruns) has already started. This is their final season and I'm not ready for it to go away just yet. I want to see Meredith's kid grow up and become Seattle Grace's new McChief.

I'm observing how my basil is coming back. Score.

I'm crazy about my little plants right now (or always). I used to think that when my basil died it was time to buy and plant a new one but oh was I wrong. I was clever enough to plant the seeds and once it died new plants started growing. It took a little while though. During the time between the old one dried out and the new one started to grow I firmly believed I needed to get a new one.

Now I know the cycle and the time has come where my new baby basil is growing. Rainy season is approaching so my basil will only get bigger and greener.

My succulents on the other hand need to be protected from the rain.

I'm looking forward to using my newly acquired juicer. Yes, healthyliving world, I finally got a juicer.

This had been on the back of my mind since last year. I'm not a big juice drinker but I do plan to incorporate more veggies into my diet in the liquid form. I don't use sugar or sugar substitutes <-- never! so I have to come up with ways to sweeten my juice because it's not my healthy-happy idea to suffer while downing those green beverages.

I'm excited about my new food processor!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and I would insert a million more exclamation marks if it wasn't so blogging unfriendly) I would also insert the BOOM emoticon here but I don't know how. 

I'm completely in-love with "Here comes Honey Boo Boo". I can't get enough of Alana and her family. I know the show has been subject to...I don't want to say polemic...but maybe the word I'm looking for is public scrutiny.

This may well deserve a full post. What do you think?

I'm curious to figure out if my running shoes are giving me little corns on my toes. I know. Too much information. But those little spots turn very red after each run. They don't hurt but they're not a pretty sight. The worst thing is I've heard you can't make them go away. Mine are very little and I definitely don't want them to get bigger so the only thing I'm currently running is a research on what to do.

I'm wondering what book to read next. I'm about to finish "The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks" (expect my thoughts here) so I want to add another book to my reading list. Any suggestions?

1Q84

by Haruki Murakami. 

  

I'm on Vine now.

For me books are a treasure and I used to compulsively buy them until I decided I would only buy a new book after I was done reading whatever I was currently reading. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that while growing up I didn't have access to a public library and my school's library was, well, nonexistent. 

Books, or good books, are a rare item here in El Salvador. You can get your hands on classic novels and trendy stuff (Twilight and blah) but everything in-between is literature delicacy.

When I moved to France I took all of my books with me. It was pretty much the dumbest idea ever. My luggage was so heavy I couldn't go up or down any stairway and -long story short- when I had to move again I donated a lot of books to the school's library where I worked. If you are ever Bretagne there's a little town called Lannion which now holds a great collection of spanish literature :)

I moved to Madrid with only my favorite books under my arms and while I lived there I knew I couldn't keep adding books to my collection. That is when I discovered the joy of what access to a public library was. It's no joke when I say that Heinz and I used to go every weekend to pick up new books and movies. Our Saturday routine was to wake up, go to a local coffee shop to have breakfast (one of the few places with decent coffee in Madrid) and then head to the public library which was a couple of blocks away from our apartment...argh Chamberí sometimes I miss you.

Their movie collection was outstanding! But of course I focused on books. Floors and floors of books. During that time I discovered one of my favorite writers Amelie Nothomb, I also met Herman Hesse and Milan Kundera and I re-read other spanish authors I had read before.

Then, we had to move again. I still have books in Spain you know. They were still too many to bring with me to El Salvador -again- so some of them are safely stored at my in-law's house...for now. 

When I went to Madrid last year to run my first marathon one of the first things I did was to slowly drag myself -post-marathon-walking- to one of my favorite bookstore to stock up on reading material. I never learn my lesson I know.

Heinz warned me about traveling with too many books and he was right, so I had to be very selective in what I bought. I only got four books and one of them was "What I talk about when I talk about running" by Haruki Murakami.

Murakami is a Japanese writer known for his novels Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the shore -to name two-. I had never read something by him before buy I had definitely heard about him so I decided to start by reading his running-related book.

This book is something of a journal and I cannot recommend it enough to those of you who love to run and read or just run or just read. I loved how unpretentious he was about his running and how honest he was about what he thinks is the formula to become a good writer.

After I finished reading his book I knew I wanted to continue reading his novels. That is when Heinz got me 1Q84 as a present.

Somehow he thought it would be a good idea to bring a 936-page book as a traveling book...even after all we've been through.

Nonetheless I was excited when he gave it to me in Costa Rica as a Yoga Teacher Training graduation present.

I started reading the book in early December so it took me 4 months with a one-week-reading-only vacation included to finish it. If you want to know what I think just click and continue reading.

You are here

I thought you would like to check out Heinz' latest work.

I know I would!

I may only talk about him here in a very just-the-two-of-us kind of way and I may have mentioned somewhere that his schedules are crazy. My husband is a film director who currently works in the advertising world but every now and then he gets his hands on cool projects like this one.

He documented Tom Curren's (a surf legend) visit to El Salvador and worked with Puro Surf and Tropical Freaks to produce this...how to call it?....blow-my-mind-crazy-cool piece of work.

I'll stop talking about it now and let you watch it.

"You are Here" from Heinz Kobernik on Vimeo.

 

Needless to say -but yeah, I'm saying it anyway- I'm so proud of him and what he does.

As a weekend note: Let this video be a reminder of the cool waves my little country has to offer. Maybe you'll come visit us someday.

From sunny El Salvador, have a great weekend.

My mix-whatever-you-have Quinoa

It's been a long time since I've shared a recipe and maybe, today you'll figure out why.

My meals are looking uglier every day. They are soggy, pasty and 90% of the time they come in a bowl. 

Are they delicious? Yes! Of course. 

But they are not picture-perfect-blogger-friendly.

This was my lunch yesterday. I mixed whatever I had in my fridge and it ended up being one of the most delicious ugly-looking meals I've had since I started eating Quinoa.

It was sort of a Mexican meets Greek style but I didn't use black olives. Although it could have used some but really...I had none.

I used:

• 1 cucumber
• 1 tomato
• A bunch of cilantro
• Feta cheese
• Juice of half lime
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Cooked Quinoa

I chopped the cucumber, tomato and cilantro and made what some people know as Pico de Gallo. I added salt, olive oil and lime. I still had half of what I made to save for later. If you do end up making a lot -like I did- be sure to add lime only to what you are eating. Saving it with added lime makes it a little bit bitter.

I added it on top of the Quinoa.

For the Greek part I topped it with Feta cheese crumbs and gave it a final stir.

Heinz had this for dinner and he was yumming while eating. Always a good sign.

Does it happen to you? do you find that the not-so-perfect looking meals end up being the most delicious ones? yes? no?

 

Eat, Read, Sleep

Almost like Eat, Pray, Love only not so much.

Semana Santa is a religious holiday but this year I can't tell you much about the religious part because Heinz and I took the entire week off.  We stepped away from the city to stay at a rented beach house.

We both got the week off even though the actual holidays are only from Thursday to Sunday.

Our plan for the week was to have no plans at all.

The house we stayed at is a private apartment next to a bigger property. It's located in a private beach called La Leona in La Libertad. It's about a 5-minute drive from El Tunco. 

Even though we love staying at hotels, for longer stays we prefer to rent a place where we can cook. I find that whenever I'm away from home, after a couple of days my stomach gets really upset from eating out.

We found this house through VRBO. A website where you find vacation rentals by owners. It's a pretty cool option if you like to travel.

In terms of food we definitely over packed but a girl just needs to have options. We brought fruit, veggies, quinoa, avocados -because they deserve a special mention- soba noddles, beer and wine. You know, basic vacation stuff.

Of course I forgot the most basic things: salt and cooking oil. 

We checked-in on Monday and truth be told we did nothing but eat, read and sleep.

My book kept me quiet for a total of six days. Six!

Even Heinz was amazed at how quiet I'd been. 

That was the best part of the entire vacation: Ma' book.

I'll share my thoughts on it in another post so I don't make this one unbearably long.

On with the fun part. Here are some photos of the casita by the beach.

 
       ...yeah, I know we've gone a little overboard with the fisheye.

At nights I used to come out of hiding and properly interact with Heinz. He wanted to share with me facts he had learned in his history book (I roll my eyes at his type of reading material). This was the perfect time to do it. When I was away from my Murakami book.

We also played Scrabble.

And just so you know if there was a Salvadorean Scrabble version I would kick Heinz' little German butt. 

I miss the wooden and velvet Scrabble! This was all plastic. I guess recession takes its toll even on the board games industry.

Sigh.

Stay tuned if you are interested in reading my thoughts on 1Q84 by Murakami. I didn't know but apparently it caused quite a stir in the editorial world.

Has any of you read it?

PS. We did go to church on Sunday. We had a proper Easter Sunday.