On Friday, at least, I "busted loose" for a hike with Phil. It wasn't a huge long hike, but it was enough for me to reconnect with the ocean and the outside, and to remind myself of how essential that is, even if I was wearing four pairs of pants and even more layers on my top half against the cold, and two hats. It had been so long since I'd even taken a short walk. This pic is from the end of the hike, by which time we were well warmed up, with unzipped jackets.
The fear clawed at my heart and chills ran down my back--what if I don't put the most into my MFA--what if I "coast," like I always did academically, when my heart is so totally in the MFA--wouldn't that be a criminal waste?
Then, several hours of today that I didn't have to spare have been spent talking with Phil, who is feeling the loss of me to my work, and feeling the same concern that the bulk of my time is going into something that's not my passion. All is not quite in balance here. Tomorrow's "50 First Weeks" renewal should address that yesterday, and here I am.
And here's the recipe!
This one is similar to my "instant apricot power bars." Another wonderful dried fruit is figs--so rich in calcium, soluble fiber, and other benefits. When I lived in CA, I almost never ate dried figs because we had seasons of fresh figs, which are quite something else and really almost divine. Up here, though...well, I paid about $5 for a small basket of fresh figs last summer, perfectly ripe. It was money well spent.
My one problem with traditional fruit-nut bars is that they don't always have enough minerals (and possibly protein) to give a sense of satiation, so that I can eat one (or half of one) and be done. So, in addition to the mineral rich figs and hempseeds, I added some dried nettles to this bar! You can't even taste them, but they definitely help with the satiation factor, even though I made them much smaller than traditional lara bars.
1/2 cup dried nettles
1 cup dried figs, chopped (I used black mission, but calimyrna are delightful too)
1/2 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup flax seed meal
4 dried apricots (chopped)
Whiz the nettles in a food processor until they're powdery. Add the figs, hemp seeds, flax meal, and process until the mixture starts to form a ball. You may need to add the apricots to facilitate this, depending on how dry your figs are (mine were quite dry, and I needed the apricots).
Roll into small logs--I got about a dozen.
Again, these are not super-sweet, but there's a real "heartiness" to them, and they are delicious.
Enjoy.
Big Mr Moose was back again--Phil's been busy putting up more fencing, and felt brave enough to chase Mr Moose off from the other side of the fence. His trick? See the wheelbarrow next to him? He raised it above his head to make himself look very tall, which stopped the moose in his tracks. Then, he banged it down on the ground--and as you can see, the moose decided he'd rather be somewhere quieter!
