Run Run Rudolph

O.K- we all know the song....but yesterday I began to run, the first time since the birth of my son and my nose turned red, because it was so cold. My husband laughed at me when I returned after 20 minutes and urged me to venture back out for a while. He even said the baby looked like he was having fun. This is my husband trying to tell me that 20 minutes just won't do. I know he's probably right. Cringe.

This may be one of hundreds of times I "began" to run. The following through is the part that I have trouble with. In the beginning I am motivated, even excited at moments, but eventually, I let myself fall prey to other endeavors and forget about all the benefits and reasons I should be runnning. So this time after a chance facebook encounter with one of my all time best friends, we began together unknowingly, running that is, and decided to become eachother's running cheerleaders! It has only been 2 days but already we have provided eachother with tips, songs, and inspiration. Hopefully it works, and we continue to make running a habit, but if not, at least we will at least have new memories of the time we became cyber~running buddies! LOL.

Buckwheat Tarragon Dinner Rolls

I have recently been tinkering with no knead bread recipes and found a great one that comes out tasting wonderful with a crusty outside and soft spongy inside. However, it was made with all purpose flour and did not appeal to my healthy side. So I tinkered around and tonight I finally came up with a delicious recipe that could be enjoyed as is or tweaked to satisfy your liking for fresh herbs, chocolate, fruits, nuts or what have you(see below). The savory, yet almost licorice like flavor of the tarragon added a wonderful flavor to this bread. I am so excited for spring to come so I can use all of my favorite garden herbs in this recipe!

Below is my final bread journal: Please feel free to try it, change it, and comment back to this site if you'd like! This is definitely a learning journey for me and I fully believe there are always room for improvements. Many Bread Blessings!


Prep time: 10 minutes Rise time: 2.75 hours total Bake Time: 35 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 3/4 c. bread flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
3/4 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 tbs. chopped fresh tarragon
1 3/4 c. lukewarm water

TO BEGIN:

Mix all dry ingredients together in bowl. Add water and stir until a sticky wet dough forms. It only took about a minute for this to happen. You should see no flour lurking.

NEXT:

Cover with a towel and let rise for 2 hours

After dough has risen, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add 3 cups of water into an oven friendly dish and set on bottom rack of oven. I use a corning wear dish for this.

Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and shape dough into rolls, baguettes, loaves, or other shapes. You can also save a portion of the dough and keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

After dough is shaped, cover again, and let rise for 45 minutes.

Then slice the top of the dough a few times. I did not slice these rolls, but you can see they began to burst out the bottom-oops!

Now bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and enjoy!!! YUM! It should be noted that this bread does not keep well- it is best enjoyed straight from the oven.

Other fun ingredients to add in:

Rosemary, lemon, chocolate and hazelnut, cranberry and pecan, sunflower seed, basil, thyme, chive and bacon, lemon balm, marjoram, sage, or make your own combination.

The Greening of Winter

                                                                       
I have been pushing myself to get outdoors lately- to bundle up Sage in wooley hats and fleece mittens and hope his cheeks do not turn red with shivers. I look up at the grand mountain grey and dreary, looming over the western side of town, clouds draped around it like steam rising from my cocoa cup. I cringe at the wind that brushes and tingles my face when I attempt to trek forth through my village. My motivation is the sun, whose warmth, although subtle brings a glimmer of hope, of happiness amongst the bitter blusters of late fall. After a quick jaunt around the block, I go to water my greens in the greenhaus and again am reminded of the sun, whose warmth melts the midnight's frost each day and keeps the greens from perishing. There is life! There is warmth! There is hope! In a tiny 8ft. x 5 ft. little haus behind my home I can be thankful for winter, for the life that manages to hang on through winter's song, through windy nights, and subtle sun. Those greens of spinach, kale, mesculin, mache, tatsoi, chard, and lettuce are so full of vitality, of strength, and sweetness that only winter's spell could bring!

MUMACITA- THE REBIRTH

After not posting for over 2 years and accidentally stumbling upon my blog, I read, reflected, and decided that a more appropriate title was Mumacita. Why? It just came to me. Somehow Mumacita just fit and stuck. It's simple, inspiring, and fun. Plus, I have so many mummy related items I'd like to post in the next few months that I am ecstatic about embodying and embracing the mum in myself and my life. I recently gave birth to my second child, Sage Wilder Bowan. It has been amazing to once again have the opportunity to go through the whole birth process and to have a wee one who depends on me for everything. 10 years after the birth of Kaiden, I started over, I gave Re-birth! Mumacita is an ode to my RE-birth, and the continuing evolution of myself as a parent, wife, and human. My goal is to use this space for memories, reflection, inspiration, as well as creative and practical endeavors to share with other Mumacitas out there.

Devotions from a mamacita

I created this blog to try to create a space to embrace, internalize, and reflect, and act upon the utter simplicities or otherwise chaotic notions we seem to encounter every day in our lives. I wanted the word "Devotion" incorporated to define the act of writing these wonderful flecks down for sharing. Whether we choose to embrace them or toss them away is our choice, but being devoted to the process lends us to a greater power I believe.

MAMACITA
1)"Hot mama", "sexy lady" in the U.S. and Central America and Mexico 1)Synomym of "Señorita"- "young lady" in South America. Polite, formal, not sexual. 1( taken from the Urban Dictionary, http://www.urbandictionary.com/)

Yes- I am a mama and a mamacita.

I believe somehow my path has lended me a great respect and attraction to the cultures of the South.(not the U.S). A thread of my journey has intertwined itself into my European Hienze 57 make up to also somehow include a twist of spark, color, and frenzy. I am a mamacita, as are many of the women I know.

Perhaps we are the ones that choose to follow our spirits and embrace the flow-whatever that may be. Strong, passioante, compassioante, sensitive, leaders, healers, lovers, teachers, and direct descendents of the divine goddess and god(Yes..it takes 2, friends)...

So I want to know what folks are devoted to and the path that led you to your devotion.....was there any significant element or experience which caused you to become devoted to something in your world...religion, politics, family, a hobbie, a cause, a habit???

My devotion begins with my family. My family is there and sees me at my best and worst. They see me stumble and fly, sometimes both in one day. I am devoted to them because I NEVER thought that my path would lead me to them at the time when it did. I had a choice...do I venture into an area that I am unsure about, risking my future to change, devoting myself to the unknown or do I tread my path as I had planned,devoting myself to education and pursuing life's dreams?I was very young when Kaiden was born. I had barely been out of highschool. I wanted to travel the world, help indigenous people, SAVE the world!! Then suddenly, I had a choice to devote myself to something I knew (or thought) I knew very little about- being a mother. I visited the feeling many times when I first found out I was pregnant of what it would be like to be devoted to a child. Even in my wildest imagination I could not find the feeling. But it soon just came, like a warm place in my tummy and then I could not imagine going back. I got on the wave and am still riding it. Somehow, I just knew what was right for me and when I would mess up as mom (and still do), luckily it was about things I can laugh about. Kaiden was my first true family beyond my parents and close friends...He still will rest his head on my shoulder when we read together at night and once in a while, I'll look over and he will be asleep, his face not changed much from when he was an infant. Or at least from my perspective. Sequoia is also my family-more on him to come...

So I became devoted to him and everything I thought I was devoted to became even more important to me throughout the years. I wanted him to grow up knowing where things came from, how people in other places lived, that the walls of society did not extend into the Earthly wonders of the world. There are no bad people, just people who make bad choices. And for me, I have become even more aware and stronger and passioante about supporting the worthy causes of the world- buying local, living simply, eating organically, exploring my home and knowing what it looks like from the seat of a bike, the top of the mountain, or rolling in a field. As well, once ina great while, we venture beyond to explore other states with thier own unique offerings and later in the year, we will be off to Brazil!! What a wonderful opportunity to embrace the mamacita in myself while learning and exploring a new place with my best friend and devotee if you will......Cheers!