A Satisfying Spice

Dish courtesy of Sunbird Kitchen.

Tokyo turnips with xo sauce, chili oil, toasted quinoa and nasturtium flowers. It’s like stepping into a hot bath. The chili oil burns my mouth at first, but I let it linger on my tongue. I breathe and feel my sinuses clear. The juicy Tokyo turnips give respite from the spice. I sink in deeper. The Hinona Kabu turnips taste similar to radishes, and pair well with the nasturtium flowers. They add a peppery flavor, which compliments the subtle saltiness of the xo sauce––a caramelized shellfish and meat sauce. Surprisingly the xo sauce is my favorite part of the dish. After I finish eating, I wipe my mouth. My lips feel slightly numb, but I don’t try to neutralize the spice with dairy. It’s a satisfying spice.

This summer I’m lucky to be working at Sunbird, a local café in Orleans, MA that serves intentional dishes for mindful eating––carefully selected ingredients, thoughtful preparation, and considerate presentation. The kitchen sources their ingredients from local farmers–the turnips in the above dish are from Chatham Brews Inn (CBI) Farm in Brewster–and the menu changes depending on what’s in season. Above is a new dish I tried last week, after chatting extensively with one of the chefs about the turnips and the kitchen’s plan for them. Through inquiring about, tasting, and selling the food we serve I’m learning to trust what ingredients a chef pairs together. In many of my past experiences as a customer at restaurants, I've been particular about how I want my food prepared, what ingredients can be left out, and can I please substitute this ingredient for that one? Although I would not voluntarily add chili oil to the dish, my experience with the dish wouldn’t have been the same without it.

Dish courtesy of Sunbird Kitchen.
Meatballs with harissa yogurt, ricotta salata, dill, and mint. A Moroccan-inspired dish––harissa, dill, and
mint are all common in Morocco. It's not as heavy as meatballs and marinara, and the aftertaste reminds me
of spicy chorizo sausage. The dill, meatballs, and ricotta salata compliment each other well.

Through my work at Sunbird, I'm rekindling a joyous relationship with food. I respect the entire experience of a meal, from selecting the ingredients to washing the dishes after. Inspired by my work at Sunbird, I’ve been experimenting in my own kitchen a lot this summer. Here are some highlights:

1. 

   Lettuce, garden veggie burger, crumbled smoked gouda cheese,
   cucumbers, sautéed carrots and kale, hummus, Braggs dressing.  

   Melted gouda cheese on a garden veggie or portabella burger. Just trust me.
2. Mixing fresh veggies with sautéed veggies adds interesting temperature and texture to a salad.
3. Fresh mint counterbalances spicy and fishy flavors.
4. Herbs are most flavorful when kept raw. Thank you, Sunbird Kitchen.
5. Fresh mint and dill compliment each other.
6. Pickled turnips.
7. Braggs dressing, sesame ginger tofu, and sea beans. The combination of flavors reminds me of sushi.

   

   Lettuce, sesame ginger tofu, sea beans, cucumbers, egg yolk,
   hummus, parsley, Braggs dressing. 

8. Fresh parsley on hummus. It echoes the traditional tabouli and hummus combination. This is best when hummus is the main feature of the dish––otherwise the hummus can overpower the dish.
9. Fish sauce. I've had it in three different dishes this summer: the butter turnips from Sunbird, kimchi from Sunbird, and crispy brussels sprouts from The Canteen in Provincetown. It's salty, spicy, and satisfying.
10. Poached egg whites. Smoked egg yolks. Fried eggs. Omelets. Sunny side up eggs. Scrambled eggs. I've tried them all this summer.

Lettuce, cucumbers, granny smith apple,
scrambled eggs with kale, carrots, sesame ginger tofu.

My latest creation: Brown rice toast spread with fresh avocado. Topped with two fried eggs,
sautéed mushrooms and onions, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary. I was proud of this one.


Brown rice toast. Mango and strawberries.
Omelet with goat cheese and sautéed mushrooms, onions, and rosemary. Topped with fresh rosemary.
It's photo worthy because the omelet actually stayed intact when I flipped it. 

When I take the time to cook, arrange, eat, and reflect on my food, I'm less likely to jump for the next flavor. I sit back and appreciate what I'm tasting. I’m present. I’m satisfied.

Packing My Suitcase for the Future

After going almost nonstop since four o'clock this morning and turning in my English essay 15 minutes before it was due, I finally had the opportunity at five o'clock this evening to sit on the hill, drink Happy Belly tea, eat some of Mom's homemade cookies that arrived in the mail today, and read heartfelt quotes from Brian Andreas' book, Trusting Soul. The book is filled with rough sketches of people and quotes about uncertainty, change, growing up, and other ideas related to trust and the future. In the introduction to his book, he writes,

The future is what you bring with you & you get to choose. I think of the stories & drawings in this book as the things I have chosen, the suitcase I've packed for the future. It's only the essentials, because I know you'll bring stuff, too. I packed the lilt of a voice, the curve of a neck in laughter, the glance between people who have wrapped up in each other in the soft night. I've put memories of my grandparents & other made-up people because it seemed like they'd be fun to have around. I've thrown in more than enough packages of love & play & chocolate because the future can always use extra of those & I sneaked in a few unexpected gifts, simply because there is no greater joy than an unexpected gift to a trusting soul. (Andreas) 

The things I try to include on my blog are what I've chosen to pack for my future––pictures and quotes and musings and questions and stories and moments that fill me with inspiration and joy. I try to avoid rambling complaints or conclusions that end with bitter emotions, because these aren't what I want to bring along with me in the future. I'd rather leave them behind.

What's even more fun than packing the suitcase is opening it up and sharing it with others, which is why I get such joy out of posting. It's a space for the collective relish of big questions and small moments.

So for you, today, I'm sharing a picture of the autumn trees on campus and one of my favorite poems by Mary Oliver.

Morning

Salt shining behind its glass cylinder.
Milk in a blue bowl. The yellow linoleum.
The cat stretching her black body from the pillow.
The way she makes her curvaceous response to the small, kind gesture.
Then laps the bowl clean.
Then wants to go out into the world
where she leaps lightly and for no apparent reason across the lawn,
then sits, perfectly still, in the grass.
I watch her a little while, thinking:
what more could I do with wild words?
I stand in the cold kitchen, bowing down to her.
I stand in the cold kitchen, everything wonderful around me.

***

What will you pack in your suitcase?

A Solstice Run

11:45pm and we laced up our sneakers. The car idled in the driveway, the exhaust against the night air like the stream from the tea that awaited me when I got home. It was December 21st, the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, meaning that starting the next day (today), every day gets a little longer. And we–my mom, Michael, my dog Mocha and me–were ready to welcome the longer days.

This is the fourth or fifth year we've ran on the winter solstice. The first year we did it, the solstice fell on a full moon, and we ran by moonlight while the "cows" howled in the distance, or so my mom told my brother. The solstice hasn't fallen on a full moon since that first year, but the solstice runs have become a tradition. There's something about waiting up until midnight, seeing your breath fog up in the night air, feeling your way blindly on the trails, listening to the lull of the night. It's as if the world and we are in on a little secret. "Shh..." it tells us. "Don't let anyone know I'm awake."

This year was kinder than some years. There wasn't any snow on the ground and the air was cool but mild. Although it was cloudy, it wasn't too dark; our eyes adjusted quickly.

We did four laps this year–one for each runner–and then came home to tea and Trader Joe's gingerbread men. We each had four cookies for four laps for four runners. I went to sleep with my cheeks still rosy from the night air and my stomach warm with tea and cookies.

"All the world's a stage"

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages," said the famous playwright, William Shakespeare.

I like this quote because it makes the connection between real life and the theatre. The theatre is a place to fabricate reality. It is a place where you can role play situations without consequences. Even within the confinements of the script, there is a remarkable freedom that comes with being someone you're not. Theatre is filled with these strange paradoxes, which fuel the theatre's intense conflicts.

At the end of every school year, our teachers ask us to reflect on our work over the past year, and make goals for the next year. This year, I decided that in addition to improving my own craft–both in writing and acting–I wanted to reach out and share what I love with others.

For those of you who have followed my blog, you may remember some previous posts talking about my volunteer work at an assisted living home. When I visited the assisted living home in previous years, I sat with the residents at dinner and talked, and sometimes visited them in their room. I wanted to be able to give them something, though. I wanted to be able to share with them what has been my ultimate outlet of expression throughout high school: theatre.

Compiling all I had learned from my directors and the books I had read, I compiled a 12-week theatre workshop subtitled: "All the world's a stage." I chose this quote not only because it is from one of the greatest playwrights of all time, but because it emphasizes the point that everyone is an actor-–we've been acting our entire lives. It puts everyone on equal playing grounds, regardless of their experience on the stage. Every week focuses on a different aspect of theatre, starting with monologue work by exploring the tools we have at our disposal as actors (voice, emotion, movement), working up to dialogue and experimenting how to work with others to perform a scene, and finally concluding in a small performance. My hope is that these sessions become a place where the residents, too, can express themselves.

This week was my second week. It was titled: Voice, Emotion & Characterization. Through a variety of activities, we explored how to use our voice and body language to embody different characters and convey different emotions. We had a grand total of seven people–three more than last week–and everyone stayed the entire time. It went much smoother than the first week. The first week was a lot of talking and about half the people left midway, which was a bit disheartening. I wasn't as prepared the first week. It was a busy weekend, so I didn't have time to review my notes beforehand. I hadn't thought about the fact that some of the residents wouldn't be able to stand up for the activities. I was unsure how to address everyone. I was nervous––I've never done anything like this before.

This week I felt much more prepared. I was able to laugh with the residents. Although I am technically the instructor, I have so much to learn from them. One resident attended a drama school that isn't even around anymore. She plays the accordion and traveled the world singing. Another resident used to sing in a barber shop quartet. He wears these great suspenders with musical notes on them.

There are centuries of actors, playwrights and directors to go to for inspiration. Sometimes I forget that there are people even closer for inspiration: those in my everyday life. I'm so excited to see what these residents bring to the table––or should I say, the stage.

If You Believe

http://pinterest.com/dorothyozz/

66º today and sunny. My little cousin was over, and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather to have some quality cousin-bonding time––or maybe just to put off cleaning my room for another few hours. No...it was the bonding time.

She ran ahead and wanted to balance on every curb, pick every flower, and say hello to everyone. She asked everyone their names and then proceeded to introduce herself and me to all those who stopped to acknowledge her chirpy three-year-old voice. She grew tired on the way home, so I carried her. She was fascinated by our moving shadows as we walked under the sun.

"Look, it's us!" she exclaimed. We waved to our shadows and then made bunny hand puppets, narrating as they hopped along.

"I got to go!" she voiced.

"Me too. I need to go eat some carrots!" I said, playing along.

"I need...I need...I need to go eat some carrot cake!" She laughed.

"That's right, you liked the carrot cake Yaya made at Easter," I said.

"Yup. I ate it all up. I want some when we get home."

"Carrot cake?"

"Yeah!"

"I don't think there's any carrot cake at home," I said.

"Yes there is. Yaya gave me some to take home after Easter!" Easter was two and half weeks ago, mind you.

"I don't think it will be there anymore," I said.

"Yes there is. I believe!" she said, throwing her grass-stained arms up in the air.

In the mind of a three-year-old, if you believe hard enough, anything can happen. What a wonderful idea.

Christmas Baking

Chocolate. What a wonderful way to start the morning. Baking. What an even more wonderful way to begin. 

The past two weeks have been filled with Christmas baking in both my house and my grandparent's (who have an in-law with us). Between the two houses, there has been lots of delicious treats to share and sample. My grandma's glazed pecans and walnuts have always been a favorite of mine. She was kind enough to give me my own personal stash this year, but I ate it all in one sitting while up late doing homework. In fact, I think it was all the sweets that kept me going last week, what with all the end-of-semester project work. I had chocolate saltine bark and homemade granola and chocolate pretzel M&M wreaths and lots of dark chocolate M&Ms. Friday at school everyone was in a particularly cheerful mood. Many people carried tins of fudge and homemade cookies and other goodies that they were eager to share with their friends or whoever they saw in the hallway. What's the fun of food if you can't share it? Soo I have two Christmas recipes to share with you today!

The first is super easy:

Chocolate Cherry Mice 

These things are almost too cute to eat! But then you eat one...and they're too good not to eat. 

Ingredients

Hershey kisses (for the head)

Maraschino cherries with stems

Slivered almonds (for the ears)

Food coloring (for eyes)

Chocolate chips OR more Hershey kisses

1. Place the maraschino cherries on a paper towel and dry them with another paper towel. This will make the chocolate stick easier. *If some of the cherries don't have stems, DON'T THROW THEM AWAY. There is a way to make them work! All it takes is a little surgery :) *

2. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil to avoid sticking.

3. Melt the chocolate chips or Hershey kisses in the microwave. My grandma and I melted Hershey kisses, and we melted them for 30 seconds, stirred them, and then put them back in the microwave for another 30 seconds.

4. Dip the cherry in the melted chocolate. Dip the base of another Hershey kiss in the melted chocolate, and attach two slivered almonds for the ears. Stick the head to the chocolate-dipped cherry. There's your mouse!

5. If you have a tailless mouse, have no fear! Take a toothpick or anything sharp and just poke a little hole in its bum (sorry, Mousie!). Dip the tip of the cherry stem in chocolate, and just stick it in there! Nothing a little rectum surgery can't fix.

6. Let the mice harden in the fridge. Later, use food coloring to give them eyes. (All we had was green, black and red food coloring, and the red kind of freaked me out, so I used green. Looking back, red would've been really cute for the nose.)

Here's a close-up!

Oh, and the white blocks the mice are surrounding in the first picture are hunks of white chocolate. Don't they look like cheese???

Alrighty, now moving on to Recipe #2. This one is a bit more involved, but it's well worth it: Coconut Key Lime Cake.

Last weekend, my family and I went to DC, and we had this amazing coconut key lime cake. Now I'm picky when it comes to cake, but this cake was GOOD. So, I decided to try and replicate it for my family for Christmas! The only problem was, I didn't want to let them know I was making it. Luckily, Grandma's kitchen is always open.

Coconut Key-Lime Cake 
A key-lime cake frosted with coconut whipped cream

Because I was trying to replicate the recipe at the restaurant, I didn't follow much of a recipe for this cake. But here are the basic steps I followed.

Key-Lime Cake:

For the cake, I just used a Pillsbury white cake mix, but any brand will do. If you're feeling ambitious, you can make it from scratch, but I'm still somewhat of an amateur at baking, so I figured I would start slow. For the key-lime tang, I used an entire 4 1/2 fluid oz container of lime juice, and two grated limes. I grated each lime entirely, skin and all (my hands were tired!). When it comes to how much to use, the best thing you can do is go by taste. Next time, I think I might do less limes, because the cake was really dense and the lime was a bit overpowering. It's all trial and error!

I made this cake in two layers, so after mixing the batter, I separated it into two 8x8 circular cake tins (to avoid sticking, make sure you oil the cake tins well before pouring in the batter), and baked them for approximately 30 minutes at 350ºF. You'll know they're done when you stick a fork in and it comes out clean.

Coconut Whipped Cream:

Before I even knew I wanted to make this cake, I had bought a Coconut Cream Pie dessert mix from a craft fair, which I mixed with 16 fluid oz of homemade whipped cream. (For the whipped cream, all you need is whipping cream and an electric mixer, with vanilla and sugar to taste. Beat the cream until it peaks.) But I'm sure you can just use a recipe for coconut cream pie for the frosting. 

Decorating:

Allow the cakes to cool for a minimum of 30 minutes after you take them out of the oven. While it's cooling, cut thin slices of fruit to layer in the middle. I used strawberries and kiwis. 

Once cool, take one cake and flip it onto whatever you will be presenting the cake on. (I used a glass plate.) Frost it with a layer of the coconut whipped cream. 

Arrange your fruit. 

Apply another layer of coconut whipped cream and fruit, and top it off with a third layer of the whipped cream. Sandwich the filling with the other cake.

Use the rest of the whipped cream to frost the cake. Then go to town with the decorating! I sprinkled coconut flakes around the cake, and used the leftover strawberries and kiwi to add some color. Then, I had a little photo shoot :) 

Do you have any special holiday recipes? There's no reason why I couldn't make the glazed pecans or the mice or any of the other recipes year-round, but then they wouldn't be as special. It's nice to have something to look forward to. 

Here's wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season! 

Megan xo

Falling into Fall

Fall...I love everything about fall. Apple picking, apple cider, apple donuts...warm. Sweaters and moccasins and boots and cozy pants. Football games, rosy cheeks, dragon's breath.

And pumpkin. Everything pumpkin. Pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin iced coffee at Dunkin's, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin oatmeal. If only I had my license, I would make a special trip to the Oliver Garden for a slice of their pumpkin cheesecake.

Last Sunday, Mom and I had a baking day. It was one of the first real fall-like days we'd had. The thermostat read 60º in the morning, chilly enough for a sweater and chilly enough for baking. You can bake in the spring and you can bake in the summer, and of course you can bake in the winter, but fall is by far my favorite time to bake. Crisps, pies, cakes, breads, all those comfort foods that fill you to the brim with happiness like a steamy cappuccino.

Right now we have more kale in our garden than we know what to do with. The worms decided to take the load off our back and start nibbling away so now our kale leaves look like swiss cheese. Before the worms did any more work, we decided we better take advantage of this super food, especially because we now (thanks to a friend of my grandma) have a copy of The Book of Kale by Sharon Hanna, a recipe book with over 80 different recipes for kale. (You can only make so many salads.)

We started the morning off with Savoury Kale and Pumpkin Scones. I went out to the garden in my slippers and sweatshirt and salvaged what kale I could. In the kitchen I washed the leaves and I didn't even need to put it in a strainer, what with all the holes they practically strained themselves.

In making the scones, one direction that particularly confused me was: Step 3: Blend or sift the flour, salt, soda, baking powder and sugar together. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or your fingers (Hanna). 

"Cut in the butter?" While we love to experiment, we are only that. Experimentalists. We measure with our hands and our eyes...a little bit of this, a pinch of that, and always a dash more sugar. (Rather, I'm learning to be more like this.) In other words, we are amateurs in the kitchen, and the most high-tech kitchen appliance we have (excluding the standard oven, stove, and microwave) is a blender and a food processor we got at the Free Store that we're not sure even works. Which meant I was just going to have to use my hands. But cut in the butter? I had never heard of the term before. I took it to assume that it meant mix in the butter...cold butter, the recipe specified. After a minute or two of using the fork, I plunged in with my hands...and of course licked every finger clean afterwards. 

Anything you can mold with your hands is so much fun.

Now what to have these scones with? Cream cheese? Butter? Jam? These scones aren't very sweet, but they're very healthy, and have the classic scone consistency. They're delicious with cream cheese, butter, and jam (we tried them all), but even more delicious with soup. Particularly, an orange soup. 

Doesn't it almost look like it has veins? 

A Winter Squash Soup. I won't even both linking this recipe, though, because we hardly followed it. Sure, we steamed and boiled the squash and peeled and tossed in an apple. But we also added the remainder of the canned pumpkin from the scones, a carrot, and the rest of the kale. 

It's a soup with a very thick consistency. It's filling and fulfilling. It's the kind of soup you want to eat curled up on the couch with a book, wearing your biggest, coziest sweater.

Alas, we ate it outside on our deck, but with the birds chirping and the wind blowing, it was still just as satisfying. And of course, I had to take the opportunity to have a little food photo shoot. Seriously...I think at least half the pictures on my phone are of food. 

We're reading T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in English class. In his poem, the narrator says, "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons" (51). Cooking with Mom reminded me of that line. My parents are always telling me not to get hung up over details; to just go with the flow. With their guidance, I am learning to not measure out my life so precisely. I'm learning to be okay with a dash, a pinch, and a splash. 

What's your favorite part of fall? Or, if you don't like fall, what's your favorite season?

Happy fall, everyone!

P.S. "Did you notice?" is updated.

Mac and Tosh

I love the mornings when we get up early and just take off and go. I've certainly become more of a morning person. This summer I've had difficulty sleeping past 8:30, when during the school year I could sleep until 10:00 or later on the weekends. I'm sure I'll be cursing myself and wondering why I didn't take advantage of more sleep over the summer once school starts, but it's amazing how much you can accomplish when you get up early. And if I get up and get my physical activity done early, then I am much more productive throughout the day.

http://www.capecodmenus.com/restaurant/wellfleet-ma/pb-boulangerie-bistro

This morning was one of those mornings. Well, almost. My brother is at a basketball camp all this week, so we had to drop him off there first. But we were still out the door by 9:30, in time to catch the breakfast special at PB Boulangerie & Bistro, a french bakery in Wellfleet, MA. This bakery is certainly a hot spot in Wellfleet. At just 10:30 in the morning there was already a 30 minute wait (and yes, we waited). This bakery has everything from authentic open-faced sandwiches, flan, and various breads with names I can't pronounce. But we were here for the breakfast special, which is available until noon. For just $2.80, you can get a croissant, a fresh fruit, and a coffee. Considering it is regularly $2.80 for a lone croissant, this is quite a steal, and makes for a fun and inexpensive morning destination bike ride. Everything is more fun with a destination, especially when that destination happens to be food, and even more so when the road you take to get there is physical activity. So, you bike or run or whatever it is, and by the time you've arrived, you've worked up a well-deserved appetite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_'n'_Dale

While waiting in line, I couldn't help doing some people-watching (because what else is there to do in a 30 minute line?) Luckily, there were two very comical ladies in front of me; two friends (who looked to be in their forties), who couldn't be more cordial towards one another. Mom said they were like Disney's Chip n' Dale (they were even dressed in similar shades of beige), the chipmunk cartoon duo created in 1943. However, before making the comparison, I did a little research. I found that while they are often pinned for an exaggerated politeness, it is actually a characteristic trait of Warner Bros. characters, Mac and Tosh, created by Robert Clampett (Warner Bros. animator) for a short film titled The Goofy Gophers (1947). To top off their ridiculous civility, they have British accents. How can you get any better than that?

After we finally got our breakfast, we found a seat on the porch. I immediately took out my notebook to record the ladies' conversation:

So do you think we should get a multi-grain bread? Yeah, is that what you're feeling?

Yes, definitely a multi-grain, and what about that farmer's bread? Doesn't it just look delicious?
Ohh you're right. Yes, let's do both.
And what about those cookies? They're the size of my face!
They do look tempting...ah, what the heck? Let's get a cookie to split. It's not like we have a wedding gown to fit into!
Excuse me, how may I help you? 
Oh, yes! Umm...we'll have one loaf of multi-grain bread, a farmer's bread and...do you want the cookie?
(nod)
Okay, and we'll have one oatmeal raisin cookie to split.
(undertone) Do they have chocolate chip?
Ohh I don't know. Do you have chocolate chip? No? Okay, we'll just stick with the oatmeal raisin. It's better for us anyway.
Okay, so I've got one loaf of multi-grain, one farmer's bread, and one oatmeal cookie––
Wait! Do you want a desert? Something chocolate?
Well, I don't really think I want chocolate for breakfast...
No, no, no, but for later? 
Oh, maybe for later...
Do you like chocolate?
I do like––
Have you ever had a chocolate tart?
Ohhh no, I haven't.
You HAVE to try a chocolate tart. 
Okay, so we'll have a chocolate tart, too.
So I have one loaf of multi-grain, one farmer's bread, one oatmeal raisin cookie, and one chocolate tart.
What about coffee? Do you want coffee?
Coffee...
Well, I guess we have coffee at home. Do you wanna just do coffee at home? Let's just do coffee at home.
So no coffee?
(looks at friend) No. No coffee.
So we have one loaf of multi-grain bread, one farmer's bread, one oatmeal raisin cookie, and one chocolate tart. Is that all?
One loaf of multi-grain bread, one farmer's bread, one oatmeal raisin cookie, and one chocolate tart. Yes, that's all.
(Thank you for repeating everything I just said.)


These ladies would be terrible at a buffet. But I'm not one to judge. I myself am an awfully indecisive person (especially when it comes to food), and I know my friend and I have probably definitely had very similar conversations. They certainly made the wait much more enjoyable.

Sweet Dreams,

Megan :)

Freshman Year

Freshman year...check. It's true when they say that time flies a lot faster as you get older. No longer are the times when the two days before you could go over for friend's house to bake cookies seemed like weeks; gone are the days when you made paper chains to count down until your birthday or Christmas. The Taylor Swift calendar in my bedroom still reads March, and before that it read January.

It seems like only yesterday I walked into Music class late because I misread my schedule and ended up in a class of seniors (classic first day of high school). I remember so many individual days so vividly: lunchtime conversations, late nights (many late nights) of homework, a hard track workout, a play rehearsal. The individual days seemed to move by slow, but the weeks and the months rushed by so now I sit on my couch in Cape Code, typing away with the blue sky outside and nothing to distract me from what I love to do most: write, run, swim, and be by the beach.

I started this blog freshman year as a way to make a commitment to my writing. Here I have this faint vision, this vague idea of what I want to do with my life; somewhere in the distance I can see the finish line. Ever since 3rd grade when my teacher first inspired me to write, I think it's been there. In fact, it's probably been there my entire life, it just took me a little while to find it.

We all have a destiny, and life is about getting on the path to take us there. Some of our paths may be more direct than others; some people may need to travel on some very windy roads and at one point in our lives we will all probably have to make a U-turn. Sometimes we'll take the highway, sometimes we'll take the back roads. We may have to climb some hills in our life, but just remember as you're trudging along that there's always a downhill after to cruise on. At times we may run out of gas or a tire may go flat, and at this point it is time to pull over to the breakdown lane and reevaluate the situation. Not everyone is going to be a friendly driver; not everyone is going to let you pass. We'll probably all be honked at and/or pulled over at some point in our lives, but we have to accept that we're only human, and we're going to make mistakes. A ticket is not the end of the world, it's just a reminder that helps us stay on the right path. There may be a time we take the road with the cross signs, and we may ignore the "Danger Ahead" warnings. We may think we're too cool or know better than the "Stop" signs or the traffic lights, but we'll realize there are rules for a reason.

In light of my extended and hopefully not exhausted metaphor about the path of life, I thought I'd share a poem with you by Robert Frost, where he reflects upon the path he's chosen.

http://www.daily-manna.com/inspirations/the-road-not-taken

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Robert Frost

Coming full-circle, I started this blog in hopes that it would help me figure out who I was. We come into high school with so much prospect, possibility, potential. We are a slab of clay, just waiting to be molded, and it is in high school we start to meet those people, come across those places, and experience those events that begin to shape us into who we are. But coming out of freshman year, I still feel like I'm so far from figuring out who I am. I know my future has something with writing in it, but writing is such a broad field that I can take anywhere. I still don't know where I belong, but I think this blog brings me one step closer.

Self-reflections are important––although sometimes I may self-reflect too much, driving myself (and my Mom) a little batty. My favorite part about a birthday, the summer, a new year, is sitting back and thinking about what I learned. Freshman year was a big adjustment year, between the increased homework load, new friends, new commitments, and new passions. I've had to do a lot of self-evaluation, as I reflected upon in my post, Redefining Me. I've realized that I love theatre, and that I might want to tip the theatre vs. sports scale a little more toward theatre, despite my reputation as a track athlete.

Sometimes I wish someone would just show me a path, hand me a map, point me in the right direction. Chances are, though, I'll probably spend my entire life trying to find the best route. At some point, I will find my center point. I've begun doing Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskaar) in the morning, and I've found it to be a relaxing way to start my day. It gives me time to reflect and think about the day to come, as I ask to find my balance, and to find joy and happiness in all that I do. I acknowledge that I will make mistakes, and I make a promise to embrace change. I vow to live in the moment, think fondly on the past, and optimistically about the future. Every day is a new opportunity to get oneself on the path they are destined to take.

Take the time to reflect today. Do you have any advice for how to find your path? Do you have any morning routines? How do you find balance?

Here's hoping you all find your path someday,

Megan xo

P.S.  It's about time "Did you notice..." was updated, don't you think?

The Characters We Meet

http://alldisneycharacters.com/

If you haven't concluded from some of my very long and rambly posts, I love to talk. But even more than talking, I love listening. I love hearing people's stories, their personal stories, their real stories.

Because the best stories come from life. You can't invent an original story in your head. It's too influenced by the stories of other writers and peers and books and novels and characters and TV shows. My teacher told me once that all writing, including fiction, is based off real life. Why? Because that is what we know best. It's easiest to write about what we know. The metaphors we make, the hyperboles we use...we use these comparisons to help us envision the subject by connecting it to something else in our own life. Everything in life is a web, somehow connected––no matter how thin the silk. So now of course you're thinking, "Who in J.K. Rowling's life inspired Harry Potter?" right?

In life, we meet lots of characters. Sometimes you see them just passing by in the grocery story, and other times you know them on a first-name basis. They add color to our lives, give us stories to tell at the dinner table. My favorites are the characters I stand next to in the clothing store line, the grumpy couple on the airplane, the people whom I know nothing about because then I am free to fabricate whatever story I want! The woman with the diamond ring around her neck wears her wedding ring on a chain so it hangs closer to her heart. She feels closer to her husband, who's off somewhere––lost, stationed in the army, but not home. So when she walks, she feels it thump against her chest and it's like hearing another heart beating––his heart beating.

One day I'm going to have a journal filled only with characters. This will be my orphanage, where they will all wait patiently but eagerly to be adopted. "Where will I be placed?"  they'll wonder. "Will I be the Knight in Shining Armor in a princess rescue story???" (I certainly hope not, because that would be terribly unoriginal.) "Will I be the heart throb?" "Will I be the next teen-sensation?" Or..."Will I be the villain?" "Will I be the bully who feeds on other's self-esteem to plumpen her own ego?" Or..."Will I be the lost one?" "The soul with a big dream but not enough support to hold it?"  When I'm writing a story or a poem or whatever it may be and I need a character, I will open my journal and read their profiles. And I don't need to take their entire profile. I can break it apart; take the Ms. Frizzle hair from an wacky elementary school teacher, the snort of a Laughy Kathy, and rearrange it like a Mr. Potato Head. 

I'm really excited because this week I started volunteering at an Assistant Living home. Already I've met so many interesting people; a woman in her 90s who walks over a mile every day. She lived in the city her entire life, and when she came to the Assistant Living home, she thought it was the farmlands. Another woman, a new resident at the home. At card-making, some people had not yet been introduced. I couldn't help but think of "the new girl in school" (not literally a new girl in my school, but like in the movies). I wondered, "Is she lonely? Nervous? Is she able to make friends? Do cliques still exist at her age?" I know I'll meet so many interesting characters during my volunteer hours, and it'll give me lots of great writing material. Plus, I'm pretty much just talking and listening to stories...what more can I ask for?!

Sweet Dreams,

Megan ;)

P.S. Did you notice? is updated. Thanks to all those who participate! Also, thanks to all of you who posted your Poems in Your Pocket last week! I had lots of fun reading them! :)