So, here we are - Mid January of a New Year! 2016.
This is my first post of the year. Where do I start? There is so much to say. Should I just take the plunge? It has to be better than procrastination, right?! Yes, I think I will just get right in.
{Deep Breaths} 1...2....3... Ok, I am ready! Are you? OK! Here we go!
I slept through 2015. Really. I am not being dramatic and I do not want to sugar coat it. I don't remember much of anything I did in 2015! Oh yes, life went on. But I don't really recall living any of it, except for the first couple of months and well, the recent past.
Over the Christmas break, I sat and thought, a lot. Just like I said I would. That's when I realized that the year had flown by and I had not registered much of it. Because, I was struggling to find myself. The struggle itself was certainly insightful and I am grateful for that. Yet, it has been somewhat passive. Because, I was not trying to find myself; rather I was trying to find a job as a pretext of purpose. What I realised is
Purpose without the grounded reality of self is a shifting dune without direction
One that left me more frustrated and drained than inspired and stimulated. The result of that struggle is fairly visible on this blog and the insipidity of content in the last year here.
Silly of me in retrospect but it's ok. Mistakes happen. I shall not berate myself for it. Because, self-forgiveness, is one of the learnings I am taking away from 2015. The important thing for me was understand the why. So Why? Fear. I was scared. Of aging.
Afraid of time slipping by without my stamp on it.
So, I ran and ran, and, ran. I kept running for several months, only now that I am breathing suddenly, I realize I was running away and not towards anything positive. I was running for the sake of running and because I was simply scared of standing in one place and rooting out to stability.
This week was a revelation. It made me realise the gifts I have, gifts that I have no need, nor right, to disperse to unappreciating parties. It made me realise who I really am, and the haze I had befuddled myself in. It made me realise the potential and its magnitude of life. It made me realise,
Hello! It's January 2016! Let's wake up and make a New Year!!!
Here is my plan for the year
- To live, laugh and love
- To experience, cherish and grow
- To embrace swimming, in water and in life
- To believe, and, find shared beliefs
- To trust, stay and root
- To question, ask and convince
So, shall we begin?
Oat & Almond Banana Morning Muffins
with Clementine Sugar Glaze
1/2 cup almond flour
2/3 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 ripe bananas
1 egg
2 T peanut butter
2 T almond milk
1/4 cup grapeseed or olive oil
handful of broken pecans
For the glaze:
juice of half a clementine
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350F.
Whizz all the ingredients together into a smooth batter. I just used a blender, you can also mash the bananas and mix the batter by hand.
Line a cupcake pan with pretty cupcake liners. Fill 8 cupcake liners three fourths of the way with batter.
Bake for 22-25 minutes until golden brown on top and springy to touch. I find the nose to be the best indicator for readiness. When you start smelling the bananas cooking, you want to wait for five minutes and check if the muffins are done.
Remove from pan and transfer to cooling rack for a few minutes.
Whisk together the clementine juice and powdered sugar till it forms a thick syrup that is pale yellow in color.
When the muffins are completely cool, drizzle the glaze over them. Let sit till it frosts over! Serve warm or at room temperature.
