Day 21

Day 20: Today I am thankful for Food/Cooking.

              I love food! I love all kinds of food and trying new food. Which is a big growth from about 10 years ago. All I would eat was mac-n-cheese and PB&J. Now I love veggies, and fish! Although my Dad always tells the story of how he used to put me in my high chair ( which clipped to the side of the table) and feed me broccoli and holindays sauce until I was covered! Still my favorite way to eat broccoli. One of my first memories is having my favorite childhood dinner with Tommer, pork chops with mac-n-cheese and creamed corn. I used to only eat Kraft mac-n-cheese now I have switched to Annie's cheddar buns.
            Now not only do I love food I am completely fascinated by cooking. I could being the kitchen an cook all day just for fun. I have recently discovered  so many food recipes and food blogs! I never knew cooking could be so creative. I have tried some, but the possibilities are endless. One of the things that got me into cooking was baking. Baking makes my heart sing! Baked goods are one of the first things I remember "cooking" on my own. I love to bake all kinds of things  savory or sweet and share them with everyone! I have recently made empanadas, mini pot pies and chocolate chip cookies lately. I am a total experimental chef. for instance today I am trying to make my own teriyaki sauce. (recipe at bottom) I did a bit of research in to what the ingredients needed were and I using things in my cupboards that can be substituted so I don't have to spend to much money. So its really going to be an experiment. I am always open to new recipes and exchanging ideas so please share with me your favorite things to cook. 

Teriyaki sauce:
Soy sauce
ground ginger
Garlic
Dark Karo syrup
Apple Cyder vinegar
Lemon Juice
brown sugar
pure cane sugar

combine in small sauce pan to boil, reduce heat and let simmer until thick. Remove from pan and serve.

Day 10

Day 10: Today I am thankful for creativity.

              Creativity keeps me sane, well as sane as I can be. Most of the time my creativity is best expressed in writing. Usually I have so many thoughts going through my mind, but when I put a pen to paper I have a way of working through them all. I have kept many many journals since I was a pretty  young child including the 4 I have kept over the last 3 years I have been with Adam. My freshmen year I took creative writing and loved it. I wrote many poems and short stories at that time. I would love to take more, and hope to write at least one book. Cooking if nothing else! Writing helps me understand my thoughts better and is my spiritual creative outlet.

               My emotional outlet is definately singing! For the most part I am only brave enough to sing in my car or the kitchen with Adam. I used to be a lot more open about it, maybe its karaoke time. We love to sing and dance together. I have never sang so openly infront of anyone else, even infront of crowds. Singing for me has a total release that I am addicted to. Music as a whole is beautiful and mind blowing. I have to have music on no matter what I am doing or where I am. Even now I am listening to the Wicked soundtrack, and singing. My soul gets a strange weightlessness and I feel every breath as I inhale and all that I am holding on to gets let go and blown out with my exhale. I feel a change in viewpoint and uplifted after singing a song that I love as best and as passionately as I can. Singing can help me feel better about life and happier in general.

" And no body in all of oz, no wizard that there is or was is ever gonna bring me down"