A Prize, A Recipe, A Secret

First of all, I won something!! I was checking my email the other day, and one had a subject line that said: "WINNER YBBM OM yoga DVD." At first, I thought perhaps I had won the British lottery AGAIN. My finger hovered over the delete key, but I thought, "Wait a minute...." I suddenly remembered that I had entered a contest! The contest was sponsored by the OM Yoga Studios in New York City, and the grand prize was a trip to Kripalu to attend a weekend workshop called "Yoga Body, Buddha Mind." All I had to do was tell them why I love OM yoga, in 200 words or so.



The fact is, I DO love OM yoga. I've never been to their studios, but I took a workshop with Cyndi Lee (studio owner) a couple of years ago at the Yoga Journal Conference in San Francisco. She is an amazing teacher and really helped me to connect-the-dots with some of my physical issues with yoga as well as my spiritual practice. So, I wrote a few paragraphs and sent it in. And, I actually won something!! No, I didn't win the trip to Kripalu, but I'm not sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I won an OM yoga DVD and I'm simply thrilled! Thinking positively, I will be able to watch the DVD over and over again and study it and really learn. I will be sure to post a review as soon as I receive it. Meanwhile, many thanks to Cyndi and everyone at OM.



Now, for a quick recipe. Did you ever just get a craving for something, and then eat it and eat it and eat it some more, and love every single bite? That's where I'm at right now. I made this white bean spread and I love it to pieces. The very best way to eat it is thickly spread on a piece of toast, or, even better, a whole grain bagel. My mouth is watering. The beans make it almost buttery, and the pine nuts give it a little bit of richness. If you feel the craving coming on, give it a try:



White Bean Spread



2 Tbs pine nuts
1 clove garlic
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (reserve juice if organic)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice
optional: chopped fresh parsley or other fresh herb, to taste
Salt (1 tsp, +/-)
pepper to taste
optional: dash of Tabasco sauce



Pulse the garlic and pine nuts in the food processor until nuts are chopped finely.
Add the cannellini beans, olive oil, and a couple of Tbs of the reserved bean juice (or warm water or broth) and process well, until smooth. Add the lemon juice, optional parsley and salt and pepper, and pulse to combine.
That's basically it. It tastes better if you can let it set a bit before digging in. I sometimes add the Tabasco if I'm using it as a dip. So good.



Finally, I'm going to share one of my secrets. It's a knitting secret. It's a knitting project that I started a long time ago and never finished. I have no idea why! I love the yarn, love the project, hope to finish it eventually. I just don't feel like it! How's that for an excuse? I'm hoping that by digging it out, taking a picture, and sharing it with my hundreds of readers (that was a joke!) I will get inspired to work on it again.



Without further ado, here is my scribble shawl/scarf: (see, I'm not even sure what it is!)

If you are not familiar with scribble scarves, it's a scarf knit with a laceweight/very thin yarn, and also with a very, very thick yarn, using big needles. It's sort of airy and open, but has an interesting texture with the thicker yarn. I'm using Rowan Kidsilk Haze and Colinette Giotto, a ribbon yarn. The effect is sort of... artsy.

Comments are welcome. "Rip it out!" "Finish it, for goodness sake!" "What is it?" These are all great comments. I'm just hoping for a little bit of inspiration!

(Did you notice that I was able to combine veggies, yoga and knitting in ONE post?? Don't expect to see that again:-)