Texas Caviar

“As I look at your meals, in a lot of ways they're made for a man”    ~ Dana James | Food Coach NYC

Photo Credit: Death to the Stock Photo

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“Huh?”

Two weeks have passed since our first meeting.  Sensing something was off, and not knowing how to fix it on my own, I've hired a food coach to help.  My goodness, the experience has been more than I ever bargained for; in the best of ways (!)

“In your food logs, I notice a lot of bison, chicken, lean ground beef, and nuts.  All of which, in theory, are quite good for you.  Sweetie, men eat nuts.  Women eat things like sunflower seeds; they're much more feminine.

I'd also love to see you eating more wild-caught fish.  It flows and brings with it graceful energy.  It'll fit you well; you have a peaceful spirit.

For sure you can keep your go-to meal of ground beef, veggies, and some avocado.  But let's limit it to a couple of time a week.  Chicken?  Three or four

Homework?  Every time you sit down to a meal, I want you to make your plate as beautiful as you possibly can.  You're worth it.

(Also, read some about food and the vibrational benefits they will or won't bring)”

I have to wonder why it's taken me this long to look for and intention something beautiful on my dinner plate.  Why it hadn't occurred to me that I should

As I've grown older and become more comfortable in my skin, I developed a deeper sense of appreciation for all of the beautiful things and people that surround me.  It's become a habit of noticing them in my everydays: overheard conversations at the coffee shop, friendships, family, and people I pass on the street

I've come to believe beauty is a gift worth searching for, being surprised by, and gravitating toward

It's the blue of the sky on a perfect spring day and multi-colored tulips that bloom in our neighbor's front yard.  It's a favorite song and the first bite a vine-ripe tomato in the summertime. It's bubbles in the bathtub, lemon in your tea, and your favorite t-shirt in the closet.

Certainly, there are beautiful things we see with our eyes, although the kind I've come to admire most are those we're not able to see with a passing glance.  The beauty of the heart, formed as we've weathered seasons of darkness, expressed through traits like resilience, and strength.

Photo Credit: Unknown

It's the way my favorite pillow feels; welcoming and soft after nights of little sleep because of work, school, teenagers, or random bouts of insomnia.  It's a house scattered with toys, and blankets after a long week when tensions were high, and reserves were low. It's caring for a sick puppy, the sting of an email filled with rejection or the cardinal perching on our back deck on the coldest of winter days.

There's beauty to be found in those moments as well, although sometimes I have to squint pretty hard.

The reality is none of us look at our dinner plates, or the snowy puppy running through the house, in exactly the same way.  It's during of those times; I wonder if a different paradigm shouldn't be in order.

We all have our own filters; do we not?  The mantras we play inside our heads: wife, friend, sister, daughter.  The judge and the judged, right and the righteous, wrong and the wronged

A few of mine?  Truth, comparison, faith, and an awful lot of second-guessing.  “Was it true, good, or appropriate?  Could I have done it better, or have been better?  Was I kind?  Was my response representative of the person I am at my core?”

Whether I like it or not, I'm viewing my everyday moments through the colors I've seen, and the experiences I've been given.  The challenge, I recognize, is the willingness to sneak a peek from beyond my filter, and see things from a different point of view

So I've been practicing, amongst other homework, the art of making a visually beautiful meal.  It's really been a lot of fun

A colorful salad, if there ever was one.  Texas Caviar was the invention of the legendary Austin-based Neiman-Marcus chef Helen Corbitt; who popularized it in the 1940s.

It's a cold black-eyed pea salad, with chiles, onions, and bell peppers.  It can also be served as a side salad, or perhaps on some butter lettuce, or it can be used as a dip, like salsa, for tortilla chips.

You'll find that if you serve it as a dip, it'll take a pretty steady hand to keep the beans from falling off of the chips.  Though it will be well worth the effort

Enjoy!

xoxo

ps:  It's rare that I read People magazine.  Though this afternoon in the grocery check-out line, I couldn't resist the article about Sandra Bullock, and her take on being named the most beautiful woman of the year.  It's certainly worth a read

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~ Adapted from Epicurious