The Killer XX

On Monday I sort of had the feeling that I was going to catch a cold: tired, slightly higher temperature, feeling funny at the nose. So after the morning practice, I picked up this in a juice place in East Village:

It was the last bottle on the shelf, so I decided to give it a try even though it was rather pricey for a bottle of juice. At first it tasted apple- and lemon-like, but soon after I swallowed the juice the ginger and cayenne kicked in and it was really spicy. I only had half of the bottle on Monday, and the next morning not only I found myself haven’t caught a cold yet, I was also very energetic and towards the end of my practice I got into Dwi Pada Sirsasana I finished the second half of the bottle on Tuesday afternoon, and felt as good as new on Wednesday.

The special ingredients in “the killer xx”:

ginger

Cayenne

Echinacea

Osha

Suma

Indigo

Goldenseal roots

Sources of pictures: Wikipedia and Herbs List

How do you boost your immunity system and prevent a cold? Share with us!

x Tracy

Split Pea Dal Recipe

“Dal (also spelled Dahl or Daal) is a preparation of pulses (dried lentils, peas or beans) which have been stripped of their outer hulls and split. It also refers to the thick stew prepared from these pulses, an important part of Indian, Nepali,Pakistani, Sri Lankan, West Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine. It is regularly eaten with rice and vegetables in southern India, and with both rice and roti (wheat-based flat bread) throughout northern India and Pakistan. Dal is a ready source of proteins for a balanced diet containing little or no meat. Sri Lankan cooking of dal resembles that of southern Indian dishes.”

– Wikipedia

I had always wanted to cook dal but I hadn’t had a clue about how to create the rich, thick texture until Alex kindly shared his recipe with me.

Tah dah – - -! It turns out to be a success, I love the subtle fragrance of the spices being mixed together, especially the taste of cumin seeds. I’m also glad that Max enjoys the new dish, it’s extremely easy to make and keep for the next day’s lunch box!

Friday is dal day!

Split Pea Dal Recipe – adaptation from Alex’s recipe

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min

Serves: 2 – 3

1 onion, chopped finely
4-5 slices of ginger
2 potatoes (about the size of a palm), sliced into small cubes
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup of split peas, simmered in water for at least 30 min
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tbsp of cumin seeds
1 tbsp of chili powder
salt
parsley, chopped
dehydrated sea weeds, sliced
sesame

Heat a saucepan with maximum heat, add some oil, the chopped onion and sliced ginger. Stir fry until the onion turns brown. Add the potato and garlic, stir fry until the potato turns light brown. Season with salt.

Add the veggie broth. After it brings to a boil, add the split peas and cover the saucepan with a lid.When the mixture starts boiling, turn the heat to medium, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and chili powder. Leave the mixture being heated for about 45 min. You may need to stir the mixture from time to time to make sure it doesn’t get burnt at the bottom.

Top dal on white rice or other grains of choice, sprinkle some chopped parsley, sea weeds, sesame or other vegetables.

Yogi and yogini, how do you prepare your dal?

x Tracy

Slimming Down with Yoga…?

http://images.clipartof.com/small/4579-Anthropomorphic-Fat-Sheep-Weighing-Itself-On-A-Scale-Clipart.jpg

Sometimes people ask me: if they practice asana, can they lose weight?

I don’t know exactly. But I can tell you what happened to me.

I’m 160 cm tall and usually around 48 – 50 kg. I’ve never tried to lose an ounce on purpose, and my weight doesn’t change often.

I have three meals a day, but since last year I’ve cut down my breakfast if I want to practice asana in the morning. Now I only have a cup of coffee about two hours before practising Mysore style. My lunch time and dinner time are quite stable, and the diet mainly includes rice, noodles, vegetable, tofu, dairy and chicken. During weekends I get sloppy. Either on Saturday or Sunday, my husband and I enjoy a hearty English or American brunch, and have dinner around 6.30 pm.

For three times per week, I practice Ashtanga yoga for two hours straight and the practice includes the complete primary series, all the jump-backs jump-throughs and some poses of the intermediate series. This has been going on for a year or so, and I still didn’t lose an ounce.

Well, considering that I’m quite thin already, I guess that makes sense.

But things do change sometimes:

2010 at Yoga Thailand, Koh Samui

Except on Saturday, I had been following this schedule for a one-month training:

7am – 8am Pranayama
8am – 10am Mysore style
11.30am brunch
afternoon theory classes and restorative yoga
6pm dinner

I didn’t have breakfast in the morning, and only had two vegetarian meals a day. I liked a cup of coffee in the afternoon and that was all. After a week, I was surprised that I had lost 1 kg. When I completed the whole programme, I had lost 4 kg.

2012 at Ashtanga Yoga Shala NYC

This week I’m doing three workshops for the whole week. The Mysore style practice isn’t included or required for the workshops, but I want to practice in the morning:

8am – 10am Mysore style
10.30 am – 2.15pm Adjustment Workshop

I have a cup of coffee around 6.30am, a peach before 10.30 am, some smoothie and baby food at noon. After the workshop I still have to commute and teach, so I only have a light meal and some fruit around 4.30pm and 8.30 pm.

After three days in a row, I found myself lost 1 kg.

Well, I do feel tired studying intensively and taking care of the chores at the same time, especially I have to walk, take the subway and train to commute between Westchester and East Village. Sometimes I also don’t sleep very well at night. But I certainly don’t feel weak or light-headed.

I don’t suggest that you should do what I do if you want to lose weight. And of course there are plenty of other things you can do if you want to lose weight, you don’t necessarily have to practice yoga asana.

But if you are willing to commit to a daily practice and adjust your diet, I believe weight loss is just a natural result.

Yogi and yogini, what are your stories?

x Tracy

 

Yogi Food

My schedule was packed this morning:

8.45 am – 10.20 am Mysore style practice
10.30 am – 2.15 pm Adjustment workshop

Obviously I didn’t have enough time to eat between the sessions, and I couldn’t have any solid food during the 20 min break of the workshop. Moreover, I wanted to relax during the short break instead of walking around looking for food and wasting time.

My solution:

They taste good, provide me sufficient energy, are easy to digest, are easily portable and don’t make me run to the toilet.

Today I didn’t bring any fruit, but tomorrow I shall have more time between the sessions and I would love to have a peach

A taste of English afternoon tea

Max and I have been longing for English scones and clotted cream ever since we’ve moved to New York. When we were living in oxford, we used to buy scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam from Marks and Spencer for a very small cost, bake the scones for around 10 min while brewing tea, set up the table and play the DVD of “Jeeves and Wooster”, and voila – a simple yet luxurious Sunday afternoon.

We had some luck looking for scones and clotted cream when we just moved to Tarrytown, but they were not exactly what we expected. Last Saturday it was gloomy, windy and snowy outside, I just wanted to stay at home and suddenly decided to make some scones and clotted cream that both of Max and I have been dreaming of. It wasn’t difficult at all (okay, I admit that I need some practice ^ ^”), and I couldn’t believe that I’ve waited so long! = . =

Classic Scones

350g self-raising flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

85g butter, cut into cubes

3 tbsp caste sugar

175 ml milk

1tsp vanilla extract

squeeze lemon juice

beaten egg (to glaze)

See the recipe here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4622/classic-scones-with-jam-and-clotted-cream

I didn’t have a scale so I used a cup to roughly measure the amount of flour. I think I might have used slightly too much flour, because when Max helped me to cut the dough (with a glass!) into four scones, they were higher than the 5 cm that the recipe suggested. After 10 min. of baking, the inside of the scones were still raw ;-( We cut the scones into halves, baked the scones again for another 10 min, and… we kept taking them out of the oven, checking, and putting them back again until they were done.

Devonshire Clotted Cream

4 ounces mascarpone 1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 or 2 tsp granulated white sugar

zest of lemon or lime (optional)

recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/DevonshireCream.html

The cream was extremely easy to prepare, and the ingredients made about a bowl of cream. The result was slightly fluffy and creamy, and wasn’t as “solid” as the original clotted cream, but we were very happy about it. Later I realized that the cream would be less creamy if I put it into the fridge for a while before serving with the scones.

Neither Max nor I are English, but we are excited that we can now create English afternoon tea that goes with Jeeves’ wits and Wooster’s classic English jokes, and that reminds us of our beautiful days full of laughter and joy with the lovely people and our cat friend Ginger in oxford.

Hope you enjoy the scones and cream!

x Tracy