Choice and Recipes

Hey all! I hope life is treating you wonderfully and you are treating it well too.

I have one important message before I write anything else:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!! I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU SOON!!!!










Yah, that's my mom! Isn't she beautiful! I haven't been around much to celebrate her birthdays properly, but hopefully next year I will be.

Otherwise:

This weekend has been sooo chill for me. I slept at 9.30 on Friday! Hahaha, I got a few late night phone calls and they were thoroughly surprised I was not out partying like the majority of the students. No, not I. I chilled with some delicious shrimp scampi and a glass of Woodbridge Chardonanay while watching The Bridges of Madison County:





I was told it would bring me to tears for sure, but it didn't. Perhaps it was because I already knew what was going to happen after reading The Choice Theory.

Regarding Choice

The book is about understanding that control is not going to be benefitial to you or anyone else, and that everything in your life is your choice. Being upset is you choice, how you treat your spouse or significant other is your choice. There is no one you can control except yourself. The book is focused on relationships between people. Not just the romantic ones, but also things like parents to children, and teachers to students. I would reccomend this book to anyone for the sake of understanding the concept. I sorta kinda stumbled upon an idea? Well, I mentioned in earlier posts that I never seem to follow my "challenges." And I think it correlates with this concept of choice.

You know how there seems to be two people in your head telling you what to do, or what you should do etc. One can screw up the good intentions of the other. Weeeellllll, I think Choice Theory can be implemented here as well. Since there is clearly some sort of relationship situation going on within each of us, by understanding that one side cannot control the "other side" of ourselves (look at them as 2 people in an intimate relationship) then those expectations and the pressure one puts on the other are gone. This "liberation," this respecting of each side's freedom to exist how it wants, creates a harmony where, before, there was dissonance. The result is an equilibrium of sorts, where each side is more understanding of the other and something akin to teamwork becomes present within yourself.

I probably sound schizophranic or something hahaha. Well it works for me. When one side of me stops trying to control the other, the two sides are more willing to help each other stay happy. Ok, end.


Diana asked about recipes for some of my dishes, so I'm gonna post some, starting with Friday's Shrimp Scampi, which I did not take pictures of. I'll start by letting you know that it had spiralized zucchini in it, steamed in the garlicky scampi sauce so it even more had the texture of noodles. For anyone who wants a substitution for pasta, this is it!


Shrimp Scampi over Zucchini "Noodles"
-Marinade overnight (or a few hours) shrimp with salt, olive oil, lemon juice, and parsley
-Heat olive oil in skillet and saute lots of garlic with some salt (I LOVE garlic)
- Add the shrimp and cook until about 2/3 done
-Add fresh chopped parsley and white wine
-let reduce for a while

-Spiralize zucchini and throw it in the pan for the last couple minutes of cooking
- Toss occasionally to let scampi flavours cook into the "noodles"
SERVE!


The next day what do you do with leftovers? Mix two sauces! The Alfredo I made a few days before so I'll give the recipe here. You can just use the Alfredo, which I did with herbed chicken breast over my spiralized zucchini before.

Scampi "Alfredo"
For the Raw Alfredo Sauce:
-Soak Cashews in the morning (5-8 hours or whatever time you have)
-Throw them into your blender until creamy
-Add some salt, a chopped clove of garlic, and lemon or lime juice (I used a half a lime)
- Add water and oil as needed (I used sunflower oil)
- Add a generous amount of nutritional yeast (Or Parmesan cheese if you eat cheese)
- Season to taste

-Spiralize zucchini
-Grate carrots and cabbage
-Cut some cherry tomatoes in half if you like them too

-Mix scampi with "Alfredo" and pour atop and enjoy! Yummm! This was my lunch yeserday that the guy in my group loved!

I'll leave recipes at that for now since I have some pictures, but forgot the connector in my apartment, and want to show before I explain.