Pancakes and Bacon
I made these pancakes from a "mix" that my mother-in-law gave me a couple Christmases ago, and even though you add an egg and some milk, it still feels like cheating, but I don't know why. I mean, if you think about it, a mix is often just flour anyways, dressed up in a fancy container, and this is why I don't buy them and prefer to make pancakes from scratch. But if I am given a mix as a gift I won't look down on it at all--the finished result is usually the same!
These pancakes turned out, as expected, delish, and I made enough to have some myself and also freeze a couple for a future Keshav's Breakfast. There is not a day that goes by when he is not happy to see pancakes and bacon for breakfast, so I am assured a success when I make this. It is good to have assured success recipes, especially since I do like to take chances with my choices at times and hope to surprise him with something new (and healthier!).
I derive a great deal of delight from listening, while reading the newspaper on my desktop computer, to Keshav wake up and come out of the bedroom. I can hear the slight pause as he looks at what I have made him and placed on his "hall tray", and if it really appeals to him, I'll hear him start to eat right away--the clack-clacking of silverware against the plate, the crunch of a crisp tostada, perhaps. This always tells me that he is pleased, which then makes me pleased. If I get him to eat before he does his morning pee then I have done well!
There is something very personal for me about feeding people, and I am glad I get to practice this with my husband. Although I would not want to be in the position my mother was in, where she was responsible for three meals a day for a husband and two boys, I like what I task myself to make in our household. I think it helps that Keshav doesn't expect any of it.
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Once he leaves for work, I usually begin the Home Practice for my Mindfulness-Based-Stress-Reduction course, which I started in late January and concludes in mid-March. The online class meets once a week, and we are invited to do home practice the other six days of the week, for about an hour or so. It is a lot of practice, but this is why I took the course. Eight weeks of consistent mindfulness practice is enough to establish new habits.
It is my hope that I continue to devote an hour a day, five or six days a week, to mindfulness practice. Previously I would meditate for 10 minutes in the morning, then do yoga 2-3 times a week, but last year I started to feel like I needed a more disciplined practice in order to avoid distraction and passive entertainment. Yes, even I can get pulled into scrolling videos from time to time--and while many of them are very funny, entertaining, and/or educational, I would rather be more intentional in where I put my attention. One benefit of this course is stress reduction, which you could have gathered from the name, but I mention it to clarify that stress reduction is not about eliminating stress, but rather the suffering that can come as a result of it.
So far so good, I must say. This is part of my desire to bring more purpose to the choices I make during the day, even if that choice is simple relaxation.
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