At twenty-eight, I was older than most other students in beauty school when classes started. A few girls had just graduated high school, others had already worked in salons. And then there were a few like me, people looking for a different way to make a living. I’d tried being an actor in New York City for eight years, to no avail. I’d found myself stuck in the dream machine, feeding money to the shady industry that dangled vague promises of success in front of hopeful actors like a carrot. 

The first day, we received our kits, including two mannequin heads, a set of plastic rollers, cheap scissors, a comb, a brush, a jar of Queen Helene green gel and another pot of cholesterol. There was a smock with the school acronym LIBS, and a cutting cape—everything a beginner at beauty school might need. The teacher, Ms. Evalyn, said in her Staten Island accent: “If you finish this course, you’ll never be without five dollars in your pocket.” To this day, I’ve found this to be true. I finished the course. I earned my license. And I don’t think I’ve ever been without enough scratch to buy myself, or someone else, a cup of coffee. 

I didn’t feel it at the time—I suffered through getting lost in a haircut on the school’s salon floor and lumbered through a poodle perm—but taking the chance on beauty school not only changed the trajectory of my life, it also allowed me the space to be as uncomfortable and bad as I needed to be as I embarked on learning a skill I had no talent for and no earthly idea of how to even start. But it also presented the tools I needed to learn how to learn.

Every new step was a series of mini-journeys reliant on my willingness to listen, not only to my human teachers, but also the materials I was working with, who were the real teachers. And with each new challenge, I found myself a perpetual beginner again, caught in an endless loop of pushing forward and circling back. 

The benefits of the beginner’s mind are well documented. The absence of expectation is a boon to the human experience, and an open mind is key. But aside from all that, being a perpetual beginner has other benefits as well. A life of learning keeps things fresh. The connections between disparate ideas and skills become apparent. And when a hopeful beginning ends in abject failure, as it did when I earned my motorcycle license, despite driving a scooter into a ditch, one not only learns about the benefits of failure but that a whole new beginning lays in wait.

Some beginnings are simple. Learning to bake bread. Hiking the mountains in Maine. Reading a book in a genre you’ve never read before. Some are more complex. Adopting a pet. Learning to drive. Getting married. Starting a new profession. And other new beginnings are thrust upon us—the times in life when a person doesn’t choose the beginner’s path, the path chooses them. The new experience of having a child, for instance. Or ushering a loved one into death—the sort of new beginning that occurs when something else ends. What if the practice of beginning and of learning is also the practice of humility? What if living life as a perpetual beginner teaches us to weather the hardest beginnings with a little grace, a little kindness, and maybe, even within the pain of loss, a tiny, perhaps nearly invisible, glimmer of hope?

It might not seem logical but stepping into that first day of classes released a chain of events, beginnings, endings, and middles that forked like rivers or cracks in glass. It led me to work backstage on Broadway, a whole new world I explored for over fifteen years. Working in theater is one of the very few places where working on a different job every year is an asset instead of a liability. Every new show was a new beginning and required new ways of thinking, new strategies, new experiments, and new subtle and surprising teachers. I suspect this practice and profession of beginnings and endings led me to graduate school, which led me to write a book, which led me here, writing this article, another new beginning, for I’ve never written about being a perpetual beginner before. 

Ms. Evelyn knew the score as she led us through unpacking our kits, counting our rollers, and setting up our mannequin heads that first day. In my memory, she had a slightly mischievous quirk at the corner of her mouth as she watched us struggle to comb our mannequins’ knotted hair. None of us were good. All of us were beginners. This moment, she knew, would be the beginning of things we never saw coming. 

This New Year, dare to become a perpetual beginner. It doesn’t matter if you’re good at it. Learn a new skill, start a new hobby, pick back up the instrument you played in high school. You’ll become a better listener with a more open mind who isn’t afraid of failure. And with those evolutions, you live and see a brighter life. 

—Amy Neswald, author of I Know You Love Me, Too

Amy Neswald is a recipient of the New American Fiction prize with her debut novel-in-stories I Know You Love Me, Too. Prior to moving to rural Maine, she was a wigmaster for Broadway shows. She teaches at the UMaine, Farmington and continues working on her next novel and short film.

buckwheat-pancakes

If your’e a fan of lemon poppy seed muffins, this recipe is sure to please. Courtesy Lisa Viger, author of Easy, Affordable, Raw: How to Go Raw on $10 a Day, and raw food expert, these buckwheat pancakes make for the perfect weekend breakfast or brunch dish. Serve with agave or date syrup.

Makes 4-6 pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup (100 g) ground buckwheat groats, soaked and dried
½ cup (50 g) ground flaxseeds
Pinch salt
½ cup (115 g) apple puree
3 tablespoons (45 ml) lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
¼ cup (60 ml) agave
3 tablespoons (30 g) date paste
¼ cup (60 ml) water
2 tablespoons (15 g) poppy seeds

Method:
1. In a medium bowl, mix together the buckwheat, flaxseeds, and salt. Add the apple puree and then the lemon juice, lemon zest, agave, date paste, and water. Stir until well combined. Fold in the poppy seeds.

2. Using about 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of batter for each pancake, scoop out pancakes onto a lined dehydrator tray, making 2- to 3-inch (5- to-7.5 cm) rounds that are about ½-inch (1-cm) thick. Dehydrate at 118°F (48°C) for 6 hours. Peel from the tray liner and flip over onto an unlined dehydrator tray. Continue drying until the outside is beginning to get a little crisp and the inside is still a bit mushy.

3. Pancakes are best straight out of the dehydrator, but they can be kept in a lidded container in the refrigerator for up to a few days.

Nutrition FYI: Buckwheat
Buckwheat isn’t a grain. It’s a fruit seed related to rhubarb and sorrel. It’s high in manganese, tryptophan, magnesium, copper, and fiber, and it has been linked to a lower total serum cholesterol, lower LDL cholesterol, and lower blood pressure. Buckwheat works in synergy with vitamin C and contains flavonoids and antioxidants.

Do you cook or bake with buckwheat? Tell us your experiences in the Comments below!

EASY, AFFORDABLE RAW [Quarry Books, August 2014, $24.99 US / $27.99 Can] kick starts the raw food lifestyle with everything readers need to know. It provides tips for organizing the kitchen, the right foods to buy, and how to prepare each ingredient. Author Lisa Viger, blogger and raw food expert, easily breaks down the raw food lifestyle including health and environmental benefits of a raw food diet. She also answers common questions about nutrition, protein, and energy. Buy the book on Amazon.com.

Looking for a taste of nostalgia? Bakeries across the D.C. metro area are reinventing the classic pop tart by churning out freshly made versions in flavors that you’d probably never find in a boxed toaster pastry (hello, apple rosemary!). Give kiddo (and yourself) a morning pick-me-up at one of these bakeries that sell homemade pop tarts that are just as good as—if not better than—the ones from the supermarket.

Northside Social
Just a hop, skip, and jump away from the Arlington campus of George Mason University, this coffee shop is a go-to study hub for college students during the pm hours. Swing by with your bambino early, when there’s plenty of seating and the uber-popular Nutella pop tarts ($2.25) are still aplenty. Your little one can team his with hot chocolate or milk (they have whole, nonfat, and organic soy), while you nosh on yours between sips of French press coffee.

3211 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA
703-45-0145
Online: northsidesocialarlington.com

 

Ted’s Bulletin
Some places have pancakes. Others have cronuts. But homemade pop tarts are the breakfast (er, anytime of the day) treat du jour at this vintage-inspired restaurant. Come for a celebration breakfast (which is served all day, snatch), and substitute a pop tart—in flavors like Blueberry Cheesecake, Peanut Butter Bacon, and Toasted Coconut—for toast with any meal for $1.59. Baked fresh daily, if you come early enough kids can watch the pastry chef top still-warm tarts off with frosting and sprinkles.

505 8th St., SE, Capitol Hill
202-544-8337

1818 14th St., NW
202-265-8337

11948 Market St., Reston, VA
703-956-9510

Online: tedsbulletin.com

Sticky Fingers

This bakery specializes in vegan fare. Their cupcakes are world renowned—their vegan, but you’d never know it—and their pop tarts (they call them “Hand Tarts”)are just as delish. Their flavors—from apple cinnamon walnut to chocolate raspberry change regularly, depending on what’s in season. To keep these tarts ($3.50/each) on the vegan scale and healthy, they’re dairy, egg, and cholesterol free, and they’re made with non-hydrogenated oils and evaporated cane juice.

1370 Park Rd., NW
202-299-9700
Online: stickyfingersbakery.com

Spring Mill Bread Co.
The pop tarts are made fresh daily at this flagship bakery in Bethesda (there are also locations in Capitol Hill and Gaithersburg), and the smell alone, when they are baking, is enough to bring an ear-to-ear smile to your face. It will be hard, but try not to get distracted by all of the other breads and sweets on display. Spring Mill’s pop tarts ($2.95/each) come in traditional flavors and they’re big enough to split between two small kids.

4961 Elm St., Bethesda, MD
301-654-7970
Online: springmillbread.com

 

—Ayren Jackson-Cannady

Photos courtesy of Curbside Cafe via Facebook, Ted’s Bulletin via Facebook, Sticky Fingers, Spring Mill via Facebook

Too often moms put their own heath and well-being behind the needs of their family. It’s time to make a change, Mamas, and we think February is the perfect time to stop and do something for yourself. In honor of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign CVS will be giving free heart health screenings for women.

According to the American Heart Association, nearly 80 percent of cardiac events can be prevented, yet most women don’t know their personal stats, which are critical to determining their risk. Every Thursday and Friday, including Valentine’s Day, during the month of February, CVS will be offering no-cost heart health preventive screening at local MinuteClinics across the country.

photo: Courtesy of CVS

“Women tend to put others before themselves, but it is imperative that women make their heart health a priority. The stark reality is cardiovascular diseases continue to be a woman’s greatest health threat, claiming the lives of 1 in 3 women. But by empowering women to be aware which includes knowing your numbers move more, eat smart and manage blood pressure, we can change that fact,” said Jennifer Mieres, M.D., an American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women medical expert.

The “Know Your Numbers” heart health screenings will measure total cholesterol, HDL (good) cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and body mass index to help determine if women are at an elevated risk for heart disease.

To get a free screening just download a voucher, print and bring it with you to scan at the MinuteClinic registration kiosk or you can show it using your mobile phone.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

 

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The stinking rose, aka garlic, is more than just the secret to your awesome sauce. Garlic can heal and even ward off pests (not to mention vampires). Read on for some facts about your favorite bulb.

photo: Lotte Grønkjær via flickr

Garlic has been used for centuries all around the world to treat many conditions. It has antibacterial properties and is used to treat infections, stave off colds and flus, lower cholesterol, promote heart health and more.

It is a member of the Lily family.

Garlic bulbs are full of Vitamin C, iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc and more. It also has 17 amino acids.

Of all the garlic grown in the United States, 90% is grown in California. China produces more than 60% of the world’s garlic.

Gilroy, California is the site of the world famous Gilroy Garlic Festival. Held each year at the end of July, it’s one of the biggest food festivals in the US and features delicies such as garlic fries and garlic ice cream. If you, don’t forget your toothbrush!

Gilroy is also home to an amusement park, Gilroy Gardens, which includes a spinning-garlic ride.

Garlic has historically been used to treat snakebites and bug bites, and it is said if you eat enough garlic mosquitos will leave you alone (perhaps that’s why it’s believed bloodsucking vampires will be kept at bay?).

Add garlic to your pet’s diet to help repel fleas and ticks.

Rub marshmallows in garlic powder to make fish bait.

Garlic can be used as a natural pest repellent in the garden, especially to get rid of aphids, foe to many roses, flowers and herbs. Check out this recipe.

If you crush the cloves enough you will produce a sticky substance that you can use as glue. (Weirdly and randomly, a hand covered in garlic will attract leeches faster. Coincidence? We think not.)

Chicago gets its name from garlic. The word “Chicago” is derived from the French version, “chicagaoua,”of a Native word. In the Miami-Illinois (Algonquin) language wild leek or wild garlic was called “shikaakwa” which grew abundantly in the area now known as Chicago.

Know any cool facts about garlic? Tell us in the comments below! 

—Amber Guetebier

Ready to fire up your grill? Skip the hamburgers and make this recipe for Churrasco Steak on skewers from the new book, Mr. Food Test Kitchen: Guilt-Free Weeknight Favorites. Published by the American Diabetes Association, this new cookbook features healthy family recipes for diabetic and non-diabetic eaters. Bonus: if you don’t have a grill these skewers an easily be cooked on your stovetop.

Serves 8, 4 skewers per serving

Ingredients:
3/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 cup fresh parsley, stems removed
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 pounds well-trimmed boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut into 32 (1/2-inch) strips across the grain
32 (6-inch) skewers

Method:
1. In a food processor or blender, combine oil, lime juice, parsley, garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper; process until marinade is well blended.

2. Thread one piece of steak onto each skewer. Place skewers in a 9 × 13-inch baking dish and pour marinade over steak; cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

3. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat and cook steak on skewers 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until desired doneness.

Tip from the Book: These can be cooked on the grill, too. If you are using wooden skewers, just make sure you soak them in water for a few minutes before skewering the meat to prevent them from burning.

Health Information: 
Calories 230, Calories From Fat 130, Total Fat 14.0g, Saturated Fat 3.0g, Trans Fat 0.0g, Cholesterol 40mg, Sodium 210mg, Potassium 430mg, Total Carbohydrates 1g, Fiber 0g, Sugar 0g, Protein 24g, Phosphorus 235mg

Do your kids love eating food on skewers? Tell us below!

With more than 30 million adults and children with diabetes in the United States alone and an additional 1.7 million are newly diagnosed each year diabetes is a disease that touches us all. MR. FOOD TEST KITCHEN: GUILT-FREE WEEKNIGHT FAVORITES will provide your diabetic and non-diabetic eaters with healthful recipes they can make Monday through Friday when they’re short on time but have a family to feed. Available on Amazon.com for $12.

For the home cooks looking to change up their dinnertime routine with healthy and tasty meals check out the new book, Mr. Food Test Kitchen: Guilt-Free Weeknight Favorites. Published by the American Diabetes Association, this new cook book features healthy family recipes for diabetic and non-diabetic eaters. Check out the recipe below for Athenian Pizza, a healthy take on the classic pie.

Serves 12, 1 slice per serving

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 (10-ounce) package prebaked whole-wheat pizza crust
4 ounces roasted red peppers, patted dry and sliced
3 tablespoons sliced black olives
1/2 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Method:
1. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion and cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden and caramelized, stirring frequently.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F.

3. Place pizza crust on round pizza pan. Top with onion, roasted peppers, olives, and feta cheese. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until crust is crisp. Cut into 12 slices and serve immediately.

Good to Know: Caramelizing onions brings out their natural sugars and makes them taste unbelievably good. So ya won’t wanna skip this step. And since the feta and olives add a touch of saltiness, there’s no need for any added salt.

Health Information:
Calories 90, Calories From Fat 35, Total Fat 4.0g, Saturated Fat 1.5g, Trans Fat 0.0g, Cholesterol <5mg, Sodium 200mg, Potassium 30mg, Total Carbohydrates 13g, Fiber 2g, Sugar 1g, Protein 4g, Phosphorus 5mg

A healthy pizza! Music to your ears. “Like” this story if you plan to make this recipe instead of ordering from your local pizza parlor.

With more than 30 million adults and children with diabetes in the United States alone and an additional 1.7 million are newly diagnosed each year diabetes is a disease that touches us all. MR. FOOD TEST KITCHEN: GUILT-FREE WEEKNIGHT FAVORITES will provide your diabetic and non-diabetic eaters with healthful recipes they can make Monday through Friday when they’re short on time but have a family to feed. Available on Amazon.com for $12.

The holidays are here which means indulging in all of your favorite foods. It can also mean your jeans are bit more snug come New Years. Seattle Magazine has stumbled across a new healthy-diet phenomenon sweeping the residents of Vashon Island. And though we understand that pie is king, ending the holiday season with one less pound to lose might be a great, great thing.

Most people agree dieting is easier when you do it with a buddy. If you live on Vashon Island, diet buddies are everywhere. That’s because a new diet plan—called the “TQI Diet” (“to quiet inflammation”)—has become so popular on the island that an estimated 15 percent of the adults there have signed up for diet classes. Several restaurants offer TQI Diet–based dishes on their menus, and grocery stores stock special shelves with TQI Diet–friendly items.

The diet—created by Vashon resident Kathy Abascal and based on the idea that certain foods cause inflammation in the body—has been gaining fame and followers because, apparently, it really works. “It’s pretty much saved my life,” says Rex Morris, a 64-year-old Vashon Islander. “And it’s unbelievably easy to stay on it. I never feel deprived, I never feel hungry. If I want something, I have it, but I balance it out. The longer I’m on it, the better I feel.”

Until last year, Morris struggled with numerous health challenges: obesity, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and a serious lung disease. He couldn’t walk more than five minutes without feeling winded. Then he discovered the TQI Diet. In the year since he’s adopted the plan, he’s slimmed down 70 pounds from his original 300, kicked his insulin, and seen his cholesterol plunge and his lung capacity expand. He now routinely works outside four hours at a stretch and has energy to burn. His previously frozen shoulders now move much more easily.

The diet is based on the principle that certain groups of food can cause inflammation within the body, causing or worsening everything from arthritis to migraines, while other foods, mostly of the whole, unadulterated variety, can reduce or halt that inflammation, lessening all kinds of aches, pains and maladies, and boosting energy.

The most important thing to understand, Morris says, is that the plan isn’t a diet per se; something you endure for a while until you’ve lost weight. Rather, it’s a way of life that embraces whole foods eaten in abundance, with a heavy emphasis on vegetables and fruits.

Plenty of other diets are based on this premise, but few also make a claim to helping with so many medical issues. Proponents say the diet certainly helps adherents lose weight or maintain healthy weights, but it also helps them ease all kinds of joint pains and problems by eating foods rich in anti-inflammatory properties.

To keep reading about the Vashon Island Diet plan click here.

This is our weekly guest post from our friends at Seattle Magazine, which keeps readers on the pulse of restaurants, personalities, arts, entertainment and culture that reflect the tapestry of our dynamic landscape. We’ve teamed up for an exciting partnership to bring you a weekly dose of fantastic Date Night ideas throughout greater Seattle.