#out of the nine original ingredients for the filling i am still using 3 of them

[rosemaidenvixen]

In the Fullness of Time

Chapter 3: Today

Ao3

Merlin laid perfectly still, not even risking cracking an eye open.

Despite appearances, his foe was no fool, and it would not do to treat him as such.

But even so, he’d been feigning sleep for quite some time, a new strategy may be in order. Slowly, he shifted and blinked, making a show of just coming to wakefulness. Turning his head to the side, Merlin caught his captor’s eye “My good fellow, could I trouble you for some water?”

The troll hadn’t moved from the time Merlin had last seen him, and at hearing the wizard’s request a small smile formed on his face.

“No,”

“Surely you wouldn’t allow an old man to die of thirst?”

“Bah-boo-rah say to watch, so AAARRRGGHH watch,”

It took a great deal of effort to keep the frustration from showing on his face. Normally he wouldn’t bother trying to negotiate, but in this case not only were his still healing wounds waylaying him more than he cared to admit, the brute had been given explicit instructions to sit on him if Merlin tried to move from his prone position on the couch.

“Come now I’m hardly going to get up and run in the few seconds you look away,”

“No,”

“Still--”

Without warning a glass tumbler full of water was placed on the table just inches away from Merlin’s nose.

“Here you are my good Wizard,” the smaller, talkative troll stepped around the couch to stand beside his companion “One cup of water as requested,”

Merlin stared evenly first at the water, then the pair “....I suppose I should thank you,”

Blinkous grinned at him “Think nothing of it, I’m more than happy to fetch you anything you might need while you are on your mandated rest,”

The troll didn’t even bother trying not to sound smug as he said it.

Merlin was done bargaining “Be that as it may, I have been alive for thousands of years and am more than capable of judging--”

“Oh Barbara! I do believe our patient is due for another check up,”

Immediately light footsteps started pattering down the stairs “What’s this now?”

“Your patient,” the troll glanced at Merlin with two of his eyes “Believes he is well enough to get up and start walking around,”

The flame haired physician stepped around the couch into Merlin’s view, frown firmly etched into her face “You most certainly are not, getting a hole punched into your abdomen means a mandated two weeks of taking it easy,”

“But surely--”

“That means no buts except for yours on the couch resting,”

Merlin sighed and settled back onto the couch. Hopefully Hisirdoux and his companions would be back soon. His apprentice may be a bit green around the edges, but it would be nice to be in the company of another Wizard. One who understood that--

The front door creaked as it swung open.

“We’re back, and we have a huge problem,” 

Curious, Merlin turned his head towards the sound. It was the Trollhunter’s voice, but something was off.

“Actually I’d say this is more of a little--”

“Domzalski if you finish that sentence you won’t live to see morning,”

“Geez Steve lighten up,”

It wasn’t just the Trollhunter, all of their voices sounded higher and sharper.

He turned to rise off the couch, only to grunt as he ran into a massive stone arm hovering above him, the troll it was attached to not even looking at him.

Merlin glowered and reluctantly sank back down.

Barbara turned to look at the newcomers, eyes going wide behind her spectacles “Oh my-- what happened?”

“That’s what we’d like to find out,”

The group walked around to the other side of the couch, allowing Merlin to see them for the first time, raising an eyebrow as he did.

“You all went out to subdue a Warlock, so how is it you managed to get yourselves turned into children?”

Hisirdoux gave him a sheepish grin “We had the Warlock cornered, but then they released all of their stolen magic at once, next thing we know, this,” he gestured at all of them “Any ideas?”

“Not really no,”

“Question,” the Akiridion boy spoke up “Are you always aggressively unhelpful or just with us?”

Merlin narrowed his eyes, no respect for master Wizards these days “Based on the extremely limited information you’ve given me, the cause of your condition could literally be anything, now if you give me a few more details I might be able to narrow it down,”

“The Warlock tried blasting us with fire, but we were able to corner him, then he started chanting, I don’t remember what, and then he burst into a ball of white light. Douxie put a shield around him and I tried to funnel some of it away through a portal, but it was too much. He exploded and then…” the shadow witch trailed off.

Finally some relevant information.

“Based on what you’ve told me it sounds like that Warlock was supplementing themselves with Phoenix feathers, some rest and some Aves tonic should clear that right up,”

All the de-aged hunters wilted in relief at the knowledge that their condition was not permanent “Ok, so where do we get some of that?” the Trollhunter’s red-headed friend spoke up.

“Oh I don’t have any,” Merlin leveled his gaze at the massive troll “How could I have been brewing tonics when I’ve been stuck here on the couch for days,”

AAARRRGGHH narrowed his eyes at him.

Hisirdoux pulled out his phone “I’ll give Archie a call, he should be able to get us the ingredients so I can brew it myself,”

The physician stepped towards them, giddy smile on her face and her own phone clasped in both hands “Ok I have to get pictures of you guys while you’re like this,”

They all groaned and made noises of half hearted protest. Except for Hisirdoux. Hisirdoux yanked his sleeves down to cover his wrists, face turning chalky “I-- uh….”

His response did not go unnoticed. The physician glanced down, mouth falling open when she spotted the scars, and immediately slipped her phone back into her pocket, concerned expression mirrored by the two trolls.

“Unless you don’t want to, I won’t take your pictures if you don’t want me to,”

“It’s ummm…” Hisirdoux glanced around, the other fighters turned children sharing his look of unease “I…..”

In an instant Merlin knew what was going on. Hisirdoux had no issue with being photographed in this state, rather he didn’t want his scars captured in an image for all time. And Hisirdoux had already shared this, along with the origins of his scars, with his fellow hunters. And while he didn’t mind the doctor and trolls knowing, he found the idea of retelling the story so soon daunting.

Taking advantage of the diversion, Merlin swung his legs off the couch and pushed himself upright, grimacing as the movement tugged on his half healed wounds, and cleared his throat to gain their attention.

Everyone turned towards him, the large troll glaring when he saw that Merlin had shifted from his prone position to sitting upright.

“I can answer that question,” he glanced towards Hisirdoux “Do you wish for me to give the short explanation or the complete one?”

Hisirdoux looked like he could have melted with relief “Yeah you can...you can just go ahead and tell them the whole story,”

He started shuffling towards the basement, efforts to be discreet hampered by his reduced size “I’ll just be in the basement...getting started on that tonic,”

The young Trollhunter shared a look with his two friends, who exchanged swift nods with him “We’ll go help,”

“We will?”

The blonde boy kicked the Akiridion in the ankle.

“Flishgag what was that for!?”

“Yes we will, we’re all going to brew potions in the basement and leave the grown ups alone,”

Black eyes widening in understanding, he turned and followed the other Hunters turned children down into the basement “Fine, but kick me again and I’m sending you to the moon,”

The last of them filled downstairs, shutting the door behind them. Leaving the human, Wizard, and two trolls alone. 

All eyes in the room were on Merlin now.

“As you undoubtedly saw, Hisirdoux has scars on his wrists that he prefers to keep discreet. As for the injuries that lead to them….” Merlin had to make an effort to keep the rancor out of his voice. This story was not a pleasant one, and even a near millenia later the memories left a bitter taste in his mouth “Those happened well over nine hundred years ago….”

[danielritchie1-blog]

Sporting activity, Gender, As well as Malfunctioning Social Barricades.

The upcoming autumn implies one thing and one thing simply for lots of people - the kickoff from regulation football period. For the past THIRTEEN years, I enter into job interviews where I interview my potential boss to observe if we're a fit. When I started uncovering the globe of all-natural nutrition and the power meals and also curative nourishment carries keeping health and wellness, resolving acute health obstacles as well as reversing long-term, constant wellness disorders, I was actually connected. Prepare a target to track for 4 times recently and when you hit that target, offer your own self a little perks like a publication or a new nail polish. As an alternative, that is actually food for intestine germs as well as exactly what your physical body takes in has been actually changed to excess fat. And also I wish you carry out even more TELEVISION shows like Jamie In the house, where it's just you as well as lots of really great, easy meals. Asking the above concern on society match tells you what the applicant thinks is actually crucial in a project. Based upon all I know about diet programs, food items restriction and disinhibition, food items substance addiction propensities are actually more likely driven by high dietary restriction, weight judgment, as well as a poisonous society from food-fear in comparison to a chemical dependence on meals. Re Spectra's talk about Nutrisystem - $70 a full week for refined food items is a misuse of loan. Therefore there was much less focus on planters and smallholder farmers, as well as there was less focus on for instance food items insecurity and the neighborhood engagement around food. I'll always keep eating my blueberries along with my early morning natural yogurt as well as possessing delicious chocolate pie when I prefer. this. I may not be actually as slim as I may perhaps be actually, but I won't really feel the have to overindulge on weird combinations of food items in the middle of the night. Celiacs may stringently prevent wheat (which they need to perform) as well as live a really healthy and balanced lifestyle, yet their problem is never treated through any sort of certain food. Authorities strands are actually drawn due to the major companies from the food as well as pharma market. Struggled coming from bulimia for a long times, as well as I can't stand paying attention to all these food snobs that have suddenly given rise to and also teach regarding eliminating this and that. I have not possessed any individual reference that the food need to be actually monotonous but, if they carried out, I 'd challenge all of them to come up along with 20 other dinner concepts they prep (my hunch is it would certainly be actually complicated ... particularly with the warning they ready"). Utilizing a pedestrian I am actually allowed to put 1/3rd of my weight on the lower leg then 2/3rds starting following week. Considering that this's now formally LEGGINGS TIME, I created a 3 min Turbo Pilates challenge for your legs! Today my nine year-old kid and I went to our local area components retail store purchasing seeds as well as landscape dirt. Physical body Train fitness possesses a holistic approach to health, wellness, health and fitness, nutrition as well as sports performance as well as is dedicated to teaching people on the benefits of a healthy way of living! I used to find this truly practical to put water over the food items I was actually bingeing on. That made it shed this's allure rapid and it also made me pause and also quit what had actually come to be automatic. The moment your tummy adapts to a certain food items quickly jogs, DO NOT offer an international pre-run food on race time. We have to additionally recognize that engagement in volleyball, and team sports as a whole, has major advantages for fitness and also personality property. www.fitnesswelt-de.com/ , sporting activities nutritionist for the California Golden Bears, points out that knowing a professional athlete's body composition is vitally important. The Concentration: How you can source, champ and launch great food products in a congested market place. But as a whole, nutrient shortages usually have their own set of distinctive symptoms, but meals dependency is not one of all of them. Last night on a Youtube door about minorities in internet home entertainment with my friends Dulce Sweet, JR Sport Quick and also Jeff Johnson! Sharon Clare is actually a degree 4 expert health & sports functionality train along with credentials in DNA Match instruction & nutritionShe is actually also a professional global all-natural body rival along with the WNBF & Ambassador for Ultimate Fitness Activities. Reflecting, our team question how partition similar to this ever existed in sporting activity as well as certainly our experts wish it will definitely certainly never exist once again. That you are a well that will certainly never ever be loaded, especially when you are actually challenged through a particularly delicious or even beloved (or even at times also below average) meals. The basketball or even monitor wheelchair will certainly end up being sporting activities tools made use of by all, whether they have a disability or otherwise, rather than assistive tools. Many worldwide morning meals are absolutely no various, thus again, you conserve cash, a ton of time and get match. Tracking your everyday food items and web carb consumption will definitely give you a straightforward snapshot about what you are actually consuming. I don't have much good luck with meals vouchers but it certain helps with the remainder of the cleansing and also laundry washing products, fodder. Today I was delivering plans and getting ready for my trunk show at Sports Nightclub Los Angeles in downtown San Francisco. Consequently I believe exactly what I discussed in the book is this food cravings to go back to a much more holistic method from eating, to come back to sharing as well as growing meals in area. I plan to hear more concerning your trainings profited from wrestling, battle sports as well as even more and just how they transeferred to your business. Opportunity has eliminated my mind of the food items that so repulsed me I couldn't eat that for several years Years! RICK ROUSH: Most people don't actually think of food items off originating from farms; this arises from the food stores. Natural selection and also continuation from the most healthy are actually the accepted honest truths from common lifestyle. Making use of solidified carbon dioxide, placing your leg in dry ice, you tried in order to get this to a factor where it will must be actually amputated, however when you got to the health center the doctors claimed it could be conserved. While it holds true that buying food items at the popular" health-based convenience store might be costly, they typically aren't the only areas marketing the elements of healthier meals Even when you acquire the ingredients coming from your nearby Wal-Mart or even Aldi, it's still heading to be essentially more affordable than purchasing convenience food, and a great deal better for you. A number of this meals is composted or become creature feed, yet most of this winds up in land fills, according to an analysis from the Natural Funds Protection Council. I entirely acknowledge there are actually a ton of terrific points happening in Pittsburgh, featuring technician and also a vibrant food items setting! However the Flames have associated with their enthusiasts through making use of individual accounts that hook up to the sporting activity. Along with even more precise diagnostics, however, Torres and also others at the Berkeley sporting activities laboratory can get a better understanding of their body composition. I'm really like a health and fitness center for the social setting, but I ultimately I wish to construct a workout space in my residence and just play sporting activities outside for health and fitness. Now I intended to start our exploration of meals and also the media at the coalface, as this were actually, so I went searching for a really good kitchen area and I discovered a very successful one in Brisbane. But even though South Australia is thought about one thing from a leader in recycling, the majority of food items fragments still wind up on the scrap heap.

[howdytherepardner]

take, cut, spread, done.

there are a few things that do not matter, and then there are the bagels offered on school nights in the dining hall of whitman. community hall, rumored to be both named after the "ebay community" and tall as hell due to no money for a second floor, is often host to a few scholarly groups spread throughout the whole space. i always feel a little bit bad entering, any entrance has massive doors that slam shut and likely serve as a mild disturbance not only to my general passive gait but to the conversations, focus of other in the space. a community hall indeed, though there have been a few late nights where i've been there entirely alone. my first Dean's Date stands out in memory, where between 3:20 and 4 am i took a study break to sing a bit of Simon and Garfunkel. but back to breakfast. i don't remember when i was made first aware of it, perhaps a recommendation from an rca or a discovery after an event in the hall that night, but much like murray dodge cafe or computer clusters, the pseudo-continental breakfast spread is a necessary aspect of my understanding of how this campus exists. whether it be terrible coffee, fruit, or foam bowls of cap'n crunch, the offerings on the counter provided a kind of disoriented comfort, giving you some sense of standing in a necessarily transitory space. but the offerings of bagels, made somewhat fresh in the morning now stale at the day's end, and peanut butter, a local/organic chunky variety, facilitated the most familiar, filling experience for me on those late nights. my go-to after a later wake-up before high school was an untoasted lander's and jif, which was more than satisfactory, but this ~fancy~ upgrade to an assonine thing could be symbolic of many things. bagel, spread peanut butter, a crack of salt and pepper if you're feeling fancy. same formula, different ingredients. ~ medium fine grind, 30 grams coffee, 500 grams near-boiling water. wet the filter with hot water before the grind goes in, then blooming with 70 grams of water, aggressively swirling before letting sit for 30 seconds. aggressive pour to close to the top of the v60, then slow the rate to the same pace at which coffee drains into the decanter. after reaching 500 grams of water, stop, let it drop a little bit before lightly swirling once, then again after the water drips lower with a bit more force. let drip until it ends. discard filter and grounds. if feeling fancy, pour coffee between decanter and a large container to cool a bit quicker if you're impatient. swirl decanter before pouring your drink. sip first, then down it. often, this has been the extent of my breakfast, which my stomach certainly files its own concerns about, dear reader. i recently reconsidered the peanut butter bagel, what used to be a late night snack, a journey to the dining hall with my roommates amid school work, to put it back in the breakfast rotation; an investment i make the night prior when picking up to sustain a tolerable existence the next day. two days i have a nine am lecture, and the prospect of a hot coffee and a bagel less than 3 feet from my room has been quite the pull factor in getting me to class (albeit, an average of 3 minutes late). i am flung this point; perhaps if a theme of this writing is the attempt to process my pandemic experiences, then it occurs to me that this was my most consistent morning breakfast: - being sent home meant a return to landers and a new use of the Mr. Coffee once reserved primarily for visiting relatives whose caffeine needs were supplemented by things other than diet coke - first fall arrangements meant bagels less frequently, but still peanut butter toast and a decently sized pot of melitta. - campus spring was mason jar tea-like improv and first venturings v60 and, whenever i was up early enough for breakfast (more than occasionally) but didn't feel like scrambled tofu, pre-packaged bagel and not-one-but-two individual peanut butter packets. recipe becomes routine, routine becomes ritual, ritual becomes recipe. ~ "10-20-40" is the third track off of Rina Sawayama's debut

extended play, Rina, released on 27 October 2017. Written by Sawayama and produced by Clarence Clarity, the lyrics offer an insight into Sawayama's experiences with depression and taking SSRIs, delivered through car-related metaphors.

... In an interview with Hannah J Davies for The Guardian in January 2018, Sawayama explained: "The metaphor is about teetering on the edge, but also the romance of driving, and the romance of taking Citalopram or being depressed in the media, when actually it's so mundane. It's a daily chore." (x) ~ being that my room is 3 feet from a kitchen, my room is generally subject to the various sensations that emerge from that space, though seldom emerging from my own efforts. despite my independent status and residence in a spelman room, i rarely use the stove top and have not once taken advantage of the oven. always indulging in the smell of food, i do also sometimes allow myself to be treated to the generous leftovers of my roommates' endeavors. overall, though, my plan for meals (not to be confused with the official designation of 'Meal Plan') has been entirely inconsistent. it will be leftovers one dinner, the tail-end of a happenstance free food event the next, Two Extra Meals, dinner with a work shift, Nassau St. fare, and who knows what else. i am wondering on what it means to be in an eating club. the start of this year has seen even starker lines of experiential division; where guest meal policies have normally allowed people to take options with relative ease, both university dining and club policies started as very exclusive to people beyond their plans, meaning that your meals are at a single institution, and that's it! the option exists, of course, to eat elsewhere, but this requires expenditures in addition to the 9-10k that you (by extension of your parents) dropped on the club, and it seems like the calculus of each meal not consumed would loom. the arrangement seems so suffocating! there are aspects of these particular institutions that i think are questionable (beyond just bicker, mind you), but i think i'm also coming to terms with the fact that a large part of my disdain for these institutions comes from the fact that it is just... not my preferred experience. what to me is thinking of cost-per-meal and the constriction of the same people is to others a more secure place, a sense of stability when other aspects of their social alignments and experiences shift. i have never felt particular excited to get a meal within the Great and Mighty Brunch Mansions, but people do. frequently whether i would feel differently if my context was such that i (by extension of my family) could securely afford such an experience, and what social development prior to that would imply, but for now i think i am tired of worrying about things beyond myself and my control. after all, ain't i the hypocrite in saying this but joining a co-op? besides a lower price tag and greater labor invested into the experience, it is structurally comparable from an organizational standpoint ( 1. clubs composed of students 2. where they [could] source most of their meals and 3. eat with other students). but it is the cultural distinctions of these arrangements that matters most. i don't think i'm experienced enough with either arrangement at present to discuss those distinctions with confidence yet, and i trust that anyone with enough familiarity to recognize what i am referring has their own understanding of it developed, in any case. nothing original to contribute yet, though i feel motivated to get ahead for the classes whose (self)placement in these institutions looms.

~ so that's it, i believe. i am supposed to have a routine right now, and in practice i do in the minds of others; i go to my scheduled classes, i attend these meetings, i hang out with others. not a uniform schedule, but a consistent set of behaviors that makes me, to others as a social entity, a ritualistic person. in the place between body and mind, i feel the grand variance of my own perception, as colored by my emotional state (to put it melodramatically). the narrative of my life to me is a pathway, and the presence of my life to others is a point of checking in. my routine is only fueled by a desire/need/compulsion to continue changing, and it is only when those changes alter my social routine that those beyond myself can note it. i suspect that someday, perhaps even tomorrow, i will disagree with that, but i feel confident in saying this: i will never get tired of a peanut butter bagel, even as the seasonings change.

[visiononion28-blog]

drop cornbread biscuits

This past Saturday, we hosted our second Friendsgiving, stuffing 17 people in an apartment that has no business holding 17 people, but it’s okay, there’s wine for that. Our first one was in 2016; you can read about it here. I took 2017 off because I was a teensy bit busy book touring for Smitten Kitchen Every Day** It was fun to be back.

When having friends over, I like to get everything done that I can in advance and I do this for completely selfish reasons: I want to enjoy my party, too, and I can’t if I’m scrambling around all day and am bone tired by the time food comes out. But last week was abnormally busy and I only got to grocery shopping on Thursday, only to discover that one week before Thanksgiving, it’s like tumbleweeds, the lull before the weekend stampede, all past-prime rosemary and other sadness. I almost cancelled but my husband miraculously found almost everything that evening, and instead I did a very beautiful, highly recommended thing: I nixed a few things on the planned menu and swapped more complicated ones for simpler recipes with shorter ingredient lists but high reward. Here’s the menu, a few details, and completely random tips:

—

* Herb and garlic baked camembert: This is in Smitten Kitchen Every Day and there will never be an SK party without it. In fact, it’s gotten so popular that my friends and family make it now too, so I outsourced it. My SIL brought three, we heated them here. It was so nice to have one less thing to do.

* Bacon-wrapped dates: No recipe, but there are a gazillion on the web. I don’t stuff them (I did it once and it was way too pesky, especially given that they’re good without stuffing) and no dip. We made a ton and they were gone quickly; my daughter called them “bacon candy.”

* Turkey: In 2016, I did a hybrid wet brine from a bunch of sources. It was delicious but not worth the logistical nightmare. And mopping. This year, I made The Judy Bird, a Thanksgiving application of Zuni Cafe’s famous roast chicken. There are many dry brine recipes out there but this was the simplest and why make something more complicated unless you know it’s necessary? Based on the turkey reviews, I don’t think it needs anything else. My changes are that I baste it with a melted 1/2 cup of butter, and then when I’m out of butter, the pan juices, and this year, I put quartered red and yellow onion wedges in the bottom of the pan (tossed with a little oil, salt, and pepper) and friends, they were glorious after getting caramelized and lightly charred in turkey-butter drippings for a few hours. Here’s a logistical tip I don’t think enough recipes make clear: You want to rest your turkey for 20 to 30 minutes before carving it, tented lightly with foil. It’s then going to take 15 minutes to carve (I had a friend holding a YouTube video tutorial in front of me because I’m very bad at it.) This gives you 30 to 45 minutes of empty oven time where you can reheat sides, which is more than most need. I have a single, not big, not great oven and it was all I needed. [I mean, needs being relative, just in case Nancy Meyers is out there and wants to lend me a set kitchen and the life that goes with it next time.]

* Gravy: I really ought to write up a recipe one day, huh, but I use a basic formula of 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup flour, 8 cups chicken or turkey stock, a splash of dry marsala or sherry to deglaze the pan, and a lot of salt and pepper. (You cook this the way you would a bechamel.) When your turkey is done, if you want to separate the drippings, you can replace any of that butter with fat and any of that broth with juices. Or you can skip it! The gravy will have a less nuanced turkey flavor, but it’s still pretty awesome, especially if you have homemade stock. (In a freak bit of luck, I discovered two quarts of this in the freezer from last winter and used them for the gravy, stuffing, and more.) I make the gravy right in the bottom of the roasting pan, stretched across two burners; this way I can scrape up all the good, flavorful bits. If you don’t use the dippings to make gravy, I highly recommend you use them to drizzle over the sliced turkey, to keep it as moist as possible when you serve it.

* Stuffing: I also owe you a recipe for this but although I have two stuffing recipes on this site that I adore, I made a simple challah stuffing instead — although I made it decidedly less simple by making my own challah. Each loaf will make enough bread cubes to easily fill a 9×13-inch dish. I made mine with just celery, onion, and herbs, but you could easily sauté some mushrooms, diced apples, pancetta or crumbled sausage in too. Oh, and definitely make enough to have leftovers; this is important.

* Cranberry sauce: I went old-school with this, with a very early recipe on this site. I wanted something on the sweet side because my friend Ang was bringing a more savory one with tomatillos. Both were delicious.

* Green bean casserole with crispy onions: Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it (homemade). I make the green beans extra firm (just 2 minutes, then into ice water), then the mushroom sauce. Cool them both fully before mixing them. This goes in the fridge overnight. I’ll fry the onions — always make more than you need — and keep those separate until we’re about to eat the warmed casserole.

* Slow-roasted sweet potatoes: Once I realized I’d have no time for the root vegetable gratin I’d originally planned, I added these and 10/10, would recommend because the ingredient list is basically nonexistent. I baked them for the 2 to 3 hours before the turkey goes in, because they need a lower temperature. Broil them to get a good color on the skin. Leave them out while the turkey roasts (they’ll stay decently warm for a couple hours) and rewarm them just before eating. We served these in 2-inch segments, skin and all, and I was texting the recipe to friends demanding it even before going to bed that night. It’s that good.

* Stuffed mushroom casserole: My friend Ang brought this too and it was delicious. (She thinks it needs more cheese, though. I had no complaints!)

I didn’t make any pie at all! (Although my friend Molly brought a mincemeat pie with a cheddar crust and it was wonderful.)

* Bourbon pumpkin cheesecake: I made this in a 9×13-inch pan to cut as bars instead. Same recipe. Same temperature. However, you’ll want 1.5 or even 2x the crust, and it bakes in about 30. Seriously. It’s awesome.

* Perfect Manhattans: Because why not. I made two carafes of them, just scale up the recipe until you run out of an ingredient or carafe space. Friends can pour or shake it over ice; leave cherries or orange peel strips on the side.

* Cranberry crumb bars with mulling spices: This is in The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

—

Finally, as always, I have a last minute recipe for people who do things at the last minute. It’s never my intention, but it’s consistently my reality. I made these biscuits the first time over the summer, a season where we eat outside and act like it’s no big deal (waah), for a 4th of July ribs fest along with slaw and corn and all of those summery things. So, they go really well with warm weather. But they’re also a great quickie dinner roll, or even a fun addition to a breakfast-for-dinner night (like we had last night) with scrambled eggs and bacon. They take 5 minutes to put together and 15 to bake and there’s nothing not to love about that. They’re craggy and crisp on the outside and plush within, perfect for splitting open with your fingers, buttering, drizzling with honey, and finishing with flaky salt or nestling into the side of your holiday plate.

Previously

One year ago: Endive Salad with Toasted Breadcrumbs and Walnuts Two years ago: Root Vegetable Gratin and Cheesecake-Marbled Pumpkin Slab Pie Three years ago: Kale and Caramelized Onion Stuffing, Apple Cider Sangria and Date, Feta and Red Cabbage Salad Four years ago: Sticky Toffee Pudding, Pickled Cabbage Salad and Pretzel Parker House Rolls Five years ago: Perfect Uncluttered Chicken Stock, Cranberry Orange Breakfast Buns, Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Onions, and Apple-Herb Stuffing For All Seasons Six years ago: Granola Crusted Nuts and Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette and Gingersnaps Seven years ago: Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Goat Cheese, Creamed Onions with Bacon and Chives Eight years ago: Sweet Corn Spoonbread Nine years ago: Moroccan-Spiced Spaghetti Squash and Chard and Sweet Potato Gratin Ten years ago: Mushroom and Barley Pie Eleven years ago: Roasted Stuffed Onions and Simplest Apple Tart [New!] Twelve years ago: Cranberries: Candied, Fruity, and Drunk

And for the other side of the world: Six Months Ago: Pasta Salad with Roasted Carrots and Sunflower Seed Dressing 1.5 Years Ago: Rhubarb Upside-Down Spice Cake and Tall, Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes 2.5 Years Ago: Failproof Crepes + A Crepe Party and Crispy Tortellini with Peas and Proscuitto 3.5 Years Ago: Crispy Broccoli with Lemon and Garlic, Not Derby Pie Bars, Liege Waffles, and Mushrooms and Greens with Toast 4.5 Years Ago: Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Bars and Five Egg Sandwiches

** have you bought it? There’s so much great Thanksgiving and holiday stuff in there, like a chocolate pecan slab pie, a kale caesar that we have out at almost every dinner party, a wild mushroom shepherd’s pie, and a few of my favorite cookie recipes, ever. Between now and December 12th you can order either my first book, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, or Smitten Kitchen Every Day, my second with a custom inscription of your choice from The Strand and it will arrive by Christmas.

Drop Cornbread Biscuits

Servings: 8 to 12

Time: 20 minutes

Source: Land O Lakes

Print

Shown here are 8 large biscuits; you can make 12 smaller ones, just use the short end of the baking time range.

1 3/4 cups (230 grams) all-purpose flour

2/3 cup (90 grams) cornmeal

1 to 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (use 1 for a more savory biscuit)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt

1/2 cup (115 grams) cold butter, in cubes

1 cup (235 ml) cold buttermilk (buttermilk substitutes)

Heat oven to 450°F. I covered my baking sheet with parchment paper but it shouldn’t be strictly necessary, and many shouldn’t go in this hot of an oven, so use your own discretion.

Stir flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bottom of a large bowl with a fork or whisk. Add butter and toss to coat cubes in dry mixture. Use your finger or a pastry blender to break the butter into smaller and smaller bits, until the largest is pea-sized. Add buttermilk and stir once or twice, until a dough comes together.

My very scientific method of dividing the dough evenly is to press it gently into the bottom of your mixing bowl into roughly a circle. Cut into 8 or 12 wedges. Pull out one triangle of dough with a soup spoon for each biscuit, pressing it into a craggy, messy ball, then drop it onto your baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 12 to 14 or 15 minutes; smaller ones should be done at 12, larger ones at 14 or 15. Remove from oven and serve warm. Biscuits are best on the first day. On the second, gently rewarming them will improve the texture.

Source: https://smittenkitchen.com/2018/11/drop-cornbread-biscuits/

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 12/12/17

Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage, Vol. 2 | By Leiji Matsumoto and Kouiti Shimaboshi | Seven Seas – Harlock has a scar. This is useful information in this volume, as in some panels it’s the only way to tell that you’re looking at him and not Tadashi, who has that same hair that seems to be blowing in the wind even in the corridors of a spaceship. The highlight of this second volume, though, may be the flashback to the first meeting of Harlock and Tochiro, which we’ve seen before in other adaptations and no doubt will again, but is always fun to show off what a badass Tochiro is despite looking like a short creepy guy. There’s also more drama from the Mazon, who now have a bounty out on Harlock. Dimensional Voyage continues to be a decent adaptation in any case. – Sean Gaffney

Cells at Work!, Vol. 5 | By Akane Shimizu | Kodansha Comics – We reunite with a cell with a history of befriending germs. He’s feeling lonely and bored, and wishes he could save someone and earn their gratitude. The chance presents itself and he ends up saving… some cute bacteria. Turns out, they’re good bacteria, and the whole volume consists of White Blood Cell giving the cell a tour of the digestive system, during which each variety of good bacteria finds its specialty and ends up saving the day. The cell bravely protects the bacteria throughout, and meanwhile we get an actually fairly dramatic return of Cancer Cell who is being protected by a regulatory cell, and who pitches his version of utopia in which the body’s cells revolt and refuse to kill each other for the body’s sake. There was almost some kind of plot there for a second! All in all, this was a pretty fun volume. – Michelle Smith

A Centaur’s Life, Vol. 13 | By Kei Murayama | Seven Seas – You never quite know from chapter to chapter what kind of Centaur’s Life you’ll get. Sometimes the “wtf” comes from the historical or political chapters, such as the retelling of the movie The Thing with snakes, or the ongoing war with the frogs (and their human advisor). But oftentimes it’s also with our main cast. We get another chapter devoted to Michi and Mitsu, the lesbian couple in the series, which shows us that one is the heir to a yakuza family, complete with assassination attempts. And sometimes there’s bizarre dream sequences, like Suu and Hime setting fire to the creepiest “factory” you’ve ever seen. Sure, sometimes we get adorable toddler sequences, but they’re fewer and fewer in number. The author has dreams, that’s for sure. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 21 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | Viz Media – More exams, and much as I’m enjoying these chapters the arc is already feeling dragged out. Turns out that when you actively try to suppress the resisters by cheating, it doesn’t work, as they’re clever enough—and good enough chefs—to get around such petty tricks. Which leaves more time for sightseeing in Hokkaido and bonding with unusual pairings—I was amused at seeing Ikumi, Isami, Erina and Megumi walking around town and thinking it’s an unusual group, only for Isami to say the exact same thing. Things may get harder soon, though, as now Soma has to fight Hayama, and the ingredient is absolutely stacked in his favor. Is this the end for our hero? Well, no. But find out why next time. – Sean Gaffney

Giant Killing, Vol. 8 | By Masaya Tsunamoto and Tsujitomo | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – ETU’s game against Osaka continues, though it’s not going well, as the first half ends with the score 2-0. And yet Tatsumi smirks, sure that his counterattack is going to be effective. Soon, though, it becomes clear that he had misjudged Natsuki’s confidence, as the latter fumbles chance after chance that his teammates worked their butts off to create. Seeing the continued growth of ETU members is great, but I also really liked getting a glimpse inside the mind of Kubota, one of the Osaka forwards, who looks plain and unassuming, but who makes great split-second decisions (wholly unlike Natsuki) and who spurs Tsubaki to greatness. I kind of want him to join ETU, in fact, though that seems unlikely. The volume concludes before the match does, so I am definitely looking forward to volume nine! – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 18 | By Haruichi Furudate | VIZ Media – Karasuno has made it to the finals of the qualifying round, where they’re up against the prefectural favorite, Shiratorizawa. They lost the first set, but in the second they’re starting to get a hang for how to combat their powerhouse rival. Surprisingly, Tsukishima is utterly key to this, as he’s the one who figures out some of their patterns and timing, and starts blocking them in such a way that allows Nishinoya to do his thing. Somehow, Tsukishima has really endeared himself to me lately, and I love seeing him actually get fired up and relentless about something in his own way. (I also adored the Potteresque poster at the end featuring him!) The volume ends with each team struggling to make two consecutive points and take the second set. How does this series manage to become even more nail-bitey each time?! Not that I’m complaining. – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 18 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – The evolution of Tsukishima from “tall grumpy asshole” to “CLEVER tall grumpy asshole” has been highly rewarding, and this volume shows off his maturation to excellent effect, to the point where he actually leads some of the strategy. He’d do well in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, I think. Nishinoya is also impressive throughout, and there are the occasional moments for our two leads. It’s still a tight game, though, and we get a lot of chapters devoted to showing us that while they have one really talented guy, that’s not quite all they have. The cliffhanger shows us veering back and forth between set points, but this is best 3-of-5, so I’m sure we have a ways to go. Excellent sports manga. – Sean Gaffney

Helvetica Standard: Italic | By Keiichi Arawi | Vertical Comics – As with the first volume, we start with the Helvetica Standard 4-komas. They have the strange sense of humor we know and love from Arawi, but do suffer a bit from lacking a lovable main cast—there are some recurring roles, but it’s even more random than Nichijou was. After this we get the original art that was used for the DVD/Blu-Ray covers, and again I like the way he works surreal art styles into them. He enjoys playing with the space given to him, sometimes in a very Escher way, and dislikes leaving blank space when he can fill it with something else. This is inessential, but I was pleased to see it anyway, and it’s whetted my appetite for the new series City in the spring. -Sean Gaffney

Kuroko’s Basketball, Vol. 17-18 | By Tadatoshi Fujimaki | Viz Media – As you’d expect, Seirin have managed to score some points by the end of this omnibus, so they aren’t shut out. Things still aren’t looking good, though, despite their amazing secret weapon—Kuroko actually shooting and scoring! He’s sort of hit-and-miss, but it’s another unpredictable aspect to his game. Things aren’t going nearly as well for Kagami, who’s finding it very hard to get past the huge and somewhat arrogant Murasakibara on the other team. He wants to get back in ‘the zone,’ but easier said than done. As for Kiyoshi, well, he’s still injured, and thus can’t contribute the way he wants. Though hopefully Riko beating the injury out of him offscreen may help. Exciting stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 2 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – After some terrifying sequences last time, we’re dealing with the aftermath—a lot of the students that Ms. Hayashi had been “dealing with” are also infested with bugs. As for Ms. Hayashi herself, she’s dying—and only Fumi seems to want to try to take the “save her” option. Of course, saving her might involve becoming the Black Queen again, but Fumi is able to move past that and become… possibly Fuyu? Whoever it is that takes over Fumi, she brings a memory of the traumatic death of her mother with her. But it’s not all drama and thrilling tension—Fumi’s choice of a weapon to fight with is a gag that will make you laugh hysterically, something Motomi excels at. Definitely recommended for shoujo fans. – Sean Gaffney

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 3 | By Anashin | Kodansha Comics – This third volume shows off more of the love triangle between Mitsuki, Towa and Aya, but two of those three are just so awkward that there’s not really any danger of sparks flying—even the one-on-one basketball game between the two guys is cut short by Mitsuki, who has a sneaking suspicion it would go badly for Towa. We also get the addition of another female friend, not always something that happens in a shoujo series. She’s shy but also straightforward, and has a pretty obvious crush, so I hope their friendship can survive things. This isn’t top-drawer shoujo, but it’s pleasant enough, and the lead girl is indecisive but not dragged around by the plot as much as some. – Sean Gaffney

Welcome to the Ballroom, Vol. 8 | By Tomo Takeuchi | Kodansha Comics – It’s not that this volume of Welcome to the Ballroom is bad by any stretch, but for 99% of it, Tatara and Chinatsu are failing to communicate as partners, and it’s a bit excruciating. I suppose enduring this does make it all the sweeter when they finally achieve a few measures of harmony whilst competing in the Metropolitan Tournament, though. I did enjoy seeing Tatara briefly looking manly, and it seems like he’s on the verge of overcoming his timid personality. There are a couple of brief panels that look like Tatara’s mother abandoning the family when Tatara was a kid, which suggests he’s afraid to drive people away by really expressing himself, but Chinatsu is just the one to demand that from him. After all of their struggles, it sure will be gratifying to see them get it together. – Michelle Smith

By: Michelle Smith

[psychotherapyconsultants]

10 Summer Depression Busters

Although my mood seems to be better with more sun, I understand why a substantial number of folks get more depressed in the summer. Extreme heat is hard to tolerate. In fact, in a study published in Science in 2013, researchers reported that as temperatures rose, the frequency of interpersonal violence increased by 4 percent, and intergroup conflicts by 14 percent.

There are four distinct types of people when it comes to weather and mood, according to a study published in Emotion in 2011.

Summer Lovers (better mood with warmer and sunnier weather)

Unaffected (weak associations between weather and mood)

Summer Haters (worse mood with warmer and sunnier weather)

Rain Haters (particularly bad mood on rainy days)

Ten percent of those diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder suffer symptoms at the brightest time of the year. The summer’s brutal heat, bright light, and long days can affect a person’s circadian rhythm and contribute to depression for the opposite reasons that winter conditions do.

If you’re a Summer Hater, or just notice that your mood is affected negatively by the heat, here are some summer depression busters that may help you better tolerate these months — maybe even enjoy them.

1. Plan Something Fun

You don’t need to plan some elaborate cross-country trip that’s going to deplete your savings. Just taking off an afternoon to have lunch with a friend or go kayaking by yourself can be a pleasant break and something to look forward to. When I was working through a severe depression, someone told me to plan something enjoyable every few weeks to keep me motivated to keep going. Scheduling fun activities sporadically throughout the summer might help carry you through some hot afternoons.

2. Be Around People

It can be as tempting to isolate yourself during the summer months as during the winter months, especially if you have body image issues and don’t like showing your legs and arms. But isolation breeds depression, especially if you’re a ruminator like I am. You don’t need to hang out poolside with a crowd of people in order to connect with friends. Sometimes just picking up the phone is enough to fend off depression and anxiety.

3. Add Some Structure

Summer is typically more relaxed, which is why some people look forward to the season all year. It’s nice not having to get the kids out of the door at 7:30 a.m., lunches packed. But those of us who are prone to depression do better when we have some structure to our day. If you don’t work outside the house, you may have to design this structure during the summer months and dig deep for the discipline to stick with it.

4. Stay on Your Sleep Schedule

Related to the last point, it’s easy to get off a regular sleep schedule in the summer if you don’t have anywhere you have to be at 7:30 in the morning. A few days of sleeping in feel great, but an aberrant sleep schedule is a slippery slope to depression for many of us. Even if the day’s events are changing from week to week, make sure to keep your sleep schedule the same: Go to bed at the same time every night, wake up at the same time every morning. Try not to sleep much less than seven hours and no more than nine hours a night.

5. Hydrate

Dehydration is one of the conditions I mentioned in my post 6 Conditions That Feel Like Clinical Depression But Aren’t. It sneaks up on you, because by the time you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. According to two studies conducted at the University of Connecticut’s Human Performance Laboratory, even mild dehydration can alter a person’s mood.

Dehydration causes a shortage of tryptophan, an important amino acid that is converted to serotonin in the brain. Our bodies can’t detoxify when there is a shortage of water, so tryptophan isn’t distributed to the necessary parts of the brain. Low levels of amino acids in the body can contribute to depression, anxiety, and irritability. A good way to make sure you’re drinking enough is to calculate how much water you should be drinking based on your weight, height, and age, and then fill up two or three containers equaling that amount of water and stick it in the fridge each night before you go to bed. Each day, try to drink enough to empty the containers.

6. Eat Mood-Boosting Foods

It’s not uncommon to eat more sweets and drink fancy, fruity drinks during the summer. But sugar is poison to depression. For one, it causes spikes and drops in glucose, and your brain does much better when it has an even supply of blood sugar. Processed foods — those that come in pretty packages listing a bunch of ingredients you can’t pronounce — aren’t going to help your depression either. During these hot months, stick with foods that can boost your mood, like turkey, pumpkin seeds, fatty fish, walnuts, turmeric, dark leafy greens, avocados, berries, and dark chocolate. I try my best to be sure and pack some nuts and seeds if I’m going to a picnic because the average American picnic is not supplied with brain food. And even one day of eating processed junk, and especially sugar, will do a number on my mood.

7. Get to the Water

Hanging out near water is one strategy for calming down your nervous system that Elaine Aron offers in her book The Highly Sensitive Person. She writes, “Water helps in many ways … Walk beside some water, look at it, listen to it. Get into some if you can, for a bath or swim.”

I find this to be especially true during the summer. I love to run by the Severn River, or walk to Back Creek at the end of my street, or have my lunch on the dock by Spa Creek. I find that being close to the water does calm me down and reminds me what I like most about summer.

8. Avoid Diet Soda

It’s easy to grab a Diet Coke when you feel hot and thirsty, but a study by the National Institutes of Health (presented at the 2013 American Academy of Neurology meeting) showed that people who drink four or more cans of diet soda daily are about 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression than people who don’t drink soda.

People with mood disorders are especially sensitive to the superficial sweeter aspartame in most diet sodas. In fact, a 1993 study conducted by Ralph Walton, MD, of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine found that there was a significant difference between aspartame and placebo in both number and severity of symptoms for people with a history of depression, but not so for persons with no history of a mood disorder.

9. Replace Your Depression Triggers

In their book Extinguishing Anxiety, authors Catherine Pittman and Elizabeth Karle explain that in order to retrain the brain from associating a negative event to a trigger that creates anxiety, we must generate new connections by exposure.

So, for me, I need to replace memories of depression relapses in the summer (which trigger anxiety for me during the summer) with positive summer events. One way I’m doing this is by getting involved in the kids’ golfing events. It gives me joy to see them learn a new activity and it generates happy memories of my dad taking my three sisters and me for a ride on the golf cart when we were young.

10. Try Something New

Summer is a great time to try a new activity. Ten years ago, when I was emerging from a severe depressive episode, I took a tennis class with about 20 other women. It was one of the best things I ever did to move past the depression. I still remember the evening that I thought to myself, in the midst of executing a volley, “I am going to beat this thing” (the depression, not the ball).

For the last few summers, I’ve tried new things: kayaking, paddle boarding, and open-water swimming. Each activity has helped my mood because it not only distracts me from ruminations, but the process of learning a sport gives me confidence. Neurologists have found that trying something new essentially rewires our brain. In the process of learning, our neurons become wired together.

Originally posted on Sanity Break at Everyday Health.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2017/06/28/10-summer-depression-busters/

[erraticfairy]

10 Summer Depression Busters

Although my mood seems to be better with more sun, I understand why a substantial number of folks get more depressed in the summer. Extreme heat is hard to tolerate. In fact, in a study published in Science in 2013, researchers reported that as temperatures rose, the frequency of interpersonal violence increased by 4 percent, and intergroup conflicts by 14 percent.

There are four distinct types of people when it comes to weather and mood, according to a study published in Emotion in 2011.

Summer Lovers (better mood with warmer and sunnier weather)

Unaffected (weak associations between weather and mood)

Summer Haters (worse mood with warmer and sunnier weather)

Rain Haters (particularly bad mood on rainy days)

Ten percent of those diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder suffer symptoms at the brightest time of the year. The summer’s brutal heat, bright light, and long days can affect a person’s circadian rhythm and contribute to depression for the opposite reasons that winter conditions do.

If you’re a Summer Hater, or just notice that your mood is affected negatively by the heat, here are some summer depression busters that may help you better tolerate these months — maybe even enjoy them.

1. Plan Something Fun

You don’t need to plan some elaborate cross-country trip that’s going to deplete your savings. Just taking off an afternoon to have lunch with a friend or go kayaking by yourself can be a pleasant break and something to look forward to. When I was working through a severe depression, someone told me to plan something enjoyable every few weeks to keep me motivated to keep going. Scheduling fun activities sporadically throughout the summer might help carry you through some hot afternoons.

2. Be Around People

It can be as tempting to isolate yourself during the summer months as during the winter months, especially if you have body image issues and don’t like showing your legs and arms. But isolation breeds depression, especially if you’re a ruminator like I am. You don’t need to hang out poolside with a crowd of people in order to connect with friends. Sometimes just picking up the phone is enough to fend off depression and anxiety.

3. Add Some Structure

Summer is typically more relaxed, which is why some people look forward to the season all year. It’s nice not having to get the kids out of the door at 7:30 a.m., lunches packed. But those of us who are prone to depression do better when we have some structure to our day. If you don’t work outside the house, you may have to design this structure during the summer months and dig deep for the discipline to stick with it.

4. Stay on Your Sleep Schedule

Related to the last point, it’s easy to get off a regular sleep schedule in the summer if you don’t have anywhere you have to be at 7:30 in the morning. A few days of sleeping in feel great, but an aberrant sleep schedule is a slippery slope to depression for many of us. Even if the day’s events are changing from week to week, make sure to keep your sleep schedule the same: Go to bed at the same time every night, wake up at the same time every morning. Try not to sleep much less than seven hours and no more than nine hours a night.

5. Hydrate

Dehydration is one of the conditions I mentioned in my post 6 Conditions That Feel Like Clinical Depression But Aren’t. It sneaks up on you, because by the time you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. According to two studies conducted at the University of Connecticut’s Human Performance Laboratory, even mild dehydration can alter a person’s mood.

Dehydration causes a shortage of tryptophan, an important amino acid that is converted to serotonin in the brain. Our bodies can’t detoxify when there is a shortage of water, so tryptophan isn’t distributed to the necessary parts of the brain. Low levels of amino acids in the body can contribute to depression, anxiety, and irritability. A good way to make sure you’re drinking enough is to calculate how much water you should be drinking based on your weight, height, and age, and then fill up two or three containers equaling that amount of water and stick it in the fridge each night before you go to bed. Each day, try to drink enough to empty the containers.

6. Eat Mood-Boosting Foods

It’s not uncommon to eat more sweets and drink fancy, fruity drinks during the summer. But sugar is poison to depression. For one, it causes spikes and drops in glucose, and your brain does much better when it has an even supply of blood sugar. Processed foods — those that come in pretty packages listing a bunch of ingredients you can’t pronounce — aren’t going to help your depression either. During these hot months, stick with foods that can boost your mood, like turkey, pumpkin seeds, fatty fish, walnuts, turmeric, dark leafy greens, avocados, berries, and dark chocolate. I try my best to be sure and pack some nuts and seeds if I’m going to a picnic because the average American picnic is not supplied with brain food. And even one day of eating processed junk, and especially sugar, will do a number on my mood.

7. Get to the Water

Hanging out near water is one strategy for calming down your nervous system that Elaine Aron offers in her book The Highly Sensitive Person. She writes, “Water helps in many ways … Walk beside some water, look at it, listen to it. Get into some if you can, for a bath or swim.”

I find this to be especially true during the summer. I love to run by the Severn River, or walk to Back Creek at the end of my street, or have my lunch on the dock by Spa Creek. I find that being close to the water does calm me down and reminds me what I like most about summer.

8. Avoid Diet Soda

It’s easy to grab a Diet Coke when you feel hot and thirsty, but a study by the National Institutes of Health (presented at the 2013 American Academy of Neurology meeting) showed that people who drink four or more cans of diet soda daily are about 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression than people who don’t drink soda.

People with mood disorders are especially sensitive to the superficial sweeter aspartame in most diet sodas. In fact, a 1993 study conducted by Ralph Walton, MD, of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine found that there was a significant difference between aspartame and placebo in both number and severity of symptoms for people with a history of depression, but not so for persons with no history of a mood disorder.

9. Replace Your Depression Triggers

In their book Extinguishing Anxiety, authors Catherine Pittman and Elizabeth Karle explain that in order to retrain the brain from associating a negative event to a trigger that creates anxiety, we must generate new connections by exposure.

So, for me, I need to replace memories of depression relapses in the summer (which trigger anxiety for me during the summer) with positive summer events. One way I’m doing this is by getting involved in the kids’ golfing events. It gives me joy to see them learn a new activity and it generates happy memories of my dad taking my three sisters and me for a ride on the golf cart when we were young.

10. Try Something New

Summer is a great time to try a new activity. Ten years ago, when I was emerging from a severe depressive episode, I took a tennis class with about 20 other women. It was one of the best things I ever did to move past the depression. I still remember the evening that I thought to myself, in the midst of executing a volley, “I am going to beat this thing” (the depression, not the ball).

For the last few summers, I’ve tried new things: kayaking, paddle boarding, and open-water swimming. Each activity has helped my mood because it not only distracts me from ruminations, but the process of learning a sport gives me confidence. Neurologists have found that trying something new essentially rewires our brain. In the process of learning, our neurons become wired together.

Originally posted on Sanity Break at Everyday Health.

from World of Psychology http://ift.tt/2sgVUut via theshiningmind.com