Besides
teaching special education, cooking, working out, and doing other mundane
things, one of my favorite pastime activities is reading. I love to read,
always have since I was a little girl. During classes, I would hide a book
under my desk, tune my teachers out, and get lost with the characters in my
books. Much like when my students “discreetly” send text messages under the
table and think that teachers can’t tell or see. This is karma and it has come
after me years later! Reading was my number one entertainment and escape when I
chose not to do chores or homework.
It
all started when my mom took me to a book rental place and got me a membership
there. In my small hometown in the Philippines, we did not have a decent
library (probably still don’t). The only library I have ever been to was the
one in my school. It was a sad, little library but back then, I felt like I was
in book heaven. So, book rental shacks were the places I spent precious pesos
on to read books that were not available at my school's library.
In
my younger years, the Sweet Valley Twins series was my favorite… I followed
these California twins and their friends from sixth grade to college. My heart
broke when Elizabeth Wakefield and Todd Wilkins went their separate ways and fell in love with
other people. Wasn’t first love supposed to be forever? I know better now!
Among the many other books that I read were: Sweet Dreams, Babysitters Club,
Nancy Drew (my heroine), The Bobbsey Twins (old school yeah!), and books by V.C.
Andrews, Danielle Steele, Sydney Sheldon, Mary Higgins-Clark, and so on.
Gradually, my taste in books evolved and now I read a variety of genres.
When
I moved here and lived with my friend, Sally, I found my book soul mate in her…
she lent and gave me so many books than I have time to read. In fact, after 5
years of living here, my book pile is still getting higher and wider because I
keep getting more. I’m happily working my way through them. From Sally, I
learned to read multiple books at a time… I never thought I would do this one
day but it totally works for me! Reading one book at a time does not hold my
attention for very long anymore, so I read multiple books over the course of
months or weeks. Every now and then, when I come across something so
spellbinding that just can’t be put down, I breeze through that in one, two, or
three days, depending on how busy I am.
Anyhoo,
I just finished reading three books this past weekend and I want to share them
all with you, one at a time.
1.
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
2.
The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball
3.
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Let’s
start with Steve Jobs’ biography…
Before
Steve Jobs passed away, I did not know him, at all. Never even heard of him.
Ignorant, right? When people talked about his death, I still wasn’t quite sure
I understood what his role was in the world of technology. Now, I know better.
Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs is incredibly well-written. He
portrayed the man’s character honestly and captured his entire lifetime in 571
pages. This seems like an impossible feat to gather up all the important facts of a person's life from birth to death and sum it all up in a book, but Isaacson made it happen. Getting to know Steve Jobs, as more than the face of Apple, through this book stirred up different emotions
in me. I liked him, admired him, hated him, and am deeply inspired by him.
Jobs
was a phenomenal human being (let’s just set aside the fact that he was
brutally honest and was not very sensitive to how his actions might affect
others) who had a vision for the future and technology. Somehow, he knew what
people wanted before they even realized what they wanted. He made people he
worked with do the impossible when they didn’t believe in themselves. Leading
his team, they were able to create and design products that are elegant,
functional, close to perfection (even the parts of Apple products that no one
can see are all lined up perfectly, he made sure of that) and way ahead of
times. Most admirable of all, Steve Jobs loved what he did and believed in his products.
He came a long way from building computers in his father’s garage to
establishing Apple… Let’s hope that his legacy lives on and Apple continues to
make products the Steve Jobs way!
If
you haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend it. Buy it, borrow it, and
then let’s talk about Steve Jobs. It was a slow read for me because of all the
facts and the Apple timeline, but I liked knowing about the company history and
the big role that Jobs played in making it become what it is now.
Before
we move on to food talk, let me share some other facts about Steve Jobs. In his
youth, he had a fascination for Eastern spirituality and Zen Buddhism, which
actually influenced his designs and eye for simplicity. One of his favorite
books was Autobiography of a Yogi. Steve
Jobs also had a weird obsession with food and eating healthy (which turned out
to not be healthy), he was a vegetarian and sometimes would go for days just
eating carrots or apples or drinking fresh fruit juice. In honor of Steve Jobs and
my yoga teacher, I am calling this granola recipe I’m about to share, Yogi’s Granola.
I
gave some of this granola to my yoga teacher a couple of weeks ago and when we
ran into each other at the farmer’s market the next day, coincidentally in
front of a granola stand, she told me how much she loved my granola and how it
saved her that morning because she forgot to eat breakfast before going to the
studio. Then she looked up at the lady who sells artisan granola and told her,
“You have a lot to live up to because her granola is really good”. That made my
heart smile and made me wish I had given her more! Next time Jenn, promise!
This
makes me wonder if Steve Jobs would have liked my granola? Hmmm, I don’t know
if he even ate granola… but you might like this, my yoga teacher did!
Yogi’s Granola (Yields about 7
cups)
3
tbsp coconut oil, melted
¾
tsp vanilla extract
¼
tsp almond extract
2
cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1
cup almonds, raw and unsalted, slivered
½
cup cashews, raw and unsalted, chopped
½
cup walnuts, raw and unsalted, chopped
½
cup sunflower seeds, unsalted
3
tbsp honey
1
tbsp agave nectar
1
tsp cinnamon
½
cup dried cranberries
½
cup sweetened coconut flakes
2
tbsp brown sugar
1
tbsp chia seeds
Set
a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
In
a small bowl, stir together the coconut oil, vanilla extract, and almond
extract. Set aside.
In
a large roasting pan, mix the oats, almonds, cashews, walnuts, and sunflower
seeds. Pour in the honey and agave nectar and stir well using a rubber spatula,
making sure to coat all the dry ingredients.
Pour
the coconut oil mixture all over the contents in the pan and stir well to make
sure everything gets well coated. Sprinkle the cinnamon and give the granola
another good stir.
Cook
the granola in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile,
in a medium size bowl, mix the cranberries, coconut flakes, brown sugar, and
chia seeds. Set aside.
Carefully
remove pan from the oven and stir the granola. Cook for another 20 minutes.
Without
turning off the oven, remove the pan from the oven and stir in the dried
cranberry mixture. Cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven,
stir the granola and cook for 10 more minutes.
Turn
off the oven and place the pan on a cooling rack. Cool the granola completely
before moving it to an airtight container. To speed up the cooling process,
stir the granola every 5-8 minutes. This granola can be stored for up to 7
days.
Enjoy this granola with some fresh fruit
and yogurt, coffee on the side, and a good book!
