Two days ago I went to my first yoga class in over four months. It was uplifting, challenging, frustrating … difficult!  But when it was all done, and my legs had finished shaking, the core feeling I had was relief.  I had been toying with the idea of returning to class for a few weeks but when I got right down to it, fear was holding me back.  I’ve never been a star athlete -and that’s okay! – but I’ve also never had this little strength or control over my body.  When yoga was difficult in the past I  muscled through (just hold on through the breath ~ nothing lasts forever).  That’s not an option anymore.  I lost a lot of strength during the healing of my broken foot, and I lost a lot of feeling, control and balance during my last MS flare.  Stepping back into the studio, I wasn’t sure where I would hit the most challenges.  At the beginning, it was just sitting.  My right ankle was so stiff I couldn’t comfortably sit.  But as class progressed, the things I was worried about ended up being okay, and things I didn’t even think about -ahem, lunges – basically (and almost literally) brought me to my knees.

In the end, it was a relief to physically get through class without having to step out and it was mentally and emotionally a relief to get back to a part of my life that had ceased to exist for over a third of a year.  Slowly but surely, the man and I have been finding a rhythm again ~ getting back to life and the basics.  It feels sort of amazing.
Last night, we decided to do something that we have been wanting to do since our honeymoon.  One of the masterclasses we attended in Aspen was with Andrew Zimmern, who did a whole demonstration on making noodles.  It was fascinating to watch how easily he did it, and we happened to be sitting beside Carla Hall, who was given the finished dish to enjoy.  She graciously shared it with those seated around her … and it was the.best.peanut.sauce.ever.  Seriously.  Incredible.

I have to say, one of my favorite things is cooking with my husband.  Last night was a fun adventure, as neither of us had made a peanut sauce before, we knew we wanted it to taste like the dish we’d had in Aspen … and we had no idea how to achieve that.

The man found a basic recipe online (unfortunately, the recipe for the sauce that Mr. Zimmern made was not one of the included recipes in the Aspen Classic magazine).  We picked up the missing pieces from the grocery store, and went about creating a dish.

The man decanted a nice bottle of vino ~ a staff pick from our local Wine & Spirits store.  It was very bright, and enjoyable.

The man had an idea in his head of what he wanted the dish to be like. He cooked up some bacon and had me chop up some cilantro.  We snuggled up with our wine, and two bowls of fettuccine topped with delicious sauce, bacon & cilantro.  It was a good night.