2020: Week 40

September 28, 2020 – October 4, 2020

Bucket List Items Accomplished

• Celebrate Oktoberfest. It would have been the last weekend of Oktoberfest if it was not cancelled in Germany this year. I decided to make and enjoy a feast of different German food all to myself. I still want to celebrate Oktoberfest in Germany one day, but that remains on the Bucket List under travel.
• Make pretzels
• Make kartoffel kloesse (German potato dumplings)
• Cook pork hocks
• Cook something with goat. I made Jamaican curry goat

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Things I Enjoyed this Week

• Fleet Foxes new album, Shore (full album on their official YouTube channel). I’ve listened to this a couple of times now and am thoroughly enjoying it.

• My 30 day exercise challenge continues. Here’s week number three.
  1. Yoga for Neck, Shoulders, Upper Back – 10 Minute Yoga Quickie from Yoga with Adriene. I also went on a long walk
  2. Bicycle
  3. Handstand class number two
  4. Walk
  5. Aerial hoop class. At the end of the class I hung upside down from just the top of my feet and felt very chuffed.
  6. Hike. My mom and I did the Holland Creek Trail loop in Ladysmith in a couple of hours on a perfect, crisp, fall, Saturday morning.
  7. Yoga class

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• I want to continue posting the new words I find in the wild from books or podcasts.
  1. Hies – hasten, go swiftly
  2. Sibilant – sounded with a hiss
  3. Moue – pout
  4. Wilding – a wild or escaped uncultivated plant, especially apples or crabapples

• I watched no Oscar Best Picture Winners.

• I taught myself the following constellations this week.
  • Andromeda or the chained woman, is one of the larger constellations. Andromeda is the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia boasted that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids (sea nymphs) which angered Poseidon. Andromeda was subsequently chained to a rock to be eaten by the sea monster, Cetus, as an offering. She was rescued by and wed Perseus.
  • Aries – Aries, a winged, golden ram was sent by Zeus to rescue the children of King Athamus who were due to be sacrified. The daughter, Helle, fell to her death, but the son, Phrixus, survived. The ram was sacrificed to Zeus and provided the golden fleece for the story of Jason and the Argonauts. They are sent to seek the fleece to place Jason on the throne of Iolcus. Aries is another member of the Zodiac family of constellations.

Meal Prep and New Recipes Tried

I made an Oktoberfest feast for myself.

• Schweinshaxe (German Roasted Pork Hocks) from Oma Gerhild at Quick German Recipes
• Kartoffelkloesse (German Potato Dumplings) from Ela Vegan. I also made some quick fried mushrooms and gravy to serve on the side with these.
• German Style Pretzels from the Bread Kitchen. These were beautifully chewy on the outside and soft on the inside.
• Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Cauliflower Soup from Skinnytaste
• Jamaican Curry Goat from African Bites. The long cook time produced gloriously tender and flavourful meat.
• Healthy Slow Cooker Crustless Apple Pie à la Mode from Amy’s Healthy Baking. I did four hours on low in the slow cooker and it basically turned into chunky apple sauce, but it is absolutely delicious.

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Updates

• I crossed 23 things off of my bucket list. That makes four months in a row of really solid progress on the list, and I think it’s a personal best. I have now done more than 100 things on my bucket list this year.
  1. Crochet
  2. Make corn tortillas
  3. Eat plant based/vegan for a week
  4. Make yogurt
  5. Make chilaquiles
  6. Go river tubing
  7. Make pakoras
  8. Make biryani
  9. Take a cooking class
  10. Make tagine
  11. Make Morrocan mint tea
  12. Make chai properly
  13. Make pitas
  14. Buy and use a brick/cake of pu-erh tea
  15. Try Tai Chi
  16. Make matzo brei
  17. Try trapeze, aerial silks, hoop or another aerial circus class
  18. Bake challah
  19. Go horseback riding again
  20. Try pole dancing
  21. Bake a galette
  22. Try reflexology
  23. Make japchae

• In the month of September I read and listened to six books. I listened to audiobooks for two of them and read four. Here’s what I finished reading this month.
  1. The Power of Ritual: How to Create Meaning and Connection in Everything You Do
  2. The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)
  3. Winterwood
  4. The Wicked Deep
  5. Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death
  6. My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life

• I want to watch more scary movies this October. Here is the list I would like to get through. I have christened the list by starting with Gremlins, Scream, and Poltergeist this week.
  1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  2. The Thing
  3. Halloween
  4. Alien
  5. Scream
  6. Carrie
  7. Gremlins
  8. Hellraiser
  9. Child’s Play
  10. Poltergeist

• If I get through those other movies, here are some more I’ll keep in my back pocket to keep the spooky vibe going all month.
  1. The Cabin in the Woods
  2. Eraserhead
  3. The Fog
  4. Suspiria
  5. Misery
  6. Pet Semetary
  7. Bride Of Frankenstein
  8. The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari
  9. Nosferatu
  10. Audition
  11. Let the Right One In
  12. Get Out
  13. The Conjuring
  14. The Others
  15. The Last House on the Left
  16. The Human Centipede
  17. The Omen
  18. It Follows
  19. The Babadook
  20. Heriditary
  21. Midsommar

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