The fine art of experience enhancement for living a soul-satisfying life

On this Thanksgiving, I am very grateful for what I have been learning over the past few years. Here are some of the results:

Experience is what expands our horizons, allows us to learn, and makes life worth living. I've listed a few things I've discovered about how to make the most of it. :)

Value experience over stuff. Clearing out the excess, both physical and mental, reduces stress and opens you up for new and enriching experiences. Unloading the majority of your material possessions and clutter can be extremely liberating. It frees up time, energy, and money which can be invested in life changing experiences instead.

"Stuff" also includes emotional baggage, which usually boils down to unnecessary relationship drama. Letting go of unhealthy relationships has been by far the most difficult for me. I’m finally coming fully to the realization that some relationships were unhealthy from the beginning, and with the way relationships change and evolve over time, some just become too incompatible after a while, and that’s o.k.

I don’t need to keep trying to continue a relationship that just simply isn’t working any longer, and hasn't been for years. To let it go peacefully and move on is in the best interests of everyone involved. When it comes to our personal relationships, we are naturally drawn to people who we feel can offer us the acceptance, respect, support, and love we need. Those individuals can and do change from time to time.

Experience and explore your inner world. It's fascinating! At least mine is. I guess that's all I can really attest to. For most of us it is largely unexplored territory. Who knows what treasures may be waiting to be discovered and experienced! For example, I love tuning into the guidance of my intuition, and following the path I want to be on. I love that I can feel my own personal power, and allow it to bring an infinite amount of joy into my life.

Refine your experience. As often as you do things the same way, you get the same results, whether you like it or not. Learn from your bad experiences, especially if they stem from your own ingrained, undesirable habits . Become aware of them. Learn from them. Do things differently. Move on to a world of better experiences.

In those kinds of situations it's sometimes fun to do or say the opposite of your natural inclinations and see what happens. Smile when you feel like frowning. Hug when you feel like throwing a tantrum. Sing when you feel like screaming. I've found the results to be not only incredibly empowering, but highly amusing as well. :)

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

--Albert Einstein

Focus on appreciation vs. expectations. If we are constantly focused on an expectation of how we think things should be, to the point of being unable to appreciate the reality we are living in, it obviously creates many problems. Everything is already as it should be in any given moment, simply because that’s the way it is. That’s reality. A focus based on expectations and perceived lack obscures much of the good that exists. A focus based on appreciating reality as it stands will find there isn't anything truly lacking after all. The best thing I can do for myself and others is to bring love to the reality I am living in. The best way to improve my reality is to appreciate it.

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
--Albert Einstein

Learn something new.  There are lots of ways to do this, of course. You could start by taking some classes or lessons. Read a book, perhaps? Also, be sure to make use of free online educational resources. Here's a list of some websites we use to supplement our homeschool. I've learned never to underestimate the joy that comes from learning and experiencing something new.

Travel. This one propels you into the fast lane of expanding your experience. From experiencing new food, people, nature, cultures, ideas, and languages up close and personal, you gain understanding at a deeper level, and it sticks with you. I prefer to stay a few months or more in each new place, depending upon my level of enjoyment. I can explore at a much more relaxed and enjoyable pace, without feeling pressured or rushed. I feel like I can really soak in the experience fully.

Practice emotional responsibility. Take responsibility for your own emotions and allow others to take responsibility for theirs. Blaming other people and circumstances for our emotions, and trying to manage the emotions of others, is counterproductive. It keeps us stuck in unpleasant cycles of experiencing emotional pain without being able to see a way to rise above it. When we practice emotional responsibility we are the ones in control of our own feelings and reactions.

Live in the moment. We are here now; that's what's important. Take time to experience just being in the moment and what that feels like. Feel your feelings. Pay attention to your five senses. Notice your breath. Relax tense muscles. Tune into your inner voice. Appreciate. Practice mindfulness. Soak up love.

Gain experiences that are different from your norm. To learn and grow in new ways, sometimes we are better off facing our fears than in constantly trying to insulate ourselves against them. Step outside of your bubble and explore, particularly if you think your bubble is the best one. We can't truly see where we are or where we're going until we allow ourselves to see the bigger picture. It helps put everything in context and even increases our understanding of things we thought we already knew.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-- T.S. Eliot

Learn to savor contrast. This helps us avoid taking things for granted, and allows us to experience greater appreciation for what we have while we have it. The times when we are compelled to do without, are the times we come to fully appreciate what we had before. Along with that, we can learn to take notice of new things to enjoy in our current circumstances which may not have been available to us previously.

Focus completely on loving someone. Perhaps especially someone with whom you are currently experiencing conflict. Include loving yourself as well, which may be the most difficult at times, but also the most rewarding. Real, pure, freely given, freely received, and resonant, LOVE. That is all I really care about at this point in time. How much do I really care about myself and others? How much do I show it? How much can I and others feel that love? It matters. It may be the only thing that does.

In a nutshell:
Allow your experience of life to resonate in that sweet spot that feeds your soul and frees your spirit.

I know I'm not the only one who has learned some techniques in the fine art of experience enhancement. Please share your ideas below!

Homemade Bagels and Butternut Squash

Bagels can be found in select places in Costa Rica. For example, Bagelman's, here in Escazu. The problem is, they are extremely expensive. We paid about $4.00 for one bagel with flavored cream cheese. 

Now, thankfully, those days are over. I found my very own recipe for homemade bagels online. I tested out the recipe today, and was very pleasantly surprised. They are absolutely delicious! I think they taste much better than any bagel you would get pre-bagged from the grocery store. :) Yay!!!

Homemade Bagels

4 cups flour
1 T sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1 T vegetable or olive oil
2 t yeast
1-1/2 cups of warm water

Soak the yeast in the warm water for about 5 - 10 minutes. Mix everything together in a bowl. The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.

Knead dough on the counter for about ten minutes, or until it  is uniform and smooth.

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest (covered) for 10-20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it until it is about as long as two hand widths. Make a dough circle by overlapping the two ends. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be!

Let your bagels rest on the counter (covered) for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable or olive oil and rub it around.

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!

Let them cool for at least 20 minutes. 

We like to eat bagels with soup and dip them, or toasted for breakfast with a spread of cream cheese. Flavored cream cheese is hard to come by here in Costa Rica, so we like to make our own by making fruit puree (strained, and with a bit of sugar added) and mixing into plain cream cheese. Tonight we had blueberry cream cheese, because I happened to have some frozen blueberries on-hand. So good!

You can add any toppings you like to these bagels. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway etc. bagels just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.

 

Also, I am very happy to have found butternut squash here in Escazu. So, I decided to make some soup with it, and I'm very glad I did. We ate this with our homemade bagels tonight. Mmmm...it is a winner! :) See recipe below.

Butternut Squash Cream Soup

1 small butternut squash
1 regular onion, chopped
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
2 cups water
2 cubes vegetable bouillon
1 baked potato, cubed with skin removed
Salt, black pepper, and ground nutmeg, to taste
1 cup heavy cream

Cut the butternut squash in half with a very strong, sharp knife. Clean out the seeds, etc. Place cut sides down on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. If you don't already have a leftover baked potato on hand, then you could throw a buttered potato in the oven along with the squash at this point.

Heat up the butter and oil in a soup pan. Add chopped onion and cook until tender. Add the water, squash (removed from the skin and cut into pieces), potato pieces, vegetable bouillon, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Cook until vegetables are very tender. Pour soup into blender and make a puree. Place soup back into pan and stir in the cream. Heat well, but don't boil.

Variation:
I didn't have any carrots when I made this, and I didn't want to go to the store for them, but they would be good in this soup. Maybe add up to a cup of chopped carrots, and add them at the same time as the squash and potatoes. Cook until tender.

Got Carrots, Anyone?

I have finally updated the design of my blog. Hallelujah!!

Also, I decided this recipe is just too good not to share, so here you go!

They are delicious served for breakfast with some fresh fruit, yogurt, and juice.

Carrot Muffins with Vanilla Creme Topping:

Ingredients
• 1 cup flour (1/2 wheat flour, 1/2 white flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil and brown sugar; beat well. Combine egg mixture and flour mixture; mix just until moistened. Fold in carrots. Spoon into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes (No more than 20 in my small oven). Let cool before adding topping (see below).

Vanilla Creme Topping:

Ingredients
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 8 oz. carton whipping cream, whipped

Directions
1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer. Beat in brown
sugar, and vanilla. Add honey.
2. Continue to beat until light and fluffy.
3. Mix in the whipped cream.
4. Spread on tops of muffins. May also want to add a sprinkling of cinnamon over the
topping, and/or chopped cinnamon-sugar toasted almonds (see recipe below).
Store leftover topping in the fridge.

Cinnamon-Sugar Toasted Almonds:

Ingredients
1 egg white
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups unblanched almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
1. In a large bowl, beat egg whites until frothy; beat in vanilla.
2. Add almonds; stir gently to coat.
3. Combine the sugars, salt and cinnamon; add to nut mixture and stir gently to coat.
4. Spread evenly into greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan.
5. Bake at 300° for 25-30 minutes or until almonds are crisp (could possibly take a longer amount of time). Stirring once (or more) throughout the cooking process. Cool.
6. Chop some of the cinnamon toasted almonds in a food processor, and sprinkle over muffin topping as desired. Store in an airtight container.

For the love of chocolate and toasted marshmallows

What do you get when you combine:

brownie bites

toasted marshmallows

milk chocolate chips

and

sweetened condensed milk?

Introducing...

Toasted Marshmallow Brownie Bites!!

If you are craving a more intimate introduction, please see below.

Try them out...if you dare. :) It is like two recipes in one. They taste completely different depending upon whether you eat them warm or cold. I made them as regular brownies instead of bites, but they are extremely rich, especially when warm. So, I thought they may be even better as bites, and cuter too. :)

I happened to have the large white marshmallows at home, so I just cut them into fourths, but if you prefer the easy way, just use the miniatures. I only have milk chocolate chips here, so that is what I used. You could probably use whatever type of chocolate you like best.

I kind of guessed on the ingredient amounts as I was typing up the recipe afterwards, so feel free to use a little less or more of whatever you suspect may need adjusting (ie. chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and/or marshmallows).

We had a late lunch yesterday, so we ended up eating popcorn as an appetizer for dinner and these were our main dish, followed up by a dessert of pineapples and mangoes, of course. :)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• dash of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups white miniature marshmallows
(or 16-ish large white marshmallows, quartered), divided

Frosting:

• 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• dash of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Heat 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until melted. Stir in sugar, and cook, stirring constantly, until sugar melts. Cool 15 minutes (I just put it in the freezer for a bit).

Add eggs; stir until blended. Add flour, salt, and vanilla, stirring until blended. Stir in 3/4 cup mini marshmallows (or 8 large marshmallows, quartered), and scoop into miniature muffin tins (about a tablespoon each), lined with paper or foil cups (or lightly greased with butter). Or, you could spread it out in a small rectangular pan like regular brownies instead, just increase the baking time to 30-35 minutes.

Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes (or until set and spongy); cool in pan on a wire rack, or you could just put in the freezer for a while to speed up the process, like I did. :)

Make the frosting: In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt 3/4 cup chocolate with sweetened condensed milk and salt. Cook and stir, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.

Remove brownie bites from the freezer. Arrange the remaining marshmallows on the tops of the brownie bites. ”Toast” them in the oven under the broiler until they are puffed and lightly golden. Remove from oven and spread tops with the frosting. Eat them! Immediately...or as soon as they cool off (just long enough so they don’t burn your tongue). :) This will give you the benefit of having the crispy crunch of the freshly toasted marshmallows. Delicious!...But very rich.

I like to store the leftovers in the fridge. The taste and texture are quite a bit different after that, but they are still delicious...in a cold way.

Happy Eating!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

This is definitely blog worthy. I know it has been a while.

I love this beautiful flower arrangement from Brandon, Emily and Marie. :) They picked all of these flowers from our garden and made them into a beautiful arrangement! Wow, I think it is amazing all of the beautiful flowers we have right here in our own backyard. Those white ones smell heavenly. I put them right next to my bed, so I hope they will induce some wonderful dreams tonight.

I love my sweet little family. :)

Did you know they actually celebrate Mother's Day in August here in Costa Rica? I wonder if they will spoil me again in a couple months? Here's hoping!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Apple-Cinnamon Cheese Scones with Honey-Berry Glaze

I made these delicious scones yesterday, and they were quite a hit. We gobbled them right up. I would highly recommend them, especially for breakfast.

1 Tbls. yeast
1/4 C warm water
1 C milk, scalded
1 1/2 Tbls. butter, melted
1 1/2 Tbls. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 C water
4 C flour (approx.)

Filling:

Soft white cheese (salty is good, I used a fresh white semi-soft type I found here in Costa Rica. It is called Montino), sliced.

Yummy apples, chopped (and peeled) and baked in a covered dish, along with 1/8 C water and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar, for about 30 minutes or until tender.

Topping:
Butter
Jam (we used mixed berry)
Honey

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add rest of ingredients and knead. Let rise until double (I covered the dough ball very lightly with olive oil and put it in a bowl covered on top with a dish towel). Punch down. Roll out. Cut in pieces, approximately 4x4 inches. Put a cheese slice and a spoonful of apples with cinnamon syrup over 1/2 of each piece. Fold over and seal well with fingers, so filling doesn't escape. Fry in hot oil (I used olive oil) on both sides until golden. Top with a little butter. Mix honey and jam together to create a glaze. Spread over hot scones.

Sorry, I don't have a photo of them to show you. I could only think about eating them at the time. I will try to remember to take a photo of the next batch and post it here. :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas in 2009!

Another year has gone by already, and what a life-changing year this has been for our family! We hope and pray that this letter finds you in good health and happiness.

We started out 2009 with a six-week trip to Panama. While there, we explored the country, practiced our Spanish, enjoyed the culture, and grew closer together as a family than we ever thought possible. We also realized during our trip that we want to homeschool our children, learn to speak Spanish fluently, and live outside of the United States for a while. Yes, big changes. More on that below.

We have been enjoying homeschool. Emily is now 6 years old and is becoming a good reader. She loves to read anything she can get her hands on. Her favorite school activity, though, is still arts and crafts. Marie continues to melt our hearts with her sweet voice, and she loves playing anything with anyone. Both Emily and Marie especially enjoy computer games, and make-believe play together.

Jennifer feels like she's grown in many ways this year, and loves being able to spend time teaching the kids. Jennifer has continued to take voice lessons and loves to sing, as well as read. She has spent much of the last part of this year typing all her old journals and recipes she wants to keep, into the computer (we love Google Docs). She continues to keep up on her blog at http://jenshub.blogspot.com.

During the summer, Brandon participated in the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" with South Jordan Community Theater - his first musical theater experience since Jr. High. He played the part of Judah, where he got to sing a fun calypso solo. He made some good friends there and had a great time.

The family's businesses continue to flourish. Music Teacher's Helper now has over 850 paying subscribers, and Studio Helper has about 50. Brandon now takes more of a managerial role, relying mostly on his great teams for the day-to-day running of the businesses. Brandon doesn't do much freelance web programming anymore, either, since he'd rather spend his time on his own businesses and doing other things, such as being with his family, reading, and arranging hymns for the piano (which you can hear on his blog at www.brandonpearce.com/music).

In the later part of this year, after much thought, we chose Costa Rica as our new home for 2010, and we're getting very excited to make the move on January 6th. We have already sold our house in Utah, and most of our possessions, including a new car we just bought six months ago (2009 Infiniti G37xS). We plan to take only carry-on luggage with us to our new home, and we'll be renting furnished places while there. We hope to all learn to speak Spanish fluently, continue growing closer together, find opportunities to serve others, and focus on what's most important to us.

We've learned this year that having a lot of things doesn't make us any happier than we already are. Neither does focusing solely on accomplishing goals, nor relaxing day after day. These are all great and have their place, but don't necessarily increase our happiness in and of themselves. We've found that we're most happy when we try to stay close to God, take time to enjoy each moment of our lives as we live it, and be grateful for all we have, right now - especially our family - while not letting less important things distract us. So, we're slowing down and simplifying our lives, living with less, and trying to enjoy life to its fullest. And what better place to practice these changes than Costa Rica, the land of "pura vida" (pure life)?

To stay up to date with what's happening with us, please check out Brandon's blog at www.brandonpearce.com. He'll be posting regular updates. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
Brandon, Jennifer, Emily, and Marie Pearce