Bikram Yoga 60 Day Challenge

At the studio where I practice/work they're doing a studio-wide 60-day challenge, which basically means you sign up to do 60 straight days of yoga to see what happens. I am on day 4 and seem to have taken a couple steps back - the last two days have been more difficult than ever. However, one of the big things about the postures in Bikram is keeping your standing leg locked. I have come a VERY long way in this respect...in a lot of the postures I just stand there with my leg locked and count, then relax, then go after it again. I didn't realize just how out of shape I was until I started doing this practice! ugh!

In other news, the "ice storm" of '09 started out kind of lame - all day on Wednesday the news was on this 24/7 coverage of people clomping around in puddles saying, "Nope, no ice yet." Funny stuff.  That night though, the temperatures finally dropped and there was ice all over the place!  Kyle even got to stay home from work. We worked a little bit on the office, hung up some guitars, and I got to work on learning the mandolin :)

In also made some potato leek soup in honor of our last dinner in Colorado because it was just so cold out and suuuuper tasty!  Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup butter

2 leeks, sliced

salt & pepper

1 quart chicken (or vegetable) broth

1 Tbs cornstarch

4 c potatoes, diced * I used red potatoes and left the skins on 

2 c milk

okay so I cheated, the original recipe called for 1 cup of butter and 2 cups of heavy cream. Substitute in and out as you please :)

In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter and cook leeks with salt and pepper until tender *here's where I added a little bit of garlic* stir frequently, for about 15 minutes

Stir cornstarch into broth and pour broth into the pot. Add potatoes and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Add milk/cream, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Season with salt and pepper before serving. *and if you're adventurous, add a dash of cayenne pepper ;)

This was a really great recipe on a cold, icy day! We ate it with yummy garlic bread :)