Goodbye WKA

For months I have poured my enthusiasm, efforts, and creativity into other outlets besides What Kate Ate and as I prepare to fly home to relish in time with family and friends, enjoy fresh New England seafood, and splash in the ocean it seems fitting to call an end to this chapter of my life.

WKA has provided me with happiness, opportunities, and inspiration. But it inevitably has also created tension, guilt, and frustration. Over  time the blog dropped in priority as I began living more fully in other areas of my life and allocating less time to catapulting this blog into the success that I once dreamt it could be.

As I step out from beneath this platform I am entering other areas of growth in my life. I am recommitting to my personal yoga practice and am slowly turning yoga into a career. I am developing my new website KateConnellYoga.com which will have a blog feature complete with yoga musings, yogi recipes, and photography. I’m slowing down a bit and enjoying time in my kitchen and putting my domestic side to use as I can my way to queendom. And I’m quenching my insatiable desire to travel with Matt by my side.

And I’m celebrating life.

What Kate Ate turned into more a reflection of how I strive to live my life than a reflection of what food passed my lips everyday, and the transformation that this blog has allowed me to undergo is sacred to me. I wish all of you musings of travel, yoga, and food and I promise that I’ll never change.

Tea Tasting

Recently Lipton sent me an email asking if I’d be interested in reviewing their new natural tea line. It sounded like a perfect excuse to gather my tea loving friends for an evening of wine-like tea tasting.

Matt and I invited our tea loving friends for a blind taste test of the six wines Lipton sent me including a watermelon, passion fruit, and citrus.

Although the flavors were hard to blindly identify they possessed a juice-less quality that would satisfy someone looking for a tea-juice hybrid. The diet teas were a bit fake tasting but I enjoyed the non-diet varieties, especially the lemon one which resembled a Southern sweet tea.

Overall the teas were a bit less natural that I had hoped, but I am positive that sweet tea lovers, those looking to jump from sugary juices to a more natural, tea like beverage, and those looking for flavorful calorie free options will find enjoyment out of one of their new six flavors.

Thank you Lipton for the opportunity to share your product with my friends. And for keeping our thirst quenched in this 95 degree June weather!

10 things you should bring camping

1. Buffalo potato chips from Target.

2. Sunscreen.

3. A pamphlet for the Covered Bridges of Madison County. Unless you aren’t in the middle of Iowa. Then that just might be strange.

4. Enough battery life in your phone to drunk Twitter with your mom and sister.

5. An overweight piebald Dachshund with a great appreciation for belly rubs, Quaker Oatmeal Squares and exploring tall grass.

6. Sunglasses and J.Crew flip flops, so you only look mildly as gross as you feel.

7. Fishing equipment for bored boyfriends who enjoy touching you with their slimy catch. I’m not kidding.

8. Enough fruit to last for days, even if you plan to eat only s’mores.

9. Fluff. Raspberry Fluff.

10. A camera to capture all of the insane, funny and peaceful moments.

Fill your glass

The last week and a half has been filled with celebrations, glasses of wine and tastings at wineries in various states so it’s absolutely fitting that today marks one of the coolest holidays I know of: National Wine Day.

To be completely fair my appreciate for wine is new and ever growing but I currently have five bottles of wine in my fridge and none of them are Arbor Mist. Matt and I agree it’s progress.

And even though I hardly cook with the stuff, still can’t chew on a deep red or say that I’ve been to every winery the Upper Mississippi Valley I’m working on it.

Mom, who knew that your birthday and National Wine Day were in the same week? Vacation Appreciation Day and I love Marshall’s and TJ Maxx week must be just around the corner!

Nantucket v Martha’s Vineyard

For the first time in five years I will be back home for a summer visit to the East Coast and I am dragging my Iowa boy along with me.

Naturally there are a million things I need to do. You know, like drink wine with my mom, lick melted Ben and Jerry’s ice cream off of a delicious waffle cone, and head to the beach. And then there is the excitement building day trip to Nantucket or the vineyard.

Yes, this Dunkin Donuts drinkin’, Red Sox supporting Massachusettian has never been to either, but I’m ready to cross one off of my life list and give Matt a true feel of New England charm.

Experienced islanders: which island would you chose and why?

Scoring deals on yoga

I felt like it was only necessary to follow up a claim such as “if yoga is a priority to you, you will make it happen” with a list of possible ways to lessen the cost of yoga classes.

Although I strongly believe that most people have the financial means to incorporate yoga into their lives should they deem in a priority by skipping their daily Starbucks run or not spending $100 on yoga pants, I am also aware that now more than ever people are cutting corners, looking for deals, and genuinely into saving money – heck, even I am! But being frugal doesn’t have to mean forgoing yoga and it’s benefits. And yoga is certainly not supposed to be exclusively for trust fund babies and the economically elite.

Explore gyms and recreation centers

I developed my passion for yoga far away from a traditional studio, in fact I was taking classes at the recreation center in which I worked (and still do!) at a significantly more affordable price than area studios could offer. And I got great instruction. But not everyone does. In fact, some gyms and recreation centers don’t require certification from their instructors and this is a disservice to you. It’s only a bargain if you are getting a great teacher and a great experience, otherwise keep moving down the list.

Trial passes

Most yoga studios offer introductory offers to new students. These offers can vary, but many are doing $20 2 week unlimited passes, and the like. These passes give students the opportunity to try out a studio and sample as many types of classes and instructors as possible in a short amount of time for a good

Group buys

I get about 5 emails a day from area group buy programs like Groupon and Living Social. These deals are the perfect way for a traveling yogi to sample out nearby studios and perhaps find a forever yoga home.

Volunteer

A lot of studio owners are willing to barter classes for desk work, you just have to ask. If you value yoga and have a bit of free time in the evenings, trading classes for a few hours of work might be a deal you are willing to negotiate.

Group privates and guided classes

Guided practices are hit or miss in most communities. Do a bit of research and find out if you have a local studio that offers a studio space for people to come in and practice on their own, with only physical adjustments and one-on-one guidance from the teachers. Classes where you do the same sequence day in and day out provide your body with a system and allow you to see progress in all areas of your body and life.

Teacher in training

Most soon to be yoga teachers are eager to practice their newly acquired skills and you may be able to find a soon to be certified instructor who is willing to teach you at a reduced price (until they get certified of course!). This can shave off the cost of attending private sessions with a distinguished teacher and give the soon to be instructor some practice with someone besides their family or friends.

Podcasts, DVDs, books

I put this option so far down on the list because I feel it’s hard to find a good section and beginners belong in a classroom. But with my opinions aside, you might find that for now podcasts and DVDs are the best options for you, and I can not deny you of that. They are cheap, accessible, and can offer a great deal of variety, so use them as a tool to develop a love for yoga and a preference about style, teachers, and the like.

At home practice

Nothing beats an at home practice of your own. A lot of people, including yoga teachers, have a hard time reaching this point on they’re own, but ultimately this is your final destination. To get to and sustain this type of practice (which is virtually free) requires a lot of experience with yoga and finding out what it takes to balance your body and bring you closer to stillness. Once you have, well, then you have mastered the art of being your own teacher.

What do you do in order to save money on your yoga practice? Is it an area for splurging or do you have some recessionista tips?

Have I mentioned

There is nothing more fundamentally joyous than camping with the people you love.

Thank you for all of your amazing comment on our loss of Ernie. I wish I could give all of you and your dogs a huge hug.

I’m on a quest to visit as many wineries as possible in the next two days.

I teach my very first yoga class tomorrow.

I love sweet tea vodka. And frozen strawberry lemonade.

Matt and I are planning a European backpacking trip.

It’s the middle of May and I have yet to plant my garden.

The graduate

After five years, four majors, three colleges in two time zones I am finally graduating from the University of Iowa.

I have a lot of people to thank including my parents and boyfriend who supported and encouraged me and the chef at St. Joseph’s of  Maine who single handedly served me more consecutive meals of grilled cheese than should ever be allowed.

I’m in both disbelief and relief and although I can’t deny the uncertainty that is waiting for me after I walk off the stage tomorrow it all seems kind of exhilarating.

I’d be lying if I said my favorite part about graduating so far is picking where to go for dinner to celebrate.

Under an apple tree

Two weeks ago today our dog Ernie ruptured a disk in his back leaving him unable to walk. After visiting multiple vets the diagnosis went from grim to hopeful and we brought him home to rehab him back to health.

Over the next week we saw significant improvements and then a drastic decline in his health. After multiple fruitless treatments and visits with a chiropractor, one week after his injuries began we said goodbye to our first pet.

Certainly there is a void in our lives, but we’re finding it easier to celebrate what we shared instead of dwelling on what we lost.

The four years we spent together we’re filled with laughs, walks, jars of peanut butter, vacations, cuddle fests, licks, howls, prairie dogs, and love.

We love him and we miss him. And slowly we are forming our lives around not having him.

And when we need to be with him we meet under an apple tree.

Coconut Milk Rice Pudding

I’m a Mark Bittman groupie. I love his recipes and have read Food Matters cover to cover at least half a dozen times. His Impromptu Fried Rice and Thai Beef Salad recipes are staples in our house, but until recently I hadn’t tried a single one of his dessert recipes.

Last week on our way to the grocery store I thumbed through Food Matters quickly to see if any of the recipes spoke to me, and I was immediately won over by simplicity of the rice pudding recipe. It looked easy, delicious, and all I need to pick up at the store was some coconut milk.

As soon as the first bite passed my lips I immediately thought about all the other ingredients that would taste amazing swirled inside. For my next batch I’m thinking cocoa powder or vanilla bean. Or maybe a tropical spin?

Vegan Coconut Milk Rice Pudding

2 cans coconut milk

1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 300*. Gently pulse the dry rice in a food processor, to scratch up the grains hulls a bit. Combine rice, milk and brown sugar into a Dutch oven or ovenproof pot.

Stir ingredients together and cook uncovered, stirring every 20 minutes or so. The rice will begin to plump up and the milk will thicken and brown. Continue to allow the mixture to cook as it turns more into a pudding consistency than a pot with rice and milk in it.

I found that it needed much less time to cook than Bittman’s recipe, but I also have an unfaithful oven that has the tendency to overheat. This whole process could take over an hour, so be patient. Allow the pudding to thicken and serve hot, warm, cold, alone, with toppings, with friends. You get the picture!