Mardi Gras

Today is Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday - also called Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday. We've come to the end of the Western season of Carnival, which starts on Epiphany (January 6) and ends at Lent. Fat Tuesday is always 47 days before Easter Sunday.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "The 5 Resets"

2. Endgame for resilience

3. Plans for Lent

4. Make carnival corn soup

5. Make a screen mask

1. Read "The 5 Resets":

For Lent, I'm reading "The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience" (2024), by Aditi Nerurkar. My goal is to get wiser, stronger, and more adaptable.

The first reset is to Get Clear on What Matters Most. She suggests that I need to close the gap between knowing what I need to do and taking action. I need a realistic goal, and a realistic plan. 

The first technique is called the MOST Goal (Motivating, Objective, Small, and Timely): I need to choose a motivating goal, something that energizes me; that has objective changes that can be monitored; that is small enough that it won't disrupt my life; and that is time-sensitive, and can be completed in 3-months or less.

I ask myself, "What is my endgame? What does success look like to me? Why am I ready to change?"

2. Endgame for resilience:

Well, I've got three goals: I want to eat less processed foods; I want to be more emotionally grounded, aware, and regulated; and I want to make lots of art, because it's what gives my life meaning. My endgame - By Easter I will have: 

• adopted many healthy choices for snacks and meals without processed food, and be less addicted to easy carbs;
• integrated most if not all of the Emotional Balance Workbook exercises into my everyday life, and feel emotionally grounded, aware, and regulated;
• and completed at least three art projects of some kind. 

Next I need to make a backwards calendar. My first steps are:

1. Perfect a recipe for a tasty homemade multigrain cracker.
2. Practice the breathing and body scan exercises many times this week, and begin to integrate them into my days.
3. Make 5 more leaves for my "Turning Over a New Leaf" project, and photograph it.

3. Plans for Lent:

I chose the double theme of Active Hope and Resilience: 

Active Hope requires that I maintain a clear view of reality; identify what I hope for - the direction I’d like things to move in and the values I'd like to express; and take steps to move in that direction.

Resilience is a set of practical skills that allow me to be strong, flexible, creative, hopeful, and positive, and to successfully adapt to stressors, and bounce back from difficult experiences.

My plan is to-

1. Read and Journal from two books: Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit, and 5 Resets by Aditi Nerurkar (resilience skills); also dive in to articles on climate crisis and solutions, and practical nature-culture.

2. Practice emotional balance skills: This week- breathing and body scan exercises.

3. Take creative action: This week I'm going to work every day on an art project I call "Turning Over a New Leaf", which will make physical my hopes for transforming self and world.

4. Eat simple foods: This year I'm going to fast from anything processed (packaged cookies, crackers, pasta, candy, canned goods, frozen dinners) as much as possible, and that means I'll need to cook and bake my own snacks!

4. Make carnival corn soup with dumplings:

You can see three dumplings in the center of the bowl.

One place with a fantastic Carnival season is Trinidad and Tobago, an island republic in the southern Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela. They celebrate for a month, with calypso music, steel band contests, limbo competitions, and fêtes (French for parties), and finish with street parades on Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

This is a favorite Trinidad carnival food, served by vendors outside of fêtes and street parties. It is one of the most delicious soups I've ever eaten.

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme
• 1/8-c. fresh cilantro
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium potato
• 1 carrot
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• red pepper flakes to taste
• 4 c. vegetable stock
• 1/4-c. dried yellow split peas
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• can of cream-style corn

Dumplings:

• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. cornmeal
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• pinch of salt
• pinch of cayenne
• 2-3 Tbsp. water

Yield: about 6 servings-

1. Chop the onion, celery, fresh thyme, and cilantro. Mince the garlic. Also, peel and dice potato and carrot.

2. Heat oil in a soup pot. Add onion, garlic, carrot, and red pepper flakes. Sauté 3 minutes. Add the celery, potato, and thyme and cook five minutes more.

3. Add stock, yellow split peas, cilantro. and salt and pepper. Simmer partially covered for about 1 hour.

4. While the soup is simmering, make the dumplings: Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, a pinch of salt and a pinch cayenne, then gradually stir in just enough water to make a stiff dough. Knead until smooth then let sit for 10 minutes.

5. When the split peas are tender, add a can of cream-style corn.

6. Roll the dumpling dough into a thin log, and pinch off small pieces to roll into fat, short worms. Drop them into the soup, and wait until they rise to the surface. If the soup is too thick, add a little water.

5. Make a screen mask:
The Cajun celebration today in rural Louisiana is called the Courir (pronounced Coo-REER) de Mardi Gras, or the Mardi Gras Run. It’s a begging ritual, similar to Halloween; people ride around the countryside on horses, wearing masks and costumes, and beg for ingredients to make a gumbo.

My students with their screen masks.

The traditional disguise is a painted wire screen mask, a conical capuchon (pronounced cap-e-shon) hat, and a raggedy fringed shirt and pants. For instructions, look here.