Finding Focus

My entry before the quick recipe posting talked a little about my focus problem. I decided to dedicate myself yesterday to quieting my mind. All things pointed to the need for this, including my friend's twitter stream Tarot card pick. It called for self focus. So, in my attempt to focus, I spent yesterday recouping. I let myself sleep in quite late. I ate breakfast and did not try to multitask while doing it. I kept the music off and the focus on what I was doing in that minute, whether that be sweeping the house, looking at recipes for Monday's canning session, or organizing up the sewing desk. I did all without a ton of distractions from the television or radio. I even sewed on BART sans the headphones. I think it was good for me to pair things down. I felt more focused as the day went on. I took only one student with me at 826 and tutored just one. I focused in on what we alone were doing rather than room scanning as I usually do. Hey old teaching habits seem to die hard. It was nice. I settled in for a night of knitting something for myself. Usually I am working on items for other people or the store, so it was refreshing to just sit down with a piece of something for myself.

I managed to make that pie on Wednesday. It was a true success. I have Hubert Keller to thank for that. He gave me my crust making mojo back. I am keeping his recipe and not letting go of it! It turned out the perfect crust with no fuss and no need to reroll. I could even pick up the crust off the counter without cracking, breaking, or having to scrape it up with the dough scraper. I am in crust heaven!





I have been informed that I must make pumpkin pie next with this crust. I am willing to bend on this since we are almost into October, squarely in pumpkin pie territory.

Today I am trying to stick with the focus, although I have to admit that music is on the stereo. The pants that I am repairing for a friend will be finished up today. The black pants will have the finishing touches on them, and the first good day for photography, I will be trying out my new photographing spot at the new building. Hopefully it works out as well as the old one did at the last apartment. Here is to looking at a focused weekend with a focused week ahead.