Getting unstuck

and a recipe for a winter stew that will warm the cockles of your heart

Why is it that the shortest month of the year always feels like the longest?

February slips up on us on the heels of January, reminding us that time is passing and we really need to stop saying “happy New Year” to people we haven’t spoken to for awhile. And while the days are getting longer, inch by inch, the deep freeze of winter is well and truly clamped down. Especially when the groundhog has seen its shadow, yet again.

It’s enough to make you want to burrow in beside that groundhog and possibly never come out. And it’s why this month, more than ever, it’s important to shake things up and try something new.

Getting unstuck

It’s easy to get into a rut, and get buried in our routines and habits, perhaps a little too much. While routines can serve us well, and give a rhythm to our days, they can also sink us deeper, drag us down and narrow our vision.

I’m reminded of the barnacles that quietly attach themselves to everything from rocky shores to boat bottoms. Innocuous at first, if left unchecked, those barnacles can cause a boat to drag, burn more fuel and ultimately destroy the hull. It’s why sailors often refer to them as “crusty foulers”. Prying off harmful habits can be as difficult as dislodging those pesky barnacles.

Photo by May Gauthier

Because if there’s one thing we humans know, it’s that changing behaviours and sticking to new ways of doing things is hard work. It’s why diets are hard, and why “Dry January”, which so many people adopted this year, is much easier. Short term wins feel good, and make us feel better.

Small victories

No matter where you are at, shaking things up might be just the thing you need right now. But this doesn’t have to be a seismic shift that completely uproots you. Small wins are easier to find and enjoy.

Rediscover your creative child. It’s no surprise my creativity gets a constant workout in the kitchen, but this weekend I started an eight-week clay wheel throwing class. Getting my hands deep into clay and trying to create a functional and beautiful object using a potter’s wheel brings me to a different place in my brain. Find a focus to re-energize your creativity: take a photography class, start writing haikus, join an online creative writing class. Activate the hidden joyful part of your learner’s mind.

Connect with purpose. Finding ways to connect with friends and family has become fragmented. I love something I read recently from Terrie Moffitt, a professor at Duke University. She advised creating a written contract with yourself to reach out to someone every day. It could be a short FaceTime call, a text, an Instagram message. Most importantly, she advises contacting people who make you feel uplifted.

“Very often people think, I don’t want to bother anyone, so I’ll just sit here quietly and lonely,” Moffitt said. “But if everyone else is feeling the same, how can we fix that?”

Give your brain a break. Our brains are always on, but did you know that after 90 minutes of constant activity, our brains shut down? Not literally of course. You are still sitting at your desk, reading your book, watching Netflix. But our poor, tired, overtaxed beat-up brains want a moment to breathe.

We have fallen so deep into doing mode that we don’t consciously go into being mode. The beauty is that our brain needs very little to grow and recharge, but that can only happen when it is still. You don’t have to become a meditation guru to reap the benefits of a mind at rest. A simple start? Breathing in and out. Try this five minute “body scan” and reap the benefits of a refreshed mind - and spirit.

We may have accumulated more barnacles than we care to admit; overturning the hull might give us a bit of a shock. But don’t start with the power washer just yet. Take little steps to pry off those old winter habits and get ready for springtime ahead.

Beef Catalan

From Falling off the Bone, Jean Anderson

serves 6

There are certain cookbooks that are seasonal favourites in our kitchen. With its mouthwatering recipes for pot roasts, stews, goulashes, hearty soups and more, Falling off the Bone is in heavy rotation here in the deep freeze months of winter, and my husband’s go-to when he wants the slow rhythm of meditative cooking.

With more than 20 cookbooks under her belt, award-winning writer Jean Anderson credits her Cornell food chemistry courses plus years working in test kitchens for teaching her the absolute necessity of recipes that work. This one is proof positive of that approach. Simple and deeply delicious, double the batch so that you can freeze a hearty portion for the chilly nights ahead.

Ingredients

6 thick slices hickory-smoked bacon, cut crosswise at ½ inch intervals

3 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1½ cubes

2 large Spanish onions, half lengthwise and sliced ¼ inch thick

2 garlic cloves smashed, skins removed

Bouquet garni: take 2 bay leaves, 2 3-inch strips orange zest, a 2-inch cinnamon stick, two sprigs of fresh thyme and four whole cloves and tie into a cheesecloth bundle

1 cup beef broth

1 397 ml (14 ounces) can diced tomatoes, with their liquid

1 cup dry red wine, preferably a Spanish rioja or Portuguese red from the Douro region

1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper

½ pound carrots, scrubbed and cut on the diagonal into 2-inch pieces

2 397 ml/14 ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed

Freshly chopped parsley to finish

1. Heat oven to 325F

2. In a large Dutch oven, sauté bacon over medium high heat until the fat renders, about 10-15 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the bacon and set aside on a paper towel-lined plate.

3. Reserve 4 tablespoon bacon fat and heat over medium heat until ripples appear. Brown beef in several batches, about 8 to 10 minutes per batch, setting aside each batch in a bowl.

4. Add onions to pot and sauté, stirring often, until just beginning to brown, about 6-8 minutes. Return beef to pot along with any accumulated juices. Add garlic, bouquet garni, beef broth, tomatoes, wine, and salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

5. Cover pan with a tight-fitting lid and transfer to the oven. Simmer for two hours.

6. Stir in carrots, cover and put back in the oven for 20 minutes. Add the beans, cover and bake for 20 minutes more. Discard the bouquet garni, and taste for salt and pepper, adjusting as needed. Ladle into deep bowls, sprinkle with parsley and reserved bacon and serve with crusty bread.