I have lived in Texas for five months now (I thought it was six, got WAY too excited about being here for ½ a year, actually counted and then remembered that math isn’t a strength of mine). Regardless, five months is long enough to begin to feel like maybe, just maybe, this place is becoming my home.

I know what routine feels like down here. My dog has learned the trees. I have learned the streets. I’m already a baby when it comes to the weather. And I say y’all and folks.

I’m a full-blown Texan. (ha)

Although I know I will always be a PNWer at heart, I’ve come to love the idea of being a Texan…wait, let me clarify, I love the idea of being an Austinite.

Here is why:

1. This city is alive. It’s vibrant. It shines.
2. The food trucks are open late and serve fare that is making me drool as I type this. Just the other night, in the back of Cheer Up Charlies, I got two giant freshly made spring rolls with peanut sauce. At 2 am. IPA and spring rolls on a warm January evening. This is what bliss looks like.
3. You can swim nine months out of the year. For a town where summer is a literal oven, the number of natural bodies of water in this town is astounding. Spring fed pools, worthy of night swimming adventures. Paddle boarding, kayaking, and floating down the river with a beer in hand.
4. People smile at you when you’re walking down the street. Small talk is made when you buy your groceries. The handshakes are firm. The sunshine makes people happier. I can get down with all this joy.
5. Young people are everywhere. Austin is the fasting growing city in the USA, and a majority of those people are 20-somethings, looking for new. Similar to me, when you ask people why they moved to Austin, a usual response is, “I needed a change, and Austin was it.”
6. Austin is it.

Homesickness comes and goes. Seattle is in my bones. We got in a sample of beard oil at work the other day (my job RULES), and it smelled like pine trees and cedar. I ached for flannel and damp days. My co-worker joked that all a man would have to do is douse themselves in beard oil and I’d be theirs.

You can take the girl out of Seattle, but you can’t take Seattle out of the girl.

But I’m working on it. I went to a blue grass show and stomped my feet, drank a lone star, and whooped and hollered with the rest of them. I am falling for the combination of denim and worn-out cowboy boots. I am soaking up the warm winter evenings, and days that leave my skin freckled and alive.

Today I went on a “hike” with my dog. As he ran around avoiding cactuses, I realized how familiar all of this seems, and how that’s such a welcome change.

I celebrated this with a giant bowl of soba noodle salad and a good cuddle session with the puppy.

It’s good to feel this alive.

Soba Noodle Salad

• 12 oz of buckwheat soba noodles
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 4 carrots, shredded
• ¼ red cabbage, chopped
• Bunch of scallions, chopped
• 2 cups of kale or mixed greens
• 1 package of tofu, cut into squares

It’s become a habit of mine to get all the excess water out of the tofu. It makes it more dense, and easier to cook with. To do this, I wrap the tofu in a clean dish towel, put it in between two plates, and then put all my cookbooks on top of that and let it sit for 30 minutes.

So if that sounds like a good idea to you, do that first. If not, don’t. Easy enough. Either way, cut the tofu into small squares.

Next, make the dressing. Combine the soy sauce, 2 tbsp sesame oil, rice vinegar and honey together. Whisk and set aside.

Then cook the noodles. Bring a pot of water to a boil, and once boiling add in the noodles. They cook in about 8 minutes. Drain the water and put the noodles into a bowl.

Chop all your veggies and get your tofu ready. Take the remaining 1 tbsp sesame oil and heat it over medium-high heat. Add the tofu, and splash some extra soy sauce on top. Let cook for about 4 minutes and then flip, so each side of the tofu gets a nice crispy outside.

Once the tofu is done, toss the veggies and tofu with the noodles and add the dressing. Mix everything together and enjoy. This is a perfect salad to eat for days and days, as it tastes better cold. Hip hip for dishes where the leftovers are better.

* Note: I always listen to This American Life when I cook, the episode I listened to today was about pig rectums. I DO NOT recommend this. However, catching up on podcasts in the kitchen is heaven.

My body and I, we have a complicated relationship. I adore my thin ankles, I think they make me look dainty. I love that I have a smattering of freckles across my nose, across my chest. I am grateful for my strong, long legs.

Yes, I am grateful. But I also live in this silly world of ours where we place so much importance on physical appearance. So much of our world revolves around if we are “beautiful” enough. And I’m not sure where my self-confidence issues came from. Perhaps they came from always being the tall, “athletic” (or was it big-boned?) one in the group.

For some reason all of my closest friends are 5’4″ (or shorter) little waifs. I’m pretty sure I could blow them all away in one breath. They’re all stunningly beautiful and petite. There is this picture from our sophomore homecoming dance where I literally looked like a giant. I towered over them in a HORRIBLE purple tulle dress, short spiked hair and gloves up to my elbows (I suppose we all had that princess fairy tale… eh?) I think of that picture as the epitome of self-doubt. First of all, why didn’t my friends take me aside and tell me I looked straight up ridiculous? Secondly, WHY AM I SO MUCH BIGGER THAN MY FRIENDS?!? Not a good feeling to have as a braces clad teenage girl.

This is my usual hair style and face… I kid, I kid. I got a LITTLE more style since sophomore year.

Needless to say, I have a love/hate relationship with my body. This body is the one that ex-lovers have described as perfectly curvy. Curvy, eh? That damned “C” word can be interpreted in SO MANY WAYS.

Alright, alright, I’m done whining. Here’s the thing, deep down I know that I am so blessed to have a healthy body. Everything works. I am able to wake up early and walk 3 miles. I can go to yoga four times a week. I can dabble in running, play a round of volleyball, and when I sit all day at the office, my body survives.

I am blessed.

So this brand new year brings about all kinds of changes. New job, new independence, new outlook.

2013, I’m going to make you the year of self-love. Enough of this “I wish I was…” This year I’m going to feed my body real, fresh food. I’m going to spend hours upon hours in the kitchen, studying my recipes like textbooks. I’ll enjoy whiskey when I feel twirly, drink a few when a cute boy wants to teach me to two-step. I will make decadent chocolate desserts, the ones that you serve with ginger ice cream. When I feel like it, I will take a day to reset and dedicate myself to kale.

I will acknowledge my luck. Kiss my knees that are dressed up in freckles, smile extra big in the mirror and pat myself on my back for any and everything.

Here’s to you, 2013.

Spicy Tofu and Wheat Berries

From: PCC Natural Markets

This was one of my favorite things to get at PCC when I lived in Seattle. It was spicy, filling and damned delicious. I think one of the reasons it is so good is because it MAY be dressed in a whole lot of sesame oil, but whatever. The original recipe calls for spelt, but I had wheat berries, so I used those instead. Either will work. Both are delicious. This salad is full of good things, and tastes like heaven in your mouth, so go for it.

• 2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
• 1.5 tbsp brown rice vinegar
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 cup wheat berries
• 16 oz firm tofu
• 1 cup sliced red bell pepper
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup carrots, grated
• 1/2 cup cabbage, chopped

Start your wheat berries. Ideally, you want to soak them overnight. If you didn’t (I didn’t) you can put 1 cup of wheat berries with two cups of water in a pot. Bring everything to a boil, and then reduce heat and let cook for one hour. Drain any excess water, and then leave the lid on to let the kernels continue to steam. Set aside. Combine the tamari, fresh ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, cayenne pepper, sesame oil and olive oil. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and cut your tofu into cubes. Add in 2 tbsp of the dressing, and gently toss. Oil a baking sheet, and line the tofu up on the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Chop all your veggies, and once your wheat berries are done, toss it with 3 tbsp of dressing. Once your tofu is done, let it cool for a little bit and once everything is cooled throw it all together, topping with the leftover dressing. Enjoy. SO GOOD.