“Apologies, we appear to be out of soup, can I offer you something of a more philosophical nature?” ~ Corifucius

LIFE is an extraordinary journey.  A little over a year ago I let loose a powerful freedom in my life as I sold my home, my business, my car (and my television) and walked, head up, eyes clear, into adventure.  I decided to allow myself everything I desired; travel, adventure, visits with people I love, education, new vocation and re-location.

I lived like it was my last year on earth.

30,000 miles later, in my new life, I found myself in a hospital with an earnest looking young Doctor saying “Miss Horton, you realize you are in very critical condition, right?”  No, of course not.  "This is NOT what I ordered!” I said.

I know what I ordered, I ordered HAPPY with a side of giggles and extra rainbows.  Don’t remember “sudden-death-due-to-exploding-minor-organs” even being on the menu, so I sent it back.  (It's not the first time I've sent back a medical diagnosis.) Yet another lesson in “be careful what you wish for”.

“When one lives as though one is dying, one may find themselves facing death.” ~ yup, me again.

Thing is, I haven’t always been happy.  Suffered from varying degrees of clinical depression for large chunks of my life, much of it self induced.  I had a serious case of Trytooharditus as well as a nasty bout of Imsoimportant and the side effects of Imustbeperfectateverything.

I'm fortunate to have found a cure for all that... it’s called... HAVING FUN.  I (re)learned it from the great keepers of wisom on this planet, people under the age of seven.

When well meaning friends talk about nuclear fallout, evil conspiracies and doomsday prophecies I counter with: “Ahhhhhhhhhhha, WE’RE ALL GONNA’ DIE!  Oh, wait...”

I’m pretty comfortable with death.  Not ordering it, but very at peace if that’s what I find on my plate because I've really LIVED.  I have had brilliant days and terrible days and love and heartache and passion and deception and if so I slip on a banana peel and go skidding sideways into at the path of an oncoming bus I hope my last thought is: “Hey, is that a shiny dime on the sidewalk?!”

We are all organic bits of flesh, just as sure as that peach in my fridge has a shelf life --- so do I.

So, while I’m here, I choose laughter.  I choose adjectives.  I choose far too many exclamation marks!!!!!  I choose loud singing (slightly off key) in public places and frequent bouts of spontaneous dancing.

I choose to get up early - or late.  I choose quietly sitting in the backyard in the evening watching wild rabbits hop by without fear.  I choose to listen while others are speaking.  I choose to be accountable for my actions.  I choose to love friends and family even when they disappoint.  I choose chocolate and bacon and butter.  I choose not to watch commercials.  I choose to fill my mind, my home and my LIFE with beauty.  I choose all these things because, they make me SMILE.

Some call me naive. (Some have called me worse.)  Oh well.  Don’t see them breaking into spur-of-the-moment fits of giggles, so who’s naive now?

When I take a deep breath and look out the window all I see is miracle after miracle.    And I just... smile.

“There are two ways to live: you can live as it nothing is a miracle; or you can live as if everything is a miracle.” ~ Albert Einstein

I’m gonna’ go make a peach, melon salad now (with a little lime juice and cilantro) I hate to see a peach live an unfulfilled life.

*insert cheesy smiley face emoticon here*

PS:  I feel great!

Kirk Franklin - I Smile

Celebrate every moment, every milestone, every day, every corner turned.  This is your life. ~ Gypsy

Friday, March 25, 2011. Graduation day at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa.

A day to celebrate the achievements of friends and former classmates, cheering wildly from the bleachers, herding them into small groups for forced photo opportunities.  These are the moments that make up our lives.  Milestones remind us how far we've come, they demonstrate the trajectory of our life and allow time for renewal and adjustment.

Each life is formed by the choices we make.  Perhaps the most important life lesson - learned at any age - is the lesson of learning to trust yourself and the choices you make.  Interesting that this day of celebration should fall on the anniversary of the day that changed my life.  One year to the day since my final departure from The Dragonfly Inn, the day I embarked on a whole new life.   In it - I gave myself a freedom that before I'd only dreamed of.

I created something totally new and recreated myself in the process.  On those days when doubt creeps in, I step back to see the bigger picture, the underlying passion that is the foundation of this new life.  Five countries and 30,000 miles.  I let my desire for salt and sand lead, followed with an insatiable desire to learn.  I did things I've never done before, I learned to 'wing it' in whole new ways, and the results are nothing short of amazing.

I learned to think less and feel more.  The heart has greater intelligence than the brain --- it will tell you when to move forward, when to stand still and when to run like hell.

I learned to listen to my heart... one thing I know for sure... it always works out.   Every single time.   So if it looks like it's not working out that just means it's not done cooking yet.

"How long do we cook it Chef?"
"Until it's done..."

I chose not to walk across the same stage as my former classmates now graduating from Intermediate Cuisine. Instead I chose my own stage, pushing to new heights and professional achievements, following my bliss.  I have my own trajectory of life, love and personal happiness.

The way we create success is not by turning our back on those we love, but by wrapping our arms around them at every opportunity, no matter where we go, because that is where happiness lies...

... in the heart.

I have a good heart.  It guides me well.  I trust it.  It loves champagne and celebrations, naps, chocolate and laughter.  Can't wait to see where that heart takes me next.  It keeps going on about Italy... this should be interesting.

Apparently, it's not done yet.

This is my own version of  'Superior Cuisine'.   This Gypsy has itchy feet.

Congratulations on a job well done! Drink in your life...

On December 17, 2010 we gathered in Ottawa's National Arts Centre as one, student body.  We were fewer than when we began three months ago - wiser for the experience and slightly thicker around the middle. 

As valedictorian Ashely Ndamvo put it (in one of the most eloquently delivered speeches I have heard in a very long time): 

"...pre Cordon Bleu weight and post Cordon Bleu weight..."

On this day we shared a common goal; to walk across that stage and collect those tokens that mark this right of passage.  To say:  "I am ready for what lies ahead."

For those receiving their final parchment, graduating from Superior, this marks the beginning of a new voyage.  Stepping outside the Halls of Butter they will find their own way as Cordon Bleu Alumni.  I wish you a safe, joyful journey and encourage you to stay in touch... share that path with us.

For those who remain, entering Intermediate and Superior both Cuisine and Pastry - there remains much to learn. 

Graduation Day was not without sadness for me.  I am so very grateful for those that gathered... the cheer that made me blink back happy tears from new friends, new confidants, new "family", new peers...  but I could not help but feel a sense of loss for those faces I would have liked to have shared in that moment. 

It is a sadness I let pass.  That I have this moment to share is a sign of growth and movement in my life and soul.  On so many occasions I could have walked away, I could have been broken and lost but instead I am so very found. 

Found in community and a sense of belonging so deep that it moves me - greatly. 

On those days when I have no will to believe in myself, I have you. 

(... and butter.)

In this moment of cosmic in-breath, this long night of darkness as we move towards winter solstice - this time of reprieve as we move from one year into another - it is cause to reflect on a journey well-lived in one of the most powerfully uplifting years of my life.   

The year I let everything go and let what was new... find me. 

My "Life from Scratch Tour" an adventure of 20, 000 miles (and counting).  In Mexico I was found by - Rest.  In Belize, Recreation.  In New York there was - Reunion.  In Cuba I met  - Resolution.  In Honduras I was hit hard by - Revelation.  Retuning to western Canada my heart sored in - Reconnection. 

But Ottawa, has been the most magical of them all, it is in this place that I found... REINVENTION.   Or rather, it found me. 

I like this new life... I made it from scratch.  (I used lots of butter... and salt.) 

This was as far as I planned... Basic Cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu's Ottawa campus.  Complete.  This next thing is all new. 

The new term at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa begins January 7th, 2011 and I will be joining my classmates as an Intermediate Cuisine student.   Doors swing open, there is so much MORE to share, to enjoy and to tell.  We will see where that takes us.  I do not know the way from here.

Before we knew the earth was round explorers would use maps of the 'known world' and on the edges there was a notation: "Here there be Dragons."

I have entered the land of Dragons.  (That`s OK... I am one!)

So be still my Gypsy feet, beat well my Gypsy heart, unleash my Gypsy soul.  I may steal your horse and your heart... you might get one back but not the other.

Let loose the Dragons... I am... home.

Ottawa. Enchanted by the lights of "home".

"Your plate is too busy" says Chef Armando, Cordon Bleu Instructor. "Good. That's what I was going for!" says Gypsy.

“Tell me how it tastes... is it salty or sweet?  Is it bitter or is it bland?  Did you even... taste it?”

When was the last time you slowly licked the bowl?  When was the last time you indulged in ice cream straight from the container?  Drank milk from the carton?  Broke the rules?  Laughed until your sides hurt?  Cried until there were no more tears?      

When was the last time you went to the movies and said “BUTTER.  LOTS OF BUTTER!”       

When was the last time you ordered dessert?       

For too long I lived in a box.  It was a lovely box... a big box... but still, a box with a lid.  Expectations were killing me.  Mine mostly.  How sweet the taste for freedom when you allow yourself a little indulgence.       

It is a slippery slope... first a little sip... then next thing you know you are hip deep in chocolate sauce and whipped cream and a smile a mile wide.       

I choose the sweet life.  I am learning to live with easy... which is much harder than it sounds.       

In throwing off the lid I found new tastes, sensations and favours.  Some I like.  Some I choose not to taste again.  I’m not a big fan of bitter... but I love the taste of lemon.         

After the bitter, the sweet is... sweeter.       

Life without salt is bland and lacking.  Why lack when there is so much to love?!      

On this journey of discovery I am joined by those as crazed as me.  Some itch for newness, some for comfort, others for those things they have yet to experience.      

"Your plate is too busy" says chef Armando.  GOOD!  Look at those gorgeous candied oranges, I made those!  I'm showing them off and the 'ciggarettes au amandes' cookies that rolled so perfectly.  Yup, made those too.  I'm not setteling for 'less' anymore.      

Less is not more... more is more!  Less is for pain and loneliness.  Less is for toothaches and debt.  I'm in the mood for MORE.  Load it up... give me cream and sugar and if  my plate is too full, I'll just grab another! I can cope with more.       

My father’s watchwords of “hard work” and “toil” just don’t seem to work for me now... that works is just the opposite... path of least resistance has replaced the rocky road.       

Rocky Road... is for ice cream!      

(mmmmm... ice cream...)          

Live your sweet life!

"Souffle glace a l'orange" is French for "Tastes like a creamsicle!" Sometimes spoons just aren't enough...

Gypsy note:  I know,  you've never seen so much of me... (or my crazy classmates, Nicole, Susan & Danica...) but there you are.   Get ready for a TON of new posts on Ottawa and the amazing FLAVOUR ADVENTURE... thus far.  MORE!!!!

Tourists lounge by the pool.  Taut nubile bodies in high-cut bottoms and slack pale bodies with no right to “Speedo”.  Bless Brazilian women.  Bless European men.   He strides by with the same confidence as she - her naked, round rear half exposed in the sun... him... flashing as he walks. 

I’m just here for the sun. 

One must assume that he purchased that Speedo in 1976. It makes me wish Speedos had an expiration date, slowly rotting away in a drawer only to be left with a tag that reads “Sorry Monsieur, we regret to inform, you are no longer Speedo material”.  I suspect that, if this were the case, he would immediately purchase another.  There should be a licence for such things. 

If nothing else it amuses me.  I practice diverting my eyes.  No books to read, I am content to lean back and watch the clouds go by.   Mist swirling into mist appearing and reappearing.  To the left, a black cloud looms, Havana’s 2 o’clock shower. 

High above us floats a bright butterfly.  Oblivious, it flits along its way, drifting on the breeze on an uncertain course out to sea and just as quickly it’s snatched from the skies by a stealthy swallow. 

Gone is the butterfly. 

Snuffed out and fed to chirping baby birds under the eaves of the Copacabana.  I am reminded how precious freedom is.  Easy and carefree one moment, crushed the next. 

Everybody’s gotta’ eat.

Gathering my things I join my companion, Texas, at table near the sea wall, in the shade.  We're having a lazy day.  It’s not long before the rain starts.  Gentle showers, then without warning, it gushes buckets and sends even the children - delighting in playing in a pool with water that bounces up - scurrying for cover. 

Everybody out of the pool, and into the rum.  Except the kids of course. 

As I sip my Cuba Libre, I ponder... the butterfly... the sparrow... the cloud... the nature of liberty. 

The uncertain future of a nation on the knife’s edge of change.  Will beautiful buildings now compelling become an endless stretch of MacDonald’s and Starbucks in a homogenized post-communist Cuba?  What will become of her people when it is again franchised by America?  Will there be equality in change or simply more disparity?  Time will tell. 

I am grateful to have seen it, flawed and imperfect, still gripping to its ideology, but, everybody's  gotta' eat.  Until then... there is music and beauty in everyday and the smiles of a people so welcoming... I wish them wings. 

Such is a day in Havana.

Stepping out of the airport into the hot, June air, sweet with blossom, heavy with humidity; into the noisy hustle of the taxi men in their clean white shirts.  “Where you go?”   “You need taxi?”  I’ve become accustomed the walking by with a smile and a polite, “No, grasias”.

Cancun.  Just a few miles south, Puerto Morelos.  It’s become a second home. For the first time in my life – I bought a one way ticket that took me to Mexico.  It felt like freedom. 

In the heat, I am waiting on a friend.  He said he’d be here and he will. 

Sweat trickles down my back, travelers come and go and I find a spot where I can see the whole parking lot.  Women in impossibly high heels and make up that has begun to drag, looking for an air conditioned limo.   Tattooed young people laden with heavy backpacks, wearing flip-flops, searching for the right bus. 

Two very different sides of the peso. Viva Mexico.

Time passes in the shade.  The taxi guys work on me some more, there are bargains in the offing. 

Traveling with someone for a time, I was invited.  Waiting, I remember how long it’s been since I traveled with anyone.  This might take some getting used to.  Nice to be asked, nice to have someone to enjoy the journey with, even if just for a while.  We share a common lust for adventure and new discovery, culture and fun and --- we have no idea where we’re going.

Time for something new and interesting. 

I am mentally justifying the amount of luggage I have when he arrives - looking fresher than I feel.  His eyes get wide when he sees my cases (it looks like more than it is!), he shakes his head and laughs “you’re such a girl!”  Can’t argue with that. 

And so my journey with “Texas” begins.