“I know you have a little life in you, yet. I know you have a lot of strength left.”—Kate Bush, This Woman’s Work, 1988.
When change is the only constant, it can be overwhelming, and I was feeling overwhelmed this past week. Then I realized how refreshing it would feel to listen to the song This Woman’s Work during Savasana. Fortunately I’m a yoga teacher these days, so I made a Kate Bush yoga playlist on Spotify then planned a class.
Care to reap the rewards of my creative process? You can watch this week’s hour-long vinyasa flow class without the music, and you’ll still get a great experience. But my suggestion is to cue up the playlist—linked below the video—to start just as I give the nod on Youtube. You might also choose to make a deal with God, and ask him to swap your places. But…that’s up to you.
This is either going to be amazing, or it’s going to be weird.
Like all the best opportunities.
Love from,
Matt
P.S. It’s my first time trying a playlist with a yoga class, and you may notice a bit of light squeaking in the audio. Sorry! But it’s still fun, I hope.
P.P.S. It’s this week’s vegetarian recipe. Yoga is about ahimsa, or nonviolence, which means a vegetarian diet. But a vegetarian diet does not mean no fun. In fact, it means more awesome, and particularly, more cake:
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from The Gourmet Cookbook, ed. Ruth Reichl. P. 726. Serves 10-12 (or if you can refrigerate it, serves, like, two people, for five days. Just don’t leave the icing out—it needs to be in the fridge after a few hours or you’ll get sick.)
For the cake:
About ¾ pound carrots
2 cups all-purpos flour
2 teasoons baking powder
1.5 tearspoons baking soda
1.5 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups granulated sugar
1.5 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup sweetened flakes coconut
½ cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup raisins (optional)
For the frosting:
2 (8ox packages) cream cheese, softened
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
You’ll need two 9×2 inch cake pans (or 7 inch cake pans if you want the cake to be taller)
Make the cake.
Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour cake pans, knocking out excess flour.
Shred enough carrots with a grater to make 2 cups.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in sugar, oil, eggs, carrots, pineapple, coconut, walnuts, and raisings (if using).
Divide batter between cake pans and bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cakes comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool layers in pans on a rack for five minutes, then run a thin knife around edge of each pan and invert layers onto rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting.
Beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Reduce speed to medium, add confectioners’ sugar, and beat until frosting is smooth.
Place one cake layer bottom side up on a cake plate and spread with some of the frosting. Place remaining cake layer right side up on top and spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.
Eat the damned cake.
I added this instruction myself as honestly, it was the best part.
