Soba, Shrimp, Sauce and Silly

It’s a doomy gloomy day here in Tampa. I woke up ready and excited to take a long walk for a little cardio action, but the weather had other plans. Maybe it was a sign…cardio is a bad idea! Kidding, of course. But a girl can dream.

 

I really wanted to make some summer rolls tonight but after searching at more than one store for rice paper (don’t get me started…) I gave in and took a different route.

 

I kept with the Asian theme and made a soba noodle salad with crisp cucumber, carrot and red bell pepper, and some avocado and basil for fun I also seasoned the cooked noodles with a little soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and a tiny smidge of sesame oil for some added flavah flaveeee.

I have also been slightly obsessed with shrimp lately…they are so delicious! I whipped some up on the stove with lime juice, mint and basil to toss into the salad.

 

And what would soba noodles be without peanut sauce? Nothing, my friends. Nothing.

I whirled up some tamari, rice wine vinegar, peanut butter, ginger, garlic, and honey in my magic bullet and but it on the stove over low heat for a bit. It gave it a nice golden brown hue and thickened it up to make a nice sauce.

 

And voila!

Hungry Yogini’s Tips: This would also be really great with some green onion thrown into the salad too. You could also make this in advance and keep it in the fridge until you are ready. Yum!

 

Off the Mat

 

This past weekend I attended a Budokon workshop. What’s Budokon,  you ask? Well, here’s a little description from the official Budokon site:

The Budokon physical practice draws upon ancient and modern yogic and martial arts styles. The foundation of the Budokon physical practice is precision, alignment and Zen mind. All Budokon techniques are designed to explore the body’s full range of motion. The practice dances between agility, control, speed, power, balance and flow. The physical practice is divided into two themes: The Yogic Series, and the Budo Series. Both themes constantly draw from and depend on each other. The Budokon Yogic Series was heavily influenced by Iyengar and Ashtanga yogic techniques and alignment. The focus is on control, calm, power and precision. These techniques are uniquely different from traditional Hatha Yoga in the sense that they not only work to improve range of motion and strength, but they also explore the body’s ability to sustain another person’s body weight. The Budokon Budo Series is a combination of standing and ground techniques drawn primarily from Okinawan Karate-Do, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and Olympic Style Tae Kwon Do. The objective of this series is to teach agility, power, focus and flow in the body and mind.

Pretty cool, huh? A lot of the work we did this weekend was with core strength and whole body movement, finding length and strength in every part of the body in poses.

 

I really didn’t like Budokon. I LOVED IT! The movements were very fluid and graceful and we were constantly moving and flowing to different poses. Even the transitions to different poses were graceful. Think rolling from your back into handstand…cool!!!!! You know how I feel about handstand!

 

The best part of the practice was that it was very playful. We spent a good half hour learning to crawl on the ground like various animals. Yep, we really did! I learned to move like a panther, an alligator, a lion…a chimpanzee. It was quite hilarious but the best part was that we could just laugh and play and let loose a little bit.

 

So be silly, my friends. It’s good for your soul

Tagged as: pasta, Salad, shrimp