As an avid cook, I realized this is a good place to post recipes I want to share with my friends. Here’s the first installment. This is one of my favorites. I have made it dozens of times, and it is always fabulous and everyone loves it:

Curried Pear and Butternut Squash Soup (Courtesy of “The Box”, with Erika’s modifications)

In a large pot, heat I T olive oil over medium heat.

Add, 1 chopped yellow onion and sauté until soft

Add 1 minced clove of garlic, 1 T each curry powder, brown sugar, and ground cumin. Cook while stirring for 1-2 min

Add 6 cups vegetable broth, 1 ½ pounds butternut squash (peeled, seeded and diced), and 4 ripe pears (peeled, cored, and diced).

Bring to boil.

Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 30 min, or until squash and pears are very tender.

Remove from heat, cool a bit, and then transfer to blender or processor to puree in batches.

Return to pureed mixture to pot to reheat. Add salt & pepper to taste.

In a separate fry pan, over high heat, quickly brown 2 T whole cumin seed.

Drop the cumin seeds into the soup and stir, releasing intense cumin flavor.

Serve garnish with chopped cilantro and a dollop of plain yogurt, if desired.

I am excited to announce a new weekend retreat I will be offering May 21-23, 2010: Essential practices for well-being. This will be a special weekend of relaxation, meditation, Tibetan yoga, and practices for opening the heart and opening the senses. All held at the beautiful Ratna Ling Retreat Center. Check my website for enrollment information — should be any day now.

In case you did not make it to the SwissNex meeting in San Francisco, we had a great day of meditation and research. Here is a cool video snippet the SwissNex folks put together to commemorate our lovely day.

Hi Folks:

I will be speaking on my research on the Shamatha Project (on a panel with other meditation researchers) and teaching a meditation session at the SwissNex conference on “Science of Meditation” in San Francisco, this Friday, October 16, 2009. For more information see the SwissNex website. This event is open to the public.

Hope to see you there!

–Erika