Stepping Up

Ohhh the shoes...yes, my new red Signature Series Mary Jane Fluevog Shoes that are worth half my rent and were a present to myself - a graduation gift after a long four years of study. They make me feel sexier and more powerful than ever. In fact, upon first slipping my feet into them, I began to sweat and my heart raced. Suddenly I realized that my feet had experienced their first orgasm.

I couldn't take them off...I washed dishes and folded laundry in them...I'm breaking them in, right? So when I wore them on date #2 with the Illustrator, a sense of power came over me and I felt I could take on the world.

Oh but they're just shoes Melissa...

However this isn't just about the shoes. The shoes are just a symbol of the recent empowerment that I've built for myself. I was no longer trying to find happiness in someone else...I began to discover it within. So when the Illustrator took me on date #2, I went into it with no expectations but to simply have fun. That and to show off my new red shoes of course...prrrrr.

There were no thoughts of...could he be the one? But rather to live in the present and see what happens. The only future that was rooted in my head was the one that I wanted for myself. I realized, I was finally stepping up.

Typically when I hear about stepping up, it's usually in reference to men. How they just don't step up, call when they're suppose to, have little thought and consideration and how we're just tired of it. True...this does exist.

However while I agree that a lot of men out there need to step up, we also have to question, have we stepped into ourselves? Stepping up, is about taking responsibility, not relying on anyone for our own happiness, but figuring it out on our own.

One of the biggest parts of this requires taking care of ourselves, which is where the food part comes in. If I'm not eating well, I don't have the energy to take on life. After all, my food makes me feel empowered and sexy. But sometimes, I'll admit that I do crave easy and this recipe gives me just that. Now that I'm back in the swing of life and was expecting the Illustrator over for date #3 (yes, date #2 went really well), I decided to make this for us. I know, some may question whether dating is too soon but I'd like to think that I'm not going to spend my summer cooped up in my apartment wearing black. So instead I decided to enjoy myself this summer and date. This recipe that I made for us is one that's helped me gain my power back when I thought I'd lost it...a power that I'm never willing to give up ever again.



STEP UP SEXY CHICKEN
1 sheet of parchment paper about 10cm x 10cm long
1 chicken breast
1 tbsp Patak's madras curry paste
Pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 400F.
Marinate the chicken in the madras paste and set aside.
Fold the parchment paper in half and cut half a heart. Open it up to reveal the heart and place the chicken on one side.
Fold the other side of the heart over and roll the edges in to secure. Place it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for 25 minutes.
Serve with salad like the Sexy Green Goddess Connection or a basic green salad like I've done above. Simply place chicken on mixed greens of your choice, top with goat cheese and add in a little Sexy Maple Walnuts with Bite.

Now chicken can be tricky. If you're not careful, you'll dry it out but this method creates a juicy chicken every time. Plus, being a blood type O, I thrive off of protein. Not to say that I follow the Blood Type Diet down to every detail, but I do tend to fair better off of more protein and less carbs. Not zero carbs folks because we need them for their B-vitamins and to fuel our brain. However for dinner, I normally keep my carbs down to a minimum. So when I do make things like chicken, I love to spice it up and madras paste is one of my favourites.

Madras curry paste was named after the city of Madras, now known as Chennal on the south east coast of India. The ingredients are typically comprised of curry leaves, cinnamon, coriander, turmeric and cumin along with other spices. The result is a classic Indian taste with a host of different flavours that stimulates the senses. And while Indian food varies depending on the regions, I love and can appreciate the sophistication of how the spices are used.

This dish was perfect, because I was running behind. However, I needed to step up once more and take care of a little problem I've been having...the fruit flies. I blame the 39 day Toronto garbage strike...ick. After catching them in my homemade trap, I decided to release them out on the fire escape and shut the back door in fear that they'd fly back in. It was then that I had realized...I'm locked out.

And not only that but I'm barefoot with no phone or keys...shit, shit, shit.

Panicking, I climbed the fire escape and knocked on my neighbours back screen door. (No answer)

Hello? (No answer)

I stood there for a while contemplating...
...if I ran through their apartment, would they catch me? Would I catch someone in their gitch or worst...naked? This is crazy Melissa. You wouldn't want someone running through YOUR apartment, would you?

But desperate times calls for desperate measures...and I needed to step up. So after a couple more knocks and some deep thinking, I did it...I made a run for it.

Jetting through their apartment I found the door and unlocked it as quickly and as quitely as possible. Running down the stairs and taking a breather by the wall, I looked up and thought...

I hurdled over shoes and rollerblades...I'm like a pro-athlete!
No, more like a stealth ninja...no, a fashionable Yoga Ninja who made her escape!

However when I made it to my front door I realized...it's locked too...shit, shit, shit.

Frantically knocking on one neighbour's door to the next, I finally found an answer when a petite Asian girl opened her door in nothing but her boyfriend's long shirt. After trusting to let this barefoot Yoga Ninja in, we joined forces and decided to investigate my windows and see if we could pry them open. But it was no use, our combined powers weren't strong enough. We realized there was only one answer...break the window. After all, I had to rise above and step up once again.

Give me a towel, I said.
What?
Ya, give me a towel, I saw this in a movie once.

Wrapping a towel around my elbow I stepped up and launch my Yoga Ninja self into my bedroom window and gracefully...

...bounced back.

Frantically looking around, I remembered the brick that was on my fire escape. Picking it up I smashed my window, picked out the glass from the edges, threw the towel over and crawled in.

Looking through my cracked window I looked back at my neighbour and said, Thanks for your help. I'm Melissa by the way...apartment 3.
Leanne apartment 4...nice to meet you.

Okay, so maybe running through a stranger's apartment and breaking my window was going a little far in this whole stepping up thing...

When the Illustrator arrived, I was able to indulge him in some yummy food, humor him in with my klutzy story and enjoy what turned out to be a 48 hour date. While I love sharing the company of the Illustrator, I've also taken a liking to having alone time in the my apartment (a.k.a. the Bat Cave in Ghettoville). Thankfully, being alone is no longer scary.

Curling up into my sheets, I decided that I'd take some time to reflect. I realized how proud I should be of myself (not for locking myself out) but for finishing four years of school and how I'm on my way to bigger and better things. Then it really hit me when I took a look at myself laying in bed...I was like a starfish. Maybe I just didn't notice it before, but I realized I wasn't keeping to my side of the bed anymore. No longer did I feel like I only had one half, but rather that I have it all...a world of possibility where I'm finally able to spread my wings...

...and of course show off my shoes.