Our daffodils are blooming! This never ceases to amaze us because:

A. We aren't very savvy gardeners.

and

B. There are times during the winter that we don't even feel like hanging in there.

Friday Night Lights fans will want to check out this Vanity Fair Q&A with Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins).

"Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world"

That is a sentence that one of Mrs. WYA!'s favorite yoga teachers, Gina at Invoke (who no longer teaches a regular class) said during her special New Year's class. It really struck a chord and Mrs. WYA! wondered if it was Gina's own brilliance, which was completely possible, or if it was a quote. A Google search answered that question by attributing it to Eckhart Tolle. What a reminder of how powerful words are. That sentence said in a yoga class then led to reading Mr. Tolle's The Power of Now and A New Earth, along with downloading (for free!) a 10 part webcast that Mr. Tolle did with Oprah on iTunes. These books will either really resonate with you or absolutely not all. They resonated with Mrs. WYA! in a big way. If you're a scholar of texts such as the Tao Te Ching there may be nothing new to you here but it's nice to get a contemporary author's point of view on the meaning of life.

Branches Magazine

We probably don't pick up every issue of the free paper Branches but we grab one every time that we see it (usually at Whole Foods in Nora). We think we'll breeze through it like other free papers but always start it and then realize that we have to set it aside for when we have more time. There are just always many lovely essays that we want to take our time to read and ponder. Even the advertisements and events listings are fascinating. There are so many things going on in Indiana that we had no idea were happening. The current March-April issue's theme is Abundance, isn't that a timely thing to focus on?

The photo is the cover of the latest issue by Lauralee Sikorski.

Here's an interesting round-up of what Anthony Bourdain thinks of the various cooking/cooking competition shows. We too worry about the host of Man Vs. Food.

Stanley's New York Deli- Indianapolis, IN

The deli counter
The interior has several TVs and New York themed art.

Delicious chicken broth with noodles, a matzo ball, and carrots.


Knish

The Bronx Bomber

Mmmmmmmmmmm, noodle kugel.

Located at 86th & Ditch (the side with the strip mall that has Starbucks and Cinema Grill) Stanley's is a little slice of New York City in the Circle City. We love visiting Manhattan so we were anxious to check out this deli. We ordered a lot of food because we wanted to try a wide variety of the interesting and authentic dishes that they offer.

First, we tried the soup. The homemade chicken broth comes with several options of things you can have in it; we went with the "mish/mash" version so we could try the noodles and the matzo ball. The broth was exceptional (it definitely tasted homemade) and perfectly complimented the huge matzo ball, noodles, and carrots. We tried the potato knish because we have had the distinct pleasure of having a knish at Yonah Schimmel's knish bakery on New York's Lower east side. The version at Stanley's seemed to be fried instead of baked like Yonah's but it was quite yummy (as fried things tend to be). We ordered the Bronx Bomber which was some high quality pastrami and corned beef with Muenster cheese on rye bread. The menu states that they use Sy Ginsberg corn beef and pastrami which has no phosphates or fillers. We just know that it practically melted in our mouths. It also all wouldn't fit into our mouths so half of it came home with us. If you think $9.99 is pricey for a sandwich, understand that, if you are like us, you are going to get a couple of meals out of it. We stayed in to eat but you can always ask for a to go container if you can't finish everything. Lastly, we had the noodle kugel- this was a really happy discovery. We've heard of it but never had the pleasure of eating it before. It was all kinds of good. It's sweet, very rich, and for when you feel indulgent. We didn't know what to think of a sugary noodles dish with cream cheese but we really, really recommend it. There was a crunchy topping on it that was just divine. Again, the portion is huge so you very well might just have this or take some of it home with you.

That was already too much food so we didn't get to try any of the many other intriguing sounding things on their menu like the egg cream, matzo brie, or latkes. It is worth noting that they have a Monte Cristo for all of the fans of that sandwich in the Indianapolis area. Their menu states that it is a "New York MUST" which is so true for Mrs. WYA! because, while it's not the healthy type of food she eats at home, she always has one when she's in New York City (usually at the Washington Square Diner).

We enjoyed Stanley's very much. The food was great and the staff was really friendly and did a great job with service even with the challenge of it being their Grand Opening weekend and being pretty busy. We hope that they enjoy great success bringing a little of the Big Apple here.

We don't have occasion to eat frozen entrees much but, if you do, Kashi will send you a coupon for a free entree. Hurry though; it's only valid until March 15th.