Coffee with Moe -Easy Does it _ Fall 2018

CoffeewithMOE
Easy Does It
Fall 2018

ISSUE 11: Easy Does It
Fall 2018
On The Cover:
What does “Easy does it” look like for
you? Everyone has their own idea. In this
quarter of Coffee with Moe, let’s grab a
cuppa and explore a few possibilities.
This Page: Getting your ducks in a row
isn’t always easy. That’s why there’s a
photo for that!
For digital Prints & Commission work, please
Contact Moe at: monique@moecreative.com
100 % of the images in this issue of
Coffee with Moe were shot using a smart
phone.
Website: www.moecreative.com
Blog: www.moecreative.com/blog
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Coffee with Moe Digital Magazine is
published in association with Moe Creative
Inc. based in Calgary, Alberta Canada
Digital Watermarking on all photography by Digimarc.
Publishing made possible by Yumpo & the Adobe Suite of
Products.
Many thanks to Family, Friends & Inspiration:
Gratefully & alphabetically:
AB, AC, AG, AL, AR, BCV, BD, CF, CG, CR,
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MY, ND, NH, NS, PA, PB, RC, RS, SB, SH,
SK, SP, SMG, TN, TR, VH, YK.
& all Moe Creative’s clientele & suppliers.
All for whom this issue was created, with
heart & gratitude.
© 2018 Moe Creative Inc. All rights reserved.

6.
8. 20.
Nesting
An Easy
Read
22.
Sunflower
Wisdom
Editorial
16.
Ch-Easy
28.
Over-
Easy

Editorial
Life’s busy.
At no time does this feel any more true, than in the fall. We move out of
summer mode and closer to the silly season, when longer commutes and an
increase in seasonal responsibilities amp up both time and financial stressors.
Life starts resembling a foggy day. Our focus becomes immediate, yet the
chaotic blur of impending obligations highten our sense of overwhelm.
Wouldn’t it be great to make life easy, take it easy or even create some easy,
healthful and rewarding habits that could settle some chaos and play into the
creation of a little more clarity on our daily path?
In this quarter of Coffee with Moe, Easy Does It started with a purpose of
sharing little ideas that may lead you to greater ease, time-savings and perhaps
even step you towards a healthier and happier version of you.
Here’s to finding something that lights you up on your foggiest days ahead.
Moe

Nesting
Not all of us get to abandon our nests for a tropical paradise in the winter
months. For some birds leaving is a matter of survival, for us humans it’s a
matter of luxury. Often it’s the stuff that retirement dreams are made of. But
what to do if you’re not quite a jet setting entrepreneur or settling into a
healthy retirement? There are plenty of options. To get your ideas flowing,
here are 5 ways to survive a seemingly endless winter.
Create Rituals
Rituals are not always based in religion, but if they’re good and feed you in
any way, it’s very possible that your rituals may become traditions. A ritual can
be as simple as a warm cup of tea, a blanket and a book to help you unwind,
or a tub and tunes to wash away any residue from the day. But ritual doesn’t
always have to be a solo adventure. You can mix-up any of the following ways
to create a memory making, time passing, soul filling ritual that feeds you on
every level for many winter seasons to come.
Go on Field Trips
Shake your sillies out by getting out of the house. Field trips no matter the
distance will help keep your mind, body and heart active. Depending where
you live, the list of possibilities could be endless, or they could take a bit
of creativity. Some of my favourites are visiting and walking around indoor
gardens, plant stores, museums and art galleries. I find these spots both
energizing and creatively rejuvinating. Build your field trips around whatever
you love and you’ll be raring to step out whenever you’ve planned a little
adventure for yourself.
Create an Indoor Garden
This is something to think about before the cold weather sets in, or on one
of those above seasonal average days. It can be the size of a single pot, a
multi-leveled window jungle, or even a hydro/aquaponic indoor garden.
The possibilities are as varied as the green in your thumb and the amount of
creativity you lend to the project.

Nesting
Hobby Up
There is no better way to pass the time than by doing something you love.
Do you have a hobby? Is there anything that you’ve always fancied doing?
Perhaps now is your time?
Set yourself up with a little mobile kit or small area specific for the task
you choose. If you have easy access to your hobby, then you’ll be more
likely to get into it. Before you know it, you’ll start looking forward to every
opportunity the weather gives you to stay in.
Keep it Social
While it might be a pain to get around during the winter months, staying
social is certainly worth the effort. Almost everyone dreads the unknowns of
upcoming social events, but if you focus on the fact that being social is good
for your health, you might just get out there and do it! The study of social
has proven that it lessens depression, promotes a better sleep, can lead to
longevity and of all the strange data gathered, being social can lessen your
chances of catching a nasty cold. Go figure!
I bet while reading this, your mind lit up with a few other possibilities of how
you can feather your nest with satisfaction and plenty of uplifting activities.
I trust you’ll take action, go for it (whatever your it is) and regardless of your
geography, start thriving in this and every season to come.

Instagram & InkTober
www.instagram.com/moe_creative
www.inktober.com
Inspiration at your fingertips. (Click either image & go directly to that site)

Ch-Easy
I love cheese. How about you?
What I don’t love is that some cheese is made with everyday milk and that means it
could be full of hormones and antibiotics that I don’t want messing with my system.
How do I get around that? Well, for the longest time, I would search out organic, but
then I took a cheese making class and loved it. Who wouldn’t. The cheese was soooo
delicious and seriously easy to make.
Since then, I have played with making the easiest cheeses like cottage, cream & farm
cheese. The hardest part is going to the store to get the milk (Grass Fed & Organic
please) So how about a little lesson in cheese making?
Let’s do it. Let’s make some cheese together.
INGREDIENTS:
1 4L of organic milk
(grass fed organic has absolutely the best flavour if you can find it)
1 quarter cup lemon juice* (again, organic to avoid pesticide residue)
TOOLS REQUIRED:
1 stainless steel pot big enough for 4L fluids
1 candy thermometer
1 wooden spoon
1 fine metal strainer and cheese cloth
1 bowl to strain liquids into
* You can use vinegar or renet instead of lemon juice, but the vinegar leaves a sour taste and the renet is
not only hard to find, it is an animal byproduct and is therefore not vegan or vegetarian friendly.

Ch-Easy
CH-EASY INSTRUCTIONS!
Time: Approx. 30 minutes
- Pour your milk into a pot
(for cottage cheese reserve a quarter cup of milk to add back into finished cheese.)
- Place your stove on medium heat and stir heating milk continuously (it’s very zen)
- Using a candy thermometer, stir heating milk up to 185 degrees
- Take milk off heat when you’ve reached 185 degrees
- Add in lemon until the milk starts separating
- Give the pot a stir and let sit about 10 minutes to do it’s separating thing.
- Place cheese cloth in strainer & strain out fluid (It’s whey**):
a. For cottage cheese drain until it stops dripping (fluff up & stir in reserve milk)
b. For cream cheese allow to drain until moist, not dry & mix until creamy.
c. For farmers cheese, you can sources cheese moulds from local cheese
makers. When you have, drain cheese and press into mould or just hand shape
the cheese yourself. Have fun with it.
Note that when doing the cheese this way, there will be a light hint of lemon
flavour. I personally love it. But if you don’t, simply rinse your drained cheese
before adding reserve milk, mixing, or moulding.
You can also mix things up by adding herbs or spices in the final process.
Make this cheese your own. Who doesn’t want to have a delicious and
super easy cheesy recipe up their sleeve for surprise guests, or whenever
you hanker for some really good quality protein. Yum!
** Whey is a protein rich liquid that can be reserved to feed to your pets, add to smoothies and it can also be used
as the liquid base in soups or water replacement in baking. Please note that some pets and people show
an intolerance to whey, test in small servings.

An Easy Read
Several weeks ago I had a moment.
It wasn’t my finest moment, but it did make me laugh at myself and that’s
always a gift of sorts. It all started when a gorgeous little warbler (that’s a bird)
landed on a branch just outside my office window. For those of you who don’t
know, I’ve had a keen interest in Native Animal Medicine ever since I received
my first book as a gift in the early ‘90s. Warbler, is about inner magic and using
your authentic voice. And that my friends, was apparently all I needed to
motivate my inner voice to become my outer voice and yell:
I NEED SOME FREAKING MAGIC!
No, it didn’t scare the bird, even though I shocked myself a little and I
perhaps used a few more explitives than mentioned. I laughed and what
seemed like serendipitously, I also had a thought. A strange kind of thought.
I pictured the book: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up in my head. It
made me laugh even more because it was perfect for the moment and not my
usual kind of thought.
You see, I love to read, but the last thing I want to do when I feel a need for
change is to sit and read about change until the urge to actually change
passes. It was then, that I had another idea. I bet a book this popular has some
sort of summary and a slew of videos on You Tube. It turns out I was right, and
within an hour, I had the basic tools to see if I could actually get some magic
happening in my life.
But did I find the magic in tidying up? Yeah, I think I kind of did. It turns out that
the ideas, of author and organization obsessed Marie Kondo, make for a simple
and easy to follow art of decluttering.
After just a few evening tidying projects I ended up buying the audio book in
order to get the whole Konmari
experience (this is what Marie
Kondo calls her process) and
found that I was a little more
impressed with this book than I
ever thought possible.
What do I like? The idea of
keeping what you love, not
what you feel you should and
shouldn’t keep.
Some of her ideas are going to
fit better for some than others,
but isn’t that the greatest part of
any system? Making it your own.
A step she also encourages.
I believe this book came to me
at the perfect time, at our first
seasonal snowfall. Gardening has
comes to a close and I often start sorting through indoor tasks that fell to the
wayside in the warmer months. With the Konmari technique at hand, I will be
ready to move straight outside come spring, no more deep cleaning required.
You’re the best judge of your own cleaning needs. Regardless if you need a
wee tweak or a major overhaul, I believe this book may add the smidge of
magic you need to make moving forward a lot easier and less cluttered. You’ll
be able to focus on the activities and life you want to live, surrounded only by
that which you love. As Martha Stewart once coined: It’s a good thing!

Keep your face
to the sunshine
and you can not
see the shadow.
It’s what
sunflowers do.
-Helen Keller

Sunflower Wisdom
Such a great quote from Helen Keller:
“Keep your face to the sunshine and you can not see
the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do” - H.K.
But I don’t think it’s the whole story, do you?
I believe that the wisdom in sunflower is not the discounting of our
shadow side (or the shadow side of life), but rather, this sunny beauty
has a wholistic story to tell.
Sunflowers track the light of the sun, it’s true. It’s called heliotropism.
They connect us to the idea of reaching towards our own light.
(Everything that brings us joy and sparks a light in and around us.)
Sunflowers apparent worship of light, is not about avoiding or even
disregarding shadow. You see, in the life of every sunflower, darkness
still falls in the form of night. A chance for it to grow and reorient itself
to absorb even more nourishment from the next day’s illuminating rays.
Another way to look at Sunflower is by understanding it’s grounded
character. It thrives and deeply roots in any soil conditions except
being water logged. We humans refer to this as being stuck in the mud.
To understand if you’re stuck, root around to see what you contain and
how much mud has been mucking up or impeading your growth.
Are you bogged down with Grief? Anger? Jealousy? Other?
Is it high time to get yourself unstuck?
ps. Our self talk will give us a big clue regarding what bogs us down.
When exploring the wisdom of Sunflower, what rings true for you?

In Over-Easy Closing
Can it be?
Over so easily?
A few ideas written, a smattering of
photography, then a little reading and it’s
through. Another edition of Coffee with Moe has come
to an end. I trust that you enjoyed your break from reality?
After-all, this is part of the reason that I create each issue for
you. Sometimes life is so hard, fast and complicated, that we
need to find reasons to stop, refocus and breathe. Let me leave you
with this quote that mirrors the over-arching thought behind this
issue. Until next month’s blog or next year’s edition of Coffee with Moe,
I wish you the very greatest of days and weeks ahead.
With Gratitude, Moe
All difficult things have their origin
in that which is easy, and great things
in that which is small.
Lao Tzu

What will 2019 bring?
CoffeewithMoe
Arriving January 8th 2019