Variety is the spice of life. Or maybe spice is the variety of life. I get bored of making the same thing over and over, so I need to mix things up. I made these Roasted Golden Beets with cardamom and chipotle powder – each brings more depth to the roasted golden beets! And these golden beets a little different too.

Boredom

I looked in the mirror and thought, time for a change… much like standard beets dishes, something needs to change. I get bored with the same thing over and over.

I have lived the life of routine. Doing the same thing each day: Roll out of bed, prep for the day in the bathroom, slam a chocolate banana smoothie, go to work or school, make dinner, go to the gym, watch tv and play around on the computer, pass-out. Repeat.

I mixed things up: I tried going to the gym before work. Boo-yah! I’m a wild man! This freed up a bunch of time which usually ended up making more elaborate creations in the kitchen which would result in envious coworkers in the staff room the following day.

Through the past 15 years, I’ve had a guilty pleasure. A go-to move that let me be just a bit creative. An activity that let me know this month is different than last.

I changed my face.

Nothing surgical. Nothing scaring or fake. Not makeup. No human masks (as much as I like Hannibal Lector).

I cut.

…my facial hair. I’ve had my winter beard for a number of months and as Holley and I keep saying, the weather has been amazing the last month or so (sorry East Coast, I know you guys are buried in snow), so it’s time to let that sun see my face.

I have a couple go-to designs that I do, depending on the season: pencil-thin chin-strap and thin goatie(?)(I just did a Google Image search of “types of facial hair” but still not convinced that’s the right term, but who care’s about labels anyway?), a few days of stubble when I’m lazy, a thicker version of my summer style in the fall, and then thick winter beard (which has saved my life when visiting my sister for Christmas in the past when the mercury dropped to -40 (no conversion necessary: -40 is the same in F and C) #indianbeards (I think this is Holley’s – and my mom’s – favorite hashtag).

I decided I needed some beard photos before I took it down (thanks to Holley for a fun photo-shoot and some cool pictures):

I felt like I needed something new this week. I drew some ideas, but kept coming back to my standbys. As I got into it, I got some inspiration and these happened:

So I ask you, what do you think? Not the tiger-stripe one, the other one. Fun? Cool? Too douchey? What would you think if you saw someone rocking this?

That was my exciting morning yesterday, hahaha. My sister’s initial response: “You have too much time on your hands”. Fine, back to the kitchen. I made a big batch of butter chicken and some curried eggplant (which I will be making again and sharing with you at some point).

Oh, the Roasted Golden Beets? As you can see, when I made this I paired it with the fantastic Portobello Mushroom Taco. I’m hungry!

Bonus: Golden beets do not result in the fear that you’re bleeding internally like regular beets! You know what I’m talking about.