This morning, I woke up five minutes before my 10:30 a.m. class with a paperclip in my hair. I pulled on yesterday’s jeans, guzzled a jar of water, and hobbled across a drizzly campus toward Fisk. Only once I reached the doors did it occur to me that my contacts were reversed, my keys were sitting on the kitchen table, and the only thing in my backpack was dirty gym clothes.

I learned two things from this experience: firstly, that I needed one of those alarm clocks that jumps off the stool and rings around the room until it’s hammered to death; secondly, that I needed to pull myself out of a major rut.

On cloudy days, when everything seemed to be falling apart, my mother used to slip into the kitchen and start preparing a meal with lots of steps. She’d take a deep breath and take an hour or two to julienne carrots, smash each clove of garlic into a paste, and grind pepper flakes in a mortar, tending to each ingredient separately. By the time dinner was ready, she was ready to talk to us again.

Sometimes, you just have to close the Netflix (or the textbook…) and pull out the chopping board. Put on some Ella Fitzgerald and chop those green beans to the rhythm of the hi-hat. Let your thoughts realign as you sear little cubes of tofu in fragrant oil. Remember that there’s only a week of class left as you whisk lime juice into a slurry of sriracha and sugar. Get reacquainted with your triceps (yes, they need attention) as you lather a slippery sauce into a tangle of soba noodles. Cradle a bowl of the delicious, healthy stuff you’ve just created and rest assured: everything is going to be okay.

Soba Bowl with Green Beans and Toasted Sesame-Lime Vinaigrette 

Ingredients:

1 package buckwheat soba noodles, cooked to al dente, drained and rinsed
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed, cut into 1 inch lengths and blanched
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup cherry tomatopes, cut in half
1-2 spring onions, cut into paper thin slices
1 cup cooked chicken or tofu, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Small handful cilantro leaves
1/3 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Dressing:

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
3 Tbs. fish sauce
2 Tbs. siracha
1 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. tamari sauce
3 Tbs. toasted sesame oil

Instructions:

Prepare dressing: place lime juice, fish sauce, sriracha, sugar, and tamari in a small bowl.  Whisk in sesame oil until well blended.

Place the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl, reserving a small amount of peanuts and cilantro for garnish.

Add dressing, toss well, garnish, and serve.