Mindfulness, common ground, and the weekly meal plan.
Cross-Posted from my Substack. (Please subscribe if you’d like this in your weekly inbox!)
42 is my favorite number, so this week was a sure bet at being a good one for me.
I inherited a love of good numbers from my mother – I love a strong number, mathematical curiosity, palindrome, 11:11 special number, etc. Alas, I didn’t inherit my mom’s synesthesia – where numbers and letters have color!
Mindfulness Doesn’t Have to Be Hard?
I was at UMass this week speaking to a group of students, and one of them asked about starting a meditation practice.
I find that most of the time when people have tried meditation and it doesn’t work for them, it’s because they either ramped up too quickly, or found the wrong type of practice for them.
My favorite way to start building your mindfulness? Start where you are.
I’ve been practicing mindfulness and meditation every day for a decade – mostly because it’s much easier for me to do something every day than intermittently.
Tiny Tangent: Okay, have to pause here to mention the Twitter post I snorted when I read this week – “The Andrew Huberman ideology is built on the belief that we are controlled by unseen biological forces to which we must pay daily tribute. Insanely neurotic, low-agency way of living”; – @TenreiroDaniel (I have a really mixed complicated love/hate relationship with Huberman (neuroscientist, podcaster, pop-health influencer) – namely *most people* will never get to this “optimizing stage of health.. nor should they.)
I’m not sitting to meditate for an hour. While I’ve done deeper work with MBSR training that had me sitting for much longer periods of time – and very much enjoyed it, and admire friends who have been able to go on 10 day silent retreats, I don’t think that will ever be my personal goal.
My commitment is spending at least a few moments a day, usually 5-10 minutes, sometimes less, sometimes more, making time to work with my mind.
What keeps me practicing?
Finding Focus: I want to approach the day with a little more focus – practicing flexing my attention on the things I want to get done, and moments that I want to truly enjoy.
Boosting Energy: I frequently have to “spin up” to get something done or scratch the surface of deeper self reflection. Mindfulness practice helps me “tap in” and get there more quickly.
Even Mood + Less Rage: Sometimes the world is a lot. Okay, daily the world is a lot – when I practice mindfulness I’m focused on how I perceive the world around me, how to notice, and how to create energy boundaries.
6 ways I practice mindfulness that aren’t regular meditation:
Go for a walk and keep my phone in my pocket.
Sit with a cup of coffee and watch my dog sleep in the morning.
Watching a movie or tv show without multi-tasking on a phone.
“Noticing Walks” – pick either a color and snap photos of objects with that color, or “flower walk” – photos of flowers.
Standing barefoot in the backyard grass for a few minutes.
This Week in Good Things:
This week I had my quarterly gift to myself – a personal organizer who comes for three hours every quarter to help me move forward a larger scale project in my home. This time around I removed a wild amount of Tupperware from my kitchen, and removed enough so that when the dishwasher and sink are both empty, there’s space for everything put away. The real impacts? I cooked this week, I felt more focused to do my day to day work, and it spills out to everything else in my life. Looking to get more organized in life? Start with your physical space.
Good Writing: I wrote an essay I’ve been thinking about for a while: A List of Wants and Needs. In it, I get very specific: wants for work, my writing, the world, Ompractice, and some fun stuff (I’m looking at you, Disney Annual Pass).
“What do I want? What do I need?What am I not letting myself ask? Sometimes the thinking piece is harder even than saying it out loud. Sometimes the asking part is hard.”
Our Legacies: The poet Louise Glück died this week. I first got into her poems after taking a class at Wellesley on Lowell and Bishop with Frank Bidart. I like reading both Obituaries and Poetry, so I found myself reading a handful of them about her, then her Wikipedia page – her mother went to Wellesley! I went to high school with her editor’s child! –, and then diving back into some of her poems. My friend Lizzy also pointed out that she wrote poems that referenced Formaggio Kitchen, and she lived these days in Cambridge, which now makes me question is it possible I’ve struck up conversation with her and not even realized?
Tackling a nagging task. This weekend I found myself wading my way through half-finished errands: breaking down cardboard boxes, returning a box to Target via mail instead of wading into the weekend zoo. Returning a product I ordered from France that’s now taken me 3 weeks and 4 separate trips to try to return.
What does it mean to be “a regular”? I headed out to dinner with my mom and brother this week to the newly re-openedEastern Standard, a Boston institution. (Eating with my sibling is like eating with a celebrity. Everyone comes up to us to say hi.)
Good Things to Think About
🤝 How do we find our mentors in life? Try “Invisible Mentors”.While I think structured mentorship programs can be useful, often it’s hard to find people who have the time and space to participate. One way to get around this? What I call “Invisible Mentors”. Every so often when I’m trying to learn something new, get up to speed in a space, or advance, I start with making a list of people: who are the most innovative people in the space who are doing what I want to do? I then do a deep study on their writing, reverse engineer their path to where they are, and learn everything I can from them. Do they know me? No. But I believe we can learn from anyone. (Caveat: in this internet connected world, one thing I’m mourning about Twitter was that it was always very easy to reach out and actually connect with your “invisible mentors” on the platform. These days it’s a little harder!)
📣 What did you read that made you question something this week? Think differently? One thing I try to do every day is read the ideas and opinions of people I disagree with. I don’t want to live in an echo chamber. The next level is having conversations with people I disagree with, with the hopes of finding common ground. If you haven’t read it, I’d recommend Diane Hessan’s “Our Common Ground: Insights from Four Years of Listening to American Voters” the lessons of which go beyond politics.
🩴 How do you change your mind? This week, our friend conversation was about teaching a four year old about changing your mind, and how to convey age appropriate concepts on the topic. We talked about: “What kinds of things can we change our mind about” (agency) and “When can we change our mind” (predictability). It got me thinking about how we lose the ability to change our mind over time whether because society has beaten us out of it, or because we haven’t practiced. Have you changed your mind about something important lately? What would it take to change your mind?
🟢 Good Things in Action: if you have a few minutes today while scrolling social media – take a moment to pause and actually comment on someone’s post instead of just passively scrolling or “liking”.
Other Good Things
📺 Watch: I’ve been very much enjoying the documentary series onthe Beckham’s on Netflix. They come across as surprisingly thoughtful people, there’s very good conversation about mental health, bullying, perseverance, and grit. // Killers of the Flower Moon was a phenomenal book, and I’m looking forward to the Scorcese film that just came out.
🛒 Things to buy in quantity: over the years these have been great decisions – a package of several good scissors. I use for cooking – I have several and they go in the dishwasher and I don’t worry about it, one for my mail area, one in my office. G2 Gel Pens by the dozen. Sharpies in quantity. Anker fast charging cubes and several long charging cables. Packing tape in a 6 pack.
👅 Good Tastes: I subscribe to the Noma Tastebuds membership, and this Corn Yuzu Hot Saucewas one of the best new things I tried. (This will sell out by the end of the week.) Trader Joes has Kimbap back in stock (sort of) after going viral a few months ago and selling out after I had very much enjoyed the one I tried. I went on a yearly McDonalds Pilgrimage to try out the Mambo sauce with a 10 piece Chicken McNuggs and Fries in Palmer, MA. They were out of the sauce. I should give a special shout out to my one thing I get more frequently than once a year – the Mango Pineapple Smoothie which I find to be very good.
The Weekly Meal Plan:
This weekend, I had some energy to cook my favorite thing in fall: a pot of chili. I start mid-fall, and usually make a pot once a week or two through the entire winter. My method is typically a pound (or two) of ground meat which I heavily season, chopped onion, chopped pepper, a can of beans, a can of diced tomatoes, and then a jar of salsa of choice. (Today’s was pepita salsa from Trader Joe’s.)
Sunday: Mushroom pizza and salad with red peppers, blue cheese, and fried onion
🥔 You know how you could do that? A friend posted about what to do with a baked potato this week, and I got a little excited in the thread:
Take a peek at Turkish “Kumpir” – it’s baked potato as STREET FOOD. You basically load up with an outrageous amount of stuff.I’m always a fan of chili topping, but you can get VERY creative. I like to theme globally – ie “Greek Potato: feta, chopped olives, chopped parsley and dill, souvlaki or lamb”; Spanish Potato: chorizo, deconstructed patatas bravas – ie – tomato-ey sauce, garlic mayo. Etc.
Breakfast Baked Potato: loaded with eggs, cheese, bacon.Taco Potato: all the fixins of taco night.. on a potatoAlso – some of the great global potato dishes – corned beef hash.. potato.Canadian Potato: poutine baked potato, or Montreal Style potato with Schwartz’s smoked meat, sauerkraut, pickles, side of Cel-Ray or Black Cherry soda.
Also! Potatoes are great to stick little flags in to make your potato more “festive”.
Let’s get reading! Sitting down this weekend to update my current reading list, see where I’m at for the year so far, and make adjustments for fall reading season!
I started with a shortlist of questions to check in:
How’s it going?
How has my reading been so far in 2023? According to my GoodReads, I’ve read 34/52 books (just two behind schedule) although I have quite a few half read books.
Are my categories the right ones? I still love reading YA, Scandinavian Noir, captivating non-fiction (true crime or thrilling history), fitness and health, mindfulness, brains and science, social and emotional learning, nature, creativity, and food writing.
Are the length of books the right ones? The worst is when I find myself stalled by a long book where I’ve lost my attention span. I’ve been trying to have a healthy dose of fast reads to move the ship along.
Have I gotten stuck anywhere? Usually I’m only stuck when I start reading too many books at once.
What can I improve?
How do I make sure I’m learning in the areas that I want to be known for: Longetivity, Good Things, Social and Emotional Learning? Who are the top five authors in the fields that I work in?
Are there noticeable gaps in my reading? I always find that I’m more inspired by memoirs and biographies, but don’t read them enough!
Do I have dedicated reading time? My evergreen quest: read more, scroll less.
It’s here! I’ve been doing a quarterly reading list for the past several years that has somehow turned more into a book list for the whole year. (I have a lot of holdovers from last year that I’m keeping on here.) You can take a look through previous years here: (2022) (2021) (2020) (2017) (summer 2010) (Summer 2014) (Fall Cookbooks 2011)
Why have a reading list? This helps me make decisions about getting in quality reading without falling into decision making slumps. I aim to have a large percentage of my reading written by women, POC, and international writers; and typically read a handful of Man Booker short list titles. I typically make a list of my favorite categories, and then will supplement or swap as I find reading that calls out to me.
What if you just want to read something new and exciting? I make room for the synchronicity of just picking up any random title, but I always have a backup!
The Marvel Effect: it’s easier to pick up a new book in a series than start something completely new. One thing that I’ve learned after a lifetime of reading: it really helps me to have series that I can blow through – long books that don’t require me to continuously learn about a new world and a new set of characters, as well as a smattering of very easy read books (usually middle grade fantasy, or RomCom) – things I can read reliably for a half hour or hour before bed even after an exhaustive day.
A few notes and observations:
Audio Books: yes, I definitely count audiobooks as reading. I process information better when on my walks and runs, and thus prefer listening to memoirs or non-fiction this way. It’s also easier for me to stay engrossed and follow along while I’m moving physically.
Don’t forget FOOD! For the past several years, I read almost zero food memoirs, literature, or history – some of my favorite topics. So I made this one of my kitchen resolutions this year! (Again.) I’m also re-reading cookbooks.
The library is your friend. While I always try to support local book stores – I’m also a huge fan of my local library – grabbing things off the Speed Read Shelf is my jam. Plus you can leave with a large stack and it always feels like I’ve won something. (You can also get Kindle books from the library through Libby. Having a list allows me to put more things on hold, because sometimes there’s a longer wait.)
As always, still working my way through my list of Personal Leadership Development Books, and the BBC Big Read. I also read quite a few business books for work – whatever I need to expand my ideas and sharpen my skills.
I’m always interested in reading things that stoke great minds. I read for entertainment, to rest, to inspire, learn, and to stoke my curiosity. Whenever I listen to a podcast episode, I’m always curious about what kinds of things the guest is reading (particularly when the book is completely outside of their topic, or very niche in their topic.)
New: I’m trying to engage with my reading more by reading criticism, and more importantly, writing.
Categories to choose from: (I often choose outside these, but I find that when I’m in the mood for a particular feeling, it breaks down by this type of category.)
Book Categories I Enjoy:
Fantasy (Adult, YA Fantasy, Middle Grade)
Scandinavian Crime (or Noir crime in general)
Fiction (catch all)
Memoir (particularly: comedy, leadership, business or political)
Non-Fiction (Psychology, philosophy)
Nature (and generally Science Writing)
Creativity
Work (Product Management, People Management, Sales)
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (BBC Big Read; I think I’ve read before) 453 pages
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (2002, 255 pages)
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (and Practical Magic) (2020, 396 pages)
✅ Fairy Tale by Stephen King
✅ Thursday Murder Club #1 (Series) by Richard Osman (2020, 382 pages)
✅ The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Look for new:
Susannah Clarke
Erin Morgenstern
Stephen King
TJ Klune
Crime / Thriller / Gripping and/or generally Scandinavian
Hidden in Shadows by Viveca Sten (Are Murders #2) – Dec. 5th
The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg (2010, 393 pages)
The Island by Ragnar Jonasson (2019, 336 pages) – 2 in the series
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (2018, 226 pages)
The Hunger by Alma Katsu (2018, 368 pages)
Death Notice (book 3, if they publish the translation) by Zhou Haohui
Beartown by Fredrik Backman (2016, 432 pages)
Pick a book by:
Henning Mankell
Jo Nesbo
Arnaldur Indridason
Viveca Sten (but I just read the newest in Dec.)
Lucy Foley
Memoirs / Non-Fiction Reporting
✅ Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (great!)
✅ Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
✅ Cultish by Amanda Montell
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish (2017, 288 pages) (own)
Dear Girls by Ali Wong (own) (2019, 240 pages)
Broken by Jenny Lawson (2021, 275 pages)
Taste by Stanley Tucci (own) (2021, 304 pages)
Eat a Peach by David Chang (2020, 306 pages)
“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman (1985, 356 pages)
I’m Glad my Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (2022, 320 pages)
Life Itself by Roger Ebert (2011, 346 pages)
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (2018, 518 pages)
A Heart that Works by Rob Delaney (2022, 196 pages)
A Book of Days by Patti Smith (2022, 410 pages)
Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan (2022, 423 pages)
Nature and Science:
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben (304 pages, 2015)
Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright (have on audio) (2017, 336 pages)
The Nature Fix by Florence Williams (2017, 226 pages)
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan (2018, 482 pages)
Come as You Are by Emily Nagoski (2015, 400 pages)
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy: by Jenny Odell (2019, 257 pages) (on audible)
Tracking the Wild Koomba
Food and Cooking
Note, I don’t keep cookbooks on this list, but I try to choose memoir-ish cookbooks as much as possible.
✅Cooking as though you might cook again by Danny Licht (2021, 78 pages)
Elegy for an Appetite by Shaina Loew-Banayan (2022, 88 pages)
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom by Rabia Chaudry (2022, 352 pages)
Romance/RomCom:
Bride Test by Helen Hoang (Book 2 – 2019, 296 pages), The Heart Principle (3)
Hook, Line + Sinker Tessa Bailey (2022, 365 pages)
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
✅ Happy Place by Emily Henry
✅ A Cowboy to Remember by Rebekah Weatherspoon
✅ The Bodyguard by Katherine Center (2019, 282 pages – done)
✅ Red, White + Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (2019, 318 pages – finishing)
✅ ADDED The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
Anything new by
Emily Henry
Rebekah Weatherspoon
Jasmine Guillory
Jennifer Armentrout
Leadership / Business / Finance:
✅ Traction by Gino Wickman
✅ 10x is Easier than 2x Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman (1983, 301 pages) – own on audible
✅ 4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman (2021, 129 pages)
✅ Automate your Busywork by Aytekin Tank
Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson (2002, 273 pages) (book and audible)
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, Kaley Klemp (In-Progress 2015, 377 pages)
Connect by Carole Robin, David L Bradford (2021, 203 pages)
The Gifts of Imperfection – Brené Brown (2010, 208 pages)
To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink (2012, 272 pages)
Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards by Yu-kai Chou (own) (2015, 513 pages)
Creativity: Writing and Creating:
✅ Big Magic Creative Living Beyond Fear (re-read) by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Practice: Shipping Your Creative Work by Seth Godin (2020, 274 pages)
Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon (2014, 225 pages)
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (160 pages, 2012)
How to Enjoy Art by Ben Street (2021, 160 pages)
Better Living Through Criticism AO Scott (2016, 282 pages)
Look for new:
Cal Newport
David Epstein
Fitness and Health / Mindfulness / Brains
✅ Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell (2021, 291 pages)
✅ Outlive by Peter Attia
✅ How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis
✅ Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay Gibson
Built to Move by Kelly Starrett + Juliet Starrett
Listen Like You Mean It: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection by Ximena Vengoechea (2021, 337 pages)
Unmasking Autism by Devon Price (2022, 304 pages)
The Body, A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson (2019, 491 pages) owned on audible
The Power of Kindness: The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life by Piero Ferrucci (2007, 354 pages)
The Comfort Book by Matt Haig (2021, 231 pages)
Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller (2020, 256 pages)
Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud and John Townsend (1992, 324 pages) (updated version on Audible)
Codependent No More by Melody Beattie (1986, 278 pages)
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (1997, 163 pages)
Look for new:
Mary Roach
Bill Bryson
And that’s a wrap! Will I get to all of these? Absolutely not. Will I try to expand on the diversity of my thought and add things along the way? Yes indeed!
What’s on your shelf this year? What’s up next? Here’s to a year of good reading!
After making myself an unusually good salad lunch (this bean salad above: ripe tomato, cucumber, feta, oregano, salami, and red wine vinegar), I sat down this weekend to dream up some summer meals for the month of July. .
I usually start with Mark Bittman’s classic 2007 article Summer Meals for inspiration. Most of the “recipes” are really just ideas – fresh, in season, simple meals. Lots of seafood. In the summer I need things to be easy, not get the kitchen too hot, and make me feel vaguely like I’m in middle school summer again.
Shopping is a little bit more relaxed – Trader Joes and Whole Foods for some basics, my farm share, and I like to pick things up at Farmers Market – I’m lucky to have a weekend market right down the street.
In Season (in Massachusetts)
Fruit: end of the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches mid-month. I’m still gorging myself on cherries (mostly Ranier), and typically buy whatever is on sale at the store. The melons starting – watermelon, cantelope.
Vegetables: Lettuces, Green Beans, Beets, Bok Choy, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Kale, Chard, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Leeks, Peppers, Spinach, Zucchini/Squash, Tomatoes (at least hot house). My fresh herbs are all doing well in the planter: parsley, basil, dill, cilantro, oregano.
Cooking Projects:
Nan’s Gazpacho: my grandmother used to make large containers of gazpacho all summer long to take to Maine.
Jordan Marsh’s Blueberry Muffins. This classic recipe from Marian Burros in the NYTimes. I think of my grandparents whenever I eat blueberry muffins (although admittedly those were more likely to be from Market Basket or Costco.)
Recipes: (I mostly use NYTimes Cooking app for specific recipes outside of my own cookbook collection.) Here are a few I’ve bookmarked:
I love a good project list, so this year, I’m enjoying working through my summer lobster roll list. Is there a more perfect food for a New Englander in summer? I think not.
Yes, lobster rolls are expensive. Yes, it’s cheaper to get lobster from Market Basket (and they’ll steam em for you!) But making a quest out of it ensures that my ratio of spend to enjoyment as I build my body of “creative work” – a.k.a. the review list is balanced.
The Lobster Roll Short List:
This is not an exhaustive list of lobster rolls in the Boston area. There are some that aren’t on here (notably, I’m not an Eventide lobster roll fan – although I love lots of other things there! And I’ve eaten a few too many Cottage lobster sandwiches).
There are many more I’ll probably add as I go along – feel free to pass me along a suggestion if you have strong lobster roll feelings.
I prefer a cold lobster roll personally (mayo based), but I’ll not turn down a good option if presented to me. Additionally, I’m a fan of lobster in other forms, including lobster salad, lobster sandwiches (including the Alive + Kicking sandwich making it’s way as an interloper on this list), and lobster pasta.
A shout-out to my friend Rachael who put in a lot of heavy lifting in giving lobster roll suggestions, and also joined me at Cedar Hill Dairy Joy.
Legal Seafood (while I prefer the crab roll, this is always solid)
Beach Plum, NH – 10 ounce and Utz chips, eaten on the ocean
Rosewood Restaurant Bellingham MA
✅ Cedar Hill Dairy Joy, Weston MA
Clam Shack, Salem MA – spend the extra $1 to get it on the brioche bun
The Village Restaurant, Essex, MA – a hidden gem
The Knack, Orleans, MA
Neptune Oyster – Cold (I haven’t had this for YEARS, but it was spectacular)
Row 34, Seaport
✅ Shaking Crab, Newton
Pauli’s, North End – 3 sizes
✅ Alive + Kicking, Cambridge, MA (on bread)
James Hook + Co
Saltie Girl
Yankee Lobster
Luke’s Lobster
Steamers, Nonantum
Shea’s, Essex, MA
Beachcomber, Cahoon Hollow Beach, Welfleet, MA
Cousin’s Maine Lobster food truck – you can get CT (butter) or ME (mayo) style – they are small but very good and you can find them at different farmers markets around here (shout out to my high school alum, Jim Tselikis!
Keeping my Lobster Roll Quest notes
I keep a long note on my phone with updates. They look like this:
6/14 Dairy Joy, Weston Ma
Price: 25 + 5 included drink and very lovely fries!
Small buttered and griddled. 4ish ounces. With lettuce. Light Mayo and cold. Just a super strong contender. View is greenery and road. And picnic table vibe.
4.75/5 🦞🦞🦞🦞
5/14 Shaking Crab, Newton MA
Lots of lobster. Roll good not great. I found the filling too seasoned? Delivery: fries soggy but would be good crisped up in air fryer. Side of garlic noodles with shrimp.
3/🦞🦞🦞 out of 5.
If you’d like to join me on one of my quest outings, give me a shout!
Turkish Kabak Tatlısı Pumpkin in Syrup with Walnuts
We’re mid-way into January, and so far New England has seen a smattering of flurries. I’m not sure if we should all be concerned, but I’m enjoying the temperate enough weather and trying to get out as much as possible. I have an amaryllis that’s blooming which is a joy to watch, and a fresh bouquet of Irises.
I’ve been doing morning yoga every morning to start my day, and pairing with a liquid vitamin (MaryRuth’s Organic Liquid Morning vitamin.) I’m historically intermittent with vitamins, and not really sure they do much, but even the placebo in the winter is a nice ritual.
My stairwell and living room bathroom painting is done! The stairwell looks SO FRESH! (This unintentionally set off a saga with fire alarms, and another with a pup with an itchy eye; but we’re rolling with it!)
I went to the gym to participate in an off-session Barbell Betties, and lifted a back squat PR for myself unintentionally. It’s so nice to lift with barbells.
Acquisitions of note:
I “stocked up” on fresh undergarments. Friends with tatas, I’ve switched over almost exclusively to the True + Co Body Boost V Neck. (One of my yearly intentions was to continue with the undergarment refresh.)
I got myself a season pass to the Weston Ski Track, which is conveniently less than 11 minutes from my house, and offers night skiing! My first go was a little bit harrowing, as it’s been about 20 years since I last skied, and somehow I found myself in the MIDDLE OF A SKI RACE! I’m going to be taking a few lessons and looking forward to it.
I went to my friend Nat’s small business and friends mixer down the street. It included ice breakers (the best being – what piece of media have your recently enjoyed!) and a harmonica!
I went to a Female Founders and Funders event downtown at SVB. (Thank you Kristen and Meeta!) I also made it a point to connect with another founder in the same general space, and was kicking myself for not doing it sooner.
Good Reads: finished Ann Patchett’s lovely book The Dutch House. Took me about three years of audiobook to finish it, and still thinking about it. Picked up Danny Licht’s Cooking as Though You Might Cook Again, on Bettina’s recommendation list, which is a small and mighty little book to inspire you to cook and eat. Finally, a RomCom a month late – The Matzah Ballby Jean Meltzer – was delightful (and being turned into a film!)
Watched: Fire of Love– a National Geographic documentary on Disney+ about a pair of famous vulcanologists, Katia and Maurice Krafft. While I loved my geoscience and volcano research in college, I’m… also glad that I didn’t opt for a life of chasing live volcanos. (Their death is not a spoiler – you learn about it in the first 20 seconds of the film.) The footage is really quite remarkable.
Watching Fire of Love (and little Cone Boy)
{Good Eats}
Another great week in food! I’m still reading the 60-minute Gourmet Cookbook (Pierre Franey), Smitten Kitchen Keepers, and The Woks of Life. One of the fun things I did was crowdsource some favorite recipes from my Wellesley food people, so I’m compiling that into a list now. My Turkish recipe of the week was Kabak Tatlısı – a kind of candied pumpkin dessert. I also made myself a quality avocado toast.
Some highlights:
Kabak Tatlısı: the recipe is very simple, you cut approximately 2 lbs. of pumpkin (or squash! I used a Japanese squash this time) into squares in a wide shallow pan. You cover with 8 ounces of sugar, about 1/4 pint of water, and the juice of half a lemon (I use a whole lemon because I like it lemony). Cover and poach gently for an hour, basting every ten minutes or so. I usually turn the pumpkin over mid way to make sure it’s all cooked. You then leave it to cool in the pan, and sprinkle with walnuts.
Sardines Rice Bowl with Tomatoes, Cucumber, Pickled Ginger, and Furikake I each a version of this regularly – it’s one of my most satisfying meals. Sometimes I use tuna, or salmon, but I truly adore sardines.
Broccoli with Blue Cheese and Balsamic, tossed in some leftover Chicken + Kebabs: I get addicted to a combination, and then can’t stop eating it. Broccoli, blue cheese, balsamic, and toasted walnuts (if you remember) is really a perfect combination. I find myself eating the entire bag of broccoli this way.
101 Cookbooks: Christmas Lima Stew– this is a truly stellar recipe, and I cook up Rancho Gordo Christmas limas. This time around, I was planning on cooking the soup the day of, but I ended up taking myself skiing at the last minute, so when I came home, I simply made all the ingredients into a bean salad! Celery, Caraway, Olives, Lemon, Parsley. All delish.
Two bolo cheese sandwiches with açili I picked up these Portuguese sweet breads, and ended up making myself a late night cheese sandwich. My neighbor had given me a jar of her tomato and pepper condiment from her garden in Turkey, and I’ve been hoovering it this week.
Baked Fish with Crunchy Miso Mayo + Green Salad with Honey Goat Cheese. I usually eat fish on Wednesdays when I get it fresh from my farm share. This time though was Red’s Best Skate wings from my freezer. (The goat cheese was from the event I went to.)
Chicken thighs with tomato and bulgur (riff on the chicken and rice dish in Smitten Kitchen Keepers) – I always love homey dishes like this that are sort of stove top casserole and low effort. I ended up cooking some leeks and garlic with smokey Rancho Gordo paprika, cumin, chicken thighs, and then tomato, little honey vinegar, and Turkish bulgur with vermicelli.
Epicurious Kale Salad with Dates, Parmesan, and Almonds + Pork Chop. This is a PHENOMENAL salad. Honestly, might be up there in my top 3 salads of all time. MAKE THIS SALAD. It’s easy to make, and truly exceptional. I add a whole lemon instead of half.
May we all barrel roll with the JOY that Bertram brings to flinging himself and rolling in the grass.
The Second Lunch is a (mostly) food blog by Sam Tackeff about recipes, food writing, ingredient hunting, travel, healthy living, fitness, and everything in between.
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