by Sam Tackeff | Nov 15, 2013 | Uncategorized
This is what I really wanted for dinner: the Shack Burger from Shake Shack.
I’ve now been in the house since Tuesday night. I haven’t been shopping, I haven’t left for air, I’ve barely even cracked a window. And worse — I haven’t managed to make it out to Trader Joes for samples, which, I usually can muster the energy for in any situation. In fact, I haven’t been eating much at home in my sickly state, which is pretty much the opposite of my usual infirm behaviors.
Tonight I pined for Shake Shack, but it seemed much too much of an ordeal to head over there. And then there was the delivery options, or lack of them.
After ruling out Shake Shack, I started craving Chinese delivery, Americanized takeout box style – crab Rangoon and dumplings and roasted pork, and hot and sour soup and moo shi, and scallion pancakes and something sticky and sugary and meaty, which is to say, nothing like I’d actually order when I head to a Chinese restaurant – mostly I like piles of Chinese greens, soups, and things decidedly healthier than I was going for tonight.
But the options around here, are limited. The handful of places had Yelp reviews so awful that I couldn’t turn a blind eye.
And then it started getting closer and closer to the witching hour – 9:40, 9:50, 10:00 – and suddenly we’d made it past the hour of decent places, and onto the 10 thousand reviews of the place that closes at 2 am – a barely 2 star establishment on Yelp, which is to say – not quite what I had in mind.
And then the clock kept ticking, and I thought, desperately, one more time: Shake Shack? It’s not too late for Shake Shack? And then I remembered that the house was warm, and I haven’t left since Tuesday… And I might as well just go to bed. So tonight, that’s what I’m going to do.
We can’t win them all.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 14, 2013 | Random
Tonight I was looking through old photos, and came across this one – it’s the ceiling of the Mill Valley library. It’s a magical place, one that I’d stop by often on my way back from doing the Dipsea stairs (688 stairs in the woods whenever I felt like the hills of Noe Valley weren’t enough of a challenge). I’d curl up in the library with a book, read for hours, and then make the return trek to the city, just miles away, but a different world altogether.
I went through a silly phase where every photo I edited had to have rounded corners. Even worse was the polaroid filter and frame on all of my phone photos in 2009. Yikes.
I was sick today. It was a little startling – it’s been quite some time since I’ve felt this bad. It wasn’t a head cold (thank goodness), but general all-over-aching fatigue – knocking me out, and knocking me out hard. Last night I was asleep by 10, and after waking up briefly for a few minutes in the morning, I fell back asleep and didn’t move until well past noon. Clearly my body was telling me something. I spent a good part of the afternoon thinking that I’d rather be sitting by the fire with a mug of cocoa instead of sitting in a freezing house wrapped in multiple blankets. It might be time to invest in another portable heater.
Good Things:
Couldn’t bring myself to eat all afternoon, but dinner was the last of the award winning lamb from my freezer, dressed up in some tomato sauce with a little bit of the orzo I need to use up.
Watched the first episode of the show Boundless on the new Esquire network – documenting two guys running around the world and competing in some hardcore ultras. The first episode – actually their last challenge – is their shortest: a Half Ironman in Thailand. Suitably entertained! I also love this sentence from Simon’s bio: “When not testing the limits of his body, he’s a geologist who also runs an oatmeal company.” and this one from Turbo’s: “His favorite running partner is his dog Greta.” Curious yet?
Finally read some headline news articles after being curious about this Toronto mayor business I was hearing about. If you don’t know about the Toronto mayor business, well…. read, and prepare to have your mind blown. Marion Berry, anyone?
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 13, 2013 | Eggs, Meat, Pantry Staples
See that? That’s my one cup of coffee that I committed to yesterday. I nursed that cup for four hours, microwaved it three times, and resisted brewing a second one. For the rest of the day I drank hot water steeped with a nob of ginger. I keep a root on my counter which I snap off piece by piece into tea. I always try to find the ones at the market that have the most little nobs for this purpose – it’s like popping bubble wrap, but you get a whiff of spicy goodness at every snap! Sometimes I stir a spoonful of honey into my ginger water, but usually I just drink it straight-up.
On Wednesdays I work from home, it’s the day I have set for several morning calls, and I plan to tackle projects that require critical thinking with limited distraction. It’s wonderful for so many reasons – I find myself more productive than normal, it breaks up the week, and I find the quiet to be restorative. And I don’t have to wear pants.
I’ve been feeling a little bit under the weather this week, so I decided to feed myself comforting foods, take it easy, and hopefully ward off anything germy that could be brewing. Normally I head to the gym on Wednesday, but by mid afternoon I was exhausted, so I took a well-needed rest day.
Lunch was a pair of eggs fried in coconut oil, and topped with Trader Joe’s frozen vegetable curry. (This is one of my favorite items at Trader Joe’s – and generally, they do quite a good job on these frozen south asian meals. The ingredients are minimal, and the flavors well developed. I could rotate between this one, the Lamb Vindaloo, and the Butter Chicken for days.)
For dinner, I was craving something warm and filling. Last week, while trying out a few recipes from my newly acquired cookbook – Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese (by the lovely Stephanie and Garrett!), I loved the tomato soup in the book so much that I had to make a second batch. So tonight I decided to make meatballs – with ground beef from the butcher, salt, pepper, cinnamon and garlic powder, and simmer them for an hour in the tomato soup. I tossed in a large handful of orzo pasta, and let it bubble gently until cooked through.
Devon walked in the door right when dinner was ready, and we both loved this meal.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 12, 2013 | Coffee
I decided this morning that I’m going to try to go back to one cup of coffee a day.
At some point, my single cup of coffee in the morning turned into two, and then one mid-afternoon, and then all too often one at five – my crutch to get me through the terrible shock to my system that is daylight savings. This darkness before five is oppressive!
Now, the coffee itself, it’s not all that bad of a habit, and most of the coffee I drink is black, so there’s no impetus to cut back to avoid excess sugar. So why change? Here’s the problem: I love the taste of coffee, and the ritual, and sometimes this means that I drink more than I really need – and I don’t like it when caffeine becomes a craving rather than an “optional”.
So here’s my intention. One cup, in the morning. For the rest of the day, I’ll refill with hot water – my favorite form of hydration. If I feel so inclined to take a 5pm special treat once in a while, so be it, but it won’t be every day.
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It’s been quite some time since I’ve shared my daily gratitude exercise here, but I try to come up with a small list on a regular basis that captures the things I’m thankful for. Years in this still feels a little hippy dippy, but being able to acknowledge the good around me really helps me feel better about life.
The little things:
smart and thoughtful coworkers. people who make me happy to show up every day, who are positive, hardworking, and caring.
sandwich fixins’. minus the bread. arugula, mozzarella, prosciutto, basil. also, coworkers that don’t mock me for dumping the contents of several sandwiches into my plate, and leaving a sad heap of bread cast-offs.
new strings. some of the guitars in the house are getting some attention tonight – they aren’t my instruments, but seeing new strings put on, and necks lovingly polished, and then listening to the tuning – is delightful.
twinkle lights. we have our string of lights up all year long in the living room – it always feels magical.
the gently vibrating alarm on my Jawbone Up. way better than getting woken aggressively by a phone alarm, and even though I usually wake up a few minutes before it goes off, it’s still quite comforting.
IOU’s. the parking lot credit card machine was broken tonight, and the attendant waved me off, telling me to pay the next time I was in.
dear book club friends, on our non-book club night, at the bar. added bonus of nostalgia from my college days studying poetry with chili and a pint at the bar (Dunn-Gaherin’s)
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 11, 2013 | Ice Cream
Most of the time around here our food is home cooked, organic, locally sourced. I pride myself on cooking a glut of vegetables on a daily basis. I try to bring my lunch into work. I rarely bake at home, and junk doesn’t make it into the house. I do have one weakness…. okay, yeah, no, let’s scrap this entire intro here. Seriously, just ignore any attempts to set the idyllic scene. I don’t need to apologize, nor do I feel guilty for this important truth:
I love Ben & Jerry’s. Love it. I’d eat pints and pints all day long if I could. In fact, I really miss the days where I could pack back an entire pint with ease. Now, unfortunately, I care about not getting sugar high and a stomach ache. Oh, good old days of gluttony, I do miss you! But why Ben & Jerry’s? It’s the creaminess. And the flavors. And the puns. And mostly the delightful mix-in prizes you get with every scoop. It’s the romance of scooping bowls for yourself and your partner, and making the conscious decision to equally share the crags of chocolate toffee, or the cookie dough, or the brown sugar swirls. A few years ago when Molly’s book ‘Season to Taste‘ came out, one of the most fascinating parts was her mentioning that Ben Cohen had anosmia (a loss of smell, and corresponding loss of taste), and that was the impetus for all of those excellent textural additions. It makes total sense.
I’ve tried a lot of ice cream in my day, but for me Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is the total package for a supermarket brand. While it may not be BiRite Salted Caramel, it’s much more than the sum of it’s parts. The caveat: it’s not small batch, and the ingredients aren’t always as wholesome as I’d like, and technically they are owned by a major blood-sucking corporation – the man. But man oh man, do they have consistency down. I’ve never met a flavor that I didn’t like.
So here we are tonight.
The ice cream aisle. All of the options. It’s the most important decision of the day. I love asserting this to strangers in the ice cream aisle. They all nod, knowingly. I’m only being partially facetious. Tonight, Pistachio Pistachio sang the loudest siren song. Sometimes we can’t make a single choice in agreement, so we get two pints. “We’re going for a balanced meal here!” I joke to the cashier. It’s one of my “regular jokes,” the kind that when I have children they’ll roll their eyes at.
Tonight this pint is coming home, and I’m going to watch Top Chef episodes that I’ve fallen behind on, and the world will be good.
Also: while doing “research” tonight, I came across this masterpiece – 2dips. 2 Dippers Kris and Fred would sit down with a pint and write their own reviews – the Siskel and Ebert of food blogging, with fierce enthusiasm about their frozen adventures. 500 words about a pint of ice cream? Yes, indeed. After reading through dozens of reviews, I was horrified to find that they stopped updating in 2011. How could this happen? So, 2dips Kris, 2dips Fred: this scoop is for you, wherever you are.
Other flavors of Ben & Jerry’s I enjoy:
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
- Chunky Monkey
- Cinnamon Buns
- Coffee Caramel Buzz/ Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz/Coffee Heath Bar Crunch
- Chocolate Therapy
- New York Super Fudge Chunk
- Mint Chocolate Cookie
- Greek: Strawberry Shortcake
And from the scoop shops: Coconut Seven Layer Bar and White Russian. I wish this was sold by the pint!
Do you have a favorite flavor?
