Here we are in mid-summer! I’ve been working off a “Joy in July” list which includes things like “eat a lobster roll”, “sit by the water”, visit museums, and hiking, etc., to focus on experiencing good things in what has been an otherwise mildly stressful summer.
Yesterday I found myself making it to Farmers Market for the first time this season (only a month late!) and was overjoyed to find myself actually inspired with vegetables and fruit for the first time in a while. My summer meals are a lot of assembled salads, and I keep Mark Bittman’s standby Summer Express 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less from the early 2ks bookmarked.
I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I could get at Farmers Market at a reasonable price in these times of inflation, and ended up coming home this week with lettuce, a boatload of tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, a bunch of zucchini, fresh basil, peaches, and raspberries. Grabbed some of the very good OMG English Muffins. Our farmers market has a great fresh fish vendor, too, although I was an hour late for the variety! I grabbed some of the last of the local haddock, which was delicious.
Weekly Meal Plan – 7/24/22
For the past few weeks, I’ve been having trouble with decision fatigue around food – and most other things – so this week’s meal plan includes more detailed options for lunches and breakfasts as well. I always feel comfortable swapping out if I’m craving something in particular in the moment, but having *something* planned helps me from stalling out on on my eating an actual meal.
Sat: Crunchy Slaw with peanut dressing, poached haddock, sliced tomatoes
Sun: Bonchon tacos (I’ve been hearing about these for weeks. Big decision will come down to bulgogi or chicken)
Mon: Red Sox Game – eat at the park!
Tue: WeCo roasted chicken ramen soy marinated roasted chicken breast with hoisin + ginger glaze; shiitake mushroom + spring onion broth; spicy miso paste; spring beans + peas with curry leaves + wilted spinach; fresh wavy noodles; scallions + pickled mushrooms + marinated egg
Thu: WeCo SHARK-cuterie board! 6 jumbo shrimp with WECO red cocktail sauce, Matiz organic mussels in olive oil & vinegar, Squailly’s bluefish paté, piquillo jam + pickles and a sleeve of Ritz crackers
Fri: gnocchi cacio pepe (new! from Trader Joes)
Sat: Fresh catch fish, boiled potatoes, steamed greens, a bunch of lemon
Lunches include: a pot of Rancho Gordo snowcap beans, Trader Joe’s Lamb Vindaloo, and Spicy Lentil Wrap, tomato and cheese sandwiches, some adobo seasoning chicken thighs, and assorted vegetables.
💙 Taking advantage of the flight delay this morning to come up with a list of some events for our local Wellesley alum club. We have more than 5000 alums living in the greater Boston area, close to the mothership.
Boston friends, any ideas? What I’m looking for:
I’m looking for ideas around:
Learning something together
Socializing in a new way
Eating something together
Creating something together
Service projects in our community
Connecting to Wellesley
Cross Club events (reaching out to the presidents and SIG leaders)
So far, some of the ideas + planned events (with attention to the fact that many of our events will be virtual or outdoors). Both the College and the alumnae association at large already puts a ton of virtual lectures, so this is primarily locally focused:
🎨 Creating Arts:
Botanical painting class with the Wellesley greenhouse people (Zoom)
MFA drawing class
Songwriting for non-musicians class
Plant workshops (maybe at Mahoneys? Who is offering these?)
🖼 Museum-ish Visits:
We already have a group Art in Bloom Zoom scheduled with the MFA
There’s an upcoming trip to the Fogg/Harvard Arts
Mt. Auburn Cemetery Tour
Symphony (we went to BMOP and it was popular!)
🛶 Physical Activities:
Ompractice class with Reggie Hubbard
Kayaking at the Boathouse (could we do an on-campus day?)
On The Mark Archery at Gore Place
Hiking in Blue Hills
🍋Food:
Virtual cheese tasting with Formaggio
Dim Sum (we’re going to Hei La Moon)
Dumpling making class (Mei Mei? Any reccs?)
Cross-Club cooking class zooms with “virtual restaurant touristing!” of local faves across states.
❤️ Service Opportunities:
Boston Marathon Volunteering
Cradles to Crayons
Any ideas for this for a small group? Either in person, or that we can do from our homes? What else should I be adding to my list? Looking for any suggestions at different price points!
On Writing: Who do you write for? Last night I spent a few hours reading through my old online journals through college, and sharing the best nuggets with friends. One thing that surprised me was the frequency in which I wrote. Faithfully, 3 or 4 times a week. The detail. The thinking in those pages. What a gift to my future self.
I think there’s something wonderful about writing to yourself and for yourself.
Who do you serve? There’s an Adam Grant tweet going around this week. (I’m currently mid-read of Think Again, which I’m enjoying.) “Too many people spend their lives being dutiful descendants instead of good ancestors. The responsibility of each generation is not to please their predecessors. It’s to improve things for their offspring. It’s more important to make your children proud than your parents proud.”
A few of the things that I’ve been very consistent at in the new year: going to bed with a clean sink and setting the coffee maker, and meal planning for the week.
I picked up a few extra bouquets of yellow flowers to surround myself with COLOR today. Two bunches from Trader Joe’s. The pink bouquet was from a delightful zoom flower arranging class with Alice’s Table.
⚡️ This week, I’ve been thinking about activation energy. Specifically, it takes me a disproportionate amount of effort to get started on things, even if I *desperately want* to do them. So cutting down any steps at the beginning of doing something, and making the first one or two steps I do simple to focus on action is key.
For tidying dishes, for instance, if I think about the effort to wash them, my brain overwhelms. Instead, I shift the focus to the first small step: turn on the water and let it get warm. This is enough to get the whole process going, and stay consistent with it.
Weekly Meal Plan 2/19/22
Next week I’ve outsourced most of my meals to WeCo, a local food delivery service. Why? Because much of my focus is going to be on working on our platform re-launch at Ompractice! The past several months have been low on energy. And WeCo meals are delicious, and the kind of food I enjoy cooking for myself, so I don’t feel deprived of the thing that brings me joy. (They’ve now expanded to New Hampshire!)
Dinners:
Sat: WeCo sweet chili shrimp + rice bowl sweet chili shrimp, brown rice, pickled celery + cucumber and kimchi + ginger slaw with sesame garlic vinaigrette
Sun: Turkish Spinach and Meat (although this might get swapped!)
Mon: Canadian Blue Box Kraft Mac and Cheese (thanks to my sibling crossing the border for food two weeks ago.)
Fri: WeCo hot oil udon noodle bowl – udon noodles with miso-roasted greens, charred broccoli with fried garlic, torn herbs and chili oil for pouring on top!
Sat: WeCo grilled cheese + tomato soup the classic! griddled white bread with cheddar and creamy tomato soup on the side… and a pickle because why not!
What’s on your plate this week?
xo, Sam
PS: Next Retro workshop is up and live for next week. It’s a 90 minute *Do The Thing: Monthly Review – we’ll work together on a monthly review for the month of February on Sunday morning.
Doing something a little different this week! Over the past few years I’ve been heads down working on Ompractice, but I’ve missed leading workshops as part of my toolbox of community-driven accountability. To that end, I’m leading a workshop on Monday that I’m excited about and *Doing the Thing!
It’s like a crafting circle, but for personal reflection. Join me on 1/31 Monday at 6:30 ET for a 90 minute workshop on the Personal Retrospective! (A daily/weekly/monthly review process that’s as simple and flexible as you want it to be for yourself. We’ll design our own templates AND get a review done.) Cost: $42 Register here.
Accountability is another one of those words (like Gratitude, which I find grating) that really doesn’t capture my positive sentiment of the concept, which is: the important things in life are more fun and fulfilling when done together.
A few weeks ago, a friend asked me to share a little bit more about my review process, and I found myself writing 2500 words on the topic (It’s something I’m very passionate about!) I do a version of a retrospective regularly – daily with just a few minutes on my hands, weekly (typically with accountibili-buddy), and monthly, with a little bit more depth to the process. I’ve done a version for over ten years now, and find it a flexible process I go back to again and again because it works. The look and feel change over time, and based on my creative needs, but the bones remain the same. Here’s an excerpt of why I run this process for myself.
Using a Retro as part of your Emotional Regulation Tool Kit
Here’s why I go back to a personal review system again and again:
Retros are not simply a way to “get organized” in the bro-productivity sense. They are a self-loving practice that I choose to do to directly benefit my mental health.
The practice is structured thought work which addresses a range of needs:
Helps me review and acknowledge the work and experiences I actually completed. I think of this as the opposite of the The Zeigarnik Effect (which is the tendency to better remember unfinished tasks than completed ones). When I finish things, I tend to forget that I’ve done them, and this breaks the ever present negative thought pattern of “I haven’t done enough”. Nope, you did a lot. Give yourself grace.
Regular Gratitude Practice. I hate the word gratitude. I find it grating. I typically call these “Good Things”. There’s a boatload of science showing that giving thanks helps to improve overall happiness. Even in the most challenging times, this is reliably a mood booster for me.
Boundaries: Having a container for review makes it easier to manage my emotions and my energy during the week. I know that I don’t have to address everything in the moment, and can wait until my retro to process some of the hard stuff, knowing that it will be addressed.
Helps me to identify patterns in my behavior, actions (or non-actions), and thoughts. Specifically, what kinds of things do I do regularly that just don’t serve my goals? (I’m looking at you, mindless scrolling.)
Incentive and Cue to add more good things to my week and month to come. When I know I’m going to review things after the fact, it gives me a little bit more initiative to add things to look forward to in my calendar.
👉 Want to give yourself more satisfaction with your day to day? Learn more about the in’s and outs and design a format that works for YOU. We’ll be doing it all together on Monday. My next Retro Workshop is on Jan 31st at 6:30pm Eastern. Cost: $42 Register here.
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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