Hello! Hello!Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things where I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.
Set out for some change of scenery in Texas (Houston, at the Land Bridge)
Last week I found myself getting a last minute change of scenery in Houston, Texas. I made a snap decision to get a ticket to see 3 month old Michael-Poundcake, and help my bff Caroline get a little extra sleep during the night while I fed some bottles and got in some late night snuggles with the sweetest baby.
I’ve never actually been to Houston in January, and very much enjoyed blue skies and mid-50s/low 60s for most of my time there. In addition to lots of happy baby time, I also managed to get my requisite fresh tortilla eating, and consume two breakfast kolaches.
February Intentions
Each month I sit down and write out a list of intentions for the month ahead. It’s not exactly a to-do list, more like an “options” list. Place-holders also help me make space for more exciting adventures! How do I want to feel this month? January felt like a bit of a wallop, but I still managed to make time for myself. Many of my intentions remain the same month to month, but I try to pick out a few new things regularly!
Out and About
Photography Walk with my nice camera • Movie Theater on $7 Tuesday • Dog Walks with friends (already squeezed one in this morning!) • Movie Night at Home with Popcorn • Monthly Boston dinner with my friend Kathy • Monthly family dinner out with my mom and brother (Capital Grille?) • Disney in Anaheim!
Good Eats
Formaggio Kitchen Cheese Tasting • Still working off my Food in January List • Clementines, Grapefruit, Cara Caras, all the citrus! • Lunar New Year Treats: (Longevity Noodles, Eight Treasures Rice) • Food in California (I’ll be at a conference, and then a day at Disney)
Self Care
Yearly Dermatologist Appointment • Wax some things off • Self-Care List • Massage • Eye Masks in the fridge in the morning • Stick on Nails until you can get a manicure again • Float Spa (want to test Float and The Indoor Oasis) • Sauna at Kelo
Move!
Lift (Weekly Lifting 3x at home with lifting schedule printed out, 1 at gym) • CRAW
Update Lists
Inputs List (Podcasts, Reading, Watching) • Recipes to Cook • Cooking Projects 2024 • Bean of the Month • Hobonichi Monthly Review 2024 • Placeholders for “Once in a Lifetime monthly activities”
List 5 things to giveaway on Buy Nothing • Order lid screws for toilet • Get knives sharpened • Break down the massive cardboard box in the back • Finish TAXES • Quarterly Kitchen Purge
Inputs
📺 Watch: Polite Society • Délicieux • Spirited Away • Reservoir Dogs • The Lost Boys • Anatomy of a Fall • True Detective (TV) • The Brothers Sun (TV) • Fargo (TV) • The Bear (TV) • New Season of Queer Eye (TV) • Jury Duty (TV) • Dr. Who (TV)
This Week in Good Things:
🔎 Taste Test: Girl Scout Cookie Throwdown: Caramel DeLites vs Samoas, for #science — some noticeable differences out the gate: bag and box. I grew up selling Samoas as a Brownie, personally. Samoas are generally a little smaller, darker and slightly toastier coconut. Caramel DeLites a tiny bit sweeter. Honestly I’m surprised at how similar they still ended up tasting! (Nominally prefer Samoas, but it’s hard to tell them apart much more than the color!)
💪 Let’s MOVE! I think the most wild thing – a few weeks ago, I decided to try out some Barbell Hip Thrusts. I had only tried them at home with a heavy dumbbell, and because it wasn’t ever very comfortable, assumed that I’d not be able to do well with the barbell. In week one, I started out getting to 315 pounds, and by adjusting the setup, got up to 495 pounds last week, which honestly is *wild* to me.
✍️ Writing: been enjoying writing in my Hobonichi, and also writing for guidance, where you write questions and then listen for the answers – with the new Julia Cameron book, Living the Artists Way.
🐾 Pup Walks with Friends: we had a very fun romp with Gus and Hazel, our pug friends in the little pen.
🌸 Flowers of the Week: Purple mums (two colors) from Trader Joe’s. Looking forward to my spring flower share starting!
Good Ideas
This wisdom from Marie Poulin. (I’ll note that for me, personally, chill nervous system usually is a result of a good dose of adventuring!)
Other Good Things
📖 Reading: I’ll be updating my reading list (here is last quarter). I’ve been reading Mistborn (Wax and Wayne) before diving into the new Sarah J. Maas Crescent City Book this week.
📺 Watching: Party-watched ‘Echo’ with my friend Caroline, and finished watching BEEF. I can best describe BEEF as a show where each successive episode you say to yourself “well.. that escalated quickly”.. until you get to the very end. The Last Repair Shop on Disney+ if you need a heart warming 40 minute documentary about music in LA schools. Got started on the newest season of Queer Eye.
🛍 Good Acquisitions: the Aquanotes Big Shower Edition (these are incredible). I use this the pad every time I take a shower. Still wildly enjoying my Duraflame Electric Fireplace, including our new morning routine where I read next to the fire, and Bertram sleeps in his dog bed in front of the fire.
🤣 Memes and randomness of the week: This insane speedskating race at the youth olympics // I’m obsessed with this woman’s father who goes to the bar every week with a list of topics for his friends to discuss.
Bacon, egg, and cheese kolache at the Kolache Shoppe
The Weekly Meal Plan:
Still working through my long list of foods I’d like to eat in January. I’ve been eating my meals with some of the fruits of my labor (a Pondicheri cooking class where I made minced garlic, ginger, a green masala, and a coconut masala)
Sunday: Saucy scallops with mushrooms and rice
Monday: Tandoori chicken and naan, leftover vegetables in fridge
Tuesday: Steamed fish with rice, baby bok choy, braised mushrooms
Wednesday: Rice bowl with salmon, tomato, avocado, cucumber, pickled onions
Thursday: Yuba (tofu skin) peanut noodles
Friday: Out! to my neighbor’s for dinner
Saturday: Beef Nachos
Sunday: Formaggio Cheese Tasting (yes…. on Superbowl Sunday)
Snacks: Yogurt and berries (I’m on a berry kick, even though they aren’t in season), soft boiled eggs, cottage cheese, cheese sticks.
Treat options: Burdicks chocolate winter box (working my way through one bite at a time). TJ’s Pretzel Breadpudding. TJ’s Iced Gingerbread in the freezer. Peppermint Hold the Cones. Fried bananas. TJ’s Chocolate Cheesecake Freezer Bites
🥑 Good Eats from this past week: Trader Joe’s Peanut satay sauce with chicken, rice, and cabbage. Bacon Egg and Cheese Kolache from the Kolache Shoppe. Sonny + Joe’s Sauteed Eggplant. Copper Cow Churro Coffee Pourovers. Layla Peach Drinkable Yogurt.
What are you eating this week?
Previous Years:
Something I really enjoy doing is flipping back in my journal or my blog to the week of the year over the past several years. When I write it out in a list like this, it feels like a nice accomplishment!
Hello! Hello!Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things where I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.
Got a fresh cut from Lucy Danger (can’t look straight into the camera though…)
Some moments for rest, and thoughts on doing less.
This week I stumbled through the week feeling like I was trying to ward off an illness that was threatening to appear.
Having experienced a bout of brain fog last year that I definitely do not wish to repeat, I’m trying to be more mindful of not just “pushing through” when I’m feeling under the weather.
Rest though, for me, is perpetually challenging. There’s a weird tension between having a lot of physical energy (which I do, most of the time!) and feeling limited by mental fatigue and tanked executive function.
Aside from rest, it’s also a challenge to know what to dial down and pull back from. As someone who enjoys self-imposed structure and strong commitments, I’ve learned to start checking in with myself more regularly: is this goal/commitment/idea actually supporting me right now? Do I have the energy to pursue it? Is it feeding me? Do I need to stop doing something else to make it happen? Do I need to do less of it?
💛 For those of us who chronically add more to our plate, this is your reminder that it is OKAY to stop doing something if it’s not working for you right now.
If you’ve reached the point in January where maybe you were hoping for a little bit more energy and get-go – and are feeling existentially tired, please give yourself a little bit of grace!
This Week in Good Things:
🖼 This week I went on one lovely excursion: to an evening event at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum! I had a good time with my friend Amanda. The museum is absolutely magical at night. If you haven’t seen “This Is A Robbery”, the Netflix special about the heist at the ISG, you might enjoy it!
💪 Let’s MOVE! Starting the year off strong, I’ve eased into my new fitness cycle. I’m committed to weekly strength training over the next 16 weeks that is my favorite: boring and effective lifts with progressive overload. I had a pretty fun milestone in the gym this week, too – I had never done Barbell Hip Thrusts, and worked my way up to a couple of reps at #315 pounds on the bar! (Not too shabby for a first time PR!)
✍️ Writing: I’ve focused my daily writing this week on short and sweet Daily Good Things – to continue in the groove of writing and releasing something daily.
🐾 Pup Walks with Friends: we ran into Josie the Pug and her human Jess this week; and several longer walks in better weather while it hit 60 this week after the storms. (In not-so-good things, we had an off-leash Belgian Shepherd come over to try to rough Bertram up yesterday while we were walking by right around the corner from our house – he’s okay! – but I’m still feeling rattled!)
Other Good Things
📖 Reading: I’ll be updating my reading list (here is last quarter). Still reading Jessica McCabe’s new release How to ADHD, finished Richard Kadrey’s fun noir novella ‘The Pale House Devil’ and I’ve started Viveca Sten’s ‘Hidden in Shadows’ – The Åre Murders book 2, a crime drama based in a small ski town. I’m a fan of reading season-matching books, so Scandinavian winter mysteries are some of my favorite to read in January.
📺 Watching: almost done with season 2 of Reacher, who solves problems with low emotional output and his large size. I’m about to kick off party-watching ‘Echo’ with my friend Caroline.
🛍 Good Acquisitions: influenced by BookTok, I finally got myself a Kindle page turner and I’m not being hyperbolic when I say it’s a *game changer*. I also got a gooseneck clamp to put it up so I don’t have to hold my device, but I think you can go without that one. Also? LED candles. The ones I got I don’t know if I’d recommend specifically, but I really enjoy the flexibility.
🚘 Tackled a nagging task: after realizing that my registration doesn’t expire for another year and I’m not going to have to go to the DMV this month, I set out to first get myself to Valvoline for an oil change. (For those of you in the Boston area, the Valvoline on Main Street in Waltham is consistently great.) Next up? Inspection sticker.
👁🗨 Spa Activity: I’m a fan of eye masks, and keep some in the fridge to put on while I sit and read. I’m still hoping to book some time at Kelo Spa in the next few weeks, but it’s always nice to do a little something for yourself at home.
Treat options: Burdicks chocolate winter box. TJ’s Pretzel Breadpudding. TJ’s Iced Gingerbread in the freezer. Peppermint Hold the Cones. Pumpkin Sticky Toffee Pudding. Fried bananas.
🥑 Good Eats from this past week: Spinach and tofu with rice and yogurt. Bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon from Zabar’s. Noodles, crispy pork, mushrooms, bok choy and tahini vinaigrette. I love the combo of tahini and black or rice vinegar and a splash of soy sauce. It was so good I made it twice this week. Also, having the Thai wheat noodles from Trader Joe’s on hand made a few last minute meals easy. Rice bowl with grey sole, bok choy, pickled chanterelles. After my trip to New York, I’ve found myself craving Korean food. On the coldest day, I ordered myself seafood pancake, kalbi, and tofu soup from Kaju. Perfect Shinko asian pears.
What are you eating this week?
Previous Years:
Something I really enjoy doing is flipping back in my journal or my blog to the week of the year over the past several years. When I write it out in a list like this, it feels like a nice accomplishment!
Hello! Hello!Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things where I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.
We made it to the last day of the year! I’m spending the day doing some planning, tidying, reading (including re-reading my own Winter Good Things Guide I published at the beginning of the year) and blog posts from years past. I always love the last week of the year for the “in-between energy”.
January Intentions
Each month I sit down and write out a list of intentions for the month ahead. It’s not exactly a to-do list, more like an “options” list. Place-holders also help me make space for more exciting adventures! How do I want to feel this month? Like I eased into January with purpose and renewed energy.
Out and About
Photography Walk with my nice camera – documenting New England winter wildlife • Movie Theater on $7 Tuesday • Dog Walks with friends • Movie Night at Home with Popcorn • Winter at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with Amanda (Jan 10th) • Monthly Boston dinner with my friend Kathy • Monthly family dinner out with my mom and brother
Good Eats
Food in January List (work in progress!) • Rancho Gordo Popcorn for movie nights • Candied Citrus • Annie’s with crab, tomato paste, sherry • Kapuska (Turkish cabbage and meat stew) • Lamb Biryani
Self Care
Self-Care List • Massage • Eye Masks in the fridge in the morning • Stick on Nails until you can get a manicure again • Float Spa (want to test Float and The Indoor Oasis) • Sauna at Kelo
Move!
The Needham New Year’s 5k • Lift (Weekly Lifting 3x at home with lifting schedule printed out, 1 at gym) • CRAW • Yoga (weekly Ompractice, daily 30 days) • Pilates (Reformer – SolidCore at Arsenal)
Update Lists
Inputs List (Podcasts, Reading, Watching) • Recipes to Cook • Cooking Projects 2024 • Bean of the Month • Hobonichi Prep for 2024 • Placeholders for “Once in a Lifetime monthly activities” • Favorites 2023 (see inspiration)
Tidy up outdoor plants for winter • List 5 things to giveaway on Buy Nothing • Haircut • Updated addresses for New Year Cards • Valvoline • RMV • Labcorp • Order lid screws for toilet • Get knives sharpened
Inputs
📺 Watch: The Banshees of Inisherin • The Taste of Things • Killers of the Flower Moon • Past Lives • Poor Things (theater) • Michael Clayton • The Northman • The Holdovers • Past Lives • The Killing of a Sacred Deer (before Jan 22) • The Iron Claw (theater) • ‘Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros’ (theater) • Fargo (TV) • Reacher (TV) • The Bear (TV) • New Season of Queer Eye (TV) • Jury Duty (TV) • Beef (TV)
📆 Accountability Workshop on 1/6/24
Something I’ve been toying with for the past few months has been how to help other people move things forward. I’m of the belief that community is one of the best forms of accountability. For years I hosted a weekly *Do The Thing Hour, which is currently on hiatus, but love the idea of co-working towards getting things done together! I’ll be trying out something new in January, a “One Month, One Goal” workshop. We’ll come together to identify a *singular* goal you’d like to tackle in 30 days, and work together to make daily or weekly actions on your goal both measurable and more easily implementable. We’ll then have a shared goal tracker (via a fancy Google Slide Deck) Sign up here for the live class, or the recording if you can’t make it! January 6th on Zoom + 30 days of fun! $42.
This Week in Good Things:
🍏 A quick trip to New York City: my friend Rebeqa was visiting from Luxembourg! Highlights included an excellent Korean lunch at Han Bat (seafood pancake was the best! kalbi, kimchi fried rice, tofu stew), hot chocolate at Burdicks, dinner at Mercado Little Spain (pan con tomate, tripe stew, lentil soup, salad with avocado and goat cheese, another salad with egg and tuna, flan, and my favorite basque goat cheese cheesecake). A breakfast sandwich at Sip + Co (bacon, egg, cheese, on a bap). A points upgrade to the Kimpton Eventi (lovely!) Punctuated by wandering through Bergdorfs, Muji, and spending a lovely afternoon in the Housing Works Bookstore doing our end of year review and planning.
🇹🇷 House Dinner with Turkish Food – my neighbor Elif cooked up a veritable feast for us all: köfte and vegetables, mercimek köfte, sarma, börek, carrot salad, potato salad (with yogurt and cornichons!), hummus, fried peppers, baklava. I have the true luck having neighbors I truly adore!
🐾 Pup Walks with Friends: a walk with Sawyer (the Corgi) and her humans.
Good Things to Think About
What’s your backup? This year I’m working on backup lists – ideas for when to downshift because of lower energy, or when I need to intentionally reduce chaos or spend more time resting. I’ve been also thinking of Minimum Viable Consistency: “What’s your chicken fingers in the freezer version of your newsletter? (or whatever you’ve committed to)”
The “Hand-Copying Method”: I’m intrigued by the practice of copying writers by hand (as popularized by Gary Halbert) as a way to practice better writing and learning new skills. I’ve been trying to think of who I’d like to practice this with. Nigella Lawson?
Other Good Things
☕️ Morning coffee with Crescent Ridge Eggnog by the “fireplace” with a good book. I drink my coffee black all other parts of the year.
🔥 Watch (but not with family): Saltburn. (Murder on the Dance Floor is now stuck in my head and may never leave.)
🚀 Learn something new: Aprilynne Alter’s viral video on Youtube Thumbnails (and psychology) even if you have no desire to make a youtube channel, this is fascinating.
🪡 Capturing the year: an embroidery journal (I love the idea of capturing the year in art, journaling, or other mediums.)
I’ve been working on a little project around what I’d like to eat in the New Year. Today I found myself thumbing through two of my favorite authors – Nigel Slater and Nigella Lawson, who seem to have captured what I want to eat at any time.
Sunday: New Year Rice Bowl with crab, avocado, and salmon roe
Monday: Marcus Samuelsson Black Eyed Pea Curry (this is one of my favorite recipes of the year)
Treat options: Tapioca Pudding. TJ’s Pretzel Breadpudding. Chocolate mousse. TJ’s Iced Gingerbread in the freezer. Peppermint Hold the Cones. Walker’s Shortbread. Pumpkin Sticky Toffee Pudding. TJ’s Apple Tartin Tartelettes. (You’ll notice that this list keeps growing – I have a bad? habit of getting fancy desserts from Trader Joe’s from my freezer and taking forever to eat them.
🥑 Good Eats from this past week: I include a weekly meal plan in each week’s Good Things, and things never *actually* go as planned! Some of the standout additions include: Korean seafood pancake, Trader Joe’s tarte tatin with ricotta, basque goat cheese cheesecake.
Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things where I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.
Abbreviated version tonight – I hope you are all having a lovely and relaxed holiday weekend. I wanted to drop in with a quick hello!
Good Things This Week
🖼 Creative Input: A quick trip to the Museum of Fine Arts. I’d been meaning to go see the Fashioned by Sargent exhibit before it closes in a few weeks, and it didn’t disappoint. In 2024, I’m going to prioritize more quick museum trips, even if it means just popping in for an hour for inspiration.
Tiny Treasures: The Magic of Miniatures. You’ve heard of Fabergé eggs, but have you seen his miniature bulldog, Cody? (This was in the miniatures exhibit, which left me rationalizing a collection of more tiny objects.)
Matthew Wong: The Realm of Appearances. There’s an exhibit by the late Canadian artist Matthew Wong which is really quite stunning. He died at 35. I love some of the inspiration from artists like Kusama (which you can really see in this one.)
Creative Participation! There was an interactive part of the exhibit where you could write a poem. I spent a couple of minutes going through the thick stack of patron contributions. Some of them were truly delightful. Some of them were as entertaining as you’d think giving a crowd writing instruments could be.
Take a seat. The MFA has a collection of chairs in the permanent collection throughout the museum that you can actually sit on. This pair of Conoid chairs were created by George Nakashima and are in the Toshiko Takaezu exhibit in the new wing on the top floor. They are *wildly* comfortable.
Toshiko Takaezu was a ceramist, but perhaps more interestingly she was an artist who worked in a range of mediums, inspiring innovative techniques. I enjoyed the layout of this exhibit which included photographs, video, and sound.
🍫 Chocolate Treats: checking off another item on my December intentions list – a fancy box of Burdick’s chocolates, acquired. Bonus: I got a spot directly in front of the store. After not eating much of anything for an entire week while my mouth healed from a tea burn, I managed to also get myself a warm dark hot chocolate which was the first food in days I finally enjoyed!
⏲ Time to Bake: Cocoa Gingerbread. I loosely adapted this recipe in the NYtimes, adding cocoa and chocolate chips a la Nigella Lawson. It tastes better on day two! I don’t bake often, but when I do, I’m always decently pleased with myself.
A smattering of other good things:
🛁 Watch: Saltburn (only if you like movies from A24 or other arts films and be prepared to be… mildly disturbed.) I enjoyed the movie, but I’m *really* enjoying watching reaction videos to the film. (I’ve also broken down and am watching Reacher, a show about a man who solves problems with his large size.)
🗑 Stop Doing: I deleted Cats and Soup and Two Dots from my phone. I like playing small video games and idlers occasionally while I listen to audiobooks, and then I wake up one day and am done (for the best!)
🌱 Plant Lady Life. Patiently waiting for my waxed amaryllis to bloom. (There’s still time to grab one at Trader Joe’s). I took in my little succulent garden a few weeks ago from my front stoop, and they are thriving on the bookshelf.
A quote to internalize:
“Ideserve a treat when I have a bad week but I also deserve a treat when I have a good week. I simply always deserve treats” – Bettina Makalintal
That’s a wrap for this week!
I hope you have time this week to rest, relax, and connect!
After a great 2019, and a middling 2020 for reading, and an even worse 2021 (lots of half read books with my attention as shot), here I am with my renewed sense of enthusiasm in the new year!
Having a reading list 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. I make room for the synchronicity of just picking up any random title, but I always have a backup!
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.
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. Our team has quite a few readers, and an up and coming leadership book club has us reading (me re-reading Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly, next.)
January:
Re-read Atomic Habits by James Clear; Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg (done!)
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (done!)
We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers (in-progress!)
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Re-Read: Dare to Lead by Brené Brown (work book club)
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
What it’s Like to Be a Bird David Allen Sibley
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.)
YA fiction or Fantasy
Gallant by VE Schwab (March 1 Release)
Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin
The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy) by S.A. Chakraborty
In the Serpents Wake (Tess of the Road #2) by Rachel Hartman
Skyhunter by Marie Lu
Leadership / Business / Finance:
Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, Kaley Klemp
Think Again by Adam Grant (in-progress!)
Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr
Writing and Creating:
The Practice: Shipping Your Creative Work by Seth Godin
Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon
The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert
Fitness and Health / Mindfulness / Brains
Listen Like You Mean It: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection by Ximena Vengoechea
How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
The Body, A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
The Power of Kindness: The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life by Piero Ferrucci
Gripping / Thrilling / Literary:
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
Memoirs / Non-Fiction Reporting
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
Taste by Stanley Tucci
Eat a Peach by David Chang
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman
Books to Finish (technically there are many more half-reads over the past few years):
The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk
Dutch House (Audiobook?)
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Circe by Madeleine Miller (may switch over to Kindle)
If we can clear the air with the Pandemic, all the terrible things going on in this world, and 2020 just being a general dumpster fire – without further ado, I’ll jump back into my regularly scheduled Good Things posts for 2020.
Good Things: an acknowledgement of things that are working well, the little things I’ve noticed, moments that I’ve paused to savor. A combination of my weekly wins, gratitude practice, curiosity and observation.
Good Things Week 19:
I’m kicking off the warmer months with a new fitness challenge – the #GVRAT1000k virtual race across Tennessee. It ends up being about 5 miles a day roughly of walking and running, so not too far off from my usual distance, but still an admirable challenge. One of the things I’m going to enjoy is learning more about the state of Tennessee as I go. I have a couple of thematic audio books lined up. For anyone curious about the genesis of this race, it’s put on by these folks. (Recommended watching.) I’ve taken quite a bit of pleasure heading outside and watching spring unfold.
{Good Reading}
This week, I’ve taken to working through finishing half read or listened books on my Kindle/Audible over the past few weeks. I had a good chuckle when I found myself with Radical Focus (Christina Wodtke), Radical Candor (Kim Scott), and Radical Acceptance (Tara Brach) all on the docket.
Embracing Re-Reading: Last year, my focus was on both reading and watching new to me books and films, rather than re-reads as a way to inspire, intrigue, and shake up my routine. With the general progression of 2020, I switched to seeking comfort where I knew it would could be found: my evening reading shifted largely to re-reading my favorite stand-bys. (This coping strategy was well honed from seasons of finals periods in high school and college, when I’d switch back to re-reading for comfort.)
In Fiction over the past few weeks, I finished my epic re-listening journey of all the Harry Potter books – the ones read by Stephen Fry (not Jim Dale). I then moved onto a re-listen of Garth Nix’s Sabriel, one of my fantasy favorites. Not everything was old hat: I also read Leigh Bardugo’s The Ninth House, and have commenced Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata Witch.
{Good Eats}
My cooking has been relatively simple – things that require really limited prep time, mostly a minute or two of chopping and then roast in the pan, or that have developed flavor by a long bath in a marinade. In added kitchen excitement, I treated myself to a long-desired Thermapen in my favorite yellow. One of the best tools in your kitchen.
This week in good meals:
Chicken thighs with Elotes, tomato salad with lime and cilantro. (pictured above) – cheat’s special with Trader Joe’s Mexican Corn from the freezer section.
Herby chicken, ramen, and garlic yogurt sauce. Ive become a fan of Trader Joes savory herb chicken thighs – they have a nice woodsy-mint taste. I served them on fresh ramen from Valicenti pasta company, with a garlic-yogurt sauce.
Rancho Gordo Vaquero Beans – my bean pot of the week. I cooked these simply with a few bay leaves and some garlic cloves. Looking forward to my next Bean Club shipment!
Greek-style three ways: one of my favorite combinations is the Greek tray bake with potato, tomato, and whatever protein you are using. I did this three separate times. Pork chops with fennel, potatoes, and tomato; a second time as Greek Fish with Tomato, and a third as Chicken with lemon, tomato and potato. There’s not much I like more than a good tray bake and these flavor combinations.
Lamb chops roasted over potato. My fennel and cumin seeds have been doing overtime this week. I ate the dinner with a trio of sauces: garlic aioli, shaved truffle mustard, and seafood cocktail sauce (because I’m classy.)
Cuban pork tenderloin with lime and grapefruit marinade over cauliflower chimichurri rice. The marinade is perfection: olive oil, lime, grapefruit and white vinegar with garlic. I’m not strict about the proportions, but the original recipe is one for Chuletas de Puerco from the Versailles Cookbook that my mom uses quite frequently. It’s just so good.
Banana Curry Fish over rice with lime. Another comfort food that reminds me of my mom’s kitchen. It’s a super simple combo of butter, bananas, and curry powder.
Odds and Ends:
Morning Coffee. Black. On my little second floor porch. (See above. Big mug thanks to the folks at SurveyMonkey.)
A large bowl of broccoli, beans and pesto. Looked virtuous, tasted delicious. When summer comes along I tend to make my own pesto, but until the plants are copious, I buy Bear Pond Farm from Whole Foods.
Naan with really good hummus, soft boiled egg, and tomato. Or a second iteration with hummus and the above pesto.
A bowl of soaked oats with milk and seville orange jam. I needed to finish up the last few spoons of jam, and this seemed like a worthy pairing. (It was.)
Really good popcorn. It’s absurdly easy to make good popcorn at home. I usually don’t even bother to stove-top – I just microwave a few spoonfuls dry in a large pyrex with a heavy plate on top.
With this, I conclude this week’s Good Things. Let me know what you’ve been up to – I’ll be back for more. Of course before we part ways: I’d be remiss to send you off without your weekly Bertram. This little buddy turned FIVE last month. He’s the happiest dude. <3 Here’s to a good week.
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.
Please do not steal! Email me at sam [at] thesecondlunch.com – if you’d like to use one of my photos, and I’d be happy to share my terms. Thanks!
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