Weekly Good Things: Week 44

56 days left in the year.

Dark by 5pm.

Every year I scratch my head at why we are still doing Daylight Savings. I’m not quite ready to prepare for a long winter.

Cross-Posted from my Substack. (Please subscribe if you’d like this in your weekly inbox!)

This Week in Good Things

I feel like I’m perpetually saying “I’m not sure how it’s… (insert the day/month here) already!” – but truthfully, I’m not sure how it’s November 5th already! Here are some of the highlights from my week!

  • 🦹🏻‍♀️ Ask your friends what they think your Super Power is. Go ahead, text them right now. This week I was heading on a podcast (Becoming You with my friend Rebecca Cafiero!), and to pump myself up, I asked some of my friends to text me what they thought my superpowers are. What I received was honestly the greatest gift. Some of the highlights – not because I’m trying to brag here, just because I felt so SEEN:
    • “Fuckin joy with intention in everyday things!!!!! And sharing and organizing that experience. You are an amazing resource for me because of how you live your life every day and how you want to share everything. You’re like having the no 1 lifestyle magazine for a friend 😄” [Editors note: I *do* aspire to live life as incredibly as current Martha Stewart]
    • “Finding systems where things seem mis-aligned.”
    • “Productive directness, really helpful feedback, and x-ray vision.”
    • “I can’t say it better than productive directness! And concrete, authentic discussion and strategy. OH! And genuine curiosity.”
  • Find the opportunities to see your closest friends in their element! ✨ I got to sneak into the Business Leadership Council at Wellesley to see my bff Heather speak on an AI panel. Biggest takeaways? How do we regulate AI without stifling innovation? (It’s okay for legislation to be *behind* – so that we don’t over-regulate.)
  • 🖼 I also got to see Diana Greenwald, curator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner interviewed by my fellow Wellesley alum, Rudina Seseri (founder of Glasswing Ventures). I took pages of notes from Diana’s talk. Some of the more interesting themes: museum spaces providing consistency in a world of chaos and: how is this art making me think vs. providing a purely aesthetic experience? and AI forcing new points of creativity in the arts (as a good thing!) and also ISG’s brilliance forming a unique endowment structure for her museum, which would provide for a strong director, weak trustees, and no more than a 5% draw.
  • 🐾 I also just noticed that Diana has written a book called Isabella Stewart Gardner: Dog Lover, which I shall be acquiring for myself. On that note, I’m starting to think about signature holiday gifts. I love the idea of passing along something special that you really love to all of your friends.
  • ✅ Tackled a nagging task: had an extra key made (in about 3 minutes at the Ace Hardware.) It’s been on my to-do list for months – one of those things that takes no time at all when you actually set forth and do it. On Saturday morning, Heather was up to do errands with me, so we knocked it out!

Bonus: I got to leave an event with several bouquets of flowers! Perks of being a local!

Interesting Ideas:

  • The difference between reporting the weather, versus being in the weather outside. (A metaphor for logical mind vs. feeling your feelings.)

Good Things in the World:

  • Reading. Stephen King’s newest book, Holly. And finally kicked off Sanderson’s Mistborn series. A few hundred pages in, I’m generally enjoying it, but I’m not sure what I’m in for!
  • Down time. Been watching Loki on Disney+, and the Great British Bake Off.
  • Perfect bites. If you are every in the Wellesley area, a sandwich at The Linden Store.
  • Organized life. I’ve been eyeing hobonichi yearly planners from the Paper Mouse.
  • Now and Then. I thought it was odd that the Beatles would release a song that was on John’s cutting room floor. But it’s cool that it was recorded over the span of almost 50 years.
  • Hate to love. A month in, I reluctantly will tell you that my (refurbished) Dyson air wrap hair dryer pretty darn magical. It dries my foot and a half of hair in about 4.5 minutes. I was secretly hoping I’d hate it.
  • Emotions. Watching Dan Povenmire call his daughter at school to tell her she has been nominated for an Emmy. (Cue the tissues.)
  • Good Words: Phoenicopter. What I will be calling flamingos from now on.
  • RIP Roland Griffiths. Listened to this interview with Rachel Martin on NPR (14 minutes), and if you have a longer time to listen, I very much enjoyed his podcast episode last year with Tim Ferriss.

The Weekly Meal Plan:

The week of the quarterly shipment boxes! I’m expecting my quarterly Noma box, by Rancho Gordo Bean club box, and I got my Burlap + Barrel Spices this week.

  • Sunday: Pasta with pork shoulder, cauliflower, cheddar
  • Monday: Chicken thighs with Floyd Cardoz Kashmiri Masala
  • Tuesday: Hodo Tofu, broccoli, DashiRX
  • Wednesday: Dinner at an event at the Museum of Fine Arts!
  • Thursday: Big salad with fridge scraps.
  • Friday: Pizza night (mushroom Cape Cod pizza with added pepperoni); big crunchy salad with red peppers and blue cheese

Lunches: Lamb Vindaloo, cold tofu with peanut sauce, pumpkin samosas from Trader Joe’s, Bambino Pizza.

Treats: I’ve been thinking about making a sweet custard like chawanmushi in my Anyday bowls. Dole Whip (the kind at the store, not at Disney, alas!)

That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!

xo, Sam

PS: The Ompractice Slow Down is starting next weekend! Four weeks of classes to stay relaxed as the year ends. It’s $49.99 for four weeks (or free with membership).

Weekly Good Things: Week 43

California Vibes

👋 Greetings! I’ve just returned back from a few energy-infusing days in San Diego. Ironically the weather was significantly warmer in Boston the entire weekend, but I always love a good excuse to go West!

I was going to push this off to tomorrow morning, and then I remembered that I value both consistency and connection with humans. And I reminded myself that we don’t need to wait to say the perfect thing to reach out and say hello. So, hi!

This Week in Good Things

This felt like somehow both the longest and shortest week. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Revolutions start at the dinner table. 🍽 A dinner party! My friend Daria brought together 8 women from different parts of her life. None of us knew each other particularly well. Her invite, which I loved, promised: “This is an intimate dinner for remarkable women who are my friends and colleagues in the tech world. Come as strangers, eat delicious food, and leave as friends.” It delivered!

Note to self: find more opportunities to get together with amazing people at the the dinner table. I’d love to host something like this once a quarter!

  • Going home feeds the soul. I have many homes, but one of them will always be Wellesley. I was so thrilled to have an Ompractice booth at the employee benefits fair at the college. (Employees have free access, so this was extra fun because all I had to do was have wonderful conversations with some amazing people (including so many people who have been working there since I was a student almost 20 years ago!)

On Thursday at 5am, I hopped a flight over to San Diego, to experience (and speak!) at Weekend at the Pitch Club, surrounded by incredible women leading mission driven businesses. I’ll be sorting through my 27 pages of notes this week, but here were a few things I noticed.

  • Rituals make life feel more meaningful. I experienced my first cacao ceremony. As someone who both loves the taste of good chocolate, and finds myself particularly moved by taste memories, this was a wonderful experience. Looking forward to bringing more small rituals like this back into my day-to-day life.
  • Good spaces drive good ideas. I had a half day workshop in an inspiring work space in San Diego, in the San Diego Made Factory. I always find that ideas come when I’m surrounded by plants, incredible people, and good architectural bones.

The water is my happy place. In San Diego, before each full conference day, I spent each day running on the water. My two favorite things: coming across the Saturday morning fish market where the fish were *massive* compared to any East coast catches, and people were walking off the dock with trash bags filled with a 40? pound fish they were carrying by the tail. And then seeing the Star of India this morning with people all over the rigging, ready to drop the sails for a special week!

Good Things in the World:

A week where I had curiously little consumption, I still bookmarked a handful of things, finished some good books, and made note of things I appreciate.

  • V.E. Schwab’s new book The Fragile Threads of Power (this is the first in a series, but not the first in the world. If you haven’t read A Darker Shade of Magic, I’d start there!
  • Yo Yo Ma playing in the woods. On that note, are you familiar with Saxquatch?
  • I watched a single episode S1 E1 of Vanderpump Rules, and I’m debating whether or not to take the leap in order to experience the ultimate reality television cultural phenomenon. (Or so I’ve been told.)
  • Dazzle Dry in Rose Gold. Here’s a discount code.
  • Chicken Katsu Curry. I used to eat this quite a bit in California, and it’s hard to find on the East Coast (unless you make it yourself!)
  • I got to actually see and hold one of my friend Jennifer’s Meemzy Magic Sensory Toy boxes in California! (I got the dinosaur one! I also got to give her a hug for the first time in about a decade! On that note, I got to give my friend Traca a quick drive-by hug while we were serendipitously in the same country and location on the same day. (Hugs are great.)
  • Rewatching the Wednesday Adams dance to get into the spooky season mood. The whole series is worth a re-watch.
  • This incredible home studio. How do I fill my home with more like this?

The Weekly Meal Plan:

After a long weekend of travel meals (some of them quite delicious!) I’m looking forward to being back in my own kitchen. And vegetables.

That said, one of the excellent things I ended up doing before leaving was eating down much of the fridge (the other excellent thing was a very good deep clean before travel). So I’m looking to restocking tomorrow night – usually I go straight to my “anytime shopping list” and go from there.

  • Sunday: Shakshuka (handed to me in a warm bowl when I returned from the airport)
  • Monday: Feast and Fettle Japchae Noodles
  • TuesdayWhite chicken chili
  • Wednesday: Fish Chowder. (Sam Sifton’s no-recipe recipe.) I found a handful of good Red’s Best fish in a freezer drawer I had forgotten about this week.
  • Thursday: Dinner at a work-related thing!
  • Friday: Pesto pasta, before all my garden herbs are totally frozen.

Lunches: End of the chili, tofu, pumpkin samosas from Trader Joe’s (still in there!)

Snacks: overnight oats, Topaz apples from Volante.

That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!

xo, Sam

PS: Tomorrow morning, I’m going to clean my computer keyboard. (On the off chance that you need to do that too, consider this a fortuitous reminder!)

Weekly Good Things – Week 42

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.
  • Soundbowl class with Reggie Hubbard.
  • “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 lifeLooking 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 NeedsIn 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.”

  • Good Reading: After writing my own essay, I ended up reading this good essay: ‘What do you want?’ by Calvin Rosser. I’ve also worked my way half way through Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) because it felt like the season for a little philosophy.
  • 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-opened Eastern 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 Sauce was 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
  • Monday: Chili, shredded unexpected cheddar, crispy jalapeño crunchies
  • Tuesday: Tech women dinner at a friends’ house!
  • Wednesday: Fish night, rice bowl, nori, cucumbers, pickled ginger
  • Thursday: San Diego!
  • Friday: San Diego!

Lunches: TJ’s lamb vindaloo with yogurt, cubed cold tofu with peanut dressing over assorted fridge veg, pumpkin samosas from Trader Joe’s.

Snacks: hard boiled eggs, overnight oats, Topaz apples from Volante.

Treat: Cinnamon Sugar Toffee Trio.

🥔 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”.

That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!

xo, Sam

2023 Q4 and Beyond Reading List

a block of book covers across genres mentioned in the second lunch blog post text

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?

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Have I gotten stuck anywhere? Usually I’m only stuck when I start reading too many books at once.

What can I improve?

  1. 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?
  2. 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!
  3. 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)

a block of book covers across genres mentioned in the second lunch blog post text

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.

a block of book covers across genres mentioned in the second lunch blog post text

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 block of book covers across genres mentioned in the second lunch blog post text

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)
  • Food Memoirs
  • Relationships (Hard Conversations, Boundaries, Joy)

Fantasy, YA fantasy or Children’s Fantasy

  • Tess of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
  • The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab
  • Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree
  • Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer Armentrout September 12th
  • A Fire in the Flesh (Flesh + Fire 3) by Jennifer Armentrout October 31st.
  • The Harbinger Series by Jennifer Armentrout (Storm and Fury, Rage and Ruin, Grace and Glory)
  • Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (2023, 496 pages)
  • King of Scars (2019, 527 pages) /Rule of Wolves (2021, 592 pages) by Leigh Bardugo
  • Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) by Rebecca Yarros
  • Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin (2019, 513 pages)
  • The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy) by S.A. Chakraborty (2017, 544 pages) – own on audible
  • In the Serpents Wake (Tess of the Road #2) by Rachel Hartman (2022, 503 pages)
  • Skyhunter by Marie Lu (2020, 371 pages)
  • Binti Series by Nnedi Okorafor (2015, 96 pages)
  • Mistborn Series Sanderson (will this be the year? 7 books)
  • ✅ The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
  • ✅ Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
  • ✅ Seasparrow by Kristen Cashore (great!)
  • ✅ Derkholm #1 and #2 by Diana Wynne Jones (and Howl’s Moving Castle #2) (2003, 328 pages)
  • ✅ Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022, 401 pages)
  • ✅ A Court of Frost + Starlight by Sarah J. Maas (2020, 272 pages)
  • ✅ City of Ghosts Cassidy Blake #1 by Victoria Schwab (2018, 272 pages), Tunnel of Bones Cassidy Blake #2, Bridge of Souls Cassidy Blake #3
  • ✅ A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking (YA kids)
  • ✅ ADDED: Jennifer Armentrout Soul of Ash + Blood, Shadow in the Ember, A Light in the Flame
  • Look out for new:
    • Kristen Cashore
    • Jonathan Stroud
    • Tamora Pierce
    • Deborah Harkness
    • VE Schwab / Victoria Schwab
    • Phillip Pullman
    • Sarah J. Maas
    • Zoraida Cordova
    • Tomi Adeyemi
    • Naomi Novik

Fiction, GENERAL:

  • Holly by Stephen King
  • Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022, 560 pages)
  • The Last Chairlift by John Irving (2022, 889 pages)
  • Persuasion by Jane Austen (1818, 249 pages)
  • Terry Pratchetta few last Discworlds I haven’t finished – Fifth Elephant #24 (464 pages)
  • 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!

xo, Sam

The Second Lunch July Eats

Bowl of tomatoes and cucumbers and feta and salami and beans

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:

The List Summer Items:

  • Summer Corn + Tomato Salad
  • Cold Peanut Noodles with Chicken and Cucumber
  • Grilled Hot Dogs and Baked Beans
  • Kraft Dinner Mac + Cheese from Canada
  • Can of B+M Brown Bread with Nutella
  • Watermelon and Feta Salad
  • S’mores
  • Strawberry Shortcake
  • Köfte and Shepherd’s Salad, and cold Ayran
  • Fried Hamsi (little fish) with lemony salad
  • Fried fish tucked in bread

What to Eat When I’m Tired and Don’t Want To Cook:

  • Trader Joe’s Chicken Drumellas and a bag of broccoli never disappoints.
  • Tinned Fish Rice Bowl. If I’m a little more ambitious I can bake fish from this. Usually I add some cucumber, avocado, rice vinegar, seaweed, ginger. 
  • Taco salad. Ground meat from the freezer with taco seasoning. Cheese. Chopped tomato. Sour Cream.
  • Lobster Cobb: lobster, blue cheese, tomatoes, avocado.
  • TJ’s Lamb Vindaloo + TJ’s Cumin Marinated Chickpeas + Yogurt

Eating Out:

  • Lobster Roll Quest (I’ll aim for one every week or two.)
  • Pammy’s
  • Mochiko Chicken Sandwich
  • Rancatore’s Chocolate Shake
  • An Italian Sandwich (from Monica’s, DePasquale, or Linden St. Deli)
  • A cider donut (even though it’s early in the season)
  • A Flo’s Hot Dog
  • Barnacle Billy’s (Steamers and a Crab Roll)

What’s on your summer table?