Good Things: 2019 Week 5

the second lunch winston flowers delivery purple flowers

There’s something incredibly satisfying to recapping my week by looking through the photos on my phone these days. This is my blog version of a regular gratitude practice – something I’ve committed to over the past few years and can’t recommend enough in order to really appreciate the good things in life. (And for that matter, I appreciate each and ever one of you reading this. Hello!)

{Week 5}  Good Things

  • a gorgeous floral delivery from Winston Flowers – my aunt and uncle are excellent at pick me up gifts. These purple flowers are stunning, and they’ll last for a while!
  • my curl quest – last week I ran out of conditioner, and decided to go wild testing out a bunch of new options. My typical go-to is Acure, which I pick up at Whole Foods. But to embrace my curls, I know that there are better options, so I polled some curly friend (and the cashier at Marty’s) and ended up getting a bunch of sample size – Shea Moisture, Carol’s Daughter, Kinky Curly, Cantu, and the Trader Joe’s Shea Butter and coconut oil hair mask. I’ll keep you posted.
the second lunch curly girl conditioner haul
  • Movement, amplified. In my quest to “spend out” – gift certificates, passes I haven’t used, memberships, I realized that I had a 10-pack to OrangeTheory that is going to expire this month. So I took my first class on Friday, another today, and I have my next two scheduled this week. Not sure how this is going to affect my year long run streak – so I’m going to be mindful of not overdoing it.
  • Yoga: four times! To ensure my mobility, stretching, and well, because I founded the company and get all the free yoga and meditation I want: I took FOUR! live classes on Ompractice this week. I’d love for you to join me! Unlimited membership is only $5 for your first month, and I’d be happy to meet up virtually for a class on me! Here was my lineup:
    • Yoga Nidra with Amy a cross between yoga and meditation – all about conscious relaxation, a chance to renew, and recharge yourself. Mondays and Wednesdays at 1 pm ET, 10 am PT. (Amy was in the polar vortex of the midwest while I was complaining about our 10 degrees…)
    • Yoga for Office Workers is a 25-minute break from the world. Tuesdays at 3:30 pm ET, 12:30 pm PT with Charina. Harkening back to my Runkeeper stretch-o-clocks! (Charina was actually in her “outside office” for class because…. southern California..)
    • Chair Yoga with Marie. Chair yoga is great for anyone, but is especially recommended for those who want a gentle practice. One of the surprising things was how much I enjoyed seated sun salutations!
    • Yoga for Low Back Pain with Traci – a perfect low impact class. Thursdays at 7:30 pm ET, 4:30 pm PT. Also – Traci was a sport for not laughing at me as Bertram decided that instead of his usually nap, he was going to “assist” me by licking me, sitting on the mat, and generally speaking being adorable but in the way.
ompractice amit ray quote
  • Two large library hauls: one of my favorite “activities of abundance” (a.k.a. making your self feel better through shameless acquisition without affecting your wallet) is checking out a huge stack of library books. I had to go to two different libraries this week. (On the literary note, I had about 50 recommendations from friends that I was going to post here but the list was too long. I’ll make a separate post if you need ideas of good reading!)
  • Team Retrospective: each week, one of my favorite personal activities is to reflect over the week with three questions: what worked well, what didn’t work well, what do I want to stop doing? This is straight from the “agile” playbook that most tech companies use to keep their teams celebrating their wins (hello, gratitude practice), and learning from their misses. We had a *great* team Retro this week!
  • New folks on my weekly *Do The Thing virtual co-working. Each week I gather together friends (from around the world!) for a weekly digital co-working session on Wednesdays at 1:30 – 3pm Eastern. We go around, each share what we want to get done, and then I mute everyone and we get to work. Want to participate? Sign up here.
  • On that note, I had an “in-person” friend come to participate in *Do the Thing hour this week. Amanda came with lunch she had prepared for us, and work to do! Salad (TJ’s cruciferous crunch), roasted delicata squash, warm farro, freshly made black beans, an herb-buttermilk vinaigrette, pickled shallots, an avocado, and tomatoes. I added a little bit of chicken and cilantro from my fridge. My friends are amazing.
the second lunch farro and black bean salad with avocado vinaigrette

{Delicious Meals:} 

Got ahead of myself there with a delicious meal in good things! There were so many more!

This was another week absolutely smitten with Alison Roman. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve cooked this many recipes out of a cookbook in years. If you don’t have your own copy of Dining In, RUN!

On that note, I think I’ve cooked more from cookbooks in general this month than I have in the past five years.

Here’s some of the highlights this week:

Takeout From Kimchipapi. Kimchipapi is new to Allston on Harvard street. Korean fusion poke bowls and other good stuff. (#SendNoodz.) Recommend! I had the crab fries – thin fries topped w/ crab salad, spicy mayo, eel sauce, fish eggs, scallion, and black sesame. And then a make my own poke bowl with kale noodles (thin starchy noodles), spicy tuna tartar, salmon, crab salad. Pickled radish, pickled ginger, kimchi, fresh corn and carrot, spicy mayo, ponzu sauce, fish eggs and roasted seaweed. I regret nothing.

Black bean soup with chimichurri chicken. No shame, my secret recipe is that I use Goya black bean soup in the red can. It’s excellent. 

Chicken Tikka Masala with chicken thighs arugula salad with mint, basil, and cilantro. There’s no recipe here. Truthfully, I ordered a container of sauce from Shan-a-punjab, and then cooked some chicken thighs in it. Paired with an arugula salad with mint, parsley, basil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. My salads are usually half greens half herbs these days.

the second lunch butter chicken and arugula herb salad

Alison Roman’s turmeric roasted carrots with seeds and labne. This was *outrageously good*. I used Samira’s Homemade labne with black olives as the base for the recipe. If you are in New England, I highly recommend picking up some at Whole Foods!

the second lunch Alison Roman Dining In Turmeric Roasted Carrots with seeds and labne

Alison Roman’s scallops with corn, hazelnuts, and brown butter chermoula. Over another arugula salad with cilantro and some lime. Another complete stunner of a dish. Also: the key to golden scallops is to NOT TOUCH THEM when they are cooking in the pan. Look at these beauties.

the second lunch alison roman dining in scallops with corn hazelnuts and brown butter chermoula

Alison Roman’s fennel rubbed pork – so, technically I did a mashup of two of her recipes here because I had pork tenderloin and not chops, and wanted to roast everything while luxuriating in a long shower with one of my new conditioners. The pork marinates in advance in a seed bath of glory. I opted for the double fennel situation, because… why not?

the second lunch alison roman dining in fennel rubbed pork with fennel

Chrissy Teigen’s Lemony Arugula Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe from Cravings. You guys. This dish. Here’s the goodness: lots of crispy pancetta, olive oil, garlic, black pepper, red pepper, lemon juice, cheese, more cheese. And then you add arugula for virtue and bite. The recipe is here, but I recommend the cookbook.

the second lunch chrissy teigen cravings lemony arugula cacio pepe 1
the second lunch chrissy teigen cravings lemony arugula cacio pepe 1

Arugula salad with avocado, green goddess, and marinated anchovies. Apparently I’ve just been craving arugula for weeks and am finally fulfilling my cravings.

the second lunch arugula salad with avocado green goddess and marinated anchovies

Well, that’s about it for this week!

I’ll leave you with this week’s best dog portrait: Bertram, in his element.

the second lunch bertram the frenchie in gray

Here’s to a great week! –– xo Sam

PS: every month or so I send out a newsletter of wellness wisdom, good things, reading, and more. I’m due for a new one imminently.

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Fresh Shell Beans

Fresh Shell Beans

Late night kitchen. I stand at my countertop, shelling fresh beans. It’s one of my favorite kitchen activities. Meditative. I also like cutting the tops off of string beans with scissors, squeezing limes, folding dumplings, and any other task that allows you to dip into that drowsy state as your hands and muscle memory take over the work.

Tonight, I listen to a podcast – Balanced Bites – Diane and Liz in an older episode, talking about how imposing order on yourself, be it strictness of diet a few days a week, a minimal wardrobe, or other arbitrary rules every so often can help reduce stress and anxiety, and help you do more, successfully. I know that I feel this way – imposing limiting structure every so often actually helps me be more productive – the key term being “every so often”. Abiding by food rules during specific times of year to reset my habits can help me recalibrate more quickly – it’s why I’m so fond of programs like Whole30 – they focus on crowding out your diet with real, whole foods, and encourage you to build good habits, such as cooking at home, which occasionally fall to the wayside of our busy lives, even those of us who love to cook! It’s not about restricting yourself from all the foods you love, it’s about committing to nutritious food, and letting your focus shift to other things. This also fits with the Happiness Project author Gretchen Rubin’s theories of Abstainer and Moderators. Some people function better when abstaining totally, others are naturally capable of moderating themselves. I find that I alternate between both, usually preferring abstention when my life feels a little out of control due to external factors, moderation for all other times.

Tonight I’m savoring the last of the warm evening air with a mini pumpkin whoopie from Volante Farms. Maybe it’s just shy of 60, and the window is still open. The World Series is on. Funny how this Giants team feels so dear to me even though I’m so far from my temporarily adopted city. Soon though, to bed. Tomorrow is my last half marathon in Newburyport, before the big one: 26.2 in Savannah.

Eating down the fridge.

When I committed to eating down my fridge before our trip to Canada this coming weekend, I wasn’t quite sure what I had on hand. Which is to say, I was pretty sure that there were some edible things in my pantry, but perhaps not enough to create cohesive meals, and certainly not enough fresh leafy greens. Nevertheless, I set off with a mission, and I’ve been largely sticking to my resolve.

For the last night of Hanukkah, we feasted on latkes with sour cream and apple sauce. There was salad with butternut squash, pepitas, and feta– and (please don’t smite me food gods) Lasagne Hamburger Helper. You just can’t recreate that with real food and hit the perfect ratios. You can’t make it paleo. You can’t make it wholesome. I don’t drink soda, I rarely drink booze, I keep my home largely free of processed foods, but sometimes, something’s gotta give.

Last night of hanukkah

Eighth Night

Thursday night, we each had our holiday parties, so dinner was provided – I held back from over-indulging on too many passed appetizers, and introduced several of my coworkers to the sidecar. Friday, we had our date night, at the Cottage, in Wellesley – we’re pretty much regulars there – mostly because their lamb burger is divine, and they are highly accommodating to my penchant for substitutions (even the few times I’ve been on Whole30).

On Saturday, I defrosted a lamb’s neck in my freezer – with about enough meat on it for only one very patient person – and you really have to pick at it. I decided to braise it sweet, spicy, any sour, and made a braising liquid of two shallots, a few cloves of garlic, a knob of ginger, some salt, cumin, and a few large scoops of orange marmalade – processed with some water in my Vitamix. I cooked the lamb in this for nearly two hours on the stovetop, turning the neck every half an hour or so. At the very end, I tossed in a few warmed Swedish meatballs for Devon. To go with the lamb, I made some bulgur with orzo, mint and goat cheese – cooked to consistency of polenta.

Lamb Neck

Sunday night, I cooked a batch of Rancho Gordo red beans, which I warmed with a little bit of salt, cumin, and salsa. I cooked some chicken thighs between two hot cast iron pans, and made myself a big bowl of collard greens. I topped my greens with a little bit of the beans, and added a few spoonfuls of whole milk yogurt.

Chicken between pansChicken thighs

Tonight, I simmered meatballs in some tomato sauce. I rummaged around for something to go with it all – a vegetable perhaps? There was a package of frozen pizza dough that I had defrosted – and I thought to myself that I could make rolls. When the dough failed to rise, perhaps because it was nearly two years old, and then seemed to be dried out, and then baked into lumps of hardened play dough consistency, I gave up and dumped the failure into the trash.

And so meatballs were all we had.

I think I might have to give up and get us some vegetables.

Rainy Day Lunch

Working from home meant that I had more time to assemble my lunch: the last of this weekend’s salad of Rancho Gordo Veronico beans with tomato, cucumber, jalapeños, scallion, parsley and a lime vinaigrette – topped with a few prime white anchovies, and a (badly) poached egg – drizzled with some Bari Olive Oil from this month’s Foodzie Tasting Box, plus a twist of pepper and pinch of Maldon.

A bright, cheerful, inviting bowl for an otherwise dreary day. Don’t you think?

*              *             *

The recipe for the bean salad was inspired by this month’s issue of Saveur. With a half pound of freshly cooked beans that needed some love, I adapted the Saladu Ñebbe (Black Eyed Pea Salad) recipe from John O’Connor’s excellent article about the food of Senegal. I recommend it highly.

Tasty Things to do with Beans

Rancho Gordo Beans

They came!!!  A box full of Rancho Gordo beans in many colors and shapes and sizes! Think of the possibilities! I’m getting so hungry! I ordered these as a reward for some hard work in the “personal wellness department” – nothing like rewarding yourself with something healthy, tasty and delicious. They also make great unique gifts.

When I posted my bean soup a few days ago, I actually got private emails from people confiding that they had no idea what to do with beans, and asking what I did with them other than the spicy bean soup and chili. For me, beans are pretty much a daily food, and I’m almost never eating the same bean dish twice!

At the beginning of the week, I like to cook a batch of dried beans. Canned beans are fine (I tend to have a few cans of organic beans in the pantry for emergencies) but dried beans are so much better – particularly organic and heirloom varieties – they just taste better and have more texture. They also have much lower levels of sodium, which is added to the cans as preservatives – so if you do use canned beans, make sure to give them a rinse before cooking. I like to buy my dried beans from Rainbow in San Francisco, Phipps Country Store, or from bulk bins in a store that has large turnover to ensure freshness. Heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo are great because they are less than a year old, and the fresher the bean – the more nutrients, the better the taste and the quicker the cooking time. All it takes is a soak over night and a few hours in some boiling water – it’s mostly hands off. They are also perfect for slow cookers, so theoretically you wouldn’t even have to be at home while they cook.

For those of you concerned about the, erm.. “Musical Quality” of beans – there are a few things that you can do – try boiling your beans with a strip of Kombu (kelp – from which the taste Umami was discovered), or the Mexican herb Epazote, both of which help break down certain chemical compounds in the beans and reduce the post-bean-consumption concerts.

Bittmans

I like to alternate different beans each week for variety. My current favorites are Borlotti beans (cranberry beans), garbanzos (chick peas), and Christmas Limas, but I’m always out on the hunt for new varietals that I haven’t tasted. After cooking my batch at the beginning of the week, I add the cooked beans to soups, salads, mash them on sandwiches, throw into omelets, mix with salsa and top with some cheese, or dress them with a vinaigrette. I also like tossing them with roasted vegetables, making chili, and eating them with dark leafy greens such as collards, kale, or chard. I get a lot of great ideas from Mark Bittman’s Books – How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. And from the cookbook “Heirloom Beans” by Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo, and Vanessa Barrington.

Another trick I use to make beans (or anything else for that matter) interesting is my “pick an ethnic cuisine, and use the right flavors from the condiment collection to flavor the food in that way.” Every culture has recipes for beans, and it’s fun to experience a global bean perspective. This is where having a good pantry comes in handy. For instance, I might decide that I want my beans to taste Moroccan – so I might pick lima beans, and flavor them with cumin, cinnamon, and pepper, and serve it over cous cous. Or I might want to go Indian, and choose kidney beans and lentils with curry powder and garam masala. Mexican? Maybe saute some onion and red pepper, and add black beans with oregano and mexican red chile. It’s not a perfect science, or perfectly authentic, but it’s a great way to mix things up and keep the taste buds excited.

When in doubt, I crack out some of my great regional cookbooks, or look on the blogs for new ideas. I recently made Red Beans and Rice, adapted from John Besh’s really fantastic My New Orleans Cookbook (ok, I didn’t have ham hocks but I used andouille sausage). Elise from simply recipes also has a great recipe for red beans and rice. I also love making Turkish dishes like Kuru Fasulye, simmered white beans and meat, (a good recipe from Zerrin’s blog), or Barbunya Pilaki – a cold bean salad in olive oil, like this one from Almost Turkish recipes. Or, you can go for the baked beans route – not totally traditional, but I happen to really like Heidi Swanson’s Beer Baked Beans.

Rancho Gordo Spices

Some more bean ideas:

1. Make your own hummus – mash cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas) with a spoonful of tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. You could also do it with cooked white beans, and bonus points if you top it with some pine nuts, a dusting of cumin, and fresh mint or parsley.

2. Refried beans – works great with cooked pinto beans or black beans – heat some oil/lard/or butter in a skillet, saute some onion (optional), and add mash your beans into it with a little bit of water. Cook until everything is warm, and season with a little salt, and maybe some cheddar or tapatio sauce if you have it. Top maybe with salsa and guacamole if you want, and eat with a warm tortilla.

3. Beans and a fried Egg – top plain beans, refried beans, bean soup, bean mash, you name it – with a fried egg. Poke egg, and stir into beans, and it’s just plain delicious. Although, frankly you top a good, organic, pastured egg on pretty much anything and it’s delicious.

4. Beans and Pasta – you could add cooked cannelini (white beans) or borlotti (cranberry) beans to your spaghetti and red sauce, or toss them with garlic and olive oil with some short pastas like campanelle or penne and top with a good dusting of black pepper and Parmesan.

5. Beans as a side dish – one of my favorite preparations of really any bean is simply tossed in a simple vinaigrette. This works best when the beans are still warm from cooking, but after tossing you can whack it in the fridge until about 20 minutes before you are ready to eat, at which point you take them out and let them get to room temperature. You can add freshly chopped vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumber, red bell peppers, and trim in fresh herbs like parsley and mint, and add in some salty cheese such as feta, or even hard cheeses like an aged parmesan.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Seriously folks, the possibilities are limitless. Just get a pound of beans and go for it.