by Sam Tackeff | Apr 6, 2013 | Lunch, Wellness
For most people, the weekend is a time for indulgence and excess, but for me, the weekend is about relaxation, rejuvenation, and making healthy choices. For the past few months, I’ve been settling into my work rhythm, trying to balance my new role and responsibilities with my passion for being active. I feel so lucky to be working for a fitness company that allows me to leave early once a week to head to the gym – as long as I’m getting my work done – but I do really miss my noon workouts from when I was working from home. So instead of sleeping in on weekends, I try to get in a double dose, heading in both Saturday and Sunday for what feels like adult recess.
This past five weeks, I’ve been competing in the CrossFit Open, pushing myself to the upper limit of my athletic ability. Week one we tackled dreaded burpees and snatches, week two had me pushing hard with the 75 pound shoulder to overheads, week three I got in more than a hundred wall balls at 20 pounds when I had previously been using an 8 pound ball in workouts. Week four was my absolute nemesis, fighting multiple days to get the *single* rep I needed to move on to round five. 95 pounds was 10 more than my PR for the clean and jerk, and my form (not the weight itself) was holding me back. It was a collective gym effort to get me to that rep – and after days of no success, Coach Steve helped me make magic happen and I got it done. This week was a deadly combo of thrusters and chest to bars. I’ve been able to muscle a handful of chest to bars this week, but couldn’t manage them after the first set of thrusters. But I’m getting there. And with each new PR, I feel stronger and more confident to keep pushing myself. Every single day I feel thankful for how far I’ve come, and for how it makes me feel as I set about conquering life.
Unlike my grandfather, who used to barter gym time for a donut and a cigarette – I like to reward myself for my workouts with a cup of black coffee, and a highly nutritious meal. (I do think that he’d have been amused and proud of my athletic achievements, given the turnaround from my sedentary teenage hood.)
I make sure I’m getting in lots of greenery – pounds of leafy greens, especially if I haven’t been the most attentive during the week. I’ll usually cook up a large bag of collards or what Trader Joe’s calls “power greens”, sometimes with a bit of bacon, or plain with a little bit of garlic, shallot, and cider vinegar, and use them as the base for the majority of my meals.
I’m particularly fond of making salmon salad (see above, with the heaping portion of broccoli raab and garlic), or opening up a tin of sardines, and making a dressing with the fish infused olive oil and some fresh lemon juice. The photo has them served over some steamed green cabbage, and sprinkled with some bourbon smoked paprika. I try to eat little fishes at least once a week, but sometimes I’m negligent. Really, you can’t go wrong with sardines.
On cloudy or cold days, I go with soup. This was a beef, tomato, and carrot soup I picked up from Formaggio Kitchen a few weeks ago, and savored it while simultaneously reading my Kindle, flicking through Twitter, and with my computer at arms reach. Some of my habits are less healthy than others.
And then, there’s my favorite lunch staple: the avocado. I went nearly three weeks without avocado last month, and it was a travesty. Here’s my new favorite – avocado halves with sherry vinegar, salt, and a sprinkle of black pepper. If you can find a nice ripe avocado, try eating it this way, you won’t be disappointed.
by Sam Tackeff | Dec 20, 2012 | Lunch
This weekend I started finally unpacking boxes, and putting cookbooks up on the shelves. At some point I’ll have to find a place for this bookshelf that isn’t hit by the sun, but fortunately, the winter light at this latitude doesn’t pose much of a bleaching risk. I still need to organize the books, but it’s a relief having them in plain sight. I’m debating arranging them by genre, color, size or by publisher. Ideas?
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Last week was a very long week. It qualified as a ‘Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week’, culminating with the terrifying news of kids getting slaughtered. I’m angry, devastated, and there are no words appropriate in this situation. It took me a week to post this because there was so much to process and I was hoping to say something meaningful, but indeed the words still haven’t come, and I’m not sure they ever will. My own experiences this week seem trivial, but I wrote them out to let go of some of the stress, so here they are:
We officially announced that we are closing down Tasted Menu, the startup I’ve been working at since moving home to New England. It’s painful to let something go that you care deeply about, nurtured, and put so much of yourself into. I’ve been overwhelmed by the kindness of friends (and even strangers) expressing their sadness and support.
I’ve been interviewing, trying to find my next new project, the next thing that will have me thrilled to wake up each morning and go into work. It’s simultaneously exciting and draining. There are so many formidable people out there doing exciting things.
We are reaching the end of Startup School, and I had to pitch myself in front of a few hundred people. Admittedly I’m not afraid of getting up in front of a crowd, but after six weeks of massive daily input my nerves were fried. And pitching yourself is much more difficult than pitching a product, giving a talk, or making an announcement – but I think it went well.
Coupled with a few unrelated issues including my car’s starter being “finicky”, and some massively bad luck with several external hard drives, this was certainly a week that tested me – but the reality is, there is so much that I am grateful for, and I’m truly lucky for the life and opportunities I have.
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When we first moved to San Francisco, Wednesday evenings were my dinners alone, the nights when I’d eat “girl food”, load up on leafy greens, and eat through the odds and ends in the kitchen. While I’m not particularly fussy about what goes into these meals, the goal is always to find some sort of balance, and get a nice mix of salty, bitter, sweet and savory. It’s my favorite way to nourish myself after a week of stress or poor food choices.
Yesterday I put together one of those meals for lunch. Into the frying pan went a huge handful of parsley that had been sitting in the back of the fridge neglected and semi-frozen, some leftover cooked red cabbage, and a scoop of Italian Salsa Verde, with capers, anchovies, and olive oil.
At the last minute, I heated up the last bit of roasted carrots, and added them to the bowl, and topped it all with a few eggs. Another one of those odd meals that I find comforting and satisfying.
Before I leave you, here’s some afternoon light coming in. For those of you prone to worry, I urge you to grab a camera and search for some light. Cheers me up every time.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 7, 2012 | bento, Lunch
Since I’ve been working mostly from home over the past several months, I haven’t had any reason to pack a lunch, so I was thrilled to pack my very first bento today for Startup School. Although the offices downtown are conveniently located in proximity to lots of good food options, I’m going to still make it a point to bring lunch as often as possible.
On the left is sliced chicken thighs, and on the right, roasted delicata squash and parsnips. And an apple for snack. I suppose I’m missing something green, but this hit the spot.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 19, 2012 | Photography
Today’s Happiness Booster: Photography Practice. This afternoon I was talking to my good friend Sondy about my desire to improve my photography. I have this phenomenal camera that I don’t know how to use, and find myself frustrated when photos turn out better on my phone than they do on the Nikon. I know that there are a few things that I really need to do – read my manual, take a class, but most importantly, spend more time shooting. So she sent me on assignment to Fresh Pond, in Cambridge. It’s one of my absolute favorite places in the city.
Here are a few of my shots from the evening.
I have to do more of that.
As for today, I started out with a very small cup of coffee. And a few spoonfuls of unsweetened Sunbutter. I don’t think I like it very much, it’s a little bit bitter, but I’ll see how it works for cooking.
After my snack, I headed out on my run. This was my last planned run before my race on Sunday! I walked the mile down to the Charles to do this loop – it’s a nice 5k, but not my favorite in the neighborhood, because the paths aren’t as kept as other parts of the river, and you really need to watch out for tripping hazards.
After my run, I hit up Starbucks for some iced tea. I took a picture of myself sweaty, with tea, but decided I’d spare you for this blog.
I was starving by the time I returned, so I put together this big plate – leftover roast beef, roasted eggplant with parsley, a chopped orange bell pepper and a dollop of homemade mayo to dip. My lunches tend to be simple, but I try for lots of colors and textures. This was so good!
In the early evening, I went to Fresh Pond to take photos at sunset, and ate my snack – an apple and a handful of almonds.
I came back to start dinner. My plan was to roast a spaghetti squash, and serve it with a quick meat sauce – the pork I had cooked a few days ago with Italian seasoning, and some Rao’s Marinara.
And then I realized that the spaghetti squash that I was so excited about… was a butternut squash. This almost caused a meltdown, but I was determined to be positive about the mix-up. So I renamed it “butternut squash “faux-cchi”, topped with meat sauce”. And you know what? It was surprisingly good! I cooked the squash in the microwave for 10 minutes (gasp!), put together the meat and sauce and simmered it, and cooked Devon a little pot of farfalle. I then spooned out the squash in gnocchi size, and ladled on my sauce. Here was my dinner.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 19, 2012 | Challenge
This morning started with a cup of coffee and Saveur magazine. The rose was from Rosh Hashanah dinner, and has been making me smile every time I sit at the table.
I was interested to read Tea’s post on morning rituals, and have been equally interested in the comments that have been popping up. My morning ritual is usually centered around waking up and wandering into the kitchen, making myself a cup of tea or a single cup of coffee, and reading until I finish half the cup or the beverage gets too cold to drink anymore. I have a few mugs, but I found my favorite, so I bought two. I rarely finish the whole cup, and then I move onto breakfast. Do you have morning rituals? I’d love to hear about them.
Breakfast was a quick omelet, two eggs with some spinach and leftover Italian ground pork tipped in while it set.
Lunch was leftover salmon salad with a side of chopped carrots and celery to dip. Having sit in the fridge overnight, it tasted even better than the previous meal.
In the early evening, I set about my walk – a few loops around the library listening to a podcast and praying that it wouldn’t downpour. I dropped off a few cookbooks that I had taken out, and picked up Boswell’s The Life of Johnson, which I get to read when I finish my overdue library book.
I also took a quick trip to Costco before they closed. I had been considering renewing my lapsed membership, but a loop around the store proved that I couldn’t actually find a single product that I buy for my household, so I saved myself fifty bucks and walked away.
For dinner, I reheated this coconut chile beef that I cooked yesterday.
I decided to add the last few cups of cauliflower couscous into mine before putting into my bowl, so admittedly it looks quite unappealing here, but it was good! After making this recipe half a dozen times, I think I like it best with chicken thighs. I’ll post a recipe when perfected.
And before I forget,
Today’s Happiness Booster: Tackling a few small nagging tasks. I’m sure you have a few of these – maybe it’s a project you’ve set aside, but today I committed to getting a few things done that just weren’t getting themselves done, namely, plugging in a light over the stove (still in progress, I have to drill holes through the cabinets), and working to finish up a way-overdue library book. They might officially hate me at the library.
