by Sam Tackeff | Nov 20, 2014 | Tea
Another cup of this tea tonight – grab it if you see it at Trader Joe’s! (It’s caffeine free, and herbal, and the ingredients listed are: Cinnamon, Ginger, Hibiscus, Natural Cinnamon and Apple Flavors with Other Natural Flavors, Chamomile, Roasted Chicory, Orange Peel.) My usual herbal tea drink is verbena leaves, but I got this box from my friend Alexann, and now I need to stock up on more.
Now I’m off to forage the fridge. Tonight’s dinner consisted of a killer cranberry upside down cake, cannoli, slices of cheese, and some sort of iced custard cake with Wellesley folks, but I haven’t yet eaten a meal, and it’s nearing 11 pm.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 15, 2013 | Blogging, Challenge, Coffee, Tea
Last year, around this time, I was immersing myself in a challenge at my gym: focusing on whole foods, cooking, improving my fitness, and increasing general happiness. During this challenge – and let’s face it, I love any sort of challenge – I re-dedicated myself to my writing practice. I made a commitment to journal, free write, blog, and to scrap the hundred of drafts, the worrying, the “is it good enough?” and just publish. I largely stuck with it, and enjoyed the process immensely. This year I’m not doing the gym challenge, but I have a nice race lineup scheduled, I’m working on some new fitness goals, and I have a superb positive attitude email chain with a group of women I’m friends with. It’s a sort of low stress, mini-challenge, and I’m looking so forward to it!
There’s excitement buzzing as we transition into fall, and I’m focusing on being present, making lots of things, and sharing them with the world. Last week Martha Stewart posted about organizing her Basket House (yes, that’s right, she has a house full of baskets), and although I don’t have a basket house, I do like organizing things. My first almost-fall project? Improve my morning ritual, by de-cluttering my mug situation.
The set-up: My first step was making a new shelf for my mugs, which you can see in that top picture there. Instead of stacking and stashing my mugs in a cupboard, I took the top of one of my metal kitchen shelves, lined it with cute cork placemats from IKEA, and laid out all my mugs in full view. And because the vessel is just as important as the drink, I also introduced three new mugs into the family, to accompany my favorite Japanese cups and my little Heath Ceramics mug. All three, above, are from Starbucks. Yep. Mass-market, on sale, non-handcrafted mugs. But look how shiny and pretty they are! No regrets!
My morning ritual: most mornings I get up and brew myself a cup of coffee. Either a single cup, with my drip filter, or my aeropress, or if I’m feeling like I need a large dose of caffeine, my French press, or if I’m feeling European, on the stovetop in my Bialetti espresso maker. I go through a variety of coffees: Blue Bottle beans when I have them, or a custom blend from Zabar’s, or something from a local roaster – lately, I’ve been digging Fazenda and George Howell. For espresso or Turkish coffee, I usually use Turkish Mehmet Efendi, or in a pinch my standby espresso powder from IKEA. To accompany my new mug shelf, I also organized all of my coffee tools in one place. Win!
Of course, lest you think I’m all coffee, all the time, I must protest. In the afternoons, I drink tea.
Do you have a favorite mug?
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 27, 2012 | Books
Usually my reading pace is a book (or two or three) a week, but I’ve been starting too many lately and putting them down before I can make headway. I picked up nearly a dozen like this, until I finally found myself with food writer Peter Kaminsky‘s Culinary Intelligence: The Art of Eating Healthy (and Really Well) and I felt compelled to read it straight through. It wasn’t until I got half way through that I realized that it might be considered a “diet book”– I hadn’t actually read the subtitle – but this isn’t what I’d call it. I’d shelve it next to my copy of say, Tamar Adler’s An Everlasting Meal, or Deborah Madison and Patrick McFarlin’s What We Eat When We Eat Alone. It’s a book about eating style.
Kaminsky’s sell is “FPC” or “flavor per calorie” emphasizing that when food tastes great – and isn’t made of white flour or sugar, or processed – you will enjoy it more and eat less. He re-iterates simplicity. He suggests varying your meals, and planning. For convenience, he proposes an 11-day week of at-home meals supplemented by lots of vegetables: meat one night, poultry another, fish, pasta, whole-grain risotto, beans made with vegetables, sausage or bacon, salad, an omelet or fritatta, soup, or leftovers (touched-up). These are not groundbreaking ideas, but I found the book to be a nice reminder. I also quite enjoyed the moments of memoir – hobnobbing with Francis Mallmann (with whom he co-wrote Seven Fires), or being served fish by Laurent Gras. (The recipe is in the book.)
I really enjoy reading about how people eat on a regular basis, particularly those who work in the industry in some way. When your life revolves around food, it’s all too easy to talk about the grand meals, rather than the small ones that sustain us. Maybe I just like reading about little habits that justify my own odd ones– such as my bi-weekly sardine fixes.
This morning we both woke up a little bit under the weather. (Devon had it bad, I was just sleep deprived.) So I set about doing what I know works to ward off the sickness:
1. Nutrient dense foods. It helps that this might be one of my favorite foods on the planet: a roasted lamb’s liver with roasted parsnip, topped with a parsley sherry vinaigrette.
2. Tea. When I’m not feeling well, I usually drink plain hot water, or use one tea bag and re-steep it all day long until it’s hot water that tastes a little bit like something. This was one of my special bags of Turkish black tea that I’m very fond of. The brand is called Çaykur, and the tea is labeled “Altın Süzen Poşet Çay” the gold variety of black tea.
3. Stock. Two days ago I made chicken stock after roasting a plump bird. Today, it’s some beef stock with marrow bones. I added in some vinegar, salt, bay leaves and the top of a parsnip for good measure.
In the early evening, I headed to the gym for some non-cardio-based exercise, which always seems more prudent when I’m worried that I’m coming down with something but still want to get a workout in. Unlike my normal routine, I swung by the local Y to check it out during their open house week. The weight room, to my disappointment was crawling with teenage boys. This became much more entertaining when I started warming up with heavier weights than they were working towards. Snicker.
Afterwards, I headed downtown to meet a friend at Trident. Iced tea!
While at Trident, I found myself at the Back Bay Trader Joe’s for the first time ever. It’s a hidden Trader Joe’s down an escalator! I picked up a few necessities (Devon requested orange juice) and headed home.
Yesterday I roasted this chicken with lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme :
And today I used some of the meat to make my dinner.
I’m a big fan of these pre-cooked beets. They taste much better than canned beets, but provide significant convenience if you are the only beet eater in the house and want to put together a quick meal.
I popped the beets in a bowl and dressed them with cumin, salt, some sherry vinegar and chile powder. Then I tossed in some chopped chicken breast. And topped it all with salsa and guacamole. This makes total sense in my mind, but looking back, it may be one of the odder combinations you’ve seen here.
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 4, 2012 | Challenge
This is a photo of Don, one of the awesome folks at my gym killing it on handstand pushups in competition. Spending a weekend watching competitors from my own gym participate was thrilling. It’s one thing watching athletes on TV, it’s another thing entirely to see people you interact with on a weekly basis completing superhuman challenges you could only dream of participating in yourself. (And by dream I mean… these challenges fill me with terror and bad nightmares… I digress.)
So I will admit utter terror when I read this week’s skill challenge:
Week 3 Fitness Challenge: Handstand Pushups
Team Effort : Total Handstand Pushups performed throughout the week.
Must be performed at CRCF, using approved scaling. Each athlete’s scaling must be approved by a coach and then upheld for the week. Any reps which are further scaled will not be counted. These must be FULL INVERSION. No Wall Kicks or Wall Climbs allowed.
Here’s the thing. I don’t really do “tumbling towards a wall” well. I don’t do cartwheels, and I can’t see the wall let alone six inches in front of my face if I take off my glasses. So I spent the first half of the week assuming that I’d just be that jerk letting down my team mates.
I woke up in the morning, and I was sick for a second day in a row with a killer headache and a low fever. But I decided to go into the gym anyway. I wasn’t aching, it was a strength day at the gym (low cardio), and my plan was to take it easy. In the past, I’ve found that breaking a sweat tends to actually break my fever, so I crossed my fingers and prayed.
When I got into the gym, I was a hot mess. I didn’t feel weak but my headache was miserable.
Strength
A. Push Press – 8 min. to establish a 1 rep max (I took it easy, and only worked up to 70#)
Rest 5 min.
B. Deadlift – 8 min. to establish a heavy set of 3 (Good set @ 135. Not so good at 155. Won’t count it!)
Rest 5 min.
WOD: “The Legend”
21-15-9 reps of:
Unbroken Thruster 95/65 (I scaled to 35#)
Unbroken KBS 1.5/1 (I scaled to Russian Swings – only to eye level instead of over the head.)
*Rest as needed between sets. The sets MUST be unbroken, if you break a set you have to drop and do 10 burpees AND start the movement from scratch. Don’t break, this is a mental game and we don’t want to see massive underscaling to complete quickly. This should be your “usual” scaling.
Result: 13:36. Sweating, miserable… and fever broken! Never have I been so happy to finish!
And suddenly? Just as it came, the headache was gone. Except in it’s place? Insanity. In the next hour, I hung around with a patient group of folks, attempting to make it into a handstand. An hour… of just falling towards the wall. Over, and over and over again. An hour of slamming my palms down on the ground because I didn’t quite get that you could do this smoothly and efficiently. An hour of my glasses flinging themselves off enough times that I finally gave up and prayed that I’d be able to attempt this feat semi-blind. Until suddenly. I GOT IT. And I got it again. And dear sweet lord I was doing handstand pushups. And knocked out 50, because, for once in my life I had surprised myself so much that sheer ecstasy was fueling each rep. So now I pretty much have no excuses left in life… because I. can. do. handstand. pushups. I’m not really sure what is happening here, but I’m guessing that it’s a good thing.
* * *
Okay, enough about that. This is a food blog. I assure you that I’ve been doing some good eating. When I got home from my morning adventures, I set about making this lunch. In the middle of the night, I had filled my Crockpot with beef shanks, garlic, peppers, onions and spices and then let it go through mid morning. By lunch, I fished things out, and mixed my falling apart shanks and vegetables with some leftover Rao’s tomato sauce.
In the afternoon, I realized that I hadn’t had my coffee, and that I’d really like a small cup. I drank about half – for me, the act of making the cup of coffee, the aroma, and clutching the cup with warm hands is often more important than the coffee itself. This is probably an expensive habit given all of the overpriced coffee I drink, but I’m unapologetic.
At night, I met up with a high school friend for tea at Porter Square Books – a bookstore/cafe hybrid that is one of my favorite places in this city. This may have been the first time I’ve been there without leaving with half a dozen new things to read – but we were too busy catching up to browse.
By the time I headed home it was dark and too late to cook – so I headed to Super Fusion II to pick up Japanese food! After a month of craving our favorite takeout, I finally caved, and indulged in a big plate of sashimi – tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and scallops, over an extra portion of daikon. Instead of soy sauce, I used my own coconut aminos.
I wish I could end this here, but I have a blasphemous admission. After a few bites of some really excellent sashimi, I realized that what I really wanted was warm food. So I did the inconceivable – I took my fish into the kitchen, seasoned each piece with salt and pepper, and seared them off. And that’s my dinner plate – some mighty good fish.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 26, 2012 | Blogging, Books, Challenge, Lists
A few thoughts on list-making. When I read, I make lists. When I walk in the woods, I make lists. I think best in lists. God forbid I find myself without a pen, because I’ll get downright cranky. Perhaps that’s why I dislike long showers. I fear that I’ll forget those small flashes of thought that tend to flicker through my head as my eyes are shut and the water rushes down my face.
And then there is the joy of choosing what to write your list on. I have lists on my computer, on a whiteboard by the side of my bed, but physical tactile lists are undeniably the best. My uncle, who I should note has particularly fine taste, has his own monogrammed mini note pads that fit in his wallet and he carries around at all times. I have notebooks big and small. My favorite, usually, is my smallest moleskine, which has a pocket to keep the lists that didn’t make it in the book and were scribbled on the back of an old envelope, receipt, or library slip.
There is little I like better than writing my lists, except perhaps, reading other people’s lists. I have much to thank my friend Kassie for over the years, but I owe her the biggest debt of gratitude for introducing me to Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings, filled with the lists of creative people throughout history. If you’d like to procrastinate, click on that link.
This was the banana that I ate directly following my morning workout. I headed to CrossFit with trepidation. We’d be working on three things that I’m not good at: pull-ups, hang squat snatches, and toes to bar. One of my biggest challenges with CrossFit has been keeping a positive attitude when I’m not good at something. When you’ve lived your life competing with over-achievers, accepting that you are not good at something takes some effort.
But I’ve surprised myself at how quickly I’ve found joy from my progress at the gym, tackling new challenges that seem insurmountable. Each day I learn something new, I become both physically and mentally stronger, and this keeps me coming back week after week. These days I’ve been coming and going with a smile on my face.
Tuesday WOD 9/25/12
Strength
A. Back Squat – 6 Sets of 4 @ 80% of your 1 rep max, rest 2:30 between sets (20 min. cap total)
B. Strict Weighted Pull-up – 8 minutes to a heavy set of 3 reps (if you can’t do them, practice pull-ups and kipping for your TTB)
WOD (workout of the day): “Black Bart”
AMRAP 8 Ladder of 2,4,6,8, etc.
Hang Squat Snatch 95/65
Toe To Bar
This was not an easy day for me. My two rep max is 95, and although I hadn’t found my one rep max, Coach E determined that I’d work with 80 pounds for my back squat. I’ve been working on keeping my heels down, sticking my butt out, and squatting down low. I felt good at the end of my sets, gaining confidence that I’m building up muscle. I definitely can go heavier.
And then came the pullups. Up until now I’ve been doing jump-ups standing on a 24 inch box to jump up over the bar. Today, we pulled out the green band. Three pullups no problem. (I surprised myself here). And then the blue band (less resistance) – three more down (huh…) . The red? Okay, so I got one. But now I know that I can do this.
After our strength we had our WOD. My technique on my lifts could use some work, so I ended up dropping the weight down to 35#. Because I have to learn how to hang properly on the rig, I ended up with knee raises instead of toes to bar. Toes to bar is infinitely more difficult than when I was six and could do it easily. I think I need more time on the playground. Result? In eight minutes I got past the 8’s and 3 lifts in.
(Black Bart, for the record, is one of my favorite outlaws. He was a poet, and would leave verses at crime scenes!)
“I’ve labored long and hard for bread,
For honor, and for riches,
But on my corns too long you’ve tread,
You fine-haired sons of bitches.”
When I came home, I made myself this superbly good bowl of leftover beef stew. Having eaten all the meat off our marrow bones the night before, I cooked up some crumbled fresh sausage from the butcher shop and then heated up the leftover carrots and braise. I topped it all with some fresh parsley and lemon zest, and it was positively the best thing I’ve eaten in weeks. Recipe coming in the next day or so as soon as Yom Kippur is over and I can post my notes without this rumbling hunger. {Edited: recipe here!}
In the afternoon, I was craving something sweet, but decided that I’d make myself a treat for the evening – Chai Chia Pudding. I pulled out my favorite Masala Chai from Samovar, heated up a cup of coconut milk on the stove, and steeped a tablespoon of tea in the milk as it warmed.
After about 5 minutes, I took the creamy tea-milk off the stove, and stirred in about a quarter cup of chia seeds. The seeds expand in the milk and make a gelatinous pudding. Typically I’d add a spoonful of honey to sweeten it, but I’ve been strict about no added sweeteners this month, and the warm spices are enough to satisfy me lately. I put it in the fridge to cool down for later.
In the early evening I took my walk before Devon came home from work, just as the sun was setting. Just as I was coming home, I stumbled upon the IKEA drawer set I used to own (and loved) standing in someone’s front yard. I rushed home to get my car, drove over, and spent 15 minutes attempting to lift the thing by myself (not a problem now!), until I finally had to give up because there was no way it was going to fit in my tiny Volvo.
I headed to the store, silently praying it’d be there when Devon got back with the Tucson. It was not. You can’t win them all.
I did however win with dinner. I picked up a single packet of pre-cooked organic “love beets” at the store. Because I’m the only one around here who eats beets, this is the perfect convenience. I chopped my beets up and dressed them with cumin, coriander, salt and vinegar. I then set about cooking some grass fed beef with peppers and a tomato. Finally, I chopped up an avocado, heated up some spinach, and made myself this delightfully colorful plate:
Devon got his with refried beans, and we sat together and ate happily. For dessert, I ate my chia pudding, and we watched Bourdain’s Sydney episode before falling asleep way too early to admit.
