by Sam Tackeff | Nov 12, 2014 | Fitness, Soups
Today was the first time in a few months that I felt like I was getting back into a routine. I made myself a single cup of coffee in the morning, and proceeded to reheat it over and over as I worked through the day. Meetings, a webinar, it’s nice feeling immersed in my work, but I suffer when I neglect a good cup of hot coffee. I’m loving my new mug – a hand me down from my friend AA, who moved and left me with a pair of these, and plenty of good tea to brew in them.
For lunch, I made myself a bowl of steel cut oats with a large spoonful of pumpkin butter. Later in the afternoon I ate some canned wild salmon, with a spoonful of mayo, and plenty of cracked black pepper. I was in the mood for the most simple meals I could make today – as usual when I travel, I find myself on the cusp of feeling unwell, and need to take care of myself before anything more sinister develops.
On Wednesdays I try to get into the gym to lift, but I wanted to give myself a little bit more time to rest after my marathon. I’ve been eying the local Core Power Yoga, which offers a free intro week, and decided to sign up. This afternoon I came to the mat with the intention of healing, resting, and restoring.
The yoga instructor, Amanda, was direct, clear, and gave very good guidance. I’ve practiced now for over ten years, and am always pleasantly surprised when an instructor can teach me new things in a class, or help me look at familiar poses in a new way. She was also particularly giving with extra manipulation – a hand to provide guidance, and gentle push into a deeper stretch. I was supremely appreciative of her care in this class.
I returned home with a strong desire to make soup, taking out my Le Creuset for the first time this fall, and making a large pot of pasta e fagioli, Olive Garden style, with ground beef. I’m never too high brow around here, and I’d have killed for some of their breadsticks.
Pasta e fagioli (if you can call it that): my basic recipe was tweaked from a handful of online recipes (most closely following Iowa Girl Eats and Giuliano Hazan): brown a pound of ground beef with some salt and pepper, add a cup of chopped onion, a few sticks worth of chopped celery, and one chopped carrot stick, a few cloves of garlic. Sautée until the vegetables have softened. Add three cups of cooked cranberry beans (or a few cans of cooked beans of your choice), a 15 ounce can of tomato sauce, and a 28 ounce can of crushed fire roasted tomatoes, a teaspoon each of: dried oregano, thyme, and basil. Cover with a few cups of beef stock, and cook for an hour or two. At the end, add a few cups of cooked pasta. I make my pasta ten minutes before I’d like to serve, and stir it in at the very end. You could also par-cook it, and then let it finish in the soup. Serve with Parmigiano-Reggiano. A sprinkle of fresh parsley.
The best part about a big pot of soup, is that you have many a meal for later. Looking forward to eating my way through this for the next few days.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 11, 2014 | Photography
I spent a few weekends ago at Wellesley, with my best friend Lizzy, participating in the Alumnae Leadership Council, running around our old haunts, and capping off the experience speaking on a panel to prospective students and their parents.
It was one of those weekends that I probably should have taken my fancy camera to try to capture how absolutely stunning it was, but as it happens, your best camera is actually the one you have on you, and I tried to catch as much of the light as I could with my iPhone. A few of these have already landed on my instagram – I’d love for you to take a look over there! – but I wanted to share the rest here, so they don’t languish on my phone like the thousands of other pictures I take every month. It’s crazy how in the age of Facebook, digital photo sites, and more, 95% of my photos stay locked away on a tiny device. I’ve been trying to rectify that. I’m also trying to get out from behind the camera more often. That’s a more challenging proposition.
Here are some of my favorites:
It’s hard to describe what Wellesley means to me – I was so lucky to spend four years in this enchanting place, but I’m even luckier to be part of a community of people shaped by their experiences here, a bond that continues and strengthens long after you graduate and are set free into the world.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 10, 2014 | Travel
My last look at Savannah from the airplane, before flying back to Logan – shipping crate Tetris on the Savannah river. (The largest industry in Savannah is shipping, and the port of Savannah is one of the busiest in the country.) Every night we’d hear the long horns of the shipping barges, waking us visitors from slumber. Every night I’d wake, startled, and yet reminded of the familiarity of the MBTA running behind the back yard at my cousin’s house, waking often to the terror of rattling trains. I’d assume that the locals don’t notice it anymore.
A bumpy plane ride, the silver line, the red line, and a car ride, and I’m home again. I always love to travel, but nothing beats coming home.
And now begins easing myself back into reality. Tomorrow, there is work to be done, emails to be read, clothes to clean, books to finish, meals to cook. Tonight, we set mouse traps (a reality I’m reluctant to face), and watch the most recent episode of Sonic Highways. I’m looking so very forward to sleeping in my own bed.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 9, 2014 | Travel
Well, hello, again, again, and again! from Savannah, Georgia! I’m here for the Savannah Rock and Roll Marathon with my coworkers Rebecca and Matt, and we’ve had a grand time so far. (Check out our first day, our second day, and third day, if you haven’t read them yet.)
Brace yourselves, this is going to be a long one. Yesterday I completed the marathon, but that’s going to get a post all to itself! I will say that it couldn’t have been a better first marathon experience – the race was incredibly fun, there was a lot to see, and the crowds on the course were awesome! (More on that tomorrow!) For now, here are photos from our last two days in Savannah, tomorrow we are headed home to the frosty New England.
{Savannah, Day 4}
Let’s get started, shall we? First of all, that gorgeous girl starting out the post is Punkin. Her original name was Fluffy, but that wouldn’t do. One thing that I’ve noticed about this city is that it is very dog friendly. There are dogs everywhere! There were dogs the entire race course, which, had I not stopped to pat as many as I could, I probably would have finished about seven minutes faster. I have no regrets, making friends with pups is my jam.
For our post race meal, we decided to eat at Pacci’s in the Brice, the swanky Kimpton hotel in the city. Chosen, aside from good reviews, because of the good feeling I get from the name: for the past year and a half, I’ve eaten many bowls of escarole soup at an establishment called Pace’s in the North End. Last month they closed, and I’ve become nearly despondent at the lack of great escarole soup. But I digress. This Pacci’s was a sort of country Italian farmhouse style sort of restaurant, with a happening bar, and nice fixtures. There was very good bread, and olive oil, and we immediately started eating copious amounts of it, as none of us had eaten a real meal after our race.
Here’s an obligatory bathroom selfie. I took it because I was wearing my medal to a hip dinner spot, and also because the bathroom was really adorable, and also had some sort of nice smelling sticks that made the place enjoyable. What I did not enjoy was trying to lower myself onto the seat post marathon. Hellllllo, quads.
Because I’m on vacation, I opted to start my meal with chicken liver pate. If you’ve been reading along, that makes two chicken liver dishes in the past four days. My excuse is that my nutrients have been depleted, and liver is an incredibly rich source of all sorts of nutrients. And also, it is delicious. And also, I feel a teensy bit bad for my vegetarian travel mate, who looked just slightly concerned when I ordered liver not once, but twice. “Is this…. usual for you?” Yes. Yep. Mhmmmm. Liver.
Moving on to dinner. Rebecca went for the toasted gnocchi with brussels sprouts, and Matt got the trout, which was served in a cast iron pan.
I ordered the Seafood Mediterraneo: fresh bass, capellini aglio e olio, and white wine caper sauce. Generally speaking, the portions were small, but the food was good. Light and fresh, this was a nice post race meal that didn’t leave us totally weighed down.
After dinner, we took a long stroll through City Market – I don’t actually have any photos, but City Market is essentially like the Faneuil Hall of Savannah – tons of shops, restaurants for tourists to get drunk on vacation, and a smattering of places you might actually stop in as a local, such as the Byrd Cookie Company. (Helpful tip: they give out as many samples of cookies as you want here. I managed to get in about seven samples before I tapped out, and liked the oatmeal and the benne seed cookie.) The main reason to stop by City Market was to get open containers of peach boozy drinks, so that we could walk home with a drink in hand – a seemingly illicit luxury that us northerners still find to be highly entertaining.
We got home around 9:30, and within five minutes of my head touching the pillow, I was completely immobilized and dead to the world until ten in the morning.
– – –
{Savannah, Day 5}
After over a dozen hours of quality sleep, I woke a little sore, but mostly ready to EAT ALL OF THE THINGS. And of course, my first priority was caffeine. After a quick debate, where there was no disagreement, we opted to go back a *third* time to The Collins Quarter – the Melbourne influenced cafe which opened in Savannah just a few months ago. I know, I know. Three times to the same place? Yes. Even on vacation, I like becoming a regular. When we arrived today, the line was long for Sunday brunch, and we were quoted an hour wait. I put our name in and attempted to assuage my hungry dining partners, mostly because I was really, really desperate for good coffee at this point, and the food was really delicious. The owner, Anthony, came over and helped my cause, assuring us that we’d get in soon. No sooner than I had ordered a flat white from the to-go window did we snag an excellent table inside.
Here’s another obligatory bathroom selfie. We were keeping it casual. Also, putting on real pants is difficult when your legs are sore.
So about this coffee. I went for the flat white, one of my regular favorites. Rebecca got the lavender mocha, above.
And then there was the food. Matt went with the burger. No substitutions on Sunday brunch, so we could’t order extra fries, alas.
I ordered the biscuits and gravy, with chicken sausage, which was served with poached egg, and did not disappoint. After this meal, I would have bathed myself in this cream gravy. Can every day be cream gravy day? Rebecca opted for her third installment of smashed avocado toast with poached egg.
Service is a little scattered, but friendly, (and the kitchen found itself a little backed up on all three times we were there), The Collins Quarter provided a solid meal experience that kept me wishing that we had something similar in the Boston area. I’d definitely recommend it if you are visiting this city.
After lunch, we did a little bit of shopping. Many of the stores along Broughton street are what I can best describe as shiny! Seriously. Maybe it was the holiday season, but it seemed like many of the stores were experiencing a glitter explosion – it was actually pretty fun, even to window shop!
More shiny – I even found some gold glitter for sale at the Paris Market.
There were a handful of really cute design-centric shops, including this one: Prospector Co. Had I lived in the area, and/or taken a checked bag, I’d probably spend a lot of money here.
There were also some pretty fabulous sign boards, windows, and flyers, all over the city.
And who could ignore the Irish store. Savannah actually boasts one of the largest (possibly, the largest?) St. Patricks Day festivals in the world. Coming from Boston I find this bizarre and confusing, possibly because every day feels like St. Patricks day in Boston. This store was pretty much the only Irish paraphernalia I noticed in the whole city.
And of course I couldn’t keep this photo to myself – yes, that is a walkup McDonalds window. I resisted the urge to get a 20 piece McNuggets meal.
After our shopping, we set out on an afternoon stroll, walking through many of the squares. The squares, which are much smaller than I expected, are mostly green and lush, and each have their own character.
Ultimately we ended up in Monterey Square, home to the Mercer House, the setting of the infamous true crime story in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. One of the more beautiful squares in the city, we spent several hours here in the afternoon reading our books on this quiet Sunday afternoon. (Many things are closed here on Sunday, so we didn’t feel one bit bad spending several hours of our day here.)
As the sun set, we made our way back to the apartment before setting out to dinner. I wish I could tell you about our fabulous meal, but our final dinner was a little comical. As many of the restaurants are closed on Sundays, our choices were limited. Against my better judgement, we opted to head to the Flying Monk, a pan-asian noodle bar on Broughton that seemed perpetually busy. Reviews suggested terrible service and food that was okay, but craving all of the food, we ended up going for it.
The verdict? Don’t go out of your way for it, but the food was decent. I went with my favorite lemongrass beef noodles, which couldn’t hold a candle to my Pho So 1 Boston Bun Thit Nuong, but hit the spot on the cool evening. Matt went for Ramen, and Rebecca had Buddha’s noodles, pretty much the only vegetarian option on the menu, but a disappointment because they only served their tofu fried. Matt’s order of spring rolls never arrived, but we weren’t charged for it. The service, though friendly, matched the reviews: confused, novice, and haphazard. Every table around us got a dish that was wrong. Given that I’m feeling relaxed and laid back, I’d say that on the whole the experience was simply entertaining.
What brought the evening around, however, was dessert: one final cup of Leopold’s ice cream, Peppermint, tonight, doused with copious amounts of hot fudge. If you come to this city, be sure to get yourself a scoop, or two, or three. This is good ice cream!
And with that, I bid you goodnight! Cheers, y’all!
