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 | Dec 2, 2012 | Quick and Easy
It’s cold.
I thought I’d be used to it again, or at least tolerant by now. I was deluding myself.
One observation of the season is the ritual progression of coats. I started out with the fleece, quickly moved up to my cheerful red peacoat, and then to my more stylish puffy coat, then to my “prepared for a trek to the Arctic” puffier coat, and today I had the fleece under the puffiest puffy coat and I was still cold. Ah, New England. I remember the days where I used to wear my flip flops past first snow. What has become of me?Oh yes, I’ve become weak.
What, you ask, have I been busying myself with in this frigid weather?
School! Boston Startup School. I alluded to this a few weeks ago before I dropped of the face of the earth – it’s a six week program to sharpen your skills, network with fantastic people, and make deep connections with the Boston startup scene. It has been busy.
Spending my entire day in school has shifted my cooking schedule, so I’ve been making many meals in advance to make sure that we are well fed. I roast vegetables every week, and I always try to hard boil a dozen eggs. When I’m in the mood, I’ll bake them in the oven, but this week they went in a pot on the stove. After they were cooked, I rinsed them in cool water, dried them off, put them back into their carton, and made sure to label them! Usually they last me until the next weekend.
This week I also roasted some carrots for lunches, and steamed a pot of cauliflower which I blitzed into cauliflower mash with a large knob of butter, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
Our dinners have been mostly simple: chicken thighs with sautéed broccoli, a pot of chili that lasts a few days as needed.
One night I roasted sausages from the butcher shop and served them with some broccoli that I steamed and finished off in the sausage pan-drippings.
Another meal was a bowl of ground beef seasoned with cumin and chili powder, sautéed spinach, salsa and avocado. Devon’s favorite meal is refried beans with all the fixins’, so he got the same dinner plus some bonus beans nestled in two grilled tortillas. I typically like serving us both the same food, but I don’t mind tweaking like this for our preferences.
Another night we had pork tenderloin seasoned with herbes de Provence, mashed sweet potato, cranberry sauce and some out of season asparagus. While I used to have panic attacks about eating out of season vegetables, I now do so unapologetically if it means something green other than leafy greens and root veg in this northern climate.
And sometimes, fatigue wins out.
Yesterday, there were these green beans which I roasted with olive oil, salt, thyme and lemon slices at 400 for about 35 minutes. I wish I could tell you I ate a rounded meal, but they ended up in a bowl with some leftover ground turkey, and a large spoonful of yogurt. It was a little weird.
Dessert was in order, and included a run to Target which involved picking up not one, but two pints of Ben and Jerry’s: Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, and the curiously good Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt. Yes, I know, it isn’t health food.
Here’s one last picture for you – Boston Harbor, taken from the Waterfront by the ICA. That water is not warm.
Hope you all have a lovely Monday!
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 11, 2012 | Uncategorized
Despite my best intentions, I didn’t get to CrossFit until the very end of the week. I was hoping to make it to the 9 a.m. class, but was thwarted by the Newton Chilly Half – I couldn’t find a way to get around the runners!
Instead of getting to class at 9:20, and being forced to do lots of burpees, I headed over to the Charles River Center, strapped on my Garmin, turned on my RunKeeper, Pandora, and set about trying to beat my 5k time from 8 weeks ago. I’ve been exhausted for the past 7 days straight, but I still managed to pull out a 31:40 run, which was an improvement on the same course!
After my run, I headed over to the gym to get some strength training in. Things were quiet because most people were watching gym-mates compete at the Garage Games Finals at Crossfit Southie. I went for one of the workouts I missed this week:
Skill: Power Clean & Push Jerk – worked to 2 reps @75#
WOD: “Max”
12-9-6 reps of:
Power Snatch (115/80)
Thruster (115/80)
Although the prescribed weight for women is 80, I went with 55, and it nearly killed me. My Snatch form is horrific, and I spent the whole time just muscling up the weight. (For non-gym folks, this means that instead of using intelligent form and force, I slowly pulled the entire weight and tried to push it with no momentum over my head. Ouch.) After watching me suffer for the 20:21 it took me to get through this, Coach D-Payne was super kind to help me out on technique. Keep the bar close! Drive those hips! DROP INTO A SQUAT! After some serious practice, watching video of myself on Coach’s Eye, and much appreciated patience, my form was significantly improved.
When I got home, I made myself a banana pancake with almond butter and maple syrup, a cup of coffee, and read a few chapters of Shucked, which I’m very much enjoying.
I had a significant amount of work to do today, but maximized my productivity by batch cooking for the week. I started out by roasting carrots with olive oil, salt and cumin.
Then I chopped up two heads of cauliflower, and steamed them with a half dozen cloves of garlic for a half hour until tender. I then drained the pot, added salt, pepper, and a generous spoonful of schmaltz (chicken fat!) and pureed it with my immersion blender. I transferred it to a pyrex and put it in the fridge. The “Mashed Faux-tatoes” will last me several days, and reheats well.
I also roasted some delicata squash with salt, pepper, and coconut oil.
And fried a few fresh sausages for my lunches. One’s a fresh pepperoni, and the other is hunter’s sausage with bacon, both from M.F. Dulock.
For dinner, I fried up some pork chops, served them with some of the mashed cauliflower, and a side of collard greens cooked with bacon and cider vinegar.
Now if I could only get some rest before this long week ahead of me! Happy cooking!
