by Sam Tackeff | May 3, 2012 | Random, Writing
I think my words are coming back.
They’ve been gone for a while, but I feel them trickling in.
I’ve been stuck, tired, overwhelmed – we all feel this way, at some point. Moving last summer was hard. I miss San Francisco and the wonderful people I got the chance to engage with, eat with, and play with. I didn’t feel quite ready to move on. I became stagnant. I didn’t spend nearly enough time reading or cooking. But it’s spring time, and I feel something stirring.
I’m ready to start creating again.
Here are some of the things that have helped me:
{The Well-Fed Woman Mini-Retreatshop Tour} With the beautiful, insightful, shimmery Rachel Cole: Last month I spent three powerful hours with a group of women in Providence, Rhode Island. It re-affirmed what Wellesley taught me best: Sisterhood is such an important thing. I was expecting it to be a positive, light-hearted experience. I had no idea that I would cry, feel deeply moved, and leave feeling super-charged.
{SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions} It’s a book about life by Rainn Wilson, yes, that Rainn Wilson (of The Office fame). I picked up a copy at SXSW when I had no business buying a book given I had only taken a very small carry on to Texas. Some books demand to be taken home – books that scream at me and make me slightly nervous that I’m losing it. This was one of those. There is abundant wisdom in this book – sometimes you need to start by asking the right questions, and these are them.
{My Foodzie Tasting Box Subscription} Once a month, I get to be a little kid and open the best present to myself ever. I love trying new treats, and Foodzie picks the best of the best. Some of my recent favorites have been Droga’s Put Your Money on Honey Caramels, Zingerman’s Zzang Bars, and p.o.p Buttercrunch.
{Formaggio Kitchen} Trips for perfectly brewed George Howell coffee, small sandwiches, honey, tea. This place is the larder of happiness. On Saturdays mornings, they have barbecue outside. We’ve been twice this month. Also, they have Rancho Gordo Beans, Anson Mills Grits, and Jeni’s Ice Cream in the freezer.
{Psych} We’ve been re-watching the Psych from the beginning. It’s just such good writing. On that note, because of my time-consuming start up job, I’ve stopped watching the majority of the crap I was watching on television. My next step will to be delete shows from the DVR. It’ll take some more courage to sever the cord completely.
{Spring Manifestos} Over at The Art of Seeing Things.
{An Everlasting Meal} by Tamar Adler. It’s been quite some time since I could curl up with a book and enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed this one. I picked it up at Brookline Booksmith, along with Tina Fey’s Bossypants, and (finally!) my own copy of Brillat-Savarin’s The Physiology of Taste (M.F.K. Fisher translation). I forgot how nice it was to spend lots and lots of money at an independent bookstore.
{Instagram for Android} It’s here! You can find me @alphaprep. I’m also re-purposing my tumblr into a space for my Instagram photos.
by Sam Tackeff | May 2, 2012 | Lunch, Pantry Staples
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?
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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.
by Sam Tackeff | Apr 9, 2012 | Tea
Just a few thoughts today.
Tea In: Recently I’ve been brewing a lot of tea in the fantastic tea maker that Breville sent me. {Review forthcoming}. It’s an ingenious contraption that does the work for you and keeps your tea warm for an hour after brewing without over-steeping. You can set it to brew your tea in the morning as you would a coffee maker, which believe me, feels like magic.
While I’m completely enamored by the Breville, some occasions call for a different experience entirely: a slower, more intentional experience. When I’m sad, anxious, or frustrated, tea becomes my savior. In these moments, I’ll simply heat up the hot water and gently place a flowering tea bulb in my glass tea pot. I have a stash of these teas from Numi, as well as some that my brother brought home for me from Vietnam. They look like little round bricks, and remind me fondly of the pellets we’d make in the Geo lab for element analysis. {Nerd!}
But back to the tea making: I pour in the water. And then I sit. And I stare at it bloom in front of me. Reality melts away. I find my sense of wonder. The moment is mine. It makes me smile every time.
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Tea Out: Most mornings before heading in to the office, I leave my house early to park myself at a coffee shop to get work done. I get in line, order earl grey tea from Hassan, whose smile is infectious. I add a small amount of half and half, head to either the big wooden table or the soft chair in the back, and sit down to write my morning list. Once I have direction, I get started on the hardest task of my day.
I’m not sure when I started the habit, but getting whatever I’m dreading out of the way is always a relief, and frees up my mind to work on all the things that need to get done. I’m thankful to whoever tipped me off to this strategy.
In this hour, I manage to complete my work more efficiently than any other time of the day. It has become my super-charged hour. Some people work best in silence, but I love being surrounded by people in a public place. The best way I can explain it: there is something about the morning rush that helps me focus – the constant buzz in the background fills up one of the ever-chattering channels in my brain – thus allowing me to tune out this channel completely.
Tea making is an important ritual for me – I make several cups a day as a way to pause and be present. But in this early hour I’m grateful for someone else making my cup of tea. It provides a sense, of relief – a strong sense that I’m being taken care of. It makes me smile every time.
