This year, I’ve committed to writing more, and it’s been working.
Aside from this blog post, this week I wrote about leadership goals, running project management at Ompractice as we grow – with Agile methodologies, agile sprint planning, and the sprint retro. Personally, I wrote about documenting and codifying my Ideal Week.
While the bulk of my writing remains unpublished, I’m thinking of this writing a little bit more like book writing than blogging.
The end goal is to build a bigger body of work on topics that I’m interested in, both for myself, and to share with others. While I love blogging, I want my thinking to be better organized, more structured, and edited to reflect developing insight over time.
I know this to be true about myself: writing is the best way for me to clarify and organize my ideas. It’s a process. Whenever I start a new project, I sit and brainstorm on paper. Then I take to the road for a long walk, or the shower, with a structure to ruminate upon. Back to my desk, I make more notes, and edit accordingly. Sleep on it, and edit again. Rinse and repeat.
But like many things that are obvious – knowing something that is true, and consistently committing to put it in practice are two separate things. This year I wanted to make sure that my desire to write actually turned into work written.
Fortunately, writing begets writing, so here we are. Like my run streak (it’s been over a year), one of the keys to success for me was to build daily doable habits. So this is what I’ve been doing loosely: writing about work during the work week, writing about life on the weekend, posting on this here blog, and then adding good things to my notebooks in between.
The two biggest shifts that has positively impacted my writing habit: scheduling the time for it, and reducing my actual time spent on my phone consuming social media.
{Assorted Good Eats:}
You’ll have to imagine them, because most of the week my phone was away from me on the charger, and I only took a handful of blurry unlit snaps of my meals. (That gorgeous spread above is what I was eating a year ago in Istanbul!)
Chicken marinated in Trader Joe’s Amba (fermented mango sauce). You can find it in the fresh case by the pesto and hummus, and it’s a phenomenal marinade or all purpose sauce for any meat or fish. I can’t recommend it enough.
Whole Foods Matzah Crack. If you go by your local Whole Foods this week, I recommend picking up this seasonal treat: matzah coated in a sweet and just slightly salty caramel/toffee, and dipped in dark chocolate. Smitten Kitchen has a good recipe if you feel like making your own.
Trader Joes’ Braised Beef with mashed potatoes and cruciferous crunch salad. This beef (with demi glaze) is one of the best things at Trader Joe’s.
Lot’s of good meals on tap for this week. This is what my lightweight meal planning looks like most often. I also keep a spreadsheet when I’m inspired to do things digitally.
{Good Things}
I cleaned and re-foiled the grill to get ready for grilling season. All that’s left is to hook up the new gas tank, give the grates a bit of seasoning, and I’m ready to go.
I cut the cord! After far too long overspending, and time wasted with the television just on in the background, I finally got rid of cable tv, and switched from Comcast to wildly faster fiber internet with FIOS. I’ll still have Netflix, Hulu, and the occasional live TV access when desperate, but I’m decently sure that I’ll be using it far less than I have been. And while I do enjoy watching live sports, I *love* listening to sports on the radio. The only thing I anticipate missing is the clicker to my Xfinity box.
A pup walk with my friend Teri. Teri was in town for the Boston marathon (which she CRUSHED with solid training, and a 10 minute PR), and I was delighted to get the excuse to head into town with Bertram for an active recovery walk with her on Wednesday evening. Normally I don’t bother reaching out to people who are visiting for the marathon – they usually have enough on their minds! But I was SO delighted to get to see her, and the weather was beautiful.
Great reading this week: Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism (I opted appropriately, for the hardcopy), my friend Anna’s forthcoming book Shadow Magic, Ben Horowitz’s Hard Thing about Hard Things (Audible), Karen Wickre’s Taking the Work out of Networking, some Essential Jim Rohn, the last in the Discovery of Witches series (Audible), and got started on a galley of Sarah Gailey’s upcoming Magic for Liars.
Passover Dinner: this year we had a smaller dinner at my Uncle Allan and Aunt Roz’s house than normal, with many family members spread across the country and unable to come home for the meal.
This didn’t keep us from some of our favorite traditions: reading from several different Passover Story Haggadahs (Haggadot?), singing songs, opening the door for Elijah, Miriam’s cup, and some sephardic traditions including the Moroccan Bi Pilu (going around the table and blessing each participant with the seder plate over their heads.) Our youngest participant was just shy of 27, so the four questions were a collaborative effort.
In addition to our regular updated Silverman Haggadah – which I’ve always enjoyed for it’s Retro late 50’s artistic style, we read from the Gateways Haggadah, a pictorial version of the Passover story, which is written to support families with children of all abilities and disabilities, and is meaningful to our family. And this year, some new readings from the HIAS Haggadah, connecting the Passover story to today’s global refugee crisis. Ex: the section about the modern ten plagues of the refugee crisis: violence, dangerous journeys, poverty, food insecurity, lack of access to education, xenophobia, anti-refugee legislation, language barriers, workforce discrimination, and loss of family.
For dinner, we ate traditional seder plate fixins, two types of charoset from my mother – “New England Style” with a lot of apple, and “Turkish Style” with spices and dates, hard boiled eggs, a terrine like gefilte fish with plenty of horseradish, matzah ball soup, Moroccan mini meatballs and peas (we do kitniyot), my aunt’s Tsimmes, green beans. And for dessert: fruit, macaroons and a berry crisp my mom made.
Looking forward to:
My birthday gift from my mom: a generous MFA museum membership with reciprocal privileges at top institutions!
Spring planting in my potted garden! Fresh herbs, flowers, and vegetables, I’ve missed you.
Here we are, on the eve of Marathon Monday, Patriots Day, Tax day, getting ready for another week ahead.
I’m sitting looking through my schedule for the week, eating a bowl of pasta and meatballs, and getting ready to fight for the fate of Westeros with tonight’s Game of Thrones season premiere. (To be quite honest, I watch so I can talk about it on Twitter.)
The marathon is also a bittersweet day for me. I adore being a spectator, and there’s nothing like cheering for people putting in the hard work of a marathon, salty high fives, and losing your voice to the effort. (I’m a graduate of the Wellesley scream tunnel, and I live down the street from comm ave right around Heartbreak Hill.)
But I’ll never be able to fully shake the memories from 2013, the terror of not knowing where my friends at the finish line were, having to tell a runner that the race was canceled, the lockdown, hearing the shootout from our home. And though I likely have another marathon in me, I’m decently sure that I’ll never be able to run Boston. That said, come rain or shine, I’ll be out there tomorrow to cheer on the amazing folks putting in the effort and running their hearts out.
Before I get to good things, last week was a tough one, friends. We lost my grandmother (and last living grandparent), Rena, far too soon. Due to timing, we didn’t fly to Turkey for the funeral, but I’m hoping to get to spend time with my family later this year.
Rena was a fabulous, dominating force. Walking around the neighborhood she knew everyone. As a teen, I was always a little embarrassed by her, but looking back, the embarrassment has shifted to deep admiration – she’d come visit us and negotiate for lettuce at Market Basket. (And get the deal.) She was always put together – well coiffed, nails done, kohl eyeliner.
There’s not nearly enough space to sum up a lifetime of memories, but when I think of her, I think of the polyglot – speaking multiple languages at the dinner table, laughing with her friends. In the evenings, regaling us with stories with a deck of cards, or her favorite electronic poker game. (She also loved the lottery, and had a knack for winning.)
In the kitchen she’d cook for hours, making any number of meze, rolling dozens of Turkish sigara borek, making my favorite stews, or her delightful rose jam. When we’d visit, there’d always be a new fruit or cheese to try, a salty bite to eat, and a cup of tea or Turkish coffee made.
Last April, my mom and I flew to Turkey, worried that it might be our last visit. Despite bad news at the doctors, we spent many of the days eating, laughing, shopping for food, and cooking together. On one day, she summoned the energy to walk to a favorite restaurant, Şampiyon Kokoreç, to eat a plate of chopped offal, and through the neighborhood to pick out the best of the muşmula, a relative of the loquat. Still the consummate host, she cooked me my favorite dish – Mantı – turkish ravioli with yogurt sauce, and hosted the family for dinner and profiteroles.
This is one of my favorite photos of her. She will be missed.
{Good Things}
Missing this week is a lengthy photo documentation of my meals: largely because when I’m overwhelmed with life or work, even my best intentions of meal planning can get tossed out the window to be replaced by Trader Joe’s meals where my goal is to simply feed myself. (Granted, I do love a good Trader Joe’s dinner!)
Sometimes self care is simply knowing when to cut your losses and stick to the basics.
One thing I did cook for myself – and with great success: Roasted Broccoli and White Beans, from Shutterbean. This is a super easy recipe that gives you crispy and lemony beans, and a heaping serving of vegetables when the rest of your meals are lacking. I added a little bit of turkey kielbasa for a more filling meal.
New bakery treats! If you are in Portsmouth, NH, don’t miss the new lovely bakery, Elephantine. After months of trying to make it over there, I finally managed to a few weeks ago, and it held up to the hype! Notably delicious: their stunning lemon ricotta danish, the olive fougasse, and a nicely made latte.
On that note, if you love a good bakery, Newton area folks should be sure to try Koko Bakery, if you haven’t made it yet. It’s a Japanese bakery with delicious sweet treats. My favorites include the sweet red bean bun, melon pan, and any of their cookies.
Attending the Health and Wellness Show with Ompractice We spent the day spreading the word about our company, one person at a time! This was actually our first consumer show – it’s always really fun to get out there and talk to real people!
We’ve come a long way in the past year! From proof of concept to a full schedule with thirty teachers on the platform, every day is an adventure, and it feels so good doing work that makes a real difference in people’s lives.
On that note, another kindly request – I’d *love* for you to try a class. Unlimited membership is only $5 for your first month, and $24.99/month after that. We’re building this business one student at a time – but we have a full roster of incredible teachers and I’d love to fill all of their classes!
[I’m also on the lookout for bloggers who’d like to work with us as we build out our marketing. If you are interested, please fill out this two minute form!]
Looking forward to:
📣 Next month, I’m stepping back into public speaking and doing an in-person workshop for entrepreneurs on self care. This is a private event, but, if you are looking for speakers on wellness, entrepreneurship, or preventing burnout – I’m looking to do more of this! (Email me at sam at ompractice.com)
Now you’ll have to excuse me for the abrupt ending – the GOT theme song has started and I’m off to participate in pop culture.
Spring has finally arrived in New England – yesterday hit 67 degrees, and over the course of the day I saw people in winter parkas, sweatshirts, shorts, and runners in tanks and short shorts. I always do love the visual contrasts that come along at the change of season.
A real spring is welcome. I was not expecting such a frenetic March, but here I am, catching up here after a brief hiatus where my organization and routines went out the window. With travel, some housing uncertainty, daylight savings, and the certain chaos of running a startup, the month saw me running around like a bit of a chicken with her head cut off – I’m ready to get back to some comforting routine!
{Good Things}
Travel. The highlight of my month was a Spring Break trip to Disney World with my college best friends and regular travel companions, Heather and Caroline. Some pictures, below, but a quick note that this was the first vacation I’ve taken in over 10 years where I did not open my laptop to work once I arrived at my destination. Balancing energy and boundaries is a fundamental principle of self care, and one of the most important ways to prevent burnout. You need to take care of yourself in order to have the energy to do good work in the world. I’m proud of myself for actually doing this for myself.
Good Books and Films. Reading this month has been a little lighter than last. I’ve been working through the Deborah Harkness witchy trilogy, quite enjoyed listening to Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime on Audible. I have about six books in progress at the moment. Films faired a little better: I quite enjoy the How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2, and Captain Marvel – which I loved. Aquaman wasn’t a critical masterpiece, but was enjoyable, because when is Jason Momoa not enjoyable?
Good Lighting. Because many of you have asked: no, I don’t have a fancy marble table. I have a fancy marble cutting board from Crate & Barrel, a Lowel Ego lamp (which doubles as a sun lamp during the winter) and internet magic. Here’s the entire set up.
Acquiring Riches. In Trader Joe’s a few weeks back, an older gentleman gave me a million dollars. Since I didn’t win the HGTV dream house this year even though I could have sworn I had, I’m going to put it to good use in my own house hunt.
This Face. Seriously, how thankful am I that I get to look at this face on a daily basis. (This is also as close as he gets to actually using this particular set of pet steps. They have been repurposed as a “desk” for my couch work space, and to prop up my computer in front of my mat while taking Ompractice classes.)
A trip to the most Magical Place on Earth. (Fight me.) I’m an unabashed Disney fan. I’ve never been a pink princess, but I *love* Disney. The rides, the food, even the lines. For that matter, I love IKEA for similar reasons… Plus, Florida agrees with me.
My last trip to Disney was in 2015 for the Princess 5k (a race with hundreds of sparkling clean port-o-potties – truly magical!), but I wanted to return with no training requirements! Happy to report that my run streak continued though, even with 10-15 miles a day of walking in the parks!
Highlights of the trip include: planning for the trip on a shared google doc agenda, staying at Caribbean Beach, Park Hoppers and fast passes, an excursion to Harry Potter world, a private Animal Kingdom lodge safari and tasting menu at JIKO, and hot ticket reservations at every Epcot restaurant I was aiming for. I go to Disney for two things: to eat and to walk – everything else is a bonus.
Delicious Meals in Disney: to make up for the 10+ miles of daily walking, we did a lot of eating.
JIKO tasting menu. Our first evening in, we went on the Wanyama private safari and tasting at JIKO, which I’d recommend heartily if you don’t mind extending your Disney budget. The evening started with appetizers before you go out on safari – a range of sweet and savory treats (the highlight of which was the Boerewors sausage. The main meal was served family style with the 12 or so of us on the trip: breads, dips, amuse, appetizers, a massive amount of food with both drink and wine pairings, of which I managed to get bites of absolutely everything. Their beef short rib was a real gem that rivaled the memorable stellar lamb shank I ordered at JIKO several years ago.
Harry Potter World – The Leaky Cauldron: fine dining this was not, but I enjoyed my Beef, Lamb & Guinness stew, and the sugar bomb that was their version of sticky toffee pudding. And of course the ambiance of Diagon Alley can’t be beat.
Frontera Cocina in Disney Springs: we were a mere week too early for Jose Andres’ openings in Disney Springs (SIGH), but I was happy to get a patio seat at this Bayless outpost. We shared toasted pumpkin seed “hummus” and mango guacamole. Knowing that vegetables would be missing from the majority of my next several meals, I went for a big salad with carne asada, and the ancho chile chocolate cake for dessert.
San Angel Inn – Mexico: our first lunch in Epcot, we shared guacamole, and I opted to go wild with the Carne Asada Tampiqueña for an indulgent lunch. Served with a cheese mole enchilada, rice, refried black beans, guacamole, onions, rajas poblano with tortillas. Under the “evening sky” – this is one of my favorite magical places to eat at Disney.
Restaurant Marrakesh: my last trip we had a glorious meal outside in Morocco at Spice Road (which I’d highly recommend), but it had been over a decade since I’d been at Marrakesh, and I wanted to try it. I opted for the Harira, a Taste of Moroccan salads, and shared the appetizer sampler – beef brewat rolls, chicken bastilla, and Jasmina salad. A cup of Moroccan coffee, while we enjoyed the belly dancing and the piano guy who seemed delighted that we were paying attention – as so few other people were. The restaurant felt a little dated, but we enjoyed ourselves.
Be Our Guest: I was *thrilled* to score us a table at Be Our Guest, because I hadn’t been there, and everyone raves over the “Grey Stuff”. We ended up going for lunch, which is an order of magnitude less fancy than dinner, but nevertheless the food was good – I ended up with the gloriously cheesy french onion soup, and the braised pork (coq au vin style) which I thought was very clever, and tasted quite good. My dining partners both ordered the Tuna Niçoise salad which was a generous portion. Ironically, the one pass for next time – the masters cupcake with the grey stuff was a total throwaway for me. Bland and boring. Save space for an extra dole whip.
Teppan Edo: it’s probably been 15? years since I’ve been to a hibachi restaurant, and we ended up having a great time here at the Japanese pavilion. I’d never been before! We had an 8:50 reservation that didn’t seat us until around 9:15. (The park “closed” at 9, but you can get dining reservations up until then, which is perfect for spacing out meals.) The sushi sampler wasn’t worth ordering, but I was needing some nibbles before the grand event, so went for this and some iced green tea. For our meal, you can order your protein of choice. Most everyone went with the steak and shrimp combo, but I opted for the sea scallops, which were *delicious*. I skipped drinks and dessert, but the cocktail menu here looks incredible.
Biergarten: I have fond memories going here with my parents as a kid. The German pavilion boasts this all-you-can-eat buffet that is always a treat. My plate(s) included salmon, multiple kinds of sausages, salads, liverwurst, potatoes, spaetzle, potato dumplings, sauerkraut, and more. And we hit perfect timing of the show, as well.
Other tasty treats: our trip coincided with the Flower Festival at Epcot, which brings a pop-up tasting shack to each of the country pavilions. I didn’t end up eating at any of these, but I did snag a Mickey boba tea twice in China. Other treat highlights include: a Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich, the famous Carrot Cake whoopie – now found only at the Starbucks in Hollywood Studios, and a double trip to Dole Whip. (Pro-tip: the new mobile ordering in the parks is actually kind of amazing because nobody has figured it out yet. You can mobile order your dole whip, skip the line, walk up to the mobile order counter, and they make it fresh for you right when you arrive.)
In my tourist uniform.
The glory that is DOLE WHIP float. (I had it twice.)
Making a point to make every photo a great one. That’s me with my hands up.
On Safari. Making new friends.
Reluctantly I re-entered the real world and returned home.
Good Eating: after returning from Disney, I ordered both a Freshly box (prepared meals) and Blue Apron box to ease my re-entry. In hindsight, I should have probably just hit up Trader Joe’s and gone with some quick staples. My first experience with Freshly wasn’t great (I’ll do a round up post after my second – and likely final – box.) Nevertheless, here are some of the highlights of my past few weeks of meals.
Sirloin Steak over Broccoli and Spinach Artichoke Dip. One of my easiest Trader Joe’s hacks: take one of their frozen Spinach artichoke dips, and mix with a bag of organic broccoli. It makes for a delicious creamy base for steak, chicken, or frankly, is satisfying eaten on it’s own.
Jaleo-Inspired Meatballs with Pan Con Tomate & Saffron Mayo: hands down the best thing that came in my Blue Apron box.
Enjoy Life Chocolate Protein Bites – these are currently $1.29 for a bag at Trader Joe’s. After the first time I bought them, they were out of stock at Trader Joe’s for weeks because of fulfillment issues, but are now back. With 8 grams of protein per bag, they’ve been a not-too-sweet chocolate treat for dessert that I’ve been enjoying.
Omelettes with lots of herbs. I added some Applegate turkey breakfast sausages in here – breakfast for dinner!
Soba with miso butter, garlic, and parmesan. The occasional night strikes where I crave a big bowl of pasta. This is the result.
The Second Lunch is a (mostly) food blog by Sam Tackeff about recipes, food writing, ingredient hunting, travel, healthy living, fitness, and everything in between.
Please do not steal! Email me at sam [at] thesecondlunch.com – if you’d like to use one of my photos, and I’d be happy to share my terms. Thanks!
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