Hello and welcome to the weekend! It’s a rainy, wet, and cold one here. I’m heading to my parents house for dinner tonight and my partner is returning from a Las Vegas trip tomorrow. The dogs have been running all over the house every morning looking for him after they wake up 🥹

We took in the solar eclipse this week and it was truly awe-inspiring! Even though there were some clouds, the experience of totality was beyond my expectations. Everything going dark for about 4 minutes and the birds chirping like mad. It really is incredible to be alive on a spinning rock in space, am I right?

I hope that you’re keeping well and taking care of yourself out there! The usual assortment of reads and links below. As always, feel free to submit questions for next week in the comments or email them to me privately ♥️

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever
2. Exercise Might Be the Natural Sleep Aid You’re Seriously Overlooking
3. Momofuku responds to chili crunch backlash: ‘We wanted a name we could own’
4. The vorfreude secret: 30 zero-effort ways to fill your life with joy
5. Is Charging More for Oat Milk Discriminatory?

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. This is the greatest salad dressing bottle ever made I think (Amazon affiliate link). The pour spout is large enough for bits of shallots and herbs, and the design of the lid keeps the spout tidy after shaking. A reader recommended it to me and it’s been so great for this big time salad girl.
2. On that note, my favourite salad dressings from the site: sweet mustard dressing, red wine vinegar dressing with thyme, pickled jalapeño ranch, and caper shallot dressing.
3. In light of the Momofuku chili crunch drama, The Ultimate Guide to Chili Crisps.
4. Loving this yoga flow from Move with Nicole lately! Just challenging enough.
5. Playing around with a vegan version of those viral protein pancake bowls and it’s been a steep learning curve but also fun! Eating cake for breakfast is always a smash hit for me personally 😉

5 Questions:

1. What are some books you’ve been into lately?
   The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo: I read each day’s entry as I settle in to journal in the morning.
   Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh: Slowly working my way through his entire catalogue.
   A Court of Thorns and Roses: Got this from my sister in law, but I’m honestly having a bit of a hard time getting into it! Not giving up though–will report back.
2. Fitness routine?
   Lately I walk between 5-9 miles every day (some miles with the dogs, some without) and I try to do a yoga/stretch/pilates session at home 5 days a week as well. Move with Nicole, B The Method, workouts on the Deliciously Ella app, and Yoga with Adriene are all faves!
3. Tips to enhance your creativity?
   Try to pursue it in new ways! Obviously my main creative outlet is cooking, but I find that my cooking life is energized by my gardening and home decorating hobbies. I recently followed @cozy.games and she posts lots of fun, low stakes ways to be creative in our online and offline lives. One thing that took me a long time to figure out as well: you won’t be creative all the time. Sometimes there are lulls and ruts. In my experience, those periods of time need to be embraced for what they are. Obviously my work depends on my ability to be creative, so I try to maximize those moments of inspiration and “bank” ideas/work for when I’m less inspired.
4. My vinaigrettes always harden in the fridge. Any tips?
   Yes, olive oil based salad dressings will do this unfortunately. It’s just the saturated fatty acids reacting to the cold. It does not impact the quality of your olive oil at all! I mostly make salad dressings with avocado oil now to specifically avoid this. But! Sometimes I just want an olive oil vinaigrette and when it does go solid in the fridge, I just hold the bottle under hot running water for a minute or two. If I’m really on my game, I’ll get the bottle out and put it on the counter a couple hours ahead of mealtime.
5. Any suggestions on how to replace tomatoes in recipes?
   If you’re replacing canned tomatoes in a soup, stew, sauce, or bake, I recommend looking up some of the “no-mato” sauces posted online, like this one from Heal Me Delicious. For fresh tomatoes, I am honestly stumped. If anyone with nightshade sensitivity/AIP dietary preferences is reading this and has any tips, I would so love your feedback in the comments! This question comes up often.