Hello and welcome to the weekend! We’ll be hitting up my favorite spot for coffee, having a deluxe homemade pizza night, and doing a few more last minute holiday errands.

I do love this time of year where we begin to wind everything down a bit. The busyness and moments of chaotic energy are there, but pulsing underneath all of that is reflection and the relief of a slate being wiped clean. That week between Christmas and new year’s is something I always look forward to. Time to clear out old things/ideas that aren’t serving us and get ready for a fresh start.

Hope you’re taking care and not too busy this weekend! 😉

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. Thich Nhat Hanh’s Hugging Meditation via Lion’s Roar
2. Why Not Tell Someone They Look Great Today? via The New York Times (gift link)
3. Mexico just put animal welfare into its national constitution via Vox
4. Compose Your Very Own Ode to Joy via The Atlantic
5. On my nightstand: We Were Made for These Times by Kaira Jewel Lingo

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. Vanilla persimmons! What’s nice about this variety is that that the fruits are still sweet and juicy when the flesh is firm. You don’t have to wait for them to be almost rotten (lol) to enjoy like other varieties.
2. This post from Diaspora Co. highlighting the yearly saffron harvest. Beautiful!
3. When Success Becomes Empty: Rediscovering Purpose Beyond Ambition
4. Back to using Insight Timer for my meditation practice. It has everything you need and it’s free 🙂
5. Downsized from my 1/2 gallon water bottle because it felt like I was lugging a keg around the gym lol. Went with this one from Hydro Flask (on sale at well.ca when I purchased) and I love it!

5 Questions:

1. I need vegan, high protein breakfast suggestions please!
   ♥️ Boosted with protein powder: smoothies, oatmeal (hot & overnight) with nut butter and hemp seeds, baked oats, yogurt bowls/parfaits, chia pudding
   ♥️ Without protein powder: chickpea flour pancakes/soccata, tofu scramble, rice and beans (with avocado, tofu, veggies etc), smoked tofu BLT’s on sprouted bread (the smoked tofu replaces the “B” here hehe)
2. Where did you get your Green Gold olive oil? I can’t find it anywhere!
   I found it locally at the Blue Goose Farm Shop! It really is an excellent olive oil–nice and fruity. Here in Canada, Bottega Volo has it online.
3. When I’ve eaten persimmons they left a dry coating in my mouth. What did I do wrong?
   When persimmons are underripe, they are rich in tannins which produces a drying effect on the palate! Both the long and squat varieties are very soft and squishy when ripe. Someone once compared the ideally ripe persimmon to a well worn in hacky sack and I think it’s a nice sensory cue. If it’s deep orange in color, soft, slightly squishy, and feels like it’s almost gone too far, then it’s perfect for eating! The beauty of the vanilla persimmons that I mentioned above is that they are ripe even when still slightly firm, so it takes some of the guesswork out. Once ready, I usually just cut pieces off like an apple and eat them plain. I also enjoy them in winter salads with kale, radicchio, fennel, pomegranate, citrus etc! A lot of folks use them on cheese boards and also make persimmon bread (in the style of banana bread), which sounds so delicious.
4. When cooking beans from scratch, when do you add salt? Does this really matter?
   It definitely does matter! I salt both the soaking water AND the cooking water based on this extremely thorough article from Serious Eats. Their test rounds of beans cooked/soaked without salt resulted in more breakage of the beans and skins! Also, salting in multiple stages just makes the beans taste better. I use this method in my brothy beans recipe that also features miso, lemon and herbs.
5. How do you balance work/focus with rest without feeling guilty about it?
   Separating notions of self worth away from productivity and creative output has taken me a long time. I know the signs of overwork/being overly invested in work outcomes now–everyone’s will be different! When I catch myself falling into certain habits (skipping the gym or homemade meals because there’s no time), moods (cranky/filled with dread immediately upon waking up), or health issues (back pain, insomnia), I know it’s time to step back or at least set some working boundaries so that I can focus on what truly needs to get done. It’s helpful to know what an ideal work day looks and feels like so that you can use it as a north star. I’ve visualized a perfect work day and wrote it out with detail in my journal many times. Ultimately, if you work in a creative field you will likely need periods of rest to form new ideas. Rest doesn’t have to be a Caribbean vacation or extended time off–it can be a weekend without social media and screens, a 20-minute walk for a coffee on your lunch break, a power nap!, a mindless Real Housewives marathon even!! You get the idea. Talking this out with trusted people in your life or a therapist can be very helpful.

5 Seasonal Recipes:

• Cheesy Vegan Broccoli & Barley with White Beans
• Veggie Sausage White Bean Skillet with Kale & Sun Dried Tomatoes
• Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza with Roasted Onion Cream
• Crispy Tofu in the Air Fryer + Baked Sweet Potato Fries
• White Wine Lentils with Mustard & Thyme