You may have heard that Google Maps just pulled an experimental feature that told users how many calories they’d burn if they walked to a destination instead of driving. The feature was intended to promote exercise and greater awareness of energy balance, but pushback from eating disorder treatment professionals—as well as troubled consumers—turned the tide. The app not only showed the caloric deficits associated with walking, but it also framed these deficits in terms of food: for example, it would inform users that…

This post is being written from atop a mattress on the floor. I luckily found my sheets and two pillows at around 11pm last night, after about twenty minutes of rifling through mover’s boxes. But here I am, fully moved. As far as moves go, this was a smooth one, all thanks to Junkluggers NYC and Roadway Moving. I couldn’t have finished clearing out my old space or gotten my stuff into the new one without them. Essentially none of my furniture came…

I think I’ve mentioned that cooking has been unpredictable this year. Sure, I’ve made dishes that were successful (as in, I liked the way they tasted, the recipes turned out more than once, they weren’t too laborious to make). But this has also been a year of recipe fails. I can’t remember the last time since I taught myself how to cook in my twenties that I’ve had so many culinary flops. Sometimes things haven’t worked out technically: odd texture, wrong cooking time,…

Happy Sunday, everyone. I’ve spent most of this weekend putting finishing touches on the term paper for my psychology class. Lots of work, but it’s interesting work: I’m writing about issues that pop up routinely in these weekend reading posts. Specifically, I’m considering the placebo/nocebo effect as it relates to our experience of food. Too much to summarize neatly here (plus I’m a little braindead from combing through citations), but the research has given me a deeper understanding of what I know intuitively from my work, which…

We had almost a 50/50 split on the question of whether I should work some product finds/reviews into Weekend Reading or not. In the end, I think I agree with a bunch of my readers that the weekend reading series is pretty complete on its own. So from now on, close to the start of each month, I’ll share 10 new finds–be they products, recipes, books, or whatnot. Should be a fun new addition to the blog! For now, another edition of weekend…

So happy that the “12 finds” idea appeals to you guys — I’ll certainly be making it a regular feature from now on. Thanks for your comments! And here we are, just in time for some weekend reading. To start with, Laura–who writes the marvelous blog The First Mess–has created a vegan fennel and mushroom pate for Food52. What?! Sign me up immediately. Meanwhile, Emma, who writes the adorably titled My Darling Lemon Thyme, has a roasted cauliflower, chickpea, and quinoa salad with…

Happy Sunday, November, Daylight Savings, and so on–hard to believe we’re another month further into the fall. I’m feeling totally unprepared for the holidays and all of the commotion they create, but for the time being I’m enjoying crisp weather and a true change of seasons. Speaking of seasons, this week I’m linking to Adam McHugh’s lovely meditation on seasons, both external and internal. McHugh argues that external seasons sometimes serve as cues for internal change and flux — the transition to fall,…