I left work and hopped on the subway a little before 9pm on Friday, which is always a long work day with my new schedule. My car was fairly empty when I boarded, but more and more people entered as we made our way downtown.
Many of the other passengers were dressed for a night out in New York City. The car buzzed with restless, youthful weekend energy, intensified by the news that we’d have 70 °F weather on Saturday. (We did, and the whole city spilled gleefully outside).
Usually I head straight home on Friday, eat a late dinner, and fall asleep shortly thereafter. But I was sharing in the lively energy, too, and I wasn’t ready for the night to end.
I got off the train a few stops north of home and walked to one of my favorite restaurants. I sat at the bar and ate dinner, alternating between reading the Clinical Guide to Nutrition Care in Kidney Disease (sexy!), people watching, and chatting with the bartenders.
It was just another Friday night in the city that I love, just another dinner at the bar. Yet it felt anything but standard to me. I had the slightly dazed and surreal feeling that people have when they re-enter the world after something immersive.
The past ten weeks have revolved almost entirely around work, and I’m still getting the hang of it all.
I’m not yet sure what this means for my rhythm with writing/blogging. I think it’s possible that weekend reading will need to become monthly reading. (If I make that change, please help me think of a new title? “Monthly reading” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.)
As of now, I don’t know. I tend to try to force certainty onto situations that are still in flux, and there’s no need to decide right away. I’ll get a better sense of things as I settle into my new role.
This has been a time of surrender and acceptance: accepting the limits of what I can and can’t do; accepting the limits of my knowledge and experience; accepting the fact that there are only so many hours in a day.
I accept the fact that I don’t have much time for hobbies, that getting to a yoga class is currently more stressful than soothing, that my meal prep is often repetitive, that I don’t socialize much.
It’s all OK. It’s a season, and I’m only at the beginning of that season. As a good friend assured me over text yesterday, “there are times in life where you are just really in the marathon, and that’s okay.”
Happy Sunday, friends. Thanks for reading and sticking around. I’ll check in when I can—hopefully to share a recipe, which is what I miss most!
In the meantime, a few recipes that have caught my eye online.
Recipes
1. I made homemade vegan pain au chocolat years ago, and I loved everything about the process. Whenever I do have the time to make laminated dough again, I’m trying Britt’s recipe.
2. The 70°F day came and went, and we’re back to 48°F in NYC. I’d love to cozy up with a bowl of this curry noodle soup.
3. Fellow meal preppers, here’s a great and adaptable recipe for homemade muesli (one of the best make-ahead breakfasts).
4. Green minestrone, for spring.
5. This recipe for vegan sticky cashew “chicken” looks delicious.
Reads
1. Paul Marino’s account of being diagnosed with CMS is so engrossing. It sheds light on the experience of receiving an official diagnosis for a longstanding condition in midlife.
2. Have you tried the “good things list“? I’m not much for TikTok trends (that would require me to actually go on TikTok), but I like this idea.
3. Working as an RD has taught me that misophonia is more common than I realized it was. This article takes a look at the science of people’s responses to particular sounds—a science that’s still rife with unanswered questions.
4. An important critical examination of Vitamin D supplementation for athletes.
5. I agonize over making the “right” decisions, as so many of us do. I found it refreshing to read about philosopher Laurie Ann Paul’s take on “transformative experiences,” which she defines having two key characteristics. The first is that you can’t know what they’re like until you experience them, and the second us that they will by definition alter you in profound ways.
For me, the choices that surround these experiences are the toughest of all, because I can’t really predict what will happen as a result of my decisions, and I know that the consequences will be major.
Acknowledging this, Paul encourages an approach of inquisitiveness rather than trying to achieve a desired outcome. She introduces the notion of “revelatory values,” or “the value of discovering or not discovering the experience itself.”
Jack Maden summarizes Paul’s perspective in the following way:
“…rather than ask ourselves questions like, ‘which path will make me happier?’ or ‘which path is better?’, Paul thinks we should ask things like ‘Do I deem the revelatory value of the path itself worth it? Do I want to gain insight into what this path is like? Do I want to discover who I’ll become down this path? Or does the revelation carry no appeal? Am I satisfied with my current preferences, and uninterested in seeing how this new, undiscovered kind of experience will change them?'”
This offers less of an illusion of certainty in what we choose, but it lifts the burden of trying to discern the “right” choice from the “wrong” one. There’s only the thing we’re most interested in discovering. More curiosity, less control.
The Vegan Week continues to get so much love in my home. It’s been my meal prep guidebook through this busy time. I know that I should be promoting and focusing on my new cookbook, but I’m also really happy to rediscover an older one. Yesterday I made the simple, eggy squares, along with the Pasta e Ceci.
Speaking of rediscovery, last week I made my spicy peanut kale salad for the first time in a while. It’s a great one for meal prep because the leftovers can hang out in the fridge for a few days, and it’s super flavorful.
I added my lemon pepper tempeh cubes for protein, and the result was a few days of bold, colorful packed lunches.
Hope you’ve got something tasty to look forward to in the week ahead.
xo
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‘Weekend reading’ is my favourite type of post! Thanks, Gena. I suggest ‘Monthly Roundup’ for a collection of reads you’ve had over the month, in a similar style to the weekend version.