November 30

Hello again. The holidays are upon us. It feels like they arrive sooner and sooner as the years go by. Maybe that’s just what happens as one gets older. I think it’s also because my son is now 10 and he’s changing and growing so fast that you blink and half the year has blitzed by.

We enjoyed a lovely, low-key Thanksgiving at home joined by good friends who happen to live right next door. It’s the third year in a row we’ve spent together. We roasted chicken, made mashed potatoes and gravy, and as many vegetable sides as we could fit on the table. I always make something that involves pie dough ever since I discovered the ultimate gluten-fee pie dough recipe four years ago. I wrote about it then but it’s worth re-sharing. It is something to behold. The Only Pie Crust You’ll Ever Need…

I usually opt for a simple galette over a full-blown pie. This apple one sweetened with maple syrup is still a house favorite…

I’ve been absent writing here primarily because I have been deep in my groove teaching the last several months. I’m really excited about the direction my practice is going and I will start posting Pilates videos on my channel again in the new year. I’m really looking forward to sharing.

These sharp looking Brooks Adrenaline GTS 22 are my new studio shoes that I’m loving. I can really sense my feet and the ground when I wear them. I have another pair for everyday use and someone often tells me “I love your shoes!”

At home we just finished watching Andor which was a stellar series. Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars film (and an excellent film in it’s own right, Star Wars fandom aside) so I had high hopes for Andor. It did not disappoint.

My go-to soundtrack at home these days has been anything from Nils Frahm. Beautiful, ambient, and always seems to suit my mood…

These Merino Wool Gripper House Socks from Bombas hardly ever leave my feet at home…

To keep my cuticles from getting haggard this time of year, the only thing that works like a dream is the cult classic Egyptian Magic. You can find it nearly everywhere (Costco included). I slather it on my hands before bed.

Something else kinda magic that I discovered lately thanks to Kate Moss is Sam McKnight’s Cool Girl Barely There Texture Mist. Kate uses it on her self-decribed “shabby looking hair”and it is the only product I’ve ever used that really gives my own “shabby” toddler hair some life without any stiffness or stickiness. It’s my hair but way better.

Signing off with some wise words that a dear friend sent me last week:

“In order to understand the world and to understand ourselves we need to experiment with ideas, to revise our opinions, to have courage to make mistakes, and to start over again.”

— Maryika

April 28

I’ve been occupied the last few months with a little expansion project: I opened a second Pilates studio in my neighborhood. It has been wonderful splitting my time between the two spaces, seeing my longtime clients at my original spot, and teaching brand new faces only a ten-minute walk from home. Each space has its own different but equally lovely vibe and moving between the two each week feeds my creativity and excitement about teaching.

With the new space so close to home I’ve been spending a lot more time working on my own fitness and these Alo high-waisted 90s capris are my most favorite for moving. (These Lululemon Align High-Rise ones in black camo are great as well.)

This Buck Mason slub cotton muscle tank has also become part of my uniform…

The hand wash I have in both studios and love is this Grown Alchemist sweet orange, cedarwood, and sage one…

Another favorite soap that I use daily in the shower is this REN Kelp and Magnesium body wash…

As I’ve chosen to prioritize teaching and moving right now, I’ve consequently chosen to devote less time to meal prep and being in the kitchen. The cookbook I’ve been reaching for most these days is Dawn Perry’s Ready, Set, Cook. It is a fantastic book and a good fit for my life when I need something healthy, delicious, and quick.

One of my favorite non-alcoholic beverages right now is Ghia’s Le Spritz in ginger. I love their whole “clear-eyed and high-minded” vibe.

For years I suffered from pretty major cystic acne. Paired with intense seasonal allergies and a number of food sensitivities it became clear through lots of research (and the help of my doc) that the root cause of all these “unrelated problems” was an imbalance in my microbiome. It was a lengthy process getting it all back on track and ever since I have made sure to really prioritize my gut health and take a proper daily probiotic. My preferred one is made by Seed.

They just came out with a pediatric version that my son now takes…

I wrote about Susan Cain’s amazing book Quiet EIGHT years ago. Eight. I’ve gifted that book a number of times and read it twice myself. Her newest book Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole resonates just as much.

We watched 14 Peaks on Netflix last fall and I wrote down this quote in the film by the legendary climber Reinhold Messner that I keep returning to…

“Most of us are forgetting that from the beginning of our life we are approaching death. Life is absurd. But you can fill it with ideas. With enthusiasm. You can fill your life with joy.”

— Reinhold Messner

Mid-Winter

“If you’re going to live a deep life, the ultimate original commitment is, ‘I’m going to commit to discipline in the sense of things I am going to do on a regular basis, because they matter, even if I don’t feel like it.’ And that is the biggest binary zero-to-one flip that happens in crafting a life.”

— Cal Newport

…from Cal’s excellent conversation with Tim Ferriss.

This week is my son’s mid-winter school break so I am enjoying being home from work and hanging with him. It is actually snowing at the moment but the last few weeks we’ve had some consecutive dry and even sunny days which allowed for some time in the garden, doing a little cleanup and cutting back grasses. Those little green shoots and signs of new life never cease to bring me joy…

My raised garden beds have reached the end of their life and we will build new ones next month. Inspired by my friend M’s thriving small compost/worm bin, I’ve added my own in the form of a Subpod Mini. (I ordered my worms here.)

I have a new pair of glasses from RŌKA that I love…

This Jones Road Miracle Balm in bronze is adding a little life to my mid-winter complexion. Plus, it feels wonderful pressed into the skin…

And if your feet need a little TLC, this foot file and balm from Bare Hands is incredibly simple, elegant, and effective….

Most of my meals these days are hearty soups. Even for breakfast, it’s what I crave. This week it is Pamela Salzman’s kale and white bean minestrone. I also love this lentil, sausage, and chard one from Smitten Kitchen.

I just checked out Bittman Bread from the library and am enjoying playing with his technique this week…

Lastly, my sister-in-law turned me on to these super cool posters from Sandgrain Studio. My son has a Dune one in his room but I think a whole grid of them would look rad in the basement…

November 7

It has been a proper fall weekend, dark clouds and lots of rain. We all slept in this morning with the turning back of the clocks and I spent all day sorting, tidying, lighting candles, and doing a little baking. My soundtrack through it all was the Max Richter radio station on Spotify. It was a good day.

A few favorite things to share. I love my new Everlane camo jacket. I want to wear it every day…

Also from Everlane, these buttery soft chelsea boots are so good. They are incredibly comfortable and look super sharp…

I’ve also been wearing this COS hooded shearling vest under my camel coat similar to below…

I recently stocked up on these Banana Republic ribbed tanks which are perfect in cut, weight, and price. And now they’re an extra 40% off…

I made these flourless chocolate cookies for friends a few weeks ago. I received a text that night from the husband that it was “the most favorite cookie” he’s ever had. (They also happen to be the easiest cookie to make.) Just make sure you don’t overbake. I baked a single one as a test first and mine were perfect in 10 minutes.

I’m getting excited for Thanksgiving which we will celebrate again with our wonderful neighbors. I ordered a new linen tablecloth from H&M for the occasion. I bought gray but this pink beige one looks lovely…

I’ve been using these Food52 compostable sponge cloths everywhere I’d normally use paper towels. I have yet to wear through one and I toss them in the washing machine with my other dishtowels…

We were eagerly awaiting the new Dune film and it did not disappoint. The cinematography is stunning. If you’ve seen it and didn’t read the novel, this long rundown of the backstory is really helpful…

“The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.”

— Frank Herbert, Dune

September 26

September is the month of Italian plums, my favorite. A friend gifted me over 10 lbs of them and I straight up devoured 5 lbs within two days. The rest I cut and froze for the coming months of fall and winter baking. There will likely be several Marian Burros plum tortes made but also a new favorite tart using the press in crust from my gluten-free baking bible Alternative Baker and the frangipane from Aran Goyoaga’s (my other gluten-free baking guru) book Cannelle et Vanille…

Speaking of Aran, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of her latest book next month, Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple: A New Way to Bake Gluten-Free…

Last year I had zero desire to shop (which maybe was a common thread for a lot of us during that first year of pandemic life) but this fall I’ve been craving a few new additions to my wardrobe. I just bought these Dr. Marten 1460 mono boots…

And I keep looking at this beautiful Eddy coat from Sezane…

I love Derek Sivers and have been revisiting his important query: What if you didn’t need money or attention?

“We do so many things for the attention, to feel important or praised. But what if you had so much attention and so much praise that you couldn’t possibly want any more? What would you do then? What would you stop doing?

We do so many things for the money, whether we need it or not. But what if you had so much money that you couldn’t possibly want any more? What would you do then? What would you stop doing?”

Read the whole thing here.

Ever the valuable resource, my friend Omar has a helpful post on living with covid-19 these days with links to masks and at-home testing options. We also like the Evolve Together masks for our whole family.

I will leave you with something incredibly fun to start your week, Dua Lipa and her band performing “Levitating” as part of npr’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert series.

Gluten-Free Buckwheat Bread

I adapted this recipe from Aran Goyoaga’s Spiced Chocolate Cranberry Yeast Bread. Aran has long been my favorite resource for gluten-free baking and this adaptation has become for me, the perfect basic brown bread. It is a breeze to make and the bread isn’t gummy like so many other gluten-free recipes I’ve tried. I like it best toasted and slathered with salted butter.

GLUTEN FREE BUCKWHEAT BREAD

2 1/3 cups (525 grams) full-fat milk, heated to 105°F

2 Tbsp molasses (about 40 grams)

1 Tbsp (12 grams) active dry yeast

3 Tbsp (30 grams) psyllium husk powder

1/4 cup (30 grams) fine flaxseed meal

2 cups (240 grams) buckwheat flour

1 cup (120 grams) tapioca starch

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 425°F. Dust the inside of a one-pound loaf pan with some buckwheat flour.

In the bowl of a stand mixer whisk together the oat milk, molasses, and yeast and proof for about 10 minutes until bubbly. Whisk in the psyllium and flaxseed and let it gel for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and using a dough hook, mix the bread on medium speed until it comes together and feels smooth. The dough will be sticky and moist. Add a touch more milk if it feels dry.

Dust your work surface with some buckwheat flour and shape your bread into a log that is about 8 inches long. Place the dough inside the prepared loaf pan, cover with a kitchen towel and proof for about 45 minutes or until nearly doubled. 

Dust the dough with a bit more flour and bake for 30 minutes. Then, carefully invert the bread out of the pan and place directly on the oven rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and bake for another 30 minutes.

Transfer the bread to a wire rack and let it cool for at least 1 hour before cutting. It is important to let the bread cool before slicing so the crumb sets and doesn’t become gummy. Store the bread wrapped in a kitchen towel or how I do, cut-side down on the cutting board.

Creativity + Ego

“Creativity and ego cannot go together. If you free yourself from the comparing and jealous mind, your creativity opens up endlessly. Just as water springs from a fountain, creativity springs from every moment. You must not be your own obstacle. You must not be owned by the environment you are in. You must own the environment, the phenomenal world around you. You must be able to freely move in and out of your mind. This is being free. There is no way you can’t open up your creativity. There is no ego to speak of.”

— Jeong Kwan

Netflix

I have watched Jeong Kwan’s Chef’s Table episode three times over the last year. She is so calming, wise, and inspirational.

I made Samin Nosrat’s speedy and delicious spinach and cilantro soup for lunch today. I prefer it a little thicker so I use one cup less stock and start with less salt since my stock is already seasoned. If you have some leftover rice in your fridge add that to your bowl…

Photo by Ty Mecham via Food52

The Everlane Perform Bra is my new favorite…

I’ve been reading Big Ideas for Curious Minds with my son and it is wonderful. It’s from the folks at School of Life who do such great stuff…

It is filled with important little essays and delightful drawings and is equally appropriate for adults with things like ‘Learn to Say What’s on Your Mind’…

And ‘Why it’s Hard to Know What to Do With Your Life’…

Pomofocus is a cool tool.

And I think this shirt is made for me…

Gluten-Free Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

I think this supremely easy one-bowl chocolate cake is the most perfect chocolate cake and I’m not even a chocolate cake person. It is the most frequently baked cake at our house and my son made it for me on my last birthday. He prefers it without the additional chocolate so that is how it gets made most, but when I do add it I really like these Hu chocolate gems.

It is adapted from Aran Goyoaga’s Gluten-Free Chocolate Sourdough Cake (my often mentioned gluten-free baking guru).

GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE OLIVE OIL CAKE

1/2 cup (150 g) kefir or yogurt

3/4 cup (150 g) coconut sugar or light brown sugar

1/2 cup (110 g) olive oil, plus more for greasing

1 egg

3/4 cup (75 g) almond flour, sifted

1/2 cup (70 g) superfine brown rice flour

1/4 cup (25 g) unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

4 ounces (110 g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped or chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8-inch cake pan with some olive oil and place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the kefir, sugar, olive oil, and egg. Add in the almond flour, brown rice flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk until the batter is smooth. Fold in the chopped chocolate if using.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before turning out of the pan.

All Hallows' Eve

It is a gorgeous cool and bright Halloween here in Seattle, perfect weather for trick-or-treating in any other year. Tonight we are just hanging at home, hiding Twix, Reese’s cups, and Sour Patch Kids in the backyard for my son and sitting by the fire.

I made chocolate cake this morning in my skull cake mold…

I’m really in the baking groove and might make this Apple Cider Doughnut Loaf Cake from Bon Appetit tomorrow…

Photo by Laura Murray via Bon Appetit

Tomorrow with the daylight savings change, the sun will set at 4:51pm. My plan to usher in the darkness is to sit by the fire and finish Case Histories, the first book in Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series. It’s so good…

I spotted this Everlane oxblood sweatshirt today which is going on my wishlist…

Also these Trader Joe’s freezer to oven croissants are a wonder and I’ve been making them for my son in the mornings. You don’t have to proof them overnight (you don’t even have to preheat the oven!) and they’re ready in 28 minutes…

It’s going to be a wild week with the election. Remember to breathe and abstain from doomscrolling. And if you can, find ways to laugh. My favorites this weekend were found on McSweeney’s…

A few favorites: In This House We Believe, Captions From My Parents’ Museum of Conceptual Art, and Horror Movies for Toddlers.

Or you could just go all in and watch Dave Chappelle’s latest on Netflix…

Also, On Being continues to be a bright light in my life. I never listen to an episode while I am doing something else (besides driving which isn’t as much these days). So if I’m at home, I put headphones on and sit quietly so I can take it all in.

Her lead in to the most recent episode…

“This is always a starting point for meaningful change inside ourselves and our families and communities: We pull up stories we’ve been raised on in the light of what we know now. We see what was not being said, hear the questions we scarcely allowed ourselves even to think. We recover lost chapters. My colleague in radio and podcast, John Biewen, has been doing this with the interwoven questions of what it means to be human and what it means to be white. In a series called “Seeing White,” to which many people have turned in 2020, I think John has modeled something. As a documentary investigative journalist who’d covered race with the best of intentions and rigor, he realized he’d been turning to others — people of color — to be searching about racial rupture and healing. He then turned the lens back on himself.

So that’s the conversation ahead between me and John Biewen. It starts simply — tracing the racial story of our time through the story of a single life. It’s an exercise each of us can do, beginning with a curious eye on our childhoods and hometowns. And if we do this searchingly, it becomes a step towards a more whole and humane world, starting with ourselves.”

And later on this…

Tippett: Do you know Ruby Sales? She’s a civil rights elder, theologian; wonderful, one of the elders who’s with us. And she said to me in 2016, “There’s a spiritual crisis in white America”; that it was a crisis in white America. And she said, “There’s nothing wrong with being European American. That’s not the problem. It’s how you actualize that history and how you actualize that reality.” And she said, “It’s almost like white people don’t believe that other white people are worthy of being redeemed.” She was looking at our electoral — because this has real world political consequences, especially in our current political crisis. I also think of James Baldwin writing that “white people in this country will have quite enough to do in learning how to accept and love themselves and each other. And when they have achieved this, which will not be tomorrow” — this was in The Fire Next Time — “and may very well be never, the Negro problem will no longer exist, for it will no longer be needed.”

Biewen: Wow.

Tippett: It actually is a truth of life, if you can’t love yourself, you can’t love anyone else. And if white people can’t figure out how to care about each other’s well-being — that that’s part of this reckoning, as well.

Listen to the whole conversation here.

October 29

The temp has dropped here in Seattle and now it really feels like fall. I am learning how to build a proper fire and chop wood. The wood chopping needs some work but it is super satisfying. I snapped this shot on my way out yesterday…

You can’t see them well in the photo above but my super cool Vans are these from Hedley & Bennett…

We have this beautifully simple, made-in-Seattle Filson log carrier to haul all that freshly chopped wood…

Over these last several months at home, I lost the desire to drink alcohol. I didn’t make any big decision, it just happened. And when I thought about it further it became clear that my desire for a cocktail to mark the evening or enjoying a beer after working all day in the yard was about the ritual or celebration and not the alcohol itself. However, most non-alcoholic beverages seem to lack that special something that a proper drink has when it comes to marking an occasion.

With perfect timing, Julia Bainbridge’s excellent book Good Drinks came out last month…

She writes in the introduction: “It can be difficult to snap a backbone onto a mixed drink without wine or spirits. Alcohol provides structure and complexity, and it’s often pleasantly bitter and bracing. Remove it from a cocktail, and you’re left with sugar, acid, and some cold water…Until recently, nonalcoholic mixed drinks have been treated as afterthoughts. A higher level of effort and care anoints them as proper drinks. Good Drinks.”

She also wrote Pleasantly Bitter and Thoroughly Grown-Up, No Alcohol Needed for the NYT this summer. Mentioned in the article is For Bitter For Worse out of Portland. My favorite evening cocktail fireside these days is this negroni style deliciousness…

4 oz The Saskatoon

1 oz simple syrup (or juniper syrup)

1/2oz - 1oz lemon juice

Shake over ice in a shaker, and as the bottle states “serve over ice with style and intention.” (I like a big ice cube like this.)

Another one to add to your bar cart are the SOM vinegar cordials created by Andy Ricker of Pok Pok fame…

“You get something sweet, tart, in some cases savory, and in some cases tannic, all in one pour,” says Ricker. “You don’t have to make a simple syrup or add a botanical to it or muddle anything.”  SOM and soda make a fantastic savor-worthy beverage…

A few other things bringing me joy these days…

YNAB! You Need a Budget. I wrote about YNAB here four years ago and have mentioned it a few times since. I am an unabashed YNAB pusher and think everyone should use this amazing life-changing tool…

We are going through a lot of soap these days and this everyone foaming hand soap is our favorite for the bathroom…

I like this liquid version in the kitchen. Their lemon coconut hand sanitizer and wipes are great as well…

The Dream Pant from Everlane is really good. Soft, midweight fabric and an excellent cut makes for great loungewear that is really pulled together and smart looking…

Over the summer we made a lot of pizza. We’ve had a little Ooni pizza oven for the last few years but only really pulled it out one or two times a year which was a shame. It is so easy to use and we really put it to work this summer. Even with the cooling temps we plan to keep her firing all through the fall and winter.

We have an older model but this Ooni Koda is comparable…

And Joe Beddia’s Pizza Camp is my pizza bible. The perfect dough, sauce, and technique are all found here. In fact the technique he teaches uses a standard home oven so if you don’t have a pizza oven definitely don’t let let that stop you. We use both the Ooni and our kitchen oven with excellent results.

One of the many restaurants to close in our city due to the pandemic is the acclaimed Tilth. I thought chef Maria Hines’ words in The Seattle Times were beautiful…

But Hines also holds hope for the future. Of “the heart and soul” of an enterprise like Tilth, she says, “My love and my creativity and my desire to share happiness with the world through my craft - all of that still is there. It’s just that the vessel is going to change. Whatever form that takes, you can’t take that away.”

Seattle fans who’d like a last taste of Hines’ shared happiness in its current incarnation can still try for takeout or day-of patio reservations, weather permitting, through Oct. 30. Then Tilth goes dark. But Hines calls the restaurant’s last days a celebration. She continues, “There’s this sense that it’s ending - that there’s a finality to it… we really need to look towards the light, and think about all that light we still have in us. Don’t let the temporary darkness block that out.”

Ken Lambert - The Seattle Times

And I’ve been thinking about this quote…

“Hard times are coming, when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope. We’ll need writers who can remember freedom—poets, visionaries—realists of a larger reality.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin