Week 25

Fancy ending to fancy dinner at Sante

Ten years, everyone. We hit the decade mark on June 17. Back in 2008, when we had been dating a mere week or two, he dropped a bomb on me by telling me he could never make me happy. I momentarily panicked that he was breaking up with me. And then he matter-of-factly explained that happiness was an individual choice - my choice - and that expecting to find happiness in another person would lead to disappointment. My feelings were telling me the opposite at the time - I was pretty certain he had everything to do with every happy thing I was experiencing. Nevertheless, his words returned to me over the next year, and again through the next several, and today I look back and see what a recurring theme this has been not just in our relationship but in other encounters throughout my life. I am so grateful he could be so real with me so early on. He may not be the source of my happiness, but he supports me through all the experiences - the light and dark places - and helps me see what I'm capable of. Including happiness.

It's especially nice to celebrate our partnership as we usher in summer. We've been making Summer Lists pretty much every year since to help set fun goals, even if the last few years have included more home improvement projects...

Luna helps with moral support

Joel built our new barbecue just in time for all the summer grilling. And it's a good thing we got a cover for it: the summer solstice hit hard via a raging thunderstorm on Thursday night. It was fun, but it's too bad the longest day of the year was lost to dark clouds. The inaugural grill night was Friday and featured simply seasoned steaks and vegetable skewers. Just what I needed.

Reading

Speaking of happiness, I picked up The Happiness Equation at the library last week. I love self-help books because they're usually skimmable and I often get a few takeaways. Lessons learned in this one: Never retire. Figure out what your ikigai is (and say the word as much as possible because it's fun: "icky guy"), also known as the reason you get up in the morning. Stop wearing out your brain with decision making. Nothing new, but some good reminders and visualizations.

Doing and Making

My goal this summer is to get on a roll with making stuff and gittin-r-dun. First thing's first, though: this week I started a 5-minute meditation practice before breakfast. I'm a worrier and heavy thinker and it often gets me down. Meditating helps me notice and accept it and calm my mind a bit. (I have been using the free version of the Headspace app.) I have been doing this every morning and it is a really positive way to start the day, and a good foundation for approaching new projects, including my ongoing self-improvement project.

So back to crafts: I dug back in on my Brudarach knit-along from back in April. It just feels pretty to knit lacy things. Up next is a knitted tank, I think, and finishing some socks. I'm contemplating some sewing projects, too.


Recipes

Sidenote: a couple new developments in my food obsessions. One: sardines. I don't know how I lived my whole life without them until now. Second, this week I started poaching eggs the "real" way, after years of using my trusty poach pods. The first couple times were messy, but over the last week I've achieved the beautiful, billowy egg. Thanks to Bridget and Julia from ATK for inspiring me to give it a shot: they use a colander to remove the watery egg whites (this comes from older eggs) before poaching. But, as I've complained before about ATK recipes, you end up using a lot of dishes and equipment. So after I started getting comfortable with the process, I eliminated the colander component and it worked out just fine.

I had buttermilk in the fridge from an abandoned attempt at making English muffins, so I made buttermilk blueberry pancakes on Sunday, and a recipe from Bon Appetit for orecchiette (I used shells) with buttermilk, peas and pistachios. Joel saved the rest of the work week with chicken tinga burritos.

On Friday I picked up strawberries at the Emerson-Garfield farmer's market and made strawberry ice cream that night. Oh my wow. With Martha's recipe, you puree a pound of strawberries, then halve another 8 ounces and macerate those in vodka or tequila (I picked tequila).

Watching

When Gordon Ramsay starts a new restaurant-shaming show, you better believe we tune in. This time it's 24 Hours To Hell and Back. There are dead rats in toasters and belly-aching man-children and more. We can't look away, even if the gimmick is unbelievable. I thank Gordon for making me into a more discerning restaurant-goer.

And of course we're sailing through the new season of Queer Eye.

(Future posts should include more photos. Oops.)