Weekly Good Things 2024 - Week 37 + 38

Good Things, and the Weekly Meal Plan.

Sep 22, 2024

Hello! Hello! Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things where I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.

Happy first week of fall!

I’m trying to get excited about the fact that it’s already cooler outside here in New England, and we likely won’t be breeching 70 degrees again. (Okay, ignore that, I just checked weather.com and we have several more weeks of temperate weather, this is just a temporary cold front. Thank goodness!)

We had our first full day of rain in about a month and a half yesterday to close out the summer, and I audibly gasped when I looked outside the window today and saw yellow leaves on the ground! Most of the trees around here are green, so I’m not even sure where the leaves came from.

For the past few days I’ve been enjoying the shifting seasonal vibes while watching ‘Dark Winds’ on Netflix. The interwebs describe the show as: “Dark Winds is a Southwestern Noir TV series that follows Navajo Tribal Police officers in the 1970s as they investigate a series of crimes and confront their own personal demons.” I’m loving the mood.

And there’s a lot to be excited about in the season:

Longer walks, and Walktober! Apple Season – Boston area locals, if you need a large selection of apples, go to Volante farms where they typically have more than a dozen varietals at any time. Honey pot hill for the best cider donuts. Vintage L.L. Bean Plaid! My favorite cozy wearable throw. All things Maple! Pumpkin! Cozy fireplace season! (This is the one I have.) Fall television!

At work, we had our offsite last week to start planning for the next quarter, and I’m always excited coming out of when we get together.

👋 If you are new here, welcome! I try to fill these newsletters with a little something for everyone. (If you are just here for the food, it’s at the end! Feel free to scroll, I won’t judge!)

Good Things This Week:

While re-learning some video editing, I made a 30 second meditation video with Bertram. I’m tempted to go full-meme-star and just make a series of pet meditations.
Last week I had Jury Duty for the first time! I went to the courthouse in Lowell, but nobody was picked for a trial this particular day. You know you are surrounded by fellow nerds when a good dozen people around me were similarly disappointed when we were released from duty. I was particularly intrigued by the scripted nature of the whole event: we watched a relatively well produced video that was basically psychologically priming us for civic engagement, and the staff at the courthouse (including the judge) who came to talk to us were very focused on how important just being there is to democracy.
AI Tools I Tried: Dan Raine introduced me to Google’s NotebookLM, which can create pretty decent AI generated podcasts from your notes. You sign into Google’s NotebookLM, upload PDFs to you project, then choose the Audio Overview from the top right. The technology isn’t perfect but it’s pretty darn good. And I can’t get the AI to pronounce my last name correctly yet!

Random Things:

— Michael Karnjanaprakorn’s personal website (so pleasant)
— I’m always hungry when I read Pondicheri’s newsletter
— I’ve pre-ordered Nigel Slater’s 1000 feasts
— I ordered a poster and some posters from Shrig Shop
— I’ll be running the Boston 10k for Women (year 12?) but it’s inconveniently on Yom Kippur. Tips for running a 10k.
— I’m trying out Wellthy, a free care navigator company from my health insurer
— I love when friends run challenges. I’ll be doing Amanda’s “35 Hard Brand Challenge” (she had me at prizes)
— I’ve been enjoying Caroline Chambers’ new cookbook, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking
— I’m happily obsessed with Moo Deng, and you should be too.

Slow Drip Gardening

Dahlias are finally taking off in the garden!
I have two little watermelons in the back yard. I think I’ll grab one soon – I’m not sure how big they are planning on getting. I planted them on a lark.
I was reminded of the power of deadheading: snipping off the dried up leaves and flowers, so a plant can put energy towards fresh buds. I went ahead and deadheaded a few of my plants, and was rewarded by a whole slew of new buds and blooms. (If that’s not a good metaphor for the rest of life, I don’t know what is! What could benefit from a little pruning in your life?)

More Good Things:

📖 Reading: I’ve been loving the cozy novel ‘The Lost Bookshop’ by Evie Woods. I’d definitely recommend it! I’ve taken a brief pause in my “Year of Sanderson” after finishing the Stormlight Archive. I picked up another Jennifer Armentrout. Working my way slowly through: William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience, and David Burns’ ‘The Feeling Good Handbook’. ‘This is your Brain On Music’ by Daniel Levitin. Dan Carlin’s ‘The End is Always Near’.
🎧 Listen: a strong recommendation for the investigative journalism series “Stolen” with Connie Walker from Gimlet Media/Spotify podcasts. The second season won a Pulitzer and a Peabody, but I’ve been pretty riveted listening to the first season so far, about a missing indigenous woman, Jermain Charlo.
🩺 Self Care: a Barbie pink pedicure, which is surprisingly joyful, and gold manicure for fall. I’d like to pro-actively schedule a massage for the end of the week.

🐶 Connecting with Friends: my friend Lisa just recently started grad school, and we tried out a new Monday co-working session, and a Friday “bonus hour” wrap up from 4-6 pm. (Followed by a walk!) I *love* body doubling – although I can’t see myself working in an office full time ever again, I do really enjoy working with people around. // Shout out to Somchay for getting us both out of our houses today after sluggish mornings to walk Bertram and Penny.

✅ Tackle a Nagging Task: I have to get Bertram new pet insurance, as Nationwide is dropping us an 100k other folks this year. This is a royal pain, and I’ve been working through the options this week. (Spoiler alert, there aren’t great options for a senior Frenchie with pre-existing conditions, alas!)
🛍️ Good Acquisitions: I went to a dinner at Rochambeau hosted by Asana, and got to take home some gorgeous flowers. (My hack is be a local at a conference, and always hang around until the end.) // Sorel reliably makes shoes in my size that fit, so I grabbed these on summer sale.
📺 Watching: I took myself to see The Killer’s Game last week, with Dave Bautista. I can’t say I would recommend it based on nuanced plot, but if you need a mild romcom with an aggressive amount of formulaic fighting, this film is for you! // I’m very much enjoying the new season of Agatha All Along, which despite terrible reviews, is very much right up my alley. // Dark Winds (strongly recommend.)
🤣 Memes and randomness of the week: I can’t stop watching Eoin Lynch Plowing - I dream about slurry! This accent is perfection.

Adam and Eve pick apples in the Garden of Eden — New Yorker Cartoon by Alice Cheng - An Apple A Day

The Weekly Meal Plan:

Why do I do this? I’ll note, my meal plans tend to be more of a directional support for me than what I actually end up eating in my week. (I think a lot of people who do meal planning feel obligated to actually eat the things they come with rather than just using as a placeholder/inspiration. I do not feel so constricted.)

🍒 Good Eats from this Past Week:

I went to Pizzi Farm for a Maple Creemee and Cider Donut. (Neither were really the best of the best, but I enjoyed kicking off the season with good fall flavors.
Pasta with chicken, artichokes, lemon, and cottage cheese.
End of summer vegetables (zucchini and tomato).
Family dinner at Boston Kebab in Waltham (enough food to feed 7) – while the food at Boston Kebab isn’t the best of the best, the restaurant is a *perfect* neighborhood restaurant.
Berry Line delivery (it’s frozen yogurt that actually tastes yogurt-y).
Asana dinner at Rochambeau: steak tartare, tuna crudo, gnocchi; french onion soup, steak frites, and creme brûlée.

Trader Joe’s Mini Pumpkin Samosas (lovely and crisp in the air fryer)

✍️ Every week I spend some time working on my "Let’s Eat” kitchen organization spreadsheet. I’m getting ready for APPLE season and APPLE QUEST with my organized tab of apple varietals. The first step is usually going to Volante and getting a bunch of options.

Weekend prep: I boiled some potatoes! (I’ll eat with green beans and shallot vinaigrette, and throughout the week.)

Bean of the week: bye-week!

Saturday: Butternut squash macaroni and cheese
Sunday: Shrimp curry with potatoes and green beans
Monday: Flex dinner for a conference week!
Tuesday: Flex dinner for a conference week!
Wednesday: Flex dinner for a conference week!
Thursday: Cabbage, ground meat, and a peanut vinaigrette.
Friday: Big chop salad with flank steak, tomato, corn
Saturday: Chili

Lunch Options: Lamb vindaloo with yogurt. Tinned fish. Random things in my fridge.

Snacks: Mixed Berries. Grapes. Yogurt and berries. Cheese sticks. Turkey Chomps. Good Culture Cottage Cheese. Ricotta and fixins.

Treat options: Trader Joe’s Pumpkin mini sheet cake. (It’s good, but not as good as my pumpkin chocolate chip bundt.) Trader Joe’s Brownie Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches. Apple Tartines. Key Lime Pie. Trader Joe’s S’Mores. BerryLine.

What are you eating this week?

Previous Years:

Something I really enjoy doing is flipping back in my journal or my blog to the week of the year over the past several years. When I write it out in a list like this, it feels like a nice accomplishment!

Observing the data this week: my energy cycles UP in September.

That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!

xo, Sam

PS: Click the heart if you enjoyed this this week!