Weekly Good Things 2025 Week 8
Hello! Hello! Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things – your guide to living intentionally and more fully one good thing at a time! I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.
Happy week to you!
On a Tuesday night, at 11:45pm, I was reading in bed when I realized that what I really needed to be doing at that very moment, was prepping a batch of emergency bread – a.k.a. Jim Lahey’s No Knead bread dough, which takes about 3 minutes to assemble, and then rewards you for laziness by letting the dough sit around at least overnight, but up to a few days to let the flavor develop.
I’ve largely avoided hopping back on the sourdough bandwagon, because I was very much there 15+ years ago in San Francisco, and these days I’m usually of the mindset that if I’m hankering after fresh bread, I’ll grab some from someone who has made it their life’s work: usually at a local bakery who has perfected the art over years of daily effort, learning, and oven patina in a way that my kitchen tinkering will never match. (In Boston I’ll pick up some Clearflour, Flourhouse, a dark Rye from International Bakery, English muffins from Stone and Skillet, pitas from Angel Bakery, or something good from Formaggio Kitchen.
But I will concede that if you aren’t anal about it, fresh bread in your kitchen doesn’t actually have to be a pro-level endeavor, nor do you have to commit to a lifetime of sourdough starter babysitting. (Although if you do want that commitment, highly recommend making English muffins and pancakes off of your starter discard.)
I don’t do a lot of baking these days, but when I do, I personally prefer a simpler white loaf, or fresh rolls, and you can really easily pull together naan at the last minute. Sometimes I forget how nice it is to have something warm coming out of the oven. I suspect I have some milk bread and garlic knots in my near future.
👋 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
I love it when my friends can take my directional musings and translate them into words capturing *exactly* what I was thinking. A friend was working on an essay. She gave it to me to read over and edit, and then perfectly synthesized my directional feedback. I get true joy out of successful collaboration!
Tackled a nagging task: cleaning my computer keyboard. How it manages to get so filthy is beyond me.
Set up three new public libraries on Ompractice (Hampton Falls, Plymouth, and Duxbury!) A year ago, we were just testing out the idea of free access to library patrons, and I’ve now brought on 17! It’s also just pure delight working with librarians on a regular basis. Our libraries are such an important community hub.
Collected Wisdom
“Study something you love in depth.” This seems like an obvious one, but there’s something notable about actually naming your project. Whether for building a body of work on a particular research topic or simply indulging in intellectual curiosity, having a name for your project is a good way to keep it top of mind. (I get similar joy out of reading the collective works of an author. Last year was my “Year of Sanderson”, a few years ago it was making my way through all of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.)
A delightful round up of Travel Insights: I enjoyed this round up of travel insights from Kevin Kelly - 50 Years of Travel Tips. “Organize your travel around passions instead of destinations. An itinerary based on obscure cheeses, or naval history, or dinosaur digs, or jazz joints will lead to far more adventures, and memorable times than a grand tour of famous places. It doesn’t even have to be your passions; it could be a friend’s, family member’s, or even one you’ve read about. The point is to get away from the expected into the unexpected.” – Kevin’s first tip of the roundup. I’m about to head back on a plane tomorrow (ripping off the bandaid after the past few weeks of bad air news) so this felt like a timely read. // My friend Beth recently wrote a book on solo travel called Wander Woman which I grabbed an extra paper copy of (friends help friends earn out book contracts!)
Slow Drip Gardening:
It’s my third week of Fivefork Farms tulip share, and I’m thinking ahead to the spring. I’m always charmed by Martha Stewart’s very good blog, which is basically in the form of a nerdy commonplace book. This week she was starting celery from seed, which if I can get some inertia going I might do as well. (I know she has a team of folks writing this in her voice, but it’s *very good*, and it really is just featuring her day to day life.)
Good Acquisitions:
Sakura Jelly Roll Pens. In a blast from the past, I’ve been doing a little bit more drawing lately, and realized that I’d like some good gel highlight pens. These pens had a chokehold on me in high school, and are just as delightful as I remember them. I got a pack of the Moonlight series in grey and opaque bold ink.
My Burlap and Barrel Spice Club shipment arrived. The grains of paradise from Ethiopia are truly a marvelous spice. A type of pepper that is related to cardamom and ginger.
Fresh Brooks Glycerin, my go-to running shoe.
Mixed Media:
📖 Reading: I really enjoyed Carissa Broadbent’s Daughter of No Worlds (War of Lost Hearts #1), and have quickly made my way to book 3. I picked up one of her books a few weeks ago as a sort of interim easy read on Kindle Unlimited, and am now 6 books in.
📺 Watching: I finally sat down to watch the legendary documentary Grey Gardens. I’ve also decided to work my way through some more awards nominees for this year, and very much enjoyed the first half of Heretic which relies on Hugh Grant’s brilliant monologue and dark humor to build tension (the second half was fine, but more formulaic?). I’m mid-way through the new Bridget Jones (Peacock) which is delightful so far, and has cameos from almost everyone in the original, and watched an episode of The Penguin (HBO) on the plane.
🤣 Memes and randomness of the week: I made a little cover graphic to kick off our new walking meditation series: Moving Meditations. Here’s the first one: pop in your earbuds, head outside for 10 minutes, and listen to Reggie Hubbard while you take a quick brain break.
The Week 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 the Past Week:
A few cans of Fishwife sardines and tuna (they are so cute!)
Green tea soba noodles with lemon tahini sauce
Cottage cheese and blueberries
Fondue (vegetables, meat, random things in the fridge - all better with cheese.)
Microwaved frozen berries in a pinch, with a splash of heavy cream
A tartine with dark chocolate
A batch of kale sauce
Homemade lasagna and a nice little cheesecake
A goat caramel from The Paper Mouse check out.
This week’s meal plan: cookbooks of the week: I dusted off my copy of Patience Grey’s Honey from a Weed // bean of the week: week off!
Sunday: Sushi dinner and beef udon with my mom at Fuji
Monday: Dinner with family at Zaytinya
Tuesday: Working dinner with friends (tbd!)
Wednesday: Pork Carnitas, avocado, and leftover green things in the fridge
Thursday: Black bean soup from the freezer
Friday: Salmon with whole lemon dressing and avocado
Lunch Options: Lamb Vindaloo. Roasted carrots with honey goat cheese. Pizza Bao. Tinned sardines and marinated artichokes.
Snacks: Yogurt and blueberries. Cheese sticks. Eggs. Turkey Chomps. Steel Cut Oatmeal. Cream of Wheat. Aggressive amounts of fridge-cheese. Cottage Cheese.
Treat options (mostly in the freezer): Trader Joe’s Coffee Panna Cotta. Ben and Jerry’s Chance Mint Fudgy Brownie, Trader Joe’s Brownie Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches. Apple Tartines. Key Lime Pie. Trader Joe’s Chocolate Cheesecake Bites. Chocolate Mousse Parfait from Whole Foods.
What are you eating this week?
Here’s to a very good week!
xo, Sam