Weekly Good Things - Week 14
Good Things, and the Weekly Meal Plan.
Last week I found myself in New Hampshire on Monday, with time for a brief emotional top-up of walking by the ocean, putting my hands in the water, and listening to the sound of the waves.
I grew up at the ocean, and I still go to my hometown dentist I’ve been going to for the better part of 25 years. When you find a good one, you stick with them! I typically drive down to get the hard part out of the way, and then camp out at my mom’s house to get some work done for a few hours and connect for a zoom meeting with a fantastic backdrop of book shelves. I then go for a run on the ocean and a long walk before heading back home. I’m always restored by walking by the sea.
One of my favorite natural colors is the bright orange of splotches of lichen on the sea wall.
This Week in Good Things:
🤓 Being inspired twice-over by young people. This week I attended two events with ambitious and curious college students. The first was at my alma mater, Wellesley, where I sat on a panel for the Wellesley CS club (with a full room of students in the science center!) on Careers in Tech. The second at the UMass club in Boston where I got to cheer on students in the Insurance Academy. I’m always inspired by students who are at the beginning of their paths.
🩺 Low points of the week: I had a few major reminders of how things can change in an instant – on Tuesday I was in the middle of the crosswalk and er… “tapped” by a car who turned fast into the intersection without looking. I was wearing neon, reflectors, and flashing lights, but that didn’t help. Fortunately I only fell onto her vehicle, and wasn’t injured beyond slamming onto my arm // One of our incredible teachers, Reggie Hubbard, experienced a stroke. He’s lucky to be discharged and in rehab, but it was another firm reminder to just love on your people and focus on preventative health.
🌿 Nature doing nature: I’m glad I didn’t plant over the previous weekend because we ended up with SNOW. // I saw a range of BIRDS – finches! cardinals! lots of happy spring flittering.
🥳 A very nice complement: after talking to students at the CS club, someone said to me directly “I like how intentional you are.” – which is pretty much the highest complement someone can give me! At the same event, someone said “you know, you don’t actually have to learn those things” which… also sums me up in different ways… “BUT KNOWLEDGE!”
🪨 Earthquake! New England experienced an earthquake, which I not only felt, but managed to immediately tap into the Zeitgeist of early 2010s in California, going immediately to EARTHQUAKE TWITTER. (Where Californians proceeded to chuckle at our experience.)
🚶🏻♀️Let’s Move! With better weather, I’m ramping up my outdoor activity! The next season of GVRAT kicks on May 1st, and I’d like to hit the ground running! Last season I averaged 6 miles a day from May through August, and this year I’m aiming for between 6-8. If I go wild, I’ll see how fast I can finish the 672 miles. // I also got in a good lifting session at AnkFit (worked up to sets of 405s on the hip thrusts, and some heavy loaded belt squats. // This coming week, I’m going to re-commit to my home strength workouts which have been inconsistent over the past few weeks. (Got in one today though!)
☕️ Connect with friends: a latte shared with Alice, who lives in my neighborhood and was best friends with my aunt growing up.
Other Good Things
📺 Watch: I finished up The Gentlemen on Netflix. No movies because I’m absolutely engrossed in my thousand page books series The Stormlight Archive.
🎧 Listen: in advance of the solar eclipse this week, I listened to the RadioLab episode about the moon this week. (Mostly struck me how much we think we know about the moon and.. do not.) Did you know it’s only 1% the mass of earth and was formed in hours (possibly days). // I’ve started listening to the new season of Serial about Guantanamo. (Very good so far!)
👅 Good Eats this Week: I got my once a week-ish takeout meal from Thonglor: pad see ew with a fried egg, and chicken satay. // My Korean cravings were sated with an event dinner at Wellesley from Dah Mee: kimchi fried rice with bulgogi, glass noodles, gimbap, and steamed chive dumplings // two events came with chocolate treat boxes: one from Burdicks, and one from Byrnes + Carlson // Trader Joe’s Ivy’s Reserve Somerset Red cheese (don’t sleep on this) // my brother made vinegar Montreal slaw // candied orange peel from Sevan.
🪻Flowers of the Week: I got my first spring flower share - purple hyacinths, which were beautiful, but admittedly I can’t deal with the smell. (I’m sorry, mom!)
🛍 Good Acquisitions: A pair of summer slides from The Drop
🤣 Memes and randomness of the week: following along the Momofuku Chili Crunch Trademark War // The Boston Public library has a seed library! BPL Seed Library
The Weekly Meal Plan:
Bean of the week: I’m a little behind on eating last week’s bean of the week (Good Mother Stallards) so I’m holding off until I finish them.
Sunday: Salmon zucchini lemon pasta
Monday: Beef Bulgogi and broccoli
Tuesday: Chicken leg and leeks vinaigrette
Wednesday: Monkfish with sautéed bananas (out of an old cookbook From Sea + Stream)
Thursday: Beans and rice bowl with vinegar slaw
Friday: Kebabs with rice and leftover vegetables
Saturday: Takeout
Lunches: my current fixation lunch is a can of salmon or tuna, chopped peppers, and some beans, doused with a good vinegar.
Snacks: Soft boiled eggs (made a dozen), cottage cheese, cheese sticks, turkey Chomps.
Treat: Chocolate mousse. TJ’s Iced Gingerbread in the freezer. Thin Mints. TJ’s Pretzel Breadpudding. Yogurt with mix-ins. La Fermiére Pudding cups. Kozy Shack Tapioca pudding.
Meal Prep: I’ve been making decaf iced tea for the fridge, which is lovely to have on hand at any time of day (and even tastes good mixed into electrolyte mix.)
That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!
xo, Sam