I made a little salad with my farmers market goodies. Corn and zucchini were sauteed and added to fresh tomatoes and a purple bell pepper. Lime juice, zest, cilantro, olive oil, salt, pepper, and some urfa chile flakes. Served with blackened salmon.
I made a pot of beans yesterday, an assortment of brown and red ones to finish up some packs. Served with some sauteed greens and garilc, a fried egg, Trader Joes chili garlic crunch, sourdough toast, and some strawberries.
Just got back from a trip and my body is screaming for fiber.
I went to the farmers market and picked up some okra and tomatoes for a nod to Gullah food.
Last month’s bean box had zipper cream field peas, I have never had these before. And this month had a new herby bean seasoning.
The field peas were made with olive oils, shallots, a little bit of celery, the bean seasoning, a teaspoon of bacon fat, some ancho chilies, cloves of garlic, better than bullion chicken, and bay leaves. These beans cooked really quick in the oven and are very creamy. These bacon fat is so southern, but just a bit adds so much flavor.
The okra and tomatoes had a sofrito of onion, celery, bell pepper, and serrano peppers. I used a harissa spice blend, a touch of turmeric, some dried oregano, and kashmiri chile powder for more spice. Vegetable better than bullion for more oomph. I cooked the sofrito and spices in olive oil, then added the tomatoes. And the okra were cooked for just a couple of minutes to stay crunchy.
The dover sole continued on the Mediterranean theme and I used a Croatian spice blend with cumin, paprika, and hot paprika. They were quickly sauteed.
Genmai brown rice to serve. And the plate got finished with salt, fresh pepper, and a small drizzle of olive oil. Since i love a little spice and acid, I added some pique to the beans and fish.
Sauteed greens would have been perfect, but I didn’t have another dish in me tonight and had a nice serving of greens earlier.
I have been trying to figure out the right lifting goals in my current life phase, where I do not necessarily have the inclination to lift as heavy as possible or as strong as possible. When I was younger things like squatting my body weight and deadlifting 1.5x my weight felt like reasonable challenges.
Now that feels like a little too much and a little too much effort, especially with my goals for mobility, balance, and longevity - and not having time for a ton of workouts a week. And I have some limitations to account for too.
In a post somewhere else, I saw thread about making fitness goals, and there was one recommendation to shoot for hitting intermediate strength levels for key lifts. So I started to look on this site to see where I am and how far I need to go. This site also has other fitness goals, but I am focused on strength at the moment.
Now I have set a goal to hit intermediate in the major lifts I am doing and focusing on progressing:
These are all lifts I do just about every week. And I can adjust the goals if my weight changes along the way. So far I have already crossed one off the list: cable rows! I am already there.
Is anyone tracking goals in a similar way?
I do not think I am alone in finding aging, especially into perimenopause, a tricky pickle in terms of fitness. Recovery is slower, body composition and fat distribution shifts, weird aches and pains, joint issues, sleep challenges and more all show up an impact training.
It might be nice to have a place to share and commiserate. I know there is a megathread and other resources in the wiki, but maybe a more frequent cadence could be helpful too.
The Oaklandside had a good article discussing how the the media commonly ties incidents to First Friday, when they happen on first Friday, in any part of Oakland, to the event. Now it is hampering foot traffic, sponsorships, and vendor revenues.
““Everything that happens in Oakland on a First Friday somehow gets blamed on Oakland First Fridays,” she told The Oaklandside. “I think the media has really banked on using First Friday in their headlines to attract readers.”
McGhee said most of the public isn’t aware of the distinction between First Fridays festivalgoers and the crowds that visit downtown and Uptown Oakland on the first Friday of the month. First Fridays is a family-friendly event, she said, whereas nightlife venues are for people ages 21 and up. And the festival takes place in the Koreatown Northgate neighborhood, not in Uptown or downtown, where some of the recent violence has happened.”
Over the past couple of years the foot traffic and activity in downtown Oakland has increased a lot on weekend evenings. More than I can recall at any point in my 20+ years here. More nightlife, more young people, more car traffic, more everything. I wonder if the increased visibility of young people out is fraying nerves?
How do you think First Friday can be preserved?
I went to Italy a few weeks ago and one of my souvenirs was some farro. So much cheaper than here at home. Today I opened up one of the bags for a lunch salad:
Arugula, cucumber, carrots, cherry tomatoes, parsley, radicchio, chicken, canned chickpeas. I sprinkled some sumac and pumpkin seeds to serve. The dressing was a homemade one with pomegranate molasses, red wine vinegar, grated garlic, preserved lemon paste, olive oil, and urfa chile flakes.
I got these jar graters at the spice shop recently and they make quick salad dressings easy. I always use a mason jar for mini dressings because they are reliable to close and shake. https://microplane.com/products/mason-jar-lid-grater
I accidentally have found the best ice breakers in recent years: interesting glasses. Bonus: interesting shoes are ok too, but glasses are more noticeable.
I work at a large company and go to lots of random events. It is frequent I am in activities where small talk is expected or common.
A couple of years ago I got these really great gold glasses frames. Since I started wearing them, they garner so many compliments. From strangers to friends. I have had people chat me up about my glasses, from baristas to TSA employees.
When it was time for new frames this year, I got another statement pair to alternate, and they are equally popular. I have become the cool glasses lady.
Which is probably good, because middle age has made me too lazy to put on contacts. But I find that people are more friendly when I wear glasses over contacts.
Do you have any fun, friend-making accessories or other clothing/accessories that break the ice?
Picture tax: random assortment of cool frames
Interesting discussion on if they should be banned in pro sports.
I was in Italy this week for work, and for my last night I did some window shopping. We don’t have a Celine boutique at home so it is rare for me to see anything IRL. I popped and saw this cute, but slightly un-Celine shoulder bag.
The size was practical for my current life phase. It hangs very nicely. And it is so light and unstructured for Celine. I do like the Triomphe clasp, but often it is too big. This one was mini. I suddenly started calculating if I could get this in my luggage. 😆
And of course the prices are way cheaper than the US. I’ll follow with a what fits when I am at home, but i did fit my big card holder, phone, kindle, lotion, lip gloss, and back up charger. It is a reasonably spacious small bag.
One more note, I often fine luxury bags do not have enough drop for women my size (16-18 with larger arms). This bag is adjustable, I don’t know where I will land, but there are 6 holes, the 4th and 5th suit me fine with plenty of hang and hit below mid torso. The 3rd hole seems to be the spot where it slips off my shoulder. But those other two holes work on both shoulders for me without slipping. I usually avoid shoulder bags because of slippage and this is one of the exceedingly rare bags to stay on with no problems.
This one is so soft and I can’t wait for it to break in and loosen up. While the shape is trending, I don’t think it’s overly trendy to have staying power.
I love going on a tour of something. Oakland is such an intersection and complex city, there are lots of ways to learn more, here is non-exhaustive list of publicly available tours.
Port of Oakland harbor tour: https://www.portofoakland.com/community/harbor-tours
Oakland Heritage Alliance: they are NIMBYs but offer so many great tours. They also organize tours of the Fox Theater. This one is an absolute must see. https://www.oaklandheritage.org/events
Paramount Theater, this is another must see one, they host 1-2 a month on Saturday’s. https://www.paramountoakland.org/about/tours
Pardee Home: https://pardeehome.org/tours/
There are also a lot of self-guided tours available of murals and landmarks
Social media has all of these “loaded” waters trending. I have to clean out the fridge before my trip this weekend and I have too much produce, so I decided to make a fancy drink this afternoon.
My water had ~1/2 of a Persian cucumber, maybe about 3/4 of a cup of ripe hami melon, about a teaspoon of coconut water powder, and a splash of yuzu juice. I added maybe 1/2 cup of water. This got a quick blitz in the blender. I added a tablespoon of chia seeds and some ice to a glass. This got a nice stir and sat long enough for the chia seeds to hydrate. A smidge of salt would have been nice too.
It was basically a sugar free agua fresca. Skip chia if you think they are weird, not needed at all.
Electrolytes: ✅
Fiber: ✅
Hydration: ✅
It is not often a mainstream movie masquerades as a critique of fast fashion and worker exploitation - but this one is it.
The movie has really great visuals, it is completely absurb, and it also has sharp commentary on the fashion industry. Check it out, my friends and I really enjoyed it.
This song has modern I Want You (Marvin Gaye) vibes and a bridge. More of this please.
You can find her here! https://carla-js-art.square.site/
She was inspired by the music of her parents, and the originals are mixed media with records incorporated.
I have book club leftovers for lunch (+ frozen chicken bites).
3 dishes: soba broccoli salad, broccoli chickpea salad, chilled zucchini soup
Recipes here:
Soup: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024477-chilled-zucchini-soup-with-lemon-and-basil?unlocked\_article\_code=1.jlA.3C73.H2v0pVuaE3Gk&smid=share-url
Soba: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026927-broccoli-soba-salad?unlocked\_article\_code=1.jlA.p0pm.U43O9EjjB1Iz&smid=share-url
Broccoli: http://hettymckinnon.com/recipes/crispiest-chickpeas-and-charred-broccoli-with-gochujang-tahini-yoghurt
Seems timely. Premise: lawyer screwed out of stock options teams up with another lawyer to fight the tech elites.
Today was fish en papillote aka fish cooked in paper. Today I added some power greens that were languishing in the fridge, a chopped mini pepper, a little chopped onion, canned chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, and a bit of lemon.
To season I uses Sri Lankan style roasted curry powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. And a drizzle of olive oil.
Assemble this in layers in parchment. I am lazy, I keep a mini stapler in my kitchen drawer to seal up these packets. There is a staple free technique. But not for me. i also don’t bother cutting into a heart.
Throw this in a preheated 375 oven for about 15 minutes. Open carefully on the side and slide on your plate.
To serve I added a bit of lemon salt to finish.
A before and after photo. And white nectarines for dessert.