That if you don’t like regular bananas but you do love plantain, you can eat bananas like this and love them?
This is the only way I like regular bananas! Slice thinly, preheat airfryer to 400. Airfry for 9 minutes at 400 and 9 minutes at 250. (Airfryer cooking times may vary) Pull out right away so they don’t stick. If you wait a minute, they turn out crunchy and have a more caramelized texture!
My foodie bestie Lynne turned me onto this of course! Sweetened condensed milk in a can is Nate’s worst nightmare- sticky, gooey mess! This solves that problem in a cinch.
That you can throw in a can of lentils to any rice recipe to add more fiber and protein?
Got this idea from my Dominican ex boyfriend who, back in high school, introduced me to gandules and rice. So good! So much texture! Highly recommend.
That if you like Greek yogurt and honey and berries, you will also like-
Goat cheese (this one is mango habanero) and blueberries and honey??!
That they finally made a nitrate free, uncured, healthy spam and it actually tastes good??!
Hi friends! I am really enjoying all this sunshine in Washington state. I’m eating a lot of yummy fresh things as the weather warms up. I’ve also always been a lazy foodie, so the less time I have to spend in the kitchen, the happier I am. Which brings me to the first obsession-
1. No cook smoked salmon board for dinner
Carb- check. Produce- check. Protein- check! My family loves this meal too- they never complain.
By the way, this is our favorite smoked salmon from Costco! It’s so moist and flavorful!
2. Melona popsicles
You know how you get moods for fresh popsicles and some other moods for creamy popsicles? This is for when you’re craving both fresh and creamy. We love the Ube and Honeydew flavors! Honeydew just screams summer- I also lovethis drink.
3. Always something fresh and crunchy with something soft
Soft- Sour cream and green chili chicken enchiladas + crunchy and fresh tomato slaw
This is one of my big food rules! Everything soft (think enchiladas or mataar paneer and rice) can be drastically improved by adding something fresh and crunchy. It’s just that juxtaposition of textures in your mouth that make it more satisfying. So instead of just enchiladas, I’ll make a pico de gallo with it. For Indian food, I always order a fresh cucumber and lettuce salad to balance out the textures. Here are more soft + fresh and crunchy combos-
Soft- burrata + crunchy and fresh pistachios and tomatoes Soft pasta puttanesca + crunchy and fresh salad Soft potatoes, olives, eggs, salmon nicoise + crunchy and fresh lettuce, green beans, and tomatoes. Soft black beans and mushroom rice + crunchy and fresh tomato and cucumber salad Soft tacos al vapor + crunchy and fresh cabbage slaw Soft green chili quiche + crunchy and fresh green salad Soft honey squash with brown butter sage and goat cheese + crunchy and fresh pear arugula salad with toasted almond – my bestie made these!
Do you have any food rules or recent desserts or easy meals you’re loving? I’d love to know!
Last month I took some time off writing to focus on our move! We just moved end of April to a sleepy seaside town filled with lots of friendly retired folks. Within the first three days, we already knew the neighborhood gossip, got invited to the ladies’ weekday 8 am walking group, the neighborhood church potluck and Bible study, and met several neighbors.
Flowering branches in our back yard.
Sophie, a Chinese widow who runs a language school, lives behind us, paid my kids $1 to weed her yard, and comes over unannounced with rhubarb from her garden.
I love neighbors who come over unannounced.Those are my favorite kinds of neighbors.
Because I have her rhubarb, I feel the need to make her a rhubarb cake to show her my appreciation. Do I ever buy rhubarb? Have I ever made anything with rhubarb? No.
But do I have rhubarb cake in my oven currently? I do. It made me think, is life just a series of kindnesses and obligatory gestures we end up calling friendships because deep down we know if we don’t stay connected to each other, we will go crazy?
In an age when Facebook likes have replaced tea at our neighbor’s kitchen counters, I will try my hardest to preserve the IRL friendships.
I know it’s a luxury not many can indulge in, but my goal to see a friend every day is usually the highlight of my days. I’ve watched a woman focus solely on her husband and family her entire life, and friends, it is not enough.
I don’t know if the two are correlated but that woman got a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in her early 60s. No friends ever came over. No unannounced neighbors ever stopped by.
Indeed it may be correlated, as research shows that the number one predictor of longevity has less to do with lifestyle choices and more to do with relationships, community, and connectedness.
Friendships and strong bonds make us happier and help us live longer. I don’t know all the science behind it, but when I have spent time with a good friend/s, it fills my soul like nothing else in the world.
I was hiking with a friend one day who is a world traveler. She told me, “I just want to spend my life looking at beautiful things.” I always see her face light up when she talks about her adventures. I can’t relate to this love of travel, but I can relate to finding that thing, or those things that make you just come alive. Since then I’ve been asking myself the same question. What do I want to spend my life doing? And here’s what Ive come up with.
I want to spend my life making and deepening friendships, moving my body, writing about things that make people’s lives better, and making beautiful spaces.
What do you want to spend your life doing?
One of my favorite recent quotes is commonly attributed to Irenaeus, an early Christian theologian and bishop of Lyons.
The best-known version is:
“The glory of God is a human being fully alive.”
Maybe that’s the essence of this question -what do you want to spend your life doing. So, what makes you feel like you’re fully alive?? I’d love to know!
I know every home cook has her handful. You know, the recipes you go to over and over again because you’re making a zucchini side, a Brussels sprouts side, or a cucumber side dish. I need help with eggplant! Here are my go tos when I’m making…
Brussels sprouts-
The secret to amazing Brussels sprouts is that ever single half needs a char! No ands, ifs, or buts. You’ll never do it any other way if you try this recipe. Remember if there’s a paywall, just post the recipe link to justtherecipe.com.
Zucchini-
Because I love this grilled zucchini do much, I’ve put this recipe on every vegetable you can think of.
I don’t say something is “the best” very lightly! I found this amazing recipe on tik tok with 447.3k likes and it does NOT disappoint! The only thing I do different is I use this vegan oyster sauce (I’m allergic to shellfish and this is the best tasting vegan version I’ve tried), I salt and pepper to taste instead of use the salt quantities he recommends (too salty for my taste) and I use bone in chicken thighs so I get that yummy crispy skin. See below!
Also, I’ll add some broccoli since I’m an adult and don’t eat a meal without a fruit or vegetable. 🤣Look how the sauce caramelizes.
And my kids are as obsessed as I am. That is the true test of a repeat worthy meal for me!
I’ve tried the cucumber recipe they also suggest but didn’t like it. I really love this one instead.
I’ve made this may times! Above is with boneless skinless chicken thighs. Let me know if you try it and what you think!
Just had a friend over tonight for a weight lifting workout, dinner, reflexology session (my treat), and craniosacral treatment (her treat)! We fit in so much tonight!
Anyways we had a yummy noodle stir fry (below) and it reminded me that my bestie recommended –
The best tasting vegan oyster sauce
This vegan oyster sauce has just become a sudden family favorite. Nate will drench the entire dish with more after I’ve already made the meal. You literally have to just saute garlic, onion, and any meat and any veggies and then add this sauce and it’s magical. My kids love it too. Definitely glad I listened to my bestie when she pointed it out on our latest visit to Town and Country. It just makes every stir fry over the top amazing.
An amazing Chat Gpt recipe we have on repeat- sour cream aioli
I’ve written about a garlic broth I drink anytime I feel off that keeps me from getting sick. Well, Nate won’t drink that, so so give him this aioli! It has three raw garlic cloves just like my broth, so it too does the trick! I add it to rice bowls like the above picture or you can dunk sweet potato fries in it or any vegetable fritter. Delish! Even yummier than mayo based aioli.
My go to homemade tortilla recipe
This recipe is so easy and simple and addicting! If I have the time, I always prefer a homemade tortilla. I also swear by this tortilla warmer.
I love talking food! Do you have any favorite random foodie finds? I’d love to know!
Tonight at a real estate investor’s meetup with my friend
I’m on my period! Hurrah 😒 I’ve been taking a lot of naps this week, because, I remind myself, on my period, I can treat napping as a sport. See below! Here are a few things that I’ve found helpful during that time of the month.
My body doesn’t want to fast when I’m pmsing
I once talked to a friend who said something that stuck with me. She said, “I’ve just come to accept that it’s always going to be harder to stick to my good eating habits when I’m pmsing. Well, it turns out that our body needs to feast during that time, so that makes sense! (See above) Now that I know this about the body, I can eat more during my luteal phase, guilt free.
Friends don’t gatekeep! Here’s what I’m so glad I’ve learned from other foodie friends.
The website that lets you bypass paywalls
This app or this website- justtherecipe.com
This is one of those things that feels illegal to know about, but it works! Every single foodie I’ve told about this website/app has been extremely grateful. Goodbye NYT cooking subscription or Bon appetit paywall! My bestie told me about this and it just feels like the coolest magic trick! Just copy and paste your paywalled link to this website or app and the paywall magically disappears. Try it!
The most important cooking class to take according to my chef friend
The best investment to my years of cooking has been to take a knife skills class! I had a friend who was a chef and worked at Whole Foods. At the time, Nate and I didn’t have kids yet and we were really into taking cooking classes together as a date. One day, I asked her which class she recommended and she said “If there was only one class I could recommend you take, it would be a knife skills class because it will speed up your time in the kitchen and make cooking more enjoyable.” She was so right! Now, more than 10 years later, I’m so glad I took that class, and I think of her every time I cut a bell pepper or chop up some herbs.
My favorite pan
This is a 14 inch pan my brother just gifted me for my bday. Did you know that a 14 pan even existed? I did not! Now I don’t have to cook my Brussels sprouts in batches! My largest pan was a 12 inch before this one and now I’ve got 2 more inches all the way around to stuff more food! And yes, we’ve been lied to again- ceramic nonstick pans are not good.
Thanks for reading! What are you cooking these days? I’d love to know!
There’s usually a stop to a local thrift store to try on clothes
If you have a best friend who lives nearby like I do, this is an idea for making sure to get away every so often. We get together with our kids and with our families, but there’s nothing like a getaway with just the two of us or us and a couple more girl friends roadtripping to nearby small towns to do our favorite common hobby- puttering. Puttering through quaint towns, we’ve realized, is best done sans hubby and kids who are never quite as enthusiastic with the hobby of puttering. You feel rushed by hubby, you see. You worry your kids will touch delicate ceramics and break them or run through the store, suddenly wanting to play tag indoors. Puttering is best done with other ladies who also enjoy a leisurely putter. 🤣
The details of an SOS
Portland is a great place to putter! We love South Division street which is where it all started.
SOS stands for Help! Get me out of here! I need a break away from all my responsibilities! The rules and details can vary, but for us, it happens 4 times a year, once every season. We have an SOS every winter, spring, summer and fall. We try to roadtrip to nearby towns.We have gone to cute towns like San Antonio, Portland, Gig Harbor, and Poulsbo. It can be one night, two nights, or just a day trip. The point is to have some alone time with lady friends, or your bestie, so you come home feeling refreshed in a way that you can only feel refreshed hanging out with your girl friends.
What to do during an SOS
These are some great activities for an SOS, but of course, tailor it to the needs and wants of your girl friends-
Eat food your husbands don’t usually pick- ours are typically Indian and Mediterranean My closest friends are all foodies so we like to eat on our SOS trips – this place is southern food at Southern Kitchen in Tacoma, which we love! High tea is as girly as you can possibly get! Try something you guys have never had before. This is called a khachapuri, a Georgian cheese-filled bread, topped with a baked egg and butter.Peruse some bakeries. Find a cool new ice cream spot- this is Indigo Cow’s Hakkaido milk waffle milk Shiratama Kuromitsu Kinako MBR Find the fanciest local grocery and look for an ice cream flavor you’ve never had before (love this flavor!) and indulge in a girl meal (bread, cheese, beef jerky, salami, chocolates etc) late at night watching Bridgerton, drinking wine until 2am. Find an amazing brunch spot! This is Ida Claire’s in San Antonio where they make their butter in house! Get dressed up and hit a bar for some fun drinks and apps.
There’s so much more you can do- check out art galleries, thrift stores, plant shops, get gelato, go to every cute gift store in town etc. The point is to get away for at least a day and not cook, not clean, and if you stay overnight, stay up as late as you want talking and catching up, sleep in as late as you want, not make your bed, and truly get a day off from your responsibilities as mother and wife.
It’s the best! Do you do something like this? Would you try something like this? I’d love to know!
P.s we highly recommend spending some time on your road trip on Spotify or Pandora listening to a station that plays songs from your teenage years! We loved 90’s pop on and Pandora.
I wonder if you’ve ever had this dilemma- you’re not an actual cowboy/cowgirl so you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on a cowboy hat but you do have that cowboy themed company party to go to or that line dancing girl’s night out, and you want to be decked out wearing the right accessories. That was our dilemma! So Nate and I did a bunch of research and came up with these hats that fit perfectly (for men and women). I’ve found that a 11cm tall and no taller hat is just perfect as far as hat heights go, so it doesn’t look silly.
Also line dancing with the ladies is my favorite girl’s night out if you need a good reason to party! We have a place near our house that does lessons, and it is a blast.
I am such an underbuyer that I will not buy more beauty products until I have completely run out of a product. I was due for a new blush, and being super frugal and also super lazy, I wanted something that would double for lip and cheek and had some staying power so I didn’t have to reapply several times a day. The problem I’ve had with many lip and cheek stains is that they give too much color. This color works really great if you know your season in color analysis, and you’re a summer or a winter. I would not go with this particular shade if you’re a spring or autumn. Choose a color that is warmer.
I like almost everything I try from Costco. I reason that I will probably like anything from a bulk store because enough people have loved it enough for it to make it to a bulk store in the first place.
But there are only a few things I love. When I say love, I mean I will get actual cravings for a specific item. I have tried many yakisoba noodles in my 44 years on this planet, from restaurant to store bought, and these noodles are my absolute fav. It doesn’t come with a protein, so I usually just add chicken, beef, or friend tofu. If I’m feeling extra one day, I’ll drizzle some fish sauce on it. Omg my mouth is watering, and it’s close to lunch time.
Anyways that’s it for today! Thanks for reading! Do you have any favorite cowboy gear, beauty products, or Costco finds? I’d love to know!
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