around the interwebs this week: july 19

I’m a bit late this week, but there was too much good stuff to share to wait until next week. We spent the weekend staining our gigantic deck (urgh) and making these old adirondack chairs a bit funkier.

Reads

• Go, Jen, go! “We are complete with or without a mate, with or without a child. We get to decide for ourselves what is beautiful when it comes to our bodies. That decision is ours and ours alone. Let’s make that decision for ourselves and for the young women in this world who look to us as examples.”
• The Great Second Half of 2016 Book Preview. Eeeeeek! So much great stuff coming…what’s on your TBR list?!
• Important read for us eaters: inside the lives of farm workers.
• Michael Pollan interview on the tenth anniversary of Omnivore’s Dilemma (a MUST read, if you haven’t read it yet).
• John Green on play – and Nap Town. “You only need the ability to pay careful and sustained attention to the abundant beauty that is always–always–in our midst.”
• Getting maybe a tad too political for a quasi-food blog, but I read some really important stuff this week on that front:
  • Slow Church had the most helpful analogy that I’ve read as a way forward on #BlackLivesMatter
  • Why I Won’t Hold My Babies Close, especially this, “It feels big because it is big. It’s bigger than us. Which is why instead of holding tighter to what we have, maybe we can link arms and walk into the unknown of a more hopeful future together.”
  • Rod Dreher from a different perspective, making me think, as usual

To Do/Try

• Some of our greens from the garden are going to seed, which makes the greens a bit more bitter/spicier than usual. I like to save the seeds, but don’t want to miss out on the greens. I made some cold soup using this method over the weekend. It was so fresh and healthy tasting and a nice change from regular salads.
• Your public library most likely has ebooks available for checkout. This link has some easy directions, or just go directly to your library’s website, which should have more specific directions. I have been doing this for years, but whenever I mention it in conversation, it seems like many people don’t know it’s an option. Since I quit Facebook and Twitter for the month of July, I found myself reading lots more books via my Kindle app on my phone during that waiting time when I would typically see what’s up on social media.

To Watch/Listen

• Elizabeth Gilbert on the On Being podcast. So much good stuff, especially discovering this poem, which it seems to me is a perfect antidote for 2016. I need another listen, so I can take notes.
• I heard a song on Pray As You Go a few weeks ago from the Abbaye de Keur Moussa (their website here and on Spotify here) and loved the music. The kids and I have been listening to it as background music, especially after we found out that it is a Benedictine monastery in Senegal where my sister Katie is living for the next few months! It is super relaxing and seems to help us all chill out a bit.
• Code Switch is a new podcast from NPR whose tagline is “race and identity remixed.” I’ve been working my way through their episodes (they just started at the beginning of the summer) in light of current events.
• We still make both kids take “rest time” in the afternoon (because, sanity), but we’ve been letting Jazzy listen to the Stories Podcast on headphones during rest time lately. He often wants to stay in his room and listen to “just one more” even after we tell him that he can come out and play.
• This Invisibilia episode on mental illness was fascinating.

Oldies from the blog

• I usually make this black bean soup about once a week during the colder months, but I made some last week because I had leftover black beans from making this dip. We ended up loving it over several days – one day with scrambled eggs and pico de gallo on top, another day for nachos. It looks like this will now be in the year-around rotation.
• Some favorite zucchini recipes if you’re lucky enough to be swimming in it at your place!

Hoping your week is full of good food and better company!