February Favorites! Here we go!
I am loving this new format of favorite posts, and I actively found myself looking forward to the process this past month. The pursuit of seeking out a few meaningful moments over the course of my month is a practice that is opening my eyes in a way I welcome.
I heard someone say that you find what you are looking for. Meaning, if you look for good, you will find good. If you look for bad, you will find bad. This principle is powerful, and inspires me to shift how I move through the day. As I continue to look for the lovely, I am pleased to actually find it.
Here are my favorite things from the month of February…
A BOOK.
The Body Keeps The Score. This book is not easy. The subject is trauma recovery, and as you can imagine, the stories are horrible and sad. But this book is good. Amazingly good. Written in a scientific voice, but done so with a narrative bent, The Body Keeps The Score reveals the ways our physical body hold and hide the effects of trauma long after the traumatic event has passed. Consequently, our bodies also hold the keys to trauma recovery, and I found the chapters on healing incredibly insightful and amazing.
I consumed this book, weeping at times, but finding comfort and hope in the work that is being done in the field of trauma recovery. If you or someone you love has experienced trauma, please read this book. It is helpful, insightful, informative, and demystifies so many misconceptions about the behavior of trauma survivors.
A FUN FIND.
In this month’s cooking video tutorial for The Table, I tried out a new gadget, unsure if I would like it. I love it. This manual-pump oil spray bottle for Sur La Table is a welcome addition to my kitchen gadget collection. I love that I can fill it with any oil, and in the context of raw meat (like I was doing during the Meatball video tutorial for The Table), you can spray the surface with oil instead of using a pastry brush.
A MOMENT OR MEMORY.
During the week, my daughter Norah comes to work with me because her school doesn’t start until after 9:00. She has become legitimately helpful to me in opening the store. She makes salads. Puts out the muffins and scones. Gets cookie dough ready for the oven. And I get to spend a lot of quality time with her. This past month, she stopped in the middle of glazing an apple muffin with caramel and said, “I love starting my days here. It smells good. There’s music playing. I get to do something. This is the best.” Be still my heart. Norah has always been able to verbalize her feelings in ways that elude most adults. Getting to hear her thoughts and feelings is a gift.
A RECIPE.
The Every Night Salad with Yogurt Ranch from Bon Appetite is my new obsession. I am taking the title literally. How many times can I eat this? Every night. Is it wrong to just keep making it? I served it to a private dinner party at Hurley House. My family just sort of expects it now. I can’t get enough. The simplicity of ingredients, combined with a method that delivers huge flavor results, plus the ease at which it can be thrown together is a winning combination. It goes with everything, or it makes a delicious meal on its own. There’s no wrong way to eat this salad.
A CHALLENGE.
I want to be able to do push ups. Not necessarily for fitness-related reasons, but for the beauty of them. I think pushups, performed with perfect form, are beautiful. I cannot do a push up. But, I have a very long term plan I am putting into motion that begins with wall push ups, moves onto knee push ups, and then eventually graduates to the real deal. The concept is that if I make tiny moves in the right direction, one day I will end up where I want to land. I’m not in a hurry, and I am prioritizing form over speed, but I am excited to make it to full push ups.
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