Hello my friends!
I hope this finds you having a joyous, memorable, and restful holiday weekend.
I’m spending a short time in Los Angeles with my family, soaking up the quality time and taking in all the classic family stories like… the time I cried nonstop on a roadtrip from Northern California back south… the time my dad fell on my on a San Francisco bus and I was so deeply embarrassed I couldn’t deal… reminiscing about the purple casserole my mom made the one time and we’ll never let her live it down… you know, just the classics. The stories that seem silly, but bind us together as humans in the world.
My family is also recently obsessed with their ancestry.com reports and there’s all sorts of paperwork scattered about and talk of percentages of this and that and England and Sierra Leone and remember how Aunt Carrie claimed she was Cherokee and… it’s a mash up- that’s as much as I know.
Here are some Internet reads for you. I hope this day finds you resting well still in Christmas pajamas perhaps with a plate of Savory French Toast. I’ve got high hopes for you:
• This is supremely interesting and very challenging: How Much Ambition Can A Marriage Sustain?
• Evidence of the Superiority of Female Doctors. It’s all in the quality of care, as evidenced by the pair of fuzzy socks a female doctor will give you if you have to put your feet in those dang stirrups.
• Let’s say yes to that dinner date, ok? How Social Isolation Is Killing Us.
• The Nordic Way To Be Good At Winter. Light lots of candles, drag a tree inside, and get cozy dammit.
• Talk amongst yourselves, I’ll give you a topic: Red Wine Hot Chocolate. Also… I wonder if this could also be part of the Nordic way to be good at winter. Yes?
• What is your capacity for pain and discomfort and fear? Ask those that push themselves there: How Exercise Shapes You, Far Beyond The Gym.
• Listen, if you don’t want to cook for a vegetarian, just don’t invite them over. Don’t use chicken stock in the risotto and not tell them. That is, in fact, a jerk move. Chicken stock doesn’t count as meat.
• Here’s a recipe for a soup I made this week and very much enjoyed: Turmeric Broth Detox Soup
• One-Pot French Onion Not-Detox Pasta! Just to balance things out.
• I spent a day last week running errands with headphones on, binge listening to this wonderfully interesting, very well-produced podcast about organized crime in Providence, Rhode Island: Crimetown.
• It’s the time of year when we all try to figure out what the heck happened to us and around us for the past 300some-odd days. The NYT Year in Photos is as good as it gets. Also, here’s Digg’s list of The Top 10 List of Top 10 Lists.
• Currently listening to Rising Strong on audiobook read by Brene Brown. It’s like a long session of real talk / pep talk.
This quote from Theodore Roosevelt, featured in Brene Brown’s first book Daring Greatly is an important token to carry into the new year:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly…”
Get in the arena and do it- all the way… at least, gear up and I’ll see you there come January.
xo Joy
sylvia@feastingathome.com
Happy New Year Joy! I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for sharing my Turmeric Broth Detox Soup- I truly appreciate it and it makes me so happy that you enjoyed it!! All the best this year.
Love,
Sylvia
naomi
Thanks; hope your holidays are lovingly peaceful. Weighing in on that chicken stock thing – I’m a pescatarian. I cut all fowl several months after I stopped eating other meat. I remember the day: I swallowed a spoonful of Thai chicken soup to my mouth and realized I really hate chicken. I hate the flavor of it. I’ve gone to restaurants which claimed to be serving vegetarian stock but I can taste that stuff in it. When I ask they usually fess up. The writer is revealing what a poor cook he is that he is reliant on one ingredient. Just my rant. Ignore it – have a hoopla of a New Year’s Eve and may 2017 bring us wonderfully progressive actions.
Amy
Re: chicken stock
I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t read the whole thing but that’s because I rolled my eyes at it. I can see the perspective from both points. He shouldn’t have gone on the rant that he did BUT had his S.O. not pointed out that he was about to use chicken stock, it would have been an honest mistake. For a vegetarian to get pissed off at someone that might have accidentally used chicken stock because that’s what they’re used to grabbing and they’re down to the wire with cooking; are friends going to expect you to just toss the whole dang dinner out? Buddhists say that they’ll eat meat if it’s the only thing offered because it’s better to consume it than to let it go to waste. I’m not saying I agree with his article (anyone can fess up ahead of time, that he was really sorry but the chicken stock was all he had and wasn’t thinking while making it); but if you’ve made every attempt to be as respectful as possible, why get mad? It’s a lifestyle choice restriction; not an allergy.
Laura
Wow on that chicken stock article. I am a vegetarian for ethical reasons and I know that eating meat or meat products aren’t going to kill me, and I know that things taste better with chicken stock than vegetable stock, but some people have chosen to make these trade-offs for what they believe in. I can’t believe he can’t recognize that.
And this sentence is so frustrating to someone who has made chicken stock and chooses to no longer eat it: “I bet if you actually understood what stock is—which is to say, it’s not, like, chicken juice—you’d agree with me.” As if I am so stupid that if I only understood I would be okay with it?
Thanks for calling him out! I agree…if you don’t want to cook for us, don’t invite me over.
Faith Kathleen
Yikes that veggie stock article! Similar to someone who once said to me “well it’s only got a little bit of peanut butter in it…”
Right. That’s still gonna kill me. Ugh why, people.
jbr2013
If you are going to recommend Rising Strong (Brené Brown), add to that Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic and you have a one-two punch that will inspire anyone to achieve more than they are currently accomplishing!
Laurie Crouch
Merry Christmas Joy, enjoy the family stories, because years from now, that will be 1 of the greatest gifts your family ever gives you!
As there is an exceptionally long story attached to this, that for your peace of mind I will skip, I was adopted at birth, I have that family history around me 24-7 and I’m thankful for it. But, 3 yrs ago I found my birth family. Now I am neck deep learning that side of things.
Paula
The article about exercise shaping you definitely rings true for me. I think finding exercise that empowers you physically doesn’t just help your stress management and self-regulation, but also expands your ideas of what you are capable of outside of the gym. Lifting weights has even broadened my notions of feminism! Speaking of which, my lady-doctor never gave ME fuzzy socks. I clearly need to change providers…
Alexandra DePriest
Joy, thanks so much for posting the beautiful turmeric broth soup and your comments in response to the “chicken stock” article. I couldn’t agree more that if you aren’t interested in cooking an honest animal-free meal for vegetarians, just don’t invite them over for dinner. I have personally witnessed what it’s like for someone to reveal they cooked their green beans with a chicken broth post-meal; it’s definitely a bummer and feels pretty inconsiderate. Thanks for spreading this message for your veggie/animal-loving friends! Excellent posts this week per usual!
Kerry
“The stories that seem silly, but bind us together as humans in the world.” I love this! Simply said, but so deeply true. Wishing you a happy holiday with your family. Your posts never fail to brighten my day! :)
Chocolatebaker
Thanks for being there.i had egg nog French toast.was very happy all the kids came home for Christmas with one grandchild.an great gram .everyone got along.ate way to many cookies.but had a great holiday thankyou
Charles'
What a busy report! Slow down and catch your breath, stop and and smell the roses…