Sunday mornings in our home have always been special. But now that I work 12-hour shifts at the hospital every Saturday, they are even more precious as they are my only mornings to relax with my kids. So, we make pancakes.
Over the years I’ve made A LOT of pancakes. I’ve made all kinds. I’ve tried hundreds of recipes—vegan and non-vegan—and I assure you that this recipe is the absolute SIMPLEST. [Yeah, they are delicious too, but I’m a mom of four young kids, so simple is a priority around here.]
Here’s the rant I promised:
BUT before I get to the recipe, I just wanted to make a little Public Service Announcement: STOP pouring high fructose corn syrup all over your pancakes/waffles/French toast/etc!
My kids and I actually make a fun game out of reading ingredient lists and determining how much of a product is made from corn. [We live in corn farming country, after all.] And while corn may not be terrible when it’s on the cob, eaten at a backyard barbecue, or at least in its natural kernel form, sweeteners made from corn are not so great. Have you looked at the ingredient list on your syrup bottle lately? I don’t know what kind you use, but I just checked out some of the popular brands. Here’s their ingredient lists…
Great value [Walmart] regular pancake syrup: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, water [and less than 2% of some other chemicals].
Mrs. Butterworth’s original pancake syrup: high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water [and less than 2% of some other chemicals]
Pearl Milling Company original pancake syrup: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, water [the same chemicals as the other brands]
[SIDE NOTE: chocolate, caramel, and strawberry syrups are also primarily made of high fructose corn syrup.]
They do sell some sugar-free and HFCS-free varieties of pancake syrup, but my preference is the naturally sourced, no sugar added, no corn needed, and [in my opinion] much better tasting pure maple syrup.
Anyway, back to the pancakes.
Here’s the recipe I promised…
I can’t take credit for the recipe. My daughter Evangeline actually found it by asking Alexa for vegan pancake recipes. Alexa pointed us to this recipe on allrecipes.com, posted by NICDELIS. [Here is the link, if you’re interested: Vegan Pancakes]
The recipe is so simple that Evangeline can make them all by herself—though it can get a little messy. She’s still working on her flipping skills.
The fact that the recipe is vegan is absolutely beside the point. It only requires five household staple ingredients—no flax seed eggs or soy milk or vegan butter. I dare say, this recipe is barely more work than the boxed “just add water” stuff you get at the supermarket. I mean, why buy a box that just combines all the ingredients that you already have in your house [besides the water obviously]. This pancake recipe is the original “just add water” pancake recipe.
You whisk 1 1/4 cupall-purpose flour, 2 tablespoonswhite sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Then add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 1/4 cup water, and mix. Batter may be a little lumpy. Then proceed to make the pancakes. [We always double this recipe so that if feeds my four kids and my husband.]
If you want to feel like you’ve got the “just add water” stuff, you can just premix all the dry ingredients in a container and then add water when you’re ready [this is what I do for vacation pancakes].
This is the first year that all four of my kids are in school and attending Valentine’s Day parties tomorrow where they will pass out the obligatory school valentines.
Between all of them, we had to make 84 valentines!
Thank goodness for my mother-in-law who provided ideas, supplies, a color printer, and even a table on which the kids could make a mess while creating all of these valentines.
They turned out SO CUTE.
Here’s our 2023 school Valentines:
Eleanor is my youngest [3-years-old] and she is in Pre-K with her sister Jojo.
My mother-in-law has a fancy cricut that cut out and printed these adorable valentines! [The pattern is on the cricut design site.] Eleanor put all the crayons in by herself. She did so well, I was so impressed. All the other kids got sick of making theirs halfway through [though they persevered], but Eleanor sat quietly at the table and attached the crayons for all 20 valentines. [I wrote her name since she doesn’t know how yet.]
Jojo is five-years-old and in the same Pre-K class as Eleanor [her birthday just misses the cut-off].
My mother-in-law found this heart arrow decoration set [which was originally designed to go on straws] on clearance, so we used pencils instead. My mother-in-law also printed the Happy Valentine’s Day labels to attach. I love pencils for Valentines [we’ve done it before] because it’s not candy or a piece of junk.
For both of my older kids, I let them choose from a few options. I didn’t want to buy the box of perforated valentines from the store, so I showed them a few different things and they decided to do popcorn—they LOVE popcorn. My mother-in-law found these cute printables and, hey, at least popcorn is a healthier snack than candy.
🤷♀️
Theo is six [almost 7] and in first grade this year.
And finally, my girl Evangeline who is 8 and in third grade, had fun cutting out each of these labels and attaching them to the popcorn bags.
So there you have it! School valentines for 2023—DONE! Phew!
You can read about our previous years valentines by following the links below:
First of all, before I explain the controversial title, I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a great holiday. And I hope everyone managed to resist the pull of materialism over the weekend. [I am always amazed at how quickly we turn from gratitude for what matters most in life to wanting more stuff. But, I digress.]
In my last post, I shared my habit tracker for last month, which showed that I exercised on all but three days. [Exercise is the red line on the tracker below.]
Some people probably wouldn’t notice or care how much I exercise, but other people [especially any personal training clients of mine] would be thinking But you need a rest day!!!
So, let’s talk about exercise and rest.
There are times when full rest and recovery is absolutely necessary, such as after an injury or when you are really sick [like “can’t get out of bed” sick, not the sniffles]. However, in our super-sedentary society, rest days often mean sitting on the couch and not moving all day and that is really bad for us because we all need some regular movement every day.
Which is why, I don’t do rest days.
Instead of “rest days,” I prefer the term “down days” because I’m not actually sitting on my bum all day. Instead, I’m just lowering the amount of exercise [or the intensity] for a day. So instead of running five miles and doing thirty minutes of weight training and finishing with plyometric HIIT intervals, I might walk a few miles, or hike up hill on the treadmill, or go for a family bike ride. I still choose intentional movement, but I lower the intensity and give my body some variety.
That being said, it is possible to over work your muscles and lead to damage or injury, so I do stand by a strict rest day from weight lifting to allow the muscles to heal and rebuild appropriately.
I say, ixnay the whole rest day idea to prevent ourselves from feeling like we deserve a day to be couch potatoes. There’s a lot of joy and peace and introspection and beauty and confidence, not to mention endorphins, to be found in moving our bodies [especially outdoors, surrounded by nature]. I don’t want to miss out on all that for the sake of a rest day. I want to take advantage of that every day. I need that every day.
What do you think? Am I just an overly enthusiastic cardio junkie? Lemme know.
Last month, I focused on all the health habits that I’ve been developing so far this year:
Drink more water
Practice yoga
Quit late night snacking
Meditate
And more…
In order to stay motivated and judge how well I’m doing, I decided to use a habit tracker.
When I looked around for printable tracker ideas, I found this design and immediately loved it because it’s so aesthetically pleasing—much better than a simple chart with boxes to check. I assigned each habit a color so it would [hopefully] look like a rainbow at the end.
Unfortunately, I didn’t even get the idea for a tracker until the 4th, so my first few days were…not great.
But check out how it looked at the end of the month!
Not too bad. I missed a few days here and there, but overall I’m happy with how well I maintained these goals. I definitely still need to work on consistency with yoga and eliminating “cheat nights,” but I’ve made good progress.
A caveat about my exercise habit… You might notice that I exercise every day say “don’t you need a rest day?” And the answer is yes, in theory, but no, technically. A “rest day” is a recovery day, but not necessarily a day sitting on the couch. I choose to have “down days” instead of “rest days” because I am a really active person so I don’t take days and just do nothing. I will discuss this in greater detail next week for those who are curious about it.
This month, I’m making a few changes. I’ve added more specific goals [“drink 64oz of water” instead of “drink more water”] and I’ve swapped the goals that I have mastered for new healthy habits I need to work on [“practice Spanish” for “no junk food or sweets” and read” for “floss”].
This month will be different though because I start my new job at the hospital on Monday and I will work 12 hours shifts plus an hour drive to and from work, so I doubt I will be able to get a lot of these things done on those days. We will have to see how it goes.
Does anyone else keep a tracker? Or check list? How do you keep track of goals and habits? Let me know!
We are officially in the thick of fall season, folks! And I LOVE IT!
You know how some people feel about pumpkin — pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, pumpkin everything? That’s how I feel about apples — apple fritters, apple pie, apple compote, apple bread, apple cider donuts [oh my god], apple sauce, apple cider…I could go on and on….
Caramel apples, appletinis, apple crisp, apple cobbler, apple cider sangria…
Anyway, I recently bought 20 pounds of apples from my MIL who went to a local orchard to pick [she and her friend together picked over 55 pounds of apples!] so I’ve been making apple goodness for the past week.
Homemade apple sauce is so nostalgic for me because my grandmother made it every year and it was always my absolute favorite applesauce. This is her mill that I inherited when she died.This is my first time making apple cider from scratch and it was a delicious smelling process! I love warm cider on a cold night and I also love to mix it with some red wine for a simple sangria. Yesterday I baked apple cinnamon bread which also made my whole house smell AMAZING!Breakfast or dessert? I’ll probably have it both ways. [I even made some vegan maple ice cream to have with it.]
So when my apple bread was in the oven, I surveyed the damage —which was extensive because I am very messy in the kitchen—and saw the apple scraps.
I remembered a post years ago by my absolute FAVORITE zero waste blogger at Zero-Waste Chef about using apple scraps to make vinegar. You can find her whole how-to guide here. Basically you add the scraps with some sugar and cover with water and let it sit for several weeks.
So, I decided to give it a go.
Hopefully I have made the Zero-Waste Chef proud.
[Her name is Anne-Marie Bonneau, by the way and she has a great cookbook out which I of course own, and which also contains the apple scrap vinegar recipe and a gazillion others.]
Back to the vinegar. I’ll have to let you know how it turns out. Right now it is sitting on my counter with a few other fermenting goodies like hot sauce from our home-grown hot peppers and cabbage that is hopefully on its journey to becoming sauerkraut!
What do you use the apple scrap vinegar for, you might ask? I use it in [of all places] the dishwasher because it helps the glass dishes to come out sparkly. ✨ It is also good for cleaning and gut health. So don’t waste those scraps!
A while back I mentioned that I was going to try to cut down on the amount of books that I read [particularly audiobooks] so I can be more present with my family. And true to my word, this is the shortest quarterly review I have ever done!
But first…
Let’s talk about DNFs. I’ve only heard this acronym for “did not finish” in reference to race performances, but I recently read a book blogger post about DNF books.
Confession: The old me pushed through every book I ever started no matter how painful. I simply could not leave something incomplete. However, a few years ago I read a book [ironically] that convinced me to stop finishing all the books that I’m not enjoying. So, I began DNFing [is that a word?] books.
This past quarter I DNFed [is that a word?] a record number of books. Here are all the books that almost made it on this review list, but I gave up on for one reason or another:
The Dinner by Herman Koch
Mindful Work by David Gelles
Fat Chance by Robert H. Lustig
The AnthropoceneReviewed by John Green
You, Happier by Daniel G. Amen
The Nurses by Alexandra Robbins
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
Unbound by Tarana Burke
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Ahktar
On Animals by Susan Orlean
How to Be Alone by Lane Moore
These books weren’t bad or anything [necessarily]. For some of them, it just wasn’t the right time. For instance, I tried to listen to Lustig’s Fat Chance on a six-hour road trip and it was just putting me to sleep. But someday I would like to read the physical book.
So what you’ve got left here are the real gems. Some of these were better than others, but they were all at least enjoyable or insightful enough for me to read all the way to the end.
July
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a charming book that is both lighthearted and powerful. I thought it would be a fun, easy beach read — and it was fun and easy, but it also surprised me with its depth and lessons about love and loss and moving on and accepting oneself. It was really beautiful.
This was a great road-trip audiobook.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(⭐️)
Loved this book, but I especially loved the audiobook [the extra star is for the audiobook] because Tom Hanks is an absolutely phenomenal reader [which I’m sure surprises no one]. I could listen to him read to me FOREVER! A great story about the bond between a brother and sister — and between a family and a house.
The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Jonathan Haidt is becoming one of my favorite authors. His books probably only appeal to people with very specific interest [such as moral psychology, politics, and ethics] and I am definitely one of those people. But everyone cares about happiness and of all the books I’ve read on the topic, this book is the best.
The Emergency by Thomas Fisher
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book was really eye-opening about how hospitals work and how underprivileged communities continue to be underserved by our health care system. It is also a very personal story of a man trying to help his community in a time of crisis. I really enjoyed it.
Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics by Dan Harris
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Truthfully, I only gave this book four stars because Dan Harris is such a funny writer. His books are very entertaining. But I didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much as I liked 10% Happier [which I LOVED]. The structure of the book seemed forced and followed the story of a meditation publicity road-trip, which I just didn’t particularly care for.
August
The Choice by Dr. Edith Eva Eger
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. It is so powerful and beautiful, full of the darkest horrors and yet so full of hope and life. This is the most inspiring story with the most timeless and encouraging message I have ever read. We all suffer in some way and we all have a choice in how we will live.
“Here you are! In the sacred present. I can’t heal you—or anyone—but I can celebrate your choice to dismantle the prison in your mind, brick by brick. You can’t change what happened, you can’t change what you did or what was done to you. But you can choose how you live now. My precious, you can choose to be free.”
Dr. Edith Eva Eger, The Choice
I agree with Oprah [quoted on the cover]—I will also be forever changed by Dr. Eger’s story.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I heard so many good things about this book from a book blogger I follow…but I just didn’t care for it. I’m not sure why. Maybe I didn’t get it. But it was at least interesting enough to finish. Or maybe I was just curious enough to keep reading.
Josie’s Story by Sorrel King
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was recommended reading for my nursing program and I thought it was another really insightful look into the hospital system. Of course, it is a heartbreaking story [and as a mom, it is my worst nightmare], but ultimately it is about improving safety in the whole system. I’m so glad I read it and I want to remember Josie when I am a nurse someday.
September
The Stand by Stephen King
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was my least favorite of King’s books so far. It wasn’t even bad, of course, because Stephen King is a amazing at telling a story, it was just too long. I mean, it’s a 1200 page book and I felt like the story could have been told in half that many pages. I realize this is the expanded and uncut edition, but I kind of wish I had read the original shorter version because I think this one was just excessive with the details. I also felt like there were missed opportunities to create some really cool “ah-ha!” moments, but…who am I to tell Stephen King how to write a book.
Overall, I liked the story and I enjoyed the characters and as always, I am in awe of this man’s ability to write such sweeping novels.
As always, share your book recommendations in the comments! I love to read books that other people have enjoyed.
[Jojo quit after the first practice and I didn’t even get a picture of Eva playing yet.]
And I’ve been enjoying lots of quality time with my kids and my handsome man [who now works from home!] since I withdrew from grad school [a story for another day]…
So, I’ve been staying busy and not posting, but now I’m ready to update you on my monthly goals.
Starting in January of this year, I chose a new health goal to focus on for each month.
January = no added sugar
February = a salad every day
March = practice more yoga
April = no alcohol
May = no more cheat days
June = drink more water
July = start meditating
I skipped August altogether because I was so stressed over school and so this month I decided to refocus on ALL of the goals. Yep, that’s right, no added sugar, no alcohol, no cheating, more salad, more yoga, more water, and more meditation. And, honestly, it’s been a great month so far. I feel great. I have lots of energy. I’ve been training for a marathon [not sure which marathon at this point]. I’ve been making strength gains. I finally feel like I’m getting back to my old self [the self before I had two surgeries…and almost back to my old self before I had four babies].
So, anyway, I’m not adding any more new goals, but I am taking suggestions for later this year. Anyone making mid-year health resolutions?? Lemme know!
It’s been a while…but I’m back for the moment to tell you about a salad dressing I made that has practically no calories at all. [To be technical, all four ingredients in this dressing have 0 calories on the label, but there very well may be a trace calorie or two 🤷♀️.]
Look, finding salad dressings that are even low calorie is a challenge, so this, my friends is a near miracle. The only catch is, in order to like this dressing, you’ll need to love hot sauce…
I’m going to tell you all about it, but first, a rant about salads…
Salad Rant
I have been extolling the virtues of salads since I began this blog five years ago. [In fact, I just searched through google photos for a picture of salad and I think I actually have more photos of salads than I have of my own face.] Personally, I eat a fresh vegetable salad almost every day. The only problem with a salad [besides potentially out of season and pesticide ridden produce] is the calorie bomb usually found in the dressing.
For the past ten years, I have eaten my salad with oil and vinegar or a squeeze of fresh lemon. And that is all well and good, but if I want to load my salad with chick peas and avocado AND a tablespoon of EVOO [120 kcals, btw], well, that adds up. So, sometimes I want something a little lighter and I’ll tell you all about it, but first, a caveat about extra virgin olive oil.
EVOO Caveat
I am in NO WAY saying that EVOO is unhealthy or that you shouldn’t eat it. Quite the contrary. Extra virgin olive oil is wonderful for you — especially when it’s high quality and cold pressed and drizzled onto a fresh veggie salad [or drizzled raw on anything really]. So adding it to salad is a healthful and filling choice [due largely to the healthy fats in EVOO]. In fact, you can add that drizzle of olive oil right along with this salad dressing if you wish.
I personally, consume A LOT of olive oil and use it in many, many dishes. So sometimes I skip it in my salad. No biggie.
Now, on to the salad dressing…but first, the story of my inspiration.
Story of Inspiration
I was riding my stationary bike in the basement the other day and following along on an absolutely BRUTAL HIIT ride with my favorite Peloton coach, Robin Arzón, when she said “I use hot sauce for salad dressing.” She was meaning this metaphorically, I think, since hot sauce is her favorite analogy for ridiculously high resistance on the exercise bike, but I thought to myself…I would like to have hot sauce as a salad dressing. That sounds delicious.
I finished the ride first, but then I immediately googled “hot sauce salad dressing recipe.” Nada. I mean, I found some spicy Mayo recipes [that ain’t going to work] and I found some spicy honey mustard recipes [nope], but nothing like what I was looking for. I wanted something that tasted like Franks RedHot, but was not just plain ol’ RedHot, which would maybe be a little too spicy even for me. [And ya’ll, I LOVE spice.]
So, then I went into my kitchen and did a little mixing magic and voila! A hot sauce salad dressing.
None of these measurements are exact because mixing magic does not involve measuring things. Just throw some of these ingredients into a jar and shake. If you no likey, add some more of this or that and try again.
Ingredients: mustard, vinegar, hot sauce, lime juice.
Generally speaking, the ratio I use is about 2 parts mustard to 1 part vinegar [I’ve tried rice vinegar, white wine vinegar and red wine vinegar so far]. Then I add enough hot sauce to make it SPICY [and to prevent it from tasting like just mustard] and a few splashes of lime juice. Too spicy, add more lime juice. Too thin, add more mustard. Too thick, add more vinegar. Adjust per your personal tastes.
I for one LOVE hot sauce. I have been putting it on [or in] every savory thing I eat— except salads and I don’t really know why. I love this dressing so much and the fact that it happens to have no calories is just a bonus.
🙌
Alright, so if you like heat, try it out and lemme know what you think.
In April, because of being in school and having to read chemistry, microbiology and anatomy, I spent my fun reading time mostly on fiction, which provided a much needed mental break. I don’t know what came over in me in May [maybe because of the semester ending and summer break ahead], but I read exclusively non-fiction. And then I started reading less in June in order to focus more on giving my attention to my kids. All that to say, hopefully this review post won’t be as long as they usually are.
Let’s get started…
April
Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Loved it. I haven’t seen the stage production or the movie [I intend to see both eventually] but for me the book was a good place to begin, even though it came after the Broadway hit. And, I’m happy to say, it did not disappoint. I listened to the audiobook, which was read by three people — Ben Levi Ross, Mike Faist, and Mallory Bechtel — and was really good.
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
After reading [or rather listening to] Ready Player One, I was very interested in this sequel, but I was a little doubtful that it would stand up against its predecessor. The first book was such a fun adventure and very unique [at least to me], that I didn’t know how he could do it again. In the first book, the contest had been won and the hero was enjoying the spoils…I mean, what could happen next?
Well, I don’t want to spoil it for you, but Cline manages to come up with another great nail-biting story. Is it as good as the first? Nope. Pretty much impossible. But it is definitely really, really good.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’m not sure I quite understood the point of this novel and I felt like I just kept waiting for something surprising, or some sort of resolution at the end — but it never came. Though it was an enjoyable read and I actually flew through it [I think because I kept anticipating something exciting happening], I don’t really recommend it because of the disappointing [or non-existent] ending.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a beautiful and powerful novel. I listened to the audiobook which was read by Zach Appelman and it was fantastic, but I do wish that I had read the physical book because I felt like some of the small details were lost on me. Maybe I was distracted at times, or perhaps all the back and forth in time with dates and such made it harder for me to keep track, but regardless, I recommend the physical book. But it obviously didn’t win the Pulitzer Prize for no reason.
You Deserve Better by Tyler Cameron
⭐️⭐️
Confession time: I watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and even Bachelor in Paradise. So, I know of Tyler Cameron from The Bachelorette and when I saw he had written a book, I thought it would be interesting.
It wasn’t.
It kind of felt like he got this book deal because during his season people were calling him some sort of “feminist icon.” Which is just ridiculous. He made one comment during the season about Hannah being allowed to sleep with whoever she wants to [or something like that] and all the women went gushing about this handsome hunk who understands women’s rights. He doesn’t ya’ll. He might be a nice guy [or nicer than most guys] but he’s no hero for women.
Besides that, when I looked through my list of books that I had read, I couldn’t even remember what this book was. So, I definitely don’t recommend it.
Under the Dome by Stephen King
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love Stephen King. This book was masterful. It’s just so…HUGE. I don’t know how he manages to write these really big novels. This one doesn’t span as much time as 11/22/63 and it’s not a horror like The Shining, but it does have some messed up stuff in it, so its not for the faint of heart. But I loved it. I would get up at 5am just so I could have an hour of uninterrupted time to read it. And I read the physical book which was a pleasure in and of itself.
I have two more Kings on my shelf to read and I can’t wait.
Run Like a Pro by Matt Fitzgerald and Ben Rosario
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Oh man, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve read a book about running. In fact, it’s been a long time since I took my own running seriously. But this book did give me that itch…if you have ever run a race, you might know what I’m talking about — that itch to see how fast you can go, how far you can go, how much you can handle. I used to love that about running.
Anyway, this book was great. I’m trying to get Brett to read it. It breaks down training, recovery, nutrition, etc and explains how the pros do it. If you are a runner, this is really helpful, practical stuff. And there are drills and training plans included. I have actually added the physical book to my Amazon wishlist because I want to own a copy and re-read it occasionally.
May
No Drama Discipline by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I read this book because I had enjoyed The Whole-Brain Child so much. Unfortunately, it repeated a lot of the same information and also overlapped with other parenting books I have read like Now Say This. And this one didn’t make it into my list of Top 5 Parenting books [which you can find here]. I still love Siegel’s scientific [neuroscientific, to be exact] approach to parenting and found a lot of the information in this book and The Whole-Brain Child to be fascinating, especially as I was studying anatomy and physiology and psychology at the time of reading.
The Foie Gras Wars by Mark Caro
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Honestly, I’m still in shock that I read a whole book about foie gras [not to mention my surprise that such a book even exists]. Despite living in the Chicago suburbs for 14 years, I was totally unaware of the “war” surrounding this French delicacy. In truth, I didn’t even know a thing about foie gras — other than that it is some kind of fancy food I can’t afford to eat — and I had to look up the pronunciation [“fwah grah” you’re welcome].
The book turned out to be very entertaining and surprisingly complex, as Caro weighed in on the fight between animal rights activists and celebrity chefs. And, even more surprising, it rather becomes a discourse on reclaiming responsibility as a society for the foods that we produce, sell and consume. Of course, Caro, ever the journalist, doesn’t exactly take a side on the debate [and if he leans one way, it is definitely towards the consumption of foie gras], but I appreciate hearing the truth from someone who is not on the bankroll of either side. I’m sure it will surprise no one that I won’t be eating foie gras [besides the fact that I have never been, nor will likely ever go, to the kinds of establishments that serve foie gras] since I’m not a big fan of eating any animals, even those who have not been force-fed. But, it doesn’t hurt to read a book like this to be reminded that, in the very least, we have a responsibility to know what we put in our mouths.
“Trotter thrust foie gras into our consciousness at a pivotal moment in our ever-evolving relationship with food and how it’s produced. Most people may never have sampled foie gras, but everyone must come to terms with the notion of living things becoming meals. For some, this process leads to vegetarianism or veganism (the latter eschews all animal products), but the vast majority has been more likely to adopt a don’t-ask/don’t-tell policy. We don’t associate chicken with an animal kept in an overcrowded barn; we think of it as a pink slab lying on cellophane-wrapped Styrofoam or as something molded into a ‘nugget.’ Collective denial has been our modus operandi.”
Mark Caro, The Foie Gras Wars
My other favorite quote that I can’t help but include:
“…The popular image of animal-rights activists is radicals who splash red paint on fur-clad women and otherwise would rather provoke than persuade. In some cases the shoe fits, but other times that association becomes a convenient crutch for the unconverted. We want animal-rights activists to be crazy because we don’t want them to be right.”
Mark Caro, The Foie Gras Wars
I don’t consider myself an activists…more like a subtle dissenter. If you come to have dinner at my home, I won’t serve you meat [though possibly some cheese, if I happen to have any], but we won’t make a big show of it. You may not even notice the omission.
This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I, once again, have to take beef with Pollan’s title here. I find it misleading. The book isn’t really a scientific discourse on how certain plants affect the mind, but is rather a recounting of Pollan’s personal experience trying three different drugs: opium, caffeine, and mescaline. Maybe it should be titled, This is My Mind on Three Plants, which would be more accurate and actually more clever since it’s mostly his personal opinions and experiences.
But don’t get me wrong. I love Pollan. Always have. I’ve read nearly every book he’s written. And this is really interesting information about these three drugs. However, I disagree with his anecdote of the one drug on the list that I have extensive personal experience: caffeine. Of course, that doesn’t mean that he’s wrong. His experience is his experience. But I think it is safe to say that his experience does not account for the full range of human experience possible on these drugs. Maybe he didn’t mean that…except that he literally titled the book, This is YOURMind on Plants.
Anyway, I found the book entertaining–especially about his attempt at growing illegal poppy plants in his backyard.
Give and Take by Adam Grant
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In Give and Take, Adam Grant basically takes the old adage “’tis better to give than to receive” and applies it to business, arguing that “givers” actually get ahead in an area where most people believe “takers” will be more successful.
“This is what I find most magnetic about successful givers: they get to the top without cutting others down, finding ways of expanding the pie that benefit themselves and the people around them. Whereas success is zero-sum in a group of takers, in groups of givers, it may be true that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
Adam Grant, Give and Take
This book provides plenty of evidence that giving is the fastest path to happiness, success and personal well-being. I especially loved the overlap with Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Angela Duckworth’s Grit and how all of these ideas tie together to provide a cohesive picture of what is ideal in so many [if not all] aspects of life.
In my own life, I have found that giving [particularly financially] is a tremendous source of happiness–much greater than spending money on myself. Grant agrees and provides evidence that this is true.
“Most people think they’d be happier spending the money on themselves, but the opposite is true. If you spend the money on yourself, your happiness doesn’t change. But if you spend the money on others, you actually report become significantly happier…Economists call it the warm glow of giving, and psychologists call it the helper’s high.”
Adam Grant, Give and Take
I highly recommend this book, particularly for business people, but really for anyone who wants to know the how and why of giving more than receiving. This book is a balm to our selfish souls.
Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottman
⭐️⭐️
This parenting book repeated a lot of the typical advice…however with a side of sexism that, quite frankly, pissed me off. I thought there were some good things in here, however they can all be found in other books that don’t encourage stereotypical gender roles, or explain them as “nature.”
On the whole, I didn’t hate the book, but I don’t recommend it either.
Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved this book about doing nothing. Of course, I’m about to enter the busiest season of my life as I return to school full-time + clinical rotations in the fall, but as I wrote about in a previous post, this book helped me to scale back some areas of my life that were running me ragged. And it taught me the importance of play and leisure time. As a result, I’ve enjoyed taking time this summer to relax with my family, and I’m not going to punish myself for it.
“In many ways I think we’ve lost the sight of the purpose of free time. We seem to immediately equate idleness with laziness but those two things are very different. ‘Leisure’ is not a synonym for ‘inactive’ – idleness offers an opportunity for Play, something people rarely indulge in these days.”
Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing
Brett actually took a lateral position instead of a vertical one recently because he doesn’t want to work more hours and miss out on any more living. This is a choice that I think way too few people make. Just because upward seems to be the best way to go, doesn’t mean it is, if it is costing you hours with your family, sleep, hobbies, simple pleasures, vacation time or anything else that brings you joy. Of course, some people love their jobs or consider their careers a “calling” and so get a lot of joy out of the rat race. But, for most of us rats, we should work a little less, and play a little more.
Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This audiobook was recommended by People Magazine, because part of it is read by Cate Blanchett, and I must say, she does a great American accent and is an excellent reader [of course, that surprises absolutely no one].
Besides the reading, I appreciated the book for the unique perspective Hough provides as a lesbian, ex-military, cult survivor. It’s entertaining, but in a kind of sad way. And strangely, her upbringing in the Family cult is not all that different from my own upbringing in Protestant Christianity–minus all the sex stuff, of course.
There are a lot of great quotes in this book, but here are two of my faves:
“If there’s a useful side effect of homophobia, it’s that most people who find gays abhorrent find it rude to assume someone’s gay, despite all obvious signs… It’s not gaydar. It’s the ability to see reality without the constraints of judgment.”
Lauren Hough, Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing
“I didn’t accept abuse. I expected it, welcomed it. It’s the lesson not only of asshole step-dads or cults, but also evangelical Christianity. You’re nothing without a relationship with Jesus. You’ll take anything; form a healed flu virus to a pretty flower as evidence your love is reciprocated. Shit luck is the devil testing you, or punishment for sin because a loving god hits you sometimes. He hurts you because he loves you, to teach you, to make you better. Or he had a bet with the devil (see the entire book of Job).”
Lauren Hough, Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing
Grit by Angela Duckworth
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a great book about developing passion and perseverance, the recipe to create “grit” according to Angela Duckworth. We need both to find and pursue our life’s purpose.
“Without effort, your talent is nothing more than unmet potential. Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done but didn’t.”
Angela Duckworth, Grit
I really appreciated that she also addresses how to develop grit in our children, which is something really important to me and, I assume, all parents who want to see our children succeed in the things that matter most to them.
Arms Wide Open by Patricia Harman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was drawn to this book because it is the memoir of a midwife [which is my ultimate career goal] so I thought it would be interesting. It definitely was interesting, but was a lot less about midwifery and a lot more about hippies and communes in the 60s and 70s. I was quite surprised to learn about hippie life from an actual hippie. It didn’t sound appealing to me. Everyone running around naked, sharing partners, no running water, watching each others’ kids [ok, that part sounds pretty nice]. Brett often teases me saying that I want to live on a commune, which did sound idyllic to me at one time–before I read this book. But it was a different time back then and I like how honest Harman is about it.
“TV and movies portray hippies and protestors as kids going crazy with love and drugs, but in reality there was pain everywhere. Pain, on our families’ parts, when they lost their children to a world they didn’t understand. And pain, on our part, when our parents rejected us for not believing what they believed and not wanting to live as they lived.”
Patricia Harman, Arms Wide Open
Well, I can definitely relate to that.
June
Entitled by Kate Manne
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the beginning, I was a little put off by Manne’s formal tone. It came across overly harsh for some reason. After all, I have a feminist husband and Brett is exceptional at balancing the sexist scales for me. But, by the end, I was used to the almost academic writing style and agree with the majority of her assessment of sexism’s affect on women.
“Entitled tackles a wide range of ways in which misogyny, “himpathy,” and male entitlement work in tandem with other oppressive systems to produce unjust, perverse, and sometimes bizarre outcomes. Many of these stem from the fact that women are expected to give traditionally feminine goods, such as sex, care, nurturing and reproductive labor to designated, often more privileged men, and to refrain from taking traditionally masculine goods such as power, authority and claims to knowledge away from them.”
Kate Manne, Entitled
The book breaks down the things that men feel entitled to receive from women: love, sex, nurturing, childcare, motherhood, free labor, etc. Even I wanted to come to the defense of men at several points, thinking to myself, surely not all men. But I had to recognize that this was my own case of “himpathy” – a term I had never heard used before but which I now LOVE and recognize EVERYWHERE.
“Recall that ‘himpathy,’ as I construe it, is the disproportionate or inappropriate sympathy extended to a male perpetrator over his similarly or less privileged female targets or victims in cases of sexual assault, harassment and other misogynistic behavior.”
Kate Manne, Entitled
If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone defend a man in the case of sexual misconduct, so help me I’d be so frickin rich right now.
And it turns out that I had my own [incorrect] ideas about what I owe to Brett. Even the very common belief that you better give your husband sex or he will cheat on you is so ludicrous. Let the asshole cheat on you, ladies. He ain’t worth it.
I wish more people would read this book…but they would have to have an open mind, because sexism runs deep in all of us, even women.
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved this book. Such a great story told in such a fascinating way…or rather a fascinating story, told in a completely standard sequential way…either way, a wonderful book. The characters are developed so well. I’ve even taken away a common catch-phrase of the protagonist’s mother. “Needs must.”
I highly recommend it.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is the most complex story of race and class I’ve ever read. This one story contains so much discourse on American life right now that…quite frankly, it’s hard to describe it. It breaks down so many stereotypes, which is what I think I like the most about it. The characters don’t fit into the typical type-casted roles that you would expect.
We need more books like this one.
Raising Good Humans by Hunter Clarke-Fields
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Love, love, love this book because it is the first parenting book that actually provides a legit recipe for keeping your cool so you can use all the excellent parenting tools you know you should be using. This is similar to How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t with Your Kids by Carla Naumburg, but goes a step further and provides specific mindfulness meditation exercises. Maybe a few years ago I wouldn’t have been receptive to the idea of meditation, but in the past few years I’ve read several excellent books on the topic and even wrote a research paper on the health benefits of meditation for my psychology course, and I have been totally convinced of it’s effectiveness, even importance, for everyone, but especially parents.
“So mindfulness meditation is intentionally training our attention to be in the present moment, nonreactive, and nonjudgmentally curious. Mindfulness is a quality we are aiming for; mindfulness meditation is the tool for building that quality in ourselves.”
Hunter Clarke-Fields, Raising Good Humans
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was another recommendation by People Magazine [I don’t actually read the magazine, but my MIL has a subscription and I rip out the book recommendation from each issue], and I liked it….but there were some things I didn’t like. Overall, it was a good book.
There are some plot surprises, but also some plot holes. I was surprised at the end, but that’s only because there was absolutely no indication throughout the book and, to me, that felt a bit like cheating. I don’t like when it’s so obvious that I can figure out the “whodunnit,” but I also don’t like it when the answer is so hidden that it doesn’t even come across as plausible. What can I say? I’m picky about my mysteries…
In the end, I still think it was a good book.
I think this may be my last book review for a while. I hope to still do some fun reading, but I can’t really tell how busy I will be when school starts in the fall and I doubt I’ll have time to post much at all. I graduate [IF I graduate] in May 2024…so, see ya then!
[We are spending the 4th of July at my Auntie’s lake house]
“Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it?
The pill exists. It is meditation.”
Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis
Did anyone think my daily pill was going to be a multivitamin??? Nope! This month, I’m focusing on developing a mindfulness meditation practice.
In the past year, I’ve ready many books that encourage regular meditation. These are my favorites:
10% Happier by Dan Harris
The Book of Joy by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the late Desmond Tutu
Raising Good Humans by Hunter Clarke-Fields
and now I am in the middle of The Happiness Hypothesis by my absolute favorite social psychologist [and quickly becoming my favorite author], Jonathan Haidt.
The titles of these books give hints as to why I want to meditate regularly, but I also just wrote a paper for my General Psychology course about the health benefits of meditation and there are SO MANY reasons to meditate. Meditation can improve your mental and physical health! It can lower blood pressure, improve sleep, reduce stress and anxiety, help with mental cognition such as retaining memory, alleviate chronic or clinical pain, and help treat addictions! Meditation is powerful stuff.
Of course, when I call it “the happiness pill,” I’m not insinuating that it makes you immediately happy in that sort of superficial, smiley, “today’s a great day!” kind of way. Meditation works in a more subtle and much deeper way to cultivate a sense of contentment and inner happiness. A better word for it might be “joy” such as the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu describe in The Book of Joy.
Meditation works because our lives are dependent upon our perceptions. I don’t want to get overly philosophical [or overly scientific], but everything we experience and feel and even remember is filtered through our brains. This has never been so apparent to me as it was while I was studying anatomy this past semester. Our brain interprets everything and that interpretation is based on what is already inside our minds and that interpretation affects future interpretations. Everything is filtered through a lens [or schema, if you want the psychology term] and what most people don’t realize is that we can change the lens through meditation.
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.”
The Buddha
I don’t know if I explained that right or if it made any sense. If you’re curious about meditation, here’s a New York Times article by David Gelles [who also wrote the book Mindful Work] about why and how to meditate: “How to Meditate”.
My goal is to spend 10 minutes in mindful meditation four days a week. I actually started a few weeks ago, with just five minutes of meditation in the morning before the kids get up. It is harder than I anticipated — especially at 5am, where my brain doesn’t want to wander so much as fall back asleep! But I am determined to keep at it.
In other news, we are half-way through 2022 and real talk ya’ll—these monthly health goals are CHANGING MY LIFE! I am not kidding. If you’ve ever wanted to make some changes, I HIGHLY recommend this monthly approach. It is just enough time to solidify new habits and by tackling them one at a time, I never get overwhelmed. So far this year, I’ve kicked the late-night snacking habit, cut back on alcohol, gotten back to my daily yoga practice, increased my water intake, and started serving a salad at [nearly] every dinner! I am so excited about the second half of the year!
No Makeup Mama 