👋 Hello everyone!
I’m finding it difficult to write positive things when so much of the world around me is so negative at the moment. COVID has finally found our families, with both illness and deaths; hurricanes and fires and floods are affecting my peeps; countries are falling apart; the very state I live in has gone back to the dark ages and decided that women are incapable idiots with no right to manage their own bodies. Plus a thousand other things.
Then again, at this very time last year, this very weekend, I took my husband to the hospital, where he stayed for a week, while I waved to him from the hospital parking lot and cried myself to sleep each night, not knowing whether he’d ever come home. And yet here he is, healthy and whole, strong and loving, and somehow still taking care of me and my heart. I have so much to be grateful for, and there is still so much good to look forward to.
Things like family meals and autumn leaves, dinners with friends and lazy weekend mornings, cool breezes and new music and the hope that we will all move forward, help each other, and remember that we are all connected on this little planet. What are you grateful for these days? I’d love to hear it.
What have you been up to lately? I’ve been…
🍕 Eating
Sooooo much fooooooood… we’ve been eating out a lot lately, rotating between our faves each week. 😬
My siblings and I had a hill country weekend together to celebrate all of our August anniversaries. It was so much fun! We spent Saturday afternoon at Treaty Oak, hanging out under the shade trees and shootin’ the breeze. The food there was really good—I had black bean nachos, and I don’t remember what everyone else had, but they liked it. 🤗
Our weekly lunch date at Better Half. The cold ramen bowl is one of my favorite things EVER. I hope they never take it off the menu!
Biweekly (?) lunch date at Little Deli. Somehow we always end up here after I’ve had a big brunch and Justin hasn’t, so he gets a sub and I get a salad.
Last Saturday we were lazing in bed, refusing to get up, and I said I wanted donuts, so Justin pulled out his phone and ordered Shipley Do-nuts for delivery. We got too many, ate half, and were very happy. 🍩
Our biweekly-ish date night at L’oca d’Oro. This little cafe has quickly become one of our faves—the food is insanely good. On this night, we had (among other things) the eggplant milanesa with arrabbiata, caponata and stracciatella, and the mafaldine with anchovy, preserved lemon and focaccia breadcrumb. It’s very hard not to order the mafaldine every time. It’s SO good.
Another night at L’oca d’Oro—this is the fresh mozzarella with Steelbow tomatoes, peach, colatura and opal basil, the golden zucchini and tomato salad with fresh ricotta and honeydew melon, and the crudo with Leche di Tigre, smoked trout roe, and cucumber. GAH so good.
A new pizza place opened up in our hood. It’s called Love Supreme Pizza Bar, but for some reason I can’t remember that and always call it Love Pizza. Anyway, we like it! The patio is lovely, and the inside was surprisingly pretty as well. We had a margherita pizza and one with pineapple and jalapeño, and we loved both. The leftovers froze well, too!
Also at Love Pizza, the Caesar salad (good) and the roasted cauliflower with almond vinaigrette and golden raisin pesto (good but weirdly sweet).
Back at home, we made veggie burgers with all the fixins, including vegan cheese and potato chips on the side.
Cacio e pepi and my usual nojito.
Justin’s brunch wins again: veggie omelet, fried potatoes, black beans, tortilla, and freshly squeezed OJ mixed with bubbly water.
My latest obsession is jumeok-bap, or rice balls made with tuna, sesame oil, sesame seeds, mayo, and crumbled seaweed. For this lunch, I had them with a salad of leftover steamed broccoli, cucumber and tomato.
I saw someone on YouTube have a sort of cream cheese and jam smushy situation, so I had to try it. When you fold the toast in half, it makes the most delicious smushy sweet goodness.
My friend in Japan sent me this Rakugan, a sort of pressed-sugar treat made with peas and sugar. Aren’t they beautiful?! I cannot get over how these (and the wasanbon she sent before) just sort of melt in your mouth.
📚 Reading
Let them eat chips. This was an interesting piece on how prevalent the “being rich sucks” message is in recent media—that wealthy people’s lives are just as difficult, that money doesn’t buy happiness. It was somehow refreshing to see someone call out the insane advantages and all-around better chance at happiness available to you if you have more money. “Money cannot buy happiness, no, but the having of it literally magics away a host of other problems that a lack of it creates. You have one less HUGE problem.”
Cultish: The Language of Fanatacism. I just started this book, and I’m totally fascinated (and the book explains why we are fascinated with cults). What I love is that it’s not just about say, the Mansons or Jonestown—we’re talking Soulcycle, Swifties and BTS Army, Trump-ists, Cross-Fitters, yogis… let me know if you read it so we can chat!
If you want to get lost in random facts and trivia, this list of common misconceptions is the way to go. There’s no evidence that Vikings wore horns on their helmets. Poinsettias are not highly toxic to humans or cats. Fortune cookies are not found in Chinese cuisine. 🥠
😂 Laughing
That’s it! Thank you for reading—hit reply and tell me what you’re up to.
--Crystal
Lovely, as always. And after all that amazing food you shared, why am I craving donuts?