I am overwhelmed
That sounds like a dish you would order at the former Cafe Gratitude in Berkeley. For those of you who weren't familiar with this place, it was a raw food restaurant where all of the dishes had names like "I am beautiful" and "I am fulfilled" and "I am extraordinary" etc. I know, look, Berkeley is a special place, okay? Anyway, between anxiety over the health care vote all week, and then what looks like good news about it this morning, and lots of writing/book related anxiety also this week, and then seeing first this tweet (which made me scream) and then this tweet from Roxane Gay, I am kind of a bundle of nerves today. Good nerves, but still, I barely slept last night. I'm not going to give you any magic product recommendation to make you look like you've slept a full night of sleep when you woke up every 2 hours all night (though I will say that my under eye bags looked a lot less distinct when I had my lash extensions on), but if you have one for me, please send it my way. No, today's product rec is for the every day moisturizer I've been using for years. I keep trying other things to see if something more expensive works better for me, but nothing has, so I keep going back to Olay Sensitive Skin Daily Moisturizer. Plus, it's so cheap and lasts so well for me that it lets me mentally justify my expensive lipstick habit.
Sometimes, when a book I'm super excited about comes out, I dive into it right away. But other time, I hold on to it and wait to read it for a time when I really need it, or as a gift to myself at sometime in the future. The book that I'm in the middle of this week is one such book. When I found out that Lisa Kleypas (Wellesley alum!), who wrote one of my absolute favorite romance novels, Devil in Winter, was coming out with a book about the son of Sebastian and Evie (the hero and heroine from that book, if you've never read it, and if you haven't, oh boy do you have a treat in store), my bff and I exchanged all caps text messages about it for days. That book, Devil in Spring, came out in February and I bought it immediately. But it came out right when I was in the midst of drafting my second book, so I saved it for myself as a reward for when I got the draft in to my editor. Well, I sent the draft in last month, but I still hasn't reached for Devil in Spring...and then when I did this week, when I was worried about a million huge and tiny things, I was so happy that it was there for me. It is the perfect confection of two complicated people trying to negotiate a life together, and I love every moment that I'm reading it.
Another thing I did this week was decide that I would try to not get takeout or go to the grocery store all week, mostly because I've been spending too much money on takeout lately, and partly because I wanted to test my pantry to see how I could handle this. Well, it's Friday, and other than a pre-planned dinner out with a great friend last night, I've made it through lunchtime today. This recipe is not one that I made this week, but I'd planned to, and then realized I was running low on one of the key ingredients. But thinking about it made me want to share it with you all, because it's one of those recipes that seems weird and way too healthy, but once you put all of the ingredients together, it's like magic. I originally got it from this blog post, but I make a few little changes to it, all below. You can make this heartier by adding salmon or tofu, but it's delicious as is.
Quinoa with avocado and nori
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (she says to use red or black, I always use white)
1/2 to 1 avocado, ripe but not too mushy
2-3 tablespoons ponzu sauce (instructions for a ponzu substitute are in the link above)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Sriracha or another chili sauce to taste
One or two big nori strips, cut into smaller pieces
Toast the quinoa: put a medium size pot on the stove, turn the stove to medium high, and pour the quinoa in. Stir and let toast for a few minutes until it's jumping a little, but not burned. Pour a cup of water in the pot, along with a pinch of salt, and wait for the water to boil. Cover, lower the heat, and cook for about 12-15 minutes until the water is absorbed.
Assemble: pour the quinoa into a bowl, put chunks of avocado on top, and drizzle all of the sauces over it. Sprinkle the nori strips on top, stir everything together, and enjoy.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Jasmine
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