Hello lovely readers! I am just getting in my second newsletter for the month of February thanks to it being a leap year. I hope that you’re all taking good care and doing something nice for yourself each day. It’s an intention that I explore more in this issue’s word essay, which feels particularly apt this time of year as we are preparing for spring in my part of the world. Let’s read on, shall we? As always, thank you for being here!
RECHARGE: to regain energy or spirit. To inspire or invigorate afresh. To become charged again. (Source: Merriam-Webster)
We often talk about the need to recharge one’s batteries, but I love the notion of regaining our energy and spirit. After all, we are human beings, divine creations, not machines or robots. Yet it’s so easy to forget this and treat recharging as a luxury, not a necessity, when we get caught in the daily grind that demands so much output from us. We forget that we need input too, or in human terms, we need to fill our energies and inspirations to inspire and invigorate ourselves anew.
I like to think about ways I can “invigorate afresh.” Sometimes, this takes the form of simple acts, like taking myself out for coffee or going for a walk along the creek by my house. Nothing grounds me faster than putting one foot in front of the other, listening to the burbling creek, or startling with delight as a white-tailed deer scampers up the hill and dashes out of sight, or smelling the earth, whether its fragrance is punctuated by the scattering of leaves and parched soil, or damp with the perfume of fresh rain.
Sometimes, grander acts are called for, like a recent overnight getaway my husband, Matt, and I took to The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia*. After a sauna and some reading in the relaxation room in our respective spa quarters, we returned to our room to get ready for the evening. I love that there is still an electric charge between us, and that current crackles when we have the gift of uninterrupted time. It was such fun to get dressed up, and head to the lobby bar for pre-dinner drinks and a couple impromptu rounds of pool. How refreshing to see how easily our playful banter flowed without the day-to-day distractions of domesticity and work. Laughing with some you love, and making them laugh, too, is such a gift and a potent way to become charged again.
The next day, we went for a soak in the natural mineral waters of the Warm Springs Pools. The setting provides an invitation to immediately slow down, to relax, to replenish. We had nowhere to be, nothing to be aware of expect the sky above and the mossy rocks below. It was like being suspended in time, where the minutes stretched luxuriously longer. It’s a feeling I want to hold on to for a long time, but even as it fades, I hope the memory will continue inspiring me to find ways to invigorate afresh and renew my spirit.
*Our accommodation, spa day pass, springs soak, and dinner were part of a hosted stay at The Omni Homestead Resort for a story I am writing.
Memoir Updates: I completed a week-long memoir revision bootcamp with Katie Bannon and there was so much good information and some really great exercises, many of which I need to go back and complete (especially the ones around structure!). I tried a new opening that I think better establishes the stakes and sets up the narrative arc more clearly, so that feels really exciting! Especially since those were two key nuggets and actionable items I received from agents who kindly sent personalized rejections. I’m looking forward to workshopping my first 25 pages with my writing group and two new writer friends I connected with through the revision bootcamp.
Published Articles & Media Appearances
16 Third-Culture Cookbooks That Will Change the Way You Cook
For Food Network, I wrote about third-culture cookbooks, which celebrate the deeply personal fusion cooking of its authors and reflects the nuanced plurality of American food. It was especially meaningful to write it as a Third Culture Kid, which is defined as someone who was raised in a place different from their parents’ homeland or a child of mixed heritages. I grew up moving around the world, spending time in Sfax, Tunisia; Pointe-Noire, The Democratic Republic of the Congo; Paris, France; Aberdeen, Scotland; and Jakarta, Indonesia, before moving back to the U.S. when I was 15.
What is Taro?
Also for Food Network, I interviewed Jonathan Pasion, executive sous chef at Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui to learn more about taro. There’s so much more to this starchy tropical root vegetable than meets the eye, and I loved learning about the different varieties grown in Hawai’i and its many culinary and cultural applications.
Books, Bites & Beverages
Books: I finished reading What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama and it was so utterly delightful! Each chapter centers on a different character and the unique set of circumstances that brings them to the neighborhood library. When the librarian asks them “What are you looking for?” it gives each character a moment of pause and an invitation to answer the question in a deeply personal and truthful way (even if they don’t realize it!). She recommends books to them, which sets them off on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth that leaves them and those around them forever changed. There’s also an unexpected twist and payoff for the reader that makes me love and recommend this book even more. I am also really loving The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time by Jane Bertch, who I connected with through her cooking school La Cuisine Paris. I’ll be reviewing her memoir for Hippocampus, so stay tuned for more thoughts, but it’s available for pre-order now!
Bites: I recently visited Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards, a gorgeous property in Bristol, Virginia set on 450 acres of Appalachian land (also part of a hosted stay for a story). It was a misty, drizzly day, the kind that begs for bowls of soup, so I sated my craving at Hickory, Nicewonder’s signature restaurant that’s helmed by chef Travis Milton (who recently received a semifinalist nomination from the James Beard Foundation for the Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic category). I zeroed in on soup beans and cornbread, which featured a bowl of creamy yet meaty pinto beans crowding a rich broth tinged with tang. Milton shared that the pinto beans are grown on site, dried, then cooked with a red barley miso, which bolsters the dish’s savory complexity without adding a lot of meat (though there are some country ham ends in the mix). The broth’s acidity comes from a combination of chow chow and vinegar, with a current of turmeric and chili humming just below the surface. It’s a deceptively simple dish that I found to be deeply restorative.
Beverages: During my overnight getaway to The Omni Homestead Resort, my husband, Matt, and I really enjoyed having cocktails, reading, and playing pool in the President’s Lounge (aka the lobby bar). Pre-dinner I sipped a Manhattan, and post-dinner I opted for an Espresso Martini. It was actually my first time having an Espresso Martini (I’m not always one to jump on a trend bandwagon) and while it wasn’t love at first sip, I loved slurping the creamy foam and dark chocolate shavings as a sort of mini nightcap-dessert.