Weekend Provisions, Vol. 2: Three Reads & One Recipe
My three favorite Substack articles of the week + 1 recipe for your weekend
It is the second weekend of February, and would you believe me if I said I’m savoring these last few weeks of winter? I can hardly believe it either, but with writing, reading, and cooking as much as I have this winter, I’ll miss these months more than I usually do when buds begin to about in late March.
Weekends in the winter call for reading, eating, and connection. In Get Off Your Phone February, we might also inquire into our experience for ways to do these in the least-distracted way. For connection, our chat is talking about things we are doing offline this weekend, which you can check out here for ideas on ways to connect or simply hang out over the next couple of days. Now, onto my three reads of the week & a recipe I’ve been noodling with.
Three Reads for Your Weekend
“how to avoid the friendship trap” by Rachdele of didion for doom scrollers.
“These kinds of conversations and places used to give way to informal friendships. It’s great to walk into a cafe and the barista smiles at you and starts your regular drink, or hear that your scarf looks pretty cool. Not only are these experiences comforting, they serve as a bridge to other people and ideas and things happening in the real world, and they can often deepen into real, close friendships. But they’re rare now. And without place-based relationships, you can easily find yourself place-less.”
I read and write about modern meaning-making and connection ad nauseam, both online and in thinking about how to help my patients and the communities they belong to. Therefore, a lot of the same clichés automatically cause my eyes to glaze in milliseconds. I found this piece both entertaining AND useful, with a great mix of personal, anecdotal, and sourced knowledge. A kind but confronting invitation to finding place again.
“Andaza: Cooking by Feel+Memory” by Shayma of Spice Spoon: Cooking without Borders
“And yet, there’s still something irreplaceable about learning by watching. About seeing someone move through a recipe in real time, watching how you hold your knife, how you stir the lentils in the pot, how you decide when something is done—not because a timer goes off, but because it looks, smells, and feels right.”
I am a sucker for a new word that summarizes a sense I’ve been seeking my whole life. I am also someone who discovered baking in my tween years and have found the magic of making food and gathering around it to be a continuous thread in my life. This article introduced me to the word Andaza, which has given me a new book to add to my food reading TBR. From the author of the food memoir by the same title, Andaza is as follows:
“The word itself means estimation in Urdu but it’s used so much in how we learn to cook and in the kitchen - recipes are an oral tradition in Pakistan, passed down verbal like an unwritten family heirloom through generations. All through Andaza. The art of sensory cooking.” - Sumayya Usmani
“There’s Gonna be a War in Montana” by Isaac of The Carousel
“I saw two groups of people, an overclass and an underclass, pressed up against each other, spoiling for a fight, just waiting for the littlest spark to set their fury ablaze.
Over what? The soul of Montana of course. One-of-a-kind land. That’s nothing new. What’s new is the character of the warring factions. They aren’t who you see on TV. On one side you have global interests imputing their values, importing cheaper labor, hollowing out Montana’s attractions and selling them to an international bourgeoisie for maximum profits. On the other you have the new underclass. Not the friendly Christian country folk of times past. And not Cowboy Hat Republican Rancher Dad either. No, these are a new kind of country person. Angry, exasperated, poor, Trump-loving service-workers—the Oxy takers, the meth cookers, the eaters of Chick-Fil-A. This group is acutely aware of just who controls Bozeman and Big Sky, and believe that the same people are coming for their territory. And they’re right.”
This piece is from 2022, but it still rings exactly with the pulse of class, race, and political divisions in the US. Like most of the things I share, this article invites us into nuance and into an understanding of complex dynamics more than short, “breaking news” clips do. I recognize this read is not necessarily one of comfort, but it is one of breadth, beauty, and insight. It planted something in me and has been on my mind the days since I read it. It’s a good use of our attention spans.
This Week’s Recipe: My Daily Smoothie (Because yes, many of you asked)
I’ve had multiple comments on TikTok and here asking what my daily smoothie recipe is, probably specifically because I debunk wellness things but still enjoy the legitimate health benefits of a regular daily breakfast. I’m not someone who is hungry in the morning, but if I don’t eat something filling, I AM hangry and lethargic by noon. As a clinician, that is very much not ideal. Thus, this smoothie was born of my irritability and loudly grumbling stomach that disrupted rounds during my intern year, with slight adjustments.
Pink Power Smoothie
Ingredients for 1 big ass smoothie (Usually the size of a regular Owala bottle, which does a great job at keeping it cold and not-blobby)
2 Tablespoons chia seeds, soaked in 1/2 cup of water for 20 minutes
1 cup Greek Yogurt (Any will do—I use TJ’s, Oikos, or Ratio Yogurt)
1 cup frozen mixed berry-cherry blend
1/3 cup frozen spinach or kale (I can’t do more than this or it becomes bleh to me)
Additional water as needed for texture
Optional: I sometimes add creatine powder or pre-workout powder in for flavor and in place of coffee
Instructions:
Blend. LOL.
On the ingredients:
Chia seeds for fiber (it’s like 10 g of the usual daily recommended of 25, EASE into fiber!!! maybe start with a single tablespoon, and do not forget to soak your seeds)
Greek Yogurt: Protein, probiotics, and a nice tang.
Mixed berries: Fibers, antioxidants, a serving or two of fruit
Leaves: I don’t enjoy salad, but with this I get a good amount of weekly leafy green intake without hating it
Creatine: I like lifting weights, and this seems overall helpful. Probably could take it or leave it.
The biggest benefit of this smoothie is that I can take it with me, and I don’t mind drinking something in the morning or on my commute to work. AKA, I actually remember and do eat breakfast, and this prevents daily embarrassment in front of patients due to extremely loud stomach rumbles (I am not exaggerating here…).
I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I’ll see you Sunday for chapter two of my Folklore, The Novel, serialization.
xx,
Margaret of Bad Art Every Day
Thanks for the link to Cooking by Memory!