Mondays are for spying...

...with my permission

Hi! By some stroke of luck you’re reading, “Yes, I Am A Hungry Woman.” Have you subscribed?

One of the happiest things about ordinary life is that it is full of sundry small pleasures. So full in fact, that we sometimes forget to notice them.

Among the things I quantify as “small” pleasures are new music from a favorite artist, a really good, tart apple (picked up some “Ludacrisp” apples from Cullipher Farm in Virginia Beach this week and wow), or an unread issue of Bon Appetit arriving in the mail. In the same vein, I love to hear from people about what they’ve been buying or loving, books they’ve enjoyed, etc. to gather inspiration and guidance for what I might like to try next. As somebody who is always wanting to try something new, “favorite things” lists fill a specially cozy corner of my heart. And when it comes to purchases, I want to spend my money well, when I do decide to spend: recommendations from friends are always welcome and reassure me that I’m not making a foolish purchase.

It’s proper October now - I am sitting down Sunday evening to write this. Andrew is watching football (Go Bills!), the sky is heavy with unshed rain, and I have a pot of Alison Roman’s potato leek soup to make as soon as I’ve finished writing this newsletter. Soup season is upon us and I, for one, am ready. I can’t wait for tomorrow which is going to be a mess of rain and a high of only sixty degrees. Blame it on my 78% British heritage, but I get excited for inclement weather. Sink me into fresh sheets with a rainstorm tapping the window panes, and I might as well be in a coma. Instant blackout. Best sleep of my life. Fat chance that any alarm will wake me from my slumber.

Also did I tell you we got a cat? We got a cat - his name is Mozzie. He’s ridiculous and we love him, and he likes to hang out in the kitchen with me.

Here to contribute to the general sense of prying-into-other-people’s-affairs, I offer a Monday morning series of things I’ve eaten, bought, read, or otherwise loved in recent days. May you find inspiration among this list, or at least some satisfaction in learning how a Rachel Spends Her Monies. And please, let me know some things that have enriched your own life lately in the comments section. I am always looking for more wonderful things.

Been snacking on…

Snacks are a trying affair. I’m often hungry between breakfast and lunch, given that I eat breakfast at 7 but often don’t eat lunch till 2 or later. Because my nanny kid and I are typically away from home in that mid-morning “I feel snackish” time, it’s got to be something I can easily stash in her backpack. Here are a few of my most frequent snacks:

• “Perfect” bars - although I’m not a fan of pre-packaged foods in general, I do have to say that one of these bars hit the spot. I like that the wallop of protein comes from egg, peanuts, and milk rather than soy or some other super-processed protein form. They’re sweetened with honey rather than rice syrup or cane sugar, and at 15 grams of protein a bar, they definitely boost me till lunchtime! My favorite is the dark chocolate chip peanut butter bar.

• cashews and an apple - self explanatory. Some fat, protein, and healthy carbs. Quick, easy, delicious, and has the added benefit of leaving me an apple core which I can let my nanny kid throw to the turtles at the botanical gardens pond when I’m done.

• a Babybel cheese and clementine - honestly this one is weird for me because clementines are so awful at all times of the year except the exact moment they’re the most perfect thing you’ve ever put in your mouth so like, tread at your own risk. This is a lighter-weight snack than the other two with only about 4-5 grams of protein so I don’t reach for it unless I know that I’ll be able to eat lunch earlier than usual.

• a plain latte with whole milk - okay, hear me out. I have found that when I want to get a coffee drink on a busy or sleepy morning, whole milk is a much better alternative to highly processed nut milks for me and my body. For one thing, there are eight grams of protein in a cup of whole milk, so that grande iced cafe latte is actually more of a “snack” than a babybel cheese. Coffee is hard on your nervous system (and therefore your positive hormones) without being anchored to a full tummy, so if I’m drinking coffee outside the context of a mealtime, I always try to pair it with milk for that protein + fat + carb anchor! Gotta keep our bodies well fueled!

• Utz sourdough pretzels. That’s it. That’s the tweet. Bonus points for eating with Dijon mustard so tangy it burns your sinuses.

Been getting pretty with…

• Ilia Beauty is my go-to clean beauty brand. So much so that I have run out (multiple times) of my favorite products. I don’t think I’ve ever in my life till now had that kind of loyalty to any cosmetic brand. It’s the perfect kind of makeup for someone (like me) who loves to look glowy and healthy and refreshed and natural, but also a little gorgeous. I just love it. I love the products, I love the representation across ages and races within their advertising, and even though it’s not ultra cheap, the products do last a decent amount of time so I never feel like I’m being cheated. Plus, I know that everything going on my body is not damaging me internally and right now that’s a fantastic thing. I just re-purchased the cheek + lip multi-stick in “Ladybird” today along with concealer and a couple other new things to try. Love you forever, Ilia.

• Weleda skin food - I placed a Thrive Market order this past week and was looking for a clean (but good-smelling) intensely moisturizing lotion that I could put into my rotation during the colder, drier months when my hands get like alligator skin and my fingertips crack and my cuticles shred. That’s when I ran across Weleda skin food which is a serious lotion that smells like Dole Whip. I kid you not. I want to eat it with a spoon. Om nom nom.

  

  Been cooking…

• The new Cider Braised Chicken recipe from Half-Baked Harvest. I’m going to go ahead and admit that I wanted to like it more than I did. It was calmly tasty without being remarkable. The kind of food that you’d be shocked to eat on an airplane, happy to eat at a wedding, but disappointed by at a restaurant. Aside from reminding me that I love braised chicken thighs, this recipe mainly made me wish there was some spicy or acidic component to shake things up.

• Going to try making a kimchi compound butter for roasted sweet potatoes! It’s no secret that I love cooking with kimchi and think it makes almost anything tastier. Umami? Acid? Salt? Spice? She has it all. But I would never have thought to put them together till seeing this post from BA’s Instagram. The sweet potato crop is harvested each fall which is why autumn sweet potatoes are so much better than spring/summer sweet potatoes - those have been sitting in storage for 9 months). An in-season sweet potato dripping with kimchi butter? Heck yes.

• This “carrot cake” baked oatmeal from Molly Yeh! I love a baked oatmeal because we eat it for breakfast the day it is made and then I can take it for breakfasts to work throughout the week, often adding a big dollop of skyr or Greek yogurt for all the protein.

• mashed potato squash! This is a type of winter squash which was marketed as tasting remarkably like mashed potatoes when roasted. Another find from Cullipher Farm in Virginia Beach. I halved one, scooped out the inside, rubbed it all over with chicken fat and kosher salt, gave it a good 35-minute roast at 400 till tender, and wouldn’t you know it actually did taste remarkably like mashed potatoes? One of the rare cases where something that claims to taste like mashed potatoes is actually nearly as good as actual mashed potatoes. Highly recommend giving this a try if you can find one to roast!

  

Been wearing…

• I seldom buy new clothes unless there’s a good reason, but after posting on my Instagram stories about how much I wanted this David Rose vs. Enneagram 7 sweater from ASOS , a friend made it happen. I would never have been able to justify spending the money for it myself, but I’m going to love wearing this dang thing all sweater season long. Thank you, Kim!

• As always, there is a 96% chance that the structural underpinnings of my day are from Arq. These organic cotton basics are my holy grail of underthings and their sizing goes from XS through 4-6X, depending on items. The fit is generous and suuuuper comfy. They go on sale only once a year, and I think that time is coming up sometime shortly before (or around?) Black Friday. I can’t recall. But you should go follow this company ASAP so that when the prices drop a little lower, you’re ready. You’ll never be able to return to dumb, wimpy basics after wearing Arq. Cross my heart. I’ve slowly built up an Arq arsenal and am grieving the fact that my body composition has changed a little and might have to re-build the arsenal in a smaller size in the future.

  

• This men’s sweater from Target. Yes, I am wearing a cotton sweater I bought in the mens section and my best friend says I looked like Chris Evans’s bad-boy character from Knives Out while wearing it. The thing is, it’s got those chunky, fisherman sweater vibes I can never find in women’s sweaters so I bought a 2X and hoped it would fit the way I wanted it to and guess what? It did.

  

  

• Just bought two pairs of earrings from Made By Mae Berry who is a maker of polymer clay jewelry. I’ve followed her work on social media for some time and I find hers more original and playful than the usual sorts I’ve seen from other sources. I missed her Matisse-inspired collection but did manage to snag some giant mango yellow hoop earrings, and a fun, squiggly cobalt pair. I’m really looking forward to wearing those this fall/winter season. Although I do love a good jewel-tone (plum is my color, baby), I am also that girl who will color block during the winter just to shake things up a little. Those yellow hoops with that “ESCAPISM” sweater? Gimme.

Been Reading…

• This category has to start off with God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson which a local follower (and friend’s mom) let me borrow. It’s beautiful. If you’ve ever been moved by a beautiful landscape, or longed for a sense of place, or felt sorrow over familiar things changing irreparably, I think you’ll really like this one.

• Borrowed Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull from Libby through our local library. It’s one of my first proper audiobooks I’ve ever listened to and I am finding the story of Pixar’s genesis quite spellbinding. More than that, however, I’m fascinated by the theories about leadership and management to be extremely interesting and helpful. This one was a recommendation from my friend Mamie, and I think it’s a great choice for the Venn Diagram crossover of people who are film nerds and leadership geeks (which apparently includes me).

• Deaf Utopia by Nyle DiMarco is my current read! I picked this one up from the library some weeks ago and although it’s long overdue at this point, I haven’t wanted to return it till I’ve finished. I’m learning so much about the world of the Deaf community, about ASL, and so much that I just have never even given a second thought to. I really like this book so far, and though it’s taking me a while to make my way through, it’s definitely one I’ll push to finish.

Been listening to…

• Laufey all day! First, her new album Everything I Know About Love came out, and then she released an live EP with some of the songs called the “Reykjavik Sessions” which was arguably even better. Here for it all.

• Jack Johnson came out with a new album after who knows how long! It was the perfect listen while we folded the million loads of clean laundry we’d been ignoring.

• I’ve had “Freedom Looks Good On You” by Maverick City Music stuck in my head for weeks now and I don’t hate it one bit.

• Can’t feel sad when you’re listening to Andy Grammer of any sort, but especially “Joy”

And there we have it! A rambling, meaty, nose-y list for your Monday morning. I hope you enjoyed the read and that you’ll share all the small things you’re loving with me! Cheers, guys. Till next Monday!