Rich
No. 56
Last published notes —
Some days are much harder than others. No expiration date on repair.
Say everything with calm confidence and direction to your children and pause — do not expect anything to happen right away — then watch how quickly they process or change course after moments of emotion sweep like tidal waves. Their presence and innocent hearts mostly incapable of denying a genuinely loving leader, with no agenda other than a firmly kind nudge. The grudges we carry that convert to control they resist.
Show them that you are on their team, while pulling gently: forward.
Perhaps one of the most cheerful and elegant manifestations before its time:
“I have confidence in sunshine, I have confidence in rain. I have confidence that spring will come again! Besides which, you see, I have confidence in me!
Strength doesn’t lie in numbers, Strength doesn’t lie in wealth. Strength lies in nights of peaceful slumbers. When you wake up, wake up! It’s healthy!
All I trust I leave my heart to. All I trust becomes my own. I have confidence in confidence alone…”
Julie Andrews / The Sound of Music
Drinks —
Because I do not drink alcohol, it’s nice to have a “treat beverage” to reach for. Most days I consume only water, black coffee, and colostrum, but as the evenings run long and both indoor and outdoor chores leave me parched, the following have been on rotation:
Farmer Hydrate (I also make this for the kids when sick and instead of Gatorade. I prefer mine with half a lemon and ice).
Cool mornings and evenings: Bone Broth Hot Cocoa (tastes like Swiss Miss but no chemical junk).
We enjoyed Olivia Noceda’s Cherry Hibiscus Lemonade last weekend… so very easy and refreshing. Her mocktail game is real good.
Pomelo Basil is my favorite of these sodas… with an added chunk of citrus.
Latest recipes —
Now that Maddox has accepted that “pasta” is a dish and not the specific shape of a noodle, we have moved past spaghetti and are enjoying many forms of one of our favorite foods.
The boys like butter and salt on theirs, or a homemade meat sauce for Isaac. I love the freshness of blistered tomatoes and basil now that we’re entering the season.
Roast washed cherry tomatoes in a pan tossed with three cloves grated garlic, good olive oil, salt, and pepper in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until fragrant and blistered. Spoon over noodles with ripped fresh basil, a glug of olive oil, nice salt, and pepper. Parm too if you have it! Pasta cooked for 8 minutes in salted boiling water, drained, and mixed with nice butter and salt.
Pasta, butter, and olive oil from the store.
In a blender combine one banana, two eggs, pinch salt, splash of milk, maybe two tablesp, 1/2 c oats, and about 1/4 c of frozen raspberries. Vanilla bean paste would be good too if you have any. Cook on a heated pan in good butter. Pour the batter and sprinkle semi sweet chocolate chips on top. When the center of your pancake begins to bubble, flip. Top your stack with a heaping spoonful of plain yogurt, a small spoonful of raspberry jam, pecans, and maple syrup (optional).
In a bowl, whisk 3 eggs, 3/4 c coconut sugar, 1/2 c whole milk. Add 2 c almond flour packed, 1 teasp salt, 1/2 teasp baking soda, and 1/4 c cacao powder. Combine and add desired amount of semi sweet chocolate chips. Transfer to a parchment lined 9 inch cake pan, and bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean in center. Allow to cool fully before adding whipped cream.
Add 1 pint heavy whipping cream (cold), 1 heaping teasp vanilla bean paste, and 2-3 tablesp powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you like) to a mixer. Mix until you have whipped cream. We like it more firm.
Too cake completely or individual slices, and add a pinch of flaky salt. Store in fridge, and also, this is delightful with hot black coffee the next morning.
In a mason jar, fill with 3/4 c oats, 2 tablesp each chia seeds and flax seeds, 1/4 c sunflower seeds. Cover with milk, and two spoonfuls plain yogurt. Mix in 2 tablesp maple syrup and 1 teasp vanilla bean paste (or the next morning if you forgot!). Mix in desired amount of frozen raspberries. Store in fridge overnight and pour the serving amount you’d like into a bowl. Top with finely shredded coconut, raw walnuts, and a spill of maple syrup.
I love to make different fruit flavors of this in the warmer months. It’s satisfying, energizing, and perfect for busy days in the sun.
Rich —
Everything is so expensive right now — in physicality and thought — there is nothing to be wasted. This is the eerie part of adult life where we find ourselves acutely, in live time, experiencing — although morphed and much scarier, much more advanced — the very complaints from our previous generation’s worries, highlighting the world’s breathtakingly monumental shortcomings. In addition to that, we hold tiny computers in our hands, where it jumps into our faces whenever we look at them.
If I squint hard enough I can taste the sandwich I ate during one of the half days in middle school after walking down to The Linden Store for lunch, as many of us did on those Wednesdays. Fleets of L.L. Bean backpacks and Longchamp totes (for the girls) made their way into Wellesley Center for the afternoon. In addition to my own few dollars from dog walking or plant watering in the neighborhood, my mother handed me a twenty dollar bill. A rare occasion to just be given money for spending, otherwise felt as gluttony in my upbringing. My desires now able to match the others, I would get an Italian sub from the local deli, a venti dirty Chai Tea iced latte from Starbucks, and, a sixteen dollar black camisole I wanted from The Gap that I would likely have to return due to the spaghetti straps, and my healthy chest. Most mornings then, I got to school early, and changed in one of the upstairs girls
