Issue #30: Everything I Packed in My Carry-On for Greece

Never check a bag again.

Morning Person is a weekly newsletter packed with obsessively-curated recommendations and ideas—let’s get to it!

📚 Seven Days in June by Tia Williams: Such a sexy, wrenching story of unrequited love that’s also hilarious and quick from the jump. Novelists Shane and Eva meet at a book event in New York fifteen years after a brief but dramatic and emotionally vulnerable affair as teenagers. Now a single mother with debilitating migraines, Eva is cautious to rekindle any sort of relationship that could throw off the stability she’s created as an adult as she and Shane cautiously get to know each other again. Worth reading just for the dialogue between Eva and her best friends, but also a fully captivating book I breezed through during a flight and layover.

🥦 Tali Sauce: Most Portlanders know The Whole Bowl as a chain that thrives on being an antidote to decision fatigue—the only thing on the menu is a rice bowl that includes black beans, avocado, cheese, and something called “Tali sauce.” The vegan sauce has something of a cult-following for its garlicky bite that’s so addictive a friend of mine calls it “the best dish in Portland,” only half joking. Luckily, this knock-off is so easy to make at home, and kept me well fed during a hectic pre-travel week.