Sunday Edition: A Meal Prep Strategy That Actually Works for Real Life

And a soft launch...

The Sunday Edition is Tuesday’s little sister—off-the-cuff updates I’d bring up over a coffee catch-up with a friend.

Last week was among the most productive and creatively generative weeks I’ve had in a looong time. I finished a rough outline for the book I’m working on, jumped back into running and training, mapped-out my entire Canada trip (leaving at the end of next week!), and began to scaffold a new editorial strategy. More to come, since I’d love to get your take!

Van Life

To reorient myself with the van, I went camping this weekend in Nehalem Bay (with someone I’ve been seeing!), one of my favorite places a two-hour drive from Portland. Read on for:

• A meal-planning strategy for a tenish-minute chicken bowl

• Recs from the week, including a book I’ve been dying to tell you about for months

• A tip for falling in love with the items already in your closet

• Some favorite reads from this week

As always, never any affiliate links just genuine recs!

1. “Landman” on Paramount+. Though it leans heavily on overwritten speeches (my issue with Taylor Sheridan’s earlier project, “Yellowstone”) and caricatures of people (the overtly sexy daughter, and the tough Texas dad), I can see this show becoming a guilty pleasure. The foreshadowing isn’t subtle but the storyline is intriguing enough.

2. Whidbey by T. Kira Madden. I’ve been dying to tell you about this novel, out this week, which uniquely alternates between two gripping, twisty perspectives. In one, Birdie has escaped to a small island of the coast of Washington for a much-needed retreat from her past and the man who sexually assaulted her as a child. When he is found murdered, we see his mother’s side—mourning her son and determined to find his murderer.

3. Ballerina Farm Chocolate-Coconut-Almond Protein Powder. [Written from the bottom of a strawberry protein powder sink hole.] You guys, they got me. I tried to resist the siren song of cute packaging, I really did, but could not hold out any longer when I saw this flavor of protein powder, and it is, I’m sorry to report, extremely delicious. I’ve been mixing it into yogurt (it does not, unfortunately, blend smoothly into a warm beverage), and cannot get enough of it. Do I need to try the bone broth hot chocolate next?? Also if you aren’t following Jo Piazza’s coverage of Ballerina Farm, I highly suggest you go subscribe to Over the Influence. She is one of my favorite writers on Substack. Her newsletters are thoughtful and reflective, and make me laugh out loud 100% of the time. Her latest book The Parisian Heist is also available for presale!

P.S. I’ve moved my weekly recommendations to “Sunday Edition,” and expanded them beyond just newly released media, because I found that I was watching and reading things just to generate the recs. Instead, I want them to be more organic, to better reflect what I’m actually consuming and enjoying each week. Let me know your thoughts! x