So sorry that I missed you last week. I caught some kind of bug that was going around and was SO sick. Please be careful out there! After a week of toast and oatmeal, it’s nice to be back eating vegetables and foods with seasoning :)

And welcome to the final edition of our weekend catch up for 2025! I’m taking some time off over the next couple weeks, but also tending to some little tasks that have piled up on the back end of the site. I’m hoping for mild weather over the holiday so that we can have plenty of nice walks. Other than that, lots of family time, cooking, baking, gym time, baths, board games, and reading.

Thanks so much for hanging with me this year! It’s never lost on me how lucky I am to share creative work and inspiration with you week in and week out. Sending wishes for all things calm and bright over the holidays and into the new year.

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. A Radical New Proposal For How Mind Emerges From Matter via Noēma Mag
2. This life gives you nothing via Blackbird Spyplane on Substack
3. 2025 Word of the Year: Slop via Merriam Webster
4. ‘Tis the Season to Open Yourself to New Ways of Seeing via Lion’s Roar
5. The Happiest Man in Music via The Atlantic (non-paywalled)

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. Fallout , Emily In Paris and RHOBH are back! I am extremely busy lol.
2. Shopping for hojicha powder after having a delicious hojicha latte at a local spot recently. It’s prepared like matcha and is also green tea-based, but is much lower in caffeine and has a pleasant caramelized/nutty/sometimes chocolaty flavor.
3. Listening to a lot of Andrew Aged and Dylan Day lately.
4. This episode of the Rich Roll podcast: Rutger Bregman on Moral Ambition
5. If you didn’t already know: infinite scroll = bad!!!!

5 Questions:

1. What food trends are you hoping to see go away in 2026?
   Food trends come and go and I’m generally fine with that! When there’s confusing health-related information that goes along with the trends… I find that a bit icky and predatory sometimes. Mostly I just hope that people will start coming around to plant-based foods again like they were in 2015/16. And not just for selfish reasons! Everything just seems so animal-heavy in the feed lately. I see influencers posting about how bad vegetables are for you regularly now. Like what?! Since when?!!!
2. What kind of no-screen activities are you doing in the evening that don’t interfere with sleep?
   Reading from a book or e-reader, puzzles, laundry/other household stuff, and baths!
3. Do you have a Christmas morning breakfast tradition?
   Cinnamon rolls or French toast! And I always buy orange juice as a treat this time of year. I also just like to have a lot of different fruit around for pretty fruit plates over the holidays.
4. What’s a recipe that you’ve just never been able to crack?
   It’s bran muffins my a mile. I have this idea of what I want it to be texturally and flavor-wise, but it’s been so hard to get there. The bran is SO overpowering, so it’s hard to combine with other flavors. I am making progress though!
5. Do you set new year’s resolutions?
   Not really, but I do want to nail that bran muffin recipe and finally do an unassisted pull up in 2026! I used to do a lot of reflection and goal-setting around the new year, but I’m really just trying to let things flow lately. I am happier because of it!
   

5 Seasonal Recipes:

1. Quick Vegan Noodle Stir Fry with Gochujang Sauce
2. Smoky and Spicy White Bean Stew with Potatoes & Kale
3. Hearty Mushroom & Beet Bolognese
4. Sweet Potato Radicchio Salad with Roasted Shallot Dressing & Candied Pumpkin Seeds
5. Almond Butter Hot Chocolate