This year I gave birth to my first child, so this list will be pretty pregnancy- and baby-focused. Sorry not sorry. (Are people still saying that?)
READING
I’m currently reading “First Bite: How We Learn to Eat“ by Bee Wilson about how to shape food tastes and create a better eating environment for babies. Because my baby best be a good eater (and not like me who only ate pancakes, peanut butter, potato chips and pickles; I had a “p” problem).
Those 4 a.m. feeds were honestly not all that terrible when I was reading about a mom who has all the feelings, like all the crazy mom feelings. You know. Read “After Birth” by Elisa Albert. And, this story about food writer and mom Angel Garbes‘ exploration and fascination with breast milk is something everyone should read, not just food writer moms. Fine. I couldn’t have identified more with this piece, especially since it published the day before my daughter was born.
The plight of children and their families crossing into the United States in The New Yorker still haunts me.
Basically anything by John DeVore and Ann Friedman (sign up for her newsletter!).
I went to Tulum last year and flipping through “Hartwood” (my friend and I ate there twice!) brings me warm, sunny, beachy tingles.
Don’t waste a thing. I thank “The CSA Cookbook” by Linda Ly (interview) for teaching me about kale stem pesto and chard stalk hummus.
LISTENING
Alec Baldwin has small talk down and asks pretty great questions, but he inserts himself too much into his interviews. But really, I just want to hear his voice on “Here’s the Thing.”
I listened to the “The Longest Shortest Time” when I was pregnant to try to prepare for what would happen when I finally squeezed this thing out of my uterus. Of course now that she’s alive, the podcast is taking a break. I’m ready for the relaunch.
I listened to Leon Bridges on repeat all year.
Obama on “WTF with Marc Maron.” But really, Obama singing “Amazing Grace” was truly a beautiful moment for the country. I still cry.
On maternity leave I missed using my brain. I lived vicariously through newswoman Gabrielle Union and her producer Lisa Vida (“What’s the ANGLE MJ?!”) on “Being Mary Jane.“ (The first season is on Netflix.)
FOLLOWING
Instagram: I don’t know who Kelly Oxford is or why she’s a thing, but I’m kind of obsessed with her feed. Watercolors can be very moody via Bianca Bello. There are a lot of hot guys with beautiful clothes from GQ‘s #wtwt posts. I actually know Pari, this glamorous woman, IRL. I also know who makes these gorgeous Nour Hammour leather jackets.
DOING
When I couldn’t figure out how to get my daughter to stop crying, we’d walk outside and then stroll through our neighborhood art gallery, Del Ray Artisans. (And when I say stroll I don’t mean I’d push her in the stroller. She hated her stroller. I had to carry her.) Other than that, I ate, slept and complained about my aching pregnancy body this year.
EATING (not at restaurants)
I like Bonne Maman jams just fine, but I really buy it for the glass jars that I reuse for everything. I recommend coffee made from Bialetti Moka Express. At my house we use Maya Kaimal naan chips to scoop up hummus, or anything really. The cave-aged cheese from Tom’s Amish Dairy Products (found at the Four Mile Run and Del Ray farmers markets) doesn’t need a cracker. In my quest to not eat too many runny yolks while pregnant, I tried to perfect the “framble.” Like everyone else, I have a yogurt problem. I’m into Noosa right now. And like Kim Kardashian, I ate my placenta (in pill form and chopped up and blended into a smoothie), though I’m not qualified to recommend it.
