Good morning!
It’s Sunday, which means it’s reset day. Take a few minutes and reset yourself for the upcoming week with me. That just means thinking back on the last week and doing things today that will get you ready for the upcoming week.
Before we start, I have a question for you. Would it appeal to you if I live streamed for body doubling? Body doubling, if you’ve never heard of it, is basically having someone in your space while you work. They’re doing their thing, you’re doing yours.
This might look like someone coming over to your house and reading a book while you clean. Or getting together with a writer friend and both of you writing at the same time. It’s a pretty common strategy or people who have ADHD and I find it extraordinarily useful.
I was thinking about experimenting with going live on TikTok and just writing. Or even doing some housework. You could log on and do whatever you need to get done at the same time. Maybe with the pomodoro method (20 minutes work, 5 minute break—repeat as needed.)
Reply to this post and let me know if you’d be into that.
Last Week’s Review
I’m pretty proud of myself. My learning projects for 2024 is knitting—and I knitted something. It’s not very much, basically just a big square. But it’s something. And I feel like it gave me a good handle on knitting and purling. Go me!
It’s not perfect. I used a variegated yarn—so it just made stripes—that started with orange. There are a couple of holes where I did something wrong. Dropped a stitch? I don’t know. The stripes themselves look a little striped because I switched between knit and purl a few times so I could practice both. I also dropped the stitches at the end of each row to make a neat edge—but somehow messed that up and ended up with a couple of rows that had loose ends where a tug would unravel the whole thing. I didn’t know what else to do, so I just crocheted around the edge with yellow.
What will I do with a knitted rectangle? No idea. Maybe see if I can make it into the front of a tote bag?
I also have a project for 2024 that involves doing one small DIY project in my house every week. This week I refreshed my kitchen plant window. I put a video on Tiktok of the first half. The second half will be up later today. Follow me so that you don’t miss the reveal. I was really pleased with how it turned out after I painted the shelves and everything.
We’re three weeks into our vegan experiment. It’s turning out to be about 95% vegan, I guess. We ate tuna this week. I’m not sure how closely we’ll stick to being vegan/vegetarian/pescatarian—but right now it feels like a no-brainer to continue. Kevin and I both feel really good. Better than we have in years.
I think I’m going to try adding in some low or no lactose dairy in February. Homemade yogurt is nearly lactose free if you let it ferment long enough. And hard, aged cheese is also either lactose free or close to it. Some extra sharp cheddar actually says ‘no lactose’ on the back of the package.
I made some burgers out of mushrooms and garbanzo beans this week that were delicious. I’m learning that the key is to get the seasoning and texture or mouth-feel right if you want food that resembles something else (like a veggie-burger) to be satisfying.
Here’s that recipe. It’s pretty simple. It made me think a little of stuffing. If you’re not vegan and wanted to add an egg, I think it would firm up the texture in a nice way.
2 cups of mushrooms (I used oyster and porta bella), chopped very fine
1 red onion, chopped very fine
Garlic (I like a lot of it, but as much as you’d like)
Salt, pepper, steak seasoning
1 can of garbanzo beans, drained
1/4 cup flour
Olive oil
All you do is sauté the mushrooms and onions and seasonings in the oil until everything is caramelized and soft. Don’t be shy with the seasonings, they are going to have to flavor the beans as well. Meanwhile, mush up the beans in a bowl. I ended up using my fingers for this. You want them to be pretty mashed up, the consistency will be almost like a dough.
Add the mushroom mixture to the beans and mix well. Add the flour and mix again. If you wanted to add an egg, this is the time. If you skip the flour, it will still taste good, but the texture will be very soft even after you sauté them. Like spreadable soft. So, not bad, just not really a burger texture. I think an egg would firm them up even more.
Form four patties and sauté them in oil for three or four minutes each side over medium-high heat.
Serve them like you would a hamburger—on a bun with lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, or whatever you like on a burger.
I had a pretty standard week as far as work goes. I’m still refining my editorial calendar in an effort to give myself a break this year. At first I thought that meant that I’m not doing as much as I’m used to, but I realized this week that isn’t really true.
I’m doing the same. I’m just not expecting more than that. It’s a little weird, but it’s okay. We’ll see how the next few weeks go.
This Week’s Reset
Here’s what’s on my reset agenda for today:
Set up my planners and notebooks for next week.
Finish my plant window. I just need to replant a couple of things and I’m done.
I’m going to the thrift store with my brother today—he’s going through his first real winter and realized he needs more cold-weather clothes. Lucky for him, his big sister is the thrifting queen!
We’re going to have give a ten-day no-spend a try for the rest of the month, so I’m going to make a meal plan today based on what we already have in the house.
With that in mind, I’m going to get some no-knead bread started tonight. It’s really, really easy and delicious. I don’t know why I don’t do this every week, honestly.
Sunday is usually soup day around here—to use up any left over veggies. I think I might actually make vegetarian chili tonight. Maybe over baked potatoes? Yum.
Get my workspace refreshed for the new week.
I’m still reading Babel by R.F. Kuang. I ended up knitting last week during some of the time when I would have been reading.
That’s it for me. How will you reset your week today? Sometimes just writing it down makes it real enough to actually happen.
Love,
Shaunta
Mighty fine square. Close to your Logo colors? Thanks for the recipe. Reminds me of Irish soda bread. Have to check if the Dutch oven fits in RV stove 🤔Yummy.
I am actually working on my goals, starting a comics class on autobiography and another class on how to use my ipad and the procreate software. I'm writing every morning for an hour, but not always on my autobiography. I ordered a bareback pad fro y horse, but need to exchange it.(not as pictured) and I think about my house projects but need to actually do something in the physical world to make it happen. Ans I'm still folding laundry, vaccuuing, and shining my sink! Thank you Shaunta. I can't tell you enough how you have given me hope and direction. Super Hugs to you this week.