Protect Your Dreams And Your Potential For Greatness From Your Stomach

and your flitting attention

Hello and a good Sunday to you!

This month I was so lucky to spend a stretch of days visiting my mom. In addition to catching up and reminiscing, (my mom: So how did you actually spend your time in London for that study abroad program? Me: ) I was able to work for long blocks because she was preparing all our food and delivering snacks and meals to me, her newly and happily regressed baby bird. I ate to my heart’s content and stayed focused on music.

Back home and an adult bird again, I’ve conducted an audit of my regular routine and concluded that I need to protect my work days from both my stomach and my meandering attention. I’m spending this Sunday bulk cooking, so that I might not interrupt my week day writing, tracking, editing, and thinking for too long with my maddeningly peckish ways. I love food and cooking and am easily excited and distracted by both. The main problem is not really the steady hunger, it is that every time I get up to forage for a bite, I am incredibly willing to start roasting potatoes or some such, and that is the end of the song building.

Below are a few snacks and lunches (quick to make, quick to consume) I plan to lean on during the work week so that I can keep my eyes on my album prize. The less time I take to prepare something, the less chance of me losing loads more time puttering around the kitchen forgetting what my job is.

• Stock, soup,grains (rice, quinoa, farro, etc) and greens to be prepared ahead every Sunday, ideally. This is my first Sunday doing this.

• Grains can also be made every morning in rice cooker, so you (I) can keep it warm in the cooker and eliminate re-heating time, and also the glorious aroma of rice cooking fills the house and I (and perhaps you) can be reminded of my childhood.

-I keep a pot of vegetable stock on the stove and then stir in miso per soup bowl. I don’t put anything in it so I don’t have to spend time chewing. When I’m standing around chewing at the kitchen counter, my mind wanders and the next thing I know I’m sorting through the freezer or on that damn instagram.

-Roasted squash soup- made with that same veggie stock, very finely blended for minimal chewing. Because I am so efficient/ lazy, I keep the soup in the blender, and to heat it up I just crank the blender for about 15 seconds, no transfer to microwave necessary! *Not recommended for shared work spaces, unless you time it really well.

For a bit later in the morning/ afternoon when I admit that I crave chewing:

--Oatmeal with coconut milk, cinnamon, goji berries and peanut butter swirled in. (Eaten straight out of the little sauce pan)

-Toasted sunflower seeds, walnuts, and cashews. I sprinkle lemon juice on them and then salt them, the lemon juice acts as an oil substitute and the salt stays on. (I only learned about this a couple months ago. If you want to know how humdrum song writing can be, just know this discovery was the highlight of that week.)

-Quinoa with tahini and ume vinegar and arugula. (I keep spinach and arugula rinsed and ready because if I have to rinse the greens on the spot, then I have to take that rinse water out into the garden and then I’m weeding and there goes the Grammy)

-Potato chips

-Scrambeled eggs and tofu with kale tacos. Tortillas heated directly over the open stove flame. Tacos eaten directly over the stove.

-Rice with kimchi and greens

*Note: all the above thrive/do perfectly well just sitting out for hours, because the muse certainly does not wait for food safety nor matching tupperware lids.

Please share your work day snack hacks in the comments section!

Cannot WAIT to talk about work week dinners.

my best,

t