march faves round-up

lovin' it #1: how it's april already, I have no idea, but here we are.

Time is a social construct, but damn is it whizzing by lately. I spent a majority of March attempting to unplug and enjoy the nowness of life. A lot of energy goes into working, and worrying about work that too often we forget to just enjoy the little things.

I keep a running tab of all the simple pleasures in life that bring me absolute joy. This months include:

• Clouds, the fluffy ones that you can find shapes in

• A warm stack of paper fresh from the printer

• Cracking the spine on a new book

• The way a bookstore smells

• When you’re eating an un-toasted sandwich on white bread and the bread sticks to the roof of your mouth

• Going for a walk through the neighborhood and happening upon a chalk draw hopscotch and jumping through it before continuing on

• Almost daily hour long phone calls with Jenna

• When the flower market graces me with the best selection of spring florals so I get to make the most ethereal cakes!!

  

  So, I’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on living in the moment, spending less time on social media, and reconnecting with the people I love most. Which is one of the nice things about working for yourself- I’m in a position where I can shift my workload to be able to focus on what’s important to me. It’s something I’m incredibly grateful for so I thank you for the support, be it buying a cake or pastry box or just following along with this newsletter. It’s actually pretty difficult to put my gratitude into words but thank you for being here♡

Anywhoooo, here’s a little round up of all the things I was diggin’ (and borderline obsessed with) during the month of March:

Seed & Mill Halvas

I’m a huge fan of halva, especially the cardamom and dark choc coconut varieties from Seed + Mill. Cardamom and sesame are a flavor match made in heaven- tbh cardamom and anything is delightful. With the choc coconut variation I love the contrast in textures between the halva and the toasted coconut topping. I plan on making Molly Baz’s Pistachio Halva Cookies eventually… and I think the tart cherry halva could be a nice flavor addition to the cookie :-)

Pre-Seasoned Meats lmfao

I suffer big time from decision fatigue when it comes to cooking for myself- truthfully in reality I suffer from it in all aspects of my life. After working all-day the last thing I want to think about is how to season a chicken breast (yes, salt and pepper is the simplest approach but that’s BORING). These target good and gather chicken breasts are a current fave. The less I have to thing about dinner the better. So often I’ll buy meats with intention of making something great, and the ultimately go to waste- which infuriates me for a multitude of reasons. I know buying these meats is pricier than just seasoning my own but the alternative is ACTUALLY more expensive for me. Because I’ll sit here contemplating a meal, get too in my head about how much time that’ll take to execute and end up ordering something on doordash instead. Prefab beef is the way to go for me.

Los Angeles Central Library

Y’all stay sleepin’ on public libraries tbh. When I need to get admin work done and reply to a million emails I’d much rather set up shop in a library over a coffee shop. It’s essentially mandatory quiet time with far less distractions and no obligation to spend money to take up space. Which don’t get me wrong- love a local coffee shop for a quick coffee date with a friend, hate taking up a table for 4 hours when I finished my coffee 3.5 hours ago. Anyways, if you haven’t been to the LA central library downtown, I highly recommend checking it out. It’s massive; the 3rd largest public library in the US!!! It’s got 5 stories of books and each floor is dedicated to different subjects- you can find cookbooks in the science section btw. I’ve been spending a ton of time here, looking through vintage recipes. It’s kinda… got me inspired to maybe start thinking about a cookbook?? maybe? just thinking…

My nightly turmeric latte (haldi doohd)

The idea of drinking warm milk before bed to me is honestly psychotic but add delicious warming spices to it? yes, please! For a while I was using the Diaspora Co Haldi Doohd spice blend for this but it’s been sold out from quite sometime. While I wait for it to come back in stock I just grabbed all the separate spices to add to my milk. I’ll sip on it while I journal and start to decompress for bed and the warmth helps to lull me into a very relaxed state, which has overall led to better sleep.

Here’s what I’m throwing in the pot at night:

• 345 grams fairlife milk (it’s lactose free and i’m not trying to have a tummy ache before bed)

• 5/6 crushed cardamom pods

• 1 tablespoon turmeric powder

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (sometimes i’ll use a nub of fresh grated ginger if i’ve got it on hand)

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• a shake of ground cloves

• 1-2 tablespoons honey

• a couple of cracks of fresh cracked pepper

1. Heat the milk with the cardamom pods for 15 minutes over gentle heat. I’ll usually wash up my last round of dishes while this infuses.

2. Once that’s infused and warm stir in the other ingredients.

3. Strain in to mug and enjoy!!

GEM multivitamin bites

The brand reached out to send me these as a gift. I’m not one to turn down a freebie. I ended up being pleasantly surprised by them. I will not attest to their health benefits buuut the citrus ginger bits were delicious and kinda just a nice little treat? I was not a fan of the chocolate cherry sleep bites- something in the flavor didn’t sit right with me. So at night in their place I would eat one of the chocolate banana calm bites. I will say the nights I finished with the turmeric latte and calm bite, I would wake up the next day covered in drool and absolutely so well rested.

Acid League anything

Spring + summer = jam making season. Jam making calls for acid to balance the ph of the jam (as well as the flavor). Right now, I’m loving adding the meyer lemon or strawberry rose vinegars to jams over just lemon juice. The pink peppercorn yuzu vinaigrette is quite tasty and I’ve been running through bottles like its water!

What were your favorite things during the month of March? Was there anything you tried out on a whim that you fell in love with?

Before I leave ya, here’s my March round-up playlist to get you in the mood to conquer April ♡ These are the songs I had on repeat during the month, some are new discoveries, others are rediscovering songs I forgot existed! What were some of your favorite songs this month?