Up To Speed
the latest key ingredients: a podcast I'm loving, Italy's Abruzzo Region, and a grilled tenderloin tips salad.
Kennebunk Beach, Maine on 2.24.2024. I will share the inside scoop on this getaway next week.
There are a lot of links here today!
With an abundance of everything — we can’t watch, listen, read, or do: it all. Seeking out key ingredients can help discern what is going to nourish us along the way.
xx | so happy to have you all here,
Kristen
🍽️🥩🥗 // EAT //
Looking for stylized photos with bits and pieces of ingredients placed just so as to look haphazard yet pretty over and around the dish du jour? And a recipe to go with it? Not the place. Looking for real life snapshots of dinner (that have been fussed over approximately zero to one time) and a little inspiration for your kitchen every once in awhile? The place.
A Grilled Tenderloin Tips Salad. (I probably could have fussed with the salad presentation here instead of just plopping the meat on there like a hunk of…wait. Meat.)
Secrets to a good one
very good tenderloin tips. IYKYK (locals)
roasted fingerling potatoes. after roasting until fork tender and crispy add them right in there with the rest of the fixins: lettuce, yellow pepper, cherry tomato, avocado and
radicchio. get that bitter radicchio in there!! so good.
I served with a creamy balsamic vinaigrette. Use whatever dressing makes your skirt fly up!
Seared Scallops with Warm Tuscan Beans + Spinach
If you want this recipe, which is one I have printed from ages ago, comment or respond via email and it too shall be yours!
Secret to achieving the perfect sear on sea scallops:
olive oil and heat up your pan first. Then do not move them around. Let ‘em sit, let ‘em sear.
📺 // WATCH //
When I am all in on a TV show the book on my nightstand is often neglected. I’ve watched a couple episodes of Succession tonight and now it’s time for bed! Truer when my husband and I are into a show together — we’re going to hunker down on the couch for the rest of the evening. With S U C C E S S that’s the way we spell SUCCESS(SION), I am reluctantly entertained by the horribleness of these humans, the awfulness of their relationships, and their exorbitant wealth. The show is at times hard to watch and yet I am still….watching. I find myself howling at outrageous lines (solid writing) and punchy deliveries (great acting). An adult tantrum or horrendous offense is just around the corner.
WAKE ME UP ON JUDGEMENT DAY. This is for Con, Ken, Shiv and Roman Roy. Tom Wambsgans. Cousin Greg. Logan Roy. This is for all the characters. (This is actually a nice song.) And I do kind of like them. Sometimes I am rooting for them! I am invested in how their stories play out.
Are you late to the party if you’re not up and up with Love is Blind? I was first to arrive, a devout fan since season 1 began. I missed and so far decided to skip entirely season 5. Perhaps I was reading something good — balancing a solid book over TV was my tonic of choice. For Season 6: I came back to party, it’s a wild one, and it seems like everyone is here now!
This post LIB: Ranked from Worst to Best Coworker was too funny/accurate by
.If I am not watching TV on a particular evening, I might head up to bed early and read more of
’s memoir — Pathological: The True Story of Six Misdiagnoses. It is urgently fascinating and I’ll let you know once I’ve finished.📚☑️ // READ //
Happy Place by Emily Henry was the last book I read. It started out slow and murky. I was struggling to build a connection with the characters, was not invested in these six friends or their happy place. The slow burn engulfs to a full flame about 40 — 60 % of the way through. I read faster the latter half, ultimately enjoying the plot and embracing the characters. The way Emily writes, she has a distinctness, she gets at life, she gets at the mundane and at the heartstrings.
🎧 LISTEN // 🎙️ PODCAST
I am listening to a podcast on my daily walk, on the elliptical, in the shower, (anyone doing renovations: get a Bluetooth speaker fan).
The MNO pod drops a new episode every Wednesday. This season the ladies of Moms Night Out have been treating us to a series of interviews with accomplished entrepreneurs and they are ALL SO GOOD! A few of my favorites:
Fashion Designer/Creative Director Gina Esposito of Nu Swim + Tangerine.
When they are not sitting down with a power player, episodes like Dads Night Out (Husbands Takeover) will keep you entertained, while Playing to Win — Youth Sports is sure to enlighten.
Follow MNO on Instagram — their content is relevant, sharp, moving and funny.
🌏✈️ TRAVEL INSPIRATION
Substack travel writers I’m enjoying:
by // You Only Live Once — highly into this play and all the fancy travel content to follow. by // Laura’s article on Why You Should Plan A Trip to Abruzzo had me reminiscing on our own adventures there.
Gran Sasso National Park in Assergi — As we sipped a cappuccino at the peaks alpine bar, it felt so surreal being up here. It was obvious we had stumbled upon another dimension of the country. This is not the Italy of your fellow tourists.
Ortona dei Marsi — Nestled in the lush mountainside, made of stone and steeped in time, this is the magical place where Bob's maternal grandparents are from.
Towns tucked into lovely corners of L’Aquila, Abruzzo show us a remarkably different part of Italian life! (L’Aquila = province), (Abruzzo = region).
🧹HOUSEKEEPING
I kicked off my C A P E 🐟 C O D 🦪Travel Guides by Town🦞 with Provincetown and followed up with Wellfleet. I am mulling over publishing these on a separate day of the week to streamline content. The debate is do I have enough time/engagement/writing for those in addition to every Thursday?!?
[I think consistency is key as you try and grow your audience, but I’m not trying to force it / overwhelm either.]
A piece of advice I like to remind myself in times of ⬆️ “no one is thinking about your newsletter as much as you are.”
Amen.
If you are enjoying my newsletter ~ Please like❤️ and share! If each of you forwarded this (or any archived post that moved you!) to one or two people you think might benefit from a subscription — spouse, friend, babysitter, neighbor, in-laws, I would be ever so grateful. Thank you for choosing to be a part of this space and for reading!!
I should rewatch Succession, apparently it's still good (/even better..?) watching it a second time!
Thanks for the shout out! Abruzzo is definitely a special place.