Other than my new identity as a war history buff, shown by my love for The Rest is History, the podcasts I listen to are of the “light and fun” variety: modern etiquette, self-care, books – classic, contemporary, and Sweet Valley High – and my very favourite genre, two middle-aged women talking about life. I am completely uninterested in listening to anything heavy, upsetting, or depressing, other than, again, war history. What can I say, I contain multitudes. The last thing I want in a podcast is an evaluation of the US political situation, and so I never listen to the Ezra Klein Show, unless my friend SHU – who has her own delightful podcast, HI SHU – mentions one of his non-political episodes. The most recent one she mentioned featured the writer of the upcoming The Sensualist, a book of essays detailing the author’s love of pleasure. He talked about how life these days is geared towards efficiency and optimization, rather than the pursuit of pleasure and joy, and something pinged in me.
Two great, everyday pleasures in my life are eating and getting dressed. I recognise that the former can be fraught, especially for women; there is a lot of guilt and shame associated with pleasurable food, and I have devoted this, the second half of my life, to eliminating those feelings both in myself and others. What could be more boring and depressing than thinking constantly about optimising our diets, about macros and counting protein grams and shunning delicious things like dessert or wine? I refuse. This is not to say I’ve devolved into total hedonism with no thought to my physical health, on the contrary, I eat to nourish my body and my soul. I strongly believe that restriction leads to obsession, and that life needs to be worth living, and so indulging in joyful deliciousness is part of my life.
As for the latter, it’s no secret I love clothes. Sometimes I think of myself as one of my own childhood paper dolls, that I get to dress every single day, usually multiple times a day. I have curated my closet such that everything in it makes me happy and feel beautiful, and if it doesn’t, out it goes. I have no time left on this mortal coil to feel bad in my clothes.
And so this week I have combined my dear friend Suzanne’s Dinners This Week with Kae’s Daily Outfits (HI SUZANNE HI KAE), for Fashion and Food!
Every Day
On yet another podcast, author Elin Hildebrand described herself as “reliable and consistent,” and girl, same. Whatever I lack in other areas, I make up for in reliability and consistency; if I say I am going to do something, I will, and also, you could set a watch by my morning routine. I start, post-coffee, with my yoga practice, followed by my strength and cardio workout, and for that I wear one of my many, many Lululemon Tri-Y tops that I have amassed over the past nineteen years of daily yoga practice.
What can I say, they don’t wear out. I pair it with Lululemon cropped leggings. Every single day, for the past nineteen years.
I am a sweaty gal, so after that I need to change into a different outfit for my long Rex walk and my gardening session. At this time of year, that means a short-sleeved or sleeveless tee with a fresh pair of cropped leggings.
I wake up at 4:30, and I finish gardening around 10:30, so those two outfits get me through a large chunk of the day.
Sunday
It was Father’s Day, and my husband celebrated by grilling his own damn steak. He and the boys enjoyed that, along with roasted sweet potatoes and asparagus and fresh-from-the-garden kale Caesar that I made.
I always make a special dessert on Sunday, so I made my husband’s favourite: a frozen strawberry daiquiri pie with homemade magic shell.
I wore an outfit entirely from Mark’s, of “Work Wearhouse” fame. They are so much more than steel toed boots and hard hats, people! They also have my favourite Silver jeans and simple tees.
Also, I’m still wearing the ugly house sandals, which have been keeping my plantar fasciitis at bay.
Monday
Another outfit from Mark’s – they should sponsor me – and it’s perfect for a warm summer’s day.
My writing group meets on Mondays at 5:30, so we have a dinner that I prep earlier and can cook quickly, which almost always means stir-fry. This one includes tofu, cashews, and cilantro from the garden.
Tuesday
This is the hot weather uniform: a Lululemon skort and a tank top, this one from, again, Mark’s. Longtime readers will remember I had surgery on my varicose veins in 2011, and then, to the surprise of everyone, I started developing new ones several years ago. That’s very unusual, my doctor said. At one point in my life I would have been self-conscious about them, but now I’m all Get a good peek, city boy?
It was Big Fun Salad night, using Romaine and raspberries from the garden, plus homemade crusty bread.
Wednesday
I know for a fact I have had this outfit since at least 2015, if not earlier. Another Lulu skort – love them – and an Old Navy tank. I know we are all against fast fashion, and we should be wary of the environmental impacts of the textile industry, but I have no regrets about a tank that has lasted over 11 years.
Dinner was build-your-own pasta salad, in which I set out a variety of veggies and everyone can add what they like, including our first zucchini of the season. IT BEGINS.
Thursday
Another hot day, another Lulu skort, this one paired with a ruffly tank that I bought at Jacob, which went defunct in 2015, so I cannot even guess at its age. Also, oh happy day, Rex got groomed! He stayed clean for 35 minutes before going rolling and coming back covered in dust, with a tail full of dead grass and bits of spear grass in his face and ears.
Dinner was black bean soft tacos with garden lettuce and a vegan chipotle sauce I make.
Friday
Friday we had cooler weather and, thankfully, a bit of rain, so I wore another pair of Silver crops – Mark’s! – along with a Lulu tank under an Old Navy tee. The latter two I think of as “new” but I believe I bought them when I was teaching yoga in 2017.
Friday is my favourite day of the week, so I celebrate with my favourite dinner: Greek salad with pita and hummus. And wine! This Riesling from Tantalus has a 94 rating!
Saturday
This was a very unusual day because not only did I go out for lunch with my friend Sandi (HI SANDI), but I also went out for dinner with my husband! This never happens! But my son has a houseguest this weekend and they went out, so my husband and I went to the pub; I had a veggie burger and salad, with yam fries and happy hour wine.
I wore Lululemon City Sleek crops, a tee from the Gap, and a silk scarf from Cambodia.
It was a fun way to cap off a week of yumminess.
Weekly Reading
It’s Buzzy Book Week in the Boyhouse! Let’s see how the buzzy books of the summer stacked up.
Lake Effect. For very personal reasons, the last part of this book was extremely upsetting and triggering to me, such that I had to steel myself to finish the book. That is not the book’s fault, in fact, it is a testament to the story that I wanted to push through to finish, because up until that point I really loved it. It’s a story of two unhappy marriages that get blown apart by an affair, and that affair has ripple effects throughout the connected families and the community. It’s a really interesting examination of choices and their consequences, how secrets can be devastating, and, ultimately, the power of forgiveness. There is also a heavy “food is a love language” theme which really resonated with me. Like I said the end part was extremely hard for me but I hope it is not hard for you.
Yesteryear. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate time travel as a literary device, and so I was a bit wary to pick up this, arguably the Book of the Summer, in which a tradwife influencer wakes up one morning to find herself living in the year 1855. Without spoiling anything, I will say that the “time travel” component was more original, creative, and, frankly, weird than anything I’ve read before. This debut author received an enormous book deal, and the film rights have already been snapped up for a huge financial number, and I can really see why: this story would be perfect as a film. As a statement and societal commentary, this is very sharp and smart, not surprising considering the author is an acclaimed and serious podcaster. As a literary experience, I found it a bit too on the nose and unbelievable to really become immersed. I also had a few quibbles with some editorial oversights – such as “her sewing needles clicked as she knitted,” a character is referred to as an “old maid” when she’s 30 and has five children – but these are small things. I found the story of the influencer’s journey to be the most interesting, and conceptually this book is a real allegory about social media, appearances, and extremist views about the evils of the world we live in. All in all I enjoyed the ride and I congratulate the author on her huge success.
It feels great to be back in the swing of things around here. I will be back with my vacation reading list later this week, and in the meantime, take care of yourselves, friends. xo
