Welcome to the June 2026 version of RPL at House, the place I share what I’m as much as after I’m not within the kitchen or in entrance of the digital camera.
Each few months, I provide you with a glimpse into what I’m engaged on, habits I’m cultivating, issues bringing me pleasure, books/TV reveals/podcasts I’m having fun with, and extra. Consider it as stream-of-consciousness blabbering meets a semi-curated checklist of suggestions meets life replace.
⛱️ What I’m engaged on in life
Most individuals get tremendous excited for summer time and make quite a lot of summer-specific plans. However for the final five-ish years, summer time has been—kind of—simply one other time of 12 months for me.
For one, the climate is fab year-round in San Diego. It’s hotter in October than in June. And whenever you look out your window on a July morning, it’s indistinguishable from a December morning (other than the angle of the solar).
Two, working an internet content material enterprise doesn’t have a “sluggish season.” During the last a few years, I’ve most likely labored about the identical quantity in summer time as I’ve in winter.
However this 12 months, I need summer time to really feel totally different. At the very least just a little bit.
I acquired a headstart on this objective by beginning June off with a wonderful trip in Europe (extra on that under!).
And for the remainder of the summer time, I’m making a low-stakes summer time pleasure checklist (I acquired this concept from the Liz Moody podcast, which I like!). It’s principally a listing of seasonally particular issues that I are finest loved in summer time.
My Summer season Pleasure Record
- Eat a chunk of stone fruit each day (cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, or my favourite, red-skinned plums).
- Do at the least one water sport. I like stand-up paddle boarding and kayaking on trip, however I’ve by no means finished it in San Diego.
- Get pleasure from an ice cream cone outdoors at the least 5 instances. My favourite spots in San Diego are Stella Jean’s and Bobboi Gelato (the dairy-free pistachio, my oh my!).
- Learn on a blanket within the park at the least 5 instances (one among my favourite actions from final summer time!)
- Host a summer-themed feast the place each dish options peak summer time produce.
👩🏽🍳 What I’m engaged on within the biz
Talking of summer time modifications, I’ve been pouring quite a lot of vitality into Meal Plans by Rainbow Plant Life recently, and I’m actually proud of the way it retains getting higher and higher!
On the recipe facet, we’ve been listening to your requests and including extra high-protein meal plans, extra lunch recipes, and extra quick-and-easy choices.
A number of which have been on repeat in our home:
- The 10-minute avocado lime bean salad. Max has been completely smashing this with tortilla chips whereas watching the World Cup, whereas I’ve been consuming it outdoors for lunch with a e book in hand (no shock there!).
- The high-protein purple lentil curry and high-protein tofu scramble, which every clock in round 30g of protein per serving.
A number of new options I’m enthusiastic about 📱
We’ve additionally been including new highly-requested options to the Meal Plans!
The massive one is Cook dinner Mode. In case you ever prepare dinner out of your cellphone, it is a main improve (no extra squinting at your display or shedding your home).
Faucet the Cook dinner Mode button in any recipe and you’ll deal with the steps one after the other, then swipe between the components checklist and directions with out scrolling up and down the web page. Professional-tip: verify off components as you go and the checklist autoscrolls to the subsequent factor it’s good to add 🤓
A number of different new options we’ve added:
- Save your personal recipe notes. Scroll to the underside of any recipe to jot down substitution concepts, tweaks, or reminders for subsequent time.
- Charge the recipes. Faucet the celebs to save lots of a score, then use the “My 5-Star Recipes” filter to tug up your favorites in a single place.
- See what you’ve already cooked. The “Recipes I’ve Made” filter finds every little thing you’ve made earlier than, so you may observe down that recipe you really liked three weeks in the past.
And a few very type phrases 💜
I’m all the time delighted after I hear from subscribers about how the plans are serving to them eat higher, lower your expenses on groceries, and even win over their non-vegan companions.
However my favourite current assessment needed to be this one, which got here by way of our suggestions type:
To whoever wrote that: don’t fear, we’re not going anyplace 😄
In case you’re not already a meal plans subscriber, you may see what all of the fuss is about with a risk-free, 7-day trial. Click on right here to get began without spending a dime!
What I’m watching, listening to, and studying
📺 Watching
Arms down the perfect present I’ve watched recently is Widow’s Bay starring Matthew Rhys. He’s been one among my favourite actors since he starred in The People — presumably my favourite collection of all time — and I’m delighted to see everyone seems to be presently obsessive about him.
He’s additionally a grasp of accents (he’s Welsh however primarily based on the roles he performs, you’d by no means know!).
Anywho, sufficient fangirling. The present is deeply humorous whereas being just a little scary. I don’t take pleasure in horror in any respect, so belief me after I say it’s solely mildly scary. Additionally, Rhys’ co-star Kate O’Flynn is a hoot and not possible to not love.
📚 Studying
Certainly one of my regrets about not with the ability to write RPL House each month is that I learn so many books within the meantime and I can’t share all of them with you… however listed below are the highlights!
A Nice Stability by Rohinton Mistry. This e book has been on my checklist for over a decade, and I’m so glad I lastly took the time to learn it. It appears like it needs to be a basic, up there with Nice Expectations and Les Misérables.
We observe 4 characters in 1975 India who come from very totally different backgrounds however discover their lives intertwined throughout the nationwide “Emergency” declared by then-Prime Minister, Indhira Gandhi. Belief me after I say these characters—their tales, their hardships, their braveness—will stick with you for years.
Life on the Coloration Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Found He Was Black by Gregory Williams. A number of weeks in the past, I learn this text a couple of not too long ago deceased professor, Gregory Williams, who grew up considering he was white however realized—on the age of 10, in 1953—he was really Black (his tan-skinned father had been passing for white for years).
I knew I wished to study extra about his story, so I purchased Williams’ memoir and browse it in simply two days. His life story is compelling and gripping and his distinctive skill to know race on this nation is eye-opening, to say the least.
3 extra books I beloved (in a single sentence)
Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. I’ll learn something Lahiri writes, and this novel is as heartbreakingly lovely as her different novels and quick story collections.
A Calamity of Noble Homes by Amira Ghenim. I like a sprawling multi-generational novel with an attention-grabbing forged of characters, significantly when it takes place in a unique nation and period (Tunisia, early-to-mid twentieth century).
Flashlight by Susan Choi. Nominated for the Booker Prize in 2025 and a lot better than the e book that gained 😏
At present studying: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mom) by Rabih Alameddine. I’m totally obsessed, 10/10 up to now.
🎧 Listening
If the second e book I discussed pursuits you (Life on the Coloration Line), you’ll most likely discover this episode of NPR’s Contemporary Air fascinating. Journalist Susan Saulny connects the dots of her household’s historical past, from the Black household she grew up with in New Orleans to her white-passing great-uncle’s household in Chicago. Right here’s a present hyperlink to the complete article.
And for the romantics, I like to recommend this current episode of Trendy Love, “Associates for 16 years. Lovers for One Evening.” I don’t need to say extra as a result of I’d give one thing away nevertheless it was lovely, humorous, and unhappy all of sudden.
Have you ever watched, learn, or listened to something nice not too long ago? Let me know within the feedback!
✈️ Enjoyable Issues
Thanks for all of your suggestions for Barcelona and Paris! We had an *unimaginable* journey, and I’m nonetheless feeling so grateful.
First cease: Barcelona.
Highlights: Falling in love with every little thing the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí designed, in addition to the broader model of Catalan Modernisme that adorns many historic buildings.
We visited Gaudí’s unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, simply days earlier than the Pope did so it was even busier than regular. Usually, my introverted, sensitive-to-loud-sounds self would run away, however the grandeur of the structure had me hooked. Additionally, noise-canceling headphones helped lots 😅
We adopted the crowds to his different well-known creations, Park Güell and Casa Batlló, each delightfully whimsical and exquisite. My solely regrets are that (1) I had extra time in Barcelona to discover all of his work and (2) I got here throughout a much less busy time (ultimately, even the noise-canceling headphones couldn’t persuade me to go to any extra vacationer websites).
The place to eat in Barcelona
Discovering vegan meals in Barcelona was really easy! Right here had been my favourite spots:
- Fronda Pasaje. We did the 5-course menu and each dish was really wonderful!
- Asante Café. Thanks to everybody who rec’d this brunch spot. The vegan Eggs Benedict was wild (picture under) and Chef Niki was so candy!
- Xavier Pellicer. Nice eating the place the main focus is greens! There have been a few dishes that had been possibly too revolutionary lol, however general it was an awesome expertise.
We then headed north alongside the coast close to Girona to rejoice our buddies’ marriage ceremony.
The marriage befell in a monastery initially constructed within the thirteenth century(!) and nestled into the Catalan hills. It was completely lovely. I like love!
Subsequent up: The Dolomites.
Once we had been initially planning our Europe journey, we knew we wished to go someplace we may hike. Our buddy couldn’t cease gushing about her journey to the Dolomites, in order that was all of the convincing we wanted.
I’ve to say, I used to be wildly underprepared for simply how attractive the Dolomites had been.
We had been nestled into the mountains with a shocking view of the jagged, white-faced Dolomites, bordered by picturesque rolling inexperienced hills and countless rows of pine bushes. The air was absurdly contemporary and the water, straight from the mountains, was SO scrumptious (sure, plain water might be scrumptious!).
Alongside the hikes, we marveled on the ethereal surroundings in addition to these attractive horses. Perhaps we marveled an excessive amount of as a result of our hike instances had been lots slower than the estimated instances we discovered on-line lol!
Lastly: Paris
Once we had been reserving our ticket, the perfect flight deal we discovered was a return flight from Paris, so we ended our journey with a number of days there! This was my third journey to Paris, and like just about everybody else on the earth, I find it irresistible a lot lol.
Having already finished most of the mainstream touristy issues on earlier visits, we primarily spent our time strolling (10 miles a day 😅) and exploring all of the charming facet streets and admiring the structure.
We employed Cédric from Paris B-sides to take us to some lesser-known areas off the overwhelmed path. He was an awesome tour information, and I extremely suggest getting in contact with him if you wish to see a unique facet of Paris from an area’s perspective
The place we ate in Paris
- Verjus. We’ve dined right here every time in Paris as a result of it’s that good! They’ve a tasting menu that may be made vegan, and their consideration to greens (and to element) is beautiful!
- Boneshaker Donuts. I do know you’re alleged to eat croissants when in Paris, however these donuts had been SO good.
- Restaurant Végé. An off-the-cuff Mediterranean spot. Liked the tchi kofta (Turkish-style chilly meatballs).
Fortunately, we left the day the scary warmth wave started. I’m considering of everybody who’s been coping with the insane warmth in Europe and hoping you’re staying protected!
Upcoming Travels – Request!
I’m going to Montreal for a ladies weekend in early September!
I’m the one vegan and there are some allergic reactions within the group, so in case you have suggestions for eating places which have nice vegan choices, I’d love to listen to them! And naturally locations to go to and issues to see 🙏🏽
That’s it for this month! Drop me a line under and let me know what you’re studying, watching, or engaged on in your personal life 🙂
