Welcome to the October 2025 version of RPL at Residence, the place I share what I’m as much as once I’m not within the kitchen or in entrance of the digicam.
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 exhibits/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.
Desk of Contents
1. Enjoyable Issues!
2. What I’m engaged on in life
3. What I’m watching, listening to, and studying
Enjoyable Issues!
The final month has been jam-packed, which is why I didn’t get round to sharing any updates till now!
🌋Hawaii recap
In September, we flew to the Large Island, Hawaii to rejoice my mother’s seventieth birthday! I hadn’t traveled with my mother in awhile, and this was Max’s first time touring together with her past quick weekend journeys, and it was SO a lot enjoyable.
Earlier than checking right into a resort on the western facet of the island with the remainder of the fam, my mother joined Max and I on our exploration of the extra rugged jap facet of the island, the place we have been fortunate sufficient to witness the Kīlauea volcano erupt. It was one of the vital surreal moments I’ve ever skilled, watching the ability of Mom Nature unfold in actual time.
We stayed within the rainforest, explored the Volcano Nationwide Park, street tripped, and stopped at lovely waterfalls, gardens, and seashores.
My mother is the other of what I might name an “outdoorsy individual” and has barely exercised a day in her life, however she stunned us together with her sense of journey and I’m so glad we obtained to spend that point together with her.
Keep tuned as a result of I’ll be sharing an in depth abstract of our journey, together with suggestions for issues to do on the Large Island, the place to remain, and what to eat.
🎥 NYC Journey!
As quickly as we obtained again from Hawaii, we hopped on one other aircraft to NYC the place I had the privilege of filming recipe movies within the New York Occasions Cooking studio!
In case you missed the announcement within the final installment of RPL at Residence, I grew to become a contributor to NYT Cooking this summer time!
We filmed 4 recipes in someday(!), which definitely wouldn’t have been potential with out the assistance of the workforce at NYT Cooking. From the videographers to the meals stylist, they made it really easy for me. All I needed to do was present up and be myself within the kitchen, which is at all times probably the most enjoyable half.
My first video on NYT Cooking’s YouTube channel might be out in mid-November (one other one coming in January). Till then, you’ll find a number of of my recipes for NYT Cooking on their app/web site, plus movies on my YouTube channel.
🎂 Double the Birthday Enjoyable!
Then, just a few days later, we celebrated my thirty eighth birthday!
I used to be fortunate sufficient that my mother had deliberate her seventieth birthday celebration (with 200+ friends!) for a similar week, so a number of of my closest family and friends have been already on the town and obtained to rejoice my birthday with me 🥰
We topped off a busy however very fulfilling season with my mother’s celebration, the place Max and I regaled the viewers with tales about my mother’s humorousness.
Oh, and in case you missed the e-mail about this replace, Max—who’s by no means baked something in his life, not even pre-made cookie dough—baked me a cake for my birthday!!!
And never simply any cake. He made the Celebration Cake from my cookbook Large Vegan Taste, and he did an A+ job. Texture: 100. Taste: 100. Happiness: 100.
🏋🏽♀️ What I’m engaged on in life
If the Oxford English Dictionary topped a health-related phrase of the previous few years, I believe it’d be energy coaching (okay, nice, that’s two phrases!).
With every month, increasingly scientific analysis continues to make clear simply how highly effective energy coaching is for total well being and getting older, particularly for ladies. And I’m happy to say I’ve lastly hopped on the bandwagon!
I’ve documented my health journey in previous editions, however as a quick recap: 4 years in the past, I used to be in a number of bodily ache due to a mix of my floppy joints, an exacerbation of outdated accidents, and lack of train. I used to be in an excessive amount of ache to train, which created a vicious cycle of getting injured often as a result of being weak = my joints get misplaced extra shortly and my outdated accidents resurface extra simply.
Two years in the past, I began to get stronger by committing to pilates a number of instances every week, which strengthened my core and hips. And this yr, I made a decision to take my energy journey to the following degree with heavy weights. Goodbye, 3 pound dumbbells!
Hear, I’m not doing something loopy like lifting and slamming heavy barbells down on the ground of a Crossfit storage. I don’t also have a gymnasium membership.
However I’ve been quietly obsessive about the at-home exercise program Evlo. Maybe one of many causes I adore it is that this system is created by bodily therapists and it’s designed particularly for ladies’s our bodies.
The emphasis is on “light consistency”: persistently energy coaching however in a means that’s light to the physique. I used to simply get injured once I tried energy coaching alone, whether or not at dwelling or at a gymnasium, and that is the primary time the place I really feel secure and grounded when lifting weights.
The one draw back is that my workplace is now turning right into a weight room, as I’m amassing extra heavy dumbbells. However I suppose it’s a small worth to pay for feeling stronger, mentally and bodily!
What I’m watching, listening to, and studying
📺 Watching
I’ve mentioned my love for spy TV exhibits prior to now, so it’s not stunning that the primary two on this checklist are simply that.
First up, season 5 of the British TV present Sluggish Horses, which is IMO probably the greatest exhibits of the previous decade. It’s a spy thriller sequence however it’s additionally actually humorous, so it scratches two itches directly. We watched the penultimate episode final evening, and I’ve been hypothesizing finale endings with Max all morning (he’s very bored with listening to me by now).
Subsequent, The Jap Gate, a Polish espionage thriller sequence. Set in 2021, it follows Ewa, a Polish spy, whereas worldwide tensions between Poland, Belarus, and Russia unfold. It’s intense and typically fairly violent, but in addition charming and stuffed with intelligent twists and turns.
I significantly love non-English TV exhibits since you have to provide them your undivided consideration; in any other case, you’ll fully miss the plot. In an age the place there are actually TV exhibits actually being dumbed down for “second display viewing,” I, for one, love a TV present that requires your full consideration.
Lastly, The Lowdown, a criminal offense drama starring Ethan Hawke. He performs a scrappy, chaotic but charming journalist who’s single-mindedly centered on uncovering the reality about corrupt, huge cash actors in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s shot artfully, has a terrific mixture of humor and intrigue, and is a delight to look at.
PS: Ethan Hawke was my neighbor for just a few years once I lived in Brooklyn, and he was at all times so good. The primary time he mentioned howdy to us, I believe I garbled in shock “uh, sure, you too.”
📚 Studying
Whereas I’ve learn a number of books since I final shared an replace, I wished to share the one which caught with me probably the most: Half of a Yellow Solar by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Adichie’s novel, now almost 20 years outdated, is an epic and heartbreaking novel that recreates a second in historical past that had lengthy been forgotten: the brutal Nigerian Civil Conflict and Biafra’s struggle for independence within the Nineteen Sixties, which resulted within the hunger of tens of millions of civilians.
I cherished this e book for 2 causes. One, it’s only a masterful novel. It options advanced characters with a page-turning plot. Two, it launched me to part of historical past I had embarrassingly by no means heard about (and sadly jogged my memory that historical past typically repeats itself).
As I used to be studying the novel, I’d discover myself repeatedly placing down the e book to analysis a reality about Nigeria or the Igbo folks or the civil conflict, so I felt like I obtained to learn an engrossing novel and get an schooling.
🎧 Listening
I’ve been a longtime listener to This American Life, and the current episode Harold has develop into one among my all-time favorites.
It tells the charming story of Chicago’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington, elected in 1983.
Just like the novel Half of a Yellow Solar, I loved this episode a lot as a result of it positioned me in a unique historic interval with such specificity that I nearly felt like I used to be in Chicago in 1983 on the cusp of this historic second. And I obtained study an extremely inspiring politician who I had by no means heard of (sadly, he died shortly after being elected to his second time period in 1987).
Okay, that’s it for this version! Drop me a line under and let me know what you’re studying, watching, or engaged on in your personal life!
