Meg, Author at Mostly Balanced

Sunday Morning Coffee: February 28, 2021

February 28, 2021 by Meg

There are ways this week has been incredibly hard, and there are ways this week has been pretty good, which I think is where a lot of people are finding themselves as we approach the one-year mark with this pandemic. School vacation week ended (on Tuesday, not Monday, for some reason), which was great, but ugh it’s come with some major bumps, too. Maybe it’s nothing huge, or at least not just one thing, but I’m so drained this weekend. My solution is putting spaghetti carbonara on next week’s menu. We need things to look forward to!

Here is what I’ve been reading and enjoying lately:

Sunday Morning Coffee: February 21, 2021

February 21, 2021 by Meg

I got the Covid-19 vaccine last weekend. All healthcare workers, even if they’re not working directly with Covid patients are now able to sign up in Massachusetts. I’m a dietitian, so I’m not considered Covid-facing, but I became eligible earlier in February. I signed up through the state’s website, and I found the actual process of getting the vaccine to run pretty smoothly. There were long lines, but they moved along, and there were markers posted at regular intervals to keep people socially distanced. My arm was super sore for about a day, but other than that, there weren’t any bumps in the road. I’ve heard the second dose, which I’ll get later in March, can cause a few more side effects like chills, fever, and body aches.

Saturday Morning Coffee: February 6, 2021

February 7, 2021February 6, 2021 by Meg

We’re a week into February, which means we’re coming up on almost a year of being in pandemic mode. It’s been a difficult week, more a current running under the surface than specific events, but I noticed a theme in the links I’ve been reading and which ones resonated. This is hard and exhausting sometimes.

It’s also Super Bowl Sunday. I’m generally a Packers fan but have been far less interested in following the game in recent years (because of kids and learning about concussions). My sister and her husband are coming over tonight, though, and we’ll have guacamole and sloppy Joe’s. I just discovered our favorite pizza place in the neighborhood also makes mozzarella sticks, which are a favorite of mine and I haven’t head in forever, so we’ll probably get some of those for tonight, too.

Here’s what I have been reading and enjoying:

Saturday Morning Coffee: January 2, 2021

January 10, 2021January 2, 2021 by Meg

And now we find ourselves in 2021. Not much is truly different, but I know most everyone is glad to leave the last year behind us. I’ve seen a lot of people (among those who post these things online anyway)shrugging off the idea of New Year’s resolutions in favor of simply letting go of what’s not working. It’s nice, the idea of embracing gentler language, less self-criticism, and more stillness. As a dietitian (and especially as one who works in eating disorder recovery), I’m glad to see the idea of enough-ness rise to the surface this year, even as there’s the typical deluge of change-your-body/change your life messages. I do like how the new year feels like starting with a bit of a clean slate (a new academic semester and new planning docs). One thing I noticed that wasn’t really working for me was timing these posts for Sunday morning. I do my thinking, browsing, and planning on Saturdays for the most part, so I’m posting here a day earlier in the hopes this helpful.

Here is what I’ve been reading and enjoying lately:

Sunday Morning Coffee: December 27, 2020

December 28, 2020 by Meg

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to write a Sunday Morning Coffee post. These originated as a centering moment in my week, reflecting on some of the highlights in reading and links, and planning the meals for the week ahead. Since November, my weeks and weekends haven’t been very settled. The close of the academic semester, the public schools shifting to a fully remote schedule, and dealing with the emotional and logistical fallout of the pandemic has been overwhelming at times. Not only haven’t I had interesting things to share in terms of reading and cooking, but I didn’t have the mental energy to show up anywhere that wasn’t my school or my kids’.

I’ve been able to take a bit of a break over the last few days. Last week, leading up to Christmas, was more restful than most, but I found I was picking up a lot of the slack I’d let out in the first two weeks of December, both in terms of academic work not related to courses, but also getting ready for Christmas and plugging in to spending time with my family.

With all of that, there have still been a lot of wins. Here is what I’ve been reading and enjoying lately:

Sunday Morning Coffee: June 7, 2020

July 1, 2020June 7, 2020 by Meg

It’s been an intense past two weeks. I woke up last Sunday without the energy to figure out how to show up online in a way that wasn’t another voice in an echo chamber of white bloggers responding to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The call this week is to keep showing up and showing outrage — this week and all the weeks to come. I’ve been thinking a lot about two aspects of the BLM protests: 1) how to carry the effort forward and make systemic changes because racism is embedded in our culture and institutions, and 2) how racism is a public health crisis and how the clinical and research communities can change. I’m percolating on an idea I hope to implement in the coming week or two, but for now, I’ll share one of the better books I’ve read on the topic that I’m not seeing in many other anti-racist readings lists: Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings.

Sunday Morning Coffee: May 24, 2020

July 1, 2020May 24, 2020 by Meg

Colorful ivy and crimson leaves on a red brick wall.

We’ve all been thrown for a loop this spring, and as the semester hurtled on but the kids were home full-time, I just didn’t have the capacity to organize and post regularly. What I’ve been trying to do with the stay-at-home orders is keep my kids engaged and stay on top of my work and academic commitments. There’s been a slow, steady drip of educational links and activities to try, but because none of it is really organized or centralized, it’s felt more like an inundation of information and things we should be doing but aren’t really following through with. Instead, I’ve tried to get the kids a bunch of outdoor time as we start intentionally gardening and transforming our backyard space. Cooking and planting are our math and science right now.

My Favorite Recipes of 2019

July 9, 2020January 1, 2020 by Meg

Not every new recipe we try is a keeper; some are good and certainly get the job done on any given night. But the recipes listed below are the ones I will be coming back to again and again. Enjoy!

The Year in Food: Best Recipes of 2017

July 14, 2020December 31, 2017 by Meg

I’m a big fan of all the year-in-review articles out there in the week between New Year’s and Christmas. It’s fun to look back on the highlights of the year. Even when the year feels like doozy, there’s a lot of good things that occupied my time in between the news alerts. In the spirit of the recap, here are my favorite recipes from 2017.

Steak Quesadillas

August 19, 2020August 8, 2017 by Meg

When a craving for steak hits the same time as exhaustion, this is what’s for dinner. It’s been awhile since I had beef in the weeknight rotation, so I’m not surprised my second-trimester body was asking for it. We decided to do pan-seared steak tips one evening and use the leftover steak the next night for these quesadillas.