the yak occidental

Here are some things I tried cooking in February! Above: from Spirited Away, of course! I've realized I started this series of posts last month and never really explained my motivation in doing so.  While I'm by no foodie or an Instagram/TikTok-worthy cook, I still think its important to show a realistic example of what vegetarian eating can look like. I think this is especially important at the start of a new calendar year (i.e. January and February) when many have resolutions or goals involving dietary changes. Vegetarianism and/or plant-based diets are not always slim , white , and aspirational. Our meals at home, more often than not, taste a hundred times better than they look, and oftentimes involve cans of cream of mushroom soup  and french fries rather than hemp hearts and date purees. Comfort Food: (Veggie) Hamburger Soup I hadn't had hamburger soup in years and then one day as I was falling asleep I remembered it! It just seemed the cozy thing we needed for the e...

Here is a selection of memorable quotes and a quick review of The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good For You, and How To Get Good at It by Kelly McGonigal, PhD The Upside of Stress has a very tempting premise: while we have been told stress is bad, even downright dangerous for us, it can, if we shift our mindsets, actually have some positive effects. Right now, this is a pretty controversial and little-known idea, and McGonigal knows it.  Indeed, I would say my biggest critique of this book is that it's too scientific for my taste. It is full of studies and examples supporting her theory, and at points nearly reads as a textbook. In fact, in my copy of The Upside of Stress , fully 1/5 of the pages is notes and references. Just to emphasize this impression, I am borrowing my copy of Upside from my father-in-law, who is quite literally a scientist. He told me that he didn't finish this book. I'm sympathetic, "stress can be good for you!" an unpopular idea so Mc...

I am rather notorious in my professional circles for interviews. I'm uneasy conducting interviews, and I dread being interviewed. I think my undisguised loathing for this process is rooted in self-consciousness: I'm not good at gauging what someone is like on first impressions (my intuition is mediocre at best), and I know I don't make a very good first impression (I'm working on that).  Nevertheless, to push myself, I have a policy of always accepting whatever interview comes my way so that I get the practice. In the name of said practice, I have been interviewed about ten times in the last twelve months. At work, as someone in a managerial role, I have conducted about six interviews for someone I would work with directly on a daily basis. In doing these interviews, there is one question that I have come to dislike above all others:  How would your coworkers describe you? or What would your coworkers say about working with you? ....and other such iterations. At its cor...

 Here are a couple of quotes about marriage, presented without comment. Painting and frame above: Diego and Frida (c.1944) by Frida Kahlo But husbands are uncanny, too. It all seems to come from having to be each other's anchor, bread and butter, constant calm. Emotionally speaking he and I have to remain in some fixed state where we can always be found if necessary. In the midst of arguments I should have rightfully won I've found myself conceding points to him because some appeal is made to this fixed place. A look, a word, a touch. How could anyone enjoy this, the possibility, necessity even, of their being called to heel in this way? It disturbs me that there's part of my heart or mind, or some spot  where the two meet, a spot that isn't mine because I'm a wife. That part isn't really me at all, but a promise I made on a snowy day. p.270 of Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi A marriage is a private thing. It has its own wild laws, and secret histories, and s...

Here is a selection of memorable quotes from St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised by Wolves: Stories by Karen Russell Painting above: Aftermath (c.1946) by Marion Adnams Swamp dawns feel like bearing witness to a quiet apocalypse. Infinity comes lapping over, concentric circles on still water. It's otherworldly, a river of grass, and a red needle of light on the horizon. - from "Ava Wrestles the Alligator" But his roar is all volume and no conviction, the tinderless fire of a faithless preacher. - from "Z.Z.'s Sleep-Away Camp for Disordered Dreamers" I am marooned in this place without you. What I feel for you is more than love. It's stronger, peninsular. You connect me to the Mainland. You are my leg of land over dark water. - from "Out to Sea" Mr. Oamaru has taught me that loss isn't just limited to the present; it can happen in any direction. Even what's done and vanished can be taken from you. Other, earlier memories that we made of...

Painting above: Black Swans (c. 1937) by Dorrit Black The first of February made me feel that winter was over. I was wrong, of course, but it was a happy feeling, and lasted for a day or two, while the sun popped in and out among small bright clouds and snowdrops dangled in exquisite little clumps under the bare beeches. -from "Guard Your Daughters" by Diana Tutton