Thoughts On Being 60, And Favorite New Things to Eat
Well that was a funner Halloween than last year’s, right? Personally, it somehow always feels like the scariest part is just on the flipped side of the calendar: a temperature-dropping descent into the holiday season (aka the “holidaze”). And away we go…
1.
I was so glad to have randomly come across this op-ed essay on the New York Times website this weekend, about the particular wisdom and perspective one has at 60 years-old: there’s the confidence and ease of having enough decades behind oneself to know things (like really know things), but it comes with the exhilarating feeling of having enough years left to put that experience and insight to good use.
One of my favorite excerpts of many: I have lived long enough to have learned, too, that what is beautiful and joyful is almost always fleeting and must never be squandered. That rejection rarely bears any relationship to worth. That whatever else might separate us, sharing a love for “Ted Lasso” is enough common ground to start the harder conversations. That life is too short to wear uncomfortable shoes.
2.
Three foods I recently tried and can’t stop snaking on: West-bourne’s savory, umami-packed Sun Pop vegan popcorn is categorically addictive, regardless of your dietary preferences—and this is coming from someone who almost never buys seasoned popcorn because I prefer to make my own delicious batches. Trust, it’s worth the yellow-stained finger tips, too. Fried or steamed, Hungry Planet’s new plant-based gyoza dumplings are the best non-pork dumplings I’ve tasted since eating actual pork dumplings. And while I’ve been spooning out nearly everything by the Brooklyn-based brand New York Shuk (especially the matbucha which I dollop over avocado-egg toasts), I’m only now just dipping into all the fantastic recipes, and history lessons on its website.
3.
I was supposed to check this out this intriguing and immersive art-meets-tech installation in the Meatpacking District this week, but alas, work and scheduling effed those plans. It seems like it’s one of those things you truly need to experience in order to even adequately describe, which I’m all in for; after a year of watching things at home and on small screens, get me the hell out of my house! (And when I do, I’ll let you guys know. By the way, anyone care to join???)
4.
I honestly thought that Y7 Yoga was a goner last year—a casualty of the pandemic—but sometimes it feels great to be wrong. The franchise is back! Conveniently, there’s a location right around the corner from my apartment, which makes it one of the few forms of exercise I’d actually entertain at at 6 or 7AM in the morning (which is a major plus during the dark, bitter-cold winters). My favorite teacher Robbin Rose has a comic book heroine’s name, and a positive, no-bullshit vibe, which is frankly the only kind I can handle before my first cup of coffee.
5.
Tucked in every pocket, purse, and random zip pouch of mine, there’s a lip balm. The hard-to-find one I keep on the console right near my door is now available on Net-a-Porter, and I’m threeeeeelled about that, but buyer beware: this isn’t so much a soothing balm, as a warming, tingling, slightly burning cinnamon fireball for your pucker-upper. If you try it, don’t be a baby. (I warned you.)