This and Yap
make yourself comfy and let's catch up
In today’s newsletter, you’ll find:
Virtual Holiday Card with my top positive three life updates of 2024
CURRENT: Long-time B&B friends will remember this page from my blog. This is just a recap of what I’ve recently been up to (eating, listening, reading, etc.)
🚨 What I’m reading: new favorite author alert
🍜 Soup Season: ways to add protein to our soup-focused meals and the soups rotating through my kitchen this season
🎧 What I’m listening to: This podcast has been making me laugh non-stop this year
Feel free to scroll to whatever tickles your fancies! Meet you in the comments ☺️
I started a new job! I’m a clinical dietitian working in outpatient diabetes education. This was an insane start to the year as I really wasn’t looking for a new job but knew this was an opportunity I could not miss out on. I work from home 50% of the time and commute the other half (we won’t talk about what that’s like - this is supposed to be positive). The transition from inpatient to outpatient has been wildly challenging, but I’m learning so much and quickly - there have just been a lot of growing pains along the way!
We moved! So, the same day that I was offered my new position, Chris and I landed a new spot in San Francisco 🎉 At the end of December 2023, Chris and I decided to start looking for a place in the city in the New Year, and within 5 days of 2025, we were signing a lease. We could finally put our hours of scrolling on Facebook marketplace and browsing through thrift stores to use. Over the last year, we have absolutely loooooooved making this charming place our home.
Meet Rutabaga, or Rudy/Ruty for short! Rudy wandered into our lives in August, and despite the wonderful things that had previously been noted, he quickly became the best thing to happen to me in 2024. I could feel my DNA turn into a cat lover within the first month (okay, it was more like the first week) of having him in our home. He is now very happy as an indoor kitty, so playful and very dog-like for a cat.
CURRENT
things that make me happy and don’t cost money:
When Rudy’s meow sounds like “Mom.”
Friends staying with us and having sleepovers cue the first line of Lover by TS
My patient asking if she could hug me after our last session - we’ve been working together since May when I first started doing patient care and she has made such incredible strides towards her health. At this visit, she was so excited to show me her most recent lab work and to tell me how happy she was to have me on her team. After she left, I went back to my office and shed a little happy tear :’)
reading
I have been at Coco Mellors' feet lately, absorbing every word of her books and taking so long to read them.
Cleopatra and Frankenstein: I seriously picked this up for the name and cover art, and shortly after, I refused to put it down for Cleo and Frank, their tumultuous love story, and those who were caught in the crossfires of their love. For some reason, I cared so much about everyone in this novel and shed a few tears when finishing it, not because it’s blatantly sad but because I had to say goodbye.
I resonate with this review on Reddit: “This book is a definition of NO PLOT JUST VIBES. And mind you, it wasn’t all good vibes. The two MCs are toxic to each other and to themselves, personalities most of the times where pretentious with a lot of woke undertones. Nonetheless, I have underlying masochist tendencies and like to experience painful conversations and dialogues of entitled, privileged, pretentious people.”
Blue Sisters: I felt a mudslide of grief this year, but this book has been surprisingly comforting to read despite the story's proximity to death and loss. Once again, how Mellor writes her characters is so addicting to me?? This book follows the growth of three sisters working through the grief of their sister while coming face-to-face with one another’s imperfections. It’s dark at times, but a really beautiful read.
eating
Soup-tober sent me spoon-first into a bunch of autumnal soups! I have Chris to thank for this. He caught a cold in October, and it was the first gloomy weekend of the season, so soup seemed like the proper remedy.
I try to pick soups that include protein because without it, 1) it’s not very filling, and 2) any carbohydrate in the soup might spike my blood glucose without it. If the soup you’re making doesn’t already include meatballs or beans, here are some ways you can amp up that protein:
Grilled cheese on the side is a classic pairing, either dipped into the soup or just on the side. I make my grilled cheese with low-moisture mozzarella for higher protein, but any cheese will do!
Meatballs: Inspired by one of the recipes below (Lemony Chicken-Feta Meatball Soup), I freestyled my own meatballs to accompany some of the veggie-heavy soups. I used rolled oats instead of breadcrumbs. Then, I’ll mix flavors like herbs and spices that are already in the soup!
White Beans: When making a blended soup, white beans (cannellini, Great Northern, etc.) can add extra creaminess, protein, and fiber to sustain our energy and help balance blood glucose levels.
Greek Yogurt: If a soup calls for heavy cream or you’re looking for a way to make the soup creamier, add some Greek yogurt! One serving of Greek yogurt has about 10-15 grams of protein. I also use this in place of sour cream when having chili!
Here are the soup recipes I’ve been making in order from most favorite to least favorite:
Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Harissa Tomatoes
Lemony Chicken Feta Meatball Soup
Pureed Broccoli and Celery Soup
listening and laughing
A dear friend introduced me to this podcast, and the tea spilled in it has brought me so many one-hour increments of laughter and joy this 2024. I recommend starting with the episode above (for no reason other than it was the first one I listened to, making it the episode that got me hooked).
What’s it about? The host, Kelsey McKinney, delivers “juicy, strange, funny, and utterly banal gossip” submitted by listeners to comedically-inclined guests on the show for guaranteed laughs and a lot of “whaaaaat in the worlds” 😂
Some of my other favorite episodes are this one and this one!
Let me know your favorite podcast of the year in the comments!
I am giddy about finally releasing another newsletter! So much happened within the first few months of the new year that I found it difficult to articulate thoughts and feelings in such a public form, but I felt odd writing about anything else other than all the emotions I was feeling. Thank you for being patient with me, and as always, thank you for being here ☺︎
xoxo
Ciara
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