How To Begin, Gently: Day 9, Eat Something Warm
This is not advice. This is a baseline.
When the weather shifts, your appetite knows before your mind does. You start reaching for warmth — not aspirational food, not “healthy” food, just something that steadies you. Across cultures and climates, people turn to soups, broths, and stews when things feel cold or uncertain, not out of nostalgia, but necessity. Warm food slows the day down. It settles the nervous system. It reminds you that you are still here, still feeding yourself, still paying attention. Sometimes, that’s enough.
How To Begin, Gently: Day 10, Fine, Good, Enough
You’re good. That’s the word most people use. It sounds capable. Contained. It keeps the day moving without inviting concern. But good has a texture. You can feel it in the way you eat standing up even when there’s a chair right there, in the constant management of yourself so nothing spills over. Being good keeps things running — but it isn’t the same as being fed. Sometimes the work is simply to stop long enough to sit down, use both hands, and take the edge off.
How To Begin, Gently: Day 4- What You Reach For
What you reach for is shaped by the life you’re living.
How To Begin Gently, Day 3: What’s In Your Pantry?
The table is already set- for a good year, a good moment, a good meal- if you use what you have on hand.
How to Begin Again, Gently: Day 2- The Table Is Already Set: Using What You Already Have For a Good Year, Meal, and Life
An essay on using what you already have- at the table, in work, and in life- plus a simple lentil dish for the new year.
How To Begin, Gently: Day 1 - On Not Rushing In
January doesn’t owe you a transformation. It simply offers you a chance to notice where you already are.
Ciao: Bistecca alla Fiorentina (or Exploring Florence’s Iconic and Most Substantial Steak)
...we always make a stop at our favorite restaurant just on the edge of the city center, 4 Leoni. And in most instances, no matter how hot or how hungry we may or not be, we order their massive Bistecca alla Fiorentina. Because this is a banger of a steak experience. Because of its sheer scale and specificity. Because of its cook, texture, flavor. It’s everything you love about steak on steroids.
Ciao: It’s Summer Truffle Time!
Summer truffles are more than a novelty. They represent a season, a signal, and a story. They remind me that luxury can be fleeting, rooted in something as humble as soil—and best when shared. Even from this little island in the Pacific, I stay tethered to those rhythms. And when that first shaving of truffle hits the heat of handmade pasta, it’s as if the summer whispers, “Ciao.”
Aloha: An Introduction (Part 3)
Aloha. This one hits different. Unlike ciao and yo, aloha is more than a salutation. “Hello” and “goodbye” are only the tip of the spear. Aloha is a philosophy. Aloha is a way of life. Aloha is a perspective, an inclusive and love-colored worldview. Aloha is a spirit. It is an intuitive and connected way of being. Aloha is peace. It is humility. Aloha is rooted in honor and tradition and a universal love.
Yo: An Introduction (Part 2)
Yo. Where I’m from, this word is an invitation. It implies community. It carries an understanding. It is an energetic call of inclusion. It is ours; an elegant, Ebonic two-word distillation of an ethos. The opposite of formal, it means that we are the same, equal. It means that we have an understanding, an expectation. It is a call to listen.
Ciao: An Introduction (Part 1)
Ciao. I use this greeting here because I assume that you are a friend. Or soon-to-be friend. Or maybe, at minimum, mildly curious about what Ciao. Yo. Aloha is and why I am bothering to write this blog at all. Lean in. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll explain.