Issue #3: Not Believing Our Own Bullshit
Let's Get Lost, February 17, 2024
In this issue
+ We do not have to believe our own bullshit
+ Recipes for citrus lovers
+ New On The Blogs: Creamy mushroom pasta, mushroom pizza, and homemade pizza dough
+ Three Exclusive New Recipes! Crispy avocado tacos, Avocado, citrus, and pumpkin seed salad, and the lightest, softest citrus drizzle cake I’ve ever eaten.
+ No Recipe Required: BBQ chicken nachos
+ One Useful Thing: Two high protein and nutrition packed ways to make oatmeal that feels like eating dessert for breakfast
+ Featured Cookbook: roasted carrots with ricotta from How to Dress an Egg
+ Reading, Watching, and Listening Recommendations
A quick note before we get to it, the length of this post means it might be truncated in your inbox – just click to expand and read the whole thing or read it directly on rebeccablackwell.com.
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“I will take my mind out of its iron cage and let it swim.”- Virginia Wolf
This time last year, we were camped on the Texas gulf coast, parked right on the hard packed sand of Crystal Beach with the sound of ocean waves as our constant soundtrack. We had intended to stay for 2 weeks and ended up staying for 7. (If you’re curious about what that was like, I wrote about that experience here.)
The first week there I got up early and went for a morning walk just as the sun was starting to rise over the water and got caught in a conversation with another camper. I shared that conversation with some folks back then and wanted to share it with you now because it taught me a lesson that I am currently still trying to learn. Here’s what I wrote last year…
While on my morning walk today, a man camped on the beach started a conversation with me. “Conversation” is probably not the right word. More accurately he talked AT me for a few minutes while I contemplated my escape.
He railed against the world for all of its ineptitude while simultaneously telling me all the ways in which he was smarter, tougher, and just generally better than “all those sissys” who can’t get their shit together. I determined that there was no polite way to escape this encounter (and honestly, why did I even care about being polite???) and just started walking away.
As I did, I said, “It sounds like you’ve got it all figured out. Too bad you’re surrounded by a world full of idiots.” He shouted after me that he doesn’t have it all figured out and the good lord teaches that we should show love and kindness to everyone and that’s what he’s “TRYING TO DO GODDAMMIT!”
Love and kindness wasn’t exactly the vibe I was getting from him. The problem is, he believes all his own stories and tells them on repeat. And for the rest of my walk, I thought about the one important lesson this man taught me:
Freedom is realizing you don’t have to believe your own bullshit. Or anyone else’s.
So here I am a year later still trying to not believe all my own bullshit. Dang, it’s hard.
Our thoughts are not the truth of things. They are not facts. A lesson I must continue to learn is that I do not have to believe all my own thoughts. This is different from ignoring them or trying to hide the most difficult thoughts in some isolated corner of my mind in a futile effort to pretend they’re not there.
In fact, the best way I know to deal with painful, difficult thoughts is to bring them fully into awareness. To shine a spotlight on them and not only acknowledge their existence, but allow them to take center stage.
In doing so, it is sometimes possible to see the thought for what it is - as just a thought.
Likewise, the narrative of who I am and of who I think others are is not the truth. They are just stories, constructed in my mind.
What I’m trying to say is, we’d do well to hold the stories we tell ourselves loosely.
On that note, let’s talk about food.
Recipes for citrus lovers
We’ve been deep into citrus season for a while now and honestly, it’s one of the best things about winter. I know January and February can be kinda bleak but I love the fresh start feeling of the first couple months of the year and also, we have citrus fruit.
I keep a huge bowl of citrus fruit on the table from around October through March and in addition to eating it straight from the bowl, I juice it and add it to everything from salads and tacos to cake.
In this issue you’ll find two recipes that include crispy panko crusted avocados - one for tacos and one for salad, both including slices of juicy, sweet CaraCara oranges. And also, the most delicious, sloppy, sticky citrus drizzle cake.
Here are a few of my other favorite ways to make the most of citrus season:
New on the blogs
Love is the way I feel about this plate full of creamy, cheesy, saucy, perfectly cooked pasta and roasted mushrooms topped with plenty of cracked pepper and fresh herbs.
Just to be perfectly clear here, when I say I love this plate of pasta I am not speaking metaphorically. I love and adore it with each and every silky, creamy, earthy mushroom bite.
And I promise that all of you all you fellow pasta and mushroom lovers will also fall head over heals for this dish. I know because I am you.
My oh my. This homemade mushroom pizza is a stunner. It deserves your complete, undivided, wholly devoted love and adoration. This will not be difficult or a sacrifice, believe you me.
It’s the kind of thing you make when self care means an evening at home tucked in with rich and cozy, deeply comforting, simple-meets-decadent, cheesy, saucy mushrooms on a soft and chewy homemade pizza crust dripping with truffle oil and roasted garlic.
Homemade pizza dough. Ok, so this recipe has actually been on the blog since 2020 but it recently got a refresh so I wanted to share it with you in case you haven’t seen it yet. I’ve been making this recipe for decades, tweaking and testing and trying new things until I arrived at a recipe that is flavorful and chewy and super reliable and easy to make.
One of the best things about the recipe is how easy it is to adapt pizza making to your schedule. Start to finish, the dough will take about 2 hours - this is not hands on time, mind you. The hands on time is minimal but as with any yeast-risen dough, it needs time to proof (rise).
But, you can stretch the process out for an additional 12-24 hours if you like. So, for example, you can mix up the dough in the morning and then leave it in the refrigerator all day. That evening, pull the dough from the fridge, roll it out, add your toppings, and bake.
The dough can also be frozen. When I make pizza for my husband and I, divide the dough in half, using one half to make pizza that day and putting the rest in the freezer for another time.
Reminder: This month’s Bake Club Challenge is Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
To participate in the Bake Club Challenge: bake this month's challenge recipe, classic oatmeal raisin cookies, and then leave a comment on the recipe telling me what you thought of it! By commenting on the recipe, you'll be automatically entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card. Bake the challenge recipe and leave your comment before March 1st, 2024.
The rest of this issue, which includes 6 new recipes, is for paid subscribers. Subscribe now for just $5 a month. Or, stick to the free plan and I’ll see you next month with two new issues! ❤️
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