RPL at Home (March 2023)

Welcome to the first edition of RPL at Home, where I share what I’m up to when I’m not in the kitchen or in front of the camera. 

Each month, I’ll share snippets of what I’m working on, habits I’m cultivating, things bringing me joy, podcasts/books/TV shows I’m enjoying, and more. Think of it as stream-of-consciousness blabbering meets a semi-curated list of recommendations meets life update.

This month’s edition
1. What I’m watching, listening to, and reading
2. What I’m working on (in life) 
3. What I’m working on (in the biz) 
4. Recipes you might have missed
5. What I’m eating
6. What’s bringing me joy

What I’m watching, listening to, and reading

Watching

The show I’ve been most excited about tuning into is The Last of Us. I don’t typically gravitate towards dystopian sci-fi, and I must admit I’m an actual baby who wears noise-canceling headphones during the scenes with scary sounds (I know, I know), but…I’ve been hooked by the magnificent acting and the relationship between Ellie and Joel. 

Pedro Pascal (Joel) is having a moment. And Bella Ramsey (Ellie) is a proud vegan!

Reading

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. I went full suburban and recently joined a neighborhood book club! And this was our first book. It weaves together two topics I knew nothing about (horse-riding rural librarians during the Great Depression) and the rare blue-skinned people of Kentucky, but I really enjoyed it. It’s written beautifully and hard to put down. 

A few shorter pieces I enjoyed this month  
He taught Americans how to cook Indian food 
The Fleishman is in Trouble Effect 
100 centenarians’ 100 tips for a life well lived

Listening

This recent episode from NPR’s Throughline tells the story of an Indian American man who argued in 1923 that he should be considered white and thus eligible to become a U.S. citizen. The episode covers the creation of race and the myth of whiteness, and for me, it brought up painful memories of my childhood where I wished I was white so I would not feel Othered. But it also made me proud because I no longer feel that way. I love when a podcast can teach you important stuff, prompt a good cry, and spawn a personal epiphany all at once. 

What I’m working on (in life) 

Becoming “a reader”

Back in first grade, we had a reading marathon. For every book you read, the teacher would paste a paper star on the wall with your name on it, starting at the bottom of the wall and working her way up. I read so many books that my stars started to creep up the ceiling (my poor classmates had no chance with this nerd). So I’ve always considered myself “a reader.”

But truth be told, I’ve put reading on the back burner since I started my business. While I did read 10 books last year (not bad), I read them all while on vacation because my regular life was “too busy.”  

Recently though, I started doing a few things that have helped reading become a habit I look forward to:

And it’s working! I’ve read four books in the last three weeks. That’s four gold stars for adult Nisha.  

What I’m working on (in the biz)  

One of my favorite YouTube videos we published recently was for my Thai Green Curry recipe. The video is fun and playful, and you get to see my parents (and Max!) in a delightfully funny taste test. 

On the recipe development side, I want to share more desserts this year (not a lot, just a little). I recently realized that I had published only 6 dessert recipes in the last 2 years. To be fair, one of them was my absolute best vegan brownies (recently picked by a group of 47 taste testers as the best vegan brownie!) and I don’t think I can top that recipe, but we all need a little more sweetness in our lives. 

Have any dessert recipes you’d like to see? Leave your requests in the comments!

And here’s a sneak peek of recipes I’m working on! If you want to get notified when new recipes hit the blog, subscribe to my newsletter! 

What I’m eating

During the week, we mostly eat leftovers from recipe testing and “bowl style dinners” using building blocks (and occasionally some sort of Asian takeout or pizza). One of my favorite things for those bowl-style dinners is vegan Tzatziki. 

The tzatziki takes just 10 minutes to make and is so versatile. Last week for lunch, I spread it on bread from our local bakery (first, I toasted the bread underneath the broiler, then smeared with a cut garlic clove and drizzle of olive oil, my go-to method for toasting bread). Then I piled it with pan-fried tofu slabs, arugula dressed with Brightland olive oil & champagne vinegar, and pickled carrots. :::::chef’s kiss:::::

For dinner, a recent favorite has been to pair the tzatziki with crunchy roasted chickpeas or white beans and a simplified Greek salad with cukes, cherry or heirloom tomatoes, capers, kalamata olives (no olives for Max), drizzled with olive oil & vinegar + toasted pita wedges (or cooked farro) + pickled onions.

What’s bringing me joy  

Bi-monthly “happy hours”: A technical happy hour involves adult beverages and usually a bar, but I’ve co-opted the term for something very different. 

A couple times a month, I’ll end work earlier than usual and make hot chocolate. Meanwhile, Max pours himself a glass of wine and, upon my request, lights an obscene amount of candles in the living room and turns on the “relaxing jazz” station on Spotify. 

Then we hang out on the couch until dinner time. We chat for a bit, sometimes about work, but usually about non-work stuff, and then we stare at each other silently like we’re deeply in love but also like we’re in a cult. 

Just kidding, we read our respective books while I occasionally sneak a few sips of his wine (but not a lot because I discovered last year that drinking booze hurts my stomach and that getting old is a real party pooper). 

This may not be a traditional happy hour in any sense of the word, but it’s an hour or two where I feel great happiness. And self-righteous because I am collecting more golden stars for all the books I’m racing through.

Hope y’all enjoyed this first edition of RPL at home! You might have noticed that I was sharing mini life updates in our newsletter recently, but the long-form blog format just felt easier and more natural, and I’m already excited for the April edition.

Please let me know what you’d like to see in next month’s edition (and if you have a more clever title than “RPL at home.”)!