Free foot content inside 👣
the one with all the recipes
This week my 9-month-old learned to crawl. It’s a big milestone, but as most people who have kids know, these types of life-altering discoveries happen slowly over a few weeks, between head bonks and giggle fits and poo-splosions and annoying singing toys, slowly shifting from rolling to worming to scootching to a weird army crawl to proper baby crawl. So it hardly feels like the movie payoff when they finally get it right.
The thing that did amaze us was after a long day, my husband and I started absentmindedly singing one of the annoying Spanish jingles from the rapping monkey toy we hate. Our kid looks around, crawls to the overflowing box of toys in our living room, and takes out the exact toy that we were mimicking. I was floored. Our boy is as smart as a dog who knows it’s own toys! He’s not only making connections, he’s LISTENING. To US!
Of course this has been happening all along: our influence and his growth, the forever pull between child and parent, the child learning from the parent and therefore becoming more and more their own person who is not the parent. But to see it in action made me realize: we are all constantly figuring it out, just maybe not with that big “aha” moment that gets an applause.
It’s a million little connections bringing us closer to a right decision, a better relationship, a better self. A friend called this action of making a small connection “dropping a pin,” like when you are in a new neighborhood and you realize exactly where you are in the world, and how to get there again. It’s a recipe you realize you can make on your own. It’s getting Wordle in two tries. No one cares but it’s a big deal. A small win but a big leap. It’s baby steps.
So in the spirit of little moments, this week I’ll be answering some of the random little questions that have been submitted over the past few months in hopes that they give some bigger insight. And you’ll enjoy a bunch more recipes than usual! Submit your queries, no question is too small, and I’ll try to drop a pin to get you walking.
Dear Eat Your feelings,
Feeling pretty low, got recently diagnosed with celiac disease. I know a happy gut is a happy mind but how do you say goodbye to gluten without getting sad?
- Loafless Loaf
My condolences to you Loafless Loaf - hopefully you haven’t been breadcrumbed lately. Finding out I couldn’t eat bread is my biggest fear right below having a scorpion lay eggs in my open mouth while I’m sleeping. Both are out of our control, and yet, if you just shut your mouth it’s easy pretty to avoid.
As we age we start to weigh the consequences of what we put in our bodies and realize that the happiness of a solo bottle of wine/loaf of bread/bingeing Law & Order till 2am, when I know the baby will wake up at 6am, is fleeting. Moment on the lips, days of anxiety/pain/exhaustion to follow.
The key to surviving life as a Loafless Loaf is to accept that happiness doesn’t just come from the food we eat, it comes from the experience of eating it. And pretending the fake thing is just as good as the real thing will only leave you salivating for more. Skip over the gluten-free pastry or rice-flour bread - the imposter is just not going to give you the joy you crave - and think of all the delicious things you can have: potatoes, rice, straight chocolate, meat if you do that. Save the coin you’d be spending on a morning croissant and take yourself out to a great Sushi meal, go full TGIFridays and binge on potato skins, indulge in my favorite naturally gluten-free dessert: the flourless chocolate cake below. This recipe, that my friend Nell makes, is so damn good it will make us all go gluten-free. Time to stop loafing, face your fears, and discover a new treat that tastes even better than the forbidden flour.
Is this really anonymous just testing this here also any good tips for chili???
- Feelings Are Really That Secret?
Rude. Of course the submissions are anonymous - if I knew who you all were I’d be knocking on your door to get even more gossip. You don’t deserve this amazing chili recipe, FARTS, but I’ll give it to you anyway on one condition: write back and submit an actual juicy question.
I like to make chili in a slow cooker so you can set it and forget it. This recipe was great, but I use a second can of kidney beans instead of black beans and cook it on low all day (6 hours), then boost it up to high for the last hour or two. It’s always better the next day, so feel free to eat it every night and think of how you’ve wronged me.
My wife has filthy feet.
- husband
Ok, so sometimes I do know who submits these questions. But I’ll answer as if I don’t know the filthy feet in question as if they were my own:
Husband. Your wife will always have filthy feet. She may try to clean up every once in a while, but you knew when you met her, wearing open-toed sandals in the New York City summer heat, never sweeping her floors, that this woman’s feet would always be dirty. It’s not that she doesn’t care about being clean, you’ve likely taught her the joys of a crumb-less floor and a close-toed shoe on a hike, but spotless feet have never been her priority. She cares about the richer things in life - good food, going on adventures, cooking without a recipe, watching Law & Order with you for the 100th time while eating cheese snacks. Sometimes filthy feet are the price you pay for such a laid back, hilarious, hot lady. Sometimes filthy feet are the scapegoat for something else that’s bothering you.
Yes, people can change their habits and shift their way of interacting (after all, marriage is 50% compromise, 50% stubbornness). But who we are, deep down, will never change. So think back to what made you look past the filthy feet when you first met this woman who became your wife. It wasn’t a red flag then - you learned she had filthy feet and you decided not to end it. You knew when you asked her to go steady on the Williamsburg Bridge. You knew when you married her in front of that bridge. You know now, even though it may gross you out, her filthy feet aren’t the real issue. Some people would pay good money to look at those feet all day! So, time to sit and think about what it is that is really turning you off, and jump into that conversation, feet first.
Hopefully, once you identify the thing that’s making you cringe, you two can work it out together. She might even have an issue with your overtly clean, sterile feet! You both will have to listen, try not to be defensive, and work together to shift your behaviors. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. Or. If it is really about the feet, try asking her, very nicely, to clean her feet so you can give her a long, much deserved foot rub. I guarantee she’ll keep them pristine.
All this foot talk got me in the mood for a bottle of funky natural wine that’s been crushed to perfection by a stranger’s feet. Some of my favorites that use the old school method of grape stomping are La Onda, using a mix of Chilean and Northern California grapes, and Azizam, a new maker out of Baja California. Sip, rub, and fall in love all over again.
