About Last Night...

What’s Going On In The Jewfro Right Now?

I'm writing this as my own way of processing last night.

First of all, this was a beatdown. No other way to say it. Hopefully, Kamala concedes quickly and we can move forward.

Why was this so bad when state ballot initiatives on abortion were so good?

People use a different calculus when considering federal vs. state and local candidates. I even did that this year, letting my bias get in the way of acknowledging that for others.

When you're talking about one issue, it's easy to get an up/down vote. Hell, the abortion referendum in Florida almost passed—it needed 60% but came in just short at 57%. Single-issue items are really easy to decide on.

On the flip side, you're also seeing school voucher programs being voted down when they come up as referendums in very red states.

Which leads to decisions that require multiple considerations, which is more typical.

At Least Half the Country is Thinking WTAF?" Moment #1: The Pandemic Response and Public Trust

As we all remember during COVID, we hunkered down. Unfortunately, after the vaccines were available in early '21, Biden offered more sticks than carrots to get people vaccinated. And while I am very pro-vaxx, I also understood that it wasn't as well tested because it had to get out so fast. I'm pretty sure it wreaked havoc on my menstrual cycle, and they tried to do some studies after the fact. After racially tinged trials like Tuskegee, you had enough skeptics. Other mandatory vaccinations have been tested forever. The COVID vaccines were not, even though developed from research initially aimed at HIV.

(Side note: I now fear we have a large swath of the country who won't get any vaccines anymore because of this—hello RFK Jr.)

Public servants lost their jobs because of these vaccine mandates, which probably isn't going to endear them to vote for the responsible party again since they left money on the table from pensions, etc. It didn't matter much in '22 since even federal races were "local"—no POTUS. But by that point, many were seeing what happened to people, particularly kids and the elderly, without socializing.

At Least Half the Country is Thinking WTAF?" Moment #2: Identity Politics and Economic Concerns

Now, you have identity politics on steroids. The focus on pronouns, boys playing girls' sports, men in women's locker rooms, Latino vs. Latina vs. Latinx, etc. A large swath of Americans are experiencing inflation (due to various reasons not necessarily the President's fault but still associated with him), higher home prices, seeing fentanyl infiltrate their communities, and being told the border is not a problem.

Biden was lecturing half the country, saying they weren't seeing what they were seeing. He kept saying things were improving. Statistically, they might have been, but that's not where people were. I'm a (mostly) Dem voter, and I felt like he was gaslighting people. Kamala may not have been the border czar, but he assigned her to look into causes at the border. While she did yeoman's work on root causes, they both should have known the visual was always going to be the border itself. After the Dems didn't get crushed in the '22 midterms, they should have put the border bill together that day. They waited too close to the election, and Trump killed it.

Consider Latinos and Blacks. I believe Trump is a racist to his core (see Central Park Five). But to assume they'd always vote Dem was arrogance. Like all of us, they want economic mobility. Clearly, not enough felt they were getting that with Biden/Harris. People I know mostly don't care about being labeled Latino or Latinx. Can they buy a home? Can they send their kids to college? Then throw in loan forgiveness—yeah, no, to a large swath of the electorate. Do I feel college is too expensive and the student loan machine is a scam to inflate the price? Absolutely. But I've never been sold on forgiveness as the solution here. So the extreme focus on identity politics over kitchen table issues was front and center. It's the economy, stupid!

At Least Half the Country is Thinking WTAF?" Moment #3: Crime and Public Safety

Fast forward to '20, where you had the defund the police movement, which I knew was going to be a mistake as soon as it happened. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others were more humans murdered by law enforcement. Police brutality is never okay and is way too pervasive in America. That said, I believe the people who work in law enforcement do important work in keeping us safe. As one of my Black friends said, "We don't want less police; we just want them to stop being assholes to us for no reason. We need police in our communities to keep us safe."

At Least Half the Country is Thinking WTAF?" Moment #4: Foreign Policy and Antisemitism

Let's talk about crime and antisemitism. It's a fact that most Americans value our relationship with Israel. Biden's policies with Israel sucked. They did. Bibi may be evil, but overall Americans, especially American Jews, care about Israel's right to exist. The foreign policy sucked, but what made it visceral for America was what happened in major cities (mostly liberal) and college campuses everywhere. It fed into the storyline that liberal cities are unruly, and we don't want that for America. Never mind that red states have higher murder rates than blue states, or that most violent crime is committed by white men. It doesn't matter. Visuals are everything, and when you combine antisemitic protests with rampant shoplifting stories making the news (people walking into pharmacies with enough things locked up), it's a terrible look. Telling people it's not there, like what happened to me in Seattle, is dismissive. Shapiro could have gone a long way toward bridging this but...

Schumer sucked on Israel, especially in recent days in his emails with Columbia. And Harris told two completely different stories to people in Dearborn (who ended up voting for Trump or Stein—good choice there; hope it works out for ya!) and in Pennsylvania. Word got out—it's not 1992 anymore. You can't get away with that shit. You try to appeal to everyone, and you appeal to no one.

That leads to more than half the country having their fourth "What the actual fuck?" moment. Jews who tend to vote Democrat and are socially liberal feel abandoned by other oppressed groups because they're "white enough" so we don't count. And what happens? Those center-left people go to Trump—they may not know exactly what his Israel policy will be, but they know he won't tolerate left antisemitic protests (obviously jury is still out on Proud Boys and other right wing white supremacist groups).

So where does that leave us?

Despite all the chaos and frustration, I still believe we can find common ground. Maybe it's naive, but I think most of us want the same basic things: safety, opportunity, and a fair shot at a good life. Like it or not, we all need to do a better job of listening. We're better than this, and I refuse to believe all is lost. Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.

PS – This election cycle has demonstrated how incredibly flawed our media model is.

Yada, Yada, Yada...

via GIFER

On a daily basis, I am seeing posts on LinkedIn of people being laid off in the most unceremonious ways or being ghosted in interview processes after candidates have put in a significant amount of work. It is awful and enough to not want me to be on the platform at all but the sad reality is most of the jobs are posted there so LinkedIn is a necessary evil these days.

I want to focus on the situations where people have done the right thing in terms of rejecting me (because let’s face it: if you didn’t get the job, it’s a rejection). Each of these people gave specific feedback that helped me hone my approach a bit more instead of the generic “we have so many great candidates - yada, yada, yada”. I hope by showcasing some people who have done things the right way that others who have not can hopefully learn how to showcase the same going forward.

• Great Expectations: I did SO MUCH prep work for this interview loop and I loved every minute of it because it was bringing me back to my big data roots. I really enjoyed talking to all of the people I met with and appreciated the product-centric approach that everyone in the company espoused. Unfortunately circumstances changed which meant the role changed, and that meant I wasn’t the right fit anymore. I was gutted but the hiring manager had enough respect for me to set-up a call and explain it all. Thanks, Hernan.

• Stealth Start-Up: I did not get as far into this loop as GX, but I did spend some time thinking through the problem and possible ideas on how I would take things forward. Some good conversations took place but in the end, it wasn’t the right fit. But it was fun doing the homework. Again the CEO took the time to get in touch with me and explain things instead of ghosting or having an automated email come to me, which I appreciated. Thanks, Jim.

• Puzzle: This was another one where I went all-in on the loop and in the prep, and things went pretty far. I really liked the CEO and the people on the team. By the end, I suspected I was not what they needed for where they were at and if a rejection came, it wasn’t necessarily about my qualifications. Sure enough, the email came from him and it was very forthright on his thinking along with an offer to help me in my job search if I needed it (which has happened). Thanks, Sasha.

• Healthcare start-up: The role I was talking to the COO about was going to be a bit of a combination of things as they closed out their Series B. As the economic climate shifted, they decided that they had to ruthlessly prioritize other roles in 2023. The COO asked to chat and explained a number of things that were going on that were driving the decision. He didn’t need to go into the detail that he did…. but he did. Thanks, DC.

If any of these people (and some others I did not mention) ever contacted me for a favor, I would not hesitate to help them because they still treated me with dignity and with class even while rejecting me.

To all of my fellow job-seekers out there: Regardless of the circumstances around why you are looking for a new role in what is arguably the worst job market since the dot-com crash in 2000/2001, I see you. And know that no matter how poorly some of the hiring managers/recruiters may treat us that we are all going to get through this. It isn’t going to be pretty but we will do it. Finally if I can help, even if it is to vent about feeling like crap or being treated poorly, please reach out.

To the recruiters/hiring managers out there: If someone actually gets to the interview process and participates in an interview, please recognize that this person likely spent a significant amount of time prepping to be their very best for you. By not taking the time to give people specific feedback that they can use to potentially snag another role, you are not helping them. Hiding behind a corporate policy in these times is a choice you make as opposed to choosing to show empathy. And yes, hiding behind an ATS (applicant tracking system) is lame if someone has taken the time to interview. If you feel as though you cannot conjure up actionable feedback without being worried about being sued, you likely have a bigger problem.

Please don’t ‘yada, yada, yada’ your candidates. It’s a rough job market out there and as we have seen over the past 12 months, the pendulum can swing both ways and people will remember who treated them well and who did not.

I Guess We Are There... Kind Of?

More gym equipment.

In one of the posts from last year, I posed the question “Mom & Dad, are we there yet?” in reference to getting through this phase of our lives known as COVID[-19]. It appears in Seattle and in most of the places Marc and I frequent, the answer is “yes”. We’ve been vaxxed, have been able to take a couple of trips via plane, resumed seeing people and I have been able to complete the rehab on my hip (still a little bit of work on the knee/calf, but that’s minor). My sister and a couple of close friends convinced us to buy a Peloton because as regular followers of this space know, the Becks’ need more gym equipment. All positives.

As for many, COVID took a toll on me mentally and emotionally. When I had a chance to look back, I realized it started last fall and it wasn’t until late winter that I really identified that I needed to take some steps to deal with it. True to form, I had to understand the who, what, where, when, why and how. This led to me seeking some professional help on the mental health front as I did not have the tools to figure it out.

Look at those crazy kids on Patmos in 2002.

Long time readers of this space know that I saw the 2nd plane hit the World Trade Center almost 20 years ago. At the time, I was working for a global investment bank which did not really tolerate “weakness”. Sure, they had counseling circles where employees could commiserate about the trauma they experienced, but no one actually trusted the system. We all likely thought that the facilitator would “rat us out” that we were “soft” and would get managed out of the firm. And especially as a ‘she/her’ on Wall Street, I was expected to “tough it out”. I did that and, by sheer luck, I ended up being ok and somehow met Marc less than a year later.

When I realized that I was feeling “off”, I realized that shame on me if I make the same mistake that I made all of those years ago knowing what I know now and not get some assistance. Fortunately seeking out mental health counseling does not have the same stigma as it used to have and I was able to find someone via referral to help figure things out.

I was going through my sessions and doing some homework via reading, etc. In the midst of all of this, Marc and I were able to go visit my family back in New York after not seeing them for 14 months. It was a wonderful weekend and really recharged me personally, which I was not expecting. [Random tangent: My Mom showed me this article, which made me laugh because my Rabbi used to give me these while I was prepping for my Bat Mitzvah back in the day.] That said, on the plane ride back home I had a sense of dread about returning to work that was more than the normal “ugh, it’s work tomorrow after being away.” In looking back, I realize that I had this feeling previously in the past few months but blocked it out because that was what I had always conditioned myself to do.

Hurricane Ridge - May, 2021.

The frustrating part was that I really liked the team I was on, enjoyed the work I was doing and had good leadership support behind me. It didn’t reconcile with the feelings I was experiencing. We were getting out for regular hikes, which I know has a positive impact on my mental health. I started examining my typical work day and seeing if I could identify any triggers. I was annoyed that I did not recognize this decline sooner so I could nip it in the bud. But that’s the thing - you’re living in the micro, and it is so easy to miss out on the macro things going on in your life.

What I was able to discern was that I switched roles in mid-October and that led to a steady cadence of 6am (sometimes earlier) meetings because the organization is more east-coast centric. By the time I would have dinner with Marc, I would be thrashed and was not good company because I had been working for 12+ hours. The schedule also made it more difficult for me to get my workouts in, which definitely impacts me mentally and physically. I also realized that I was pretty burnt out from doing 3 months of daily rehab from my hip surgery on top of my workouts and everything else. And I missed seeing my friends and having laughs in person.

My PT conjured up lots of games to keep me engaged with my rehab.

Right. OK. Fortunately more and more of our “people” were getting vaxxed so that was helpful in addressing the lack of social contact over the past 15+ months. The gatherings that I have been in have brought me true happiness. Hip rehab concluded in late April and I’m breaking records for mid-life career professionals hula hooping. Marc and I were able to resume a couple of traditions that had to be suspended due to COVID. That left addressing the proverbial elephant in the room - my current role, most of which I truly enjoyed except for the daily very early morning starts. That was the biggest issue out of all of it since it impacted my time with Marc.

With that, my last day at PwC is on Friday and I will miss the people I met at P-Dubs, who were generous with their knowledge and their time. They are smart and funny, and my last team, in particular, brought me tons of joy. I had the opportunity to influence many folks during my tenure at the firm in terms of teaching people about ‘product’ and mentoring a few people along the way on their career journeys.

Snowshoeing on Rainier - April, 2021.

I’ll be starting a new role at the end of next month, which I am really excited about. It also coincides with being back in the office in a hybrid capacity, which also makes me happy. More on that once I start up there with my new set of colleagues whom I am looking forward to learning from and partnering with to achieve great things.

And with that, onward!

Becoming Bionic and Being Thankful.

So you are working through a sports injury for a couple of months and in a matter of 3 days, you go from “hey, it is probably something that can be solved through cortisone shots” to “you need a total hip replacement”. Whaaa…..

The results came in before I had a chance to consult with the surgeon. I saw the MRIa (it’s a “special” MRI) report and while I couldn’t understand 50%+ of the words, any time you see the words ‘extreme’ and ‘severe’ in this context, it can’t be good. I decided to send it to 7 different medical professionals and they all independently came back with some form of “uh yeah, that’s a total hip replacement”.  Extra bonus for those professionals who were around me on a somewhat regular basis who made comments around the fact that I had no business functioning at the level I was in terms of hiking, weightlifting and cardio. Uhm, ok.

Lake Ollalie hike in between Christmas and New Year’s - 3 days before the news that I would be ‘becoming bionic’.

It took me about 12 hours to come to grips with this news, which included copious amounts of wine, frantic texts and manic web searches. I was fortunate to get an appointment with the person who is known as “THE” surgeon for hip replacements about a week later, and he was able to confirm that my hip was, in fact, in deep sh**. What was hysterical was that in the surgical consultation, he was trying to “sell me” on the replacement surgery with this gradual story and I just interrupted him to say “Hey, doc…. I’m already in. I talked to people and I know how bad it is. When can I go?”

[You can take the girl out of NYC….]

After some back and forth, I was able to get scheduled for surgery in 2 1/2 weeks. I am beyond fortunate that I work for an employer that was very supportive and has very established policies for taking time off for this kind of thing, and be fully compensated. So off to surgery we went and likely my inaugural step, in many to come, in “becoming bionic”. I did my research on devices - woohoo. I was fortunate to speak to a few people who had the surgery and I trusted. Two people in particular were a huge help. One is a cousin and one is a friend. Their feedback on the unwritten things was and continues to be so helpful. 

Torta Setteveli - if I only bought enough chocolate to cover the cake…. because enough chocolate wasn’t already included!

In between, we had to celebrate Marc’s birthday. I was trying to behave myself for 2 weeks in between the holidays and the surgery and that pretty much went to hell. Oh well, Marc’s birthWEEK celebration was fun and worth it, even with COVID - particularly on January 20th with a particular focus on the events of Washington, DC. PS - If you haven’t heard of Goldbelly, you should check it out. It’s not the same as going to that favorite restaurant for a special occasion, but it’s pretty awesome. I cooked and baked for Marc’s birthday knowing he was going to have to take care of me so here is my rendition of Prue Leith’s GBBO “Torta Settevelli.” Let’s give it up for finding a way to temper chocolate that didn’t make me insane.

January 20th - early am PT. If you don’t have anything nice to say….

Fortunately, no hiccups in any pre-op work (passed the COVID test) and I was rolled into the surgery suite where I saw lots of tools that you might see at a hardware store. They started “medicating” me pretty quickly so I didn’t have time to think about that…. Anyway they do the surgery and release you the same day. In between, they test you for walking and a few other basic life tasks. 

Enter stage left: Marc (aka Mr. WaterClown).

For the past month, Marc has been taking fabulous care of almost everything as I have recovered from surgery. And somehow I managed to NOT need to ring the literal cowbell to summon him to my beck and call (as opposed to ‘beckOn’) that we have from my running days. We were also so lucky to have a great support system to help the both of us - near and far with all sorts of “creative” gifts and food deliveries that made us laugh. Obviously with COVID, support is very different than under other circumstances. I put a strict no-chocolate/no sweets rule in place, but somehow that was circumvented because everyone figured Marc, the chocoholic, would need it since he was taking care of me. No comment.

One of the many crazy exercises that our Physical Therapist assigned me for rehab. Getting the left leg up is harder than it looks.

In the interim, I have been fastidious about rehab and rest, along with taking care of some Beck projects. I’m doing lots of cycling on the assault bike and making Rocky montage videos. (DRAGO!!!!!!!) OK, I have watched a ton of TV shows too, which is not a normal thing for me. But the comedy was a much needed relief for me so it was the right call (thanks, B(J)S, for keeping me on task there). We received so many well wishes along the way via text/email/DM from family, friends and colleagues — all of which were really appreciated. Some of the text threads have really kept me laughing in their absurdity… in a good way! We also have our outdoor COVID friendly set-up, which has helped a lot with people coming to say hi. 

I head to work on Tuesday with much to do from a rehab perspective, but THANKFUL that I was able to build a base on which to continue my progress from, as well as have the support of so many folks. Ups and downs will continue throughout the process. With respect to COVID, I hope that we are closer to the end than we are the beginning but if you know of someone going through a situation that would normally be helped with some hugs and human contact, also know that regular engagement also makes a huge difference when you can’t be together in person. Onward with a pic from a video that I recorded this evening for a good friend’s birthday.

Keeping it classy, as always.

Mom & Dad, Are We There Yet?

Me and/or my 2 siblings: Mom and Dad, are we there yet?

Mom and/or Dad (sometimes simultaneously): You ask me that one more time and I am turning this car around NOW! And I REALLY mean it this time!

When all of this started, I do not know what I envisioned but I am pretty sure that I was not planning on this lasting for as long as it has. This being COE-VID. [Side note: I have a friend who has somehow made it 2 words and she has hand gestures to go with it.] We are now coming up on 7 months into this very frustrating situation and I am guessing we have another year to go before things remotely get back to whatever “normal” will be “post-COE-VID”. It’s tempting to ask the question “are we there yet” or even “are we ALMOST there yet” but that seems to be a fruitless exercise at this stage for a variety of reasons. So off we go as life goes on….

I hope this finds all of you and your loved ones relatively happy, healthy (in all facets) and sane. If you are not in a good place for whatever reason, then PLEASE REACH OUT TO ME NOW and I WILL HELP! Remember that “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

How are we doing and managing COE-VID? As regular readers of this space know, we tend to be, uhm, very sports oriented and don’t get into episodic TV. Given that it took awhile for the respective professional sports leagues to figure out how they were going to manage player safety with competition, Marc and I needed to figure out a new post-dinner strategy. And I definitely needed to create a hard barrier between work and personal given the long-term work from home situation.

One day, Marc just compiled a list of shows that he thought might be interesting to check out. We came up with a plan where he would pick a show to watch and we would watch a season, I would pick a show and then we would jointly pick a show that we were interested in. Rotate through until we finished the series. It’s been entertaining as it’s been years since I cared about a show on an episode-by-episode basis. The plan has somewhat worked out.

Marc’s choices, which have actually all been very good, were Altered Carbon (I liked 1st season better than 2nd), The Umbrella Academy (I liked the 2nd season better than the 1st), The Americans (about to start season 5 and Keri Russell might be one of the more underrated actresses of our day), Veep (as much as I love and adore JLD, I had to stop as it was making me think of reality too much), Dear White People (overall very good) and I’m probably missing something else. Next up is Watchmen.

The ones we choose together tend to be cooking or travel related. We’ve watched Ugly Delicious, The Chef Show and Great British Bake Off. GBBO has LOADS of seasons so it is going to take awhile to get through all of them. But I actually like GBBO the best of all of the cooking shows that I have ever watched. The drama is purely about the end product and if the cake will collapse or not. It’s not about manufacturing BS between the competitors. We tried to get into Somebody Feed Phil and we both found it rather annoying. Loved Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat, but technically that was pre-COE-VID.

I’m still doing the podcast thing and I continue to suffer from having too many on my rotation. This one by Scott Galloway on “Algorithms and the Threat to Democracy” was a really good listen. The podcast subjects are mostly a mix of sports, entrepreneurship, fitness/health, tech/product, food and news. Many of them crossover into some of those other lanes. I’d say my faves are as follows:

• Sports (The Old Man & The Three with JJ Redick, Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy, 30 for 30 from ESPN and Bill Simmons from The Ringer - the ‘Parent Corner’ segments are definitely humorous, especially to this non-parent)

• Entrepreneurship (How I Built This with Guy Raz and Founded & Funded from Madrona Venture Group)

• Fitness/Health (The Ready State with Juliet and Kelly Starrett, Doctor’s Farmacy with Mark Hyman and The Mind Muscle Project with Raph and Lach)

• Tech/Product (a16z from Andreessen Horowitz and Product Talk from Products That Count)

• Food (Eater’s Digest from Eater and Foodcast from Bon Appetit)

• News (Next Question with Katie Couric, Modern Ruhles with Stephanie Ruhle, The Prof G Show from Scott Galloway and Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway)

Most of the time, I am listening to pods while I am working out as long as I am not doing some intense cardio where I need to be laser focused on my pace and my timing like my OPEX “Pain/Gain/Sustain” style workouts. Those efforts, plus my weightlifting prescribed by our coach, have also been a savior for me on all fronts.

Other things (outside of work) that we have been doing to stay sane while not being able to entertain as much as we typically do is hike where possible, The recent smoke and fires over a good chunk of the month have been a real bummer as September is typically a nice weather month in the Pacific Northwest. Fortunately we have been getting out for hikes and walks here and there, so that has been helpful mentally and emotionally for me.

I’ve been trying some other things like taking a couple of online classes, which I’ll get into more detail about at a later date. I also attempted to bake, which is not something I typically do. Regular readers of this space know that the other Chez Beck household member tends to do those things and he does them REALLY, REALLY WELL! Too much GBBO, me thinks.

Bringing it all back to “Mom & Dad, are we there yet?”, I think we’re about 1/3 of the way through this. So that means being really focused on how I can ensure I get the right amount of sleep, not work too much and not stress too much about things beyond my control. Making that clean break from my office upstairs to downstairs to the kitchen and family room to relax definitely helps with me winding down before bed. Yes, I realize that I am lucky that I have that space. All of the above activities help with that. I’ll close out with, once again, if you are struggling and think you need help, please ask.

Baking. Jill. Weird.

Quarantine life has brought out the ‘almost impossible’ in me. A willingness to attempt to bake something sweet. Readers of this space know that I do not like baking savory things on the best of days but I could be motivated to do for the right occasion.

The issue when I do bake is that I rarely attempt the simple. And the problem with that is that baking is generally anything but simple….. if you don’t like to follow instructions to the letter. Ahem. It is why I enjoy savory cooking because I can “off road” in a variety of ways based on what is in season or whatever I may be fancying. Baking requires precision, patience and leaves very little latitude for error. Meh.

My other problem when I attempt to bake is that I tend to pick complex recipes by chefs I follow. I mean, if you’re going to go big….

With that, most of my baking has been in either the Bouchon Bakery cookbook or the classic Bouchon cookbook. Both eateries are owned by Thomas Keller. I am a big fan of most of his restaurants and one of the highlights was taking Lisa and Jarrett to Per Se when I had the “purple claw” from the Australian Walkabout.

In the past, I have made things such as his Quiche Lorraine on a number of occasions. I wouldn’t say it is complicated, but it requires planning and is a multi-day effort. From the Bouchon Bakery cookbook, I have made 'Bacon-Cheddar Scones’ because, of course, savory, cheese and bacon are involved. Also made were ‘Nutter Butters’, ‘Fuhgeddaboudits’, ‘TKOs’ as well as puff pastry made from scratch. This was for another special occasion dish made here at Chez Beck called ‘Duck Wellington with Mole Sauce’, which is Vitaly Paley’s recipe from Paley’s Place.

[Side note: When I was on Facebook back in the day, I tagged Chef Paley on my dish after making it and he complimented me on the presentation. Proud amateur chef moment. Anyway…..]

As part of quarantine living, Marc and I have started watching GBBO (aka the Great British Bake Off). It’s pretty fun and I must have had too much wine one night when I decided that I would bake something for an upcoming socially distanced gathering with some close friends. See, all in-person gatherings are now special occasions. And with that, I chose to make Thomas Keller’s ‘Oh Oh’s’ recipe.

I am unsure what the hell I was thinking (again: see wine comment above) because I had never rolled baked sponge pastry and I certainly never tempered chocolate. In case you never tempered chocolate, it is a challenge and requires that whole ‘precision, patience, whatever’ thing I mentioned at the top. And as with any Keller recipe, it requires multiple days of effort in the best of circumstances. Alrighty then. Let’s do this anyway!

The sponge was relatively easy to make and the cream filling from scratch was also pretty uneventful. I remembered Marc had made these previously and it was great to have some notes around scaling the recipe, particularly around the cream. I did find myself looking furiously at the oven to see about overbaking and doing the whole toothpick testing thing, a la GBBO. I’m such a wanna-be.

I doubled the recipe, including Marc’s recos, so I had a bit of buffer as I only needed 8 Oh Ohs to be remotely acceptable. Rolling the sponge with the cream was tough. Next time, I might err towards slightly underbaking as the sponge may cook a little once it comes out of the oven. I had to do a bit of a flip to get the sponge cakes out of the cookie sheets, but fortunately those went off without any problems. Got them all rolled and prepped to go in the freezer overnight. A little cracking, but not too bad.

Wait. What the hell am I talking about, “next time”? No, thank you!

Got ‘em rolled. Ready to go in the freezer overnight.

I checked on them dutifully, but had to be careful as I may have gone into hoarding mode when it comes to our collection of Crowd Cow meats and seafood in the two freezers we have. I barely got them in without scraping against anything. This required putting a special sign on the freezer to ensure everyone (all two of us) was careful with the precious cargo in the freezer. Normally I would have coated them the next day but the plans were in disarray due to the smoke and fires in the area.

We decided that plans were moving forward so I started with tempering the chocolate 48 hours later. Tempering chocolate is a complicated process, as I mentioned above. You cannot screw up the temperatures and you need to monitor it incessantly. You’re talking 3 phases. The 1st phase was just melting the chocolate from bar form. Standard. Then the 2nd phase has you taking it off of the double boiler and letting it cool, which TAKES. A. FREAKING. LONG. TIME. Then for the final phase, you have to heat it briefly and then get it on the cakes as quickly as possible.

Attempting to temper chocolate.

The 2nd phase took well over an hour. Kept stirring it. But the chocolate was taking its sweet time. It finally hit the temperature but we didn’t have a tempering fork, so I was handling the cakes with my hands and then even though we had the cakes with chocolate on a cooling rack, they still stuck to the bottom. An unmitigated disaster. Lots of f- bombs dropped. [Note that we had lots of f-bombs dropped the previous nights because Marc and I are fans of the Broncos and the Giants, respectively, and they both showed up in lame fashion on MNF.] Anyway, in spite of Marc’s best efforts with his baking expertise, I was pissed off. I realized I was going to have buy a bunch of chocolate early the next day and repeat the tempering all over again with some modifications.

Worked out the next morning and went to PCC. The cashier said I was well stocked in chocolate to get through the next pandemic. If he only knew. I also decided that tempering was out and that I was just going to melt the chocolate. Everyone was going to have to be ok with non-shiny chocolate and live with that. Oh, the struggles of COVID. Got the chocolate melted. Marc also recommended that we continuously move the cakes once they had been coated with chocolate so they wouldn’t stick to the cooling rack. I also decided to use 2 spatulas to coat the cakes in the chocolate. The good news is that both of those moves turned out to make a positive difference in the outcome.

Progress with pearls and everything….

OK, now we were talking. Get these bad asses in the fridge to harden for later in the day. Check. Brought them to the dinner party at friend’s house. They worked. I even got serenaded for some strange reason. All in all, good. But I’ll say that I’ll likely never temper chocolate again, much in the same way that I’ll never make puff pastry from scratch again. Yes, it is a point of pride to do both, but the taste is not demonstrably different and the frustration level is way lower. Call me lazy. I’m good with that. Now quiche crust, on the other hand, is something worth making from scratch.

Squats and Tacos, baby! Oh, wait… Cardio and Chocolate!

Time To Cash In Those “Chits”

Becky Sauerbrunn paying homage awhile back….

What an absolute gutting way to end the work week. I am certainly not going to be articulating anything new or original on Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her legacy. I did enjoy this piece on her workout.

It’s tempting to delve into what her passing will do to an already polarized electorate ramping up for an election that already had pretty high stakes, but it is not something I am interested in at this point. The other thing is that if anyone actually purports to know what is going to happen between now and January 20th, 2021, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

I’ll focus on what I can do. I may not live in a state with something “major” at play (swing state for President or a flippable Senate race), but I know I have the ability to contribute in ways that expand beyond writing a check. COVID has forced us to be brutal about our choices and how we prioritize different aspects of our way of life. I have saved up a lot of “chits” over the past 6+ months.

I’m ready to cash them in. How about you? To kick things off, we are going to open a bottle of wine that personified RBG - a Shafer “Relentless” Syrah.

PS — “I can’t” is not a phrase that exists at this point in time.

Super Diva

What September 11th Means To Me

19 years ago today, ~3000 people were killed, including a friend of mine, and many more have passed away since as a result of what happened at the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, PA.

I was there and maybe some of you were as well. Below is my story from a year later after the attacks. The last paragraph obviously resonates a bit differently than in previous years given today’s circumstances with COVID and the events of 2020 in general. But the last 3 sentences still apply.

9/11 - A Year Later (9/11/02)

Many of you have been e-mailing or calling to see how I am doing today. I am grateful for your concern. I started typing something up for myself, but figured maybe it might be more therapeutic (and easier) for me to share this with you.

Well some days you just wake up and don't know what to think. This is one of those days. I decided not to go into work because I felt as if I would be re-tracing every step that I took that day and to be in the actual place where I saw it all happen was going to be too much for me today. But even with not being in the office, I still am re-tracing my steps at various points throughout that day, which included seeing the 2nd plane hit one of the towers and then watching that same tower fall to the ground not long after.

I also remember how happy was a few days earlier celebrating a big milestone. I was surrounded by close friends at Artisanal and spent the day with my folks at the US Open on a gorgeous day. I thought to myself that life was good. I spent the next day with my family at Luger's and continued to think life was good. After 9/11/01, I remember thinking how grateful I was that I was smart enough to know how good I had it (and still do).

Part of me still feels like it's not possible that this could have happened. Like it does not seem real even though I know it's real every day I go to work. The whole thing just seems so unfathomable - even a year later. I think a lot of us are just checking up on each other - many of my friends work on Wall Street, so many of us just remember what it was like to be "there" in addition to the loss of any family and/or friends. I'll never forget the fear that my family and my friends had when no one knew where I was for about 3-4 hours, and how panicked people sounded on my voice mail or on my hotmail account. I remember spending most of the next 24-48 hours responding to people as much as I could because they did not even know the difference between the WTC and the WFC. I was so exhausted and I think it took weeks for me to get back on regular sleeping pattern. I had to stop watching the news because the images on screen were being replaced with the ones I saw with my own eyes. 

At the time I was living in the Village, you looked downtown and you just saw tragedy and despair - and that is an under-rated description. You knew it was a beautiful day, but you couldn't see it because all you saw was smoke. You looked uptown and the city looked as defiant as ever. We had an extraordinary run of good weather in the following weeks and when you looked in the direction of the Empire State Building, you never would have known what happened. Seeing the walls of missing people ads was gut-wrenching. Most of the pictures had the missing person with a child, grandchild or spouse/partner. I cannot imagine the anguish of those families.

In the months following 9/11/01, my company laid off 10,000 people. The rumors lingered for about 2.5 months, which made an already bad situation worse. A strong chance existed that I would be one of them. I was not, but good friends of mine were. Working in an office that overlooked Ground Zero recovery efforts was difficult to put it mildly. Smelling the burning was not only unhealthy physically, but mentally and emotionally. And then they restored work emails from the morning of 9/11 on a random day 2+ months later. Reading everyone being panicked about my whereabouts on 9/11 literally made me puke into the garbage pail next to my desk. Yeah, the suit I was wearing that day went into the trash. Didn't need the reminder.

When 2001 ended, I was happy to move on to another year. The nightmares eventually stopped but I still hear certain airplane engines or helicopters that remind me of the sound that I heard just before the second plane hit. 4 images are forever embedded in my head from that morning - the impact of the 2nd plane, people falling from the towers, people running for their lives when the 1st tower collapsed (I did not see that one actually collapse but I heard it) and finally the 2nd tower collapsing. I doubt they will ever leave my memory. It all feels like a bad action movie all over again. 

One time I went to a party that happened to be on the same floor as the 1st apartment we sought refuge in (before 8 or 9 of my colleagues came back to my apartment to use my landline since none of the cell towers were working). I felt a bit uneasy and some of the memories came back. I stayed and toughed it out. (2021 ed note: Do not take this as advice. Do not tough it out. Get professional help) I still have trouble watching news related to this event. When I was in London recently, a commemorative special came on and the channel was changed immediately. 

But I also think of some humorous things that happened since then. As I mentioned before, 8 or 9 colleagues of mine took refuge at my apartment in the West Village. What I did not say is that most of them were very senior managers within Research (Managing Director level for those of you familiar with Wall Street) and they were in my shoebox apartment on Bedford Street. So we had a reception with Rudolph Guiliani a few months ago and a number of people who were in my apartment that day were at the reception with their spouses (2016 ed note: this was pre-crazy Guiliani). I was introduced on more than one occasion as 'the girl who let us camp out at her apartment and use the phones'. It was humorous because those anecdotes happened on separate occasions with a friend witnessing it each time.

So when this anniversary came around, I started to really dig deep, as they say, and think about how I felt on the days leading up to this day and the day itself. I constantly remind myself how lucky I am. I think I take the time to tell the people in my life who are close to me how much they mean to me. So many people that morning did not and will regret it for the rest of their lives. I am keeping perspective or at least trying to. As one friend recently reminded me, we had very little difference between the people in the WTC and WFC - we all went to work that day on a glorious Tuesday morning in September.  I just had the benefit of location that morning and that was it. But that small benefit saved my life…. along with quickly evacuating.

I'd like to make one thing clear though - while the tone of this e-mail has been somber, I am one of the lucky ones. Make no mistake about that. I have been able to resume my life as it was pre-9/11/01.  Many people have not for a variety of reasons. Some people, who maybe did not lose anyone per se, can't ride the subway - they get panic attacks. Little things that you take for granted are suddenly not so little. My life is good and 2002 on the whole has treated me quite well. I was in Australia for the wedding of 2 close friends in January, plus spent some time sailing in New Zealand and the Greek Islands. One of the gents on my trip to the Greek Islands, Marc, has encouraged me to stop and to smell the flowers a bit more. I was able to leverage a business trip in August and meet up with him in 3 different cities on the weekends, plus I'm planning on meeting him in Switzerland in October. (2006 ed note: I married the guy) Marc's a good guy and I consider myself lucky that he happened to be on my boat for the same amount of time I was onboard. So things are good for me and I'm not complaining.

They say every generation has their 'where were you when.....'.  For our parents, it was probably JFK's assassination.  For ours, let's hope it's this because something worse happening is just unthinkable to me.  So instead of waiting for something else to happen, I'm going to make my life happen on my terms.  Here is hoping that you are all doing the same. Own your shit - plain and simple.

PS — RIP Vinnie Bag O'Doughnuts.

Marc and I on Patmos (Dodecanese Islands, Greece)

Fitness Routine Disrupted? Now What?

Out and about on a walkabout in the Pacific Northwest.

Given what has taken place with COVID-19, many people are unable to leverage their gym, athletic facilities (e.g., swimming pools, tennis courts) or other place for fitness. State and local governments have taken steps to keep critical businesses open, and fitness facilities do not qualify. I’m not saying it wasn’t the right call, but fitness is definitely a stress reliever for many and now folks are trying to figure out an alternative.

Some folks are lucky to have something at home, whether it is Peloton, treadmill, dumbbells, elliptical, etc. Marc and I are fortunate to have an ‘at home’ option. We do some of our own programming but also have help from our trainer, who is fabulous. Given the recent stretch of good weather in Seattle, I have been taking the opportunity to take a meeting or two per day while on a walk, which has helped my state of mind immensely.

Last Sunday and today, Marc and I were lucky to get out on a hike with enough space to do social distancing….. most of the time. If someone is coming up the trail and you’re coming down, and the path is narrow, that makes it a tad more challenging. But everyone has been positive and people are working through it.

I have received some questions for ideas on home workout pointers. I’ll certainly share a few things that I have done without having any equipment, but I’ll also recommend these articles on OPEX and on WSJ. If you’re able to pick up a pair of adjustable dumbbells (Bowflex makes a good pair and they take up very little room) and/or bands (Rogue makes great quality ones), your range of exercises increases exponentially.

My sister told me Peloton is giving away 90-day free trials to their app. I have heard great things about Aaptiv as an app to use. Our trainer just told us about Stryde, which is cycling-based. I’m guessing some of you know of other alternatives that people can try out. Post in the comments.

OK on to the workout ideas that I have done on the road (outside of going on a run). All you need is a watch that counts on seconds to do this or you can find an app (we use SmartWOD):

• Every minute on the minute, do 8 burpees for 20 minutes. The goal is to have a little bit of rest per minute before the next minute arrives. Trust me when I tell you that you will be sweating. You do not need any equipment, except a watch.

• For 20 minutes, do a continuous loop of 10 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 air squats and 10 alternating lunges. If you’re struggling with your push-up, check out this link on how to build the strength to do them.

• Use the above movements and complete a “Grand Slam” tabata style workout. A tabata is 8 rounds of :20 seconds of work/:10 seconds of rest. After each tabata, do a plank (form counts). So your 1st tabata is sit-ups for 8 rounds and then a plank. Then you do 8 rounds of push-ups and then a plank. Continue on….

• 5 rounds for time of 100m run, 10 jumping squats, 10 split jumps, 10 v-ups, 10 burpees. Rest 2 minutes after each round. Increase pace per round.

** NOTE: I am not a doctor, nor do I have any active certifications around fitness, so please check with your medical professional if you have not been exercising as of late before you try the above.

If you have suggestions, please post in the comments. We’re all in this together and just remember: you’ll never walk alone.

Harv Turned 75 So We Visited To Eat, Workout, and Party

We landed and made our way to Gramercy Park Hotel. Once we unpacked, we went downstairs to Maialino for dinner with Razz, Bill, Danielle, and Owen. The food was good but I took a photo of the dessert. It was a s’more thing that was pretty good but it had a mysterious spice to the chocolate. Turns out that it was ginger which threw us all off and also might have been just slightly overpowering for the dish.

View fullsize

s’more -

We took the train out to Long Island from Manhattan on the actual birthday. Harv picked us up at the station and drove us over to CrossFit Rapture so that we could do his special birthday WOD. Jill’s sister Lisa came to workout with us and Harv’s wife Yvette came to watch all of the insanity.

The workout after the warm-up was an increasing weight Metcon of 6 sets.

• 3 Deadlift

• 2 Hang Clean

• 1 Jerk

Then “Harv” was 5 rounds of the following.

• 9 Shoulder to Overhead

• 22 Box Jumps

• 12 KB Swings

After those 5 rounds, there was the birthday cash out - 75 wall balls. Ouch! This was on Wednesday afternoon. I woke up on Saturday and my legs were still sore from that.

We went to Blackstone Steakhouse to celebrate with family and friends. The food was delicious.

The meal ended with some dessert!

We both worked on Thursday and Friday and went out for some great meals in the evenings. On Thursday we ate with Thom and Bob at Cosme. On Friday, we ate with Stef and Mike at Llama San. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by Volare to see Sal and have a glass of wine.

On Saturday, we rode the train out to Jersey City to have lunch with Madeline at Light Horse Tavern. That was a rare excursion into Jersey for us. On the way back, before the big Saturday night birthday celebration with lots of family and friends, we stopped by Hudson Yards to look at the Vessel. We didn’t climb the stairs since we didn’t have a reservation.

So for the wrap-up to the week, we threw another gathering and party at Marta with lots of the family and many friends. All of the young cousins were able to attend. And lots of laughs and stories were told. Here are some photos from that evening (click on the photos below to scroll through).

Book Report #1 - 2020

So far the year has gotten off to a good start on the reading front, even with binge listening to some podcasts. I am anxiously awaiting the release of Susan Fowler’s book “Whistleblower”, which is due to be released tomorrow. I’m wrapping up “Nudge” by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. Definitely some food for thought in that one.

Other books that I have read this year include “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee” by Casey Cep, “Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All of the Facts” by Annie Duke, “The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer” by Caitlin Murray and “Mission 27: A New Boss, A New Ballpark, and One Last Ring for the Yankees’ Core Four” by Marc Feinsand and Bryan Hoch. Duke’s book was definitely a great read and I’ve already been able to put some nuggets from that to good use.

My podcast listening for the most part has been focusing on listening to one on functional medicine by Dr. Mark Hyman. When I listen to his talks with his guests, this is where I hoped we could eventually get to with technology when I was at a healthcare start-up a few years ago. Much of functional medicine is about the root cause of disease as opposed to the treatment of it. And based on my own experience, I know that I know my body better than anyone so it is incumbent upon me to not just own that, but to take actions that help me live a healthier life. Much of what he says lines up with a book I referenced in an earlier blog post called “ROAR” by Dr. Stacy Sims around hormones and how much they impact everything you do.

Trying to get my overhead squat on. It’s been a long time work-in-progress.

One of the things I have been working on since mid-November has been switching my workout mix from more cardio, which includes high-intensity interval training, with some strength to more strength with some cardio thrown in. This has been as a result of reading the book above. It’s definitely a mindset shift and also impacts my podcast consumption. Some of the podcasts I listen to are more technical in nature, so it’s hard to pay attention when you are going hard in a workout.

I’ll get into a list of podcasts I listen to in a later post, but spoiler alert: IT. IS. A. LOT.

Fed Cup tennis in Everett

Opening Ceremonies - USA vs Latvia

Jill got us tickets to go see the first ever Fed Cup event to be held in Washington state.

We went on Friday evening and saw Sofia Kenin defeat Sevastova and then Serena Williams defeat Ostapenko in two tie breaks. The crowd was pumped and on Saturday the match with Latvia got a lot tighter but Kenin played doubles and USA pulled it out.

Serena serving.

Moving beckOn blog to new platform with all old posts imported

Dear readers:

We have decided to move our blog off of blogger and onto something a little more modern and friendly from a posting composition perspective. We were tired of needing a desktop computer just to post something useful whatsoever.

I have imported all of the old posts and they are all here and searchable in our archive. Posts through Jan 1, 2020 are imported and now we move forward!

Please enjoy

~Marc

2020: Any Good Reading Recos?

I find it incredible that 2019 has come and gone so quickly. How did that happen? I have been trying to do more reading after getting completely sucked into podcasts over the past 2-3 years. I have tried audiobooks but I find that I tune out and don't stay as focused as I would like. Perhaps if I car commuted a fair amount, I might think differently. Anyway I'll list out the books that I found enjoyable in 2019, and welcome any recos you all may have for me to check out in 2020.

My favorite read this year was 11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King. I am definitely not a fan of King's genre, but know he is a very talented writer. But my friend who recommended it to me said it was different than the work of what he was typically known for. It has a number of twists and turns, and I did not find the ending predictable.

A close 2nd was ROAR by Dr. Stacy Sims. As someone who likes to be active, I get frustrated by the lack of studies on female athletes out in the public domain. Most studies are done on men and you learn in this book why (hint: men didn't want to account for women's monthly cycles in their studies). It definitely gave me much to contemplate in terms of my eating approaches around my workouts, as well as the type of workouts I do. I bought this book for a couple of training buddies as soon as I was done reading it. 

I finally got around to reading The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual by Kirsten Grind. Given that I worked there during some key events in the book and followed the bank closely after, it definitely got into the nitty gritty of how the bank ended up where it did. I went through it pretty quickly, although not as quickly as Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, which I read in 2018.

Probably the most disturbing read of the year came in from Jon Krakauer - Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violet Faith. It's about a true story about a young mother and her child that were murdered by family members. I wouldn't go as far as saying that it gave me nightmares, but it reminded me of the depravity of some people in this world.

If you're into food, whether as an amateur chef or just someone who loves consuming it, Ruth Reichl's Save Me The Plums was a really breezy read and very enjoyable. It was about her time running the helm at Gourmet (RIP). As a fan of the Pivot podcast, I was keen to check out the work of one of the co-hosts, Scott Galloway. The Algebra of Happiness is a decent read that I wouldn't say provides any new insights, especially if you listen to him on the pod or are on his email lists. 

Michael Ovitz, who was one of Hollywood's 1st 'superagents', wrote a memoir predictably titled Who is Michael Ovitz? What made this a fun read was reading the behind the scenes stories around some of the most popular movies ever made were put together in terms of casting, funding, storylines, etc. 

After listening to the Recode Decode podcast with Kara Swisher interviewing Kai-Fu Lee, who is the author of AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley and the New World Order, I decided to read the book. Many takeaways, but the biggest one was gaining insight into how China does business and thinks about entrepreneurship compared to the West.

As a Product Manager, I had been following Marty Cagan for awhile and decided to read Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love. It is a solid read on why so many products fail because of a lack of customer understanding. Like Galloway, if you subscribe to Cagan's email lists, you'll find much of the same information in the book. Another good read on this topic is The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank.

I forgot how this book ended up in my Kindle queue but The Romanovs: 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore was an interesting read. Montefiore talks in detail about the different personalities of each of the rulers such as Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great, and Nicolas II. Lots of really intricate stories told in this book.

Lastly, I read Ray Dalio's Principles. It was a dense read, to say the least. While I think the book has many good concepts, it is a lot to take in and put into practice. I think that since I read this, Dalio has released a higher-level version of the principles he outlines. 

If you have any good reads for me to check out, I'm definitely game to hear your suggestions.

Happy 2020 to you and your loved ones!
  

Day 7: Mexico City, Mexico --> Seattle, USA.

Today we decided to just take it easy in anticipation of it being a travel day back to the States. We have had a pretty full-on agenda for the 6 full days, so it was good to just wake up and not have anything to do other than head to the airport mid-afternoon. Marc and I have t-shirts that have "Squats and Tacos" on them with a pic of a taco. Unfortunately the ratio of squats to tacos was not where it needed to be this week so I got up to workout to sweat out said carbs. I have probably had more tacos (or a variety of a taco) in the past week than I have had in my life.

I still had some homework to do for Lia, our trainer, but when I got to the gym, a true "bro-down hoe-down" was going down with a bunch of athletes from the aforementioned Maccabi Games. They took over the entire weights area, so I kind of just waited them out while knocking out a bunch of cardio. And then I got my accessory work in after they all did their thing this morning. After some breakfast, Marc and I decided to watch the 3rd place match of the Women's World Cup. I was cheering for England, but unfortunately I don't think they had any gas left in the tank. Sweden was the better side and they deserved to win for sure.

We grabbed lunch at one of the restaurants in the hotel and I got to have tacos one last time before we made our way to the airport because why not? Oh, apparently a taco shortage is impacting Taco Bell in the US. [Hey Taco Bell, I might know a place where you can find some!] 

Minimal traffic to airport. Amazingly the process of getting out of Mexico City is 100% easier than getting in and we breezed through security, although not sure if that is REALLY a good thing? The receptionist at the lounge told us we should get to the gate at a specific time, which was about 40 minutes before the flight took off. Well, we did that and we were the LAST people to board the plane! Jeez! A bit too close for comfort there!

The trek home was fortunately uneventful and we are glad to be back after having a really excellent time in Mexico City. The people were lovely, the country was very scenic and the city itself was cool. The only thing that was a drag was the pollution, which made it challenging to breathe when stuck in a non-air conditioned Uber or taxi. We would definitely go back. We're really excited to be home to watch the USA take on The Netherlands. Hoping for a fantastic outcome for the USA ladies! #LFG

Day 6: Mexico City —> Teōtīhuacān —> Mexico City.

We had a relatively early start this am to head out to the Pyramids, which are about an hour outside of Mexico City. Rodrigo, our guide, explained some basic things about Mexico City on the way out. For example Mexico has 32 states and you can see colors on houses, which represent political party affiliation. You’ll see pink, yellow, blue and red/white. The current President is a member of the National Regeneration Movement, which has a pink color. So it is why many of the taxis that we have seen have a pink trim on the outside.

We went out to first visit the Temple of the Feathered Serepent (aka Quetzalcoatl). It was incredibly impressive to see how much of the carvings are intact and how detailed they were. When we were at the Anthropology Museum yesterday, we saw the replicas. Now we were seeing the real thing. [Note to anyone thinking of visiting Mexico City: Hit the museum first before you hit the Pyramids.] So ‘quetzal’ means birds with beautiful feather and ‘coatl’ means serpent. We had time to climb to the top of the pyramid and take in views of the other two pyramids that were on tap for today. It was steep! Let’s just say these stairs wouldn’t pass US building codes in terms of slopes!

Rodrigo then took us to the entrance of the Pyramid of the Moon. Before getting to the pyramid itself, we walked through the Temple of the Butterflies (aka Quetzalpaplotl). We saw murals that were created in 100 AD. To say that this was really interesting is really not giving this enough credit. Much of the temple had been restored around the 1960s. We climbed up to as far as we could of the Pyramid of the Moon, which was also steep. Fortunately they had ropes to help you navigate the way up, and more importantly, the way down. The views were excellent and we had really good visibility in all directions.

After that, we walked along the Avenue of the Dead, where all of the governors lived. Believe it or not, citizens picked leaders based on actual intellectual knowledge in topics such as astronomy, geometry and geography. Ah, the good old days. It was incredible to find out that only 7% of all of the Aztec ruins have been excavated at this time. Lots of ruins, including pyramids, under grassy hills. We climbed up to the much taller top of the Pyramid of the Sun. It was crowded and step, but they had ropes to help navigate the climb up. And it was also a good workout, especially at that elevation!

Rodrigo then took us to a place where we learned about agave plants, which play a big role in mezcal production. These trees literally produce 2 liters of honey water 2x per day. The honey water is use for pulque. The tree we were checking out is 12 years old, and they typically live twice that time. 20 different kinds of agave are produced in the country of Mexico. We also learned how the worm in tequilla tends to add a smoky flavor, which I was able to smell. Finally learned about the different kinds of obsidian and how you can see through it!

We then headed off to lunch at Nico’s, which came recommended by a few sources, and said farewell to Rodrigo. The lunch at Nico’s was pretty insane in terms of the amount of food that came out. Tortillas of all kinds for days. I think I have eaten more tortillas in the past week than I have in my entire life. If you think I’m kidding, wait until you see the food photos on Dropbox. Excellent food and in a fun atmosphere. They did tableside salsas, guacamole and café de olla.

After that, we all headed back to the hotel and I went to the gym. The Maccabi Games are in Mexico City and throughout the week, more athletes and their families have been arriving at the hotel, and thus the gym. One person asked me while I was on the elliptical, “what event are you here for?” I responded with, “I’m here to eat!” Apparently I looked just athletic enough, I suppose. You can’t make this stuff up. I think I have a cousin who participated in these games a number of years ago, but I’ll need to check with my folks on that when we get back home.

We had the closing ceremonies with Rebecca and with Jason at Bistrot Maximo. Again, really good food and the sommelier really was into the fact that we were doing  only Mexican wines all week. So we talked about some different styles and were able to enjoy 2 more labels that we hadn’t tried yet. During dinner, we were recapping the worst meal of the week, which belonged to Rebecca. When we were at L’Opera watching the Women’s World Cup semi, she ordered something that ended up being “mayonnaise with a side of shrimp” as opposed to the other way around.

That led to the discussion of the escargot starter that we got. Rebecca then chimed in about how that dish really teetered along “the gross/goodness line” and she wasn’t sure where it would end up. This put Marc in stitches as he started crying from laughing so hard. As many followers of this space know, it isn’t a party until someone can get Marc crying from laughing too much. Well played, Rebecca. We ended the evening at the hotel bar, where more mezcal may have been consumed along with another Mexican wine.

Day 5: Mexico City

Happy 4th of July everyone who will be reading this sometime after the holiday.

We started in the gym with Jill on an elliptical machine. I biked for 10 minutes to warm up. I did our homework WOD that is supposed to be with a kettlebell but they only have dumbbells so used that which was awkward. Jill did the WOD after me and we got breakfast.

We all met up and walked into Chapultepec park for the scenery and then over to the Anthropology Museum.

This was a worthwhile museum to spend a couple of hours wandering around. Lots of well preserved artifacts from different eras and presentation of temples and tombs and art and society and traditions. I saw Jill a few times as we meandered separately around. At one point she told me to go get a picture of "the big wooden thing". The specifics beyond that became it's at the top of the stairs/escalator. When I saw it, it reminded me of Fazzino which Jill's family has many his works. I texted her that I got picture of the pre Fazzino. 3D art from way before this last century.

Too many photos to post here, but a small selection at the end of this post. For those that want even more, you can browse all photos on Dropbox.

Next up was a walk back over to Pujol again but now for a lunch taco omakase. Someone else's take on this from last September saves me some presentation and typing time. Notable differences now include it being 10 courses and they have you choose the pairing. Mezcal, wine/sake, beer, or mocktails.

I was asked about my food preferences since they had a list. At the end he asked if insects are ok and I said sure. Yes, ants were involved. Ant larvae to be specific which one server or bartender referred to as Mexican caviar.

The 10 courses were great and they substituted shellfish well. The mole at course #9 was great like Tuesday (and 2 days older!). The accompanying Mezcal tasting all afternoon was spectacular. All 4 of us agreed that the taco omakase was the one to do if you couldn't do both this and the regular dinner menu we did on Tuesday night.

While sitting at the bar, we got to interact with an Australian bartender who gave us some great pure agave syrup that was amazing. Plus more than one staff member recognized us from Tues and warmly welcomed us back. Jason and I both agreed that the two best Mezcals of the 6 we were served were Mezcal Real Minero (Largo) which was just solid daily goodness and Mayalen which was peppery for particular occasions.

We also learned that as the shift ends at 2am, the pastry staff start showing up for the next day. And the prep crew shows between 6 and 7am as the fresh food deliveries arrive to get the next full day of meat and vegetables going. 24 hour full operation!

We got out just before 4pm and got an Uber to the Frida Kahlo Museum. This was an interesting view on her life and what she endured while also persevering and creating some legacy. I don't watch many movies so I have not seen Frida.

We got back to the hotel 2 hours before dinner to relax just a little bit. Could have used 3 hours. Off to Sartoria to complete our very international 4th of July by going Italian for a great meal. It was very nice to take a short break from Mexican cuisine after almost 5 full days of it. We were all too full and tired to take on dessert. I know this may shock some readers.

Day 4: Mexico City.

Marc slept in and I ventured to the gym to attempt to minimize the damage from all of the awesome food and wine we have been consuming. All hail cardio this week. We got some breakfast and then headed over with Rebecca and Jason to Mercado Medellin to meet with the chef who was going to lead our cooking class for the day. We had 2 other students joining us - an expat who lives in Mexico City and his friend visiting from Nashville. Chef Beto and his sous-chef, Mario, were on time and gave us the lay of the land for the day.

We walked around the market and sampled loads of things. Chicharrón. Mole paste. Some meat. Mexican coffee (followers of this space know that this is ALL Marc). Cheese. Chocolate. We learned that Mexico has 143 different chiles! We also tasted tlacoyo, which is a tortilla that has beans and chicharrónes in the tortilla itself and then you put in a filling, which in our case had chicken. Yummy. Beto took us by a tortilla maker that makes 14,000 tortillas per day and it happened in a room that was smaller than my garage. Amazing.

Amongst other tidbits gleaned from the tour, piñatas were actually created as a religious object used for teaching. The original ones had a 7-point star, one for each of the deadly sins. You were supposed to hit it 7 times at Christmas. Fruit used to be inside as a reward for eradicating the sins. At some stage, it was commercialized for birthdays and other fun events with candy coming out, but no one really knows when that transition happened. We also learned that chocolate didn’t always have a positive connotation when it came to Mexico. Sacrifice was involved. Anyway, the more you know....

We headed to Casa Jacaranda to start cooking. It’s a really beautiful space that is very contemporary but also very comfortable. Linda and Colin, the 2 other guests on the tour, were a lot of fun and it was great having them join in because we had no idea how much food was going to be made today. Spoiler alert: MUCHO (my Spanish skills are over the top, as you can read).

The group ended up making tamales (a single one is called a tamal - no ‘e’ at the end), green mole with shredded chicken, salsa verde, tomato salsa, tortillas from scratch, and some other things. Beto and Mario had us vote as a group if we wanted to do savory or sweet tamales, and Marc took a leadership role and immediately piped in with ‘SWEET!’ They were excited as most people choose savory. They weren’t super sweet by Marc Beck standards but it was fun to make those.

As we were eating mid-afternoon (with an 8pm dinner reservation - hmmmm.....), we also sampled some more Mexican wine, which has really turned out to be a great exercise. The wines have been unique and we have learned a bunch. It’ll be interesting to see what we can procure back home. Last night, one wine from Pujol was a star performer. The food that we all made was very tasty and the 2 other folks got to take out some leftovers since one of them was local. Great - nothing went to waste. After the meal, Beto and Mario led a mezcal tasting for whomever wanted to try. I think Marc and Jason tried about 5 or 6 of them. I’ll let Marc talk about the different styles, if he chooses. The cooking class was a great time and a nice way to learn about the food of Mexico.

We got back to the hotel after 5:30pm, which was a tad later than expected, with a quick turnaround time for another big time dinner at Quintonil. I crafted a plan so we could slow our roll at dinner and not eat straight away, plus we all agreed that we already were so stuffed to not have the tasting menu. The food at Quintonil was pretty outstanding. The wine service could have been a bit better, but overall we had some standout dishes with innovative presentation. I have never seen a salad presented as a profile within lettuce. Marc ate more seafood (amberjack in case you are wondering), which is a win for everyone. Escalmoles (aka ant larvae) are a regular thing on menus in Mexico. And the panna cotta was not what we were expecting, but enjoyable all the same.

So there you go. An action-packed and fun-filled day. Special thanks to Lisa for watching the other Women’s World Cup semi that was boring as heck and keeping me up to date via text.