Carrie Saum

Breakfast is my most favorite meal to eat and least favorite to prepare.

Next, juice your blood oranges. Or skip this and buy the juice from the spendy little corner market that sells $8 fair trade chocolate made from cocoa beans harvested purely through meditative thoughts generated by unionized zen monkeys in Thailand. They also sell blood orange juice. You’ll find it next to the $15 cashew milk.

Food is fun and chicken soup is hard to mess up. Truly! Enjoy this Lemongrass Ginger Chicken Soup recipe from my heart to your stove.

You don’t have to do it all in order to have a fun or memorable holiday season. Just do the things that bring you life and make your soul sparkle a little.

My friends, food is getting fancier.

Tamago kake gohan is made with hot sushi rice, an egg, soy sauce, and good dash of furikake (a traditional seaweed and sesame rice seasoning). It is comforting, filling, entirely satisfying, and stays with you for several hours. This is great fuel for a school day, a sick day, or a day spent hiking — or marathoning Project Runway.

We have all been there before. The stuck place. Your body feels heavy, your feet glued to the floor. Maybe you have a hard time getting out of bed. Maybe you feel sad about a relationship that is deteriorating or has completely dissolved. Maybe you just feel completely spent and worn out, and lack the energy to move at all. Or maybe you have this great big beautiful life you're afraid to step into and the fear has you paralyzed.

Occasionally, I get confused about the line between cooking and crafting. Spring rolls are in that category. I give myself a pass, though, because even if they look a mess, they taste legit. They also walk that really gorgeous line between being indulgent, healthy, and fun. That just so happens to be my favorite line when it comes to food… and probably sex.

The shame was overwhelming. Why was my body broken? What had I done to my baby? I began to spiral into self-loathing. Gestational diabetes felt like a failure.

I've spent the last week in sunny California. I was there for a massive food expo. It was also Spring Break.