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My Genre

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  For many years, I searched for good books. I read bestseller lists. I looked at award winners. I followed book club recommendations. If a book was widely praised, I felt it might resonate with me, too. I trusted the algorithm to recommend titles suited to my reading preferences. Yet the results puzzled me. Many books that were supposed to be perfect for me left me unmoved, while a handful of others stayed with me for years. The same pattern appeared in television. Some highly acclaimed series failed to capture my interest, while others spoke directly to my heart. Only recently have I begun to pay attention not to the categories of stories I loved, but to the qualities they shared. At first it seemed I must like historical fiction. Then perhaps it was mysteries. Then literary fiction. But none of those labels quite fit. What I have realized is that I am drawn to stories about people learning what matters. My favorite characters are not necessarily brilliant, powerful, or successfu...
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Less Complexity. More Rhythm

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  For years I tried to find the perfect way to eat. These days I'm more interested in ways of eating that are simple enough to do every day. My current Maison Tranquille meal plan is uncomplicated: Breakfast: Avocado toast with sprouts plus a rotating side of eggs, sardines, apple and walnuts, tomato and cucumber, or oatmeal. Lunch: A big smoothie made with coleslaw mix, spinach, bananas, frozen mixed berries, flax seeds, apple juice and water Dinner: A house salad topped with whatever proteins, veggies, or grains sound good that night The salad dressing is mixed right in the bottom of the bowl: • 1 tablespoon olive oil • 1 tablespoon lemon juice or red wine vinegar • 1 teaspoon Maille French mustard (or any dijon mustard) • 1 teaspoon of Season-All Whisk, add the greens, and toss. I've been growing broccoli, radish, kale, and sulforaphane sprouts again and adding them wherever I can. It's amazing how much nutrition can come from a few simple habits repeated day after da...
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Sardines: The Tiny Fish Making a Big Splash

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My personal aesthetic currently falls somewhere between French grandmother, Mediterranean wellness,  and woman buying sardines in Asics sneakers. I have to tell you about sardines. Not just because they’re having a moment—though they absolutely are—but because something this small and humble fish has suddenly infiltrated everything. Not tucked away in emergency pantries or doomsday prepper hauls, but center stage: splashed across fashion prints, name-dropped in wellness podcasts, starring in Mediterranean recipe reels, artfully arranged on open kitchen shelves, and anointed by chefs as the ultimate weeknight meal. Tiny, oily fish have, against all odds, become stylish. At boutiques, you’ll find clothing with sardine motifs—whimsical little fish embroidered onto linen tops, or Mediterranean-inspired graphics that feel both nostalgic and absurdly modern. And yes, Drew Barrymore does have a bamboo melamine dinnerware collection called Sardine, part of her Beautiful by Drew line at Wa...
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Making Sausage

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  NYC Street Food Cart "Laws are like sausages — it is better not to see them being made." — attributed to Otto von Bismarck   The same could be said for our future. Most people carry some internal picture of the future they hope humanity will move toward. Perhaps more humane, more rational, more beautiful, more truthful, more compassionate, more free, more stable, more curious, more dignified. But one of the most unsettling things about periods of rapid change is realizing that history is not automatically pulled toward the best vision. Different visions compete constantly — through culture, economics, politics, technology, education, and everyday human behavior. My own vision isn't about certainty. It's more about preserving human dignity in a world that often treats people as data points, protecting democratic and humanitarian values, staying evidence-informed without letting cynicism harden my heart. It's about keeping curiosity alive, resisting extremism,...
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