Breakfast Chats: Brunch Plans + Preparing for A Full House Soon
And a new reading project
“Breakfast Chats” is a lighter series, where I share short musings and conversational tidbits about life things. It’s a regular, monthly feature that I’ve made open for access, through the year of 2024, to all subscribers, both free and paid.
I was looking out the window while making breakfast this morning, and the sky was this beautiful bright blue. So, once we were done eating, I took my chai, stepped out and enjoyed it in the fresh, morning air. Life is full of little luxuries and sipping your morning tea quietly for a few minutes before you begin your day, has to be one of them. Anyway, now I’m at my desk and all settled in to write this month’s Breakfast Chats. Let’s start, shall we?
1. A Houseful November
Next month we have a lot of people coming to stay over with us at different times so it’s going to be a full house for us most days. I’m so excited about planning for all of it, getting to hang out with some of my favorite people.
I’m very particular about the kind of people that I bring into my home. I think our homes are these sacred spaces that absorb the energy of the people that move within. I feel my home is my sanctuary, it’s where I heal and restore myself. A place where I like bringing in those who I love and can trust.
And over the years, I’ve learnt to really see how some relationships can project that they mean well for you, but they may not carry your best interest at heart. And we sometimes end up dragging them along for reasons that actually don’t hold much substance, inviting them into spaces that are meant to be safe for us. Realistically speaking, you can’t always manage who has access to your home, but there’s a lot that can be consciously edited out.
We protect our homes with the highest tech these days because we don’t want to give away what we’ve honestly earned. Boundaries, respect, a sense of peace; these are the spiritual and emotional earnings of a home that I feel also need the same kind of care and protection.
Our homes glow differently when there’s genuine love and warmth around. I’m very excited about November.
2. The Books On My Nightstand
Last year when my friend Mehwesh was visiting me here in Sydney, she gifted me a couple of books by Middle Eastern authors. It was around the time when I’d just started to get back into reading again. And something that I noticed as I went through those books, was that throughout my life I’d read very little from people with different backgrounds. Most of what I’d read came from one kind of community. And to read the voice of someone from a different culture and history felt extremely refreshing. The references to food, family experiences, ideologies, even the politics was so different. Like being transported into completely different worlds.
One night I was lying in bed, looking into what books I wanted to read next, interestingly also texting Mehwesh on the side about the same, and I had an idea. I thought why don’t I try going down the list of all the countries in the world, choose a book from one of them each month, and have it as a part of my monthly stack. So, I started out with Afghanistan, discovered a new (to me) author who had great reviews, found her book at the library, and booked it in.
I finished “Sparks like Stars” last month and loved it (I put its review on my Goodreads as well if you want to check). And I already have an Albanian author on my nightstand for October.
But over the last few weeks, I’ve been slowly building up a list of books for this little reading project, and I’ve already outlined a lot more books, and it’s been such a highlight. These are voices I would have probably never discovered, stories that I wouldn’t have had access to.
I’m going to keep sharing with you guys on my Instagram as I keep going, but I think even if you don’t do all the countries, just broadening our approach to include other worlds and realities can take the experience of reading to another level.
I’m just so grateful to Mehwesh for getting me thinking on this.
3. Fitness Plans
I want to take some very good care of my fitness this month. I’ve been pretty good with the kind of food we have on an everyday basis, wholesome healthy meals and modestly full plates. But I want to make sure that I’m active almost every single day all through October. I also got some bloodwork done to keep an eye on how things are doing inside.
Health and aging well has become so important to me specifically the past few years and I’ve been really enjoying taking care of myself this way as well. I’ll keep you guys updated, I hope I have good things to report in next month’s breakfast chats.
4. A Substack Reco
I thought this month I want to introduce you guys to one of my most favorite writers on Substack. I’ve known Samira for years through Instagram, she’s been one of my biggest supporters since forever, and with never the slightest expectation of anything. She’s been writing “Letters from London” since a long time now, and in my humble opinion, writes the most beautiful essays on here.
I’m linking one of my most favorite pieces she did below. I don’t think you’ll regret subscribing to her :)
5. Friday Night Scenes
We have friends coming over for a brunch tomorrow, so today’s Friday evening will be spent cooking up some food and freshening up our place a little. Nabeel will be making some kunna gosht. For those who may not know, this is basically a slowcooked meat curry; it’s easily one of my most favorite things he makes. As for me, I’ll be making some pasta for the kids.
You know, if you think about it, one of the hidden joys of having people over, is in the prep work you can get to do as a team. I feel as long as you keep things small & intimate and are okay with not too much perfection in how everything looks, it can be such a beautiful bonding experience for a family, that you can enjoy at ease, without overburdening yourself.
Simple things like, planning who will do what, the grocery trip for it, cooking together or doing things side-by side, like sometimes Nabeel’s cooking and I’ll be cleaning up. The taste tests, helping each other at different points, it’s definitely made some of the nicest memories for us.
Anyway, now I think I’ll head downstairs to get started on all of that and that’s pretty much it for our breakfast chat today. I will see you soon.
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Music Credit: The music in my voiceover background is ‘Milky’ by Ninn Tendo.