this & that ~ feb ed.

strawberry matcha recipe, current reads, and kid's menus

Mar 23, 2025

feb in a few words

A little late this time around, but a monthly recap is always my favorite way to reflect on what I’ve been up to lately as it provides me with a moment to appreciate the simple pleasures in life.

image sourced from my personal instagram

highs

new friends
study dates
setting a no buy rule (this was hard but so so needed)
sunny mornings
flirting with warmer of weather

what I was consumed by this month

Here’s a short list of things I loved this month.

reading

black swans - eve babitz

I’ll confess that I have always a really bad habit of reading more than one book at a time. Last month I started Lili Anolik’s, Didion & Babitz which helped to inspire february’s pick. Bonus points because the cover has a touch of pink!

I love everything about Babitz and her ability to throw us in the middle of her chaos while making it feel like the sun fractioning through a stained glass window.

my fav substack reads from this month:

This may contain: a woman reading a magazine while sitting in an airplane with her head covering over her face

my latest works

the discourse on didion's diaries

selara

Mar 8

Joan Didion, the master of cool detachment and unflinching observation, is now the subject of the same scrutiny she once wielded like a scalpel. Rumor has it, Didion’s diaries are set to publish - the utmost posthumous betrayal. An excavation of a mind that for all its literary transparency remained fundamentally opaque. Didion curated her own mystique,…

Read full story

eating

My current obsession is strawberry matcha. I think it’s a perfect way to transition into the warmer weather and get a taste of spring.

This may contain: a pink and green cup sitting on top of a white bed covered in sheets,

Ingredients

8-10 large strawberries or one small carton of strawberries
1-2 tbsp maple syrup or organic honey
3-4 tbsp water
brown sugar if desired

Instructions

Slice strawberries
Add all ingredients to sauce pan
Simmer over low to medium heat until soft
Blend until smooth
Pour over ice
Add desired milk
Add matcha
Store in airtight glass container in fridge for up to a week

To make matcha

follow the 1-1-1 method
1 -2 tsp matcha powder
1-2 tbsp warm water (not hot or it will change the flavor of your matcha)
1 tsp of your desired sweetener or less if that’s your thing
- You can totally skip this step if you’re looking to cut back on sugar because the strawberry base is already sweetened (I do)

doing

I recently went on a date and asked for a kid’s menu. Not because I wanted to order chicken strips (although I will rarely ever say no to them) but because I wanted to heal a part of my inner child and see if the man I was on a date with would walk with me. Spoiler alert, he ran.

The waitress rolled her eyes and shoved the crayons into his hand to which he replied with a thank you while smiling at me. The boyish twinkle in his eye made my breath catch. Oh, I am so fully lost.

We laughed over pizza, word searches, and tic tac toe (I won because he let me) and finished off the night with brownies and strawberry gelato.

I don’t know why I stopped asking for the kid’s menu in the first place or when it even happened. It’s as if one day society decided I was “too old” to order chicken strips, or maybe it was just that I was “too old” for smaller portions and smaller prices (which is lame because the kids portion is perfect but I digress). Why did I ever think that playing games while waiting for my food was silly? Is the principle really any different than mindlessly scrolling on our phones?

Next time you go out to eat, ditch the phone and ask for a kid’s menu.

pizza with a side of cheese for the lactose girlies

playing

meditations & subliminals: call me crazy, but I swear this works. I don’t know if it’s a placebo effect and quite frankly I don’t care. I have been adding subliminals and hz frequencies into my morning routine to create an ambiance of serenity and slow down while I prepare for the day. Think of it as a low effort meditation if you will.

if you loved call me by your name, this is for you: this video transported me to the French countryside and made me want to lose myself in the creation of something beautiful alongside other creatives. The filming feels like the trailer to an indie movie while the narration feels like a love letter to other creatives. The style reminded me of the film “call by your name”, absolutely stunning. This led me down a rabbit hole of Claire’s work and I don’t ever want to leave.