welcome to my monthly journal

ENTRY #2:

on missing deadlines, the DACA anniversary, and recipes featuring chickpeas

Hi Friends,

It has been a month and a half since my last entry. And if anyone read what I sent, I promised to send these entries on the 3rd day of every month. So, there we go, I didn’t keep up with my own promise.

Like my former coach Rosie would say “so what you broke your promise! What are you going to do to restore integrity with yourself?!” [please read that in a nice and cheerful way].

And she is right. The real challenge is keeping the promises you make to yourself. Once you break your own promises, the rest of the pillars will follow.

Anyway, sometimes, things don’t go as planned, and that’s ok. And if your inboxes could talk, they would be thanking me for this delay too.

I wanted to wait to send it today instead, June 15, on the anniversary of a public policy that really influenced my life for many years.

DACA was always supposed to be a temporary solution to help undocumented immigrant youth thrive in this country but ten years and countless of court cases later, we have semi-documented mid-life adults, going through mid-life crisis and unresolved trauma, waiting for Congress to pass a permanent solution for them.

 In other news, my new short play Miss American Dream, had a reading on June 8th at the 59E59 Theaters and was produced by Primary Stages. This was the culmination of a year-long writing program I was a part of, Echoes Writers Group,  and where this play was workshopped. I hope I can bring it to other theaters for you all to see soon.

 Recipe Name: Channa visits the Mediterranean

This month I wanted to share a personal recipe that my S.O. is always asking me to make and is a fusion dish inspired by South Asian Channa Masala and Lebanese Maghmour. It is hearty and flavorful. In this version, chickpeas are queen, and slow cooking is key to achieve a creamy and saucy consistency.

Ingredients:

2 cans of chickpeas

1 medium sized eggplant

1/2 a white onion, chopped

5-7 garlic cloves, sliced

1 cup of freshly chopped cilantro

1 can of diced tomatoes

2 spoons of tomato paste

1 spoon of olive oil or avocado oil (high heat kind)

Optional: 1/3 cup of coconut cream. If so, just add one spoon of the tomato paste.

Spices:

Salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, curry powder and seeds, red chilli powder (or cayenne pepper as a 2nd option), garlic powder. Sumac (an optional touch of craziness! But really, is for a hint of lemony flavor).

Steps:

1. Chop eggplant into chunks, sprinkle a bit of salt & pepper and olive oil, and roast in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

2. Sautéed garlic and onions until they look soft and shiny (about 3-4 minutes). Add eggplant, then the can of diced tomatoes, mix everything for another 2 minutes.

3. Add the aforementioned spices, to your taste. You have to figure out what your spice comfort zone is.

4. Add chickpeas, lower the heat, cover the pot and let everything cook for 10 minutes.

5. Uncover to add tomato paste and half a cup of the cilantro, let it cook for another 10 minutes. You can add the coconut cream during this time too.

6. Lower the heat friends, and let it cook for 5-10 more minutes. Please make sure you are tasting it, that it is flavored to your taste.

7. Serve with fresh cilantro on top, and a side of jasmine or basmati rice, or bread (naan or pita).

If you end up making this recipe, let me know please! 

• The vibe for this month was in part influenced by Malaka Ghraib’s List of Beautiful Things:

• What are friendships to a writer?

• If you are ever struggling to express how you feel, use this wheel 

• Gift giving is one of my love languages

• Why do I write?

• Watch this when you need some type of encouragement.

• The Mercury Retrograde just ended. Why is it so popular these days

• This essay by Morgan Parker about being single at the young age of 33

I hope this newsletter FOUND YOU in the right place, and not buried in your promotions tab, or worse, the spam folder. Thank you for reading all the way through! Please let me know your thoughts by replying to this email. I'll be happy to hear from you.

This is a risky endeavor, most people hate email these days but I really hope this brings joy to and perspective to your day. And if you liked what I wrote today, why not support my work? Or if this email was forwarded to you, subscribe below for my next journal entry.

See you next time!

F