Hi Friends,
On Monday I returned from Mendocino after spending four glorious days celebrating my birthday at the Stanford Inn.
There were 16 of us from all over the U.S.—even husbands came!
We kicked off the celebration Friday night with a Meet and Greet “Sushi Social.”
Every meal was a work of art.
These Kale Stacks with Cauliflower Ceviche were to live for!
After dinner, I even got “picked up” by a few good men. 😆
It was such a wonderful weekend—full of food, friends, fun, inspiration, and learning. We enjoyed several incredible classes, including a beautiful art therapy project.
I hope you get to experience this magical place someday and dine at the award-winning vegan restaurant, The Ravens.
I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes, cards, and gifts. I do my best to acknowledge each one with a handwritten thank-you note or personal phone call, but I’ve received so many gifts this past year with no return address or indication of who they’re from.
So please, if you EVER send me anything, do include your contact information.
If you’ve sent a gift that hasn’t yet been acknowledged, PLEASE email [email protected] and let us know what you sent.
It’s hard to believe that in just a few days it will be April—my least favorite and most dreaded month of the year.
April 15th is already a tough day (taxes!), but it’s also the date—three years ago—that I was officially diagnosed with lung cancer.
April is also when the doctors want me to repeat ALL my dreaded imaging—not just the CT scans (with and without contrast, which I’ve done every 3–6 months), but the scarier ones I only get annually: the PET scan and brain MRI.
I’ve had so many scans that if I stand next to a bag of microwave popcorn, it pops! 🤣
Enter Ben Franklin.
He is credited with the famous proverb:
“A watched pot never boils.”
The deeper meaning of this becomes almost poetic when you’re dealing with cancer:
• Watching scans
• Waiting for results
• Counting the days between treatments
Healing and treatment are slow processes.
Watching every scan or symptom can make time feel unbearable.
But life keeps unfolding quietly in the background.
When you focus too closely, time drags. When you step away and engage with life, life moves.
So stop staring at the pot. Go do something else. And before you know it—it boils.
Franklin’s wisdom is simple:
Keep living your life instead of staring at the pot.
Cancer taught me this: Healing is like a pot on the stove. If you watch it too closely, it feels like it will never boil. But when you stop staring and start living your life, one day you realize—it already has.
Ben not only taught me how to manage my SCANxiety, he inspired me to figure out a way to cook pasta even faster!
From the Puppy Files 🐾
My puppies constantly remind me of the beauty of ordinary moments.
This is my version of Andrew Wyeth’s famous painting, “Master Bedroom.”
As they say in Spanish: “Donde hay perros, hay paz.”
(Where there are dogs, there is peace.)
Please don’t obsess over waiting.
Staring at a pot of water waiting for it to boil is like focusing on dying. Better to get busy with the business of living—because lost time is never found again.
What is the “pot of water” you are still waiting for to boil? Hit reply and let me know.
Love & Noodles,
💜 Chef AJ