Monthly Review: May 2022

I love spring for many reasons, primarily symbolic ones––new life and all that. Whether they be manifested in ducklings by the river, calves in the pastures, or simple buds on the trees, signs of newness and vitality make me feel as though I am coming back to life after a long winter.

This spring, the signs of new life have been particularly precious, for they have come in the form of a baby: my nephew, born at the end of April. Bearing crock-pots brimming with soup and gift bags stuffed with onesies, my family converged in my brother and sister-in-law's apartment over Mother's Day weekend to congratulate them (but mostly to get our fill of newborn snuggles). My parents came from Minnesota, my grandma from West Virginia. They passed the baby from lap to lap, entranced by his tiny grasping hands and his squishy cheeks. He is so beautiful, we all said.

We were together last Mother's Day, too, but for a quite opposite reason. My Papa had died, and we came together to mourn and bury him. Now here we were a year later with the great-grandbaby he would have so loved to meet. A strange and melancholy juxtaposition, these two Mays. Grief and joy. Departures and arrivals. Death and life.

We see these pairs as opposite to one another, but as I reflected on these two weeks a year apart, it occurred to me that we do not experience them as opposites. We get all of them all together––the gravesides with the cribs, the mourning with the dancing, the goodbyes with the hellos. The shadows seep into the highlights, yet the light penetrates the darkness as well. It is this chiaroscuro that makes the masterpieces of our lives beautiful.

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Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of May.

What I Read

• Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, Dane Ortlund (★★★★★)

• Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys (★★★★★)

• Firekeeper's Daughter, Angeline Boulley (★★★★)

• Home for the Holidays, Heather Vogel Frederickson (★★★★)––reread

• Finding Her Edge, Jennifer Iacopelli (★★★)

If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.

What I Cooked

• Garlic Butter Creamed Spinach Salmon

My parents recently informed me that Aldi of all places has affordable salmon fillets that taste good, so I picked up a package and looked for a recipe to use them in. This was one of those "fancy" recipes that was in actuality super easy to make, and I was so pleased with how the fish tasted. My husband wasn't a big fan, surprisingly, so I'm not sure whether this will make it into the rotation, but I enjoyed cooking and eating my salmon.

• Chili Crisp Chicken Mango Rice Bowl

I decided I had to make this the second I saw it on Instagram. I used chicken thighs (which I had to transfer from my Dutch oven to a non-stick skillet because they were practically fusing with the enamel), and although I would like to try baking the meat rather than pan-frying it because we all know that pan-frying individual pieces of chicken is literally the worst way to cook chicken, I really can't complain otherwise. Everything just tasted so good. Even better, it allowed me to use up some of the red curry paste that has been sitting in my fridge so long that I was surprised it was still usable. 10/10 would do again.

• Cheesy Ground Beef and Broccoli Skillet

Tacos and chili tend to be my standard methods for using up a pound of ground beef, but I was in the mood to switch it up and Pinterest gave me this when I searched for ground beef recipes. I am normally wary of recipes from random mommy bloggers, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much we both enjoyed this meal. I added a little Worcestershire sauce and served it over rice, and both additions worked well.

What I Created

• Unpublished original poem "The Poetry Project"

May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.