Watermelon Sugar
on finding and maintaining your chill. there's a beverage involved. with mezcal.
Last month in Portugal, I introduced the phrase “find your chill” to a Portuguese friend who already speaks excellent English (as opposed to my nearly nonexistent Portuguese). I no longer remember the context or the impetus for explaining this term, since from what I’ve observed, Portuguese people are adept at enjoying life. Still, he told me he appreciated this colloquial addition to his vocabulary. I hope he’s had ample opportunities to casually trot it out.
I’ve been trying to maintain my chill since returning to Seattle, and it’s harder than you’d think. Recently, FYI Guy reported in the Seattle Times that according to a national survey, Seattle residents have the highest levels of anxiety of any US major metropolitan area. We’re also the most depressed. Today’s silver lining, if you can call it that, is that we are less stressed about rising inflation than residents of other US cities. That may be because of the concentration of tech wealth in the greater Seattle area, coupled with our season of good weather and long days. Check with us in a few months when it’s dark and rainy again.
Here on Substack I am noticing the lack of chill and I get it. For people trying to support themselves as writers, this platform offers an important audience base and revenue stream. I’ve seen several helpful posts about how to grow those things, brand your Substack, use Notes to their full advantage, and more.
So I was surprised the other day to see a Note from
(one of the more popular Substackers I’ve encountered. He doesn’t need any PR from me, but is definitely worth checking out) pleading with people to stop writing for a while so he can catch up.He’s right. From salad recipes to writing prompts to horoscopes to walking tours, there is a multitude of content to enjoy, with new discoveries to be made every day.
In these often disheartening times, it’s good to be reminded how smart, curious, thoughtful, insightful, and funny people can be. Case in point, this odd duck of a post by
which I can’t stop thinking about. He doesn’t need my PR either, so I appreciate how graciously he received it.
I’m not here to offer you original recipes (though happy to share and credit other people’s. Keep reading for the recipe that ties this post together), writing prompts, advice, or special paid content.
Slice of Midlife is really just a collection of insights meant to spark consideration of a unique life stage that straddles very different experiences.
During the long span known as midlife, you are likely to gain and lose partners and friends, raise your kids and see them leave your nest, care for your parents, lose your youthful attractiveness and vigor, and start playing pickleball and wearing more comfortable clothes.
You also end up co-signing leases for your kids and helping them move more times than you’d think, something they don’t tell you about in parenting classes.
As inspiration for this blog or Stack or whatever I’m supposed to call it here, I collect my thoughts and the things I’ve been cooking over the course of a week or so, until a theme emerges.
My Hot Take this week is that the latter part of midlife is a great time to find and maintain your chill, especially if you are a woman of a certain age.
No one pays attention to what we look like or cares what we think, though they do want us to spend our money.
I’m not the first woman to tell you how liberating this can be, even though I haven’t fully bought it into that idea. I am often amazed at how discounted my peers and I are, though we bring life and good snacks to the party and wisdom and skills to the workplace.
These days, I’ve noticed that my emotional range is far less extreme than it once was, say in the years when my daughters were going through puberty and I was beginning the long march to menopause. Good times.
I am way more chill than I used to be. As someone who was born and raised near the Jersey Shore, that’s saying something.
I didn’t get around to writing a post last week (you’re welcome
) and I am humble enough to realize that nobody notices or cares. Part of accepting this stage of life is realizing that your opportunities to make a difference may be quieter and on a much smaller scale. And that’s okay.Still, I don’t think any of us wants to feel like a tree falling in the forest, with no one around to hear it. It’s a challenge as we grow older and perhaps more isolated to figure out how and when we want to be acknowledged.
For me, food will always be a connection point, and you’ll have to pry a cookbook out of my cold dead hands.
The Best Thing I Cooked This Week
I’ve been on a bit of a melon recipe kick (if you haven’t already, check out
’s deceptively phenomenal melon salad that I included in my last post).The Food 52 Cookbook Club has been cooking from Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling, by Bricia Lopez and Javier Cabral, who last collaborated with the wonderful book, Oaxaca. (Bricia is a partner at the LA restaurant, Guelaguetza. Worth checking out).
This simple recipe for Frozen Watermelon Mezcal Juice from Asada, epitomizes the chill of both summer in the Pacific Northwest and the emotional vibe of late midlife.
Do not skip the step of adding a sprinkle of finishing salt. That’s what makes the drink.
Frozen Watermelon Mezcal Juice from Asada
4 cups cubed seedless watermelon
3 oz. fresh lime juice
3 oz Simple Syrup
8 oz mezcal (I used Del Maguey Vida de San Luis Del Rio)
finishing salt (this is the chef’s kiss)
In a high-speed blender, blend the watermelon cubes. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher. Extract the watermelon liquid. Reserve the pulp and freeze in ice cube trays.
Mix the watermelon water with the lime juice, simple syrup, and mezcal. Stir to combine and refrigerate while waiting for the pulp to freeze.
Fill glasses with pulp ice cubes, pour on the juice, and finish with a sprinkle of good finishing salt.
finding your chill is never a hot take, but it's always a chill one
I think I'm doing this aging thing wrong. I keep adding more responsibilities, which is leaving far too little time for me to drink! It may be because I'm "off schedule" in terms of the normative female life course. I came to parenting later in the game than is typical, which is why at 61 I'm still over a year away from coming home to an empty nest. Not sure how I'll handle that life transition, but I'm guessing cocktails will be involved : )