On fish, tomatoes, and tipping before service
Welcome to Wanderfull! Did this week feel longer than others? It did for me. I had a double-injection day, too: a routine blood test one morning and a bivalent booster the same afternoon. I’m gettin’ good at gettin’ jabbed. Anyway, hope you had a brilliant weekend and have a fine lookin’ week ahead of you.
A Tip for the Modern Worker
Limit work-related communications off-hours. Avoid the temptation to be wholly available to your work regardless of the time of day. Mobile devices can make it easy to be “on the clock” in the early morning, late evening, and on the weekends. Try to disconnect, and know that the messages and emails you get off-hours will be there when you punch back in. Use “Do Not Disturb” or set app limits to ensure you get time away from notifications and emails that keep you in the work zone. If that fails, perhaps remove the applications altogether from your device. Balance this with any expectations of you being available for emergencies. If your team knows how to reach you by phone or text, that’s a fine backup as long as you set expectations.
I tweeted that out exactly a year ago and it’s part of my Handbook for the Modern Worker. I have a love/hate relationship with my phone. Convenience? Love it. Intrusion? Hate it. That’s why most of my notifications are off and I liberally use Do Not Disturb. That said, for work-related apps like Teams, I leave notifications on. I can keep tabs on what’s going on if I’ve stepped away or if something is happening during off hours. I balance that awareness with a healthy dose of “that can wait” if it truly can wait. It’s all a balancing act, isn’t it?
#365DayDraw
I drew this as part of my #365DayDraw project 6 years ago today.
I find it ironic that my favorite yoga pose is named for an animal in a state of asphyxiation on the beach
Funny. Last week I wrote about yoga, and here I am highlighting the aptly-named fish pose. Are you familiar? I feel like a fish gasping for air every time I do it. But it feels good, so I keep at it. Especially that little head rush as I get out of the pose. Let’s see, where else can I pull fish into this? I take daily krill oil (48 times more potent than fish oil), my wife and I are trying to eat more salmon in our diet (see below for our easy prep), and I remember a few fishing trips as a kid with my Dad at my grandfather’s pond (👋 Dad). Oh, and this past Thursday’s NYT Mini Crossword featured fish as the answer to the “animal group that’s been around for more than 500 million years.” That’s a long time! Okay, that’s enough fish for now … on with the show.
Commentary
I’ve been on a few business trips lately and the topic of tipping has been front of mind. With the prevalence of takeout and counter service, tipping before service has taken center stage. You know the moment: you’ve ordered, tapped your credit card, and the screen swivels ‘round and prompts you for a gratuity. 15%? 20%? Another amount? Sheesh. I don’t know. I haven’t yet received anything for which I’d be grateful. Gratuity, after all, comes from the Latin root word that means “grateful.”
Having worked in the service industry, I’m automatically a 20% kind of guy. Make my day and I’ll ante up. Make me mad and you’ll get 15%. But ask me to gamble on the service I will ultimately receive and pick a number in advance? That’s a tough one. So I typically go right down the middle. 20%. But I’m not thrilled about it.
I’m not alone here, either. As this article details, there are clear ramifications for loyalty and satisfaction. Back to my business trips, there are several cases where pre-tipping really backfired on me, when I received slow service, rude service, or the worst: slow and rude service. But I digress.
Who’s doing this right? Ridesharing like Uber seems to. It offers me the chance to tip after I’ve received the ride. Now there’s a correlation between service and gratitude. Square Invoices gets it right, too. Whenever I get an invoice through Square, I can pay at any time. I wonder if the tips flowing through that platform are indicative of satisfaction with the product or service, or if we’re just getting used to reclassifying tips as a tax?
Who else is doing this right? Or wrong? Do you have a perspective to share? Comment away, and rest assured, I won’t ask for a tip before you type.
Miscellanea
I promised a salmon-on-the-grill technique that’s super simple: I brush each side of the fillets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. After preheating the grill, cook on indirect medium heat for 3:30 on each side. Easy!
My son, who’s into all things Broadway, is in mourning. Did you hear the news about The Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running show in Broadway history? It’ll have its final curtain call on February 18th after marking its 35th anniversary. “Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar, and live, as you never lived before!”
Ctrl-V + 🍅🍅🍅
Know what that means? Paste tomatoes! You can call ‘em Romas, too. This is the time of year when our CSA opens their paste tomato rows for unlimited picking, so that’s what we’re doing. After they ripen on our counter a bit, it’ll be time to make sauces and soups* to enjoy on these colder evenings.
* Okay, did that part about soup make you hungry? Here’s the recipe we use for tomato soup. With our homemade basil pesto, it’s pretty darn fantastic. Xander’s our go-to chef for this, but now that he’s away at college we’ll have to carry the torch (or immersion blender; I use what I have).
Tomato Basil Soup with Pesto
3 lbs. tomatoes, (2 lbs. Roma, seeded and cut in half + 1lb. whole cherry, etc.)
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
6-10 garlic cloves
3 large carrots, peeled + cut in half
2 tsp salt
⅓ cup olive oil
4 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
¼-½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
basil pesto (to taste, we use ~1/2 cup of homemade)
ROAST: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF. Place the tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, and salt on one large baking sheet. It's okay if some of the ingredients are overlapping. Drizzle the olive oil along with a generous pinch of salt and pepper and give it a good toss so it's all evenly seasoned. Place the baking tray in the oven and allow the ingredients to bake for 1 hour. Check on the ingredients around 30 minutes and give it a toss as needed.
SOUP: Transfer the roasted veggies into a large pot and puree with immersion blender. Add medium heat. Add the broth and allow the soup to heat all the way through, about 5-7 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes. Add pesto.