Between Meetings & Meals 004
Reps, Curiosity, and a Friday Night That Hit
A new wine in the rotation, a Friday night kitchen gamble that paid off, and one small thing we have been doing at home that I did not realize was working as well as it is.
Here is this week’s Between Meetings and Meals.
The Pour
This week’s bottle was the Double Black Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve from Paso Robles, picked up on our last walk through Total Wine.
With the Austin Hope and Paso Robles street credit, it has been pretty easy to say yes to these bottles. This is our third or fourth from that lane and we honestly have not missed yet.
The flavor and texture felt elevated and for under twenty bucks it felt like a solid win for where we are on this little wine journey.
We opened it with dinner and it absolutely held its own. Not overly complicated. Just a solid bottle that made the night easy to enjoy.
Which honestly matched the night perfectly.
The Table
Kitchen Field Notes
I was still in the car when the familiar question hit me.
What are we making tonight?
It was Friday. I was about an hour out from home, mentally clocking out but not fully settled yet. I have been on a pretty serious steak run lately. Reverse sears. Butter bastes. Dialing things in.
But this night felt like it needed a small pivot. Still elevated. Still red wine friendly. Just different.
So instead of guessing, I did what I have been doing more of lately. I opened ChatGPT and started a quick back-and-forth brainstorming session while I was driving to pick up Alanah.
Throwing ideas.
Pressure testing options.
Narrowing it down in real time.
Anisa, Alanah, and I all default to fettuccine Alfredo when it is Olive Garden night, so once that idea surfaced, I kind of knew we had our winner.
The final call was our typical reverse-seared steak layered over a creamy mushroom fettuccine that felt elevated but still weeknight doable, with broccolini on the side to keep the plate honest. Once that picture formed in my head, the rest of the night started to fall into place.
By the time I picked up Alanah, the plan was locked in.
What I did not expect was her energy the second we got home.
She was fired up.
Full sous chef mode.
We were making Ratatouille references the whole time, like we were running our own little kitchen line. She was pumped to grate the cheese, season the steaks, and even jumped in to help work the cast iron.
Huge shift from not that long ago.
She used to be super hesitant to touch raw meat, even when it was still sealed at the grocery store. Now she does not even flinch.
Cooking used to feel like a chore. Nights like this, it honestly feels more like an adventure.
Anisa moved in and out of the kitchen like she always does on these nights. Tasting. Asking questions. Keeping the energy light.
At some point, it stopped feeling like cooking and started feeling like one of those low-key Friday night hangs that just happened to produce a really good plate of food.
And honestly, we surprised ourselves a little.
When everything came together, and we started plating, there was that quiet pause where everyone just kind of looked at the plate.
You know the moment.
The “okay… this actually looks legit” moment.
Smiles all around.
The pasta came out rich without feeling heavy. The steak layered in perfectly. The broccolini did its job and kept the plate balanced. Somewhere between the first bite and the second glass of wine, we all kind of looked at each other like yeah… this one is staying in the rotation.
Before the first bite, Alanah grabbed herself a wine glass. We filled it with her soda, raised our glasses, and had a proper little cheers around the table.
Just three of the six of us that night. Nothing fancy. Nothing overplanned.
I looked around the table and smiled. Core memory saved.
Side note. As we keep getting more comfortable experimenting at home, it is getting noticeably harder to decide where to eat when we do go out.
We keep catching ourselves saying it.
We could probably make that better at home.
Not in a cocky way. More in a slightly dangerous, we might be ruining restaurant nights for ourselves kind of way.
This homemade Alfredo situation definitely did not help.
The Edge
Build the Bones First
I learned a long time ago that framing is everything. Probably something that got wired into me back in my photography days.
One thing that has helped me create more consistently lately is simple. I stopped starting from a blank page.
Whether it is this newsletter, a social media campaign, a leadership program, or, honestly, anything creative, I start with the bones first.
The Pour.
The Table.
The Edge.
The Lesson.
That skeleton removes most of the friction before I even begin.
Because staring at a blank canvas is where a lot of us freeze. Too many options. Too many directions. Too much pressure to make it perfect.
But when the bones are there, filling it in becomes way easier.
So if you are stuck creating anything right now, try this:
Start with the structure.
Name the sections.
Build the outline.
Then come back and fill in the story.
It sounds almost too simple, but this one shift has helped me ship more consistently without getting stuck in my own head.
The Lesson
Ask It Right Away
One small thing we have started doing more of at home is simple.
When a question comes up, we just ask.
Out loud. In real time.
The kids will ask something random. Sometimes I know it. Sometimes I half remember it from years ago. Sometimes I have no idea.
Instead of guessing or saying we will look it up later, I just open ChatGPT and we figure it out together.
Right there in the moment.
It might be how fog forms. Why the sky is blue. Where some random animal lives. How pencils are made.
Does not matter.
What matters is they see the curiosity happen in real time. They see that not knowing something is normal. They see that finding the answer is easy.
And honestly, we end up learning together more than I expected.
So here is the simple challenge this week.
Have the tool ready.
Next time your kid asks a random why question, do not brush it off.
Pull it up. Ask it. Explore it together.
Because sometimes modeling curiosity is not about big lessons.
It is just about being willing to ask the question.
One more rep in the books.