Living Life at a Walking Pace

Plus - adorable dogs, cute cars, and my favorite bean recipe

Gorgeous pink Portland flowers. I think they’re some kind of cherry? But they’re more ruffly and full than the cherry blossoms I’m familiar with.

One of the reasons we chose to move to Portland is because I’m completely over driving.

I’ve never really liked driving. I didn’t even get my license until I was 20 years old! But in the last 30+ years I’ve driven a LOT. I used to work as a sales rep for Random House Children’s Books - a job that had me driving to visit all the bookstores in the southeast multiple times a year.

When my daughter was little I drove her to school, to practice, to Girl Scouts. When we moved to Asheville we were close enough to downtown to walk to some things - like our favorite pizza place and bookstore - but I still had to drive to almost everything.

We’ve been here in Portland almost three weeks now and our car hasn’t moved from its parking place!

I can walk to the grocery store, the post office, the bookstore, the hardware store, the library, the vet, and more. I can take a train to Ikea and Target and the airport. I’m not sure I’ll need to drive anywhere, and I couldn’t be happier.

Portland is a very bike-friendly town, and a lot of people have asked if we’ll get bikes, but I don’t think so. It’s not just that I don’t want to drive. It’s that I want to walk.

I love looking in the windows of the shops that I pass, stopping to look at the flowers, noticing a pair of goldfinches swooping away as I get close.

Life at a walking pace is good.

But even so, it’s (weirdly) a little hard for me.

I was walking to the grocery store the other day and I found myself walking really fast. Hustling.

My husband I have both been self-employed for a long time, which means it’s been a couple of decades of constant hustling. My business is well-established now, but I’m still a hustler. I like getting things done, being productive, making the most of my time.

But I don’t need to turn walking to the grocery store into a speed-walking workout! If I walk at a leisurely pace I’ll get there in ten minutes. If I hoof it, I’ll get there in eight. What does that two minutes gain me? And - the real question - what do I lose when I sprint?

Well, I lose looking in the windows of the shops that I pass, stopping to look at the flowers, noticing a pair of goldfinches swooping away as I get close.

And I don’t want to lose those things!

So I’m reminding myself to slow down. It’s ok to take an extra two minutes to walk to the grocery store. To give Augie Dog a little extra time to sniff around in the park. To stop work for a few minutes to enjoy the way the sunlight looks on the deep red leaves of the Japanese maple outside my new office window.

It’s ok to live at a walking pace - whether I’m walking anywhere or not.

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Our stuff finally arrived! Yay!

The first thing I did was unpack my kitchen. 😁

And the first thing I cooked was a pot of beans.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared my basic bean recipe here - usually I share links to other people’s recipes. But this is the recipe I’ve developed myself after years of tweaking and testing. I use it for any beans I plan to eat on their own, not beans I’m going to use in other recipes. Basically that means any beans that aren’t black, white, or red. (I have separate recipes for them.) I like pinto beans, whipples, bayo chocolate, black-eyes peas, scarlet runner beans and more. I LOVE the beans from Rancho Gordo.

Basic Pot Beans

• 1 pound dried beans

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 onion, chopped

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• salt and pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 6 cups water

• 4 teaspoons Better than Bouillon (I LOVE this stuff! I like to use 1 teaspoon ham, 2 teaspoons roasted veggie, and 1 teaspoon chicken, but you can use any combo you like.)

• 3 bay leaves

Brine the beans for a few hours before you cook them. I usually put mine out to soak at 7-8 am and start cooking around noon-ish. Soak one pound of beans in 8 cups of cold water with 2 tablespoons of salt.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When it’s shimmering, add the onion with some salt (maybe 1/2 teaspoon?) and cook, stirring, until the onions start to get a little translucent. Add the garlic and stir until it gets fragrant - just a minute or two. You don’t need to brown the garlic.

Add a teaspoon of salt, a bunch of pepper (I always grind it in so I don’t measure, but probably a teaspoon?), the cayenne and the garlic powder. Cook and stir until the onions are coated with the spices, a minute or two. Add the water and bouillon. Drain the beans and add them too. Drop in a few bay leaves and bring it all to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the beans are done.

How long? Well, that depends on the beans! Some varieties take 30 minutes, most will take an hour or an hour and a half. Some will take even longer. Just use a timer and every 20-30 minutes give them a stir and a taste test. They don’t always cook evenly, so be sure to test more than one bean. If I taste one and it’s done I stir and taste another. If that’s done I stir and taste another. If I test and get five cooked beans in a row, then they’re almost done.

I say almost because the next step is the magic step.

But first let me back up a step. In all that tasting and testing, pay attention to the broth. If the beans are getting close to done, but the broth still seems a little watery, leave the lid off to let the broth reduce a bit during the last bit of cooking. You’ll probably need to turn the heat up a smidge so they stay at a simmer.

Now back to the magic. Once the beans are soft, they’re going to be fine. But they will be sublime if you turn off the heat, put the lid on, and let them sit for an hour. They will go from soft to creamy - without falling apart and turning to mush.

These are just simple pot beans, so I eat them simply. Sometimes I just spoon them over rice and call it done. Sometimes I skip the rice and top them with roasted zucchini, or sauteed peppers and onions, or roasted sweet potatoes, or sauteed mushrooms, or fresh cherry tomatoes, or a chopped hard-boiled egg, or a fried egg, or chopped avocado, or a thick slice of toast - you get the idea. I also usually add a sprinkle of something fresh and green - chopped parsley, cilantro, or the green part of scallions - those are the herbs I usually have on hand.

Enjoy!

I didn’t take a photo because a bowl of beans - while delicious - isn’t the most photogenic thing, and I’m no food photographer. 😂

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After I unpacked my kitchen, I set up my studio. I’m calling it my sewing closet because it’s the walk-in closet off our office (which is technically the primary bedroom).

I still need to hang some tools and artwork, and there’s been no sewing yet (I haven’t found my sewing machine’s foot pedal 😂) but soon! And I’ll share a proper tour when it’s all set up.

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I may not be sewing (yet) but you are!

Gerda made this beauty for her grandson, combining blocks from lots of my patterns.

Sally used the Beep Beep pattern to make this fun quilt for her great grandson. I love the checkerboard fabric she used for one of the borders. Perfect!

Percy used the Lovable Mutts pattern to make this fabulous double-sided quilt. Yes - I said double-sided! Click through to the post to see the other equally-fabulous side. And if you want your blocks to have this kind of wonky frames (you can do that with any of my patterns) there’s a free tutorial here showing how.

Head over to the Shiny Happy People group on Facebook to see lots more wonderfulness people are making with my patterns—and to ask questions and share photos of your own projects. It’s my favorite place on the internet!

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Wondering where the archives and sale section is?

That’s now its own newsletter every Friday! I really love having the space to feature something from every year Shiny Happy World has been around - such a tidy little sliver of all the content on the site. 🥰

Last week - in a huge surprise (at least to me, because it was the only thing in the entire newsletter that wasn’t free) - this was the link clicked the most. 😁

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If you know someone who’d like to read this, please share! 🥰

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Happy stitching!

I hope you have a fabulous week!

Best,
Wendi
🥰

PS - I was so sad to read about the passing of Faith Ringgold. I first saw her work in Tar Beach and was so amazed to see a picture book illustrated with actual quilts! I’ve followed her work ever since, seeking it out at any museum I visit. There’s a short (just 8 minutes and totally fascinating) documentary here, if you want to learn more about here and see close-ups of a lot of her quilts and paintings.

Have a fabulous week!