ORDER: DO ANYTHING FOODS
Problem: I want to make any meal a feel-good and healthy one anytime, anywhere, and I want that option within arms’ reach.
Solution: Do Anything Foods. What is it? Incredibly versatile, veggie-rich sauces that make meals with real food for real life. Most good home cooks will tell you: the secret’s in the sauce, and DAF is here to help when it comes to mealtime. Whether you’re crowding around delivery containers, last night’s leftovers, or your own homemade masterpiece, they have something for everyone. Shop their sauces here and scroll their recipes. Yum yum healthy time!
APPLAUD: ROSS EDGLEY AND THE GREAT BRITISH SWIM
There are certain extreme people who take what we think are the tried and true limitations of the human body and completely blow them out of the water (no pun intended on this one). Hold onto your swim cap, because what this man recently did is totally insane beast mode - or fish mode - ok, enough stupid jokes. They called what Ross Edgley did the “Great British Swim,” because he swam around the entire mainland of Great Britain, just shy of 2k miles. Two thousand miles. What in the...?? If you want to hear more about it (and his otherworldly swimming while pulling a tree, rope climbing the height of Everest and a marathon pulling a car) you can listen to Joe Rogan interview him here. Speechless.
DINE: CLYDE COMMON
If you’re ever in downtown Portland, you gotta hit Clyde Common. Opened in 2007, Clyde Common is a diversely influenced European-style restaurant paired with a splendid bar. The team works to playfully categorize their menu as domestic and foreign cooking, taking notes from European and American traditions and creating menus focused on pristine ingredients grown and foraged in the Pacific Northwest. The energizing and open space features wooden community tables, bar seating, and large windows looking out onto Harvey Milk Street. On our most recent visit we had the Cheese & Charcuterie Board, followed by the House-made chicken sausage (w/ spätzle, sauerkraut, apple, and mustard) with a side of Cornmeal-Fried Sweetbreads (chili-ginger sauce, collard greens). Save your breath in asking if we’ll be returning, because the answer is yes.
SUBSCRIBE: TRADE COFFEE
We are in and around a lot of coffee shops, coffee roasters, and coffee cultures these days, and picking the right beans in the right places at the right times can sometimes be a bit daunting. Enter Trade Coffee. Get on the site, enter your choice flavor profiles and roast levels, and next thing you know they’re on your front porch! If you already have favorite roasters/brands, they’re most likely on there, and if you don’t yet then they’ll help you find them STAT. Trade up!
WATCH: BODYGUARD
No, this isn’t the Kevin and Whitney “Bodyguard.” This is a series out of the U.K. that just left us utterly spinning. Simply put, it is a contemporary thriller featuring the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service. Throw in unparalleled intensity, unexpected love, and exceptional character development and acting, and you’re getting warm to the caliber of this show. We’re not going to go into too many details here because if it sounds at all tantalizing to you, then we urge you to hit the couch and Net the Flix.
Broc
Family - while they are little monsters, nothing makes me happier, prouder, and more thankful than the health, smiles, and love from my little ones.
My wife who is my anchor and my kids who are my sails. And our house. And my new running sneakers.
I am most thankful for having a place to call home. My husband and I bought our first house last year and the projects are endless (which we enjoy) but it also provides us a place to gather with friends and family. Now that the weather is cold, we spend at least one evening a week sitting around the fire pit and listening to music. The dogs enjoy it too. It feels like a little escape for a few hours from the busy world and somehow sitting around the fire under the inky night sky never gets old.
I’m most grateful for my family. They’re the one group of people I can count on most. They’ve shown me what endless love looks like and selflessness. Without them I have no idea where I’d be.
This year has been exceptionally good to me, yet it always boils down to the people I shared it with. I’m grateful to have seen close friends getting married. I’m grateful for the times I visited my family and the times they visited me. I’m grateful to work beside a bunch of badasses. And I’m especially grateful that my fiancée, who makes literally everything in my life better, said ‘yes.’
I'm so thankful for my ever-supportive family and the chance to return to my roots here in Vermont. I couldn't be thankful for that without being grateful for my HELM family, the ones who made it possible for me to move across the country and still be part of this crazy team (think leaf blowers in the office, pranks that lasted more than a year, cars filled with garbage, flying objects and LOTS of loud singing....Joshua...) and I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. Visiting Austin recently, I spent a lot of my vacation at the HELM office, because it felt like coming home. So I'm grateful for the family I always had and the one down in Texas that I was somehow lucky enough to fall into.