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A good friend once told me the following:

“I’ve had the most success in my life when someone close to me believed in me a little bit more than I believed in myself.”

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The Friend Who Changed My Life

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Recipe | Parting Thoughts

A good friend once told me the following:

“I’ve had the most success in my life when someone close to me believed in me a little bit more than I believed in myself.”

Look, not all of us are David Goggins, and from what I gather, even David Goggins has had his moments of self-doubt. One of the reasons that friendships are so important is because they offer the confidence boost we simply can’t provide ourselves day in and day out. And there’s nothing wrong with leaning on that, being grateful for those who nudge us towards the sometimes elusive “I can.”

In fact, one of those friends might one day change your entire life.

220 Likes on Instagram.

I started The Korean Vegan Instagram account in February 2016, shortly after going vegan. I posted photos of my vegan cookies, cakes, and pizzas, along with the recipes in the captions…

Discover how I went from a practically anonymous Instagram account to a bestselling author on this week’s podcast episode:

Apple | Spotify | Google


Ask Joanne.

This week, on Ask Joanne, Samantha, a stay-at-home creator begins to challenge the notion she was taught growing up: depression isn’t real, it’s just a mindset.

Samantha,

First of all, I’m so sorry to hear you’re going through such a rough time. Whether you call it depression or simply a “mindset,” it’s clear that you’re suffering. And I think that’s really what matters, isn’t it?

Listen to my reply to Samantha’s Ask.

Apple | Spotify | Google


A Night With Michelle Zauner.

Photo Credit: Adam Amengual.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard of (if not devoured) Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H-Mart. I recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with her at a LIVE event hosted by Now Serving LA (one of my favorite bookstores in the world). We spoke in front of a crowd composed of nearly 2,000 people and I confirmed that Michelle is as lovely, talented and kind as one might glean from her bestselling memoir. BUT, I ALSO learned that she is FREAKING HILARIOUS!!! She managed to elicit a near-constant stream of steady laughter, while also making people cry. If you haven’t yet picked up a copy, you are in luck, as we are giving one away to a lucky winner! Sign up above!

Photo Credit: Adam Amengual.

This Week’s Recipe Inspo.

For this week’s recipe inspiration, I bring to you my Strawberry, Kale, and Fennel Salad! I’ve been so inspired by the beautiful strawberries at my local farmer’s market, and I thought a salad was JUST the thing to show them off.

For the dressing:

1/4 cup fresh basil
1 tsp maple syrup
1 pinch salt
black pepper
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp hummus
1 tbsp mustard

For the salad:

2 cups chopped kale
1/4 cup diced cucumber
1/4 cup sliced fennel bulb
2 tbsp chopped pecans
1/4 cup chopped strawberries
1 to 2 tsps vegan cheese

  1. Blend together all the dressing ingredients until smooth. Dressing will be more of a vinaigrette than a creamy dressing.
  2. Add kale to a large bowl, together with 2 tbsp of salad dressing. Massage the kale with your hands and set aside while you chop up the remaining ingredients.
  3. Produce Prep – Wash all produce! Dice the cucumber, chop the fennel bulb, slice the strawberries, chop the roasted pecans, chop the fresh basil, slice the vegan cheese.
  4. Add remaining ingredients to salad and drizzle with extra dressing, to taste. Enjoy!

This week’s recipe inspo comes DIRECTLY from The Korean Vegan Kollective–a web app that houses all my recipes AND provides you with complete nutritional information! If you want more recipes like this one on your phone instantly, check it out! You get:

  • 2,000+ delicious and personalized plant-based recipes
  • complete nutritional information for every recipe
  • integrated grocery shopping lists and grocery delivery in select areas
  • access to one-on-one food coaching
  • live cooking demonstrations
  • exclusive articles and videos from me and my team

Parting Thoughts.

There is no disputing that of all the cheerleaders in my life, Anthony remains the loudest (sometimes to an embarrassing degree, lol–have you seen him on the sidelines of a race??). People often ask me, “what was that moment that you knew you should leave your day job?” The problem with that question is that it presupposes that once I knew, I knew, and there was no going back after that. Maybe that’s true for other people, but that definitely wasn’t true for me. Even after I made the decision to withdraw from partnership, I second-, triple-, quadruple-guessed it, to the point where Anthony started getting annoyed.

“Look, at this point, I don’t even care what decision you make. Just make it, stick with it and be done with it,” he’d say.

He did add something, though, that finally plugged a hole in the ceaseless dribbling of self-doubt.

We were sitting in the TV room of our home in Chicago. I was working on discovery requests while sitting on my favorite chair. He was foam rolling on the floor while watching CNN. Roodles was snoozing away in the fluffy little bed he favored when we congregated in this part of the house. I stopped in the middle of drafting yet another objection to another absurdly inappropriate interrogatory to ask, for the millionth time,

“Babe, are you sure I made the right Decision?”

He knew exactly what I meant by the “Decision.”

He stopped foam rolling, put his hands on the floor, and craned his torso around to look at me.

“Look. I’m only going to say this one more time,” he began. “There are no two people on the planet that I have more faith in than us.”

And once more, I simply could not argue with my husband’s logic.

– Joanne

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