Meghna Jaradi 🍊

👋🏽 An Introduction: I’m Meghna, writer, third space expert & creative consultant based in Seattle, WA. Fun facts: ✈️ My parents pulled me out of school for three months during the sixth grade. My teacher assigned me a journal to document our trip around India. You could say I’ve been writing since then. 🍑 I’m forever spoiled for good fruit: I can pick the perfect summer peach, thanks to my farmers market days with @martinfamilyorchards . 🍺 I’m a @cicerone certified beer server, and always looking forward to fresh hop season. If I see a dark lager on a taplist I’m probably ordering it. Drop me a line, say hi! 💌 📸: Sunflower fields bloom annually in August at @thomasfamilyfarm in Snohomish, WA. Admission includes one pick-your-own 🌻 to take home.

Italian plums signaled the end. 🐍 🔗💌 link in bio.

Local artist Yaminee Patel’s (@yammakesstuff ) stunning debut solo show, “Rice, Roots, and the Road to Cultural Exploration,” opens tonight at @_common_objects in Belltown (2601 1st Ave), and is on display through May 29. Ahead of opening night, food writer Meghna Jaradi (@thali.creative ) interviewed Yaminee about the deeper story behind her ambitious 2-D and 3-D artwork, which uses rice, lentils, beans, and more to celebrate the communal strength found in food. Part of Yaminee’s own communal strength, it turns out, comes from a rich local ecosystem of restaurants, food pantries, and community advocates. Help from @revolutionarygrains , @cafeloloseattle , @medmixkitchen and many, many others helped supply and influence Yaminee’s intricate, thought-provoking work — which you should absolutely go see. 🔗 Link in bio to read Meghna’s review 📸 Photography by Xandra Yugto (@xandrayugto )

I wrote about Lunar New Year, and the interplay between self care & community care for this month’s issue of the @internationalexaminer . “Writer” is an identity and skillset I’ve honed over time. Deep listening & observation allows me to illustrate human experiences and connect disparate parts. Travis Quezon’s perspective on citizen journalism affirmed what I know to be true: good writing can come from anyone willing to give attention to that which is critical and timely. “Not long ago, Mother Yoga owner Nancy Nomellini asked our sardine-packed class to consider childlike wildness in the Year of the Fire Horse. I thought about what I was like as a young girl. Spunky. Playful. She, and the freest version of me, reject the notion that self care is optional or frivolous. Self care is, in fact, community care. By holding space for movement practices rooted in tradition, community studios like Mother Yoga and Seattle Kung Fu Club make space for students to connect deeply to themselves by honoring those who have come before us.” 🔗 in bio to read! 🤎

bb thali 2014! between @hollandamericaline shifts 🚢

Moving slowly in #CDMX allowed me to see new parts of my creative practice. Many thanks to @creativejuicepress for suggesting I take an art journal with me on my last trip to India. A few hours sitting in the @bibliotecavasconcelos led to the pen sketch featured in this cover image, among others. 🇲🇽🤎

Many Hands Make Light Work. 💡🔪 Kitchen work trade during Grounded In Freedom with @unionculturalcenter and @ayekofarm reminded me of the solace I found in the temple kitchens of my youth. Being of service (seva) is the ultimate gift. Good for the body, mind & spirit.

Happy Release Day! Thank u @creative.quests 🌞🤎🌀a slice of what’s to come. 🔗💌 link in bio!

Spring so far 🌸🙏🏽

🌚 oh hey, big dark 🫱🏾‍🫲🏽 fall highlights 🍂

🐚summer mood. . . 🍑backyard peach 🖤native berries 🦀beach remnants 🥚egg salad 🦆@mallardicecream 🌬️big dandelions 🦪@taylorshellfish

Last moments of ✨cancer szn✨ spent learning how to shuck oysters at @buckbayshellfishfarm 🌊 “What is an oyster if not the perfect food? It requires no preparation or cooking. Cooking would be an affront. It provides its own sauce. It’s a living thing until seconds before disappearing down your throat, so you know – or should know – that it’s fresh. It appears on your plate as God created it: raw, unadorned. A squeeze of lemon, or maybe a little mignonette sauce (red wine vinegar, cracked black pepper, some finely chopped shallot), about as much of an insult as you might care to tender against this magnificent creature. It is food at its most primeval and glorious, untouched by time or man. A living thing, eaten for sustenance and pleasure, the same way our knuckle-dragging forefathers ate them. And they have, for me anyway, the added mystical attraction of all that sense memory – the significance of being the first food to change my life. I blame my first oyster for everything I did after: my decision to become a chef, my thrill-seeking, all my hideous screwups in pursuit of pleasure. I blame it all on that oyster. In a nice way, of course.” -AB