Books to Save in a Wildfire

Man’s Search for Meaning

I was planning to publish a banger of a New Year’s newsletter with lots of book recs and a few good recipes. Three weeks into 2025, everything seems to have shifted. Fires have ravaged the city and affected so many people I love; life here feels forever changed despite the fact that we’re still in the midst of it all. It’s hard to write about from this place – we’re still very much in it and watching parts of LA burn – but I’m feeling so much: gratitude that I’m safe and have space to support others; anxiety about the future of my friends, my business and this city I hold so dear; frustration at the systems that let us down and contributed to the mayhem we’re currently facing; hope that something good will come of this.

When the Sunset fire started, we threw things in bags and decided whether or not we should get out of our neighborhood. Packing the suitcase was easy and quick (I’m not attached to my clothes, turns out). Then I took a tote and went through the house, filling it with my can’t-live-without items: family photos, my dog Blue’s pawprint (we lost her in 2022, something I’ll write about in a future newsletter), Grandma Elaine’s cherished trinkets from a life of travels. That’s when I got to the bookshelf (aka the insanity in the above photo). Spines stared back at me and I was flooded with years worth of reading memories (books, like scent, can transport a person, even in a state of emergency). But I was looking for one book in particular, one I couldn’t leave behind: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

My mom gave me this book when I was on the brink of leaving for college and I’ve reread it every few years since. It’s a groundbreaking, heart-opening work of Frankl’s experience in Nazi concentration camps during WWII; Frankl published the book in 1946, post-liberation, and as of 2022 it had been published in 52 languages and sold 16 million copies. No matter how many times I read the book I feel awe: Frankl – an Austrian psychiatrist and psychotherapist – poses that man’s primary motivation in life is a connection with a sense of purpose (I’m going to use ‘man’ moving forward but please know that I’m encompassing all people here). After experiencing the horrors of Auschwitz and witnessing those who survived and those who didn’t, Frankl observed that those who survived built practices in their daily lives that provided meaning. They retained a sense of humor; they made art; they looked forward to tiny droplets of soup rather than dread the lack of food; they found ways to see themselves as individuals, despite the Nazis’ attempts to dehumanize and declassify them en masse. Most importantly, they found ways to meditate on the future.

It’s hard to explain how reading a memoir about life in Auschwitz can be a hopeful experience, but it is. Frankl doesn’t shy away from exposing the darkest brutalities suffered, nor does he deny the impact of life in the camps. But his emphasis on preserving a sense of purpose amid utter degradation is so revelatory, such a declaration of freedom for a person who’s literally being shackled, it’s left me speechless time and time again. What says ‘I want to live’ more than the core belief that you’re put on earth for a reason? How gorgeous a sentiment that despite being treated like animals, the people that believed this actually had more power than their captors.

Before being imprisoned, Frankl had coined a term in his psychiatry practice called Logotherapy. In Frankl’s words, “Logotherapy is a meaning-centered psychotherapy. In comparison with psychoanalysis, [it] is a method less retrospective and less introspective. Logotherapy focuses rather on the future…the patient is confronted with and reoriented toward the meaning of his life.” Below the Logotherapy heading there are three concepts: freedom of will, will to meaning, and meaning of life. Frankl talks extensively of existentialism and the meaning of suffering. He doesn’t believe suffering is necessary, but that man can achieve liberty through finding the meaning in suffering. Today, Logotherapy is referred to as the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy (after Freud’s psychoanalysis and Alfred Adler’s individual psychology).

If you haven’t read this book, I implore you to pick up a copy; and if you have, give it another read. It contains different messages in different phases of life and has never led me astray.

Read: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, pub. 1946
Buy: Bookshop.org or your local bookstore

Eat

Given the events of the last week-plus, I’ve been less than inspired to cook inventively. I have, however, been cooking simply and amping up my meals with a variety of spices and spice blends that are worth shouting from the rooftops. Below, a list of all-stars and how I use them.

Botanica x CAP Beauty Magic Spice: Okay, I’m tooting my own horn a bit here, but what can I say?! This shit slaps (coriander, garlic chives, Persian lime, pink Himalayan sea salt). I sprinkle it atop or stir it through soft-scrambled eggs, add it to stewed beans, rub it on fish, spoon it through yogurt with a drizzle of Italian olive oil. It’s great on roasted veg, too.

Villa Jerada Vadouvan: I love this blend so much I order it in 1-lb. wholesale bulk from Mehdi, who owns the amazing Villa Jerada (the link goes to his main site; email him for the vadouvan! It’s worth it.) Probably my most-used spice blend at the moment, vadouvan is a French-style curry powder. I massage it into cabbage before roasting, rub it into tofu with lots of smashed garlic, ditto for fish (it’s excellent on halibut), and it’s SO good sauteed with leeks strewn over fried eggs with a blob of garlicky yogurt.

Diaspora Co. Pahadi Pink Garlic: The newest spice to hit my drawer and already a staple, with tasting notes of shiitake, parmesan and caramelized onion. It’s a savory umami-bomb. Add it to lentils or beans, any and all roasted veg, and sizzle it in olive oil to drizzle over pretty much anything.

Pimenton Dulce, aka Sweet Smoked Paprika: The OG; read more about it here.

Burlap + Barrel Nyanza Vanilla Powder: You think you’ve tasted vanilla; then you try this ethereal vanilla powder. A sweet and fruity single-origin spice designed to use where it’ll shine. I stir it through yogurt, porridge and pudding; it’s excellent in baked goods, too (add it to your next batch of granola!)

Valrhona Cocoa Powder: Clearly I have a penchant for buying full pounds of spices. And while you may not think of cocoa powder as a spice, hear me out! Spices are seasonings. Yes, you might use cocoa powder for a chocolate cake, but you can also scoop it into porridge, chia pudding, nut milk, coffee, smoothies, yogurt, effectively as a seasoning agent. If you buy a pound you won’t run out (unless you’re me).

Thanks for reading. Back in a couple weeks, hopefully with some levity.