Into the Fridge 🌀
Kara Duval on acupressure mats and Friday night mezcal negronis
Kara Duval 🌀
Kara is based in Vermont, and the creator of her online movement platform, Range. Lovingly referred to as a ‘medicine cabinet,’ Kara teaches Pilates, strength training, human motion + mobility in a way that is somatic, nurturing and down to earth. I realized Kara had something special over at Range when I was doing my full digital workout report, so it’s a pleasure to get to highlight the woman behind it all.
What is your fridge philosophy?
I am so lucky to live in Vermont and have access to a never ending amount of local produce, meat, cheese and dairy. Grocery shopping is so cathartic for me but I don’t like to be fussy about it. I buy what we love, what supports local producers, and what will actually get eaten.
Your fridge is always always always stocked with ____.
How far into detail do we have time for?
Let’s start with my favorite vegetables which are kale, arugula, radicchio, leeks and carrots.
EGGS, I eat them every single morning without fail.
I always stock plenty of dates, sauerkraut, apples and local cheeses for easy snacking.
It’s a safe assumption that we will always have chicken thighs and ground beef (the beef is for us but also our beloved Irish Setter, River).
Whole milk for morning coffee (my husband) and earl grey (me).
A hot take….I prefer a chocolate chip cookie straight out of the refrigerator so that’s a safe assumption, too.
Top 5 condiment picks, go.
I live with a sauce king so this is hard to narrow down!
Vinegar: Most often from TART, I collect it. I’m a lover of homemade vinaigrette of various kinds.
Dijon mustard: for said vinaigrettes
Hot sauce: As simple as Sriracha, but a Range member also sends us hot sauce from Panama that my husband drinks by the gallon.
Chimichurri: In my house, this is a condiment. I’ll send you the recipe. I love putting a little on everything, including my morning scrambled eggs.
Ketchup: I mean, come on.
I’m adding a 6th because as a Vermont resident, I am morally obligated to mention maple syrup as a condiment.
Fine, I’ll open it up to pantry too. Let’s hear your favorite snacks / pantry staples:
Thank goodness!
For snacks, seeded crackers, Simple Mills Farmhouse Cheddar crackers, dark chocolate, and pepitas are always in there.
As for pantry staples, I always have local honey, lentils, brown and white rice, couscous, canned white beans and garbanzo beans.
I end my day with cacao multiple nights per week and Masa Memory Sonoran Hot Cacao (I get from Cap Beauty) is my favorite.
I have an extensive tea drawer elsewhere in the kitchen, but I always keep my top 2 earl grey tea varieties in the pantry because I reach for them every single morning.
A meal that’s on heavy rotation these days:
Ooph, this is hard because I love being experimental in the kitchen these days BUT, I will forever and always have a burger bowl as my “go to.” I make either a kale and radicchio or arugula and radicchio salad with red onion, white bean, carrots, pepitas, and local cheese. I love a slightly warm salad so I’ll add in roasted sweet potatoes or Japanese yams while they are still warm. The burger rotates between beef, lamb or turkey and I plop that right on top.
Vinaigrette (measurements done with the heart):
Generous splash of vinegar (I love TART Golden Vinegar)
Wee glug of maple syrup
Small scoop of dijon mustard
½ chopped shallot
2 cloves chopped garlic
Salt to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
Dried oregano to taste
EVOO until it feels right
Let’s go a little deeper…
What’s the mantra you keep coming back to?
Can I be honest? I don’t live by mantras. However, living in the woods, I have developed an intimate relationship with the trees. If I am having a day where I am seeking additional guidance, I will visually look at them but more importantly, put my hands on them. I swear by this…….they vibrate with energy and will often whisper clarity to you - if you let yourself hear them.
What products / practices are part of your regular mental wellness habits?
Daily movement via Range. I fully acknowledge that this is my work, but I genuinely love it and doing it on my own nourishes me. I teach a class format called Jitterbug which is pure poetry for the nervous system. We dance, sway, buzz, hum, growl, and explore patterns that are so organic and exploratory. I introduced it to Range during the darkest time of my life and my body, tissues, nervous system, lymph just CRAVE it.
Having an active dog helps, but I hit the trails for a hike every single day with my dog, River. Like I said above, I have such an intimate relationship with the trees and do my best processing (and creative regeneration!) in the woods.
I’ve been an avid attendee of acupuncture for 8 years and am so lucky to have found a local practitioner that I bonded with instantly. I have a weekly “date” with my acupuncturist, Corinne and it is my favorite hour of every week. As someone who lives with endometriosis and adenomyosis, she has been a magician at helping me manage my hormonal symptoms.
My dear friend, Catie Macken, is the most incredible breathwork practitioner. I have a regular breathwork practice with her (she also teaches on Range) and it quite literally feels like I am taking psychedelics and diving deep into my cells……all with the breath. It is incredibly revealing because you cannot hide from yourself when devoting so much energy and intention into the breath.
Getting dressed! Living in a rural area, I often don’t leave my movement/hiking clothes. I love putting on an outfit even if it’s just to run to the post office.
A cocktail (mezcal negroni or gin martini) on my front porch on a Friday night.
And your physical?
Oops, I think I confused the above because for me, I cannot separate my mental state from my physical. We are an intricate web where our thoughts impact our physical body and vice versa. I am in constant communication with myself so I really don’t separate the two! (editor’s note: I acknowledge this is a trick question and she answered correctly.)
As for beauty though….I have a strangely fabulous bathroom. The walls are all slanted, the doorways aren’t symmetrical, I don’t have a mirror - and it’s my favorite room of the house. Because of the lack of a mirror, I go in there to actually FEEL my skin and body, opposed to over analyzing them (and inevitably judging them) in a mirror.
My own two hands are my favorite tools. I have been a loyal lover of May Lindstrom Skincare for years and I love to use her Clean Dirt to gently exfoliate my skin (CAP Beauty Blue Cleanser for gentle cleansing). Because I mix it in a tiny bowl, there’s an element of “potion making” - or at least that’s how it makes me feel! After cleansing, I spritz liberally with her Jasmine Garden and finish with Blue Cocoon.
the Vermont aesthetic is dialed in I also have a rosewater mist from a small business in New Hampshire called Half Wild Arts that I swear by. I like to go into my bathroom, turn on some ambient sounds and zone the F out before bed while doing my skincare/vitamin routine.
I live by a river. Now that the weather is warm, you will often find me going for a plunge after an early morning class or a warm late afternoon.
What do you think is the most underrated part of wellness?
In truth, this could be a novel because I actually felt my heart rate spike. What have we done? No seriously. What have we done? Our world has become inundated with “you must do this style of movement” “you have to eat this much protein” “if you don’t do xyz you’re essentially a piece of shit” We have become so disconnected from ourselves in this neverending, consumer driven race to find ourselves!
So, to answer this quickly. The most underrated part of wellness is finding movement that is both sustainable and pleasurable for you, eating foods that nourish you, and truly listening to your body's communication. As human beings are a social species, I would like to add that being kind to yourself, your neighbors and your community is so important in a world that has become so egocentric.
And overrated?
Any fad
Any trend
Any “quick fix” aimed to promise you something by selling you something
Period.
Picture this: you wake up one morning and feel like shit. What’s your next move:
Oh, easy. Open up a few windows for fresh air, turn my kettle on to make my earl grey and climb back into bed with River.
Give us your ride or die wellness products:
Beyond the products I named above…
Grey Gardens Earl Grey: Bardo Tea
Maidens Of The Moon Herbal Tea: Elements Aligned
Loam Body Oil: Loam
Oscillococcinum: The SECOND I start feeling sick
Pranamat: acupressure for the days I don’t go to acupuncture
Laughter: it’s free
Dr Perry Nickelston’s Big 6 Lymphatic Routine: you can YouTube it or do it with me on Range!
One thing you do everyday that makes you the most YOU version of yourself:
I know that this sounds lame but truthfully, guiding others to feel so connected to themselves through embodied movement is where I feel like the most natural version of myself. I feel the most like “me” when my cheeks are flushed, hair is frizzy and I know that people are moving alongside me…even from the other side of a screen.
Whose taste inspires you?!
Elenore from _aeldr_
Those are a few people whose personal tastes I gravitate towards but the truth is, I’m totally inspired by any creative who continues to put their art out there. To those who continue to try anyways, even when it feels like giving everything into an empty void, you rock. It takes a hell of a lot of grit and guts to put yourself out there again and again and again.
This was such a blast — a huge thank you goes out to Kara for sharing this taste of her life with us. You can (should) check out her somatic movement platform, Range, and follow her on Instagram. Her fridge favorites and more are here.
Feel free to leave a comment or respond to this email with questions you want asked, people you want featured, or anything else that’s on your mind. Don’t be shy, I love hearing from you.
Katie, thank you so much for having me on! I could have written a damn novel. The earrings are Jacki Holland! Also, I totally owe everyone the chimmichurri recipe if they want it. Hang tight.
Loving this so much! In another lifetime I would be living blissfully in Vermont...