Into the Fridge 🫣
Athena Hewett on dolmades and e-biking
Athena Hewett 🫣
Athena is a master esthetician at Monastery, and the founder and formulator behind the skincare brand by the same name. She lives in San Francisco with her two boys (ages 4 and 7) and her husband who works alongside her. She’s a self-proclaimed workaholic, but on the off-chance she’s not doing Monastery things, she’s at the park or the beach with her family. You’ll see!
What is your fridge philosophy?
Hmmm… I don’t do the grocery shopping in my household, so I don’t always find that it fits my philosophy (my husband and I have different grocery shopping styles). BUT if and when I do choose the things in the fridge, it’s green and brightly colored and healthy.
Your fridge is always always always stocked with ____.
Copious amounts of frozen fruit, carrots and cucumbers. You know, kid snacks and things to make your kids three smoothies a day. Because modern kids basically live off smoothies.
Top condiment picks, go.
Crushed Calabrian chili peppers
Salsa of nearly any sort
Capers
Ricotta cheese
I like spicy things, can you tell? I’m proud to note that when we were in Thailand this summer visiting my sister-in-law and her family, she kept telling me how proud she was that her white sis-in-law could hang with the Thais in the spicy department.
Fine, I’ll open it up to pantry too. Let’s hear your favorite snacks / pantry staples:
Canned fish. I am really here for all of the new canned fish brands, especially the offerings that have spices in them.
Carr’s table water crackers (for the canned fish).
Tortilla chips are my weakness (with salsa).
Furikake… anything yuzu flavored. I am a sucker for yuzu and this includes in my furikake.
Canned dolmades. I am half-Greek and so I must point out that dolmas is not the proper plural for dolma, it’s pronounced dolmades, but no one knows what dolmades is so, I just surrender.
A meal that’s on heavy rotation these days:
We were just in Italy for a month so my boys are on a real bolognese kick. They attend an Italian school here in San Francisco and one of the school moms (who’s from Italy) makes authentic bolognese, so I order it from her on a weekly basis. It lasts a good part of the week.
But for me on the daily and at work, it’s some version of a bowl of chopped cucumbers, a tiny bit of lemon, EVOO, Calabrian peppers, salt and pepper and some ricotta cheese and some canned fish.
Let’s go a little deeper…
What’s the mantra you keep coming back to?
Mantras and jokes. I can never remember the good ones! Here’s one that I can remember because it’s short and sweet (and true), “Hard work pays off!”
What products / practices are part of your regular mental wellness habits?
Well, if you know anything about Monastery skincare, you would probably assume that I am very into oils, and I am! I really like anointing myself with the most precious oils that mother nature creates.
And your physical?
I commute on a bike every day. Admittedly it’s an e-bike, but I do try to use it on a low assistance. I never think of it as real exercise, but in reality, I am putting on a lot of miles between picking up/dropping off the kids, running errands, commuting to work, etc.
I keep dreaming about the time that I will have extra time to spend on dedicated exercising but for now I just ride the bike and tell myself it’s ok, it is what it is for now. I try not to beat myself up about anything like that anymore. I used to enjoy running but I haven’t been able to spare 30 minutes on a daily basis to run for about a year now. I realized sometime in my early thirties that feeling guilty about it wasn’t serving me.
What do you think is the most underrated part of wellness?
For women, I think it’s hormone tracking. About six months ago, I had my hormones evaluated and I was shocked to hear that my testosterone was way under the normal limit for my age. It had led to things like frozen shoulder and general stiffness. Which, it turns out, is a very common thing for women in their 40’s and 50’s.
I feel like nobody knows that it’s due to declining testosterone levels, something we start losing from about 25 years old. Testosterone is what keeps the joints from getting stiff and gives us energy, it also keeps us looking young. That’s why men age so gracefully. WHICH IS SO ANNOYING. Now I supplement with testosterone and I feel so much better. I think it’s something that women don’t really talk about, or even know to check for.
And overrated?
Makeup, lash extensions. It’s my personal opinion that almost all women look better without much of these two things, but to each their own.
Picture this: you wake up one morning and feel like shit. What’s your next move:
I basically never drink these days so thankfully it’s rare that I actually feel like total shit. If I’m sick it depends on what is on the schedule for the day. If I can, I will move things and try to stay in bed. But most of the time I will have to continue to work and I’ll just do it from home rather than going into the office. I mean I’m not a complete purist. I’ll take ibuprofen. The ibuprofen overseas is much stronger by the way, it’s called neurofen.
Give us your ride or die wellness products:
Monastery Attar Repair Concentrate. It can be used for ANYTHING.
Biohackr NAD powder, Biohackr Vitamin D + K. These I take daily; they keep my energy levels up but stable, meaning I’m not scary and over-caffeinated but still have the energy of two cups of coffee. NAD replaces an enzyme that we lose as we age, so it’s great for brain health, skin health, eyesight. Everything. Vitamin D and K. Well, we are all vitamin D deficient. It's an epidemic.
Monastery Deep Red LED. My best tool, so glad it says Monastery on the front.
One thing you do everyday that makes you the most YOU version of yourself:
Chat with my partner and brand director and designer. These two girls are my besties. It’s so fun working on the brand with them. They are super smart and we all just share all day. (Even though one of them lives in New York and the other Copenhagen).
Whose taste inspires you?!
The people that would probably be the most influential in my personal style would have to be my real life friends. I don’t peruse Instagram looking at fashion. We frequently just take inspo from each other and forward brands, etc.
As far as interiors taste it would be my friend Jacqueline Sullivan. Anytime I need something for the spa or home I just text her and say, what would you put here? Lucky for me, she owns a gallery and might even have what I need on hand.
Huge, huge thank you to Athena for sharing this glimpse into her life with us. For more of her beautiful life and skincare wisdom, follow her on Instagram and check out her studio and brand, Monastery. (I mean it when I say that mask is everything…) Her fridge favorites and more are here.
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