Into the Fridge 💫
Tenlie Mourning on her kewpie mayo obsession and Thích Nhất Hạnh
Tenlie Mourning 💫
Tenlie is the Brooklyn-based curator behind Source List™, a discovery platform for aesthetic things with a companion Substack. She formerly founded Dendwell, a curated marketplace for vintage furniture. She’s a design & brand person, a beauty enthusiast, and — most importantly — a joy to be around. :)
What is your fridge philosophy?
I think a lot about how to always have something in my fridge I can make something with at all times — even if it’s just a quesadilla.
Your fridge is always always always stocked with ____.
Honeycrisp apples, lemons, eggs, and peanut butter.
Top 5 condiments, go.
Can Kewpie mayo be the top 3?!
Fine, I’ll open it up to pantry too. Let’s hear your favorite snacks / pantry staples:
It depends on what version of myself i have decided to be that week.
On a wellness week I love:
Orgain chocolate protein powder
Green Vibrance Greens Powder (switched to this from AG1)
PB &J Froozeballs
And on a week where I need a little more comfort, I go for:
Pistachio Mochi
A meal that’s on heavy rotation these days:
I have a fixation meal plan at the moment where I am basically eating the same thing all week. What’s good is good!
Breakfast: A scrambled egg with avocado and smoked salmon. Add a little salt and pepper. Luxury.
Lunch: Whipped feta with crispy smashed potatoes and a mustardy kale salad. Compulsory fizzy drink + 1 episode of reality TV included.
Dinner: Homemade Mediterranean chicken wraps (think Cava) with this yeast-free naan recipe I can’t get enough of (and is amazing gluten-free)
Let’s go a little deeper…
What’s the mantra you keep coming back to?
What is for me will be mine, and what is not for me will pass me by.
I am currently working on practicing surrender, releasing a sense of urgency or control in all aspects of my life. This helps me to remember that wherever I am, and whatever I have is exactly as it should be.
Another related one, a quote from Camus: “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer…” which reminds me to look for the light in every situation.
What products / practices are part of your regular mental wellness habits?
I am unfortunately a beauty product junkie, and love to an indulge in an elevated beauty routine, so always cycling through a bunch of different things. A few staples are the Fig. 1 Oil Cleanser, Evolve Hand Cream in Monaco, Ceremonia Aceite de Moska and beauty tools from Esker.
The cornerstone of my wellness routine though is a steam and sauna process I’ve nearly trademarked.
It goes like:
20 minutes in the dry sauna
Cold shower
15 minutes back in the dry sauna
Lie on a lounge chair for 30 minutes
15 minutes in the steam sauna
If you love heat, this is a dream.
And your physical?
Two words: facial steamer.
I have dry, sensitive skin and am prone to hormonal acne meaning there is so much skincare I can’t use. This helps me to get my face really clean when I use it with an oil cleanser. It also makes me feel like I am at the spa.
I’d bore you if I went into it all, but other things I am currently into:
Microcurrent facial thing from Nuface
Crest Whitening strips
This sleep mask (better than the more expensive ones)
Ear plugs
Londontown Nail Veil (for the quickest mani / pedi in a pinch)
CBD Oil
What do you think is the most underrated part of wellness?
I often hear people frame meditation as emptying the mind or ridding oneself of feeling or experience, when my conception of meditation is about awareness. Thích Nhất Hạnh introduced a framework for meditation which is: “Breathing in I….. Breathing Out I….” For example, “breathing in, I am aware I am afraid. Breathing out, I am here for my fear.” It is not about escaping your human experience but embracing all aspects of it.
I think the concept of wellness is somewhat the same. Wellness is not a pedagogy or a discipline, but a set of tools and skills to be in tune with your body, mind, and spirit and then to act in your best interest. Wellness is the awareness that says: “I am feeling really sad today,” and then the readiness to choose what’s next in accordance. And that could look like gym/steam/sauna/acai bowl OR it could look like boxed mac n’ cheese and a movie on the couch in the middle of the day. The point is that you are making an intentional choice, and the feeling /experience / situation isn’t the one running the show.
…and overrated?
For me, beauty doesn’t factor into my “wellness” routine. I think beauty is a separate thing, a separate love of mine, and conflating the two together I actually think does both categories a disservice. It makes it easy to cast off wellness as vain, and it denies beauty the opportunity to claim the power in its vanity!
Picture this: you wake up one morning and feel like shit. What’s your next move:
Fortunately / unfortunately I am a person who has spent years developing my morning routine. I have the small, medium, and large versions of the routine but if I do the whole thing there’s a 100% chance I am going to have a better day. The full monty looks like:
6:15am wake up and immediately take sub-oral CBD to cut cortisol
Oral care
20-30 minutes of Melissa Wood Health pilates
15 minutes guided meditation & prayer
Morning Pages (per The Artist’s Way)
Ice cold shower
Skincare + Makeup + Good outfit
Hormone Supplement drink
Protein smoothie
The whole thing ends up taking about two hours but this routine truly is my secret weapon.
Give us your ride or die wellness products:
Greens powder. This started with AG1 but I’ve switched to Green Vibrance by Vibrant Health. It is definitely more earthy but packs in more than Athletic Greens.
Sleep Mask. If you ever wanted to really put me into a tizzy, hide my sleep mask.
Oura Ring. Not sure how I feel about being such a stan of this but its taught me so much about my sleep habits and stress levels.
One thing you do everyday that makes you the most YOU version of yourself:
Words of affirmation mean a lot to me, so I try to reach out to one person a day and tell them how much I love them and how grateful I am to have them in my life.
Whose taste inspires you?!
I’ve written about what taste is and means to me recently, so I’ve been thinking about this a lot. My kind of taste is the kind that can truly embrace high low, and doesn’t rely on brand equity to communicate an eye:
Of course I am lucky to have friends who inspire me - Shawn Cremer and Christene Barberich spring to mind. They both inspire me to stay closer to myself, dig deep, and look for what is interesting and well-made.
A few creators that I’ve followed for a long time are
, Cleo Wade, and .
Big thank you to Tenlie for showing us a little taste (sorry) of her life. You can find her thoughts and curations at
, and her fridge favorites + 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. I’ll see you with a review soon!
Thank you for the mention!
Agree that peanut butter belongs in the fridge! Also, I didn’t see any links for the sublingual CBD. Curious about that.