current mood: okay
pods
after seven years, kevin smith restarted my favorite podcast with his wife: plus one. re-listening to the old episodes is sort of weird, because i can remember the content, but there's also some ableist jokes and things that make me recognize their whiteness and privilege, at the same time that kevin also comments on being fat and articulates fatphobia. that said — their banter delights me. they narrate various shenanigans, what it's like dealing with a medium level of fame, parenting, too much detail about their sex life (like nicole byer, who i also love, as you may know), and their deep and lovely affection for each other.
also: waypoint radio on animal crossing and final fantasy vii remake. they're super funny and liberal and joyful. credit to justin for saying "you should listen to waypoint" and "waypoint is my favorite podcast" over and over while i... did not.
a beautiful mess is fascinating. they're two sisters who cover interior design, home renos, airbnb ownership, childhoods, app building, and other things that are clear markers of how different my life is as a renter and inept DIYer, but i enjoy listening.
paper talk goes in-depth on the craft of paper flowers.
chelsea peretti continues to defy what a pod is.
🍪
the perfect thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie by cook's illustrated, though i still occasionally try other recipes: thin and crisp, and that alison roman recipe for salted shortbread cookies rolled in demerara sugar which are decidedly inferior, not sorry.
alton brown's sherried sardine toast: quality sardines that you drain the oil from, half to baste the bread and toast it, half to mix with lemon zest and parsley and the sardines with a splash of sherry. scoop avo and layer the sardines and finish with squeezing lemon juice.
grilled cheese sandwiches are, i have found, something i only want once. instead of making one again the next day, i scrambled eggs for a fluffy egg and cheese sandwich.
j made fried eggs with garlicky green rice and bacon. an even easier meal is a frozen box of mussels in white wine and garlic w fresh sourdough bread and merlot cheese.
also: i tried making sourdough bread and sustaining a starter for weeks, while unemployed, and found it's just TOO MUCH WORK. i was trying to explain the process to a friend the other day and found myself getting actively angry at how much work it was to make one little boule that's best the same day. i want to try making pandesal, though.
if you're in LA, pls try the lunch boxes from litle jo's kitchen because i can't.
i have wished for cocktails to-go. instead, i think i'll try to find a bottle of aperol sometime to make spritzes.
📖
i haven't been doing much of this, lately. i've been reading seeing systems: peace, justice, and sustainability for work, which has been wildly eye-opening and an apt complement to a show like the wire, which examines the layers of a system, and the network of systems together. a lattice of decisions that are threaded with fibers of bias and society and culture. a school, a prison, a city hall, a police unit, a home, a street, a vacant, a car, a corner.
i have been very slowly reading ninth house but i feel like something just clicked the other day and now i'm in it.
🎮
i turned my nose down at the idea of time-traveling until i realized that i was hardly prepared for the end of cherry blossom season in animal crossing. now i'm going to keep reliving the same 10 days in april until i have every last recipe. if you know, you know: i just got a nookazon account and will be building my wish list for my second life.
flowerspotting
peony tulip season, not peony season yet, peony tulip with glossy petals. daisies. red ranunculus, baby sunflowers. irises. spanish bluebells. dogwood. camellias. calla lilies. a shower of petals, luscious confetti.