There is a rule for blogging success that says a writer should stick to one subject. Forget it, I say. Here, I'm a rebel, writing about all sorts of things.
Making supper isn't about one recipe... it's about putting together a meal with enough component parts to tempt these kids' appetites. This week, I made Julia Turshen's Sticky Chicken, stir fried leftover vegetables (green pepper, zucchini, mushrooms) and presented this with a pile of freshly-made crepes. Folding this all together I took a bite and surprised myself with how good it was. Ruth Reichl can wax poetic about how "cooking is the adventure of combining ingredients" - a level of kitchen ability I'm not yet at, but I do get a hint of the feeling when putting together a meal at night. "You're a traveler, [she writes] following your own path, seeking adventure. (...) If it doesn't work out - well, there's always another meal." (My Kitchen Year, p 169)
I'm listening to Say Nothing via the Libby app and I'm having a hard time not hearing my own thoughts with an Irish accent. Pair this reading with the Longform podcast's interview with the author, Patrick Radden Keefe and you have hours of great listening.
Noticing happenstance colour-palettes is a new fun thing I like to do à la fashionista. In my non-glamorous life, colour-palettes are found on walks and in piles of books. And then, what about this crochet pattern with its 'dark green tea' and 'teal' and 'raspberry' and 'gold'? I am in awe of this artist's rendering of Christmas lights at night.
Today, the kids' busdriver picked them up dressed in a Santa costume, complete with beard. Primed by HONY, I now suspect a whole mysterious backstory.
Design Matters interviewed Min Jin Lee, a writer and the author of Pachinko. I really like interviews with writers and thought it was so touching how she talked about her husband: "My husband has carried me for decades while I wasn’t earning, while I was on the quest to be a writer. And he was willing to put up with the financial, the fact that I wasn’t earning." Because "I chose this thing called writing." And she talked about how vulnerable being an unpublished writer made her feel: "And I would tell them I’m working on a book. And they would say, “Well, can I buy your book? Is it sold anywhere?” And there was no answer to this. And at that point I didn’t have a contract. I didn’t have an agent. I had just really no idea how to even go about this. But I just knew that I had these books and I was going to write them. And with each additional year of delay, the more humiliated I became and I became more private. But I really work actually much harder." Fantastic interview.
