Food

I recently made brunch for a friend who is gluten-free. I decided upon shakshuka, one of my favorite meals to throw together, but wasn’t sure what carbs to eat it with, since I usually have it with a side of bread. And then inspiration struck me and I thought, why not grits! So I cooked up a pot of stone-ground grits full of butter, spooned a little bed onto each plate, and topped them with a hefty serving of shakshuka, rich with parsley and onions and garlic. I adorned the plates with diced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, extra fresh parsley, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Honey, let me tell you something. I know that’s such a clash of southern and Tunisian cuisines, but they were made for each other. It’s like shrimp and grits, minus the shrimp, and plus lots of fresh, bright flavors.

I am sure there are specifics one must follow for shakshuka to be authentic, but whenever I have a little leftover tomato sauce, I love to follow the format without much regard for recipes. Extra spaghetti sauce? Sauté some onions, throw the sauce on top, and poach an egg in it. Half a can of crushed tomatoes left over from a recipe? Throw together some quick shakshuka for lunch. It’s fail-safe, always delicious, and easier than a fried egg.

Music

A friend recommended a song by “The National Parks” band and I listened to it, then let my Spotify keep playing suggested songs for several days. There was the occasional selection I skipped, but over all, such a fun, deserty, cheerful selection of music. Makes me want to road trip through the southeast, dusty toes on the sunny dashboard, breakfasts at greasy little diners along the way, plenty of warm naps and star-gazing… Since then, I’ve enjoyed the song “8th Wonder” multiple times, and you might too, if you want a fun little bouncy love song which doesn’t sound exactly like all the others every written.

Books

I am in the middle of several series right now, all re-reads, because that’s my favorite thing. Isn’t catching up with old friends so much more fun than making new ones? I certainly think so. I’m challenging myself to read a minimum of 5 pages of a physical book a day for the next month, so I’m carrying Father Tim around with me, and delving into the Mitford world when I spend my daily hours on the train. I really did have such a prejudice against the Mitford series for years, for no good reason except that the used bookstore I worked at had such an overabundance of them, which usually denoted shoddy quality. But once I finally dove in for myself, I saw that my prejudice was entirely unreasonable. Maybe it’s that they’re set in the North Carolinian Appalachian mountains with which I am so familiar, or maybe it’s the fact that Father Tim loves the old poets and classic literature and beauty, or maybe it’s just all the good food descriptions. Whatever it is, they’re so comfortable and homey and they make me want to go be a small-town priest myself.

At the same time, I’m listening the Anne of Green Gables series on my Libby app. There are some very good audio versions on there, I’ve found, and they’re the perfect thing to keep me company as I trek back and forth to the basement to do laundry, or as I get in my daily walk. I’m currently following Anne as she sets up her newlywed home, but my enduring favorite is the book where she is in college and lives in Patty’s Place with her group of girl friends. There is something about one’s first foray into housekeeping and adulthood that is just hard to beat. Recently though, I’ve heard several people say that the last book is their favorite, so I’m curious to see what I’ll think of Rilla and her adventures this time through.

Exercise

Me?? Writing about exercise?? If you are assuming at this point someone else has hijacked my blog, I do not blame you. But yes, sigh, let me tell you what my favorite mode of exercise is at the moment. I have a daily movement goal which isn’t that hard to hit with my walks to and from the train and up and down the subway stairs, but I’m trying to add a little additional exercise every day right now. So I’ve started disembarking my train a stop early and walking home from there. It’s great motivation, because once I get off the train, there’s literally nothing for it but to walk home, so off I go, through blazing sun and shimmering sidewalks. It’s fun though, because there are dozens of routes I can take home, and I like to switch it up so I can admire new houses, since my neighborhood has some truly gorgeous homes. Just a few blocks from my tiny apartment the blocks of opulent homes spring up, multi-million dollar places with perfectly manicured (yardicured?) lawns and front doors that must cost thousands and elegant light fixtures and exteriors. Never do I ever expect to own such a place, or even to rent one, but it is fun to admire them and not have to pay any property tax to do so. Hah.

Media

More often than I’d like to admit, when I am home and want to unwind for a bit, I find myself watching old snippets of “Say Yes to the Dress”, and being so entertained by it. Of course I see right through the carefully manufactured drama they drum up, but it really is so deliciously fun to watch beautiful women try on beautiful (or hideous, as the case may be) dresses. Having just experienced the trials of wedding dress shopping myself, I empathize heartily with the overwhelmed brides. And I critique the designs and think about how much fun it would be to design wedding dresses myself – surely I could dream up more beautiful designs than half the Pnina Tournai ones they show – and let’s just conveniently ignore the fact that I’d run out of ideas after two dresses. I also daydream about creating an online collection of the smattering of non-awful bridal things I ran across in my prolonged search, to help out the next sorry fiancée who is searching, but instead, I just start the next episode of “Say Yes to the Dress” and do none of these things.