Listening:
"All is Full of Love" by Björk.
"Hold On You" by Valley Queen.
"The Telephone Song" by Charles Bradley.
Reading:
This week, the Style section was very Modern Love-centric, my favorite!
- 13-Word Love Stories - We both love craft beer and public radio. So we’re insufferable, but together.
- The 13 Questions That Lead to Divorce - First, grab someone you hope to someday divorce. Choose anyone. Oh, hey, how about the person next to you in bed clipping their toenails and eating leftover kimchi with their hands? They seem super-divorceable.
- Mom: ‘Is He Jewish?’ Me: ‘No.’ Mom: ‘Is He Smart?’ - She once tormented me by asking if I’d hand deliver an envelope filled with photos of the company’s handsome male dancers. I was to carry this sealed parcel on the train from New York. Just before I left town, Selma called and casually mentioned, “Some of the photos are nudes.” And no, I didn’t open the envelope but I certainly cursed her.
I also enjoyed the writing of a recent Grub Street Diet piece with writer Howie Kahn. The last lines, as he shares a mush pouch with his young son, is particularly wonderful:
After a couple of small slices, he asks for a pouch, one of those squeezy packets of organic mush. This one has kale, broccoli, and mango, and he swigs from it like a gentleman with a flask.
Hospitably, he passes it to me. “Try,” he says, looking up from his high chair. “Daddy, try.”
So I do. And it’s delicious.
We split the rest, laughing and passing the pouch between us.
Craving:
This week is brought to you by Hot and Orange.
I don't usually have a desire for one-ingredient soups, but I had a homemade carrot soup from Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Foods" and it was amazing. So creamy without any cream. So flavorful with just a few ingredients (onions, thyme, chicken stock). I even found it to be an excellent dipping component for leftover pizza.
I've also been in the mood for all things pumpkin as this November gets in full swing. I made HowSweetEats' pumpkin skillet cobbler (salty and crunchy and perfectly spiced—lovely with vanilla ice cream on top) and Ambitious Kitchen's pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (hearty and chewy and great for all times of day).
Wearing:
Since I've been living out of a suitcase for a month, I've been wearing the same few things over and over. It's kind of like I have a capsule wardrobe. One pair of jeans, one pair of black patterned slacks, one pair of black leggings. Two t-shirts, one grey sweater, one bright sweatshirt. One denim jacket and one colorful, hooded jacket. Thick socks and an assortment of brown and tan shoes. It's pretty easy to get dressed each day and also kind of boring...
I had to break out my favorite red hat and an old standby striped scarf for the consistently 30-40 degree days this last week, too. Feels like winter!
Watching:
I don't know how this movie slipped past me, especially as a big Jim Jarmusch fan, but I just watched "Paterson."
The power of “Paterson” is in its seemingly long-brewing and deeply felt outburst of personal mythology; its world-building comes off as a credo, a belatedly laid and lifeworn cornerstone of Jarmusch’s work, a quietly ecstatic vision of workaday perseverance and inspiration. It’s ingenious, rousing, passionate—and yet constrained by the iron force of its own sense of virtue. —The New Yorker
Now I want to go have a Jarmusch binge-fest.
Treasuring:
Warmth. It's been cold this week! I feel thankful I have a cozy, highly blanketed bed to tuck into at night. I am so glad to have hot soup and hot showers. I'm staying in a place with long indoor halls and a lobby gym, too, so I can stretch my legs without getting a runny nose.
Adventures. Life is certainly a mysterious ride right now, but I am reframing it as a time of ample adventures. I've wandered around Baltimore, I've had peanut butter-stuffed, chocolate-covered figs with a favorite friend, I've relaxed on a couch surrounded by sweet cats, I've worked in coffee shops and cafes all over the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Yeehaw!
(images by camille gressier for designlovefest)