Since my last newsletter I painted both my bathroom and bedroom, broke a giant mirror, sat in paint and sprouted sunflower seeds.
The bathroom is Purple Heart and the bedroom is Waterbury Green and they are both exactly what I wanted but still in disarray. I have beaten my partner at words with friends twice (I think) which is monumental because he knows all the sneaky two letter words and never pulls a punch. Don’t find me on words with friends, I’m too competitive.
My sister lent me and my partner her car last week which meant we could go for a hike and it was amazing to leave my small radius of South Philly, and it felt nice to be in a car.
If time did not mean much to me before quarantine when I was not working it means less to me now, I wake up earlier than I ever have even when I had a job that required it. What do you fill days with? What do you fill days with when you aren’t supposed to go out? I go mainly between small tasks and make plans to read but rarely follow through. Google hangouts are fun, and occasionally a friend and I will do a yoga video in tandem.
I keep trying to remind myself that this is just what life is right now and a switch won’t flip where I can go back to meeting a friend at a bar. I don’t know what summer will be like until it’s summer. It’s a bit like waking up every day and knowing you have to scale a wall using solely brute strength. Everyday you hit it! You have a new barometer, smacked again.
Fuck the bread the bread is over.
This past weekend I ordered two plants for pick up from a local plant shop and dinosaur planters and then drew this cartoon:
Good friends outweigh any bad day by Carolyn Brooke
River by Frank O’Hara
I used to listen to The Daily from the New York Times and/or Up First by NPR but I have been unable to for roughly a month. My podcasts are strictly escapist and the last one I binged is Noble Blood by Dana Schwartz. She tells the stories you know (Anne Boleyn) and many more that you don’t! It’s gruesome! It’s fascinating!
Various Artists Sing the Album “Flood” (the best album)
Trapped in quarantine with your South Jersey boyfriend.
Pizza Island, the collective of women cartoonists that includes Lisa Hanawalt, Kate Beaton and Julia Wertz is back!
Eurovision 2020 is cancelled but that won’t stop me listening to this absolute jam.
This /r/relationships makes me laugh out loud because the boyfriend is insufferable
I recommend listening to unbearably cheesy songs like Groovy Situation by Gene Chandler (or Duke of Earl) and Knock Three Times because… it’s hard to be bummed out listening to such a buttery tune. Please respond with your fave cheesy songs.
Articles:
Natasha Rothwell. A brief history of epidemiology and the difference between Seattle and New York City’s reaction to the Coronavirus. An interview with Lucinda Williams, eternal bad-ass. Remembering the Jackson State shooting which took place a week after Kent State. “Guy Fieri allowed me to ask: who do I fear noise and brightness for? Who do I fear food for?” For the driver who hit a cyclist and left the scene. The twisting story of a homophobic Trump supporter and her gay son. The anti-abortion movement is a house of cards. Drake hasn’t grown up. Staying sober in isolation. Quarantine fatigue and finding ways for harm reduction. An oral history of Mad Max: Fury Road. What critic Jerry Saltz is eating during quarantine and his different appetites. Once it became clear that Coronavirus was mainly harming communities of color, politicians stopped caring. The Matrix is a trans allegory. Alison Roman and ethnic erasure in popular food culture. Reading about mommy blogger drama is nice escape!! Elizabeth Warren on her brother’s death from Coronavirus will 100% make you cry. One last bummer of a Coronavirus article.
Food:
Once when I was visiting my partner in college I insisted he take me to the grocery store because I was hungry and needed something to eat through the weekend and I bought one loaf of Pepperidge Farm Swirl Raisin Cinnamon bread that I ate in probably 36 hours without toasting or buttering and I wanted to recreate that experience with this King Arthur sourdough discard cinnamon raisin bread. The recipe is simple and good and I think when I make it again I’ll add a little whole wheat bread flour to give it more oomph.
I really miss having friends over for dinner and cooking with people but it this hasn’t stopped me from making elaborate dinners like on Saturday night I spatchcocked a some Peruvian chicken on the grill, made a cabbage slaw, rice with onions carrots and peas and made pisco sours using a reverse shake.
Last week I went a bit overboard on buying sweet potatoes and (as always happens when I buy a lot of a particular thing) I not longer had any idea what I want to use them for. For dinner on Monday I made these sweet potatoes with tahini butter and it was different from my usual thing!
This recipe for sticky toffee pudding made in a muffin tin is good but I’m not sure it’s my favorite! The toffee sauce is the inspiration for the name of this newsletter. Butterscotch is underappreciated.
At a store last week I saw a beautiful bag of “heirloom bean mix” that I wanted despite having pretty much all the beans in said bag but in separate packaging. I didn’t buy the beans as a result and then I soaked and simmered a mixture of my already owned beans (black beans, pinto, canellini, garbanzo) very loosely following this recipe for brothy beans by Carla Lalla Music. Instead of keeping the beans in a cooking liquid I drained them and added a balsamic dressing and fresh chives and I’ve been putting them on salads to make them more exciting/substantial.
On the continuing whiteness of the cooking world, even as pantries have more global flavors.
On my brother’s recommendation, I made these sourdough discard crackers. One batch I covered in everything bagel seasoning, the other in my homemade za’atar mix and they are very good and snacky. The trick my brother told me and I’ll pass on is to really make them as thin as possible when rolling out!
I keep finding myself with ricotta! I needed some for a small recipe and the store only had TUBS. If you have any favorite ricotta uses I would love to hear it because I’m not a huge fan of lasagna.
Waterbury green//cat loves chaos
Stay particular,
Margaret
Eyekneaux lives here