something about the summer version of me is that she can’t stand to cook in her second floor duplex that only has air conditioning in the bedroom. but winter me? she is the QUEEN of complex time intensive recipes and she has been out to play the last few months. i realized when i was compiling a list of what i’ve been cooking recently that my menu’s got a theme... comfort food. looking through my camera role, it is teeming with photos of fried chicken, lasagna, mashed potatoes, pancakes, halušky (polish buttered noodles), pot roast... and of course we can’t forget the terrible fried rice.
the comfort food trend makes sense. not only is a big slab of pot roast and mashed potatoes smothered in a hot salty gravy exactly what a minnesotan like me craves for dinner on a day with a -10 windchill... but the last few months from election day to inauguration day have been a slowly boiling pressure cooker of anxiety that is hard not to feel if you regularly consume any form of social media or news. i know many of us are seeking comfort right now, and for me that’s been coming in the form of using my hands to make delicious things i love and that i can share. complex and time consuming recipes means that my mind and hands are occupied for an extended period, not worried about anything other than the importance of what’s being made right in front of me, and how i can pour love into what i’m cooking for myself and whoever else i’m feeding.
so, what are you making with your hands right now? where in your life are you focusing on love? what are you doing to continually spark joy?
i’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
things in process
i have… nothing new to write here? no new books, no new movies or shows, no new projects that you haven’t heard about already? this is a deeply unsettling turn of events to be honest. but i guess that might just be life during speech tournament season this year? more realistically this will send me into a spiral that i will think about while trying to fall asleep and i will wake up with 10 new ideas and start all of those projects all at the same time. will let you know how this shakes out next time…
things i’ve finished (or decided not to) since we last spoke
the magical age of overthinking - i read the first chapter and a half and i DNF this. i honestly opened it today when i had 4 hours left on the loan before it auto returned to the library and i opted to do laundry and rewatch ted lasso instead. i put a hold on a physical copy from the library, we’ll see if that changes anything for me but idk, it just might not be my thing. i haven’t read enough to give a full opinion as to why i did/did not like it, it just didn’t super hook me, that’s all i know right now.
shrinking s1 & s2 - i loved this show! i went in knowing nothing other than it was jason segal and harrison ford and at least 2 people had recommended it to me. honestly i’m on a big apple tv kick right now because i re-subscribed to watch severance and i feel like i might as well watch all the shit that i can while i have it (i don’t believe apple has enough re-watchable content that it justifies year round subscription. almost every other platform collin and i have a subscription to has several re-watchable comfort shows that we put on at bedtime or when doin chores). i will look past the myriad of unbelievable plot holes in this show when it comes to timeline and personality changes and/or choices. those things aside it’s just a nice story about casually wealthy people and the hi-jinks that you can get in to when you have a cushy therapist’s job in california. don’t get me wrong, there’s an emotional through line and plot to this show, but it’s also a lot of nonsense with lovely tidy resolutions that would never happen IRL. if you can suspend your disbelief it’s a warm fuzzy heartfelt watch with some good jason segal laughs.
i wrote in my new bullet journal! it’s only a page. there’s no colors or pretty designs or inspirational quotes or psychotic data trackers, just a page with a cursive heading and my to-do list for the week. tbh it’s a to do list of shit that i do every week that i probably won’t forget and don’t particularly need a checklist for. but i will keep adding to it and this is how you build habits right? right.
whether you made it to the end or not, the simple act of you being here at all is a gift, so thank you from the bottom of my heart
xo liv
I applaud your efforts at trying to get through a book that isn’t hooking ya. I do the same thing with the ones I borrow from the library.