Syllabus #165

Boop.

For all his faults, Charlie really really loves me and that's kind of nice

Finnish people are being judgmental about a display of exuberance?  I didn't see that one coming (but only because I was too busy tamping down my own emotions).

We have a long history of debt forgiveness in this country, and in functioning economies throughout human history.  Don't go acting like this is the first time, and that these people are undeserving.  Ever heard of bankruptcy?  If Karen can get the slate wiped clean after she digs herself into a financial pit buying too much Louis Vuitton and Louboutin, then maybe Kyle deserves the same after he blasts out his liver drinking a case of Busch Light every night and flunking out of community college after 3 semesters.  He has 3/4 of an associate's degree, several thousand dollars in debt, and early stage cirrhosis.  Throw him a bone.

If your pits smell like onions when you sweat, that's a good thing.  Until laundry day.  How...HOW...are we removing these odors from clothing?  I've tried the detergent with Febreze in it.  Tried baking soda.  Tried throwing in a couplea tomaters and some garlic cloves just in case Andy's undershirts were the secret ingredient to Your Italian Grandma's gravy. 

Analog Reading:

Plugging away at The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall.  It's not a long read, but I'm not exactly breezing through it.  I respect it, but it reads as a little scattered to me.  In some parts, it's difficult to follow who is doing what and what relationship the characters have to one another.  Maybe that's cultural or historical ignorance on my part, or maybe it's a deliberate choice in the writing.  But then there are other parts where the narrator seems to break character and speak in a modern, didactic tone.  I dunno.  I'm mostly reading it because we were out to dinner a few weeks ago and at the end of our meal, Andy informed me that Ms. Randall herself was sitting at the table behind us the whole time.  Just a real casual name drop.  He had once interacted with her professionally and never mentioned it, but like, guy, that is Kind Of A Big Deal.

Syllabus #164

 leaving this here to motivate myself to schlep down to Costco and buy some relatively healthy convenience foods for work lunches. https://www.thekitchn.com/costco-groceries-back-to-school-lunch-2022-23409056?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Category%2FChannel%3A+main

We're dropping in late today.  That's been the theme of the weekend.  Saturday I slept in past 8:00 which is unheard of.  Unprecedented.  Without precedent.  Saturday night, we stayed out way past our bedtimes at Emo Night, marinating in Emo Night Beer (not too sad, not too hoppy) and millennial, pop-punk nostalgia.  I felt like a high school bully making amends to all the people she tormented, willingly bopping to the likes of Good Charlotte and other bands that, back in the day, I either viscerally hated for being corporate sell-outs or couldn't have cared less about because they were too whiny.

Someone at the show complimented my back tattoo, and I thanked him, saying, "Yea, I appreciate the compliment, it started out as a horrible prison tat so I had to get it covered up pretty extensively."  Who's to say, but from the look on the guy's face, I think he walked away believing I had actually been incarcerated.  I'd just like to let the record state, Judgey McJudgerson, that I've really turned my life around.

Thanks, Amtrak Joe.  I choo-choo-choose you.

This food diary is truly unhinged.  

Analog Reading:

Regretfully, my reading momentum has really slowed down since school started.  I'm just about to finish Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson.  The arc of his career is impressive, and it's clear how hard he has worked to achieve such high points in his culinary life:  cooking the first state dinner for the Obama administration, winning top chef, winning James Beard awards, etc.  

Samuelsson's emphasis on chasing flavors inspired me, briefly, to make a salad, yes an MF'ing salad that earned high praise from Andy.  I probably saw something similar on the 'grams or on a restaurant menu before, but I feel like I kind of just made this up.  I served it with my signature quiche (if you know, you know), and it's all totes my signature dish now.  Hear me out.  Arugula, feta, quick-pickled red onions, walnuts lightly toasted in a skilled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a dash of garlic powder, salt and pepper, and the final flourish, figs cut in half, brushed with olive oil, and run under the broiler.  Top it with a dijon vinaigrette.  Hell yes, chef.

Syllabus #163

School resumed this week.  So far, it's gone well.  The children need literacy.

This banner was made for someone named Doug, so, there's some job security

How peach literate are you?  Just sharing this to stave off the DT's from the peach withdrawal I'm currently suffering.

In praise of the siesta.  It's so much more than an afternoon nap - it's important for the planet.  Just want to do my part, guys.  

Analog Reading:

I've been reading Marcus Samuelsson's memoir, Yes Chef for longer than necessary because it's just that kind of week.  I'm enjoying it, but every time I sit down to read it, I'm either in bed and fall asleep within 2 pages, or I'm eating lunch at work, and get interrupted within 2 pages.  I need to finish it because there's a lot of books on the docket!

Syllabus #162

Lenny, former street feline, current house gremlin

Dried apricot vagina is not a phrase I'll soon forget.

If a cat has ever really lived outside, and they're smart, once you bring them in, they're never leaving.  Don't try to tell me that a cat that used to subsist on cicadas, dime bags, and snow is going to be dumb enough to walk out on a warm soft bed to sleep in and a plate of Fancy Feast every night.  Pretty sure even with his ass stitched up and a cone of shame around his neck, Lenny looked at his first plate of wet food and went full Scarlett O'Hara at the end of Gone With the Wind.  As god is his witness, he will never eat lizards again.  

He's much better now

Not a lot of context or commentary to provide for this one, but it's rad.  

Analog Reading:

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh was weird and dark and viscerally disgusting, but I actually liked it.  I wasn't sure how I'd feel, based on reviews, but I was into it.  The scene in which Lord Villiam plucked out a gray pube really resonated with me.

Just started Yes Chef:  A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson.  If you're not familiar with him, he's the head chef of Red Rooster in Harlem, but was born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden by adoptive parents.  His life trajectory is super interesting.