Week 4

Reunited

The King of the Road is back! Roger greeted me on our sidewalk as I got home from work on Thursday night. The side of his head is shaved where he has stitches, but he's behaving like his old self. Margot came to the door to roll around on the floor in front of him, as is her customary greeting.

Reads

"Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing." - Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I finished Cuckoo on Friday night and experienced a gamut of feelings as we drove to dinner. I have very conflicted views about Nurse Ratched. It was such a message-laden book and my inner skeptic wants to push back against whatever Ken Kesey wanted me to think. But when I consider it in its time, written in 1962, it is a pretty remarkable piece of writing.

TV

We are all caught up on the Amazing Race. And I'm not watching much else right now due to good books and other projects.

Listens

Due to the weather I have made all sorts of excuses to not take my daily walks through campus, but the sun came out one day and I had just learned of a new podcast called Forever 35. I plugged in my earbuds and relished the fresh air while listening to two 30- (40-?) something women talk about their morning routines, make up, and vision boards. I don't want to like this kind of podcast because it seems so shallow, so I spend a lot of time asking myself what I'm getting out of it, why I'm drawn to it and what it says about me. But ultimately, it is about connection and empathy and yes, getting beauty advice at a time when I'm starting to feel the pressure of getting older and wondering how I can prevent more broken capillaries around my nose. I will listen to more episodes as long as I'm enjoying it. 

Movies

We saw Call Me By Your Name last Sunday. I found it to be a beautiful if uncomfortable and sometimes awkward depiction of love, youth, discovery, lust, heartache and compassion. The scenes of northern Italy made my heart swell a bit, too, as did the dreamy piano-centric soundtrack (like this gorgeous piece used in the opening credits). As I get older and am more apt to nod off, I'm finding that the movies that keep me alert and engaged are often, strangely, the slow-moving, empathy-inducing plots with a small cast of characters, and this was no exception. By the end of it, I was left with an ache. I expected it to challenge me and push boundaries, but one scene in particular between father and son punched my guts. I'm glad I saw it.

I also forgot to note last week that we watched Fellini's Amarcord. This was a semi-autobiographical comedy full of strangely endearing adolescent humor. There was the vaguest semblance of a plot with a sweet, romantic theme throughout. I quite enjoyed it.

Wednesday bus ride

Recipes

I hosted a ladies' movie night on Saturday and made a special popcorn topping involving brewer's/nutritional yeast, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin and cayenne. It was suggested on the back of the Bob's Red Mill popcorn package as "Nacho Popcorn" and it was super good. We ended up eating all the popcorn and talked all night and never watched a movie. Go figure.

Luna was the honorary lady

Cookie of the week

I found it strange that the first recipe in Dorie's Cookies is for brownies. "Sebastian's Remarkable Brownies," to be exact. I didn't find the end product to be particularly remarkable - at least not more remarkable than other one-bowl recipes (which this was not), but they were quite chewy and delicious nevertheless.