Week 48

Random thoughts

I am overwhelmed by how many gift guides exist in the world.
I tend not to trust cookbooks with photos the of author on the cover.
I miss the sunshine.

Margot has recently become an avid TV watcher

Listening

It rained a lot this week and it inspired the week's music playlists, namely "It's Raining Again" by Supertramp, "It's Raining" by Peter, Paul and Mary, and "Dry the Rain" by The Beta Band.

Important podcast to listen to these days: The Human Toll of Instant Delivery (The Daily)

Christmas music. I am joining the masses and am enjoying it for the first time in a long time.

Christmassy at the Chronicle

Reading

I finally finished reading The Kiss Quotient. I wanted to read it because it was highly rated on Goodreads and because we need more leading female characters like Stella, an Asian-American who has autism. But it was ultimately a romance novel that was so predictable, with little conflict or plot, and so much sex that I just felt silly reading it. But I finished it. Maybe the coolest thing about it is that the author, in researching the character for this book, learned she has autism spectrum disorder herself.

Music building, 4:15 p.m. on Friday

Watching

Romanoffs and Curb Your Enthusiasm: Complete.

Pep talk from Michael Pollan (YouTube)

Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Netflix). This is the latest Coen Bros. project, an anthology released in two parts. It was a really fun watch for all the hilariously shocking and thought-provoking scenes we expect from these guys. I was very aware of the absence of women in most of these episodes in the first portion (stories about the old West - pretty expected?) - we'll see how the second plays out. The cinematography was gorgeous.

A visit to Amy's Donuts in the valley

Recipes

Who needs a cookbook anymore? Geez. I feel so enamored with recipes on the internet right now, it feels like 2006 again! I'm cooking what the NYT Cooking site suggests each week, saving recipes from blogs and making them the same day, subscribing to Mark Bittman's email newsletter. Everything old is new again in a very 21st century way. Here's what I made from the internet this week. (Sorry about the NYT Cooking site - you may hit a paywall if you're not a subscriber.)

Chicken Francese (NYT)

Butcher's Steak with Leafy Greens Salsa Verde (NYT)

Curried Chickpeas with Tomatoes and Greens (Dinner: A Love Story)

Perfect Roast Beef (Mark Bittman)

I'd make all of these again. The roast beef recipe is actually the same way my mom taught me to make it, with slivers of garlic tucked in, but it was a good reminder of how important my instant-read thermometer is. I achieved perfection on this roast with no gray slices!

I also picked up a bag of Ghirardelli Sweet Cocoa Powder because the package contained a recipe for brownies, which is what I felt like making on Wednesday night. I trust back-of-package recipes, generally. I still swear by the dark chocolate cake recipe on the Hershey's Dark Cocoa box - I halve it to make a single layer cake and sprinkle a powdered sugar design on the top. I'm not huge on chocolate, but when I crave it, these recipes are simple and hit the spot.

TV and knitting

Making

I'm busting through my yarn stash. I made a hat this week and also that pom-pom garland pictured at the top of this post. I'm starting a knit-along this week with other knitters around the world, knitting for peace - for ourselves and for the world. Pretty lofty goals, but it's fun to feel part of a bigger community with a hobby like this.