Charcuterie: Sensory Edition
Charcuterie: Sensory Edition
You know, the five senses: hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling and reading.
Happy Friday, dear reader! I am coming to you in the midst of a very busy week. As is customary for this girl, it started out with me getting sick. My immune system’s timing is impeccable when it comes to letting illnesses through the gate right in time for fun and exciting plans. It’s also possible I’m experiencing allergies for the first time in my life, as things seem to get worse when the window is open—the jury is still out.
Even before I was temporarily felled by this strange sinus related adversary, I wasn’t sure what I was going to write for you. Once I mostly recovered, after a couple days of rest, I was no closer to an idea. The aforementioned fun and exciting plans with friends simply ruled out a review. Those take time, and I’ve been fully booked, baby! A good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. I refuse to break my streak and let you down.
And so, I’ve settled upon this assorted hodgepodge charcuterie of random things I’ve read, heard, seen, tasted and felt in the past month (give or take). Enjoy!
Reads
♡ This little article about David Hockney’s dachshunds, Stanley and Boodgie. Any dachshund owner (read: member of the d-hound cult) will recognize themselves in Hockney. If I were a painter…
♡ My June issue of Harper’s just arrived, and while I haven’t gotten into the meat of it yet, I did flip through and land on this amusing panel. Happy birthday, 311!
♡ This article in the Washington Post about Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow—which readers might remember from my review back in February. It appears that one of the fictional games in the novel—Solution—is a near replica of a real game called Train, designed by a woman named Brenda Romero. Ironic that a novel focused so much on female game designers getting credit for their work would borderline steal from a living female game designer and give no credit. Particularly when Romero’s husband is mentioned a couple of times in the novel as a historical figure in game design. Zevin has referenced Romero as an inspiration in other interviews, but has not commented on why Romero is left out of the novel’s acknowledgements. Doubleday says it’s because Train is not a video game. Interesting.
♡ I am the type of person who has to delete Instagram off her phone during the week. I don’t have the self control! I can’t be trusted! I scroll, scroll, scroll, and it’s all dumb. But then, when I have the app, and I stumble upon something like this, I accept that I will be locked in my toxic relationship with the app forever, because it’s actually not all dumb. I don’t know anything about this poet, and have not conducted further reading, but how sweet?
♡ This WSJ article about men who love reading romance novels. This one will be particularly amusing to anyone who has read The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams (mentioned in the article).
Sounds
♡ Species, the podcast mentioned in last week’s post. Every episode is about a different species, and they’re fun and educational. Be warned: the host has a kind of nasally voice—you’ll get used to it. It seems like he’s not really releasing new episodes at the moment, but there’s a big back catalogue.
♡ Jim Croce. I just love him. I go through phases of listening to his music on a loop, and my favorite song changes every time. It’s not a deep cut, but right now, I can’t get enough of “I Got a Name.”
♡ My friend Bea’s new Spotify playlist. We used to lay in Bea’s twin bed freshman year of high school and listen to “Let Her Go” by Passenger on repeat during our free periods. Listening to this playlist makes me feel like I felt then. I can’t share the link cause I’d be putting her on blast, but I might give it to you if you ask nicely. More generally, ask your friends for their playlists, and share yours too.
♡ After telling you three things you could listen to with headphones, my fourth recommendation is: Not! Wearing! Headphones! Seriously. I like walking around to a soundtrack as much as the next gal, but sometimes you MUST let the city be the soundtrack. Next time you go for a walk, really pay attention to every snippet of sound, music, conversation, and nonsense that flits by you. It’s great inspiration for art if you make it, but it can be thought provoking and make for a funny story even if you don’t.
Sights
♡ These fiery flowers.
♡ This dog who lives by me. I love it when I’m walking down the block, and I can tell from far away that she’s in the window because everyone who walks by stops to take a picture (myself included).
♡ This necklace which I found at November 19 on Orchard Street (great store). I impulse bought it, but it was such a good impulse. I considered gatekeeping because I’m so obsessed with it, but after perusing the website, there are plenty of different charms to go around. Joy doubles when it is shared.
♡ I was walking to work the other day and a man washing down the sidewalk accidentally sprayed himself when he went to turn on the hose. The nozzle was pointing the wrong way. He looked around, as we do when we trip or our skirt flies up in a gust of wind, and there I was—witness to his embarrassment. I giggled the whole way to work thinking about how relatable that feeling is. And didn’t feel bad about giggling because it was warm out, and it was just water.
Tastes
♡ Last night I went to the Farm To People Kitchen & Bar in Bushwick, which I have been dying to try since I stumbled upon their Instagram a couple months ago. When I saw that Colu Henry of
was hosting a pop-up dinner, I roped Lexy and Maddie into going with me. The food was delicious. We had spring onions, fava bean and cucumber salad, pork shoulder with creamy white beans and lamb ragu. I bought the cookbook, and immediately flipped through it front to back when I got home—it’s beautiful. In classique fashion, I forgot to take any pictures of the food at all, but here’s proof we were there, snapped at end of meal:
♡ I made an Asian cabbage salad the other day, and the star of the show was, unsurprisingly, the dressing. You could literally put this dressing on a bowl of grass, and it would taste good. I made extra and used it all week. I went a little off-book from the recipe I was following, so here are my measurements:
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar - use a little less for a less acidic flavor
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
- 1/2 Tbsp minced fresh garlic - twice that much if you’re like me and love garlic
- 1/2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
- Salt and pep
Blend (I used the nutribullet) until smooth.
♡ While I’m on an Asian theme, if you can get your hands on these Trader Joe’s noodles, they are a must try.
♡ My mom sent me this recipe for broiled lemon butter flounder. It was one of the easiest things I’ve ever made, and it was so delicious. My mom says you can also use sole, lemon sole or fluke. White fish gives such great summer vibes.
Feelings
♡ Gratitude & joy
I realize that I probably come across as annoyingly happy in this ~space~. I don’t want it to seem like I never feel bad feelings—I do. Sometimes I don’t feel well (literally), or I doubt myself, compare myself to other people, feel frustrated, angry, unproductive, etc. I still cry with a frequency that is alarming to some. It’s just that every time I sit down to write, particularly posts like this that involve recalling good memories and sharing tidbits from my life, I’m filled with such overwhelming joy, that I can’t help but pour it out on the virtual page. That in turn extends out to the rest of my life, making joy my prevalent feeling at all times. I just felt like it was important to say that today.
Ta ta for now xx