Odds and Ends: September 2023
comin in hot
It’s October 3rd and it’s 78 degrees out, give me a refund.
Later this week I’ll be taking my first longer-than-three-days break from freelancing, my FT job, and my PT job for the first time since I started my PT job in February 2021 and I cannot wait!
Anyway, here’s your monthly stuff dump.
EATING
Pretzel Focaccia from How Sweet Eats
This recipe had perfect timing because it was initially released in March 2020. I’ve made it dozens of times since then, and it remains one of the lowest-work-to-highest-reward recipes I know of. You don’t need a stand mixer, and the focaccia itself just requires all-purpose flour, salt, warm water, and a packet of yeast.
Everything from Let’s Eat by Dan Pelosi
Dan Pelosi (@grossypelosi) is an absolute treasure. His vodka sauce recipe is on heavy rotation in our house, and I’ve never tried anything that wasn’t delicious from his website. He finally released his debut cookbook Let’s Eat and it’s a treasure.
LISTENING
A Case of You, Joni Mitchell Live at Newport Folk Festival
I’ve been sharing some of my vast YouTube Favorites playlist with my husband recently, and it’s been fun to see him open up a bit more to folk (and my extensive collection of Mariah Carey live performances from the 90s). One of the things that stuck out when re-watching was how profoundly beautiful the version of A Case of You at Newport Folk Festival is. While the song has an enduring legacy, with notable covers from Tori Amos and Prince, absolutely nobody does it like Joni in her 70s. Her voice has matured into an alto that oozes with depth and richness.
Oh, you are in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh, I could drink a case of you
And I would still be on my feet
Oh, I would still be on my feet
The whole set feels like lightning in a bottle for so many reasons. Joni’s first live performance in 20 years, Wynonna singing during Both Sides Now just a couple of months after her mother’s death, and some of the absolute best piano accompaniment you will hear in your life (Callie Day remains up there too, and I can never resist the chance to share her).
Brandi Carlile also continues her campaign to revive great women musicians who deserve their flowers, as she did with Tanya Tucker a few years ago. It’s continually inspiring to see how much respect and awe she has for the many women she’s worked with in the latter half of their careers, including Dolly Parton at the same festival a couple of years prior.
Zombie, Miley Cyrus Live from Whiskey a Go Go
Miley Cyrus has one of the best voices in rock today, and she doesn’t even exclusively make rock music. I’ve been a longtime admirer of her covers, even during the Bangerz era. Summertime Sadness is perhaps her cover that elevates the original the most (in another lifetime when I am someone who tattoos lyrics on my body, “I think I’ll miss you forever/like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky” will absolutely be somewhere on my body). As someone who is decidedly not a Metallica fan, her version of Nothing Else Matters with the band has a rawness and authenticity that has always been absent from the song otherwise. Zombie is another fantastic example of how she should sing nothing but rock for the rest of her life. What a gift.
WATCHING
Four In a Bed
If you love the format of the TLC stalwart Four Weddings but wish it was more British and less wedding-y, Four in a Bed is perfect for you. Over the course of four episodes, four different bed and breakfast owners stay in each other’s b&bs and provide ratings. In the fifth episode, the whole group gets back together to debrief and de-beef. The absolute best episodes to watch if you have a VPN and make a free Channel Four account (or can dig them up elsewhere) are the episodes including the Solar Strand Hotel (the series starts at Llwyn Onn Guest House). Poached eggs are a theme of this quintet of episodes, and you will shriek with glee during the fourth episode.
On Your Mark
On Your Mark is a short music video that Studio Ghibli created for a song called “On Your Mark” by a Japanese rock band. It’s a quick watch, and it has a lot of the hallmarks of what Ghibli is associated with today—futuristic dystopias borne of humanity’s actions.
READING
Not enough!!!
I am hoping that binging fall cozy mysteries and the annual deluge of hallmark-tinged romances will push me over the top. pray for me!
Some articles that I loved or shared excessively this month:
The food industry pays ‘influencer’ dietitians to shape your eating habits As someone who has been working with a dietician for about five months now (who is not like this and is a totally body-neutral blessing), this article got me riled up!!!
the ‘what about me?’ effect encapsulates why twitter and tiktok and so many other things feel so miserable right now.
Radical Vegans Are Trying to Change Your Diet I don’t talk about this with 99.9% of people, but IYKYK. This quote gets it: “This is what the debate about animal rights and animal cruelty is really about: this unspeakable horror hidden from us, the suffering borne by billions of creatures on our behalf. (…) But if vegans can be annoying, they are also profoundly right. They are burdened with advocating for billions of suffering creatures and being able to help only a few. They are burdened with the futile, enraging task of trying to get people to live by their own articulated values.” catch me screaming into the sky!!!
The Pandemic Skip Does anyone else feel like they have not processed like any of the pandemic yet? The answer is yes.
We Were Never Supposed to See Our Own Faces This Much validating my lack of selfie-taking the past three years
The Sterile World of Infinite Choice yes yes yes
WEARING
Turtlenecks with blazers, baby! I picked up a knit windowpane blazer last spring and have been delighting in pairing it with half-sleeved turtlenecks. I’ve since added a really lovely birdseye blazer and a black slouchy boyfriend blazer. Between the three, my fall and winter are covered. Texture, texture, textureeeeee.
If it’s good enough for Lady Gaga on a Zoom call, it’s good enough for me.
MAKING
Quilting is weird because you need to create things with enough lead time (8-10 weeks for the long-armer that I use) to get them back for the holiday or season that you want them for. As a result, I’ve been finishing up Christmas quilts. It’s weird!
