12 Apr 2026 3 min read Journal

Weekly Journal 4.12.26

Reading

I fear that my smartphone habits are damaging my ability to concentrate, because after a week with Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky, I haven't gotten very far in the book. But maybe I'm being too hard on myself, and sweeping historical books just aren't my jam. Salt is very readable, but I have a hunch that I won't finish it. I never finished Guns, Germs, and Steel or Alexander Hamilton either. It reminds me of history class—which was never my favorite—when I start reading about trade routes, taxation, emperors, and wars. My mind starts to wander. However, I've learned some cool facts, e.g., that ancient words for "salt" provide the root for modern words like "salary" and "salad."

Watching

I started DTF St. Louis, which seems to be getting a lot of raves. It is odd, but it's clearly the singular result of the creator/director's vision, and so pleasingly unlike any other show I've seen. (Compare this to St. Denis Medical, which I also started watching and which follows the exact same beats as several other shows.) I'm only one episode in and I plan to keep watching. I love to see Linda Cardellini as a mature actor after falling in love with her in Freaks and Geeks in 1999.

I finished The Big C and cried at my desk. I also finished the final season of Fisk, but fell asleep on the couch so didn't catch everything. Luckily I'm restarting that one, since I've found it to be an excellent comfort show in the vein of Parks and Recreation.

A GIF of a woman at a coffee shop, giving someone the stink eye and then turning away to drink her coffee

Cooking

I haven't bought a lot of fresh produce or meat lately, so my kitchen hasn't been very inspiring. I decided to use up some German butterball potatoes and farmers-market carrots in a stew with diced lamb meat. It was a good excuse to use up an onion as well. I'd been buying and ignoring onions for so long that when I picked up my storage canister, I found green shoots growing through the ventilation holes.

I'm still not great at using the crock pot to get the components of a stew cooked evenly; I have to experiment with different sizes of veggie cuts and different temperatures and cook times. This one came out pretty well as far as producing tender chunks of lamb. The flavor wasn't very deep, but neither was it bland: thyme, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, bay leaf, chicken broth, salt, pepper, and a bit of red wine vinegar.

My grand tradition of bad food photography continues below.

A bowl of stew with meat, carrots, potatoes, and onions

Doing

The first few times I invited my kid to walk with me to or from school, he balked. We usually take the four-minute drive, and he doesn't react well to suggestions that take him away from his routine. I managed to be kindly persistent, and he's found that he actually enjoys it. It takes only ten minutes and we get to see birds digging for breakfast, dogs taking a morning stroll, and an extremely friendly cat that rubs against our legs and trots with us for half a block. I think my son also loves the bit of extra togetherness with me. As the weather gets nicer, I hope to do this with him at least twice a week.