Weekly Journal 5.3.26

Reading

I'm still working through Animal, Vegetable, Miracle with admiration and some envy of the lifestyle described by Kingsolver, in which her family produces much of their own food and sources the rest from local farms. My own garden is just getting started, and lately my cooking has been short on veggies or anything locally grown. I fully agree with the author that nothing tastes better than produce that's in season where one lives, and the shorter the distance it has to travel to reach your mouth, the better. This year I'll need to do better about preserving our garden bounty instead of letting beautiful heirloom tomatoes rot on the vine. I have canning supplies, and we have a large freezer for storage. My family could probably enjoy home-grown fruits and veggies year-round with a bit more diligence. A bigger pantry—or any real pantry—would help too. It's almost enough to make me crave the farmhouse life that Kingsolver enjoys in the book.

Watching

My dear friend and I went to see The Devil Wears Prada 2 at a small theater in Portland. I go to the movies about once every 18 months, so this was a treat; I might fall under the spell of any film presented to me on a big screen with surround sound. I'm barely aware of what movies are out these days, but I'm a big fan of the first Devil Wears Prada film, so I knew this sequel was coming. I enjoyed it almost completely, except for a few points that fell flat, like Andy's new love interest. Nothing beats the comforting re-watchability of the original.

Cooking

I had one of those nights where I thought there was nothing to cook, because no beautiful meal plan had formed in my mind. My husband pointed out that a steak was available, so that covered our protein. Part of me wanted to make cornbread on the side, but I was feeling sick and didn't want to put in more effort than needed. I was on the verge of just offering sliced bread from the package when I remembered I had bought several kinds of pasta in Seattle, including a sweet potato orzo that sounded nutritious enough to make a good side dish for steak. I cooked pot of the orzo and combined it with a bunch of chard that I sauteed with garlic and fresh rosemary. To finish the dish, I drizzled it with olive oil and lemon juice. Alongside the ribeye steak, on which I'd achieved a hard sear by way of a lot of smoke in the kitchen, it made for a pretty good dinner.

Doing

This week I've had a head cold that will not quit. One day I start feeling good, and the next day a sore throat comes creeping back. I immediately had to draw from my bank of sick time at work after it got replenished on May 1. And I can't keep missing work, so this week I may need to load up with Mucinex or DayQuil to get through it.

Listening

I felt sick and tired while driving home from the movies. It was only about 9:30, but I could have dropped into bed and conked out instantly. I'd been playing the new Japanese Breakfast album on my car stereo and soon realized I needed something more energetic to keep me awake. I switched to one of my personal classics, Modest Mouse's Building Nothing Out of Something. "All Night Diner" is a good song to bump at a high volume.