The Internet Personified: Six o'clock already, I was just in the middle of a dream
The first truly hot Monday this year, and I've spent a majority of the morning trying to get in touch with our air conditioning company. Sadly, the only AC that seems to have problems is the one in the bedroom (although I've nly turned on three out of five, so should probably check). But, being the 54th caller in line is something I don't have the patience for so I'm going to have to do this all day. (How are we managing? Fans on full blast, running around the house practically naked, occasional showers to stay cool.)
You're getting this newsletter on a Monday not a Sunday because we spent yesterday at Fuji (Connaught Place, Japanese, amazing) for lunch with friends, dropped those friends up, went upstairs for a coffee and played with their small son, wandering around Kotla Mubarakpur looking for timber we could buy for a DIY project. Here's what I learned: 1) Kotla is HUGE; 2) Teak is EXPENSIVE; 3) Google maps are not so useful when you're trying to navigate one of Delhi's labyrinthine little colonies that lead to villages, with dead ends and cows everywhere and people looking at you strangely. At least we have a small car.
This week in purchases: A few very practical things! One was a Dutch oven/biryani pot, you know one of those thick bottomed non-stick pots with a tight lid that you can use to cook things for a long time without burning and sealing in the flavours. Mine is red and I'm slightly obsessed with it, so I've been looking up Dutch oven recipes. (Here's a good list, I plan to try the pasta sauce this week.)
The other thing was a sofa for my office/growlery. I've been saying "office" because it sounds more like the place I get things done, and I'm getting confused looks from people, but then they look at me askance when I say "growlery" also, so I guess I could say "study" or "writing room" both of which are also functions of my room, the "library" even, but I like the sound of Growlery, so I'm just going to stick with that. The sofa was off this used/factory seconds website called Go Zefo and it is extremely comfortable, so I've also been lying on it and reading or watching TV since it arrived. Here is a photograph of the Fainting Couch in my Growlery. (Too much?)
This week in Domestic Goddess-ing: Speaking of food, several achievement-unlocked type things happened this past week. (K says I never give him credit, so here's the credit: we bake most of this stuff together.) First, I turned some unsweet pineapples into pineapple upside down cake (recipe from BBC Good Food) which was extremely delicious. Then, slightly more ambitious and also feeling the need to use the flour K got from his dad which was occupying valuable fridge real estate, we made German farm bread! It also tastes fantastic, so fantastic in fact, we are going to open the second packet and use that too. (Recipe off the packet, but here's an approximate. Requires rye flour which may be hard to get in India.) (According to this forum, you can use buckwheat as a substitute in a pinch, and that's easily available online.)
This week in books: I'd heard a lot about the essay collection Selfish, Shallow and Self Absorbed edited by Megan Daum, but I finally got around to reading it last week. Sixteen authors (men and women) on why they chose not to have children, which, considering that's one of the big concerns of being in your mid-thirties, was something I needed to read. And I was blown away, it was like when you don't really believe in God, but everyone around you is all "God is amazing!" and you don't know if you're going to regret NOT having faith, because there seem to be so few stories from the atheist camp, but THEN there's this whole collection of arguments from the atheists and you're like, "Okay! This makes SO MUCH SENSE to me!" That's what this book felt like. A revelation.
This week in TV: Began watching 13 Reasons Why (yes, lying on the Fainting Couch) on Netflix last night. I remember enjoying the book--YA about a girl who commits suicide and then sends her note in the form of cassettes to a bunch of people. What I liked about the adaptation was how the show doesn't just focus on the dead girl, it also goes round to the people she talks about and their inner motivations so the villains aren't so villainy. Also kinda hilarious watching 2017 teens deal with cassette tapes. The protagonist, a boy called Cole or Kale or something, has to steal a Walkman from a friend of his who is into "old school" stuff. Sigh.
This week in music: Kinda obsessed with this strange song Shutter Island by Jessie Reyez. She sings like she has a mouthful of marbles, but also a really catchy song.
Monday reading links for when you're bored at work: Strange little story about how China began to worship the mango during the Cultural Revolution. (Is it mango season yet?) ** Gin is having a Moment in India, which is the best news ever. ** You've probably already seen Priya Ramani's excellent prose thing on her patriotism but here's a link anyway. ** Scroll has a series of articles about the racism-based violence that's been happening recently, here are two I think you should read. ** Finding a photo of your mother's funeral on a stock photo website. ** Meg and John Brooke and how to parent like a Little Woman. ** These men call random numbers in the hope that they'll start talking to a woman. Any woman. ** A German man watches Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam and hilarity ensues. ** The desi dinosaurs are pretty cool. ** Oldie but since I just finished bingewatching all of 30 Rock, here's a great essay on the last weeks of shooting. ** PS: Your cat actually loves you. **
Have a great week!
xx
m