spice rack #9

a consumption diary and overdue ins/outs

When the sun doesn’t come out for five days, I usually don’t notice. It’s funny that I’m like this after growing up in California, but maybe I’m like this because I grew up in California, where chilly cloudy days were a treat. 

January is long, gray, weird, and the perfect month for consumption of anything and everything. I realized that I tend to organize my preferences around dichotomies, thinking of myself as a city or country person, beach or mountains person, morning or night person, sweet or savory person, books or movies person. But lately I’ve been an everything person, which is a little overwhelming but definitely more fun so I’m riding the wave. 

This month, I leafed through the things I want to eat and do while I’m still here. I got a movie theater membership (which is so worth it for anyone who watches more than one movie per month btw) and have been meeting my goal to watch two movies a week, whether in theaters or at home. I haven’t been much of a movie person in the past so this initiative has been great for my attention span. Sometimes I listen to something even if it’s just a 5 minute walk, which I shouldn’t make a habit of but it feels really good right now so I’ll deal with my questionable compulsion to “set the vibes” later. Here is the monthly spice rack, with more on all of the above. 

read

For work, I learned more about Palestinian cuisine while putting together recipes for cooking classes. We made musakhan (the national dish) and ful mudammas (a fava bean dish prepared in several countries in the region)!

Related reading:

• It's 'Not Just a Middle Eastern Restaurant.' It's Palestinian: Five Palestinian chefs owning their identity through food on Bon Appetit 

• A taste of Palestine: a story they wouldn't run by

  Pen and Spoon

• You Can’t Discuss Palestinian Food Without Talking About the Occupation

• What We Talk about When We Talk about Food Security by

  Eating an Island
  : “What use are the words “food security” or “food insecurity” in this context? Palestinians in Gaza are not starving, they are being starved.”

girl culture panic and the failures of feminism by

radical love letters

: The central question –  “What does girl culture have to do with feminism and, for those of us invested in it, with liberation?”

The Grammys Aim for a Big Tent, but Not Everyone Feels at Home. A take I appreciated seeing! (Though I really didn’t need it after participating in a fun and feisty

Hung Up

chat.)

Who’s Afraid of Quiet Luxury? by

Freak Palace

 

Books this month were Writers and Lovers by Lily King and Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H.

watched

Past Lives in a tiny theater that was still showing it. On my birthday! Then I started craving stories about two people and only two people so I started watching Normal People. Which made me fantasize about living in the Irish countryside and wearing sweaters that are actually thick and warm. 

Poor Things. Quite predictably, I loved it. I also saw Emma Stone on the Late Show the following week, so that was cool. Here’s a fashion analysis I enjoyed.

Mean Girls. I’m going to be bold. The hate for this movie is too harsh! Sure, it probably would’ve been good to clarify that it was a musical in the trailer, and sure, the lyrics were terrible and the fashion was worse, but I still feel like it surpassed my expectations of what a musical with Gen Z humor would be like. Most of the casting was great, but I’m biased because I would have happily watched this even if Renee Rapp was the only thing going for it. 

All of Us Strangers. I was exhausted the day I watched this so I fell asleep for the middle 40 minutes and woke up to sniffles in the theater.

Aftersun. This was unintentionally the third thing I watched recently with Paul Mescal in it. I tend to love movies about parent-child relationships. Be prepared to cry!

A Love Song. I don’t remember how this got on my radar but I’m glad it did. It’s about a woman on a campground in Colorado, waiting for someone from her past. Short and sweet!

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan. This isn’t a rec – just the worst movie I’ve seen in awhile, but the reviews are so good I’m confused? Like the characters were insufferable and the final message was “put down your phone and look at each other”? 

All 3.5 hours of the Grammys while I was sick. I have so many thoughts but the only thing I’ll say is Victoria Monet was the highlight of the night no matter how much someone I am technically a fan of tried to be the story of the night (and ended up being the story, but let’s deflect). 

listened

Culture Study with Anne Helene Peterson: New favorite podcast! If it’s not clear by this point, I’ve always been one to enjoy pop culture analyses and I’ve met plenty of people who think it’s trivial and nothing more than “celebrity gossip,” but Anne Helene Peterson’s work constantly reassures me that it’s far from trivial. 

Therapuss with Jake Shane: The episode with Renee Rapp had me cackling. (And side note: her Snow Angel performance on SNL lives in my mind rent-free.)

Taylor Swift and the unbearable whiteness of girlhood (Code Switch): This episode captured my conflicted feelings. It also reminded me that sometimes we need to separate the artist from the art to continue to deepen our relationship to the art! 

Last year there was not a single man on my Spotify wrapped. The trend may continue if I keep listening to playlists like this one. 

cooked

Themes of the month: white beans, greens, smoothies, sweet potatoes 

After wrapping up Veganuary recipes, I’ve been confused about what to make next and what to write next. But right now, I’m considering a pop up. Or three. The recipe testing is under way and it feels really nice to be excited about something! You heard it here first ;)

This focaccia recipe singlehandedly pushed me into the kitchen to make focaccia.

Cooked with lions mane mushrooms for the first time ever and hello? Where have I been? Glazed with gochujang and paired with sticky edamame, braised cabbage, and soba noodles.

ate

I got around last month. Mostly during birthday weekend! Favorites were: 

Anixi: vegan mediterranean food with great dip selection 

Spicy Moon: vegan Szechuan plates. Loved cumin-style, wontons in chili oil, and black sesame mooncakes! 

Vegan Hood in Harlem for shrimp that felt fake but it still really hit. Probably because it was fried ;) The potato salad and collard greens were my favorite parts of the plate! 

Yia Yia’s Taverna in Bushwick for Greek dishes I personally haven’t come across at most Greek restaurants. I had the imam, a silky stuffed baby eggplant dish!

Mille Nonne at Essex Market. More eggplant love because I jumped at the chance to have a vegan eggplant parm sandwich when I came across this place! 

Native Noodles for Singaporean food in Washington Heights! The dry laksa with tofu puffs and fried tofu was insanely flavorful. 

extra spice - overdue ins/outs  

I shared an overdue ins/outs list last February so it felt fitting to drop by a month late again. I love seeing these lists so much that I don’t even care that it’s not relevant any more!

INS 

cabbage

going to theaters 

actually doing the things you talk about 

eBay 

writing all over physical books 

bookstores that are also coffee shops

bars that are also coffee shops 

yellow 

social media that centers a hobby (GoodReads, Strava, Letterboxd, etc.)

mood boards 

writing it down when people give you a rec

accessories

dance! both participating and examining 

paying back with a “I’ll cover next time” 

OUTS 

watching movies based on Rotten Tomatoes percentages 

girlification of everything (music, math, food, you get it)

most skincare

polyester

Reformation 

“New American” spots with “small plates” 

(sorry in advance) cultural references to zodiac signs 

greenwashing

buying things only because they’re cheap

looking at your phone to avoid awkward interactions