Eunice

Was woken to the dulcet sounds of Wink puking. Gotta love cats. I need to up my brushing game to daily for the next few weeks. Ahhh, spring.

I did a giant batch food prep/cook yesterday. Worked from about 10-6 and have food for the next week+. We'll see if I actually eat it. Ngl, I barely ate anything all day and when I finished, I just ate a bagel and passed out.

Still, I do have noodle salad for lunch along with a green salad. I am definitely looking forward to that.

UPDATE: The pineapple vinaigrette I made for the noodle salad turned out ok! I think I need to roast the pineapple instead of trying to caramelize it in a sauce pan. The sesame oil is a great add, but it definitely needs more smokey sweetness. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the noodle salad + green salad combo. I mean, it's all I ate for almost a year, but I blank on these things sometimes!

I've also been reflecting a bit. I've seen some recent concert performance photos from Florence + The Machine's tour and was remembering when I saw here live. That was such an odd confluence of events. I think I saw she was playing on last.fm of all places, and managed to snag $15 tickets to her House of Blues show. It was the first show she ever played in Chicago (according to her onstage) and it was such a good show. I'd been worried as I'd seen some concert footage of her online and didn't love what I saw. She absolutely blew me out of the water though. During that show, she mentioned how she had been so intimidated to play in Chicago because it has such a big music scene. Which, at the time, I didn't entirely understand or grasp. But as I age, I get reminded of how incredibly privileged I am to live in such a major metropolitan area, and to feel so comfortable navigating it. I've seen so many shows and attended so many events. I got a little humbled when I actively complained about how much art (Art Institute and street art) I was exposed to as a grade schooler and realized that I can actually hold thoughtful conversations about various movements in their historical context when I hate art. (I don't, I just don't love it the same others around me do.)

IDK. I guess I'm just feeling a lot of gratitude and luck in being exposed to so much in the way of humanity and joy.

I got the urge to cook this weekend. It has been over a year since I have had the interest/willingness to do a big batch cook. Why now? Well, I realized how expensive the tacos I have been craving cost at a restaurant and my brains shut down in screaming frugality.

So, after acupuncture today, I went out and spent $140 on groceries instead. That said I hit some solid produce sales at the Magic grocery and now I have a bunch of frozen fruit snacks (grapes and bananas) and potatoes. I also have the makings for homemade pesto as a result of fresh radish greens attached to the radishes I wanted for my tacos. I am also using up the last of my dried beans so I can make refried beans tomorrow to go in the freezer burritos I am gonna make.

We shall see how this goes!!!

That said, tried the Shawarma Express up on Touhy and was thoroughly unimpressed. The beef just tasted off and kinda weird. Also, the acupuncture came in clutch today and I met the CHILDREN my old neighbor’s tiny babies turned into.

Much in the same way I decided I hadn't been reading enough books back in 2009, I have Decided to tackle my reading slump. My regular wells of interest (romance, cozy fantasy, weird fantasy, celebrity memoirs, food histories, and sci fi short stories) are currently uninteresting.

Not that I don't have a ton of options or that I don't own a ton of options. Hell, I'm 1/3rd of the way through one of my favorite authors of all time's final book in a trilogy. I also picked up a bunch of stuff on sale as I had a couple gift cards for my various ebook platforms. AND a cool fic writer I adore is putting out a book some time this year.

I HAVE OPTIONS! A lot that I even own!

Anyway, so I picked up one of the University of California open access books on racial housing justice in Los Angeles and that seems to be keeping my interest. It's called Indefensible Spaces and is by Rahim Kurwa. I've had friends in LA, but am not super familiar with the geography and/or neighborhoods in the same way I am with Chicago or NYC. It's an interesting read so far. There's even a surprise Afro Man citation! Hopefully I can finish this whole book. Maybe academic reading will save me? IDK.

I guess LA is kinda my vibe at the minute? I'm really vibing with Run River North's latest EP. Their stuff has always felt very California surfer rock to me, and there's a guitar riff in "Slow & Steady" that is proving my case. I listened to a lot of late 60's Beach Boys in my childhood (my parents were weirdos in what they listened to, it's so fascinating) so it's interesting hearing the evolution of that sound in a modern band.