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Being unable to read feels like such a failing. I guess, specifically, being unable to convince myself to read books feels like a failing, I still have the ability to read, I still read emails and slack channels, a bunch of Magnus Archives fanfiction and the like, there's just something not working about reading, everything feels a little bit like when I watch a tv show I don't like, I get agitated and angry. And I could not read another book this entire year and have already managed to, on average, read more than a book a week. And this isn't the first time this has happened, it's not even the first time this has happened this year. I know for a fact that it's one of the first things to go when I'm depressed.
But I keep seeing all the people talk about all their plans, the books they're getting around to, the things they're cooking, the parts of their houses they're cleaning and it gives me ample opportunity to double down on the ways I feel like I'm failing.
But, I did read a handful of books in April and I did cook a handful of things in April.
Top five books.
A Phoenix First Must Burn, edited by Patrice Caldwell. I'm quite cross with myself for letting this go back to the library before I made especial note of which of the shorts were my favorite. If I'm remembering correctly (and I'm probably not, I'm awful at remembering authors in short story compliations, I particularly liked the Patrice Caldwell, Justine Ireland and Rebecca Roanhorse stories.
When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey. Uncontrollable queer teenager magic and one character gets to talk to dogs.
Things we didn't talk about when I was a girl by Jeanne Vanasco. My goodreads review went something along the lines of if a measure of a book is how much it makes you think/fucks you up, then this is a gold fucking star of a book.
Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights by Mikki Kendall. So much information, so many easter eggs.
Dreadful Young Ladies and other stories by Kelly Barnhill. Like a decade late to this party, but finally read it. Really liked the shorts in the first half, didn't love the novella that ended it.
Top five things I cooked
Breakfast Slab pie from Smitten Kitchen. Very much want to try a version with black beans and salsa. Did the grating frozen butter trick, managed to not actually bleed into the dough when I inevitably grated my finger into it. https://smittenkitchen.com/2013/12/breakfast-slab-pie/
Hands makes the absolutely best seitan in the world, to the point where we call it meat candy, despite it being neither meat nor candy. And, well, I got to stick a whole onion in a blender and that was fun., and then I made shepherd's pie out of the results. Not as good as his, but better than any other seitan I've tried to make.
This version of migas - https://cookieandkate.com/migas-recipe/ I'm not sure I've ever had authentic-ish migas, but I'm also not sure how I forgot you could scramble eggs and add tortilla chips, so there's that.
Stuffed Poblano peppers, courtesty moosewood. https://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/stuffed-poblano-peppers/ I definitely do not yet have the trick of successfully roasting and stuffing peppers, but the mess I made (stuffed is an optimistic way to describe it) was delicious. I suspect the cream cheese in the filling played a key part.
I made chocolate cake with ridiculous frosting for Boisterous's birthday, so Light could do a dingdongditch with it to keep quarantine. I made two of them actually, having forgotten to check the ingredients for soy lethicin the first time (fortunately, I also had chocolate with sunflower lethicin). https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/moms-chocolate-cake with http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/moms-chocolate-cake-chocolate-frosting
But I keep seeing all the people talk about all their plans, the books they're getting around to, the things they're cooking, the parts of their houses they're cleaning and it gives me ample opportunity to double down on the ways I feel like I'm failing.
But, I did read a handful of books in April and I did cook a handful of things in April.
Top five books.
A Phoenix First Must Burn, edited by Patrice Caldwell. I'm quite cross with myself for letting this go back to the library before I made especial note of which of the shorts were my favorite. If I'm remembering correctly (and I'm probably not, I'm awful at remembering authors in short story compliations, I particularly liked the Patrice Caldwell, Justine Ireland and Rebecca Roanhorse stories.
When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey. Uncontrollable queer teenager magic and one character gets to talk to dogs.
Things we didn't talk about when I was a girl by Jeanne Vanasco. My goodreads review went something along the lines of if a measure of a book is how much it makes you think/fucks you up, then this is a gold fucking star of a book.
Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights by Mikki Kendall. So much information, so many easter eggs.
Dreadful Young Ladies and other stories by Kelly Barnhill. Like a decade late to this party, but finally read it. Really liked the shorts in the first half, didn't love the novella that ended it.
Top five things I cooked
Breakfast Slab pie from Smitten Kitchen. Very much want to try a version with black beans and salsa. Did the grating frozen butter trick, managed to not actually bleed into the dough when I inevitably grated my finger into it. https://smittenkitchen.com/2013/12/breakfast-slab-pie/
Hands makes the absolutely best seitan in the world, to the point where we call it meat candy, despite it being neither meat nor candy. And, well, I got to stick a whole onion in a blender and that was fun., and then I made shepherd's pie out of the results. Not as good as his, but better than any other seitan I've tried to make.
This version of migas - https://cookieandkate.com/migas-recipe/ I'm not sure I've ever had authentic-ish migas, but I'm also not sure how I forgot you could scramble eggs and add tortilla chips, so there's that.
Stuffed Poblano peppers, courtesty moosewood. https://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/stuffed-poblano-peppers/ I definitely do not yet have the trick of successfully roasting and stuffing peppers, but the mess I made (stuffed is an optimistic way to describe it) was delicious. I suspect the cream cheese in the filling played a key part.
I made chocolate cake with ridiculous frosting for Boisterous's birthday, so Light could do a dingdongditch with it to keep quarantine. I made two of them actually, having forgotten to check the ingredients for soy lethicin the first time (fortunately, I also had chocolate with sunflower lethicin). https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/moms-chocolate-cake with http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/moms-chocolate-cake-chocolate-frosting
