10 Things: Prickles, Pickles, and Picks
My recommendations for what to read, consider, listen to, subscribe to, cook, ponder, and enjoy this week
My Dear Friend,
I missed you last week, and am happy to be back. I have some exciting recommendations for you, too! Free subscribers get some good things; paid subscribers get a wonderful recipe, and things to listen to and read. Carry on!
There’s a possibility you haven’t been told yet to get your hands on this cookbook. In that case, I feel really lucky that I get to be the one to tell you: get your hands on this cookbook. It’s organized by vegetable, rather than by meal, so you can choose recipes based on what you have in your fridge. It contains a beautiful memoir that will make you cry. I’ve made two things in it so far — a roast that features whole clusters of oyster mushrooms nestled in beds of rosemary among root vegetables, and a carrot-peanut satay ramen — and both were amazing. The recipes are all vegetarian, and include the veganization methodology at the bottom, plus substitution ideas, and more. It’s definitely the standout cookbook of the year, and it will take me years to cook through it. I thought I would get it from the library, but the line was too long, so I just bit the bullet and bought it, and I’m really glad I did. This is one you should own.
WATCH: A few shows that I didn’t hate that I started but didn’t finish
Tiny, Beautiful Things - I didn’t know the origin story of how Cheryl Strayed got her start as a writer. Although this is lightly fictionalized, the loose details are right, and it’s interesting and inspiring (if sometimes frustrating). Catherine Keener can’t not be funny, and this show is funny, even though it is listed as a drama. It has cancer in it, and marital troubles, and, you know… midlife crises. It also contains early 2000s cliches that don’t belong in a show that takes place in 2023. But it made me cry a few times and felt like a nice, soapy, girly antidote to all the murder things Luke likes to watch. And also, it reminded me of when the show below came out, and I binged the first season in two days.
Firefly Lane - I binged the first season of this in two days. But then the second season took way too long to come out, and I couldn’t get back into it. Like Tiny, Beautiful Things, it skips between timelines and is, well, really soapy. Way more soapy. I liked this so much because it centers around a female friendship, and also, there is journalism. I don’t think I know anyone else who watched it, but man — I loved it! Did you watch it? Should we talk about it? It’s a great antidote to the murder things Luke likes to watch.
Based On A True Story - This is a weird show about a serial murderer where you find out who the murderer is in the first episode, and the lead characters confront him about it, because they want to make a podcast about him. Isn’t that weird? It’s super weird. But we didn’t hate it. We kept being like, “This was not what we expected to happen.” And that is unusual.
OBSESS OVER: Frequenzine
A few weeks ago, a reader who goes by Cee (and other things, I think, but for here and now, I’ll say Cee) emailed me to tell me that if I thought periods were wild, WAIT UNTIL I LEARNED ABOUT PERIMENOPAUSE. And if I was interested in it, she had a ‘zine. I was interested. She sent me the ‘zine. But not only did she send the ‘zine, she sent a beautiful envelope, covered top to bottom in whimsical stickers, and in the envelope were THREE perimenopause ‘zines (those were also amazing, and I tore through them). But then there was also a pile of weird, amazing “Frequenzines,” or ‘zines that she makes over the course of a single day with her friend Freq. Each ‘zine was totally different. One was about rituals. One was about fashions of the eighties. I opened the envelope and read the ‘zines on the train, because it was too crowded that day to type. I was transported. I had not been so happy on the train… well, I’m going to go ahead and say EVER. I couldn’t wipe the goofy smile off my face for anything.
I immediately subscribed to their criminally inexpensive Patreon, which guarantees that I will get these in the mail for the rest of the time they make them. YOU HAVE TO JOIN ME. The joy you will experience… I all but guarantee it.
Here’s a page from the Perimenopause ‘Zine, if that’s more your cup of witchy tea:
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