10 Things: Tofu, Chickens, and Mice
Actually, probably maybe more than you actually want to know about chickens. You can skip the chicken part.
Polish chickens
I can’t lie to you: the main thing I’ve been thinking about all day and all night is that we got new chickens. It was a real saga, proving to me that it’s actually not that easy to find egg-laying hens in the Chicago area. Initially, I found a man named Ken (Barbiecore Summer is right!) who had some pretty chickens for sale at a ridiculously high price point — but he lived just 20 minutes away, so I was ready to go for it. Ten minutes before I was going to leave to pick up my new chicken friends, however, Ken texted that someone had JUST COME AND BOUGHT ALL THE CHICKENS. I was mad at Ken for not telling me that another person was in the mix. Had I known, I would have rushed. I felt heartbroken, and became a person always refreshing Craigslist.
Two days later, I came upon a posting for lots and lots of chickens (30 minutes away), and I pounced. I haven’t told you the best part yet. The people selling these chickens had THREE POLISH CHICKENS!!!!! I had never seen Polish chickens on Craigslist before, and yes, I’d looked. My dearly departed Wendy chicken was a Polish chicken! THE UNIVERSE HAS DELIVERED.
Polish chickens are skittish because their eyes have floofs over them. One of the chickens got immediately pecked by one of our Swedish flower hens, and she got a really bloody head. I thought she was going to die. But she hasn’t died; she’s SURVIVED, and she lays the tiniest, sweetest little pink eggs. I was calling her Bloodhead for a while, but now we have named all four of the chickens based on ballots submitted by neighbors to our Chicken Mailbox.
Our four new chickens are named: Pam, Olive, Salad, and Scratch. Scratch is my new favorite, and my love for her is very real. I recognize that choosing the most vulnerable chicken to love most is setting me up for heartbreak, but love knows no logic. I am also pretty fond of Pam and Olive — lavender chickens! I’ve never had a lavender chicken before, but their cluck is cool. It sounds a little like a moo.
2. “Sunscreen” by Ira Wolf
This song was recommended by Miriam, an Erin, when the group last week discussed favorite songs of the moment. This one is on heavy rotation at my house right now.
3. Sofia Warren’s advice newsletter, “You’re Doing Great”
I am a huge fan of Sofia Warren as a person. She’s a nice person. She’s a talented and funny person. She is a person I admire and appreciate. We have similar names and our newsletters have similar names, and that’s all by accident. Her newsletter this week reminded me of topics you and I have explored together over the past year, and this made me realize that if you’re not subscribed to her advice newsletter, you’re really missing out. (Especially because Sofia takes the time to DRAW HER WHOLE NEWSLETTER, which strikes me as hard.)
4. Always cornstarch your tofu first
I have made a new tofu recipe (it’s from Martha Stewart, but don’t let that deter you; it’s a great recipe), and what I realized in making it is that YOU SHOULD ALWAYS COAT YOUR TOFU IN CORNSTARCH BEFORE YOU FRY IT. It is just so. much. better. This recipe called for crumbled tofu; crumbling is something I rarely do with tofu, since I feel it makes it soggy. NOT WHEN YOU COAT IT ALL WITH CORNSTARCH, MY FRIEND! Honestly, this is so easy and improves fried tofu SO MUCH that I am heartbroken that I lived 20 years of a vegan life without knowing it. Future me will never make this mistake again.
5. “A Walkable Internet” by Brendan Adkins
Brendan is technically an Erin, so I’m (I GUESS) a little biased. This post is about shifting our ideas around friction as it relates to the internet, and it’s thought-provoking, beautiful, and meant to be savored. I read it in slow installments, and then again all at once. Brendan’s whole website is an incredible corner of the internet, and worth checking out. He writes about gardens as a sort of internet metaphor here, and if a website is a garden, his garden is the kind that you stop walking your dog for to take in and appreciate.
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