R(esting) B(itch) E(xclusive)? I don't know I was trying to be clever. It failed.
Good afternoon/evening/morning/end of days to you. It’s been a chockablock week for me so a little light on the posting schedule. March is our madness month, we got tons of birthdays, anniversaries, family visits, and Paddy’s Day and this year easter and jesus christo there is a lot I lost my breath just typing all that. Plus, we got so much shite going on with mould infestations and multiple vet visits for the pets. WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS AM I RIGHT?
Reads
Sadly, I do not get much time for television watching these days. Part of me enjoys having a more limited relationship with tv, I have really been investigating my own personal relationship with numbing and avoidance when facing difficulty and I know tv has historically been a very soft, safe place for me to land. I do love it though, particularly beautiful storytelling and the commitment to excellence and artistry that we see in a lot of shows these days. Yay for a golden era of television. So right now, I am deeply invested in one show on Hulu and FX and that is called Shogun. Based on a book and an older limited run award winning show from the 80’s it focuses loosely on the true story of political goings on in Japan in the 1600s. It is BRILLIANT and one thing I really appreciate is the costume design; often an overlooked element of any media production, the costume design and its consistency and quality is a major contributor to the success of world-building. This sweet article I read on Harper’s Bazaar is a great interview with the incredibly gifted designer Carlos Rosario.
Shōgun’s Costumes Are an Epic Ode to Japan’s Sengoku Period
Bants
(As I sit here typing this in the dark on my phone my baby is chomping on my nipple with her SIX first teeth and my cat is lying on top of us while licking her head).
It’s World Book Day and I received darling photos of my niece and nephew dressed up (both of them) as Harry Potter for school. My heart exploded with joy and remembering of the treasured celebration of the one hobby I’m any good at-reading. I was reading a couple of criticisms online by parents condemning the whole ‘dressing up for school thing’. So much so a couple of schools removed the day and oh I don’t know I mean I grew up without the money to buy costumes and we just made them. The world is so dark right now and reading for pleasure among younger generations is down globally I think if there are opportunities like imaginative play that allow children to connect with stories then we should encourage it. If dressing up is a sensory issue for your child, or uncomfortable or stressful then by all means opt out but let’s not cancel the whole thing. With that in mind please share with me your favourite childhood book character. I would like some ideas for my little one, books to collect, costumes to plan.
Also, as I was reading about all this, I came across a news article about basically the Fyre Festival equivalent of Scotland and I am shook. Some dude organised a Willy Wonka Experience and it was a total shitstorm/scam/shocking fiasco and honestly in this day and age where there is so much visibility and inability to hide I actually found it secretly electrifying and gleeful that he got away with it. Laugh my fookin’ arse off.
Eats
Sharing this recipe with you all here in My OWN words that I got from NYT Cooking (hope it’s not like stealing or something) because ba ba ba it’s behind a paywall. I made this scrappy little quick and scrummy meal while my husband was on the mainland doing who even knows what I stopped listening after I heard I would be solo parenting for several days. Mainly because I was celebrating only having one child to parent for a brief moment as opposed to my almost 8-month-old baby…and him my 30-something year old second child. I kid I kid :D
So onto the food.
Chile butter noods (I can’t remember it’s official name)
While you are snacking on your ‘making dinner snacks’ (any good cook knows it’s important to eat while making dinner to keep the hanger at bay) boil some water with salt to cook the pasta. Do not forget to salt the water. I learned this trick years ago probably from Home Economics class and have done it ever since. No idea why but I think it makes it…taste better?
Lob a chonk of salted irish butter into your large skillet or dutch oven pot. I usually base my butter chunk off how much slipperiness I want my food to be. I think the recipe called for 4 tablespoons. While this is occurring, pour in heavy cream about 1 cup or (irish measurement) also you can use whole milk that’s what I did because who randomly has heavy cream in their fridge? My mother-in-law that’s who but not this millennial no sir. Keep cooking it at warm on a low heat.
Cook pasta in salty water until AL DENTE (the one profesh cooking phrase I through around like I am a working chef on the line on the show The Bear). ie. a little chewy. Put pasta in creamy mixture, don’t toss pasta water to reuse later. Add a LOT of spinach, like six fistfuls. I love spinach but that thing cooks itself down into another dimension, I am not entirely sure the physics of it but for some reason I put four fistfuls in and whats left is one piece of grass. The rest has gone to be with God I am assuming. Mix everything together to coat
Lastly, still on a low heat, toss in as much parmesan as your heart desires. I always find the amounts given for cheese, garlic and chocolate chips to be widely inaccurate to what I deep down in the core of my being know to be the correct measurement. Once noodles are nice and slick, you can add some reserve pasta sauce to make the dish more saucy it’s time to serve. Divvy it up however you need and then I top with chile crisp to give it some kick. I just bought some at the shops but next week imma try make my own so I will share about that in the next post. If you can’t get chile crisp no biggie maybe do some crushed red pepper flakes and LOTS of cracked black pepper.
Alrighty stay easy, breezy, beautiful, Cover Girl.