Many of us have been cooking a lot more since we started sheltering-in-place, and I’m certainly no exception. Here is a quick roundup of a few of the meals I’ve made, some of which are new to me and some that aren’t.
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I’ve very slowly gathered the ingredients needed for pasta carbonara, and with a recent lucky break allowing us to find a time slot for grocery delivery (it’s not easy), and for us to find eggs in stock at the time, I decided now was the time, before I ran out of one of my other ingredients. I like to use the method featured in this Bon Appetit video, because the sauce is cooked through completely off the heat by the residual heat from the pasta, so I am always confident that I won’t scramble my eggs. Read More »
As I’ve explained in my annual Lent posts, my lack of religious adherence has not prevented me from taking the time between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday to reflect on my life and my habits and try to change things for the better.
In the past, I’ve always eliminated a bad habit that I have trouble doing in moderation. (I’m an abstainer, not a moderator.) I’ve done this with a lot of success in the past but was having a hard time connecting with a bad habit to eliminate this year. I’ve seen folks do an additive Lenten practice rather than a subtractive one, but a former coworker really sold me on the idea when he told me he practices Reverse Lent every year. Every year, he commits to adding a new habit or practice every day of Lent. One year it was baking, and he committed to being a better baker (specifically of pies).
Originally, I thought I would try to add meditation as a Lenten habit this year. It’s something I used to be very good at but have gotten a lot less good at as I have gotten older and, to be frank, would benefit more and more from meditating. But it just didn’t quite stick. I told myself I would purchase a meditation app but got some analysis paralysis as to which one would be best for me.
One habit that has stuck, however, is daily journaling.
After going off about the soon-to-be-released Mulan live-action adaptation, (and seeing that they are remaking the animatedย Robin Hood,) I do need to give credit where it’s due on that film because it does not have the issue that I most take with Disney’s live-action remake:
The live-action movies should be human stories. Any non-human characters are unsettling and live in the Uncanny Valley.
The example I get most heated about is the 2017 Beauty and the Beast remake. (I’ll talk about 2019’s Lion King in a minute.) When the movie was first announced, I’ll admit even I was excited, even about the casting of Emma Watson! (Who among us did not fall for that Tumblr rumor that she was cast years and years ago with Guillermo Del Toro to direct?) But then I saw the trailer… with the creepy live-action Mrs. Potts and Lumiere and Cogsworth…
NO THANKS
I can never unsee them. I actually stopped wanting to see the movie and only watched it on a streaming service much later because my husband is a big Emma Watson fan. (I can’t get into the music in this post…) It is just really unnerving to have so much time spent on non-human characters.Read More »
I first read this piece last week while I was completely overwhelmed with quarantine and caring for my husband. While it has been great that people are finding ways to cope and even thrive during shelter-in-place (Instagram Live workouts! sourdough starters! Zoom happy hours!), I was really struggling and doing much less than I ordinarily do with my time at home, even before my husband got sick.
Dalgona Coffee
Even though this whipped coffee beverage has gone beyond viral, just a month ago, as an Internet trend, it was still localized primarily in South Korea. (Dalgona is the name of a Korean street candy that the whipped concoction closely resembles.) However, an artist I follow — Dami Lee — posted this video, and it looked so achievable that I was inspired to immediately try making my own.
“But Starr, you don’t even drink coffee?”, some of you may be wondering.
This is very true. BUT even I had some instant coffee packets that I’ve pocketed from hotel stays abroad, and they came in very handy for this.
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Here was my first attempt from literally a day after Dami Lee posted her video. (Oh, by the way, I have a kind of foodstagram on the side that I run with a friend?) It was delicious and, yes, very caffeinated. I have a low tolerance for caffeine so this is a lot for a non-coffee drinker but it’s still really pleasant! I’ve since purchased instant coffee expressly for the purpose of making more whipped coffee but will probably go with decaf in the future.
Rainych’s cover of “Say So”
Indonesian singer Rainych recorded this cover of Doja Cat’s hit song “Say So” in Japanese and, to be honest, I like it better than the original. I regularly vibe to her viral cover, which Doja Cat saw and loved, and hope it opens the doors for cool things in the future!
“Backward Hippo”
Zefrank made a short and silly video that brought me some needed smiles. I thought maybe it could do the same for you.
Headspace is a popular meditation app that has guided meditations for different situations, like helping you sleep or managing anxiety. They have responded to the coronavirus pandemic by adding additional resources like their “Weathering the Storm” series and giving healthcare providers free access to their premium app.
New York state is currently the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with my home of New York City having one of the highest confirmed case counts per capita in the world. So, Headspace has put together a page of resources for New Yorkers to take advantage of, with free guided meditations, sleep sounds, and even meditations for kids. This has been a nice reprieve.
Ideal Asian Breakfasts
I was recommended these videos by Party Kitchen, and they are on the same chill frequency as my Calm Foods video playlist, which I love. I love all breakfast food, and Asian breakfasts are especially comforting to me. I hope they bring you some comfort, too, and maybe inspire a breakfast for you to come.
I didn’t mean for this Friday Favorites to be so video-oriented, it’s almost another video playlist. It’s not on the list up there but today Instagram allowed users to access Direct Messages from the web app, which is great because I really have been cherishing the ability to DM people, especially now, but I hate spending so much time sucked into my phone.
With the worst of my husband’s condition behind us, I thought I would take a little bit of time to talk about how we were able to get through this at all. Here is a short list of supplies I am incredibly thankful for having or having provided to us over the past 3 weeks. Most of these we already had, even before the pandemic hit, but some we did need to get replenished during the worst bouts of fever.Read More »
Sip of Starrshine 