Emchap's Shit from the Internet 04/24/19 🍠
I am in a much better mood than last week, in part because multiple people very sweetly reached out with messages ranging from "I do not think you are a fundamentally uncreative person" to "bitch call me", both of which are a (as the youths say) Mood. The other reason is, of course, that I am about to be in Hong Kong for 9 days—my first time in Asia—and I plan to do nothing but wander around and eat as much dim sum as I can put in my face.
Over the weekend, though, I had a really small, perfect day. As I've mentioned before, I'm in a community choir hosted through the local feminist creative space/zine library/composting center. We normally rehearse there, but we're currently preparing to perform in a very large, weird experimental work that will have 1,000 people in it in the Disney Concert Hall (buy tickets; it'll be wild). So, we wound up rehearsing in a park near Chinatown.
I hadn't been to the park we were in before; it was recently redone (in its previous life I believe it was an abandoned rail yard because that's what all urban parks were before they were parks). It's this big, intentional-looking expanse of walking paths and elevated bridges and public art. There were weird little signs hidden away that explained the choices they'd made in terms of the art they had, and it wasn't too hot, and the whole park smelled like green things as I was wandering over. (I was reminded of nature walks I took around a pond to pick up plaster of paris animal tracks with my grandmother one summer.)
LA by and large smells good; because there are flowers everywhere and no piles of street trash (looking at you, NYC), it's very possible to spend most of your time in what feels like a perfume store. Atlanta, in contrast, smells like trees and grass and the 800 kinds of mostly non-flowering vegetation that are always trying to reclaim a city that is at best tenuously carved out from the forest. Green things smell different than flowers, and it wasn't until I was hit with a noseful of it that I realized how much I'd missed the smell.
As we began to rehearse, one of the members spotted a coyote ambling down the running paths behind us. He dashed off into the grass when a runner came by, but otherwise seemed just as happy as we were with the landscaping. It seemed like a good omen.
We rehearsed in the park for a few hours (complete with Easter candy), and I managed to only mildly sunburn myself, which was honestly a victory. I headed off after rehearsal to sit by myself at the brewery across the street, and had tacos and some generic brewed-onsite beer and read more of Bad Blood. I eventually toddled off to the train to head home and do laundry. It was a basically perfect afternoon.
Shit to read
I did not manage to make it to a seder this year, but this made me laugh.
I loved loved loved this piece on Waco and gentrification.
This newsletter could just be Beyoncé thinkpieces but that seemed like poor form. (It was so good!)
Finally someone has written a piece explaining what the fuck is happening in the mahjong scene in Crazy Rich Asians.
This exploration of business casual shoes is great but allbirds are still ugly.
What the fuck happened to the Frisky.
Make all the fast food fake meat.
This made me sob, obviously.
I love Lizzo, did not actually really like about half of what's on the new album, and thought that this piece perfectly captured the discomfort with what she's been up to in the last week.
Shit to eat
Get a big cast iron pan. Put it on high heat.
Crack two eggs in a bowl. Stir them up.
Put herbs and salt in there. I don't care what herbs you use. I used some Penzey's spice mix thing.
Stir it again.
Drop water on the pan until it sizzles and feel clever for your chef cosplay.
Dump some olive oil in there.
Toss it around until it coats the pan.
Drop the eggs in and leave them alone.
Do you have some pita? Great! Put it in the toaster until it is warm.
After the eggs appear cooked through and solid on the top (and brown and crispy and good on the bottom), take them off the heat.
Put them on the (now-warm) pita.
Do you have parsley? You know what to do.
Eat, on your couch, while staring at the ceiling fan.
Shit to watch
I watched Ramy this week and really enjoyed it.
Please everyone buy the most recent season of Schitt's Creek on Amazon and then talk to me about it; it made me cryyyyyyy.
Shit to buy
Get a paid membership to Scott's Cheap Flights; it's how I'm going to Hong Kong.
Have you bought an apple fritter lately? You should; they're real good.