Emchap's Shit From the Internet 2/8/17 🍠
Guys, the sun is coming back! I bought a humidifier! It's gonna be okay.
Shit to read
This Ask Polly about how to best be a woman who has relationships with men in a political climate that makes you want to die is in some parts weirdly gender essentialist. That said, it takes a stab at answering a question a lot of straight women (myself included) have, at its core, and gets to a truth about our culture's expectation that one emotionally intimate relationship should be the only one someone needs, as opposed to a web of beloved community, and that I think is a good and valuable examination of an expectation that is both prevalent and poisonous trash garbage.
Alana Massey writes about Fiona Apple in a way that is interesting to me even as someone who has never cared much about her except for some confusing personal feelings about the "Criminal" video at approximately 15. My love for Lana is well documented. I'm going to the book party for this book this evening, and very excited!
Have you ever read an obituary for a lung fish? "For a fish who spent much of his time imitating a fallen log, he sparked curiosity, excitement and wonder among guests of all ages who would hear his story" is a quote from this obituary and it is amazing.
This exploration of grief made me cry, if you're into that sort of thing.
Shit to eat
This is more of a "shit to cook food in (that you later eat)", but this week I reseasoned my cast iron—a skillet given to me by my mother with a mixing bowl and a box of cornbread mix, and a less-melancholy dutch oven that has no real emotional association but is v. large—and it was deeply satisfying. (h/t The Kitchn)
Take a moment to find where your nice cleaning person stored the cast iron. Realize that they washed it and stripped the seasoning, but it was gross and poorly-seasoned anyway, so, write it off as neutral.
Preheat your oven to 325 and then bump it to 350 because you know the oven runs cold because no Smitten Kitchen recipe has ever cooked in the right amount of time.
Wash the cast iron with a sponge and a bunch of hot water. If you have poorly-cured old seasoning, it will be sticky and gross but it doesn't matter much; just give it your best go.
While the oven is preheating, pop the cast iron on the stove over low heat to dry completely.
When it does, pour a tablespoon or so of olive oil (or whatever you have, a vague memory suggests that canola actually has a better smoke point) into each vessel.
Wad up a paper towel and coat the inside and outside of each pan with the oil. Accidentally get olive oil on everything. Do remember to use a pot holder the whole time so you don't burn yourself, which, A+.
Pop that shit in the oven, upside down so oil doesn't coagulate in the pans.
Probably put down aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven if you don't want to just burn a bunch of oil onto the bottom of your oven, but also, it's a rental.
Let it cook for an hour. Open the window and turn on the kitchen fan or you will set off a fire alarm. (This may be related to not doing the aluminum foil thing.)
Turn the oven off.
Let the pans cool.
Keep doing this as you have free time; eventually the seasoning will be even, and it's very soothing.
Shit to listen to
This song is by a rad-seeming fat lady and the chorus is "I'm important" and it is fun as fuck.
First, listen to "My Brother, My Brother, and Me". Then, read this article about the titular brothers, because they seem super fucking lovely.
Shit to buy
This soap is shaped like beautiful unicorn rocks.
I think this round shelf is technically for children but I want it super a bunch, isn't it cute?
Very into these depressed vases. Would be even more into a set that said "sure".
I should maybe replace my coffee table with ottomans since that's sort of the deal with sectionals, and these are basically the aesthetic equivilent of this Melanie Martinez album and so like obviously I love them with my entire heart.