mourningdove

ESC #51: Taco Night!

It was the first actual summer evening where I live with deck temperatures and no wind—and what better way to celebrate than tacos! We made Kenji’s Tacos Al Pastor recipe and a Crème Brûlée recipe from Jessica Sullivan at Boulevard SFO that looks like it has exited the Internet, but there wasn’t anything weird aboutContinue reading “ESC #51: Taco Night!”

Apparently Mountain Lions Also Own the Internet

Awwww….

National Drinking with Chickens Day

Yep, it’s a thing, at least on Google Calendar: I suspect heavily it comes from this cocktail (har har) cookbook. It’s either May 23 or the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend—we’ll find out next year! But this year we had a fine time drinking sangria and tossing scraps to my hens—oh, and making chicken origamiContinue reading “National Drinking with Chickens Day”

Loading…Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

For those who come after…. This is the French-est game ever: that’s pretty much everything you need to know about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It’s a game of contrasts as its title suggests. It’s operatic and understated, carnivalesque and dark, austere and decadent, goofy and sexy. Until I got used to the visual style, IContinue reading “Loading…Clair Obscur: Expedition 33”

A Brief but Spectacular Take on Teacher Burnout

Just had to share this: while I’m not a K-12 teacher, I am a university educator, and I can corroborate everything Micaela is saying about support for teachers: it’s no wonder they’re quitting in droves. I strongly believe we’re going to look back on the Covid-19 Pandemic in a few years and recognize it asContinue reading “A Brief but Spectacular Take on Teacher Burnout”

Can’t Argue with Geometry!

That’s actually a quote from a delightful radio improv show I used to listen to called Off-Ramp: oh look, they’re still around on Spotify. But anyway, this isn’t about them, this is about this cat short on YouTube. I’m a dog person, but even I have to admit that cats own the Internet:

Van Life in Japan

This is worth watching for the cinematography and the focus on off-the-beaten-path destinations! youtube.com/watch

Spencer the Bernese Mountain Dog Gets a Bath

Watch this if your Tuesday is being a little too Tuesday….

Recent Audiobooks: The Summer War by Naomi Novik

I have a mostly-love, slightly-hate relationship with Novik’s retelling of European fairytales (or her brand-new fairytales, which this novella is). On the one hand, man, can she tell a story. Even if I’m annoyed by the main character, or meh about the generic Northern European worldbuilding. I still totally get hooked into the main character’sContinue reading “Recent Audiobooks: The Summer War by Naomi Novik”

Bonus ESC: Korean Night (Ramen/Ramyeon Edition)

I think Polly and I came up with this idea back when I visited her family in Edinburgh last fall—to do a ramen tasting. Polly loves her some ramyeon (the Korean pronunciation of ramen, which is the Japanese pronunciation of la mien, Chinese soup noodles). Since it’s ESC, though, we had to try to makeContinue reading “Bonus ESC: Korean Night (Ramen/Ramyeon Edition)”