I’m reading The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, and I’m having a hard time understanding why I like its style so much. The writing is clear and direct, but it’s not impersonal or objective. I need to spend some more time thinking on this.

Big Thief’s Double Infinity is a continuation of their excellence, in big part due to Adrianne Lenker’s idiosyncratic songwriting. She paints vignettes that are so entirely hers and personal that they hit me sideways and pull me in, lending me her perspective to look at moments from my own life. Sad and hopeful, bitter and sweet. What a lovely album.

I made well emulsified cheese sauce pasta a few nights ago. Without a blender! I think I just needed more practice. A helping hand adding the cheese while I move the pasta around makes it easier too.

Having to get a blender out to make a sauce for pasta is not convenient!! At all!! You know what is? Using the same pan that you cooked the pasta in. This is another win for traditional techniques over nerdy gadgets.

“It’s so easy to laugh, it’s so easy to hate. It takes guts to be gentle and kind.”

- The Smiths