I’m spending the week in Woodstock, NY to work on my book and it’s gone great so far save for the fucking bear that appeared five feet in front of me while I was writing. And no, I didn’t get a picture - I like my body un-mauled, thank you very much.
Trying to write and being chased off by a bear feels like a metaphor for something, but I haven’t figured out what yet. Will let you know if I figure it out.
DON’T @ ME
Remember when I told you to be on the lookout for conservatives wielding the word natural? Well I found out on Twitter today that women who use “natural family planning” are starting to call that method ‘birth control’. And while I suppose that’s true in the literal sense, I’m a little worried about this trend of making a distinction between birth control and contraception. Like, this NFP lady was explaining how what she does is birth control, but not contraception.
Does that mean conservatives will start to claim that they’re not anti-birth control, just anti-contraception? It’s a rhetorical trick that actually could work. In any case, just something to pay attention to.
WHAT I’M COOKING
There are only a few things that I’ve cooked enough that they are just fucking excellent every time I make them. This is one of them.
My mom always made orecchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage when I was a kid, so when I found this recipe from Williams-Sonoma - that adds toasted breadcrumbs (which make everything better) - I was smitten. But I sort of hated how long this took to make and my kid doesn’t like how bitter broccoli rabe is.
So I adjusted it: I double the sausage, increase the cheese by 50%, and use kale instead of the rabe. I also don’t blanch the kale first (don’t judge me!), I just chop it, throw it in with the cooked sausage along with some starchy water right before I add the pasta. It is my family’s favorite by a mile.
WHAT I’M EATING
If you live in Brooklyn and haven’t been to Sahadi’s I don’t even know what to tell you, but their baklava is insane and they sell a ton of stuff in bulk - everything from nuts and granola to candied orange peel and goji berries. My favorite thing to stock up on are these chocolate jelly rings that Andrew and Layla find disgusting so all the more for me! (Also, don’t sleep on the Armenian string cheese.)
WHO I’M READING
ProPublica on this secret Border Patrol Facebook group where current and former agents made disgusting racist “jokes” and posted photoshopped pictures of AOC sucking dick (your run of the mill horror show, but by gov’t employees!)
This Shannon Keating piece on going to a lesbian cruise & blowing up her life is truly lovely.
Sue Bird with So the President Fucking Hates My Girlfriend (her gf is Megan Rapinoe) is brilliant.
WHAT I’M WRITING
Why Sarah Sanders can go fuck herself, and why a pregnant woman in Alabama was arrested *for being shot*.
CURRENT OBSESSION
Don’t laugh, but I’m seriously doing like five connect drawings a night. They’re super fun and relaxing? This book is my favorite so far.