Consumption 3

This is a monthly series, published near the end of the month summarizing what I found, ate, watched, googled, and felt this month. New categories added from time to time.

Books Added to My TBR (e.g., books I just learned about that I’m excited to read… maybe)

• Queen Esther (John Irving)
• The Surf House (Lucy Clarke)
• The Rose Field (Phillip Pullman)
• Skipshock (Caroline O’Donoghue)
• Other People’s Houses (Clare Mackintosh)
• Table for One (Emma Gannon)
• Bitter Sweet (Hattie Williams)
• It Should Have Been You (Andrea Mara)

Notable Meals (new recipes, old favorites, and restaurant items we ate this month)

• Vegetarian mushroom pate served on tiny toasts with caramelized onions and roasted red peppers.
• Smitten Kitchen’s shaved asparagus pizza.

Television, Movies, and Music (watching and listening)

• Finished The Pitt. I miss spending evenings with my medical family. What a great group of characters.
• We started Traitors UK, Season Two.
• Leicester vs. Ipswich (Vardy’s last game. No, we didn’t know who Vardy was until we saw the game, but now we’re pretending we watched it for Vardy.)

Added To My Ongoing Mix Tape

• “This Is the Day” (The The)
• “The Whole of the Moon” (The Waterboys)
• “Thinking About You” (Radiohead)
• “Connection” (Elastica)
• “The Look” (Roxette)
• “Brimful of Asha” (Cornershop)
• “Sonnet” (The Verve)
• “Save Tonight” (Eagle-Eye Cherry)
• “Satellite of Love” (Lou Reed)

Tabs I Left Open (things I Googled and left up on the screen)

• A recipe for Aztec hot chocolate, which came from a conversation about Aztec hot chocolate and wondering if a recipe existed. (Spoiler: it does.)
• Capezio dance shoes because Josh asked how he knew the brand Capezio, and I went into a long monologue about childrens’ dance shoes.
• How to make caramelized onions in the oven.
• The Theakston long list for best crime novels on 2025.
• A Wikipedia page on concealed shoes. That was a rabbit hole that began with Real Housewives of Cheshire and ended up with hidden shoes.
• Dura-Europos synagogue images.
• A guinea pig sling carrier. (Don’t judge.)
• A 2001 review for the play Humble Boy, which was at the Royal National Theatre.

Micro-Joys

• Soloists at the symphony sometimes return to the stage for a tiny encore of their choosing. Most of the time, they either have an encore piece they’re known for or they choose something for the occasion. One night, the cellist returned to the stage and played Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and had the audience join along for the final chorus. It was almost 2,000 people singing “Hallelujah.”
• Listening to Quentin happily talk to himself while I rub his back.

Mood

• My heart is lighter since bringing Quentin to our home and having the twins back for summer.

What about you? Let me know what you’re eating, seeing, listening to, googling, feeling this month.