Ava of Guac & Roll recently wrote about, at least in part, the trouble of writing posts when too much time has gone by, when your blog no longer becomes a representation of everything that has gone on, when there is just too much to recount in the space of a few paragraphs. I must admit that I have the opposite problem with what feels like too little going on for me to consider it 'worthy' of writing a blog post. The truth is that I've not been leaving the house much in between working at the bookshop & spending time in my university library.
I've come to realise, however, that 'The Beet Generation' wasn't something that I started with the sole intention of documenting my wildest adventures but to keep a note of everyday life - what I've been putting together by way of meals, predominantly, but also what books have been found dog-eared-ly at the bottom of my satchel, what I've managed to dig out at the Oxfam at the bottom of my road & any other thoughts rattling around in this head of mine. Living what often feels like something of a sedentary life of two days of work & just two hours of a poetry seminar a week, this blog also helps to lend significance to what otherwise can feel like insignificant tasks that often make up my everyday - reading up on new recipes, cobbling together outfits & scribblings in my notebook. I've spent a little too much time in the company of my head lately & that hasn't proved especially useful for my wellbeing. Consider this as me saying HELLO WORLD! I EXIST OUTSIDE OF MYSELF! Ahem. Onto the food then, eh?
Cooking
As the weather starts to brighten at long last - thank goodness - I've been considering that I'm likely to have a hard time giving up on the indulgent winter dishes that I've been making. You know what I mean: creamy risottos, generous portions of vegetable pie, a pot of soup always on the stove. I think I find this type of cooking more satisfying with its connotations of comfort & heartiness although that could also be my greedy tendencies creeping in. I've been moving (albeit grudgingly) away from the cassoulets & towards lighter pasta dishes of lemon & avocado & thanks to Cookie & Kate's monthly produce guide, I can't actually deny that there's a lot to be looking forward to - asparagus & cauliflower & mushrooms, oh my! That's not to say that I didn't click into the sidebar & make a batch of her delicious lentil soup, however. Hey, so long as there's that chill in the air & I can't leave house without a vest, there will be soup.
In my enduring attempt to cook with less fake meats (she says following last night's bangers & mash, whoops), I've also been consciously including more grains in my cooking that extend beyond porridge for breakfast. Checking in with Alex of In Vegetables We Trust, his recipe for a buckwheat bolognaise caught my eye &, err, stomach as the ideal substitute for Quorn. I've only cooked with buckwheat once before, failing to soak the groats & eating them in a disappointingly flavourless porridge, so thought it was about time I gave them a second chance. I couldn't be more glad that I did as I can see this bolognaise making it into regular rotation in my house - the buckwheat cooked through deliciously in a tomato-ey mix of chopped toms, passata & puree mixed in with chestnut mushrooms & plenty of garlic. Thanks Al!
Reading
Sat on a lunch break this afternoon surrounded by people I could & would gladly have made conversation with, I had my nose in a book. Cheese & chutney toastie balanced in one hand & spine spread in the other, I realised that I could tell I soon had an essay to write, I've been trying to fit in as much extra-curricular reading as possible before I surrender myself to the desert of literary criticism that inevitably awaits. Today's book was the final few chapters of Pushkin Press' 'Red Love: The Story of an East German Family' by Maxim Leo. I studied German for just short of a decade at school & have always loved the idea of spending a stint in Berlin to where my housemate has just moved. Despite the evident marks that history has left on the city, I find myself ignorant of a lot of its cultural context. This book, a family memoir at heart, recounts the human history of Communism & the Berlin Wall, predominantly through the frame of the author's towering grandfathers. Engaging & enlightening, I've loved learning about this period which lies in the astonishingly recent past & it makes me want to visit the city again having read this brilliant book. I have borrowed Jenny Offil's 'Dept. of Speculation' from the library to read next following urgent appraisals from many colleagues & enjoyed the latest Granta from the same publishers that took India as its subject, a country still vastly unknown to me but brilliantly captured through their array of voices.
Hanging out
This one is still very much a part of my life & we've been trying to make time for one another as he in particular chips away at university work. Dinner is obviously a good opportunity for this but we took out last Saturday to wander down to Broadway Market & have a snoop at the stalls. Lately we've been able to look ahead to a little trip away for the boy's birthday in August & watch a lot of 'Mad Men'. Yepp, still hooked.
I've also had the chance to see my friend Liz over from Paris (not all of my mates are this cosmopolitan, honest) for a bleak but beautiful walk across the eponymous Finsbury Park & drink an irresponsible amount while playing pool with my seminar group. It really improves my game.
What've you been doing lately?
Speak soon (I mean it this time!) - O.
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