Tapioca pudding

Can’t remember if we were kids or actually a bit older, but one day, our mother made tapioca pudding. We absolutely loved it, and she never made it again.

So it was that singular event that made us- me at least- look for it ever since. And who knew that it was just really tapioca (I believe she used a boxed one from the States). Funny thing is to this day, she only half-remembers it, but then she wasn’t really into cooking when we were growing up. I saw a pack at the Asian store, and said to myself, let’s make it and I did and it was exactly as I remembered it. Funny that.

Online articles say it’s a bitch to cook, but not really. Watch over it as much as you could (boil a cup of the tapioca in about 4-5 cups of water) letting it simmer just until the whiteness in the middle of the pearls fades to the point of becoming invisible.

Turn off the heat and let it cook in the heat a bit before putting into the fridge after it’s cooled. I did a mixture of cream and condensed milk. It will be wanting for more sweetness but up to you if you want to add more sweetener.

You can put any fruit in it and I remember the version my mom made used pineapple chunks so that’s what I did, as well as mango.

The morning commute

When I started at my current job, we lived out west which was more or less under 40 kilometers away- but it might have well been 400 for someone who took public transport. I would wake up at 4am, make breakfast (for everyone) when I still ate breakfast, took the train to the city, and from there, took another one south.

The trains then were slow, and not the faster, quieter electric ones we have today. But none of these things- the waiting times, the (small) crowds- mattered to me. They didn’t because I had no other choice. I made the choice to NOT drive.

Those long commutes were actually relaxing; I read books, listened to this then little known singer named Adele.

I’ve been using Uber heavily for the last couple of years because I have this notion, that, ‘it’s saving me time’. But for what exactly I’m not sure. Can I ‘spend’ it? Can I ‘save enough of that time’ and use it for something fantastically miraculous?

So far, I really have nothing to show for (again, choices?) so I thought, the weather has turned cold and dark. The buses are nearly empty. The walk would be good. So here we are…(and listening to Adele still).

Currently reading: Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey

I’ve had multiple dreams with varying contexts, but essentially all the dreams are in the same location.

A dark path into woodland with faint, fog-swathed light at the end of it. Winding, craggy paths. An abandoned villa with red adobe brick. A hill with a view.

We always look for second chances in life, but the ‘fantasy’ in this book is about finding something better- a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and even infinite chance. But this is not Marvel- you won’t find a version of yourself in the multi-verse and swap jokes about wanting to compare genitalia just to see if they’re the same.

But who knows because I’m just in the middle of it and wondering why a major character who dies in the earlier chapters is still alive.

But the science is titillatingly plausible; ironically, I checked it with chatGPT and it came up with the same theoretical assumptions, hmmmm. Scarier still is the fact that AI plays a major role in the book (of course it does).

The Weekend (in photos)

Anzac Sunday (2023)

Monday

I lost my brand-new prescription glasses when we went to the mall to buy lunch.

I was wearing these shorts that I had only just adequately fit into- the cut aesthetically demanded more muscular upper thighs- which pleased me very much. The caveat was that the pockets were now very tight; the same pockets that I had slipped my glasses into, and my theory is that when I was walking, the glasses got pushed out of them without me not even realising.

Sam and I retraced our steps, asked staff at the shops we’ve been to if anyone had turned in a pair of glasses. But alas…

I’m convinced though I actually jinxed them. They weren’t my first choice. I felt that in an effort to please me, my optometrist and the office manager at OPSM offered a number of suggestions when all I wanted to get was a similar pair to my current ones which are these cheap Armanis in sturdy plastic. But it felt like I was put on the spot and you wanted to reward them for all their trouble and attention by picking their choices- so Ralph Lauren it was. They weren’t bad, but they were someone else’s choice. And they felt it from the day I picked them up. The frame was too light, the size was a tad too small, the transition lenses weren’t dark enough…

Driving back home that day from the mall, Sam wondered why I wasn’t that upset and I said why cry over an object that was ultimately replaceable? (they did cost over $1,200). It’s still money gone to waste, but the moral is (which actually is NOT wearing tight shorts whose fucking pockets you can’t use) you should reassess your life if you do end up being upset over losing a pair of glasses.

Small victories

  1. A perfect hollandaise sauce from a first attempt

  2. Finishing a book amidst all the distraction

  3. Taking a nice nap after a go-see of all your current streaming subscriptions and finding nothing worth your while to watch

  4. A clean kitchen for five straight days

  5. 30 squats

  6. A couple of Hail Mary’s before you fall asleep

  7. Getting onto Twitter and ‘walking away’ when coming across a MAGA supporter, a Republican, an anti-vaxxer, an LGBTQ+ agitator, a dumb politician, a misogynist, an anonymous, self-righteous white, male boomer, a whinging farmer, a conservative…

  8. ‘Walking away’ from purchasing another pair of shoes, jeans and hoodie

  9. Being distracted by other people’s shit

  10. Waking up the next day to a world still somewhat intact

Eats

Food made with love

It’s always comforting to go to a place you’ve never been (this little town called Te Aroha) and find food and cooking that’s new and heartfelt. People who serve good food are people you could trust I think. There’s a kinship there even if all you’ll ever exchange with each other is the hello you utter when you walk in, and the smile you leave when you’ve paid the bill.

Saturday

Sunday's purchases

My domain is inside the house, though if the dishwasher broke, I wouldn’t have a clue on how to fix it. Lately, I’ve been focusing on the kitchen and how I could make it better (without a full renovation which it actually needs). I transferred all the coffee stuff to the other side of the bench away from all the cooking and prep stuff (air fryer, rice cooker, microwave) and what do you know, suddenly I miraculously gave myself more space. Next would be getting a better food processor after the old one started to fall apart (bought a Kitchen Aid one which is on its way); perhaps finding a smaller rice cooker as opposed to using a Russell Hobbs all-in-one cooker and maybe, just maybe, I would plunk down some serious $$$ on that Kitchen Aid mixer I’ve always wanted.

Then there’s a new utensils drawer, proper cutlery, some Le Creuset pans…the list is long.

Today, we saw a good deal on a Dyson vacuum. The price is still pretty steep, but the proof is in the vacuuming and wow- I think the carpets look and feel cleaner fluffier…

Saturday