For those who are going back to work on a Tuesday...

[image via designsponge]

Cats in beautiful homes

Granta and Tin House on how to run a publication that isn't sexist.

Artist recreates Floorplans of TV show apartments

Sad and funny. Penguins slipping on ice (my favourite bit is around 0:59).

The Bedside Battleground. The New York Times takes a look at the things people keep on their bedside table. (I'm one of those "I need EVERYTHING close at hand" kind of sleeper.)

Florence Welch singing Part of Your World

8 Beautiful Bookstores in Residential Spaces

 

[image via flavourwire]

strange times

It's been a strange couple of weeks. 

We sent out letters terminating our rental, phone, and other assorted contracts in preparation of our move to Amsterdam

 and ever since then, I've been feeling increasingly impatient. 

I want to be there already and my mind is often just gone. 

(Left the building. Flown the coop.)

I think it might be hanging around the Jordaan district 

just waiting for the rest of me to catch up. 

 To calm myself and [attempt to] settle my mind, I've taken to baking. 

I've made rye bread, spelt rolls, pizza dough and a sad, crumbly cornbread. 

M loves the homemade pizza so much that we had it twice in a week!

It looks better every time I make it, too. More pizza-shaped, 

less like a stretched out, doughy mess...

At least our tummies are benefiting from my distracted state.

Below: shrimp and avocado pizza, and spinach and egg.

 xx

The Problem With Lunch

is it is Boring I am Difficult.

By the time I get up and get going with breakfast, it's ten o'clock but I still want my cereal (oat flakes and puffed quinoa and amaranth in almond milk... I love almond milk). M has a "normal" schedule so he gets hungry at around one. Right before he goes and gets himself a sandwich from the shop five minutes away (they are the only place with healthy takeaway options for lunch), he stands in the doorway of the room where I work and waits for me to decide what I want to eat. He waits and waits and waits while I hem and haw. When I settle for one of the sandwich options, the look on my face is the opposite of enthusiastic. It possibly has something to do with their wet tomatoes. And the cream that they use on their bread.

Today, M said that I should figure out a solution to my Lunch Problem. My not-so-secret solution when he's away at work is to make ramen noodles, a decidedly unhealthy choice. But I'm almost 28. And I figure I should start making proper food for lunch, no? I'm not a big fan of cold food, unless it's warm outside (and I can assure you, it is not).

My requirements are that the meal doesn't take too long to make and that it's healthy. Here are a few recipes I found that might work.

(image from Anjali Prasertong)

 

• Brown rice egg bowl
• Twice-baked sweet potatoes
• Crisp tuna cabbage salad
• Better egg salad 
• Grilled guacamole (and anything else with avocado)

What do you usually have for lunch?
xx

P.S. I've made a Pinterest board for lunch ideas.

Weekend

A list of what I liked this week:

Two words: Matcha. Latte.

Todd Selby's (of theselby) morning routine. 

Had a bad week? This might put a (teeny) smile on your face.

A good article on Breakfast Network: The "Other" Singapore.

I want to do this someday.

An ICU patient and a note from her best friend.

Nora Ephron's Final Act

Updates!

Bob Wake of Cambridge Book Review Press posted a review of my book on his blog, the best kind of review anyone with a debut novel can hope for.

In other (somewhat belated) news, I went on air last month to talk about my work and the difficulties fledgling writers face in the industry.