Life in the Slow Lane

Listening to: ‘Camille 2000’ soundtrack by Piero Piccioni — the score to a promiscuous film produced and directed by Radley Metzger as a comment on the inertia and corrupt decadence of high society, stamped in the late 60s, based on a 17th-century novel, La Dame aux Camélias. Life Magazine described the work as “healthily erotic”. Although, one needn’t watch the film to feel the effects of the exotic lust for life that ensues from listening to the album start to finish. Recommended while meandering about the house, sunning in the garden, or other everyday moments at attention. Available on all music streaming platforms.

Watching: Aziz Ansari’s latest stand-up special on Netflix, ‘Nightclub Comedian’. Last week I had one of those moments where it feels like the Universe has folded onto itself like a piece of origami paper. You know? Like a crease was formed diagonally on the map where French Polynesia lay, folding my corner of reality over to the comedy club in New York City with Ansari. All of this to say, the content relayed thoughts and practices that I too am paving for my own good; deleting social media, abandoning my smartphone (yes I purchased the aforementioned Nokia e71), the effects of one’s algorithm, loving all opinions and noticing the synchronicities, big and small…

Feeling: the sand, salt, earth, and sea that nature invites us to co-exist with through play and observation. Hareesh and I ventured into the Fitzgerald River National Park where we snorkeled, observed birds, climbed and caressed the land that joins the sea. Many of the wildflowers are year-round with the internationally renowned celebration happening in the springtime where I’ll be volunteering with the other 200 participants and by then, should have much more beauty to share in word and image.

Tasting: from savoury potato and leek pies to sweet chocolate chip muffins there was lasagna, cauliflower soup, mushroom risotto turned arancini, and chicken cacciatore. Yet, most entertainingly, there were two extreme fails at making hummus. Gluggy, messy, tasteless, coarse bleh. So I learned one thing… maybe two.. to buy hummus, don’t make it, and $8 1kg Yumi’s ‘Traditional Middle Eastern Hommus’ is severely undervalued.
Regardless, good, flavourful recipes in our household continue to flow from Matty Matheson, Alice Zaslavsky, and Antonio Carluccio. Another author I have stumbled upon this week and will further dive into is Yossy Arefi and her book; Snacking Cakes: Simple Treats for Anytime Cravings. She had a compelling write-up in The New Yorker this week; read here.