Happy Easter, everyone! I hope you had a lovely, joyous day, and continue to rejoice throughout the Octave. I was going to say I hope you had a “good Lent”, but what does that mean? That seems to step into the territory of wishing that you had a successful period of self-improvement, which isn’t really the point, but I hope you felt a little closer to Jesus by the end, perhaps.
The nice thing about Easter is that it’s festive and celebratory but without all the pressure of Christmas. We went to Mass in the morning, came back to indulge in chocolate and candy, and then headed out for an Easter egg hunt at a friend’s place. We didn’t eat any special, fancy meals, but shockingly, the kids enjoy running around with their friends in search of candy about a thousand times more than sitting down to a roast dinner with family. The adults sipped wine and nibbled on (supermarket bought) snacks and enjoyed each other’s company while the eight kids aged six and under scrambled for the best eggs, and didn’t even fight. Alleluia!
I love a festive meal, but since I’m head chef these days, it does not tend to induce the joy in the Risen Lord that it did back when I got to lounge around eating chocolate eggs until I was called to the table. So, reminder for all of us that we can let go of the “shoulds” for big holidays, and just do what is actually going to be enjoyable. There will be years to come when having a sit down meal with the kids might actually be pleasant (maybe?), but for now, the focus is on the kids having fun and me not losing my mind.
petits plaisirs
I can’t really drink coffee because it just makes me feel so nauseous for hours after, but I can just about handle a weak, very milky coffee. I know, coffee purists, this is an abomination! I myself strongly judge people who say they like coffee and what they mean is creamy, syrupy drinks from Starbucks with an imperceptible drop of coffee in it. Back in the day when my stomach was more robust, I adored my afternoon ritual of making a Moka pot of coffee, drinking it with a splash of milk, and having a few squares of dark chocolate alongside. The hissing sound as the coffee brewed, the slightly burnt smell… Divine!
ANYWAY, weak, milky coffee just doesn’t really hit the spot, but a latte can be very enjoyable, so I decided to invest in a milk frother. Coffee with a lot of FROTHED milk is a whole different thing. So now I have a latte-ish coffee in the afternoon while the baby naps, and it’s quite lovely. Also, the kids are very excited about having “bubbly milk” for their goûter. (One of them once called it “fizzy milk”, which sounds absolutely revolting. Language is weird.)
thoughts
Look, I know, I know that it’s just so boring to talk about social media and
and what’s good and what’s bad, blah blah blah. But, I’m gonna do it anyway! Just a tiny bit. Mainly I want to rant about Notes, which has become so social media-y it is now laughable to pretend that the Substack app is very different to any other social media app. People are now using Notes to share totally inconsequential thoughts about what they ate for dinner, or some cute thing their kid said, or how pretty their nature walk was today, and it seems to me that the app is hurtling towards total social mediafication. Which should not be surprising, but it is disappointing, since for many of us, Substack was a brilliant opportunity to have a low-stakes writing platform without the pitfalls of other social media.I particularly hate how much it tries to push accounts you don’t even subscribe to. I constantly see the same small number of people popping up in my Notes whose newsletters I have chosen not to subscribe to, and yet I still keep seeing their “content”. I don’t want to see it! I finally deleted the app last week and am enjoying Substack so much more without it, as it was beginning to induce the same kind of comparison/insecurity/snarky thoughts that led me to delete Instagram. Of course, anyone can just choose not to use Notes/the app, but it sucks that
is explicitly rewarding writers who do use them. These functionalities didn’t even exist until pretty recently, and now they’ve become the axis on which the Substack world spins. Lame.la vie en france
Circling back round to the “bubbly” vs “fizzy” milk, and throwing in a language lesson: there are two terms to mean bubbly/fizzy/sparkling water in French, namely eau gazeuse, and eau pétillante. I always preferred to use pétillante. It sounds prettier, and “gassy water” doesn’t exactly sound charming in English. That is, until, my dad pointed out that the word pétillante come from the verb péter, which means… to fart. So eau pétillante basically means “farty water”. I’ve gone back to gazeuse.
what’s cooking
I’ve recently gotten really into cooking with lentils - specifically Puy lentils - for lunch. They have such an earthy, satisfying flavour and they make a great, filling salad base. I usually chop up some shallots, peppers, and any other veg in the fridge to add some crunch and colour, and make a dressing of EVOO, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice, and of course S+P. Then I add either feta or soft boiled eggs. It would also work well with diced ham but I haven’t tried it like that.
This photo shows the prettiest version I made - with shallots, red peppers, carrots, and soft boiled eggs - but I prefer it with feta.
(Side note: my kids asked me to make them lentils the other day because they often have them for lunch at school but I had never served them for the kids at home. So I served them with a simple dressing, alongside ham and some nice crusty bread, but I guess they eat them differently at school because the 4yo said: “yuk, these lentils are disgusting. It was really nice of you to make them for us, though!” Ha, at least he has manners. Sometimes.)
things i thought were good
I’m struggling to come up with anything here as I haven’t read much online lately and although I’ve listened to quite a few podcasts, they’ve mainly been my usuals and there aren’t any particular episodes that stand out to me as being fantastic. I most often listen to The Rest is History, and have been really enjoying their current series on Luther and the Reformation. I sometimes find their episodes have quite an anti-Catholic bias, and there are certainly some little jibes during this series, but it hasn’t been enough to put me off. (In the first episode one of the hosts said that the logical endpoint of Protestantism is atheism, which was quite a bold take for a secular podcast!)
I’m currently reading a Barbara Pym novel, which is the perfect palate cleanser after finishing The Brothers Karamazov. My mum introduced me to Pym just after I’d had a baby last April and I’ve been trying to pace myself with her novels because they’re just exactly my cup of tea: wry, observant, funny, charming, perfect characterisation. They’re easy to read and very light, but still with enough depth and salience to feel worth reading. Highly recommend.
If you have any recommendations for podcasts, books, or TV, I’m all ears. I’d love something new to get stuck into.
Make the most of the Octave to indulge in what you gave up for Lent! I’ve been making my way through a Lindt chocolate bunny as I write this, and have had a few too many alcoholic beverages in the past couple of days. Wishing you hope and joy in the Risen Lord! Happy Easter! Alleluia!
I received an immersion blender with a whisk attachment for Christmas and have been using it to froth my milk to put into tea with a little added vanilla syrup every morning. It is divine!
Also agree about notes. I really don't even bother looking at them much anymore. But also you can mute certain notes if you find some accounts irritating, which has been helpful for me.
I feel the same way about Easter although it took me quite a few years as a mom to learn it, but now every year I so enjoy how much less pressure there is for all the things compared to Christmas!
And yes to Notes. I do not need everyone's random opinion or them sharing the exact same post du jour of the week. It just feels so high school and I am so over the high school ness of social media. And I hate that I'm supposed to be promoting there. I'm also over promoting on every single avenue ever. Just enjoy this newsletter emailed directly to your inbox. That's it.
And Barbara Pym books are truly one of life's simple pleasures. Her writing is so good and so under appreciated.