Friday Five / NYE Eight: December 31, 2021

it's the end of the year as we know it

Dec 31, 2021

Welcome to the Friday Five, your weekly roundup of things meant to spark joy, bring relief, or add a little bit of joy to your day. I feel a bit like a standup comic doing a tired routine with my upfront blurb, remarking that we made it another week as we live through continued chaos and uncertainty. To quote Hannah Giorgis, I’m “extremely tired of feeling so cranes_in_the_sky.mp3”.

Thank you for subscribing to Consumed this year. I launched this newsletter over the summer in an effort to refine my voice and push myself to write more. Every comment/email/text/like/DM you’ve sent in response to this has given me the energy and encouragement needed to keep at it. I’m so grateful that you’re here! Because it’s a holiday and you’re spending some portion of it reading this, the Friday Five has a few extras… it’s the New Years Eve Eight.

Song: A Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric Relaxation” is a perfect song on a no-skips album. I listen to it at least once a week, trying my best to channel the hook: “Relax yourself girl, please settle down.” This song is a bright NYC day, a love letter to city girls everywhere, lounging around lazily, piling into a car with your friends, and a small antidote to all of our big feelings right now.

New Year’s Resolution: I vow to read more in 2022 and would love for y’all to join me. In 2018, I challenged myself to read a book a week by authors of color and it remains one of the better things I’ve done. A spreadsheet of those reads can be found here if you need reading inspiration. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep that pace next year but hope to get somewhere close, and hope you’ll share some of your favorite reads with me.

Book Excerpt:

Frog and Toad make a compelling point. *- Sent From Bed*

Vital Information for Your Everyday Life: My amazing friend (and iconic Consumed reader/favorite person to frantically text!) Josie has two threads on Twitter asking for general life recommendations and the responses are truly helpful, ranging from washing your socks inside out to trying Saint André cheese. It’s worth mentioning that Josie is phenomenally brilliant, you should all follow her on Twitter, read anything she’s written, and listen to her on What a Day. I have learned so much from her, ranging from throwing vinegar in with laundry to understanding accountability vs. punishment in the context of the US prison system. Thank you, Josie!!!

josie duffy rice @jduffyrice

reupping my favorite thread. this is where i learned about adding white vinegar in the wash cycle and so many good snacks. three recommendations! go!

josie duffy rice @jduffyrice

what are three things that you would recommend to other people that may not have heard of them? mine are the chrome extension onetab, the mac app devonthink, and the coconut sesame clusters from trader joe's.

Movie: Disclaimer: I’m generally bad with movies (I’ve never seen a Star War) and it takes me years to come around to watching something. I recently watched “The Holiday” for the first time and I sincerely regret not spending every holiday season watching it since it came out in 2006. I am a sucker for anything Nancy Meyers, a Hans Zimmer soundtrack, aspirational cashmere, Los Angeles, a romantic running scene, lush bookshelves, children with English accents, and Jack Black. This movie is all that and more, a ridiculous rom com that feels like a warm cup of tea. If you are one of the seven people who hasn’t seen it, you should really truly watch it.

Daniel Kaluuya If You Are Reading This I Swallow @WrittenByHanna

How is Nancy Meyers the only one who has been smart enough to make Jack Black a rom-com lead

Recipe: Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce is a labor of love that requires at least four hours of cooking time and canned tomatoes imported from Italy. At a time when putting effort into anything feels exhausting, I would recommend channeling whatever energy you have left into a pasta sauce as rich as this one. I made fresh, hand-cut pappardelle with this sauce (I was a different person) for last New Year’s and I look forward to repeating that with store-bought pasta this time around. My only recommendation is to taste the sauce as it simmers and adjust the seasonings accordingly — don’t leave your stove running for four hours just expecting this to be perfect on it’s own! Salt is your friend. For the gorgeous consumers (you) at home who don’t use NYTCooking, I saved a PDF of the recipe here.

Recipe Review: Online recipe reviews are one of my top five sources of entertainment. They bring me laughter and tears, often simultaneously. Sharing Kim’s and Jake’s review of the Marcella Hazan bolognese below — I’m grateful to the 2,000+ people who upvoted this as helpful (it is):