Let's dance!
Hello, Friends!
It’s February, my least favorite time of year. There’s several feet of snow outside and a nasty virus is cycling through my household. An excuse to stay inside this weekend? As if I ever need an excuse.
Here are a few recommendations for your weekend.
Read this!
You know when you hear about something and then it seems like everywhere you turn you keep hearing about it. That’s the way it was with Ben Shattuck’s wonderful story collection The History of Sound. The title story was recently made into a movie which I have yet to see, but that’s supposed to be wonderful. The stories are loosely connected by music that is “collected” in the first story, along with a little painting of a bird that shows up in several others. The structure reminded me a little of Daniel Mason’s North Woods. Meditative, beautifully written and captivating, I can’t wait to see the movie.
Eat this!
Believe it or not, I don’t get a kickback for all of the recipes I recommend from Once Upon a Chef or Love and Lemons, which is where I find so many of my favorite recipes. This orecchiette with broccoli and sausage dish was relatively easy for a weeknight and included only a few ingredients, many of which I already had on hand. My daughter took it for lunch the next day, which is a sure sign that I’ll make it again. The recipe calls for real sausage, but I subbed veggie sausage and it was still delicious.
Watch this!
Somehow the algorithm for my Instagram has been showing me a lot of people dancing lately. Who knows what I clicked on way back when, but my feed is suddenly filled with dance classes, choreography challenges, and, my new favorite, flash mobs. Maybe it’s because I want to witness a flash mob in real life or maybe it’s because I love the idea of art as activism or maybe it’s because the joy in this video is infectious and we could all use a little joy right now. Whatever the reason, check out this short flash mob video by Bobs Dance Shop. You do need an Instagram account, so if you can’t watch that one, you should be able to watch this one from Tik Tok instead. It’s also joyful and will make you want to get up and dance. And if your feed is suddenly filled with old ladies tap dancing and dance classes for dads—sorry!
That’s all for this week. Until next time.
Emily
SO glad you recommended Ben Shattuck's marvelous book! SO grateful for your recipe recs too -- off to Cronigs to get ingredients now! <3
Love the flash mob too!