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weeknotes, 6/23

– phase 1 of the garden transformation is afoot: the garden has been sprayed with weed killers to rid it of the stubborn clover and grass. i’m not too keen on herbicide… but after 7 years of trying to unsuccessfully tame the weeds, i give up. it is what it is. next week we should order the little stones and the anti-grass cloth that goes underneath them. i’ve started planting the succulent patch on a reserved corner of the garden, but my dodgy back makes it slow going.

– the air fryer is still going strong! this week, besides roasting veggies for side dishes, we also did some zaatar chicken wings and also some creamy garlic chicken which were quite nice. i’m enjoying exploring it!

– started to knit a sweater for my future baby nephew! maybe knitting sweaters for small creatures will be more successful than knitting sweaters for grown-ups, which so far has proved beyond my patience and ability. i’m using these instructions, which seem simple enough.

– we started the process of hiring someone to help me with support at postcrossing. it’ll take time to interview, choose and onboard the new person, but at last i’ll get some help and (hopefully) stop being so overwhelmed by work all the time. it’s a start!

– i finished book #2 of the neapolitan novels, which invited a trip to the library to get some new books! i got book #3 of the series, then browsed the shelves for a long time and stumbled on a couple of books by portuguese authors (who, coincidentally, were themselves a couple). i love the library!

– we played the game with friends, and it was surprisingly challenging, despite the relatively simple mechanics.

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weeknotes

weeknotes, 5/23

– my hair is mostly white around the temples these days, so i paint it now and then (usually when there’s some event coming up) and let it run wild the rest of the year. we had a big meeting on the weekend, so earlier in the week, i painted it — this time, pure black. the color looks a little radioactive in its blackness but it gives me some wednesday addams vibes, and i like it! now, if only the hair paint would stop running into every pillowcase and towel, that would be just perfect.

– book #5 of the year was part 2 of joe sacco’s palestine series. still as gut-punching as the previous one, though the stories are so short and disconnected that sometimes you feel like you’re just getting disjointed glimpses, and not really the big picture. i guess reading a more broad book on the topic would help.

– we had a quote for transforming the space around our house into a minimalistic zen garden (aka, covering the floor with little stones), and we’ll probably go ahead with it soon. it’ll be nice to have a clean space that isn’t overgrown with clover and stubborn grass, and the succulents will migrate to a smaller patch in the front of the house. i look forward to the end result.

– it’s tree-planting season and so, off we went to marinha grande to re-forest a bit more of the huge pine forest that burned there in 2017. the weather was perfect, and it felt wonderful to be out there with friends, chatting the whole time and getting those tiny maritime pines planted. the ground there is mostly sand, which makes for really easy digging!

– we spent a couple of days up there with our local friends, before driving back south on sunday. they took us to explore s. pedro de moel, and we ended up having lunch at alcobaça, where the food (and especially the conventual sweets) are to die for.

– the month of letters is on! i started out strong, but failed to write in the days we were up north… no matter — i will try to do better the rest of the month, now that we’re back home and our calendars are free until the end of february.

– less than 50 days to taiwan! :D

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weeknotes

weeknotes, 4/23

– four books in four weeks… who is this person? 😅 i’ve finished elena ferrante’s my brilliant friend and dove into the second book of the series straight away. i’m kind of invested in the adventures of lila and lenu now — i want to know what they’ll be up to as they go through the teenage years, what’s the deal with lila after marriage, and what will come next.

– we watched after yang, which had some strong black mirror vibes, but was also visually beautiful. we also watched lead me home, a short netflix documentary about the homelessness crisis in california, and i still have so many unanswered questions about it… i can barely grasp the concept of there being over 100k homeless people there.

– i got myself an air fryer! i resisted for a long time, as i really didn’t want to have yet another big bulky appliance taking up space… but in the end, i caved in — and i’m happy i did! we did fries a couple of times, but we’ve also cooked brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, meatballs… it’s like a tiny turbo oven, sitting right there on the countertop, that is 10x easier to clean and a lot faster to heat up than the oven itself. it has given me extra motivation to cook on days that cooking feels like a chore, which feels like an added bonus

– some friends bought a plot of land a couple of streets over from us, and they threw a little party to celebrate it. i’m happy to see them happy and moving closer to us, and i’m also curious as to how the whole “house-making” process will go.

– i’ve had a scratchy throat for a few weeks now, one that didn’t really get worse or better. it didn’t seem bad enough to take anything for it, but at the same time, it wouldn’t go away. having strong déjà vu feelings of numerous childhood tonsillitis (and corresponding penicillin injections), we went to the local hospital and were prescribed some disinfecting mouthwash and some anti-inflammatories. aaaaah, the relief to know it’s nothing serious!

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weeknotes, 3/23

– the week started with a nice breakfast at the french bakery, which is always a good start of any day. portuguese bakeries and pastry shops in algarve are a disappointment for the most part (there are no good brioche croissants!), but “la baguette” in tavira always delivers on the french goods.

– we’ve now booked all the accommodation for our stay in taiwan, and are still as excited for the trip. 9 weeks to go!

– chinese new year! we didn’t do a bit feast this year… but still, there was fishball soup, dumplings and my favorite corn pancake.

– this weekend was the traditional festa das chouriças in querença, so off we went for a hike and some sausages. it was brilliant, as always, and we even made some new friends… i’ll tell you about them on the next post :)

– it looks like this week’s notes are mostly about food, so here’s one more: we started watching salt fat acid heat on netflix, and it’s been a delight. samin and her appetite for good food, and especially for learning about food with others are a joy to watch. more of this!

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weeknotes, 2/23

– after much frustration with credit cards, finally WE BOOKED THE TRIP TO TAIWAN!!! i’m relieved and über-excited! the whole week, i’ve been floating in this happy haze of knowing we’re going to asia again, watching youtube videos about night markets and street food, and taking virtual walks through the neighborhood on google street view. the trip is still 10 weeks from now, but already i’m in a buzz of anticipation!

– the boy wanted to check out the cerro da cabeça, a small hill nearby, so we went for a tiny first hike of the year on a cloudy weekday. i don’t usually think of karst landscapes when i think of algarve, but they do exist!

– i got a delightful letter from my 9-year old cousin francisco, in response to the pintarolas i sent him last week! he told me about all of his christmas presents, and asked about mine, and to which countries i’d been to so far. it was unexpectedly sweet, so of course i replied back with another letter. :) i might get a new penpal!

– december rains gave a considerable bump to our local water reservoir, which is a relief. we’re not at the average level yet, but things are looking much better.

– we wrapped up our two weeks of eating “mostly potatoes”, which was an interesting experiment! i lost almost 1kg, and surprisingly, i didn’t even get sick of potatoes! interestingly, our favourite recipes all involved the oven and some form of dairy, and all had french names: the dauphinoise, boulangere and the tartiflette.

– i finished joe sacco’s first volume of palestine, which is like a punch to the gut. and we watched three thousand years of longing, which started well, and then turned a little absurd.