Weekly diary

This week i wore mostly incense scents. So i put on Larmes de Desert, Eau Sacrée, Eau Duelle, Memoir Woman (not much incense, but a great perfume), Fille en Aiguilles and finally tested Mystic Incense by Merchant of Venice. I wore Salome to remember Colettes birthday on friday for the NST community project, i think Colette would have liked this bold and feminine scent a lot.

I did cook a bit more this week, starting with shakshuka and eggs, some split pea soup with veggies and a pasta with tofu bolognese. Saturday we had a giant pork chop, weighing 500g to share with savoy cabbage and today i tested a persian recipe with chicken breast, saffron, lots of dill and broad beans, because we had so much of beans in the freezer from a rich harvest last year. This was delicious.

I finished another book, a medieval history romance, which was okay to read, but nothing special. Now i started Geoff Ryman ´s The Child Garden, because one of my first reading preferences was SF. My uncle read lots of it and always left me his books, when he visited us. So i started reading SF at the age of 10 or so and never stopped liking it.

My 2021 reading list

I managed to read 32 audiobooks or books, so this was not as bad, as i imagined. Some books were just chick lit, so nothing to talk about, but others were more interesting.

I listened to some of Stephen King´s books on Audible, just because there is a german narrator, that has a really great voice. I could propably listen to David Nathan reading the telephone book and be content with it.

I also worked through Deborah Harkness All Souls trilogy, which was at least amusing and a nice light reading, but i also reread Anne Rice The Witching Hour, that is in my opinion the better take on the supernatural. I also reread Setterfields The Thirteenth Tale, and enjoyed it a lot.

Hardboiled Wonderland by Murakami was also interesting, but maybe it is better as a book, than as an audiobook, because its hard to concentrate on his strange and multidimensional storytelling. I will propably never be a hardcore fan, but it is really something different.

I also enjoyed City of Girls by Elisabeth Gilbert, although the plot is something that i cant believe in.

For a fun listening i can recommend Matt Ruff´s Me and the others. I tried to get into Petrosyans The Grey House, but i could not finish it, i found it a bit confusing and depressing.

In all, i read a lot of diverse literature and hope to continue my reading into the next year. At the moment i am starting The Ten Thousand Doors of January…

Weekly diary

Finally my perfume choices are getting more interesting, because I can get out the heavy hitters. I started with Roma, Tuesday was Adam Levine, which would be better if I didn’t get this pickles note every time. Ellie Saab Essence Ambre, Ambre de Merveilles, then Theo Fennel for Friday. This was a bit not work conform, but nobody cares while wearing a mask. Saturday was incense day with mb03 and Fille en Aiguilles. Sunday I wore Calligraphy Saffron followed by Felanilla, both saffron scents.

Goats at the farm shop, roast duck and my tiny fall decorations

On my plate I had a huge pot of lentil stew with veggies and sausage, this lasted four days. I made some one pot pasta with anchovies, capers and tuna and linguine with broad beans, bacon and Feta, which came out delicious.

Saturday we went for a farmers shop for the first time and bought duck for dinner, which I accompanied by gnocchi and red cabbage with balsamico. The court of the farmers shop was full of blooming flowers and pumpkins and there were l goats running around plus geese and sweet little donkeys in a porch. A really fun sort of shopping! I also made a Torta di Riso, because my friend showed me how to make it in our holidays. Sunday we’re leftovers and some scrambled eggs with homemade gravlax.

I watched the whole series of New Amsterdam, mainly because I think Ryan Eggold is so cute. I can always relax watching hospital dramas, because it’s so far off of any reality.

I also finished reading Setterfields The Thirteenth Tale, which I liked a lot. It was cleverly constructed and I could not guess the conclusion until the last pages of the book.

Weekly diary and finally vaccinated

Perfumes this week were Cabotine, Chypre Siam, What I did on my holidays, Eau de Lancaster, Roma, Meet me on the Corner, Lovely Sheer and I finally got to test Dryad. I can get a used bottle, so I think I will splurge a bit…

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Cooking from the garden means lots of beans, beets and zucchini

Our garden produces lots of zucchini and beets, so we have to eat our veggies!

We had zucchini grilled and in muffins. The beets went into hoummous and salad. The beans became a salad with green and canellini beans with tuna and Feta. I also made a Tortellini salad with pesto vinaigrette and ham, kimchi fried eggs and turkish bulgur salad.

Saturday we made BBQ pork ribs and this evening will likely be zucchini again, this time with a minced meat filling.

I finally got my vaccination after having covid-19 in January. The first day was okay, but in the evening I couldn’t elevate my arm, so I was not able to drive the next day and stayed home, feeling very tired and a bit queasy. Luckily it was better the next day.

I spent some time rereading Ursula LeGuins The left hand of Darkness and enjoyed it a lot. It’s an interesting take on the genderism discussions. I also watched the 6th season of Blacklist, while I spent time in the kitchen.

Weekly diary

Scents worn this week were Doe In The Snow, Aromatics Elixir, Botrytis, Meet Me On The Corner, Ambre de Merveilles, Chanel No19 and Memoire d’une Odeur. Funnily my sense of smell felt slightly enhanced this week, although I had a thankfully not Covid viral laryngitis.

On my plate I had red cabbage plus brats, pasta with tomato sauce and another one with truffeld pesto plus linguine with mussels. The boyfriend made roast Goose legs with spaetzle and red cabbage and sunday we had chicken noodle soup made from leftover carcasses, that we usually collect in the freezer until we have enough for soup.

I finished reading City of Girls, that I enjoyed a lot, although I had some problems to believe that a young woman in the 40ies could get from virginity to a threesome in just one year. What I liked was the description of the wartime NYC and the showbiz. It was a highly amusing read and I I can recommend it. Now I started Pachinko, but cannot say too much about it.

2020 Reading list

I managed to read or listen to audiobooks more than i thought. I listened to my audiobooks mostly on my commute, and with biking a lot this summer and autumn i got at least a bit more than 2 hours of it on my bike commute.

I read a lot of series that year, beginning with the “Blossom Street” series of Debbie Macomber, which is a very light reading, but it is also very relaxing. I also like Stephen King, so i listened to the Mr. Mercedes series on audible, read by my favorite reader David Nathan (sorry, its in German).

I started the Harley Merlin series, but gave up after the fourth book, i could not find myself in this alternate universe, although i am a diehard Harry Potter fan. I thought the series lacked a bit of charm, and there was too much fighting for my personal taste.

I also heard the complete “Into the Wilderness” series by Sara Donati, that was not too bad and then dived into the Sumpflochsaga (Amuylett series in the english translation). Usually i am not a big fan of Fantasy, but this self published series was quite good and i read it to the end. Note, that the sequels get longer and longer, so the later ones were more than 1000pages long.

I read “The Fifth Season”, but did not enjoy it much, which astounded me, because i usually like SF. I also really disliked “Rosewater”. The best SF i read was “Children of Time” by Tchaikovsky, because of its really special perspective, written from the view of a strange arachnid people.

I listened to Richard Russo´s “Empire Falls”, that is a great book, although a bit depressing and “Behold the Dreamers” from Mbue, that made a great impression on me. I also finally listened to “The Help”, that i gave up on some years ago. This time i managed to get into the dialects better, but sometimes it was a hard listening for a german native.

I am still listening to “100 Years of Solitude” by Garcia Marques and in the beginning of “City of Girls” by Elisabeth Gilbert, which is a really great fun read.

Alltogether i read and listend to 42 whole books (i did not mention all of them..) and have to finish two more. I hope i will keep up my reading list that long for this year too.