Inputs:
The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris: Some years ago, a young Orthodox gentleman mistook me for his blind date while I was killing time in the Borders on 34th Street (I hope Malka turned up eventually). I thought back on that incident frequently while reading this book, which starts at the wedding of an ultra-Orthodox couple in London and meanders back through the events leading up it, as parentally arranged meetings between prospective matches are a driving force in the plot. The pettiness, snobbery, and intricate social norms felt like an Austen novel with similar shades of warmth and acid. It is also an excellent complement to watching Shtisel, since aside from the familiar catalogue of Yiddish insults osmotically transmitted to everyone in Nassau County regardless of creed, I have a feeling that I am missing some layers of nuance in Shtisel by being limited to subtitles.
Outputs:
Now that every adult in our family is fully vaxxed it’s time to, apparently, start going places and seeing people and doing things? This week I sat and made a list of the families we used to socialize with, ostensibly because N is dying to hang out with other kids and also because having playdates as a crutch makes the thought of reentering society a little less daunting. But how many of these people will we find out have now moved to Vermont? Or will the past year have shifted the ratio of our kids’ ages out of compatibility for harmonious recreation? Who have we all become? It feels a bit like the first day of school, getting back into these routines with everyone. When I got my hair cut a few weeks ago I asked the stylist what the past year had been like for her and she started, like so many conversations I’ve had about “how was your pandemic”, with a list of dates: the day it started to seem real, the day of closing, the day of reopening, the day of vaccination. Awkward parent small talk was one feature of the beforetimes that I did not miss but at least now when it’s time for playground chat we’ll be able to fall back on reciting our own pandemic timelines.
Condiment Corner:
A few weeks ago I went to Barbiero Foods, an Italian supermarket in Malden that was a treasure trove of condiments. I was tempted to just buy six different varieties of my beloved Calabrian chilis but I forced myself to embrace variety. When I picked this pate up I couldn’t imagine eating it with anything but smoked salmon, but our household plows through smoked salmon in quantities that are probably ill-advised from a financial and health perspective so it still had potential for frequent use. Unfortunately, the pate has the consistency of wet grass clippings and even a healthy dollop failed to deliver more than a whimper of flavor. I’ll still use it because whole capers have a tendency to tumble out of your sandwich and the pate might at least anchor them, but it’s hardly an optimal outcome for this purchase. Hopefully the rest of the trip’s yield proves more fruitful!