Acne Jensens

My #3 bbs:

I've had an eBay alert for these in my size for years, and it finally paid off! Got them for 50% off retail price, which is amazing for how lightly worn these are. To put it in context, that's slightly cheaper than the Everlane boss boots, which are essentially the Jensens anyways. The only downside is the lack of original packaging :(

Wore them for a maiden voyage earlier in the week and felt great. They're not super comfortable as the toe box is both low and narrow, but I wouldn't categorize them as uncomfortable either. Not sure where exactly the toe stiffener ends, so there is a chance that they'll break in better.

But I am so in love with the shape. The low profile toe and the tight waist is beautiful.

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This is the 3/10 of my ten wardrobe addition this year.
The previous two are a leopard print scarf from Taobao, and a chalk pinstripe color way of the Wilfred Jallad pants (bought on Aritzia's winter sale)

morph

Some comforting soup is needed after reading Evicted:

Caldo verde via Series Eats

This soup is up there with the cabbage & farro soup for creating so much flavour from such humble ingredients. To emphasize my point, I like it made even with super-processed sausage. In fact, the bouncy texture of the super-processed sausage is a fantastic contrast to the soft potato. I also simplified the potatoes to just one type, but chopping it in varying sizes so some chunks disintegrate while some chunks remain whole.

Evicted

This has been on my to-read list for the longest time and I am very glad to finally get around to it. It's a tough book to swallow.

Starting with a quotation from close to the end of the book:

Emphasizing the importance of exploitation does not mean haranguing landlords as greedy or heartless. It means uncovering the ironies and inefficiencies that arise when policy makers try to help poor families without addressing the root causes of their poverty. It means trying to understand the landlords' and tenants' acceptance of extreme inequality - and our own.

This quotation is my main take-away from the book. There is the inherent conflict of interest between landlords and tenants, but exacerbating (this is my fav word to use in reports haha) the problem is all of the structural biases. The deeply ingrained structural, and personal, biases makes me feel really bad. The "bad" containing:

• Shock...at how bad they have it 
• Dissonance...from how they feel 
• Disgust...at how exploitative the system can be
• Incomprehension...of the scarcity mentality
• Anger...at society at large 
• Guilt...at myself for stressing over my own money problems 
• Sympathy...at both the tenants and landlords
• Helplessness...at taking action to improve the system 
• Reluctance...at changing my own views and consequently taking action 

My bag of feelings aside, this book is well written. Both the tenants and landlords have events in which they are taken advantage of, and also events where they take advantage of the other party. Their portrayal is overall very balanced, which adds to my mixed feelings. This is obviously the intent of the author. He describes in the notes (the only book I've read all the notes for) and epilogue how detailed his field work documentations are, how careful his fact checking and overall research procedure is, and how meticulously he chose the appropriate words in the final book.

Speaking of the epilogue, it's like the authors own book report haha. In the epilogue, he actually offers a plausible solution: universal housing vouchers. There's a lot of evidence supporting its effectiveness, as well as a big caveat that implementing this policy will lead to rent increase for the unsubsidized. So this is where the problem becomes personal. In terms of overall utility, this is morally good and I ought to support it despite it being a personal loss of some magnitude. And I believe that if universal housing vouchers are actually implemented, I would support it. But man it does suck that I'll have to pay more rent. And fuck Ford's government for getting rid of rent control for new units in Ontario. He can go fall down multiple flights of stairs.

Roots Baking Co

This is my restaurant soulmate. I would be this bakery/cafe if I was a food establishment, and this establishment would be me if it was human.

Sorry for the haphazard interior shots, I was too embarrassed to leave my seat for photos.

My new favourite grain salad, which was previously occupied by a soy-sesame dressed wheat berry salad made by the co-op that I stayed during my first trip to New York with Jeff & the twins. Mark my words that I will recreate this at home! Although I'm sad to admit that I couldn't identify what the crunchy grain is despite thinking I know my whole grains well.

Got their heirloom grit #7 bread. Their specialty, or point of distinction, is that they freshly mill their flour from heirloom grains (working with Anson Mills, I miss making cornbread with their grits ;_; ).

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While at PCM, I also picked up my favourite milk chocolate along with a dark chocolate bar to try. Valentine's prep all done.

SFAH

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat deserves all the hype its getting. It should be a food textbook. But this post isn't about that book exactly, it's using the principles in that book to diagnose a recent cooking failure. Maybe failure is too strong of a word, definitely a mishap, enough that I considered not eating the leftover portions and I am extremely averse to wasting leftovers.

So I made a curried sweet potato dish, with black beans and cabbage. There was a bit of carrots thrown in, and then topped with extra-fatty yogurt and cilantro. The spices were a mix of cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, and chipotle pepper.

Small problem #1: free-handing the quantities of spices.
I've generally made Indian dishes from recipe, and I've made enough that I have sort of a feel for the quantities of spices. Usually equal amounts of cumin and coriander. The end result was mediocre, so I'd say this wasn't a problem although it didn't help the final dish.

Small problem #2: extra-fatty yogurt.
I've regularly consumed yogurt (like almost-daily) ever since I moved to Canada and my mom put one in my lunch everyday for school. For all this time, I've operated on the principle that the more fat the better, since for most of this time fat-free yogurt has dominated the selection. So I was super giddy when I found 9% Siggi yogurt at Whole Foods and that's what I topped the dish with. This was a mistake as it simply has too much fat for a topping that's suppose to contribute acidity as well. Shoulda used sour cream, which I did go buy today. Daisy's sour cream is amazing and I'm very sad that it's not carried in Canadian grocery stores.

Big problem #1: cooking method
This is the heat problem. I only brought a pot with me, whereas I envisioned this dish as a roast / stir fry hybrid. Needless to say that result was not achieved.

Big problem #2: lack of other sources of acid
My main issue with the final dish is how heavy it felt to eat. This problem was entirely solved by squeezing some lemons onto the leftover portions, which were infinitely better tasting.

Lesson learned: acid is important

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Which leads me to how great the BBQ sauce at B's Cracklin are. Yes I've finally made the trip to eat there. Yes it's amazing. I even bought some brisket for takeout and holy their brisket is maybe even better than the pork. Even their pancake-formed cornbread is delicious.

swoosh

Joy of living close to a public library branch. I think it's going to be a requirement when I'm relocating: close to work, close to grocery stores, and close to a library branch.

February's reading list:

I've also read Dan Brown's newest book, Origins. Let's start with that first since I gotta maintain my status of reading every one of his works haha. I didn't even know he wrote a new novel until I saw this at the book swap in my building.

This one is a little different. Sure there's still the Catholic religion involved, but their symbolism is less entrenched in the plot compared to his previous books. It makes sense, this is about AI. It's a lot more relatable to me than the previous books, even tho I'm more familiar with the location of the previous. The plot twist at the end is also highly relevant to the AI safety discussion that's going on these days.

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Convenience Store Woman

The main message I got from this novel is the same as the message I took away from American Psycho: that other people / society expects you to fill a role and will ignore vast stretches of reality to maintain that expectation. I think there's a Vonnegut novel with the same theme, but forget which one. The style...or is it tone...of this book also reminds me of Vonnegut, although less humorous. The difference is that the main character in Convenience Store Women is aware of this, moreso than the other two works, and the awareness brings her suffering. 

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The Rest of Us Just Lives Here
Another YA novel, I wonder where's the category of books that document graduating university rather than high school? Although existential problems are really all the same. This was also relatable.

The one of this book reminds me of Generation A, the following quotation even reminds me of the quotation that I picked out in that post:

"Why does everything have to mean something, though?" Jared asks. "Haven't we got enough life to be living?"

Two more quotations that I like:

Henna laughs lightly. Then she takes my hand in hers and holds it. "Mikey," she says, but not like she's about to say anything more, just like she's identifying me, making a place for me here that's mine to exist in.

It's to do with what something becomes once you tell it. It's like it's truer. And it's got a life of its own and rushes out into the world and becomes something you can't control.

The latter reminds me of another quotation on the same topic that I really, really, could relate to. Something about not admitting it to yourself because otherwise you couldn't deny it. The former, again reminds me of another passage, this time from Murakami:

We held hands just once. She was leading me somehow and grabbed my hand as if to say, This way - hurry up. Our hands were clasped together ten seconds at most, but to me it felt more like thirty minutes. When she let go of my hand, I was suddenly lost. It was all very natural, the way she took my hand, but I knew she'd been dying to do so.

The feel of her hand has never left me. It was different from any other hand I'd ever held, different from any touch I've ever known. It was merely the small, warm hand of a twelve-year-old girl, yet those five fingers and that palm were like a display case crammed full of everything I wanted to know - and everything I had to know. By taking my hand, she showed me what these things were. That within the real world, a place like this existed. In the space of those ten seconds I became a tiny bird, fluttering into the air, the wind rushing by. From high in the sky I could see a scene far away. It was so far off I couldn't make it out clearly, yet something was there, and I knew that someday I would travel to that place. This revelation made me catch my breath and made my chest tremble.

Coincidentally I was also in Atlanta while reading South of the Border, actually I think I read most of my Murakami while being here.

grit

Cabbage has a pretty bad rep in NA (and also British) culture, especially boiled cabbage. I don't particular like boiled cabbage either. But this cabbage soup is so good. Soooo goooooood. Insanely good.

via Smitten Kitchen, where Deb also says how surprisingly good it is

Since I have a limited pantry, I subbed out farro for brown rice, threw in some lentils (always), switched out vinegar for sumac (so glad I brought it with me) and topped it with a soft boiled egg (always).

I think this even beats out my default vegetable soup for easy, cheap, and healthy-ish cold weather comfort food. Mostly cause this has less prep (I take forever to chop veggies).

magenta

Nothing makes a new place feel like home as returning from a business trip to a even newer place xD

Here's how Atlanta's been looking:

19.01 Monthly Review

First of my monthly reviews...this is a bit of an oddity so I'll free-style this.

Why an oddity?
Well I thought I would be settled in Atlanta for 6 months. That's no longer the case. A series of departures from my company has resulted in me relocating to Houston in March. This leaves me...not settled in Atlanta, specifically without furniture and more importantly without internet at home. It's a disruption to my routine at the very least. although not all bad.

It is bad in that it's more difficult to stick to using the system since its all online. Luckily I have data on the company phone so I stuck to doing my daily reflections, and weekly reflections at the common area of my building with wifi. But otherwise I've severely cut down my time online, so I haven't been working towards my goals such as increasing professional credibility or keeping in touch with friends and family.

Moving again means pausing the accumulation of stuff, which means I haven't bought any exercise gear. Strictly speaking it's a weak excuse, but any excuse will do since I'm so resistant to a formal exercise regime. In my (pathetic) defense, I have been randomly stretching while waiting for water to boil, which is actually quite frequently. But nothing that increases my heart rate or strains my muscles (well carrying home grocery does).

Some wins of not having internet are 1) sleeping more and 2) reading more. It's amazing that I'm sleepy by 10pm, which means a good 9.5 hours of sleep on weekdays. I do feel the effect on my productivity at work, on busy days I can pretty much work in a concentrated state for the whole day.

Work...
My main impression is how busy I am. There's always things to do next, more things I could learn, more templates or processes to develop. So far it's been good, the day passes by fairly quickly as I'm engaged. There's been a fair amount of travelling already, which I'd appreciate more if it wasn't right when I started. I enjoy frequent travel less than I thought.
The bigger picture for work is discussing what my role will be with my new team and superiors in Houston. The bad news is that my personal direction doesn't align that well with my company's strategic goals for the next decade. The misalignment is mostly on 2 points: I want to work more on performance modelling whereas its not a priority for the company, and that I don't like BD/selling/networking whereas these skills are expected from everyone. I suppose I could grow to like these like how I slowly stopped hating washing dishes?

Personally...
I'm just recovering from a pretty bad cold, so could be better. Mentally I feel pretty good, likely because I'm sleeping adequately. Motivation is up and down, up when I find a cool thing to learn or an exciting restaurant or reading a good book, down when unexpected things pop up or when I don't speak with friends/fam for couple days. My most basic goal is still to finally have some stability and nest. I'm seriously so so so so sooo looking forward to having all my stuff together in an apartment of Jeff and I, where I'll put stuff on walls, have the resources to undertake ambitious kitchen projects, and try to find a storage solution for the too many pairs of shoes that we each own.

Looking ahead...
I have one month left in Atlanta and I intend on enjoying my time here. As much as I look forward to being back in Toronto, I do enjoy time in Atlanta. There's the beltline. There's fried chicken and BBQ. There's a plethora of amazing credit cards with welcome bonuses (okay not an Atlanta thing but I'm getting my hands wet at the whole credit card hacking thing). A great thing this time around is that my team has more interns / graduate engineers, so it's easier to find common things to do outside of work.

Houston has more exaggerated parts of Atlanta that I dislike (the humidity, the dominance of cars). No doubt I'll find parts that I like and will miss dearly, but currently its feeling like a thing I'm doing that's good for me rather than something I'm genuinely excited about. Probably how a lot of people feel about eating vegetables. It is definitely the best opportunity for my career at this company, since its the mothership and I'll be able to get to know many more members of my team. More people = more eating out opportunities :p