Monthly Review: June 2024

Long before I ever had a porch, I knew I wanted a porch swing. My great-grandparents had one, my grandparents had one, and I felt it would only be right if I someday had one as well. They seemed to me a symbol of lifelong love and companionship (and, of course, they were comfortable).

When we discovered shortly after moving in that our porch was outfitted for a swing, it seemed to be one of many small providential confirmations that we had found the right place for us. From my vantage point in an embarrassingly shabby hand-me-down recliner that lived on the porch so at least one of us could sit out there, I stared up at the hooks all last summer, daydreaming about a swing. Now to find one.

We ordered one. It never shipped (or, thankfully, charged our card). We ordered another one. The arm didn’t fit. We ordered a replacement arm. A cardboard box and several pieces of swing in varied states of assembly sat on our porch, waiting. At last, all parts present and accounted for, if not particularly well manufactured, the porch swing was assembled and hung.

Gingerly, my husband sat to test his handiwork, soon joined by Dobby and then me. I laid one hand on Dobby’s head and took my husband’s in the other. Two years to the day since we’d signed the papers and gotten the keys, and now here we were, porch swing and all. My little family, I thought.

We swayed gently back and forth as the breeze stirred the curtains. It began to drizzle, then rain outright. There was a music to it, a quiet song I knew would echo through this space as long as it was ours and then afterwards in the concert hall of memory. I wondered if my grandparents too had heard the melody as they sat together in their backyards and on their porches, swinging from year to year hand in hand, just as we were now, just as I hope we’ll be fifty years from now.

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Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of June.

What I Read

• How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told, Harrison Scott Key (★★★★★)
  

• The Monster in the Hollows, Andrew Peterson (★★★)

• The Warden and the Wolf King, Andrew Peterson (★★★★)
  

• Beastly Beauty, Jennifer Donnelly (★★)

• In Five Years, Rebecca Serle (★★)

If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.

What I Cooked

• Firecracker Salmon

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: Not too spicy, but definitely has a kick. The salmon was delicious enough for company but easy enough for a weeknight dinner. I will be adding this to my list of things I like to do with my bags of Costco salmon fillets.

• Lemon Cake Pops

Difficulty: ★★★★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: There is nothing that is finicky in the same way as a cake pop, but they're just too cute. I made these for a family event and topped them with sprinkles in lieu of the zig-zag design, and they were quite well-received.

What I Created

• TBH, not much

May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.

Monthly Review: May 2024

I’m just a little black rain cloud

a listless, leaking, leftover balloon tangled in a tree

a crumpled tissue

a tornado siren

a lonely mailbox and an angry inbox

a flat round of applause for someone else’s joy

a soaking, squishing pair of shoes with too far yet to go

a voice crying in the wilderness

a damper on things

a puddle in a hole.

But you have flashed a lightning glory before my tired eyes

lit my darkness

searched me

seen me

captured my tears in your bottle.

For you are beautiful when I am ugly

good when I am wicked

right here when I am yet afar off

showering me with goodness all my days (yes, even these).

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Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of May.

What I Read

• Ferris, Kate DiCamillo (★★★★★)

• The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster (★★★★★)––reread

• Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God, Tim Challies (★★★★★)

• UnSouled, Neal Shusterman (★★★★)

• UnDivided, Neal Shusterman (★★★★)

• As Long as You Need: Permission to Grieve, J. S. Park (★★★★)

• Odder, Katherine Applegate (★★★)
  

• Elatsoe, Darcy Little Badger (★★)
  

• The Falling Between Us, Ash Parsons (★)

If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.

What I Cooked

• Sheet Pan Chicken Tinga Bowls

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: This is a riff on the chicken tinga tacos in the HBH Super Simple cookbook, which I have been making for 4 years now. I liked the sheet pan cooking method and the addition of the cumin and oregano. What really made these next level for me was the little avocado and jalapeño situation, which I have already remade twice.

• Chipotle Pot Roast Tacos

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★

Keeper: Eh

Comments: HBH tacos are among my favorite meals, but I'm just not sure we needed to make pot roast into tacos.

• Spinach and Artichoke Pinwheels

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: Definitely best hot and fresh and not rewarmed a couple of days later. But very good.

• Hot Honey Peach Upside-Down Cake

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★

Keeper: Not sure

Comments: I don't think I had enough peaches or the right size of cake pan, so that's on me. This cake, however, did not hold up very well––it was a little soupy in the middle but then cracking apart as well, so it looked terrible, although it was reasonably well-received. The hot honey flavor with the peaches was lovely and certainly may have other applications.

• Copycat Levain Blackout Cookies

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★

Keeper: Probably not, but I may reuse the concept

Comments: I love a large cookie covered in chocolate chips as much as the next gal, but this particular cookie base was just a little dry and bitter for my taste. With a different batter, though, these would be next level.

What I Created

• A cool little project to use as an example for my students

May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.

Monthly Review: April 2024

Our Song (A Remix)

He’s playing our song,

and I am

(smiling ear to ear), remembering

that time I married you.

I was who I had always been yet felt

(like somebody else);

I could not (recognize myself)

for joy,

although I know it now as it returns

and sings each word.

(My heart is racing) with these jangling keys

that send me back to that eternal march

toward you,

toward this now

that I could not have known.

(Funny how) I’ve never been so beautiful

before or since,

never seen clearer (staring into the mirror)

of your teary eyes.

Faced with my future there I realized:

(you are the reason why),

you are the (blasts of color),

you are the (guns out blazing),

you are (my lungs),

pouring out each note.

(All this time)

shrinks to

no time at all,

Five years inside one song.

(I never knew what love could do

Before you),

but here beside you, hand in hand,

(I am opening my eyes

for the very first time).

I did not know, but

finally,

I do.

(Parenthetical text features lyrics from "Before You" by Jon McLaughlin. One of my dear friends arranged it for solo piano to serve as our wedding processional song, and we were fortunate to hear Jon perform it live at a concert this month.)

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Here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of April.

What I Read

• Now and Not Yet, Ruth Chou Simons (★★★★★)––launch team

• The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne (★★★★★)

• Unwind, Neal Shusterman (★★★★)––reread

• UnWholly, Neal Shusterman (★★★★)

• Early Departures, Justin E. Reynolds (★★★)

• Jesus through the Eyes of Women: How the First Female Disciples Help Us Know and Love the Lord, Rebecca McLaughlin (★★★)

• Spin, Rebecca Caprara (★★)

• A Fragile Enchantment, Allison Saft (★★)

• Project F, Jeanne DuPrau (★)

If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.

What I Cooked

• Honey Butter Parker House Rolls

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: I am not convinced that rolling these up into little spirals is actually conducive to their cooking thoroughly.

• Leek Soup

Difficulty: ★★

Flavor: ★★★★

Keeper: Yes

Comments: When I tell you I have been searching for a good leek soup recipe for over a decade, I am not exaggerating. This is a good leek soup recipe.

What I Created

• A cutout poem that I haven't posted anywhere but did share with somebody in real life

May your days be filled with beauty, and may your heart be filled with the willingness to see and give thanks for it.