A perfect Friday evening

This is very geeky but yesterday we had the perfect Friday evening. Driving over to the semiannual Friends of the Library book sale, Mom, Brad, and I listened to a hilarious new episode ("Georgetown Massacre Part 1") of the Revisionist History podcast dealing with the "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal. Then we lined up for the book sale, all the way by Aldi's there were so many people. It was a banner year at the book sale, from my perspective: 

This is the stack of books that $32 buys you at the book sale.

I found all that in an hour, after which Mom and Brad were ready to go, because it was a pretty warm and humid day yesterday, and it was hot, crowded, and stinky in the book sale. There are always professional book sellers in there using b.o. to clear a wide berth around themselves while they take all the best books to resell at marked-up prices in their bookstores. Brad deployed countermeasures by farting near a particularly malodorous offender.

After the book sale, we made our traditional beeline for takeout dinner from Bodo's. It's getting harder to argue with Brad that Bodo's is the best thing going: we picked up two Cleo salads, three sandwiches, and six more bagels to get us through the weekend, all for only $32! No wonder we were customer # 1367 for the day.

 

We ate dinner while watching an episode of Abbott Elementary, then we all did the big reveal of what treasures we picked up at the book sale. (One of my big divvies was a hardback copy, in pristine condition, of maybe the greatest running book ever: Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.) It doesn't get any better than that.

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The Closer

Lately, Mom has several times come up with a missing answer that cracks the last unsolved corner in one of the crossword puzzles Brad and I have been working. She even managed this on a Saturday Stumper. Luckily, Mom has been surprisingly humble about this. Not! 😆

 

 

In addition to writing braggadocious things trumpeting the one answer she got in the entire puzzle, Mom has started referring to herself as "The Closer." As in, "Have you guys gotten stuck yet? Hand it over to The Closer and I'll break it open for you." This is why Brad and I are especially happy when we solve all of the Stumper in one sitting.

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Outsourcing my blog, episode V: Moriah's back

When Dylan and I were staying in Charlottesville this spring, I made this every night for Jeopardy!. It comes together quick, and it’s just the right amount for one or two people to have a tasty few bites! 

Outsourcing my blog, episode IV: Mom finally takes her turn

The long and patiently awaited blog post about sourdough bread!

One of the few good things to come out of the pandemic was my learning how to make sourdough bread. The bread was so well received by my family that I have continued to make it weekly. It’s the least I can do for my wonderful husband, who made sure our children didn’t go starving when they moved out on their own by developing this wonderful blog. He’s wonderful in multiple other ways too, but this blog is an amazing illustration of how he managed his worries about his kids in a non-obtrusive yet incredibly effective way (a skill I have yet to develop). 

Anyways, back to the sourdough.

Pesto update

Mom has been using all the summer basil to make pesto left and right so I thought I should get this one posted sooner rather than later. This is just a minor tweak to the original pesto, from a post in which I lauded the virtues of making pesto in a mortar and pestle. It's still great that way, but this one is quick and easy and a little more flexible, providing for the use of just about any kind of nuts (pecans were surprisingly good!). If you want to make this pesto but serve it in the traditional Genovese way with some potato and beans, you can still follow the instructions for the rest of the recipe for Pasta al Pesto Ricco.

Cooking for one

I'm in the second of my multiple stints home alone this summer, so I had a chance to cook again this new recipe I found that makes one small portion of noodles right in your dinner bowl. Not to bury the lede, these may be the best noodles I've had. It's insane how good and easy these are, mixing the sauce right in the bowl you're going to eat out of and ready in under 15 minutes. They're good enough to make you look forward to being alone and cooking for yourself. This one goes straight to bold in the index of "Recipes."

Running and executive function

There are lots of studies showing that running improves executive function, which Psychology Today describes as

a set of cognitive processes and mental skills that help an individual plan, monitor, and successfully execute their goals. The “executive functions,” as they’re known, include attentional control, working memory, inhibition, and problem-solving, many of which are thought to originate in the brain’s prefrontal cortex.

For example, one Japanese study from 2019 found that, compared to brain function at rest, just 10 minutes of moderate-intensity running (50% of VO₂ Max) increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex and thereby significantly boosts both executive function (measured using the Stroop Color and Word Test) and mood, which is also controlled by the prefrontal cortex. The lead author has opined that "running may stimulate the prefrontal cortex more broadly to benefit mood and executive function than other forms of exercise that do not require as much coordination of weight-bearing activity, such as pedaling."