It’s the last week of September! And we are in a heatwave again, hooray…

I really appreciated last week’s great air quality and cool breezes but Sunday was hot and today will be even hotter! And so will the rest of the week….

I tell you, this always happens once we actually hit autumn, the sun decides those of us in the Bay Area haven’t had enough of her power, and has to whack us with one good solid heatwave to let us know she’s in charge.

But pandemic + hot hot heat means home with the AC on, while others flock to the beaches.

I’ve been slowly introducing the kids to the Studio Ghibli movies. They’ve loved Totoro for quite a few years now and have also seen Ponyo but in recent weeks we have also watched The Cat Returns and Spirited Away. I think next weekend we will give one of my favorites, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, a try. This weekend, the husband wanted to watch Long Way Up, the TV series starring Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman who ride motorcycles (this time, electric Harleys) around different countries. In this series they’re traveling from the bottom of South America to Los Angeles. And the crew are in electric pickup trucks.

Meanwhile, here’s what else we did last week.

On Friday, the Mister Softee truck randomly stopped outside our house. We live at the back of the neighborhood so it’s not exactly a place that would be a stop for an ice-cream truck. But it was meant to be!

I had some cod to use up and decided to make it two ways, cod chowder (which the kids wanted) and a cod and prawn stew.

Oh hey, I joined Storygraph. Are you on there? It’s intentionally un-social media-like so it’s not the easiest to find out who’s following you. Please let me know what your username is. Mine is RealLifeReading.

Currently…

Reading:

Watching:

Game of Thrones

And also the latest season of the Great British Bake-off! It was so interesting reading of how everyone on it had to quarantine to form a GBBO bubble and take 3 COVID-19 tests before they could start.

Listening:

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Eating:

 A slice of homemade Lemon Bliss Cake (recipe from King Arthur Flour) made with homegrown Meyer lemons.

Drinking:

Assam Calcutta Auction tea from Lupicia

Cooking:

I haven’t a clue! Although I was craving for some Hawaiian-style macaroni salad a couple of days ago… and it’s such a hot week too, so that’s a perfect one to make.

Last week:

I read:

The Deep by Alma Katsu

Camp Spirit by Axelle Lenoir

I posted:

Strawberry ice-cream #weekendcooking

Recent reads: There’s Someone Inside Your House; Sex and Vanity

Library Loot (September 23 to 29)