Another late week note.
I have been alone at home this weekend, and somehow I haven’t had a quiet moment. Amber left for a work trip on Thursday, and I dove right into back-to-back work meetings after he left. Then I spent the next day writing an essay that is due tomorrow.
But let’s back up first. After a day of running around last Friday, we wanted a quiet weekend. We went on a few grocery runs, and between them squeezed in a trip to the Slumberland in our neighbourhood. Slumberland is a specialty comic bookstore, and even though a majority of their stock is in French, we had a lovely time browsing. We picked up a French children’s book about Brussels (very cute, I wolfed it down as soon as we came home) and Smile 58, a graphic novel about the 1958 World's Fair that happened in Brussels (a little hard to follow IMHO but enjoyable nonetheless, it is always lovely to read a book set in a city one is familiar with). On our weekly visit to the composting bins in Parc Buchholtz, we were welcomed by lots of flowers, especially the roses planted in the homes right outside the park. The white roses at the entrance of Parc Tenbosch were also in bloom, and we couldn’t help but spend some time in the park. I think I might have recorded enough new(-to-me) flowers on the weekend to do another one these posts. Monday was a holiday, and Amber and I caught up with Tanya and Mayank on video call in the morning. It was meant to be a short call, but we chatted for over two hours, which was very fun. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and doing simple things to unwind like a home pedicure and a long shower.
I took up a couple of easy cooking and baking projects on the long weekend. In preparation for the warm days ahead, I made ginger syrup and cold brewed caramel tea. And we baked some cornbread to complement the leftover tortilla soup we had in the fridge. Through the week, we also made gochujang mushroom burgers, fish tacos, shrimp and mango salad, and a couscous salad with asparagus, peas, edamame and halloumi.
On Tuesday, I attended Without A Center, With Many — Designing Across Diasporas, Languages &Times, a typography seminar organised by Garine Gokceyan. The seminar was also hosting the soft launch of Alphabettes Soup. It was an invigorating event full of thoughtful and thought-provoking conversations. Seeing the book and meeting other contributors to Alphabettes Soup was especially moving. Between the event and staying in touch with work, I was exhausted. Amber and I met up late in the evening, picked up empanadas (my favourites) from a food truck near the Parliament for a snack. On the bus ride back, a young woman gushed to me about my outfit saying how much she loved the tie-up bib and the pairing of two kinds of stripes. She made my day!
A couple of people at event were under the weather and by the next morning, I was sure I was coming down with something. I canceled my call with Aadarsh, rested for most of the day and drank a lot of fluids. It was a good decision because I seem to have warded off whatever was bubbling up. Nevertheless, it was a strange week health-wise. I battled insomnia on two nights, and the heat kept me more indoors and sedentary than I would have liked.
It was the first warm and humid spell of the spring/summer, and I think we survived OK. Amber put up the curtains mid-week, I kept us well-hydrated, and we opened and closed windows and shutters like clockwork. The new fan helped, and I am so glad we carried dohars from India, though now I wish we had brought Bhagalpuri chaadars as well.