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- museletter #12
museletter #12
back home in singapore and cooking up a storm
Sam Nelson
September 21, 2024
happy 21st night of september! this week tyler asked me to write a poem about spinach, so that is what I did. I am a big fan of spinach and eat a lot of it. I buy my spinach in frozen form because 1) it is cheaper, 2) it is fun to snack on the little frozen spinach pellets and pretend to be a hamster 3) it comes pre-shrunk so when I cook it I will not disappointed by its diminishing volume.
Ode to Spinach
O verdant child of sun and rain,
Who springeth forth from Earth's domain,
Thy leafy outlook falters not—
Til brought to meet a kitchen pot:
Upon the pan a mountain high
Of juicy leaves is put to fry—
Yet when the heat of flame doth kiss,
Thou vanish into misty abyss!
Once rose out of the toughest soil,
Now can’t withstand the lightest broil.
The fullness of thy life, once grand,
Shrinks beneath the chef's command.
this isn’t spinach, but it is another leafy plant. I painted my pet pothos. I grew her from a cutting I stole from the lobby of a random apartment. hadn’t done a still life (kind of still. the leaves were moving but really slowly) in a hot minute. I added the bright rainbow outlines on a whim and I think they’re cool.
in other news,
 to celebrate me being back home we’ll kick things off with a customary picture of my window  singapore’s urban foliage :))) their pothos is THRIVING, I hope mine will grow that big someday  frozen spinach was used in the making of this  for some reason the mall near my house had not one but two carousels pop up in the atrium  tomato stonehenge at my grandma’s birthday  I watched kinds of kindness. I’m not much of a movie person am fairly ignorant about film, so a yorgos film was rather out there for me. the acting was incredible, and it was cool that we got to see every actor’s nipples. but overall I left the theatre feeling worse and more cynical than I did when I entered, and those aren’t the kind of vibes I’m chasing  borrowed my aunt’s dog for a few days. here he is watching me make broccoli cheese brownies |  no more onion tears  I set up this sign in public and drew people for three hours. great way to practise your portrait skills make friends! (I walked past a supermarket where grapes were 2 for 1 and the deal was too good not to share)  I baked my first ever loaf of sourdough! it turned out perfectly! yay!  people-watching on the bus  bus woman with the watermelon  more cooking! here is a zucchini risotto that I didn’t take a very good photo of because I was too busy eating it  I put this smiski in my bathroom to ensure I never run out of toilet paper  more lovely urban foliage watered by the drain |
books I read
second place - rachel cusk
★★★★☆
the narrator invites a famous artist to stay on her remote property. while he stays with her she thinks a lot of thoughts about art, morality, the mother-daughter relationship, men and womens’ circumstantially different perspectives on the world... this book is a great work of literature and rachel cusk is undoubtably a genius. the writing was beautiful and rich and I read most of it in one sitting. but I don’t know if I could say that I enjoyed this book. it was like iris murdoch but less funny.
the ministry of time - kaliane bradley
★★☆☆☆
the government has figured out time travel, and brought five people from the past into the future. The main character’s job is to be a ‘bridge’ for this ancient navy officer as he adapts to the modern world. this book was trying to be so many things — time travel sci-fi, government spy thriller, workplace comedy — but ultimately what it was at its core was a self-insert y/n romance. which was fine, but I just wish it had been upfront about this at the beginning.
happy place - emily henry
★★★☆☆
mid emily henry book. good banter, but essentially an extended miscommunication trope.
tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow - gabrielle zevin
★★★★★
I first read this two years ago and it was so good that I read it again. it’s about two friends who make a game together but it’s also about everything. I don’t really care about games at all but this book is unputdownable.
music I liked a lot
some songs I have on repeat:
sublime - sarah kinsley
this whole album feels like dancing naked under a waterfall. I’ve been recreating this feeling by listening to it in the shower.u r mine - kaeto
this one feels like running through a field of heather with your first love. miss kaeto is gonna be huge one day you heard it here first! she just released her first album and it’s been on repeat.our house - coco and clair clair
I didn’t know I needed a synthy cover of a crosby stills nash & young song, but luckily coco and clair clair anticipated my deepest needs and delivered.
new segment: weekly recipe
my current food hyperfixation is this middle-eastern inspired fried egg. this recreation is not very authentic because I like use whatever I have in the fridge. I will provide more authentic suggestions in parentheses.
 here is the egg toast I ate today alongside some broccoli brownies and my daily matcha |
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another new segment: what’s on my left hand
I enjoy painting things on my nails but I only do my left hand because I am not ambidextrous
as always you can reply directly to this email! please do so if you have any inclination. what do you think of the new segments? what should I cook next week? okay bye it’s time to my annual boogie to earth wind and fire.
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