Thursday Noodles - 8/24/23

It’s August and it's hot in here edition

Hi friends!

Here at chez unruly Quaker, we were talking ‘bout our favorite movies of all time and I realized I simply must share this

Movie

with you:

Hunt for the Wilderpeople!

I don’t want to say too much about it.

Part of falling in love with this movie is just letting it unfold.

It’s not the perfect film and I’m not even sure if it passes the Bechdel test. But my whole family and I looooooooooove, love, love this movie.

And you might, too.

It’s funny, tender, lovely, insightful, quirky, and shows how wonderful going bush can be.

SPOILER ALARM - a dog dies in this movie. (But another dog does not die and lives happily ever after.) I hear you. I refuse, too. But! This may be the ONLY movie I will EVER love in which a dog dies.

It’s that good.

A fairly easy birthday tradition I recommend:

Behold: the Birthday Day.

In my family, we have a birthday tradition: the Birthday Day. (I first watched Hunt for the Wilderpeople on a Birthday Day.)

It started the summer then-Boyfriend now-Husband and I both turned 26. We had fallen in love the previous autumn.

Yes, okay, Birthday Days began with a lot of hoopla and romance: wine tastings, chocolate-covered strawberries, indulgent day-trips. It has evolved into more modest, but not less lovely, celebrations.

What it is:

You find a day near your birthday when everyone in the family has the full day available. This is often on a weekend.

If you are a grown-up:

• You get the whole day dedicated to celebrating YOU.

• Your family makes a plan of things YOU like to do. The plan MUST be things you enjoy and nothing you don’t enjoy. No one is allowed to sneak in their own agenda.

• Your family makes this plan happen. You just sit back and enjoy the ride.

  • VERY IMPORTANT - you do not have to make ANY decisions whatsoever … except maybe what to eat, if they take you to a restaurant. And maybe when you want to open your presents: right away or wait until the end of the day?

If you are a child:

• You get the whole day dedicated to celebrating YOU.

• YOU GET TO MAKE THE PLAN and your whole family does the things YOU like to do, with no complaints.

• You get to make ALL the decisions!

OK, OK.

I know you folks with children are thinking, “Um. No. My child will walk all over me.”

I hear you. The key is to set the example with your own Birthday Day. Show how you can wonderfully celebrate a person and still keep it all within reason.

You might be pleasantly surprised what your child/ren want/s to do.

What a Birthday Day really comes down to is giving the birthday human your full, undivided, sustained attention.

And honoring what they love to do.

Our child often wanted to go out for breakfast at Elmo’s. No problem, happy to.

Then a family bike ride.

A rollicking game of Hide-and-Seek.

Then he might dig out that board game from the bottom of the pile - the one that Mom never, ever wants to play (Candyland, anyone? Monopoly?).

Dinner? Plates full of noodles and cheese. No vegetables allowed.

It’s amazing how far a “Yes!” day will go for a child.

It’s also amazing how far a “I don’t have to be in charge” day will go for an adult.

And it’s amazing what attention and noticing can do for the soul.

Highly recommend.

Random:

Let’s talk summer shoes.

Like the Australians I know and love, I live in flip-flops thongs flip-flops all summer.

BUT.

Flip-flops are the worst inside North Carolina office buildings, where air conditioning is set at sub-zero temps.

Swear to God, my toes go numb with cold. I’m like, Uh, hello? Climate change, anyone? Why is the a/c thermostat set to “walk-in-freezer”?

I don’t know if it’s this wonderful menopause transition or if it’s my wonderfully bad circulation (or both?), but my feet have exactly two settings: freezing cold or swampy hot.

What is an unruly Quaker to do?

I have tried flats of all kinds, including the Rothy’s my friends swear by. (Blisters.)

And then I thought to myself:

“Self, bamboo pajamas and bamboo bedsheets were menopause game- changers … they magically solved the abject misery of having night sweats while simultaneously being freezing cold,” so I Googled around and …

… I give you: bamboo sneakers with bamboo socks.

They keep my feet warm in sub-zero air-conditioning, yet cool when walking in 100 degree, 98 percent humidity Durham summers.

At $119, these bad boys are supes pricey. I bought them with a 20% off promo. Which still made them still supes pricey.

But y’all, I saved up. And they have been worth every penny.

They are sooooo comfortable and posess the temperature magic of bamboo.

Whoooooooo doggy.

I tell you what.

Perspective changes when you are in the ninth circle of hell the menopause transition.

A dear friend with a few years (and a lot of wisdom) on me took me by the shoulders the other day, looked me straight in the eye, and said, “Oh, friend. You are riding that tiger.”

It was so affirming. Thank you, M.

It is like riding a tiger. But less fun.

At least now I get to ride the tiger in cute shoes with cozy feet.

Food!

My husband is the chef of the house, raised in a Moosewood Restaurant family, and when he makes Moosewood’s Sichuan Noodles, you know it’s summer. Served with baked tofu and steamed broccoli and carrots, this recipe is a treat.

If you don’t know Moosewood, here’s a blurb: for 30 years, Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, has been at the epicenter of America's evolving vegetarian cuisine… Bon Appetit named Moosewood Restaurant one of the 13 most revolutionary restaurants since the beginning of the 20th century.

The noodle recipe is in Moosewood Restaurant Favorites and I super-duper highly recommend, ultra love any recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant Collective.

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That’s it for now, dear ones.

Until next time, thanks, as ever, for reading.

May the Great Cosmic Echidna smile upon you and give you peace.

XOXO

P.S. Extra echidna puggle-snuggles for you blessed paid subscribers. You make the magic happen. Thank you.