An update from home (but they all are!)

Normally, I'm home most days and I don't usually get that much done, but now that I'm forced to be home, I have been keeping myself busy. In the last few weeks, the hubster has joined me at home, which is simultaneously great and terrible. This month also saw the release of Animal Crossing New Horizons, which makes me feel like I need to be super productive when I'm not playing. All that to say, I think I'm doing a pretty good job. Solidarity in being stuck at home is definitely helping!

Completed:

87. cook all recipes from Spice Madam subscription

• I took the downtime this month to cook my last two boxes: Israel and Goa, India. 

Israel: Shakshuka

Israel: Shawarma, Israeli Salad, Hummus, Zhug Sauce

Goa: Lemon Rice, Mixed Vegetable Curry

Goa: Tomato and Onion Bhaji, Fish Curry

• Not pictured, the coconut baath cake - super yum. This was a really fun challenge and it was always exciting to get my spices in the mail. I didn't always agree with the recipes, but the spices were top shelf. 12 items done now!

Updates:

21. read 30 new Newbery award or honor books (25/30)

• So close! I read What Hearts and New Kid this month. New Kid is the most recent winner and also happens to be a graphic novel! The first graphic novel to ever get the Newbery! I love that it won, but I'm sad to say I didn't love the art in it. So I wish a better graphic novel had one, but still. 

23. see 30 new animated films (18/30)

• We've instituted watching a movie a day while Hubster's been home, and I've been catching him up on my favorite as well as watching new ones. As far as animated films go, we've seen Onward, The Incredibles 2, and The Lego Ninjago Movie. They were all pretty good! Onward was probably my favorite of the three. I'm happy/sad it got released digitally early. We were planning on going to see it in theaters, but then we didn't feel comfortable going to the theater. :(

31. a year of (silly) holiday celebration

• March's celebrations included Casimir Pulaski Day, Pound Cake Day, Dress Day, and Tea for Two Tuesday (including scones!)

33. attend ECCC or another major con with Garrett

• This was supposed to be a completed item, but COVID-19 had to happen. They did reschedule and we were able to transfer our tickets for free, so hopefully everything works out for August!

35. watch 10 anime series (2/10)

• Hubster beat Persona 4 Golden and wanted to check out the anime - it's only 12 episodes, so we binged it in a weekend! I'm cool with that. 

44. see a touring Broadway show

• I was optimistic and bought tickets for a show in Spokane in May. It might not happen. We will see. Prepare for the worst, expect the best, right?

47. go through the Coverville backlog

• I'm over halfway through (that's 700+ episodes so far)! I'll have to keep up with it to the end of the list, but, I'm feeling good and have found lots of good tunes.

60. r/52weeksofcooking - year-long cooking challenge

• This has been so fun, you guys.

Brazilian: Brazilian Lemonade (it's actually made with limes)

Fermented: Kimchi Soondubu Stew

Kawaii: Psyduck Omelette Rice

Peppers: "Grandma's Special" Grilled Cheese - I'm also letting this one count for:

85. recreate 20 meals from media (1/20)

• I made the above grilled cheese after reading Tweet Cute by Emma Lord - two teens unwittingly fight over this recipe on Twitter so I had to try it out. It's sourdough, apple butter (it was supposed to be jam, but I couldn't find it), honey mustard, muenster, cheddar, and peppers. I was a bit hesitant, but it was delicious!! Now I need to decide what to do with these recipes. Should I start a separate blog for them? I don't even know. But this was great.

91. play 20 games from Board Game Geek's top 100 (7/20)

• My update on this is I officially decided to do the top 200 instead of 100. The top 100 is full of expensive strategy games that would be hard to get my hands on, and if I did, they're not always my cup of tea. Expanding it lets me play smaller games that I can get my hands on more easily, like Jaipur! We ordered this one when we realized we'd be stuck at home for a while. It's a two-player game so it's perfect for us and we had a lot of fun with it.

I won!

99. complete a reading challenge (15/50)

• It's been some good reading time! This month I finished 7 books for my challenge: a book by a woman of color (Americanah), a book with a pun in the title (Tweet Cute), a book released in 2020 (Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom), a book set in an Olympic host city (The Downstairs Girl), a book with a three-word title (The Red Tent), a book with the whose author is in their 20s (The Fire Never Goes Out), and a book with a book on the cover (Good Omens). 

As the stay home order continues here, I'm hoping to continue riding my wave of productivity. I think I could finish the Newbery books, and get some headway on cooking challenges. We'll probably continue our movie-a-day tradition and expand to some documentaries and international films. We'd also like to support some local restaurants, though our favorites in town have already closed. :( Gotta stay busy and do good things (but also enjoy wasting time playing Animal Crossing and watching Survivor - no shame)!