Weekly R.E.P.O.R.T

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Apparently the cool kids are doing a weekly REPORT. The acronym stands for: stands for reading, eating, playing, obsessing, recommending, and treating. Obviously content creators also include pics but yeah, not happening here, So here goes

Reading: Thick: And Other Essays

Eating: The best kingklip

Playing: Apple Music’s 30 Years of Freedom playlists (Laduma and Brenda Mtambo especially)

Obsessing: Backseat car organisers

Recommending: The podcast No Stupid Questions

Treating: Woolworths’ Almond Milk and Vanilla handwash and lotion

Sunday Reads

• Ways to Lead and Love Your Wife (and Husband)
• Moving to a new city is emotional but the 20’s is the best time to do it.
• Why is learning not adapting to the current times?
• Reader’s block is a thing.
• Book recommendations for high schoolers.
• When you feel like you are wasting your life.

Recipes

• Salads Without Lettuce
• 10 Simple Tricks for Better Home-Brewed Coffee
• Easy Vegetarian Recipes
• Sometimes I work from home and it would be nice to have a variety of lunch recipes to save myself eating cereal or cheese sandwiches.
• Chicken and rice recipes, so yum

Recent podcasts I’ve listened to and loved

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In one sentence or less, I will summarise the different podcast episodes I listened to last week and loved or learnt something from.

• Purely catastrophic that women were ignored by Science for so long.
• There is a side of Jamaica we think we know, but we actually know nothing of.
• Natural events as a difference-in-difference tool.
• Oh to be young and finishing school with the whole world ahead of you.
• So many lessons for a working mom
• What happens to old people in prison?
• The kid dynamics in this family are so interesting and cute.
• What if you or your friend is in love with a narcissist?
• My view(s) on addiction was changed totally by this episode. Radio at its’ BEST.

Anything interesting you have listened to recently?

Thursday Jam

Something about this beat is very catchy, hope you also bounce to it.

Two new and fave shows

The premise of Only Murders and The After Party is quite similar: armateur sleuths trying to solve a crime. I have torn through season 1 and 2 of Only Murders and the first season of The After Party and highly recommend both. I also like about both that they are light hearted, fun, easy to follow, not hectic plot driven stories. Please, life is too serious to add that into the mix. I can’t stand Selena Gomez’s talking voice but thats a minor irritation because I want to live in the Arconia and cannot get over how tastefully furnished Steve Martin’s house is. Seriously, if I was a house, that would so be me. Also, Tiffany Haddish is a bit caricature-ish but hey..

I also recently got into Riches and here Deborah Ayorindeh’s dresses were killer. Loved it and the relationship between her and her brother. Bad Sisters is my show. Its five sisters 🙂 LOVE IT.

I caved in and watched White Lotus and if waste of my time was a show. Overhyped, nonsensical, just random gibberish. Waste of my time.

What shows are you digging or are in your to watch list.

Sunday Reads

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• A super list of Best Books in 2022
• Talking to kids about money and saving
• A Guide To ‘The Real Housewives’ Beauty Brands (All 52 Of Them)
• 4 Ways Feminism Misunderstands Motherhood
• Keep calm and manage your emotions during the holidays
• Already feeling lighter as I won’t be spending Christmas with the in-laws but here’s how you can set up boundaries if you are.
• Do people still send Christmas cards and if so how do you display them?

Recipes

• I want to bake these cookies with the young lady.
• Fluffy Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes with Toasted Pecans
• I love me some lasagna

Sunday Reads

• What happens when you share your name with the pandemic?
• Ever heard of a prison fixer? Yep – its a thing.
• Stories of infertility. What happens when it takes longer than you think and you still have no solution?
• 5 types of baby books that boost their brain and teach them to love reading
• Raising Bible friendly kids
• How to lessen the load as the default parent
• 9 Things Boys Need To Hear From Their Father At Home

Recipes

• Vegetable Fried Rice
• Birthday Cake Cookies
• Tuna Tacos with Cilantro Lime Slaw
• Eggs with chickpeas, spinach and tomato

niteflix

Dreams so complex in plot and rich in production value that they seem like feature length films.

Some more podcast recommendations

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• I loved how Dr Gotian talked about important vs interesting work and how she thinks about mentoring and her daily work practices.
• How To Speak Up So Others Listen and why you should develop a writing habit
• This podcast looks at birthing experiences of black mothers in America. This episode was jarring but very good listening.
• This Freakonomics MD episode “Would you rather see a computer or a doctor?” raised some fascinating questions and research findings.
• I loved learning about the female con artist.
• Yes!! Open up space to people of all abilities.
• About Black Fatherhood.
• Ear hustle takes the road.
• Such injustice and inequality! Jeez, when does it let up.

Bookish Sunday Reads

• I didn’t think this book was worth the hype but the interview was informative.
• For book club in February, we are reading two of Abdulrazak Gurnah‘s books.
• How Should Christians Think About Productivity?
• 100 bucket list books. I have only read 11 on this list.
• Some great book recommendations in this blog post and the comments.
• Some more books to look out for in 2022.
• Occasionally, I like to read short stories. Here are some if you do too 🙂

Book Recommendations for the Holidays

• Brittle Books
• Kottke (also look out for the other in-text recommendations)
• Read it Forward
• NPR Book Concierge

TED’s winter reading list: 78 feel-good books — ideas.ted.com

Enthusiastic recommendations for reads that will provide you with abundant reasons to rejoice, reflect or recharge, as suggested by TED speakers and TED-Ed educators. If you’re searching for some calm The Peace of Wild Things: And Other Poems by Wendell Berry This little book of poetry is my current morning dose of calm, and I use…

via TED’s winter reading list: 78 feel-good books — ideas.ted.com

In case you are looking for some great reading recommendations and some great TED talks to listen to.

Podcast Recommendations

In the past couple of weeks I have listened to some really interesting podcast episodes that I thought I should share.

• Before The Next One – This American Life

• Is Ron Brown High School Working?  – Code Switch

• The Sports Trilogy (Episode 349 – 351)  – Freakonomics
• Catch a Kite 3 – Ear Hustle
• Be a Good Ancestor – Call your Girlfriend
• Blacklisted in China – Planet Money

Have you listened to something interesting recently?

Some Recipes to Try

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• Nine great lentil soups
• Garlic Rosemary Masala Fries
• Curried Red Lentil Hummus
• Delicious Vegan Pasta Recipes for Weeknights
• Cooking with butternut
• … and more butternut recipes here

My current to-read list

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I have read a couple of great books but recently I just hit a brick wall and can’t seem to get into anything. So I have a couple of books that I am trying to get into:

• The Female Persuasion – Meg Woltzer
• A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara
• The Blessed Girl – Angela Makholwa
• The Gold Diggers: A Novel –  Sue Nyathi
• What we Lose – Zinzi Clemmons
• Half a Lifelong Romance – Ellen Chang

Have you read any of these books and if so, in what order would you recommend them?

Sunday Reads

• Show some love for my new hood.
• What was the first meal you cooked for your beloved other? I went with lamb, not sure why!!
• Podcasts by black women, for black moms.
• I love how this former lesbian talked about her Christian faith.
• Sometimes false Christian theology masquerades itself in variously.
• Don’t dumb yourself down for a marriage partner!
• 10 Outstanding Short Stories to Read 
• Essential Indian Street Food

Recipes

• Lemongrass Poached Chicken Salad With Rice Noodles
• Tomato & Grilled Eggplant Stacked Sandwich
• Smoky Instant Pot Lentils and Rice (Pressure Cooker)
• Spicy, Sweet, Tart, and Savory, Eggplant Side
• Stracciatella Gelato 
• Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Friday Feels

I recently discovered H.E.R. and love some of her songs.

 

 

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy Fathers Day

• When God Withholds Something Good
• The case for going to Church while on vacation.
• Very important to critically review the lyrics of popular Worship songs.
• Anyone looking for book recommendations from TED Speakers.
• A book on xenophobia in South Africa.
• How hard are we pushing ourselves and how do we regulate that?
• Staying the distance when you have a lot to get through.
• Great to see Uganda topping a positive list.
• A Dad’s survival guide to his wife’s pregnancy.
• Some songs to play for your dad today 🙂

Recipes

• Another vegetarian pasta recipe
•  …. ssshhhh! and more pasta recipes here.

Belated Sunday Reads

Where are you going. You cannot leave with so many pieces of me still inside you. How will I ever put myself back together again.

Nikita Gill

• Breaking up with your phone.
• The loneliness of motherhood.
• Podcast recommendations for kiddos.
• On raising a boy.
• Women and their self selection into low-status and/or low-paying jobs.
• Mhhhh, the true state of media in Kenya.
• I can’t imagine purging any books but this is how you could go about it.
• Hospitality and church planting go together.
• Women and active ministry.
• Black Panther will inspire a lot of hair styles.
• Do you Airbnb during your travels?
• Are you part of a momarazzi crew?

Recipes

• I love the idea of baking only two doughnuts.
• Have your way with vegetarian quinoa recipes.
• Lemon, garlic and shrimp, yummmy!!

Sunday Reads

• Podcasts for the economist / development practitioner on holiday.
• Game of Thrones meets poetry
• On waiting eagerly and patiently.
• On building your instincts.
• Trusting God through financial difficulty
• Loss in motherhood will always defeat me.
• The hashtag #MeTooPhD had me shaken.

Recipes

• Styling a charcuterie and cheese board.
• Butternut humus sounds like a good idea.
• Did someone say seafood and  rice in a pilaf?