Happy Friday! I’m starting to see Christmas decorations popping up, and I can’t believe we are heading right into the holiday season.
What’s on my mind?
I am writing this a few days early as we are heading home Thursday, and I will likely want to relax Friday.
Traveling during COVID is…different. Staying outside the city you’re flying out of (when you have an 8am flight) also makes things a bit more challenging.
We need to find, schedule, and get our COVID antigen tests today or tomorrow. Then we also need to coordinate and purchase tickets to get to the airport. Unfortunately, we will likely be waking up around 4am local (1am PT) on Thursday to get to the airport on time.
Because we are planning to create a buffer just in case the airport is a mess, I’m sure getting through security will take less than 15 minutes.
Lastly, we have to pack. It’s not the first time we’ve packed during this trip, but it will be the most complicated occurrence. We have managed to accumulate things (clothes, souvenirs, food?) over the last five and a half months, and I’m not sure how we’re going to get it all to fit.
Then once I’m “home”, I’ll need to turn around and pack again to head back to LAX. It’ll all be worth it though.
What I’m streaming
My streaming and reading/audiobook-ing are slowly starting to equal out a bit. However, I am still streaming quite a bit.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
This has become the de facto go-to show we watch when we aren’t sure what to stream. I’m not sure why I had never previously gotten into this show, but it is hilarious. While it’s not quite The Office-level, it is that type of workplace sitcom.
We are either deep into season two or early into season three, but the show is great and continues to get better. I am bummed, however, because we only get this show on Netflix because we are in Mexico.
Blade Runner 2049
This is a movie Yunji and I had both tried (and failed) to watch on a previous flight. After watching it again (or for the first time in one sitting), I definitely did enjoy it.
However, I’m not at all surprised I fell asleep during this movie on the plane. It is a gorgeous film. If you watched it without sound, you would still likely enjoy it because of how pretty the cuts/scenes are.
After watching this, I can also imagine how bad Denis Villeneuve wanted to direct Dune.
The last thing I will say is it probably does make more sense to watch this film after the original Blade Runner. There were many times we were quite confused, and I am sure missing the first movie did not help.
What I’m reading: Malibu Rising
Okay, so I actually finished this earlier today. While it was a page turner, I’m not sure how I’d rate it. It’s definitely better than a 3 but not quite a 4 (3.5, duh, you might say).
I loved the pathos (zero clue if I’m using this correctly) of the characters and the setting. Growing up on the beach in Malibu in the 80s/90s with three siblings sounds pretty ideal.
For me, the first half (or part, actually) of the book easily trumped the second part. There were times when some of the writing got a little too romantic/feminine for my taste, but that’s sort of my only critique.
Because I’m on the heels of finishing Malibu Rising, I decided to start Daisy Jones & the Six. I’m only a handful of pages in, but I am enjoying it so far.
What’s on my tastebuds?
I think I droned on too much about what I ate last week, so I’ll just quickly highlight two things here: Chez Celine’s baguette & La Cochi Loka’s costra.
Chez Celine’s baguette
I have been dealing with sandwich breads I don’t like for the bulk of our Mexico trip. While there have been some outliers (yay Chedraui), the bulk of the bread hasn’t been good (e.g.: Bimbo, Oroweat).
Not sure why it took us so long to figure out, but we finally picked up a baguette from the French spot we’ve been frequenting. I don’t know how a baguette can be so good. We are going to pick up another baguette tomorrow to make a “sandwich” for our meal-less flight Thursday.
La Cochi Loka’s costra
This is a favorite place of mine and unfortunately somewhere Yunji doesn’t enjoy. Because she was busy with work, I knew this was the perfect place to have a solo lunch.
While I originally planned to have a panucho, for the second or third time they weren’t serving them. They did however still have costras available.
Costra translates roughly to scab. Why am I getting pumped over eating a scab? Because in the culinary sense, it’s when you melt cheese over a griddle then add your meat before adding the concoction (typically) on top of a flour tortilla.
Costras might be my favorite Mexican item. I don’t think I’ve had a single costra from anywhere that didn’t get me downright excited.
What’s up this weekend?
This weekend will be our first back in LA since May! The current forecast is high 80s! I thought we were leaving the hot weather. If Yunji is still craving beach time, we might go to the Westside or Long Beach.
Sunday, will be another Formula 1 Grand Prix at a non-shitty (read: after 6am PT) start time. If anyone wants to watch the Brazil GP, I might go to hang out and watch.
What I can almost guarantee this weekend is one thing: Korean food. It hasn’t hit me yet, but I am so excited to eat some Korean food and drink some soju!
Thank you for visiting and reading. See you back here on Wednesday with another sabbatical post. If you want new content in the meantime head to youtube.com/intristang (new videos Saturdays and Wednesday)!
