If We Were Having Coffee (27 Oct, 2020)
"Siri, define 'spoopy'?"
Good morning, friends!
It’s less than two months until the days start to get longer again - it might seem ridiculous to start that countdown now, but I find that it really helps. Soon enough, the evenings will be lit up by twinkly lights and bright decorations, and although the lead-up to Christmas will look a little different this year, it most definitely isn’t cancelled.
If we were sitting in the park with a coffee, I’d be telling you that:
I’ve recently realised how much I’m missing hearing the sound of communal singing - and so the Guardian article about the Poor Clares of Arundel, an order of enclosed nuns whose album is out now, couldn’t have come at a better time. Just listening to the first couple of tracks brought me an immense sense of calm; I hope it can bring you the same
For the first time ever, I have managed to maintain a Duolingo streak of more than about 10 days; inspired by Rebecca at Everyday Parisian, I started a 100-Day Challenge in the second week of September, so that I could fit all 100 days into 2020. As I write this, I’m on a 36-day streak of learning French, which I’m so excited about! Oui, cette maison est blanche. Etc.
A week or so ago I took a bag full of books which I wanted to pass on and topped up a local Little Free Library. I would normally take them to the charity shop, but they are full of donations and most of these weren’t of saleable quality anyway. I went past again on Sunday and there were lots of big gaps where I’d put my books - so I hope their new readers are enjoying them!
I had noticed lots of people using the term ‘spoopy’ this Halloween season - enough to be sure that it wasn’t just a typo. So I finally Googled it - and in case you too were wondering, here is the definition from Dictionary.com.
Spoopy is an internet slang term used to describe something that is "spooky" but in a comical or cute way, such as a puppy in a ghost costume or a goofy Halloween video. It is based on a viral picture of a Halloween decoration that misspelled spooky as spoopy.If you’ve been around for a little while, you’ll know that I’m a massive Smitten Kitchen fan - and now it’s definitely Pumpkin Spice season (#basic) I whipped up a batch of muffins using her pumpkin loaf recipe. It uses one 425g can of pumpkin puree - I usually find it in Sainsbury’s - and makes either one massive loaf cake or 18 generous muffins. The recipe is dairy-free by default, and I have skipped the eggs before without any problems to make it vegan (although only as muffins - I think it needs the eggs for structural integrity when it’s a loaf cake). Anyway - Halloween cupcakes!
The insides are bright orange - wonderfully festive.In more Halloween-related news, I was overjoyed to see that some people have created chutes to send sweets down to trick-or-treaters. I live in an upstairs flat and am thinking about rigging up some sort of pulley system…
Despite the fact that I’ll be celebrating Halloween alone, I’m wondering about setting up my own apple-bobbing or doughnut-string game. Probably the doughnuts, let’s be honest!
A newish podcast find for me is Hysteria; I found it through Alyssa Mastromonaco, one of the hosts, who used to be a key member of team Obama and is great to follow on Instagram (I will be following her lead and making my personal account private again - less than a month open and I’ve had too many creepy men offering to pay for my company 🤢). Anyway, I recommend a recent episode featuring Elizabeth Warren - she spills the beans about what Bailey (her lovely dog) will be wearing for Halloween!
I want to tell you about a gorgeous new romance I read last week: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. I started it one evening and then had a lie-in the next morning so I could finish it before I had to be at work (aka, in the next room, sitting at my desk). So take it from me - don’t start reading this during the work week! It kicks off with one of my favourite tropes - fake relationship - but like all good romance novels it goes a lot deeper and both of the main characters are fully developed and have real character arcs.
Lastly, there has been some incredibly exciting news recently! No, I don’t mean the moon news - but rather about Legally Blonde 3! Omigod, you guys! Mindy Kaling is writing the script, the gang is coming back together, and the release date has been set for May 2022.
If you don’t know the musical yet, you should stop reading right now and go and listen to it straight through. And then once more, singing along.
I will leave you all bending and snapping (Elle Woods is an inspiration, honestly), and I hope you manage to celebrate Halloween in a way that brings you joy. I’ll talk to you next week!
Lily
Find me on Instagram: @LilyMCooks
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