“Drama Above” Cedar Park, 2020
🌥️
Almost Sunset
“Drama Above” Cedar Park, 2020
“Drama Above” Cedar Park, 2020
Tracking Down an Allergic Reaction
“Kitty” Cedar Park, 2020
Trying to social distance myself from the cats for a few days to see if I can isolate the cause of some skin irritation that has been bothering me for couple of months. It’s not serious, but would like to figure it out! It’s actually kind of fun to deduce what it could be… I’m weird like that. 😛 So, no touching the cats and let’s see if I still get an allergic reaction (usually starts in the evening).
Korean Fried Chicken and Spinach
“Korean Fried Chicken and Spinach” Cedar Park, 2020
Here are a couple of easy dishes that I made for dinner. The spinach recipe is super simple, with only a few ingredients. The fried chicken is a little more involved, but still at a level that I can handle. 😀
One comment about the chicken is that it is not spicy, even though I used a few large peppers. If you want to add some kick, make sure you use a fiery pepper! And one other thing, Maangchi fried the wings for 12 minutes, but I did it for 8, and next time, I think just 5 minutes for the first fry would be sufficient. YMMV of course!
Recipes:
Sayonara 2020 (I Wish)
“Sayonara 2020” Cedar Park, 2020
What a year… and it’s not even June. 😞
Eleanor & Park (2012) – Book Review
I finished reading (audiobook) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I was captivated by this YA novel from beginning to end. Set in Omaha, Nebraska, it’s about two high school students’ relationship. The year is 1986, which was the year I graduated, so the references to popular culture were familiar to me. I normally am put off by too many references in books, but I enjoyed the ones in Eleanor & Park. Some were pretty obscure, like the Prefab Sprout t-shirt towards the end of the book, which I really appreciated. I feel like only a certain 80s subculture, like the one my friends and I were part of, would recognize many of the references. But others, such as Totino’s Party Pizzas (we used to eat them all the time!) are common but add a lot of context to the times.
The love story is a simple one but the details and characters were very interesting. Eleanor is a misfit, Park is half-Asian, Eleanor has a large family with an abusive stepfather, while Park’s lives in a typical household. While it’s mainly a teen romance, subjects of bullying, domestic abuse, inter-racial relationships, and racism are also talked about, but not too deeply, which is kind of a shame and I think a little bit of a missed opportunity. However, the pace of the story moves along nicely and maybe it was just the right amount of lightly touching on those heavy subjects.
One thing to note is that some of the East-Asian stereotypes can be a bit “cringey” and reading them left me a little uncomfortable, but if I think about the setting of the story, it kind of makes sense. I don’t know if the author was intentionally describing Park like that to point out the stereotyped mindset of the time, but she could have been clearer. And I have never heard of “Park” as a first name (it is a common Korean surname).
I won’t give away the ending, but I will say that I thought it was excellent and I (unlike many other readers) was satisfied. That final chapter brought a big smile to my face and a little tear to my eye. 😊 Give it a read if you haven’t already!
Note: Book cover design by Olga Grlic and illustration by Harriet Russell
******** SPOILER ALERT *********
About the ending… it reminded me of the ending to Monsters Inc. It’s that same feeling.
By the way, I made a little sketch of Eleanor wearing Park’s Prefab Sprout t-shirt::
