child of the 90s/teen of the early 2000s

overheard today in the ladies' room at work--

a copywriter and a graphic designer were talking about reese witherspoon & ryan philippe. they brought up old movies like cruel intentions and fear (ooh ahh-ing at mark wahlberg) followed by a wistful remark about freddie prince jr. in i know what you did last summer.

old school to me includes spice girls and backstreet boys (admitted with a hint of embarrassment). it's funny to think about the things we used to think were so important, so amazing...and now, we barely care about them. i've recently learnt a lesson in excess, especially when it comes to things that you can't eat or drink. recently found a bunch of gimp and pogs from the 90s in a drawer at home. the gimp is oily and discolored, and i've sort of forgotten how to play with pogs.

all that stuff gave off a sense of vague material nostalgia but mostly i think they were just a reminder of childish impulse (or foolishness?).

artifacts

i've never been much of a believer in objects. i'm big on place, not things. but today i looked through one of my grandmother's recipe books and missed her a lot. her handwriting was rather legible (in comparison to my mothers) and she always had this habit of using free notebooks to record everything in--recipes, inventories (of possessions such as suitcases or jewelry with diagrams of each item which i used to help her draw), the bible in chinese written character by character.



here written on the pisces page is a recipe for beef tongue stew (which she spelled more like "stool").

instructions:
scrape the tongues until clean then bake for 20 minutes
cut into pieces

dice potatoes then steam until cooked
slice onions into rings
cut tomatoes into wedges
stir-fry together. season with maggi, worcestershire sauce, ketchup.
add roux (cornflour dissolved in water).

remarks:
use any kind of liquor for stewing.
add coriander root & pepper

also found this book of recipes that she consulted from time to time.



500 Savory & Sweet Thai Recipes

it's yellow & spotty, literally falling apart. i was drawn to the image on the cover, just thinking about the way the woman was squatting down next to a charcoal stove, her children part of the scene. and where was the man of the house?