#sunflower chat

do you know about medieval service magicians?? they had such a fascinating gig, melding what they could learn of academic ‘natural science’ with ancient local folklore and using it to do little odd jobs like healing you of a mysterious illness, or encouraging your crops to grow. it is my Personal Theory that elite universities and the clerical higher-ups did not like this esoteric magic in the hands of the people, which is why the universities condemned it alongside witchcraft for NO good reason and a few decades after the church decided to do the same (in spite of the fact that a good many local clerics were practicers - prayers aren’t so different from spells after all!) 

one thing I’ve been enjoying a lot lately is taking risks with cooking! I’ve always been very much a follow-recipes-to-the-letter kind of person (which is partly because I’m used to baking, partly because I am neurotic as hell) and the realisation that I can just…. not do that… when I’m making a meal is really exciting to me. the other day I made the lauded nyt garlic chicken recipe for the second time but with a few spontaneous tweaks and it turned out even better which made me feel like a culinary genius and I’m making it again tonight!!

every humanities student says this but damn I miss reading for pleasure sooo much!! I went to amsterdam last weekend and on the train/flight there and back I did so much reading and it was such a joy, I wish I had the time & attention span to do it more. over christmas I get a week-long break where I’ve planned not to do ANY assignment work and I’m going to let myself do some reading then I think. before then I’m going to write up a list of books that look potentially exciting and delightful and that way I’ll have lots to choose from (and I won’t waste half of my pleasure reading time hunting for material)!