January 2025

What I’ve been reading, watching, making, and otherwise doing for the past month!

In January, I spent most of my free time just generally puttering about the house, but I also spent some time wandering around aimlessly outdoors and sprucing up this little old website a bit. It even snowed down here in Houston!!!

We also have a new addition to our family: Kevin, a menace kitten.

Books + Media | Arts + Crafts | Food + Health


Books + Media

  • Audiobook — The Mabinogion transl. by Sioned Davies, circa 1350
  • Audiobook — Upanishads transl. by Thomas Egenes and Vernon Katz, circa 600 BC
  • Book — The Makioka Sisters by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, 1943
  • Book — The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, 1952
  • Book — Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, 1992
  • Book — Arabian Nights by anon. and transl. by Antoine Galland and Edward William Lane, ed. by Muhsin al-Musawi, circa 900
  • Animated series — Star Trek: Lower Decks produced by Paramount+, voiced by Eugene Cordero, Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, and Noël Wells, 2020–2024
  • YouTube series — Jamie and Julia starring Jamie Tracey at The Anti-Chef, 2020–TBD
  • Podcast — Wine 101 hosted by Keith Beavers, produced by VinePair, 2020–TBD
  • Podcast — If Books Could Kill hosted by Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri, 2022–TBD

Arts + Crafts

Nothing this month!

Food + Health

I have opted to do a little writing about my cooking hobby on Substack — Eats + Makes

Up until recently, I’ve been posting my cooking adventures to Instagram… but that platform has become increasingly unfun for me over the past few years for several reasons. I’m hoping that this more long-form-friendly platform will scratch my hobby sharing itch without entirely devolving to what has become the algorithm manipulation game that has become typical of most social media.

Of course, there’s always this place. I’ve kept the post content here mostly focused on books these past few years, with the exception of a few project-specific pages and these monthly wrap-ups. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Maybe it can’t.

  • Walking, 15.5 hours (45.5 miles)
  • The Conqueror “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” series, “The Gorn” section — 45.5 total miles

I haven’t had a lot of outdoors time this month; I could blame the wild weather, and that did have a bit of an impact, but…. in reality, I’m still in semi-hibernation mode TBH.

  • Cookbook cook-thru project – Baking Yesteryear by B. Dylan Hollis, 2023
  • Cookbook cook-thru project – Dining In by Alison Roman, 2017
  • Cookbook cook-thru project – The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by J. Kenji López-Alt, 2015
  • Cookbook cook-thru project – Methodist Morsels by the Cookbook Committee of the First United Methodist Church of Lamesa, Texas, 1983
  • Cookbook cook-thru project – Pirate’s Pantry by the Junior League of Lake Charles, Louisiana, 1976
  • Cookbook cook-thru project – Cook’s Illustrated All-Time Best French Recipes, […] Hot and Spicy Recipes, […] Side Dish Recipes special eds., 2018
  • Magazine clippings cook-thru project
  • Wine tasting project – Wine Folly by Madeline Puckette, 2015
    Hiatus for Dry January
  • The Conqueror “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” series, “The Gorn” section
  • The Conqueror “Conquer 2025” annual challenge

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