Saturday 4 June 2011

if thou wouldst be perfect



Things I've done since handing in my dissertation (part 2):

I had the best day yesterday, it was almost perfect. My brother and I slowly cycled to an Italian restaurant, the temperature was just right (about 25 degrees) and I was about to eat really great pizza for the first time in months. I had daydreamed about eating pizza when I was stuck in the library... my daydreams are often quite mundane.
Plus I was wearing nice tan sandals for the first time in years, a fact that is clearly made of win. I've mostly stopped buying (non-thrifted) clothes and am in the midst of a lenghty process of giving about half of my stuff to charity shops. My brothers claim it is in fact a never-ending story. Whenever I do buy new stuff, it's stuff that is supposed to last years and years. Many 32 degrees Austrian summers will be made more comfortable by these sandals.
After the pizza I went to the cinema on my own, surely one of the greatest pleasures ever. To choose whatever silly film you want to see and go in the middle of the afternoon is just the nicest way to put your mind off things. I have a weird thing for semi-political spy movies, don't ask me why. When I left the cinema, it was raining. Summer rain is nice. I cycled home and thought about how to decorate the living room, something that I haven't had the chance to do because every creative impulse of mine was squashed by my dissertation. As you can see, hanging pictures on the wall is a very slow process.
In the evening, I made cinnamon buns - as promised - and listened to my brothers' friends and our neighboors cheer and groan all throughout the Germany vs Austria football game. Making cinnamon buns takes a long time (yeast!), but I listened to a radio programme about the Pelagian controversy and read several articles I've been meaning to read for ages whilst doing it, so that was all right. I'm not a great baker or cook, mostly because I'm impatient and don't really care about perfection, but working with yeast is very satisfying, especially when you get to think about the religious disputes of the 4th century, arguably one of my favourite topics ever.

8 comments:

  1. This really does sound so perfect. Your evening baking and listening to history programmes?! Amazing! I rarely work with yeast because of my impatience, but the thought of cinnamon buns is tempting me...

    This entire post has made me happy/envious at the same time. Continue!

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  2. die radiosendung hab ich im bus zum donaufestival angehört... good times!

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  3. i love yeast! i love how the dough rises and if you put some vanilla essence and orange zest it smells as if you re the greatest cook ever:) great stuff this yeast:magic in the kitchen. thanks for the recipe;)

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  4. ooh! those sandals are excellent!
    and that does sound like a very nice day!

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  6. I had the same sandals but just sold them on eBay: they didn't look half as good on my big (size 41) feet as they do on you. Love the clothes you wear with them!

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  7. Big feet: A problem I face on a daily basis. I'm trying to convince myself that it's all a matter of perspective and that they appear much bigger when looked at from above....

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