Overstuffed Wraps, Detectives, Divers

This week felt very different from the week before, with no hosting/food sharing situations at all, and a full week of school marking a return to the routine, although after-school activities have not started up yet. 

A beautiful pergola
on my walking route

Every day after lunch, I took a break from my desk and treated myself to a solid walk. It was very hot in the middle of the day, but the blue skies and blooming flowers made up for it. However, I made the mistake of walking in my work shoes (assorted slip-on shoes and sandals), and by Friday, I had sharp pain while walking on my right leg. That was alarming. I self-diagnosed it as shin splints from walking in unsupportive shoes. 

A friend had invited me to go on an overnight trip this weekend. It would have been a wonderful little escape, walking to restaurants in a small mountain town, scrambling up to find cool swimming holes, some hiking...but I reluctantly canceled the trip to stay home and rest my legs. The timeout has certainly helped, because the leg isn't hurting any more. And...a lesson learned- I'll be careful to stash a pair of sneakers under my desk from now on.

No banana for scale, but this hibiscus
was the size of a dinner plate!

I took advantage of the suddenly-empty weekend calendar to stay home, put off errands, sit around a lot, and potter about when I felt like it. The result was great- I watched a fun movie, finished a great book (more on those below), and got the satisfaction of organizing a messy cabinet and unpacking the last of our bags. Before the travels, I had picked up a small embroidery kit to work on during layovers, but didn't take it with me in the end. This weekend was the perfect time to make this sweet little design that now hangs on my kitchen corkboard. Embroidery is such fun! 

* * *

A sampling of meals from this week-

I had beautiful (and pricey) heirloom tomatoes from a sadly infrequent visit to the farmers' market. I used some in an open faced tomato and pesto sandwich as part of a this-and-that dinner that also featured some rajma, veggie sausage, spinach dip, and cucumbers. It reminded me that seasonal tomatoes are incredibly good!

I was in the mood for a big and hearty burrito. For that, you really need those burrito-sized tortillas that are large enough to stuff generously and roll properly. This one was a breakfast for dinner situation, with scrambled eggs, boiled potatoes and soy chorizo, served with a cabbage and avocado slaw.

Every few days, I soak and sprout beans or lentils, cook them lightly, and use them in various ways. This was my daughter's lunch yesterday, a veggie wrap made with the biggie tortillas stuffed with hummus, cooked sprouted lentils, veggie sausage, cucumbers, all sprinkled with tajin for a burst of flavor before wrapping and halving. 

* * * 

I was very reading-deficient this summer due to lack of time and lack of access. I did use the library app Libby to try listening to an audiobook for the first time- a mystery, All The Devils are Here by Louise Penny from the Inspector Gamache series. It was good but I realized that I was zoning out at times and unable to flip back and catch up on what I've missed. (You can rewind, but it is inconvenient to find exactly what you missed.) I'm not sure audiobooks are my thing but maybe I'm just not used to the format. 

We shopped for books a few times- mostly in Crossword, the chain bookstore in malls, and a couple of others bookshops that we came across. For the most part, I was focused on helping the kids pick out boredom-busting books. 

For myself, I picked out a couple of easy-reading books set in India. The first was The Star from Calcutta, a 2026 book by Sujata Massey from her Perveen Mistry series. It was a good read but I left it behind in the guest house for others to read (along with a dozen other books we purchased), not wanting to carry it back with me. 

The second book was the Feluda Omnibus by Satyajit Ray, and this one did earn a place in my suitcase. The legendary film director Satyajit Ray also wrote a beloved series of mystery novels featuring the private investigator/ detective Feluda and his sidekick, his young cousin Tapesh/ Topshe. These books are simply delicious and delightful- Feluda and Topshe find themselves traveling to various locations in India, staying in guest houses, traveling in tongas and trains and taxis, encountering folks of all stripes and solving a variety of mysteries. These books were likely targeted to a younger audience but they have an enthusiastic fan in me. My aunt mentioned that some of the Feluda movies are on YouTube in their entirety- today I found one with English subtitles- Joi Baba Felunath, a 1979 movie by Satyajit Ray, and it was such a fun watch. Made my day.

This week I also found myself completely immersed (hah) in a book called Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson, published in 2004. Narrative nonfiction is one of my favorite genres (as I have mentioned in this post), and this book is an excellent example of how a skilled author can weave an exciting and engrossing and completely true story (the research is meticulous.) While I have no particular interest in WWII or deep water diving or shipwrecks, I was enthralled by this account. 

Tell me your highlights from last week!