I will start off with the traditional "What are you reading?" Wednesday stuff, because, once again, lo and behold, I have done the reading. 

A friend of mine recommended a supernational manga called Neko ga Nishi Mukya / When a Cat Faces West by Urushibara Yuki, which I adored. It's a manga series that's complete in three volumes, so if stories about how emotions might affect the world around us in a magical way and the super-chill "investigators"  check them out entrances you, this might be a series for you. Also, if you are interested in a more detailed review, you can find mine here: https://mangakast.wordpress.com/2025/02/24/neko-ga-nishi-mukya-when-a-cat-faces-west-by-urushibara-yuki/

Then, because I was in-between books, I settled in at dinner tonight with Betty Crocker's Hostess Cookbook.


Image: a very vintage book that, unfortunately, has ZERO recipes for how to cook a hostess.

So far (and I am only in the introduction), I'm learning a lot about how to balance my experise as a cook, the size of my living/dining room, and the relative usefulness of my various friend groups. Pro-tip: cultivate friends who "will carry part of the entertainment load for you." What can I say? I secretly really enjoy these little time capsules into a fictious world where middle class white women had time to consider the relative rudeness inviting someone via telephone (only for casual gatherings!) or hand-written invitation card (preferred, naturally!)

I'll let you know if there are any actually decent recipes.  I suspect (because I flipped ahead) there will, instead, be a LOT of fondue.

How about you? Reading anything interesting?

In other news, Shawn officially graduated from PT today. She's still disappointed in how much pain she feels after three months. Luckily, Chris, the physical therapist, reassured her that this is still very within the normal range. Apparently, Allina Health used to have people who'd gone through knee replacement near the same time form a cohort so that they could support and encourage each other. Chris noted that one of the upsides of this was that people had a much better sense of the "average" amount of pain, flexibility, etc. The internet likes to point out outliers: successes and disasters. And not a lot in between.

Appparently, the knee cohorts were one of the many things lost due to the pandemic. 

Anyway, in part to celebrate her official graduation (and other part Shawn getting stood up by a work friend), Shawn and I did something we almost never do, which is go out to lunch.  Shawn picked the place--Babani's, which is Kurdish food, and it was delightful. The company was, of course, superb.