if only I had his ability to LOCK IN on a task without distraction until achieved

The photographer pulled away just in time, but Pal later received his proper tax payment of two egg white morsels anyway

I did enjoy a lot of things about the book—very compelling read! & up until the 2/3 mark I thought it was great at evoking sympathy for boy who became a monster without flinching away from the present reality that he IS a monster & must be stopped. But no one else got that sympathetic treatment.

An attempt to photograph a plate of avocado toast (toasted sourdough, sliced avocado, fried egg) is photobombed by a ravenous grey cat standing on his hind legs and reaching out with both front paws like a bear. His eyes are boba pearls of hunger.

Made avocado toast this morning, topped with a fried egg. Seasoned with Penzey’s Outrage, a few drops lime juice, some black pepper & crunchy black Icelandic volcanic salt gifted by a friend.

Photo by @meowbrey.bsky.social & Paladin. (Who was NOT invited to breakfast but showed up anyway).

3 quart-size deli containers, 1 pint-size container, and 1 one-cup container, all full of a rich golden-brown chicken stock glistening with fat and gelatin

Our local Chinese grocery sells 3 chicken carcasses for $3. Roasted carcasses then added bones from a Costco rotisserie chicken, some celery & onion trimmings, half a carrot, peppercorns & rosemary: simmered 5 hours. Strain & reduce, simmer 1 hour more.

3.75 quarts heavenly gelatin-rich stock.

A handsome grey cat has one paw on his owner’s thigh. He is wearing a bow tie and an intent expression

The cat would like to politely draw your attention to the fact that you are eating shrimp and he is not. You have 10 seconds to rectify this before he lunges for your chopsticks

19. THE LISTENERS, Maggie Stiefvater (2025).

A luxury WV hotel must host Axis diplomats during WWII, entangling the hotel’s general manager with a taciturn FBI agent & endangering the secrets they both conceal.

Read on a plane. It…passed the time? Wanted both more from the book & less of it.

THE POET EMPRESS, Shen Tao (2025).

To kill the murderous prince she’s married, an illiterate concubine must first learn to write—and to understand him.

Wanted to like this more than I did. Book sought to humanize a monster without redeeming, but no one else got the same compassion he did.

A white bowl of Vietnamese beef & pork noodle soup in a gorgeous red broth. The bowl is filled with chunks of braised beef, meatballs, pork & fish sausage, fresh herbs, and red onion all served over white rice noodles.

A white bowl of Vietnamese beef & pork noodle soup in a gorgeous red broth. The bowl is filled with chunks of braised beef, meatballs, pork & fish sausage, fresh herbs, and red onion all served over white rice noodles.

Eventually we tromped back home a weary crew, but not too weary for our friends to whip up a fantastic homemade Bún bò Huế for dinner. (Six hours of braising time over the past couple of days… we are very lucky in our friends.)

View overlooking UBC rose garden to the sea inlet and then the mountains of North Vancouver rising beyond. At the bottom of the photo frame is a brass plaque in bas relief identifying the mountain peaks.

View down a wooden step staircase curving down a ravine through a Pacific Northwest forest of fir, cedar, and fern

View of the wooden step staircase descending through a lushly forested ravine

A rocky, empty beach with the tide lapping the shore. Beyond the inlet low mountains rise. The sky is blue and the sun lowers just out of frame to the left

We walked 15 km yesterday, but took enough breaks to be only mildly footsore— poké & pastries for lunch, then a welcome rest while our friends caught up with some work. Then off we plunged again through UBC campus to the rose garden & then down rainforest steps to a gloriously empty rocky beach.

Enormous white cherry tree on a green field against a blue sky

Huge clusters of white cherry blossoms

White-blossomed branches against a blue sky

A cherry blossom that almost fills a person’s palm

We came a little too late for the most glorious pink cherries, but the white ones are still enthralling.

Two enormous rhododendrons bushes, one pink and one white, with another pink one faintly visible in the background. They are each climbing towards 3 meters high. And these are not the big ones.

Closeup of white rhododendron flowers with faintly pink hearts and black-tipped stamen

A huge punk rhododendron bush against a blue sky, with a “morioka weeping” in the background

I TOLD YOU THEY CAME IN TREES. two enormous rhododendrons TREES with a very small person between them

Rhododendrons come in TREES

Shockingly pink saucer magnolia against a blue sky

This magnolia tree is so, so big. And so, so pink

Cannot adequately capture how very big and very pink this tree is

Pink magnolia tree seen from a distance. In the foreground is a small pond with a stone Japanese lantern. Pink blossoms carpet the ground. The magnolia is almost as tall as the towering evergreens behind it

I warned you there would be magnolia

Old evergreen trees in a temperate rainforest tower above ferns. An aluminum mesh bridge is supended between the trees almost 20 meters above the forest floor.

A view looking down from the lookout tower at the aluminum bridge crossing between tree-hung platforms

A view arching up the treehung bridge through the canopy of an old forest, with the sun rising behind the trees

View looking down at the suspended bridge through the forest canopy

Visiting friends in Vancouver this weekend and started the day with a walk to (and through) the UBC Botanical Garden, which has an old-growth rainforest studded with Asian magnolia and rhododendron among the red cedar and Douglas fir—and a 23-meter high treewalk below the canopy.

Tuyo Visit Amazon's Tuyo Page and shop for all Tuyo books. Check out pictures, author information, and reviews of Tuyo

Celebrating the release of the 12th book with a Tuyo-series sale:

www.amazon.com/dp/B08HM3X7B8

SO good. We’re home in our comfortable space again, but it’s also NEW and BRIGHTER and FANCY (and we’re buying lots of decor & organizational stuff we never bothered with before, which is also tremendous fun). Still have some final painting etc to do, but 90% of the way there!

Two bowls on a white counter filled with udon noodles with braised minced pork & mushroom, bok choy with garlic, and cucumber.

Forgot to photograph the first meal cooked in our newly renovated condo, so here’s the second: udon noodles with braised minced pork & mushroom, bok choy with garlic, and cucumber.

“A thing can be true, even if it isn’t accurate.”

Such a fantastic (and true) line and a great essay about a book I dearly loved. I had no idea there were sequels / a whole franchise. You’ve set me a quest to find them!

I went in with an open mind but I still didn’t expect someone’s very own painted Egyptian tomb

Google Translate did NOT succeed in translating the caption for me, but the poster was so funny anyway that I had to comment. 😂

This poster is the funniest thing I have seen today because it’s like OMINOUS DARK GOTHIC MOODY … cow

Tbh they’re probably the first flowers of spring, since they look significantly more advanced than the snowdrops and crocus I’ve passed by, but they’re the third I’VE seen and that’s all that matters.

Yellow-hearted, white-petalled hellebore flowers growing in green-leafed clusters amid fallen brown leaves

The Third Flowers of Spring, after snowdrops and crocus: hellebore, also called winter rose or Lenten rose. Spotted huge clusters today all over University of Toronto campus and spent a delightful 10 minutes roaming the Hart House grounds & trying to remember their name.

(Fun fact: SUPER toxic!)

In my memory Mendanbar spent the entirety of his POV book tongue-tied and stumbling over his own feet in front of Cimorene, and yeah boy, same.

Gosh, these books were SO formative to my middle-school years! Cimorene was just. The coolest and the best. 🤩

I just read (and hugely enjoyed) The Witch Roads—thanks for the alert to this sale!

One-pot Hainanese chicken rice Inspired by the famous Hainanese chicken rice, this easy one-pot recipe stands out for its simple approach and delectable flavours. You can make it in a regular pot, an instant pot or a rice cooker.

Reminds me of this one-pot hainanese chicken rice, which is one of our absolute favorites. (if you get skin-on chicken thighs you can render the skins separately, use the fat to toast the aromatics & rice, and then crumble the crispy skins on top when you’re ready to serve!)

Two pan-fried Chinese flatbreads, which look much more burnt than they really are because they’re filled with blackened dried meigancai vegetables; they are folded over an invisible mixture of melted orange cheese and savoury pulled pork. A mini cucumber completes the meal.

Leftovers lunchtime: meigancai flakey bing quesadilla, stuffed with leftover braised pulled pork, Red Leicester cheese, and chili crisp.

(The cat desperately wanted to eat this. I don’t blame him. My sad photography can in no way encompass its deliciousness.)

sounds like a good destress if it’s that absorbing. 💜

okay but what game was it…?