Friends! Hello. Happy Friday, and happy weekend. It is still January, if you can believe it! I personally feel like I have spent a lot of time inside my apartment lately—hello winter, hello Omicron—and while it’s a lovely space and I’m happy to have it, my big goal for these days is just to…get out. Stretch my body and my brain. Maybe see some other humans? I’ve planned a trip to the ocean for this weekend, anyway, which at this point practically counts as intercontinental travel. Whatever you’re doing with these winter days, I hope it’s stretching you, too, and that it feels like a vacation, and that you’re feeling ready for February. I think you’re doing great.
What to Play, but Just for a Minute: Wordle
Don’t you just love it when the Internet is good? Like in that old, early-Internet kind of way, where people just made stuff and put it out there, and not everything was a thinly veiled (or not) shopping platform?
Wordle, the simple word game made by Josh Wardle (get it, so cute!) as a gift for his partner, has gone extremely viral in the past few weeks, to the point of ubiquity, at least in my online circles. Maybe it’ll burn itself out as a second-COVID-winter fad and maybe it won’t—but I’m enjoying it a lot, both on its own merits as a game and as a little hint of that old-Internet magic.
If you haven’t tried Wordle, here’s how it works: You have six tries to guess a five-letter word. When you submit each guess, the system tells you whether each letter in that guess is 1) in the word and in the right place (green square), 2) in the word but not in the right place (yellow square), or 3) not in the word at all (gray square). When you guess the word, you win! The end. (I’m still experimenting with starter words, but recent favorites include “heart,” “ratio,” and the trés continental “adieu.” Getting a handle on the vowel situation seems key…though recent words have been mostly consonants, so maybe don’t listen to me.)
Much has been written about the gentle pleasures of Wordle; I agree with them all. It can be quick—I typically play for five minutes or less—but it’s not timed, if you’d rather savor it. There’s only one puzzle per day, so there’s no wormhole to get sucked into. There’s no app to download, no login to create. It’s not tracking you anywhere (though it does record your stats) or trying to sell you anything. It’s a little bit luck (if you get it in one or two guesses) and a little bit skill (if the “r” has to go there and the “x” has to go there, which of the remaining possible letter combinations make plausible words?). You can share your grid for each day’s puzzle if you want—these are the little yellow-green-gray square patterns all over your social media—or…not. I was a bit of a late adopter—the Times crossword is plenty, thank you—but I’m enjoying sneaking in and playing every morning over my morning tea, and then moving on with my day. You might like it, too.
What to Cook: Steamed Eggs
Y’all, breakfast this winter has been a struggle. I can only eat so much porridge, have completely forgotten about yogurt, don’t have my act together for fancy toddler breakfast, and don’t necessarily feel like I need a breakfast sandwich every day. Planning ahead is mostly not happening. And yet: I get hungry. What to do?
One lifesaver has been Eric Kim’s microwave-steamed eggs, from the Times, which he describes as “reminiscent of Chinese zheng shui dan, Japanese chawanmushi, or Korean gyeran jjim”—essentially broth and eggs gently steamed together to a wobbly, pudding-y texture. I’d never had eggs cooked in this way before, but I’m hooked: this dish is slurpy, it’s savory, it’s filling, and it’s very quick and easy to make. I find it a gentle, cozy breakfast for cold winter mornings, though I’ve also made it for a simple and comforting dinner a few times, with or without rice. Maybe you’d like it, too?
Microwave-Steamed Eggs
Adapted from Eric Kim for The New York Times
(Note that the original recipe was written for two eggs, which turned out to be too much for me. Feel free to scale up as necessary.)
1 large egg
1/2 cup instant or kombu dashi, broth, or water (I typically use chicken broth, but sometimes change it up with veggie or beef)
Pinch of salt
Drizzle of soy sauce (optional)
Drizzle of maple syrup (optional)
Drizzle of sesame oil (optional)
Chives or scallions, finely sliced or snipped (optional, but nice for a bit of freshness)
In a not-too-big, microwave-safe cereal bowl, whisk together the egg, broth, and salt for at least 30 seconds. Pop any bubbles or skim them off with a spoon.
Cover the bowl with a microwave-safe plate and microwave at medium power—Kim recommends 500 watts; I use 60% power on my little microwave—for 2 1/2 to three minutes, until the eggs are just set and no longer liquid in the middle, but wobbly when you nudge the bowl.
Let sit in the microwave to cool slightly, then remove and drizzle with soy sauce, maple syrup, sesame oil, and chives or scallions, and enjoy.
Blockbuster Review: 13 Going on 30 (2004)
There are a few awkward moments toward the end of the second act of this movie, but honestly? The rest of it works remarkably well, a testament to its quirky, snappy, oddly poignant script and to Jennifer Garner’s natural charm and and skills as a physical comedian. Also: someday I’m going to pull the trigger on a pair of pink Converse low-tops, and it’s going to be entirely because of the final shots of this movie. May we all be thirty (or something), and flirty, and thriving.
Slurpy should never be used in a sentence describing eggs! EWWW! :)