Hi friends! Just a couple short items this week and a wish that you are well. I have no advice today unless you need information about meatballs or a good book. If so, read on.

(Oh! I am attending an Eating Disorder Harm Reduction workshop offered by Nalgona Positive Pride this week. If you're interested you can sign up here. (This is not an endorsement; I haven't done anything with these folks before. It just LOOKS GOOD, and it's an outlook I sure don't see a lot of.) Anyway, I should have lots to report on here next week.)

I can't remember if I told you about the Meatball Project? It's like Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project, but with more protein. I have made SO MANY MEATBALLS lately: Roy Choi's, Alison Roman's, Doña Tomás's, Lidia B's, Penelope Casas'... And I'm not even done yet.

Here are a few things I have discovered. You might already know them, but maybe not all of them?

1. A big batch of meatballs isn't any harder to make than a small batch, and they freeze well. Meatballs for days!

2. Meatballs go great with guacamole if they're not super Italianate meatballs.

3. A lot of people prefer frying their meatballs to "stop them crumbling in the sauce" or whatever, but BAKING (aka "steaming" to some, but what's wrong with steaming exactly?) is WAY EASIER to clean up.

4. If you're using breadcrumbs, you can soak them in ricotta or cottage cheese, if you've got some you want to use up. That's from Alison Roman's free newsletter.

5. If gluten-free friends will be eating these meatballs, you can use almond flour instead of breadcrumbs.

6. Use ALL of the parsley! The stems are FINE. That's from Roy Choi.

7. The best pasta for meatballs is calamarata. Hard to find but worth looking for.

If you have a favorite meatball recipe, wow I would like it! Thank you 🍝

Also I wish to recommend a couple books:

First, the Locked Tomb trilogy by Tamsyn Muir, of which two are out: Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth. The series has been described as "lesbian necromancers in space" and while that is not wrong, it is a bit thin. If you like science fantasy, these are some of the most inventive, weird, baroque, intricate, romantic, stick-to-the-ribs entertainments out there. RIYL N.K. Jemisin.

Next, Outlawed by Anna North. Probably someone out there has described this as "lesbian gunslingers in an alt Old West" which likewise would be technically correct but reductive. I think it's kind of like Handmaid's Tale meets Holes. Like if Offred had had more Kissin' Kate Barlow in her nature, and Kate had had a democratic girl gang. RIYL Call the Midwife.

Anyway, that's the week. I hope you're well!