We’ve been blessed this week with not just one but two profiles on the inimitable Nigella Lawson: this interview in the Guardian, in which she makes bread and butter sound like the most exotic meal in the world, and this wonderful, meaty profile in the New Yorker, in which she talks (and talks and talks) about laziness, creme caramel for one, and being alone
The always brilliant Anne Helen Petersen on teeth and the middle class
How to name your Black son in a racist country (“Give him the middle name Austin. Austin is a good Christian name derived from the biblical name Augustus, which means holy. But you are not very religious. You chose the name Austin because you fear that in this country, a name like Tyrone will get your son killed.”)
Tiny love stories
As two extremely conforming firstborns, we loved this fascinating deep dive into whether birth order determines personality (“It seemed to me, all things considered, better to be the firstborn: you had to work harder to expand the boundaries your parents set for you, had a greater sense of responsibility, more persistence, and emerged, in the end, more self-confident.”)
Trying hard to contain our excitement at the news that A Little Life author Hanya Yanagihara has written a third book, which is slated for an end of year release (side note: Vanessa just re-read A Little Life for the thousandth time and could not recommend it more)
What it’s like to be a normal person who gets wealthy very quickly (beware, this may be the most narcissistic thing you’ll ever read)
Love or stupidity?
This guy has eaten the same dinner every day for the last ten years. We honestly don’t know whether to be jealous of his contentment or in despair over his complacency
Trying this five-move no-gym Matt Damon-approved workout immediately
Greta Thunberg is in the New Yorker this week talking about her new doco A Year to Change the World, proving she’s growing up much faster than the rest of us. It was also fascinating to learn that Thunberg doesn’t live at home; she lives in a Swedish safe-house “in a kind of witness-protection program” situation to avoid run-ins with her critics
Utterly obsessed with this illustrated guide to pretty much every houseplant imaginable
Somehow this Buzzfeed article about bad typing is actually about everything?
Here’s where we wrap up the stupid stuff we sank way too much time into this week, including this wonderful lifesaving dog, an extremely mesmerising avocado, Mac chimes of death, what every person in retail is thinking (this had us in TEARS), the creepiest thing that Lizzie has ever seen on the internet, every conference call ever and The Rich White Lady.
