what to consume when you can't leave the house
For if you're sick, for if you're fed up.
I seldomly get sick. But when I do it’s always right after a busy time, as soon as I have a moment to relax, a weekend to look forward to. It’s like my body holds on to whatever shred of health it has in order for me to get all of my business taken care of. But as soon as it knows it’s time to relax and have fun? Boom! Covid.
I literally left the house once over the past 72 hours (which is like, really, weird for me) and it was to run to Supervalue where I spent 9 euro on ice-cream and accidentally shoplifted some chocolate chips. I hate being sick, I hate being alone, I hate watching tv in bed, I hate being in my pyjamas all day. But, I always remind myself that being sick is a sign that I need to slow down, lean into all the things I’ve been avoiding; solitude, boredom, and most importantly, consumption. For the last few months, I have been producing a lot of things (articles, a cooking show, a novel, a substack, parties, dinners, coffees etc.) and as with all things, creativity is a cycle. Sometimes you produce, sometimes you consume.
This weekend, here are all the things that I consumed. I tried to stay away from ‘rotting’ type content. Whilst I do have a penchant for The Kardashians and fast food, that’s only fun when it’s a forbidden treat, not when it’s your entire life. I wanted to feel like I was consuming with purpose, I wanted to challenge myself, consume art I’d never seen before, make food I’ve never eaten before. It made the weekend feel more exciting rather than just mindless hedonism. With the coming months, I’m sure a lot of you will be taking sick days, so consider this a guide to a semi-fulfilling day in bed!
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (2024)
I started off strong with The Most Talked About Book of the year.
I’m enjoying it. I think it’s unfair to hold Rooney to this god-like status, comparing everything she will write to Normal People. It is literally every writer’s worst nightmare that they write one good book in their early twenties and everyone will compare all subsequent work to that book. It’s a good book. If it wasn’t written by Sally Rooney, I’m sure we’d all consider a pretty great book. Is it a little bloated? Yes. Are the female characters completely two dimensional and insanely unrealistic? Yes. Have I underlined lines from nearly every chapter? Yes!
It’s a really nice chunky book to read in bed with a mug of 1:1 ratio of lemsip to honey. That’s all I ask of it. I do not wish to contribute any more to the Sally Rooney Discourse, forgive me.
In The Mood for Love directed by Wong Kar-wai (2000)
I have resisted watching this movie for so long because one time like 5 years ago a girl told me that it was the type of movie to watch with your girl group. I am still waiting for a ‘girl group’ to materialise in my life, tending instead to make friends with both men and women and usually on a one to one basis. So I don’t really have my ‘tribe’, someone cry me a river, please.
Turns out that one girl five years ago was completely wrong. I think this is the perfect movie to watch by yourself and would in fact be ruined by other intelligent, tipsy women watching with you. Because if there’s one thing I know about intelligent, tipsy women, it’s that they love to talk during a quiet moment at a movie.
There’s so many long, instrumental scenes in this film that almost feeling you’re watching a dance rather than a movie (by the way, the song is called ‘Yumenji’s theme and it was composed specifically for this movie). A romantic movie set in an apartment block in 1960’s Hong Kong is interesting enough but it introduce several <7 minute scenes without dialogue is absolutely fantastic. Yesterday I went to the cinema to see Gilda (1946) (which was brilliant but completely different to In The Mood for Love) and it made me realise how the Netflix Industrial Complex has completely decimated our attention spans. Watching a movie where nothing happens is a luxury, letting your mind wander whilst you consume a well made piece of art is one life’s greatest pleasures.
Watch it alone, watch it stoned, watch it sick. Eat chicken noodle soup and cry at the final scene1.
Stew (~1800)
Look, I don’t make the rules. Every culture has The Food You Eat When You’re Sick and in my country you have two choices; flat 7-UP or Stew. I actually ate some that my housemate Julie made. She essentially used seasoned, diced mushrooms as a mince substitue but also include kale and lentils. Crazy shit. It literally took her six hours to make. This is the length of time any decent stew will take.
2Here’s my recipe:
Butter
Onion
Garlic
Diced carrots
Red lentils
Potatoes
Kale
Celery
Vegetable stock
Ketchup
Bay leaf
Salt
Pepper
Basically, melt about a tablespoon of butter in a big ass pot and fry the onion and garlic in there. Then, add the carrot and celery and ketchup in there and cook until soft (about 15 mins). Add a litre of stock and throw in your potatoes and lentils. Season with salt and pepper and add your bay leaf. Let it simmer for like, 45 minutes. Add in your kale and cook for another 10 minutes. Season with more salt and pepper.
Serve with buttered soda bread.
All of Us Strangers directed by Andrew Haigh (2023)
Lately I have been reckoning with death and ghosts. This movie absolutely destroyed me. Normally I like to watch very sad movies with others because a) it means you’re not all alone with your sadness and b) sometimes it low-key bonds you to the person you’re watching it with. But I actually think this movie was exactly the vibe I needed (funny how the universe works).
Normally the house I live in is very busy and I’m rarely alone. But of course the one weekend that I was sick, everyone was off down in Cork and I was left alone. The film is obviously a very solitary one and I guess it hit harder, watching it by candlelight in a silent, empty house.
I think the desire to return to childhood is one that most people experience. I was an anxious kid, an introverted, lonely kid. I wish I could go back and be more wacky, more carefree. This movie perfectly encapsulated what is means for an adult to have a lonely childhood.
It’s based on a book by the Japanese writer Taichi Yamada called ‘strangers’. It’s about grief and love. It’s about your inner child. To see a grown man in kids pyjamas and be unbearably touched rather than getting the ick is a great achievement.
The film replicates childhood in that it is gentle and sad.
Takeaway…for one (2021)
Growing, getting a takeaway was a family affair. Everything, from what to order, what to watch and which fizzy drinks to get with it was political. Personally, I voted for more sides, less mains and an orange/lemon drink combo with a good binge of reality television. Unless it was my birthday (and even then…) no-one agreed with my tastes. My mother liked everyone to order something different so we could all share, my stepdad wanted to watch a sci-fi movie and my brother hates fizzy drinks. Don’t get me wrong, to this day, if someone in my family suggests getting a takeaway, I still feel giddy with the excitement of a twelve year old. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever come close to getting a chinese in your hometown and arguing over what to watch with your family.
Now that I live in my own house, I have come round to the idea that I can order in just for myself. A completely foreign concept to me, mainly because what’s the point? Why not just buy a frozen pizza and save myself some money? Most of the time this is true. But on the rare occasion that I have the house to myself, nothing feels more decadent than ordering three sides and lemon/orange fizzy drinks for dinner and polishing off the latest season of The Kardashians.
At the beginning of this piece I recommended that you try to consume well made food and art when you’re sick. When a lot of care is put into something, it inspires you to put more care into things also. However, what’s rare is wonderful and it’s therapeutic to be the worst version of yourself sometimes.
Okay that’s all from me!!
Love,
Libs.
By the way, does anyone know what the final scene actually means? I can’t stop thinking about it but I also don’t know how it relates to the overall plot. Kind of reminds me of Kubla Khan by Coleridge, I don’t know.
All of the measurements are something you’re going to have to decide for yourself. It’s a folk recipe which means everyone makes it slightly differently…the beauty of the art of cooking!!
slay take after slay take