Things That Made Me Less Cranky: November 2024 Edition
The ability to back date this, perhaps?
Welcome to my monthly list of recommendations. It is made up of completely random things/events/moments that made me less of a raging, bitter, hag despite the dumpster fire that is our world. It also includes food-centric suggestions. Enjoy!
Idiosyncratic List of What Made Me Less Cranky
Domestic travel. Have you explored your country/state/county/city/etc. yet? I hope you do!
Fighting back against the health industry. You can use words and persistence too. I’m not advocating for any controversial method hehe
Pushing through your fear of uncontrollable car traffic and using that beautiful bike you retrieved from your brother’s storage unit
Going to lunch with your parents’ childhood friends. The inside jokes are next level
Peruvian women poets
Building the world’s tallest rockets with children in your life
Showing up at popular Lima restaurants at 12:50 pm for lunch so you can easily grab a table before it gets packed
Los Mirlos going to Coachella
Living in a country where every major city is a 1.5 hour flight away from where you live
Amazonian skies
Peruvian Amazonian cuisine, especially dishes that use chonta (palm heart), cecina (cured and dried pork), and paiche (freshwater fish)
Being away from the US during the election. Make sure to vote! You just don’t have to be there for the results *melting face emoji*
Being away from the US during Thanksgiving. I actually have a soft spot for the holiday, but it’s an excellent time to travel abroad and protect your peace
Refusing to hang with international crypto bros or hypercapitalist digital nomads. I did not leave the US to cavort with Musk fans or those who opt for fascism as long as stocks are up
Restaurant of the Month: La Patarashca in Tarapoto
In 1992, Elia García began serving meals out of a small grill in downtown Tarapoto. Thirty years later, she is considered one of the main guardians and promoters of Peruvian Amazonian cuisine through her renowned restaurant, La Patarashca. I may or may not have built my whole Tarapoto trip around (multiple) visits to this place. Here you’ll find many of the basic staples of the region like juanes (chicken and rice ball boiled in bijaoi leaves), tacachos with cecina (smashed green plantains with cured pork), Amazonian arroz chaufa (fried rice), and so much paiche. La Patarashca is also focused on preserving and cultivating local ajíes and finding new ways to use the Amazon’s bounty, like making paiche-based charcuterie in their Mijano Amazon Lab. For more info on La Patarashca, I highly recommend Nicholas Gill’s articles on the lab and the restaurant.
Bar of the Month: The poolside bar at Pumarinri Amazon Lodge
Sometimes, the most satisfying way to experience a bar is after a long hike that demands a cold beer.
Best Thing I Ate: Pomarosa at Chakra Pasikiwi
Pomarosas are called “rose apples” in English, but I have to admit I didn’t know of its existence in any language. There’s something about tasting an unknown fruit for the first time that feels very Eve-in-the-Garden-of-Eden and I am here for it. Plus, this fruit is a dream; crunchy, refreshing, light, with just a hint of sweetness.
Best Thing I Drank: Cushuro and Frutilla Cockatail at Mayta
What made this cocktail so dazzling was the addition of cushuro, a squishy and neutral-tasting Andean algae that absorbs whatever it’s macerated in—in this case, berries.
The Month in Newsletters
Missed an issue? I got you!
Last Cranky Writing “Hour” of 2024!
Paid subscribers get access to the weekly Cranky Writing “Hour”, a 40-minute virtual write-in. Today, Monday, Dec. 16 is the LAST one of the year. We did it! Find more info, including the link, here.
Hope to see you there!
Help Me Reach 1K!
My campaign to help me reach 1,000 free subscribers before the end of the year is still going strong! A big thanks to everyone who signed up or encouraged others to sign up—I’m now at 912! Granted, a handful of bots have been boosting those numbers the last 2 days (why, nooooo), but the vast majority are real life people.
I know no one “deserves” anything in this life (except, maybe, Dolly Parton) but I do put a lot of thought into my newsletters. I want it to serve as inspiration or a useful guide to others in my position—freelancing, nomading, shunning standard versions of adulthood.
Substack is a fantastic platform for voices that have no place in traditional media but it has many of the same issues of traditional media: it’s overly white, overly skews Brooklyn, overly US-centric, overly Influencer-y. And now with renowned media members starting newsletters left and right, it’s making it harder for people like me to even be seen. Numbers help.
Plus, I like a big round figure.
If you are a consistent reader but have not actually subscribed to the free version, please consider doing so. If you like what you see, and use the Substack app, please consider hearting, commenting, restacking, linking off to or quoting from a post you love—it helps to know my work is appreciated and raises my visibility. Feel free to forward this to anyone in your life who might like the musings of my funky mind.
Thanks in advance!