I Watched Pokémon Concierge!

Released on December 28, 2023, Pokémon Concierge is a stop motion animation series on Netflix. It follows Haru, a tired office worker, who, after a week of unfortunate personal and professional luck, decides she’s in need of a change of pace and joins the staff of the Pokémon Resort.

I love stop motion animation. It’s one of my favorite styles—i.e. Coraline is still one of my most frequently cited examples of this. I really enjoyed the design of this show. Visually it was a feast for the eyes. The characters (and Pokémon), background, and even the topographical details of the setting were bright, colorful, and full of a variety of textures that made it interesting to view. It really conveyed a laidback atmosphere of paradise, relaxation, and vacation.

Haru was interesting. Her story was a pretty simple and straightforward one, and much of the four episode length is about her learning to navigate her new job. There was a learning curve full of humorous mishaps and endearing interactions with some of the Pokémon (and trainer) guests who were staying at the resort.

Overall, the series keeps a lighter tone, and it goes for cute and funny over something darker and more serious. That’s what I liked about it, though. It was as fun as I thought it was going to be. So it was true to the trailer, which you can checkout below.

If you’re looking for a quick series to view, then I highly recommend checking out Pokémon Concierge.

Check out the trailer!

Music Monday (271): Victoria Monet, Barbara Tucker, Ariana DeBose, Boy George, Nile Rodgers

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: My pick this week is How Does It Make You Feel by Victoria Monet. I like her latest album, Jaguar II, and this song is one of my favorites.

Adri: My pick for today is I Get Lifted by Barbara Tucker. I already featured it, but recently I've been listening to The Underground Network Mix.

Andrea:  This week I'm listening to Electric Energy by Ariana DeBose, Boy George, and Nile Rodgers. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

Favorite Recipes Ice Cream + a Sorbet

Today I want to talk about some of the ice cream recipes I tried. Although I don’t remember everything I made, this is more of a collection post since I’ll be talking about multiple recipes briefly. For all of them, I used our Cuisinart Ice-21 1 ½ quarts Ice Cream Maker—which I love since it doesn’t require salt. However, you don’t need one to make frozen desserts. If you look around, there are ways to do it without a machine.

The first recipe is Simple Vanilla Ice Cream from Cuisinart. It was in the machine’s booklet, but you can find it on Cuisinart’s website. After making it so many times, I found that I like an additional ½ cup of milk, which I have to admit is probably ½ cup too much. After all, the instructions mention something about keeping the base 1½ quarts (about 6 cups), but I push it a little. (But I won’t personally recommend doing this). But overall, this has ruined most store brought ice creams for me.

The next one I made more recently is tea flavored ice cream. I wanted to make it out of the vanilla recipe above, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. I ended up using Milk Tea Ice Cream by Catherine Zhang from Zhang Catherine as instructional reference.

In the end I heated 4-6 bags of Celestial Seasonings’ Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride with the cream, milk, and vanilla. Then I poured the hot mixture into a bowl with the sugar and mixed it well. Lastly I let it cool and left it in the fridge overnight before churning. I think this was the best ice cream I made. It was absolutely delectable! But then again this is a favorite tea. As for my reference recipe I’d like to try it one day on it’s own. 

I also want to mention a few things I found after making this twice. I found that dissolving the sugar into a hot base gave it a slightly different texture. I haven’t tried this with any other recipe though. And I ended up straining the mixture, because a film developed on the surface once it cooled. 

I don’t have images for all of them, including this one, but I absolutely loved this Pineapple Ice cream, by Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen. I haven’t made any in a long time, but from what I recall, it was really refreshing. I do want to try it with coconut since I thought it could be a nice homemade replacement for Thirfty/Rite Aid Coconut Pineapple Ice Cream.

Lastly, (and the last thing I churned last year) I made This Lemon Sorbet by Leigh Anne Wilkes from Your Home Based Mom. It was the simplest sorbet recipe I could find quickly, so it’s a favorite. I accidently messed up since I didn’t let the sugar mixture cool before combining it with the other mixture. But I think it still turned out great. It also tasted great. Unfortunately, I discovered I’m not big on strong lemon flavor. So I do want to try it again (and make sure I cool it enough).

Short Stories I Read In December

It’s the twenty-ninth of January. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in December.

Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge by Eugenia Triantafyllou [Uncanny Magazine; Issue Fifty-Four)

Before 2023 was over, I tried to play catchup by finally reading one of the short stories released in the final stretch of the year. It was Eugenia Triantafyllou’s short story for Uncanny Magazine, Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge. I adored this story. With a local superstition about the creepy underpass—nicknamed “the tunnel”—of a disused bridge and deals with the devil that have unintended consequences, this story takes being very careful with what you wish for very-VERY literally. With a narrator, Olga, whose choice is, you know, kind of understandable, given the context within the story she was navigating through (i.e. death of a close and younger family member). Being in her headspace was kind of wild. As her wish seemingly comes true (or does it), it reveals a part of the "trick" as more and more of her slips away. She assumed so much about how her situation should play out, and that combined with everything else ensured there was plenty of nail-biting tension to go around. I was on the edge of my seat all the way to the end. The story had this overwhelming, foreboding atmosphere, because with the kind of deal Olga participated in, you just know the consequences aren’t going to be good. But I still didn’t anticipate that twist in the end. Looking back, though, all the clues were right there. This story was a dose of the supernatural combined with a family whose grief allowed the devil in. All-in-all, Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge was fantastic.

From around the web…

• Dog is in the Details [Sarah Pinsker; Apex Magazine; November 16, 2023]
• Wilson’s Iliad and Le Guin’s Battle Between Good and Evil, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sword [Kristen Patterson; Tor.com; December 4, 2023]
• Book Review: The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw [Aigner Loren Wilson; Lightspeed Mangazine; December 2023, Issue 163]

Music Monday (270): Tinashe, Yemi Alade, Tierra Whack

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I've really been enjoying Tinashe's latest album, BB/ANG3L. One of my favorites from it is Uh Huh.

Adri: My pick for today is Shower Song by Tierra Whack. I find the music video a little nostalgic.

Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to Amazing Grace by Yemi Alade. Have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?