As a social worker working with homeless people the concept of “home” has always been fascinating for me. People that don’t have access to not only the physical safety of a roof above their heads and being able to get warm, but especially the things a home means for us. Coming back home on a stressful day, buying cute little things for your home to feel like the place really represents you, feeling “home”. Sharing that home with someone else, having a space to meet friends and having the luxury of closing the door. One of my clients once told me that he really missed being able to close a door in someone’s face, to shut people out and be truly alone. He missed being able to decide who could approach him and who couldn’t. I added that book to my list, it sounds really really interesting!
I was in Jr. High/High School in the 1970's, and it's mind blowing to me to think that the same time span from now back to then (the 70's) was from then back to the "Roaring 20's"! Insane. I feel like these past 50 years are more relatable than the 50 years that, but maybe it's just because I lived them?
Mashed potato tea? I’ve been wanting to try the biscuit tea for a while, but was worried I wouldn’t like it… or would like it too much. I realized it had become a mashed potato tea! Today is May 1st and I finally tried it-and loved it! (Thanks, Ariel!) Happy Mashed Potato May, everyone!
To continue on the tea discussion, I can highly recommend Milky Oolong tea! I've bought it as a loose leaf; it's green tea that's been infused with milk! Delicious with oat milk, and has a lovely round and naturally sweet flavour 😊🌿
I feel like saying that you don’t actually like coffee if you drink it creamy/sweetened is like saying you don’t like toast if you eat it with butter and jam. Unless you’re using an obscene amount of cream and sugar, the coffee flavor is accompanied by, rather than overpowered by, whatever you’re adding. Tea is another story though, because it takes so little to drown it out. But alsoI think many of us find pleasure in making our own concoctions so whatever
Yay, welcome back to a partly sunny UK, Ariel! 🎉 Luckily, you brought better weather with you 😉 Game talk: Ladies, Have you tried games by Kairosoft for mobile? Specifically the one about spa and a city builder are very nice. Graphic Style is similar to a Stardew. And there's also a very nice game which reminds me of a food detective book: hungry hearts diner. It's about Japanese Grandma, who's healing customers with food, which brings them kind memories. (Cried a little) The game is so kind.
I was finishing this ep while wondering if I should have some caffeinates beverage, but it's so warm here in Rio. Then Ariel started talking about tea, so I took that as a sign and made some iced green tea hahaha Thank you!
I live in the Gold Country foothills in the forest of Northern California, 5th generation or more in California. Born in San Francisco and was in college during the summer of love. Been there and lived the stories,
Have you ever done immersion reading? You listen to the audiobook and follow along reading the physical book. When the audio has a full cast or just an amazing narrator, it is such a great experience.
Mashed Potato May is back again and I'm hoping to read the books I included on my TBR last year. Fingers crossed I manage them this time. As I have been known (on occasion) to drink ten pints of tea in a day, I very much appreciate all the tea conversation.
I loved your little tea talk at the end of this, I'm a Yorkshire lady and was basically brought up drinking tea every morning before school started with my grandparents and my mum it's definitely feels like it's a Yorkshire thing you're brought up to do haha. I remember when a friend of a friend came to visit and told me "Tea is gross I've never liked it, I don't drink it ever!" when I offered them a cup and I managed to persuade them with a classic Yorkshire Gold Tea I noted that it could be the type of tea you've tried or the method of making a good brew. I used my perfected brew making skills and low and behold I changed their world after that day and a little lesson on brew making they became a Yorkshire Gold tea drinker. :D Success!!
during all my stardew playthroughs, i can never decide who i want for a spouse so i always just end up becoming roommates with krobus. 10/10 would recommend! he bakes and builds furniture for you!
If you have some time free while in England Ariel, you need to visit my favourite graphic novel shop! It’s called Page 45 and it’s in Nottingham city centre. The owner is a lovely eccentric man who can give you any recommendation and I think you’d love it there! Nottingham is only a little over an hour on the train from London ☺️ Great episode as always, you are both my comfort podcast 🥰
Ariel might want to check out At Home by Bill Bryson for her home-inspired reading. It's part memoir, part social history, part history of 'things'. He moves around his house and explores the history of random rooms and objects - his writing style is brilliantly easy to read, and it's a great book to dip in and out of so perfect for Ariel's reading style!
Hello! I usually have my tea without sugar because I do not like having to stir it in. This morning I had my usual cup of black tea and added only cream (okay, some ice cubes too). I had my first sip and it actually tasted already to good and sweet with just the milk. Thank you for sharing Orwell's essay on tea. I will be sharing with the customers at the coffee shop I work at.
Ariel, for books about swimming/pools, I recommend "The Lido(UK) / Mornings with Rosemary(US/Canada)" by Libby Page! I never see anyone talk about it but it's a cute summer read about an anxious young woman building a friendship with an 86-year-old woman as they fight to save the local public pool (The Lido). We frequently see into the elderly woman's memories of the pool and what it means to her, as well as the journey of the younger woman as the new friendship helps her find herself. Warning: I cried...a lot. (If watching the montage in "Up" makes you a mess, watch out! This hurt me in the same beautiful way.)
The best way to start drink black coffee, I found, is to get reallllllly good coffee. Something with a flavor profile you like and is meant to be enjoyed for the flavor not just the coffee. If you go pre ground get grind size that matches your brew method or grind your own to match it. I found Trade Coffee to be an amazing resource and have discovered such amazing coffee through them. I am a wee bit of a coffee nerd.....
i'm so thrilled Raeleen brought up There There because I literally just bought a copy earlier today! this podcast has given me so many stunning recommendations, i'm excited to start reading this one ✨
Hey, I’m a UK listener. Recently I saw M&S had a shortbread biscuit tea and instantly thought of you Ariel. If you’re still in the UK, try and pick up a pack and see how it compares to the Yorkshire tea. - Beth
Ariel I have a book recommendation for you!!! So after this weeks episode I was inspired to take a stroll through the blackwells website and look at UK edition books. I found one that I immediately thought of you, all about miniatures! The Queen’s Dolls’ House by Lucinda Lambton. It shows details of Queen Mary’s 1920’s Edwardian style dollhouse that was so detailed it had a wine cellar with little wine bottles that had thimblefull amounts of wine in them. And little mini editions of classic literature! How cool!
For me, I set a page goal because I found that only having a books goal WAS impacting my reading. I would ignore longer books even if I really wanted to read them because I'm purely goal motivated with my reading. Having both a book and pages goal means I'm still advancing my goals if I slow down for a 500+ page book.
Raeleen and Ariel I have a book rec for you because you’ve loved books like My Year of Sleep and Relaxation and books in general about slightly unhinged women. I think you’d really enjoy. Green Dot by Madeline Gray. (I haven’t completely finished it yet soo). You’re following the main character as she discusses how she wants a married man because she doesn’t want to have to work a day in her life. And just wants a comfortable life
I have a watery mashed potato book - The Membranes by Chi Ta-wei about a world where everyone lives under water. It's kind of also a PEACH book (I haven't read it so I don't know if it's at all relevant but the cover is just black with a big peach in the centre)
Can’t wait to hear what you think of Three Body! I read it right before I read Project Hail Mary (which was a mistake because 3 Body was so good it made Project Hail Mary look meh by comparison). The show is different, but I didn’t mind the changes (though i wish they’d set the whole thing in China as it was set there in the book). The book is a lot more idea driven and less character focused than the show (most of the characters don’t exist in the book), which I didn’t mind at all but I know that some people said they didn’t like that about the book. I do think it was a good idea to add character’s for the adaptation, though, as it helps with narrative device. Apparently Cixin Liu was one of the first authors to make Sci Fi popular in China, which is pretty cool.
Y'all! Mermaid May just reminded me of something I have been meaning to mention since the "End of the Year Wrap Up" video about finding new favorite subgenres! I dont have a name for it yet but the idea is, books that have a weird, somewhat twisted obsession with the water/ocean. Some examples I've found are "The Swimmers" by Julie Otsuka and "Chlorine" by Jade Song. If anyone has any more book recommendations related to these I would love to hear them!!!
Our Wives Under the Sea definitely centers around the ocean and the wife’s time down in a submarine. Cora, a character from The Wayward Children Series, is from a mermaid world. While we never got a full book in her world, there is Where The Drowned Girls Go, although you’d probably want to read books 1, 3, and 5 before this one. A couple I haven’t read would be The Deep and Migrations
I can't drink black tea any more due to health reason, (I can't drink coffee either, sigh.) But I do drink herbal tea without sweetener, I used drink Iced tea without sweetener too, but when you go out, most iced tea is black tea, (double sigh.) When I could drink black tea my favorite was Earl Grey, with a touch of milk, and that was it. I actually learned about not sweetening tea from a trip to the UK. I have done it ever since. Much healthier too.
When I was younger I'd put apple juice in my tea (I'm sorry Orwell 🫣) - both for sweetness and to cool it down, as my parents always seemed to make it scalding hot! Nowadays I too prefer my tea unsweetened with oatmilk.
just finished my first book of Mashed Potato May: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green! I have a lot of books I want to read this month, but I had the sudden urge to read World War Z by Max Brooks, so that one will be next.
![Chino Pacas - Modo Capone (with Drake & Fuerza Regida) [Video Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zjv8TQ0gBkg/mqdefault.jpg)
At least one (but probably more) of my Mashed Potato books are about mushrooms, so I'm calling it Truffle Fries May.
Oh my gosh I got a shoutout, I feel like a celeb. Thanks for the sweet welcome :) - Beth M
As a social worker working with homeless people the concept of “home” has always been fascinating for me. People that don’t have access to not only the physical safety of a roof above their heads and being able to get warm, but especially the things a home means for us. Coming back home on a stressful day, buying cute little things for your home to feel like the place really represents you, feeling “home”. Sharing that home with someone else, having a space to meet friends and having the luxury of closing the door. One of my clients once told me that he really missed being able to close a door in someone’s face, to shut people out and be truly alone. He missed being able to decide who could approach him and who couldn’t.
I added that book to my list, it sounds really really interesting!
Yaassss I love that I get to listen to this pod on Mondays. Mondays are hard. Y’all make em better ❤
I was in Jr. High/High School in the 1970's, and it's mind blowing to me to think that the same time span from now back to then (the 70's) was from then back to the "Roaring 20's"! Insane. I feel like these past 50 years are more relatable than the 50 years that, but maybe it's just because I lived them?
Ariel you've changed my life with the biscuit tea I'm obsessed with it and have told EVERYONE!
The Orwell tea talk gave me life!
Omfg the thrill of hearing the TBR challenge music. Man! Nothing beats it
keen for mashed potato may!! i cant believe we're back to may already 😅
Your closing music is so sweetly gentle.
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough 🫖or a book long enough📖 to suit me.”
- C.S. Lewis
Mashed potato tea? I’ve been wanting to try the biscuit tea for a while, but was worried I wouldn’t like it… or would like it too much. I realized it had become a mashed potato tea! Today is May 1st and I finally tried it-and loved it! (Thanks, Ariel!) Happy Mashed Potato May, everyone!
To continue on the tea discussion, I can highly recommend Milky Oolong tea! I've bought it as a loose leaf; it's green tea that's been infused with milk! Delicious with oat milk, and has a lovely round and naturally sweet flavour 😊🌿
Omg YES it’s sooo good, Ariel should totally try it!!
I feel like saying that you don’t actually like coffee if you drink it creamy/sweetened is like saying you don’t like toast if you eat it with butter and jam.
Unless you’re using an obscene amount of cream and sugar, the coffee flavor is accompanied by, rather than overpowered by, whatever you’re adding.
Tea is another story though, because it takes so little to drown it out.
But alsoI think many of us find pleasure in making our own concoctions so whatever
Yay, welcome back to a partly sunny UK, Ariel! 🎉 Luckily, you brought better weather with you 😉
Game talk:
Ladies, Have you tried games by Kairosoft for mobile? Specifically the one about spa and a city builder are very nice. Graphic Style is similar to a Stardew.
And there's also a very nice game which reminds me of a food detective book: hungry hearts diner. It's about Japanese Grandma, who's healing customers with food, which brings them kind memories. (Cried a little) The game is so kind.
Wow, Mermaid May! That brings me back for sure.
I'm loving the return of the quirky episode titles 😊
I was finishing this ep while wondering if I should have some caffeinates beverage, but it's so warm here in Rio. Then Ariel started talking about tea, so I took that as a sign and made some iced green tea hahaha Thank you!
A whole hour of Booksunbound! 😍 My heart is full!
I live in the Gold Country foothills in the forest of Northern California, 5th generation or more in California. Born in San Francisco and was in college during the summer of love. Been there and lived the stories,
OMG, Raeleen! I just realized you have a Strange Doll from Stardew in your background and it's awesome!
You ladies never fail to entertain!
Have you ever done immersion reading? You listen to the audiobook and follow along reading the physical book. When the audio has a full cast or just an amazing narrator, it is such a great experience.
Mashed Potato May is back again and I'm hoping to read the books I included on my TBR last year. Fingers crossed I manage them this time. As I have been known (on occasion) to drink ten pints of tea in a day, I very much appreciate all the tea conversation.
Will Raeleen be doing any mashed potato hobbies?
The Australian books you guys find always baffle me because as an aussie I’ve never heard of them
Also, forever recommending “Every Version if You” by Grace Chan to you guys! Australian author and story
I loved your little tea talk at the end of this, I'm a Yorkshire lady and was basically brought up drinking tea every morning before school started with my grandparents and my mum it's definitely feels like it's a Yorkshire thing you're brought up to do haha. I remember when a friend of a friend came to visit and told me "Tea is gross I've never liked it, I don't drink it ever!" when I offered them a cup and I managed to persuade them with a classic Yorkshire Gold Tea I noted that it could be the type of tea you've tried or the method of making a good brew. I used my perfected brew making skills and low and behold I changed their world after that day and a little lesson on brew making they became a Yorkshire Gold tea drinker. :D Success!!
Ariel!! I’ve been loving the tea reviews and I even placed an order for the Yorkshire teas! Can’t wait to try them ☕️🫖
during all my stardew playthroughs, i can never decide who i want for a spouse so i always just end up becoming roommates with krobus. 10/10 would recommend! he bakes and builds furniture for you!
If you have some time free while in England Ariel, you need to visit my favourite graphic novel shop! It’s called Page 45 and it’s in Nottingham city centre. The owner is a lovely eccentric man who can give you any recommendation and I think you’d love it there! Nottingham is only a little over an hour on the train from London ☺️
Great episode as always, you are both my comfort podcast 🥰
Ariel might want to check out At Home by Bill Bryson for her home-inspired reading. It's part memoir, part social history, part history of 'things'. He moves around his house and explores the history of random rooms and objects - his writing style is brilliantly easy to read, and it's a great book to dip in and out of so perfect for Ariel's reading style!
Hello! I usually have my tea without sugar because I do not like having to stir it in. This morning I had my usual cup of black tea and added only cream (okay, some ice cubes too). I had my first sip and it actually tasted already to good and sweet with just the milk. Thank you for sharing Orwell's essay on tea. I will be sharing with the customers at the coffee shop I work at.
Ariel, for books about swimming/pools, I recommend "The Lido(UK) / Mornings with Rosemary(US/Canada)" by Libby Page! I never see anyone talk about it but it's a cute summer read about an anxious young woman building a friendship with an 86-year-old woman as they fight to save the local public pool (The Lido).
We frequently see into the elderly woman's memories of the pool and what it means to her, as well as the journey of the younger woman as the new friendship helps her find herself.
Warning: I cried...a lot. (If watching the montage in "Up" makes you a mess, watch out! This hurt me in the same beautiful way.)
I am very pleased that my black tea recipe aligns with Orwell's (and Ariel's, ofc)...
The best way to start drink black coffee, I found, is to get reallllllly good coffee. Something with a flavor profile you like and is meant to be enjoyed for the flavor not just the coffee. If you go pre ground get grind size that matches your brew method or grind your own to match it. I found Trade Coffee to be an amazing resource and have discovered such amazing coffee through them. I am a wee bit of a coffee nerd.....
I don’t know if you’re taking color ideas from folks, but I think periwinkle blue and neon yellow combo would be sweet. 🌞
For the truck*
i'm so thrilled Raeleen brought up There There because I literally just bought a copy earlier today! this podcast has given me so many stunning recommendations, i'm excited to start reading this one ✨
Hey,
I’m a UK listener. Recently I saw M&S had a shortbread biscuit tea and instantly thought of you Ariel. If you’re still in the UK, try and pick up a pack and see how it compares to the Yorkshire tea.
- Beth
I tend to go more for bear references than octopus for my name alignment but its good to have sea friends
Ariel I have a book recommendation for you!!! So after this weeks episode I was inspired to take a stroll through the blackwells website and look at UK edition books. I found one that I immediately thought of you, all about miniatures! The Queen’s Dolls’ House by Lucinda Lambton. It shows details of Queen Mary’s 1920’s Edwardian style dollhouse that was so detailed it had a wine cellar with little wine bottles that had thimblefull amounts of wine in them. And little mini editions of classic literature! How cool!
For me, I set a page goal because I found that only having a books goal WAS impacting my reading. I would ignore longer books even if I really wanted to read them because I'm purely goal motivated with my reading. Having both a book and pages goal means I'm still advancing my goals if I slow down for a 500+ page book.
Raeleen and Ariel I have a book rec for you because you’ve loved books like My Year of Sleep and Relaxation and books in general about slightly unhinged women. I think you’d really enjoy. Green Dot by Madeline Gray. (I haven’t completely finished it yet soo). You’re following the main character as she discusses how she wants a married man because she doesn’t want to have to work a day in her life. And just wants a comfortable life
I have a watery mashed potato book - The Membranes by Chi Ta-wei about a world where everyone lives under water. It's kind of also a PEACH book (I haven't read it so I don't know if it's at all relevant but the cover is just black with a big peach in the centre)
Oh no - I kinda forgot about Mash Potatoe May! Well, not forgot exactly, but I went and read my MP book back in March!
Can’t wait to hear what you think of Three Body! I read it right before I read Project Hail Mary (which was a mistake because 3 Body was so good it made Project Hail Mary look meh by comparison). The show is different, but I didn’t mind the changes (though i wish they’d set the whole thing in China as it was set there in the book). The book is a lot more idea driven and less character focused than the show (most of the characters don’t exist in the book), which I didn’t mind at all but I know that some people said they didn’t like that about the book. I do think it was a good idea to add character’s for the adaptation, though, as it helps with narrative device. Apparently Cixin Liu was one of the first authors to make Sci Fi popular in China, which is pretty cool.
I ordered the UK cover of Chlorine 🧜🏼♀️ so beautiful!
looking forward to Mashed Potato May!!
i dont do sugar in tea but i swear by honey in tea. i love a spoonful of honey in some mint tea for example!!
I am living for you talking about Stardew as I'm playing Stardew while listening!!! What a wonderful episode 💚
Y'all! Mermaid May just reminded me of something I have been meaning to mention since the "End of the Year Wrap Up" video about finding new favorite subgenres!
I dont have a name for it yet but the idea is, books that have a weird, somewhat twisted obsession with the water/ocean.
Some examples I've found are "The Swimmers" by Julie Otsuka and "Chlorine" by Jade Song. If anyone has any more book recommendations related to these I would love to hear them!!!
Our Wives Under the Sea definitely centers around the ocean and the wife’s time down in a submarine.
Cora, a character from The Wayward Children Series, is from a mermaid world. While we never got a full book in her world, there is Where The Drowned Girls Go, although you’d probably want to read books 1, 3, and 5 before this one.
A couple I haven’t read would be The Deep and Migrations
As someone from the south, gimme more sugar than tea all day! Haha also it HAS to be iced. 😂
Ooo I clicked on that notification real quick. Love my ladies ❤❤
I started drinking my coffee black in college simply because I couldn't afford it one week and I've never gone back 😂
Imagine if you went back and found that you hadn't actually read yet the original mashed potato book 🤣
I drink my tea without anything but might have to try it with some kind of milk
the girls is SOO GOOOOD
the pisces by melissa broder is a mermaid book i liked
Ariel, with your love of Orwell I wonder if you've read Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit? I found it so beautiful and fascinating!
I can't drink black tea any more due to health reason, (I can't drink coffee either, sigh.) But I do drink herbal tea without sweetener, I used drink Iced tea without sweetener too, but when you go out, most iced tea is black tea, (double sigh.) When I could drink black tea my favorite was Earl Grey, with a touch of milk, and that was it. I actually learned about not sweetening tea from a trip to the UK. I have done it ever since. Much healthier too.
The only mermaid books I can think of are The Tales of Emily Windsnap series that I read when I was like 10 😂 Anyone remember those?
Oh gosh, yes, what a throwback! I had forgotten about those books 🧜♀️
When I was younger I'd put apple juice in my tea (I'm sorry Orwell 🫣) - both for sweetness and to cool it down, as my parents always seemed to make it scalding hot! Nowadays I too prefer my tea unsweetened with oatmilk.
My personal fav (and only?) mermaid book is The Pisces by Melissa Broder! A woman with love addiction falls in love with a merman in Venice California
my fave siren/mermaid book is "into the drowning deep" by mira grant, super rec it for fish and chips may!
Not me, a Hailey, listening to the “don’t marry Hailey.” 🤣🤣🤣
just finished my first book of Mashed Potato May: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green! I have a lot of books I want to read this month, but I had the sudden urge to read World War Z by Max Brooks, so that one will be next.
The Chinese production of Chixin Liu's Three Body Project (with Subtitles) is much superior to the Netflix version.
Where can you watch the Chinese version?
Btw...maybe I'm dumb but I had been searching for Raeleen's channel on RUclips and can't find it. Does she have one? Sorry for asking 😂❤
I think she had one a long time ago, but it's been deleted for like 10 years! That's how she met Ariel when they were teenagers making booktube videos
I need mertato merch ASAP.
lmao listening to the stardew advice I am so lost bc I don't play video games and I don't understand LOL
Monkey Grip has a Australian movie version of this book
Trying no honey in my tea for a fortnight
I Love chlorine!!! It's horror ❤
Nah, I'll drink my tea with sugar or honey. I've gotta.
raeleen is flipped again 😱
😊❤