It’s been incredibly cold this week in Canberra, and I’ve been sitting at my laptop with a view of the street, rugged up in a blanket, next to an oil heater, evaluating 1,500 COVID-19 response innovations for a national competition in Indonesia. I’ve been trying not to worry too much about the rapidly increasing rate of infections there but.. it’s hard. The situation looks pretty dire and I have no idea when, or even if, I’ll be able to go back.
As always, if you’re enjoying Solidaritas, paid subscriptions are available for US$5/month or much much cheaper at US$40/year. Have a lovely weekend!
-Kate
Read
Something I’d never read about before, but which seems obvious in retrospect: There was wide-spread slavery on tobacco plantations in Indonesia under the Dutch colonisers.
Infectious disease experts are burning out, fast.
What happens next in Hong Kong after the new security bill?
As a long-time fanfiction reader, this piece on ‘fixing’ TV shows and movies to give them the ending queer characters deserve is right up my alley.
How Timor Leste beat COVID-19.
Watch and listen to
Basically everyone in Indonesia and interested in Indonesia will have seen this already, but just in case: Gordon Ramsay and William Wongso in Sumatra, cooking rendang. It’s so good.
Technically a book, but I’m listening to the audiobook of Wayétu Moore’s She Would Be King, read by the author. It’s a magical realist novel about the beginnings of Liberia and the story-telling is just wonderful. Moore’s voice reeled me in.
What went wrong in Brazil with COVID-19? The country has historically dealt with major public health issues comparatively well. This episode of The Daily looked into how things took a turn for the worse with the coronavirus pandemic.
Cook
I really miss Southeast Asian sweets and cakes, so I’ve been making a lot of my own recently. Last week I ventured into making Filipino cassava cake for the first time, and it was delicious! Kind of like a chewy creme brulee in cake form.
I used this recipe and reduced the sugar slightly because I thought it was going to be way too sweet (three tablespoons instead of five) but it probably could have done with the full amount, even though the Filipina ladies at the Fyshwick Markets (who I gave a couple of slices to, because even I don’t need a whole cassava cake) said it was perfect. They even asked if I take orders! High praise indeed.
This Ottolenghi recipe for chickpeas, dates, and feta is great. We’ve cooked it at least once a fortnight since the weather got cooler. I’ve probably even recommended it here before but I’m going to do it again because it’s that good.