Matthew Rowley

@mbrowley.bsky.social

2160 Followers 384 Following

Write | Lift | Travel | James Beard finalist | Past Southern Foodways Alliance board | Contributing editor, Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails | 🏡 San Diego | Typos no extra charge.

Dome magnifier resting on the second edition of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary. The word “scorpene” is visible in the magnifier. No, the word is not related to my discovery; just happened to have the book out
Package of cheese labeled “Old Croc”
Three objects on a kitchen counter: an electric kettle, an open Le Parfait jar partially filled with white sugar, and a beer stein filled with tea, its lid resting open
Braised beef short ribs in a LeCreuset Dutch oven.
Carrots, celery, and onions in a large round Dutch oven. To the side: two small trays of seared beef short ribs
Harriet Williamson @harriepw NEW: LGBTQ+ publisher PinkNews is making its remaining reporters redundant, saying it wants to "move away from having a reporter-led newsroom" to a model where there "isn't a need for the reporter role" Most relevant replies v Harriet Williamson @harri... • 9m g Replying to @harriepw In redundancy meetings, reporters were told that "what we're consulting on is that we don't feel we need the reporter role anymore" Harriet Williamson @harri... • 9m 0 Multiple sources said they were told regarding the redundancy wave that PinkNews was looking to shift to a reporter-free newsroom
Small bee swarm beginning to form in a panache fig tree.
Man in a suit pauses on the street with a concerned look. The subtitle reads: I don't like my imagination.
Book cases meeting in a corner in an office library. They are filled, two rows deep, with cookbooks and other culinary volumes.
Moyer-Nocchi, Karima (2026) The Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese: From Ancient Rome to Modern America. Foreword by Paula J. Johnson. New York: Columbia University Press. Yes, I know. It’s not spelled 80HD.
You know, for just a moment - just a very brief moment - I myself thought this might have been some older video I made 9:26 AM ~ I had the sound off, so l was all, "Hey, Rowley's making one of his hot tub posts!" Then I saw the name
Andréas Voutsinas in character as Bearnaise in History of the World: Part I (1981).
Overhead photo of a tray of tomato and herb seedlings.
Jeff Goldblum in character as Dr. Malcolm in Jurassic Park.
Divine as Francine Fishpaw in John Waters’ Polyester (1981), superimposed over a book page titled “Smoked Salmon Ice Cream.”
Olive tree growing from a rock-covered mound of dirt
Many tables of assorted succulent plants.
Burrito unwrapped. Two IPC tubs of salsa in the background
Approximately 5 cm long spikes coming off a branch of a yuzu tree.
Three yellow limes held aloft in a hand. Lime tree is visible behind it. Same kind (Persian/Bearss) as you would get in a grocery store, only left on the tree to get twice the size and fully ripe.
Book held in a lap. The Melon (2019) by Amy Goldman. Cover of the hardback book depicts multiple melons and watermelons cut open to expose their interiors.
Illustration of an anthropomorphic frog in a tailcoat, tipping its top hat with a white-gloved hand
Old color children’s book illustration of children marching with Jack o’lanterns raised aloft upon sticks
compressed block of coconut coir beginning to soak in a garden cart.
Small makrut fruit on the tree.
Ayyyyy
It’s true. We do.
A plastic cup holding a tall mound of shaved ice drenched in syrup at the counter of Hansen's Sno-Bliz in New Orleans. The cup rests upon a towel, discolored with the stains of countless other sno-ball dribblins.
Two cross-cut beef shank steaks on a cutting board.
A man stands in a garden, his face mostly cropped from the photo. He holds a cocktail glass and is just turning to the camera and is about to see the spider that has crawled onto his shoulder, text reads: AND THAT'S JUST ABOUT THE TIME THE HOLLERIN' STARTED
A still image of a young girl in profile, looking off to the left with a serious, thoughtful expression. Her hair is blowing slightly upward and sh stands against a pale sky and blurred greenery. On the left side of the image, a quotation appears in black text: “It didn’t matter that the water was gone. Sometimes you can break something so bad that it can’t get put back together.” — Hushpuppy Beasts of the Southern Wild
Adam West in costume as kitschy, campy 1960s Batman. He is holding a loft a comical cartoon-style bomb. The photo has been altered; an enormous F has been superimposed over the bomb.
Massive, overgrown beet — leaves cut off, and about to be prepped for braising with beef.
Galium odoratum/sweet woodruff in a planter on a concrete countertop.
Beets on the ground, fig cuttings in the background
Green figs still on the tree. Hand for contrast. A wooden fence in the background. Ficus carica.
A meme-style graphic. At the top, a caption reads: “It was suggested recently that we lay in a supply of MDMA for a family reunion.” In the center is a close-up image of an orange, shield-shaped tablet stamped with the Tesla “T” logo and the word “TESLA.” Black bracket lines point to two different parts of the pill with labels. The upper bracket reads, “Music is amazing. Life is beautiful.” The lower bracket: “I will fuck everyone in the room right here and now.” At the bottom of the image, the final caption reads: “‘Hm,’ I ventured. ‘Better not.’”
Lunchtime reading: Passie, Torsten (2023) The History of MDMA (translated from German by Andrew Dennis). Oxford University Press. Introduction As recent statistics show, more than 100 million people on the planet have used MDMA. After cannabis, it is the second most used drug worldwide. Under this is a still image of Meryl Streep in character as Sister Aloysius in the 2008 film Doubt. Across her head is written the word ALCOHOL. Under her, a caption: I have such doubts.
When my words come out wrong, I can sometimes correct them on the fly by rearranging the sentence as I speak so that listeners don't catch on. The result isn't the sentence I intended, but no one's the wiser. That's not always possible, especially when my brain slips into neutral and I'm unable to speak at all. The aching caesura that follows leaves me, mouth open, utterly silent, like an armadillo in the headlights. I can describe a thing in German, I can paraphrase it in French, I can give you the general idea in Spanish, and I can even point mutely to one sunning itself on the windowsill, but I'll be damned if I can tell you in those instances that the word I want is cat.
Heavily pared orange about to get et.
Small coriander/cilantro plant has escaped the beds and is growing on a garden path
Limes ripening on the tree.