- A Fleeting Ripple
chicken sandwich: midori md notebooks
Even though the sun isn’t setting down yet, now it is low enough that it warms the balcony. An upbeat song plays out of the speakers, a soft breeze caresses your cheeks. In the distance, engines roar. Someone is having a small party on a rooftop across the street, a couple of people lounging around in soft cushions and playing a dance song. It feels like another lazy afternoon, but actually it is almost 9pm. The summer days are long, and the evenings are even longer.
A few days ago I woke up with a huge craving for a pesto chicken sandwich from the chain grocery stores. It’s not the greatest, but it is a good sandwich to eat on the way when I don’t have the time for a whole meal. It happens a few days a week, and you have to be lucky to get the chicken sandwich, because it is one of the first ones to sell out during rush hour and lunch time. Never really had a craving for it before, though.
Coincidentally, this also sums up my feelings for the Midori MD notebooks. They are somewhat widely available, cater to many different users from fountain pen aficionados to fancy planner people, and come in so many formats. There are different size options and ruling formats, including somewhat uncommon ones like frames or multi-year diary formats. This makes them familiar and easily accessible, if you are vaguely interested in stationery, you probably saw someone using them on Instagram.
The characteristic minimalism of Midori lets the quality of the notebooks shine. The thick cardboard is mostly quite durable, and since it is left uncoated, it gets slightly yellowed and scuffed as it travels around. Additionally, the binding keeps the notebooks flat from the first use. I keep mine in the clear PVC cover as I tend to set it on damp surfaces in cafes or surfaces with glue or paint in school. It wipes much easier off the cardboard itself. The cover also fits other mid-thickness A5 notebooks.
The paper in the notebooks is a soft cream colour, which draws out the warmer tones out of inks. I like that it’s a tiny bit transparent, only enough to let you see the whisper of a writing on the other side of the paper, and you can easily see the guide sheets underneath to keep your writing tidy. Two sides of the paper -usually in two different inks- dance with each other when you’re writing. Even when you’re leafing through the notebook, the paper feels luxurious in your hands. It holds up pretty good to ink, showing sheen and shading. It doesn’t bleed through, with paint brush applications it just aggressively ghosts. The slight tooth lets you control even the smoothest of the nibs, while keeping the slight pencil-like feedback of most fine nibs.
I struggled with writing this post, as even though the notebook is one of my favourites, I rarely reach for it when I’m starting a project. It feels quite luxurious in the hand, and the toothy paper that makes it suitable for so many different writing instruments doesn’t mix too well with my own smooth-leaning tastes. Unfortunately, I tend to usually write on my lap, so a hard cover notebook suits better to most of my use cases. Despite all of these, I usually have at least one Midori notebook in my backpack. It is almost impossible to not like these little notebooks.
Thank you for reading! I finally managed to get my chicken sandwich and make it to the fair I’m manning a table at. Support your local university projects and ask about their posters, models and robots. I assure you, you won’t be disappointed in those university kids anymore :)