Winter is coming
Not with a bang but with a fizzle. Every day I wake up and notice the slow, gentle creeping of the seasons ticking over from a summer that doesn’t quite want to let us go into a wintery embrace that seeks to shroud our mornings in a chilly, self-reflective fog. It’s amusing how, when we live in a place, we often ache after living in another place whether it’s a place we have been or one we think is where we are meant to be. It’s often challenging to remain in the here. Something I find especially difficult when my life is ‘out of order’ is a natural tendency to crave a time in my life when I felt in control and powerful and compare everything in my current reality against it. This leads me down a path towards bitterness and resentment and then I begin to cast forward to my imagined future I might have had if only I had made a slew of different choices. It’s quite a self-destructive cycle of intrusive thought spiralling because at the end of it, all that is left is my circumstances still the same but my mindset and outlook bleak and even more unhappy with a loss of hope. That’s no way to live this one little life I have got. As September ends and I have recently crossed a birthday bridge I have become reflective and in many ways, I feel it’s a good thing. The midway point of the year is a delicious opportunity to reset and re-establish how you want to embody your space, your existence, your You-ness as the year draws to a close in a few months. We just passed the Autumn Equinox-September 22nd ish this year-or Michaelmas as it’s known in the western Christian calendar. It’s often seen as the official step into the gale of the wintering seasons, the middle of the harvest when we begin to buckle down, and an opportunity to lean into facing fears and fortifying one’s resolve. I love that for us. Lean in, reap what is there, turn over and resolutely face what’s to come as it reshapes our landscape.
Reads
I love cookbooks. I love the ones that have pretty pictures, and witty, self-deprecating stories. The ones that normalise what it is to be a normal human cooking for humans and completely at yer wits ends with understanding how to make stuff taste good and satisfy hungy bellies. I want recipes that fit my limited time but also make me feel like I am enjoying the process that leads to the rewards of noms. I especially love a book that shares most excellent swaps for common ingredients that you maybe don’t know you are out of till halfway through or perhaps a member of your family doesn’t eat a certain component and you need a yummy alternative. Even better if it does not judge me for throwing in a tablespoon of pre-minced store-bought garlic instead of the recommended finely chopped fresh clove of garlic (what parent is out here chopping cloves of fresh garlic for meals? Ain’t nobody got time for that). This cookbook is all that and more. I have made one recipe each week from it and it has been fun, easy, and delicious. Also, there are good options for affordable eats my favourite recipe is the Cheesy Beans And Rice which was so very cheap to make, so filling, and stretched a long way in our house. 10/10 recommend.
What To Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers
Here is a fun article I somehow came across on Substack and promptly followed the writer because anyone who puts the phrase ‘zero fucks’ with ‘mom’ in their title is my kind of people. After reading it and figuring out this list thing is a viral tiktok trend I might write one myself might not depends on if I can think of more than three things I don’t care/care about in the context of my life right now. LOL.
Bants
Right now I am all about interacting with things that soothe me. I need a balm to wrap around my entire body, mind, spirit and just reset. I am surfacing from an extremely trying three week sleep transition process with my child and I am seeking softness. This video came right in the nick of time. I love Architectural Digest’s Open Door videos. When I want to just melt into something that helps me rest my overthinking mind but meets my itch for creative nourishment this is just the place I turn. I have always held a soft spot for Jennifer Garner, I adore her home and she genuinely seems to be a kind, generous person. Elektra is one of my ALL time favourite roles of hers. This peek into her dreamy farm home makes me dream in a good way about how I would design my ideal home if that were ever to become a reality.
Eats
I mentioned above my fav little cookbook I have been pulling from on the regular. Other than cookbooks I mostly get all of my recipes from the internet, Pinterest being my primary source of inspiration for its limitless resources. I guess I didn’t even realise that the world of cooking blogs and writing is so large….I find more ever more creatives writing and making and sharing and it’s impressive. I love cooking but my creative flair is sadly not in recipe development but in recipe appreciation :D :D My other favourite source as you all know is Pinch Of Yum. I made this recipe from her site last week and it took like 15 minutes or less to throw together and we wolfed it down over two nights and again really very minimal cost. I omitted meatballs as I don’t eat meat and figured it was filling enough that we didn’t need it but I am sure it probably tastes scrumdiddlyumptious with some good ole meaty balls.
Creamy Baked Orzo with Meatballs
As a note, I did not use tomato soup because I do not like tomato soup, I substituted it with a jar of regular ole pasta sauce of the marinara type. I also used a chickpea orzo because that is all they had at the grocery store so accidently gluten-free but still good. You could easily do gnocchi instead of orzo which is a hard one to find or regular pasta if you have littles who like to eat certain shapes.
Ok now who has started watching the new season of Great British Bake Off/Baking Show?