Three Things

A snack, some hygge, the easiest card (+Thanksgiving links)

Oh, hello, my darling friends! I am here with a few little bright spots in a dark and difficult month. As I know you know, the solution to most of my woes is feeding people: people in my home, or their own homes, or people out in the world—in hospice and at our local soup kitchen. If you want to read something beautiful about grief and food (and make a gorgeous pot of khichari), let me link you to my friend Janet’s most recent blog post. And I’m reminding you about this lentil soup recipe, which is always a crowd pleaser—or at least a crowd *satisfier.* If you’re here for Thanksgiving, I gave it all up last year in this post. Oh, plus these ideas too!

1. Onto Thing One! It’s peanut butter popcorn. I first made this for Birdy and her friends to eat while they were waiting on dinner, and everybody loved it. It’s completely delicious: light and crisp and just a little peanutty and curry-y. I skewed savory, because that’s how I tend to roll, but you could, of course, take it in a different direction by skipping the curry powder and adding something sweet e.g. chocolate chips OMG how good would that be? (Really good.)

Peanut Butter Popcorn
Pop 1/3 cup popcorn kernels in 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil (peanut oil would be ideal, but I used sunflower). Do you have a Whirley-Pop? If you have the space for it, I can’t recommend it enough. We use ours multiple times a week, and have for over two decades. But you can just do it in a pot on the stove, or in the microwave, or in the air popper as soon as you’re done with your Jane Fonda workout. Meanwhile, heat together 1 tablespoon each of butter and peanut butter (I use the organic Whole Foods kind that’s called a spread because it’s got sugar and oil in it, and it’s my favorite), stirring as they melt. Pour the peanut/butter mixture over the popcorn, stirring to coat it, then keep stirring while you sprinkle on a teaspoon of curry powder. Taste for salt and add more if it needs it. That’s it! Full disclosure: I think you might need a not-natural type of peanut butter for this, but I don’t know that for sure.

2. You’re going to need to be lighting candles. This winter in particular. I have a total mishmash of candle holders—right now I’m using an old votive jar from my favorite scented bathtub candle, a couple of thrifted low taper holders (there are ALWAYS candle holders at the thrift store), and then this lovely bare ivory pillar candle from Trader Joe’s. Okay, here’s the hack: Clump them together on a plate. That’s it. That’s the whole idea. This plate is a weird little handmade thrifted number, but honestly any plate will do. You just want it to feel nice and crowded and kind of chaotic, all different heights, but in a lovely way, ha ha. If I weren’t so eager to cross “post a fucking substack already you idiot wench” from my to-do list, I’d wonder if I should maybe sit on this post for a while.

   

3. And, finally, here’s the card idea: two thumbprints (I have a magic 20-year-old ink pad that still inks), details added with a fine-line sharpie. I love to make cards, and I have some more intricate and beautiful ideas for sure, but this one takes one minute, and sometimes that’s what I feel like I’ve got. We are busy people.