Happy Sunday.
The last two weeks we’ve been hit with the first true wintery weather of the season, and the most snow we’ve seen in a few years. This pummeling of snow, in the longest month yet of the pandemic, has only increased the agitation felt as a result of the last year.
Today at the grocery store, I was hit with the sudden out of nowhere hope that I might run into someone while I was there. Anyone really. The desire to have a spontaneous 15 minute “catch up” (in Normal Times, something you might even dread) near the avocado bin on a Sunday afternoon caught me off guard.
As I continued shopping and headed away from the produce, I once again acknowledged to myself that for all my desire for a spontaneous meet-up, it’s obvious that really, I just miss my friends. And not just the friends I’m keeping in touch with! Those people I obviously miss dearly— but we have also made an effort(ish) to meet up every once in awhile during the last year. What I’m missing most these days are the fringe friends.
The friend from the office who watches the same trash TV that you do. The friend of a friend who you love to see at Holiday parties. The friend you just met before everything shut down and your entire prospective friendship screeched to a halt. THE FRIEND YOU RUN INTO NEAR THE AVOCADO BIN. I miss all the friends.
And so, as I continue to really really try to have a Hygge and Frilustliv mindset and all the other quant nordic “we love winter” positive attitudes, I will continue to just be faking it till I make it, over here missing my friends and instead of hanging out with them I will just walk myself to the kitchen.
Last Monday, as the snow came down and we watched as the inches piled up on our patio dining table (our official snow measurement location), I ditched any sort of plan for dinner and instead made Sarah Kieffer’s browned butter chocolate chip cookies from her excellent book 100 Cookies and reheated leftovers for dinner. The leftovers themselves? They were the remains from our weekend getaway up to Michigan for (wait for it) even more snow. Before the trip, I prepped and packed everything to make a cozy baked mac and cheese based off of Ina Garten’s recipe in our rented cabin’s kitchen— swapping the fresh tomatoes in her version for a more suitable February substitute: sliced and seared garlic kielbasa for dinner. It is my favorite mac and cheese and as it turns out, something very easy to make in a kitchen that is not your own.
Back in my own kitchen, I’ve been trying to trick my brain into all those warm wintry feelings by trying to have something slow and low going on a weekend afternoon. I have found through careful research and self-study that having a pot of something, anything, simmering on the stove all day can trick your brain into thinking yes, you CHOSE this life! I am such a homebody! (she says to herself in the mirror through clenched teeth, fantasizing about house parties and standing in line to board an airplane). Chicken stock is an easy way to use up some sad vegetables in your fridge at the end of the week and feel super industrious at the same time— I like Samin Nosrat’s method best. If you perhaps are not one to have a ziplock bag full of odds and ends of various chicken carcasses in your freezer at all times— maybe try Smitten Kitchen’s White Bean Soup with Crispy Kale, or Phyllis Grant’s oven tomato sauce, which believe me you can put on anything. Take my advice and save some to use for a homemade pizza sauce on Friday. While you do the dishes, pop in those headphones and check out the playlists put together by the band Khruangbin on Spotify. Organized by international destination, it’s amazing what 53 minutes of Jamaican Funk can do for your mood. If by this time what with all the simmering and the dishes and the cleanup you’ve lost all interest in cooking and the roads are clear, head down to Amelia’s Bread on a Wednesday for bagels made by Josh of Sidedoorbagel, and if it’s not Wednesday? Check out his instagram to see when you can order them next.
While you peruse your bagel selection, feel better about the way things actually are headed by checking out Israel’s impressive drop in symptomatic covid cases once the first round of vaccinations started kicking in and start dreaming about when you can have friends over for dinner again. I started keeping draft invite lists on my phone for future dinners and am dreaming of hopefully an outdoor dinner party this Spring. Fingers crossed.
Finally, I wanted to share a “recipe” that I think I’ve nailed. A few years ago, I participated in Cook90, and one of the suggested prepped lunches in the book are these herby white bean and tuna jars. White beans and tuna are no revelation, but it admittedly wasn’t something I was thinking about for lunch very often. Since that month of cooking lunch every day, I found myself coming back again and again to this pantry-friendly, keeps-for-days, eat-in-on-crackers desk lunch. Since then I’ve played around with the recipe and I’ve finally landed on a favorite after finding a half empty container of muffaletta olive salad in my fridge. It’s spicy, it’s briney and it’s VERY good on a Triscuit.
White Bean and Tuna Salad with Olives and Dill
Makes 4 Cups
Ingredients:
1 15 oz can white beans, drained
1 6oz jar of tuna packed in Olive Oil
4 oz muffuletta spread. I buy the pre-made kind at the Murray’s Cheese outpost in my local Kroger, but it’s very easy to make your own.
1 Tbsp freshly chopped dill
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 tsp lemon zest
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp kosher salt (plus more to taste)
a few cranks of black pepper
1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Method:
Combine everything in a bowl. Stir it up. Taste it and see if you need more salt or a splash more of lemon juice/vinegar. Put in a container and refrigerate. Eat it for lunch all week on your preferred cracker of choice (I would highly recommend a triscuit).