It’s that time again!
Did I scream a little in delight at seeing them in Costco? Yes I did. Did the woman who was looking at them curiously step away in low-key alarm? Yes she did. No matter. Kalette season is absolutely glorious, and those little cruciferous treats are a glowing light in the darkness.
It’s November. We live in Canada. I said that at Sunday dinner and my older son looked at me with a forced neutral expression. Facts? he said, but I wasn’t stating the obvious for no reason. I was commenting on the very low number of daylight hours right now – and it’s only going to get lower! – no matter where one is in the geographic time zone. Right now the sun sets at 4:02 pm, which means that the world is dusky around three and completely pitch black by five. Until I moved here I had never experienced precipitation in November as anything other than snow, the musical stylings of Guns and Roses notwithstanding. However, in addition to the super-early darkness, it’s been very drizzly and grey over the past couple of weeks. What I’m saying is that I’m leaning in to coziness and light.
As an aside, a few weeks ago my friend Cara (HI CARA) mentioned that Axl Rose is an anagram, after which I read Long Island Compromise, so it feels like the Baader Meinhof effect is in full force.
We are not much of a Soup Family; I make soup at most four to six times a year. I know! I know. But we just aren’t a family of soup lovers. However, I had a baguette left over from Big Salad Night, and so I whipped up some roasted butternut squash soup – using one of my many garden offerings – and topped it with crispy roasted lentils. It was so warming and cozy.
When the guys were looking for gift suggestions for me, I brought up a cookbook that I thought was interesting, to which they responded Why? You never use cookbooks. It’s true. I free-style almost everything, including that soup, and it generally turns out well. But cookbooks are so pretty to look at!
Speaking of recipes, some of you may have noticed that my Soul, Food recipe index is no longer functioning. Longtime readers will remember that I had a weekly recipe column on the YMC website from 2013-2017. Erica, the website owner, recently retired and I did not realize this would mean that the entire site would be shut down and four years’ worth of weekly recipes would be lost to the ether, forever. I am practicing non-attachment.
One of the most popular was a recipe I make only once annually, and that is my grandma’s gingersnaps. I baked up a batch this weekend, which felt wonderfully cozy and festive. If you too wish to have six or seven dozen gingersnaps at your disposal, cream together 1 cup each of soft butter and molasses, add 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 1/4 cup white sugar (yes, it is a lot of sugar, these are cookies, let’s all settle down). Add 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon of vanilla; once that is all blended together mix in 2 teaspoons of baking soda, 2 1/2 teaspoons of ground ginger, and 4 cups of flour. At this point I put the mixing bowl in the fridge for a couple of hours, and then when I’m ready to bake I roll the dough into one-inch balls, rolling each of the balls in white sugar to coat. Bake – ON PARCHMENT PAPER-LINED COOKIE SHEETS, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP – at 375 degrees, or 350 convection. I like a really chewy cookie so I bake them for eight to ten minutes maximum, but if you want a typical snappy gingersnap, bake a few minutes longer.
I MAY have snapped at my husband and son for snapping up gingersnaps before I snapped a photo.
The coziest, most seasonal news of all is that as of yesterday, the tree is up! I love our insane mishmash of holiday ornaments and decorations. What we lack in artistic cohesiveness, we make up in pure nostalgia and happiness. In the next few weeks, the sun will be setting before 4:00, but the holiday glow is enough for me.
Weekly Reading
I Hope This Finds You Well. Last week I mentioned my strange run of books that dealt with premature death and its devastating aftermath, and said that I needed to read something light. When this popped up on my holds list, I thought perfect. It’s billed as a “wildly funny, heart-warming office comedy.” Sometimes I think there is something vastly wrong with me because books that are marketed as “laugh out loud” funny never are to me, whereas I was crying with laughter while reading Long Island Compromise. Anyway, I think it’s a huge disservice to bill this book as a comedy because it really isn’t – it deals with trauma, depression, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, domestic abuse, infidelity, child neglect – although there are very heart-warming moments. Jolene is a traumatized, socially awkward, anxious woman who discovers through a glitch in her computer that a) her office mates are all talking about her behind her back, and b) there are layoffs coming down the pipe and she might be one of them. So it’s kind of the socially anxious person’s nightmare. It’s office politics with grown-up mean girls. There are some great messages in here: the people in your life are important, everyone has things they are dealing with, opening your heart to people leads to better understanding and friendships. Also, you know I love championing female Canadian authors, particularly debut authors, and this author is from Calgary! The book takes place in Calgary, and there are all sorts of place references in which I was saying “I know where that is! I know where that is!” and the company is “Supershops” which seems to be a play on Superstore, also a place of which I am very familiar. I love that, even if I didn’t love this book.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles. Another book that was very different than I thought it would be – but in this case, it was in a brilliant way. The plot synopsis sounds like this is a zany raunchy comedy: at nineteen, Margo finds herself pregnant by her college professor, who wants nothing to do with the baby that she decides to keep. Her mother, an ex-Hooters waitress now in a relationship with a super-religious guy, is not supportive but her father, an ex-pro wrestler, is. He moves in at the same time Margo loses her job and realizes that she had no plan for childcare or income after the baby was born. What to do? Well, what she decides to do is to start an Only Fans account, taking advice from her dad on how to create a character and market herself. Sounds like a silly romp, right? But it’s one of the most thoughtful, fascinating, ultimately heart-warming book. It’s so witty and smart, and the writing on a line level is frankly brilliant. It IS very funny, but subtly so, and the author makes a really interesting stylistic choice: sometimes it is in the first person, sometimes in the third person, depending on Margo’s feelings about the subject at hand. When she goes into the third person, it’s when Margo wants to view her younger self with love and compassion, and it’s just so powerful. As a reader, it’s a very meta experience as the book explores character development in entertainment, making it feel like we are breaking the fourth wall in a way. I had an extra jolt of enjoyment because of the pro wrestling thing: as we all know, the males in the Boyhouse are all well-versed in that world, and I had some great discussions with my younger son, as he gave me more information on different wrestlers that were mentioned in the book, their characters and backstories. It really added to the experience. As a whole, it’s an intersection between the Madonna and the Whore, it’s a commentary on women’s autonomy over their own bodies, it highlights how society views young mothers and sex workers, and it asks the question as to what is a good life, and who is entitled to it? Every character is complex and nuanced. It’s a really brilliant book. Here is a quote that left me breathless: People are all so lonely. Even when they do horrible things, if often comes down to that, if only you take the time to understand them. It seemed like that should mean the world could be better, that people could help each other, like Jesus said. And yet that’s not what happens. That hardly ever seems to happen at all. Also this: I had always thought that love was supposed to come from other people, and somehow, I was failing to catch the crumbs of it, failing to eat them, and I went around belly empty and desperate. I didn’t know the love was supposed to come from within me, and that as long as I loved others, the strength and warmth of that love would fill me, make me strong. I mean. Does it get better than that?
Speaking of things that couldn’t be better, Rex allowed me to dress him up festively, only going through three stages of grief: depression, bargaining, and acceptance.
Happy last week of November, friends. I hope you have a week full of light and coziness. xo
I never fail to think of you when I see kalettes, generally at the farmers’ market.
I make soup frequently. Always have, but even more since my diabetes diagnosis since a lot of soups work well for me.
I think we get about an hour more daylight in the afternoon than you do, but it’s all relative, so it still does seem to get dark startlingly early this time of year.
It is all relative, that’s for sure. In Calgary the sun sets a bit later, like around 4:30 but it also rises later, by solstice it will be something like 8:45. It’s just the time of year!
I’m happy you have kalettes, it seems like they are harder to find in the US.
Ohhhh my gooooodness Rex!! That’s just too adorable!!
Our tree and all the decorations are up already too and I’m just loving it. I made a point to decorate early this year as my sister and family will be coming home from Ireland and at our house on weekends starting Dec 13th. So I needed to be “extra ready” this year since we won’t have those last couple weekends for holiday prep stuff!
Your soup looks yummy. I haven’t made butternut squash soup this year yet either- thanks for the nudge; I’ll do that soon!
Oh how exciting that your sister will be here! That will be so fun. I’m a big fan of having decorations up in November, it’s so cozy.
Those pictures of Rex are literal perfection.
Also: “yes, it is a lot of sugar, these are cookies, let’s all settle down.” I laughed out loud and fell in love with you just a little more.
I got a sideways glance from someone the other day when I bought 4 blocks of butter that was on as good as sale as is likely to come my way before Christmas and I wanted to say: Do you not eat any Christmas baking? Butter just vanishes!
I mean. What is Christmas baking without butter and sugar? Cookies should be a sugary delightful treat! Otherwise they are something else.
Gosh Rex is just too cute for words! And you two look so in love! I just love it!
It has gotten colder here very suddenly. We got snow last week but it melted pretty quickly. I think our next snowfall will stick around since the ground is very cold now. The boys are sooo ready for snow. The glow of the tree really helps with the long hours of darkness, though. I have ours set on a timer so it turns on before I wake up. It is so delightful to come downstairs to the glow of the tree!
I loved Margo, too. It was such a great book. It made me think about how situations that look bad on paper can actually be ok or even good.
We had snow today but it melted as it hit the ground, so there’s nothing to speak of. But it’s not cold at all, it’s above zero! It is dark though.
Hahaha. That last photo of Rex literally made me laugh out loud. And, egads!!! Your sunset is 4:02 pm??? That’s brutal. I had to look it up- ours is 5:28. Okay, I get why people complain so much about turning the clocks back an hour.
I love your tree! We had a little scuffle this year about white lights vs. colored, and for now, our tree will continue to have colored lights.
Margo sounds like a really interesting book! Everyone has liked it so far. My TBR is insane right now, but I want to read it at some point.
Yes, Jenny, now you understand my dislike for time change! In a week the sunset will be before four. If it was 5:28, I’d be cool with it. There’s just not a lot of daylight in Canada at this time of year.
The lights are coloured AND white, I can change them! Right now they are white, actually. I can make them twinkling too!
Haha! Rex is such a big dork; I mean, he is the cutest big dork, but his expressions crack me up. I have had Margo on hold for a donkey’s years and I want to read it but I think I still have a few weeks left on my hold period. Glad to hear you liked it, as I know Birchie and Lisa were fans too.
I am in the PNW and it is (unsurprisingly) raining a lot. However, on the days that clear up a little, you can see lots of snow on the Cascades and Rainier! They are getting dumped on! Nothing yet at sea level though thankfully. If it does snow (which it does not do too often) I will have to rethink my biking plans a little…
I have a very important question. Do you own seven cookie sheets? If so, I am in awe of you, as I generally have to do the cookie sheet shuffle when I bake a lot of cookies. Also, I always use parchment. It is a life saver!
It’s like I’m living with a cartoon dog!
Kyria, prepare yourself. Gird your loins. I own NINE cookie sheets, in a variety of sizes. There are reasons for this, but I will tell you that they come in very handy!
NINE! I am sure that comes in very handy, as I am always waiting for one to cool before being able to load it up again. Do you have more than one oven? If so, you are a very cool Mom, Fri-Yay be damned 🙂
Oh no, just one oven! But it works overtime when it’s cookie time!
I saw kalettes in Costco a couple weeks ago and nearly took a pic to post for you?! I bought two bags and it’s only me who eats them. Also, two more books to add to my list!!
Anna, you will love Margo I think!
Kalettes are just so delicious!
Rex’s expression in that last picture is whole new level! I love it! But I think my favorite is the one where he’s looking at you as if to say as long as I’m with you , this silly hat is ok.
Oh, Rex!
Your tree is simple lovely–I love its colorfulness and mix of nostalgia and whimsy and those gingersnaps look yummy, Nicole.
I was waiting for your review of the Margo book and wow–I have to read it, don’t I?
I did follow you in the recipe days, so I’m sorry to see it all disappear. Have you tried the Wayback Machine? https://help.archive.org/help/using-the-wayback-machine/
I AM SO AMAZED BY THE WAYBACK MACHINE! My mind is BLOWN Maya!!!!
Isn’t Rex funny? His face! He’s like this all the time, so expressive!
I’ve never spotted kalettes in the wild, but you always come to mind when I hear about them. I’m determined to try them someday—still hoping to stumble upon some!
Also, I was today years old when I found out Axl Rose is an anagram—that absolutely made my day.
Your kitchen pictures with Rex bring me so much joy. ❤️
Oh I’m so glad, Kari! Rex is just joy in canine form.
Rex’s eyes in the third photo! Please somebody save Rex!!
I DNFed Margo at page 128 and I stand by my decision. I do not need Margo in my life.
Last week it was raining and it was cold and it was dark and when I came back from my dog walk, I want you to know that I put “November Rain” on YouTube and jammed out like it was 1992 and I had no regrets. But now I know about that anagram situation and it makes me think Axl is even cooler than I thought he was before.
November Rain is SUCH a jam!
It’s wild how different our reactions can be to the same book! And yet we are friends! I feel like this is a great testament to the love of reading, the variety of books in the world, etc. More Margo for me, more fantasy for you, everyone is happy!
(It is true, the Wayback Machine probably has all your recipes! [it had the one I tried from your recipe index; anecdotal results may not generalize; etc., etc.] The interface is a little tedious to navigate if you just want *a* decent copy of a particular static page [put in the link, look at the calendar, pick a year/month, pick a highlighted/glowy date, then, with the mini thing that pops up when you click a glowy date, click on a timestamp, even if there is only one timestamp for that day][I wish there was an easy and well marked “just go backwards through time to the most recent available timestamp” button but no. But once you have the hang of it, it is not that bad]. But anyway, all that said, you probably only need to use it once for each link in your list of recipes. Like wikipedia often does, you can just change your recipe link straight to one of their snapshots of the page in question, and boom, there you go, a somewhat less-attractive [photos are frequently not saved, sigh, and formatting often is awry] but text-accurate [important for recipes!] record. Also it is quite stable unless archive.org goes down [rare; they did get hacked earlier this year, but only real jerks hack archive.org]. That said, if archive.org goes down for, oh, approximately maybe four years in 2025 due to an attempt in the US at erasure of history/fact, it will hopefully come back up in 2029 with its saved resources intact.)
I appreciate your book reviews; they are very clear about many of the things I want to know about a book in advance. (Have you read A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking? Fantasy… but also quite a lot of social commentary wrapped up sneakily in sweet rolls, and some bits of hope and actually kind of a lot of people trying to do the right thing, which is refreshing sometimes. )
KC this is amazing information. I had NO idea about the Wayback Machine! This is amazing! Thank you SO much! My mind, it is blown.
I’m so glad you like my book reviews! I don’t love giving *bad* reviews but I really want to be honest and give people my true impressions. I haven’t read that book, I will look it up!
Oh, my goodness! I love the photos of Rex in his 3 stages! So funny! He wears his emotions so well!
I have never seen kalettes but I do look for them at Costco whenever you talk about them.
It gets dark so fast nowadays….and so early! And it’s colder, too….definitely a stay-at-home-and-read-under-the-covers time of the year. I finally went to the library to fix my library card so I placed a hold on Margo. But there’s a long hold…maybe it’ll finally become available in the summer! LOL
I didn’t get a chance to read much and/or comment this last week or so but I wanted to ask you about Nutrafol. How many weeks/months before you started noticing a difference? I love how full your hair looks and so I told myself to give it a try as well. Do you still take it now that you have a lot of hair again?
I was on hold a super long time for Margo too!
Thank you so much for your sweet words about my hair. I would say that I noticed a difference within three months of using Nutrafol, and a BIG difference by six months. It was pretty bad, M, in 2022 my hairbrush was FULL every day, and I had noticeable bald spots. I still do take it, I do not have the best genetics when it comes to hair, so I’m going to continue with it.
I don’t think kalettes are a thing in the US??? I’m so bummed. I totally searched costco and whole foods and came up with nothing. Boo.
Oh no, that’s too bad Kat!
Gah sunset at 4:02???????????? At least we get the sun until 5. This is a tough time of year.
We are not a soup family either, but it just so happened that I made a batch last night and it went over well.
I had to bail on I Hope This Finds You Well pretty early on – maybe once I stop working I’ll be able to deal with a workplace “comedy” but right now I am not in the right headspace. But Margo tho…chef’s kiss! That book was brilliant.
It is such a dark time of the year! In a week or so the sun will set BEFORE FOUR BIRCHY BEFORE FOUR.
Welcome to winter in Kelowna… so much gray. I think the fall and spring make up for it and summer used to as well before we had smoke every year 😞
I wholeheartedly agree with your reviews of both of those books. I think Margo is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2024, I love a book that reads like a more fluffy and light story but has unexpected depth!
Leneigh, it’s definitely grey but I can handle it because the temperatures are so mild! I can hardly believe that it’s already almost December and there are still leaves on the trees!
Margo was SO good!
I can’t believe I’ve never seen or heard of kalettes! I would really like to give those a try. My maternal grandma always had ginger cookies for me when we visited her. She knew they were my favorite. She had peanut butter cookies for my brother. One of my best memories of her. Rex looks adorbs!
Mmm ginger cookies are so good! So are peanut butter cookies. I just really like cookies!
I have been EAGERLY AWAITING your reaction to Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and I’m so happy to find you liked it too!! It would have been fine if you hadn’t! Absolutely fine! People like different things! But I’m still so happy you DID like it!
SWISTLE!!! It was so good!!!
I love Brussels sprouts so I’d probably like kalette, if it’s available here, right?
Added the Margo book to my TBR, thanks for the rec.
Happy Thanksgiving week!
Oh you would love them! It’s like a cross between kale and brussels sprouts! So good roasted with olive oil and balsamic.
I am definitely leaning into the cozy. I suppose my tree will go up at some point this week. Today I tried to put out the lighted garland since it was mild (and supposed to get colder tomorrow), only to discover they don’t work anymore…womp, womp. I guess I’m buying lighted garland tomorrow and putting it up in the cold.
Oh, bummer Gigi! Are you hosting Thanksgiving dinner?
I may just make those ginger snaps. Last year I made your vegan mint cookies – they are so good!! I will be doing those again this year. I’ve been waiting for the Margo book for ages. I did just read an autobiography by a Calgarian, Jessica Waite; The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards”. It was pretty good – her husband, who she loved very much, died suddenly and young. He was flawed, and sadly she found out a lot more after he died. There are so many Calgary references. I always like reading g books where I know all the landmarks.
That 3rd pic of Rex literally made me laugh out loud. Those eyes!
Oh I should read that book, after I have mentally healed from the other Calgary death memoir (Here Again). It was also a story of a husband who died young and very suddenly! I wonder if the two authors know each other. I’ll put that on my “someday” list!
I’m going to make those mint bars this weekend!
I GOT KALETTES! They are possibly even better this year than last year. I love them so much. Matt used some of them i his short rib soup and I was kind of mad because DUDE, but it was good and I still have another bag. And my own Costco membership finally, so I don’t have to wait for Jody to take me.
I remember reading about the Margo book and it did not sound AT ALL like what you’re describing, and now I must read it. Also, the way I stared at Axl Rose for long, dumb minutes trying to figure out what it was an anagram for.
lolol Rex. “Okay, this is just my life now.”
MATT NO! Well, okay, since he was making soup for you. But no! I have to go again and pick up a bunch more bags.
Allison, I thought the Margo book would be so different from what it was. I think you’d really like it!
Your Christmas tree looks so pretty, Nicole! I’m SO ready to get out my Christmas decorations, I may break the after Thanksgiving tradition and go for it!
GO FOR IT MICHELLE! And then post all about it, I bet your decor is so lovely and whimsical!
I had to look up what kallettes were. I don’t think we get them here, well, I haven’t seen them here.
i’m not usually a fan of ginger snaps, but looking at this, maybe it’s just because I’ve never had homemade ones? I’m feeling an urge to try them now.
Looking at the last photo of Rex, I don’t think he reached acceptance.
Melissa, I don’t like boughten gingersnaps, they are too crunchy for my liking. I love a chewy cookie and these are just superb!
Excuse me. 4pm is STILL THE AFTERNOON. There is NO REASON for the sun to be setting that early. I complain about the time change but we have it pretty good in FL – 5:30 sunsets are doable.
OMG, Rex dressed up for Christmas is GIVING ME LIFE. I love him!
YES FOUR O’CLOCK IS AFTERNOON!!! This is why time change is so tough up in Canada. Well, it goes the other way too, the long and the short of it is that we just don’t get a lot of daylight this time of year.
I do not know what kalettes are! I am going to have to look for them. Do we have them here in Ontario?
Pearl, my friend Allison is in Ottawa and she found them – maybe it depends where you are!
I do not think that I have ever seen kalettes, but I am super-intrigued and pretty sure I’d love them. But I am so surprised you’re not a soup gal. I would have totally guessed that you’d love soups.
That’s a real bummer that you lost all the recipes. She could have given you a heads up that the site was going to disappear.
San, that’s what everyone else thinks too! But the truth is I only like smooth soups, and I don’t really enjoy making them either.
sorry to hear about losing recipe posts… 4 years, that’s a lot of work.
I love recipe books too!
Yeah, it’s a bummer to lose all those recipes and photos, but *shrug* what can you do?
“Depression, bargaining, and acceptance” — omg, Rex is so cute. Speaking of cute, your apron is adorable. And THANK YOU for laying out your gingersnap recipe! I saved it on Instagram, too, because EEK. How frustrating to lose all those recipes!
Axl Rose is an anagram. OMG. Mind, er, blown.
Hahahah blown.
Oh yay, I think you’ll like those cookies! I like to bake them so they are nice and chewy. They last a while too.
OMG, you and Rex, so adorable. I’ve had three dogs. Samantha, my spirit animal childhood dog, would let me do anything and give me a kiss, I put her in dresses and if she didn’t love it, she never told me. Genevieve, who we got when she was 4 and I was 36 or so, hated clothing and would tear it off immediately. Mulder was more like Rex, he would just SUFFER. Poor things and their big hearts. Here’s Mulder, suffering.
https://jellyjules.com/wordless-wednesday-53/
I wish I loved Margo’s got Money Troubles as much as you did. I liked it, I liked it a lot actually, but I just felt like so many bad decisions were made. My favorite part was her relationship with her dad. I met my dad at 21, and we had a really good relationship, though very different than if I had known him growing up. I loved that aspect the most. It’s coming up in my 30 days of book reviews, but mine is shorter than yours, because NaBloPoMo.
Hahaha oh Mulder! I did take the hat off Rex fairly quickly but left the scarf on, and he seemed okay with it. Or, resigned to it. My old dog Barkley loved having different scarves and those handkerchief things they give you at the groomers. He had a Christmas scarf I’d put on him and he was always kind of excited about it.
I was off all last week for TG holidays so missed your posts and am now that person who is creepily reading all of your past stuff and commenting…. ANYWAY, just wanted to let you know that I’m here at my office wheezy laughing at Rex’s stages of grief related to you dressing him up.
Also I’m strangely relieved to hear you say that you frequently don’t find books that are billed as laugh out loud comedies to be funny. I’d seriously started to wonder if something was wrong with me or if my sense of humor was permanently broken by the results of our election, but I’ve had a run of supposedly hilarious books that failed to make me laugh at all. Mostly they are uncomfortable or irritating. Have been wondering what is wrong with book companies that they’ve been described as laugh out loud funny.
Maggie, me toooooooo. Anything billed as hilarious I read grim-faced. What is up with that?
The sunset is at 4pm! I cannot wrap my brain around this. Here, I’ve been unsettled with the sunset being so early at 5:40. I suppose you must lean into the coziness of winter.
Your soup LOOKS divine. I love that you don’t need a recipe and things turn out nicely. I generally need one to set the stage, then I go with whatever.
REX is the only Santa I need.
Suz! Right now the sunset is *checks weather app* 3:56 pm. THREE FIFTY SIX. And the sunrise is 7:47 am so not much light and we still have ten days until solstice! Then it will be nice to have some extra minutes of daylight but until then, I’m going to be turning on my Christmas tree first thing in the morning, and my light-up gnomes as well.