January '23 Newsletter
Hello and Happy 2023!
I hope that you had a great holiday season. I’m writing this right before New Years weekend, which I’ll be spending with family. We do a Russian New Year celebration, with traditional food, games, gifts, old Soviet movies, and such.
I find January to be exciting in its newness and quietness. The days will be slowly increasing from here on out, and it’s fun to observe the sun set a little later every day. I have a lot of re-organizing I want to do at home this month. I normally do this kind of thing in December, to enter the new year feeling on top of things, but I just didn’t make time for it this year. My plans are to come up with a better organization system for my fridge, to get more containers for storing produce without plastic bags (especially greens), and to get large glass jars for beans and lentils, which I’ve been buying in big quantities in bulk. Once I have momentum, I’ll probably be inspired to edit my closet as well :)
This month’s class is part 2 of the simple meals video from last month. I make three more very easy, quick recipes: kale pesto, warm bean salad, and boiled/steamed vegetables.
above: a perfectly ripe hachiya persimmon, eaten with a spoon / potato-stamped wrapping paper that we made for gifts this year
Seasonal Pleasures and Other Stuff
⁕ It’s persimmon season! Pictured above is a perfectly ripe hachiya persimmon, which I eat with a spoon. It’s like the most heavenly natural custard or jam.
⁕ One of my cooking resolutions for the year is to make a side salad to serve with dinner (mostly) every night. There are lots of reasons for why I want to do this: eating more than one course is beautiful and slows the meal down enough for us to appreciate it, getting some raw greens and ruffage in before the main course always feels great, and I can exercise my intuitive cooking muscle in this area, where I feel under-practiced. Some favorite winter salads I’ve made so far: fennel orange salad, simple arugula salad with lemon, olive oil, cashew ‘parm,’ and a cabbage slaw, creamy or vinegary, depending on the day.
⁕ I’ve been feeling inspired to take up knitting, and I think that January is the perfect time to start. My mom, who is a very skilled knitter, taught me when I was a teenager. I’m pretty sure I forgot everything though, and will have to start over. Check out this instagram account - a beautiful family, where the mom and the kids all knit (and sew, and do all kinds of other inspiring stuff).
Wishing you a quiet and peaceful January,
