Three Things

Easy dinners, this year's cookie swap cookie, holiday music that hits

Greetings eaters and readers! Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgivings. I was so honored to see that Suleika Jaouad re-upped my writing prompt on Isolation Journals over the weekend. That newsletter is such a beacon of light for anyone interested in writing or even just interested in writing as therapy. (How much do I wish her Book of Alchemy, which promises to be our generation’s Artist’s Way, was published already so I could give it to everyone I know this holiday?) As usual, Jaouad’s personal lead-in to the prompt was worth the price of admission alone, and will fit the bill as today’s pep talk for any didn’t-I-just-cook-dinner-yesterday readers out there who need to hear it:

“[Dinner when I was young] was an anchor, a moment to pause, to be present with people you loved, to be nourished physically and emotionally too. I adopted this ritual as my own in adulthood. I prepared a meal every evening for myself and whoever else was around…and the joy of making food was equal to the joy of eating it. Unlike my work—mostly projects that extend over weeks, months, and even years—a meal was a task I could see through from A to Z, and the smells, textures, colors, and flavors reignited my senses, getting me out of my head and back in my body.”

For those of you who read Suleika’s intro and found they couldn’t concentrate on anything after the mention of Anchovy-Butter Chicken, well: you’re welcome. (And here’s where you find the 15-minute shrimp dinner from my prompt.) Lastly, as long as we are on the subject of easy, tasty dinners, have you made Andy’s Sunday Enchiladas lately? That is the deliciousness shown in the photo above, and you can find the recipe on page 106 of The Weekday Vegetarians, which is out there on bookshelves NOW, waiting to be used and loved and gifted! Herewith! Three Things I’m excited to tell you about this week…

Here’s an idea that will check off many boxes on your holiday to-do list

Give a Dinner: A Love Story subscription to your one thousand best friends! Click the button below to select the exact day you’d like the email to arrive in their inboxes. Done ✅ done ✅ and done ✅.

1. Leftover Cream? Make Salted Caramel Sauce

I have an almost Pavlovian response to the lucky circumstance of leftover buttermilk: Must. Make. Buttermilk. Ranch. Dressing. When I find myself with a half bag of raw cashews, I do a little dance, then whip up the vegan Caesar dressing from The Weekday Vegetarians, legit as good as its egg-and-anchovy counterpart. And lately, I’ve added a new one to my distinguished and ever-growing pantry default list: When I have leftover heavy cream, I make salted caramel sauce. This “dilemma” almost always comes up after Thanksgiving. (I do not want to be short on whipped cream come pie time, so I tend to overbuy.) I know caramel sauce is probably not the first place your brain goes when you’re staring at a little carton of cream, but have you made it lately? It takes about 10 minutes and calls for only four ingredients: sugar, cream, butter, and salt. And it feels so luxurious having it in the fridge, ready to be deployed with ice cream or brownies, pancakes or waffles, or my favorite way…drizzled over a crisp snacking apple at 4:00 in the afternoon. The sauce also freezes for up to 3 months, so if you’re feeling ambitious, you can make a large batch, ladle it to jars, and have a holiday host gift at the ready all month long. This is the recipe I used to make the one jar you see in the photo. Enjoy!

P.S. How to spin almost-rotten produce into gold.

Clockwise from me, bottom right: Freddie, Paolo, Andy, Adam, and Eric (not shown: Joanna, who took the photo)

2. Introducing: My Cookie-Swap Cookie of 2024

Whenever my friend

Adam Roberts

invites us to dinner, I look forward to it all week. Not only because of the food which I know is going to be on point (this time, for instance, he made Molly Stevens’s Pork Shoulder Braised with Apples and served it over polenta); and not only because his husband mixes up the best cocktails (I’m still dreaming of last fall’s Paper Planes, Craig!) The big draw is the guest list — there is always someone interesting at the table, and usually more than one of them. On this night, it was Cup of Jo’s

Joanna Goddard

and her boyfriend, Freddie, plus New York Times food columnist Eric Kim and his fiancé Paolo. I almost always come away with a list of must-read books and must-see shows, and this time I came away with something even better…

…Eric brought a freshly baked batch of the Lemon-Turmeric Crinkle Cookie he wrote up for NYT’s Cookie Week, which he said was “the best cookie I’ve ever developed.” (I love a guy who calls his own number.) I admit I was a little skeptical when he followed that with “the older I get, the less sweet I want my cookies,” but holy cow, they were so good, so bright. I totally get what he means. Plus they look all snowy and festive, a crucial factor in holiday baking, which is why, if you invite me to your swap, be warned: This is the cookie I will be bringing! (Well, maybe that and Susan Spungen’s Triple-Ginger Chocolate Chunks, which have slowly sneaked onto my “It’s-Not-the-Holidays-Until…” list over the past few years.) Do you have a go-to swap cookie? I’d love to know what it is…

3. Holiday Music that Hits

While we were decorating the tree over the holiday weekend, instead of listening to Frank Sinatra’s Christmas Album or A Charlie Brown Christmas, Phoebe surprised us all by queuing up Christmas with the Tallis Scholars, an album by the Renaissance vocal ensemble made of chapel choirs from Oxford and Cambridge formed in the early 1970s. I had never heard them (or heard of them) before and my first reaction was almost tears, I’m not even kidding. I couldn’t believe how beautiful and beautifully somber the a cappella voices were. Earlier in the month, Phoebe had wandered into a sound installation of Thomas Tallis’s ca-1570 “The Forty Part Motet” at the breathtaking Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine (on loan from MoMA) where 40 separately recorded voices from the Salisbury Cathedral Choir played through strategically placed speakers in the Cathedral’s North Transept. Once she started listening to the choir on her own, Spotify’s algorithm led her to the Christmas album, which, she gauged correctly, turned out to be quintessential tree-trimming music. Oh man, it’s so beautiful, have I said that already? I’ll be busting it out a lot this month and definitely heading to the cathedral to hear the music myself. New Yorkers: The installation will be on view through December 31. You can check out the rest of St. John’s musical events, including Christmas concerts and choir performances, here.

Have a great week!
Jenny

My official gift guide will drop this Friday, but in the meantime, consider giving The Weekday Vegetarians to someone you love — it’s not just a cookbook, it’s a lifestyle.

💚 Volume 1: The Weekday Vegetarians

Penguin Random House | Amazon | Bookshop |

💚 Volume 2: The Weekday Vegetarians: Get Simple

Penguin Random House | Amazon | Bookshop |